Astrid Arvidsson (C) vs Emaline — No Disqualification Match for the LAW Openweight Title

[skip-stop]

It was even funny to hear that from Emaline. After all this, she dares to accuse Astrid of inappropriate behavior? It was really funny. The only thing funnier than this was the agonized screams of the pink-haired woman after the Golden Dragon continued to try with redoubled efforts to damage the contender's knee joint. Emaline didn't answer the referee's question, but Astrid wasn't too worried about it. Whether it was willpower or simple stubbornness, if Emaline wasn't going to give up, then the champion would just injure her leg. From Astrid's point of view, it was more than fair.

But then…

“What the hell...” muttered Astrid.

The blonde stopped jerked Emaline's leg, but kept her grip as tight as possible, after which she turned her head towards the ramp. The reason was obvious, namely some music theme she didn't recognize. The champion clenched her teeth when she saw a dark-haired woman. Of course, she assumed that her opponent would do anything, even the lowest meanness, for the sake of the title, but somewhere deep down she hoped that it would not come to that.

“So you really are such a cowardly scum...” she said, clearly addressing Emaline, while not taking her eyes off the brunette.

The only question was, why wasn't this brunette in a hurry to come to the contender's aid? Instead of heading straight to the ring, she first decided to high-five the audience in the front rows.

Something is definitely wrong here.

No, it can't be.

The Golden Dragon turned her head in the opposite direction, and at that moment her heart made a few extra beats. A red-haired woman she didn't know was approaching her at full speed, damn, she even managed to push her off the mat! Releasing Emaline's leg, the champion tried to cover her head with her arms, but it was too late, two knees crashed into her skull unhindered.

“Guuummhhh!!!”

With a painful groan, Astrid involuntarily rolled a few times to the side. After she was in the face down position, she gritted her teeth due to the unpleasant ringing in her ears. However, she was still well aware that she couldn't afford to let her guard down. Even though the pain, she pushed off the mat, rising to one knee.

Now she had two opponents in the ring with her, not to mention the brunette outside the ring. Well, Astrid assumed that something like this could happen, so she took some measures. The blonde turned her head to the side, wanting to signal to Charlotte that she could join the match, but…

“Fuck...” she muttered, completely forgetting about one thing in the heat of battle.

There was no Charlotte in the front row, only their manager, Victoria. Even from this distance, Astrid could see the Englishwoman's lower lip shaking. Due to the fact that Nerissa's match ended very sadly for her, Astrid herself insisted that Charlotte accompany their friend to the hospital. So now there was no one left to cover her back.

“Well...” accepting the circumstances, the champion said, getting to her feet. “Then I'll have to kick your asses on my own.”

The Golden Dragon deliberately slowly tilted its head to the side, which caused a crunch to be heard, after which she rushed forward, clenching her fists at the same time. Due to the condition of Emaline's leg, Astrid assumed that so far the contender did not pose a great threat to her. Right now, she should focus on that red-haired bitch who dared to attack her. With fire in her lavender eyes, the champion swiftly shortened the distance in an attempt to ram the chest of the red-haired woman with a running lariat!

[Kreydos]

Emaline breathed out a sigh of relief and curled up into a ball when her opponent finally freed her leg. She dearly clutched her aching knee and whimpered quietly, lowering her head to hide that she was on the verge of tears from any and all spectators. Meanwhile, Shira swiftly settled into her fighting stance after her surprise running knee disrupted Astrid but failed to put her out of the fight. The redhead's eyes narrowed, watching the blonde's every move, for the slightest twitch of a muscle.

As such, Shira was more than prepared when Astrid came running with a lariat; the former took a backstep and jumped, trying to align her body with the latter's arm to grab onto it and ensare her in a flying armbar. Shira would lean back and apply maximum pressure on the hold should the attempt succeed, not only to debilitate's Astrid's wrestling ability but to also overwhelm her senses via the sheer strain of the hold while Emaline recovered and Yoro sprinted her way over.

To make matters worse for the Dragon, Yoyo had no intent of slowing down after she dove under the ropes and entered inside the ring. She jumped backwards with an excited yelp and propelled herself off the ropes, running full-speed towards Astrid whom Yoro could fling her body onto for a running splash. It did not matter to her in the slightest whether her friend still had the champion trapped in that arm-bar.

[skip-stop]

Desperate times require desperate measures, so Astrid spared no effort when she rushed to the one of Emaline's sycophants. She thought she could catch this brunette off guard, but apparently the Golden Dragon had overestimated her condition. Emaline had already inflicted a lot of damage on her, and therefore, apparently, the champion acted more slowly than she would have liked.

The moment she swung her right arm to knock the red-haired woman down, the bastard managed to react in time. She didn't just dodge, but jumped, grabbing Astrid's arm. Before the descendant of the great Vikings could do anything, this red-haired woman's two legs hit her chest, causing the champion to end up on the mat.

“Gggrrhh!!” A stifled groan sounded due to her painful fall.

Her problems didn't end there. The red-haired woman did not let go of Astrid's arm, instead closing the Golden Dragon in an armbar submission hold. Feeling a wild pain in her elbow joint, Astrid immediately tensed every muscle in her right arm in an attempt to resist. Huffing and puffing, she tried to reach her right palm with her left palm in order to break the hold. As they said, an animal trapped in a trap is even ready to bite off its paw for freedom. Astrid's situation was not much different from this.

The situation was definitely getting worse and worse. But, thank the Gods, Astrid wasn't dumb. Besides, she had a lot of experience on her side, so even in her attempts to break the hold, she did not forget that Emaline had another helper. So she didn't have much trouble hearing loud footsteps behind her, especially considering that the brunette was squealing like a wounded pig.

The champion turned over her shoulder just in time to see the brunette jump with the clear intention of falling on Astrid with all her body weight. The Golden Dragon's lavender eyes flashed, and then she pulled both knees up to her chest. You have to solve problems as they come. Therefore, at first Astrid wanted to hear the agonized screams of the brunette after her belly would land on Astrid's knees, and only then to continue her active attempts to free her arm from the grip of this red-haired woman.

[Kreydos]

"Hahaha!" Yoro's boisterous laughter reverberated across the arena as she soared through the air. "Ough!" Only to be interrupted by Astrid's knees. Yoyo wheezed as she landed on her knees but her cheerful disposition didn't falter in the slightest. "Wow! That attentive, huh!" She remarked while kneeling next to her target with her arms wrapped around her sore stomach. "Guess that's why you're—"
"Yoro!" Shira shouted at her friend, her muscles flexing as she struggled to contain Astrid's resistance against the armbar.

"Alrighty!" Yoro eagerly replied. Like an excited puppy, she crawled towards and over their foe before she pressed her body down and tried to grab her free wrist to pin it down against the mat while simultaneously trying to entangle her legs with Astrid's to trap her in a sort-off grapevine hold. And while Emaline's stablemates more or less kept the champion bogged down, Emaline enjoyed her beauty rest. She uncurled herself and laid flat on the floor, her eyes closed and her chest heaving up and down as she caught her breath. But the clamour of her stable ganging up on Astrid teased a vicious smirk out of the Viper's face.

[skip-stop]

At least it worked. The black-haired woman collapsed onto Astrid's knees, which gave the champion the opportunity to return to her attempts to break Shiro's armbar. But unfortunately, she didn't have enough time, which wasn't too surprising considering that the Golden Dragon wasn't in the freshest condition.

The woman named Yoro recovered quickly enough from the damage she received from Astrid's knees, after which she jumped on the Norwegian woman for the second time, thereby pinning Astrid to the mat with all her weight.

“Uuurrrrhhh!!!”

The black-haired woman's legs wrapped around the Golden Dragon's, and at the same time she exerted enough effort to immobilize the champion's left arm. Considering that Shiro was still injuring Astrid's right arm, the descendant of the great Vikings was in a very dangerous position.

Turning her head to the side, she discovered that Victoria had risen to her feet from her seat in the front row. For the first time in a long time, Astrid felt a chill run down her spine. She shook her head several times, making it clear to Victoria that she would not interfere in the match. The Englishwoman was not a real fighter and was unlikely to be able to provide her ward with any meaningful help. And Astrid, in turn, would not forgive herself if her manager got hurt.

She had nowhere to look for help.

She has to handle this on her own.

“Bitches...” she growled through her teeth.

Realizing that her body was getting weaker by the second, she took a deep breath and then tensed literally every muscle in her body. Like a wild animal, she began to twitch from side to side in order to first free her limbs, and then try to distance herself from her rival's assistants. The problem was that with every move she made, the pain in her right arm got worse. Because of this, it was easy to see that Astrid's resistance was rapidly weakening. She tried to deny it, but somewhere in the back of her mind she began to realize that she would not be able to get out of this situation.

[Kreydos]

"Ah, woah!" Yoro exclaimed when Astrid almost immediately resisted against the grapevine, causing the former's muscles to tremble and vibrate as she vied to keep the latter restrained. Their limbs dragged all over the floor in a frantic contest of strength. "If you're this intense while on the bottom, you must be a fun on top!" Even then, Yoro found it in herself to compliment Astrid, albeit with an unintentional innuendo.

Meanwhile, Shira rolled her eyes and focused her energy on keeping that armbar locked on tight. Her teeth gnashed together behind stoically closed lips, the thrashing of the other two women occassionally jolting or jittering her body but her thighs remained clamped around Astrid's bicep while yanking at her wrist to continually hyperextend the elbow.

Emaline hummed to herself in a pleased tone, the reprieve she enjoyed soften much of the aches her body accumulated over the course of this match, especially her her knee. In a single, smooth motion, she kicked her legs up and performed a backwards roll onto her feet, bouncing into a standing position and flipping her hair over head. With that smirk still adorning her face, she slowly and lazily cast her gaze across the audience and drank in their both the rare cheers and the expected boos with relish.

After a few little warm-up kicks to shake off the pain from the knee bar, she sauntered towards her opponent with both hands held behind her back. "I sincerely apologise for the route our bout has taken." She declared in such an overly polite and gracious manner it came off as sardonic. "But alas, I shall not be denied my belt, least of all by a swaggering vagrant such as yourself." Then she lethargically brought her boot up high and executed a standing splits. Seeing this, both her stablemates waited a beat before rolling away, allowing the Viper to crash her heel down onto Astrid's abdomen for an axe kick.

[skip-stop]

“You have no idea...” Astrid growled in response to Yoro's words.

Of course, now was not the time for such thoughts, but the blonde said it almost automatically. She tried to do everything possible to get rid of her rival's assistants, but with every passing second she felt more and more pain in her right arm, while her strength was rapidly leaving her. The Golden Dragon clenched her teeth, trying to find at least some reserves in order to strengthen her resistance, but then…

Happened the thing that was why she was trying to get rid of Yoro and Shira as quickly as possible. Emaline finally recovered enough to rise gracefully to her feet. Now Astrid was alone against three opponents at once, which, considering her far from the best condition, was like a death sentence.

She bared her teeth at the pink-haired woman's words, wanting to tear her apart. But, unfortunately, our desires do not always coincide with our capabilities. When Emaline threw her leg up, the Golden Dragon knew exactly what she intended to do. In another situation Astrid would have tried to simply roll away, but Yoro and Shira released her at the very last moment, so her only option to protect herself from the kick of the Emerald Viper was to strain her abs.

“GOOOOAHHHH!!!”

The descendant of the great Vikings was rightfully proud of her abs made of concrete and steel. But she was too weakened. When Emaline's heel landed on her stomach, Astrid's defenses were broken. Panting, the champion turned on her side, hugging her stomach with her hands. Now, in addition to pain all over her body, she was having trouble breathing due to muscle spasms.

If Charlotte had been here, she probably would have easily dealt with both Emaline's henchmen and the contender herself, but Astrid sent her to Nerissa as moral support. The thought that she had nowhere to look for help was like a spear thrust into the mind of the Golden Dragon again. Perhaps not once since the beginning of her reign has she been in such a hopeless situation. Even if she had somehow managed to get back on her feet, in this state she simply would not have been able to defeat three opponents at once. Even her unshakeable faith in her own strength had cracked.

“Shit...” she gasped through clenched teeth, realizing that she was all alone.

[Kreydos]

Emaline's eyes glimmered with sadistic glee when her axe kick connected and she witnessed Astrid reeling from the attack. The Viper didn't even bother to retract her leg and kept her boot resting on Dragon's midsection after she rolled onto her side. From there, Emaline flipped Astrid onto her back with that same boot before pressing that boot forward onto her abdomen and walking over her body. Naturally, the heel placed all her weight on her foot as she did so.

Yet that was not all she had to offer; she leaned forward, placed both hands on the ground, and performed a handstand. "~Please do not sulk.~" She spoke in a comforting, sing-song fashion while standing upside-down. "~You allowed this to happen, after all all.~" Bringing her knees up, she readied a handstand knee drop to further punish the champion's belly. Meanwhile, Yoro and Shira both took a step a back, the former bouncing on her feet and the latter leaning back on a corner with her arms crossed. Both stood ready to intervene again if Astrid tried anything.

[Vc0m]

Clara kept a close watch of the match, up to the point where Astrid trapped Emaline in a Kneebar, twisting her leg out of position at a really gross angle. The fact that the blonde could maintain such a brutal grip on her rival's leg was a showcase of just how far Astrid would go to retain the belt...something that made Clara once again question her own match from earlier in the night, and how badly she treated Nerissa.

She took a moment to get away from the screen, feeling her anxiety bubbling to the surface. Bathroom wasn't too far, and thankfully, it was empty as the Brit took her time at the sink, splashing cold water on her face to help calm herself down...

...but it was of little help.

Looking at herself, tired and fatigued, in the mirror, Clara couldn't help but think of the worst things to insult herself with. How blind she was at Nerissa in the bar the few nights before, how wrong she was to act the way she did in the match...how wrong was the way the match ended...

Clara took a deep breath, and walked out of the bathroom to see a bit of a commotion at the Gorilla position. Taking a quick look at the screen would answer all of Clara's question...as well as allow her to transfer her rage into a more healthy direction.

She saw Astrid pinned down in double armbars by 2 women unknown to her, while Emaline herself proceeded to assault the champion's abdomen.

Without a further word, even at worries from the crew at another person interfering in the match, Clara rushed through the entrance way...and down the entrance ramp.

The jeers for interference swiftly turned to cheers for Clara, as the Brit rushed down towards the ring. Element of surprise gone, there was nothing else Clara could do but rush in there, strike before Emaline and her troupe would know what hit them!

Still, part of Clara doubted Astrid would like it if there was any point Emaline could raise in an attempt for another title challenge. So once she slid into the ring, Clara would glare at the Emerald Viper. Whether she got out of her way or not, Clara's aim was to try and strike at one of the women interfering in the match, jumping into the air and aiming her feet at Yoro Robi for a beautiful and vicious dropkick!

[Kreydos]

Emaline allowed gravity grab hold of her body and sent her knees plummeting down on Astrid's midsection, relishing in the impact. But the heel's malicious delight was fleeting; the audience's disposition changed. Her self-satisfied smirk faded away as she swiftly rolled back onto her feet and scanned the arena for the cause of this sudden change. She soon spotted Clara sprinting down the ramp, the two women exchanging glares when the latter entered the ring.

Marginally adjusting her stance, Emaline prepared to deliver a thrust kick right into this interloper's skull. But she didn't charge the pinkette and went for Yoro with a drop kick instead. "Woah!" She cried out in surprise and hurriedly brought up both her forearms. "Grg!" Despite blocking the blow, the sheer force of the dropkick broke her guard and sent her stumbling backwards. She collapsed onto the ropes for support but remained standing.

"Yoro?" Emaline imperiously asked while only slightly turning her head; she kept her focus on the newcomer.
"I'm all good!" Yoyo brightly answered with a thumbs up and stood up straight up.
"I have no particular grievance with you in spite of your intrusion." The Viper told Clara in a soft-spoken, polite tone. "Kindly vacate the ring and I will forgive your trangression. Otherwise..."
Both of her stablemates stepped forward and settled into their wrestling stances.