Raven stood in the sand covered pit. The cacophonous of shouts and sounds from the patrons above her had little to no effect on her. Her mind was entirely focused on whoever her opponent was at the time.
This previous round it had been a moonlet man roughly her size. He had tried to get past her defenses for quick and decisive strikes, underestimated her speed and tenacity and she had been able to bob and weave her way past most of his blows all the while landing punishing blows of her own. It had only lasted a couple of minutes before she managed to knock him out. She hoped her next opponent would be tougher.
---
Standing at the edge of the pit, Arcaea, Kurai and Janette looked down at their friend while leaning on the railing.
“This girl needs to learn how to chill, seriously.” Said Kurai.
“For once, I completely agree with you.” Said Janette.
“We all deal with stress release in different ways.” Said Arcaea.
“And how do you deal with it? How have you spent your time off this week?” Asked Kurai while giving Arcaea a drim-eating grin.
“I actually spent some of my time at the archives.” She said without taking her eyes off of Raven.
Both Kurai and Janette raised their heads in surprise.
“Wait what?” Asked Kurai.
“Yeah, what? I didn’t see you there.” Said Janette.
“The archives are surprisingly large.” Explained Arcaea, watching as the male moonlet dval got dragged out of the pit, leaving a bloody trail in the sand behind him.
Raven opened a jug of what Arcaea assumed was water and took a long sip from it.
“What were you reading about?” Asked Kurai.
“I was educating myself on her people.” Said Arcaea, again without taking her eyes off of Raven.
“The sunborn?” Asked Janette.
“The valkyries.” Arcaea corrected.
---
Raven finished gulping water and started stretching for the next opponent they’d send her way. Her wrapped fists were covered in somewhat dried blood at that point. The wounds she had sustained during their last job had healed over nicely, replaced by faint scars everywhere except on her forehead. That one had been particularly deep and so the scar was much more visible.
“Ladies and gentlemen.” she heard the familiar voice of the pit’s proprietor announce. “It looks like we only have one more fighter brave enough to fight The Raven. I give you...The Clawed Banshee!”
Out of the open doorway opposite her she saw a beast emerge. No, not a beast, a varg. But much larger than any varg she had ever seen. Clearly female, she stood nearly three meters tall, had brown and gray fur, pyramid-like ears that pointed straight up and long hair that was braided down her back. Fierce claws extended from each finger, long enough to easily tear her head off.
Raven cracked her knuckles and smiled. “This’ll be interesting.”
---
“Her fighting name is ‘The Raven’?” said Kurai and laughed. “She should have gone with The Wayward Valkyrie or something like that.”
“I think she’s trying to hide the fact that she’s a valkyrie, Kurai.”
Kurai’s smile faded as she checked to see if anyone had heard her say that.
“Wait, she’s not gonna fight that thing, right?!” asked Janette with a motherly panic in her voice.
“That thing is a female varg and from what I know she’s pretty vicious.” explained Kurai. “Although it hardly seems like a fair fight with Raven completely unarmed. At least she can use her powers.”
“No she can’t.” added Arcaea who had noticed that Raven carried no nilshards on her person. “But I guess she likes the challenge.”
---
The Banshee knelt down grabbed some of the sand from the ground and rubbed into the fur of her hands. She then looked up at Raven.
“It’s not too late to back out.” she said in an almost lementful voice.
“Just kick my ass, will you?” said Raven impatiently.
The Banshee shrugged and a second later lunged towards her, one giant clawed hand swiping at Raven. Raven darted back and then pushed herself forward once again and managed to slip past two of the Banshee’s clawed swipes. In one swift motion she stepped on top of her opponent’s thigh and propelled herself up pushing a flat palm into the Banshee’s throat.
There was a pathetic yelp but Raven then felt her opponent’s claws tuck at the back of her sleeveless shirt and then she was thrown back at the wall of the pit. She hit the ground and quickly looked up to find her opponent clutching at her throat, trying to catch her breath. This is my moment.
She ran forward without an inkling of mercy in her heart. The Banshee saw her approaching and took a defensive stance. Raven, using her momentum, jumped up with a flip a little earlier than the Banshee had anticipated and thus was slightly out of reach from her clawed strikes. She arced up above her opponent and managed to land on her shoulder.
Without wasting any time she caught hold of the Banshees braided hair and began pummeling the varg in the face with her clenched fist. Blood started spurting out of her nose and mouth with each blow. She just needed to get a few more hits in and she was confident she would be able to knock her out before…
Suddenly there was a flash of pain and three crimson streaks appeared on her left shoulder. She raised it again, aiming to continue her barrage of punches, blood spilling out of the fresh cuts as she flexed her muscles, but she felt a meaty hand grab a hold of it. She tried to pull it back but was suddenly pulled forward with great force. For a moment she tumbled through the air and a split second later she felt her back impact into the pit’s walls again. I need to land on my feet, she thought, or I’m torked.
Her entire body was rocked with pain but she forced it to twist and spin mid-air so she could land on at least one leg. And it was working. But the moment her toes hit the ground she felt an overwhelming force hit her torso, slamming her into the wall, a distinctly lupine smelling furry surface pressing against her face.
It took her a moment to realize that the varg had charged her and basically body slammed her back into the wall with full force.
She heard the Banshee laugh in a half growl and a second later she stepped back, letting Raven fall to the sandy ground. The bleeding and bruised sunborn took a deep heaving breath before she felt a clawed hand grab hold of her throat and begin to lift her up. The crowd roared with excitement.
Raven wanted to use her powers so bad right now, but refused to even entertain the notion. For she knew all too well what the consequences would be if she did.
The Banshee pulled her closer so she could get a closer look at the desperation in Raven’s eyes.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” she whispered and then she opened her jaw, bearing all of her fanged teeth.
Raven felt her heart lurch. She was actually gonna bite off a piece of her.
Sheer panic and survival instinct kicked in and as the toothy maw drew closer to her face she shoved her right hand into the varg’s mouth and down her throat. The banshee’s narrow slitted eyes suddenly grew twofold as it dawned on her what Raven had done. She closed her jawn and Raven felt the teeth sink into her shoulder but she had no time to react to the pain.
Instead she seized the moment and jammed her bleeding left hand into the Banshee’s eyes. There was a muffled, gargled howl of pain and then Raven felt the banshee’s jaw let go as she fell down to the floor and saw bloody vomit erupt out her opponent’s mouth. She could feel the sand rubbing into her open wounds but closed her mind to it and quickly scampered towards the Banshee’s left leg, took a split second to adjust her aim, and then punched her right, puke-covered, fist into the knee at the perfect angle and with enough force to pop it.
There were some more gargled howls of pain as the Banshee fell to the ground. Raven slowly stood up, took a deep breath and then jumped into the air. She had done this move plenty of times. In fact she had last done it with the urthog. Only this time she wasn’t able to use energy from the Void to fuel her strength. Instead she had to rely on gravity to do the work.
Her body gracefully spun in the air and she fell back down towards her opponent. She brought her feet together and essentially landed on the back of the banshee’s head, launching it towards the ground and knocking her out.
There was a moment’s silence before the crowd erupted into cheers once again. Raven stood there trying to catch her breath when she looked up and spotted her friends.
---
Arcaea, Kurai and Janette waved at her.
“Was any of that legal?” asked Kurai.
“Nothing in this establishment is strictly legal.” answered Arcaea.
Arcaea kept her eyes on Raven, analyzing her every move with the utmost interest.
---
“That was quite the display, Raven.” said Mr Beringer, the proprietor of this seedy underground fight club. “You never cease to amaze our customers.”
Mr Beringer had the typical bluish gray skin of the moonlet, with two horns rising up from his forehead that matched his skin tone in color, but his eyes and hair were jet black. Raven wasn’t sure if this was natural or if there was some magic involved but to be honest she really didn’t care.
Standing behind the casually seated Mr Baringer, stood a golem. A soulless construct made of metal which had been forged into the shape of a person and brought to life by magic. Tirelessly it stood over him, observing all of them. Ready to pull out a blade and kill them at the slightest hint of malice. This was Mr Baringer’s personal bodyguard. It’s name was Fluffers.
“You know me, Mr Beringer. That’s what I live for.” said Raven in a monotone.
“Your friends look feisty too.” said Mr Beringer as he looked over her shoulder at her three companions. “Hello there, Arcaea.”
“Evening, Mr Beringer.” replied Arcaea.
“Thanks, but most of us aren’t exactly fighters.” said Janette.
“I might come back and do some betting, to be honest.” said Kurai.
“Well, in that case you know where to find us.” He then turned back to look at Raven. “You’ve gotten yourself healed up properly? You took quite the beating down there.”
“Your healers did their job, thank you. I just need my money and then I can get out of your hair.” said Raven in a flat neutral tone of voice so as to not offend but still seem assertive.
“Of course, of course. That’s a hundred lerings for each fight and another hundred for remaining undefeated. One of these days you’re gonna go down and it’s gonna be ugly.” said Mr Beringer with his usual squirmy smile. The thick scent of his cologne filled this part of the chamber.
“That’s what I’m hoping.” she said, finally allowing herself to smile and even give him a wink.
Mr Beringer paused for a moment and then laughed. “You sure are crazy, valkyrie.” He let the silence hang for a moment afterwards. Clearly he was privy to all sorts of information that wasn’t public knowledge. “Come see me if you need some work. That goes for your friends as well. They seem the capable sort. You four are always welcome in The Seedy Underbelly.”
Raven nodded first at Mr Beringer and then at Fluffers, who remained there motionless. She then began ushering her friends out towards the exit.
“Let’s get something to eat, I’m starving.”
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