Hearts of Darkness

Manami would be lying if she said there wasn’t some blind luck to all of this.

Styx had been digging into her hard and hitting lightning fast. The hits caused her head to bang roughly against the concrete beneath her, rattling her skull and numbing her mind with each blow. Between that and the pain pulsing from head to toe across her whole body, getting her bearings was difficult, to say the least.

So when she heard the giant cry out on top of her, Manami knew she had her chance. Not a beat was missed. The strikes stopped, the wrench went flying, and Styx fell to the side. After a moment, the wolf let out a heavy breath she’d been unconsciously holding on to. She let her eyes glaze over to the side to see if she’d managed a knockout. No such luck, unfortunately.

As expected, Styx was too hardened to simply go quietly.

But that was fine. Manami considered herself one of the best in the entire world when it came to crushing her foes. Not defeating them. Not beating them. Crushing them. Completely and utterly dashing their hopes for a reprieve, wiping out whatever traces of dissent lingered. All she needed to do now was to seize that opportunity in front of her.

Flipping herself onto her stomach, the Wolf Girl used her good arm to push herself up and slowly crawl over to Styx and straddle her waist. Her primal instincts took over the instant she looked upon the woman’s perplexed face. Her hands seized Styx’s throat, tightening the grip on her windpipe as best she could. She poured every ounce of energy into making this hold as excruciating as possible in spite of the damage to her body. The burning pit in her stomach was set ablaze. All she needed to feel now was the last gasp escape her adversary’s lips.

“Now, it’ll be over soon.”

Yomiko Nanakase was having a bad day.

It hadn’t started out that way, mind you. She’d just woken up, put on her stripes, came to work to referee a few house matches. Nothing special. That was the great thing about being an official in the AFW: compared to other promotions, you were rarely roped into anything too dangerous. Heck, since so matches were No DQ or hentai, most of her the time she was just running around the ring, avoiding the wrestlers until one of them came. Easy.

But today just had to be special. It just had to have River Styx coming into her life. Now, she was in this room, trapped with two psychopaths - or sociopaths, Yomiko wasn’t sure what the difference was - while they tried their damndest to maul each other. It was horrific, like being trapped in a slasher film, and it looked like it was coming towards the brutal climax that it only really could.

The two maniacs had been going back and forth for a while, and they probably would’ve fought for eternity if their bodies allowed it. They didn’t. As it turned out, they were human after all, and the fight was grinding them down to a nub. Now Styx was on her back, Manami was on top, and Yomiko had a decision to make.

The Wolf Woman or whatever she was called had her hand around Styx’s meaty throat, choking the life out of her. The bald brawler was thrashing about, fighting hard, swinging her limbs around in a vain attempt to hit Manami in the face...but it wasn’t happening. They were both spent, but she was just a little bit moreso after taking that blow to the head, and the steady stream of blood from her forehead was a clear indicator.  This time, she wasn’t getting up. This time, she was done.

The question was how done. This was the sort of thing that referees were around to stop - a wrestler going too far, doing serious damage to another.  She could bolt, yes. That would be the smart thing. But the right thing? Not so sure.

In the end, her conscious got the better of her, and she tepidly stepped forward and tapped Manami on the shoulder, as Styx’s efforts continued to wind down. [b]”Excuse me? Um...I think she’s done.”[/color]

Manami wasn't entirely sure where she was right now. Everything had gone white. Nothing made sense. All she knew for sure was the heat. Everything felt hot. Every muscle, every fiber of every tendon was on fire. It was as though she were burning from the inside out. It was a sensation she hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

Then she felt something on her shoulder. A tickle against the skin. A bug? An insect? For a moment, she was brought back to reality and it seemed her assumptions were correct. The referee was tapping her shoulder, trying to tell her that the bout was over. All the Wolf Girl had to do was release Styx and stand up, as light-headed as she was. Her opponent wanted a fight, and she had gotten it. That’s all there really was to it. There was nothing left but to let the referee call the match.

But she didn't. Though she hadn’t realized it, Manami had already crossed over the threshold. Her mind had split, cast adrift on a sea of agony and torment. Her opponent was still fighting. Still struggling. Therefore, the wolf was still struggling right alongside her. She existed to destroy her enemy. No hesitation. Nothing less.

Besides, it was to the first knockout. Not almost-knockout.

She bared her teeth, reared her head back as far as she could...

“RGH!” ...and threw it back down.

The crack of their skulls reverberated throughout the entire room. What felt like a heavy gust of wind fluttered and dissipated between the two bodies. Manami’s eyes stayed locked with Styx’s the entire time, not blinking for an instant even after the collision. Whether that hit had done it or not, Manami didn’t care to check. Styx was finished. There wasn’t any doubt in her mind. The wolf simply composed herself, letting her head slide back up as the echoes from the impact faded into the ether. She stood up on her own two feet, turned around, and gave the referee a firm backhand slap.

“Don't ever...touch me...again…”

She shivered. A gasp escaped her lips and, all at once, her sense left with it. They left her mouth and expelled into the musky air. Her vision blurred as her head swayed left and right before her body fell limply to the side. Seems that shock was just one too many.

River Styx was officially the first woman to make the Wolf Girl collapse from exhaustion. Hope she felt good about herself.