Chapter 135: Chapter 127: All-out brawl

The arena became engulfed in chaos and violence. Hine leaped at Tiny, missing the other woman by the hair. Two mighty paws crashed into the stone ground. Tiny responded with an uppercut that slammed against the wolfkin’s jaw, shattering some fangs.

Hine threw up her paws, throwing dust into Tiny’s eyes. The moment the other woman hesitated, Hine was already on her, grabbing Tiny by the shoulders. She slammed her knee into Tiny's stomach, kicking the smaller fighter out of the air. Tiny leaned forward, coughing blood. Hine let go of Tiny, raising both paws over her head, grasping her paws together. Aranea frowned, seeing the hammer-like hit that came upon Tiny’s neck.

Come on, Tiny, you can’t let her lead any longer! Aranea bit her lower lip, seeing her subordinate smash her nose against the stone floor. Tiny writhed against the stone floor, jerking her entire body in agony. She was defenseless. Vulnerable. And Hine would show no quarter. Aranea stood up, seeing how the wolf hag lifted her right leg to bury Tiny’s head into the stone.

Before Aranea could make a move, Tiny charged forth, propelling herself with two open paws against the stone. She slipped beneath Hine, turning her own body in the process to look up at the opponent. Tiny’s paws closed on Hine’s right foot, not allowing it to come down. With both her legs, Tiny slammed Hine behind the left knee, sending the woman face down.

Tiny never hesitated, climbing over Hine and locking her legs into a bear hug. Aranea saw how rope-like muscles bulged on Tiny’s arms, visible even through the fur and her green shirt.

"Giving up?" Tiny asked once, bleeding from her nose and face.

"Screw y…" Hine shouted, feeling her legs about to crack under the pressure.

Tiny had pressed her own feet right above Hine’s knees, grabbing the woman by the ankles and pushing down with all her might. Hine’s howl of pain turned into squeals when her tibias snapped, the skin cracked, showing the white bone beneath it. The wolf hag smashed her face into the stone, wordlessly admitting her defeat, and Tiny let go of her instantly. Tiny grabbed Hine under the armpits and threw her off the scene to the medics. The smaller wolfkin trembled, and a strap popped on her shirt as a result of the power’s reward for this victory. With a happy smile, Tiny searched for a new opponent.

Annie overpowered her own opponent, dislocating the woman’s legs and arms masterfully. Hearing the woman’s admission of defeat, Annie fixed the dislocated bones, gave the woman a pat on the back, and stood up, nimbly evading hits from her next opponent.

There was no reason or pity left anywhere in the arena. Whole groups piled on each other, rarely allowing for a full duel to play out. One moment, Carty was fighting against a wolf hag from the Alpha team, another moment, a new opponent jumped on her back, trying to choke her out. With excellent professionalism, Carty leaned forward with all her might, throwing the wolfkin behind her into the opponent before her with the strength of her neck alone. Spreading her arms wide, Carty let her opponents stand up, smiling and basking in the cheers of others.

Sonya moved around the arena, never once stopping in one place, never engaging in any long-lasting conflicts. The moment someone before her got distracted, she would strike at the throat or at the jaw, knocking out the opponents and moving on, evading those who tried to get to her. Aranea understood the reason behind her strategy. The wolf hag fully embraced this place as a battlefield and now tried to inflict as many huge losses on the enemy as possible, faking her weakness while she was thinning out the opposition.

Danulka abandoned two wolf hags on a bloody floor, standing on the belly of one of the opponents. Her eyes found Annie, and the wolf hag spread her shoulders, standing on all fours. Silently, she walked toward the warlord, trying her best to hide her presence from Annie. All of a sudden, one of the lying bodies behind her moved. Ultis, who had painted herself with the blood of several downed fighters, turned on her back, grabbing Danulka’s leg and breaking it with one violent twist. The wolf hag tried to turn around, struggling to keep her claws sealed. She blinked away tears of pain, and a mighty kick landed on her shoulder, followed by a grab that threw her out of the arena.

Slowly, the gray stones of the arena started to turn red with blood. The medics looked at the all-out brawl with stone faces, disgusted by the cheers of the wolfkins around them. On the screens, similar situations happened all over places, the challenges went all out, kicking, punching, choking, and tearing at each other.

Bogumila walked around the perimeter of the arena, punching anyone and everyone in her path. She was ripping chunks of flesh off the fighters, leaving broken and bloodied bodies behind her with the mere touch of her oversized fist. If someone was unlucky enough to fall before her, the wolf hag simply walked over the fighter, breaking whatever bone she stepped on. Her attack had no form or style; depending on her mood, she used wide swings and short, economical punches. There was little rage behind her eyes, simply restrained boredom.

A wolf hag jumped on Bogumila’s back, grabbing the thick neck in a chokehold. The woman simply stopped, folding her arms across her chest, while two scouts did their best, punching and kicking at her torso furiously, and the wolf hag tried to choke out the massive woman. Finally, Bogumila sighed, smashing aside both foes before her and grabbing the arm that tried to choke her out. The wolf hag screamed in pain, a simple grab had shattered her arm like a wooden branch. Several bones slid from underneath Bogumila’s thick fingers, followed by a surge of blood.

Without a halt, the woman turned around, grabbing the wolf hag by the head.

"No!" Aranea shouted, jumping off her place and landing at the arena’s edge.

She barely had the time to soften the incoming headbutt with her own paw, feeling how blood appeared on her good paw. Holy Spirits, she is strong. She had caught Bogumila’s head at the start of the swing, before the woman could start accumulating speed for the dooming impact, and it still hit far stronger than most trucks could.

"You are not a contestant," Bogumila lifted one brow, looking jokingly at the warlord, "Why are you here?"

"This is your kin, you dolt!"

"It won’t kill her…"

"No, but you will pop her eyes!"

"What’s the big deal?" Bogumila asked in genuine confusion, "I have an artificial liver after the warlord clawed away mine. Are you one of those religious weirdos…" She rolled her eyes, feeling a blow against her spine from one of the contestants. "Fine," She quickly gave the wounded woman to Aranea. "Gentle time. Remove yourself before I carry you back to the table."

Aranea allowed the massive woman to keep on with her rampage, giving up the wounded woman to a nearby medic. She was taken aback when she noticed a green plant emerging from a stone floor.The plant lived just for a second before withering down and disappearing before her very eyes. Confused, Aranea walked back to her seat.

She had noticed a few shamans looking at the wolf hag with disapproval, annoyed at Bogumila’s words. The shamans snorted, deciding to let it slide, and returned to serving food and refreshments to the spectaculars. This was one of the customs of the Wolf Tribe for the New Year. On this day, the shamans took on the roles of male servants and polished their dedication to the tribe through a show of genuine humility.

"Just wait for the next bloody Challenge, will you?" A claw stopped an inch from Aranea’s eye.

"I will not let our people die or be maimed, Alpha," Aranea forced herself to sit steadily, looking directly into the massive claw before her crimson pupil, "Punish me however you want, but if anyone else will be at risk, I am jumping in again."

"Aranea…" The knight captain started to stand up.

"It’s okay, Keyl. Please stay out of this." She stopped him with a paw, feeling Scorpio’s look on her.

Alpha let out five deep breaths, calming down. During the New Year, no violence was allowed among the tribespeople, save for what was happening during the Challenge. It was a time of letting go and trying to become a little bit of a better person: "Sorry, warlord. I and Valerye have the situation under control. No dying tonight. Hekanta! Give me sedatives, I am getting angry again."

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"This can be bad for your heart, warlord… Alpha." The bald woman corrected herself under the warlord’s gaze and quickly prepared a bottle with pills.

"Now that would be fun!" Alpha laughed hoarsely, grabbing the whole bottle and swallowing it whole, ignoring the medic’s worrying scream.

"Barbaric," Talsi frowned as she saw Ultis tackle another wolfkin and land the woman on her head. The iternian shook her head, reaching out for Aranea’s bleeding paw, "At least your kind are no longer killing each other like before."

A plant slithered from underneath the woman’s sleeve, coiling around her wrist, growing a blue flower that enveloped Aranea’s torn skin, quickly soothing pain with some strange pollen. Shortly after, Aranea felt a desire to scratch her wound. Resisting this urge, the warlord felt her skin moving underneath the flower, healing under the Lifecrafter’s strange power.

"Now, now, Talsi," Paride smiled at Larry’s cheering on Annie after she threw another woman off the platform, landing a scout right on a table, "We were even worse at one point. You said it yourself: Today’s Challenges are less cruel. The Wolf Tribe is growing up, like we are."

"I know. It’s just sickening to see this show of pointless violence."

"Broken bones heal rather quickly among my people," Aranea took away her paw, seeing a fresh skin without a hint of a bruise instead of the injury. "And this is our way of bonding."

"Everyone has their own traditions," Talsi sighed, standing up, "I'll go help treat the wounded."Paride, be a honey, and tell me when I win."

"If you win, my dear." He smiled back at her, "I’ll join you after the Challenge."

"Keep an eye on Larry, instead!"

Aranea turned to look at the arena, just in time to see how Ultis sneaked up on Velka, who was busy pounding another woman into unconsciousness. Alpha only grunted admirably, seeing how Ultis’s punch, aimed at the back of Velka’s head, met only air, and the scout rolled to the side, facing the opponent.

"Ultis! It’s been too long!" Velka laughed happily, lunging at her opponent and grabbing her neck in a chokehold.

"You could’ve called, you know!" Ultis laughed back, slipping out of the hold.

The scout attacked with a low kick, driving Velka back a step. Ultis charged at Velka, intending to force a close-quarters fight during this brief respite. Velka obliged this desire, turning to the left and taking the first three blows on her left arm, blocking them rather than attacking back.

At a fourth blow, the scout made her move, striking a blindingly fast straight uppercut with her right arm at the same time Ultis was moving back her own paw after a punch. Velka timed her attack perfectly, hidden from Ultis’ eyes, the mighty paw struck her under the lower jaw, followed by a quick jaw with a left paw.

The scout took a step back, blinking tears from her eyes. Velka had no intention of letting her recover, following after her with the intention of landing a swing with her right against Ultis’ lower jaw.

"Fool," Alpha said, seeing how Ultis grabbed Velka’s arm mid-swing, hitting the scout against the temple with her own elbow, "Ultis excels at faking things."

"Not that it helps her." Aranea noted, after Ultis, still holding Velka’s arm, landed a low kick against Velka’s leg.

Her prediction came through. After the initial shock and the sheer difference in build between the two wolfkins, Ultis lacked the strength to knock Velka off her feet. Instead, it was Velka who pushed Ultis onto her back, landing a crushing elbow hit against the woman’s chest. Ultis spat out blood, and Velka immediately rolled aside, checking the dent on the body of her friend.

"Shit, was it too deep? Ulti, can you breathe? How many fingers do you see?"

"Vel… When in the name of the abyss’ lightless depths, had you become so strong?" Ultis laughed through the pain, taking Velka’s paw to stand up.

"You weren’t half bad yourself, Ulti!" Velka laughed, touching a weld on the left side of her head and checking a bloody bruise on her leg.

Ultis pointed at someone behind Velka and limped to the arena’s edge, admitting her loss. Velka turned around just in time to lift her arms in an attempt to block the incoming attack. She had enough sense to try and dodge the massive blow, and this was what saved her from being KO'd.

Bogumila’s punch tore a good chunk of skin from Velka’s left forearm, exposing wet meat beneath. Velka grinned her fangs, dropping low and landing a kick against the massive woman’s knee. With the same result, she could’ve tried to kick down the fortress's gates. Bogumila had completely missed this kick, stomping with her left leg.

Once more, the attack merely touched Velka’s skin, this time on her leg. And once more, the sheer speed and force behind the stomp were enough to tear a fist-sized patch of skin and fur off her leg, leaving the scout cursing and retreating while Bogumila’s leg sank into the stone ground all the way to the knee.

"I hate one-sided matches. Teaming up?" Carty inquired, landing behind the scout and placing a paw on her back.

"Sure thing!" Velka swallowed nervously, seeing how Bogumila tore her leg free from the stone.

"No matter how many fleas gather, the result will be the same. Show reason and step off the arena," The wolf hag told them, spreading her arms wide. "Or attack me however you want, and I will show you the true meaning of one-sided domination. The choice is yours."

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