Ravens of Eternity

Chapter 279

279 Freya vs Lucifer, Pt Freya picked herself up and out of the pile of banged up Discordians. She too was bruised and a bit banged up, but far from bloodied. She was breathing heavily, and her body heaved as she drew air in and out of her lungs.

Lucifer had certainly done a number on her, and she felt a great deal of bruising all over her body, as well as a few torn muscles and ligaments. Thankfully, nothing was broken. Like Lucifer, she had used up a ton of energy and reinforced her body. If she hadn’t, Lucifer’s blow would have certainly shattered her bones to pieces.

Thankfully, a few pirates helped break her fall. She hoped none of them were worse for wear. A couple were certainly knocked out cold, though the others she hand landed on began to recover.

She looked back at the octagon, over at Lucifer, who was hirself surprised. Clearly, ze didn’t expect Freya to get up from such a hit. And judging by how labored hir breathing was, she estimated ze had used up a great amount of energy.

Not that ze was out of it – Lucifer looked as though ze had plenty more fight left in hir.

Freya walked back towards the octagon, which utterly confounded the pirates around her. They parted and allowed her an open path back.

She breathed deeply with every step and recovered as much energy as she could. At the same time, she used a little bit to stitch up her body.

It dawned on her that Lucifer had somehow found a way to circumvent Tiamat’s Transcendence. Hir attack was so savage and so rapid that her body didn’t have time to react. More than that, it seemed as though Lucifer figured out something about her, something about the way she reacted, and used it against her.

She had also long since realized that they were clearly at an impasse. Both were matched up incredibly well, and Lucifer was honestly the first who had given her this much trouble in a fight.

.....

Their physicality, techniques, and even philosophies counterbalanced each other far too well.

And as she studied Lucifer’s stance, realized that ze had partially adopted her own to some degree. Did that mean that ze had also struck out impulsively? Was that why Tiamat’s Transcendence went a bit haywire?

It dawned on her that the only way to win was for her to adopt Lucifer’s ways as well. At least, partially. Enough to throw hir calculations into disarray.

Freya leapt back up onto the raised platform, and ducked through the broken mesh wall. A few more titanium links fell as she did so. They fell to the ground softly and joined a few others scattered here and there.

She walked up to Lucifer, though she stayed just out of attack range, then slipped back into her stance.

This time however, instead of tightly balled fists, her hands were partially open, and her footing was a little looser.

Beyond adopting a bit of Lucifer’s fighting style, she tried her best to understand her opponent. Sure, they had fought next to each other, but analyzing hir movements wasn’t good enough. Freya wanted to better understand how Lucifer thought.

She knew ze was primarily a solo, just like she used to be way back in the day, and from there attempted to suss out anything she could use to her advantage. Flying solo meant an incredible amount of self-reliance and resilience, but it also came with multiple weak points.

Solos were prone to attack from multiple angles for one thing. That meant she could lean more into her dances in order to flank Lucifer more. And she could certainly perform more counter throws to shake things up. But those weren’t enough to clinch a victory.

Freya felt she was close to an answer, but couldn’t quite get there.

For now, she decided to test out her theory – would adopting Lucifer’s methods cause her to gain an advantage? If it was true, then she would find the key she needed to attain victory.

She simply had to trust in the process.

“I hope you’re ready for the end,” she said, “because it’s coming.”

“Your end, you mean,” Lucifer replied.

But Freya simply shook her head.

“My instincts tell me you’ve already lost,” she retorted.

“Well, they’re wrong,” ze said. “And I’ll show you why.”

The two of them flooded themselves with the energies from Ascendant Form and True Harmony. It quickly filled the area to the point where many choked on how thick it felt.

And although some backed away from the ring, fearful of the explosive power they wielded, others quickly took their spots and got as close as they could.

Eris and the Ravens had all also scooted closer. They watched with utter trepidation as waves of energy washed over them. They felt Freya’s and Lucifer’s energies rise up further and further, and left them in awe.

The pirate queen especially.

She was a woman who wielded great amounts of power, but nothing quite like the personal strengths that the two combatants displayed. This was her first brush with such tremendous energies, and it was plain for the Ravens to see.

Absolute awe was painted on her face.

Eris knew that Lucifer was far more potent and powerful than ze revealed, but had no idea what hir true limits actually were. Now, she finally had an inkling of what it was. And seeing hir energies – both their energies – at such heights were beyond eye-opening for her.

It made her realize just what kind of potential existed, and her mind immediately began to think of ways to utilize such strength. Not that she necessarily wanted it for herself, or needed it. But it was certainly something that she needed direct access to.

She saw the potential for great profit in it.

The alliance she was about to sign herself into became more and more attractive the more she thought about it. And if Lucifer was successful in getting into the Ravens, it made it that much sweeter.

Even if ze lost, Eris still had access to all of them. That was certainly good enough, but it would be far more profitable if ze won.

Up in the octagon, the two of them leapt towards each other with their energies near the absolute maximum. Their blows caused the entire room to shake and shift as though the ship itself was being pounded by cannons.

Every tremor caused the Discordians’ hearts to quiver in their chests.

Lucifer threw a strong left jab, then followed it up with a swiping right backhand. Freya however blocked both, sidestepped swiftly, then followed up with her own powerful backhand fist.

In response, ze grabbed her wrist moments before it struck hir face, then ze pulled back while ze twisted, and threw Freya with an arm lock. She countered simply by grabbing onto one of Lucifer’s elbows, and flipped hir along with the throw.

The momentum of both their energies caused them to launch each other into the air from the double throw. They both unceremoniously landed in a heap on the ground with a heavy WHUMPH.

Lucifer spun on hir shoulder and kicked out with hir leg while on the ground. In response, Freya flipped up off the ground with her arms, curled up, and spun in the air. She came down and performed an axe kick aimed straight at Lucifer’s head.

Her foot smashed into the padded titacrete just as Lucifer rolled out of the way. The force was strong enough to cause it to crack and split and crater at the point of impact, just under the padding.

Both of them quickly got back on their feet and immediately lunged at each other with incredible speed.

Freya started with a quick left-right jab combo which Lucifer parried and countered with an elbow strike and straight right. This time however, it was Freya’s turn to grab Lucifer’s wrist.

But instead of immediately throwing hir, she turned hir arm outward firmly. Lucifer grit hir teeth in pain as Freya twisted it. Before ze could do anything to recover, Freya came down on hir chest with a powerful overhand right.

The blow was so strong that ze was pushed down to one knee.

Freya immediately followed up with a strong push kick that threw Lucifer on the ground and sprawled hir out as ze landed. Ze slid backwards from the force for a couple meters as a result.

Not that Lucifer stayed that way for long. Ze quickly performed a kip up and immediately lunged at Freya aggressively. Ze threw a right jab which Freya predictably parried, then a swift left hook to get her to duck down.

Lucifer then thrust her right knee upwards towards Freya’s head.

She swiftly blocked it with both arms, and revealed her wrists to Lucifer. Ze quickly grabbed one decisively, and began to twist it up and outward.

However, Freya countered her grab with her own – she reached behind Lucifer’s neck with one hand, gripped hard, and pulled down. At the same time, she brought her own knee up to meet Lucifer’s face.

Ze was forced to immediately let go to protect herself from the counter with a last-second block. Lucifer shoved Freya sharply, and caused her to stumble backwards a step. With that opening, ze hooked a leg behind her, and swept Freya’s leg from under her. The combination caused her to fall flat on her back.

Without skipping a beat, ze came down on Freya with an open palm, and pounded her abdomen painfully.

Freya curled up in pain from the blow, then quickly rolled out of the way as Lucifer brought down hir other palm.

And because ze missed, ze instead struck the padded titacrete with the full force of hir attack. It too splintered and cracked and cratered just underneath.

Freya spun into her own counter and smashed Lucifer across hir face with a perfectly-placed kick. Ze was thrown a couple of meters away into an unceremonious heap.

The two combatants once again found themselves panting in exhaustion as they laid on the padded ground. It was only a second later that the two pulled themselves up and off it, though much slower than the first time, and with unsteady footing.

Sweat poured down their bodies as their chests heaved in and out as they breathed.

Lucifer was completely astounded by Freya. Even though ze had just discovered the path to defeat her, she had almost simultaneously created a counter. Ze shook hir head in utter disbelief.

Was this fate?

Ze shook the idea right out of hir head. Destiny was an ideal inhabited by the wishful weak. Things didn’t happen for a reason – things merely happened. It was up to hir to find hir own reasons.

Lucifer had always been looking for an equal, and now ze found one. That wasn’t some predestined fate – it was calculated. Ze worked hard to get here, to find that person. The understanding washed over hir, and ze knew there was no way ze could lose. There was no way ze would allow hirself to lose.

Lucifer got up with an incredibly satisfied smile and glanced over at the Ravens. It was right then that ze knew that the chances were absolutely in hir favor. Ze simply had to trust hir gut and let hir planning and searching finally come to fruition.

And there was nothing that Freya could do about it.

Freya got into her stance once again and studied Lucifer up and down. They were still in a standstill, though she felt she was on the verge of winning. She had continued to think about Lucifer, about what drove hir, and what potentially ate at hir.

Ze was a profiteer, a strategist, a consummate freelancer in every sense of the word.

The perfect OP solo player.

As she analyzed hir, realized that the solo’s biggest weakness wasn’t their blind spots or their exposed flanks. Like she did long ago, she learned to cover her rear with all kinds of tricks. In fact, throughout the fight, both kept a solid guard on their flanks and rarely let anything slip through.

No, a solo’s real weakness was also their greatest strength. They were alone, all the time.

And it was that disconnection from other people that was their real weakness. Exploiting it was the best path to bringing them down. If she wanted to shake Lucifer up and beat hir, she needed to land a connection that would throw hir entire world upside down.

She grinned evilly as she realized what she needed to do.

Then, she calculated her next few moves, and charged Lucifer head-on.