The Smiling Demon

It was an all out brawl.

No rules, and no stopping until someone was left unable to fight. A fighter couldn't even concede defeat.

Windy made absolutely sure that Sara understood this part of their contract. After all- the audience was here to watch people brawl until they earned their victory through blood, sweat, and tears. To have a victory just handed to someone, would have left their patrons suspicions and unsatisfied- and if the Club couldn't satisfy their customers, then how were they going to stay in business?

A brutal fist slammed into Sara's stomach, and then pulled back slightly, before immediately rushing upwards into an uppercut. The momentum from the first punch had knocked Sara back a step, but she was luckily able to tilt her head far enough that the uppercut only grazed her.

The left hook that followed however, landed perfectly.

Sara stumbled back another step, her ears ringing from the hit while her cheek felt hot and tight, as if it was already swelling.

The distant screams of the audience clawed into her ears as well, and this left Sara temporarily disoriented as she tried to focus past the noise in her head.

But even if she was disoriented, that didn't mean that Sara was going to allow her opponent get free hits in. Sara turned and immediately flew into a forward roll to escape her opponent's reach, and she did another one as soon as she landed.

She ignored the screams that called her a coward.

Though the rolls left her a little dizzy, Sara quickly re-organized herself, and then turned to face her rushing opponent.

They were both standing in an empty pit that was bigger than any of the fighting rings that Sara had seen on TV. In fact, the setup of the warehouse reminded Sara more of an arena from the gladiator era then a boxing ring.

The room was shaped like a coliseum, with the pit surrounded by high walls that led up into the spectator stands. They had both entered the arena though doorways in said walls, which had then proceeded to seal shut right after they had walked through them. They would not open again until the end of the match. The scorekeeper and commentator also hovered above them on a platform that had been lowered from the ceiling.

And so, if one could ignore the noise that surrounded them, then one could almost say that the two of them were completely isolated.

Her opponent's nickname was 'The Smiling Demon'. An odd name to be sure, but Sara could agree that it was accurate.

The woman across from her had long red hair that was pulled up into a high ponytail, doe-like brown eyes, and cute freckles across her face and shoulders. She should have looked adorably innocent- but the perverted smile on her face completely dominated all of her other features.

She almost looked deranged as she ran at Sara, her pupils blown wide like she was drugged, and the sight of such mania had Sara's own lips twitching into a small smile.

Sara could admit, privately to herself, that she wasn't exactly being as aggressive as she could have been. It wasn't her style not to retaliate, but Sara couldn't help but indulge in testing the limits of her new body. Testing how it processed pain.

Her opponent's style was all over the place, though she did seem to favor moves that were powerful- even at the cost of allowing herself to get hurt. She didn't really jab or feint, no, it was a full frontal assault that she would see through to the end, even when being attacked.

Sara couldn't help but wonder just how high she had set her ability to feel pain- because it seemed like she felt nothing at all. Like the bite wound on her shoulder had been a tickle, and her bleeding cheek was simply an everyday thing.

Sara was lucky that there were no rules in this arena- because she had always been taught to fight as dirty as possible.

Her Uncle taught her that there was no shame in fighting dirty. After all, if someone comes at you with the intent to do you harm, then your first priority should always be to protect yourself and get out of the situation as soon as possible.

Making sure that the enemy couldn't retaliate afterwords was also a bonus.

Sara dodged the right hook aiming at her unharmed cheek, and knew that she would have felt disappointed if the Smiling Demon really couldn't feel it when she crowded close to the other woman, and stomped down on her knee.

Sara brought her to the floor, ignoring when the Smiling Demon tried to desperately bring her down as well by punching her repeatedly in the thigh and knee.

Sara would have felt cheated if the girl under her didn't gasp out in desperation when she yanked on her pretty red hair in order to force her head backwards. And then Sara punched her in the throat in order to crush her trachea.

Sara's arm pulled back, ready to punch again to ensure that she destroyed her opponent's ability to breath- but then her face blanked of emotion. Sara's fist hovered awkwardly in the air as she stared down at her moaning opponent.

The woman's perverted smile had widened, and her teary eyes were sparkling as they looked up at her. She almost looked like she wanted Sara to pull her hair harder.

...

What… what the f*ck?