First Battle - The heat of combat

Theme - Independence for Violence

Orochi felt her saliva thicken without her demand; her blood pressure and temperature rose, her heart danced to the tune of a nonexistent song, and the rhythm affected her whole body. Her being adopted this fictional rhythm in her mind, from the muscles to the bone marrow.

She stepped inside the arena, where her first friend stood. She changed but was the same as before in her heart. The heartwarming smile of a close companion. The smiling face she never forgot, the one who helped guide her and walked the long path with her.

They were there to decide fate, a fight for Orochi’s future and strength. A strong gambling— “You are on the ring— let’s start!” Her friend leaped from her position, and the ground beneath her feet exploded to propel Rui upward. She spun midair, her hammer gained momentum like a falling star, and her body descended like a meteor.

Orochi knew she couldn’t withstand this first blow; she couldn’t afford to get too hurt at the start. ‘I can’t be reckless.’ She can’t stand still and endure the pain. It won’t do, so she ran. She ran away, and with her hydra head and legs, she kicked and headbutted the ground.

The ground gave away easily underneath her before it solidified like a hard shell. As Rui landed on the ground, spikes sprouted from it, from random spots and directions, a chaos of pikes and pointed endings. They were to stab and render movement rather than going deep into the flesh.

Rui knew she couldn’t extend the fight. Orochi had the advantage the more the fight went on. ‘She has the advantage on the ground, but she can’t use her quirk around herself too much, lest she gets hit by the collaterals.’

The albino girl smiled, a spark going through her brain. The tune inside of her intensified. It went as fast as the frantic beats of an excited percussionist on the drums. She was worried and scared, but the beat didn’t die inside of her.

Like a flame flickering in the storm, the light threatening to dim in a dark night, she was fearful and terrified of loss and the fight; however, because of these concerns and worries, her body felt as light as ever.

Adrenaline released through her body, emotions clashed, and feelings broke down to reassemble again in her heart in stranger patterns. A cocktail of sensations she never felt before. Fear and excitement made her both weak and stronger.

Contradictory emotions that propelled her forward into this fight. It made her aware that she can’t be conservative if she wants to win.

She has to be reckless and mindful simultaneously. A paradoxical state of mind and posture. Ready to attack and defend herself at the same time.

It should be easy for someone with three extra limbs, yet Orochi felt unease about the prospect. Can she do it? Outspeed Rui’s quirk and get into the CQC range? ‘I have to try.’ Sweat fell from the top of her neck to the tip of her Hydra heads’ snout.

Orochi placed her tails before her like a shield. “Here I come.” Her heart pulsated in her chest. Like the massive and destructive solar pulses, it was like a loud explosion echoing in her chest.

Her thick “tail” muscles contracted, and they expanded to cover more area. Orochi fell like an ominous white star. The thoughts that took a small eternity in her mind were done in less than a few seconds.

Precious seconds she hadn’t wasted. She fell; her “tails” hit the spikes, and they shattered in a cloud of dust. Gashes and bruises on her Hydra heads’ bodies appeared because of the impact against the stone, but they disappeared soon after.

Rui widened her eyes in surprise. Orochi came like a bull seeing red, at full speed with her Hydra heads like a shield ready to bash.

She hit the hammer against the ground. A wall of stone appeared. Orochi shocked her body against it. The wall shattered, but Orochi’s momentum halted. It was the chance Rui needed. She swung her hammer again, aimed at Orochi’s chest.

Rui knew she couldn’t do meaningful damage against Orochi without a bladed weapon, but if she hampered her breath, it would be enough to buy time to seal her “friends”. ‘I grew much, Orochi. I’m not the same clueless brat you defeated all those years ago.’

Orochi was slow. She had a different center of gravity than anyone else. She carried three thick and heavy tails of muscle and some bones. Compared to her body size, they were too big and heavy. It was the main reason why she couldn’t be as fast as her thin frame could go otherwise.

The Orochi she knew couldn’t avoid this hit. Rui was sure of it. “HISSSSS!” Out of nowhere, her middle tail jumped in the way of the hammer’s head. Its emotionless black eyelidless eyes stared into hers.

They were incapable of emotion and couldn’t do as much as blink, but Rui felt something different in these eyes. They were like Orochi’s. The Orochi of the past. Stubborn and determined.

They shouldn’t be able to convey emotions, yet Rui felt its determination despite the circumstances. Its head clashed against the hammer, its skull carved in by the hammer’s impact, but bounced back into place less than a second after the attack.

The hammer stopped. From Orochi’s right, she saw the other head, coiled back. It awaited, observed. It wasn’t attacking aimlessly like an extension of Orochi’s limbs. Meanwhile, the left head acted as it should.

It attacked recklessly, without much thought put into it. Rui spun her hammer, the handle placed between the left head’s mouth, blocking its attack. As for Orochi— A red fist clashed with Rui’s stomach.

Rui felt her chest tingy and cramped, Orochi’s fist sunk into her belly. It wasn’t as hard as Orochi could go, but she needed Rui to stay close to her. If any distanced herself, she would regain the advantage.

It was what Orochi thought. Rui gave a strained smirk, and the ground beneath their feet shifted. It tried to drag Orochi into it. A fraction of a second for Orochi to realize it was all that Rui needed.

She kicked the ground in a backward jump. The soil beneath the Hydra girl’s feet solidified with them inside it. Before she could break her feet free, Rui swung her hammer again. She aimed at the farthest point of the middle head to not give it a chance to protect Orochi again.

Orochi gritted her teeth and raised her arm. She threw it against the hammer. Bone crunched, and muscles snapped against the impact, leaving a nasty purple-red mark on Orochi’s forearm.

Orochi moved without delay; her feet ruptured the ground that held them, and she advanced against Rui again. “This! Won’t even wait for your arm to regenerate?!”

Rui exclaimed. Instead of retracting her arm for it to heal, her friend kept it against the hammer, locking metal and flesh against each other.

“Never!” Orochi slid forward. The sound of bone crunching and flesh shredded against metal sent a shiver through Rui’s spine. She felt the pain and agony of Orochi through the hammer’s vibrations.

Her friend had a strained smile. For all her endurance and stubbornness, she wasn’t immune to pain. She felt it in full, but her regeneration closed up the wounds quickly, and the pain was momentary.

It didn’t mean the pain wasn’t there. It made Rui feel miserable to hurt her friend like that, but she knew Orochi was unstoppable otherwise. ‘I can’t make it easy for you.’ It was a trial to earn back everyone’s trust. Orochi has to conquer it through pain and sweat.

Orochi’s right tail identified an opening and latched itself forward, its maw open wide to grab a bite out of Rui. The middle stood close to Orochi, not abandoning its defender role.

The left one tried to attack relentlessly, but it was predictable. Truth be told, at that moment, Orochi wasn’t in control of them. She lost control over two of her Hydra heads the moment she stepped inside the arena.

It never happened before, but she can’t dwell or think about it, not against an opponent like Rui. Everything in this fight, in this moment, felt like a pile of dominos falling. Before Atsushi could close the distance further. Rui moved her hammer down.

A stone pike rose from between them, forcing Orochi to make a hasty retreat to avoid being hit by it, while Rui stood at a comfortable distance.

Her left tail got it in full; her right retreated as hastily as Orochi. Blood sprouted from the left tail’s “throat”. She didn’t waste the chance. Orochi shook her tail from left to right, spilling blood over the arena and towards Rui.

Her friend made a stone wall alongside the spike, and the blood was blocked with ease. Her Hydra head mended itself in less than a second. ‘I don’t know what happened with you, middle and right, but keep up the good job.’ If they can fight on their own, they can help.

Orochi's heart throbbed with adrenaline. She waited for a second to see what would be Rui’s next movement. It was a big mistake on Orochi’s part. Rui rushed forward; the wall fragmented like a rain of knives projecting forward against Orochi.

Many cuts ran through her body, some deeper than others, and some took longer to heal because of that. Worse yet, Orochi put her arms forward to protect her eyes and face; she couldn’t afford to hurt her eyes in this battle.

The cloud of shrapnel made the rushing form of Rui almost undetectable amidst the fragments’ veil. Her hammer hit Orochi on the ribs, and a loud impact echoed as blood rushed to Orochi’s mouth. The food she ate at the party quickly burned to mend the damage instead of being forcefully ejected.

Rui smirked; with Orochi hit, the fight was close to its ending. It was what she thought. The right Hydra head found another chance to attack, a gap to exploit. It launched forward like a king cobra, and two big fangs jumped from underneath it outward.

Thick venom dripped from them. It bit Rui’s jugular, somewhat aware and “softly” to not pierce in too deep, and aware that it couldn’t kill this prey, lest it angered the “stronger” one of them.

Rui’s eyes widened as the Hydra head retreated, its mouth open in a resemblance of a “smug”, as far it could smug with limited muscle control. Rui felt her shoulder numb, and her arm started to lose strength.

Her body felt the effects of the venom, drowsing. Her heart beat with anxiety now that she was on the clock. Orochi hadn’t recovered yet from the hit on her ribs; this was her only chance to finish the fight now.

‘It is now or never!’ Rui exploited the gap from Orochi’s spasm because of the hit and her regeneration to attack once again. With two steps back, she jumped in the air and descended her hammer at full strength, not willing to risk the fight any longer.

(Left tail perspective)

It saw the furry thing attack the leader. The leader gasped for air; her sides hurt, and the other two creatures felt the pain of the leader. The other two changed, somehow. It didn’t know when, but the middle creature defended the leader.

A red furry thing changed it. The farthest creature got smarter. Eviler, even. It waited to exploit her weakness; it no longer attacked when it saw fit.

She was feeling left behind. The middle one was good at protecting itself, and the attacks of the farthest creature hurt too much.

They no longer acted as the leader wanted. Only she was left to fulfill the leader’s whims. Yet they were the only ones helping the leader. It angered her. She wasn’t the greatest follower of the leader, but she had pride, contrary to those beasts. She can’t be left behind them.

She won’t lose to these foul and dumb beasts. The black furry thing swung her heavy black thing down, to hit the leader again. If those two can defend and attack, so can she. “TAKE THAT!” She rushed to meet the attack and protect the leader.

It was better than those two useless creatures. She won’t accept any other result than her utmost perfection.

The black heavy thing crashed against her head, and half of it flew away. She felt a little lighter. Her body contracted on instinct. She hit the body of the black thing, pushing it away from the leader.

Half of her head grew again. She rushed forward again, to meet the black furry thing, she didn’t back down and kept her pace forward. “RAAGGAAAH STUBBORN! GAAAAH” The black furry thing screamed something.

She doesn’t speak the black furry thing, but something in its roar had a nice ring to it. ‘Stubborn. Me Stubborn.’ Stubborn opened her mouth to chew on the black furry thing's belly.

(Normal perspective)

“YOU LITTLE STUBBORN THING! OUT OF THE WAY!” Before Rui’s attack could connect, the left Hydra head attacked, half of its head blown away in a single hit, but it stopped her hammer’s momentum, and the Hydra head didn’t stop its attack.

Its mouth opened wide, and venomous fangs sprouted. It bit Rui in the left side of her belly, and poison injected into it. Rui stopped in her tracks. Her hammer dropped to the ground. She lost the strength to fight.

Her body was cold. The same sensation of paralysis from years ago ran through her body again. She was fearful of the paralysis; cold sweat dripped from everywhere, drenching her shirt. “No way I’m letting you down.”

Despite her side hurting, Orochi grabbed her friend in her arms, the impact on both her ribs and arm healing quickly. Her anxiety hadn’t stopped; her body still pulsates with fear and doubt, but she won’t back away.

They were fighting against each other, but a friend was a friend. She won’t let them down again. Orochi tried to speak with kindness despite her hurt and storm of emotions regarding this event.

She lost control of her other tail. She doesn’t know what is happening. She wants to puke because of Rui’s hit. The fight barely started and she felt like a mess already. It was like a bunch of small events paying off after so long.

“Tsc. Your other heads got smarter and stubborn if it only applied to you…” Rui whispered, her body leaning on hers. Orochi laughed; her heart like an engine going on overdrive.

Rui felt the heartbeats of her friend; they were loud and powerful. In the end, even if Orochi played a thought persona, she was still anxious and fearful like a child. ‘Like how you were clumsy when talking with others.’

“Orochi… you still have three fights to go.” Rui closed her eyes, enjoying her friend’s embrace. Her body felt heavier. The fangs hadn’t penetrated deep enough to do lasting damage, but enough to keep her out cold for a few minutes…

She can’t seen Orochi’s reaction, but if Rui had to guess, she smiled. They could go freely at each other, no bigger stake in their hearts besides winning. 'I hope you can steel your heart for Umi, Orochi.' The last thing Rui saw was Sasha coming to pick her up

FIRST ROUND: OROCHI’S VICTORY. TOTAL TIME: THREE MINUTES AND FIFTEEN SECONDS