Stronger Together chapter 223

Yang was laughing at me. Which hurt, but not nearly as much as my  skull currently did. I glared at my cackling girlfriend in reproach but  that just seemed to set her off even more, and she slumped against the  wall of the tunnel, literally unable to stand from laughter. "Oh gods,  that jumping headbutt where you grabbed his horns. You looked so  stupid." Her mockery was hurtful, and also not helping my splitting  headache. Luckily it wasn't a visible injury, I'd just bruised the bone  on impact with Kelthrak's hard head. No wonder those horns could support  my weight, he had a skull lie stone.

I surreptitiously  rubbed my forehead again with a wince as Malachi stood around behind us  looking annoying and smug as was his usual expression. "Ok, first of  all, I won my fight, and people cheered. A lot. Second of all that  headbutt was cool." I was kind of annoyed, I figured my wild brawler  would appreciate that manly display of pure unfiltered masculinity. She  loved hyperviolence, and an all attack fight with no blocking was  totally her thing. I'd been expecting at least a good job if not  outright swooning. Unfortunately, telling her this did not stop the  laughter.

She was red in the face and actually down on her  hands and knees pounding the sand with a fist. "Oh, god, please, stop,  I'm begging you." She laughed for a few minutes before managing to  gather her wits and speak. " You just looked so dumb. Just because I  love fighting doesn't mean watching my boyfriend stand around and get  hit like an idiot is hot to me." She stood up, still chuckled and  approached to held me over to the wall. I'd been standing in the middle  of the tunnel but clearly she could tell it was hurting me.

She  sat down next to me in the sand and leaned against me. The grains were  finer in here and less sharp. I was sore as hell, but my increased regen  was already patching me up, and it was mostly bruising so I wasn't  worried. I had my aura cranked and that helped, my force aura  specifically seemed to be useful here, something about flooding my body  with raw power just really amped me up. O flopped my head weekly to the  side to look at my girlfriend. We'd had that discussion after we had  sex, Yang and I had been dancing around it for a while and finally just  decided to got for it. Having her here was all that kept me sane, and  having her WITH me definitely helped with that.

She stared  back at me with her now violet eyes, and they reminded me of Raven, who  I'd been trying not to think about. I wanted to talk to her, about home  and the girls and just life in general, but this wouldn't be the place  even if Malachi wasn't here, so instead I said "So, any ideas how long  until my next match? If it's too soon I'll have to lean into magic more  this time." Honestly I might need to anyway, I'd gotten way too into  that fight with Kelthrak and hadn't noticed how banged up I was getting.

Yang  nodded. We talked to one of the other corner men who came by during  your fight. You were third up, but you got to skip the elimination round  so you have one more fight and then the finals. Chances are good you're  going to be up against angel boy or the red chick next round, though  I'm guessing it'll be succubus girl. The big cheeses will want the star  attractions in the finals, so they'll probably put him against the other  winner in round one, probably the other goldie." I smiled at her use of  my name for them.

She was right  of course. After maybe another hour or two I was called up for my next  match. I'd spent the time healing up and was almost as good as new and  when I stepped out onto the sand, Alleshara was already out and waiting  for me. Apparently she got called first this time, which I assumed meant  she did way better in her first bout than I did. They seemed to like  calling the underdog last, which was fine with me. I strolled out over  the sand until I got to a spot about ten feet away. I waved casually and  smiled "Hi there, nice to meet you."

The  friendly thing worked out last time so why not give it a try. I was  surprised to receive a kind smile in return and a wave of her own.  "Hello. It is nice meeting you as well, though I wish it were under  better circumstances." She seemed...nice. Kind of soft and withdrawn but  not cold or angry, which given what I'm sure her life had been like I  would have both expected and understood. "I hope you take care in our  battle, and please do try to surrender early, I'd hate to kill you by  accident when you seem so nice."

Ignoring  how deeply sad it was that saying hello to her and telling her it was  nice to meet her was her bar for nice I took the warning as it was  intended. Seriously. She wasn't blustering. Her soft, sad smile was  earnest. Honestly I almost didn't want to fight her. She had a soft,  pretty face and kind eyes and long silky black hair. Her body was as  thick as the other succubi I'd seen, especially around the hips and ass  and she had a long slit up each side of her black dress to allow for  movement. She seemed sad and lonely and despite being careful of tricks  and illusions I kind of wanted to just give her a big hug.

She  waited until I got into position, her warm golden eyes watching me, and  when I gave the all clear she just smiled and the whole fucking world  exploded. That wasn't a euphemism either. I had my lightning aspect  active so I saw it happen in front of me before the first one went off. A  single ember of crimson light in the air, growing brighter and brighter  inside a very small bubble, and when the bubble popped...boom! About  eight of those popped up around me in the span of and instant even from  my point of view and I poured power into my Aura to tank it.

Luckily  I had gotten great at cranking my Aura, and it was more than quick  enough to intercept some of the impact. Sadly not all of it as the  explosions sent me flying backwards and skidding across the very sharp  and jagged sand. Even my skin was scraped up, and I winced as I climbed  to my feet. I activated my magic eye, and then I froze. Fireflies.  Millions of fireflies flitting around us, not actually there yet, just  magical seeds that could be used to invoke those explosions. I raised an  eyebrow. "Wow, that's really impressive. You can spawn an explosion on  any of those seeds? That's a scary power no doubt."

She  gave me another kind smile. "Thank you. Honestly it isn't a power  though, it's an affliction. It's called fragmentary aura. Succubi with a  fragmented aura lack the ability to channel motion to others, we're  considered cripples. Fragmented auras flake off and float away in the  wind, and with just a speck it's impossible to focus something like lust  or desire through the aura." She smiled gently and held out a hand, and  one of the little fireflies alighted on her finger. "The fragments are  unstable too, so you cant use them as spell focii for more than a second  or two before they burst., I was told at a very young age I was  worthless to anyone."

I  nodded sympathetically. "But you clearly aren't. You worked out a way  to make your birth defect work for you. Those explosions are crazy, and  there are millions of those firefly things. Not to bad mouth my buddy  Kelthrak but you you're hands down the scariest person I've fought since  I got to this city." I clapped my hands, bouncing up and down a bit to  get my blood pumping. "Anyway, we shouldn't be dragging this out, got to  give the people what they want. You ready for this? Because you're  scary enough that I'm going to be coming in hot."

Her  wide, genuine smile almost shocked me, and once again my heart broke. I  couldn't imagine being so disdained that basic friendliness seemed so  special. She nodded and her face took on a serious look, which mine  mirrored as I got ready. I cloaked myself in the lightning aspect, then  the wind to cut down on drag, then I tried a new ability and wrapped my  feet in force amplification Aura. With each step the increased energy  would help me pick up speed. This was my fastest form.

Then,  I charged. Alleshara's eyes widened and she called out to her  fragments, pouring power into the tiny lights and causing them to grow  and explode. I'd like to say she never got me, that I avoided ever  blast, but that would be a lie. She did get me, and more than once. I  managed to mostly train myself with her pattern and get the explosions  behind me, propelling me forward instead of back. I charged through the  exploding sparks being tossed about like a leaf in the wind as I drew  close.

But  draw close I did. I got past all her bombs and got right under her guard  and slammed a fist into her gut. I expected that to be the end of the  fight honestly, she struck me as a long range operator but my fist met  surprisingly tough flesh when I got in close. Her hand lashed out and  smashed into my face, the fireflies collecting around it and combusting  on impact, sending me reeling away in shock. She followed up, throwing  punches wreathed in tiny glowing motes of light that exploded when she  hit me.

I  blocked her blows with my godsteel arm, wincing, but I returned a few of  my own too, and we fought like that for a while. Unlike my fight with  Kelthrak this wasn't a slug fest, we used plenty of technique here, but  in the end, what cost her the fight wasn't a move, it was an  observation. When she closed in and threw a punch that I took on the arm  I lashed out with my own blow and there was much more give than normal.  I realized she was using the motes to cushion my blows somehow, but she  could only do it when she wasn't using them offensively.

It  wasn't exactly a guide book to beating her, but it gave me what I  needed. For the next ten minutes I beat that girl mercilessly. I baited  her out and returned every hit with a punishing strike usually to the  ribs or stomach, and as we fought she started to groan a bit. She tried  to hide it, tried to keep her cool under pressure, but I could see the  toll it was taking. She was hurting and this wouldn't last much longer. I  could absolutely win this quickly if I could just find the right  moment.

And  then the hole in her guard opened and I pounced. I dropped my metal arm  enough for her to notice and take the bait and she threw everything she  had at my jaw to finish me, but I was expecting that. I rolled my  shoulder to deflect a bit of the blow and took the rest on my upper arm  as I handed the punch right back to her. One strong blow to her jaw and  the kindly explosions mistress went down. When my firs hit she dropped  like a sack of potatoes. This time I didn't gloat, I just picked her up  to take her back to her gate. She'd done a damn good job.