Conquest Of The Fallen: Dark Dominions

She had no surviving midwife that she knew of. Everyone called her cursed—what with her scaly skin, forever changing body temperature, and huge red eyes. Not to mention her tail. Yep! There was no hiding that one. She did a few jobs in the lower levels of the undercity to survive.

Mostly, she was a circus freak in some wannabe magician\'s show.

But it got better. Or worse, is it?, when she climbed for the first time into the ring.

Her spectators didn\'t give a fuck what she looked like. They didn\'t care for her raggedy slimy green hair which looked like she combed it every morning with a lizard\'s ribs. The grave world of underground fighting only cared for one thing.

Blood.

You could be a damned jaguar with just an ounce of mortal blood for all they cared.

The more animal, the better.

Overlords got payed. She did too. And the crowd got some fucking blood on their faces. Everyone won. Except the poor bastard on the opposite side of the ring, who would always leave her fights in a sodden bodybag.

Mary Atwell, due to her extreme physical abilities destroyed all of her adversaries, quickly rising in ranks from the pits where the cannibals lurked, to the higher but no less bloody heights of the box ring in the Girls Fight Club. No one messed with her. She was the thunder. Lightning, and the fucking thunder.

And for her savage bloodcurdling KO\'s, she became known as Bloody Mary.

This was the brief history of the Flyweight champion Rafel had compelled off a nearby serving girl. He stood currently pacing one of the side rooms in the boxing arena, a hollow cubicle where the fighters were dressed and pumped up by their managers before entering the main hall of a bloodthirsty waiting crowd, and further into the ring.

Rafel was having second thoughts of sending his beloved Chamberlain into the ring with such a literal animal. Bloody Mary was a [Crocodile Girl]. Very few survived her punches. Much less, those razor teeth. Any attack made to her had to be executed with wicked swift speed, with enough heavy force backing it.

"Why the hell is she in the Flyweight division, anyway?" Rafel continued pacing, worry etched into his ruffian looks.

It was the night of the fight. And though he hated to admit it, time had flown pretty quickly since Cora had accepted to be his Challenger. The wrestling overlords of the infamous ring had been informed and right outside on the huge glinting billboard thirty feet in the air, the aliases,

[BLOODY MARY] vs [VIPERA]

[BLOODY MARY] vs [VIPERA]

. . .shimmered in blood-red neon lights.

Giselle was at the moment in the inner dressing room with Cora, having her fitted with her kit for easy movement. Rafel had introduced Corazón to the Queen, and Giselle was more than happy to work her fey magic on the taller girl. Even though Cora had assured Rafel this wasn\'t her first time in the ring, the Hell Lord was still unsure.

Rafel had battled literal Dragons in the arena, sometimes just for the fucking fun of it. HE had done it. Not someone he cared about. Rafel was quickly learning, he didn\'t like caring!

It made his head hurt.

No wonder mortals aged so quickly.

Even now, he could hear the noisome din of the crowd outside, in anticipation for the big game. Two notable names in the world of underground dirt fighting, clashing in a cage match, with no hope for escape save death. It was only normal he worry for his Chamberlain. Cora was a beautiful young woman, with the loveliest snow skin and bluest set of eyes.

He would hate to see Bloody Mary\'s claws tarnish it.

Aya Naamah and Ravenna were also at the event. Ardent supporters of Corazón. They waited outside with the expectant crowd, buckets of popcorn balanced on their laps as fireworks danced around the ring, preparing the spectators minds for a good bloodbath. Rafel knew his succubus slave wouldn\'t miss a good catfight for any reason.

Fighting and Fucking were almost synonymous in her world.

Ravenna de Vries however, he was learning loved to rumble just as dirty.

Everyone from Rafel to his girls and Queen Giselle had bet on VIPERA. A whopping five and half mil. Ravenna\'s weight in gold. Their bets tipped the odds which ranked in favor of BLOODY MARY, eight to one. Whoever so much as put a nickel on VIPERA stood to experience a windfall.

Rafel was still worrying, picking at the fine tufts of his red hair slicked back in a ponytail that gave him the look of a Crime Boss, when the plastic door to the inner closet flapped open. Cora came padding in, Queen Giselle behind her.

Rafel turned to them in his crisp black Hades suit.

"You look divine." He smiled at Cora. "Hey look, so I asked around about Bloody Mary, and the talk isn\'t good. I can call it off, the whole thing! They can send in the fucking chickens. I don\'t bloody care. But you.

. .not you."

Knowing how hard it was on Rafel to express any type of feeling, Cora helped him out. "It\'s alright, Your Grace. I want to do this. I\'m ready. You should know, this isn\'t my first dance with Mary."

Rafel nodded, his amber eyes questioning. But he didn\'t ask.

He looked over Cora, once again. Her short silver hair was kept back in a flat sheen. Her blue eyes twinkled on his when he passed by them, and his gaze dropped to her hands. She had strips of white cloth around her knuckles to her wrists, the kind worn under gloves. Her pear breasts were kept from slipping and sliding by a compact sports bra, and blue spandex shorts completed her ensemble.

The tights ended at her upper thighs, framing her wide hips perfectly. Rafel was in awe, seeing her hourglass figure truly for the first time. So this what was she hid down there in all those baggy boy clothes?

Her bare feet were in the same strip coverlet as her hands.

Vipera was ready.

"You should also know, that Cora here refuses the Fae runes for immediate healing I tried to weave on her. The crowd wouldn\'t even know it was there. It would save you spare seconds of wincing in pain. Change your mind yet?" Giselle said in the dressing room.

Cora shook her head.

"Well," said Rafel. "You may have refused Her Majesty\'s help. But you are not refusing mine." Moving as he spoke, Rafel pulled smoothly a hidden switchblade from the front pocket of his suit jacket. Both Cora and Giselle watched as he flicked out the knife.

Swish! Cold shiny metal glowed in the small area.

"—That woman out there has scales for skin. Dagger teeth. And a fucking large tail. Did you see her tail? Cuz I\'ve seen it. It\'s stupendous.

This isn\'t a fair fight. But I will make it one."

Rafel put the knife\'s blade to his wrist, pulling a straight line over his delicate pale skin. Blood immediately pooled on the slit, fresh and sparkling.

Cora found herself licking her lips. But she shook her head in protest.

"I don\'t need your blood, Your Grace. I can take her on my—"

"Like fuck you need my blood!" Rafel boomed back. "I\'m not letting you get skinned out there because you\'re too heady on being vampiric for a second. This will even the fight. It\'ll take moments to kick in so it will go unnoticed. And don\'t worry, we\'re not breaking any rules. This is a Cage Match in an illegal underground fight club.

There are no rules to break. Now, drink up, Corazón!"

He held up his bleeding wrist to her mouth.

Cora cupped his forearm and lowered her head. Her lips met with his skin and softly her tongue licked at the pooling blood. At his taste, her initial reluctance melted away. She began lapping at his wrist, slurping on his life essence, squeezing his forearm, demanding more.

Cora wondered if she was some closet vampire, and didn\'t know it. Her own appetite for Rafel\'s blood astounded her.

Rafel allowed her a full minute to drink before calmly pulling his hand away. He wiped at her stained lips with his thumb. "There you go, love. Now, Bloody Mary\'s got nothing on you."

Giselle, who had been watching all along was open-mouthed when Rafel\'s slit wrist sew together of its own. There wasn\'t even a remnant scar.

"Just who are you really, Earl?" The Queen sighed into the dressing room.

Just then, a polite knock sounded outside the door and a blonde serving girl peeped her head in. "Donnie says it\'s showtime!"

Rafel nodded, swaying to Cora\'s side as the Blonde shut the door. Giselle carefully unfurled the flashy red cape she had ordered be made for Cora. It was a custom make, and fit her fighter alias perfectly, in its rich blend of crimson and black.

A monstrous V was inscribed in a heavy metal black scrawl behind.

Giselle put it over Cora\'s shoulders and the Challenger slipped her arms in. Rafel lifted his hand, dragging the cowl over her head and leaning in to kiss the top of her head.

"Alright, Vipera! Give her hell!" He chanted, meaning it literally.

The crowd went wild as the Ring Announcer took the stage. They were cheering. Singing. Laughing. Screaming. All sounds produced such a proud noise that it bounced off the many alleys in the city.

Taverns were full of people, as the auditorium was full of crowd. Those without tickets to the match dutifully settled themselves into bar stools around Rank C Mages who weaved spells that brought the game to them.

It was a kind of shimmery large screen that showed various good angles of the ring. In realtime. A LIVE recording. Many pubs across the city boasted one or two of such Mages, looking to make a buck on helping out the people\'s needs.

In the very dome of the host game, the illumination in the auditorium dimmed, the spotlight focusing on the man in the penguin suit who stood center of the ring.

He had a silver [Voice Amplifier] rune dangling off the left side of his head. The crowd quietened their banging as he lifted up his hands.

"Tonight is—"

"YEEAAAHHHH!!!" The crowd roared, excitement firing their bones. They were unable to sit still. Unable to let him finish his sentence.

"TONIGHT," the suited announcer began again. "IS THE NIGHT. The finale of the season. A death duel only seen once in months! Tonight, we have two household names. Coming in from the northern corner of the arena, we have our reigning Champion!

FLYWEIGHT BRUISER! THE REPTILIAN AMAZON! With teeth sharp and long-running as gears on a grinder, biceps heavy and brutal as an iron bat to the head. Give it up folks, for the woman of the hour. A CROCODILIAN SPECTACLE! THE SHE-GIANT!

BLOOOODY MAAAARY!!!"

"RAAAAAARGH!" The crowd went wild.

A trumpeting fanfare and fireworks exploded in the auditorium and controlled flames shot up the corners of the ring, firing in tune to the uptown beat that was near leveling the entire hall.

People were jumping on their seats. The crowd was a wave of heightened emotions.

Anger.

Lust.

Madness.

"RAAAAAARGH!" One man kept roaring.

"YEEAAAHHHH!" Another screamed, veins nearly popping in his head. "BLOOOOD! GIVE US FUCKING BLOOD!!!"

The Announcer was laughing as the infamous Champion began to prance out her corner. There was nothing remotely feminine about Bloody Mary. She was all muscle and scale. She was also seven feet tall. Her toes ended in black claws, and her humongous green tail swished behind her, flogging the air with whooshing sounds.

In their seats, Aya turned to give Ravenna a look.

"Shit. That\'s no woman. That\'s a fucking beast."

She was right. Bloody Mary\'s face was scaled up to her forehead. She took off her swamp-green cape as she entered the ring and hefting herself onto the lowest of the ropes, she deftly sent out a shrill roaring.

"RRAAAAGH!" In her open mouth was a dentition that belonged to the body of a reptile. Straight deadly incisors. All of them.

"BLOODY! MARY! BLOODY! MARY! BLOODY! MARY!" The chanting made the walls shake.

The Announcer let Bloody Mary step down to the ring before he began again. "And over here in the southern corner, emerging a black widow from the shadows of Hel itself, we have a returning Legend. A true Greatest Of All Time!

A time spent away from the arena behind her, she is returning to the Ring in vengeance and fury, to claim what was lost to her years ago. I\'m sure you all know her, for she needs no introduction. She is the POISON IN YOUR VEINS. THE TERROR THAT MAKES YOU SCREAM AT NIGHT! HIDE UNDER YOUR BED! SHE IS LADY COBRA!

THE VIXEN VENOM. HOLD ON TO YOUR JAWS ON THIS ONE. I GIVE YOU, VIIIPEERAAAAA!!!"

Aya Naamah flew out her seat in that instant, yelling the loudest. "FUUCCCKKKK YEEAAAHHHH!"

Patrons in the hall were literally skyrocketing out their seats, leaping up to get a better view as everyone was screaming and jumping. One thin man had tears leaking out his crazy eyes. He tore at his clothes. "I love you, Vipera. I FUCKING LOVE YOU!"

"VIPERA! VIPERA! VIPERA!"

It was a complete standing ovation.

Rafel was amazed. Humans were after all surprising.

Just before Cora dashed for the ring, he patted her back in a caress. "Get her, Champ!"

Roaring followed her red cape all the way into the ring. She didn\'t hop on the ropes, or yell. The people were doing it for her. And Cora briefly thought the building might just collapse on all of them. The introductions were over. As the prim Announcer slinked away, there was a hastiness to his feet as he rushed for safer grounds.

A grating sound accompanied the crowd\'s frenzy as the huge chain box began to lower onto the ring from the dome above, imprisoning the two female fighters. And the crowd yelled even louder.

The Cage Match had begun.

There was one catch to the fight. The cage tonight was connected to a livewire. Any contact with the gray metal warranted mild doses of electricity.

Everything and anything was intended to incite pain. The Overlords of the underground were sadistic fucks.

Rafel and Giselle settled themselves into the seats Aya had saved up for them just as the bell rang.

[DING! DING!]

[FIGHT!]

A horrible robotic voice called.