image [https://i.imgur.com/d9NWFDQ.png]

Carmen stepped out onto the ring and prepared herself for the upcoming fight. As she looked forward, Carmen saw an extremely buff and brawny man enter from the opposite side. His body was incredibly rotund and muscular at the same time, having a flabby stomach alongside his massive arms. The sheer size of his shoulder muscles caused his neck to disappear, causing his head to awkwardly settle above his chest. Once his eyes met with Carmen's, he began to smile and drip saliva from his thick lips.

“Mmmmm, I’ll be sure to keep you alive long enough so your body can still be warm inside after.” He said with disgustingly lustful eyes, clearly undressing Carmen in that moment. Carmen winced at his words and glared at him, firing her up to no end.

“Allllllright, ladies and gentlemen!! Are you ready for the next match!?!?” Koga interjected with a loud, screechy yell.

The crowd responded with an earth shattering cheer, their excitement shaking the ground.

“Next up we have Byron the Butcher versus Petra!!! Byron is making his triumphant return to the DHCL after missing the last three tourney’s with an injury! He may have been out of the loop for a bit, but make no mistake, his forty-five and twenty-eight record shows just how formidable he is!!!” Koga said, getting the crowd pumped up even more.

“As for Petra, well… This’ll probably be the last time we see the rookie, but let’s hope she puts up a good fight at least!!”

Koga’s quip caused the crowd to laugh and boo at Carmen, still having no faith that she would win against someone as strong as Byron. Carmen sent an annoyed glare towards the crowd, growing more irritated after every expletive yelled at her. Byron simply stared at her with am eager smirk.

The countdown started and after ten seconds, a loud ring echoed across the arena. Carmen wasted absolutely no time, quickly conjuring up her gravity manipulation and lifting her opponents off of the ground. Byron couldn’t move a muscle as he quickly rose to the top of the cage.

Carmen released him, causing Byron to plummet towards the ground in dramatic fashion. Once his large body made impact, the arena floor cracked and crumbled in all directions, shaking violently. Large amounts of dust and debris was kicked up, quickly filling the cage and lowering visibility.

With the levels of destruction that just occurred, Carmen assumed that she had just captured her second victory, however a massive chunk of tile flew towards her with incredible speed. She quickly dodged out of the way as it blasted into the caged walls.

The dust cleared and there stood Byron in all of his muscular glory, bruised and scuffed up from his fall. The amount of anger on his face was terrifying, showing a multitude of veins and blood vessels as he scowled.

“What an exciting start!!! Byron did not expect that at all!! What other tricks does the rookie have to show us!?!?” Koga yelled, watching the match with unending levels of excitement.

Byron reached down and lifted up another piece of the floor, this one doubling the size of the previous one he threw. Even though the tile weighed hundreds of pounds, Byron picked it up with relative ease. As he prepared to toss it, Carmen sprinted forward, increasing her speed with each step taken.

Byron firmly planted his feet into the ground and threw the debris at Carmen like a javelin. It raced towards her with great precision, slightly breaking apart as it cut through the air. Carmen focused her Core Energy outward and just as the piece of tile got within her vicinity, it exploded into many pieces in all directions.

“What!?!?” He yelled out with great surprise as his attack had no effect against her gravity field.

Within a few seconds, Carmen had entered his space. He swung his meaty arms around with aggressive force, punching at her in all directions. Despite his efforts, he missed all of his attempts as Carmen weaved around his blows with skillfully nimble movements.

She eventually found an opening and focused her gravity manipulation to her leg, increasing its weight and density to incredible heights. With one swift movement, Carmen kicked his kneecap from the front, cleanly breaking his leg in two. The loud pop echoed with a brutal cadence and the pain caused Byron to drop to the ground, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Carmen quickly followed up by making herself weightless, leaping into the air. Once she reached her peak trajectory, Carmen increased her weight tenfold. She plummeted downward with her fist extended and punched Byron on the top of his head. Her fist rippled across his meaty scalp, digging in deeply and shattering the floor from the heavy impact.

The blow knocked Byron completely unconscious as his face was now partially buried under the debris. After a brief pause, the match buzzer played, prompting the crowd to go wild with cheers. Carmen slowly stood up, panting heavily as she looked at the bright lights all around her.

“OH MY GOODNESS!!! Talk about a surprising chain of events!!! The rookie has defied the odds again!!” Koga yelled, punching his fist downward as though he were trying to imitate the move Carmen had just performed.

“I wonder just how far the rookie will go tonight!! Let’s give it up for Petra!!!”

Koga clapped along with the crowd, grinning greatly while the loud cheering continued. Now that she had won two matches, the crowd was slowly starting to warm up to her.

When Carmen stepped away from Byron, the guards rushed in and retrieved his body, loading him onto a large cart. The other guards escorted her back to the waiting room.

The night continued on and Carmen had fight after fight, making her way deeper into the tournament. She fought all types of Vestas, testing her abilities in ways that she had never been tested before.

Eventually, Carmen made it to the semi-finals after a grueling twelve match gauntlet. At this point, she was absolutely exhausted and throughout the many matches, Carmen endured quite a few minor injuries that had started to add up. Carmen looked like she had just been through war.

'I don't know how much more of this I can take. My body feels like it's on fire.'

She sat at the table and rubbed the bruises on her face, grimacing from every stinging touch. Suddenly, the waiting room doors swung open and guards were carrying someone away. Carmen looked over and saw a man with his head cleanly cut off, it resting next to his lifeless body. Her eyes went wide and she immediately felt sick to her stomach as he bled all over the floor.

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Carmen quickly realized again that this place was incredibly dangerous and not some game where everyone could walk away freely from. Her hands shook as the nerves began to kick in again, knowing that she could possibly face that reality head on. Once she tried to get those bloody and grizzly images out of her mind, her name was called.

She anxiously made her way out to the arena and what she saw was sickening. The arena floor was covered with blood and guts from the previous match. The bits of skull fragments, ripped skin, and torn muscles was something out of a horror show.

‘What the hell happened here!?’

Carmen tried her best not to vomit while she walked towards the center. She glanced up and saw her opponent patiently waiting for the next fight to begin.

The woman standing there had a fairly slender and lanky build with multiple piercings across her face. Her deep red hair was incredibly messy and matted, as though she had never washed it a day in her life. She playfully licked blood off of her chapped lips, slightly smearing her black colored lipstick. As Carmen’s gaze lowered, she noticed that the woman’s hands were also covered in blood, staining her pale skin.

“The first semi-final match is about to get underway!!! We have Lydia the Berzerker versus Petra!!! It’s no surprise to see Lydia make it to the semis for a second week in a row!!! She leaves a wake of bloody destruction with every fight and her record of forty-eight and seventeen is evidence of her great power!!” Koga yelled out, giving high praise to this skilled Vesta.

“And my oh my, what a surprise Petra has been!!! Folks, we might be witnessing a new star in the making!!! She’s gone through fourteen matches tonight and has prevailed in them all, absolutely unheard of for a newbie!!! But can she make it to the grand finals?? Let’s find out!!!!!” He yelled, pointing towards the hologram and signaling the beginning of the countdown.

The match began and Carmen braced herself before Lydia rushed her down with immense swiftness. The difference in speed was incredible compared to everyone else she had fought up to this point. Lydia swiped her hands as though she were a feline, holding her fingers out like claws. Carmen barely dodged out of the way and quickly created distance between them.

However, even though she clearly moved in time, Carmen was suddenly sliced across her chest. Three bloody gashes appeared along her bosom and upper stomach, pain suddenly radiating throughout her body.

‘Huh!!? There’s no way she still hit me!’

Carmen clutched her bleeding wounds with an expression of bewilderment upon her face. She looked up and saw Lydia showing a crazed smile as she licked the blood off of her fingers. The disgusting gesture sent shivers down Carmen’s spine as she got to her feet.

Carmen quickly extended her gravity manipulations range, forcing her Core Energy outwards in impressive fashion. However, to her surprise, Lydia had already begun her counter attack. She was behind Carmen in mere seconds, seemingly unaffected by her gravity field. Carmen’s eyes went wide as she dodged out of the way again, Lydia’s slash barely missing.

Carmen landed and rolled along the ground, still not understanding why this woman was so fast. Once she got to one knee, the same phenomenon from before happened as a deep slash raced along her back.

‘Argh!! I don’t understand her ability at all.’

Carmen felt the blood trickle down her shoulder blade, providing subtle warmth to her exposed body. Unfortunately, without any form of warning, Lydia was on the offensive again. She rushed towards Carmen on all fours, sprinting like a cat in an open field. Lydia swiped and clawed at Carmen with unending aggression, her scratches seemingly delayed after each contact.

Carmen tirelessly tried to escape this woman’s attacks, flying up into the air to get away, but her efforts were useless. Lydia followed by leaping into the air as well and continued her assault, sending razor sharp slashes at Carmen from all directions.

Lydia’s speed at this point was impossible to keep up with and Carmen had no choice but to take on the brunt of the attack. Lydia finished juggling her prey, and with one last powerful swipe of her claws, Carmen plummeted towards the ground.

The dust eventually cleared and there laid Carmen, her outfit now incredibly ripped up and her body covered with bloody scratches. She panted heavily as she stared up at the lights above, pain radiating from every inch of her body. She desperately wanted a moment of respite, but Lydia was already on the move again, scratching the air above her.

Carmen mustered up what little strength she had left and quickly rolled out of the way as invisible razors sliced up the ground below. Had she laid there for a second longer, she would have been cut in two with ease. Carmen slowly got to her feet once Lydia landed, still staring at her with that crazed smile.

Carmen glared back with her red eyes until she noticed something peculiar about Lydia’s hands. Even though they were stained with blood, her fingertips were the only things dripping with blood. She looked closer and saw that the spaces above her nails had bits of her outfit stuck on them. It seemed as though Lydia's attacks were coming from something above her fingers, something not visible to the naked eye.

“Hmm, I wonder…” Carmen quietly muttered.

She then decided to decrease the range of her gravity field, focusing it to be incredibly close to her body so it could perform like invisible armor. The gravity above her skin became impossibly dense, causing what was left of her outfit to flatten against her.

Before she could finish her prep, Lydia was on the offensive again. Lydia dashed with lightning quick speed and swiped at Carmen’s side, aiming for a kidney kill shot. However, the moment her hand connected with Carmen’s tight gravity field, Lydia’s fingers were crushed and gnarled from the immense amount of pressure surrounding Carmen’s body.

It was as though Lydia had tried to claw through a steel wall with her bare hands, not holding back an inch of her strength at that moment. Lydia screamed out in pain, looking at her mangled fingers pointing in impossible directions. When she stumbled backwards, Carmen could finally go on the offensive.

She walked towards her slowly, exerting her Core Energy outward. Her gravity manipulation began picking up nearby pieces of debris and carried them along as she got closer. Lydia looked up with a pained expression, her hands now completely broken and useless.

With a single thought, Carmen sent all of the debris flying towards Lydia at an incredible pace. The rocks and arena floor fragments connected with a brutal explosion, causing the arena to be filled with dust and smoke. Seconds later, Lydia emerged from the cloud by leaping upwards to dodge the attack. However, this was exactly what Carmen wanted.

Once Lydia reached the top of the cage, she froze in the air. Carmen had captured her within an extended gravity field and as she exerted her power, Lydia’s body was squeezed tightly. She screamed out while her bones began to snap and buckle under the intense gravitational pressure.

Carmen mustered up as much power as she could and finished Lydia off by throwing her into the furthest cage wall. She crashed into it with great force, causing the cage to rattle violently from the impact. When the dust finally settled, Lydia was laying there unconscious, her body incredibly broken and limp.

The buzzer sounded off and the crowd immediately erupted into the loudest they had been all night. The match had entertained them to the absolute max, so much so that Carmen couldn’t even hear herself think from all of the loud cheering.

“Petra has done it!!!! The rookie has done the impossible and made it to the grand finals!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!” Koga yelled out, losing his mind over what he had just witnessed.

Carmen panted heavily, clutching the wound on her chest tightly as she made her way towards the exit. She was more than eager to rest in the waiting room.

“This has been an exciting night of matches and I am honored to have been your gracious host!! But, enough about me, who’s ready for the finals?!?” He asked, doing a little jig to get the crowd even more amped up.

Moments later, the guards came and took Lydia away, but to Carmen’s surprise no one escorted her to the waiting room.

“Wait, what?” Carmen muttered, wondering why the doors didn’t open for her.

She looked around with a confused expression until her next opponent walked into the arena on the opposite side.

He was a tall, bald man with a toned and muscular build. This man's body was absolutely shredded and accenting his muscles was a large lion tattoo painted across his chest. He wore fairly loose fitting sweatpants that were tattered towards the bottom. With each step he took, his bare feet loudly slapped against the stressed arena floor.

The man stared at Carmen with a fairly blank expression, not having much of an opinion or care about her. However, despite his rather indifferent demeanor, he exuded an immense level of aura she hadn't witnessed all night.

Carmen let out a nervous sigh as she glared at her opponent. She was beyond exhausted from her previous match and even though she desperately wanted a break, this place clearly wasn’t going to allow it. Her heart began to race as she wondered what was in store for her during the final match.