Holy shit, this had taken a sudden turn to the macabre.
Izuku watched in complete shock as below, one of his closest friends fought against the seemingly invincible Lizard woman.
In terms of speed and offensive power, Mina was clearly superior. Tokage was strong enough to crack the concrete, but Mina's acid, her own strength, and a much higher speed than the lizard meant she was making literal mincemeat out of the woman with every bout, not having to hold back at all, making an enormous difference.
Unfortunately for her, brute force wasn't going to win this fight. Tokage just completely regrew any damage Mina dealt her, almost immediately.
That, along with her ability to just split herself apart and control her body mid-air, also made a massive difference, as once in a while, she managed to get in a lucky blow.
A scratch, a punch, a kick.
It was obvious that her plan was just to wear Mina out. And that plan was working.
However, Izuku could see that it wasn't her physical damage that was taking the biggest toll. No, that would be to her mind, as Mina was clearly not taking being dumped in blood, and having to fight over literal guts on the ground.
She was going into shock, he could see that clear enough. Her entire body was shaking in a way that didn't really line up with the damage she had taken so far. Her face was a mask of someone who was trying desperately to hold it together. But it was the eyes that really sold the story.
Mina's black and golden eyes, usually calm and sly, were now frantic, wild, desperate. Accentuating that, she was panting, hard and repeatedly in quick bursts.
As he stood by the rails, looking down, hands clenched around the caved in rail just as he had with Uraraka, Izuku somehow managed to work through all the horrified comments and whispers around the stadium to focus exclusively upon the arena, where Tokage once more managed to get in a hit, this time, closing around Mina's left and with a bite.
---
Mina did not scream. Instead, she punched Tokage in the face so hard, that her jaw was ripped clean off.
The pain in her arm was striking, then went dull.
As she once more put distance between the two of them, she almost slipped at a set of intestines but caught herself.
She got back into stance, that boxing stance her mom had drilled into her so diligently that it had become part of her blood. Arms up, to guard, ready to punch, or launch a surprise kick.
The smell was all-consuming. It was like the blood was seeping directly into her mind. It was everywhere, filthy, rotten, all-consuming.
Her eyes darted down on herself, where she was absolutely drenched in the foul, thick red liquid. Then she caught herself, and her eyes went up again, to look at her foe.
In comparison to her shaking, panting state, Tokage was relaxed, calm, completely in control. In spite of the fact that all the blood that was covering her, was her own blood, not Mina's.
"You've never seen a dead body at all, have you Kitty cat?"
Mina just shook her head. She didn't want to talk. She didn't want to give the blood more chances to seep into her mouth.
"I'll admit that's kinda surprising. Considering who your mom is, I kinda expected her to really go to town with her training. But I guess Japan isn't filled with dead corpses anyone can stumble unto."
Mina didn't answer, just holding her stance. It wasn't that she was physically tired, quite, on the contrary, the beating she had taken now was nothing compared to the harder training sessions she'd had with her mom. It was just that she felt… Numb. All over. It wasn't just her mental state either, her entire body was beginning to feel numb.
The lizard grinned.
"That numbness, by the way, isn't just shock. My bite is poisonous you see."
Mina startled.
"It's not fatal by any means, but you're soon gonna be feeling Really bad. You might say you'll be feeling… Catatonic."
Normally, Mina would probably have groaned or rolled her eyes at that pun, a good-hearted smile on her face, or she might have made it herself. She liked puns. Usually.
Right now though, all she could focus on was that feeling of dread, of fear bubbling in her stomach. The fear of understanding she was about to lose.
that was bad. Really, really bad.
She had had the lesson that you could never, ever give in to fear. You had to face fear head-on. Because the moment you gave in to that fear, that was the end.
How the hell was she gonna get out of this?
What… What was the conditions of victory again?
It was getting hard to think. To focus.
And all the while, that smell still permeated through her nose, digging into her mind.
What the hell did she do now?
"No response? Don't tell me poison is working THAT fast? Well, don't worry, you'll get to deal with it in the sick room soon enough. I just gotta throw you out of the ring first.
Right, throw her out of the ring.
That was the only way to win.
How the hell could she do that, when her enemy could literarily keep her body parts frozen in midair?
Once more Tokage sprung forward, this time aiming at her with an overhead slam of her tail that cracked the ground beneath where Mina had just been and sent blood covered stone flying.
A claw shot out, and once more, Mina burned it straight off. And just as several times before, another green fist slammed into her from behind, knocking the wind out of her and sending her flying.
This time she only barely managed to avoid going out of bounds.
She forced herself to her feet, once more turning to face the green lizard woman, who nonchalantly regrew her severed arm.
Mina glanced down at the now lifeless Han. Then she froze.
A solution shot into her head. An obvious solution. Having now seen the way forward, she acted immediately, grabbing on to the chance to end this, with all she had.
Mina shot forward, with a speed that would have made even her mother at her peak proud.
Tokage, nonchalantly, brought forward a hook, which hit an arm covered in acid, turning it to a bloody paste.
But the actual attack was another hit in the back, making Mina scream, as sharp claws dug into her.
She didn't stop though. Instead, she grit her teeth, and brought her acid covered hand forward in another swipe, once more cleaving Tokage in half.
The reptile sighed.
Then, before she could regenerate her lower half to replace the now lifeless lower half, Mina grabbed that lower half, and with a throw, she sent the lower body flying out of the arena.
Silence followed.
Then "Tokage Setsuna is out of bounds. The winner is Ashido Mina."
Tokage just stood there dumbfounded, as Mina stood there, panting, still absolutely covered and caked in blood.
"...Shit. Holy shit, I should have seen that. Huh. Oh well. Congrats on the win Ashido." She gave a wave, and a reptile grin, then simply turned and walked out of the ring towards the exit.
...
Mina made it 9 steps inside the corridor, before she fell to her knees, and began throwing up. Hard.
She kept puking up her guts for about half a minute. Then, a short break, before she kept puking.
As she tried to recover, just breathing, she felt a hand in her shoulder. Weakly looking up, she saw a kind, womanly face, long white locks going down around it.
Her mom didn't say anything, just offering her a hand to help her get up.
She took it and didn't argue when the much taller woman put an arm under hers to help her walk.
"Let's go get you cleaned up, then straight on to recovery girl."
"Y-yeah…"
As they walked through the corridors, her mom continued.
"You did really well out there. Most people would not have managed to hold it in before they got out of the arena."
Mina was about to reply, when Izuku came around the corner with some speed, clearly having run down here.
He had an absolutely worried look on his face, and Mina felt blood rush to her cheeks, despite it all.
Great. Just what she needed. To be seen by Izuku, covered in blood, weak, and carried by her mom.
Izuku absolutely froze as he saw her, then 3 seconds later he blinked, only then realizing that Mina wasn't alone.
Before he could say anything though, her mom cut him off.
"I'll handle her kid, she needs a shower, and that's not something you can help with. You can talk to her after your next match, speaking off, you should probably go prep for that. I don't think the next fight will last that long."
Izuku's mouth was open for a moment like he really wanted to object. But he thankfully didn't, and just replied with a nod, then, stuttering telling Mina she did a great job, before finally moving on.
She could feel his eyes on her back all the way until they passed the corner though.
"... Thanks."
She simply grunted and remained silent until they reached the room for the showers.
...
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