Rinnie had seized Carla's waist once more, but this time her strategy had evolved into something far more vicious. Her fists hammered relentlessly into Carla's ribs, each brutal impact sapping the strength from her opponent's retaliatory swings.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The wet sounds of knuckles meeting flesh echoed across the hilltop as Carla's downward strikes grew progressively weaker.
Desperation sparked in Carla's eyes. In an instant, she abandoned her punching assault and switched tactics. Her knee shot upward like a ram, catching the unsuspecting Rinnie square in the face with bone-jarring force.
Crack!
Stars exploded across Rinnie's vision as her grip loosened involuntarily. Blood streamed from her nose, but Carla was already capitalizing on the opening. She shoved down hard on Rinnie's head while simultaneously driving her other knee upward toward her opponent's exposed face.
The crowd held its collective breath as the killing blow approached...but Rinnie's combat instincts screamed to life. She twisted left at the last possible moment, her arms wrapping around Carla's thigh like a vice. Using every ounce of her remaining strength, she lifted Carla clean off the ground before both fighters crashed to the earth in a tangle of limbs.
Even as they fell, Rinnie pressed her advantage. She drove her shoulder deep into Carla's stomach, feeling the air explode from her opponent's lungs. Carla's face went ashen as pain enveloped her entire core.
The impact left Carla gasping and weak, her body trembling from the accumulated damage. Rinnie repositioned herself with predatory efficiency and began raining down hammer blows on her defenseless opponent. But something had changed. Her eyes were scanning the ground with newfound clarity, searching for something specific.
Her eyes sparkled as she spotted whe she had been looking for! A dark stone laying in the ground, an arm's distance away!
In one fluid motion, Rinnie rolled aside and snatched up the rock. The moment her fingers closed around the improvised weapon, picking it up, a ripple of shock ran through the crowd.
Stage 2! Rinnie had broken through!
First Fortis, and now Rinnie both had ascended beyond the limitations of Stage 1 combat. Where Stage 1 fighters could only use their bodies as weapons, Stage 2 warriors gained access to rocks, staffs, sticks, and daggers. And Rinnie, now wielded stone like an extension of her own limbs. Her intentions far from anything gentle.
The crowd erupted into frenzied bloodlust. Their cheers had long since crossed the boundaries of civilized spectating. They wanted carnage, they wanted brutality, and Rinnie was poised to deliver both.
She stalked forward with the rock raised high, her face a mask of savage determination. The stone came down with crushing force against Carla's jaw. She didn't even flinch when she felt her own fingers crack from the impact. All that mattered was ensuring her adversary felt every ounce of the pain she'd endured.
"You want to go to the city, huh?" Rinnie snarled through bloodied lips.
"Let's see you go there with a battered face! You'll be quite the sight to behold, no?"
"Keep laying there while I find some real competition!"
With that vicious parting shot, she turned her fierce gaze towards where Astus and Fortis had been locked in their own unsightly exchange.
***
"What's keeping you so quiet, Horus? Too beaten to speak a word?"
Edith loomed over his friend like an avenging spirit, his fists raining down without mercy. But despite his dominant position, frustration was building in his voice. Horus had curled into a defensive shell, his arms protecting his head as he absorbed each blow with maddening efficiency.
Every few seconds, Horus would lash out with surgical precision, a counter-punch here, a kick from an impossible angle there. His calm was infuriating, his composure unbreakable even under Edith's relentless assault.
"Can't keep up anymore? Where's that wild side of yours now?"
Edith's verbal attacks grew as vicious as his physical ones.
"You think you're gonna have an easy life in the city by being so submissive?"
The taunts hit their mark. Horus's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly, his grey eyes flashing with the first hints of genuine anger.
His friend's words were like acid, eating away at his inhuman composure.
Sensing his friend's annoyance, Edith pressed harder. But that momentary distraction was exactly what Horus had been waiting for. His fist exploded upward in a devastating uppercut that caught Edith flush on the chin.
The world tilted sideways as Edith's vision blurred. But his fighting instincts kicked in even through the daze. He immediately returned a weak punch of his own. Both boys staggered apart, using the mutual recoil to create distance and clear their heads.
Horus rolled away gracefully while Edith stumbled backward, both fighters reassessing their opponent with newfound respect.
Then the drums began to thunder.
Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum!
The low, rapid rhythm cut through the chaos like a knife. Every fighter on the hilltop immediately turned toward the village elders, recognition dawning in their eyes.
More warriors were joining the brawl!
The fighter rankings flashed through everyone's memory:
7th Place: Jenny!
8th Place: Brachus!
Jenny emerged from the crowd's edge, a tall, thin girl with an athlete's lean build. Her eyes sparkled with barely contained excitement as she strode purposefully toward the brutal melee between Astus, Fortis, and the newly arrived Rinnie.
Edith felt his heart sink as he spotted Brachus approaching his section of the battlefield. The short, thick-armed boy wore his light brown hair in a neat braid, and his confident swagger suggested he had no intention of being ignored.
"Stay out of here, Brachus! Don't you dare come any closer!"
Edith's roar carried desperate fury. He'd been so close to settling things with Horus, and the thought of interference filled him with rage.
"Don't, Brachus."
Horus's voice, calm on the surface but carrying an undercurrent of menace that made even the bloodthirsty crowd quiet for a momen, continued. His emotions, so carefully controlled throughout the fight, were finally beginning to show cracks.
Brachus just scoffed, his lips curling into an arrogant smirk.
"Let me in on the fun as well."
For the first time since their battle began, Horus and Edith exchanged a look of perfect understanding. Their personal conflicts could wait. This annoying pest needed to be dealt with first.
Both boys reached for the scattered sticks littering the hilltop. The moment their fingers closed around the makeshift weapons, another wave of shock rippled through the spectators.
Both had achieved Stage 2!
***
Rinnie growled as she saw Jenny enter the fray. She could sense the battlefield shifting, becoming even more unpredictable and dangerous. But fear was a luxury she could no longer afford. Al that mattered now was the intoxicating rush of combat.
Astus dragged himself upright nearby, his arms painted crimson with his own blood and that of his opponents. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, and when his gaze found Rinnie, she saw something that chilled even her battle-hardened heart. His eyes were empty of reason, of humanity, only a mindless craving for carnage remained.
Yet Rinnie felt no fear. If anything, the sight of this broken, rabid creature filled her with anticipation. She wanted to hunt the beast standing before her, to prove herself against his mindless fury.
Astus slowly turned his attention to the approaching Jenny. Her clean, unmarked face and bright expression triggered something primal in his damaged psyche. She looked wrong, too pure, too untouched by the beautiful brutality surrounding them. He would fix that. He would paint her in the same red that decorated his own flesh.
But first, he had an obstacle to remove. An obstacle named Rinnie.
***
Crack!
Brachus felt his forearm explode in pain as he barely managed to block the stick that Edith had whipped toward his skull. Before he could recover, Horus's foot drove into his leg, forcing it to curl inward as his knee buckled.
Through his blurred vision, Brachus saw Edith flowing forward with deadly grace, his elbow cocked for a finishing blow. The strike connected with his temple, sending stars dancing across his field of view. Then Horus's fist buried itself in his stomach, giving him a sour, bitter taste as bile rose to his throat.
Despite the brutal punishment, Brachus found himself almost enjoying the experience. His thick, muscular build had always made him difficult to hurt. He could absorb punishment that would cripple lesser fighters and keep coming back for more.
But then something unexpected happened.
In the midst of the coordinated assault, Horus felt a sudden tug at his tunic. Before he could react, powerful hands grabbed him and launched him through the air like a projectile, straight towards the surprised Brachus.
The crowd fell silent, their jaws dropping in collective shock.
Horus himself was stunned, his usual composure shattered by the complete unexpectedness of being used as a human weapon.
No one. Absolutely no one had expected Edith to fight so ruthlessly, so dirty.
The sweet boy who played with his little sister and brought her flowers had just revealed a side of himself that left even the bloodthirsty spectators speechless.