Tyra stood there, baffled as she looked back at Liri.
The audience, everyone standing nearby, including those who hadn't even cared about the tourney at first, were gawking at Liri now.
Liri remained firm, however.
"If you wish to be my lover, then face me!" She stated once again. "You may have proven yourself to be superior to Arisa, but you have not proven yourself to be stronger than me. That is the real test!"
She wasn't sure this approach would work, but it was all she could think of to try to help Arisa's situation. She'd lost, she'd been humiliated, but maybe she wouldn't have to be the only one humiliated today.
Liri had never been a mean person. Not in this life or the last, but just for now, she was willing to put on an act.
If it meant easing Arisa's shame, she wanted to do it.
"I was told the drasen value strength. Well, so do I. If you are not stronger than I am, then I refuse to be your partner."
Hearing herself shouting sounded so strange to her ears. Her voice nearly cracked, even. But, she pushed the words out all the same as the drasen around her watched on.
Laying that ultimatum out there produced quite a conflicted reaction from Tyra. The drasen woman took a couple of steps toward Liri and, thanks to that slightly embarrassing height difference between them, tilted her head down so Liri could get a better look at that expression.
"I do not wish to hurt you, though," Tyra replied.
"You will not. Not because you don't want to, but because you can't."
The crowd gasped.
Liri held back a smile.
Those words had a different effect. As obvious a challenge as it was, it ignited the competitive flame inside of Tyra, the flame that would drive her to fight a tourney to steal someone else's lover from them. A flame that compelled her to accept the challenge.
"Fine. Are you sure you can handle it, though? I do not wish to break you with a single punch."
"Save your concern. It's not needed."
In all honesty, Liri was more concerned with Tyra's well-being than her own, given the gap in their Soul Ratings.
She didn't want to recreate what had happened with that zombie ven with a regular member of this drasen society. No, that would just be awful.
Still, she had to go through with this, now that she'd pushed the words out there.
"I see… Very well then," Tyra said as she put her fists up. "Show me how your kind fight, then."
The drasen put her fists up. Liri spared Arisa a glance, watching the woman sulking by the edge of the ring, sitting with her back to a hut, her knees curled up to her chest and her head resting atop them.
That sight motivated Liri even further.
As strange a person as Arisa could be at times, Liri liked her confidence. She wanted to bring it back, if possible.
Putting her own fists up, Tyra dashed forward.
[Good. She's taking this seriously. That'll make the crowd's reaction even better.]
The speed at which the drasen closed the gap between them was impressive. It made Arisa's loss to her that much more understandable, seeing her physical ability up close.
It made no difference, however.
It happened in an instant.
A few of the drasen in the crowd missed it.
Tyra aimed a kick low, at Liri's midsection, which was about the height of her own knee, perhaps not wanting to damage Liri's pretty face. The ven took her leg mid-stride, blocking it just as it was about to reach her abs. She held onto it, however, twisting it up and dragging it behind her.
[Don't come off, don't come off, don't come off,] Liri begged in her mind as she raised the drasen's leg up.
"Kueh!?"
Tyra let out a graceless sound as Liri then spun her back and slammed her into the dirt.
Her wings sprawled out on impact. Her tail didn't move and, as the woman stared up at the sky with a blank face, Liri was genuinely worried she'd just killed her.
She leaned down and checked to see if she was still breathing, finding that she was.
[Oh, thank goodness. She's just knocked out.]
Nodding to herself, Liri stood up and gestured at Tyra's laid-out body.
"Look! Couldn't take a single hit, and yet, this is who I'm supposed to call my lover? Pathetic!"
In all honesty, Liri was cringing with every word that came out from her lips. She'd gotten this far, though, so she needed to bring the act home with this next line.
"So, does anyone else want to fight for my love?"
She posed that question and left it in the air for some time. Seeing that no one had a response, she held back the urge to breathe a sigh of relief and said:
"Thought not. However-"
"Yes."
"-Arisa here, wait, what?"
Liri blinked twice. She paused, scanning the crowd to see if she could find the source of that highly inconvenient word that had just been thrown out.
A man stepped forward, his eyes set on Liri's face, and his hands balled up into fists by his sides.
"You look strong, woman. I wish to fight you."
Liri blinked.
[What sort of trashy shounen anime did you just step out from?]
Shaking her head subtly, Liri paused her speech to accept his challenge.
"F-Fine. Come. Face me."
He joined her in the ring and got into a fighting stance. Liri scanned his Soul Rating, just to make sure that she wasn't about to humiliate herself, and found that this man's SR was just 1740. He was even weaker than Arisa.
[He's got spirit, though. I guess.]
The man threw a fist aimed at her head and Liri dodged it, ducking and moving forward to retaliate with a fist of her own. One that landed at where she guessed the drasen's liver would be if their physiologies were similar.
She struck gold and as the punch landed, the man let out a breath and fell to the ground, curling up.
[… Good, I held back enough. Okay, now…]
"As I was saying," she addressed the audience, "Arisa here-"
"I wish to face you!"
Liri's jaw hit the ground.
"SERIOUSLY!?! What the fuck!?"