Chapter 347: Danger Noodle Combat!

Rock of course, not one to listen to reason, or a sound and politely worded argument, flung another fist at Kat. Kat first activated her enhanced cognition, and moved her gaze up to Seralina, an apology in her eyes. Then, in one blurred motion, Kat kicked Rock in the side and sent her flying.

Kat did take a moment, to consider if she should have waited and applied her shield to spread the damage evenly around Rock's body… and decided she'd been more than rude and it was fine to hurt her a bit at this point. Kat didn't use anything close to her full strength… just a bit of speed.

Rock was sent hurtling into the tent wall, slamming into it with a clang and falling to the ground face first with a groan. "Sorry I slammed your friend into a wall" said Kat still keeping eye contact with Seralina.

The Lamia just sighed. "I'm honestly not surprised. At all."

Kat nodded sagely. "Yeah, she seems like… a piece of work I guess is the right word."

Rock groaned in the corner, but was promptly ignored. "I really didn't think it was that bad. I mean, she's been friends with me for years, and it was a few of those before I found out about her dislike of Succubi. I told her, rather bluntly, and probably in poor taste, that Lamia's have Succubi ancestry way back in the past and… well she didn't take it great but we got over it…

"I didn't think she'd just managed to ignore it in me for the most part. I wouldn't worry too much, she's a bit hard headed, and I'm sure that your recent brand of encouragement is probably the best way to handle her." Said Seralina.

Kat shrugged, and turned to Uncle. "So… what's the plan now?" asked Kat

"Well… I suppose we can leave Rock to recover. I don't really want to heal her and encourage this sort of behaviour so she can wait till last for a real fight. Krekron and Percy can finish their fight or get kicked out of the tent" said Uncle.

Kat, scratched her face awkwardly and nodded. *I already forgot about those two.* "Kamiko do you want to take the first fight or shall I?" 

"Oh, Um… you can take it if you want to?" said Kamiko rather unsure. 

"I really don't mind. I can recover faster than you, so I don't mind fighting first or even a few extra times." Said Kat

"Um… well I guess I'll… no I'll let you go first. I need to warm up" said Kamiko. 

Kat nodded, and Uncle turned to the two Pit Fiends that were still arguing. "HEY IDIOTS! Stop the argument! We got fight's on!" 

To Kat's surprise, that's exactly what they did. Stopped completely in place, nodded to each other, and walked calmly over to the area that Uncle had led everyone else over to. Once they managed to reach the circle they were in, Uncle tapped the ground and the circle raised up out of the ground.

"Um… we just going to leave Rock?" asked Kamiko

"Yes" said everyone else except Kat, as if they expected this outcome. 

"So, who's fighting Kat?" asked Uncle.

"I will, if nobody else minds" said Seralina. "Smacking around Rock really wasn't a proper work out but I am at least warmed up" 

Kat just shrugged and jumped down into the arena, letting her legs take the impact, and heading for the glowing circles that appeared when her back was turned. One was smaller, and the other much larger, clearly designed to fit each of the contestants' respective frames… though Kat's didn't seem to take her wings into account.

Seralina followed after Kat, coiling her lower body to take the impact like a spring before slithering over to her circle. "Just as a by the way, I can still speak, even if it's a bit harder during combat" said Seralina. 

Kat wasn't quite sure what she was talking about, until Seralina's upper body disappeared and was replaced with a huge snake head fitting the rest of her body. Seralina's new eyes were gold, slitted, and about the size of dinner plates. *You know what. That actually is impressive.* 

"How good are your defences?" asked Kat

"Sssomewhat good. If you break a sscale don't tear it off pleassse, I can repair them but growing them back isss much harder" said Seralina, now clearly with Kara's speech defect. *But that doesn't make any sense! She had the snake tongue in her human form as well! Why now that she's a snake did it come up?! And she said it was harder to talk like that… I just don't understand.* 

"FIGHTERS!" Shouted Uncle. "ON MY MARK."

At his command, a giant glowing 3 made out of fire appeared in the middle of the arena as the central pole retracted into the ceiling. Kat spared an instant of thought over why it was even there if it could just be removed, before focusing on the number. 

Two. Seralina coiled herself up, overlapping her body multiple times and keeping as much of herself against the ground as she could, while tensing her muscles.

One. Kat flexed her hands and deliberately folded her wings against her body, ensuring that she didn't use them to glide slightly when she charged.

Zero. Both demons shot off, Kat kicking off the ground while circulating demonic energy over her entire body and slowing her perception of time, while Seralina used her massive body to launch herself straight at Kat jaws wide open.

Seralina was surprisingly fast, and Kat watched her travel at what was appeared to be the pace of a light jog. Kat stepped lightly, dashing to the side just enough to dodge Seralina's gaping maw, however, Seralina's eyes caught Kat's movement, and turned her head to follow.

Kat's eyes narrowed at this, and she jumped up, keeping her wings tight so that she wasn't gliding and attempted to soar over Seralina's mouth instead. What she was not expecting, was for the Lamia to simply tilt her head and follow the movement, having her body double back and follow along as well.

Kat's eyes widened as she just barely managed to avoid Seralina's fangs, but in her hurry, she wasn't quite prepared to land on the back half of Seralina's body. As Kat landed, she felt her feet starting to slip on Seralina's scales, and pushed off to the side. This, was all watched by Seralina's massive eyes, and even though she was slower than Kat… when Kat jump straight into the oncoming tail well… what more needed to be done.

Kat crossed her arms and tried to distribute the impact as best she can. Seralina's tail slap sent her flying backwards, and while it didn't hurt, the Lamia's attack was far from over. As Kat flew backwards, she saw Seralina's head coming in from the side.

*Dammit! If I could just fly I'd be able to dodge this in a heartbeat. Even just a little gliding would get me safe!* Instead, Kat charged her tail with as much energy as she could and slammed it into the floor, cracking it slightly and halting her momentum completely, forcing Seralina's body to continue past her for some ways.

Seralina was already moving onto the next attack though, and was attempting to constrict her body around Kat. *Hmm,* Kat looked for a path to escape and grimaced, thinking she'd probably have to jump either into or near Seralina's tail or jaws. *Jumping up is also out because she can catch me out in the air with her mouth as well…*

Kat grit her teeth. *I really don't want to do this… but if she wants to make this a contest of strength maybe I have to oblige.* Kat pulled back and slammed her fist into Seralina's side. Kat heard the scale crack slightly, as her fist glanced off, forcing her off balance, and giving Seralina the chance to complete her hold.

Kat felt her arms get bound to her side as Seralina hissed slightly powering through the recent bought of pain. Kat could feel Seralina increasing the pressure as she said. "Do you yield?"

"Nah I'm good" said Kat, not really feeling the strain. It was hard to raise her arms and contest Seralina directly with her arms, but the constricting pressure wasn't actually that bad. *Hmm, this is a bit of a stalemate isn't it… she can tighten all she wants but I'm hardly feeling it. Honestly, her scales might give out before my bones, especially because I can feel the cracked on as it moves around me. Maybe I should try and flick it or something as it passes me?*

Kat's thoughts were broken as she spotted movement and glanced up to see Seralina's head bearing down on her jaws open wide, saliva dripping, and maybe a bit of venom mixed in, Kat realised this stalemate might not be quite as even as she thought. *Welp… shit.*