“It is a fight to the death or submission. Submission meaning your opponent gives up or becomes unconscious. Most challenges end with one of the fighters unconscious. No weapons but those your body naturally has. No help from others.”
“Are any strikes or areas of the body off limits?” I asked. “Any damage that will cause forfeiture of the challenge?”
Guldan shook his head. “No. Fighters are not only allowed, but encouraged, to use all their skill to win a challenge. Brutal or damaging strikes will cause their opponent to submit faster.”
“If an opponent wishes to give up, what are the terms?”
“Well, you lose your mate,” he stated.
“No, I mean, how does an opponent submit?”
“They cry out mercy or raise a clenched fist.”
I nodded. “Very well. If that’s all, I think I understand.”
“That is all,” Guldan said.
Venna looked pleased with herself when I nodded. “Then, let’s get this done.”
Bokkan released a low growl as Guldan, Venna, and I moved toward the ring. I climbed over the two-rail fence surrounding the ring. Venna used one hand to vault over.
As we walked to the center of the ring, I eyed the way she moved. She was in command of her body, and her arms and legs were long and thick with sculpted muscles. It was clear she was strong and in amazing shape.
My cheek still stung where she backhanded me, proof of how strong she was. I would have to avoid as many strikes as I could.
I rolled my shoulders, loosening them up as we came to a stop in the center of the ring.
“Ready, human?” she asked.
My answer was to bitch slap her the way she’d done me. Before she could retaliate, I backed out of her reach, dropping into a fighting stance.
“You dare?” she hissed, the question little more than a snarl.
“Why not? You did the same to me,” I answered with a smirk.
My heart pounded as she lowered her chin and clenched her fists.
“Little bitch.”
She stomped toward me, lifting her arm to punch me. The move wasn’t as quick as the slap earlier, but she put a shit ton ofpower behind it. I bobbed under her swing, throwing two quick punches to her abdomen. The daemoness grunted but didn’t react to my strikes with more than a small step back.
Shit, her stomach was solid muscle. I was going to need to strike much harder to gain any sort of advantage.
Her leg lifted to kick me, and I did exactly what I would have done if I was sparring a man larger than me. I stepped into her, but instead of just using my body to crowd her as I would have done in a martial arts class, I threw a low kick to the shin of her standing leg. The movement was more of a stomp than a kick, my heel striking the unprotected bone at the front of her leg. For good measure, I followed up with an elbow to her gut, ducking beneath her guard and putting as much of my body weight behind it as I could.
This time, her grunt was louder and definitely pained. She stumbled back, almost falling on her ass. Venna looked at me in a mixture of disbelief and rage. After that sucker punch… well, slap, she hadn’t expected for me to fight back like this.
I didn’t stop. I kept moving, sliding around to her side, and trying to get behind her. Daemon physiology seemed to be similar to human. A hard hook to her kidney followed by another low kick to her knee had her stumbling again. This time, she managed to put space between us before I could strike other vulnerable areas.
As I resumed my fighting stance, I focused on my breathing because my heart was beating wildly in my chest. I had to get my body under control, or I was in trouble. The only chance I had at winning was if I managed to overwhelm her with strikes in weak points on her body and then knocked her out.
I didn’t want to kill her, and I wasn’t even sure I could do it with my bare hands. She was a daemon. The pads of muscle on her body were much thicker than any human man’s and she was easily the size of one of the largest men I’d ever fought. She hadfangs, claws, and horns. All of them could be used as weapons if she wished. All I had was my fists, feet, and knowledge.
With a wild yell, she charged me. I knew she was going to try to tackle me after the first few steps. She was bigger and stronger. Pinning me to the ground would give her the advantage.
As she lowered her head to ram me with the horns that curved back from her forehead, I put both hands on them and shoved down as I moved to the side, trying to get my lower body out of the way. She still managed to get her arms around my legs and take me down with her.
I saw the flash of fangs and reacted. Keeping my hold on one of her horns, I jerked her head back and to the side as I spread the fingers of my other hand and jabbed her in the eyes repeatedly. Soft, squishy tissue gave beneath my fingertips and nails and Venna released a wild shriek of pain.
