Dark Lord Minerva

“CHAMPION MINERVA! CHAMPION MINERVA!”

“GREAT JOB KILLING THE DEVIL BITCH!”

“CUT THAT ROTTEN CHEATERS DICK OFF!”

“MOMMY CAN’T SAVE YOU NOW, YOU LITTLE BITCH!”

Slowly but surely, the amorphous, blue blob that used to be Minerva reformed itself.

Upon seeing this, the audience was ecstatic.

The champion raised one deformed hand towards the sky and the arena cheered even louder.

“I’m sorry”, the Dark Lord at last jeered towards me. “I really didn’t want to interrupt your farewell.”

I willed myself to look at Minerva. She was breathing heavily. Even now that she was reforming the liquid was dripping from her body at a rapid pace.

She was no doubt heavily weakened.

And yet Minerva was smiling.

Finally, she took one more breath and stood herself upright properly. “So much for that devil of yours. Do you have a spare? Or another holy weapons perhaps?”

My body was shaking. Inside my mind, the door was splintering.

The Dark Lord chuckled and shook her head. “No, if you had that, your best chance to attack would have been just a moment ago when I was a puddle. Your pet devil really got me good there. I was almost a goner” She laughed, amused. “Surely, you wouldn’t have let that opportunity slip by just so you could say goodbye to this trash, right boy?”

The door splintered further.

And finally, I stopped caring.

Letting out an enraged, maddening cry I rushed at Minerva.

The Dark Lord reacted immediately, but her body wasn’t quite properly reformed just yet. Her stumps of hands weren’t enough to block my advance. I evaded her and went inside her guard.

Wasting no time I feinted to the left and with a roar slashed against her slimy neck.

Ding.

My dirk was repelled by the invincibility shield.

Minerva kicked me in the stomach. It didn’t hurt but the sheer **** of it made me stumble a couple meters backwards.

“Got me worried for a second!”, Minerva laughed and relaxed herself. Her heavy breathing did nothing to hide the savage sadism that was on full display. “Too bad, eh? In the end her noble sacrifice amounted to fuck all.”

The door was falling apart.

I was barely able to prevent myself from hyperventilating. I need to slaughter her. I need to destroy that monster. I...

“CALM YOURSELF, FOOLISH MARI BETA!”

The voice of my Queen reverberated over the arena and inside my brain like a sledge hammer.

I couldn’t spare my Queen any attention but I could tell she was standing atop the roof of my tower, shouting. Some of the audience tried to shout her down but my Queen only increased her volume in response. “DO NOT LET THAT FOOL GOAD YOU! YOU WILL ACHIEVE VICTORY FOR US! AND FOR HER!”

I slammed myself against the door, keeping it shut. I couldn’t let it open. If I do, Femto’s sacrifice, will truly be for nothing. Calmly, I fell back, back towards the sunny part of the arena.

Minerva attempted to catch me with another one of her blue spears, but this one traveled considerably slower. I had no trouble avoiding it.

Beyond that she made no attempt of pursuing.

“Hypnosis eh?”, she instead smirked at me. “Figures it was something like that. Looks like you barely managed to reign yourself in again. For now.”

I didn’t respond. I focused myself on calming my heart. And as such, all I did was silently stare the Dark Lord down as the bells started to toll.

But it was only one short single toll.

“Almost three.” Ignoring me, Minerva casually glanced towards the large clock. Her breathing had stabilized at this point. “The Valkyrie still has you beat, but not bad. Been a long while since one of my matches lasted this long.”

I said nothing.

“Oh, but we aren’t quite done yet, are we? After all, I can’t kill you. I need you to surrender. And my fans will make sure none of your little girls escape.” She smiled good naturedly. “Or would you be a doll and surrender, now? I promise to treat you amicably, if you cooperate, Sir. After all, I am a professional.”

Two slimy horns poked out of her head, while at her rear a tail formed.

The arena broke out into howling laughter.

I remained silent.

“Thought so”, Her hands had reformed itself to axes by now. “In that case I start by slowly cutting off your fingers digit by digit. Then the toes. And if you still haven’t given up by then, well, we get to the good stuff. Don’t worry, I’m in no rush so try to aim for the record, will you?”

She won’t get me with that blue spears of hers and I had no intention of stepping into the shade. In other words this will come down to close quarter combat.

I prepared myself for the inevitable attack but…said attack did not occur. Instead Minerva simply silently stared at me from the shadows. There was a contemplating, calculating look in her eyes that seemed to pierce my very soul.

“No...”

Instead, the Dark Lord relaxed herself again. “You still have something. You still have something up your sleeve.” Her look turned to one of amused intrigue. “What could you possibly still do in this situation?”

…

“Is it something you can’t do while I’m in the shadows perhaps?”, Minerva pondered while gauging my reaction.

None of us made a move. This standoff continued for quite a while until finally, she started laughing again. “You got me, boy! I can’t figure it out! I genuinely have no clue how you plan to turn this around. And with how exhausted I am at the moment, whatever you have planned might very well end up working.”

...

“But, you know...” Minerva took a deep breath and just like that moved closer to the wall. There, she plopped herself down on the ground, arms behind her back and closed her eyes.

Everyone seemed rather confused by this.

“...ehem!”, Ben eventually coughed somewhat awkwardly. “Begging your pardon, Miss Dark Lord, Ma’am. But...w-what exactly are you doing?”

“What’s it look like? I’m taking a nap.”

“A-a nap? B-But with all due respect, this is the middle of a match! You can’t just..”

“Shut up.” Minerva yawned shamelessly. “I said I’m taking a break. If the boy has a problem with that he’s free to come after me.”

Ben looked at me with a pleading look in his eyes but moving into the shadows would be a **** sentence. I couldn’t throw my life away. Not after all this. I remained motionless and simply stared at my opponent.

“Figures” From the darkness, Minerva showed me a sadistic smile. “Enjoy it, boy. Your last break. And enjoy watching the shadows grow.”

And just like that, Dark Lord Minerva was holding a siesta.

Mari’s estimate on victory over Minerva

upgrade to high grade equipment (+10%/+5%)

mental anguish due to excessive spending (-5%/-2.5%)

Balance Breaker Lucky, trying really, really, hard(+10%/+5%)

Amber Dominator Mari Beta void training completed (+7%/+3.5%)

Rule VIII struck from the record (+1%/+0.5%)

true Dark Lord Minerva(greatly weakened) (-20%/-10%)

My Queens hypnosis LV 2, on the verge of breaking (+4%/+2%)

My Queen’s hypnosis LV 2, patched up (+7%/+3.5%)

Plan D (+2%+1%)

Plan D (+4%+2%)

Dark Lord Minerva reinvigorating (-8%/-4%)

chances of victory by kill: 6%

chances of victory via surrender: 3%