“Let’s see what you can do, vyxa,” Festh shouted over the crowd, gesturing me toward him. “Ofnan cimed you were a warrior, but I’ll admit, I still have my doubts. Even without my normal magic, I’m not expecting much of a challenge. So why don’t you give me your best shot to start things off? Unless you’d like to just surrender?”

  Unlike just a moment before when he was apologizing to me, now the bullish demon was boastful and confident, holding his arms out as though he wanted a hug. The demon’s whip still sat at his side.

  I scoffed. It was one thing to underestimate an opponent and entirely another to allow them a free hit with a weapon, no matter how weak they appeared to be. He’d gone straight beyond overconfidence and into the realm of inanity. With his whip, he had the clear advantage at range against me. Yet he was immediately giving that up.

  Whether the crowd could hear him or not, they understood his gesture clearly, giving out several shouts and ughs.

  No, it was more than that, wasn’t it? Here in the arena, there was more to a fight than winning. It was about showmanship, the same reason that he was told to strip me. Not that the audience deserved to see me naked. The jerks in charge should have at least asked me before doing something like this. I wouldn’t have agreed, but still!

  Well, if they wanted a show, I pnned to give them one.

  Gripping my rge mace in both hands, I ran forward. Festh’s arms lowered as I approached him, but he made no move to actually defend himself. As I reached him I swung.

  But not at him.

  My mace thumped into the ground, and I used the momentum to push me up into the air, knowing that it meant I was likely fshing the audience. Legs swinging forward, my booted foot smashed directly into his face.

  The demon stumbled, but I didn’t take the time to check his expression. Instead, I continued my spin, my boots touching the ground as my mace swirled through the air. With another step toward him, I whirled it into the leather armor covering his stomach, hitting him hard enough to bend his body forward.

  I could see the wide eyed surprise, a trail of blood dripping from his nose.

  Festh fell.

  The crowd seemed to be a mix of silent shock and growing cheers.

  Though I was too distracted to pay attention to either. Much to my mortification, my dress had pulled up almost all the way to my waist, revealing the entirety of my nearly-bare ass and front to the crowd. My cheeks flushed as I hastily pulled it back down, taking the chance to pull my underwear out from my crotch and from between my cheeks.

  The brief show only encouraged the crowd further, as they gave out trilling hoots and other noises, along with cheers and ughter. My emotions became an odd swirl of annoyance, embarrassment, and lust.

  Pain swallowed my lower leg as a whip wrapped around it. The next moment, it was pulled out from under me. I yelped from the stinging fire biting around my leg, my mace slipping from my hand as I fell and found myself sliding through the dirt.

  In front of me, Festh had risen. He ughed as I managed to pull myself from the grip of his whip and hop back toward my mace, trying to ignore the stinging in my leg.

  As I slid back to my feet, he said, “I’ll admit you have quite the kick, but it will take more than that to put me down, young vyxa.”

  The whip whirled through the air with a hum, and I brought my mace up to block it. Much like it had with my leg, it wrapped around it, and he pulled. I tried to brace against the dirt, but his strength overpowered me. Instead, the weapon was yanked from my hands, flying off to the side.

  I charged, not toward the mace, as tempting as that was, but toward him. If I wanted to win, I knew I needed to get close to him. His whip didn’t behave normally, likely having been enchanted for exactly this sort of thing. So long as I had no way to block it, he’d be able to beat me senseless at this distance.

  He jumped back and swung before I could get into range. I slid forward through the dirt in an attempt to dodge, only for him to somehow adjust. The whip smacked against my left arm and torso, just below my chest, hitting with enough force to make me tumble to the side. I hissed through the pain. The thing clung to me as though not wanting to let go until he pulled back.

  I heard the sound of fabric ripping, and realized with horror that the annoying weapon had somehow taken a small strip of fabric along with it. Did the enchantment make it stick to things? That would expin the way it had wrapped around me. What else could it do? I wobbled back up to my feet, hoping that I wouldn’t find out. My eyes caught onto the bloody ring around my leg still throbbing in pain.

  The crowd behind me cheered, and I groaned as I realized my dress had once again risen up. Worse, I’d ended up bending over slightly as though to give them a view. Rather than horny, this time I just felt annoyed. I couldn’t resist the instinct to pull it back down as I shuffled forward.

  It was only as the whip swung back around that I realized I’d let my thoughts and dress distract me for far too long. The thick chord of leather smacked into my shoulder before wrapping all the way around my back and chest. I cried out, and stumbled. Then he yanked it back off of me, causing my body to twirl. There was another much louder rip, and I felt a lot more of the fabric around my back and chest being torn off.

  Damn it!

  I gnced down and my face warmed as I realized one of my breasts was now exposed. My arm shot up to cover it. This was ridiculous. Just how was I supposed to fight like this? It was only as the whip twirled back around that I realized I wasn’t. If I wanted to win, I had to stop fretting over the state of my wardrobe.

  I was a succubus, wasn’t I? Or a vyxa, as they called it. Rather than hiding from my nudity, perhaps I could try to embrace it.

  I almost managed to dodge his swing, the tail end of it catching my arm. Then with another dash forward, I finally reached him. He didn’t bother swinging it, a wide grin stretched across his face as he pounced toward me, one hand reaching to grab me as the other moved toward my dress.

  I let him.

  As he gripped a handful of the fabric, my elbow smashed up into his jaw. I could hear the cloth rip as I shoved him back before he could fully grapple me, and my leg moved behind his leg. He tripped.

  The big demon fell once again, taking half of my dress with him. Rather than attempting to cover my now completely bare chest, I instead reached for his whip. The crowd cheered, wilder than they had before as I managed to snatch it from his hands and jump back several paces.

  My legs quivered as I stood tall, chest out. I let them look. I wanted them to look. A heat was building inside me as their collective gaze washed continually over me. This was undeniably turning me on, far more than it had been before. Somehow the fact that I’d chosen to let him strip me made it that much more exciting. I could have blocked him, or dodged to the side. Instead, I’d used the opportunity it gave to punish him for it.

  Instinct told me to whip him while he was still getting up, repeatedly until he was forced back down and made to surrender. But what fun would that be?

  “I wonder if this tears through leather as well as it does normal clothes,” I said instead.

  The whip made a loud crack as I shed it through the air up toward the sky. The crowd cheered once again, and I could imagine just what they were seeing—a half-nude vyxa standing confidently, ready to flog her opponent into the dirt.

  I smirked.

  Festh, now back to his feet, just smiled. “Don’t look so smug, you haven’t won yet.”

  He dashed toward my discarded mace as the whip twirled through the air. It caught his leg, wrapping around it much as it had done to me. I didn’t have the strength to easily pull his feet out from under him, but as I pulled it back, he still stumbled. It also tore into the armor protecting his legs.

  The bullish demon dove to the mace, managing to roll forward before grabbing it in one hand.

  “I usually use a fair bit of magic to aid in my fights,” he said. “Assuming you know how to use that thing, you might stand a chance.” Despite his words, the way his eyes narrowed made it clear he was taking the fight a bit more seriously now.

  My response was to step back into range and swing. Much as I had, he used the mace to block the attack, and it twirled around it in a tight grip. With both hands and bracing against the ground, I pulled as hard as I could in an effort to snatch it from him, just as he’d done to me. Instead he was pulled forward, and as the end of the whip whirled back through the air, I dodged around the mace swinging toward my side.

  He swung again, his wide attack so easy to predict from his movements that I simply ducked underneath it. My foot stomped against the side of his lower leg, before I plowed a fist into his gut and moved back.

  His left leg stumbled, but he still swung, only just keeping his bance. I dodged out of the way, my whip once again striking him. Rather than guarding or going for another swing of the mace like I expected, he instead stepped closer, intending to grapple me. I twirled, swinging the whip. It bit into his back, and he stumbled toward me. Just as he hit the ground, his outstretched hand ended up not at my shoulders or against my dress, but just below it at my exposed pantie line.

  His eyes met mine, both of us looking just as surprised as the other. For a moment time seemed to slow. I almost reached to stop him before I gathered my resolve. Then I punched him. Once, twice, and then a third time, all right in his stupid face, knowing full well what was about to happen.

  I shuddered as my underwear was ripped off of me, wondering if any of the demons watching had good enough eyesight to see my nudity in full. Even as he fell back, he fshed my panties in the air.

  You prick.

  The crowd cheered harder than ever. I ignored the temptation to pull the scraps of my dress down in an attempt to hide my nudity. No, I would own this. Determined to make him pay for focusing so much on stripping me rather than fighting, I swung the whip full force with both hands. It struck him in the side, sending him sprawling to the ground. Then I hit him again as he rolled over to his knees.

  The whip whirled through the air, striking him over and over against his back and ass, though the tter was somewhat accidental. Not that the audience likely thought so. I didn’t stop until I was out of breath, leaving the back of his leather tunic ragged and full of tears.

  He groaned, and I marched over to him, kicking him hard in the side. His body flopped over onto his back. The bullish demon’s exhaustion was clear, his chest rising up and down in heavy breaths.

  “Just surrender,” I said, a reflection of what he’d said to me at the start of the fight. “Or should I give you a free shot to make things more even between us?”

  As he struggled to regain his breath, he eyed me, now standing over him. “How about a… a date? That’s what the humans call it, isn’t it?”

  My boot stomped down into his stomach. “Sorry, I’m not interested in men.”

  His arm grabbed my leg pulling me to the ground even as he curled over around his belly. I fell partially on top of him, my breasts touching the shredded leather of his tunic.

  “Unfortunate… for… me,” he managed to squeeze out, despite having lost his breath.

  Then my knee smashed into his face, and I watched as consciousness left him.

  I’d won.

  It took me a moment to realize it.

  I stood back to my feet, raising the whip into the air to announce my victory. The crowd cheered, and as I stared out at them, my current nudity hit me in full force. My cheeks flushed as the announcer presumably decred me the winner, hopefully without remarking too much about my attire. Though I doubted I was that lucky. I did a small twirl and a bow, sticking my ass up in the air perhaps a little more than necessary.

  It helped that I was still somewhat turned on, even though I’d be most assuredly having words with whoever made the decision to have Festh strip me. I’d probably chastise him as well, if I got the chance, considering I doubted he was required to follow the command.

  Still, I’d won.

  He’d gone easy on me, too focused on stripping me naked to take the fight seriously, I thought. A part of my mind wondered if I’d have still won if he hadn’t let me get the first hit for free or if he’d been more focused on actually defeating me.

  But no, I’d seen the way he handled himself and his weapons, and he had started to take it more seriously towards the end. With how easily I dodged his attacks with the mace, he was either secretly holding back or had realized I outmatched him when he went for the final grab at my clothes. Bold as it was to assume, I expected the tter. Perhaps things would have been quite different if he’d been able to use his magic. Though that was true for me as well.

  If we fought again, I hoped he’d take me a bit more seriously.

  Finally, I heard what I hoped were the words that indicated I could leave the arena, followed by several demons rushing in to check on the unconscious Festh. Despite the raw ache in my leg, I jogged out as the crowd gave me one st cheer, filled with less than innocent or chaste shouts and noises.

  Ofnan met me at the gates, shyly looking away from me. I grabbed my cloak from him and pulled it around my body, keeping the whip in hand.

  “I… did not know they pnned this,” he insisted, still not meeting my eyes. “They did not tell me.”

  I let out a ugh at his apparent shyness, somehow amused by it after having an entire arena of people eyeing me up. “It is fine, Ofnan. I do not bme you. I believe your words.”

  He coughed, finally working up the nerve to look at me. “But you won, yes? You did well.”

  “I did, though he was not fighting seriously. And I think I’d like to have a word with the demon who organized this. After I’m patched up,” I added, looking down at my raw, still bleeding leg.

  Ofnan hummed. “About that.” He paused, trying to find the right words. “There is someone waiting for you. At the… staging room, you called it?”

  “Someone waiting for me?”

  He gave me back a nervous nod. “Not from the arena. I do not know the words in this nguage. They are… important.”

  Great.

  A sinking feeling began to build in my gut. Part of me was tempted to run, but it was where I needed to go to get healing regardless. I was in no state to be running away, especially not on this leg.

  “Then I suppose we should go meet them.”

  FlitterPuff