Penchant for Violence

As Salvo struck Lottus with blow after blow, she could tell her own punches were beginning to grow weaker from how much she had strained herself, as Lottus began to block them more easily with each passing blow. The aching in her arms also grew as every attack was thrown out, and before long, Salvo had to admit she was running on empty. Luckily for her, when her arms dropped to her sides and her head drooped while she took in a breath, Lottus did not strike her back.

Rather, her Saiyan opponent admitted that she had earned his respect. He'd come here for a good fight, and in her, he had finally found one. Well...! That was nice to hear. Salvo raised her head back up and locked her crimson eyes with Lottus' abyssal black ones for a moment, and then a genuine grin formed itself across her lips, her eyes scrunching up as well as her face took on an expression it rarely did - genuine, unsadistic happiness.

However, when that woman called out from the crowd about all the bets that had been placed, Salvo remembered her own bet that she'd placed on this fight. And it had been on Lottus winning handily, not on a draw of any sort. "Ah, well," Salvo slowly replied, "I do appreciate that I've given ye th' fight ye came 'ere for." It was certainly a better outcome than she'd expected, as ever since Jinx and Striker got those extra potent transformations of theirs, Salvo had felt a bit... Weak. Not that she'd ever have admitted that out loud to anyone. But having a bruiser like Lottus commend her strength was a real nice bandage on her ego.

"Tha' bein' said, I did place a not insignificant bet on ye winning this fight handily," she continued in a more hushed tone so that only Lottus could hear. "So, if ye wouldn't be so kind as t' send me flyin' across th' room with one last punch, I ain't gonna hold nothin' against ye fer it. I'll be fine, promise - made 'a tougher stuff'n these elves, that much I can say."

Well, Lottus was not one to pull his punches, and Salvo had to give him props for that. As the Saiyan reared his fists back and his power surged even further beyond where it already was, it dawned on Salvo just how much he had been holding back during their bout. And, she briefly had to wonder if what she'd had to offer him truly was satisfying, or if he'd just been saying kind words to make her feel better about her efforts. ...Nah, Lottus didn't seem the type to bother with white lies. He and Salvo weren't too dissimilar from what she could tell, so if she wouldn't bother with those sorts of niceties, certainly he wouldn't either.

Speaking of niceties - Lottus' punch looked like it was going to hurt very, very much. Salvo, in spite of her bravado a moment earlier, actually had half a mind to block the damn thing anyway, though with how strong it was, she had her doubts she even could! "Ah sh-" she started to exclaim, though she was cut off when Lottus' crimson fist slammed into her chest, nearly caving in her sternum with how hard he'd forced his hand into her.

She was sent flying back, right into the ropes of the ring, and then she ripped right through those ropes and crashed into the wall of the arena, cratering several inches deep into the concrete. Salvo slumped forwards after a moment, still conscious, somehow. "Guh," was all she managed to say before she fell forwards, her blue cheek smacking against the stone floor as her red eyes rolled up into her head and the world went dark.

It was a KO!