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Nico LaVey · **02-11-2017, 11:55 PM**

“Can you zip this for me?”

I'm back at the hotel room, a 2 story presidential suite with one huge window to overlook Osaka. I'm sitting on one of the black velvet couches in my ring gear, using a small massager on my forearm. I turn to Ophelia, who is standing on the elevated area that the rest of the suite inhabits. She’s wearing a dress that is far too showy for business purposes, so she wears it when we go out, or in this case, being in my corner at the Eiko no Sento.

I gladly start to pull the zipper down over her lower back and… actually, I should probably explain just what the Eiko no Sento is.

You know the movie Bloodsport? The martial arts flick based off of an only partially true story about a tournament? Well, if you really want to test Frank Dux’ claims, put him in the Eiko no Sento and see how he performs. 12 men, 55 fights, the only way to lose is to submit or lose consciousness. 2 best in the tournament fight until one dies. It's thousands of years old, has resulted in countless life-threatening injuries, and I plan on winning.

I finally get the zipper all the way over Ophelia's bottom, and give her a coy little spank.

"You look like a million dollars in that.”

“You know I'm worth much more.”

Ophelia giggles and sits with me, taking the massager and putting it to my upper back.

“Are you sure that you're fine with me being in this tournament? I can still pull out, there are hundreds that want to take my place.”

“Nope. I know that you'll do well. And when you do as well as I know you will, you know just how pleased I'll be.”

“Ha, I bet you want me to kill the first guy I face.”

Ophelia chuckles deviously.

“Like you said, there's always someone to take their place.”

Ophelia then puts aside the massager and goes to the window.

“We're going to leave richer from the deal, relaxed from the trip, and better in the eyes of the Master from your fight.”

Ophelia turns around, the Osaka skyline behind her.

“My body is just a little extra incentive. Think about the Master with every strike.”

I walk to my beloved and we lock eyes. Both of our eyes start glowing ever so slightly, each shining white from reveling in our Master’s power.

“Don't worry about a thing, my dear. No amount of inches around your hips can distract me from our goal.”

Our eyes stop glowing, and I plant a boop on her nose before I grab my jacket and call the front desk.

“Is the limo here? Thank you.”

As we leave, I hear the muffled chirp of the fire alarm. That's the only complaint I have with the suite.

We get dropped off at a pachinko parlor, and I look at my watch. Ten minutes early.

Ophelia goes to open the door, wearing a thick overcoat to hide her dress, and the silence of the road around us is broken by loud pinging and casino noises. The both of us walk in, recoiling at the sound. We take some yen and hand it to the clerk, along with a small blue plastic square. He takes the square and holds it under a blacklight, and the initials NWL and OCL appear, printed onto the square. The clerk nods and hands us a single metallic teal token with two fighters in a tie up embossed onto each side.

“Go to the bar around the corner. They're closed for the night. Show them the token and you're in.”

We nod and follow his directions.

“These guys run a rather tight ship.”

“Well they have to. Don't want word getting out of a deadly tournament. That's how Frank Dux almost got caught in Bloodsport.”

“Yeah, it's weird how much this seems like the Kumite.”

“Really? Kumite is a single elimination tournament. Eiko no Sento is Round Robin. Quite a big difference.”

Ophelia rolls her eyes at me, and takes off her overcoat when we get to the door of the bar. We see a short, but strikingly muscular older man sweeping in the dark. He looks up at us through the window, and when I hold up the token, he nods and opens the door. When we're inside, he leads us to a door, inputs a specific knock, and the door opens to a freight elevator. We step inside, and start our descent.

What had to have been only 30 seconds felt like an eternity, and when we finally reach the bottom of the elevator shaft, Ophelia and I finally grasp the gravity of the situation.

“Names?”

A man who looks even older than the one in the bar hobbles up to us with a clipboard.

“Oh, Nico and Ophelia LaVey.”

He scribbles our names down.

“Got a token?”

I pull out the blue token, and the man looks pleased.

“Welcome to the Eiko no Sento. May your preferred deity give you luck.”

He chuckles like you’d imagine a prospector would, and lets us in. We start to walk past everyone doing their own training. Classic kickboxing training, yoga, even a guy chugging beer. We sit down together, and I take off my jacket.

“And now we wait.”

A hard left, duck, sweep the leg, falling superman punch, elbow, elbow, soccer kick.
Crane kick attempt, grab the leg, screw, modified ankle lock.
Uranage, roll, knee to side, double leg, hammer fist, roll, triangle choke, powerbomb.

“Fight Number Four!”

“Make us proud, sweetie.”

Ophelia winks with her open eye glowing white. I peck her on the cheek and go up. A shorter Spanish guy walks up. He bows, I pound my heart.

“LaVey?!”

“Ready!”

“Santiago?!”

“Ready!”

“Fight!”

The crowd starts cheering, and I hear the rare yet familiar sound of Ophelia cheering me on from the stands. My eyes must glow slightly red, as I notice a bit of a change in body language from Santiago. He goes for a punch, I dodge and charge forward a bit, and he backs off, still showing a bit of leeriness towards me.

He decides to charge and go for a head kick, but I duck under and use my shin to kick him in the knee. The crowd groans, and I hear Santiago scream at the pain. I turn and look down at him. I know for a fact that my eyes are glowing orange with wrath as I deliver the final blow, an axe kick to the head.

“Done!”

The ref from earlier holds me back as I still look down at my work, now bleeding out of the ears and nose, breathing in a way I can only describe as a gurgling snore. I see the panic in his eyes as he looks at me and then closes his eye, for what I can tell will be the last time. I walk off to Ophelia amidst the silenced crowd, and we both leave to a nearby hallway, where her eyes glow her usual lusty sky blue, and mine a shade of purple. She pins me to the wall and starts to kiss my chest and neck with fervor.

“Lust and pride, huh? Mmf, be as prideful as you wish.”

I start to return her kisses before looking up and seeing someone in the crowd. Ophelia senses my worriedness and stops.

“What's the problem?”

I stare at the woman more.

“We need to leave.”

I start to lead her towards the elevator, looking back repeatedly at the crowd, the woman looking at me the whole way there.

“What, what could possibly be so bad?”

I point to the woman in the crowd. Miss Aijin dressed exactly like Ophelia. She stares in shock as the elevator ascends.

Threaded Mode \| Linear Mode Kuroikoi Pt. 2: Eiko no Sento
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