[Author's Note: Listen to the "All Devouring Narwhal" Boss Theme for immersive experience XD I hope y'all can somehow tolerate this chapter.]

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Katya posed in her minimal, racy gym clothes, earning her a series of cheerful whistles from the crowd. A hand on her waist, and the other to her full lips, blowing kisses to the air before she sauntered around the ring with her hips swaying.

She knew she was sexy, and her toned, hourglass physique was one of the things that made the crowd in the Fortress of Meropide wanted to feast their hungry eyes at her, aside from her famous combat prowess on the ring. She might not be up to par with the Duke himself, the unbeatable Champion of the Pankration Ring, but she did make good coupons from lewd, suggestive moves alone.

But she wasn't what caught the eye of the Duke.

Freya.

She and his Head Nurse might try as they might to hide things from him, but he had ears all over the Fortress of Meropide. He knew that the meek redhead had struck a bargain with the informant whale in this underwater prison, but he didn't expect their business to be conducted in this manner, at the ring. The Duke didn't know what he should be expecting from this combat.

Seeing Freya standing there in a pair of black tights and an old white t-shirt on her small form, alone and frozen on that ring made him feel like snatching her away from this place and feed her double portions of luxurious welfare meal. He did quietly supply her with some luxurious welfare meal in the past few days out of pity for her effort at gaining more coupons to buy the information that he had gathered beforehand, but those too, she sold for coupons, and where does that get her?

Right here, on the ring with Katya the Blue Lightning.

Wriothesley scoffed under his breath. He still cringed at the corny stage name the convict came up for herself.

The gong sound reverberated through the metallic walls of the room, and the rowdy crowd cheered. Katya posed her fighting stance, smirked and winked at Freya.

The redheaded woman's expression was detached, her green eyes held a wistful look in it, and her opponent with dark blue hair scoffed.

Katya snickered. "You caught me in a good mood. You go first. Come at me, weirdo. You can do it."

When the meek looking girl didn't move for a while, Katya rolled her eyes.

"Whatever."

The dark blue haired fighter dashed at Freya, her fist raised, and the crowd cheered.

Katya could've sworn that the weirdo was in her grip. But she vaporated into the air, causing the fighter to almost lose her footing. Katya looked around in confusion at the black vapor around her, before the sound of collective gasps of the crowd registered to her ears. She turned sharply to find Freya across the ring, slow walking, as if she was lost in her thoughts while taking a morning walk at the Court of Fontaine.

"She has a Vision?"

"This is a foul combat!"

"You think Katya never engaged in a foul combat herself?"

"What does this mean?"

"I searched her myself. She carried nothing of the sort."

"What Vision does she have? Pyro? Hydro?"

"Do those elements normally look like that?"

Katya blocked out the voices of the crowd, her chest burned with anger, her ego wounded at the redheaded woman. "Sly bitch," she spat, then she charged at her again.

Only to find black vapor in her place.

This time, Katya didn't waste any time to think. Not how the weirdo that supposed to be her plaything able to move from one spot to the next in a blink of an eye. Not how there was faint black vapor coming out of and licking around Freya's person. Katya charged again.

Again.

Again.

And again.

Wriothesley had long since abandoned his seat to stand and watch the combat, index finger and thumb on his chin. "Huh. She is taunting her," he murmured to himself.

The crowd had began arguing amongst themselves about the match, seemingly sharing their Duke's internal sentiment. Everyone watched at how the blue haired fighter dashed and charged at the redheaded woman, only to be met with shadow.

The same shadow slowly made itself tangible in the arena. Engulfing. The atmosphere turned somewhat eerie, as if there was a presence of a sinister, invisible ancient-like being in the air. The others must have felt it too, because the crowd that was once rowdy now grew almost silent as they watched the combat.

A combat that didn't involve real physical fighting, at least on Freya's part.

Roussimoff watched with a slight feeling of trepidation at the way the supposedly weak girl moved and walked around the ring like a ghost, while her opponent did mad dashes to chase her shadow.

"Tired?" Freya's voice was almost unrecognizable, what with the sinister undertone in her soft voice, except for her slow, almost sleepy tone.

Katya was breathing heavily, sweat dripped from her skin and face. Her once perfect pixie cut dark blue hair was now a mess that was sticking to her damp forehead. "You bitch," she hissed.

"You wanted an exercise. I am giving you one," Freya's haunting voice echoed, espescially now with the crowd being silent.

Another mad dashes and charges resulted in nothing.

Wriothesley ratified his previous conclusion. Freya wasn't taunting her; she was tiring her out.

"Yield," said Freya to Katya the moment she disappeared and reappered across the ring.

"Not to the likes of you," spat Katya with a flaring ego before she dashed at her again to no avail.

Wriothesley left his viewing station, an elevated space with comfortable chair reserved for the Duke alone. He went past the stunned crowd and stood at the front of the ring.

Freya had never once paid the crowd any attention, until he showed. She turned her head to look at the dark haired warden, his icy blue eyes focused on her. It was then when the Duke realized that the one standing at the ring was not the same meek girl who tended to his wound at the Infirmary. Her wispy, emerald green eyes were nowhere to be found, instead, what met his eyes were a pair of glowing red eyes that didn't look human at all.

Their eyes were met for a split second, but it was a critical mistake on Freya's part. Katya managed for the first time to land a blow of her fist on her left cheek. The redheaded woman staggered back as she reappeared at the other side of the ring.

This kind of comeback should have warrant a cheer from the crowd, but everyone was too stunned to speak.

Not when Freya's eyes turned more menacing as she touched the wound on her cheek.

"All that, for a drop of blood?" her voice was unsettlingly soft, as if genuinely confused and asking with her gaze, Why?

Katya scoffed. "You can't run forever, weirdo."

Wriothesley never quite paid attention to Freya's hands. But now, when she moved hers slowly in front of her chest, ballerina-like, he realized that she had a pair of beautiful, feminine hands. He just never imagined to see those hands in a brute combat scenario at the Pankration Ring.

Again, Katya dashed with a renewed vigor after landing her first blow at her opponent, but her luck had run out.

Reappearing behind her, Freya still focused her eye on her hands movement, as if practicing for a dance with a tune in her head. "You strive for control. But there is no control. Control is nothing but illusion."

Just as she said those words in her haunting voice, she reappeared at the further edge of the ring.

And there were five of her.

Katya looked around, bewildered as she was surrounded by the images of her opponent, all of them with a solemn look on her expression. Unmoving, flickering.

At this point Katya's mind fortification had began to dwindle, and if not for her fighting spirit, she would have cried long ago. Katya rubbed the bridge of her nose to ease the fear that had begun to fester in her mind. All the bad things that she ever experienced, or done to someone else, was drawn out of her memory. Shaking her head, then, she charged.

The image she randomly chose to attack seemed to have a physical barrier around her- the black vapor, licking up Freya's image like dying embers. She only realized that she was blindly attacking the false image when she noticed how it flickered.

"Boss!"

Katya heard her gang member shouted from the crowd, and was quick to made a jump at the ring barrier and propelled herself up to the air to catch the knife that was spinning on the air.

Then she lunged at the image of Freya that wasn't flickering.

All of Freya's illusions moved in sync as she realized thay Katya had figured out her illusion. With a flick of her hand, black smoke colored stalagmites materialized in front of her. As Katya came into contact and crushed against it, she let out a loud scream- either out of pain or horror, no one was sure.

Katya fell on the ground, seemingly unharmed but was clutching at her head with fear stricken and tortured expression. The black smoke stone then disappeared to thin air as if it hadn't been there, and Freya was already standing in front of her.

"Yield," Freya said.

"Ugh...N...Never," gritted Katya, looking at Freya with hate in her eyes.

Freya let out an inaudible sigh when Katya threw her body to reach for the knife that fell out of her hand. More black crystal appeared, and upon contact to her fingers, Katya let out a shriek and clutched at her head.

"There is no honor among thief," Freya moved the knife with the side of her feet away from their reach. Then she looked up to the ceiling, as if searching for a god, hands outstretched like she was worshipping a divine being with a dance, and between her fingers, black vapor materialized into a hilt of a wavy blade- a Kris with black vapor licking around it.

Katya gasped in horror at the sight and kicked her way back on the floor while gardemeks were dispatched to end the fight due to the foul combat, with Katya's man giving her a weapon to the ring, and now Freya seemingly materializing an ominous weapon out of thin air.

The Duke only watched with a hard look while his guards went with the protocol. His eyes widened when Freya cast a shield around the ring, preventing the guards from come and interfering with the combat.

She brought the blade above her head, on top of Katya who was cowering on the floor under her. Freya had her eyes closed, as if she was praying before making a living sacrifice to the gods.

"I yield!" cried Katya, hugging body with her hands and rocking herself back and forth.

The blade, along with the shield vaporized, and the thick atmosphere at the Pankration Ring began to lift.

"I trust you are true to our contract."

Katya sniffled and didn't dare look at her, but she reached with trembling hand at the pocket of her pants and passed the small paper to Freya's opened palm before hugging herself again and continued crying.

Somewhere in the crowd, the Duke had retreated and left.

"I'm sorry, Katya," Freya said, the empathy in her tone didn't make her voice less haunting.

With that, the redhead walked out of the ring. The crowd collectively broke apart, making path for her. Nobody cheered, no announcement of victory was made. Freya didn't even stop to collect her victory reward from Roussimoff.

She made out of the Pankration Ring, and was met with the Duke who stood with arms crossed, blocking her way.

"I didn't know you carry a Delusion with you," Wriothesley said darkly, unhappy that the small detail was missed by his watchful eyes, "Hand it over, or I'll make you."

"That little trinket? I don't. You searched me at my arrival, Your Grace," her voice was almost back to her normal ones, except that it carried a hint of exhaustion in it, "But perhaps I should have told you, that I am the Delusion."

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[Author's Note: My first Genshin Impact Fanfiction. What do you think? I know there's no fluff so far, but I promise you there will be some at the next chapter. I have a feeling that my Freya seemed too OP here but don't worry, we will nerf her down haha. I won't make her a total Mary Sue.]

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