Two Serpents (Elyss/Lerna)

A grin flashed across her lips as she watched Elyss tank that first punch straight to her chest, enjoying the look on the woman's face as at long last, her heel crashed down onto the woman's shoulder, two solid hits which promptly won her the vacation. Though frankly she didn't know what sh was gonna use it for. She had schoolwork after all, she didn't know how to feel about a whole Weeks worth of vacation and fitting that with classes. But hey, it was the thought that counted right.

But what happened next caused her brows to raise. That hand suddenly clamping onto her ankle caused Lerna's brows to Raise. And then, in a sudden vicious succession, Elyss's fist promptly shot out and connected with Lerna's chest! Her own eyes going a bit wide as that fist sunk against Lerna's chest, and caused her to tense up!

Before a grin flashed across her lips. "Ow." the woman growled. Promptly grabbing Elyyy's wrist and swinging her other leg up! Using Elyss's grip on her other ankle as leverage to snap her other foot to the back of the woman's head, and promptly clinch them together and pull. Tugging on Elyss's wrist in the process as she aimed to wrap both legs around the woman's head and promptly pump spirit energy into her legs to clamp down with as much force as she could.

Of course most would usually expect Lerna to try to pull away, and so instead Lerna doubled down on the grapple between her and the Captain. Going for a sudden move that would, hopefully, outpace the woman's ability to react while she was still shitfaced. If all went according to plan? Lerna's legs would be wrapped around Elyss's neck and shoulder, clamping around the woman's neck and head while both of her hands worked on locking the woman's wrist in place. After all, there really was NO way she would ever beat the Captain by simply exchanging blows.

But choking the woman out? That didn't require anything but enough pressure on the woman's neck to close off the airway. As Durable as Elyss was, she still needed to breathe after all. Not that she expected it to GO that far. This was a spar, and so reasonably speaking , Elyss would tap out far before she actually lost consciousness. In the meantime? Lerna put ALL of her strength and focus into the grapple, as the rest of the squad looked on with a mixture of awe, surprise, and possibly a sprinkling of envy.

Lerna couldn't help but grin a little as she noticed Elyss briefly start to shudder and drop to the ground. Not that she allowed that to loosen her grip, already she was slowly making small adjustments. Getting as good a grip around the woman's neck as she could manage while she did er best to keep the woman's wrist locked. At least robbing the woman, however temporarily, of ONE of her arms. But this didn't seem to much bother the woman, much to Lerna's intrigued. Her brows raised and she perked up when she felt those fingers starting to dig into her thigh. There would be a slight ripple of reiryoku Elyss found the skin beneath her fingers starting to harden as Lerna promptly began to focus up and reinforce herself with a bit of her own spirit energy.

She had a good idea of what was about to happen and promptly braced herself. Curling herself upward and aiming to doa crunch, curling her upper body upward, to try and reduce the ammount of her body that was abut to get fucking planted in the ground. But it wasn't fully effective. That first drop SLAMMED her into the ground and if she hadn't been braced, she no doubt would have immediately been winded. The feeling of her back making impact with the sandy floor of the training area quickly reminded her that while sand was shifty, it was still a pretty solid surface as the force ROCKED through her body.

But of course, the moment that she made contact with the ground. A loud crackling sound started to fill the air. Having made contact with the ground, Lenra promptly began to use her mod root. Her body chewing through her own shirt, and then the ground, to slowly coat her body in sand and her own spiritual energy. Her very own Mod Shell along her back and shoulders. HEr body was stinging, but she was still grinning as Elyss started to lift her back up and into the air. Ignoring the sensation that the next drop was probably going to crack a few ribs if she didn't thicken that shell fast enough.

"I think you're gonna need to find something harder to drop me on, Captain." She managed to hiss out with a self-satisfied grin. After all, this was more or less the best opportunity she could have asked for to win. Her ability to outmaneuver or overpower Elyss were virtually zero, after all. She wasn't quite as strong, wasn't quite as good a fighter, and frankly, was even NOW probably fucked. But the key factor in this situation wasn't even durability, it was endurance. And that was Lerna's specialty. Especially if it meant getting Elyss to pass out between her thighs. Was this an honorable victory? Hell no it wasn't. But Lerna wasn't honorable. she was a snake and a gangster, in that order. And there was some deep, instinctual catharsis that came from choking out an opponent.

Unfortunately, it would be around this time that Elyss would likely start to notice that her inebriation was probably starting to wear off.

Any looks of enthusiasm and intrigue no doubt shifted with the sudden change in the Captain. The moment that Elyss let out that croak, Lerna promptly pumped more reiryoku into her legs and CLAMPED down with as much strength as she could muster to KEEP that air out. A grin spread across her face as she was slammed into the ground. And then that fist raised up. That ripple of glass-like shell shifted, and Elyss's first blow rocked through her body. Those knuckles slamming into that hardened shell and promptly causing Lerna's teeth to grit as she took that hit.

The sudden assault was incredibly brutal. Even with that powerful shell and Lerna pumping energy into her legs and her skin, that first rammed into her without mercy. There was a loud crack as her ribs fractured. There was ripples of force that shook through Lerna's body and she gritted her teeth as she tensed, adjusting, bracing herself as best she could. But well, without letting go of that other arm and Elyss's neck, she couldn't really protect herself any. But that was much better than getting TWO fists slamming into her. And as that fist started wailing into her at FULL force without holding back. She felt a bit of blood fill her mouth, but more than that her flesh bruised beneath that hard shell.

But Lerna endured it. In the same way she had endured that hollow acid chewing off several layers of her skin. In the same way she had endured Kasha's fists burning smoldering holes in her chest. To that Quincy's Electric blade cleaving through her. In the same way she had endured various other maulings and vicious attacks that had brought her to where she was now. But she SURE as hell wasn't going to let up. She had smothered and constricted plenty of animals, and she knew that the more force and strength they put into their struggles, the FASTER they ran out of oxygen in their body and finally went limp. Gritting her teeth, using EVERY ounce of strength she had to maintain her grip!

But then she perked up and spotted that look in Elyss's eyes. That rather pumped up, insane look, and her brows raised as she realized that the woman had no intention of tapping out. Was this woman serious? Was she really about to keep wailing until she passed out? And it occurred to her that the woman might ACTUALLY get hurt if this continued. The story surrounding the old Captain of the Fourth. And well, just general word of how Elyss had been in the Academy prior rushed to her mind. What if this woman pushed herself well PAST the point where Lerna could just safely choke her out with sheer will? God dammit.

And when that fist hit her again, she promptly relinquished her grip, gritting her teeth as the last punch sank into her body and she SHOVED herself back and away from the captain, grunting as she twitched. There was a SNAP as the bones were forced back into place and Lerna promptly sprang up to her feet, blood running down her side as cracks ran all along the length of her chest and up and down her side. She looked FUCKED to put it lightly. But all the same, assuming elyss didn't just launch herself after the blonde, Lerna would spit out a mouthfull of blood, before promptly clapping her hand twice onto the sand.

"That's.... enough for me." She hoarsed out, the amount of blood in her lungs from her rips practically being punched through her lungs was pretty nasty, and she had to cough a few times and puke up a good ammount of it that had fed back into her stomach. Ugh....it was gonna be a real mess to fix that up. But all the same, she stood up, staggering a bit as it were. Even if it was a Gigai, that much damage DID still effect her ability to move around.
"You alright Cap?"

An immediate swell of pride was within her. Even though she'd wound up surrendering, there was no shortage of pride in how well she'd managed to do against the Captain. A nice few surprises, and immediately she was smiling. Rising up to her full height as the woman seemed to snap out of it. She'd done MUCH better than she'd expected. And so, she was a bit excited as she watched Elyss recover and .......

What?

Lerna blinked, surprise catching on her face as she watched the woman just .....reset right back? No .... praise? No critique? No advice? Lerna was just a bit ...dumbstruck as after an exchange like that, the Captain just ..... composed herself, murmured out some generic encouragement and walked off to do paperwork? "Is that ..... really it Captain? Nothing else to say to the squad you just finished smacking around? Was there like...some kinda lesson behind all that, or were you just looking to work off a little steam?" She asked the woman directly. That lack of reverence in her voice certainly cutting through the sounds of the others in the area, and causing a sudden hush as the squad looked to Elyss for her response.

Lerna almost expected to get punched in the face. But instead, Elyss turned and seemed to humor her concern. And ....well....sortof accommodated it? That was her line of thinking? That she was relieving a little stress by chucking people around? She turned her attention to some of the other division members. Mainly the ones who had been bloodied up by the Captain until she and the others had stepped in. Glancing back to the Captain herself she sighed a little and rubbed the back of her head.

"I mean.... fair? I guess that's ...somewhat better than just getting beat up for shits and giggles." She conceded, realizing that she really wasn't going to get much else from the woman. What did she expect? Elyss graduated from the academy how long ago? She was only where she was because of ...well a lot of things. But mostly her strength. And the disappointment on Lerna's features was palpable, but she was hardly in any position to do anything about that. Not only that but what was she gonna do....go into a different squad? She loved earth, and if she wanted to maintain her life on earth, this was the captain she was stuck with.

Picking up her zanpaku'to from the ground, she promptly turned and started to head back to the barracks.