Her initial deflection took, but that speed - her thrust for Miyuki's waist was met with the black fox's supernatural speed and precision. Pushed back again, she gave a little, rousing growl. She didn't want to lose so handily in front of her follows, but she wouldn't ask Miyuki to restrain her might.

That being said, the other wasn't showing the least sign of stress. Despite how Yumeiko could be more unrestrained with her weapon, Miyuki was handling her without a problem, only parrying - targeting her weapon. Miyuki could very well toy with her like this, if she had the intent.

However, Miyuki was behaving predictably, even if that predictability was damned sturdy. One more attempt like this. Yumeiko charged, feinted with the tip of her spear to bait Miyuki's overcommitment before she would catch the haft of the spear in the crescent of her weapon. With a quick, subtle twist and a push downward, she would try to pin the head of the glaive down before pushing forward. There should be enough length for her to keep the weapon pinned and extend her reach to Miyuki. If she had to sacrifice the pin for a strike, would Miyuki's insane speed defeat her?

Only one way to find out.

Yumeko charged again, and the story was much the same... Except, this time, the golden fox did not aim to try and reach the dark fox herself, but rather, re-angled her spear so that Miyuki's retaliation missed the former's weapon.

As the golden fox had thought, even with the speed Miyuki possessed, she wasn't immune to the laws of motion, and her glaive sailed through the air with nothing to strike or stop it. This brief window gave the goddess the opportunity she'd needed, and with a quick motion, her crescent moon spear bit down and pinned Miyuki's glaive to the ground.

A brilliant display! And the golden fox kept on moving ahead, prepared to get closer to Miyuki to land a blow!

... Except...

For the first time since Miyuki had held a wepon, at least as far as Yumeko had seen, the dark fox's face was no longer a stoic, statue-like mask of brutal, unfeeling cold efficiency. Instead, the moment Yumeko pinned her weapon to the floor of the arena, a... Really frightening grin spread across Miyuki's face, and it almost looked small flames had been lit in her eyes... Giving the dark haired one a very uncany, sinister and - predictably - malevolent appearance.

... Had she been doing these repeated, predictable and repetetive movements as a bait...?

Without even flinching or blinking, Miyuki's hands let go off her now pinned, and useless glaive, and with the sae speed she'd used to move to the dinner table and to catch YUmeko, she now moved towards the blonde... But... Not to eat her cooking or catch her in a fainting spell... No... There was something.. Wrong... Somehting dark and menacing... Miyuki looked like she was about to do somehting to harm, Yumeko.

The golden fox had pinned the glaive and was moving towards Miyuki. Miyuki had dropped her glaive, and zoomed at Yumeko. The stance the dark fox had been in allowed her to push off without any need to readjust her posture, like a taut, wound and ready-to-go spring.

Yumeko had only mere moments, or perhaps a mere instance of time, to do... Something... To not be reached by Miyuki... And... Whatever it was she'd done if she reached the Goddess...

That change in her eyes! Yumeiko felt a flash of fear throughout her, but

Miyuki had taken her to bed for rest. She had enjoyed her food. She had taken her tour and been so... tame? Was that the word she was looking for? It felt degrading, she didn't want to use it, but it was almost like she had... tamed something wild that now was unleashing against her.

Will she really hurt me? ... No.

Miyuki was closing in on her, having abandoned her glaive. No weapon left to her, but Yumeiko still had a handle on her sasumato. She couldn't just retreat now, could she? She made her opponent surrender her weapon while retaining her own, she had the advantage!

So why did she feel like she was disadvantaged?

Yumeiko gathered what power from the ship that she could, to enhance her body and defense. Something was coming. She gathered power in her palm, the strike she had planned for Miyuki's body, now that she'd pinned the glaive.

Miyuki had been ready for her tactic. Had she known, planned for it? Just how proficient in warfare was she?

The Goddess had begun to gather some kind of energy in her hand, in reesponse... But... This was not an approach of seconds. This was a collision that would occur in a few blinks of the eye. While Miyuki no longer ha da weapon, she was now inside - and thus beyond - the effective use of Yumeko's own weapon.

For a spear's advantage is that it can reach and hold an enemy at bay, away from the user. But if the enemy gets in, along the haft, then a polearm becomes nothing more than a pointless twig that can accomplish nothing. You cannot swing a spear to the side like a blade in a quick motion to strike a closing opponent, because the spear's handle is a rounded thing. It is unwieldy to move in a such a way as well.

Miyuki had lost her glaive when it was pinned down, but ny springing forward and closing the distance with Yumeko, using her unnatural speed, the golden fox's weapon was now, effectively, also useless. Even if Yumeko tried to recoil and retract her weapon in response, the most she could do was try and hold it up infront of herself like a staff to try and block the incoming threat. For she could no longer pull it hack far enough to catch Miyuki with the prongs.

... of course, none of that mattered.

Because Miyuki's hand at this point raced forward and landed on Yumeko's left shoulder. The momentum of the slightly taller - and heavier - dark fox pushing against the soft, blonde one. Since Yumeko had been charging ahead, her position was not rooted or balanced. She was in the midst of motion. Forward motion. And now that momentum was countered by a faster, heavier - and apparently somewhat frightening - opposing force.

The golden fox could, in all likelihood, feel a sense of slow-motion at this point, as she was being impacted and the shift from moving forward, to now stopping and then slightly tilting backwards, with the potential of her legs and feet slipping and going airborne, was very real.

This was her absolute last chance to do... Somehting... Anything... Before she would be flung and end up on her backside by Miyuki... And the black haire done still looked like... A sadistic monster, about to bite into some poor, hapless prey...

Had the noirette lost her senses?

Miyuki was too fast, she hadn't been able to strike before the black fox had also made contact. Her posture pitched back, though now her right hand left her sasumato and came to her, ready to try and intercept whatever it was Miyuki was about to do.

There wasn't any time to do anything other than struggle. Miyuki had counter-rushed her, successfully, and made contact. Escape would be impossible. Had escape been possible, before? She was so fast.

Her charged left palm came forward as Miyuki intercepted her, claiming her shoulder even as her strike came forward. She might have to shoot with her palm, if this got bad.

Miyuki's eyes were terrifying.

Her right hand abandoned her spear and came into intercept whatever strike Miyuki planned, likely with her other hand. That seemed like it would be the next thing she would do, but Yumeiko couldn't be certain. She could only predict and adapt.

Time was moving very slowly... For the foxes, at least. While for the on-lookers, things moved in a fast-paced, high-stakes, octane-pumping blur... Things were different for the Divine One and the Dark One.

As Miyuki's palm struck Yumeko's shoulder, and sent the slightly smaller fox backwards, into a potential fall, the golden one braced and prepared for whatever she could to block and intercept whatever it was the menacingly grinning woman before her was about to do.

... But...

Nothing.

Miyuki did nothing.

She didn't follow up with her free hand to try and punch or grab the other fox. She didn't raise her knee or perform a sideways kick to send her opponent flying. It was as if, after she'd struck Yumeko's shoulder, something had... Clicked...

And it was nowhere more noticeable than in Miyuki's eyes and expression. An expression that, at this range and proximity, only Yumeko could see.

And what she was...

Gone was wild, grinning and sadistic smile. Gone were the eyes with an evil glint to them. Gone was also the stoic stone statue, or the eyes of lifeless, unfeeling metal. Instead, what the golden fox saw... Was a face of abject, irrefutable and absolute horror.

Miyuki's eyes had grown wide and alrge, her pupils had shrunk to pin-pricks, her mouth had gone froma grin into an expression of stupified small o-shape. And the dakr one was... Not ... Moving... it was as if she'd frozen then and there, somehow cutting all that speed and movement off, defying the laws pf physics and nature, and just... Stopping. Freezing.

... Unfortunately for Miyuki though, YUmeko's arm was still moving. The one aglow with whatever energy she'd gathered from the ship. And that palm directly connected with the dark haired woman's torso. So, what would happen now? Would the energy release in a brilliant blast? Would it amplify the Goddess strength by ten-or-a-hundred-fold? Would it paralyze the other woman?

Miyuki did not know. She didn't look like she knew anything at this point. But she was about to feel something.

It had been a long time since she'd looked into the face of recognizable aggression like that. She couldn't even remember if she had, she must have, at some point. Yet, Miyuki's ferocity had been that of someone who delighted in violence, and that had been

And now, suddenly, Miyuki seemed stunned. Shocked? Like she'd seen something-

Oh. Was she acting?

Yumeiko followed through with her strike. She unleashed a small shockwave, for effect, but more impressively were the hardlight chains she would wrap Miyuki in, spreading out from her palm. Her free hand came in and together, both hands gripped the chains and lifted while her feet found foundation. She could not fully find balance, but enough control to swing Miyuki and end up pinning her to the ground, though she would be depending on the chains to have bound her arms.

Probably, maybe. Miyuki has tricks, like as not. Unless she really is putting on a performance.

*Splat*

Miyuki was flung onto the arena floor, wrapped in shiny, shiny BDSM chains by the 'Goddess'... Though... What kinda benevolent Goddess wraps a being in chains, then heaves them into the air and slams them down into the ground as if they were a child's toy rubber mallet was a question for later.

For now... The dark fox was quite litteraly kissing the floor... Face-first and all...

... And... She didn't seem to be... Uhm... Well.. She... She wasn't getting back up, chief... Not even her tails were twitching...

... Uh oh...

"...?" Yumeiko stared for an instant, her own tails growing still, then each would flick gently, now and then.

"Miyuki?" She'd been terrifying, had she been bluffing?

She turned the other fox over and leaned over her, nearly straddling her, "Miyuki?! Hey, c'mon, now." Yumeiko reached up and rubbed the other's cheek, her golden tails flicking anxiously.

As she was rolled over, Yumeko could see that Miyuki's eyes were initially closed. Her mouth drawn into a thin line. She didn't seem to respond...

.. Until she did.

Her eyes opened, and her expressions were back to normal. Her eyes were their usual golden color, her face was.. Well.. She looked a bit... Red... Particularly around the nose-area where she'd caught the floor earlier... But nothing seemed broken or bleeding. She looked at the blonde (almost) sitting/standing atop her. Then let out a small sigh.

"I've lost my weapon, am bound in chains and lying on the floor." She stated flatly, in a perhaps slightly indignant or irritated tone. "... Huh... I yield." She said, letting out another, slightly exasperated sigh.

The black haired one made no fuss to try and move or shakke Yumeko off. She didn't make any attempts at lunging or using sneaky tactics like bucking or trying to do a lying, flipping kick to catch the blonde off-guard. She just... Surrendered... Apparently.

This was... strange.

Yumeiko studied the other before releasing the chains and standing, holding a hand out to the black fox. She smiled and spoke, very softly, for only her ears, "you threw."

Had her show of power been very convicing? Or had she embarrassed Miyuki, for all her strength? The black fox could have easily won.

It was a bit embarrassing, to win only by someone else's grace, but she understood why Miyuki did it. Yumeiko was not just a symbol, but the Goddess of the people on this ship. She and Miyuki could not have an honest spar in front of them. She could see how quickly Miyuki would overcome her, it would be an embarrassment.

"... thank you."

She didn't like it, but she understood it. Why it was necessary.

Miyuki grabbed the blonde's hand, and got up. After being on her own two feet again, she lightly brushed herself off f, adjusted her kimono - that had begun to slip dangerously after her impact with the floor - and straightened up her hair a little. After which, when the golden fox thanked her, Miyuki simply offered another polite bow.

She did, however, not respond to Yumeko's private question about her throwing the match. Wihch meant either one of two tings;

A) She didn't want to admit that she'd let the Goddess win infront of her followers to make her look good and keep up appearances.

Or, B) ... She hadn't let the other fox win, and the cause of her freezing up had been the result of something else.

Regardless, it seemed like the on-lookers were happy with the showing. well, of course they'd be, their savior had just shown off her strength and - rather handedly - recovered and overtaken an opponent who initially looked to have the upper hand. A dramatic come-back, snatching victory out of the jaws of imminent defeat. The stuff those old stories were mae out of. Who wouldn't enjoy watching a storybook battle unfold in reality, right before your eyes?

Miyuki then just casually sauntered over to where her dropped weapon had been, gingerly picked it back up and held it one hand. After all, she couldn't just leave it on the ground.

"So, what is next, milady?" She asked, turning to face Yumeko.