Katarina sat hunched over a table in the Institute's Noxian cantina, fuming with apparent and poorly-contained rage.
Fucking summoners.
Why, of all the champions scattered across Valoran, did she have to be chosen to fight on the battlefield known as the Summoner's Rift? Yes, normally there was nothing more she loved than the tenderness of human, yordle, and freaky evil specter's flesh as her blades flew into them, one at a time with menacing accuracy, splattering their blood across the roughly packed "lane" of the enormous battlegrounds….
She shook her head. Best not to let the bloodlust set in, otherwise she might have to answer for other Noxian lives. That, as well as the court martial she would have to deal with, would definitely put a further damper on the day.
Being summoned was usually a glorious occasion, a chance to show Valoran the true meaning of Noxian Diplomacy, but whenever the green summoners arrived… Dying 14 times without a single kill besides those scavenged off of that bisexual gem lover was not the greatest showing Katarina had ever accomplished.
Then in her next match, the summoner controlling Vi who had left due to "urgent business"- Probably going to rent a hooker for himself. Regardless, without that pink-haired brute to help out mid lane, Katarina had been penetrated by the Void without ever being able to concentrate enough to create her "Death Lotus", a move she rather prided herself on.
And in the next match as well, that fucking blob chuckling about how much he could lift and flinging himself into the enemy team without any backup? Even though the restrictions the League placed upon him were minimal, that overpowered piece of shit wasn't even able to scratch the surface of the purple team's front line….
Even remembering the humiliating defeats she had suffered caused the red-head to seethe with rage, fingers clenching her mug of ale so tightly that the glass was close to cracking. And that traitor to Noxus…
Katarina glanced across the pub to the chuckling, beach-blonde bimbo who thought that remaking Noxus was the only way forward. It stuck in her craw that that teenaged upstart could have won a victory over her, much less in the mid lane.
Summoners these days and their concepts of the "Meta"… If the red-head had her say, she'd be able to do anything that any of the other participants in the League of Legends could do nearly twice as well, but as matters stood, the enchantments and restrictions that they had placed upon her were so severe that her reaction times had been slowed to one-tenth of her usual capabilities.
If she had been able to use her full array of weapons, the Exile's corpse would have been splattered across the ground far more often than a simple two deaths, which, to some degree of satisfaction Katarina remembered, were both her doing. All the same, if the bitch hadn't left the lane to go and kill some of the useless Demacians that Katarina was partnered with, the team of bruisers never would've succeeded in pulling out a victory.
That loss, more than any of the others, left her frustratingly unfulfilled. It was always horrible losing to anyone, but to a traitor, a sympathizer to Ionia at that? Nearly unbearable.
"You look like you could use another round," chuckled Vladimir. "What'll your poison be? The usual Noxian Bloodwater?"
"Even have to ask by this point? I'm on round fucking four."
"Hey, feel free to be negative, but sometimes more of the same thing won't fill your cravings."
"You even think about it, Vlad, I'll cut your testicles off. I know they won't stay severed, but it will still hurt a hell of a lot," Katarina snarled.
"Well, perhaps someone without testicles might be more your type, Du Couteau," Vlad smirked.
"Say one more word, Reaper, I'm warning you.."
"Sure looked like Riven wanted a piece judging by how hard she fucked you over in your last match," he laughed.
At this Katarina, bellowing with rage, jumped off of her barstool and attempted to throttle Vladimir over the counter, startling several other fellow Noxians in the process, summoners and champions alike.
Hearing this, Riven, just finished recounting her story of the same match, looked over, still crying with mirth, towards the bar. Not surprised, she noted the scarlet red, fuming assassin at the center of the uproar, grabbing the still chortling Vladimir around the neck and strangling him with all the strength she had.
Logically, Vlad simply sank into a pool of moving, bubbling blood and reformed a few feet away, out of the grasp of the Sinister Blade, whereupon he simply continued chuckling.
"Kat," called Riven, "Although the majority of us would like to end the Reaper for his abhorrent puns, I've long since discovered there's no use in trying."
"Don't call me Kat, Exile," she hissed venomously, a bloodthirsty note presenting itself in her voice and a sinister light shining in her eyes.
"And if I do?" challenged Riven.
"I'll challenge you to a rematch, one on one. See if you can defeat me again, then maybe you'll earn the respect you so long have demanded."
"I accept, Sinister Blade," crowed Riven "Name a time and a place."
"Summoner's Rift, tomorrow," stated Kat as she paid Vlad, throwing a dirty look that simply sent him into another ream of laughter, "Bring your best, Exile, though even THAT, I fear, won't be enough."
From Riven's point of view, this appeared to be a fair deal. Defeat Katarina and show her the visions of a glorious Noxus, reunited under one banner, but one of peace and honorable warfare, not one of chemical attacks and weapons of mass destruction.
To Katarina, this was simply a chance to take out some frustration, relieve herself and show the true power of Noxus, again and again until the Exile could no longer resist the ideals of her brethren.
"Oh, and one more thing, Exile," crooned Katarina as she walked out of the cantina door, accompanied by the sighs of relief of the rest of its inhabitants, "This is a match without restrictions, so feel free to 'Amaze me', as it's said."
(A/N) So, I'm back with another FF. This one, with respects to my beta reader WaddleBuff, was a stroke of creativity on my part, followed by some technical reading suggestions on his, that I feel have provided a rather delightful first chapter. I will be continuing "A Sense Beyond" very soon, I only have a few things to iron out first related to it before the next chapter will be released, so if you haven't yet checked it out, feel free to do so. Leave an R&R if possible, I'd love to hear any feedback you have available.
!Sapo¡