Hera vs. Gem Queen - Palace of Pain!

The Queen smiled on hearing that.

And the bell was ringing! The match had begun!

The Queen slowly approached forward, her arms out in a grapple stance, slowly circling and approaching Hera.

Hera took a breath, and pulled away from the corner, rolling her shoulders as she cautiously approached the Gem Queen. She wasn't sure of... Well, almost anything about her, save that she's a dominant and vicious fighter. As much as she wants to play it safe, she knew she'd have to get a feel for her opponent somehow...

Taking a moment to circle around the ring, keeping the Queen within her sights, Hera finally stepped forward and held out a hand- Offering a test of strength to the fearsome monarch.

Gem looked at it, and accepted the test of strength, wanting to test the gladiator.

While it would be an awkward stance to take due to her shorter height, Hera and Gem would lock up....and Gem would quickly show her strength by pushing at Hera, pushing her torso backwards in the lockup! Her own footing was incredibly firm, and Hera was facing the brunt of her strength.

Somehow, the logistics of actually doing a test of strength with someone half her height didn't click until their hands were already clasped together- And at that point, you might as well go with it. At the very least, Hera had the height advantage in this, surely allowing her a simple vic--

"Hh--!" Hera's eyes widened as the Gem Queen pushed against her, the Gladiator caught completely off-guard by the shorter woman's strength! Her knees buckled as she grit her teeth and tried to push back, her muscles straining with effort...!

Gem Queen got stopped in her tracks by Hera's pushback, but she herself didn't budge back. The two were firmly locked into place, pushing at each other, straining their arms and posture.

Gem Queen was the first to break posture- by sending a foot out towards Heras buckled knees, hooking it in and pulling!

Hera grunted softly as the two reached a deadlock, her muscles tensed and strained as she struggles to shove her back. She shut an eye in a visible grimace, attempting to push herself back up to her feet...

Only for the Gem Queen to hook her leg out from under her, expertly sweeping the demon off her feet as she fell back to the mat with a pained grunt- The whole ring shaking slightly from the force of her fall!

On the outside, Hermes could only watch on with a furrowed brow, pacing around in anxiety. Gods, were the stories about the Gem Queen true...?

The Gem Queen didn't give a moment to spare, for as soon as Hera tripped, she immediately plopped herself down on Hera's other thigh, while grabbing the leg she had tripped, and applying a lock on the knee, bringing up a hand to apply pressure on the knees backside while tightly pulling the leg with her other arm in a sort of sharpshooter hold!

Hera hardly had a chance to even look back up at her opponent before she felt a shooting pain bolt through her leg- She instinctively shut her eyes and hissed through her sharp teeth, planting her hands down on the mat. Attempting to tug her leg away from the hold yielded no results- Gem Queen had it tightly sinched in, her grip stronger than iron. Groaning softly, she tilted her head back, looking to the ropes... And tried to shimmy back to reach for them. She just had to curl her fingers around the bottom one...!

The struggle was real and it hadn't even been 1 minute into the match!

Gem Queen felt Hera shimmying towards the ropes, and tried to keep the hold on to prevent her from reaching it, even trying to pull with the leg she was submission locking to stop her, but Hera managed to make it to the ropes, causing her to let go of the leg as the referee tapped her shoulder.

As she let go, the Queen cracked her shoulders, hearing the boos aimed at her, looking among the audience, her cold smile not leaving her face, as she walked up to the gladiators upper body and head.

"Haah...!" Hera let out a sigh of relief as her leg was released, taking her time to lie and recover while her opponent mugs to the crowd. Already she can tell this is going to be a tough one... A fight she can't solve with brute force alone.

She lied in wait for Gem Queen to approach her, her lips pursing as she held off for the right opportunity... Then when she felt close enough, she suddenly lunged her arm out and attempted to snatch a handful of Gem Queen's singlet, looking to yank her forward into the middle rope- Where hopefully she'd stay for a second to allow Hera to push herself to her feet!