In The Alley
The man moved first.
No warning. No buildup.
A punch tore through the air straight for Jake's face.
Jake raised his arms to block—
—and his eyes blew wide.
He twisted his head aside at the last possible instant.
WHOOSH—!
The punch missed by centimeters, yet the air pressure alone detonated past his cheek, ripping his hair back violently. The wall behind him cracked as if struck by an invisible hammer.
Jake landed lightly and stared.
"…If I blocked that," he thought, "my hands would've shattered."
The man—Buck—grinned.
He came again.
Punch.
Kick.
Low sweep.
Jake slipped the punch, checked the kick with his shin, pivoted—countered with a hook to the ribs.
Thud.
Buck barely flinched.
Jake followed up instantly—straight to the face.
Buck's head snapped back a fraction.
Then a forearm slammed aside Jake's arm. A knee shot toward his abdomen.
Jake twisted, barely avoiding it, spun—
CRACK!
A spinning kick smashed clean into Buck's face.
Nothing.
Buck didn't even blink.
He caught Jake's leg mid-kick.
Jake's pupils shrank.
"—!"
Buck swung.
The world flipped.
Jake was hurled down the alley like a ragdoll, his body tearing across concrete, sparks flying as he skidded. He dug his heel in and barely stopped himself before smashing into the wall.
He stood.
Smiling.
Buck was already there.
FWOOSH—!
A punch screamed toward Jake's face.
Jake leaned back, the fist grazing his nose so close it burned.
He jumped back, breath steady, eyes sharp.
"…What's left?" Jake thought.
"I've repeated everything. Every pattern. Every rhythm I adapted before."
Buck rolled his shoulders.
"You're fun," he said.
Then his veins lit up.
Yellow light pulsed beneath his skin like lightning trapped in flesh. His muscles swelled slightly, cords tightening unnaturally. His heartbeat thudded loud enough to hear.
"Skill activation," Buck snarled. "Adrenaline."
The air changed.
Buck vanished.
Jake barely raised his arms—
BOOM!
A punch smashed through his guard and sent him flying backward. He hit the wall, cracked it, rebounded—
—and forced himself forward immediately.
Buck was already swinging again.
Punch.
Kick.
Elbow.
Each hit carried no hesitation, no fatigue. Buck didn't slow. Didn't breathe heavy. Didn't react to pain at all.
Jake blocked one strike—
—and the force blasted him back three steps anyway.
"Unlimited stamina… strength… speed," Jake realized mid-motion.
"No pain. No drop-off."
Buck grinned wider.
Jake's shadow stirred.
It peeled off the ground like liquid, crawling toward him, rising up his arms as black mist. It wrapped, condensed—
Gauntlets formed.
Jake dropped into a fighting stance.
Low. Balanced. Still.
Buck charged.
Jake reacted late—barely.
Punch grazed his jaw.
Kick clipped his ribs.
Jake countered with a straight punch—
Buck ignored it.
Jake's fist slammed into Buck's face with full force.
Nothing.
Buck answered with a hook so heavy it launched Jake off his feet.
Jake hit the ground, rolled—
—and sprang forward instantly.
He disappeared.
For a split second, Buck lost him.
Jake reappeared inside Buck's guard.
Punch.
Punch.
Punch.
Faster.
Each strike landed—face, ribs, jaw, throat—so fast they blurred together. Jake's feet slid, pivoted, repositioned constantly, his body moving on pure instinct.
The alley filled with the sound of impacts.
Buck didn't fall.
He laughed.
And swung blindly.
Jake leapt back just as the fist tore through where his head had been, the shockwave splitting the pavement.
They stared at each other.
Jake's chest rose slowly.
Buck's veins pulsed brighter.
"You hit hard," Buck said. "But you don't hurt."
Jake wiped blood from his lip.
"…Yeah," he replied calmly.
Then his eyes sharpened.
"That's fine."
He stepped forward.
"I don't need to."
The shadows at his feet twitched.
And Buck's grin finally faltered.
The fight wasn't over.
Dark mist erupted from Jake's body.
Not slowly—
Violently.
The shadows beneath his feet twisted upward like smoke pulled by a vacuum. Wind blasted from below, spiraling around him, lifting his hair, snapping his clothes upward as if gravity itself had inverted.
The air screamed.
Jake bent low, one hand touching the ground—
like an athlete about to explode off the starting line.
Then—
Blur.
He vanished.
Buck's instincts screamed.
He snapped into a blocking stance—
Jake appeared.
A fist stopped inches from Buck's guard.
Gone.
Jake reappeared behind him.
The punch landed.
For the first time, Buck left the ground.
His body lifted—just barely—
but that was enough.
Jake didn't stop.
Punch.
Punch.
Punch.
Each strike hammered into Buck midair, not letting him recover, not letting him fall. Jake moved with him, pacing his body in the air like a predator juggling prey.
A kick snapped upward.
Buck's body twisted helplessly.
Black mist coiled around Jake's arm—tight, aggressive—then split, forming skeletal hands that locked onto his forearm, reinforcing it, bracing it.
The mist howled.
It spun faster.
FWOOOOOOSHHHH—!
Jake drove his fist forward.
"HAAAARRRHHH—!"
POOOOOM!!!
The punch buried itself into Buck's gut.
Not just hit—
forced.
Jake stepped in, shoulder behind the strike, skeleton hands tightening as he drove the blow deeper.
Buck's body folded in half.
Then—
FWOOOSH—BAM!!!
Buck became a projectile.
He slammed through the wall behind him, bricks exploding outward as his body vanished into the building beyond.
Jake stood there, chest rising.
He inhaled deeply.
"…Haaarh."
He exhaled.
"It's finished."
Bricks shifted.
Then fell.
Dust rolled outward.
A silhouette emerged.
Buck stepped through the rubble—
glowing brighter than before.
Veins pulsed violently. Yellow light surged beneath his skin like molten energy barely contained.
Jake stared.
"…What the hell?" he muttered.
"What are you made of?"
His jaw tightened.
"…Are you really just C-rank?"
He cracked his neck once.
"Well then."
"One final theory."
Buck exploded forward.
A flying punch tore through the dust—
BLACK.
Sound vanished.
Then—
Light returned.
Slow motion.
Buck's eyes widened.
His fist was buried in Jake's cheek.
Jake had stepped into the punch.
His feet lifted slightly off the ground.
His vision dimmed.
"…So… this is it?" Jake thought.
Consciousness began to slip—
CLING.
A screen flashed.
Strength +34
Speed +13
Agility +5
Health +20
Another screen slammed down.
LEVEL UP
Jake's feet slammed back onto the ground.
BOOM!
Concrete shattered beneath him.
His eyes snapped open.
Shadow mist surged—violent, feral—wrapping his arm again, but this time it crawled upward, spreading to his neck, his face.
Skeleton fingers crawled across his cheek.
One eye drowned in black.
The other ignited—
glowing crimson.
Jake clenched his fist.
"HAAAAAARGH!!!"
He smashed it into Buck's face.
Buck's body bent backward unnaturally.
Jake didn't stop.
He drilled the punch deeper, forcing it in, grinding forward as Buck tried—desperately—to straighten.
"HAAAARGH!!!"
Jake roared again—
—and in a blink—
SMASH!!!!!!
He slammed Buck's head straight into the ground.
The earth shattered.
Concrete cracked outward like glass.
A violent shockwave tore through the alley, blasting dust and wind past the girl, blinding her as debris flew.
Silence.
Dust slowly settled.
Jake stood at the center.
Panting.
Black mist poured off him like smoke from an overheated engine.
Only the red glow of his eye cut through the haze.
He exhaled.
White vapor poured from his mouth.
The girl stared, frozen, unable to breathe.
Jake took one step forward.
Then another.
His balance shifted.
"…Huh?"
His legs gave out.
He pitched forward.
"I'm… falling?"
His body hit the ground face-first.
"I can't… move…"
Every muscle screamed.
No strength left.
No shadow answered.
"…So tired…"
The world faded.
Black swallowed everything.