Noel launched himself forward as Ragnar charged right back at him. Both fighters cocked their fists back and unleashed fully swung haymakers that collided dead center—BOOM! The shockwave blasted outward, shattering every nearby window and cracking the cobblestone street beneath their boots. Dust clouds erupted around them as broken stone slid and tumbled.
They instantly followed with powershots, each catching the other's strike mid-air. For a long second they locked up in a raw contest of strength, muscles straining, boots digging trenches into the stone, neither able to shove the other even an inch. Noel fired a sharp right knee; Ragnar checked it with his left. Knee checks flew back and forth—left, right, left again—each fighter smothering the other's rhythm.
Ragnar suddenly broke the pattern with a thunderous headbutt that snapped Noel's head back and left him stunned. The armored juggernaut grinned wide behind his spiked helmet. "Too slow, brat!" He unloaded a fully charged gut-breaking punch that folded Noel in half, forcing a loud gasp from his lungs.
Ragnar tried to chain a second body shot, but Noel caught the fist mid-swing, twisted, and answered with a vicious left kick that cracked against Ragnar's armored ribs and knocked him off-balance.
Noel didn't waste the opening—he drove the nastiest gut punch of his own straight through the gap, sending the bigger man stumbling back several steps.
Both fighters were breathing harder now, fresh bruises blooming across their torsos and small cuts leaking on their knuckles, but nothing slowed them.
They still had full tanks. Ragnar, the 6'2" spiked-metal monster—glowing orange eyes burning behind his visor—laughed loud and cocky. "You got one hell of a nasty punch there, brat! Good shit—I love it! LET'S HAVE AT IT!"
For the first time ever in a fight, Noel's lips curled into a terrifying grin.
They crashed together again.
A rapid series of kicks and counters flew—every strike checked, every opening denied. Dust clouds swirled with each missed blow; shards of cobblestone sprayed like shrapnel.
Ragnar kept marching forward, forcing Noel backward step by step. The armored tank was simply a half-step ahead in pressure.
Until they both connected at the same instant: Noel's fist smashed into Ragnar's metallic helmet with a ringing clang, Ragnar's gauntlet cracked across Noel's jaw.
Both heads snapped back. Ragnar recovered first, eyes blazing with pure thrill. "Hah! That the best you got, kid?!" He poured in—a vicious body shot, a knee to the back of the neck, another knee to the ribs, then a sharp elbow up top.
Ragnar hammered the body again and again. His superior's warning echoed in his head—don't let the fight drag on with Noel. The longer it lasts, the stronger he becomes.
The elbow dropped Noel to the ground. Ragnar stomped down hard, but Noel rolled at the last second, popped up, and cracked him with a haymaker that rocked the bigger man backward.
Noel smelled blood and refused to let Ragnar breathe.
He swarmed forward with body shots—most caught on Ragnar's iron arms—but the pressure kept pushing the armored warrior back.
Ragnar blocked everything, still grinning. Noel switched levels, feinted heavy up top, then exploded with a devastating side kick that slammed flush into Ragnar's midsection.
Noel smirked, already loading a follow-up right hand—until Ragnar slipped at a brutal angle, circled behind him, and blasted a haymaker that launched Noel straight into a stone building.
The wall crumbled around him, chunks of masonry raining down.
Ragnar didn't pause. He surged forward with a sonic boom, faster than sound, and dropped a crushing Meteor Punch straight into Noel's gut, driving him deeper into the shattered cobblestone and carving a fresh crater beneath them.
Noel groaned, pushing himself up slowly, one hand pressed to his stomach as his lungs struggled to pull in air. Ragnar stepped in again—only for Noel to suddenly grab two of the armor spikes on his chest plate and slam his forehead forward.
CRACK.
Blood splattered across Ragnar's visor.
The armored giant staggered half a step, laughing even harder. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"
Noel wiped blood from his mouth. "Still talking."
Ragnar answered with a clean right hand that landed flush. The world tilted. For a split second Noel's vision went white. His knees almost buckled. Then his grin widened. Finally.
For half a second neither moved. They circled slowly, boots scraping across broken stone, dust drifting between them.
Both men were breathing harder now. Blood dripped from Noel's chin onto the shattered cobblestone. Ragnar rolled his shoulders, armor creaking.
Ragnar wiped blood from the inside of his visor. For the first time his grin sharpened. "Heh… you're dangerous."
Noel said nothing.
He stepped forward.
They reset and dove right back in. Ragnar blocked an elbow. He fired another headkick. Noel caught the leg. Ragnar slipped the counter and dipped under the next strike—his right hand whistling past Noel's ear.
Noel pulled back just in time. The pattern repeated—until Ragnar overextended on a left follow-up. Noel dipped low and answered with a perfect round kick.
Ragnar turned to block while already winding up for his right, but Noel slipped that too, firing a right-hand, high-kick, left-hand combo before snapping back out of range.
Ragnar's defense was dialed in; nothing extra got through.
More exchanges flew—walls denting from glancing blows, ground cratering under missed stomps—until they finally separated.
Ragnar threw his head back and roared with laughter. "Damn, brat! I haven't had this much fun in a long damn time!" Noel's voice came low and flat. "Just shut up."
They charged again, feinting powershots, then clinched up and traded brutal knees in tight—dead even.
Both men were grinning now as they broke apart.
Noel stepped in with a heavy left. Ragnar slipped inside and countered with a headkick—blocked.
Noel tried to trap the leg; Ragnar pulled a counter right that whiffed by inches. Slips and counters flew back and forth until Noel landed a clean round kick to the body, then tried to swarm—only to eat Ragnar's heavy left hand across the cheek.
Noel answered instantly with a retaliatory heavy kick that thudded into Ragnar's side.
They disengaged once more, chests heaving, sweat and blood streaking their skin, fresh bruises darkening across ribs and jaws.
Noel's stomach still burned from the meteor punch; Ragnar's ribs ached from the side kick and headbutt.
But their eyes were still bright, legs still springy, fists still ready. They had plenty more gas left in the tank. Ragnar, the 6'2" armored beast, rolled his shoulders with a cocky smirk.
Noel—taller at 6'4"—just stared him down, silent, waiting for the next round.
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AN
Don't hate me too much for the cliff hanger :L
Howed you like the fight scene?