Allen remained completely silent, his breathing rhythmic despite the vice-like grip crushing his trachea.
Noah closed his eyes, offering a slow, disappointed nod. "Looks like you're not in the mood to talk anymore..." He drew back his dominant left fist, the muscles in his forearm tightening like steel cables...
"if you somehow manage to survive this night, tell the bastard who sent you that the Loop is not the same organization it was back then."
But before Noah could launch the finishing blow, he caught a microscopic movement. Allen's fingers twitched.
BOOM!
A monstrous counter-punch exploded directly into Noah's jaw. The sheer, raw kinetic force shattered Noah's grip, sending his massive body rocketed backward, snapping two massive Giant Sequoia trees like toothpicks before he crashed into the drifts.
Noah staggered back to his feet, coughing violently, his mind reeling. It's impossible... how is he still capable of generating that much output after taking my direct structural hits?
Allen wiped a trail of crimson from his chin, his signature smile cutting through the freezing darkness. "Why the long face, Number 9? I thought you said my endurance was hollow."
Noah spat a mouthful of blood into the snow, his eyes narrowing into razor slits. "So, you were hiding your physical conditioning too? You actually managed to fool my analysis."
The two fighters began walking slowly toward one another, their boots crunching against the ice.
"Nah, your analysis was actually spot on," Allen admitted casually, rolling his shoulders. "Left to my own, my baseline endurance would've given out minutes ago. But recently, I started training under someone who is a total monster. Trust me, his punches make yours look like a joke. Just a few days of enduring his hellish conditioning routine gave me exactly what I needed to survive you."
Noah's smirk returned, a dark, knowing expression settling over his features as they stopped a mere three feet apart, standing face-to-face in the swirling blizzard. "Yes... that makes perfect sense."
Allen's eyes narrowed. "What are you implying?"
"During your background check, I dug into your childhood registry," Noah whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "I found out you were raised by Mr. Bigshot. But it looks like he also trained you personally. It's funny... I thought that man had only one disciple."
Allen's posture stiffened, his gaze turning icy. "You can use actual names, coward."
Noah shook his head, shifting his weight. "Enough talk. Let's just kill each other."
In the next fraction of a second, Noah drove a blinding straight right toward Allen's face. Allen slipped beneath the trajectory with practiced ease, instantly shifting his center of gravity to target Noah's lower base.
Allen delivered a brutal low kick to Noah's lead foot, followed instantly by a rising knee to his midsection. Before Noah could recover his posture, Allen swept his trailing calf, completely destroying Noah's balance.
With Noah exposed, Allen threw a devastating straight punch directly at his face—but Noah's combat instincts were elite. He whipped his leg up, kicking Allen's fist off-course, and used the recoil of his secondary leg to launch a powerful push-kick that sent Allen skittering across the ice.
Noah surged forward instantly, closing the gap like a predator. "You're not the only one who knows how to weaponize his legs, brat!"
Allen rolled through the snow and scrambled back into a defensive guard, but Noah was already near Allen. Noah feinted a low calf kick—which Allen successfully dodged—but it was a setup. Noah used the rotation to drive a massive, full-force fist directly into Allen's stomach.
The concussive force exploded through Allen's abdomen, launching him through the air. His body crashed violently through seven consecutive Giant Sequoia trees before he finally hit the ground.
Damn it, Allen thought, hacking up a stream of blood as he struggled to rise. This psychopath was holding back his true self this entire time.
Allen forced himself to charge back into the fray, but Noah's velocity was now terrifying. He materialized in front of Allen, palmed him violently by the face, and slammed his skull downward into the hard-packed earth with catastrophic power.
The sheer friction and compressed kinetic energy from the impact caused the surrounding snow to instantly vaporize, melting into liquid before sending a thick cloud of white steam hissing into the freezing air.
Allen swung a desperate retaliatory kick, but Noah refused to break his momentum. He hoisted Allen and flung him across the clearing. Allen flipped in mid-air, barely managing to land on his feet.
He looked back at the crater where he had just been slammed—thick plumes of grey smoke were still billowing from the melted earth.
Noah stepped through the steam, an evil, triumphant smile plastered across his face. "Is this truly the extent of your capabilities? His first student was by far superior. Compared to him, you are nothing."
Allen frowned, his jaw tightening. Who the hell is he talking about?
Noah's pace accelerated into a blur, and in the next heartbeat, he was on top of Allen again, driving a lethal fist toward his temple.
Thinking fast, Allen grabbed the trunk of a Sequoia tree behind him, using the leverage to swing his entire body upward into the air, completely evading the strike. Even Noah's eyes widened in surprise at the sheer acrobatics.
Before he could adjust his guard, Allen drove both of his boots squarely into Noah's face, using the impact to vault even higher into the sky.
Spinning with high-velocity rotation in mid-air, Allen descended like a hurricane, delivering a brutal, snapping kick directly to Noah's chest.
Noah managed to raise both forearms to block the strike, but the sheer downward force bypassed his guard entirely. The shockwave rattled his ribcage, causing him to cough up blood as the bones in both of his forearms fractured under the pressure.
What the hell? What kind of martial arts style is this? Noah thought.