OLD-WORLD EXTRA

50  Respect They traded blows, each strike more powerful than the last.

Emir's strength was waning, his muscles were burning with fatigue, and his mental energy was draining.

He ducked under one of her punches and landed a hard uppercut to her jaw.

"Ugh!"

She stumbled back, dazed.

Emir followed up with a roundhouse kick to her head, causing her to roll on the ground across the room.

"Hoooooh...."

He took a moment to catch his breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

As she got up from the ground, she lunged at him with a series of quick jabs and kicks.

He dodged and blocked as best he could, but she was relentless.

Raven's movements were fluid, like water, and he struggled to keep up, especially now that his mental energy was almost running out.

A punch landed hard in his gut, causing him to stagger back and gasp for air.

"Gah!"

And before he could recover, she took advantage of his weakness and landed a swift kick to his side.

The pain radiated through his body, sharp and intense.

Emir gritted his teeth and tried to shake it off, but the ache lingered.

So instead, he ignored the growing pain coursing through his entire body, and fought back with renewed energy, throwing a barrage of punches and kicks at her.

Some connected, but most missed as she weaved and dodged. However, he could tell that she was getting tired.

Her movements were slowing down, and her breathing was getting ragged.

But that applied to him as well. And as they further traded blows, the sound of their fists connecting echoed throughout the room.

Raven was a tough opponent, and Emir could see that she was just as determined as he was to come out on top.

"Grrrrr!"

With a fierce growl, Raven lunged at Emir with a flying kick, but he sidestepped it and slammed his fist into her stomach.

She grunted in pain but didn't back down, coming at him with a flurry of punches that he barely managed to dodge.

He felt a sharp pain in his side as she landed a hard blow, and he fought back even harder.

He moved in closer, grappling with her, trying to get the upper hand.

They wrestled on the ground again, throwing punches and kicks, each one landing with a sickening thud.

Emir's knuckles started to ache, but he didn't let that slow him down.

Raven managed to get a hold of his arm, twisting it painfully behind his back.

He gritted his teeth, trying to fight the pain, and managed to break free with a sudden burst of strength.

He swung around, landing a brutal punch to her jaw that sent her sprawling.

She immediately rose to her feet and let out a fierce, bloodcurdling scream as she charged at him once again.

"Aaaaaargh!"

Emir braced himself for the clash but managed to sidestep at the last second and grab her by the hair, slamming her face-first into the wall.

The impact was brutal, and he could hear the sickening crunch of bones as her nose broke.

But even as blood poured down her face, coloring her black hair red, she refused to give up.

She spun around, throwing a punch that he barely managed to dodge.

Emir felt his own blood pumping in his ears and the taste of iron on his tongue, he was truly reaching his limit.

But they continued to trade blows, each one more brutal than the last.

And finally, in one of their many exchanges, he spotted an opening in her stance and lunged forward, landing a powerful punch to her gut that left her gasping for air.

He followed it up with a roundhouse kick to her head that sent her crashing to the ground.

She lay there, groaning in pain, but Emir didn't stop.

"Hooouf..."

He took a deep breath and launched himself at her, unleashing a relentless barrage of strikes—

delivering powerful punches, swift kicks, like an unstoppable force of destruction, each carrying the unyielding chaos of Carnage itself.

He cocked his hands like a pair of loaded pistols, unleashing them with explosive power as they descended upon her, delivering a bone-shattering punch squarely on her ribs.

The impact reverberated through his knuckles, accompanied by the sickening sound of cracking bones.

"GAAHHHH!" She let out a cry of agony.

But that didn't register in Emir's ears, his uncontrollable anger and madness grew inside him, fueling his every move, ignoring everything else.

He rained down blow after blow, his fists slamming into her face and body with brutal force.

Blood spattered across the floor as her skin split open, and her cries turned into desperate gasps for air.

But still, Emir didn't stop.

He kicked her in the stomach, feeling her body convulse in pain.

"Schtop...."

She pleaded while trying to crawl away, but he seized her bloodied hair, his hands nearly slipping, but he tightened his grip, refusing to let go and he yanked her back towards him, her body resisting his every pull.

He held her head and started to repeatedly smash it into the ground over and over again.

The sound of her head being bashed on the ground echoed throughout the quiet room.

Thud!

Bash, Thud!

Thud, Thud, Thud!

Bash, Splurt, Crack!

Thud!

Throwing her away, Emir rose to his feet, and with a ferocious snarl of anger he unleashed a final blow upon her—a crushing kick to the head that sent her crumpling to the ground in an unconscious heap, her neck twisted and broken.

Huff... Huff... Huff...

He stood there, panting heavily, his body aching and covered in sweat and blood.

It was a brutal fight, one that he will never forget.

But in the end, Emir came out on top.

It was over.

He had won.

But as he looked down at Raven's unconscious body, he couldn't help but feel a sense of respect for her.

She had been a worthy opponent, and he was grateful for her becoming his stepping stone.

Emir relaxed for a moment, swallowing a bunch of healing pills.

Soon after, he crouched down and stripped her naked.

He then carried her scarred and mangled body to the torture chair, strapping her to its chains.

Emir forced some old-world medicine into her mouth and opened wounds, and then went out to gather the rest of the weapons and place them all in this room.

When he had finished gathering all 31 weapons in the room, it seemed like a fortuitous encounter, akin to what one might find in a Chinese novel.

He was going to make a fortune off of this haul, and that wasn't even accounting for the augmented suits strewn around the room.

Lyra had taken out 12 members of their group, and only 10 of them were wearing augmented suits.

Most of them were of the cheap D-rank variety, except for the ones guarding the building exterior and the two guys in the room with C-rank suits.

'So, a total of 6 D-rank and 4 C-rank suits—a good haul indeed,' he thought.

'As for my dear Raven, her augmented suit is top-notch, ranked B+, surpassing mine by a long shot.'

'But, I have no idea what kind of calibration she has set up, and wearing it could potentially be fatal for me.'

'Plus, I can't nor want to stroll around wearing a suit designed for girls.'

[Hey, Lyra, can you check if that augmented suit is usable or not?] Emir asked, wondering.

[It is, I can easily make it perfectly compatible with you, or anyone for that matter, do you wish for me to make it general purpose for you to sell it?]

[Please do.]

[Consider it done.]

[Also, can you use my information gathering device to check if there are any relics in this building and if there is anything that might lead us to another one of their hideouts and underground connections? A control room would be ideal.]

[Beginning scan now.]

While Lyra scanned the building, Emir went back to check on Raven.

"Hey, you awake?"

"…"

He stared at her in silence before walking up to her.

And without a word, he grabbed her face and dug his now-healed nails into her eyes.

She immediately jolted awake, screaming loudly.

"How are you feeling? Good? You know it was quite tough to keep up the weak act, but I wanted to make sure of a few things, you see."

"Anyway, I've got a few questions for you, dear, so can you stop screaming?" He asked as he pulled his hand away from her scarred face.

Raven gasped for air, her eyes adjusting to the dim lighting of the room.

She tried to speak, but her throat was raw from screaming.

Emir grabbed a bottle of water and offered it to her, but she refused, spitting at his feet instead.

He shrugged and leaned in closer, his face just inches from hers.

Mirroring their first meeting.

"You know, you really should be more cooperative. It'll make things much easier for you in the long run."

She glared at him, her eyes full of hate and fury.

"I'll never help you, you monster."

Emir chuckled.

"We'll see about that, besides, I should be saying that. You guys tortured me, you know?"

"And I have a few questions, you see. Like, for example, where are the rest of your little group? Or did I already kill all of you? And more importantly, where do you keep all of your relics?"

Instead of replying, she spat at him again.

Emir swiftly dodged the glob of spit she hurled in his direction, and sighed.

If her actions wanted to get him mad, then she succeeded, as he was reaching his boiling point.

So, without hesitation, he slapped her across the face with all the force he could muster, feeling the bones in her face crack beneath his hand.

"You're wasting your time," she hissed through gritted teeth, blood dribbling from the corner of her mouth.

"I'll never tell you anything."

I think I got better at writing fights, what do you guys think?