Rex hit the rubble hard enough to crack the floating slab beneath his boots.
Across from him, Noir landed lightly on a bent piece of fortress metal, barely making a sound. The black panther rolled one shoulder, stretched his neck, and looked completely unbothered.
The ocean around them was calm now. Blue sky stretched overhead, and sunlight reflected off the drifting wreckage of Dr. E's fallen base. It would have been peaceful if not for the fact that one side of the battlefield was turning into a slaughterhouse.
A few dozen meters away, Nico was still down on one knee, breathing hard after getting brutalized by Metal Nico. Dr. E stood nearby with that smug expression he always wore when something evil was going his way. The five Phantom Rubies lay scattered behind Nico, glowing faintly on the rubble.
Viper crouched beside a broken support beam, one gloved hand pressed against the ground as he steadied his breathing. He looked rough. Cuts lined his arms, dirt covered his clothes, and his goggles were cracked on one side. He had never been a pure front-line fighter, but right now he had no choice.
Rex spat blood to the side and stepped forward.
"You talk too much."
Noir smiled.
"And you punch too slowly."
Rex roared and launched himself forward.
His first punch was a straight right aimed at Noir's face. It was fast by normal standards and strong enough to fold steel, but Noir moved his head half an inch and let the fist scream past his cheek.
Then Noir raised one hand.
Not even a full punch.
Just a sharp backhand.
CRACK.
Rex's head snapped sideways, and the force sent him skidding across the rubble.
Noir laughed as Rex dug his heels in and forced himself to stop.
He took a slow step forward.
His red pupils glowed faintly in the sunlight.
"Wouldn't you consider eight hundred and fifty way above twenty percent of your power output level?"
He vanished.
Rex barely saw the movement before Noir reappeared in front of him and hammered a fist into his stomach.
BOOM.
Rex doubled over, coughing.
Noir drove a knee into his chest and launched him backward again. Rex slammed into a broken wall segment, shattered it, and crashed into another slab behind it.
Viper's eyes narrowed.
He pushed off the rubble and sprinted in from Noir's blind side. A compact device in his hand unfolded into a crackling shock baton, and he swung it hard at Noir's ribs.
Noir ducked.
The baton passed over his head.
Then Noir pivoted and slammed his elbow into Viper's jaw.
CRACK.
Viper's feet lifted off the ground.
He hit the rubble, rolled twice, and barely managed to keep hold of the baton.
Noir looked between them and smirked.
"Now this is funny."
Rex shoved himself free from the broken wall and stomped forward again.
"You done measuring us yet?"
Noir reached into a pocket and pulled out a small scanner eyepiece. He clipped it over one eye the same way Dr. E had earlier. The lens hummed and flashed once as he looked at Rex, then at Viper.
He laughed.
"Oh, this just gets better."
He pointed at Rex first.
"Six hundred."
Then he turned the scanner toward Viper.
"And three hundred."
Viper frowned.
"Great. We're being audited."
Noir removed the eyepiece and tucked it away.
"Do you understand what that means? You're not a threat. You're a delay."
Rex cracked his knuckles.
"Good enough."
He charged again, this time low and direct, aiming to tackle Noir at the waist and crush him through the rubble. Viper came in at the same time from the opposite side, baton crackling in one hand and fist drawn back in the other.
For one second, the attack actually looked clean.
Rex's fist came from the right.
Viper's baton and left hook came from the left.
A perfect pincer.
Noir didn't block either one.
He simply leaned backward at an absurd angle, letting Rex's punch cut through the air where his face had been. At the same time, he shifted his hips just enough for Viper's baton swing to miss by inches.
Then Rex's other fist came through.
Missed.
Viper stepped in with a follow-up jab.
Missed.
Rex tried a left hook.
Missed.
Viper drove in with a straight punch.
Missed.
For three full seconds, both of them unloaded a coordinated assault with their fists, shoulder checks, and baton swings from opposite angles, and Noir slipped every single strike with tiny movements, ducking, tilting, stepping, and weaving like he was walking through rain.
Rex threw one last heavy swing with everything he had.
Noir caught the wrist.
Viper lunged at the same moment with a punch aimed at Noir's temple.
Noir stepped aside and let Viper's fist fly past his face, then used Rex's trapped arm to yank the goat sideways and make him collide shoulder-first with Viper.
The two crashed into each other and tumbled across the rubble in a heap.
Noir crossed his arms.
"That was pathetic."
Rex groaned and rolled off Viper.
"…We almost had him."
"No we didn't," Viper snapped.
Noir walked toward them slowly.
"You know what really amazes me?"
Rex pushed himself up.
Noir looked him up and down, lingering on his thick arms, broad chest, and huge shoulders.
"WHAT GOOD ARE ALL YOUR BULKY MUSCLES IF YOU'RE WEAKER THAN ME?!"
His laughter echoed over the ocean.
Rex's face darkened.
That one landed harder than the punches.
Viper looked sideways at him.
"You gonna let him say that?"
Rex stood.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
"No."
He lowered his shoulders and took a deep breath. Viper recognized the posture immediately and backed off to give him room.
Rex came in like a train.
There was no finesse to it. No trick. Just raw force. He tore across the battlefield and swung a monstrous right hand that would have ripped most enemies in half.
Noir stepped inside the arc and buried a punch in Rex's ribs.
Then another.
Then another.
Three clean body shots in less than a second.
Rex gritted his teeth and powered through them, finally bringing his fist down toward Noir's shoulder.
Noir spun beneath it and slammed a palm strike into Rex's chin.
CRACK.
Rex staggered.
Noir pivoted behind him and drove a heel kick into the back of his knee.
The leg buckled.
Rex dropped to one knee.
Noir grabbed a fistful of his fur and jerked his head back.
"Strength is meaningless if you can't touch me."
Then he let go and buried a kick in Rex's chest.
Rex flew backward, skidded over the rubble, and nearly rolled into the water before stopping himself on one hand.
Viper was already moving.
He had abandoned the baton and was working with gadgets now. Two small metal spheres flew from his wrist launcher and stuck to the wreckage around Noir's feet. He clicked a remote.
The spheres emitted a sharp blue pulse and linked into a crackling energy web around Noir's legs.
For the first time, Noir's movement paused.
"Cute," he said.
Viper sprinted in and drove a hard punch toward Noir's face while Rex charged from the opposite side again.
This time the trap almost worked.
Noir's first step hit resistance.
Viper's punch got close enough to graze his cheek.
Rex's shoulder got close enough to force Noir to brace.
Then Noir simply flexed.
The energy web snapped apart.
He ducked under Viper's punch, seized his wrist, and flung him directly into Rex.
The two collided again, harder this time, and toppled through a pile of broken metal.
Noir stood over the wreckage and sighed.
"I'm beginning to think you two aren't serious."
Viper coughed as he shoved a piece of metal off his chest.
"Oh, I'm serious."
He pressed something on his wrist.
A drone the size of a dinner plate rose from behind the rubble and zipped toward Noir's back. Its core glowed orange, building heat.
Noir heard it.
Without even turning, he spun and drove a kick into the drone.
BOOM. The explosion ripped through the air, but Noir burst straight out of the smoke and closed the distance in an instant.
Viper's eyes widened.
Noir's fist didn't.
CRACK.
The punch hit Viper's stomach and folded him over. Noir followed with an uppercut that lifted him off the ground.
Rex intercepted the next hit by tackling Noir sideways.
Finally, for the first time in the entire fight, Noir lost his footing.
The two of them rolled over the rubble, trading blows at point-blank range. Rex put pressure on him from above, hammering fists into the throat, ribs, and solar plexus while Noir slipped and pinned himself down.
Rex got one through.
A clean punch straight to Noir's abdomen.
The impact took the air out of him and launched him backward over a broken wall section.
Rex was on him instantly.
He climbed the rubble and came down with both fists clenched. Noir rolled out of the way at the last second, and Rex smashed a crater into the ground instead. Noir launched and pinned him with a spinning heel kick.
Rex stumbled.
Noir pressed.
Left jab.
Right elbow.
Knee to the body.
Palm strike to the chin.
Rex absorbed all of it and answered with a huge hook that Noir ducked under, but the wind from it still whipped Noir's ears back.
Viper came back from the flank, one goggle lens flashing as he locked onto Noir's pattern of motion. He launched a thin cable from his gauntlet that hooked Noir's ankle.
"Rex!"
Rex knew immediately. He lunged forward and swung.
Viper yanked the cable.
Noir's balance shifted for half a second.
Rex's fist landed.
BOOM.
The punch hit Noir dead in the abdomen and blasted him backward through two layers of wreckage. Metal and concrete exploded everywhere.
Rex ran after him without hesitation.
This time Viper stayed right behind him.
The three of them ripped across floating battlefield fragments as the ocean rushed between the gaps. Noir recovered much quicker than expected and planted his feet on a tilted slab of steel. Rex hit him from the front, and Viper crossed from the back in another coordinated attack.
Rex threw a straight punch.
Viper followed with a low sweep and a jab toward the throat.
Noir intercepted Rex's punch, slipped over the sweep, and drove a backward kick into Viper's chest midair. Viper fell backward and crashed into a rusted support beam.
Rex tried to follow up, but Noir grabbed his arm, twisted under it, and swung a forearm across his throat.
Then Noir jumped, hooked Rex's body, and slammed him down in an aggressive takedown. Rex crashed onto his back, and Noir followed with two quick punches to the head before backing off.
Viper staggered upright, breathing hard. He pulled a compact cylinder from his belt, twisted it, and threw it down at Noir's feet.
It burst into a cloud of glittering silver dust.
Noir's eyes narrowed.
The dust wasn't poison.
It was reflective particulate, meant to disrupt sight and tracking.
Viper rushed in behind it.
Rex came from the other side.
They attacked together again.
Rex's right fist.
Viper's left hook.
Rex's knee.
Viper's elbow.
Every single strike missed.
Noir moved through the dust cloud as if he was born in it, reading movement through sound and pressure. He slipped outside Rex's hook, dipped below Viper's elbow, stepped around the knee, and let both attacks pass.
Then he punished them.
A palm strike to Viper's chest sent him stumbling.
A backfist to Rex's mouth snapped his head back.
A sweeping kick took Rex's legs out.
An uppercut slammed under Viper's guard.
By the time the dust settled, both were back on the rubble.
Noir stood untouched in the middle of the silver haze.
"Do you see it now?" he asked.
Rex got to one knee.
"See what?"
"The gap."
He tapped two fingers to his chest.
"Eight hundred and fifty."
Then pointed at Rex.
"Six hundred."
Then at Viper.
"Three hundred."
He smiled.
"The stronger fighter isn't only stronger. He controls the pace. He controls the range. He controls the exchange. You don't get to have a fight with me. You get to survive one."
Rex wiped blood from his lip and stood again.
"Then I'll survive."
He joined up with Viper, shakier than before.
"And I'll make your life annoying."
Noir actually laughed at that.
"Good."
He lowered into a stance.
The ocean breeze moved calmly around them. A few meters away, Nico was still struggling to recover while Metal Nico advanced toward him with horrifying patience. Dr. E watched both fights like it was a show.
Rex and Viper exchanged a quick look.
No words.
Just understanding.
Viper tapped three points on his forearm display.
Rex cracked his neck.
Then they moved.
Viper sprinted right.
Rex charged left.
Viper fired two flash pellets into the water. They exploded on impact and sent spray upward, turning the area into a glittering mist. Rex used the cover to close distance low.
Noir tracked Viper first.
That was the plan.
The panther pivoted toward the tech fighter just as Rex emerged from the mist and drove both fists upward into Noir's torso.
The hit landed.
Not cleanly.
But enough.
Noir's feet left the rubble for a second.
Viper rushed in with a straight punch aimed at the face.
Noir blocked it.
Rex grabbed for his waist.
Noir twisted free.
Viper swung again.
Missed.
Rex swung again.
Missed.
Noir's elbow crashed into Rex's temple.
His knee slammed into Viper's stomach.
Then he vaulted upward off Rex's shoulder and kicked both of them in the face on the way down.
They fell apart again.
Rex dropped to a knee, vision swimming.
Viper hit the rubble and rolled onto his back, gasping.
Noir landed in a crouch, then rose slowly, tail flicking behind him.
"Better," he admitted.
His smile returned.
"But still not enough."
Rex forced himself back up.
"So shut up and come prove it."
Noir did.
He moved forward again, and this time there was no setup, no speech, no measuring.
Just violence.
He hit Rex first, battering him with body shots and hooks.
Viper jumped in and caught a kick to the shoulder that nearly tore his arm off.
Rex landed another solid punch to the ribs.
Noir answered with a headbutt.
Viper clipped Noir's jaw with a desperate swing.
Noir responded by kicking him off the slab.
Viper barely caught the edge and hung over the ocean.
Rex lunged to help.
Noir hammered him across the spine and sent him crashing down beside the ledge.
Viper pulled himself back up with a groan.
Rex rose again.
Noir stood in front of them, breathing a little harder now but still in control, still certain, still infuriatingly proud.
Sunlight glinted in his red eyes.
"Come on," he said softly.
"Convince me I should take you seriously."
Rex bared his teeth.
Viper wiped blood from his mouth.
And both of them moved forward once again.