It's done bro!

Chapter 25 - Game Over

Clark had been trying to get inside Mike's head for three minutes, and it still wasn't working.

He threw another punch and followed it with a grin. "What happened, Mike? Still thinking about that last loss?"

Mike slipped the punch by an inch.

Clark kept talking, throwing out insults about his past, his losses, anything he could use to make him angry. Mike heard every word, but his eyes stayed on Clark's shoulders and hips.

A slight shift.

There.

Clark's weight moved forward before his right hand came up. Mike stepped back, letting the punch cut through empty air, then snapped his jab into Clark's face.

The crowd erupted.

Clark stumbled back, his grin gone for a moment.

Mike didn't chase him. He raised his guard and waited.

Another opening would come.

It always did.

The bell rang before Clark could find it.

Both fighters headed back to their corners as the crowd roared around them. Mike dropped onto his stool, breathing hard while Sam leaned through the ropes and grabbed the side of Clark's headgear.

He pulled Clark closer and spoke in a low, hurried voice.

"Next time you get close, throw the elbow. Hide it inside the hook. Make it look clean."

Clark nodded once and spat into the bucket.

In the other corner, Mia pressed a cold towel against Mike's neck while her eyes stayed on the ring.

"He's loading his right hand too much," she said. "Step out to your left and catch him when he comes in. Keep the jab in his face. Don't let him set his feet."

Mike listened, but his eyes had drifted to her.

Mia noticed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

She narrowed her eyes. "Then stop staring and listen."

"I am listening."

"You're looking at my face."

"I can do both."

Mia sighed and tightened the towel around his neck. "Mike, I'm serious."

"I know."

He smiled.

"You look good when you're serious."

Her hands stopped for half a second.

Mia gave him a sharp look, but the corner of her mouth betrayed her. "Focus, idiot. We can talk after the fight."

Mike leaned back against the corner, completely at ease. "After the fight sounds good."

"You're impossible."

"I'm winning, aren't I?"

Mia opened her mouth, then stopped. She knew he was right.

The bell rang for round five.

Mike stood and rolled his shoulders, looking more like a man getting ready for a workout than someone about to fight another three minutes. One by one, the skills he had saved came online. Power settled into his arms, his legs felt lighter, and the canvas seemed to move under his feet with every step.

Across the ring, Clark was already waiting.

Mike smiled at him.

He knew exactly how this round was going to end.

Clark came out dirty.

He rushed forward and grabbed Mike before he could establish his range, wrapping an arm around him and leaning his weight onto Mike's neck. The referee moved in, shouting for the break.

Clark ignored him.

When the referee finally forced them apart, Clark drove his foot onto Mike's lead shoe, pinning it to the canvas for a moment.

Mike looked down.

Then he looked at the referee.

Nothing.

Of course.

Sam had paid him enough to make sure he saw nothing he didn't want to see.

Mike kept working behind his jab. Clark tried to rush him, but every time he came forward, Mike met him with a hard shot to the face and made him pay for it. Clark's punches were getting wilder as the round went on, while Mike stayed calm and picked his moments.

Then Clark came in close and wrapped him up.

Their shoulders knocked together as Clark dragged him into another clinch. The referee stepped toward them, calling for a break, but before he could reach them, Clark turned his head and sank his teeth into Mike's ear.

Pain flashed white through Mike's head.

He shoved Clark away and touched his ear. When he pulled his glove back, a thin smear of blood covered it. Mia was already shouting from the corner, and several people in the crowd started yelling at the referee, pointing at Mike's ear.

Mike raised his glove and showed the blood to the referee.

The referee looked at it, then turned to Clark and gave him a warning.

That was all.

Mike stared at him for a second before wiping the blood from his glove. He had expected the referee to ignore a little roughhousing, but biting was different. Apparently, there was no line this man wouldn't let Clark cross.

Mike rolled his shoulders and stepped back into position.

Across the ring, Clark smiled.

Mike smiled back.

So that's how you want to play it.

A blue window flashed across Mike's vision.

[Ding!]

[Quest: KO Clark]

[Reward: Silver Tongue (MAX)]

[Failure: Boxing career ends]

The round was almost over.

Clark had stopped trying to win and was only trying to survive. He kept his gloves tight against his head, circled away from Mike, and grabbed him whenever he got too close.

Mike stayed patient.

Predator Focus kept his breathing steady and his mind clear. He didn't chase Clark's head. He worked the body, touched the guard with his jab, then came upstairs with short combinations.

Clark blocked them all.

Another thirty seconds.

Another exchange.

Mike started noticing the damage. Clark's left arm was dropping a little slower now. His right glove wasn't coming back as quickly. Every time Mike hit the body, Clark's elbows sank a little lower.

He was breaking him down.

Clark knew it too.

During the next clinch, he pressed his mouth close to Mike's ear and whispered, "When this is over, I'm going to find your stepmother, May, and fuck her until she forgets your name."

Mike heard him.

Absolute Focus did its job.

His breathing didn't change. His heart rate stayed under control. The anger came, but the skill pushed it down before it could reach his hands.

Then Mike remembered the bite.

The blood on his glove.

The referee's warning.

Clark stepping on his foot.

The grin behind his gloves.

And now May.

This wasn't about an insult anymore.

Clark had spent the entire fight hurting people because he believed nobody would stop him.

Something inside Mike finally pushed back.

[Warning: Absolute Focus is struggling to suppress emotional overload.]

Mike's eyes hardened.

Clark raised his guard again.

Mike attacked.

The first combination slammed into Clark's arms. Clark covered up, but his elbows dropped from the body shots. Mike stepped in with another combination, forcing him backward.

Clark tried to clinch.

Mike shoved him off.

A left hook crashed into the guard.

Then another.

Then a right hand split the gap between Clark's gloves and snapped his head back.

Clark stumbled.

Mike followed.

He hit the body.

Clark folded slightly.

Mike came upstairs with a left hook that smashed into the side of his head.

Clark's legs wobbled, but he stayed up.

Mike didn't rush.

He watched Clark's guard rise again, saw the opening he had been creating all round, and waited until Clark's weight shifted onto his back foot.

Then he stepped in and threw everything into one final hook.

It crashed against Clark's jaw.

Clark's eyes went empty.

His legs gave out beneath him, and he dropped hard onto the canvas.

Mike stood over him, breathing heavily as the referee rushed between them.

Read Mia's free Character Profile + an exclusive sneak peek from her private diary on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/KDaddy935?vanity=use

[Quest Complete.]