Nothing but darkness.
That was the first thing Raven sensed when he regained consciousness, only to feel immense pain and soreness assaulting his very being, especially his abdomen the next second.
'Urgh... Crap... I feel like throwing up...' opening his eyes weakly, Raven focused his attention on the very first thing that came into his sight, trying to figure out where he was.
'This... Why am I still here?' Raven thought bitterly and also exhaustedly when he recognized the silver ceiling belonging to the gym where he had fought against Kayn.
"So you finally decided to wake up, good.' while Raven was trying to ignore the pain in his body and push himself up, a voice that made his already hurting stomach get squeezed unwittingly appeared from the side.
Of course, it was needless to say it belonged to Kayn, who at this moment was sitting on a small wooden box, one of his hands resting on his lap while the other one held a small key in front of his face. He was examining Raven's Backroom Key.
'?!'
Raven's eyes widened and pupils shrunk when he saw the key in Kayn's hold, his hand subconsciously touching his neck where instead of two, now there was only one necklace hanging!
Kayn noticed this subconscious act of Raven but decided to ignore it. Instead, he leaned a little forward, and while waving the key around a little, he asked, "This key... Where did you get this from?"
Raven stared at the key and then at Kayn in silence for several seconds before he clenched his fingers into fists, "Give it back."
Kayn played with the key gently as he pondered, his thoughts unknown as his face was completely indifferent. Though, he only needed just a few seconds to stop playing with the key and with a low hum stand up.
"Sure. I will give it back to you." Kayne said as he extended the key toward Raven.
Raven felt confused as this felt way too easy, but as he saw how Kayn waited patiently he clenched his teeth and reached out, only to grab nothing but empty air as Kayn pulled his hand back at the very last moment.
"On second thought, I will give it back to you if you can take it back yourself."
"You must be screwing with me, right?" Raven hissed through his clenched teeth as he stood up, his right hand holding his stomach as it still made him feel as if Kayn's fist was in there!
"Screwing with you?" Kayn raised a brow before he let out a wild laugh and shook his head, "No, not at all. Like, why would I?"
"Then give it back to me!" Raven barked angrily and with a dark expression. His eyes even flashed coldly as his gaze was fixed on Kayn's figure.
However, instead of being intimidated or surprised, Kayn sighed with a hint of disappointment and shook his head once again, "Seems like you have already forgotten about what I taught you. Perhaps I have punched you a little too hard?"
'What do you mean...?' Raven was puzzled but it didn't take him a few moments to realize what Blood Phantom was talking about, hence resulting in him sighing deeply.
'Although I hate to admit it, he is right. I won't achieve anything by getting angry and throwing a tantrum. Stay calm... Just stay calm...' Raven closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, once he breathed the air out of his lungs, he opened his eyes, this time showing a collected gaze with a serene face.
'That was fast.'
Kayn was surprised by the speed with which Raven calmed himself down completely. No, it was better to say he was shocked and secretly impressed. After all, the difference between calming oneself down but still showing anger and soothing oneself's mind entirely was huge; they were two completely different stories!
Doing the former was easy and almost everyone could do but as for the latter, that was something only a few could achieve with experience or because their mind was just simply hat strong!
'Well, it seems things will be more interesting than I have first believed.' a small smile appeared on Kayn's face, and straightened his posture, "Good. Although weak, at least you listen and learn fast."
Raven didn't comment on that and instead clenched his teeth and straightened his back also. Pain immediately assaulted his body, making him wish to groan from the piercing pain, but he kept his posture and showed a strong image.
"Give the key back."
Kayn felt more and more impressed with Raven as his current behavior showed he was not a loser and had what it took to get stronger. However, he still shook his head in a reply to Raven's statement, "I won't. You have to fight for it yourself. If you want it back then come and get it back!"
Raven frowned upon hearing that to which Kayn sighed and explained, "Kid, you really think this is how things, how the world really works? Losing something to someone and thinking they will give it back to you just because you have asked for it?"
Raven's eyes widened scarcely as he slowly started to figure out what this game was all about.
Kayn was right. What did he think would happen, but really? He lost the key because of his mistake because he was weak. If something similar was to happen to him somewhere else, would others give him back the key just because he said so? Definitely not.
Even worse, what if he lost the key and was killed? Then he would be unable to ask to get it back, right? After all, corpses don't talk, do they?
All this showed just how foolishly he had been thinking, how naive he was, and mainly just how pathetically weak he was outside Realm Games and Realm Domains where there were no Artifacts or Avatar Traits to make him invincible; here, in real life, he was just a small fly ready to be mashed into a pulp by others!
"I see." Raven sighed and with a nod began to walk toward Kayn.
Upon seeing this, Kayn smiled and lowered his hand with his right still holding the key, waiting to see what Raven wished to do this time.
'Will he go for the key right away or give it a try and throw a punch at me?' Kayn pondered silently as he watched how Raven walked before him and stood still only a foot away from him.
But weirdly enough, Raven did nothing but stare at him in silence for a very long time.
'Is he trying to test my patience or wants me to strike first?' Kayn's brows furrowed scarcely, but just then Raven finally move, looking down at his feet for some reason.
"Hm?" Kayn lowered his gaze to see what Raven was looking for that much, but just as he did Raven finally moved and threw a punch out at him, targeting his chin from below!
Bam!
"Really? This was your plan?" with a swift move, Kayn grabbed Raven's fist with his left, his eyes showing disappointment. He believed Raven would try doing something else, something more successful and creative than this but it seemed he raised his expectations way too high.
Raven looked straight into Kayn's eyes calmly before he soon showed a smile, confusing Kayn greatly.
"What are you smiling all of a sud-" Kayn was puzzled by the seemingly cocky image of Raven, but then, not even a second later an immense pain pierced his leg, forcing him to fall on his knee!
"This was my plan," Raven said with his smile still on his face once he kicked straight on Kayn's kneecap with all the strength he had. Then, once Kayn's face dropped to the same level as his, Raven swung his other hand, slamming his fist square on Kayn's chin without any sign of holding back!
'No matter how big or strong you are, if you get a direct hit with enough force on your knee on the right spot, you will have no other choice but fall!' Raven thought with delight as he watched Kayn letting go of his arm but not yet his key.
'It was not enough?' Raven furrowed his brow as he prepared himself to swing his hand for a second time, but weirdly he didn't get the chance to do so as the very next second the only thing he saw was a blur before his leg was hit by something and his back crashed into something rather solid, sending another surge of pain through his whole body!
Swoosh!
Paff!
"Wha-" Raven's pupils shrunk when he realized he was no longer standing but lying on the ground with Kayn now above him with his key's sharp tip firmly pressing against his throat!
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