Kai and the Scalpel stood in a shadowed clearing nestled between rows of towering shipping containers, surrounded by rusted metal and silence. Just metres away, the ocean stretched out like a black abyss, its cold breath sweeping in over the docks. The wind bit sharp, salty, wet, and unforgiving, whistling through the gaps with a mournful hum.

It was the kind of place where screams wouldn't carry, aside from the distant explosions and screaming from the other battle taking place.

A perfect spot for monsters to meet.

"I can't believe it," Krane muttered, his dull eyes gleaming with twisted excitement as he stared at Kai like a priceless specimen. "The Bloodweaver. In the flesh. How exquisite."

Kai tilted his head slightly, arms loose by his sides. His posture was relaxed, but every muscle tensed beneath the surface. The man standing before him wasn't just another lunatic in a lab coat. He was something else.

Krane looked like he'd crawled out of a crypt. Slender build, corpse-pale skin, wiry grey hair slicked back too perfectly. His white coat was crisp, but if you looked closely, the faint stains along the hem betrayed him - old blood, dried and darkened.

Kai could feel the faded vitality in the bloodstains as he locked eyes with the man in a tense staredown.

"So, Mister Scalpel," Kai said dryly, rolling his neck. Crack. Crack. "Are you some kind of doctor?"

Krane offered a thin, glacial smile, like a blade being unsheathed. "Of sorts," he replied, withdrawing a gleaming scalpel from his pocket and twirling it between his fingers like a baton. "I've been dying to meet you. To think… it would be under these circumstances. Beautiful."

Kai breathed out slowly. Calm. Steady.

"Can't say the feeling's mutual, Doc."

'Stay in control and don't go overboard,' he said to himself, though he doubted he could stick to it.

The more Kai felt his ability, the more unruly it became. Of course, the power and ease with which he could control blood were continuously advancing at an alarming rate. It was as if after every battle, he would come out even stronger.

However, he felt as though it was dragging him deeper and deeper into a pit of darkness. His nightmares were becoming more torturous and vivid. His bloodlust was becoming more rampant and difficult to control. And even his emotions were more volatile, which was unusual for the collected individual, to say the least.

He flexed his fingers, blood whispering beneath his skin. It coiled like snakes, impatient and eager to lash out.

'I'll try to stick to Blood Pumping only, but I doubt that's all I'll need to take down this crazy fucker.'

Krane stepped forward with the grace of a predator. Silent. Precise. No wasted motion. His presence was surgical - sharp, clean, invasive.

And then, the silence was shattered.

Kai surged forward like a red comet, blood pumping through his limbs in a violent rhythm. His speed was monstrous, mutant. His fist blurred through the air, bulging veins trailing across his arm as he struck with enough force to easily shatter a brick wall.

However, Krane didn't move.

Not until the last second.

The Scalpel slipped just barely out of the way, but Kai's knuckles still clipped his face, and the doctor went sliding back across the rusted dock floor with a sickening crunch.

Kai's eyes flared, victory surging in his chest, until...

Pain.

A sharp, sudden agony bloomed in his arm. His fingers twitched. His shoulder spasmed. It was like a million razors had torn through his nerves from the inside out.

He looked down.

His arm was mangled.

From a single touch.

"What the-?" His voice cut off.

There was no cut. No gash. But the flesh was warped, the bones bent wrong. Muscles coiled tight in unnatural patterns.

'What the hell is this?!'

Krane stood a few metres away, calmly wiping blood from his mouth, and grinning like a kid who'd found a new toy.

All the Scalpel had done was graze his arm for a split second. Kai had instinctively yanked his arm back before he could grab it, but he was still baffled as to how he had sustained such damage.

Meanwhile, his blood began weaving into the wreckage, forcing tendons and bones to realign through sheer will. But as his arm recovered, his eyes never left Krane's.

"A masterpiece of reflex, strength, and blood. Truly remarkable," he said, examining Kai like a puzzle. "And you heal. Instantly. Fascinating."

"You did that with a touch?" Kai asked, voice low. "What the hell is your ability?"

Krane's expression lit up slightly, though his gaze remained dull and hollow. "A complex question, but in layman's terms? I manipulate biological structure through contact. Bones. Muscles. Nerves. I can twist, fray, even rewire with a single touch. And you…" His smile widened. "You're the most perfect canvas I've ever had."

"You're insane."

"I'm a doctor."

"You're insane."

Kai lunged again, this time faster, keeping low, jabbing and spinning.

'He doesn't seem to be able to use his ability through any physical contact, but only when he touches me with his hands. I'm not sure if it's because he has to use his hands or it just makes it easier to control, but I can't rely on that assumption,' Kai noted internally.

Krane dodged. Sidestepped. His fingers flicked out - too close.

Kai twisted. Blocked. Slammed a punch into Krane's ribs with enough force to bend steel.

The Scalpel flew.

He crashed through a crate, skidding along the metal floor, but even as he slid, his hand caught Kai's arm again. Just for a split second.

Pain.

A wave of it.

But Kai's face didn't twitch.

He looked down.

The forearm was already ruined again. Bones spiralled in unnatural directions. Flesh pulsed and twitched like it was trying to escape itself.

He tore his arm back. Blood surged, reforming. Burning.

'Okay. No more contact. Ever. That ability… it bypasses all durability. It's absolutely broken. If he were facing anyone else, they'd already be done for.'

Kai had wanted to avoid using external bloodweaving, but it seemed as though he wouldn't have much of a choice against Krane. His healing wasn't infinite after all, nor did he enjoy the pain that came with his limbs being mangled. He could only imagine what it would feel like if Krane managed to grab his head.

Meanwhile, Krane stood from the wreckage, glasses gone, a small line of red running from his forehead to his chin. His chest rose and fell faster now, but his smile never faded.

But then, Kai's eyes sharpened.

Krane raised a hand to his cracked ribs, and something shifted.

With a twist of his fingers, the bruised flesh re-knitted. The bones popped back into place. The damage vanished.

'Wait… he's healing himself?'

Kai watched, stunned for a heartbeat.

Krane's muscles bulked ever so slightly. His posture adjusted. Veins bulged subtly under his skin.

'He's amplifying himself… essentially using the same damned ability as me.'

Kai's blood stirred.

'So it's not just for damage. He can restructure his own body too. Heal. Enhance. Just like me…'

'Is this how it feels when others are facing me?' Kai laughed internally.

But the similarity was surface-level.

Where Kai's power surged raw and instinctive, Krane's was intricate. Precise. Like a surgeon stitching each fibre with mathematical perfection. That level of control… it had to be slower. More fragile. Harder to pull off mid-combat.

At least on himself.

But on others?

It was hell incarnate.

"Remarkable, isn't it?" Krane said, his voice a purr as he flexed his fingers. "Our abilities… reflections of one another. But mine is art."

Kai didn't answer.

He let the armour surge.

Blood snapped out from his pores like threads pulled by force. It hardened over his forearms and chest - jagged crimson plates, breathing with him, alive.

But not too much.

Not the full release.

'Not yet. I can't. The more I use, the less I am myself. But this should be enough to reduce his points of physical contact.'

Krane noticed. His grin deepened.

"Yes… yes! Use it. Let the blood speak. Give me a taste."

They clashed again, movement becoming blurs. Kai struck with impossible force - knees, elbows, blood-laced jabs. Krane dodged with ghostlike poise, barely reacting until he struck. A finger to Kai's rib. A graze on the neck. A brush of the thigh.

And each time, pain.

Internal and excruciating.

Kai's heart skipped once. A nerve along his spine fired wrong. His leg trembled. His vision flickered.

He bit it back. All of it.

Krane was relentless now and was matching Kai's physical abilities for the most part, and was extremely skilled.

"I wonder," the doctor panted, evading a sweep of Kai's leg, "how much it takes… before you start to break?"

Kai's eyes narrowed.

"I'm not the one who's going to be doing the breaking."

He slammed his foot into the ground. Blood erupted upward, skewering towards Krane like spears. The man leapt - only to get caught mid-air by a red tendril.

Kai dragged him down and punched him square in the jaw.

Krane hit the floor hard, spitting blood.

Kai stepped forward, red eyes burning.

"How was that? And where's that Scalpel of yours?" Kai asked. "It's your name after all."

Krane coughed, smiling through broken teeth, blood running down his chin.

"Oh, Bloodweaver…"

He licked the blood from his lips, eyes wide with fervent joy.

"I'm just getting started."

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