Kai stood tall amidst the slowly clearing mist, blood still swirling lazily around him like red ribbons caught in a breeze. His abdomen still ached from the wound he had sustained, but it had already knit shut. He let out a slow breath, wiping the side of his mouth with the back of his hand.

The pale man, Iancu, as he'd named himself, was still on the floor, pinned down by several thin strands of blood. But he wasn't groaning in pain or begging for mercy.

He was… chuckling?

"Splendid! Truly, thine artistry is unmatched!" Iancu burst out with a mad little clap, blood still dripping down his chin. "Oh, what a marvellous bout! I haven't been tossed about like that in centuries! Wait - decades? Months? Time is an illusion."

Kai narrowed his eyes, lifting a hand to dismiss the blood binds. "You're insane."

"Indeed," Iancu replied, sitting up without hesitation. His shoulder cracked as he rolled it. "But are we not all? To survive this world... madness is simply sanity adapted."

He then stood up - completely straight - and brushed dust off his tattered noblewear as if he hadn't just engaged in an intense mutant showdown. He reached out a hand toward Kai, smiling.

Kai eyed it warily, then shook it once, more out of habit than agreement.

"Welcome, fellow mutant," Iancu said solemnly, his voice shifting to something deeper, oddly respectful. "It has been... a while since I've met one with such vibrant power."

Kai pulled his hand away, expression unreadable. He wasn't sure what to think of the insane man before him or who unnerving calm.

'He just got his blood turned against him, and he's smiling like he won the lottery,' Kai thought. 'Either he wanted to die... or this was all just some game to him.'

But Kai didn't hate him for it. In fact, a strange part of him didn't even mind Iancu's madness. The guy hadn't held back, hadn't insulted him, and didn't beg after losing. He was just… weird.

And it seemed as though they had reached a silent understanding that they had settled their battle and there was no need to continue.

As such, Takeshi finally stepped forward from the shadows, his movements silent as ever. His blindfold remained untouched, katana still at his waist. It was clear he had watched every second of the battle.

He said nothing.

Not a word of praise.

Not a single critique.

Just a slow, almost imperceptible nod.

Kai huffed out a breath and looked at Iancu. "So. You live here?"

"Indeed! A most comfortable ruin, once a manor, perhaps even a museum of vampiric culture! Now mine humble abode. The plumbing does not work, but the acoustics are divine."

Kai raised a brow. "Right…"

The three stood together in silence for a moment. A crimson-stained battle prodigy, a blind swordsman monk, and a skeletal lunatic in cosplay. If anyone stumbled upon them now, they'd look less like a trio of elite mutants and more like a fever dream waiting to happen.

Kai blinked, looking around. "…Where the hell's Isaac?"

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the giant manor...

"Whyyyy me?!"

Isaac bolted around a crumbled column, his tattered clothes flapping like a flag caught in a tornado. The dog beast was still on his heels, teeth bared, snarling with every step. Its chain leash flailed uselessly behind it.

"Back off, boy! Go chase something else! Isaac shouted, phasing through a stone slab and emerging out the other side - only for the beast to leap straight through, skidding as it landed in perfect pursuit.

'How is it keeping up?!'

He dove underground again, re-emerging three metres away with a gasping breath.

'Phasing's getting harder... it's like holding my breath while sprinting… on fire!'

He looked behind him.

The beast was already halfway across the gap. Its eyes locked onto him with disturbingly human focus.

He phased into a broken dresser, trying to hide inside the splintered remains like a cartoon character squeezing into a shoebox. He peeked out with one eye, praying.

The beast slowly padded into the room.

Isaac whimpered.

"Great, it found me again. Must be following my scent or something. I don't stink, do I?"

The beast growled lowly.

Then pounced.

"Aaaaaahhhh-!"

Back in the main hall, Kai twitched.

"…Was that a scream?"

Takeshi tilted his head again.

Iancu smiled. "Ah, yes. Mine pet can be very excitable."

Kai sighed and started walking in that direction.

"…Come on. Let's go save the idiot."

Takeshi followed.

Iancu clapped excitedly and seemed completely healed. "Splendid! I'll help too."

And with that, the odd trio set off toward the sounds of chaos, flailing limbs, and a one-armed man being thoroughly traumatised by a very persistent beast.

-

Later That Day…

The sun had dipped below the mountains, leaving behind a burnt-orange hue that bled across the sky like Kai's blood constructs fading after a hard fight. Shadows stretched long across the cracked stone path outside the ancient manor, and a cool wind rustled through the trees.

The strange, mist-wielding man, Iancu, finally stepped outside, his pale skin free from the agonising sunlight. He lifted his arms with a serene sigh, as though basking in the cool moonlight.

"Ah… the dusk is kind. She does not burn nor bite," he murmured with poetic flair. "I missed this. Truly."

Kai sat cross-legged on a half-toppled stone bench nearby, eyes half-lidded but always alert. Isaac leaned against a crooked column, still nursing the psychological damage from earlier, while Takeshi stood silently beneath a ruined archway, blindfold fluttering gently in the breeze.

They'd spent the last hour or so drinking bitter herbal tea inside, which Iancu insisted helped keep his "internal mist aligned." Kai didn't care for the flavour, but the conversation had been… interesting.

What shocked him most wasn't the man's eccentricity, or even the wild beast he claimed as a pet.

No.

It was when Iancu sipped his tea, leaned back into his dusty chair with that manic glint in his eye, and said casually, "I was once an old man, you know. Back before the world fell apart."

Kai blinked. "...Come again?"

Iancu nodded, stirring his tea with a twig. "White hair, hunched spine, liver spots and all. I was withering away. Then the Z-Virus came, and it was like… whoosh! Youth returned! Skin clear, back straight, hair luscious! But alas…" He pointed at the sun outside with a wrinkled sneer, "...I can no longer survive the daylight. The trade-off was unkind."

Kai narrowed his eyes. "You're telling me… the virus reversed your age?"

"Indeed!" Iancu beamed. "And scrambled my brain like an omelette, apparently. But such is fate."

Isaac muttered, "Explains a lot, actually…"

Now, under the stars, a new scene unfolded. The manor loomed behind them like a forgotten cathedral, broken yet still standing. A fire crackled in a pit they'd carved out just beyond the entrance. Sparks flew into the sky, dancing with the stars.

Iancu stood beside Kai, now draped in an even older and stranger cloak he claimed was "more ceremonial than functional."

He raised a hand and let out a soft whistle.

Moments later, the sounds of heavy steps came from the trees. His beast returned, dragging along a freshly killed wild boar, a smaller one in its mouth, and what might've been half a rabbit stuck in its fur.

"Good boy!" Iancu cheered, clapping. "Dinner has arrived!"

Kai gave him a sidelong glance. "Thought you were a vegan?"

The pale man puffed his cheeks. "That is true. I cannot abide the taste of meat. The lives of animals weigh heavily on my soul. They were my only companions for so long, you see…"

Kai stabbed a stick into one of the roasting boars, blood sizzling where it touched the flames. "Pretty sure that boar would've torn your throat out if it saw you alone in the woods."

"...Point taken," Iancu said with a sigh.

Kai leaned in, lowering his voice. "Veganism is for idiots. Just eat some meat. I'm not saying you should eat your pet, but this," he took a bite, "this is different."

Iancu stared at the fire, eyes dancing with reflection. Then, slowly, he reached out and tore a thin strip of cooked meat from the edge. He sniffed it… then hesitantly chewed.

His eyes lit up. "By the abyss… it is delightful!"

Kai smirked. "There you go. Welcome to the dark side."

Just as they began digging into the makeshift feast, the ground trembled.

A shadow passed overhead.

Kai snapped to his feet, blood swirling into motion. Takeshi's head tilted skyward. Isaac groaned, readying to phase again - just in case another nightmare beast showed up.

But instead, the moonlight revealed a massive, feathered creature descending with grace. Its wings stretched wide like the sails of an airship, its talons digging lightly into the stone as it landed with a soft thump.

A familiar voice called down from its back.

"Please tell me no one's dead."

Kai blinked. "...Elara?"

Elara jumped off the giant bird-beast and landed clumsily, followed by a few familiar faces from their previous rendezvous in the city..

Her expression was one part concern, one part exasperated relief.

"I should have told you not to go into the Valley of Beasts," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It's dangerous and clearly warns against entering, but you waltz right in. Then, let me guess, you get into a fight with him-" she jabbed a finger at Iancu, who was waving politely at her with greasy fingers "-who could've killed you!"

Kai didn't pay her much heed. "He's strong for sure, but we would've been fine. And we were just exploring."

"Exploring?! The last guy who explored this area was found in pieces - shredded by mist!"

Iancu grinned. "That was an accident. He insulted my outfit."

Kai raised a hand. "Look, we didn't fight. We're having a barbecue. It's fine."

Elara gave them a long, deeply sceptical stare. Then sighed, shaking her head with a smile of surrender. "Okay… okay. You're all fine. That's what matters."

She walked up to the fire, stealing a piece of meat from the stick Kai held.

Kai looked at Iancu, who was humming and flipping meat with a twig like it was a ritual.

"I take it you know her?" he asked.

"Oh yes! The lovely girl visits sometimes. Brings books and dried fruit. Occasionally screams at me about basic hygiene."

Elara shouted from across the fire, "Because you bathed once in three months!"

Kai muttered, "That explains the smell in the manor…"

The fire crackled louder, laughter mixing with the scent of meat, as they were joined by the other group of mutants who had headed to the other side of the city.

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