Blood swarmed toward Kai like rivers to a hungry sea.

His red eyes flashed, sharp and alive, as the crimson answered his call. It slithered over rubble, across corpses, even rising from puddles where others had fallen. A blood storm twisted around him, shrieking through the air with unnatural precision.

His range of blood senses and control had increased massively, and even blood dozens of metres away responded to his call.

'Good... this is more than enough,' Kai thought, his pulse hammering in rhythm with the surging blood.

Zeke snapped out of his daze, horror flickering across his face.

"You're mutant ability is... blood?!" he gasped, veins on his neck bulging as the enhancer pumped him with unstable energy. "Freak!"

He was stunned and had thought that Kai's ability was simply physical enhancement, which was quite common. But to think it was something so unique and disturbing.

But Zeke quickly snapped out of it and launched himself forward, shockwaves bursting from his legs with explosive force.

A second blast curled around his fist, coiling, building, vibrating with destruction. He swung it straight for Kai's chest.

But Kai didn't flinch.

Fwoom!

A thick blood barrier erupted in front of him, catching the brunt of Zeke's shockwave punch. The impact cracked the surface, but didn't shatter it. Crimson ripples danced across the defence like it was alive.

Kai grinned behind it.

"You're going to have to try harder than that."

And then the blood lashed out.

Tendrils whipped forward, seeking Zeke's limbs, while two spikes jutted up from beneath to impale him. Zeke blasted them apart with shockwaves, spinning mid-air, landing with another seismic pulse that cracked the stone beneath them.

His power output and speed were off the charts after using the Mutant Enhancer, but Kai had expected as much. And while Zeke was fending off the blood attacks, he completely lost track of him.

There was a blur, then he reappeared above Zeke, blood pumping furiously through his veins. His muscles surged with monstrous strength. Any injuries he had sustained had long since healed, and in each of Kai's hands, now glinting under the flickering lights, were blood-forged daggers.

"You should've stayed down," Kai muttered.

Zeke swung upward with a booming fist, but Kai twisted mid-air and landed beside him.

Slash!

One dagger carved across Zeke's ribs. Blood sprayed.

Zeke growled, turning to face the red-eyed fiend, but Kai was already behind him.

Slash!

A second cut, deep into his back.

Shockwaves burst from Zeke's body in desperation, but Kai twisted through them like a phantom, his body honed to a lethal blur by his blood-enhanced speed.

"You're fast," Zeke panted, stumbling, "but I can still-!"

Shink!

Kai drove a dagger into his thigh, then used it to pivot, flipping over Zeke's back and landing behind him. His eyes shimmered with madness.

'More. More blood. Faster. Stronger.'

Every drop that hit his skin sent a shiver down his spine. His grin widened with each spray of crimson. It was like he was high on the suffering of his opponent.

Zeke reeled back, his attacks becoming wild, messy. His shockwaves, albeit powerful, were starting to misfire. His skin turned pale, the dark veins glowing now with a sickly light.

The enhancer was burning out and his body couldn't keep up.

"You're losing it," Kai whispered in his ear.

Then he stabbed both daggers deep into Zeke's shoulders before forcing him to the ground.

Zeke screamed as he struggled to get away from Kai, who was drenched in blood and truly fit the description of a demon.

"You're not fighting anymore. You're flailing. Is that really all you're capable of, even with an enhancer?"

Blood weaved behind Kai like ribbons as he dragged his daggers down, carving long red lines along Zeke's back.

Slash. Slash. Tear.

Zeke burst away from Kai with the small shockwave he struggled to produce, but he fell to the ground, losing all strength in his legs. His breath was hitching, and his eyes were glassy.

"Boss… Dominique… I just… wanted to…"

Kai walked over to him and grabbed him by the face.

"Wanted to impress her? Is that it? So much for being the might Black Fang - it's pathetic."

Kai didn't seem himself, becoming a sadistic demon that enjoyed the pain in the eyes of the man that had become nothing more than prey. Forget getting answers from him, he was toying with him, allowing him to despair before he finished him off.

It was as if he had been possessed by a dark spirit that sought out nothing but blood and suffering. But the exhilarating rush he was experiencing overshadowed it all.

And ultimately, Zeke had attempted to take his life after using the Mutant Enhancer, so it was only fair that he tormented the young mutant in return.

As such, he twisted the blood swirling around him into chains, binding Zeke's limbs to the floor. Kai stood over him, crimson dripping from his arms, chest rising with each of his heavy breaths.

"How should I end your life? It'd be a shame if you died from blood loss before I got a chance to finish you off," Kai casually thought to himself aloud as if he were deciding what to eat for lunch.

But suddenly...

Boooom!

A massive quake ripped through the air, and a blur slammed into Kai like a missile.

He was launched across the arena, tearing through a food stand, flipping through debris, until he finally skidded to a stop against a blood-soaked pillar.

Dominique landed where he'd been, her dark aura pulsing.

Her single eye blazed, teeth bared like a wolf denied her meal.

"You're having a little too much fun with my boy," she growled, fists clenched. "Time for someone your size to play with you."

Kai groaned as he pulled himself up, blood trailing from his lip - but his grin never left.

"My own size?" he laughed as he spat blood to the side.

His body, which had been shattered by the impact, had already begun to weave itself back together.

"Finally," he said, flexing his fingers as blood reformed around his arms. "A real fight."

Moments later, Nadya burst onto the scene, landing with a light roll and springing to her feet. Her eyes swept the chaos and locked onto Kai.

He was dripping blood. Not his. Or maybe it was. It was hard to tell anymore.

But it wasn't the injuries that made her pause.

It was the aura. Thick, oppressive, suffocating.

Like a soul reaper had stepped into the room. Like death itself had taken interest in the fight.

Blood spiralled around Kai in frenzied circles, sharp tendrils writhing like snakes ready to strike. His killing intent leaked from every pore, dense and wild.

'Shit...' Nadya narrowed her eyes. 'He's way too far gone.'

She wasn't afraid for herself, at least, not exactly. What scared her was what Kai might become if he slipped further into that pit. This wasn't the casual, cynical bastard she knew. This was something darker.

He'd mentioned dealing with bloodlust and nightmares in passing, and she'd certainly noticed it, but this was on an entirely different level.

Her breath hitched as he turned his head slightly, catching her in the corner of his eye.

"You still in there?" Nadya called out, tension laced in her voice.

Kai let out a hoarse laugh - dry, cracked, and a little too amused.

"I'll be dealing with this big bitch if you don't mind," he said, stretching nonchalantly. Blood surged across his arms, wrapping them like gauntlets. "I need to let loose a little."

"Be my guest," Nadya muttered under her breath.

It's not like she could stop him - she didn't dare stand in his way.

'If I tried to calm him down now, he'd cut me up without blinking,' she thought grimly. Not out of malice, but because right now, Kai wasn't thinking like Kai. He was instinct, bloodlust, and carnage in human form.

'Guess I'm the sane one for once. That's new.'

She glanced toward the chaos still raging in the distance, where civilians-turned-mutants still clashed, their TEMP Z high turning the entire arena into a warzone. The escape routes were collapsing.

They had to act quickly.

'While he keeps her busy… I'll find the others. We've got to get out of here before this entire place turns into a graveyard.'

Still, her eyes lingered on Kai.

And then, on Dominique.

The One-Eyed Viper stood unfazed, her heavy aura pressing against Kai's own like two predators sizing each other up. Her body pulsed with density, a faint shadow-like aura clinging to her skin as if gravity itself bowed to her will. Her remaining eye narrowed, full of hate and calculation.

"You got spunk, Red Eyes," Dominique growled, rolling her shoulder with a sickening pop. "But I ain't Zeke. I don't fall to little boys that look like they came out of a horror movie."

Kai chuckled again, stepping forward. Blood licked at his heels.

"We'll see," was his simple, ominous response.

Nadya exhaled slowly and stepped back.

This wasn't her fight anymore, and she couldn't stick around to watch.

But damn if she wasn't curious. 'Let's see how long the Bloodweaver lasts against the Queen of Venom, or maybe it's the other way around...'

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