The wind roared as Takeshi surged forward again, his blade whispering through the air with lethal grace. He moved like a ghost wrapped in a storm, each step carried on controlled bursts of compressed wind that cracked the rooftop beneath him.

Thundercutter met him head-on, his sword wreathed in electric arcs, each swing detonating with a krak-thoom that lit up the sky like god's wrath made manifest. Sparks exploded every time their blades met - air and voltage colliding, wind shearing against lightning.

"You've improved, Takeshi," Thundercutter muttered between clenched teeth, blocking a spinning diagonal strike that sent vibrations down his arms.

"To think you are still this capable without your sight, I did you a favour that day," the man in black and yellow fluttering robes laughed.

The blindfolded swordsman didn't reply.

He didn't need to.

Every movement, every parry, every shift of his weight spoke for him - a silent language of steel and storm honed through years of battles no one else remembered.

Clang!

A twist of the wrist, a pivot of the heel, Takeshi narrowly evaded a burst of lightning that shattered a steel pipe beside him, sending shrapnel in every direction.

Takeshi's expression remained blank as he wiped some blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.

"Let's see if you can handle this!" Thundercutter roared as he channelled more power into his sleek blade.

However, Takeshi didn't wait for his opponent to finish charging his attack. He turned on a dime, vanishing from Thundercutter's line of sight for half a heartbeat, then reappeared behind him, blade descending in a vertical arc.

But Thundercutter was ready. Electricity surged from his boots in a burst of power, launching him upward with a sonic crack. He twisted mid-air, sending down a spear of lightning aimed directly at Takeshi's last position.

It struck the rooftop with a thunderous explosion that pierced through and shook the entire building they were atop. Alarms wailed. Glass shattered across nearby towers. Civilians screamed below as pieces of debris rained from the heavens.

And still they fought without a care in the world, like children crushing ants while playing.

A blur of motion. Steel clashing against steel. Blades glowing from sheer elemental force, air pressure and voltage screaming against each other.

It was an incredible display of swordsmanship and mutant powers clashing, but then something shifted.

The two swordsmen locked blades - forehead to forehead, pressure warping the very air between them.

For a single breath, they both stilled.

Their eyes met.

No words.

But a silent understanding passed between them.

'We need to get rid of these onlookers to truly finish our battle.'

Takeshi twisted his blade free and leapt back - not to regroup, but to reposition.

Thundercutter mirrored the move.

The drone tried to adjust, its gimbal rotating rapidly to capture the sudden shift in behaviour.

The feed jostled violently, then...

Slash.

Takeshi exploded forward with terrifying speed, riding a gust of wind like a bullet. His blade sliced through the drone in a single, effortless arc. Metal split. Circuits fizzled.

The feed snapped into static for half a second.

Another angle picked up, this one from a news helicopter hovering at a distance.

It zoomed in.

Just in time to catch the two swordsmen now standing beside each other. It was almost as if their opponent had disappeared from their view, and all that remained were the pesky drones and helicopters.

As such, they began hacking them down together.

A ballet of destruction unfurled as they eliminated every last drone, every military recon flier, every hovering news chopper trying to leech their battle for ratings and data. Wind and lightning whirled together, creating a storm of raw elemental fury that no lens could capture.

Thundercutter raised his sword and pointed toward the helicopter.

A bolt of lightning arced along the blade's edge.

One step forward.

One swing.

A crescent-shaped arc of lightning ripped through the air, trailing crackling thunder in its wake.

Thra-koom!

The helicopter groaned, body shuddering as the blade of energy cleaved it diagonally in two.

There was no explosion.

Just silence.

The image flickered, distorted, then cut to black.

No sound.

No survivors.

No record of what came next, as the helicopters hurtled towards the ground with a distant explosion.

The news anchor returned to the screen, her voice still unnervingly calm, as though dozens weren't losing their lives by the second in a massive mutant battle unlike they had seen in a long time.

"Current casualties are unconfirmed, but given the destruction already seen, injuries are expected to reach the hundreds, with damages estimated in the tens of millions."

Images flashed across the screen - smoking skyscrapers, traffic carnage, civilians fleeing.

And then, the final headline rolled across the bottom of the screen like a death toll bell:

'Manhattan Under Siege – Mutant Battle Leaves City Reeling'

The broadcast ended, the screen fading to a muted grey.

"Guess we're no longer the top story tonight," Isaac said dryly. But there was no humour in his voice.

"Definitely not anymore," Kai muttered, eyes still fixed on the blank screen. His voice was barely above a whisper as he tried to digest what he had just seen was occurring across the city.

'This city really doesn't sleep.'

Kai let out a soft breath, shoulders tensing as the dying bulb in the motel room flickered above him like a dying heartbeat. "Well," he said aloud, "so much for keeping a low profile."

It was laughable now, really. They'd barely been in the city a few hours, and already, they'd set off a domino chain of chaos. Blood in the streets. News broadcasts screaming their names. One of the Association's golden boys locked in a swordfight with one of their companions in the middle of Manhattan.

It was impressive, in the worst possible way. A silent record of destruction. And he could tell this was only the start for what was to come.

So much was constantly happening and there were so many paths he could follow, but only one thing was for certain: they were about to get into a lot of trouble...

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