Being called the Bloodweaver still had a strange effect on Kai. It made him grin for half a second before that familiar itch crept in - the sharp, crawling hunger that stirred under his skin whenever bloodshed was near.

His pupils dilated slightly, pulse steadying into that deadly rhythm he knew too well. 'There it is… that feeling again.'

"Do I need to hold back on these guys?" he asked aloud, voice low and almost casual. But Nadya could tell by the tension in his stance that the question wasn't really for her - it was for that darkness inside him.

Nadya's grin spread, sharp and unrestrained. "You can do as you please. Someone like him - trafficking women and kids? Scum like that don't deserve mercy. Neither do the people who work for him. Do as you please."

The moment she said it, Kai's blood sang. The words were permission, validation, and a spark all at once. He felt the architecture of his power awaken beneath his skin, the crimson current that responded to his will with the eagerness of a hunting beast.

He rolled his shoulders, inhaling deep. The morning air was damp, cold, and heavy with salt from the nearby docks. But the scent he was after was... blood!

He smirked. "Don't take any of my targets," Kai warned, half-serious. "I let you have the bar last time. My turn."

Nadya mock-saluted him. "Wouldn't dream of it, big guy."

Kai took off his sunglasses, handing them to Amina. "Hold these for me."

Amina looked like she wanted to say something - probably something along the lines of "don't overdo it" - but she just nodded.

He flexed his hands. The veins along his arms bulged and darkened, his pulse pounding like a war drum beneath his skin. "Blood Pumping," he whispered to himself.

It was less a technique and more a state - a command to his body to become alive in ways it shouldn't. The warmth spread instantly, flooding his muscles, sharpening his senses, heightening every nerve until he could almost taste movement. The air shimmered faintly around him as his blood responded, humming with power.

Then he moved.

In one explosive motion, Kai launched off the bridge rail and onto the nearest stack of rusted cargo containers. Metal groaned under his landing, but he was already in motion - flowing like liquid violence across steel. Every stride was smooth, efficient, deliberate. The red in his eyes glowed faintly as his body blurred, a streak of movement cutting through the dim light of dawn.

'Time to let loose.'

Below him, the gunmen patrolling the port had no idea what was coming.

Where Nadya had fought with a sense of playful chaos earlier - leaving her enemies alive but humiliated - Kai was the opposite. He was violence personified. Death in motion. There was no hesitation, no wasted energy, no mercy.

He didn't want restraint. He wanted carnage.

'These guys aren't even worth experimenting on,' he thought, recalling Elara's theories about blood absorption and corruption. 'But I'll get my chance soon enough.'

The first target came into view - a gunman perched atop a steel container, cigarette in his mouth, eyes scanning the perimeter. Kai crouched low for a moment, observing. The man's posture, his loadout, his breathing pattern - it all registered in a split second.

Assault rifle with an extended mag, sidearm on the thigh, military knife strapped to the vest. Ex-military. Mercenary. Professional.

But that didn't matter.

Kai burst upward, his boots slamming onto the container with a metallic clang.

The man spun instantly, instincts sharp, and opened fire. The rifle barked, spitting lead into the air, but Kai was already gone - sidestepping, pivoting, weaving through the spray with supernatural fluidity.

By the time the mercenary adjusted his aim, Kai was right in front of him.

He swung his leg in a low, sweeping arc - his shin connecting with the man's knee. The impact sounded like a gunshot. Bone snapped, tearing through flesh and fabric, and the mercenary's scream broke through the air a second later.

Kai's expression didn't change. He snatched the assault rifle from the man's hands, moving with a kind of cruel efficiency.

He looked down at the weapon in his grip and tilted his head. The cold steel felt oddly familiar - nostalgic, even. "You know what," he said casually, testing the weight, "I feel like switching it up today."

That single sentence carried easily across the port. Somewhere below, someone shouted, "Intruder!"

Kai smirked. "Let's see what I can do without using any external bloodweaving."

The mercenary, despite his shattered leg, reached for his pistol with trembling fingers. Kai just sighed, almost disappointed, and in one swift motion, plucked the weapon out of his grip.

"Like taking candy from a kid," he muttered.

Then - bang!

The gun went off. The bullet punched through the man's forehead cleanly, and his body went limp, dropping like a marionette with its strings cut.

Kai barely blinked. He turned, crimson eyes locking onto movement below. The other guards were converging - fourteen of them, weapons raised, shouting orders.

His grin widened, sharp and unrestrained. "Fourteen, huh? Perfect number to warm up with."

Then he moved.

He vaulted off the container, landing in the middle of the open port with the grace of a predator. Bullets tore through the air, rattling off steel and cracking against concrete. To the mercenaries, it was chaos - muzzle flashes and smoke - but to Kai, it was slow and almost rhythmic.

Each gunshot was a beat. Each scream of metal was the melody of death.

He ducked under a barrage of shots, sliding across the slick ground as a bullet skimmed his sleeve. By the time the shooter adjusted his aim, Kai had already vanished from his line of sight.

The man turned - only to have Kai appear behind him, one hand twisting his wrist, the other slamming into his chest with enough force to knock the wind and fight out of him. The mercenary dropped like a sack of bricks, and Kai stomped on his head without even looking down at him.

Then there was another.

A knife flashed in Kai's hand, borrowed from the fallen man, and he flicked it through the air. It whistled once before embedding itself in another soldier's neck plate. The man stumbled, clutching at his throat, and went still.

"Two down," Kai murmured, voice calm, almost amused.

Panic rippled through the rest.

"Eyes up! He's moving too fast!" one shouted.

"Stay in pairs, damn it-!"

But Kai was already gone from where they'd last seen him. He was a blur darting between stacks of containers, his boots clanging against metal only for a heartbeat before silence took over again. Every time one of them thought they had him cornered, he appeared from the opposite side.

A burst of gunfire echoed - two men firing wildly into the shadows - only to be cut short when Kai darted between them, disarming one with a twist of his arm and sending the other sprawling with a kick that snapped armour plates loose.

He caught a dropped rifle mid-motion and used it like an extension of himself. Three quick bursts - each shot precise, surgical, almost artistic. The recoil didn't nudge his shoulder in the slightest.

Three more mercenaries hit the ground before their comrades realised what had happened.

"Six," Kai whispered. "Getting slow."

He leapt atop a stack of cargo, surveying the rest of the mercs as they scrambled into defensive positions, forming a shaky half-circle. The faint morning light glinted off his crimson eyes as he smiled down at them.

"Come on," he called, voice echoing across the dock. "You're trained soldiers, right? Make it interesting."

The challenge stung their pride more than their fear. Shouts rose; gunfire resumed. But Kai didn't flinch. He dropped down between them, twisting past the first spray of bullets and driving an elbow into a spine. The impact sent the man crashing into another.

He flowed like liquid between them, using their own momentum against them - disarming, striking, slamming them into walls and cargo alike.

Every movement was too fast, too efficient, too deliberate.

Within minutes, the port was silent again except for the creak of cooling metal and the faint wind rustling through the cargo stacks.

Kai stood among the wreckage - mercenaries sprawled around him, weapons scattered like discarded toys. He rolled his shoulders, the tension in his muscles ebbing away as his blood cooled.

"Guess that's all of you," he said softly.

He bent down, grabbing one of the mercs' radios from the ground. Static hissed faintly.

"Anyone else want to come say hi?" His voice was polite, even friendly. "Promise I don't bite."

Only static answered. But Kai's head tilted slightly toward the port office. Two faint, unfamiliar heartbeats pulsed within.

He chuckled and tossed the radio aside. "Didn't think so."

When he looked up, Nadya, Amina, and Lenny were watching from afar.

Amina's hands were clasped tightly in front of her, eyes wide with something between awe and fear. Lenny looked pale, mouth half-open as if he couldn't quite believe what he'd just seen.

But Nadya - she was smiling. A slow, wolfish grin spread across her face as she crossed her arms.

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