Dragging himself upright, Kai took a moment to catch his breath and gather his thoughts. His entire body ached from tagging along with Takeshi's relentless routine, but resting wasn't on the agenda.

He wandered deeper into the woods until he found a narrow clearing boxed in by a sheer cliff wall. Secluded. Isolated. Perfect.

Cracking his neck and flexing his fingers, he muttered to himself, "Let's see what I've got left."

But before he could begin, he needed ammunition.

Kai activated his Blood Vision. In an instant, the forest transformed - his vision dyed crimson, highlighting every living thing with blood in its veins.

Small pulses flared through the trees - rabbits, birds, a wild boar.

Not much, but enough.

He moved like a shadow through the woods, swift and silent. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't honourable. But it was necessary.

By the time he returned, a large pile of fresh animal corpses lay at his feet. The stench clung to the air. Blood smeared across his arms and chest. And a smile crept on his face, unable to reject the satisfaction that spilling blood brought him.

He took a sharp breath.

The blood responded.

Thick, dark liquid rose into the air, swirling around him like a crimson storm.

Kai grinned faintly. The weight was heavy, but it didn't matter.

'Good. Let's see what I can do.'

He didn't hold back.

He lashed out at the cliff with wave after wave of blood, shaping it into whips, spears, and hammers. Each strike sent dull tremors through the stone.

At first, his control wavered. The blood dispersed too quickly, or the impact lacked force.

But with each attempt, he refined the motion, sharpening the edges, compressing the mass tighter, focusing all the energy just before impact.

Crack!

A real fracture split across the cliff face.

Kai's grin widened.

Still, he kept going. Faster. Stronger.

He launched barrages of bullets, summoned spiralling drills, crashed down massive surges like tidal waves - all shaped from blood, all fuelled by sheer will. The more complex the construct, the more it strained him mentally, but he enjoyed the challenge.

It was like mentally piecing together a puzzle while holding it up by an invisible tether that was extremely heavy.

His body screamed in protest. Every movement drained him a little more. Blood soaked into his clothes, dripped from his hair, and painted the clearing like a scene out of a nightmare.

He didn't care.

This was his power. His path.

If it meant drowning in blood to master it, so be it.

He was forming a high-speed spiral mid-air, compressing litres of blood into a twisting blade when-

"What the hell am I looking at?"

Kai's head snapped around.

At the edge of the clearing stood Isaac, frozen in place, eyes wide with horror. The poor guy looked like he'd just walked in on a massacre.

A field of corpses at Kai's feet. A storm of blood twisting through the air. And Kai himself, drenched in crimson, looked more monster than man.

Kai wiped a streak of blood from his brow and offered a small, tired smirk.

"Training."

Then he turned back to the cliff wall and resumed his assault - blood crashing like thunder, fists clenched, lungs burning.

'More,' he growled in his head, pushing harder.

He split the blood mid-air, shaping dozens of constructs at once. Changed their weight. Their speed. Their sharpness. Every second was a mental war.

Some shapes collapsed. Others veered off course. His mind was being stretched thin, but he didn't stop.

'Need more control. More power. Faster. Denser. Stronger.'

This was how he'd survive.

This was how he'd win.

But even as he fought to push further, his mind began to churn through everything he'd learned about his ability so far - details he hadn't had the time to fully organise until now.

'Alright. Let's break this down properly.'

Thus began his mental Bloodweaving Breakdown.

'First off, there's Blood Manipulation. I mean, obviously, I can control blood. That's the whole gimmick. But fresh blood? Seems to be way easier to work with. I'm talking hot, recently spilt, still-has-the-screams-in-it kind of fresh. I'm guessing it's because it still holds whatever makes it "alive" - life force, vitality, soul juice - whatever you wanna call it. That stuff responds.'

'Old blood? It feels like trying to shape dry porridge with chopsticks. Just clumps and resists. Basically useless. So yeah, carrying around blood donations? Not happening. Sorry, Red Cross.'

'But give me a fresh corpse or two, and I'm Picasso with haemoglobin.'

'Next up, Hemokinetic Constructs. Fancy way of saying I can shape and solidify blood into fun toys: blades, shields, maybe a spiked whip if I'm feeling dramatic. The more blood I have, the bigger and nastier I can make them. But here's the kicker: controlling those big constructs is a nightmare. You need finesse. Precision. Otherwise, they flop apart like bad papier mâché. Size matters, sure, but coordination matters more.'

'Now, Blood Pumping. I figured out I can manipulate my own circulation. Think of it like bio-hacking my cardiovascular system. Faster blood flow means more oxygen, faster healing, and enhanced strength. Not full-on Hulk mode, but enough to make a trained non-mutant feel like a child.'

'Then there's Blood Surge.'

'This one is similar to Blood Pumping, but is a double-edged sword. Basically, I jack up my heart rate to "cardiac arrest" levels and ride the wave. Strength, speed, and reflexes all shoot through the roof. But stay in that mode too long and I start tearing muscle fibres, shredding veins, and bleeding internally like a pinata full of razor blades.'

'I've been subconsciously using it in short bursts, and that seems to be what is tapped into when I enter a Berserk state. For completeness, I'll cover that as well, but it's not really an ability. When overcome with bloodlust, desperation, or emotion, I seem to lose it and literally see red. But unlike teenage boys who think they can take on an army when they're angry, I actually can.'

'And finally… Blood Vision, which is pretty self-explanatory. It makes hunting stupidly easy. Rabbit in a bush? Got it. Mutant behind a tree? Hi there. You can't hide when I've got the blood GPS turned on.'

'Honestly, if I ever get full control over all this, I'll have a decent arsenal. And I'm sure I'll figure out more applications of my Bloodweaving.'

'Until then… trial and error, I guess. And I must say, I'm pretty good at naming things.'

He finished his internal monologue with a little chuckle and a satisfied smile, feeling a little more grounded. Meanwhile, Isaac couldn't help but think the bloodied man was crazy.

'There's still a lot to be done, but I know where I stand. I think I'll call it a day for now.' He grinned faintly, the frustration inside him mixing with a stubborn determination.

Kai then turned back to Isaac, whom he had forgotten was there, so focused on his own training and thoughts. He was pale, wide-eyed, with his mouth hanging slightly open like he'd just stumbled across some kind of horror scene.

Standing there, soaked in blood with piles of animal corpses around him and litres of floating red liquid in the air, Kai truly resembled a demon. He eased up and let the blood fall with a wet slap, panting slightly, sweat and blood running down his skin.

Their eyes met, to which Isaac instinctively stepped back.

Kai laughed slightly, calm and nonchalant. But he couldn't help but feel like knocking some sense into the broken one-armed man...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.