In Venom Nightclub, the bass thumped like a second heartbeat and the neon lights painted the ceiling in wild flashing colours. Sven spun in the centre of a circle of giggling women, sliding into a moonwalk before bursting away and returning with another drink.

"And then, just as the beast lunged for the child, bam! I stepped in, twisted its neck, and tossed it into the side of a building. After that I-"

Within minutes of entering the nightclub, he'd already spoken to a dozen or so women, and it was hard to deny that he was funny. That was enough to keep some of them hooked, even if he did come across somewhat crazy.

But he suddenly stopped the heroic story about himself mid-sentence and frowned.

Was the floor… shaking?

Screams erupted from the club's back entrance as blood-covered civilians started pouring in. Some were stumbling, some were dragging their loved ones, while all were in full-blown panic.

"What the-?"

The building shook again, stronger this time. Bottles clattered behind the bar. Lights flickered. And now, even the club's beat couldn't drown out the low, distant sounds of battle - explosions, screams, crashes.

Sven blinked, glancing at the trembling glass in his hand.

'No way…'

He turned to the ladies, forced a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Ladies… I, uh, seem to have forgotten something… in hell."

They stared in confusion as he backed away dramatically, clutching his heart like a dying man.

"I thought today was the day I finally had a good night with so many beautiful ladies. It's been so long..." he whispered, voice cracking. "But no. No. Of course not. Why would the universe let Sven have a moment of peace?"

Tears practically welled up in his eyes - whether from emotion or rage, it was hard to say.

"I swear I'm coming back here!" he called over his shoulder. "If this place still exists by the time those bastards are done destroying it…"

He sighed and made his way toward the chaos, pushing past the flood of people trying to escape from whatever was happening below.

"This better not be Nadya's fault again," he muttered, teeth clenched as he descended the concrete stairs into the underground.

But as soon as he reached the lower levels, his cocky expression faded.

The scene that greeted him looked like the aftermath of a massacre.

Bodies. Blood. Debris. Cracks split through the walls and floor, and lights hung by torn wires. The very air stank of death, blood, and scorched concrete.

Sven stopped dead in his tracks.

"What the fuck is going on?"

He moved cautiously, eyes darting as the sounds of an intense battle reverberated from the Serpent Pit.

'I'll avoid whatever that is for now,' Sven decided.

He didn't see Nadya's handiwork in this. This wasn't controlled chaos, this was what happened when mutants rampaged amongst normal people.

'I gotta find the others,' was his immediate thought as he began bursting around the complex underground structure until he quickly spotted Nadya through smoke and dust.

The orange-haired woman stood beside Isaac, who looked like he was ready to warp out of existence at any second. His hand was gripping tightly around Amina's wrist. Meanwhile, the young healer's eyes were wide, terrified, but she remained still and tried to remain calm.

She and Isaac had been watching Kai's fight from the crowd stands when all hell broke loose. Stuck in the middle of mayhem, Amina had witnessed her fair share of horrors. Thankfully, Isaac was with her and phased them away to somewhere relatively safe to lie low until Nadya found them.

If he hadn't been, she could have very easily become one of the corpses crushed by Dominique in her pursuit of Nadya, or shredded by one of the unstable TEMP Z users.

Swallowing down on the last of the vomit that still crept up her throat, Amina began using her healing on herself, which was something she'd only recently figured she could do.

Isaac, on the other hand, had greatly increased the limits to which he could push his ability and managed to suppress the nausea that came with using it. At least for now.

All three of them turned and watched as Sven jogged over, boots crunching over glass and blood.

"Well, look who finally showed up," Nadya muttered, arms crossed. "Where've you been, asshole? Letting the wrong head do the thinking again?"

He looked completely unscathed and smelled of alcohol and women's perfume, so it was safe to assume what he was up to.

Sven's eye twitched. "Hey, I was scouting! Getting vital intel and surveying our surroundings. Those kinds of things."

"Yeah, well, whoever was giving you intel left a little something on your cheek."

He quickly wiped the lipstick stain on his face and prepared to be scolded, when...

Boom!

A loud crash echoed through the arena. A flash of red and black slammed into a support pillar, which cracked violently before collapsing. From the dust emerged Kai, wrapped in a monstrous shell of blood that moved with him like armour forged in hell itself. His eyes glowed like coals, blood slicking the ground as more poured toward him like serpents.

Dominique met him head-on, her body cloaked in a suffocating dark aura, fists glowing with condensed kinetic force. The surrounding air bent with every movement.

Kai removed the blood armour covering his face to reveal a deep grin. It wasn't one of joy, but of twisted hunger.

He wanted Dominique to see his face, and it made their staredown even more intense.

They watched as Kai ducked beneath a punch, twisted, and slammed a blood-hardened elbow into Dominique's side, then followed with a knee spike aimed at her throat.

Dominique caught it. But even she was pushed back.

"That's…" Sven's breath hitched as he realised where the sounds of fighting were coming from.

He had remained on the outskirts of the underground fight club to avoid trouble until he spotted the others. They were in a private lounge that Isaac hid in with Amina. It was tattered, but still intact, and oversaw the arena that now contained a battle much greater than it ever had before.

"T-That's Kai?" he finally managed to get out.

No one answered. They could only stare, half in awe, half in horror.

Sven scratched his head. "When the hell did he turn into a walking blood deity?"

"Who knows," Nadya muttered, her voice lower now. "But right now… I don't think we should get in his way."

Because what they saw wasn't just a fight.

It was a war between two monsters, and Kai was smiling like he hadn't smiled in his life.

And that terrified them more than anything...

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