Setting his sights on the pests that had opened fire on him, Kai turned his back on Dominique.

"It's my turn now."

With a twist of his fingers, a spear formed midair, crafted entirely from blood. It shimmered under the dim arena like molten ruby.

Fwip!

Thunk!

The spear launched like a missile, impaling an AMC soldier mid-run. It drove through his chest and out of his back, pinning him to the concrete wall behind him with a brutal crunch. The Kevlar armour he wore did nothing to protect him, and he didn't even have a chance to scream before drawing his last breath.

"Hostile! He's extremely hostile! Fall back, now!"

Panic flared through the remaining squad. Trained elites or not, they weren't ready for a mutant that was seemingly unfazed by their advanced weaponry. There was only a handful of mutants that could tank their anti-mutant weaponry.

Kai was not on that list, at least not yet. Even Dominique, using her weightshift mutant ability to the max, wouldn't be confident bearing the bullets purely with her durability. But since he could pretty much instantly recover from the damage, they felt useless against him.

Smoke grenades were popped. Flashbangs thrown. Even a stun mine designed to cripple mutants sparked at Kai's feet.

But nothing worked.

His blood armour was insanely durable, and his body would weave itself back together within seconds. He almost seemed to be invincible, or at least far beyond anything they could handle.

He also wasn't standing by idly, allowing them to attack him, either.

The blood on the ground began to move.

Slowly at first, as if he was savouring the despair and fear in the eyes. Then violently, as his hoarse voice echoed in the Serpent Pit.

"Are those toys of yours what made you confident in facing mutants?"

Blood tentacles erupted from the crimson pools, thrashing like demonic limbs. One slammed into a soldier, folding him in half. Another lashed out, grabbed a second, and ripped him clean in two.

The underground fight club had turned into a killing field once again.

And Kai didn't stop.

His body flickered - one moment standing, the next blurring forward.

A soldier raised his rifle, yelling something, then Kai snatched the weapon out of his hands with ease. It was like taking candy from a baby.

"Hmph, not a bad weapon," he commented aloud, before folding it in half as if it were made from clay and throwing it to the side.

Clank! The gun hit the ground.

The soldier immediately reached for his sidearm, desperate.

Kai merely slapped the pistol out of his hand before grabbing him by the neck and lifting him with one hand.

The man choked, legs kicking desperately as he struggled to break free. He fumbled for the blade on his side, but lost strength in his arms before he could do anything with it. Even if he hadn't, it would be to no avail.

Kai stared up at him, eyes glowing like dying suns.

Through the crimson mask of his blood armour, he saw it - the pure, seething hatred in the soldier's gaze.

Not fear or terror, but disdain for mutants.

The kind that felt familiar to Kai. That look of disgust. Of loathing. Of believing mutants were less than human.

And for some reason… it made him hesitate.

A thought twitched in the shadows of his mind.

'Why does that hate feel so familiar…?'

He blinked and plucked at thoughts at the back of his mind until...

Bang!

A round slammed into his skull.

Crack!

His head jerked violently to the side, the force snapping his neck halfway around. Blood sprayed from the exit wound in a fine, misty arc, catching the flickering lights above like crimson fireworks.

The soldier he'd been holding aloft by the throat dropped like dead weight, coughing and wheezing as air finally returned to his lungs.

Kai didn't even flinch.

His body staggered slightly, then steadied - too steady, too unnatural. But his face... his face was exposed.

The blood armour around his head rippled, then melted back in jagged, steaming lines. It peeled off like soft wax, revealing pale skin beneath, marred by a fresh bullet hole that was already beginning to mend.

His eyes were half-lidded, glowing and almost lost.

And then the woman who had fired - the squad leader - lowered her rifle ever so slightly. Her breathing stuttered. Her visor trembled.

As soon as she saw the figure's face, her heart dropped.

"…K-Kai?"

Her voice cracked like a whip in the silence, sharp, raw, and painfully human.

It wasn't just a name.

It was recognition.

It was disbelief.

It was pain.

Kai twitched as he heard it.

Her words cut through the crimson haze in his head like a blade through smoke.

That voice… He knew it.

It wasn't just familiar - it was embedded in something deeper that he couldn't quite lay a finger on.

Even as the bullet forced its way out of his skull - tissue bubbling and knitting itself back together with wet pops and squelched - her voice lingered.

That tone. That cadence. The fact she knew his name.

"Where… do I know her from?"

His heartbeat slowed.

His breath hitched.

His arms, once braced and ready to kill, slackened at his sides.

The blood armour rippling around him shivered, then withdrew further. Like it too was listening.

His entire body sagged slightly, like a puppet with cut strings. The beast that had seized control of his instincts… paused.

Confused.

Uncertain.

Human.

Kai's eyes dimmed for a heartbeat.

His hands trembled.

The feral rage began to ebb slowly and painfully, like a tide reluctantly retreating from the shore. It wasn't gone. But it wasn't in control anymore.

And that was when the ground beneath him rippled.

A ghostly hand, grey as ash, erupted from the concrete and snapped around his ankle like a vice.

Kai blinked. His gaze fell downward, eyes wide.

"-Isaac?"

Before he could react, the world tilted.

The ground beneath him liquefied like quicksand, and in one smooth pull, he was dragged down.

The concrete swallowed him whole, like smoke slipping into water.

And just like that, he was gone.

The last thing he saw above was her, the woman with the rifle, still frozen in place.

Her weapon had fallen slightly. Her hands were trembling.

And her visor…

Even through the tech and armour, her expression seeped through.

It was like she'd just seen a ghost.

Or maybe… like she'd just watched one vanish before she could reach it.

As darkness wrapped around him, and Isaac yanked him back into the shadowy underground, Kai barely noticed the pain anymore. The blood was still singing in his veins. Still whispering violence.

But something had changed.

His hands clenched tight at his sides.

His heart was hammering, harder now.

Not from battle.

But from the sinking weight of something else.

Regret.

Fear.

'What… the hell was I just doing?'

For the first time that night, Kai was unsure what to think.

He felt like a man who'd almost lost himself completely.

And the scariest part?

He still wasn't sure if he'd come back whole.

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.