Blood daggers formed in Kai's hands, the liquid solidifying into wicked, serrated blades. They pulsed with an almost organic fluidity, shifting and reshaping with his will.
His control felt sharper. Faster. More refined than before.
And as his heart pounded, sending blood surging through his veins, his body responded in kind. Strength flooded his limbs. His reflexes sharpened. The wounds on his body all closed up.
Letting out a deep breath, Kai's body was on a different level than moments ago. The sounds of the crowd fizzled out, and his red eyes were glued to his opponent.
Sven, still twirling his daggers, let out a low whistle. "Huh. That's kinda cool."
He could sense the change in Kai, but was still entirely unfazed as he burst forward once again.
But Kai's eyes tracked him this time.
Everything seemed to have slowed down, and his movements grew faster.
His head turned. His muscles tensed.
Sven blurred to the side.
Kai moved first.
His blood-forged daggers met Sven's in midair, sending sparks flying.
The crowd erupted again.
Sven laughed, surprised that his opponent could keep up. "Alright, now we're talking!"
He disappeared once more, bouncing around the arena, but this time Kai wasn't just standing still.
He moved.
With his newfound speed, Kai's eyes tracked each of Sven's bursts of speed. He also felt instinctively skilled at wielding the twin blades he had formed.
A slight smile was plastered on Sven's face.
But he wasn't the only one having fun.
Kai's grin widened as his blood boiled - literally.
-
Kai's blood daggers clashed against Sven's steel in a dazzling whirlwind of strikes.
Each impact cracked the air like a whip, sending sparks flying as the two weaved through a relentless dance of blades. The crowd was in a frenzy, their cheers and roars merging into a deafening storm of noise.
Kai twisted, parrying a razor-sharp slash aimed at his throat, then countered with a vicious swipe toward Sven's ribs. But the showboater was already gone - vanishing in a blink, his afterimages flickering like ghosts before fading.
Kai's gaze sharpened, tracking the real one.
'Fast. But not untouchable.'
Sven's speed was monstrous, but it wasn't endless. He moved in bursts - short, high-powered sprints, then a split-second lull before the next. He wasn't teleporting, just rebounding, like a rubber band snapping between points.
And that meant he had a pattern.
Kai smirked.
Sven darted in from the right, daggers poised for a lethal cross-slash.
Kai met him mid-step.
Steel clashed against blood. A shockwave rippled through the cage.
Sven's eyes widened, but his grin only grew. "Oh?"
Kai pressed the assault. His blades blurred - slashes, thrusts, parries - every movement crisp and instinctual, as if they had been carved into his bones long before this moment.
And somehow, they had.
'How the hell do I know how to fight like this?' The thought flickered through his mind, but his body didn't care. His instincts led, and his hands followed. Every block, every counter - it was seamless.
Sven, however, was loving it.
"Didn't think you knew your way around daggers!" He ducked under a slash, bursting backwards just out of reach, moving with effortless ease. "Where'd you learn?"
Kai didn't answer, he was locked in and also unsure of the answer himself.
Instead, he flicked his wrist.
Fwoosh!
A crimson bullet tore through the air.
Sven's smirk barely had time to twitch before he vanished. The bullet skimmed his arm and struck the cage wall behind him, sizzling on impact.
The crowd lost it.
"He can even shoot the blood like a gun?!"
"What the hell is this guy?!"
Kai didn't let up. Another shot - then another - his red bullets streaked toward Sven, forcing him to react.
But Sven was fast.
Blurs of motion, unpredictable bursts - he weaved between the shots, slipping past them by impossibly slim margins.
Still, Kai wasn't aiming blindly.
Every bullet was a feint. A way to herd him and close the distance between them.
Then Kai suddenly moved.
Blood surged, his body twisting into position. He fused his twin daggers into a giant blade he held with both hands and swung down as hard as he could.
Sven appeared.
Exactly where Kai had predicted.
'Got you!'
Lifting both his steel daggers in a cross to defend, Sven barely managed to react in time. His blades were absurdly durable, but so was Kai's.
And as they clashed, the impact shook the arena.
Sven's grin stretched wide, a bead of sweat dripping down his face. "Not bad."
Kai gritted his teeth, pushing against him, blood daggers grinding against steel. Sven was forced back, and in that split second, Kai switched back to dual daggers.
Then the fight exploded.
A flurry of slashes, parries, counters - faster than the eye could track. Daggers blurred, flashing in arcs of steel and crimson, the air alive with the sound of blades singing against each other. Every movement was precise, a deadly game of inches where a single mistake meant death.
Sven danced through it all - fluid, effortless, dodging by a hair's breadth, his bursts of speed making him a nightmare to pin down. But Kai was adapting, his body sharpening with every exchange.
Faster.
Sharper.
More dangerous.
Bloodlust surged in his veins. His muscles screamed for more.
His daggers struck harder, his reactions honed to a razor's edge. He wanted to push further. He needed to.
Meanwhile, Sven was starting to use his ability less and less, remaining engaged up close with Kai, who showed no signs of tiring.
But just as the fight was reaching its peak, Sven did something nobody saw coming...