Bloodweaver Chapter 22: How’s That?

"Begin!"

As soon as Nadya's voice rang out, Sven disappeared.

Kai barely registered the movent before a fist crashed into his stomach, knocking the air right out of his lungs. Pain exploded through his gut. His feet nearly left the ground from the sheer force of the blow.

Then, his body rejected everything in his stomach.

Blurgh!

"How's that?" Sven chuckled, stepping back with a cocky grin.

The crowd roared with laughter.

Kai staggered, wiping his mouth as bile burned his throat. The stench of half-digested food filled his nostrils, mixing with the sweat and blood already thick in the air. Above, Nadya leaned forward in her booth, shaking her head in amusent as she took another swig from her drink.

"Is this guy really a mutant?" soone scoffed.

"Couldn't you have given soone more capable?" Sven whined, arms stretched behind his head, completely at ease.

The jeers from the audience grew louder. To them, it looked like a complete mismatch.

But Nadya wasn't fooled.

"Are you sure we shouldn't have given him a heads-up about Sven's ability?" Isaac murmured, standing beside her with a tense expression. He had the best view of the fight, and he wasn't convinced this was fair.

"Sven doesn't know anything about him either, and Kai didn't want to know," Nadya said, lips curling into a smirk. "It's only fair. And things are just getting started."

Kai spat out the last of the bile, exhaling through his nose as his body adjusted.

'Guess I shouldn't have eaten that much.'

Sven just laughed, his posture lazy, radiating the confidence of soone who had never lost a fight here. He didn't even bother pressing the attack and watched as Kai recovered.

Kai, however, remained calm. His heart rate and breathing remained steady and controlled. He wasn't letting this get to him.

That wasn't to say he wasn't annoyed.

'Smug bastard.'

A slow grin spread across Kai's face, His red eyes gleaming - ravenous and focused.

Sven arched a brow at that, but before he could say anything, Kai shot forward.

In a blur of movent, Sven narrowly evaded Kai's fist with ease. His cocky smirk returned.

"Oh? Finally fighting back?"

Then, in an instant, he burst forward.

Kai could barely react before another fist slamd into his ribs. He twisted, absorbing the impact, but Sven was already moving - his body flickering from one spot to another in straight bursts of motion, like a bullet ricocheting around the arena.

Every attack struck like a hamr - his fists were fast, precise, and relentless.

Kai fought back, slipping through openings, countering where he could. But Sven was still too quick, always just a step ahead, weaving between strikes like a phantom, earning him his moniker.

Then Sven backed away, bouncing on the balls of his feet, perfectly at ease. He began taunting Kai and showboating for the crowd.

Kai, however, hadn't just endured the attacks. He was observing.

Sven wasn't unbelievably fast, like Takeshi. Instead, his speed worked in bursts - straight, linear movents that were almost chanical. It wasn't teleportation. It was sothing else.

'Spring-like muscles in his legs? That's how he's moving so explosively.'

Kai's eyes sharpened.

'If he can only move in straight lines...'

The next ti Sven blurred forward, Kai moved first.

He twisted, stepped in, and threw a brutal punch straight at Sven's incoming montum.

Crack!

Sven's head snapped back as Kai's fist crashed into his jaw. His body flipped midair from the force before slamming onto the bloodstained floor.

The crowd exploded.

Kai exhaled with a slight smile, shaking out his fist. "How's that?"

Sven groaned, propping himself up on his elbows. He wiped the blood from his lip, his grin widening instead of faltering. His sharp blue eyes glead with sothing new - sothing far more dangerous.

"Guess I should get serious."

Twin daggers flashed as he pulled them from his belt.

Kai's expression darkened. "Oh? I didn't know we could use weapons."

He shot a look at Nadya, who only shrugged, laughing.

"Anything goes, sweetheart!" she called out.

Sven spun the daggers between his fingers, the deadly edges catching the light.

The redness in Kai's eyes deepened. His blood ran hot.

This fight was only just beginning, and he had yet to even use his ability.

"Now this is going to be fun!" Nadya grinned, leaning forward, her pulse racing.

-

The mont Sven unsheathed his daggers, sothing shifted.

The lazy, cocky grin remained, but his eyes - those sharp blue eyes - locked onto Kai with an intensity that hadn't been there before. His strikes, albeit fast, weren't overwhelmingly powerful. However, if his bursts of speed were matched with blades... he would be terrifying.

Kai remained calm and focused as his opponent vanished once again in a blur of motion.

He barely caught a flicker of movent before Sven was all over him.

Blades flashed.

A streak of silver cut across Kai's arm. Another across his ribs. A third traced a shallow line over his thigh.

Sven was faster.

The bursts of speed that had been linear before now ca one after another from all directions. He left behind ghostly afterimages that made it impossible to tell where the real Sven was. His attacks were relentless, his daggers weaving through the air like fangs of a serpent striking from the shadows.

Yet, Kai stood there. Unfazed.

His body twisted just enough to avoid anything fatal. His arms deflected the slashes that mattered. He moved instinctively, tracking Sven's patterns, and predicting the angles.

The cuts burned, but they weren't deep.

Sven wasn't going for the kill.

Or maybe Kai was simply keeping up.

The crowd was going crazy, howling at the spectacle of the one-sided slaughter, completely unaware that Kai was dissecting Sven's fighting style in real ti.

Another burst - Sven lunged from the left.

Kai shifted his weight and dodged.

A blade ca from the right.

Kai deflected.

Another, this one from behind.

Kai twisted, avoiding the worst of it.

Blood dripped to the ground, pooling beneath his feet.

Sven slowed just a fraction, tilting his head, grin widening. "Not bad," he mused, lazily flipping a dagger in his hand. "But you're looking a little cut up. Want to slow down?"

Kai exhaled, feeling the warm trickle of blood sliding down his skin.

Then he smiled.

"I think I should start using my ability now, right? That's only fair," he said, his crimson eyes flashing. "And thanks for preparing so blood for ."

Sven blinked. "What?"

The entire arena fell silent.

Awe. Disgust. Excitent.

The blood around Kai moved.

The puddles on the floor trembled, stretching unnaturally. The thin streams trickling from his wounds suddenly reversed, defying gravity as they coiled around his arms, swirling in eerie patterns.

The air thickened with sothing primal.

Then the crowd exploded.

A deafening roar shook the fight pit. Cheers, screams, and frantic shouts of disbelief filled the air.

In the VIP booth above, Isaac stiffened. His grip on the railing tightened as he watched, but so far, Kai seed to be in control.

'Let's just hope things don't go too far.'