Blood Sword

A creaking house exploded outward in a storm of shattered wood and flying debris as a hulking creature tore through the fragile walls like paper. Dust surged into the air, thick with the coppery scent of blood and the stench of rot.

The monster responsible loomed nearly four metres tall, its bloated frame packed with mutated muscle, skin stretched so tight it looked ready to split. Bulging veins throbbed across its dark grey flesh - some burst and oozing blackened fluid. Patches of raw skin peeked through tumour-like growths, and its hunched back was laced with twisted bone spines jutting out like jagged fins.

Its face barely resembled anything human. Its sunken eyes burned with hunger, and its jaw hung at a sickening angle, cracked sideways to reveal rows of broken, oversized teeth. One half of its skull bulged grotesquely, a thick horn jutting from it - like the mutation had outrun the body's ability to keep up.

Kai's blood ran cold.

'What the hell… even the test subjects in Nyx's labs weren't this messed up.'

In its right hand, the monster clutched the crushed leg of an old woman like it was nothing more than a toy. She was screaming uncontrollably, her body suspended upside down as blood poured from her mangled limb.

Her eyes were wide with sheer terror - tears, blood and disbelief all mixing on her wrinkled face. She hadn't stopped screaming since her husband, her partner of over forty years, had transformed into the very creature that now held her like a ragdoll.

Without hesitation, Kai burst forward. The woman was still alive, and he was not letting this one end the same way as his last encounter with monsterfication.

"Let go of her, you ugly bastard!" he snarled, red eyes glowing as he charged in.

-

Kai gripped his twin blood blades tightly, their deep crimson edges humming with restrained power. He reached an abrupt halt and drew blood from the surrounding carnage, including the oozing fluid spilling from the monster's own warped body.

The blood twisted mid-air at his command, condensing into sharp, needle-like projectiles. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he unleashed a volley of blood bullets that zipped through the air and slammed into the creature's grotesque head.

Shrieking as they tore into its skin and burst in tiny crimson pops, the monster shook violently before stumbling back, eyes flicking wildly as the pain disoriented it.

Kai dashed forward, closing the distance in a heartbeat, his movements sharp and purposeful. As he moved, his twin blood blades twisted and fused in his grip, reshaping into a single, sleeker weapon - longer, more refined.

A Blood Sword.

He moulded it mid-charge, trying to imitate the fluid, precise swordplay he'd seen from Takeshi.

A weapon not just of brute force but finesse.

He sprinted up a low wall, kicked off it, and launched himself high into the air. With a sharp shout, he brought the blade down with both hands in a clean, overhead arc - aimed directly at the monster's massive wrist.

The edge dug deep, splitting flesh and snapping tendons, but it wasn't nearly as swift as Takeshi's strikes. The blade jarred and stuck as it hit thick bone, lodging halfway through with a sickening crunch.

'Harder than it looks,' Kai thought, gritting his teeth.

Still, it was enough. The monster shrieked in rage and pain, its fingers spasming open and finally releasing the old woman. Her maimed body began falling through the air.

Kai kicked off the monster's arm and dived after her, catching her just before she hit the ground. Her body was limp, her mouth agape in a scream that no longer had strength behind it. She was shaking violently, eyes vacant, completely broken by what she'd just witnessed and experienced.

Her shattered leg continued to pour blood, the wound horrifying - bone torn through muscle and skin like jagged glass, pooling dark crimson around them.

"Damn it…" he muttered. He gently set her down behind a splintered wall, half-collapsed and barely standing, but it was the best shelter he could manage.

A deep, guttural roar snapped his head around.

The monster had turned, purple blood gushing from its near-severed wrist, and now it charged - clumsily but with terrifying speed, its massive fists swinging like wrecking balls.

Kai didn't retreat.

But before attacking the monster again, he made a quick detour, his eyes locked onto the blood blade embedded in the creature's wrist.

'I need to fight it without using my blood or even bloodweaving.' Kai could already feel the dull ache in the back of his head that came with manipulating blood. And with so much of it around him, it was hard enough suppressing his own monster that was within.

He also didn't want to drain himself to the point of being defenceless, especially not in his current predicament. At any moment, his life could be on the line, and ultimately, survival would almost always be his priority.

As such, he dashed back toward the beast's flailing arm and grabbed the hilt of the blood sword with both hands. With a powerful jerk, he yanked it free, purple blood splattering across his chest.

Blade retrieved, he spun on his heel and sprung back, flipping in the air before landing on his toes and bursting back towards the monster.

The creature immediately swung from the left - wild and heavy. Kai ducked under it, sliding across the blood-slick pavement, then slashed a clean line across the creature's thigh as he passed.

It howled as it twisted, flailing, but Kai was already behind it. Another swing came, a backhand this time, but he ducked low again and slashed across the creature's ribcage. Purple blood splattered the ground in thick globs.

He moved like a shadow, staying low and fast, weaving through the chaos of limbs and rage. The monster's sheer size was a disadvantage now - it couldn't keep up. Each time it swung, Kai was already gone, carving into exposed flesh or stabbing into joints.

'No regeneration, thank God… must only be a Stirring Threat,' he thought as he slid under another swing, then buried his blade into the back of the monster's knee.

The beast stumbled. Kai rolled away, panting, then came in one last time with a powerful upward slash across its chest. The blade ripped through flesh and muscle, spraying purple blood into the air like a geyser.

The creature faltered… then fell with a thunderous crash, its twisted form twitching once before going still. Kai then jumped onto the monster's chest, slashing its neck and almost severing its head to confirm the kill.

'I don't want that thing getting up.' He then turned and sprinted back to the old woman.

She'd gone pale, unconscious now from blood loss and trauma.

"Shit," he hissed, yanking off his shirt and tying it tightly around the top of her thigh, creating a makeshift tourniquet.

His mind raced. He felt like he needed to help her somehow. Maybe saving her, saving anyone, would make him feel less like a monster. Or maybe it was just pity. A way to avoid the guilt clawing at him later. Either way, an idea sparked.

"I hope this works…"

He sliced a small incision into her forearm. Then, focusing carefully, he raised his palm toward the pool of blood beneath her shattered leg. With delicate control, he began pulling the blood upward in a narrow, thread-like stream, guiding it toward the cut.

Bit by bit, he eased her blood back into her body.

'I'm not a doctor, but… it's her own blood. That means there shouldn't be rejection, right?' he reasoned, his brow furrowed with concentration. 'Please don't die.'

After a few tense moments, the colour in her cheeks stopped draining so rapidly. Her breathing and pulse steadied, just barely.

Kai stood, wiping the sweat from his brow, his body hot despite the cold around him after running around and fighting her husband-turned-monster.

He looked down at her - this frail old woman who had just lived through something no one should. And the one to blame was none other than Nyx.

"Hopefully, Takeshi or someone else shows up to save you," he muttered, but he couldn't stick around to find out.

He then turned and prepared to sprint off into the war-torn town once again. The monsters weren't stopping.

And somewhere out there… was the one who was creating them.