Predators of the night

Darkness ruled the dojo, broken only by the steady breathing of Kao, curled up near the entrance. Niran observed him for a moment before walking past him in silence, letting him sleep. The pain still throbbed in his bones, a lingering echo of the fight with Raksa, but he ignored it. He was used to suffering. He accepted it as part of his existence.

He washed his face with the freezing water from an old cistern in the courtyard, staring at his reflection in the rippling surface. Dark eyes gazed back at him, filled with unwavering determination. The bruises on his face and torso bore witness to the battle, but what concerned him more were the words of the Leeches.

"This isn't over."

He rose and began his morning training, each movement executed with surgical precision. His strikes became faster, knees and elbows slicing through the air with controlled violence. Yet, his mind was elsewhere.

Raksa had been a brutal opponent, but predictable. If all the members of the Leeches had the same ability to ignore pain, then they were just beasts to be slaughtered. But what if there was more?

He stopped. His rhythmic breathing condensed in the cold morning air. He needed answers.

Thanom greeted him with a toothless grin in his hidden corner of the slums. The old ex-fighter, now reduced to a merchant of information, had grease-stained hands and a face marked by scars.

"Haven't seen you in a while, kid."

"Tell me what you know about the Leeches."

Thanom stopped tinkering with the piece of metal in his hands and rubbed a hand over his shaved head.

"Bad people, those beasts. They're not just parasite junkies. They're experiments."

"Experiments?"

Thanom nodded. "Someone is using them as test subjects. Their tapeworms aren't just simple parasites, they're modified. They create an effect that's not just pain suppression… something deeper. It makes them fighting machines until their bodies collapse."

Niran remained silent, processing the information.

"And Yoru?"

The old man scoffed. "He's different. I don't know what they did to that bastard, but if Raksa was just a rabid dog, Yoru is a predator. And his bite is deadly."

Back at the dojo, Niran immersed himself in training. His mind reconstructed the battle with Raksa, searching for weaknesses in his style. Then, he imagined Yoru. A man faster, deadlier. How would he face him?

Mental sparring. Locked inside the dojo, he visualized the match with terrifying clarity. He saw Yoru move like a shadow, his strikes delivered with a precision that left no room for mistakes. Every dodge, every block, every counterattack was repeated in his mind until it became instinct.

After hours of training, he collapsed to the floor, his chest rising and falling in deep breaths.

Beside him, Kao watched him with sharp eyes.

"What?"

The small monkey tilted his head, then moved closer and handed him something, an old metal ring, rusted but still solid.

Niran took it, staring at it in confusion. "Where did you find this?"

Kao didn't answer, of course. But he kept looking at him, as if the gesture had meaning.

Niran turned the ring in his fingers, its worn metal cool against his skin. At first, it seemed like nothing more than a useless trinket, but then—he felt it. A strange sensation, subtle yet familiar. It was the same eerie pull he had felt when wrapping Sakchai's old hand wraps around his fists.

His instincts sharpened. There was something about this ring. Something worth understanding.

But not now. Not yet.

Niran clenched the ring in his fist. "Let's see if it brings luck."

Night had fallen when Niran left the dojo. The air was thick with acrid smells, the urban world a mosaic of shadows and flickering neon lights. As he walked, he immediately sensed someone following him.

He stopped.

Two men waited for him in an alley. Their dirty clothes and the way they moved identified them immediately, Leeches.

"Niran," one of them said. "We've been watching you."

"Do you have a message?"

The other man laughed, revealing stained teeth. "You won't win against Yoru. We're different. He is different."

They tossed a small package at his feet.

Niran picked it up without lowering his gaze. When he opened it, he found a bloodstained bandage and a human tooth.

A warning. Or perhaps a promise.

The two men melted into the shadows.

Niran stood still for a moment, then tossed the package into a dumpster without hesitation.

"We'll see."

The last night before the fight passed in silence.

Niran sat in the dojo, his gaze lost in thought. Kao slept near the entrance, as if keeping watch over him.

The words of the Leeches echoed in his mind, but there was no fear. Only a growing certainty.

He wouldn't avoid this fight. He would dominate it.

He stood up, the ring Kao had given him still clenched in his fist.

Tomorrow, he would face Yoru.

And he would find out if the predator of the night was truly as fearsome as they claimed.