Kai sprinted through the town, blood blades in hand, lungs burning as he weaved through collapsing alleys and crumbling streets. Smoke stung his eyes, and the sounds of screams and destruction were deafening. He was frantically searching for anything out of place. But what the hell was he even looking for?
The town was remote and rural but still large, with narrow roads, rusting street signs, and rows of old Soviet-era houses. Some were half-collapsed, still scarred from the chaos that came after the Mass Awakening when the Z-Virus swept through the world. Cracks split the asphalt like veins, and shattered windows stared blankly like broken eyes.
In the far distance, the jagged silhouettes of modern Moscow stood tall - skyscrapers and neon - like a different world entirely. But here… here was a forgotten and separate land. And now, it was being destroyed all over again.
Boom!
Another house exploded into flames. Kai ducked, covering his head as debris rained down. His breath was shallow. He hadn't found anything yet and wasn't any closer to doing so, either.
'Seventeen, by my count… already. And another's about to turn,' he thought, heart pounding. 'How the hell am I supposed to find whoever's causing this?'
Meanwhile, there didn't appear to be any other rogue mutants lurking in the town - no scheduled event at Nadya's fight club meant no influx of outsiders. As such, he was versed with the few remaining mutants in the area.
Which meant Nyx's operative should've stood out like a flare in the dark.
And yet… somehow, he didn't.
He was there, hidden among the townspeople, unnoticed. Watching. Waiting. Blending in like a shadow cast just right.
And while Kai chased ghosts, monsters were tearing the place apart, and the chaos unfolded exactly as Nyx had planned...
-
Continuing his search, Kai suddenly froze as a piercing shriek split through the noise. He spun toward the sound, instincts flaring, but caught only the briefest flash of motion, a blur slicing through the air.
A split second later, the screeching stopped.
A towering mutant, twisted and bloated with muscle, toppled backward - its body split cleanly in two, severed from shoulder to hip. Blood sprayed across the cracked pavement as something glinted in the dim light.
A figure landed softly beside the corpse. Robes fluttering. A katana in hand.
No wasted movement. No theatrics. Just pure, lethal precision.
Takeshi.
He didn't say a word. Didn't even glance at Kai. Just moved - silent and fluid - vanishing into the next alleyway like mist in the wind.
Gone, already on to his next kill.
Kai blinked, stunned for a second, then snapped back into motion.
Boom!
An explosion ripped through a block down the street, sending dust and shrapnel skyward. Kai turned just in time to see Nadya standing amidst the chaos, flames flickering across her arms. A hulking two-headed mutant slammed into a wall, bones crunching from the impact as she launched forward again - propelled by a shockwave from her palms.
With a snarl, she lobbed another blast mid-air. It detonated a breath before reaching its target, vaporising the monster before it could even roar.
Together, the two tore through the monsters like a reaper and a tempest - Takeshi, cutting through the enemy before they knew he was there, and Nadya, levelling everything in her path.
Meanwhile, Kai kept running. Sprinting through alleys and debris-choked streets, scouring the town.
From a distance, it must've looked like he was doing nothing.
'They're doing all the heavy lifting… while I'm running around useless.'
The thought crept in, bitter and cold. But he shoved it aside.
He had a different task. A crucial one. If he didn't find the operative, this would never end. The monsters would keep coming, and no matter how strong Nadya and Takeshi were, they weren't machines. They'd tire eventually.
But as if he wasn't struggling already, another monster appeared, this time right in his path.
The large creature burst through the wall of a crumbling building, brick and plaster exploding outward. In its claws - bloodied, jagged - a woman thrashed and screamed.
Kai didn't slow down or avoid it.
His grip tightened on the blood-forged blades in his hands.
'No choice. Gotta deal with this first.'
His feet hit the ground harder. Eyes locked on target. Calm. Cold. Ready to kill.
-
Moments earlier, an old couple were curled up beneath a broken oak table, shoved against the far corner of their living room. The curtains had been pulled, the lights off, and the walls around them trembled with each explosion that echoed from the streets. Dust rained down from the ceiling.
Somewhere nearby, glass shattered, causing the woman to yelp.
"Don't worry, darling… if we stay here, we'll be fine. Nadya protects this town, remember? She's a descendant of the wolves," the old man whispered, gripping his wife's trembling hands. He tried to believe the words himself. He remembered her grandfather - how the people once whispered about the strength in that bloodline. Her father, too, had protected this place... before everything went to hell.
The old woman clutched a wooden rosary and muttered a prayer beneath her breath, lips moving so fast they blurred.
Then, the air changed.
A presence.
From nowhere, as if reality had split open for a moment, a man appeared behind them. No footsteps. No sound. One second, there was nothing - then he was there, crouched silently in the shadows just feet away.
It was as if an invisible veil had dropped off his body.
The couple hadn't even noticed him until he spoke.
"Now… which of you two becomes a monster?" he asked casually, almost curiously.
The voice made the old man jerk around with a strangled gasp. The old woman screamed, crawling backward with her back hitting the wall.
"Who - who are you?!"
"Please, get out of our house!"
"Leave us alone!" the man shouted, voice cracking.
The intruder didn't flinch. He stood slowly, straightening to his full height. Dressed in matte-black combat gear, his movements were unnervingly fluid, like a predator rising from a crouch. His dull grey eyes held no emotion, no light, and no remorse. He looked like a man who'd seen too much - and lost even more.
There was blood dried at the cuff of one glove.
Dark hair framed his gaunt, tired face. An over-worn mask covered the bottom half of his face, giving him a rough, intimidating appearance. But it was the emptiness in his stare that unnerved the old couple the most. He looked like a man already dead inside.
He glanced down at a device strapped to his wrist, a small digital timer ticking ominously.
"Can't be late now… so, it's going to be one of you," he said plainly, voice devoid of feeling.
Then he pulled a syringe from his side pouch, holding it up like a butcher admiring a blade.
The couple panicked. The old man, shaking with fear, stepped forward to shield his wife. He raised his arms, shouting again - but the chaos outside swallowed his voice whole.
The stranger sighed. "I can't understand you... but I guess you're volunteering."
And then he moved.
In a blink, he closed the distance, slamming the syringe into the old man's neck.
"Let's see what kind of monster you become," he muttered as he stepped back, watching coldly.
The old man staggered, hand flying to his neck, coughing violently. He dropped to his knees as the serum began to course through his veins. His body convulsed. Fingers cracked. Bones snapped with sickening pops. His flesh began to bubble and ripple, like boiling water under his skin.
"Darling? Are you okay?!" the old woman cried, reaching out as he clawed at the floor in agony.
She tried to pull him toward her, but his body twitched violently, and then he turned to face her.
His eyes were already gone. What stared at her now were inhuman slits, glowing faintly, wide with hunger.
The stranger cocked his head.
"He's gone, woman. And you'll probably be torn apart by him in a couple seconds," he said blankly, not that she could understand a word.
And with that, he stepped back into the shadows, vanishing just as suddenly as he'd arrived, like a ghost.
'On to the next…' he thought to himself, as if it were nothing more than a tedious job...