The clearing was silent for only a second.

Five figures stood spread out across the charred terrain, surrounded by craters, burnt trees, and loose stones scorched black from countless prior clashes. The air held the faint tang of smoke and blood - a testament to the destruction they'd wrought in just a month of relentless training.

It was time.

No formal start. No signal. No words.

Just tension thick enough to choke on, and the knowledge that the next few minutes would be war.

Kai exhaled deeply, flicking his growing fringe out of his eyes as he let the Blood Vision settle over his gaze. Crimson veins lit up the world - each heartbeat, each shift of movement - he could see them all. His blood stirred restlessly inside him like it was hungry.

They were all different now.

Sven stood to his right, muscles packed tight beneath torn training gear. His legs, once constantly broken and splinted by overuse, now looked like they were carved from stone. He could dash across the clearing in a blink, and unlike before, he wouldn't collapse right after. His bursts had more nuance now - less brute force, more control. That said, his eyes still burned with an opposing mix of laziness and spirit.

Nadya, ever the wildfire, was rolling explosive orbs between her fingers like they were toys. Two in each hand, pulsing orange. They didn't hiss or spark until she willed it - her control now was terrifying. The terrain bore proof of her growth: dozens of half-blasted craters scattered around the clearing like freckles on a battlefield.

Isaac hovered lazily above them, one sleeve empty where his left arm used to be. He drifted weightlessly, slipping onto the ground or back into the air at a moment's notice. Watching. Calculating. Waiting for an opening like the world's most patient predator.

And Takeshi...

The blindfolded man stood at the edge of the battlefield, sheathed blade resting on his shoulder, robes swaying in the wind. It was impossible to say how much he'd improved. He rarely joined their training fully. But when he did? Even holding back, using only the sheath, his strikes sent people flying.

Then there was Kai.

Blood pumping through his limbs, his body felt alight with power. His control was sharper. Faster. He could extract blood mid-movement, mid-strike. Fresh kills were ammunition. Injuries were opportunities. And now? Even without perfect conditions, he could keep up.

The silence broke and thus sparked the start of their frequent mutant brawls.

Sven vanished in a blur of motion.

Kai barely had time to sidestep before a dagger cut across his side. Pain bloomed, but he welcomed it. Blood spilt, and he smiled slightly.

He spun, flicking a palm toward a passing bird mid-flight. A crimson bullet shot out from his wound with sniper precision, killing it instantly. The bird dropped, and its blood rose.

A ribbon of liquid hovered beside him, ready.

Sven reappeared, dashing again, slower this time - he was moderating his bursts. Smart. But not smart enough.

Kai slashed his hand through the air, blood shaped into twin spears and launched. Sven veered to the side, skimming one, but the second nicked his arm. A red line opened. Kai grinned.

'Wound acquired.'

Before he could act on it, the ground beneath him shifted.

Isaac.

He phased up from the earth like a ghost, striking out with his one arm. Kai twisted just in time, blocking with a thin blood shield, but it shattered on impact. Isaac wasn't strong, but the timing was perfect and Kai didn't have much blood at his disposal yet.

Then it exploded.

Not Isaac, but the ground.

Nadya's orbs had already made their entrance, detonating just behind Kai as he was distracted by Isaac. Flames surged, dirt launched, vision blurred. He skidded back, clothes aflame, eyes locked on her.

"Oops," she grinned, hurtling another orb - this one splitting mid-air into two smaller spheres that landed on either side of him.

Kai dived sideways as the explosions tore the ground apart. Isaac phased through the debris effortlessly while Sven darted around the chaos, trying to flank Nadya.

She saw him and detonated a mine orb right in his path. He staggered, but surged through with a burst of raw speed, catching her off guard.

She ducked, retaliated with an orb to his stomach, sending him flying, but even mid-air, he was already recovering, pushing off a tree mid-somersault to rocket toward her again.

Isaac swept in from above, phasing out just long enough to try to land a punch on Nadya's exposed side.

She blocked with an orb in her palm, letting it explode between them.

The three of them were locked in a whirlwind of dodges, explosions, and momentum shifts.

Kai, meanwhile, used the chaos to his advantage.

He gathered the bird blood, fused it with some of his own, and formed an intricate net mid-air. He hurled it toward Isaac just as the phase-shifter popped out from the ground.

Caught.

The net latched onto his legs, made from both foreign and Kai's own blood. Isaac phased immediately, but the net twisted with him - Kai clung to the blood thread mentally.

The moment Isaac became solid again, wham!

A blood hammer slammed down on him from above, sending him crashing into the dirt.

Sven, now recovered, blurred behind Kai.

Kai spun, too slow - a dagger slashed across his back. Pain. Deeper this time.

He let it bleed. Let the blood flow.

From the wound burst a trio of blood needles, catching Sven off guard. One grazed his cheek. One hit his thigh. He cursed and blurred away.

'One more hit,' Kai thought. 'Then I've got you.'

Before he could press forward, a gale tore through the battlefield.

Everyone stopped.

It was only a horizontal swing with a sheathed blade. But the wind it generated knocked Isaac off balance, forced Nadya to retreat, and made Sven stumble mid-dash.

Takeshi stepped in.

He blurred forward with no ability, just raw, refined movement, and landed a gentle tap on Kai's shoulder.

Kai felt like he'd been struck by a truck. He was thrown back, tumbling twice, skidding to a stop near a crater.

"I'm not dead at least," Kai muttered, conjuring a blade of blood to defend.

But Takeshi didn't follow. Instead, he became the eye of the storm - deflecting Nadya's orbs, redirecting Sven's charges with minimal movement, and somehow always knowing where Isaac would emerge next.

Kai staggered up, bruised, aching, and grinning like a lunatic.

'So that's what an elite tier mutant looks like.'

He joined again, pulling blood from the wounds he'd left earlier, shaping it into barbs, blades, and binds.

The battlefield was chaos. Temporary alliances formed and shattered within seconds. Nadya launched orbs to slow Takeshi. Kai redirected Isaac's phasing. Sven tried to pin Kai while using Nadya's explosions for cover.

They fought like hell.

Every strike was calculated.

Every explosion shifted the terrain.

Every movement demanded precision, awareness, and resolve.

This wasn't sparring anymore.

It was a full-on battle.

And just as Kai caught Nadya in a blood whip mid-detonation, they all suddenly froze for a second.

'What the hell is that?!' Kai exclaimed internally.

Without question, they immediately turned to what became their new target...

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