The clash between Kai and Krane quieted for a moment.
They stood amidst a jagged corridor of looming steel containers, the salty wind howling in from the black water's edge. A quiet, desolate stretch of docks. The perfect graveyard.
Blood painted the concrete in splashes and streaks. Some of it was Kai's, reclaimed and swirling around him like waiting blades. The rest had spilt from Krane, though the man didn't seem to notice, much less care.
They were locked in a standoff.
Kai flexed his fingers, his arms scarred with recent trauma. His muscles twitched under torn sleeves. Blood slithered across his skin, drawn from wounds both old and new, as well as the crimson remnants left from every blow he'd landed on Krane.
Just seeing it stirred something inside him. A hunger. A whisper.
'More. Spill more. Use it. Shape it. Kill!'
Krane was the first to break the silence, brushing dust from his lab coat. Any wounds he had sustained had disappeared, and he had a calm expression.
