The sword swiftly cut through the air and with a slight rotation, it quickly flew towards Kai—aiming for his head.
Kai, unaware of the upcoming attack, only tried to hurriedly get away from them as soon as possible.
His broken body stumbled with each step as his only remaining foot began to turn numb. Paleness started to take over his skin since, from the start, his wounds had never stopped bleeding.
First, it was his arm and now even his right leg was gone. His body bled uncontrollably, leaving trails of crimson puddles behind as he struggled to move forward with the support of his spear.
Meanwhile, the sword had closed its distance from Kai, its edges merely inches away from his head.
Gradually, as the sword reached the strands of his dark hair, something unprecedented happened.
Just as the sword's edge was about to pierce through his head, his body seemed to react on its own as he—within an instant—tilted his head toward his right.
The sword flew in its already set trajectory and cut through a few of his hair strands while slightly grazing onto his left cheek, letting blood slowly envelop the wound and drizzle down his already pale skin.
This sudden movement from Kai left Daniel—or what was left of him—shocked as his eyes followed the sword all the way up until it crashed onto the ground.
"System, Time." His voice—calm and stable—softly echoed, attracting the eyes of both Daniel and Damon alike.
Heeding his words, with a flash of dim blue light, another one of the system's windows materialized right in front of his eyes.
On the window, was a timer that kept increasing alongside every passing second.
---
[Time Remaining - 22:30 minutes.]
---
Kai quickly spared a glance at the window and tightened his grip on the spear.
He didn't move at all, but something had changed about him. His wounds hadn't stopped bleeding, but his skin seemed to have been rejuvenated.
Then suddenly, he turned around, retracted his spear backward, and instantly launched it forward in a straight path with his hand tightly gripping the middle of its handle.
At first, the spearhead flew in its supposed direction while swiftly cutting through the air. But just as his arm was about to completely stretch forward, it abruptly stopped.
His spear, his arm was stopped... No, it was being pushed back by something. As his eyes adjusted themselves to the new view, he saw Daniel coming at him with all his power.
His right hand—extended forward, aiming for Kai's head—had the spearhead pierced through his palm while the rest of his body seemed to be closing the distance as he ran towards Kai.
In a flash, Daniel stood at an arm's distance from Kai, his left hand, retracted around his waist, sprung towards him with his fingers spread out.
Daniel's intentions were clear. Having lost his sense of reasoning, he wanted to finish things as quickly as possible and thus, one after another, kept on aiming for his head.
His hand moved at a speed that looked almost invisible to the naked eye, and yet, Kai stood in front of him with little to no worries on his face.
He wasn't just standing, he was smiling.
In the face of what could potentially be his death, Kai's lips curled into a grin that spread wide across his face.
'Now this... Is exhilarating.' A thought flashed in his silent mind, his heart racing at the sight of his upcoming death.
Daniel's hand was merely at a nail's distance now, coming at him with the same speed as before, it covered most of the view that Kai could see.
Although, for Kai, it seemed like a completely different story.
Why?
Because for some reason, he could see the hand clearly. And that too, in a motion where the concept of Time itself seemed to have slowed down for him.
As his hand loomed forward, with a sudden force, it was pushed back completely. His hand flew back in a swift yet seemingly abrupt motion, and his eyes widened.
For a second, even Daniel couldn't process what had happened.
But then he saw that the handle of the spear had appeared right in front of Kai's face, his hand—still stuck in the spearhead—twisted.
Behind the handle was a pair of eyes that once reflected the inner turmoil, the fear that had taken over his heart and soul.
But now? Let alone fear, there wasn't even a speck of discomfort in his eyes.
On the contrary, his eyes were gleaming with excitement. As if he was enjoying all of this, despite having lost his limbs.
Within his eyes, Daniel could see a change. A faint crimson hue that he had never seen before. A crimson hue that resonated within his irises.
At first, he felt nothing. But as he tried to peer into Kai's eyes, his heart began to race.
Not with excitement but, fear. The more he tried to concentrate on the crimson in his irises, the more his soul felt oppressed.
"Grrrr...rrr..."
Faint growls erupted from his lungs as his beastly instincts sensed the presence of something terrifying. Something dangerous.
His eyes began to tremble as he saw a shadow of something unimaginably powerful residing in those eyes.
Cold sweat formed over his forehead as chills ran down his spine. For once, even he wanted to run away, but the more he thought so, the more his body became uncontrollable.
Turning his sense of fear into desperation, Daniel launched yet another attack. His hand that had previously been blocked, once again, launched itself towards Kai—his fingers bent like claws.
But this time, rather than blocking the attack, Kai decided to counterattack.
He bent his knee and stretched his arm all the way to his left. Then, using his dead-weight left hand as the trigger, he spun around and used all of his strength to slice through Daniel.
At first, as he spun, the spearhead—already dug in his hand—began to slice through his muscles, traveling towards his chest through his arm.
As Kai spun further, his spear continued to slice through Daniel's chest, creating a slant angle that went up alongside his spearhead.
Finally, as it completely sliced through his chest, the spearhead was freed from the ever-entangling net of skin, muscles, tissues, and blood.
It continued to travel in its pre-ordained direction and was met with yet another such net—his arm.
But unlike before, it didn't simply slice upon the muscles of his arm. Using the speed he had accumulated on his body, Kai tightened his grip on the spear and sliced the hand off of his wrist.
Without any signs of stopping, he then continued to complete his spin.
Just as he was about to be done, he decided to now pull his hand into action, launching it all the way to his right while keeping it extended and firm.
Creating a roughly circular motion, the spearhead swiftly cut through the air before it finally reached its final destination—Daniel's neck.
Effortlessly slicing through his muscles, it inflicted a deep cut on his throat and left through the other side as he finally stopped.
He dug his spear into the ground once again, using it as support to stand as he looked at the confused expressions of Daniel with a smile.
Blood that had accumulated over the edges of his spear converged and drizzled down the handle, overlapping his hand.
While all the blood that had shot up through the wounds of Daniel finally came down in the form of a small bloody downpour, coating everything in a touch of Crimson as a thick metallic stench filled the air around them.
Within a matter of seconds, roles had reversed.
What had happened?
How did it happen?
No one knew.
All that was clear for now, was that the Hunters were now getting hunted.