Hearing the kid's voice buried beneath the monster's screeches, Kai felt something twist inside him. A flicker of hesitation. But he crushed it before it could take root.
Emotions wouldn't help him here.
He exhaled, drawing deep from the well of power inside him. It surged like a tide, bringing with it the intoxicating urge to kill.
'It's adapting quickly, and the kid is suffering with every second that passes. The quicker I kill it, the better.'
In his hands, two massive blood daggers took shape, gleaming crimson under the flickering streetlights. He stepped forward, his movements intimidating and deliberate. The monster sensed it - the shift in Kai's intent.
It screeched and lurched back, its grotesque body recoiling in fear. But fear wasn't enough to save it.
Tendrils whipped toward him in a frenzy, tearing through the air, desperate to keep him away. But Kai didn't back away.
He moved like a phantom, slipping between the strikes, his body twisting and weaving through the chaos with inhuman grace. His blades danced, slashing through each writhing limb before they could reach him. Blackened blood and greenish ichor splattered across the pavement as severed tentacles hit the ground, twitching violently before turning still.
A tendril scraped across his arm, and another grazed his side, but he barely registered the wounds. Every cut, every drop of his own blood that spilled only fuelled him further. He welcomed it.
Meanwhile, the creature's regeneration was slowing.
Kai smirked. 'It's weakening.'
"You're not going anywhere," he murmured, voice low, edged with something primal.
The blood pooling around the battlefield pulsed in response. Then, in an instant, it surged to life.
Thick chains of blood shot up from the crimson pools, wrapping around the monster's grotesque form. It howled, thrashing wildly, but the bindings held tight.
Kai wasted no time.
He lunged forward, slicing through the last few tentacles in his path. The creature flailed desperately, but it was helpless, bound and exposed.
His blades tore into its flesh again and again.
Each strike was precise, relentless.
He hacked away, carving through thick sinew and pulsing flesh, splitting muscle from bone. The monster's cries turned shrill, then gurgled, then finally faded into wet, gasping silence.
By the time he stopped, there was nothing left but a mound of shredded flesh and severed green tentacles.
Kai stood amidst the carnage, covered in a gruesome mix of blood - his own, the monster's, and the innocent victims who had died here. He exhaled, his breath misting in the cold air. His body was still, but his pulse pounded like a war drum.
His fingers twitched around the daggers. The high of battle still clung to him, thick and suffocating. His bloodlust clawed at the edges of his mind, refusing to settle.
A fiendish grin tugged at his lips before he could stop it.
Then he heard them.
The murmurs. The gasps.
Kai turned.
Beyond the wreckage, a crowd had gathered. Dozens of wide-eyed townsfolk stared at him, their faces a mixture of horror and disbelief. Phones were raised, cameras flashing.
Kai was drenched in blood and a viscous green gel that splattered from the tentacles he shredded.
And surrounding him - mangled corpses.
The children who had played here.
Realisation crashed down like a hammer.
'Damn. This must look fucked.'
Kai began cursing his luck under his breath. He had no time to explain, no way to fix this.
With a thought, blood surged up from the ground and moulded over his face, forming a smooth, featureless mask. His red eyes gleamed through the slits, haunting and inhuman.
The onlookers gasped, the mask only adding to his demonic presence.
Then he moved.
One moment, he was there. The next, gone.
Kai sprinted through the streets, vanishing out of the town with effortless speed. He ran until the voices faded, until there were no more small buildings in sight.
Only then did he let out a slow breath.
'I can always sort out the misunderstanding another time.'
-
Panting, Kai finally came to a stop, his breath misting in the cold air. He had run until his lungs burned, weaving through back streets and vanishing into the distance, making sure there was no chance of being followed.
Now, he stood alone in a dense woodland, far from the town.
The trees loomed tall, their skeletal branches twisting overhead, blocking out what little sunlight there was. The air was damp, thick with the scent of moss and earth, but something about it felt… wrong.
It was too still, too quiet.
Kai exhaled sharply, rolling his shoulders. His instincts were already prickling.
"Where the fuck am I now?" he muttered, scanning his surroundings.
His gaze dropped to his clothes - drenched in blood, some of it his, most of it not.
'This is definitely gonna draw in some animals,' he thought grimly.
As if the universe had a sick sense of humour, the moment the thought crossed his mind, a presence stirred in the shadows.
Then another. And another.
His muscles tensed. His senses sharpened.
Glowing eyes flickered in the undergrowth, barely visible in the suffocating gloom. The faint rustling of leaves and the snap of a twig made his fingers twitch.
A low growl rumbled through the trees.
Then, movement - silent, fluid.
Wolves.
Kai's jaw tightened as he counted them. One, two… six. Maybe more lurking beyond the shadows.
'Of course. Because why the hell not?'
One of the wolves stepped forward, its frame partially illuminated by a sliver of a ray of light poking through. Its fur was matted, and its lips peeled back in a silent snarl, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.
It began circling Kai, who let out a slow breath.
"I really am one unlucky bastard," he muttered...