BOOM!
A massive, double-bladed axe slammed into the stone floor right in front of Kai, shattering the ground and sending shards of rock skittering across the hall. The axe blade itself was a dark, almost black color. It wasn't rust or age that stained it, but the countless layers of dried, flaked blood from its innumerable victims.
Before the dust from the first impact could even settle, the owner of the axe and its three companions were on the move. Four Blugori, four hulking blue monstrosities with skeletal faces, converged on Kai's position. They moved with an unnatural, terrifying speed. Some charged straight down the hall, their heavy footsteps shaking the floor, while others leaped onto the walls, scurrying along the stone like giant, horrifying insects before launching themselves at him.
From the relative safety of their cells, the other inmates watched in a mixture of terror and morbid fascination.
"Four of them," Griz whispered, his voice suddenly dry. His cynical bravado had completely vanished, replaced by a raw, primal fear. "They sent four for one man. Kid, you're not just dead. You're going to be minced meat."
Kai's senses screamed. He felt a rush of wind from his left and threw himself to the right. A giant axe slammed down where he had been standing a millisecond before, the impact jarring his teeth. He rolled, coming to his feet just as another axe whistled past his head, cutting a deep gouge into the wall behind him.
BOOM! BOOM!
The air filled with the sound of their attacks, each one powerful enough to pulverize stone. The wind from their swings was like a physical force, buffeting him from all sides.
(This is insane! They're as fast as they are strong!)
He was in a deadly dance, his entire focus narrowed to the arcs of the four giant axes. A sidestep here, a duck there, a desperate forward lunge. He was moving on pure instinct, sweat beading on his forehead. This was no mere fight. This was dancing on the very edge of a razor blade, where a single misstep, a single moment of hesitation, meant being instantly cleaved in two.
"He's fast!" one of the prisoners shouted, his face pressed against the bars. "But he can't keep this up forever!"
(They're right,) Kai thought, his lungs burning. (I can't just dodge. Their stamina is probably monstrous. I have to fight back. I have to find an opening.)
The opportunity came a moment later. A Blugori to his right swung its axe in a wide, horizontal arc. Kai dropped to the ground, the massive blade whistling inches over his head. As the beast's momentum carried it forward, its body was momentarily exposed.
"My turn!" Kai roared.
He exploded upwards from his crouch, not with a punch, but with a devastating roundhouse kick. He pivoted on his left foot, pouring all the strength of his legs and core into the blow. His foot connected with the Blugori's ribcage with a sickening, wet crunch.
CRACK!
The prisoners watched, their jaws agape, as the five-meter-tall beast folded around Kai's foot. Its massive body was launched sideways as if shot from a cannon. It flew through the air and slammed into the far wall with enough force to crack the thick stone. It remained pasted there for a long second before sliding to the floor in a broken, unmoving heap, its chest cavity visibly caved in.
A stunned silence fell over the onlookers.
"What... what was that?" Griz stammered, his one good eye wide with disbelief. "The kid... he just...?"
Kai had no time to admire his handiwork. Another axe was already descending on him. With no room to dodge, he threw himself into a desperate forward roll, the axe blade smashing the ground behind him. As he came out of the roll, his hand closed around the handle of the axe dropped by the first Blugori. It was incredibly heavy, but his amplified strength allowed him to wrench it from the floor with a grating shriek of metal on stone.
He barely had time to get it in front of him. "Here it comes!"
CLANG!
He braced himself as another Blugori brought its axe down in a vertical chop. Kai met the blow with the flat of his own borrowed axe. The impact was cataclysmic. A shockwave erupted from the point of collision, and the resulting shriek of metal was deafening. The force was so immense that Kai was blasted backwards, his feet skidding across the stone floor for several meters. Pain shot up his arms, and his bones felt like they had been rattled loose in their sockets. He barely kept his grip on the massive weapon.
(Incredible power!) he thought, his hands trembling. (This isn't just brute strength. Griz called them beasts, but they feel like machines. Maybe they're modified, or even... Awakened Zoans. I can't block another hit like that. My arms will shatter. I have to use speed and tactics, not brute force.)
The remaining three Blugori charged again, their movements perfectly synchronized, their skeletal faces devoid of any emotion or reaction to their fallen comrade.
"There are still three of them!" a prisoner yelled. "He's trapped!"
But Kai was no longer just reacting. He now had a weapon, and he had the measure of his foes. As the three beasts closed in, he sprinted directly towards the nearest wall. He took two powerful steps up its vertical surface, then kicked off into a backflip, soaring over the heads of the charging monsters and their swinging axes.
The world turned upside down for a moment before he landed gracefully behind them. They were still facing the wall where he had been, their simple minds too slow to process his maneuver.
He didn't give them the chance.
"One down," he grunted, swinging the heavy axe in a clean, horizontal arc.
The blade whistled through the air. There was a flash of cold steel, followed by a spray of dark blood. One of the Blugori's skull-like heads flew a dozen feet through the air before landing with a hollow thud. Its massive body stood motionless for a second before collapsing in a heap.
(With my current strength, wielding this axe is almost easy. Two down. Two to go.)
The remaining two Blugori finally turned, their robotic programming re-engaging. One charged, while the other began a wide flanking maneuver. Kai met the charge head-on. He ducked under a wild swing, his own axe moving in a low, scything blow.
SLICE!
The axe cut clean through the Blugori's ankle. The massive beast let out a silent roar of pain as its leg gave way, and it toppled sideways, crashing to the floor.
The final Blugori ignored its injured companion completely, bringing its axe down with all its might. This time, Kai met the attack.
BOOM!
The two giant axes collided in mid-air with an earth-shattering clang. The impact was so violent it sent both weapons flying from their wielders' hands. They spun through the air like deadly propellers before embedding themselves deep into the stone walls on opposite sides of the hall.
Unarmed but undeterred, Kai flowed instantly from the block into an attack. He pivoted, launching a savage side kick aimed directly at the Blugori's neck.
CRACK!
The sound was sharp and sickeningly final. The full force of Kai's amplified power, focused into a single point, snapped the creature's thick neck instantly. Its massive body was sent flying several meters, crashing through the already damaged door of Griz's cell. It continued through the cell itself, smashing two inmates against the back wall and killing them instantly. The prison wall itself couldn't withstand the force, and a large section of it crumbled into the next cell over.
The fight was over.
For a long moment, there was only silence, broken by the terrified whimpers of the prisoners in the wrecked cell. The dust slowly began to settle, revealing the scene of carnage. Four massive, blue-skinned bodies lay broken and bleeding. And in the middle of it all stood Kai, breathing heavily, his body bruised but unbroken.
The prisoners who had been betting on how quickly he would die were now pressed against the back walls of their cells, trying to make themselves as small as possible. They avoided his gaze, terrified that even looking at him would bring his wrath down upon them. They were inmates, yes, but they wanted to live. What they had just witnessed was not a fight. It was an execution.
Griz stood frozen amidst the rubble of his own cell, staring at the carnage. His cynical, world-weary realism had been shattered into a million pieces. The kid he had dismissed as a fool, the pest he had ordered Thunk to crush, had just single-handedly slaughtered four of the monsters that had haunted his nightmares for eight years.
(Who is this kid?) Griz thought, a cold dread washing over him. (Where in the hell did he come from? He's no rookie... he's a demon.)