The golden pulse of Healing Aura shimmered faintly around Kael's battered form as he rose to his feet, breathing through clenched teeth. The dreadlocked woman's energy tendrils lashed out in rapid arcs, trying to corner him again, but Kael's mind was already ahead.
He had seen the civilians scatter in panic minutes ago, their cries stabbing through the haze like sirens. But now, they were gone—safely ushered out of the combat zone by his DarkBind tendrils and a smokescreen-cloaked escape route he had carved out through a broken alley. It had cost him time, blood, and pain—but the cost was worth it.
Now, he could fight without holding back.
DarkBind radiated around him like a living storm, feeding him impressions through the tendrils' contact with the ground and air. Each movement, each heat signature, each crackling pulse of electricity was mapped within the fifteen-meter radius. The battlefield was his domain.
The bulky man in white charged in again, fists glowing with destructive power. Kael sidestepped using Flashstep, twisted midair, and landed a DarkBind-assisted heel kick to the man's temple. It didn't drop him, but the stagger it caused was enough.
The woman came next, screaming through the fog, her dreadlocks flaring like whips of lightning. Kael's tendrils caught the motion just before impact—he ducked under them, letting them crash into an overturned van instead.
Ryken was still lingering just at the edge of Kael's smokescreen, his Reflector Quirk flashing with every blast of redirected debris. The shimmering field had protected him from harm so far, but Kael had noticed its timing. There was a pattern—a momentary flicker when it reset.
Kael's eyes narrowed behind his mask. He just needed the perfect moment.
Somewhere across the city, a shriek of steel rang out, followed by a crash.
Mount Lady's massive form surged through the skyline, batting aside a hulking villain with a horned jaw who had charged out of hiding amidst the citywide chaos.
"Kamui! I've got this one, go help in the lower sector!" she shouted, boots cracking the pavement beneath her as she body-slammed her opponent into a half-demolished parking garage.
Kamui Woods zipped through the shattered buildings below, branches extending from his arms to trap fleeing villains in a wooden prison.
"This many at once…" he muttered, launching another Vine Capture at a speedster trying to escape.
Best Jeanist weaved carbon threads from crumbled suits and broken storefronts, restraining three masked thugs trying to ignite a fuel truck. His precision was razor-sharp.
"Civilians are clear. Prioritize containment," he said into his earpiece, eyes scanning for the next threat.
In dragon form, Ryukyu slammed a villain with explosive palms into the ground with enough force to cause a mini-shockwave. She turned to Manual, who was shielding people near a cracked water main with hydrokinesis.
"We have to push these scum back! Equinox is holding three major threats on his own!"
Manual nodded, hands flowing in calculated arcs. "Let's give him that chance."
Back with Kael—
Kael leapt backward, breathing hard, the gold of Healing Aura flickering. He had bought time, but the cost on his body was rising.
The bulky man growled. "You can't dodge forever, freak."
Kael's grin returned, wolf-like beneath the smoke. "I don't need forever. Just ten more seconds."
He threw down a piece of rebar—wrapped in DarkBind—and launched it like a spear at Ryken.
As expected, Reflector flared.
Then Kael moved.
The woman's tendrils lashed toward him again, but Kael Flashstepped to the side and summoned more tendrils mid-movement, catching her mid-strike and slamming her into the side of a crumbling bus.
He launched another piece of shrapnel, but this one curved—midair—thanks to a new technique using Smoketwist, his variation on Smokescreen and DarkBind manipulation combined. It flicked across Ryken's barrier with a slight spark.
The Reflector field flared again.
Timing noted.
Kael vanished—Flashstep—reappeared behind Ryken at the exact moment of that split-second flicker in the Reflector.
He didn't strike with fists. He struck with a concussive air burst made by whipping his arm—a trick he'd stolen from another brawler. It passed under the threshold of what Reflector could catch in time.
Ryken staggered.
It wasn't enough to bring him down—but it was enough to crack the rhythm.
The battle wasn't over, but Kael could feel the shift.
With the civilians gone and the pro heroes reclaiming the city piece by piece, Kael let the smirk return to his face.
Now, it was just them.
Just the fight.
Just Equinox—the hunter—and his prey.
…