The night was exceptionally clear over Musutafu, the full moon bathing the rooftops and alleys of a sleeping commercial district in a silvery glow. It was the perfect stage for the hunt. Reiji Kinzoku, Master of the Blood Pact, watched from the heights of an abandoned skyscraper, his red eyes piercing the darkness with supernatural clarity. Below, in a loading dock surrounded by closed shops, the ambush was underway.
His Night Fists – Maya, Kenji, and three other vampire servants – moved with a speed and coordination honed by months of brutal training under his command. The target was a group of well-armed dealers known for using an experimental drug that temporarily increased strength and endurance, making them more dangerous than the usual dregs. Reiji had chosen this target specifically to test his servants and, of course, to collect the "quality blood" that might contain remnants of the drug and its enhancement properties.
The initial operation was smooth. The vampires used the shadows and their superior speed to isolate and neutralize the dealers one by one, their vampiric strength easily overcoming the artificial resistance induced by the drug. Maya tore through the dealers' makeshift weapons with her dark claws, while Kenji appeared and disappeared from the shadows to apply incapacitating blows. It was almost finished.
It was then that the air crackled with a different energy. A powerful, wild presence, approaching at dizzying speed. Reiji sensed it before he saw it. A white and muscular blur descended from the sky, landing with an explosive impact that cracked the concrete in the middle of the confrontation and kicked up a cloud of dust.
When the dust settled, she was there. Rumi Usagiyama, the Rabbit Hero: Mirko. Number 5 in the professional rankings. Tanned skin contrasting with snow-white hair, long, alert rabbit ears moving independently, and a wide, toothy grin that was equal parts zest for life and promise of absolute violence. Her red eyes, surprisingly similar to Reiji's in color but burning with an entirely different flame, swept the scene – the fallen dealers, the tense vampires.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Mirko's voice cracked, loud, vibrant, full of a confidence bordering on arrogance. "Didn't know we had a bat infestation in Musutafu. And crashing my party, too!"
Reiji's servants immediately adopted defensive stances, looking up at their Master in the shadows above for guidance. They knew who Mirko was. Her reputation for overwhelming physical strength was legendary.
Maya stepped forward, claws fully extended. "This isn't your territory, hero! Back off or suffer the consequences!"
Mirko let out a loud, genuine laugh. "Consequences? Honey, I am the consequences!"
Before Maya could react, Mirko exploded into motion. It was a pure display of elite-level power and speed. She seemed to teleport, appearing right in front of Maya and delivering a devastating kick with the sole of her foot – Luna Arc – that struck the vampire's chest with the force of a battering ram. Maya flew backward, slamming against a container with a metallic clang that echoed through the yard. Regeneration prevented fatal damage, but she was momentarily winded and stunned.
Kenji tried to use his camouflage for a stealth attack from the rear. Bad idea. Mirko spun on her heels, her instincts seeming to detect the slight displacement of air, and landed a powerful spinning kick (Luna Fall) that caught Kenji mid-air, sending him crashing into a shop wall hard enough to break bricks.
The other three vampires, seeing their leaders dispatched so easily, attacked together, trying to use their combined speed to overwhelm her. Mirko just grinned wider. "More bunnies to play with!"
She became a white whirlwind. Luna Rush. Her kicks and knees were a blur, each blow precise, powerful, relentless. She wasn't just defending; she was attacking, breaking their formation, using the force of one against another. In seconds, the three vampires were on the ground, groaning, incapacitated by well-placed strikes aimed at joints and nerve centers.
Reiji watched everything from the skyscraper's shadows, a single eyebrow slightly arched under his hood. The display of power was impressive, even by his high standards. Mirko's speed and raw strength were genuine, her combat instincts razor-sharp. His servants, though stronger than normal humans, were clearly outclassed in raw power and combat experience.
But he also noted the openings. The complete reliance on physical attacks. The lack of defense against ranged attacks or more exotic abilities. The tendency to charge forward recklessly, trusting her strength and speed to overcome any obstacle.
With his servants defeated and the dealers forgotten (Mirko seemed to have lost interest in them as soon as the vampires appeared), the rabbit hero finally stopped, slightly breathless, but with a wild glint of satisfaction in her eyes. It was then she looked up, her smile fading slightly as her keen senses finally focused on the cold, powerful presence watching her from above.
"I knew there was a bigger rat hiding in the shadows," Mirko called out, her voice now more serious, but still challenging. "You're the boss man, aren't you? The so-called 'Blood King'? You gonna stay up there hiding, or come down and get thrashed like your puppies?"
Reiji accepted the implied challenge. With a movement that was less a jump and more a controlled glide down the building's face, he descended from the skyscraper, his dark clothes billowing around him, landing softly on the cracked concrete a good twenty meters from Mirko. He kept the hood and mask on, an enigmatic, still figure against the moonlight.
"An impressive display of brute force, Rabbit Hero," Reiji's voice sounded, calm, cold, and distorted by the mask, cutting through the silence. "But brute force without control is merely... noise."
Mirko's grin returned full force, a dangerous glint in her red eyes. "Noise? I call it fun! And you're about to find out just how fun it can be!"
She didn't wait for a reply. With a guttural war cry, she shot towards Reiji, the ground trembling under the power of her initial dash. She was a white projectile, aiming to obliterate him with a single powerful kick.
Reiji observed the charge with supernatural calm. Her speed was incredible, perhaps rivaling his own upper limits. But it was linear. Predictable. At the last instant, as Mirko's foot was centimeters from crushing his chest, Reiji moved. He didn't just dodge; he seemed to slide aside, the movement so fast and fluid it looked like he had momentarily become incorporeal.
Mirko's kick hit the air where he had been, the force of the blow creating a small shockwave that kicked up dust. Before she could fully recover or adjust her stance, Reiji counterattacked.
His hand, clad in a dark glove, lashed out, not as a fist, but with fingers extended, aiming for Mirko's shoulder. Simultaneously, he channeled the freezing power. The tips of his fingers glowed with a faint frost at the moment of impact.
Mirko, with her exceptional reflexes, sensed the danger and tried to pull back, but wasn't fast enough. Reiji's fingers brushed her shoulder, and a piercing, painful cold instantly spread through the area, stiffening her muscles and making her inhale sharply in surprise and pain. A thin layer of ice formed on her costume at that spot.
"Cold?!" she exclaimed, leaping back, rubbing the numb shoulder. "What is that? A secondary Ice Quirk?"
Reiji remained silent, watching her reaction, cataloging the effectiveness of the freeze against a high-level opponent. It worked as a distraction and caused pain, but wasn't enough to incapacitate with such brief contact.
Mirko, however, was not one to be intimidated. Surprise gave way to renewed fury. "Doesn't matter what trick you got, freak! I'm gonna break you!"
She attacked again, this time with a barrage of kicks and knees from all angles – Luna Rush at full force. The air cracked with the speed of her movements. Reiji was forced into a defensive dance, his feet barely seeming to touch the ground as he weaved between the blows, blocking only when absolutely necessary. Each block sent a jarring impact through his bones, a testament to Mirko's phenomenal strength, but his vampiric durability and rapid regeneration prevented serious damage. It was like a duel between an unstoppable hurricane and an intangible shadow.
"Hold still!" Mirko yelled in frustration, her strikes becoming wilder.
"Why? To make your job easier?" Reiji replied, his voice calm and mocking. He saw a momentary opening as she overextended on a high kick. He slipped inside her guard and delivered a swift palm strike to her stomach.
This time, he put more vampiric strength behind the blow. Mirko gasped, the air driven from her lungs, and she was thrown back several steps, a look of genuine shock on her face. That blow hurt. Really hurt. The force behind it was unreal.
"Who... or what... are you?" Mirko panted, catching her breath, her red eyes narrowing in suspicion and growing anger.
"I am the predator you didn't know existed," Reiji answered. He decided to increase the pressure. With a swift movement under his cloak, he launched a volley of five throwing knives.
The silver blades cut through the night air. Mirko reacted with explosive speed, kicking three of them out of the air, dodging a fourth, and blocking the last with a reinforced forearm (leaving a shallow cut). "Cheap tricks!"
"Efficient tools," Reiji corrected. While Mirko was distracted by the knives, he moved in again, this time both hands glowing with the cold of the freeze, aiming to trap her legs.
Mirko saw the freezing threat approaching and made a bold decision. Instead of retreating, she leaped upwards, using the incredible strength in her legs to propel herself several meters into the air, well above the reach of the freeze. And from there, she descended like a white missile. Luna Tijeras.
Reiji watched the attack coming. The aerial scissor kick was fast and deadly. Dodging with bodily contortion was an option, but perhaps there was a more... definitive answer. He felt the familiar pressure behind his eyes. The pain began to build, but this time he welcomed it, channeled it, focused his will. Will is the lens.
The instant Mirko's legs began to close around his neck, two thin, precise beams of dark red energy shot from Reiji's eyes. He didn't aim to kill, but to intercept and neutralize the attack. One beam struck the inside of Mirko's right thigh, the other her left calf.
Mirko screamed, a sharp sound of pure pain and surprise. The beams didn't just burn and pierce; the force of the impact and the sudden agony completely destabilized her aerial attack. She fell uncontrollably, hitting the ground hard, rolling several times before coming to a stop, gasping, clutching at her legs which now bled and burned with an alien pain.
Reiji remained standing, vision slightly blurred from the residual pain of the SRSE, but watching his fallen opponent coolly. The Number 5 hero was injured, her greatest weapon – her legs – compromised.
He walked slowly towards her. Mirko tried to push herself up, snarling in pain and defiance, but her injured legs wouldn't support her properly. She was vulnerable.
"You are strong, Little Rabbit," Reiji said, using the taunt deliberately as he stopped a few meters away. "Strong, fast, fierce. An excellent specimen." There was an almost clinical tone to his voice now. "But brute force and instinct are not enough against superior power and a calculating mind."
"Go to hell, bloodsucker," Mirko spat, trying to drag herself backward, her eyes burning with fury and pain.
Reiji could end it there. One last SRSE. A crushing blow. Even the freezing touch to her head would suffice. He moved closer, hand outstretched...
But then, he paused. He heard it. Sirens. Distant, but rapidly approaching. Mirko's backup, no doubt. Killing or capturing the Number 5 hero here and now would bring too much attention, a type of open war the Blood Pact wasn't quite ready for. His primary objective – testing himself and his abilities against a top-tier opponent – had been achieved. He had proven his superiority.
He retracted his hand. "It seems our dance ends here for today, Little Rabbit," he said, his tone lightly mocking. "Consider this your lucky night. A chance to contemplate your limitations."
He turned.
"Wait! Coward! Fight me!" Mirko yelled, trying to stand again, frustration and humiliation mixing with the pain.
Reiji paused at the edge of the shadows. "Oh, we will fight again," he promised, looking back over his shoulder, his red eyes glinting behind the mask. "When I decide it is time. Until then... try not to get caught by common criminals."
And with that, he dissolved into the darkness, moving with a speed that made him one with the night, leaving behind an injured, furious, and deeply shaken elite hero, the sirens drawing closer to find only the wreckage of a one-sided battle and the mystery of the Blood King stronger and more dangerous than ever.