The moment their boots hit the stadium floor, the air shifted.

Too clean. Too ready.

Isaac rolled his shoulder once, his metal pole resting casually against his back as if they were just late for a family gathering. Sven adjusted his grip on his daggers, eyes flicking over the corridor ahead - wide, reinforced, lit too brightly.

Then the doors slammed open.

Men in black suits poured in from every direction, boots thundering, guns already raised.

Dozens.

Isaac sighed. "'Course it wouldn't be easy."

Gunfire erupted.

The sound was deafening in the enclosed space - muzzle flashes strobing like a nightclub from hell. Bullets tore through the air, ricocheting off steel beams and concrete.

And straight through Isaac.

The rounds passed through his phased body like rain through fog as he stepped forward, unbothered, almost bored. Sven burst into motion beside him, body blurring as he weaved through the storm of metal - twisting, sliding, rebounding off walls with inhuman grace.

'Guns,' Isaac thought, watching a bullet slip through his chest. 'Really? Didn't they account for us being mutants at all?'

He lunged.

The metal pole phased with him, ghosting through a man's torso - then Isaac released it momentarily, and it instantly re-materialised

The effect was immediate.

A wet, choking scream as the pole reappeared inside the man's leg, punching a clean hole straight through muscle and bone. The guard collapsed, blood spraying as he howled.

Isaac didn't slow, regripping the metal pole.

He swung again, phasing and unphasing with control and precision. Knees. Thighs. Shoulders. Non-lethal… mostly.

'Don't panic,' he told himself, moving through the chaos. 'Just poke holes. It's like aggressive acupuncture.'

Sven laughed as he flashed past him, daggers singing. "So that's what you planned on doing with that damned pole."

A guard tried to track Sven with his rifle.

Bad mistake.

Sven vanished, reappeared behind him, and the man crumpled with a blade buried cleanly at the base of his neck.

"That's cool as fuck," Sven continued, vaulting over a railing and hurling a knife into another man's wrist. "But a little disturbing," he added as if he wasn't killing these men without batting an eyelid.

Isaac snorted and jabbed the pole forward again - phasing halfway through a torso before solidifying. The man screamed, dropped his gun, and collapsed.

"I'd rather not do it with my body," Isaac said. "Last time I checked, unphasing inside someone turns you into paste."

Another man rushed him - massive, bald, spikes protruding from his forearms. A mid-tier mutant, muscles bulging, eyes wild.

He skidded to a halt when he saw the blood dripping from Isaac's pole.

His face drained of colour.

Isaac blinked. "…You scared of blood?"

The giant closed his eyes, trembling.

'You've got to be kidding me.'

Isaac sighed and smacked him on the head with the pole.

The man dropped like a sack of bricks.

"I almost feel bad," Isaac muttered, stepping over him.

They pushed forward.

More guards. More resistance. Low-tier mutants with flickers of power. Mid-tiers with brute strength or minor abilities.

Nothing coordinated.

Nothing refined.

Nothing on their level.

Sven flickered through corridors like a living blade - bouncing off walls, sliding beneath gunfire, carving paths through squads before they even realised he was there. Knives flew. Daggers flashed. Men fell.

Isaac moved like a walking blind spot - phasing through barriers, reappearing inside groups, pole snapping solid mid-swing. He avoided vital strikes where he could.

'I'd rather not kill,' he thought. 'Not unless I have to.'

They could've bypassed them. Phased through walls. Taken alternate routes.

But obstacles had a habit of becoming problems later.

And, well…

It was fun.

They tore through the maze-like corridors, bodies piling up behind them, blood streaking floors and walls. Alarms wailed somewhere distant, echoing through the concrete veins of the stadium.

Then they turned a corner and found... teeth.

Growls echoed low and wet, vibrating through Isaac's boots.

Shapes moved in the shadows.

Dog-like beasts stalked forward, muscles warped, eyes glowing with feral hunger. Some were small and twitchy, foam dripping from their jaws. Others were larger - wolf-sized, shoulders rolling, claws gouging concrete.

They were like the wolves Kai had faced in the Wolfsgrave Woods, which at the time he had struggled against, but now would be a piece of cake for him.

Collars bit tight around their necks, cables running back to a raised platform.

Isaac's jaw tightened. 'Great.'

A man stood above them, thin, hunched, fingers dancing over a handheld device. His eyes were wide, bloodshot, grin stretching too far.

He laughed.

"You're not making it past my babies," he cackled. "Go on! Sic 'em!"

The beasts lunged.

Sven and Isaac exchanged one look.

No words.

Isaac sank into the floor, body melting into concrete just as jaws snapped where his head had been.

Sven surged forward.

Daggers flashed - one beast dropped with a blade through its eye. Another leapt and was met mid-air by a throwing knife that buried itself in its throat. Blood sprayed as it hit the ground, twitching.

A larger wolf barrelled into Sven, slamming him into a wall.

"Ugly mutt," Sven growled, twisting as claws raked sparks off his jacket.

He shoved a dagger up under its jaw and kicked off the wall, flipping free as the beast collapsed.

More came.

Isaac rose silently behind the controller.

The man didn't even realise until the shadow fell over him.

Thunk.

The metal pole struck the back of his skull.

Lights out.

Isaac stepped on the device, crushing it underfoot.

The collars sparked.

The beasts froze.

Then there was clarity.

They whimpered, confused, eyes losing that glassy sheen. One sniffed the air… then looked at Isaac and Sven.

It backed away.

The others followed.

Isaac glanced down at the unconscious handler.

Sven wiped blood off his blade. "Nature's beautiful."

They moved on.

Behind them, growls turned into the sound of flesh being torn apart as the beasts turned on the man who forcefully controlled them.

Neither looked back.

They pushed deeper.

Still unstoppable. Still cutting through every obstacle. It was almost suspicious - like the stadium wanted them here.

But despite it seeming as though they had expected them to show up, things were almost going too smoothly.

It unnerved the duo slightly, but they kept the momentum and continued onwards.

But it wasn't long before they ran into the real gifts that Nyx prepared for them, and just like Takeshi, they found themselves stuck in quite the difficult predicaments...

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