April squared off in the center of the HQ's training hall, Spiral Fang balanced in her hands, Drill Claws humming faintly as the rotary drills activated. Jax faced her, Havoc Strikes gleaming, his stance relaxed but ready. The tension in the room was palpable.
Jax moved first, the tonfas spinning effortlessly in his hands. He lunged forward, a sudden flurry of blunt strikes aimed at her midsection.
April barely deflected the first with Drill Claws, sparks flying as the drills bit into the reinforced metal of his tonfa. She pivoted, spinning low and sweeping her leg in a Kyokushin sweep.
Jax jumped, landing fluidly, and countered with a knee strike to her ribs.
She twisted midair, letting the Drill Claws absorb some of the force, then slammed Spiral Fang into the floor.
The reinforced shaft sent a shockwave through the hall as she launched into a series of close-range strikes.
April aimed a sharp chop at the left side of Jax's neck, but he brought his right knee up, blocking the strike. Using that same motion as leverage, Jax twisted his body midair, snapping a kick toward the left side of April's face.
Her brows furrowed. She ducked low, letting the kick whistle past her head. The moment his foot hit the ground, April swept her leg out to take his balance—but Jax defied her expectations. He bent backward, spine arching in a way that shouldn't have been possible, hands hitting the floor for support.
Then, using that momentum, Jax launched himself upward, twisting midair. His leg shot down toward April's midsection like a hammer.
April instinctively caught his leg mid-strike, but the impact still drove her backward several meters. She clenched tighter, using the motion to spin—once, twice—before hurling Jax toward the nearest wall.
Instead of crashing, Jax twisted midair again, landed feet-first against the wall, and pushed off with explosive force.
He rocketed straight toward her, tonfa in hand, the weapon drawn back for a crushing blow.
April didn't flinch. She met the charge head-on, her fist surging forward to meet his strike.
Fist met tonfa, Jax landed, elbow clashed with steel, sparks flying with every impact.
"Not bad," Jax said, smirking, spinning backward into a wide arc that aimed to knock her off balance.
April rolled, absorbing the kick with a forearm guard, her Drill Claws whirring in protest. She swung Spiral Fang low, aiming to trip him.
Jax leapt over, using the momentum to deliver a spinning backfist. The strike grazed her shoulder, pain flaring, but her feral instincts guided her next move—ducking, rolling, and striking upward with Drill Claws.
Her strikes were quick, precise, but imperfect. She was pushing herself, blending Kyokushin techniques with instinct-driven attacks, trying to create a flow that could overwhelm Jax.
Jax didn't relent.
His Muay Thai was disciplined, every strike measured, exploiting openings she barely left.
He ducked under a spinning kick and slammed an elbow into her abdomen. She staggered, G-Force surging in response.
The orange mist of energy faintly shimmered around her wrists, a whisper of the power she was building.
April let her instincts guide her now.
April burst forward into a flurry of strikes. Kicks, chops, leg sweeps, elbow smashes—her movements blurred into one seamless rhythm. She stopped thinking altogether, letting instinct take over. Each motion flowed like water, sharp yet unpredictable.
But no matter what she threw at him, Jax deflected or dodged every single attack.
And the same went for him. Every time Jax struck back, his Muay Thai patterns precise and powerful, April read through them effortlessly—redirecting, slipping past, countering. Their movements mirrored one another—strike for strike, reaction for reaction.
Neither could land a clean hit.
Seconds stretched into minutes. The shockwaves of their clashes grew stronger, pounding against the floor, scattering loose debris around them. Those who stood nearby were forced to step back as the air between the two warped and cracked with each impact.
"Whoa— They've been at it for seven minutes straight," Kai muttered, disbelief coloring his tone. "How the hell are they not tired yet?" His eyes darted back and forth, struggling to track them. He could only catch fleeting afterimages. That fact alone unsettled him—because among everyone in the organization, he was the fastest. Yet somehow, two fighters whose abilities didn't even specialize in speed were moving beyond his visual limit.
"Wait, what? You can't see them?" Dante shouted, eyes wide in shock.
Saya stood with arms crossed, her expression unreadable, her gaze fixed on the ongoing battle. "That's good," she said calmly. "It means she's close to breaking through."
She glanced at Kai. "You should remember this—because the same thing happened to you before your breakthrough. Only that time, your opponent was Dante." A knowing smirk tugged at her lips. "Do you feel it? That familiarity… that déjà vu?"
For a moment, Kai's face was puzzled. Then, realization dawned, and a slow grin replaced his confusion. He looked at Dante and said, "Ha! Who wouldn't remember that? That was one of the most legendary fights I've ever seen—and I was part of it."
Dante chuckled, folding his arms with a proud grin. "Yeah… you did well, kid. Gotta admit that."
She dropped Spiral Fang again, striking hand-to-hand. Every punch, every knee, every elbow was delivered with precision and feral intent. Jax countered with a tonfa block and a side kick, each movement efficient and deadly.
She caught him off guard with a Drill Claws strike to his side, sparks flying as the rotary drills scraped against the reinforced metal of his tonfa. He grunted, stepping back, but he didn't falter.
April spun, grabbing Spiral Fang midair, and swung in a wide arc, forcing Jax to jump back. She followed with a low spinning kick, her body flowing between spear strikes and Drill Claw attacks. Every movement was a test of synchronization between her Gear, weapon, and her G-Force energy.
Jax smirked, adapting, shifting seamlessly between Muay Thai clinches and tonfa strikes. He landed a glancing blow with the tonfa's edge, forcing her to stumble back.
She cursed under her breath, sweat pouring, G-Force pulsing through every vein. The orange mist began to thicken faintly around her arms, a sign of the energy she was channeling but not yet controlling fully.
April leapt, Spiral Fang held high. Jax countered with a spinning tonfa strike aimed at her wrist. She parried with Drill Claws, sparks igniting with the clash, and pivoted into a low Kyokushin sweep.
Jax jumped over, landing a swift elbow to her shoulder. The hall shook with each impact, the reinforced floor groaning under the force.
She felt it—the moment she'd been building toward. Her instincts screamed, her G-Force surged, and she spun into a flurry of mixed attacks. Kyokushin strikes, feral blows, spear sweeps, Drill Claw slashes—all blending into a continuous wave.
Jax blocked most, but the intensity forced him backward step by step. April's echo-location swayed.
April clicked her tongue and focused, imagining Ultima, imagining the wolfish instincts guiding her.
April steadied her breath.
Jax came at her with a flurry of tonfa strikes—one, two, three—each faster than the last. She didn't retreat. She stepped in. Her arms moved on instinct, redirecting each blow to the side with subtle, fluid motions, her wrists turning like flowing water. Metal clashed once, twice—then silence.
Then April moved.
She darted forward, punches flashing in rapid succession. Her fists struck so fast they blurred, every hit driving deeper, closer. To an onlooker, it looked like one strike—but Jax's body convulsed under a dozen unseen impacts. His arms flung backward helplessly, tonfas flying free. For a heartbeat, he stood defenseless, breath caught in his throat.
April dropped her stance. Knees bent. Feet wide. Her hands spun in front of her in tight, anticlockwise circles—left hand rising, right hand falling—tracing a burning sun between her palms. The air vibrated.
Then she brought her hands together.
A sphere of condensed G-Force ignited between them, bright orange, shaped like the spectral head of Ultima, jaws open, fangs of light spiraling outward.
April roared—
And thrust forward.
The blast connected with Jax's abdomen in perfect timing.
Impact.
The world folded for a split-second. His stomach caved inward, the pressure spinning tight before detonating outward with a soundless implosion. Then—
BOOM!
A massive shockwave erupted from behind him, splitting the air, sending Jax flying across the training hall. He crashed through the reinforced wall, dust and light exploding around him in the wake of the attack.
April exhaled slowly, hands trembling, the orange glow fading from her palms.
The hall was silent.
But April knew her instinctive strike hadn't taken Jax down. At best, it had only stunned him for a heartbeat.
And she was right.
The next instant, a crushing pressure flooded the entire room. The air itself trembled. Walls groaned under the weight of it, debris lifted from the ground as if gravity had forgotten its purpose. Then—deep within the fractured wall—Jax's voice echoed out, low and calm but carrying unmistakable menace.
"Now that I've seen that... I guess I can get serious, huh?"
April double-flipped backward, landing neatly beside Spiral Fang. Without hesitation, she snatched it up, spinning the weapon through her fingers in a blur of practiced grace. The blade sliced through the air, tracing arcs of light—beautiful, fluid, lethal.
From the cracked wall, Jax stepped forward slowly. His expression had hardened; gone was the teasing grin. His grip on the tonfa tightened, veins standing out across his forearm as pitch-black G-Force surged around him—dark energy rippling like heat haze, wrapping both him and his weapons.
He took one step.
Then another.
And then—he vanished.
A black streak cut across the air, and in the blink of an eye, Jax reappeared twenty feet in front of April, his tonfa already poised to strike.
She spun, Spiral Fang striking high and low, Drill Claws lashing in tandem. The orange mist of G-Force thickened, swirling around her wrists, forearms, and torso. Sparks lit the room with each metallic impact.
Jax countered with a spinning backfist, catching her jaw. She grunted, staggering, but rolled forward, recovering quickly.
She swung Spiral Fang in a wide arc, forcing him back, and followed immediately with a Drill Claw strike to his right side. The room shook, air vibrating with kinetic energy and the faint hum of G-Force.