Kyle vs. Logan

At the break of dawn, atop a rooftop.

A young man in a black Combat Suit faced off against a weathered middle-aged man with a bare, muscular upper body. They stood five meters apart, the atmosphere heavy and oppressive, both ready to plunge into a fight to the death at any moment.

There was no need to mention Kyle. His Major General rank had been built atop the countless corpses of German soldiers. He was a War Hero whose name symbolized power and conquest, a battlefield meat grinder, the Demon Butcher.

Logan—Wolverine in this world—was a lone wolf who had spent his life constantly meeting and parting with others. From the moment his genetic mutation granted him the Lone Wolf Gene and Healing Factor, he had been destined to endure the chaos of war across one era after another.

With two men who carried such murderous auras confronting each other, even the air atop the building seemed to fill with the faint scent of blood and killing intent.

Did he really have to go this far to draw the Healing Factor Ability Card?

Kyle clenched his fists, every muscle in his body tightening. Facing an enemy as formidable as Wolverine, he could not tell whether the emotions surging through him were fear or excitement.

His left hand reached behind him and gripped the slightly exposed hilt, drawing the sharp, slender Sodium-Carbon Steel Sword from its leather sheath.

No matter what, he could not afford to miss this opportunity—although it would have been safer to arrange for the army to help capture Logan after the battle, the man might very well fake his death and leave the battlefield early, then find somewhere else in the world to hide under a false identity.

With an Ability Card that came only by chance right before him, there was no reason to shrink back out of fear of the risks of battle!

At that thought, Kyle’s eyes became firmer and brighter than ever. His left hand tightly gripped the one-handed sword, while his right hand, clad in a Vibranium Bracer, loosely curled into a fist.

Gurgle…

Venom was expressing its eagerness as well. Without needing Kyle’s reminder, countless black strands split off from the emblem on the suit’s chest and rose upward, forming a black hood that covered Kyle’s face.

"Come on!" Logan growled, holding his Wolf-like Claws before him. The hair across his body seemed ready to stand on end. A beast’s natural instincts told him that the young man before him was extremely dangerous!

Even over the past half century, he had encountered only one or two enemies this powerful.

Tap!

Almost simultaneously, the two burst forward and charged straight at each other. Both excelled at offense; neither had any reason to surrender the initiative.

The five-meter distance vanished in the blink of an eye as the two figures collided with explosive force. Logan’s claws struck Kyle’s Vibranium Bracer first, and the wolf-like bone claws were at a slight disadvantage as their momentum was deflected.

A flash of surprise passed through Logan’s eyes. He swiftly flipped his claws with masterful technique, sliding them along the surface of the Vibranium Bracer toward Kyle’s body.

Kyle reacted quickly, swinging his sword to parry and narrowly blocking the three claws that had lunged for his chest. Immediately afterward, the Sodium-Carbon Steel Sword and Wolf-like Claws clashed repeatedly in midair, producing a string of crisp, piercing sounds.

The battle grew fiercer and fiercer. Sweat sprayed through the air, while long, narrow sword marks and claw marks appeared across the rooftop floor.

Logically speaking, Logan possessed more than a hundred fighting techniques. Kyle’s fully enhanced Super Soldier physique alone should not have been enough to bridge that gap, and he should have soon fallen into a disadvantage.

Yet with the comprehensive physical enhancement provided by the Venom Suit, along with the Vibranium Bracer restricting the highly aggressive claws, the brutal battle had been dragged into a prolonged deadlock.

This was exactly the situation Kyle wanted!

Fortunately, at this stage of the world, Logan’s claws and skeletal structure had yet to fuse with Adamantium. Otherwise, the Vibranium Bracer would not have given Kyle even the slightest advantage.

And now, the condition of fighting within not just one meter, but half a meter, had been met…

Kyle held his breath and devoted himself fully to the deadly exchange with Logan, while a sliver of his attention settled on the Ability Cards on his opponent.

What he considered drawing now was not the blue Healing Factor Ability Card. Maintaining a one-meter distance for half an hour to read it was completely impossible in a battle like this, so he could only begin with the green rare fighting Ability Cards that could gradually make up for the gap in technique.

True Combat Fighting Mastery:

Perfectly mastered highly lethal combat techniques. Green rare Ability Card.

True Ancient Martial Arts Mastery:

Perfectly mastered ancient, primal fighting techniques. Green rare Ability Card.

...

Each one required only three minutes to read. Only fighting Ability Cards with the "green rare" prefix could allow Kyle to clearly feel his own techniques improving!

Tap, tap, tap—slash!

On the rooftop, Kyle and Logan remained locked in a life-or-death struggle. Every sword strike and claw slash could have taken the other’s life, yet each was skillfully defused by the other.

This was a clash between true masters of fighting technique: countering every move with another, turning combat into an extension of the body itself.

On top of that, both men possessed physiques beyond those of ordinary humans. Amid the flying dust, the two figures repeatedly closed in and fought at close range, until the rooftop seemed on the verge of collapsing.

The battle had continued for more than ten minutes. As both sides began to tire, it was also the moment when victory would be decided most easily…

Three claws tore through the air with a howl, splashing droplets of blood as they forcibly drove a black figure back several steps.

Logan’s face was flushed, his eyes filled with killing intent. Scarlet blood clung to the Wolf-like Claws extended from both hands.

Across from him, Kyle panted sharply as he pressed his right palm against his chest. Even the Venom Suit there had been smoothly ripped open, revealing three deep claw wounds.

"I’m sorry. Even though we’re allies, you know my secret. You have to die here." Logan looked coldly at the exhausted and wounded Kyle. In that brief pause in the battle, his ragged breathing had already begun to steady.

"The Healing Factor… so that’s where the difference lies." Kyle shook his head helplessly. He had anticipated this situation long ago.

His techniques had indeed improved somewhat during the battle through drawing cards, but competing in endurance against Logan, who possessed both the Lone Wolf Gene and Healing Factor, was too much even for a Super Soldier’s extraordinary stamina!

"It’s all over." As Logan spoke, blood dripped from his Wolf-like Claws as he walked toward Kyle step by cold step.

"Over? Then let’s find out!" Kyle took a deep breath. Ignoring his severe injuries, he raised his sword and charged at Logan instead, as though making one final desperate resistance.

Before the battle had even begun, he had rehearsed it dozens of times in his mind. He knew very clearly the most crucial trump card he possessed—the only trump card that could defeat Logan’s limitless healing ability—

The Sodium-Carbon Steel Sword in his left hand, which could suppress the Healing Factor!

During the fierce battle of the past ten-plus minutes, Kyle’s Sodium-Carbon Steel Sword had only been used to block Logan’s claws. Instead, he had attacked with his right hand and the Vibranium Bracer, never deliberately leaving even the slightest wound on Logan with the Sodium-Carbon Steel Sword and alerting him to its properties. All for this moment!

The final strike that would decide the victor!