King Domine let out a sharp, frustrated hiss as he twisted his body and backstepped out of the path of Wolf's descending strike. The blade carved through the space where his neck had been a moment prior, the force of it splitting the air with a violent whistle as it passed.
"You again," Domine said, irritation bleeding clearly into his voice now, his eyes locking onto Wolf with a sharp glare. "Armada did not tell me he failed to kill you."
Wolf landed from the swing in a low, grounded stance, one foot sliding slightly across the fractured stone to stabilize himself. His longsword came up immediately, angled and ready, his body already coiled for the next attack. "You don't have to worry about him failing to do his job anymore," Wolf spat.
He moved instantly, driving off his back foot and surging forward. The thrust came clean and direct, his longsword piercing forward in a precise, lethal line toward King Domine's chest. "I would have brought his head with me if I knew you were here!"
The blade closed the distance in an instant—and Domine's chest split open. Just like before, the flesh parted unnaturally, opening into that hollow void meant to swallow the attack whole. But Wolf did not commit. The moment he saw it, his arms adjusted mid-motion. The thrust halted just short of entry, and in the same breath, he rotated his wrists and redirected the momentum upward, the sword arcing sharply toward Domine's face instead.
Domine reacted immediately, bringing both forearms up. The blade struck against them with a sharp clang, halted just before it could reach his head. "You killed him?" Domine asked, tilting his head slightly even as he held the weapon back. Then, with a sharp shove, he knocked the sword off-line and stepped in, his body turning as he drew his fist back. "So what?"
His punch came down with crushing force, but Wolf met it with precision. With a controlled shift of footing and angle, he brought his blade across the line of attack, deflecting the strike just enough for it to glance past him instead of crushing straight through. "The hell do you mean, so what!?" Wolf snapped, his voice rising as he pivoted immediately off the deflection. He stepped in close and swung low, his blade cutting toward Domine's thigh in a clean, horizontal arc. "A Demon Lord just died and you're acting like nothing happened!?"
Domine jumped back, the blade slicing through empty air as he lifted off the ground in a single motion. While still airborne, he raised his palm toward Wolf and spoke. "Dominus Obruere Terram." The shattered stone responded instantly. Chunks of broken stone tore free from the ground around Wolf, rising violently before surging inward from every direction, converging on him in a crushing collapse.
"You think this is going to do anything?" Wolf scoffed, already moving. His sword flashed once—then again—then again. Each cut was clean, controlled, and exact. Within moments, the incoming mass of stone was carved apart mid-flight, reduced to fine chunks that scattered harmlessly around him.
"And do you think just because you killed him, Armada will remain dead?" King Domine asked as he descended back to the ground.
"The fuck are you talking about? Obviously he's going to remain dead!" Wolf shot back, pointing his sword directly at him.
King Domine let out a low, dark chuckle, raising his hand once more. "Dominus Fulminare Hostem." A lone cloud overhead cracked, and a bolt of lightning tore down from the sky, splitting the air as it came straight for Wolf.
"Tch."
Wolf did not retreat. Instead, he stepped into it. His sword came up in a precise, controlled motion, and he swung. The blade met the descending lightning, and for a fraction of a second the energy surged into the weapon—but before it could fully travel through him, Wolf twisted his body, redirecting the force through the arc of his swing, spinning with it and sending the lightning back toward King Domine.
He did not flinch.
The lightning that had been sent hurtling back toward him split the air with a deafening crack—but with a single motion, he raised his hand and waved it aside. The bolt bent unnaturally, veering off course and dissipating into the air in a violent scatter of fading light.
"You clearly have no idea how The Court functions," he said, his voice filled with amusement.
Then he moved.
The ground shattered beneath his feet as he launched forward, closing the distance to Wolf in an instant.
And the moment he entered range—
They clashed.
Steel met claw in a burst of force that tore through the surrounding air. Wolf's longsword carved a precise diagonal line meant to take Domine across the torso, but the Demon King twisted into it, letting the blade scrape across hardened flesh while his own claws lashed out in the same motion. Wolf pivoted, deflecting with the flat of his blade, the impact sending a shock through his arms as he stepped in instead of away.
They did not separate.
They accelerated.
What followed was not a simple exchange—it was a continuous, violent collision of motion. Wolf stepped in first, his blade snapping across in a tight diagonal aimed for Domine's ribs. Domine didn't retreat. He turned into it, letting the edge drag across his side as his claw came in low for Wolf's abdomen. Wolf caught it on the flat of his blade and twisted, the impact sliding past him as he pivoted on his lead foot and drove a second strike upward toward Domine's throat.
Domine jerked his head back just enough for the blade to miss cleanly, his other hand already shooting forward. Wolf slipped to the outside of the grab, his shoulder brushing past Domine's arm as he rotated through and brought his sword back down in a short, brutal arc toward the collar.
It hit—partially. The edge bit, then dragged as Domine stepped through it, closing the distance instead of giving it. His knee came up toward Wolf's midsection. Wolf shifted his stance, taking the impact along his hip as he brought his blade down to jam Domine's arm before it could follow through into a grab.
They stayed inside each other's range.
Wolf's sword moved again, a tight horizontal cut toward the waist. Domine caught it on his forearm and drove forward, forcing the blade off-line as his tail snapped in from behind. Wolf reacted on instinct, dropping low as the tail tore through the space where his torso had been, his sword already rising again in a reverse grip slash toward Domine's back.
Domine twisted, the strike skimming across him as his claw came down from above. Wolf brought his blade up just in time—the impact rang out sharply as steel met claw, his footing grinding against the broken stone as he absorbed the force and redirected it off to the side, already shifting his weight to continue the exchange.
"Your right I don't know whatever the hell that is," Wolf said, his voice cutting through the chaos as he stepped inside Domine's reach, twisting his body to slip past a claw swipe. His blade snapped upward in a tight arc, aiming for Domine's jaw.
Domine turned into it.
The strike hit—but not cleanly. It dragged across his face, drawing a line without stopping him as his hand shot forward, fingers spreading wide to catch Wolf at the shoulder.
Wolf broke the contact before it could land fully, rolling his shoulder free and continuing the motion into another strike.
"But even if he comes back somehow I'll just kill him again!"
His sword came down in a vertical cleave.
Domine caught it between both hands.
The force cracked the ground beneath his feet.
For a fraction of a second, the blade held—then Domine twisted, throwing it off-line as his tail lashed upward from below, forcing Wolf to leap back to avoid being skewered.
"Kill him again?" Domine responded, already advancing, his voice tightening as irritation bled through more clearly now. He stepped in with overwhelming force, each movement driving forward rather than giving ground. "Like you will get the chance after I am through with you, insect,"
He slammed his palm downward.
"Dominus Terrae Erumpere."
The ground beneath Wolf ruptured instantly. Stone did not merely rise—it erupted. Jagged spikes of earth burst upward in violent succession, tearing through the space where Wolf stood while surrounding debris surged inward, collapsing from all directions in a crushing convergence.
Wolf moved before it could close. His blade flashed, cutting through the rising stone in a tight spiral as he drove forward through the attack instead of retreating. Each step was placed with precision between erupting spikes, each swing carving open a path through the converging mass.
He broke through the collapsing terrain—
Right into Domine.
They collided again without pause. Wolf's blade snapped forward in a thrust aimed at Domine's chest, only for Domine to shift just enough to let it glance off his torso as his claw came down toward Wolf's shoulder. Wolf twisted with it, knocking the strike aside and stepping in closer, his sword already reversing direction for another cut.
The pace climbed again, faster than before. Each movement bled into the next—no resets, no distance. Steel rang out in rapid succession, claws screeched against metal, and every impact sent sharp tremors through the ruined street. Domine forced his way forward through every exchange, absorbing what he could not stop, while Wolf adjusted constantly, redirecting, slipping, cutting, never allowing the pressure to settle.
Across the battlefield, X stood at the edge of the crater, having already pulled himself free while Domine's focus had shifted entirely to Wolf.
He watched.
And even he was struggling to follow it.
"Probably could use my magic for it," X muttered to himself, tilting his head slightly as another shockwave tore through the air from their clash. "But eh, who cares."
A sharp whistle slipped through his skull mask, the sound slightly distorted as he watched the two figures tear through the battlefield in a blur of motion.
"Just look at them go," he chuckled.
Then his gaze shifted.
Far in the distance, beyond the immediate destruction, a massive explosion of magic bloomed upward into the sky, light flaring against the horizon.
X's head tilted slightly toward it.
"Looks like something real eventful is going on there."