In the arena, Riku came up from behind Izumi and delivered a Light kick that sent him flying towards Rajin, who threw Izumi to the floor.
Riku aimed to finish this fight quickly, so went and activated his special realm.
Riku then Shouted out loudly for every single person in the stands and the monarch overlook area to hear, "REALM CREATION: INFINITE LIGHT PILLAR DIMENSION."
The barrier for the realm was erected, setting the stage for a one-on-one battle between Riku and the vampire Izumi.
Riku struck first, his body a blur of luminous motion.
He dashed between pillars, ricocheting off surfaces with impossible agility.
His daggers sliced arcs of light through the air, each swing leaving trails that lingered like afterimages.
Izumi dodged with preternatural grace, his cloak billowing as he twisted and rolled, narrowly avoiding the radiant blades.
A dagger grazed Izumi's cheek, searing flesh with holy fire.
He retaliated with raw physicality, a spinning kick that shattered a nearby pillar, sending shards of light cascading like glass.
Riku absorbed the fragments into his daggers mid-spin, unleashing a burst of radiant energy that forced Izumi to retreat behind a column.
The terrain shifted, pillars rearranged themselves in a kaleidoscope of geometry, responding to Riku's presence.
He leapt skyward, daggers crossed, descending like a comet.
Izumi caught the strike with his forearm, the impact driving him into the ground, cracking the floor beneath.
They separated, circling.
Riku's daggers hummed, charging anew.
Izumi's eyes glowed faintly, not with magic, but with fury.
He lunged, grabbing a fallen shard of light and wielding it like a blade.
Their weapons clashed, light against stolen brilliance, sparks raining in all directions.
Riku spun through the air, daggers carving arcs of brilliance that refracted off the endless Light Pillars.
Izumi, grounded and brutal, countered with sheer force, grabbing a pillar shard mid-flight and hurling it like a spear.
Riku twisted, the projectile grazing his shoulder, scattering radiant dust.
The realm responded. Pillars pulsed and shifted, reacting to Riku's momentum.
A surge of light erupted beneath him, launching him into a spiralling dive.
He struck the ground with a shockwave of brilliance, sending Izumi skidding back, cloak torn and boots scraping against the crystalline floor.
Izumi lunged again, this time faster, his body adapting, learning.
He ducked under a dagger slash, elbowed Riku in the ribs, and slammed him into a pillar. The structure cracked but did not shatter.
Riku rebounded, flipping backward, daggers spinning like twin suns.
They collided mid-air, blades, and fists, light and fury. No magic. No immortality. Just raw combat.
Riku's daggers clashed against Izumi's improvised shard-blade, sparks raining like meteors.
They landed, breathing hard, circling once more.
The realm shifted again, pillars rearranged into a spiral maze.
Riku vanished into the light, reappearing behind Izumi with a flurry of slashes. Izumi blocked, parried, countered, his movements honed by centuries of war.
A kick sent Riku flying, but he twisted mid-air, landing on a vertical pillar face and launching back like a comet.
Though magic was sealed, something ancient stirred within Izumi, something deeper than spell craft.
His body convulsed, bones cracking, muscles expanding.
His cloak shredded as obsidian wings erupted from his back, jagged and leathery, casting monstrous shadows across the Light Pillars.
His eyes burned crimson, fangs lengthened, and his skin took on a pale, marble sheen veined with black.
Riku faltered. The realm did not recognize this transformation, it was not magic, but essence.
Izumi's true vampire form was a manifestation of pure will, forged through centuries of dominance. He moved differently now, faster, heavier, primal.
Izumi lunged, claws slashing with brutal precision. Riku deflected with his daggers, but the force sent him skidding across the crystalline floor.
He rebounded, launching a flurry of light-infused strikes, each one a comet of radiance.
Izumi twisted mid-air, wings folding and unfurling like blades, dodging, and countering with devastating kicks and claw swipes.
The Light Pillars reacted violently, flickering and rearranging, trying to suppress the anomaly.
But Izumi adapted, he used the terrain against Riku, smashing pillars to create debris, hurling fragments with monstrous strength.
Riku danced through the chaos, blades singing, carving through stone and shadow alike.
They clashed again, Riku's daggers against Izumi's claws, light against ancient hunger.
The impact shattered nearby pillars, sending shockwaves through the realm.
Riku vaulted upward, daggers spinning, while Izumi followed with a wing-propelled leap, colliding mid-air in a burst of light and darkness.
The sky above the Light Pillars fractured, not physically, but perceptually.
Izumi's true vampire form distorted the realm's equilibrium.
Though magic was sealed, his transformation was a force of nature, not spell work.
The Light Pillars flickered, some dimming, others flaring in protest.
Riku adjusted. His daggers pulsed brighter, syncing with the realm's resistance.
He launched forward, blades spinning like twin suns, carving through the air with precision.
Izumi met him mid-charge, wings folding inward to streamline his motion, claws extended.
Impact.
A shockwave rippled outward, shattering nearby pillars into radiant shards.
Riku twisted mid-strike, slashing across Izumi's chest.
The vampire king roared, not in pain, but in exhilaration.
He retaliated with a brutal backhand, sending Riku crashing through a pillar, which exploded in a burst of light.
Riku emerged from the debris, bleeding light from his wounds.
He raised his daggers, which now hummed with unstable brilliance.
He dashed again, faster than before, using the realm's geometry to bend his trajectory, wall-running, pillar-leaping, flipping through narrow gaps.
Izumi adapted.
He flew low, skimming the ground, using his wings to generate gusts that disrupted Riku's rhythm.
He grabbed a pillar fragment and hurled it like a javelin.
Riku deflected it mid-air, spinning into a counterattack that sliced through Izumi's wing membrane.
No blood.
No magic.
Just raw combat. Izumi landed hard, skidding across the floor.
Izumi then launched upward with a wingbeat that cracked the ground.
Riku then followed Izumi, with his daggers blazing, and they collided again in the sky of the realm, light and blood was spiralling in a chaotic dance.
They fell together, crashing into the centre of the realm.
Pillars rearranged, forming a coliseum of light around them.
The realm itself seemed to demand resolution of their fight.
But neither yielded.
Neither spoke.
Neither ended.