The arena tried its hardest to pretend it was fine.
New plates of stone had been fused into the crater Danny left against Jade, the worst of the molten trenches smoothed into flatness. The barrier shimmered in a clean, solid ring again, as if it hadn't nearly shattered a few matches ago. Builder-bots tucked themselves away along maintenance seams, their frantic welding finally slowed.
But the stone remembered.
Hairline fractures webbed under the fresh skin of the arena, faintly glowing when the lights shifted. The air still carried the memory of heat and dust and fear. Even the crowd, loud as they were, held a tightness beneath the noise—a shared understanding that this tournament had passed the point of safe spectacle and wandered into something far more dangerous.
Jimmy's voice boomed over the coliseum like a firework anyway.
"ALRIIIIIGHT, LOVELY PEOPLE AND QUESTIONABLE ENTITIES! IT'S SEMI-FINAL TIME! I HOPE YOU HAVE SIGNED YOUR WAIVERS BECAUSE WE DO NOT OFFER EMOTIONAL INSURANCE!"
Julian spun in his chair with a flourish, screens reflecting in his glasses. "Tonight's feature: the Golden Dragon who accidentally redesigns architecture, versus the Shadow Wolf who thinks personal space is a myth. This is going to be delicious."
The central display above the arena flared to life.
DANNY vs SHADECLAW.
The crowd roared. The sound shook dust from the rafters.
Down in the tunnel, Danny inhaled slowly.
He flexed his hands, feeling the way his aura wrapped around each finger. The gold flicker that had trembled so violently in the days—hours?—since Sedge Hat's revelation had calmed. It was still there, a coiled storm just beneath his skin, but it no longer felt like it might randomly erupt and destroy everything he cared about.
Jade's words still echoed in his ears. You ain't broken. You're just carryin' more weight than most.
He rolled his shoulders back, straightened his spine, and stepped toward the light.
The arena greeted him with a wall of sound. Cheers, shouts, his name chanted in broken rhythms. Signs glowed with stylized golden dragons. Somewhere, Jake's muffled voice echoed from the medbay level—"GO, BRO!"—and Swift's unconscious form probably approved in spirit.
Danny stepped onto the newly patched stone.
The arena hummed around him.
His aura rose, a gentle swell becoming a tide. Gold shimmered along his arms and shoulders, not exploding outward this time, but settling on him like a mantle.
Across from him, the far gate opened.
Shadeclaw didn't walk out.
He flowed.
The shadow at the mouth of the gate thickened, detached from the wall, and coalesced into a wolf's shape. Dark fur, lean muscle, eyes like twin slivers of moonlit gold. His claws clicked against the stone with barely a sound, each step smooth and precise.
His shadow didn't behave.
It pooled too deeply under him, a spreading ink that curled around his paws like smoke. It stretched just a bit too far, as if trying to seep into the cracks of the arena and swallow it from below.
The crowd's cheers shifted, tinged with a predatory excitement and a little bit of fear. Shadeclaw had that effect on people.
He stopped a few paces away from Danny, head tilted.
"You feel different," he said. His voice was low, the words shaped around a rumble. "Heavier."
Danny met his gaze. "I'm still here."
Shadeclaw's lips pulled back in something not quite a smile. "Good. It would be boring if you were not."
They stood there for a long breath, a golden sun and living shadow staring each other down.
Up in the booth, Jimmy whispered, "Why is this more terrifying than the last five matches combined?"
"Because," Julian replied, "we are now watching a predator face something that is not prey."
The bell chimed.
Shadeclaw vanished.
He moved so fast that even Danny's eyes, tuned to follow dragons and kings, lost him for a heartbeat. All that remained was a blur of motion and a whisper of displaced air.
Danny felt the first strike coming from the left.
He turned, bringing his forearm up just in time. Claws scraped across golden aura and hardening skin, sending sparks flying. The impact rattled his bones. Before he could fully react, a sharp kick slammed into the back of his knee.
He dropped into a forced crouch.
Shadeclaw's shadow swirled across the stone, looping behind him. A second set of claws—darker, less solid—lashed out from that shadow, slashing at Danny's side.
Danny twisted, golden energy flaring. He blocked the shadowy strike with a blast of light, burning the unnatural darkness away.
The real Shadeclaw flickered into view behind him for just a moment, eyes alight with approval.
"Good."
Then he was gone again.
Danny focused.
Breath in.
Breath out.
Shadeclaw came from above this time, claws extended in a downward arc meant to open him from shoulder to hip. Danny stepped forward instead of back, slipping under the wolf's trajectory. Shadeclaw's claws raked the air where Danny's chest had been a fraction of a second ago.
Danny pivoted, driving a golden-charged elbow toward Shadeclaw's ribs, but he hit nothing. Shadeclaw had already twisted his body midair, landing in a low, crouched stance behind him.
Claws flashed.
Pain flared across Danny's back.
He stumbled, gritted his teeth, and spun with a backhand that carried enough force to crater stone. Shadeclaw ducked beneath it, shadow smearing across the floor with his motion.
In the stands, Julius pulled up a slow-motion replay.
"Notice the angle of Shadeclaw's entry," he said, voice half-commentary, half-lecture. "He is not simply fast—he is attacking from blind angles that most fighters cannot even conceive of defending against."
Jimmy had both hands pressed against the glass. "Translation for the rest of us: Danny is one misstep away from being turned into golden confetti!"
Danny exhaled through his nose, the slash on his back already knitting under the pressure of his chi. He centered himself.
Shadeclaw's style was completely different from Jade's. Jade hit like a riot in a back alley—loud, explosive, messy—but with enough skill to keep it from collapsing. Shadeclaw, on the other hand, fought like silence with teeth. Every step, every pivot, every strike was economic and lethal.
He wasn't testing Danny.
He was hunting him.
Shadeclaw circled, eyes never leaving Danny, body loose and ready. His shadow slithered along the cracks in the arena like a separate creature.
"You move well for a dragon," Shadeclaw said. "But you still think like a boy."
Danny forced his breath to slow. "I'm learning."
Shadeclaw's grin sharpened. "Let us see."
He attacked again, faster than before.
Claw strikes came in pairs and trios, feints layered over feints. His body bent at impossible angles, twisting through Danny's guard like liquid violence. The shadowdouble attacked from the opposite side, its claws passing through the edges of Danny's aura with a cold, wrong feeling.
Danny blocked high, low, spun, ducked. He took a cut across his forearm, another along his ribs. Shadeclaw's claws sparked off his hardened skin, but the wolf never overextended, never stayed still long enough for a solid counter.
Danny's feet dug grooves into the stone as he backpedaled, then stopped himself.
No more running.
He planted his feet and let his aura expand, golden light rushing outward like a tide. Shadeclaw slipped in and out of the glow, eyes narrowed.
Danny focused not on Shadeclaw's movements, but on the ripples his presence left behind.
There.
A faint distortion just before he struck from the left.
A tiny tug at the edge of Danny's awareness right before a shadow lash.
A breath, sharp and shallow, before a leap.
Shadeclaw blurred toward him again.
This time Danny moved first.
He stepped into the attack, not away, turning his torso so the claws meant for his side scraped his shoulder instead. The pain flared white-hot, but it was a glancing blow now, not a killing stroke. Shadeclaw's eyes widened by a fraction.
Danny drove his fist forward.
Golden power coiled around his knuckles.
He caught air as Shadeclaw ducked under him, but the blast of aura that accompanied the punch rippled outward, slamming into the wolf's flank. Shadeclaw grunted, tumbling sideways, claws digging into the floor to stop his skid.
"Better," Shadeclaw murmured.
He straightened, fur bristling. His pupils narrowed. The air around him cooled.
Then his shadow rose.
It peeled off the floor in stringy strands, coiling around his limbs like ink made solid. His claws sharpened, black edges gleaming. His fur stood on end, and cold, dark energy crackled along his spine.
Julian's tone shifted. "Oh. That's new."
"What do you mean 'that's new'?!" Jimmy yelped. "Why do shadow upgrades exist?!"
Shadeclaw lowered into a stance that was less civilized, more feral. The assassin's polish remained—but layered over something older and more brutal.
He vanished.
This time, Danny didn't try to track him visually.
He closed his eyes.
The arena's noise fell away, replaced by the sensation of golden energy pulsing out from his core. He pushed his aura farther, a sphere of awareness expanding around him.
Shadeclaw hit him from behind.
Claws raked down Danny's back in a triple arc. Danny staggered—but he had felt the approach. The next time the air bent, he twisted, catching Shadeclaw's wrist in mid-lunge.
For a heartbeat, they were locked—wolf and dragon, predator and predator.
Shadeclaw's eyes gleamed. "There you are."
Danny's grip tightened.
He roared, golden energy detonating out of him in a pulse.
Shadeclaw was flung backward, tumbling head over heels until he dug his claws in and skidded to a stop near the arena wall. Smoke curled from his fur where the light had burned.
He looked down at his arm.
The fur was singed. The skin beneath reddened.
And he smiled.
"Oh yes," he said softly. "This is what I wanted."
He surged forward, and the fight turned wild.
Shadeclaw's attacks lost some of their clinical neatness. Now they came with a savage edge—slashing in jagged arcs, teeth snapping for Danny's throat. His shadow lashed out, whipping at Danny's ankles, trying to tear his footing away. He bounded off walls, off floating chunks of fractured stone, off his own shadow.
Danny met him head-on.
He blocked with arms wreathed in gold, each impact sending shockwaves through his body and into the stone. He ducked under a swipe and slammed a shoulder into Shadeclaw's gut, sending the wolf flipping. He pivoted on his heel and drove a kick into the ground, sending a golden shockwave racing across the floor that forced Shadeclaw to leap clear or be swallowed.
They crashed into pillars. They bounced off the barrier, which flashed and sparked angrily at the abuse. Claw marks and fist impacts carved parallel scars into the arena.
At one point, Shadeclaw's claws sank deep into Danny's side, drawing a gasp from the dragon. Blood ran, warm and bright. Danny gritted his teeth, grabbed Shadeclaw by the scruff of his neck, and hurled him into the opposite wall.
Up in the stands, Jake shouted through the glass of his med-tank, voice muffled but passionate. "KICK HIS SHADOWY BUTT, DANNY!"
Ember Claw watched with a tight jaw, analyzing every move. Wolf Queen tapped one claw thoughtfully on the rail, impressed. Wolf King simply watched, golden eyes unblinking.
Shadeclaw pulled himself out of the cracked stone, chest rising and falling faster now. He tilted his head from side to side until his neck popped, shadow coiling tighter around him.
"You fight for them," he said, nodding vaguely toward the medbay levels.
Danny stood steady, one hand pressed over his bleeding side, golden energy already sealing the wound. "I fight so they don't have to anymore."
Shadeclaw's grin widened.
"And yet the bronze one still screamed."
Danny's stomach dropped.
Shadeclaw's eyes shone. He had found the nerve and was pressing it with surgical precision.
"He called your name," Shadeclaw said, pacing slowly, circling Danny. "When I broke him. When I held his throat."
Danny's aura shuddered.
"He begged," Shadeclaw continued. "Not for himself. For you." His teeth flashed. "But you did not come."
Danny's hands shook.
The world narrowed.
He heard Jake's breathless jokes. Swift's quiet reassurances. Jade's wild grin. The old man's voice, Sedge Hat's laugh, the silence of homes he'd returned to too late.
He heard the echo of a bronze dragon's cry—
—and the moment his body had been elsewhere, too slow, too far.
"It happened," Shadeclaw said softly. "Again."
Danny snapped.
Golden energy erupted from him in a flare that made the barrier scream. Light poured from his skin, brighter than before, hotter than the arena had ever felt. The crowd recoiled, shielding their eyes.
Jimmy shrieked, "HE'S GOING SUPERNOVA AGAIN, JULIAN!"
Julian gripped his headset. "Wait—look closely. This is… different."
Last time, the light had been wild. Explosive. Lashing out in all directions with no purpose but to destroy.
This time, it rose like a tidal wave—and then stopped.
Danny's hands clenched.
His aura, instead of detonating outward, folded inward. The wild fire condensed, packed tight against his muscles, his bones, his fists. Golden light hugged his body like armor instead of trying to escape.
His eyes glowed, but they were clear.
"You're right," Danny said, voice steady despite the heat. "I didn't come."
Shadeclaw's ears flicked.
Danny took a step forward.
"But I'm here now."
He blurred.
The first punch landed square in Shadeclaw's ribs, a golden comet slamming into fur and bone. Shadeclaw's breath left him in a shout as he was hurled across the arena. He twisted midair, landed in a crouch—and Danny was already there, foot whipping around in a spinning kick that caught him across the jaw.
Shadeclaw tumbled, rolled, and was forced to catch himself with one claw in the stone, dragging a deep groove.
He didn't laugh this time.
He grinned—feral, delighted.
Shadeclaw lunged again, but now every time he vanished, Danny sensed the distortion in his aura field and met him halfway. Claws scraped sparks off golden arms. Teeth snapped inches from Danny's throat. Each time, Danny responded with heavy, punishing blows that sent Shadeclaw reeling.
They exchanged a brutal sequence—claw, fist, knee, elbow, wing, shadow, light—until both of them were breathing hard, bruised and bloodied.
Shadeclaw's fur was singed in places, his movements a shade slower. Danny's scales and skin were criss-crossed with shallow cuts, his chest rising and falling with effort.
Shadeclaw wiped blood from his lip with the back of his hand and chuckled, breathless.
"You have teeth, dragon."
Danny's eyes burned gold. "You hurt my friends."
Shadeclaw's smirk softened. "And yet they live."
He dipped his head, acknowledging something unspoken. Then his expression sharpened again.
"But I have one more hunt in me."
He faded.
The light in the arena dimmed—not literally, but perceptually, like someone had turned down the saturation on the world. Shadeclaw's shadow unspooled in dozens of directions at once, forming a ring of silhouettes around Danny. Each one moved with the same fluid grace, the same glimmering eyes.
Julian leaned in. "Shadeclaw's ultimate—Shadow Hunt. He's creating multiple concurrent shadow projections to mask his true body."
Jimmy flailed. "Which one is real?!"
"That," Julian said, "is the problem."
The Shadeclaw silhouettes circled Danny, paws barely touching the stone. Each one left a faint dark smear where they stepped, as if their indecision about reality stained the ground.
They attacked all at once.
Claws swiped from twelve directions. Teeth lunged. Shadows lashed.
Danny didn't try to follow them.
He closed his eyes.
Let his aura expand one more time—not explosively, but carefully. Golden energy poured outward, filling the arena like warm sunlight through water.
The first shadow that touched it recoiled.
The second flickered.
The third evaporated like mist.
Danny breathed in.
He felt the texture of each presence. The real Shadeclaw pulsed with heat, muscle, intent. The shadows were emptier, echoes trailing just behind.
He found the one with weight.
His eyes snapped open.
He turned, fist already moving.
Golden light exploded from his knuckles in a tight, focused beam that tore through three phantoms and slammed into the real Shadeclaw's chest.
Shadeclaw's eyes flew wide. He was hurled backward, his shadow shredding around him as he crashed into the arena wall with a bone-shaking impact. The stone cracked in a spiderweb around his body.
The silhouettes flickered and died.
The arena lights snapped back to normal.
Shadeclaw slid down the wall, landing on his feet, barely. He coughed, a thin line of blood running from the corner of his mouth.
He laughed, hoarse.
"Beautiful," he murmured.
He pushed off the wall and limped forward, refusing to stay down. His claws still glowed faintly, his shadow thin but present.
Danny straightened, chest heaving.
"We can stop," Danny said quietly. "You've proved enough."
Shadeclaw's smile turned sharp. "No. A hunt ends only when prey stops breathing. Or when the hunter falls." He raised his claws. "Show me which I am."
Danny's eyes narrowed.
They rushed each other.
The final exchange was less a fight and more a collision between opposing forces. Shadeclaw poured everything into speed and precision, claws whipping in complex arcs, aiming for joints, throats, arteries. Danny answered with raw, controlled power, golden bursts timed to interrupt each lethal line.
Claw raked across Danny's cheek.
Fist slammed into Shadeclaw's ribs.
Knee drove into Danny's thigh.
Elbow smashed into Shadeclaw's jaw.
Shadow tendrils snapped at Danny's ankles.
Danny's tail swept Shadeclaw's legs out from under him.
They crashed together one last time in the center of the arena. Danny ducked under a final desperate swipe, stepped in, and planted his feet.
"I told you," he said quietly.
He drove his fist into Shadeclaw's chest, golden energy blooming just enough to blast the air from the wolf's lungs without crushing bone.
"You won't touch them again."
Shadeclaw's eyes widened. The force lifted him off his feet and flung him backward into the wall he'd already cracked. The stone gave way with a thunderous crunch. Shadeclaw embedded into it, hanging there for a second like a broken painting, then slid down to the floor.
He tried to rise.
His arms shook. His legs buckled.
He dropped to one knee.
He grinned.
"Dragon," he rasped, "you are… worth hunting."
Then he collapsed.
The bell rang.
"WINNER: DANNY!"
The arena erupted.
Some people screamed Danny's name. Others howled for Shadeclaw's tenacity. The sound thundered around the cratered, battered arena.
Medbots streamed in, scanning Shadeclaw, carefully lifting him onto a stretcher. As they carried him past, his eyes cracked open just a sliver.
He and Danny locked eyes.
Shadeclaw's lips twitched upward. "Next time," he whispered.
Danny nodded once, respectfully.
He watched the stretcher go.
The central display flickered, re-rendering the bracket.
DANNY
vs
WOLF KING
The final.
Jimmy's voice broke slightly as he yelled, "THAT'S IT! THIS IS IT! THE FINAL BATTLE: CREATION'S YOUNG GOLDEN DRAGON VERSUS THE KING OF ALL WOLVES!"
Julian fanned himself with a sheaf of papers. "I have chills. Literal chills. Someone bring me a cape."
Up in the royal balcony, the Wolf King rose to his feet. Flames slid along his arms, lighting his outline like a god stepping out of myth.
He looked down at Danny.
Danny looked up at him.
No fear.
No collapse.
Just two forces on a collision course.
The arena seemed to lean in around them.
The crowd chanted, a thousand voices blending into one tidal roar:
"DANNY! DANNY! DANNY!"
"KING! KING! KING!"
Jake slammed his hand against the med-tank glass. "KICK HIS BUTT, BRO!"
Swift, still sleeping, smiled faintly.
Jade whispered a hoarse laugh. "Now that's a final."
Ember Claw watched from the shadows of the competitor balcony, eyes burning with respect and quiet resolve.
Danny rolled his shoulders, feeling the weight of his power—and, for the first time, the weight of his control over it. His aura rose around him in a steady golden blaze.
The Wolf King's flames answered.
The tournament had been a chaos of monsters and warriors and gods in training.
Now, finally, it came down to this.
Dragon versus King. Creation versus reign.
The arena held its breath.