After another violent clash, Wolf was forced back.
His boots scraped hard against the broken stone as the force drove him across the crater's floor. Dust and loose debris kicked up in a trailing cloud behind him before his footing finally gave, dropping him down onto one knee. He caught himself with his sword, the tip biting into the ground to keep him from sliding further, his chest rising and falling in heavy breaths.
Across from him, King Domine remained standing.
"Is that all you have to give?" the Demon King asked, looking down at him.
He did not come out of the exchange untouched. Shallow cuts lined his body in scattered patterns, his form dirtied from the constant impacts, and a thin line of blood ran along his cheek. He lifted a hand and wiped it away with little concern.
"What the hell is that body?" Wolf shot back, pushing himself up with the help of his longsword. His stance reset, but the frustration was clear in the way he squared himself. "How much do I have to hack into it to get proper damage in?"
"I am a Demon King," Domine replied, his voice steady, grounded in certainty. "One of the thirteen that rule Hell itself. If I were to die from a simple sword swing, then I would never have held that title."
He raised his hand.
His palm opened slightly as he prepared to issue another command—power gathering, the air around him tightening in response.
Then—
Something changed.
Fine particles appeared.
At first sparse, then rapidly multiplying—until, in an instant, Domine was engulfed. A dense cloud formed around him, thick and pale, swallowing his entire figure in what looked like a sudden, unnatural fog.
Flour.
Packed densely enough to obscure everything within it.
For less than a second, it simply hung there.
Then it ignited.
BOOM.
The entire cloud detonated at once. The ignition ripped through the suspended particles in a violent chain reaction, fire flashing outward in a concussive blast that tore through the crater. The explosion punched the air apart, sending a shockwave rolling across the ground as heat and pressure surged outward from the center.
"What the fuck!?" Wolf barked, instinctively turning toward the blast.
"You know, the hardest part of creating something like that is space."
The voice came from right beside him.
Wolf snapped his head to the side.
X stood there.
"Filling an area that densely, that precisely," X continued, his tone casual, almost conversational, "isn't exactly easy under normal conditions."
A quiet chuckle slipped through his skull mask, distorted as it passed through.
"But being able to slow and stop time completely trivializes that."
Wolf stared at him for a moment. "Who are you?"
Then his eyes shifted, taking in the mask.
"Also, what kind of weirdo wears a skull mask?"
X slowly turned his head toward him.
His gaze lingered for a second—then shifted to Wolf's own mask.
"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer," he said flatly.
He turned back toward the smoke, which was still beginning to clear from the explosion's aftermath.
"But as for your first question," X added, "I'm X, and I'm trying to kill this big brick of a man as well."
"So not on my side? Just want to kill him as well?" Wolf remarked, his grip tightening slightly on his sword as the smoke from the explosion began to thin.
Through the clearing haze, King Domine came back into view.
He stood exactly where he had been.
Soot and residue clung to him now, his form more dirtied than before, but the damage had not meaningfully increased. The shallow cuts remained just that—shallow.
"Clever," Domine said, his gaze settling on X.
"I'm used to fighting with people I don't get along with," Wolf added, rolling his shoulder once as he reset his stance. His blade angled forward, tip leveled at the Demon King. "So this is fine, as long as we both want this fucker dead."
"Okay, team," X said with a low chuckle, already lowering himself into a sprinting stance. "Try and keep up with everything I put around him."
And then he vanished.
"I will," Wolf replied immediately, already moving.
He drove forward, blade held low along his side to minimize resistance as he closed the distance. Domine reacted at once—his tail snapping out in a brutal horizontal arc aimed to intercept.
Wolf met it cleanly.
His sword came up in a tight motion, deflecting the strike just enough to redirect its path. Sparks burst from the contact as steel scraped against the hardened surface.
X appeared at the same instant.
An axe was already mid-swing in his hands, brought down hard onto the tail where Wolf had deflected it open. The moment the edge struck, the surface shifted—splitting slightly, revealing that unnatural opening—
The axe bit in.
For a fraction of a second.
Then the segment snapped shut.
The closing force sheared through the weapon, biting off a chunk of the axe head with a sharp metallic crunch.
"On your tail as well, huh?" X remarked, already letting go of the ruined weapon.
He disappeared again.
Wolf was already in range.
He stepped in and unleashed a tight three-strike sequence—first a diagonal cut, then a reverse angle, both aimed to force Domine's guard into position—
Domine met them with his right hand.
Claws caught the first strike. The second scraped across them, redirected off-line.
The third came in faster.
Wolf shifted his footing and drove forward into a direct thrust—aimed straight at Domine's third eye.
The Demon King reacted just in time.
His hand snapped forward, catching the blade before it could land fully. The tip pressed in, but stopped short.
"Got you," Domine said, his grip tightening as his left hand came forward, claws poised to drive straight into Wolf's torso—
And then—
Mud.
It struck all three of his eyes at once, splattering across his vision in a thick, blinding smear.
"Tch."
X's laughter cut through the moment as he flickered out of sight again.
Wolf didn't hesitate.
He released the sword immediately, letting it go rather than contest the grab, his body already moving. He spun off his planted foot, twisting past the incoming claw strike by a narrow margin. Mid-spin, his left hand snapped out—catching the hilt cleanly—
He completed the rotation.
And slashed.
The blade cut across Domine's chest in a sharp, committed arc—
"Dominus Terrae Findere."
Domine's palm slammed toward the ground.
The stone beneath Wolf split open instantly. The ground tore apart beneath his footing, the sudden shift throwing off his balance just enough—
The strike missed.
Wolf dropped unevenly as the fissure opened beneath him, his momentum breaking—
Domine didn't stop.
Blinded or not, he brought his claws down toward Wolf's exposed position, committing fully to the strike without bothering to clear his vision—
And then—
A crack of lightning tore through the air.
A spear of pure electricity slammed directly into Domine's face.
The impact detonated on contact, the force snapping his head back and launching him away from Wolf entirely, his body sent skidding across the fractured ground in a burst of sparks and scattered debris.
"That was—no way…" Wolf muttered under his breath.
His hand moved almost on its own.
He pulled his mask off.
Then he turned—
And looked up toward the edge of the crater.
His eyes widened.
Standing there—
The figure was unmistakable.
The Demon Lord from five hundred years ago.
The one his party had 'defeated'.
Ercale.
Ercale The Strongest Demon Lord.
"Did you forget about me being here, you bastard!?" the Demon Lord roared, his voice carrying down into the crater.
But Wolf—no—
Bram—
Wasn't even looking at King Domine anymore.
"Ercale!!!"