The gap between them closed with deliberate inevitability.
Asmodeus cracked his neck, feeling the tension jolt down his spine. His grip on his axe tightened until the steel creaked in protest. Across the rubble-strewn ground, Darius lowered his greatsword into guard, the obsidian blade trailing a faint smear of darkness along the air.
The first swing came without warning.
A sideways arc of black steel ripped towards him, and Asmodeus met it head-on. Blood Reaver's edge screamed as it caught the blow, the force jolting through his arms. The clash threw a spray of sparks and a spatter of his own blood as the axe's hungry edge bit into his palm, pulsing with power.
"Not bad, Human."
"....Heh, you too, Demon!" Grand Duke Darius snorted back.
