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Erik went full beast mode and nailed Faiz with a fully charged punch from the knuckle blaster, blasting flesh and blood everywhere.
"Damn you, Erik! How dare you?!"
Faiz screamed in pain, stumbling backward and letting go of the scythe.
But Erik wasn't about to let him breathe.
"Faiz! To wipe you out, I've been ready to go to hell if that's what it takes! DIE!"
Roaring with fury, Erik charged again, slamming punch after punch into Faiz's body with everything he had. Every hit drew blood, every blow was brutal.
"ERIk!"
Faiz, now fuming with rage, suddenly caught Erik's fist mid-swing.
"You've really pissed me off now!"
His right hand morphed—sharp white bone claws sprouting out—and he slashed hard.
SWISH!
The claw strike smashed into Ixa's chest armor, sending more sparks flying. Erik staggered back, almost falling.
"DIE!"
Faiz didn't stop. He pounced and landed another claw strike on Erik's back, slamming him into the ground.
"ROAR!"
Now fully unhinged, Faiz pinned Erik down, pummeling him with all four arms.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
The red lights under Ixa's visor flickered—his armor was clearly damaged.
"Dammit!"
Cursing, Erik fumbled in the chaos and pulled out a whistle, jamming it into his belt.
"I-x-a Knu-ck-le R-i-se U-p!"
A robotic voice echoed. Taking advantage of a gap in Faiz's attacks, Erik broke free from the beatdown.
Faiz wasn't about to back off. He lunged forward again without hesitation.
"Broken Fang!"
"HRAAAAGH!"
A brilliant light erupted from the knuckle blaster. Erik charged straight at Faiz and threw a devastating punch.
It slammed into Faiz's chest—hard. The Ixa knuckle's five-hundred-million-volt energy was unleashed in one shot, pouring straight into Faiz's body.
BOOM!
The explosion rocked the air. That single punch blasted a hole clean through Faiz's chest.
Faiz's glowing red eyes were filled with shock. Staggering, he looked down at the gaping hole in his torso and collapsed backward—right into the pool of blood.
Erik stared at Faiz's lifeless body in the blood pool and let out a deep sigh.
"It's over…"
Erik had finally ended Faiz.
But elsewhere, Dan was locked in a brutal fight of his own.
"Damn it! My attacks aren't doing a thing!"
Dan's sword slammed into the Hellhound vampire's thick hide—but it barely scratched the surface.
"Is that supposed to tickle?"
Jonas sneered, grabbing the steering wheel sword and slamming a punch into Dan's chest.
"Guh!"
The blow knocked Dan several steps back, gasping.
Kurim's voice chimed in, offering a warning.
"Dan, your current form can't break through his defenses. Switch modes."
"Got it!"
Dan retracted his sword, pulled out the Wild Shift Car, and slotted it into his wristband.
"You're not getting away!"
Sensing something was up, Jonas dropped to all fours like a beast and charged at Dan.
Dan didn't flinch. He pressed the car.
"Start your engines!"
[Hen...Shin!]
"Drive! Type Wild!"
"DIE!"
Jonas leapt with all three heads snarling, fangs and claws bared as he lunged at Dan.
But a blinding flash burst out.
The Wild Tire spun around Dan, then smashed straight into Jonas's center head, launching him into the air.
"My heart's on fire!"
Dan flexed both arms as his engine roared to life.
"What the hell?! How?!"
Jonas struggled back to his feet. All three heads stared at Dan in disbelief.
"Haha! I just used my invincibility frames properly."
"So what if you changed color?! Die!"
Jonas roared, punched the ground, and charged again.
Dan stood firm. Right as Jonas got in range, he slammed a punch down.
THUD!
A deep, echoing thump rang out—Jonas's whole body was driven into the floor.
"This is impossible! Just a color change and you're this strong?! No way! I won't accept this!"
He roared, lunging with a claw straight at Dan's chest.
But Dan didn't budge an inch.
SPARK!
Sparks flew, but there wasn't even a scratch.
"That's all you've got? Then it's over!"
Dan lifted his arm and punched again—hard—straight into Jonas's chest.
"Not enough! Not enough! It's still not enough!!"
Dan was getting more fired up with each blow. After one punch came another, like a storm of fists backed by roaring engines.
"BREAK!"
Raising his right fist high, he brought it down with everything he had.
"Finisher—Pile Break!"
The punch hit straight on.
Jonas sensed just how deadly that blow was and tried to twist away.
BOOM!
Blood sprayed as Dan's punch shattered the left head of Jonas's hellhound form.
"Awoooo!!"
Jonas reeled back, the remaining two heads howling in agony.
Erik glanced over at Dan's battlefield just in time.
"Looks like it's over… I'll give you a hand."
He picked up the cross-blade and ran over to help.
SLASH!
A sudden flash of light—something struck Erik from behind, knocking him flat.
"What the—?!"
Grunting in pain, Erik turned around and saw a familiar figure appear again.
"Hahaha! Erik! Bet you didn't expect this! I'm back!"
Beneath his mask, Erik's eyes were full of disbelief.
Faiz had returned to human form, soaked in blood, and surrounded by shadowy black auras swirling around him.
"This is… the Blood God Possession?! The Blood God Project worked?!"
"Hahaha! That's right! Thanks to you knocking me into the blood pool, I was reborn—with the power of the Blood God! Now you're finished!"
Laughing like a madman, Faiz's right arm morphed into a blade—and slashed straight at Erik.
One sword to slay all evil.
Erik cut down the annoying corpse-fanged vampire, then charged straight at Faiz with his cross-shaped gun-blade in hand.
"Faiz! That little brat of yours is no match for me!"
Erik raised his cross-blade to block—but in an instant, it shattered into pieces!
"Hahaha! Lord Faiz! I knew you wouldn't die so easily! That means Drive is gonna die next!"
Jonas burst out laughing, then lifted his right arm and, with a swipe of his claws, sliced off the head on his right shoulder.
"Awooooo!"
With a chilling wolf howl, Jonas' body swelled and morphed within seconds into a giant wolf. From both his shoulders, two broken neck stumps stuck out grotesquely.
"Damn it! Mr. Belt, what do we do now?"Dan was starting to panic—this situation was clearly spiraling out of control.
"....."