**Meanwhile, at the Wolves Den**
The two warped and sinister figures stood yards away from each other. The forms they took were intense as they waited for the other to move first. As one inched, so did the other. They did this two to three times until…
DASH!
They both bolted, jetting at sonic speeds. When they collided, the crash ricocheted them to the side, where they threw a barrage of punches in each other's directions. The punches were both offense and defense as they shot like Gatling.
Sparks flew from their clashes as they colored the field in front of the Wolves Den. The pink one, Star in slow motion, jabbed the yellow one, Henza, on his left side. He did the same to her on her right shoulder, hitting each other simultaneously. Her punch managed to crack a part of his rib, regardless of it being protected by Bonding magic in two layers. And Henza's fist shot a hole into Star's left shoulder, which she regenerated just as quickly.
Once her shoulder had formed back, she reeled in her left arm, morphing a long white bone blade from it, and swung down onto Henza. He blocked the strike with both his forearms in a cross-motion. Star's scorpion tail, at this time, swung around to his left and was blocked by a layer of yellow bonding rings to Henza's side. The countless blocks and clashes cracked the ground each time they made impact, cratering endlessly.
"This is insane. I can't even figure out how to jump in to help without being a hindrance to her." Brand said to himself, observing the match from the sidelines.
Henza's complete focus was on Star right now. Any wrong move could potentially be fatal to him in this fight as she had enough strength to penetrate his Bonding shields if he was too careless. After a few more clashes, they separated and both ran up opposite pillars, standing atop them.
Demons had an innate ability to regenerate their limbs if they were severed or torn off. This Regenerative ability didn't count as their own unique magic abilities. It was simply a default for all demons to be able to regenerate at will. The only part of themselves that they could not regenerate was their heads. Beheading them was the only way to stop them for good and kill them.
"So, this is the power of a half-breed," he said to her, taking a moment of pause in their fight.
Star was parallel to Henza, crouched atop her pillar. Her long scorpion tail wrapped around it, scraping the stone as she rattled.
"The last Demon I encountered was five years ago. It took my brother and feasted on him until there was nothing left but bones. Is that what you want to do with me, 'Demon girl'? Do you want to eat me?"
Star growled animalistically as spiked bones began to ripple out of her skin, protruding out of her randomly, uncontrollably.
"We've gone at this long enough. You put up an impressive performance, but it's time to end this for good. I'm tired." Henza said as he crouched down on his pillar, laying his hands down upon it.
At this time, the two disappeared completely. Both the pillars they stood on shattered from the top where they had once been. There was an odd silence left afterward that had Brand in question. When Henza and Star came back into view, he was left in shock from both the loud impact and the scene that beheld him…
CRASH!!
A loud and powerful impact penetrated the silent space. This one was bigger than all the clashes from earlier in their battle. The shockwave was so powerful that Brand still had to cover his face from the shards of debris hitting his mask. His long, spiked gray hair fluttered violently in the air behind him.
When the shockwave stopped and the smoke fumed, he saw two silhouettes within it, one looking like it stood over the other.
"Star?" Brand spoke hesitantly.
A pause before an answer from the clearing smoke.
"Sorry… 'Fraid not," a sinister male voice answered, widening Brand's digitized eyes on his mask in alarm.
When the smoke cleared, he saw Henza in his mummified form, walking slowly over from the cratered ground with Star's throat in his left hand, dragging the rest of her body with him. Her eyes were closed and seemed completely lifeless as he took his time toward Brand.
A shadow seemed to form from Brand's eyes as his head was lowered from the shining sun above them. He inhaled and exhaled deeply. "I guess I'm forced to use it here. I still have so much left to do…"
When he lifted his head, his eyes shot a deep red that gave out an intense glare to Henza.
"Are you mad, masked wolf? And just what are you going to do about it?" Henza mocked hauntingly.
Not thinking twice, Brand locked in his stance. He positioned himself in a fighting form, starting from his right fist, reeling it back slowly and holding it in place. Left fist in front and right fist just behind it by his face. His legs were squatted and were like tree trunks as they stabbed the ground. His long, spikey hair bristled softly from his movements. This was his signature fighting stance when he needed to get serious…
"You don't stand a chance. I can sense your mana aura. You're nothing special. Not like this girl, at least. I doubt you could give me an entertaining fight even if I decide not to bond you to give you a leg up," he continued, making a mockery of Brand.
Then, in a drawn-out way, Brand held up his index and middle fingers from his left hand, about to make a cast of some sorts, but then…
"Then why don't you fight me instead… that is… if you're a real man," a strong, heavy male voice sounded behind Henza from the double door entrance of the Wolves Den.
Henza, startled, hadn't even sensed this male's presence. His voice even made him shudder as he turned slowly to look behind him into the fading smoke.
As the smoke continued to grow faint, the male's figure began to come into view more clearly. He was shirtless and had yellow-orange hair that was fairly short, clean-cut, and slicked back. His physique was very muscular, like a bodybuilder's, and he had a huge tattoo of a wolf's head plastered on his back. He sported two thick, broken gunmetal chains that he wore like bracelets on his wrists, and his pants were black with matching black boots. The whole time he stood there, his chest was out and his hands were in fists, glowering intensely into Henza's one exposed eye. His other wrapped eye looked like it could be seen through the bandages as they widened, shivering at the male yards away, who had suddenly made his appearance.
"Brand," was all the muscular male said, summoning him at extreme speeds next to Henza, stealing Star away.
Henza, distracted, was too shaken to react properly as Brand disappeared with Star, reappearing behind the muscled male.
"Bout time, Nash," Brand said to him.
"Better late than never," Nash replied calmly, "So, who the hell is this guy?"
"That's—" Brand said before getting interrupted.
"That's Henza to you. Who are you anyway? I don't remember seeing your face on the wanted list… This is getting more annoying than I hoped to endure." Henza shouted distastefully from where he was.
Looking slightly behind him, Nash found Star on Brand's back, out cold.
"Don't worry, she's not dead. Just breathing faintly. She'll be fine after she sleeps it off," he said to Brand calmly.
Brand simply nodded in reply. And then Henza interjected again, yelling this time— "Hard of hearing, you big lug? I'm talking to you!"
Nash tilted his head to the left and gave Henza a half-eyed stare. "You sure like to mouth off, don't you? If you want to know so bad, why don't you come over here and find out?" he said tauntingly.
Henza twitched an eyebrow and calmed himself before retaliating, "I've wasted enough time here with you lowly dogs…"
He stuck out a hand and bonded Nash, Brand, and Star with those infamous yellow bonding rings.
"It always ends the same," Henza said, reverting back to his natural tired, condescending attitude.
Shadows formed from Nash's eyes, at this time, and then his muscles flexed…
SHATTER!
The yellow ring broke into pieces from around Nash, breaking like glass. Then, with his muscular arm, he swung it with a fist toward Brand and Star behind him, shattering their bond as well. Standing there with his fist out in front of them, he gave Henza an intense glare.
"That's not going to work on me," Nash said intimidatingly.
Afterward, Brand disappeared at high speed with Star somewhere unseen as if understanding Nash didn't want them around there anymore.
Shocked, Henza studied Nash, who had just broken his, Brand's, and Star's bond one after another. He had even wondered if he was like Star, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"What kind of freak magic is that?" He said to Nash, a noticeably irritated tone in his voice.
Nash stood there in silence, staring him down with locked eyes, unwavering. His presence alone was enough to send shivers down Henza's spine as he locked his eyes back to him, not knowing what to expect.
At this time, the first round with Brand and Star had ended, with round two about to commence. At the Wolves Den was Blue Phoenix Knights Vice Captain Henza vs. Black Wolves 2nd Ace Member Nash.