The forest trembled.
Dust and shattered earth rose in thick waves around Riven and Kael, the aftermath of their collision still rippling outward like the echo of thunder. Riven's arms strained as he held his twin blades crossed against Kael's descending force. The bone claws screeched against steel, sparks bursting violently between them.
For a moment just a moment he held him.
Then the pressure increased.
Riven's boots sank deeper into the fractured ground, cracks spiderwebbing beneath his feet. His muscles screamed as Kael leaned in, his distorted frame radiating raw, chaotic power.
"You've grown," Kael snarled, his voice warped, layered with something unnatural. "But not enough."
Riven gritted his teeth.
He felt it the edge of his control. The Night Wolf energy flowed clean and steady through him, but it wasn't enough. Not against this. Not against Kael.
So he reached deeper.
Just like Astra taught him.
A thread of darkness slipped into his core.
Ten percent.
The shift was immediate.
His muscles tightened, his senses sharpened, and a surge of power flooded through him controlled, focused, amplified. The strain lessened, and with a sharp exhale, Riven pushed back.
BOOM!
The clash broke.
Kael was forced a step back, his claws scraping across the ground as he regained footing. His eyes flickered with interest.
"Ah…" he said slowly. "So you've learned to touch it without losing yourself."
Riven straightened, breathing hard but steady. His twin blades glowed faintly with the fusion of energies blue laced with thin veins of black.
"I don't need more than this to beat you," Riven said, though his voice carried effort beneath the confidence.
Kael smiled.
It wasn't a human smile.
"Then come."
He vanished.
Riven barely reacted in time.
CLANG!
One blade shot up to block a claw strike from the side, the impact sending a shockwave through his arm. Pain shot up to his shoulder, but he twisted, bringing the second blade across in a counter slash.
Kael ducked, sweeping low.
Riven leapt, flipping over the attack, landing behind him but Kael was already turning.
Their movements blurred.
Strike.
Block.
Counter.
Impact.
Each clash shook the forest. Trees splintered, leaves were torn into the air, and the ground buckled beneath their feet.
At first, Riven held his own.
The 10% Dark Energy amplification made his strikes sharper, faster, heavier. His twin blades moved like extensions of his will fluid, precise, deadly. He chained movements together, blending martial discipline with raw werewolf aggression.
Astra watched from the edge, her eyes narrowed.
"He's doing it…" she murmured. "He's maintaining balance…"
But then
Kael stopped holding back.
A sudden burst of energy exploded from him, darker and denser than anything before. His movements shifted faster, more erratic, less predictable.
Riven barely blocked the next strike.
CRACK!
The force sent him skidding backward, tearing through the ground.
His arms trembled.
Too strong.
Kael pressed forward relentlessly. Blow after blow rained down, each one heavier than the last. Riven countered, dodged, parried but he was being pushed back.
His breathing grew heavier.
His control wavered.
CLANG!
Another hit broke through his defense, sending him crashing into a tree. Wood splintered behind him as he barely rolled away from the follow-up strike.
"You thought ten percent would be enough?" Kael's voice echoed, distorted and cruel. "You're still holding back… still afraid of what you are."
Riven wiped blood from his lip, rising slowly.
"I'm not afraid," he muttered.
But his body said otherwise.
He steadied his stance again, forcing the energy to stabilize. The Dark Energy pulsed, tempting him just a little more, just a bit deeper…
"No," he whispered to himself.
Control.
Discipline.
Just like Astra said.
He lunged forward again.
This time faster. Sharper.
The blades flashed in rapid succession high, low, diagonal, spinning combinations that forced Kael to defend instead of attack.
For a brief moment
They were even again.
Steel and bone clashed in a blur of motion.
Then
BOOOOOM!
A deafening thunderclap erupted.
It wasn't from impact.
It was from Kael.
The sound exploded directly into Riven's senses, a concentrated shockwave that tore through his ears and mind.
Riven staggered instantly.
Everything went quiet.
Too quiet.
His vision blurred. The world spun. His grip loosened slightly on the blades as his balance faltered.
"Riven!" Astra shouted from afar, but her voice felt distant like it came from underwater.
Kael saw it.
The opening.
His body twisted, bone claws extending further, lengthening into lethal spears. Dark energy surged violently around him as he stepped forward.
"This ends now."
Riven tried to move
But his body lagged.
Too slow.
Kael lunged.
The claws aimed straight for his chest one decisive, fatal strike.
Time slowed.
Riven's eyes widened as he forced his body to respond, blades rising just barely
Then
A blur.
A streak of motion faster than anything Riven had seen.
WHOOOSH CRASH!
Kael was gone.
Not just stopped removed.
His body was hurled sideways with violent force, smashing through trees, snapping trunks like twigs before crashing into the forest floor in a distant explosion of debris.
The ground shook again.
Riven blinked, dazed.
Someone stood in front of him now.
Tall. Calm. Unshaken.
Eryx.
He didn't even look back at Riven at first. His gaze was fixed forward, cold and calculating, locked onto the direction Kael had been sent flying.
"You're late," Astra said quietly, stepping closer, though her tone carried no real complaint only awareness.
Eryx exhaled slowly. "Stay down."
Riven steadied himself, still catching his breath. His ears rang, but his vision cleared enough to focus.
"You…?" he muttered, surprised.
Eryx finally glanced back at him briefly.
"You held longer than I expected," he said. "But you're not ready for him. Not yet."
The forest ahead shifted.
Debris stirred.
A dark figure rose slowly from the wreckage.
Kael.
Unharmed.
His head tilted unnaturally as he stared at Eryx.
"…So," Kael growled, voice thick with distorted rage, "another arrives."
Eryx stepped forward slightly, his presence changing the air itself.
Calm.
Heavy.
Dominant.
"You've caused enough damage," Eryx said coldly. "This ends here."
Behind him, Riven tightened his grip on his twin blades again.
Despite the pain.
Despite the exhaustion.
His eyes burned with determination.
Because now
This wasn't just a fight anymore.
It was war.