With a snarl, Lord Rowe fired a massive beam of blue hunger energy, the wave pouring from his palms like a roaring river of annihilation.

Noah's eyes widened. He had no time to avoid it, so he met it head-on, his own darkness surging outwards.

Multiple layers of Devour flared into existence, stacking over one another like overlapping shields of shadowy darkness.

The collision of forces lit the underground ring with a blinding, swirling storm of black and blue.

Each instant of impact spat sparks and ripples of pure destructive energy, both affinities chewing into one another as if trying to consume the other whole.

The stalemate wasn't perfect, though.

The force of Rowe's beam was like a steady tide, endlessly pressing forward.

Noah's body was shoved deeper into the fractured wall, stone cracking behind his back, his cloak flapping violently around him in the gale of pressure.

His arms shook as he poured mana into his shields of darkness, sweat dripping down his brow, teeth bared against the strain.

"Damn it," Noah hissed, feeling the crushing weight pressing him in.

'If this keeps up, I'll be buried alive in the wall.'

Rowe began slowly walking forward, his voice louder than the roar of their clashing powers.

"This investigation is more than just my duty, boy," he said, his tone calm, and almost sorrowful.

"I've lost too much already. If someone is spreading corruption, if this is tied to the monsters who took my daughter, then I must get to the truth."

"Justice demands it. Camelot demands it."

His words were filled with conviction, each one hammering as hard as his beam.

But Noah wasn't listening. Not really.

Rowe's focus was fixed forward, on his own attack. And that gave Noah his opening.

Behind him, his tail shot free with a violent snap. Like a spear, it drove into the stone at his side, cracking a jagged hole through the weakened wall.

He twisted, shadows curling to cloak the movement, and with a burst of willpower he disengaged.

Flash Step!

He blinked out of the beam's path an instant before it collapsed the space where he'd stood, reappearing a dozen feet away.

Dust rained down from the cratered wall as he landed in a crouch, shadows coiling tight around his fists.

Rowe spun toward him, instantly launching another barrage.

Thin, slicing beams of hunger ripped through the air, dissolving stone and wood wherever they struck.

Noah's answer was immediate.

Pillar of Judgement burned down in the shape of a roaring lion, forcing Rowe to break stride, while Devour slashed upward to erase another beam.

They traded volleys across the ring floor, their spells colliding midair with thunderous detonations.

The arena became a field of chaos.

Stone shattered and seats cracked apart, with the air thick with smoke and dust.

Every spell exchange left the ground more scarred, with arcs of eroding hunger and swallowing void tearing the underground apart.

Finally, after one particularly violent collision, an explosion rocked the underground chamber, throwing both men back a step.

The haze hung between them, glowing with residual power. Through it, their eyes locked.

Rowe's chest heaved, his blue energy pulsing around him like a heartbeat.

Noah stood firm, shadows writhing like snakes around him, his tail flexing behind.

For a few seconds, there was silence, broken only by their ragged breathing.

Then Noah broke it.

"Walk away," he said, his voice low. "You want justice? So do I. But you won't find it by standing in my way."

"Let me deal with this, and you'll have your truth. I'll break it into the open myself. I'll deliver justice for you."

Rowe's jaw clenched. He inhaled, ready to retort, eyes narrowing with a mixture of fury and conviction.

But before he could speak...

An inhuman screech split the air.

It was loud, guttural, and wrong. A sound that was familiar to Rowe.

The sound of something neither man should have heard inside Camelot's walls.

Both Rowe and Noah froze, their heads snapping in the same direction as the scream echoed again through the air.

[][][][][]

Marlon thrashed against the grips of the Investigation Authority agents, his face filled with desperation.

"I didn't do anything wrong!" he cried, his voice breaking with panic.

He jerked and strained, trying to twist his arms free, but the cloaked agents held tightly, dragging him towards the stairwell that led up and out of the underground ring.

The sound of spells colliding and stone cracking behind them made him tremble harder.

He didn't care about the fight between the masked stranger and the Investigation Authority Lord.

All that filled his mind was dread. Dread of where these men were taking him.

Everyone on the dark side of the city knew of these men's reputation.

It is said that no one walks out of the Authority's cells. They go in alive and come out corpses.

His heart pounded, his mouth dry with terror.

"No… no, I won't die like that," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

With a violent twist, he managed to wrench one arm free from the agents' grasp.

Before they could clamp down again, his fingers darted into the waistband of his trousers.

The cool glass met his skin, and he dragged it free. A small vial with that shimmering, poisonous liquid inside.

Marlon staggered as if he had lost his balance, using the stumble to mask his movements.

As he fell to one knee, he tore the cork free with his teeth and swallowed the contents in one desperate gulp.

The agents froze.

"Stand up," One barked, raising a glowing hand. "On your feet! Now!"

But Marlon couldn't obey. His body seized, then arched backward with a scream of agony.

His veins blackened, spreading across his skin like spiderweb cracks.

His eyes rolled white, then bled into black with glowing red veins.

Horns split from his skull as his muscles swelled grotesquely, bones snapping and reforming.

"Demon!" another agent shouted, firing a spell.

The blast hit him full in the chest, but he barely flinched.

Snarling, Marlon batted the agent aside with a single, bone breaking swipe.

The others followed with desperate volleys of magic, but he barreled through them, tearing one apart with his claws, another crushed under his boot.

It took less than a minute.

Only one agent remained, frozen with fear.

Marlon stood over him, grabbed him by the collar, and screeched in his face.

An inhuman, ear splitting sound that reeked of rage and madness, before twisting, breaking the man like a doll.

Then, lifting his head, Marlon unleashed another screech, louder this time, shaking the stone corridor.

It was at that moment that Lord Rowe and Noah burst into the passage, both freezing at the sight of the transformed fighter standing amidst the corpses of the Authority agents.

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