The sealed duel chamber finally gave out.
The explosion wasn't a single blast—it was a layered detonation of pressure, light, and fury, the kind that made the air ripple and the stone scream. A red shockwave rolled through the arena like a living thing, tearing platforms from their anchors and sending fighters scrambling for anything to hold onto.
Danny braced himself instinctively, one hand pressed to the nearest stone slab. The entire plate beneath him shuddered violently, cracks splintering outward like spiderwebs. But instead of collapsing, the stone tightened under his touch—as if something unseen drew it back together. A second platform twisted mid-fall, steadied, and reconnected to the arena core.
Danny blinked. He hadn't intended to do anything. It just happened.
Jake didn't have time to panic about that particular miracle—he was too busy screaming as the shockwave launched him into the air, limbs flailing wildly.
"BUMBLE HELP ME—NO NO NO NOOO—!!"
Bumble whirled beneath him in a frantic spiral of exhaust sparks and broken voice lines.
"CATCHING JAKE! CATCHING JAKE! EMERGENCY FRIEND CATCH MODE!"
Jake hit Bumble with a wheeze and clung to his head like a terrified barnacle.
Swift shielded his face with a trembling wing, frost scattering around him as the force pushed him backward. His feet skidded dangerously close to a fractured edge, and he barely managed to hold his ground.
On the far side, Jade Killington swore loudly as he lost his footing, then grabbed Shadeclaw by the fur to avoid being thrown off entirely.
Giga-Ronin didn't move. He stood in the shockwave like a statue planted by the gods, energy glowing through cracks in his armor as the blast flowed harmlessly around him.
And atop the cracked chamber, illuminated in the red inferno as if rising from the heart of a volcano, stood the Wolf King. He lifted his head, letting the shockwave wash over him, arms spread like a creature born from the impact itself. His smile widened.
The Queen emerged first.
She tore her way out of the half-destroyed chamber with a savage roar that shook even the repaired platforms. Blood streaked across her shoulders and down her arms; fur was torn away in patches; one eye was half-closed, swollen nearly shut. She breathed in sharp, vicious gasps—each exhale steaming with heat.
Her claws were soaked in crimson.
Every fighter in sight took a step back.
Even the distant spectators fell silent. There was something primal and ancient about her presence, something so radiantly deadly that the air itself seemed to retreat from her.
Wolf King laughed with a deep, booming joy.
"My Queen. Beautiful as ever."
Wolf Queen bared her teeth, chest heaving, eyes scanning for her prey—because for her, the fight wasn't over. Not until Mira lay motionless.
A shift of rubble drew every gaze.
Mira dragged herself out of the shattered chamber.
She did not rise quickly or theatrically. She pulled herself out like a survivor climbing from a grave, shoulders shaking with exhaustion, blood matting her hair, her right arm limp and useless. Half her clothing was shredded, a long slash across her ribs leaking bright red.
But she moved with purpose.
With precision.
With cold, surgical defiance.
Her gaze locked onto Wolf Queen.
And for a moment—for a strange, fleeting moment—the queen hesitated.
Jade let out a slow whistle. "Well hell… she's still standing."
Jake's jaw hung open. "HOW?! SHE FOUGHT THAT THING ALONE IN THERE!"
Swift swallowed hard, eyes wide. "That shouldn't be possible…"
Shadeclaw gave a low, rumbling growl—not of hostility but of respect.
Danny's eyes followed Mira as she steadied herself on shaking legs. Her aura still burned, thin but sharp. Her stance—wounded as she was—remained perfect. Calculated. A blade waiting to strike again.
But Wolf Queen struck first.
With a blur of motion, she lunged across the nearest platforms, her claws ripping through the air with predatory rage. A fighter unfortunate enough to be standing between her and Mira barely had time to gasp before her claws caught his chest and hurled him into the void.
The teleporter beamed him out just before he disappeared.
Twenty-five.
Mira didn't flinch.
Two opportunistic fighters saw her reeling and moved in to finish the job.
Bad decision.
The first swung a knife toward her head. Mira dipped low, shifting the blade past her ear with her good hand and twisting her hips to launch him forward, breaking his knee on the platform edge. The second fighter lunged for her side—she caught his wrist with a precise motion and twisted until his arm snapped, a sharp crack sounding even over the roaring arena.
Both vanished as the teleporter activated.
Twenty-three fighters left.
Wolf Queen's glare sharpened. Mira had just stolen her kills.
The crack in the chamber widened behind the Queen's feet, releasing glowing dust into the air. The energy from the sealed duel seemed to seep outward now that the walls no longer contained it.
Another platform gave way under Swift.
He cried out, instinctively trying to conjure ice wings—nothing but stray frost sputtered out.
Danny sprang toward him without hesitation.
He caught Swift by the arm, hauling him onto sturdier ground as debris spiraled downward into the void.
Then Jake went flying again.
"AAAHHH—WHY IS THIS ALWAYS ME!?!"
Bumble boosted forward, engines sputtering.
"RESCUING JAKE AGAIN!"
Jake smacked into Bumble's chassis with a loud thunk. "I think I tasted my own memories…"
Danny steadied the collapsing tiles with another unconscious pulse. Stone beneath him morphed, reconnecting and realigning itself with unnatural precision.
Swift blinked, panting. "Danny… you… did you see what the floor just did?"
Danny looked down. The stone glowed faintly where his hand rested. He drew his hand away, and the light faded.
"I… guess the arena's repairs are working overtime," he said uncertainly.
Swift stared. "No, Danny. That was you."
Jake nodded wildly. "Yes. Yes it was. I swear he did that. Again. He keeps doing the thing and not knowing he's doing the thing."
Another tremor shook the arena.
The camera in the booth cut immediately to Jimmy and Julian.
Jimmy held the floating waffle—now spinning rapidly like a golden sawblade.
"Julian! IT'S EVOLVING!"
Julian crossed his arms, unimpressed. "Waffles do not evolve, Jimmy."
The waffle released a spark that lit Jimmy's note stack on fire.
Jimmy shrieked. "It's starting a WAR!"
Julian calmly patted out the flame with one hand and set the waffle aside like a misbehaving pet.
"Back to the combat."
The scene snapped instantly back to the battlefield.
Wolf King leapt down from the chamber's peak, landing with a sound like thunder breaking loose. His aura radiated outward in a wave that made the air blur. Fighters scattered like prey animals instinctively avoiding a predator's shadow.
His eyes swept across the survivors.
Shadeclaw lowered his head unconsciously.
Swift trembled, drained but defiant.
Jake hid behind Bumble.
Jade lifted both fists, grinning like a madman. "Alright then. Let's see what you've got, wolf boy."
Wolf King ignored the challenge. He only stared directly at Danny.
"Twenty-five," he murmured with a wolfish grin. "Let us thin the herd."
Danny didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Something deep in the arena rumbled—a distant echo that resonated inside Danny's chest.
Giga-Ronin stepped forward unexpectedly, targeting Wolf King with deliberate mechanical precision.
"TARGET PRIORITY ACQUIRED: WOLF ALPHA. INITIATING TACTICAL ENGAGEMENT."
The Wolf King's eyes lit with excitement.
"Yes. Come then, metal mountain."
Their collision shook the world. Metal slammed into muscle and bone with seismic force, sending shockwaves through the nearest structures.
Platforms fractured. Fissures zipped across the spiraling arena.
Two lesser fighters fell during the quake—one screaming, one unconscious.
The teleporter beams whisked them away.
Twenty-one.
Shadeclaw, fueled by rage and instinct, defended his turf as two high-level werewolves—arrogant ones with similar builds—challenged him. He roared with feral pride and launched into them with brutal efficiency. Slice. Crush. Throw. The two werewolf elites fell under Shadeclaw's claws.
Nineteen.
Mira limped across a collapsing tile, eyes locked on Wolf Queen. The Queen snarled, preparing to pounce again, fully intent on finishing the woman who had dared to stand against her inside that chamber.
But the arena lurched inward.
A sudden tilt forced both Mira and the Queen to brace themselves on different platforms. Their paths diverged as stone retracted, cutting off the immediate rematch.
The Queen hissed in frustration.
Mira wiped blood from her lip with her good hand.
"Not yet," she whispered, though no one could hear her.
Giga-Ronin and Wolf King slammed into each other again, sending a deep pulse rolling through the arena. Stone cracked everywhere.
And then—
A light glowed beneath Danny's feet.
A soft gold.
Faint.
Warm.
Unmistakable.
Danny froze.
The golden glow pulsed again, brighter this time, spreading in a delicate ring outward from where he stood. The arena's floor responded—stone tightening, cracks mending, dust gathering itself back into form.
Swift's breath caught.
Jake's eyes bulged.
Shadeclaw howled as the air vibrated like struck metal.
Jade stopped mid-swing.
Wolf Queen looked sharply toward Danny, something primal stirring in her instincts.
Mira narrowed her eyes in sudden interest.
Wolf King paused mid-attack, inhaling deeply.
There was power here.
Not aura.
Not magic.
Not chi.
Something… older.
Something the arena recognized.
Danny stared at his glowing feet, heart pounding.
"What… was that?"
The arena trembled again.
This time, it trembled in answer.