Wolf clutched his bleeding side, his body trembling from the pain but his glare locked on Armada, rage twisting behind the wolf-shaped mask. "Yeah, you did get me," he hissed through clenched teeth, "and that's all you're getting!" He lunged, sword flashing upward in a vicious arc. Armada bent backward just in time, the blade slicing past his nose. A smug grin spread across the Demon Lord's face.
"Oh, this is fun now. But don't push yourself too much," he said mockingly, gesturing toward the gash in Wolf's side with the tip of his dao. "That's a nasty wound."
Wolf straightened, one hand still pressed to his injury while the other raised his longsword toward Armada. "Real funny. You gonna keep flapping your damn mouth or actually fight?" he barked.
Armada tilted his head, feigning thought before shrugging. "Do I even have to anymore? You'll bleed out soon enough… or I can just do this."
He drew his pistol in one fluid motion and fired—not at Wolf, but at a nearby house. Wolf moved instantly, blurring across the street, his sword flashing as he intercepted the round midair. The impact was brutal. The force slammed him sideways into the wall of the same house he'd just protected, dust billowing from the impact as he hit the ground hard. His wound tore open further, blood darkening the street beneath him.
Armada burst into laughter. "I thought you said that one hit was all I was getting—what happened to that?" he jeered.
"I meant with your sword, dipshit," Wolf snarled, dragging himself back to his feet just as Armada aimed again.
Another shot rang out. Wolf dashed forward, intercepted the bullet, and was sent skidding backward across the cobblestones. He dug his sword into the ground to stop himself, but his breathing grew heavier, the pain spreading like fire.
"Now you're just adding arbitrary rules!" Armada called out gleefully before firing again. Wolf blocked—but the impact worsened the bleeding.
"Making excuses to make yourself sound better for losing!" Another shot. Another desperate block. This time Wolf crashed into a wall, his vision swimming.
Armada fired again, laughing louder each time. "Keep going! Keep trying! You'll die eventually—and painfully!" The next shot came before Wolf could even brace himself, the bullet slamming against his sword and sending him stumbling to his knees. His vision blurred, his mask fogged with shallow breaths, and his hands trembled around the hilt slick with blood.
"Goddess, do you ever shut up!?" he spat, glaring up at the grinning Demon Lord.
Armada raised a brow, amused. "Still defiant?"
Wolf exhaled sharply, his tone flat but biting. "Seriously, you never stop monologuing. You just go on and on about how much fun you're having—torturing me, talking about killing me—when you could've done it ages ago. What's the deal, huh? Does all this talk make you hard or something? Make you nearly go in your pants?"
Armada froze for a second, eyes widening before his confusion cracked into laughter. It started as a chuckle and built into a full, roaring laugh that echoed through the empty streets—until he abruptly stopped. His smile dropped into a glare as he leveled his pistol at Wolf's head.
"Okay… you're dying right now," he said coldly.
Wolf looked up, exhausted but still unshaken. "Finally. Took you long enough." His voice was steady, almost casual. "Not that it matters. I've still got the last laugh, you fucking idiot."
He wasn't resigning himself to death—he was baiting him. *An angry Demon Lord is a predictable Demon Lord,* he thought as he gripped his sword tighter, bracing for what he planned to do the moment Armada fired.
But before the trigger was pulled, something caught Armada's eye. A faint glimmer in the sky. He turned his head slightly.
"What the hell…?"
Wolf followed his gaze. Four arrows hung in the air above the city—motionless, glinting faintly against the smoke-filled sky.
"Wait… that's—" Wolf began, his voice trailing into a quiet grin beneath the mask.
The arrows suddenly moved, scanning the city like hunting falcons, before locking onto their targets. In a blink, all four streaked off in different directions—one of them whistling straight toward Armada at terrifying speed.
"Shit!" Armada cursed, diving aside just as the arrow tore past his head with a shriek of air. He spun around to watch it curve midflight and turn back toward him.
"What is this!?" he shouted, slashing the air as he dodged again. The arrow banked, turned, and chased him relentlessly.
Armada leapt onto a rooftop, sprinting across the tiles as the arrow carved through the air behind him. He could feel the danger radiating from it—if it hit, he was finished.
Wolf watched the chase from the ground, his strength fading, his vision dimming. "So… she's in town, huh?" he muttered, before his legs gave out and he collapsed onto his back. His sword slipped from his fingers as he stared up at the smoky sky.
"Don't like you anymore," he whispered faintly, "but thanks, Goddess…"
The last thing he saw was the distant flash of the arrow cutting through the clouds—then everything went black.