"You didn't think for a moment…" Lucy's voice echoed coldly across the battlefield, her black wings folding in as her five spectral hands twitched with menace. Her gaze locked on Romero, whose chest rose with rage, claws stained in Sasaki's blood. "…why I came at the very moment you were about to kill Sasaki?"
Romero's lips curled into a snarl. His fury burned, but his mind raced. He turned his head just slightly, sending a telepathic command. Voldigo—take Fushira and get the hell out of here. Now.
But before Voldigo could even move, Lucy tilted her head with a mocking smile. "I told you before, didn't I? Permission. You need to take permission from me before I allow anyone to leave."
Romero stiffened. His thoughts trembled. What the… she can hear telepathy? His eyes narrowed. "Impossible… unless…" His jaw clenched. Of course. She's truly the sister of our lady. I should have expected nothing less.
Lucy's smirk faded. Her tone dropped into an iron command. "I'll say this once more. Give me Alfie, and I'll let you walk away." She extended a hand as her black blade snapped back into her grip from where it had felled the twin-headed wolves. Her eyes burned like obsidian fire. "Defy me, and I'll erase every last one of you."
"Sorrow, Lucy," Pascal growled, stepping forward. His wolf eyes glowed with defiance. "We don't take orders from you."
At that moment, Voldigo, clutching the barely conscious Fushira, formed a tiny teleportation circle with trembling hands. But Lucy's gaze instantly flicked to him. Her wings dissipated in a blink, her back splitting open as six spectral arms unfurled like whips. One snapped toward Voldigo with monstrous speed.
He barely managed to evade using switch mode, the spectral hand crashing into the ground where he had been, the impact ripping the forest floor apart.
Romero wasted no time. "Now or never! Pascal, Onamuchi—let's end this!"
The three of them surged forward.
Romero's body ignited in purple light, his ultimate bloodline form bursting to life in his bodytwin wolves rose inside him, his fangs shimmering. Onamuchi roared, his skin hardening to steel, arms expanding into massive iron extensions as his body radiated metallic Renshi. Pascal shed all restraint, his body twisting into his complete ultimate form—a towering wolf-man, claws razor sharp, legs bent like a predator, and eyes glowing with primal fury with his human face still same.
The three attacked in unison, switching at blinding speed, circling Lucy from all sides.
Lucy grinned. She split her sword into twin blades, while her six hands flared with dark Renshi. She met them head-on, blades clashing, hands striking, each impact shaking the ground.
Romero's claws clashed with two of her spectral arms. Onamuchi's metal fists slammed against a third. Pascal slashed wildly, his claws rending air, but Lucy's twin blades parried with surgical precision. Her counterstrikes forced them back step by step, their only saving grace being their mastery of switch mode.
And still—one of her hands never stopped reaching for Voldigo, harassing him, forcing him to focus on evasion while trying to protect Fushira.
"This pressure… it's overwhelming!" Pascal gritted his teeth, his arms trembling from the shockwaves of her strikes.
Lucy's voice rang sharp and cold. "Let me remind you who you're facing."
She suddenly unleashed it—Phase Two of her Dark Renshical Bloodline.
"Darkness Domain."
The ground split open in an instant. Darkness bled across the battlefield like liquid tar, the earth itself consumed. From beneath, skeletal arms surged upward, grasping ankles, dragging bodies down into the abyss.
"W-what is this?!" Voldigo cried as skeletal fingers latched onto his legs.
Lucy's eyes glowed, her blade raised. "Laidō technique… Nukitsuke Laidō."
A storm of swords—thousands upon thousands—rained down in a blinding flash. Each blade screamed with dark energy, piercing the ground, shredding trees, hammering down upon them.
Romero roared as the blades ripped into him, his wolves absorbing some of the damage but failing to block it all. Voldigo was shredded, blood spraying as he collapsed beside Fushira, barely alive. Pascal and Onamuchi endured, their ultimate forms shielding them, though sparks of pain still flashed across their eyes.
Lucy lowered her blade, the storm fading. "Romero. Voldigo. Your bloodline forms weren't enough. You've already lost."
But she didn't finish them. Instead, she switched forward, appearing where Fushira had fallen. Her spectral arms reached, stretching toward him.
Pascal and Onamuchi immediately moved, switching in front of her, fists colliding with her hands, forcing her back.
Lucy exhaled slowly, dismissing her swords. "Very well. I'll make this fair." She cracked her knuckles, her six hands flexing behind her. "No blades. Just fists."
Then she lunged.
The battlefield exploded into chaos.
Lucy fought barehanded, her fists a blur, her kicks whipping like blades, her six arms pounding like hammers. Pascal's claws slashed, Onamuchi's metal fists countered, and each collision sent shockwaves ripping across the forest, uprooting trees and shattering stone.
Pascal's roar suddenly split the air. He smashed both fists into the ground. "Wolf Howl—Earthbreaker!"
The earth quaked violently, splitting into a massive chasm that raced across the battlefield, all the way to the distant mountains. Sand flooded upward in a torrent, rivers of grit and stone bursting from the wound in the world.
Pascal raised both hands, controlling the sand like a expert of the earth . "Rise… and crush her!"
Giant fists, hammers, and blades of sand erupted, surging toward Lucy in a flood. She soared into the air, her wings unfurling again. But the storm of sand was endless, forcing her to weave between weapons, using switch mode and raw speed to survive.
From below, Onamuchi stood upon a levitating sandstone platform Pascal controlled. His arms extended into colossal steel whips, both aiming at Lucy's midsection.
Lucy's eyes widened, sensing Sasaki's faint Renshi fading below. So careless of me…
She dove downward, weaving between sand and stone, heading for the abyss where Sasaki had fallen. Pascal screamed, slamming both hands down. The ground itself split further, a massive pit opening beneath her, chunks of earth collapsing into the void.
"Now, Onamuchi!" Pascal roared.
Onamuchi's steel fist shot forward like a cannon, the timing perfect. Lucy twisted at the last second, the fist smashing past her, obliterating a huge section of the chasm wall. The pit deepened, earth crumbling into nothingness.
"Close the pit—NOW!" Romero roared, blood dripping down his body, his voice ragged.
Pascal grit his teeth, slamming his palms into the ground. The collapsing pit began to seal shut, sand roaring upward to fuse the chasm closed.
Lucy blurred through the storm, switching continuously, her speed almost blinding. She caught Sasaki in her arms just as the walls snapped shut. At the final instant, her body flashed with light-speed switch mode, blasting free from the collapsing earth.
She landed in the open, wings outstretched, Sasaki limp in her arms.
But Pascal wasn't done. He roared with fury, splitting a mountain of sandstone in two with his bare hands, sending the halves crashing down.
From above, titanic slabs of stone rained. From below, the buried sandstone exploded upward like spears. Lucy darted through, her six hands shredding stone, her body weaving, her pace relentless.
And then—Onamuchi appeared before her in midair, raised high by Pascal's sand platform. His colossal steel fist coiled back, glowing with Renshi.
"Die here, Lucy!" Onamuchi roared, swinging down with earth-shattering force.