The sun had barely begun to dip beyond Havenmere's high stone walls when the uneasy stillness shattered.
A horn sounded — not the rough blare of warning, but a sharp, ceremonial note from the cathedral's highest spire. It meant only one thing: a public duel had been sanctioned by Havenmere's ruling order.
Tsukasa stood in the cathedral courtyard as the crowd gathered, their faces eager, fearful, hungry for blood. The High Priest had tried to dissuade him, but Tsukasa had simply smirked and said, "Some monsters don't wait for nightfall."
Across the stone floor, Renar Vaelion appeared, his white cloak exchanged for fitted battle leathers, gleaming silver clasps, and a blade longer than most men were tall strapped to his back. The cathedral's fading light caught the edges of his form, and for a moment, the human onlookers cheered.
But Elara and Lumi saw it — the faint, unnatural gleam in Renar's eyes. The predator's poise. The ghost of fangs behind a noble smile.
"You feel that?" Elara whispered.
"Yeah," Lumi murmured. "He's hiding something."
The duel began with no formalities. No call. Just a movement — Renar blurred forward, impossibly fast, faster than any ordinary warrior. His sword came down in an arc meant to cleave Tsukasa in two.
But Tsukasa was already moving. Magenta light flared, and the clang of steel against summoned energy echoed through the courtyard.
The force of the impact cracked the stones beneath their feet.
For a moment, they were locked — hero and stranger, power meeting power. Renar's lips curled into a grin, and his eyes, no longer fully human, gleamed crimson.
"You should have run when you had the chance," Renar hissed.
Then — with a sickening sound — his canines extended, sharpened, unmistakable.
"A half-vampire," the High Priest breathed in horror.
The revelation rippled through the crowd, but it was too late. Renar moved again, this time with the ferocity of a beast starved for centuries. His blows rained down with the strength of an Upper 9 — no, closer to a 10.
Tsukasa ducked low, twisting with a grace born of a thousand battles, his Decade Driver flickering into existence at his waist.
"This city's hero, huh?" Tsukasa muttered, snapping a card between his fingers.
"Let's see how you like someone who doesn't play fair."
A burst of magenta light swallowed him as he transformed, Havenmere's people screaming as the impossible form took shape once more.
Elara watched, her heart pounding. "He's not holding back this time."
And he couldn't afford to.
Because Renar Vaelion wasn't a man anymore.
He was a predator.
The cathedral courtyard was chaos.
Gasps and cries filled the air as the impossible spectacle unfolded. Tsukasa's armor gleamed with a sheen of magenta and black, runes along his breastplate pulsing with an eerie glow. The Decade Driver at his waist clicked, a new card sliding between his fingers.
"Final Attack Ride," Tsukasa muttered with a sharp grin, slotting it into place.
DE-DE-DECADE!
The air buckled around him, a surge of power warping the very ground as rows of glowing magenta cards materialized in a semicircle before him.
But Renar wasn't retreating.
No — he was laughing.
A twisted, cruel sound as his form shifted. The half-vampire's skin paled, his eyes now fully crimson. Dark veins laced his neck and jaw. When he moved, it was faster than the eye could follow, appearing beside Tsukasa in a blink.
"You think that will save you, outsider? I've slaughtered monsters stronger than you."
His sword swept in a deadly horizontal slash — Tsukasa barely blocked it, the impact forcing him back a step. The ground cracked, debris flying.
Tsukasa smirked under his helmet. "Yeah? Bet they didn't hit as hard as me."
Without warning, he shot forward. The magenta cards reacted to his movement, converging around him like blades. He vanished into them — and then burst forth with a blinding charge, his boot colliding squarely with Renar's chest in a burst of raw power.
Renar was launched back, crashing through a cathedral pillar with a bone-jarring crack.
The crowd screamed, scattering.
Elara grabbed Lumi's wrist, pulling her behind the cover of a broken wall. "It's worse than we thought. He's on par with the strongest demons."
"Upper 10 at least," Lumi whispered, her voice tight with horror.
From the rubble, Renar rose, blood trickling from his lip — and grinned wider.
"Finally," he growled. "I don't have to pretend anymore."
Dark mist swirled around him, his sword now emanating a malevolent red aura. The city's humans looked on in terror, their saintly hero revealing his monstrous truth at last.
Tsukasa leveled a hand toward him.
"I hope you're ready, Renar. 'Cause this is gonna hurt."
Renar blurred forward, his blade a streak of black and crimson. The ground cracked beneath his feet from the force of his movement, a predator's snarl curling his lips.
But Tsukasa was already moving.
In a fluid motion, his hand snapped to his waist, drawing a card between two fingers. The Decade Driver's plates slid open with a mechanical clack.
"Henshin."
The card slid into place with a sharp click, and the magenta light exploded outward.
Renar's sword slammed against the blinding wall of energy with a metallic shriek, sparks flying. Tsukasa's armored form solidified within the storm of color, the magenta lines of his suit gleaming like molten steel in the half-light.
Renar skidded back, cloak whipping behind him. His grin never left.
"Ah… so that's your trick," he chuckled, fangs glinting. "Doesn't matter."
His voice dropped, a feral hunger in it now.
"I'm still stronger. Stronger than those halfwit demons you killed. Stronger than any of your little magic tricks."
His eyes gleamed blood-red as his skin rippled, dark veins threading across his face. The air turned thick with the scent of old blood and death.
"You know why?" Renar hissed, voice low and sharp. "Because while you play at hero… I feed. Every night. On the weak, the lost, the desperate. And their power becomes mine."
He raised a hand, and Tsukasa saw it — the trail of crimson mist rising from the frightened townsfolk nearby, siphoning into Renar's palm.
Lumi gasped. "He's—he's feeding now!"
Tsukasa took a step forward, his stance tightening.
"I don't care what you are," he said coldly. "I've beaten worse."
Renar laughed, a cruel, echoing sound. "Then come, magenta stranger. Let's see how long you last before I drain you dry."
And with a burst of unholy speed, the battle began — Renar's strikes a whirlwind of bloodlust and power, Tsukasa's every counter a clash of magenta light against the monster's inhuman might. The fate of Havenmere balanced on the edge of their blades.
Continue....