“Vulper!” Elise called out, “The hell are you doing here?”

A mix of hair and shards of what appeared to be rock fell from Vulper’s torso and from his sleeves, blowing across the ground. His attention immediately moved from Leon to the two masked figures still in observation some distance away, then with a swift glance and head turn backwards to Elise.

“{She’s been fighting hard now hasn’t she?}” he swiftly thought to himself, “Well if anything, I’m here to bail out my former subordinate.”

The two masked forms stood as they were, though fully taking Vulper into their considerations as they faced him down. The first to speak was none other than Xander who took a step forward, a mild one however, “I’m surprised to see him down here.”

“Here to save the girl no doubt. Interesting. But what a pity, it won’t amount to much with the boss here,” Chromwell chuckled.

Rock collapsed as Leon dropped from the wall, landing with rocks tumbling with crashes behind him. Onto one knee, then up on both feet as he balanced himself out. Golden eyes stared back at both Vulper and Elise, sharp and fierce with a burning inferno hidden behind. Sweat dripped slowly from Elise’s forehead as she looked back into the abyss of darkness, “{He hasn’t changed. If anything that just pissed him off more.}”

“So… this is the one causing you so much trouble. Honestly Bakuuva, I expected more out of you. Heh, I’ll handle this from here on I suppose,” Vulper called back, now slowly walking forward with his steps echoing.

“Are you mad? That’s Leon, the Hive’s defacto leader! You’re far from a match for him Vulper!” she yelled back.

“We’ll see,” he chuckled in response once more, still moving forward as Elise watched from behind.

Leon’s gaze tightened as Vulper came near, his head slightly leaning ahead with a slighter tilt to it, “This one is…”

“I am Vulper, Vulper Arloo Gornetraof, leader of Clan Vulfax- the true masters of this entire valley region, and now your eternal enemy. I’d advise you to get on your feet and ready up as I will not go as easy on you as Elise has,” Vulper replied back while still casually walking ahead step by step.

“Hmph, you’re that one that Arkaza reported on awhile back, Azala’s former second in command or some nonsense. One of his tops at the very least. I fail to see what you can hope to accomplish here as a lowly Drachen,” Leon replied.

“You fucked with MY clan, you and your damn Hive. You messed with a lot of lives in the valley and took countless either directly or indirectly. A bunch of cowards set to rely on the true power of Drachen for world domination; but we are not slaves, we are not slave to anyone besides ourselves, making ourselves our own masters! And right now every fiber of my being is telling me to destroy you for what you’ve done!”

Pitch black lines immediately began to spread from the back of Vulper’s neck, cruising along in swirls and straights. The lines quickly ran up and down his entire torso, moving swiftly around and up his face, even through his eyes to some extent. Leon’s own gaze intensified while any sign of amusement swiftly faded way. Still on the move, Vulper continued to approach.

“You’re one of the ones responsible for Azala’s death in the grand scheme of things as I recall from Shadow’s report. You’re the one that turned Vulfax against Azala. So be it. For causing us problems of our own, I think it fair that I should eliminate you Vulper Arloo Gornetraof.”

“That’s if you can,” Vulper replied.

His body immediately doubled in size, the slack of his garments disappearing to sudden stretching. Leon’s eyes widened. Before him moved Vulper, scales like that of a lizard now spanning around from his neck- up and down his face, across his torso. Claws stretched from where finger nails had ended, fur puffing out in various patches across his visible body.

His teeth pointed out as a breath of smoke drifted from his mouth as his transformation continued. Finally Vulper came to a halt, a good portion of his body now changed. Fur covered the sides of his face and his chin; though stopped short of the core of his face. His chest out of all of his torso remained with marks rather than scales or fur; but that was minor compared to what had changed.

Leon’s gaze softened into a mild scowl, a bit of humor seeping through as black lines began to spread across his body as well. The lines burned their way up and down his face as his grin returned, his pupils slitting slightly while his own teeth bore fangs now, “Heh heh- so be it Drachen. If you insist on defying me, then I will eliminate you.”

The air around both burst as if twin jets had jumped from zero to mach one in an instant. A follow up blast of air flew, followed by a nasty blast of pure pressure. Rocks shattered and winds erupted around the chamber. Both Xander and Chromwell threw their arms in front of their masks as rocks pelted them, their robes flapping uncontrollably with their sleeves even blowing back to reveal their arms.

Elise stood with a Light Barrier before her though force still seeped through. An arm stood between her own face and the force. She squinted as the forces flew, looking ahead to what had just occurred. Leon’s right knee had collided midair with Vulper’s, a slight static radiating around the impact which was the epicenter of the pressure. Both glared into each others glare as their hair violently flapped.

Quickly Leon threw a punch via his right fist, while Vulper’s left hand simply flew up. Another, albeit weaker, shock wave broke as Vulper completely blocked the punch by Leon.

“What?!” Leon growled.

His left arm swung out at Vulper’s face, to which the Drachen Warrior ducked in evasion as their knees parted. Next came another kick from Vulper, this time upward aimed at Leon’s jaw; though the dark warrior took a single step back in evasion of that. Both flew straight at one another again, this time beginning an exchange of punches and blocks. Several of Leon’s blows became blocked by Vulper’s arms, while several of Vulper’s were blocked by Leon’s hands.

Their elbows slammed together in the next bout, followed by another explosion of pressure which sent both away from one another. Leon growled as he drifted back, right arm up with hand flexed. Dark Energy rods immediately formed up and launched forward with a wave of that arm for Vulper. Vulper looked ahead with a grin, Leon’s eyes widening once again.

The lines expanded at Vulper’s center, releasing more and more scales. His bulk bulked up further while he took a breath. With a literal flash of his eyes, now amber, he exhaled a massive cloud of fire straight into the path of the rods and Leon himself. The rods of energy shattered, exploding within the blaze which swept right into Leon. The latter’s hands clasped together as he then exhaled, a vibrant jet of water leaving his mouth.

Indeed a stream of water flew from Leon’s mouth as if it were a hose, quickly exploding outwards into a wall as it touched the ground. Both water and fire collided, steam rocketing outward to fill the room. In another brief instance, a shadowy form appeared on the water before Leon. He blinked as the figure swung a fist- clear through the water wall flew Vulper’s own fist which slammed straight into Leon, throwing him back.

Another crash, the wall of water collapsing, the fire ceasing. Leon skid down the rock wall behind him, landing firmly on his bottom with one leg down, the other arched and pulled in. A cough left him while his own hair flopped in front of his eyes.

“How’s that Hive Scum?! Do you want to continue with this?” Vulper yelled out.

From behind, Elise stared in disbelief simply, all quivering having left her body by that point, “{Since when did Vulper get so strong? This is unreal!}”

His head flew back, his left eye with a pulse. A sphere of Dark Energy formed up and immediately fired from before Leon’s pupil, swelling in size as it traveled. Elise looked ahead, quivering again, “He’s powering his attack up after he fired it?”

“HYAAAA!” Vulper yelled out, swinging his right fist forward straight into the sphere.

“What?!” Leon spat.

The sphere came to a halt and smashed itself in before firing straight off to the left of Leon, crashing into the wall with a blast. More rock tumbled off and crashed onto the floor kicking up even more dust that drifted out into the room. Leon looked to that left, then back ahead to Vulper who stood at a distance away.

“This is impossible- when we surveyed Vulfax all those years ago, there was no one stronger than Azala. Azala was nothing compared to this in his prime short of his new powers. You’re far beyond that- how?!” Leon blurted.

“Your intel wasn’t wrong. At that time, there probably was no one stronger than Azala. The reason is because long ago before you ever approached us, Azala had sealed my power away.”

“What?” Leon growled.

Elise blinked once more as she looked on. Vulper gave a nod to Leon and resumed, “My power easily surpassed Azala’s before that time, in fact if I had my full ability during that final battle, I could have handled Azala myself instead of letting Elise do it. He had my true potential sealed when I approached him to join Vulfax, a move to make sure I would never betray him or the clan. Thing is, once he died, that seal degraded.”

Vulper’s arms lowed and as they did so, the coat he wore began to slide from his shoulders off. The coat flapped as it fell from his body, revealing a muscular yet slim-ish frame covered in scales with some fur along the arms and sides. Spikes immediately began to protrude from Vulper’s upper back, heading back towards Elise, stopping at a few meters out. The spikes opened up, a membrane with more spikes folding outwards- eventually taking the shape of large bat-like wings covered in scales.

Fur drifted along his back and fell from his sides, a bit of fur forming at the top joints of the wings as genuine spikes protruded from the bend. They flapped out, full length easily double that of a normal human’s length. Next came a tail that protruded from above his waist band, flying around and slowly wrapping slightly around his legs as more fur protruded. His own boots shredded clear off revealing lizard-like feet near black in color.

His claws increased in length and size, the sharp tips becoming greater. Finally horns had begun to protrude, one to the left arched up and another to the right arched down without the tip. His pupils slit, appearing much like a Dragon’s. The whites of his eyes shifted to a dark green while the cornea became bright yellow. A slight fire of red and orange grew around the pupils, crackles of the colors dancing in his eyes.

Elise stepped back two paces quickly, then a third, her mouth hung open. Leon’s eyes even had begun to shake slightly, wide in disbelief. The arms of both Xander and Chromwell swung away, the former wide eyed and the latter’s not at all visible. At the center of the room there stood Vulper, fully transformed at last with hair and fur flowing, his tail whipping around and his wings stretching.

He gazed forward upon Leon, snarling ever so slightly with sharpened fang-like teeth visible, “You and your cohorts destroyed Vulfax. You reduced it from a once proud clan to a mindless array of chaos and destruction. You all drove my subordinates, ney, my people- to their deaths! For that I will not forgive you. Now I will show you the true might of a TRUE Drachen of entirely PURE BLOOD!”