Lagos commanded his four iron golems to attack Canis. Despite their massive size, the golems moved with surprising agility. Canis grew more serious, weaving through the flurry of incoming blows. The ground beneath them began to break apart from the relentless impacts of the iron giants.
From within the fifth golem's head, Lagos observed calmly as his army did the work. Canis didn't just dodge—he parried with his sword, watching closely for an opening. When the moment came—when all four golems had clustered together unknowingly—Canis grinned. "Got you," he muttered.
With a single horizontal slash through the air, a wave of sword energy erupted. The strike cleaved clean through the four iron golems at once, separating their torsos from their legs. Trees behind them were also split in two. The dismembered golems crashed down. Canis chuckled.
But Lagos called out, "It's not over yet."
The severed golems began to regenerate, rejoining their broken parts and standing up once more. Canis sighed. "If they keep regenerating like this, it'll take forever. Guess I'll have to burn them down to the atom."
From his left hand, Canis summoned a thick, black smoke. Lagos's eyes lit up in anticipation. Finally, he would witness Canis's true power—the infamous darkness that devoured everything.
Canis coated his sword with the black smoke, which surged and danced around the blade like a living flame. "Existential Eraser: Chaos," he chanted.
Now fully ready, Canis lunged forward at blinding speed. He slashed one of the golems diagonally from shoulder to hip, cleaving it in two once again. This time, however, the result was different. Instead of regenerating, the darkness began to spread throughout the golem's body. Slowly but surely, its entire form disintegrated—consumed by the black flame—until nothing remained.
Lagos stood frozen, stunned by the sight. The golem he had summoned—split cleanly, then completely gone—left behind nothing but a faint trail of black mist slowly dissipating into the wind.
"So... this is the darkness that devours everything," he muttered, half in awe, half in fear.
Canis watched him in silence. Behind the veil of rising black smoke from his blade, his eyes carried an odd glint—not pride, but... pity?
"Darkness, huh..." he said softly, as if mocking a truth left unsaid. "Let's go with that."
Lagos frowned. Something about that answer felt off—but he couldn't quite place what.
"You don't deny it?"
Canis chuckled. "It's not the wolf's job to explain why its shadow frightens the sheep."
Then, he turned slightly, twirling his sword slowly, the smoke still coiling around it.
"But you were right about one thing, Lagos." He stepped forward. The ground beneath his feet shimmered faintly—as if softening, melting from invisible heat.
"What you don't understand... is often what burns the most."
---
In the distance, the sounds of Shina's battle with Cerberus still thundered across the land. The earth trembled with each clash of fang and magic, whipping up miniature storms in their wake.
Elsewhere, Easton stood, panting heavily. His body bore light wounds, but his eyes remained sharp, locked onto the enemy before him—Gultor, now shackled by glowing energy cuffs that crackled like lightning, binding him tightly in place.
Gultor gritted his teeth, struggling in vain against the overwhelming force restraining him.
"So this… is the strength of a subordinate of the Black Death," he growled. Sweat streamed down his face. "If you're this strong… I can't even imagine how powerful your boss must be."
Easton took a deep breath, stepping closer with slow, deliberate footsteps. His voice was calm, edged with a quiet severity.
"You don't have to imagine." He lifted a hand, tightening the grip of the energy cuffs.
"Soon, you'll meet him yourself."
Gultor's eyes widened slightly as Easton's expression turned steely.
"And when that moment comes..." he added coldly, "what happens to you will be entirely up to him."
Thunder rolled across the skies. Far away, in a field scorched by power, Canis slashed with a blade shrouded in "darkness." The age was shifting—and that day, the Bloodminers would come to understand the true meaning of fear.
Lagos sat helplessly, his body slumped and exhausted, gazing up at Canis. From where he lay, the figure of the man loomed like a mountain—standing atop a jagged elevation formed by the aftermath of their battle. The sword in Canis's hand, cloaked in writhing darkness, fluttered like a black flag in the wind. A sight that could terrify even the bravest of warriors.
"Enough games," Canis said, his voice firm and cold. "If you still wish to continue, it will end with your death."
Lagos looked up in disbelief, questioning Canis's threat. Hadn't he said earlier that he wanted to capture him alive?
Canis smiled faintly, sensing the doubt in Lagos's eyes.
"You underestimate me," he said. "I'm not a noble hero, sacrificing myself for the good of others."
"I don't like forcing people to obey. But if you refuse to surrender, then killing you is simply the best solution."
He raised his sword, preparing to unleash a finishing blow—one final strike that would end Lagos's resistance for good.
Yet even as he prepared, a thought crossed Canis's mind. "Shina Mariposa... she's going to find some annoying way to declare her victory over me after this."
After all, Shina had always chosen to kill the Bloodminers without hesitation, while Canis insisted on capturing them alive. Their ideals stood at odds, even now.
But then—he felt it.
A disturbance. A pulse of something terrible coming from where Shina was still fighting Cerberus. A sinking feeling gripped his chest, sharp and undeniable.
In that fleeting moment of distraction, Lagos vanished.
Somehow, without warning or trace, he escaped—leaving nothing but the whisper of air and the bitter taste of unfinished business.
{Chapter 33}