Duko didn’t even seem to notice Grey’s presence. At the very least, he didn’t look. He didn’t need to.

He kicked at one of the spikes of black diamond in the ground, causing it to snap off and spin through the air.

He caught it with a flash of his hand, took a stomp toward Grey that shattered all the others, and then threw it like a missile from a rocket launcher.

BOOM.

The projectile left the tip of his finger with a boom. The sound barrier shattered, concentric circles of exploding air blasting Grey’s hair back before the spike of black diamond had even traveled through the air.

And it felt like in one instant, it was in the Dormaji’s hand, and in the next it was before him.

Grey’s focus seemed unprecedented, his eyes impossibly sharp. A white gold and red-gold aura radiated from him.

The moment Duko moved, he knew. He was going to have to combine Last Paladin and Dark Solveign.

But the spike was still faster than he expected.

He hurried to dodge backward, his body falling. An attractive force pulled his back to the ground, yanking him even faster.

He was still a step slow.

The head of the spike just barely passed his forehead, ripping through his skin and leaving a line of blood in its wake.

BANG.

Grey’s back hit the ground and he immediately rolled over to the side. His body spun, arcs of red-gold flooding around it as he leapt up to his feet, his toes gliding back along the ground.

A wild grin spread across his face.

BANG.

He slammed a hammer into the ground to stop his backward momentum, and in the blink of an eye, Duko was upon him.

"Let’s dance, you overgrown mountain. I’m gonna mine the shit out of you, then build your tombstone out of your own skin. How’s that sound?"

Duko’s fists became lined with black diamond spikes. His shoulders gained pauldrons, his kneecaps lining with the same spikes. The world pulsed into violent swirls of energy around him, an armor of his own creation manifesting in an instant of time.

By the time he was a step away from Grey, he was already armored from head to toe, looking more like a force of nature than a man.

He punched out, an air current slamming into Grey with greater and greater force long before it was even close to landing.

The corners of Grey’s eyes blazed with red-gold energy, he exhaled a breath so hot the fog around them sizzled.

He pulled on the hammer embedded into the ground for extra leverage, raising the other up high and slamming down with all the might he could muster.

A high pitched whistling sound filled the air as though a missile was cutting through the atmosphere.

BOOM.

Fist met hammer and the air exploded around them, a savage concussive wave spreading out with the two of them as the center.

Duko took a step back, but Grey withstood the entire impact, blood leaking from his lips. But he had kept a strong hold of the hammer embedded into the earth for a reason, his eyes blazing with battle intent.

Rather than moving back, he took a step forward, savagery lighting his very soul as he yanked his hammer out from the ground.

The earth around it split, a trench rocketing forward and splitting the ground between himself and Duko.

His timing was perfect. Duko’s back foot landing just as the trench reached his heel. The Dormaji’s balance was thrown off, his foot sank down, and then slipped under the lack of friction.

He quickly regained his bearings, but Grey had already closed in, continuing the motion of his hammer in an upward swing that clipped the bottom of the first ranked Dormaji’s chin.

In one move, he threw off Duko’s balance and rattled his skull. Bits of black diamond flew in a fine sprinkle, but Grey was far from done.

His second hammer finally recovered from their first exchange and he swung it down.

BANG.

His other hammer followed up, slamming into the side of Duko’s knee.

BANG.

"COME ON!" Grey roared, his hammers practically singing.

His bones shook, his wrists threatening to shatter with every blow, but he was absolutely relentless, slamming into Duko again, and again, and again.

The moment he caught an opening to take advantage of, he ripped it open with both hands, tearing it apart until it was a gaping hole.

It was like watching a man dig out another man’s grave, step by step, shovelful by shovelful.

Grey entered a flow, a relentless barrage singing from his heart. Horns and drums blared in his ears. French horns and trumpets, snare drops and high hats, a booming bass lit the foundation, the rhythm of his steps hissing a current that could have ridden atop and across any obstacle.

Duko’s pauldron shattered, his chest plate quickly following suit.

He fell to a knee, his fist slamming into the ground to shoot out a spike of black diamond between Grey’s legs, and yet it was like Grey didn’t even notice it.

His hips pivoted and the spike passed to his back, just barely catching his bomber jacket and not touching even the slightest bit of skin.

Blood fell down Grey’s forehead, licking up the contours of his nose and eyes and chin. He looked little different from a demonic being, the crimson filling the gaps between his teeth and dribbling down his jawline.

But even when it stung at his eyes, seeping into their white and almost making his gaze look like a pair of glowing rubies, he didn’t so much as blink.

"Since you miss her so much, go fuck her in hell."

Grey’s hammers slammed together, their heads meeting with Duko’s head at the very center.

There was nothing Duko could even begin to do as they met.

His skull was smashed into a bloody, gory mess.

Grey’s roar filled the skies again, tendrils of red-gold and white-gold blooming like the solar flares of a star around him.

—

[Champion "Duko" has been slayed by Champion "Udon’s Daddy"]