"It's been a while since I used this form… you better watch out," Peaches said, his voice low but sharp. In his hands gleamed his two blades—each one forged from a different strain of his Renshi, one radiating with blinding light, the other humming with a darker undertone. The air around him pulsed with violent energy as if even the island trembled at his readiness.
Eren narrowed his eyes, planting his foot hard into the ground. "Let's get this over with!" he roared, launching forward at terrifying speed. His stormbreaker aura flared, boosting his body beyond its natural limits. He's not using switch mode… what's his plan? Peaches thought, tightening his grip as he prepared for impact.
Eren's arms flared with searing heat as molten Renshi coated his flesh. Two enormous blades burst outward from his elbows, stretching down past his fists. With a feral spin, his entire body became a blazing tornado tearing across the battlefield.
Peaches' eyes glowed. He raised his swords, but before he could intercept, one of his summoned Shadow Knight warriors leapt forward, blocking the tornado head-on with its pitch-black greatsword. The clash exploded into sparks. The other two knights lunged from both sides, blades slashing in unison.
But Eren wasn't done. He roared, spinning harder, faster—his blazing cyclone ripped through the air and sent all three knights flying, their armored forms crashing into the distant cliffs. In the same instant, Eren flickered—switching close, aiming to cleave Peaches in two.
Clang! Sparks flew. Peaches caught the strike with his radiant sword, locking blade-to-blade. Both fighters leaned in, gritting their teeth as raw Renshi clashed and screeched in the air.
Their duel erupted into a storm of steel. Peaches slashed high, low, and diagonal with both hands, each swing an elegant blend of offense and defense. Eren matched him strike for strike, his dual arm-blades grinding and parrying with relentless force. Their movements blurred, each one pushing the other to the brink of collapse.
"I want this fight fair and square," Peaches said between their furious clashes. He kicked one of the fallen knights back into the void, dismissing the rest with a pulse of light. His smirk cut across his face. "No shadows. Just us."
"Don't mock me, you bastard!" Eren snarled, fury boiling inside him. His blades grew hotter, every swing doubling in power as sparks erupted with each impact. The ground beneath them shattered, craters forming with every step.
Meanwhile, above them, Lucy clashed blades with Raven.
Lucy descended with a swift slash, her twin swords glowing with light Renshi. Raven barely conjured an ice shield to intercept, but the shield cracked instantly. Too strong…! Raven flickered into switch mode just in time as the strike shattered the ground beneath her.
Lucy pursued, flickering through the air like a phantom. Their blades collided mid-air, steel against claws of ice. Sparks and frost scattered across the battlefield. They blinked in and out of vision, switching so rapidly that only afterimages remained, each one searching desperately for an opening.
On the ground, Eren suddenly halted his duel. His body trembled with power as he activates his bloodline ultimate form. "Bloodline—Ultimate true Form!" he roared. Lava burst from his skin, and from the inferno rose a towering giant of flame, horns spiraling upward as its molten body cracked with heat.
The giant opened its mouth wide and unleashed a hail of blazing stones from above, each one slamming into the battlefield with earth-shattering force. Peaches sprinted across the broken island, dodging desperately as fire rained down like judgment.
Eren didn't stop. His blades detached from his arms, connected by molten ropes of lava. He spun them in wide arcs, turning the battlefield into a death trap of blazing whips and piercing strikes. The air itself burned as the ropes tore across the ground, smashing through rock and slicing through air with impossible speed.
For two relentless minutes, Peaches defended and dodged, his body sliced and scorched, but still he endured. Then at last—slash! Eren's flame-forged ropes found their mark. One blade slashed across Peaches' back, the other carved across his chest. Blood burst outward, staining the earth.
Peaches staggered, knees buckling, his swords trembling in his grip.
"PEACHES!!!" Lucy screamed from above.
The distraction was fatal. Raven's eyes glowed icy blue as she unleashed her Bloodline: ultimate True Form. A monstrous owl of jagged ice materialized behind Lucy and struck with colossal wings. The impact sent Lucy spiraling down, crashing hard into the dirt.
"Finish him!" Raven's voice cut through the chaos. She pointed toward Peaches. "He's too dangerous to be left alive!"
Eren smirked, directing the flame giant to smash Peaches with its colossal fist.
But before the blow could land, slash! Lucy appeared in front, both swords crossed in defiance. With a scream of effort, she cleaved the giant's molten fist in two, sparks and magma spraying across the field.
"What—?! She's still conscious after my attack?!" Raven gasped, disbelief shaking her voice.
Lucy switched close to Eren in a blur, her blades cutting in a frenzy. Eren stumbled back, struggling to parry as her speed overwhelmed his defenses. He dismissed the lava ropes, re-summoning his dual blades, but even then he was barely keeping up.
Raven joined the assault, switching behind Lucy with claws of jagged ice. Lucy twisted, parrying both front and back—her twin blades a whirlwind of defense and counterattack. The battlefield became a storm of clashing blades, Renshi sparks, and freezing shards.
"She's keeping up… with both of us?!" Eren barked, sweat pouring down his face. His grin sharpened. "Then let's see how long you last!" He doubled his power again, flames scorching higher as his movements blurred with ferocity.
Lucy flared her wings wide, launching herself into the skies to relieve the pressure. But Raven followed instantly, summoning her Bloodline: Chronicle Phase One.
"Mini Owls!" Raven shouted. Thousands of icy birds burst from mid air, swarming across the air like a blizzard with wings. Their screeches pierced the sky as they dove in droves, raining down on Lucy from all sides.
Lucy twisted, weaving through the storm, but there were too many. Frost bit into her shoulders and wings, slowing her flight as the swarm closed in—
And the battlefield was swallowed by fire and ice once more.