Anzu stood right in front of Alza, exuding an air of confidence far more potent than he ever did before. Her jaw clenched, her muscles tightened, and her skin prickled, painfully attuned to every nuance in the air. Alza braced herself for an impending attack she was certain was going to come. However, the attack she had prepared herself for did not materialize immediately. Instead, Anzu began to speak.

"I don’t have any ill will towards you Alza, but a mission is a mission."

"And that’s precisely why I must fight you, Anzu. Your mission is the problem."

"You know what? I never understood why you chose to betray the family, Alza. You had everything: power beyond imagination, the admiration of countless souls, and the prestige of being the foremost amongst the demon princes. But you left it all behind, all because of a mortal man no less."

Alza shot a glare towards Anzu. "Leave my husband out of this, Anzu. This is between you and me."

"You’re right, it is." Anzu slowly approached Alza, his walk slow and deliberate. "Like I said before, sister, either join me or I’ll drag you back."

"If that’s how things are, Anzu, then you leave me no choice."

With a swift motion, Alza stomped her foot against the ground. In response, two colossal chunks of earth erupted from the ground and hung suspended in the air. They surged forward with surprising swiftness, hurtling toward Anzu, who remained undeterred. Just as the massive projectiles closed in, Anzu unleashed twin pillars of lightning, obliterating the approaching boulders before they could reach him.

A sardonic grin crossed Anzu's face as he scoffed, "Earth magic? Really? I did not expect such weakness to come from you, Alza."

Alza ignored his remark and leapt backwards. She then brought her hands together, conjuring a pair of gigantic stone slabs which slammed themselves together, crushing Anzu in between. But once again, her brother shrugged off the attack without seeming injured in the slightest.

"Damn it all!" Alza cursed out loud.

"It’s futile, sister. You cannot defeat me with mortal magic." Anzu shrugged.

"Don’t force my hand, Anzu. It will not end well for either of us."

"On the contrary, Alza. That is precisely why I am here."

In the blink of an eye, Anzu vanished in a blinding flash of lightning, leaving Alza momentarily disoriented. Her senses barely had time to register what had just happened before a searing pain coursed through her back, caused by a thunderbolt that violently lanced through her spine. Anzu then manifested back out of thin air. The demon prince effortlessly swept Alza into his grasp, and then, he extended one knee.

"If you will not take this battle seriously, then this is the end for you."

Anzu brought Alza down onto his knee, aiming to crush her spine. Frantically, Alza summoned a protective shield of earth at the last possible moment, interposing it between herself and the impending blow. Despite her desperate efforts to mitigate the damage, the crushing force proved overwhelming. With a loud crunch, Alza let out a blood curdling screech as her spine cracked.

***

Once he felt that Alza had gone limp, Anzu tossed her onto the ground. He had expected so much more from his sister, and yet, it seemed that he had pushed her too far. It was a pity, but an inevitable outcome.

After waiting for a few minutes to see if Alza would get back up, Anzu breathed out a sigh and approached her body. Though she was barely a challenge, Alza was still a demon prince. She would need to be buried with honors no matter what.

Anzu stood just in front of Alza’s lifeless body and smiled. He placed his foot barely an inch away from his sister’s face. It was a gratifying feeling, to see one of the most powerful scions of the demon royal family fall to such a pathetic state. For so long, Anzu had to live behind Alza’s shadow, but not anymore. For once, he had won.

Anzu knelt down and placed his hands on Alza’s sides to hold her up. However, the moment he touched her, he felt a chill run down his spine.

"Get your filthy hands off of me."

Instinctively, Anzu jumped backwards. He could feel his blood running as sweat began to drench his body.

Alza's body writhed and contorted while blood chains manifested around her, trying to constrict her. Yet, the chains soon snapped and cracked like dry twigs as an ominous power emanated from her form. Alza's limbs twisted at unnatural angles, bones reshaping themselves like molten wax as her wounds knitted themselves together. With stiff, unnatural motions, she slowly managed to get herself to stand. She had completely recovered, not a single wound remained on her body.

Anzu's breath caught in his throat as he saw the color of Alza's eyes. Gone was the pathetic hue of mortal blue, replaced by a familiar violet palette that burned with a demonic glow. Those were the eyes of a greater demon, the apex of demonkind.

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"It has been some time, Anzu." Alza said.

"S-sister, it is good to see that you are…in good health." Anzu stuttered.

"Not too bad if I do say so myself, especially after what you did to my mortal half."

"My apologies. Part of my mission was to push you to the limit, so that you would reveal your true self."

A wicked grin plastered itself on Alza’s visage. "That’s all well and good, but what you did to me was unforgivable."

"Come now, sister. You have returned to your true self now, isn’t that good enough?"

"A few things." Alza said, as she held up three fingers. "Firstly, as you may have noticed, this is only a partial transformation at best."

Alza then lowered one of her fingers. "Secondly, I won’t be in this state for too long, perhaps a few minutes at most before my other half takes over again."

"I…I see," Anzu stuttered nervously. "But…why are you telling me this?"

Alza lowered another finger so that only one remained. "Because I will kill you, Anzu. And I will do it long before my other half takes over."

"Wait, we can talk- "

Suddenly, a massive bone spike burst from the ground, impaling Anzu straight through the chest and suspending him high in the air. Alza advanced confidently toward her brother, her arms folded in a show of mocking confidence. "I recall you saying something earlier about needing to take things seriously, it’s about time you listened to your advice, no?"

Anzu's chest heaved with a pained gasp, his muscles twitching as he casted a resentful glare in Alza's direction. "You won’t make a mockery out of me!"

The once-clear skies darkened as countless rain clouds converged until they blotted out the sun. A deafening clap of thunder resonated across the arena, and from the skies, a bolt of lightning arced down: striking Anzu directly. An explosive burst of brilliant light erupted from his form, sending coruscating energy firing in all directions. Anzu's body contorted and grew larger, until it resembled that of a massive horned wolf.

With another flash of lightning, Anzu shattered the earthbound spike that had impaled him. He descended to the ground with a thud, his ascended form fully unleashed.

With a thunderous howl, Anzu surged forward, closing the gap between himself and Alza in an instant. Lightning crackled around his body, infusing every sinew and enhancing his speed. His claws sliced through the air, and in an electrifying flash, he pierced Alza right through her torso. However, instead of drawing blood, Alza’s body dissolved into a cloud of iridescent butterflies, leaving Anzu's claws empty.

Anzu's frustration boiled over, and he slammed the ground with a ferocious intensity. Waves of electric energy surged through the arena, creating dazzling arcs of lightning that danced with his turbulent emotions.

"You stand no chance against me if you can't even hit me, brother," Alza taunted.

Anzu snapped his gaze toward the source of the voice. He saw Alza in the center of the arena, standing with a smug grin on her face. "What’s wrong, Anzu? Has it been so long since we met that you forgot my abilities?"

The energy around Anzu’s body crackled with a drastically heightened intensity after he heard Alza’s words. He anchored himself firmly, his clawed feet gripping the ground with unwavering resolve. Inhaling deeply, he began to charge his next attack, his jaws soon crackled with intensifying energy. Alza watched on with a disarming calmness, as if she had nothing to fear.

In the face of her apparent indifference, Anzu unleashed his onslaught: a radiant lance of explosive lightning erupted from his jaws. The attack was so devastating that it carved out a large hole through the colosseum, leaving in its wake a trail of destruction that consumed not only the arena but any hapless structures or people unfortunate enough to cross its path.

In the aftermath, nothing much remained but for debris and plumes of smoke. Anzu sniffed the ground to check for where Alza was. Though she was not visible, again, he could still feel a tingle on his fur. She was still alive.

"You should try harder, brother. Maybe then you can actually land something on me."

Anzu turned his head and snarled. Alza was there, still standing, still mocking him. Without even a moment’s hesitation, Anzu surged towards her, a formidable force of nature in motion. He leaped with such force that the very ground trembled beneath his thunderclap-like takeoff, leaving deep fissures in its wake.

Yet, as he descended upon Alza, Anzu was abruptly yanked backward by an irresistible, and unseen force. He fought desperately against the invisible current, his claws gouging into the earth to no avail. The relentless pull only intensified, dragging him farther away, even stripping away the ground, pelting him with a barrage of rocks and debris.

"Try to look up, I think I’m just about ready to make a new moon."

When Anzu finally saw what was above him. He saw his life flash before his very eyes. A black sphere the size of an apple hovered high above the colosseum. He could only watch helplessly as chunks of soil were rapidly dragged from the ground and drawn toward the black sphere, creating an outer shell that grew larger as more debris was pulled out of the ground. Anzu soon realized that he had to destroy the black sphere if he wanted to stand a chance at living. With grim determination, he began charging a surge of lightning for a desperate counterattack.

"You mentioned earlier that I could not defeat you using mortal magic, brother. We’ll see about that now."

With a flick of her wrist, Alza summoned a barrage of massive rocks that hurtled towards Anzu. Though he tried to struggle as best he could, Anzu found himself incapable of moving, let alone dodging. The rocks collided with his body, knocking him off balance and slamming him against the coliseum wall. Without his foothold on the ground, Anzu was then subjected to the pull of the obsidian sphere above.

Anzu dangled helplessly in the air, trapped and immobilized. His every limb remained frozen, and he could barely even open his jaws. All he could do was watch as Alza clasped her hands together far down below.

In an instant, a multitude of colossal stones manifested out of thin air, each one flying toward the malevolent black sphere with rapid speeds. Anzu was forced to suffer from the relentless fusillade of rocks that rammed against his prone form. Parts of the colosseum were torn apart, magnetically drawn into the sphere, further hammering into Anzu's trapped form. Now, he was enclosed completely in a shell of debris and earth. He could not move, he could not breathe, he could not do anything at all.

But suddenly, Anzu felt the rocks and debris around him loosen. And with every second that passed, he could move more and more of his limbs. The first one he could move was his right hind leg, and then his left, and then both of his front legs. This was the moment Anzu had been waiting for, the opportunity to break free. Mustering the last bits of his strength, Anzu unleashed a shockwave of lightning and burst out of his prison.

In a flash of lightning, Anzu dropped back to the ground. When he saw that Alza no longer had her violet hued eyes, he unleashed a triumphant howl.