“Yes, I will be waiting for you at the Bears’ warehouse,” Drakthar responds to Xander’s comment about getting dressed first, having just challenged him. Once Drakthar has left Xander closes the door as quietly as possible before going over to his bag on top of the dresser where his clothes are.

“What are you up to?” Gwendolyn asks, causing Xander to flinch, not expecting her to have woken up.

“Drakthar just came by, he wants to fight now,” he explains hesitantly, knowing this isn’t something she is going to like hearing.

Gwendolyn sighs, “Okay, let me at least go with you”. Xander is taken aback by how well she is taking this, expecting a rant or at least a few harsh words in response to this news.

“Are you okay?” Xander asks once the two of them are dressed and begin to head out the door.

“I’m better than ever, why do you ask?” Gwendolyn responds cheerily.

“You know what? It doesn’t matter, as long as you're happy I’m happy,” Xander notes, grabbing her hand as the two of them exit the airship, heading towards the warehouse.

Once they arrive inside the steel building, they see Drakthar, Kali, Kayde, Fore, Lunette, and Jorge already there waiting for them.

“Hey guys,” Lunette waves at both of them.

“I had a lot of fun yesterday. It was a pretty good wedding… although it’s the only one I’ve been to, so I’m not sure I’m a good judge of that kind of thing…” she trails off.

“You ready?” Drakthar cuts off further pleasantries in order to get to his eagerly awaited rematch.

“I am,” Xander responds, grabbing his sword and meeting Drakthar in the arena before them.

Everyone watches as Drakthar dons his new set of power armor in front of them for the first time.

“Looks shinier than the last set he had,” Jorge comments before taking a drink.

“Yeah, what is that? It seems intriguing,” Lunette notes as she stares at Drakthar’s armor.

“It’s called power armor. It is specially designed for those in the Iron Legion, basically, it's just really good armor,” Kayde explains it briefly.

“So who do ya wager is going to take this? I’d be willing to put down two hundred on Drakthar,” Jorge asks the others. Everyone else is silent, nobody wants to take that exorbitantly high bet.

“What? No one thinks the kid will win?” Jorge tries to get one of them to take him up on it.

“Of course I want him to win… but I don’t think he will. Last time he barely won and Drakthar didn’t even have power armor, so I don’t think he will win this time,” Gwendolyn notes drearily, wanting to think Xander can pull it off, but doubting he can do so.

“Yeah, she’s right. I think Drakthar will win too,” Lunette agrees.

While the others are talking about the futility of Xander’s victory Kayde leans down to Fore and asks him his opinion, “Hey buddy, Xander and Drakthar are going to fight. Who do you think will win?”

“Huh? Why are they fighting, I thought you were all friends. Friends don’t fight,” Fore tells him.

“It’s okay, Drakthar just has a thing for challenging strong opponents and he lost to Xander last time so he needed to have a rematch,” Kayde begins to explain.

“Oh, I see,” Fore doesn’t really get it, but pretends like he does.

“So who will win?” Kayde reiterates the question.

“The scary guy, the other guy doesn’t want to fight, but the scary guy is willing to kill if he has to,” Fore gives his take, able to sense the overwhelming bloodlust that comes from Drakthar at the start of all his battle against opponents he deems worthy.

“Hey, what are you two talking about?” Lunette asks Kayde once she notices him talking with Fore.

“I asked him who he thought would win. He said Drakthar. It’s because Drakthar is willing to kill Xander, but Xander isn’t. I actually think if this was a fight between strangers that Xander would kill Drakthar in an instant, but because it isn’t I think Drakthar can win as well. It is too easy for Drakthar to win, he can kill Xander or just knock him out, but for Xander the only way he can win is to knock Drakthar out… and that isn’t easy, especially now that he has power armor again,” Kayde gives his own take on the situation.

“Are you saying we should be worried about Xander actually dying here?” Lunette asks out of caution.

“Xander can handle himself… but I would be lying if I didn’t say I was a little worried,” Kayde responds, contemplating if he should do something as well if things get out of hand.

“Hey, are you really okay with all of this?” Kali whispers to Gwendolyn as the others talk.

“No… but I have to stay true to what I said. I know this is something he wants to do so I’m going to support him, even if it scares me. I can’t control everything he does right?” Gwendolyn explains her feelings on her situation.

“Yeah, I want Drakthar to win, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to Xander either. It’s hard being us right now isn’t it?” Kali tries to chuckle a little to lighten the mood, but it doesn’t work, Gwendolyn just looks at the arena with worry all over her face.

“Have you done it yet?” Drakthar asks Xander as they are just about to begin.

“Nope,” Xander responds casually, knowing that Drakthar means if he has reversed time or not.

Drakthar takes a stym he prepared and resists the side effect of losing one’s sanity. He raises his axe, prepared to start this battle. Xander makes the first move, he knows Drakthar may be able to take more because of his new armor but it should slow him down as well.

Xander finds success at landing hits on Drakthar but they mean nothing, his sword clatters off the armor with every slash. Starting to realize the futility of his efforts, Xander recalls something Drakthar mentioned years ago about how he fought a member of the Iron Legion when put in this exact same situation.

Xander attempts to do as Drakthar did all those years ago, focusing his strikes on the joints of the armor but he soon realizes that Drakthar never forgot. The reason he had been so easy to hit is because Drakthar was focused on blocking an attack that was headed towards his knees.

“So you noticed,” Drakthar comments as he blocks another of Xander’s attempts to hit his legs.

“Looks like you picked the optimal strategy for defense… guess I’m kind of doomed aren’t I?” Xander comments as he tries again.

They continue on with this pattern for what seems like hours.

“Why haven’t you used any of your abilities yet?” Drakthar asks, curious as to why it seems like Xander is holding back.

“I haven’t seen a good opening for one,” Xander responds, only half lying.

“You know if you make this into a test of stamina I will win. I can tell you are getting tired, the sweat on your palms is making your attacks sloppy,” Drakthar reminds him as he blocks another one of them effortlessly, before redirecting his weight towards Xander, pushing him onto the ground.

Xander looks up and sees Drakthar begin to lower his axe down on him. He warps behind Drakthar and quickly tries to swipe at the back of his knees but his sword is stopped by Drakthar’s axe. He had only feinted the downward strike, knowing what Xander would do when cornered.

His plan being completely foiled causes Xander to panic. He switches Drakthar’s axe with a bell he planted on a far off bench before the fight. Now that Drakthar has nothing to block his strikes with he furiously swings at his knees. He lands good quality hits, backing off to avoid Drakthar’s fist that is flying towards him.

Xander positions himself between Drakthar and the axe, waiting to see what his cornered friend will do. Drakthar doesn’t hesitate, charging at Xander weapon or not. Xander has to choose quickly, allow Drakthar to gain possession of his axe again or getting knocked over and most likely Drakthar still gets his axe back.

Xander ducks out of the way, leading Drakthar to run over to the bench and retrieve his weapon. Xander is barely able to remain on his feet as Drakthar trudges back towards him.

Drakthar makes it back to his friend and knocks him to the ground with one arm, the sword Xander tried to block with bouncing out of his hands when it collides with Drakthar’s armor.

Xander, knowing he has lost, looks up at Drakthar waiting to see what he will do, ready to reverse time to prevent his own death if necessary. Drakthar towers over Xander on the ground, those in the stands watch wordlessly, dread starting to fill their hearts.

Drakthar raises his axe one last time, prepared to finish what he started. He screams as he lowers the blade towards his friend… but he stops. Xander looks up to see Drakthar’s axe held in the air, the blade not able to make it even inches from him. He looks up at the pained expression on Drakthar’s face, too conflicted between his life’s goal and the thought of killing his best friend.

Seeing the look on his face makes Xander realize what needs to be done. He reverses time to when Drakthar gets his axe back.

This time when he approaches Xander stops him, “Wait. It’s over. I’ve used everything. Mere moments from now you lower your axe down on me with the intention of killing me. I know you want to win more than anything, but please just accept this victory and let me live”.

Drakthar stops, contemplating if what Xander is telling him is true or not. He has no reason to doubt his friend; there is an odd sincerity present in his plea despite it being a lie.

“Fine…” Drakthar agrees reluctantly, feeling shallow at such a victory.

Once Drakthar agrees, Gwendolyn rushes over towards Xander and supports his wobbly body.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she tells him as she kisses his sweaty cheek.

“Yeah, me too,” Xander agrees.

“Drakthar, thank you as well. For stopping when you did. I didn’t want to have to sit by his bedside again,” she tells him. Drakthar grunts in response, walking out of the back of the warehouse in dissatisfaction.

“Drakthar wait…” Kali stops, as her request doesn’t get Drakthar to stay. She knows it is probably best if she gives him some time. Kayde however doesn’t take the same approach, following Drakthar outside while the others are busy chatting about the battle.

“Hey,” he greets Drakthar when he spots him. Drakthar just looks back at Kayde, only to acknowledge his presence.

“You’re pissed off aren’t you?” Kayde gets to the point. Drakthar gives an increasingly aggressive grunt in response.

“Look, I understand what you are thinking but it’s never going to be how you want it to be. He loves you too much to fight you with everything he has… and honestly, I think it’s for the best,” Kayde gets to the heart of the matter, trying to help Drakthar get over this obsession, or at least as it pertains to Xander.

“It doesn’t feel right. I just wish he could, I want to prove I am the strongest, but I can’t if he never tries,” Drakthar voices his frustrations.

“So you wish for your own death? Don’t kid yourself, we both know that is what would happen if Xander fought you seriously. It’s on you for becoming his friend, we both know it’s too late for him to be able to kill you and if you are going to mope about how this turned out you can only blame yourself for constantly putting him in this position to begin with,” Kayde lets him have it, knowing if there is any kind of love Drakthar is receptive to, it’s tough love. Drakthar gives one last dejected grumble before harshly turning around and walking away.