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For what felt like an eon, the two powerful alpha wolves struggled against one another's might. A true tale of unstoppable forces and immovable objects. But just when Artorias began to feel the strain in his muscles tugging away his confidence for a victory, Azure's stance wobbled, and it was enough for the Carpathian to shift his weight forward, shoving into Azure hard enough to push him back. Azure broke their grapple before he went down, conceding defeat with an irritated sigh. Artorias was breathing hard, not quite a full pant but the effort it had taken to defeat Azure was evident. It had been a damn good fight.

The Fatalis man asked if he'd gotten what he needed out of his system and Artorias... Artorias just balked. He had expected some sort of retort, some sort of snide comment or... or anything to justify his anger towards Azure! Instead, his peer gave him nothing to use to fuel that negativity. It left the Aegis standing stunned, frustrated while he caught his breath. "No. Yes. Maybe. Ugh..." Artorias groaned and shook his head, a silent snarl contorting his features into a grimace, though it was directed inwardly and not at Azure. "I don't know. I thought... I thought I'd feel justified. Satisfied, or something. But I don't." With another huff and a groan, Artorias' tensed stance relaxed until he flopped back to his haunches, the fight in him ebbing away. He'd felt slighted by Hanako's remark at his wedding and by Azure's oblique apology after, but the reception he thought he'd felt for challenging his brother-in-law wasn't there. Instead, Artorias just felt hollow, like he'd done something wrong for all the wrong reasons.

Onyx ears folded back to his head while he wrestled with his thoughts and conscience. He had felt anger going into a fight with Azure, but coming out of it, he just felt guilt. Azure had fought hard and he'd won fairly, but in the wake of that victory came no warmth of righteousness, no assured sense that he'd done the right thing. He'd just fought his brother-in-law, someone he was supposed to consider family, and for what? What did he get out of it? Had he just wrecked any possible relationship he could have had with the Armadan Champion? Artorias did not regret the choice to not go for blood on his kin; that would have only compounded his guilt more to harm Azure permanently. Artorias glowered down at the ground, that nagging feeling in his heart that he'd acted immaturely and judged poorly eating away at him. After a moment of internal conflict, Artorias simply mumbled, "...I'm sorry, Azure. I was angry and I fucked up. I should've been better than I was and I wasn't."

"Artorias Carpathius"