Wolves Ain't Howl Alone

The wolf pack descends, and Love and Rose pull on their masks to hold it off. Rose releases his Zanpakuto and beats the creatures back with ease, but the flame-bodied wolves keep knitting themselves whole again. Complaining that he dislikes such sorcery, Rose works a Kido spell on one of them; when Love points out that his Kido looks equally magical, Rose insists his craft is art rather than magic.

Then the pack catches them off guard, several wolves latching onto Love's leg and Rose's blade before erupting in a massive blast. The two barely escape, and Love guesses the beasts are built from Ceros. No sooner said than another wave materializes behind them and explodes on contact.

Starrk corrects the assumption: the wolves are not Ceros at all, but pieces of his and Lilynette's shared soul. As the smoke lifts to show both Visored bleeding, he offers to let them run without pursuit. Love refuses outright, so Starrk decides he may as well end them, and reaches out, only for a sword to punch through him from behind.

Love and Rose mask up and fend off the self-reviving wolf pack. Rose uses Kido while the two argue over art versus magic. The wolves clamp on and detonate, wounding both Visored. Starrk reveals the wolves are fragments of his and Lilynette's soul rather than Ceros. As he moves to finish the bleeding pair, an unseen blade impales him from behind.

The sixth chapter of volume 43, Kingdom of Hollows, adapted into episode 282, Power of the Soul! Los Lobos, Attack!. It details the mechanics of Starrk's exploding wolves and ends on the surprise return of a third combatant to the duel.