The man’s flowing golden curls of hair fluttered in the wind, his hand outstretched to offer salvation. His body clad in white robes, his skin aglow with an unspeakable radiance. He was picturesque, a perfect being.
Her entire body shaking with terror, Raza instinctively stepped backwards. The poor shivering girl looked like she could hardly keep herself standing. “W-Why… is He here? He never attacks personally!”
Under the high midday sun, the sworn enemy of the tribe of darkness stood. Without any warning, He showed himself, the king striding onto the front lines. With the back of his hand, he swept his golden blonde hair back, and made his proclamation again. “Come now, my daughter, join me at my side once more! If you are scared you can not defeat this foe, I will deliver unto you the power needed for a clear victory, so draw your blade!”
Trembling, the white haired angel took an uneasy step forward. The fingers on her right hand twitched, and in a flare of white hot flames, her longsword manifested. She stood in silence, perfectly still where she was. Only the wind distubed her clothing and hair, but finally, she raised the sword up in front of her face and stepped forward.
“Wait, Sara-chan… are you serious?!” I scrambled to my feet, tension filling my muscles as a thick air of malice began to overtake the city block. But the Valkyrie did not answer me, she remained still, her eyes closed in thought.
“I’m sorry…” she whispered, her thin legs kicking off the ground, a burst of grass and dirt flying into the air behind her. She soared forward at insane speed, her blade cutting a crescent arc in front of her.
The sword did not cut its target. He stood unaffected by the blade striking him in the shoulder. The metal edge could not cut through his flesh, nor even his robes. His face obscured by the glow of his own body, it was impossible to tell his expression.
“You would choose to remain with these traitors, rather than come home to where you belong?” he asked, a cold edge dripping from his words that hadn’t been there before. The angel stood in fear at the sight of her attack having no impact at all. “Very well, enjoy the final moments of your betrayal, then!”
His hand closed around her throat, and the angel’s sword fell to the ground at their feet. His powerful grip began to squeeze out the life from the pale skinned girl. And I couldn’t move, my legs were rooted in place. It was more than my own fear, the memories of Ahriman’s life shackled me to the ground.
I was helpless as He began to crush the life out of Sara’s body, unable to take a single step forward. If only I could draw out the same level of power as Akira, if only I knew how to transform into a True Heir! But the moment that thought passed through my mind, I froze. My heart beat loudly against my eardrums, drowning out the world around me. It took everything I had not to vomit. The intense dread that swept over me made me more nauseous than I had ever felt before.
“Hahh… Haaaaaaaaaah!” her breathing was ragged and heavy, her body shaking with indescribable fear. And yet, Raza charged forth regardless. Her Suura manifested in her hands, a twisted black spear. In the wake of a terror so powerful I couldn’t move, she rushed towards certain death.
Her red hair grew longer and more wild, her muscles expanded and her limbs twisted into claws. From her forehead two long horns tore through her skin violently, as did a tail from the end of her spine. The only word for this I could think of was ‘rebirth’, she was no longer the schoolgirl I knew, but Raza the Daeva. Bit by bit, her black iron armor formed around her body, completing itself the moment her blade reached Him.
But He was unaffected. The blade could not hurt him, it merely clattered against his skin harmlessly, not even making him flinch. He raised up his right hand, a blade of holy light appearing next to him. The sword was ethereal, made up of numerous translucent sigils of an ancient alphabet long forgotten by man. When he moved his hand, the blade that floated beside it moved in tandem.
He flicked his wrist, the blade heading towards Raza with deadly precision and speed. My heart stopped beating. Both of the girls before me were about to lose their lives, and I was just standing here? Why, why couldn’t I move?! What happened to that bravado I showed when I fought Sara? This wasn’t like me, I was just feeling sorry for myself!
My legs began to move. The world seemed to slow to a crawl, His blade inching closer and closer to Raza’s neck. I wouldn’t let that happen, nobody else would die in this stupid fight between gods long past their prime! An armor of pure silver, but not of any human design, formed around my left hand. It was all I knew how to do, it wasn’t enough… I knew that. Still, I had to try something.
Remember it!
I willed myself to go back, opening my mind to the memories of my awakening. That rage, that anger… Ahriman’s fury! A thirst for vengeance fueled by a grudge from thousands of years ago. My vision went red, my thoughts stopped. All I could do was charge forward.
My purple aura burned like a solar flare, my entire body accelerating in an instant to my maximum speed. Before His sword could cut her down my fist would reach his smug face! A deafening crack as a punch with the force of a freight train impacted the chiseled, perfect chin of the man who called himself God.
And he didn’t budge an inch.
“How disappointing it must be for you.” he looked at me, or rather, through me. The golden eyes of his gave not a passing thought to the woman before him, barely acknowledging the insect that tried to bite him. “My dear Brother’s Dregs, standing up for your ‘Justice.’ and yet, you can not even save a single child with that pathetic strength you once prided yourself by.”
His hand shot up, his powerful fingers curled around my neck. With all of the effort of a man squeezing an empty soda can, his grip tightened, cutting off my airflow almost immediately. He lifted me off the ground, the difference in our size becoming readily apparent.
“Fuck… you…” those few words I choked out were hardly a comfort, considering the bind I found myself in. the precious oxygen in my lungs, and yet I couldn’t help but spit out those vitriolic words.
A white hot iron was stabbed into my skull. At least, that’s what the pain felt like. But it wasn’t an attack from the god before me, it’s origin was within me. My vision flooded with red, and somehow, I tore myself from the grip of the golden haired man’s powerful fist.
The power of an evil god coursed through my veins, desperate to escape. My body wanted to fight him, wanted to tear him to pieces, but that power, that strength couldn’t find a way to escape from the weak human flesh it was trapped in. He knew this, else he would have killed me already, but he knew I was no threat at all. He played with his victims, toyed with us… what did seek to gain from such an action?
The fingers of my left hand closed slowly, every muscle in my arm twitching. It was futile, I knew, but I had to make an opening. I lunged forward, swiftly passing the two girls I leapt into battle to protect. They had managed to survive thanks to my first intervention, and were now free to escape… if I could stop him.
“Raza, Sara, you two get to safety… find Akira!” I called back to the two stunned female soldiers. I didn’t have time to explain to them what I intended, I just had to hope they would understand.
“You can try as many times as you’d like, it won’t change the outcome!” he interjected with an overconfident smirk. Like before, he didn’t even try and dodge, knowing I couldn’t hurt him. It didn’t matter, I just needed to distract him long enough for them to get away.
My second attack never reached Him. with lightning like reflexes He countered me, his fist impacting my body with an immense force. Multiple cracking sounds followed by an excruciating pain overwhelmed my senses, but I knew I had been thrown backwards. Not knowing what direction I was tumbling through the air, I threw out a fist anyway, and as luck would have it found the ground. My punch dug into the grass and dirt, and my body skidded to a sudden and violent stop.
“Oh, you’re still conscious after that blow? Perhaps I shouldn’t have stayed idle for so long, I had intended that strike to claim your life.” He mused, his voice still not showing any real concern. To him, this was a single mistake, an incorrect calculation of his own power he wouldn’t make twice.
Again I attacked Him, and again I was hurled to the ground. Over and over, I pushed my body to get up. So lost in his domination of me, he seemed to have forgotten about the two other girls he had tried to execute mere moments ago. Blood poured down my battered face, lines of crimson snaking down my barely functional limbs. The only thing that allowed me to rise was that burning hatred I felt fueling my demonic strength.
I thrust my fist out one more time, but his fist swiftly cut through the air past my sluggish blow, shattering my nose. I fell against the ground with a thud, but I hadn’t given up yet. The fire burning in my soul wouldn’t go out from this! I stood back up again, much to his surprise. “Is that… All you’ve got, Brother?”
I lunged at him, but this time, instead of a punch, I threw a handful of dirt at his face. He wasn’t expecting this, I’m sure, since I had fought so straightforwardly the rest of the time. Because of this, he failed to react, and for a brief moment I managed to blind him!
“You insolent littl-” he began to respond, but my unarmored right hand smashed into his face with every last ounce of strength I had remaining. My previous attacks had no effect, this wasn’t going to be any different, or so I thought. The golden, larger than life man before, this literal god… stumbled back.
One step. A single step, insignificant in the grand scheme of this fight. And yet, it made all the difference. He blinked, the whites of his eyes red from the dirt I had assaulted them with as a shaking, trembling hand reached up and touched his reddened chin.
“You…” His left eye began to twitch, and at the same time his expression darkened. An emotion, expressed for the first time since he had appeared before us showed itself on his previously stoic countenance. “Very well, I’ve obviously gone far too easy on you!”
The sky swirled with ominous clouds, a whirlwind whipping up around us. He stood in the center, an open hand raised to the heavens. Power gathered in his palm, a vast and deep pool of energy I couldn’t hope to match. I was a drop of water, and he was the ocean itself. “Goodbye, failed resurrection of my dear brother!”
He unleashed the energy all at once, projecting an intense beam of light towards me. Too fast to dodge, too devastating to block. Time seemed to slow down around me as my brain rapidly came to the conclusion that I was, in fact, about to die. I closed my eyes and waited for death to take me, knowing that at least those two were able to escape. Fate however, had different plans.
Death did not take me. Confused, I opened my eyes to see the reality that had transpired. Like a comet streaking across the night sky, Akira crashed into the scene, or perhaps like a superhero. His armored, fully transformed body stood between the invincible god and myself. With a flick of his wrist, he deflected the unstoppable beam of light safely into the empty sky.
“Well well, what do we have here? Time to tag in I guess.” Akira placed his hand atop my stunned head and took a confident step forward. And then, he vanished. His forward assault faster than my eye could follow, I only witnessed the aftermath.
The ground below his feet exploded, and the body of our mutual enemy flew back into the air. However, unlike me, he stopped himself before impacting back against the earth. His body was shaking with a barely contained rage, but he quickly composed himself and landed softly on the ground. He flicked his wrist up and snapped his fingers, and the air besides him distorted into a portal like form. He stepped into the gap in space and time without hesitation, leaving as suddenly as he appeared. “Sorry, but I’ll have to settle this matter another time.”
“How anticlimactic, I thought I would get to have my showdown with the big boss!” Akira moaned, releasing his transformation and returning to a normal human appearance. “Ya look like shit, Takeru, how many times did he hit you?”
“I… I lost count.” I wiped the blood from my mouth, finally realizing how messed up I was. As the adrenaline faded from my body, the pain slowly crept back into my body.
-
“Why did you leave?! You could have killed them all, but you just left them there? Those cockroaches blighting your world… why didn’t you bring Saravial back like you said you would?!” A young angel, her hair a messy, slightly wavy brown, followed behind Him as he walked down an empty room. She wore the armor of a low level Valkyrie, and as such her tone was completely out of line for who she was talking to. Why she felt justified in how she spoke to him was a great mystery even the man himself could not answer, but he didn’t have the energy to fight her on it.
“She didn’t want to return, Mihr. And unfortunately, I have not the power to change her mind.” he replied, arriving at a large, ornate throne. He sank into the gilded chair, then rested his head on the back knuckles of his left hand. “As for the Shards, I have every intention of snuffing them out, but…” He shifted in his chair, his hand unfurling to touch his chin with the tips of his fingers. The feeling of being struck remained, the result of an attack that had blindsided him. “Leave me, my child.”
The young valkyrie left, unable to disobey Father’s orders. Two pairs of imposing wooden doors slammed shut behind her from some unseen force, and she was now alone in the connecting hallway.
“Damn it all, Saravial, what are you doing down there?” Mihr curled her fist, then with a sharp and sudden motion, slammed it into the wall. “Why won’t you come home to me?”
“If you want to bring her back, why not just bring her back?” a new, more masculine voice interrupted her tantrum. She looked up to see a young man with long, light blue hair. Six gray wings folded over his body. He was a high ranking angel, not like her.
“I’m not allowed to go into battle, I haven’t been initiated yet.” she replied, turning away from the smug looking angel.
“So don’t fight, idiot.” he replied, walking over to her with a quick stride. “There are still things you can do without throwing any hands yourself, you know?”
She regarded the angel with trepidation, as well she should. A high ranking Seraph like him would generally not even look upon one of her level. She adjusted her silver half rimmed glasses, then took a deep breath and spoke.
“I’m listening.”
