A/N: The Angel Takeover Arc is approaching its end.
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The barrier shimmered like a glass dome over a broken world.
Outside it, the forest trembled.
Inside it, the air felt… electric.
Velgrynd folded her wings slowly. "We will hold the barrier," she muttered.
Velzard's frost layered over flame, sealing the perimeter with frightening precision. "There should be no interference. Let them… enjoy themselves."
At the center of the clearing—
Milim Nava hovered upside down in midair, chin in her hands, twintails dangling toward the sky.
Across from her, Loki floated upright, golden radiance warping around him like heat waves drawn by a child's crayon.
They stared at each other.
Then both grinned.
Milim kicked off the air.
BOOM!
The ground cratered beneath her starting point as she shot forward like a pink comet.
Loki blinked and vanished.
Milim punched through a golden afterimage.
"Eh?"
Behind her—
"Looking for someone?" Loki asked casually, now holding up a wooden sign that read:
← WRONG WAY
Milim twisted midair and swung.
WHAM!
Her fist collided with Loki's face—
Which flattened like rubber.
His cheek stretched ten meters to the side.
He blinked once.
"Ah."
Then—
BOI-OI-OI-OING!
His face snapped back like a spring, launching Milim backward.
She spun twice, flipped, and landed on her feet laughing.
"Hahahaha! You're squishy!"
Loki adjusted his jaw back into place with both hands like he was straightening a picture frame.
"My face. Don't break it so casually."
Milim vanished.
SKRAAAAASH!
She reappeared above him and drove her heel down.
The impact split the earth.
Shockwaves rippled outward but instead of destruction, the ground beneath Loki folded like paper into a neat little origami crane.
Milim blinked.
"…Did you just—?"
The crane flapped once.
Loki stood on top of it, arms behind his back.
"Environmental awareness."
Milim clapped once.
"That's so cool!"
She punched the crane.
It exploded into confetti.
Milim darted in with a barrage of strikes.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Each hit landed but each time Loki's body bent in absurd directions.
One punch twisted him into a spiral.
Another flattened him into a pancake.
A kick stretched him like elastic across the battlefield.
Milim stopped, hands on hips.
"…Are you even taking this seriously?"
Loki re-inflated himself with a small golden air pump that appeared in his hand.
Pfffshhhhhh—!
He tossed it away.
"I am."
Milim's eyes sparkled.
"Good!"
Her aura flared.
Star-fire crackled around her like fireworks at a festival.
The pressure rose.
The air vibrated.
She lunged.
Loki snapped his fingers.
Suddenly—
A painted tunnel appeared on a floating slab of stone behind him.
Milim didn't slow down.
She punched.
Loki jumped into the tunnel.
Milim followed and smashed directly into solid rock.
KATHOOOM!
She peeled off the stone face-first like a sticker.
There was a perfect Milim-shaped imprint in the cliff.
She slid down.
Paused.
Then started laughing uncontrollably.
"That was amazing!"
She burst out of the rock unharmed.
Loki stepped out of thin air beside her, dusting off his sleeve.
"You adapt quickly."
Milim winked.
"I'm good at games!"
The playfulness sharpened.
Milim shot upward, spinning, her aura igniting into a vortex of star-energy.
The sky darkened.
Power gathered in her palms.
"Okay, okay! Let's go bigger!"
She fired.
A beam like a newborn star tore downward.
FWOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Loki stretched both hands out and caught it.
The beam compressed in his grip like a glowing ribbon.
He pulled.
It snapped like a rubber band.
The recoil launched him backward across the sky.
BOING!
He bounced off the barrier dome like it was trampoline glass.
Velgrynd's eye twitched.
Velzard muttered, "This is absurd."
Inside the dome—
Loki bounced back toward Milim and mid-flight his body rotated like a spinning top.
Golden afterimages spiraled around him.
Milim grinned and met him head-on.
CRRAAAASH!
Their fists collided.
Light and stardust exploded outward in glittering arcs.
The barrier shook violently.
The forest outside groaned.
Milim flipped backward, landing on air.
"You're weird!"
"I receive that often."
She zipped behind him.
"Do it again!"
He spun around with a comically oversized golden mallet appearing in his hand.
BONK!
Milim's head squished inward.
There was a metallic gong sound.
She blinked—
Then her head popped back into place.
She burst out laughing.
"Do it harder!"
Loki tossed the mallet over his shoulder. It exploded into sparkles midair.
"As you wish."
Now they moved too fast for sound to keep up.
Afterimages layered over afterimages.
Milim's punches cracked space—
Loki's dodges bent perspective—
She kicked—
He unraveled into ribbons of light—
She grabbed the ribbons—
He reassembled upside down—
They collided—
BOOOOOM!
The shockwave rattled the dome again.
Velgrynd exhaled slowly. "…Just what is this fight."
Velzard nodded faintly. "Only Milim could fight such a ridiculous fight."
Back inside—
Milim landed a clean hit to Loki's chest.
THUD!
He skidded backward through three floating boulders.
She grinned.
"Gotcha!"
He emerged from the rubble with soot on his face and a cartoonish burnt outline.
He blinked twice.
The soot vanished.
"THAT WAS HOT!."
Milim's smile widened.
"Was it now!"
They rose into the sky together.
Milim's aura flared brighter.
Loki's light sharpened.
They dashed at each other.
CRAAAAAAASH!!!
Light and starlight intertwined.
Energy spiraled upward like twin galaxies colliding.
For several seconds—
They were locked.
Forehead to forehead.
Smiling.
Breathing hard.
Laughing.
Milim whispered, exhilarated:
"You're really strong."
Loki replied softly:
"And you are really fun."
Then both pushed—
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
They exploded apart in opposite directions.
Milim flipped three times and landed gracefully.
Loki landed in a dramatic kneel, then casually stood.
Silence.
The air shimmered with residual power.
They stared at each other—
Grinning.
Milim stretched her arms overhead.
"That was awesome!"
Loki nodded.
"Hahaha. Really, but I'm far from having enough fun yet."
Milim smiled.
"Okay! Me too." she clapped her hands once. "Round one doesn't count! That was warm-up!"
Loki tilted his head slowly.
"Ah. We were warming up?"
He reached behind his back.
Pulled out—
A bright orange carrot.
He took a loud, exaggerated bite.
CRUNCH.
"That was one hell of a warm-up then."
Milim blinked.
Then burst out laughing.
"Where did you pull that out of!"
He chewed thoughtfully.
"Do you want some?"
She vanished.
BOOOOM!
The earth imploded where she had been.
Loki squinted slightly—
Then stepped sideways.
Milim blasted past him at full speed.
She skidded through three floating boulders—
KRAK-KOOM!
—and whipped around.
"You dodged that!"
"That was dangerous you know."
She lunged again.
Loki's body flattened into a two-dimensional cutout as her fist passed through him.
Milim's punch struck nothing but air—
FWAP!
Loki reinflated behind her with a popping sound.
POP!
She swung backward without looking—
WHAM!
Her fist connected.
Loki's face compressed inward like rubber.
His eyes slid to one side of his head.
He blinked.
A tiny golden bell sound rang.
DING!
Milim gasped, then started laughing again.
"How are you so squishy!"
His cheek stretched ten meters to the right—
Then snapped back like a slingshot.
BOI-OI-OI-OING!
Milim was launched into the sky.
She flipped midair, cackling.
"This is awesome!"
Milim's aura flared brighter.
Wind screamed outward in spirals.
Crimson and violet starlight condensed in her palm.
"Let's try this again!"
She thrust her hand forward.
FWOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A beam erupted, dense, brilliant, roaring like a newborn sun.
Loki raised one finger.
The beam struck and curved.
Bent ninety degrees.
Then wrapped around him like ribbon.
He spun it once like a lasso.
Tied it into a neat bow.
Placed it on Milim's head.
"This looks cute on you."
The bow exploded in harmless sparkles.
Milim floated there for half a second—
Then clutched her stomach.
"Hahahah. You're ridiculous!"
She blurred again—
This time appearing above him.
A heel drop—
SKRAAAASH!
The impact split the earth open in a canyon line.
Loki caught her ankle.
His arm stretched impossibly long to do so.
He looked up at her upside-down face.
"You dropped something."
"What?"
He flicked her forehead.
TINK!
Milim flipped backward, landed, then stomped the ground—
BOOOOOOM!!!
A shockwave expanded outward, rattling the barrier dome violently.
Milim dashed in, fists blazing with compressed dragon energy.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Each punch carried enough force to fracture mountains.
Loki twisted, folded, unraveled like ribbon in a storm.
Her kick struck his torso—
He split in half horizontally.
She blinked—
The halves clapped back together around her leg.
He grinned.
She roared with laughter and blasted point-blank—
BOOOOM!!!
Smoke engulfed the crater.
Milim floated back, brushing soot off her shoulder.
"Okay, that one must have got you!"
From inside the smoke—
A spotlight clicked on.
Loki stepped forward in a tuxedo.
Top hat.
Cane.
He tapped the cane once.
The smoke parted theatrically.
"Ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to introduce myself."
Milim stared at him.
"You can't be serious."
He pulled the cane apart—
It became twin golden blades.
She vanished.
He vanished.
CRACK! CLANG! BOOM!
Blades of light clashed against star-forged fists.
Milim caught one blade between her palms—
Energy crackled—
She headbutted him.
THUD!
He flattened against the barrier like a sticker.
Slowly peeled off.
Left a perfect outline of himself behind.
He shook himself like a dog.
Reformed.
They stared—
Then both burst into laughter again.
They launched upward simultaneously.
Air ruptured beneath them.
Their collision split the clouds inside the dome.
Milim's aura ignited fully, dragonic force coiling around her in roaring spirals.
She drove a punch into Loki's guard—
CRRRRASH!!!
The sound boomed like a planetary drum.
Loki skidded backward across midair—
Then stopped abruptly.
Held up a tiny wooden sign.
APPLAUSE
Milim clapped instinctively.
Realized it and gasped.
"How did you do that!"
She slammed him with a spinning backfist.
WHAM!!!
He ricocheted off the barrier—
Bounced—
Bounced again—
Then accelerated back toward her like a pinball.
They collided midair.
Forehead to forehead.
Grinning.
"Show me more fun," Milim whispered, eyes blazing.
"I want more fun too."
They separated—
And charged again.
Milim unleashed a spiraling star-burst that rained down like meteor fire.
Loki answered by pulling down a curtain of golden light as if drawing stage drapes.
The meteors hit—
Exploded—
Fireworks filled the dome in cascading color.
Both of them darted through the storm, weaving between explosions.
Milim grabbed one falling meteor—
Crushed it—
Used the momentum to spin into a kick.
Loki blocked—
Their arms locked.
Shockwaves rippled outward in concentric rings.
Outside, Velzard's barrier pulsed dangerously.
Velgrynd growled. "If they stop holding back, would this barrier even last?"
"They won't," Velzard replied quietly.
Inside—
Milim pushed harder.
Loki matched her exactly.
Neither giving ground.
Then—
The air outside the barrier shifted.
A new presence descended like a quiet red storm.
Velgrynd stiffened instantly.
Velzard's frost sharpened.
A ripple of crimson magic parted the forest canopy.
Two figures stepped into view beyond the dome.
One with crimson hair and ancient, amused eyes.
The other slouching, half-awake, wings drooping lazily.
Guy Crimson folded his arms.
"Well," he said smoothly, watching Milim and Loki collide again in a radiant explosion of starlight and gold, "it seems we're late."
He smirked faintly.
"Milim has beat us to the jump."
Beside him, Dino sighed dramatically, shoulders slumping.
"Well this sucks," Dino muttered. "I was actually prepared to fight and stuff."
Inside the dome—
BOOOOM!!!
Milim and Loki crashed into the ground again, laughing like maniacs.
Velgrynd turned sharply, eyes blazing crimson.
"Guy!"
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