As the light around Archangel
constricted, it folded in on itself like molten glass pulled into a blade.
The air around him throbbed with a quiet
authority.
Oppressive even without sound. From the
centre of that glow, his figure shimmered…
Then shifted.
Blond hair turned to blinding white,
flowing like fire, eyes igniting gold like twin suns, and his two wings blossomed
into a six-wing expanse—massive, golden, feathered, glowing with an inner
radiance.
The halo above him twisted. A rounded
ring, elongating into symmetrical spikes, floating above his head.
His glasses remained sitting on the
bridge of his nose—softening the brilliance—yet they could not hide the
intensity burning behind them,
Archangel raised his hand, light bending
and refracting around his fingers. From that radiance, a sword of pure light
coalesced, gleaming sharper than any metal, humming like the resonance of a
thousand voices.
"Apex Metamorphosis: Seraphim."
The words were soft, almost reverent,
yet carried the weight of inevitability.
Around him, the sky seemed to inhale.
Clouds shimmered gold and white, the winds halted mid-flight, and the very air
near the fleet trembled.
Tohil's eye narrowed, his form
flickering with impatience. He had expected power.
But this…
This was something else.
The kind of power that redefined the
battlefield, not just contested it.
"You… are an Apex too?" he murmured,
voice low, almost curious.
Archangel raised his blade, six wings
spinning in perfect symmetry, halo spikes catching the sun, refracting it into
shards of pure radiance.
"Indeed, I am," Archangel said simply. "But
I'm not a predator."
Then, in a heartbeat, he vanished.
Not a dash. Not a step. A singular
motion that unfolded across distance and time, wings slicing the air with a
chorus of light. The sword swung, and with it, space itself seemed to bend, the
clouds rippling outward in a golden wake.
Tohil blinked. The strike came not at
him, but through him. The sword had not cut at his body, but at his essence.
Each afterimage of Archangel flickered
flashes of coruscation, chipping away at Tohil's essence with every blow.
The fleet saw something they shouldn't,
a moment before Archangel's metamorphosis.
The systems screamed, "EXTREME ESSENCE
SPIKE DETECTED FROM TARGET: ARCHANGEL!"
"What is this power?!" an officer
shouted, staggering backwards.
"What is happening?!" another officer
yelled out.
"ESSENCE READING MALFUNCTION! EXCEEDING
CATEGORY 5 THRESHOLD!"
The sensors could not withstand the
pressure.
Gan wobbled as his balance shifted.
"Woah! What's going on?! I can't stand up properly! Haha!"
Tenma stood firm, unshakeable. "Tch… Now
I really don't like him. I'm meant to be the strongest." His teeth rubbed
against each other, digging his nails into his palms. For Tenma, strength was
his identity.
If a bigger fish comes along—
What is he?
Archangel speared his blade through Tohil's
chest, disrupting the flowing cycle of his essence.
Tohil roared in agony, swinging with
blinding rage at an opponent he could no longer reach.
"It is pointless. Stand down."
Then as he came, he vanished—materialising
behind Tohil.
Before he could react, a right hook
clipped Tohil straight to the solar plexus—a shockwave produced upon connection,
slamming him towards the planet at immeasurable speeds, his body incinerating from
the air pressure.
As he crashed onto the earth, a cataclysmic
explosion followed from the kinetic energy produced a blast measured up to 17
kilotons—forming a huge hundred-metre-wide crater.
As the mushroom cloud expanded—the
shockwave reached the airships, intensely rocking the hulls. And destabilising
the altitude levels.
"HOLY—" Gan couldn't even finish his sentence
before the shockwave swept him up off his feet.
"What the hell?! What was that?!"
Officers barked through the comms, utterly baffled by the show of power
displayed by Archangel.
"Essence signature dropping from the
target: Tohil!"
Archangel flew high above, gracefully
hovering above a cloud. "Hmm… that punch was not efficient at all…" He wiped
his fist with a handkerchief before stuffing it back into his pocket.
"Let's try this again."
As he spoke those words, he began
blending into the sky—completely vanishing from sight once again.
Tohil struggled to his knees, staggered
from the previous attack. "W-what the…" He coughed up black blood, which
dripped from the hole cavity caused by Archangel.
Before he could move, the air turned
frigid, accompanied by the screaming howl of wind. Tohil turned to
counter-attack—
But it was too late.
A fist made contact with his fissured
stone face.
In a small fraction a second, Tohil
seemed to just vanish out of thin air. His disappearance was accompanied by a
deafening shockwave which obliterated everything within several kilometres,
creating a huge cone of death.
"Tohil's essence signature dropped to
zero!" an Officer gasped, his voice shaking.
"In an instant?" Another asked, nervously
clasping the desk beside him.
The officer gulped, a bead of sweat
sliding down his cheek, "in an instant…"
Deep rumbles shook the walls of the
ruins. More accurately—a labyrinth.
"Y'know, I'm having fun… what about
you?" The doppelgänger spoke, trying to hide the malice beneath its tone.
Mikado huffed aggressively, completely
out of breath—blood flowing uncontrollably from a deep laceration on his arm.
The others were down, only Yoriko was
able to stay on a knee.
"What are you…?" Mikado questioned the
impersonator, gripping the empty gun with rage.
"Me? I'm you of course." The
doppelgänger replied, a sinister smirk flashing on his lips for a split second.
"Damn you, bastard…" Mikado raised his
gun, pulling the trigger—but nothing came out of the barrel.
The doppelgänger chuckled sadistically,
a cruel and violent noise ringing in their ears. "You're cute, trying to
keep up that tough act… let's see if you can still hold it when I tear that
woman apart…"
The doppelgänger turned into a blur,
reappearing in front of Yoriko.
"YORIKO—!"
A claw with fingers as sharp as blades
drove itself towards her.
SCHUNK
Blood splattered on the ground, filling
the air with a thick, nauseous stench.
Mikado's eyes shifted into despair, an
overwhelming wave of dread buckling his knees.
Shakily, he whispered. "M-Mikami…"
Yoriko fell backwards, terror written
all over her face. Just breathing in was difficult.
"MIKAMI!!!"
Mikami had thrown himself in front of
Yoriko—a claw piercing through his hands as he desperately tried to defend her
against the attack.
"You're in the way."
The doppelgänger raised another hand, driving
it straight into Mikami's abdomen—tainting its fingers a deep crimson.
"NO!" Mikado ran towards the creature as
fast as he could, but his wounds made him feel unbelievably slow.
Mikami choked up a pool of blood from
his mouth, slowly losing strength as the other claw dug deeper into his hands.
Yoriko could only sit helplessly as she
watched Mikami and Mikado struggle.
Mikado picked up a knife from the ground,
jabbing it into the doppelgängers knee—twisting it and pulling out.
It let out a harrowing wail, pulling a
claw out of Mikami and slashing back at Mikado, slamming him into the stone-cold
walls.
Mikado crashed with a heavy thud, a
sharp pain sending jolts through his body as he gasped for air.
"Bold move, you still have some gut
left in you." The doppelgänger brought its hand to its face, licking the
blood-covered claws as its lips began twisting into an unnervingly chilling smile.
Mikami collapsed to the ground with boom—struggling
to breathe. Yoriko immediately rushed to his side, her cold hands holding him
close as tears swelled in her eyes.
"M-Mikami! Stay with me! Don't close
your eyes!" Yoriko begged, her voice breaking as her throat locked up.
The doppelgänger laughed mockingly. "Pathetic…
I expected more." It leaned forward, a claw grabbing Mikado by the hair.
"Keep your eyes peeled… I'll make
sure to break your tough guy act." It laughed again, bashing Mikado's head
against the wall. "You'll watch your friends over there die a gruesome death…
yes just that…" The doppelgänger grinned. "And if that doesn't work… I'll
have some fun with that female you seem attached to."
Mikado's eyes widened, teeth clenching.
"Don't you dare…"
"Oh?"
A faint blue light formed around Mikado,
curling like smoke—bubbling like lava.
The doppelgänger took a step back. "Hmm?"
Mikado turned his head up—his eyes shining
a bright cyan—his hair flowing up, glowing a shimmering silver.
The ground beneath him began to tremble as
the aura around him flared into a fierce, bright blue flame.
Mikado rose to his feet, a cold
expression placed upon his face. "Lay a hand on her and you're dead… you fucking
bastard."
Yoriko's eyes flew open as she stared at
Mikado. It's the same phenomena nine or so years ago. But this time—much
more different.
But then, a few chilling words escaped
Mikado's lips…
"Switch."