It was an impossible battle. The difference in our strength was too great, I could feel it in my bones. But while Akira fought the golden angel in the sky above, I had no choice but to hold out here on the ground.

I stepped in, inching closer to the silver Seraphim. He stood perfectly still, a statuesque figure with the setting sun at his back, the fading light glinting off of his shimmering armor. Slowly, he moved his weapon to face me, a golden spear with a shaft longer than my body and a wide arrowhead shaped blade. He smirked, and then, nothing remained where he once stood but a puff of dust.

“..!”

His spear was intercepted, Raza leapt in, clad in her iron armor. Her spear deflected his unseen, and she landed between us. The horned Daeva rushed forward, pulling her spear back to thrust. The two clashed, exchanging blows as if they were equals. But they weren’t, the angel was merely playing with her.

“Slow, you’re so sloooow~” the angel cackled, knocking Raza away with a flick of his wrist. His spear spun in his hand, and his powerful legs tore towards me. Unlike his first attack, my eyes could track him. I hoped to the right, his spear passing me by a hair.

I twisted my body around, my foot digging into the ground like an anchor. My curled fist was like a loaded gun, and once I had locked onto my target, I fired. A left straight like a bullet exploded into the exposed side of the angel. I froze in place, staring as the angel fell backwards. That punch shouldn’t have hit him, there was no way he was that slow.

The angel stood up, showing no sign of being injured. He dusted off his armor with one hand, the other resting his spear on the ground. He then proceeded to stretch both arms above his head with a yawn. In a bored voice, he looked between the two of us and said. “I hope that’s not your best? Am I fighting children..? Well, I guess I am, actually. Man, when did I become a babysitter?”

“Shut up!” “Be quiet!” Both Raza and I shouted at the same time, charging straight at him. Raza, a crimson bolt of lightning, and me, a wild cannonball. Her spear sliced the air in two, my punch shattered the sky, at least that was what should have happened…

The two of us crashed into each other and fell over, the angel easily sidestepping before being caught in the disaster of our own making. We tumbled to the ground, and I landed on top of Raza, our faces dangerously close together.

“I-Idiot, get off me, now’s not the time for this!” embarrassed, she pushed me off of her with enough force to throw me into the air. I didn’t have time to complain about how she was misunderstanding things, when the angel flew into the air and struck me with the shaft of his spear.

I hit the dirt on the side of the road, getting a mouthful of grass. Spitting out whatever I had almost swallowed, I climbed up to my feet. The angel laughed haughtily, swooping down towards me. “You two have terrible coordination, you’re actually making this easier for me!”

Raza jumped between us, blocking the angel’s attack with her rusted looking spear. She shoved him back, then followed up with a horizontal slice, but the angel had already ducked. With a thrust like a laser, his own spear shot up, and Raza hardly had time to react. She would surely be impaled, skewered right there!

Propelled via the purple flames of my soul, I managed to reach the attack seconds before it was too late. However, I didn’t have any way to properly deflect it, and the spear cut into my right forearm. I ignored the blood running down my arm and thrust out with my other arm. My fist managed to connect with his face, but the angel didn’t even get pushed backwards!

His elbow crashed into my stomach, knocking the breath from my lungs. I staggered backwards, and he couched his lance to deliver a killing blow. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t react in time… my body wasn’t responding!

“It was fun, Shardbarer, but playtime is over!” The Seraphim bellowed, his face twisted with sadistic glee as he thrust forth his holy blade. A golden streak of light, poised to claim my heart.

The gilded angel crashed into the ground, the force of his fall throwing the silver angel’s spear off course. I managed to throw up a sloppy guard, and the spear cracked against my armored hand.

I tumbled to the ground at the same time that Akira landed where I had just been standing. The golden angel struggled to get up, but managed it in the end. On unsteady feet, the senior of the seraphim’s blank expression was beginning to crack.

“I told you, if you don’t use Saocant Urvan, you won’t ever beat me.” Akira boasted, his mechanical extra hands folding over his chest. He looked over his shoulder at me and Raza, and let out a soft sigh. “Yo, Takeru, having some trouble with this guy?”

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“I hate to admit it, but he’s a bit above my level right now.” I replied, taking Raza’s hand as she lifted me off the ground. My honorary older brother nodded in response, then turned back to the two angels. The setting sun behind them painted them like a glorious portrait, but Akira looked no less grand in my mind.

“Come, I’ll take you both on!” He challenged the angels, who readily accepted. The three of them flew into the sky, turning into mere specks racing across the horizon. They clashed again and again, a blur to us on the ground. It was an incomprehensible battle between those well above the strength I possessed.

The two angels attempted a pincer attack, their spears aimed at Akira from the front and from behind. But the extra pair of arms, part of his Suura, inverted at the joints and caught the silver angel’s spear without him even turning around, while his original two arms deflected the golden warrior’s attack.

He forced them away with a burst of orange flame, then landed a diving kick against the silver warrior, who crashed hard against the empty street. The black asphalt cracked under the impact, and the angel stayed down for the moment. “I told you both, if you want to live… use your Saocant Urvan!”

“Very well, if you wish to die so badly, I shall grant your request.” the straight faced angel replied, raising his spear above his head with both hands. A crackle of golden lightning encircled him, gathering into the tip of the spear.

At the sight of such immense power gathering, Akira did not waver. He floated in mid air, lifted by the firing aura around him, and crossed both sets of arms. A stoic warrior, he didn’t show any signs of concern on his face as the angel readied his attack. “Hmm, a physical type, I see. Straight forward… I like it, I like it!”

“Silence, Shardbarer, and be erased by the power granted to be by Him! The ability to scatter the darkness to the ends of the earth!” He pointed his spear forward, a hush falling over the scene. He waited, taking aim at the unmoving demon before him, and finally, began his incantation. “Saocant Urvan, Light of Destiny… All-Piercing Spear!”

It was like an anti ship beam cannon straight out of g*ndam. A blinding flash of yellow energy erupted from his spear, filling the sky with a massive wave of destruction. It sliced across the sky, quickly enveloping Akira’s form.

“Aniki!” I screamed, but my worry was short lived. Within the beam, he laughed. The attack ended, and he was severely burned, but he was laughing, and he was alive. A single trickle of blood ran down his forehead, and he wiped it off, smiling.

“Saocant Urvan… Justice Breaker!” his eyes flared to life, a blazing red glow emanating from his irises. The mechanical arms of his armor split in half, folding around his actual arms. He drew both of his newly heavy armored arms to his side, his dark power gathering into his fists.

“Holy shit, he’s even mastered their power? Incredible…” I muttered, but Raza was less impressed.

“Saocant Urvan is an ability both tribes possess. There were even legends of humans obtaining similar abilities through intense training and meditation.” she explained, her eyes transfixed on the Heir of Ahriman before us, however.

Akira flew back from the angel, energy still gathering in his hands. His fists began to glow with a shining white light. The angel chased him, spear ready to cut Akira down. But the devil abruptly changed directions, shooting forward so fast he ignored the laws of inertia.

Akira’s punch sailed past the angel, who quickly moved out of the way, doing an aerial backflip. Was it hopeless? Could even Akira not defeat the Seraphim, was their power too great? But in reality, he had already landed his blow. The angel suddenly realized this, noticing the crack in the left pauldron of his gilded armor.

“You missed, was this supposed to be a killing blow? It might have been faster than my eyes, but is this all you have, Shardbarer?!”

Akira snapped his fingers, and the angel exploded. Without any other warning, the seraphim became a pincushion of golden spears of light. Each blade pierced him from inside his own body, like his soul itself had torn him to pieces. It was a blow that ignored the enemy’s defenses, for it slayed them from within.

The golden angel couldn’t even scream in pain, his voice was nothing but a gurgle as he fell to the ground, lifeless. Seeing his comrade’s death, the silver angel mustered up the strength to fly again, and rushed into the air. Behind the silver angel, a thousand glowing blades fanned out like wings, it must be his Saocant Urvan activating. “I’ll kill you, you shadow bastard!”

“Hmm, I still have about 40% left, should be enough.” Akira muttered, aiming his right palm forward towards the charging Seraphim. He closed his eyes, and a golden light shot out of his hand, looking like a smaller version of the attack that the first angel had used against him.

“Urrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” the silver angel gave into his rage, his swarm of ghostly blades firing like an endless volley of arrows up towards the descending beam of light. Each one crashed against the golden energy and shattered, unable to slow the attack at all.

Akira’s Saocant Urvan tore through the silver angel’s body, this time destroying him from the outside in. The beam utterly annihilated the silver armored warrior’s body, leaving nothing behind. In a single second, the fight was settled, and Akira descended to the earth once more.

His transformation undone, his armor vanished, and he was just Akira once more. A sharp wind blew through the scene of the devastation, and the hero put his hands in his pockets casually. Yes, in that moment, I realized the true difference between our powers. My fight against Sara was child's play to the world he lived in.

If anyone should be the hero of this tale of light vs dark, it was him. Me? I was starting to feel like a fifth wheel.