46

I disappeared the glass in the window with a bit of magic, and smirked at the Fallen Cadre in a way that I knew was driving him nuts. He stood up from his throne. I readied myself as a light spear formed in his hand. Tiamat growled beside me, but Kokabiel was too tunnel-visioned to notice the protective goddess in front of him.

He scoffed at me, and flicked his spear. I cast a shield that quickly proved to be unnecessary. In less than a blink of the eye, Tiamat had stepped in front of me. The light spear was caught between two of her fingers, and she was glaring at Kokabiel with a certain fire in her eyes.

"Touch my son, and I will stuff your mouth with your own feathers," Tiamat stated in a deceptively calm voice.

Kokabiel's look of shock quickly twisted into an eager, sadistic grin, "HAHAHA! It's a good thing mommy dearest is here to bail you out, little bat. Now this may just be an interesting fight after all!"

I could hear the crashing of waves as Tiamat took a step forward. I put my hand on her shoulder to stop her. As much as I appreciated her desire to defend me, I wanted to fight Kokabiel myself. I was itching for the chance to finally stretch my full power. I felt like ever since I was empowered, I was either underclassed by my opponents or completely overclassed.

I had a feeling the Kokabiel was right in my goldilocks zone when it came to power. He had millennia more experience than me, but I still thought I could take him. I just had to be smart about it, catch him when he was underestimating me, and really let loose.

Tiamat searched my eyes for something, and ultimately, she seemed to find what she was looking for. She took a step back, casually crushing the light spear in her hands. I stepped up to the window.

"Let's take this outside," I said. Kokabiel's grin just grew wider.

He floated back slowly, allowing me the space to step onto the windowsill and out. I walked on top of the air as if it was solid ground. Each of my steps felt like it had more weight behind it. The unseen energy swirling around me just made Kokabiel's smile widen to the point that it looked manic.

I didn't allow him to get the first move. There was a large boom as a psychic artillery shell blasted out from my chest. The shell burst without making contact, and I could see Kokabiel twist with the explosion. He was flung to the side, but easily righted himself.

He casually swatted away a small bolt of lightning that I shot in his direction. There was a certain battle lust in his eyes that told me he knew I was just probing him, and that he approved. I kicked apart two spears that streaked up at me from the ground below.

"Ho? You have more promise than I initially thought, little bat," Kokabiel mused.

"And you seem to be getting up there in age, old man."

Kokabiel actually chuckled at that. In the span of a single moment, he appeared in front of me. I had tracked his movement with a bit of difficulty, so I caught his swing on my forearm. A shove and punch to his stomach made him disengage.

I pursued him. The air around my leg warped as a high kick slammed into Kokabiel's guard. A gust of frigid wind rushed from behind my kicking leg in an effort to shatter his defense. Shards of glass-like ice dug into his skin, but the only visible damage were the tiny furrows my attack had carved into his arm.

Stepping back slightly, I avoided a whistling slash that would have cut into my neck. I mentaly gathered psychic energy into a tight, coiled ball. Kokabiel still wasn't taking me completely seriously so he certainly wasn't expecting the spike of agony and confusion that invaded his mind.

He stumbled, and I was there to catch him with a blade of Warpfire. The psychic flames smoldered as they sliced through his defenses like butter. My blade drew a line of cauterized flesh on the left side of his abdomen. Kokabiel winced, and was forced to retreat slightly.

Purifying light glowed in the hand he had pressed to his wound as he tried to heal the damage somewhat. He was also laughing manically the entire time, "You actually hit me! Wonderful! I guess I should start taking you more seriously. Still, I find myself curious about something. Why do you try to stop me? Surely you've realized that beings like us are made to fight. It's only natural. It's the way of the world. All I'm trying to do is restore the natural order."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you're trying to kill my friends and family? Maybe I don't think that all out war is the answer? Like, c'mon man, you're basically a boomer who's still stuck in the 'good ol' days'. You're just more homicidal about your nostalgia."

"And? I don't see the problem here."

"Of course you don't," I sighed.

Kokabiel just laughed as he stood up straight. A dozen spears began to form around him. I matched his preparation, reinforcing myself and gathering my concentration. A leaf blew in between us, acting as the signal for our fight to resume.

Three spears flew at me from various directions. I vanished with a flourish of my Warpfire sword. I stepped through the Warp, and came out the other side right behind Kokabiel. I twisted around, rending the air where Kokabiel's head just was.

I teleported again before he could respond. Pitch black wing feathers darted toward my new position. The air around me crackled with an aura of fire, burning up the feathers before they could reach me. I stepped again, this time appearing above the Fallen Cadre.

Instead of swinging my sword, I sent a tidal wave of telekinetic force downward with a stomp. The ground shattered outward beneath Kokabiel's feet. He had to stab a spear into the soil just to stay standing. I was already gone again when he lashed out with another spear.

I flashed around Kokabiel, stepping in and out of the Warp freely. With each step, my attacks gained more momentum and weight. Power roiled through my physical form. I could feel my eyes glowing with golden light. My Warpfire flickered in color, going from orange to red to blue to purple to green.

Even as I continued to kite him, Kokabiel never grew frustrated. If anything, he only seemed to get more excited. His movements grew faster as he tried to catch me.

With each teleport, I pulled more Warp energy into my sword. The Chaos kicked and snarled like an animal as I compressed it. The pressure built until my blade was literally shaking in my grip.

I stepped directly in front of Kokabiel for the first time since I started kiting him. His grin stretched as he realized that I meant to end this face to face. His light spears fused together in his hand. I barely gave him a chance to swing, thrusting my sword into his center of mass and releasing everything.

Kokabiel's spear skidded along my blade, only stopping when I straight up grabbed it with my hand. I ignored how his power sizzled on my palm. With an unnatural roar, my Chaos beam exploded out of Kokabiel's back. A gaping hole was torn through his core.

Even in the face of death, he wore the smile of a man who lived for battle. It wasn't a satisfied expression, but he looked happy that he had at least died fighting.