A Stone's Throw Away

'How in the afterlife are they doing that!?' Battle announcer Bijan's voice bellowed across the field of crystals, and the objects seemed to flash in response. The glow struck Leo and Jun, casting their shadows like giants across the space that engulfed the sparkling woman. 'These two fighters are showing off strength that I've only seen in silver rank. Is this a sign of the times, or are we looking at a pair of prodigies?'

'Hardly,' thought Leo. The two of them had worked hard to get where they were, although he couldn't deny that his own power was mostly gifted to him. Two archangels backing him up meant a lot in the balance of power. In video game terms, it was like he'd used every guide available to find the best gear from the start. Except this wasn't a video game, and the power he had was freely given.

He took in the situation. Now that they had a gigantic crystal as a weapon, who should they go for? He decided that he needed to take down the shield businessman if he was to ever get a shot in, but the guy would probably easily dodge their throw at that height.

'The pink lady.' Jun swivelled his feet. Did he just read Leo's thoughts? 'Let's see how good mister spectacles is with his guard.' Jun had a point, this was their best chance, but she was fast. Leo needed to call this and time it well, or their effort was wasted and their opponents would take advantage of the situation. Keeping one palm facing the boulder to focus on his geode power, he flicked the other palm toward the sparkling woman.

'Now!' He clenched his fist and caused the ground behind the woman to crack and blow apart with shattering Ruh. She immediately jumped away to dodge, keeping calm even under the pressure of the surprise. What she didn't expect, however, was the giant crystal thrust at her as she escaped. It hurtled toward her as she was still in motion. Nothing would save her unless–

'G–uh… guard!' The businessman braced his shield and tucked himself behind it. It seemed like the boulder changed its mind and flew away from the sparkling woman. It barrelled for the man even faster than Leo and Jun could have thrown it, and flattened him onto the crystal he was perched upon.

'Crystal sandwich,' Leo remarked.

'Doesn't seem tasty.' Jun shrugged and clasped his hands together. 'Sorry, pink lady. Your man is now out of business.'

'HA!' Leo covered his mouth before the spittle flew over his companion. He couldn't believe that the man of massacre had managed a witty joke. After a few seconds of Jun's blank stare, however, Leo realised it was unintentional. He picked up Bellestar and said, 'whatever. You were funny.' No response. 'Go get your sword off her and I'll support you at range.' He fired shots with Bellestar, occasionally flicking bursts of shattering Ruh to throw the woman off.

Jun would be a terrifying person to have running full speed at you, which is exactly what this lady experienced. She whipped her chain weapon toward him, but he just grabbed hold and yanked her off balance. A fair trade off for the same move that made him lose his weapon. He tried to deliver a punch to the gut, but the woman bounced over it like an acrobat. Her leap was unnaturally high, and that seemed to be one of her powers. She left a trail of bright sparkles that Jun barrelled straight through. He swiped an arm over his eyes and dove for the floor just in time to avoid an aerial kick. His hand met his blade.

Meanwhile, Leo fired random shots, not bothering to aim for her. All he needed to do was keep throwing her off and who knew, maybe one would land. Leo broke into a charge and shout, summoning a fist of hellfire that punched the air directly beside the woman. She lost her balance for a second.

Jun placed a palm on the flat of his blade and arced down upon her. Like some contortionist, she wove around the attack by bending sideways and launching herself over it. She struck at Jun with one chained sickle, and then another. They both narrowly scratched him. In response, he pivoted his blade over his shoulder, spinning it around in a smaller arc than swinging the blade normally would achieve. The quick swipes drove her back into Leo's range.

Leo returned Bellestar to its place in his Key in favour of something much bigger and heavier. He drew out a brand-new weapon, a warhammer with a black crystal head that glistened with deep purple and green surfaces. He spun the weapon around like it would create a whirlwind, and fought to keep hold of it as it gained force. He wound the weapon upwards, and it struck the sparkling lady in the center of her back with more luck than precision.

With that, she was airborne. She weakly swivelled around to throw a chained sickle at Jun, who let the weapon wrap around the hilt of his sword. No sooner had she realised her mistake, then Jun grabbed his weapon with both hands and pulled her out of the sky. He raised a fist that hammered the side of her head, sending her crumpling to the floor in a mess.

'That's it!' The announcer appeared amidst the battlefield faster than the boulder had moved. 'We have our first winners. Congratulations to the House of Power!'

Jun patted Leo's shoulder and said, 'look, I was a tank.' He pointed on the bare scratches on his arms that didn't even break the skin. Leo couldn't deny it, the man had certainly taken the blows like nobody else.

Leo watched a crew retrieve the shield businessman and place him beside his teammate. It only occurred to him then that the pair of them reminded him of that angel and demon couple who supposedly parented the tattoo guy. Something about that thought set off his nerves, so he tucked it away in hopes of not thinking about it again.