Don't You Know?

I…I'm starting to lose consciousness. This pain is mind numbing, thought Jun. Wait, why is Axel staring at me? I can't make out what he's saying…but, forget about me! Please work with the others and prioritize killing the angel! I appreciate the concern, but I'll be fine!

"-and like I said, fuck that Jun guy. I'm here to solo you, archangel." Axel smugly grinned as his sword pointed towards the archangel Malakah.

"Hm. I see." Malakah replied. He unmercifully yanked the spear out of Jun's body as his body convulsed from the sudden action. Malakah turned away from him and walked a few steps to square off to Axel.

Jayden and Iris meanwhile rushed to Jun's side.

"Jun! Stay with us!" Jayden yelled as he took off his cloak and applied pressure to the puncture.

Iris barged in between them, "Move!" She took her unarmored left hand and placed it on the wound itself.

"Unholy art: Simple Heal!" She called out. A red energy emitted from her hand and poured over the actively bleeding wound. Slowly, the wound began to close up and Jun could feel the fog in his brain clearing.

"I-Iris?" Jun uttered.

Iris and Jayden both let out a sigh of relief. "Well that was a close one." She uttered.

Jun lifted himself up as the pain began to subside. Iris moved her hand away and it was like it never even happened. He rubbed his hand over it as if he couldn't quite believe it himself. "Not sure where we would be if you weren't so good with Arts, Iris."

Iris looked over at Axel and Malakah as they were in the midst of a standoff. "I'm not too crazy about him, but taking on an archangel alone is crazy for even us. I don't know where he came from but he's in over his head."

Jun glanced over at them. "Maybe. But maybe not."

"Huh? You're not seriously going to give this guy some credit are you?" Jayden said, confused.

"Even if it was a sucker punch, he did manage to knock an archangel into a building with just his fist. And when he dodged that spear attack…I have a hunch that our new friend might have consumed a core or two before."

Jayden and Iris looked shocked at his words. "What??", Jayden started, "but that's against the slayer bylaws! He can't be-"

"I know, I know." Jun interrupted. "But think about what he said earlier. Being contracted makes you weak. Why would he say something like that you think?"

Iris's eyes widened. "....because it's easier for freelance slayers to get away with not following the bylaws."

Jun nodded. "I say we watch for now. But be ready to intervene at a moment's notice."

The tip of Malakah's spear began to glow again as he ran his hand over the length of it. Then he threw his hand to the side and several more spears appeared around him - he pointed his finger over at Axel and each energy spear turned to point right at him.

"You people have stalled me long enough. I'll finish the four of you and then finish my duty as the loyal servant of the God of Conquest!" said Malakah.

Axel spread his legs apart to enter his stance - he grasped the handle of his sword with two hands as he poised himself ready to strike like a battle hungry scorpion.

< Axel >

"What is it, Admin? Kinda doing a thing right now." Axel spoke in a low tone to the Administrator of the God Core System as her voice rang out in his head.

< I just wanted to remind you that the God Core System is always active. There's no real reason for me to say 'God Core System, Initialized'. Why you want me to say that, I-"

"Because it's like I'm flipping the switch to kick ass mode. Gets me in the mood. Now, shhh. You're ruining the atmosphere right now."

< Sigh >

Malakah studied Axel's oversized sword.

Strange, he thought, I don't recognize that weapon. It must be a cursed one if he's a slayer, but….I don't think I've ever seen a ridiculously sized blade like that before. And I pride myself on my wealth of battle history.

"I'm curious, what is that weapon of yours?" He asked Axel.

Axel smirked, "How about I make a deal with you? If you touch me with even one of those spears, I'll tell you the name of it. Right before I use it to end you."

Malakah chuckled, "By all means." He flicked his finger downwards and all the energy spears shot off towards Axel. "Do your best."

"Oh, you must not know!" Axel rushed forward at the incoming spears.

Even with wielding such a seemingly heavy weapon, Axel weaved, ducked, and dodged his way through the spears as he made his way straight to Malakah.

"That you're a fool?" Malakah pointed his charged spear at the incoming Axel as he dodged the last spear. The whole assault had been a diversion for this moment.

Axel came to a stop after he maneuvered past the last spear and immediately lifted his blade up in the air. "Nope. You must not have heard that I got that dog in me!" He started to slash downwards with amazing force, despite still being too far away from Malakah to reach.

"You've lost your mind! From that distance your blade won't reach! This is my win." Malakah shot off a blast from the tip of the spear directly at Axel.

Axel chuckled as he still continued to swing down, the muscles in his arms bulging from the strength he was using. As Malakah watched as his blast of energy zoomed towards Axel, he happened to notice as a shadow had started to cast over him.

"What-" He looked up and saw Axel's blade bearing right down on him. "That's not possible!" He shouted.

He glanced out the side of his eye and saw that the blade had somehow grown in length from the point that Axel started to swing it down to now.

His sword…can get longer?! Malakah's thoughts raced.

The blade collided with the energy and smashed right through it - it came down upon Malakah and then slammed into the ground causing an explosion of concrete from the road.

"Ugh!" The other slayers shielded themselves with their arms as bits of concrete flew past them.

"What the hell was that?!" Jayden exclaimed.

"It seems his sword can grow even larger! We may be in for quite the show." said Jun.

"Um…Jun?" Iris said as she pointed back to where the others were. Jun looked as well and his eyes grew wide.

Malakah's spear dropped to the ground. His face was contorted into pure shock as a dark line that ran down his body from head to groin could be seen.

"Y-y-y-you…bastard." He uttered. His body began to sag both ways as it was now split into two halves and was coming apart at the seams so to speak.

Axel stood in his finished pose with the tip of the blade still resting on the ground below where Malakah stood. The blade that had stretched out an additional 8ft. during Axel's attack and looked absolutely cumbersome in size.

"Ahhhh." He let out a sigh of satisfaction as he stood up straight, letting the blade rest upon the ground. "And that's that. I guess a deals a deal though." He held up his right arm and a slender trickle of blood ran down from a cut on his forearm from one of the spears that he mostly dodged.

"You're kidding me, right?..." Jayden started. "An archangel. One of the higher levels of angel. And..it's over. Like that."

Axel took a few steps closer to Malakah as he fought to hold himself together.

"It's called Purgatory, Despair of the Fallen." Axel stated smugly.

Malakah only stared Axel down in his final moment as he could no longer respond. The two halves fell open in a burst of yellow liquid. The body parts had already started to disintegrate into black energy before they even touched the ground.

Unlike the angels however, something stayed behind even after the archangel was gone. There was a ball of light that had a somewhat rainbow reflection to it. It was about the size of a basketball and hovered in the air where Malakah once stood.

"And the core appears." Axel said as he licked his lips.