Beyond Critical - Chapter 6.2 (Patreon)

The force of his strike bodily lifted Satanael up and slammed him into the wall, hard enough to dent the concrete wall.

Black feathers rained down lightly through the air and Kaito scowled. He couldn't see Satanael even though the man was right in front of him?

Why?

Because he was cocooned beneath ten large ebony black feathered wings that erupted from his back just before Kaito's fist struck him.

"That….that is not a Vritra gear." a ragged growl echoed from within the shield of wings and Kaito noted then-

One of them was bent oddly.

As if snapped.

Kaito didn't bother giving him the chance to speak or say anything else and lashed out with a thrust kick, smashing his heel against the wings with all his strength.

He heard an audible snap from one of them and a roar of pain from beneath them.

"Little fool!" the wings snapped open and revealed Satanael glaring bloody murder at him, stretching out around them.

The feathers on them went rigid, at the same time Kaito pushed forward launched out with a touki and double boosted punch straight for the mans jaw.

He was going to smash his face in and end it right here and-

Before he could follow through, he felt something wrap around his waist before he was tugged up and back through the air.

Just in time for a series of feathers to shoot out from Satanael's wings and pierce into the ground where he was standing previously.

Kaito landed downstairs a moment later beside Irina, and noted she had a gleaming white, whip like weapon in her hand.

"Thanks." he grinned at her.

That was a close one.

He didn't know angels could shoot out their feathers as weapons.

"No problem!" she beamed, even as the whip in her hand glowed and shifted, forming into a gleaming white katana.

"You've truly angered me now," Satanael growled, standing up, wings fanning out behind him, though two of them were bent at odd angles from Kaito's strikes, "Do not think you accomplished something dealing me such minor injuries, were I at full strength a pair of blows like that wouldn't have even made me blink!"

"…So what?" Irina tilted her head to the side, confused at his words, "That doesn't change that you got really hurt from those hits right there."

Kaito snorted as Satanael visibly ground his teeth together. And the best of it was, she wasn't even trying to insult him or anything like that. She was really just asking what his full strength, that he couldn't use at the moment, had to do with this second here and now.

"This is humiliation I've not felt in a long time," the fallen angel growled, "Injured by a lowly exorcist and some fool who thinks he's strong because he's attained Balance Breaker with a mere Twice Critical."

'Wait…he thinks I've got Balance Breaker?' Kaito blinked.

Well, he supposed that did make more sense than him having two Twice Critical's.

"Let's go Kaito!" Irina apparently wasn't interested in hearing the fallen angel talk anymore and thrust her sword out.

Bright light emanated from her hand and suffused around the sword, cloaking it in an aura of powerful light, before the sword itself extended rapidly towards Satanael like a bullet.

The fallen leaped into the air to avoid it, allowing the sword to stab into the wall, but as it did, the tip shifted into a hook and embedded itself, before the other end began retracted and yanked Irina high into the air.

She was pulled through the air towards him rapidly, while at the same time the sword in her hand shimmered and returned to the form of a katana which she brought up in an overhead swing.

"Not this time!" Satanael roared, swinging his hand out.

As he did, darkness seemed to swirl into existence within that hand and a sword took shape.

An ominous dark coloured blade.

It clashed against Excalibur Mimic and the air rippled as waves of white and dark light exploded outwards from the clash.

Irina yelped as she was launched backwards, overpowered in the contest of strength easily.

But, she had taken Satanael's attention off of Kaito.

The teen appeared a moment later, moving in the shadow of Irina to get behind the Cadre and launched himself into the air with a powerful jump, gauntlet clad hands linked tightly together and held overhead-

Before being brought down in a powerful hammer blow aimed at the back of Satanael's head.

Before his attack landed, Satanael's wings moved to intercept and block him. His double fisted hit smashed into the fallen's wings and like Irina before him, sent him rocketing towards the ground.

Unlike before though, despite the blow being stronger than the other two he landed, there was no distinct snapping sound or feeling of bone breaking.

He and Irina hit the ground at roughly the same time, both landing on their feet and rushing each other.

It took a moment for Kaito himself to land and by time he did, the pair of them were already duelling in a rapid flash of sword strikes that sent sparks into the air.

Right away though, it was Irina on the back foot.

"Fools, I may be weakened, but Arondight's power makes up for that." Satanael snarled, catching Excalibur Mimic's blade on the hilt of his own blade and locking it there for a split moment, keeping Irina rooted in place and lashing out with a punch.

As he did Kaito landed and pushed off the stairs, launching towards his back at the same time Excalibur Mimic's blade lost its rigidity and wrapped around Arondight's blade like a serpent.

The punch struck Irina in the stomach and launched her backwards, but to her credit and skill she didn't let go of her blade and used the momentum she gained from the punch to flip backwards through the air and pull with all her might, attempting to drag Arondight with her, out of the Cadre's hands.

Sadly, he was too strong for her with it in hand and with a jerk of his own arms, ripped the blade free.

Raising his arms up into the air above his head, sword in hand.

Just in time for Kaito to strike once more.

Satanael saw him coming a mile away. While the man was incredibly weakened, he was still used to a much higher level of combat than this.

A wing blocked Kaito's punch, but experience only went so far when he was weakened so and the sheer force of his punch sent the Cadre spinning around.

But again, even put off balance like that and vulnerable, the Cadre was ancient compared to Kaito and much more experienced.

He used the spin himself to coming around and swing the blade at Kaito as he turned and lashed out with another punch, forcing him to cut off and slide underneath the blade slash.

Kaito shot up, blazing red aura around his fist coming up in a rapid uppercut aiming for the fallen's chin.

But the hilt of Arondight got in the way and blocked it, the clang of metal clashing echoing throughout the gothic mansion.

Kaito opened his hands, locking his finger around Satanael's own around the hilt and pulled at the same time he kicked out in a sweeping kick at the winged mans ankles.

Satanael tried to pull back, but Kaito was much physically stronger than Irina and even with the enhancement from Arondight, it wasn't happening.

Kaito's kick took the mans ankles straight out underneath him and forced him into the air.

And Kaito took advantage of that to pull on the mans hand and launched out with a headbutt intending for his nose.

Before he could though, Satanael's foot snapped out and caught him across the face, forcing him skidding back.

"Kaito-kun, duck!" he heard Irina shout behind him, and instinctually let himself fall limp on his back.

Just in time for a blade of blinding white energy to rush over his head towards Satanael.

'Irina can use energy blades?!' Kaito gaped.

Kaito kick flipped back up onto his feet an instant later, just in time to watch as the blade of holy energy sliced into Satanael.

Or…it should have at least.

The blade of light was blocked by Arondight, before promptly disappearing as if swallowed by the sword itself.

"Here, have this BACK!" Satanael snarled, wings flaring out behind him and keeping him afloat.

He slashed the blade of Arondight out, and a split moment later, from it, an exact copy of the energy blade was launched back at them.

Only…it was much, much larger.

Easily twice if not more than that the size of the one Irina fired off.

"Shit!" Kaito cursed, rolling to the side and just narrowly avoiding it before it could hit him.

And then promptly remembering the girl who was behind him!

He hit the ground in a roll and looked over, just in time to see the blade in Irina's hands glow and expand, forming into a large white shield that she used to block the attack.

Even so, the sheer speed and force behind the energy blade lifted her up off of her feet and sent her flying back to slam into the wall over ten feet behind her.

"Tch, how annoying." Satanael huffed seeing that they were fine. With a single flap of his wings, he righted himself and landed lightly back on his feet, even as Kaito and Irina returned to their feet.

Kaito was more or less fine, but from the corner of his eye, the boy could see that Irina was wincing noticeably, even as Excalibur Mimic returned to the shape of a katana.

'We're on the backfoot here.' he clicked his tongue.

It would be totally different if he had a long range option, but he didn't. Well, he had one, but it wasn't exactly a powerful option.

And he hadn't really practiced with it at all.

"To think I had to use such a pitiful power of light instead of my own, for shame." the Cadre scoffed in annoyance, looking at the blade in his hands.

And it was as he said that, Kaito realised, the man hadn't been using his own power of light at all.

Or rather, he couldn't?

The fallen closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Before opening them once again, resignation resounding clearly within his silver iris'.

"Enough of this, I'm ending this absolutely shameful display now." he sniffed disdainfully, before bringing Arondight up and…shoving it down the front of his suit?

The blade sliced through the clothing he wore on his torso, cutting it off and baring the fallen angel's naked torso.

And the ominous scar that ran from one hip, diagonally up to his shoulder. But, the sheer size of the battle wound wasn't what made it ominous.

It was the fact that the scar tissue, was a deep ebony black that seemed to roil, pulse and shimmer…almost like a flame?

"…What the hell?" Kaito eyed it with disgust.

"Do you like it? It was a parting gift from someone much more special than you two," Satanael bared his teeth in a savage grin, "This scar was made by the one who possesses Canis Lykaon, one of the legendary Longinus. You see these flames infecting it? The cursed black flames that can even kill a god and the reason why I am weakened as I am now, it is taking all my power of light to suppress these flames and stop them from spreading throughout my body and killing me."

Just as Irina explained, huh? "And, what's your point?" Kaito narrowed his eyes, "You trying to intimidate us by showing off how badass you are that you survived that?"

Satanael scoffed, "Nothing so plebian, why on Earth would I feel the need to boast to ants like you two?" he replied derisively, "No, it's really quite simple why I bared my scar to you."

He pressed the blade of Arondight against the scar. And then pulled it away a second later.

For moment, nothing happened.

And then…a monstrous ebony black flame surged into existence around the blade, coating it like Irina had Excalibur Mimic before with her light energy.

"Be honoured children," Satanael's grin grew, becoming just as ominous as the flame surrounding his sword, "You are the first to see the legendary holy demonic sword Arondight, enhanced with the power of Canis Lykaon!"

Oh…

'Oh fuck!' Kaito cursed inwardly.