Chapter 20: Joy vs Abel

The portal glowed purple, open in mid-air, and from the coast on Eldrath, the fortress that would normally have passed through it had frozen solid a few meters from the entrance. The passage to the other world suddenly began to glow, as if something was about to come out of it.

At that very moment, the portal expelled this thing from its bosom in the direction of the flying fortress, et as an unidentified object crashed into the middle levels of the castle, raising a cloud of dust, A being with a pair of white wings and long, straight white hair was flying in the air, hovering above her.

"Zhahahahahahaha! That was a close call! I almost died that time."

A tall figure appeared in the cloud of dust, and a shrill, double voice, as if two separate voices were speaking at once, sounded out.

"With this hole in my chest, I wouldn't have survived even with my exceptional recuperative abilities... but here, it's different..."

The voice came closer until it emerged from the smoke and revealed its form, the angel above it looking at it with an annoyed expression.

"I actually have regenerative ability, and my injuries heal in no time."

A large, imposing suit of armor, shining gray with a dark sheen, stood out in broad daylight. It was a full suit of armor with a dark fantasy design, black smoke escaping from the gaps between the different pieces of the armor, a dark cloak billowing like a black flame floating behind him, and in the visor of his helmet glittered in the darkness scarlet red eyes.

"Ahh! I wish I could show you my original form, Ryo. He probably would have thought it was cool. I'll do it one of these days; in the meantime, I'll take care of you." said the great armor, pointing Jahanam's sword at the angel.

"Don't talk as if you're the only one with an advantage and abilities on Eldrath. Here, I can use all my power and attributes. You don't stand a chance." replied the angel, holding the long war axe that resembled a halberd.

The angel… or rather the Celestine, was none other than Abel Jager, a member of Avalon, and the large dark armor facing him was in fact Joyce Decker, member of the Legacy guild, reverting to his original form known as "Dark Lord".

The latter had survived by chance. Normally, even if he went to Eldrath with an amulet, he wouldn't have been able to heal his body in his human form. But luckily there was the portal, because it had completely transfigured his human body to the other world, which had healed both his human and original forms through the regenerative power of his species. As he had said, he had been very lucky on that one.

"What you'll see. Bring the bird, I'll pluck you," Joy taunted.

The fighting arena was located on the middle levels, on an open-air platform surrounded by pillars, resembling the backyard of a castle.

Abel dove from the heights, nose-dived towards the ground, and, before hitting the floor, veered sharply to charge straight towards Joy. His momentum sent his war axe crashing against Joy's flaming sword with a deafening crash.

The first impact marked the beginning of a frantic exchange. Blows followed one another, parries and ripostes following one another at lightning speed. Abel struck with precision and speed, his feet barely touching the ground, while Joy counterattacked with the power of her great sword, imposing and sharp, leaving no opening.

Both were elite in their group. Joy, a member of the assault team, and Abel, a seasoned executioner, were experienced and determined to win.

They struck simultaneously. The clash of weapons made them both step back. Joy slid along the ground, while Abel, still in midair, steadied himself by pushing on his wings. The fight was close, every move counted.

As they prepared to move, the sound of an explosion made them look up. A line of light crossed the sky from the upper levels, splitting the space in two.

"Sir Kai!" Abel exclaimed, his mouth open.

"Zhahahahaha! Looks like Ryo's getting serious about it... How about we do the same? Come on, I'll start the ball rolling!" Joy declared.

He charged Abel. Each step Joy took hit the ground with such force that it seemed as if it would crack. A heavy, powerful upward attack crashed down on Abel. The latter couldn't dodge. He blocked the blade then slid it down his shaft to deflect it downward. Joy's sword hit the ground, and Abel took advantage of it to counterattack. But Joy parried, her quick reflexes compensating for the mass of her armor. The two weapons clashed, repelling each other with a clatter.

"It's time to roast you on a spit!" Joy called out.

His sword suddenly burst into flame, sending out a blazing blaze that made Abel flinch. He gripped his axe and made it vibrate intensely. The vibrations were so powerful that they extinguished Joy's flames.

"Huh!? Hey, shit!" he exclaimed.

Joy rekindled an even more blazing brazier, but Abel's vibrations were enough to smother the fire again.

Joy's relic, the Sword of Jahanam, was fire-type and capable of generating immense burning flames. But against Abel's axe, nothing worked. His relic manipulated vibrations, being a derivative of the wind attribute. Each wave instantly extinguished the flames before they had time to consume anything.

After several unsuccessful attempts to carbonize his opponent, Joy abandoned this idea and changed his strategy. He now planned to cut Abel into pieces.

He lunged forward with all his strength and struck a horizontal blow with the edge of his blade. Abel took the hit with his axe, immediately propelling himself backward using his wings to limit the damage and keep his distance.

Suddenly, Abel's axe began to vibrate uncontrollably. The energy accumulated since the beginning of the fight was concentrated in the blade, ready to be released.

Abel positioned himself, concentrated all the energy stored in his axe, and struck out into the air. A wave of invisible vibrations, concentrated in a precise point, shot towards Joy. The impact was immediate. His helmet shattered... and with it, his head.

Yet the great armor remained standing, motionless. A black mist rose from its neck, condensing soon after into a strange shape. A head made of dark smoke, difficult to identify. All that could be seen was an oval silhouette, two appendages on the sides resembling ears, and scarlet red eyes that shone in the gloom.

"All right! Let's get down to business," Joy declared, her deep voice resonating behind the mask of smoke.

He grabbed his sword and brandished it like a spear. With a powerful step, he threw the flaming blade with all his might towards Abel.

Abel spun around and dodged the sword, which sank into the ground, barely burning his skin. He looked back at his opponent… But Joy was gone. Panicked, Abel scanned the area, but there was no sign of him.

Suddenly, Joy appeared right in front of him and sent him flying with a powerful kick to the face.

Abel flew like an arrow, bounced and rolled onto his back to break his fall, driving the tip of his axe into the ground. He looked up... but Joy was gone again, as if swallowed by the air.

"I'm behind you." a voice whispered.

Before Abel could turn around, a blade slashed across his arm, severing the grip of the axe stuck in the ground.

"Argh…!"

In the process, the back of a fist propelled him against one of the pillars surrounding the courtyard, forcing a cry of pain from him.

"Zhahahahaha! What's wrong with you? Can't keep up anymore?" Joy burst out.

Joy stood there, the hatchet planted in the ground, while Abel's severed right arm hung suspended in its own grasp.

As a Dark Lord, Joy possessed the attribute of shadow, an element derived from darkness. Mastering shadows, he could move from one dark figure to another in an instant. Abel, constantly hovering a few inches above the ground, saw Joy appear and disappear, appearing behind him or just in front of him, with disconcerting speed.

Abel finally understood the secret of this feat and changed tactics. He steadied himself as best he could despite the loss of his right arm, spread his wings, and flew high, out of reach of Joy or the shadows cast on the ground.

Abel dove, charging straight at Joy. But at the last moment, Joy sidestepped his attack and retrieved his axe. Abel then tore off his right arm, still attached to the weapon, and threw it roughly towards his opponent.

The severed arm flew straight at Joy, but was intercepted by the latter's flaming sword. The flames consumed the limb in an instant, reducing everything to ashes.

Abel's eyes remained calm and focused, impassive. Nothing could disturb him. Now he was in a hunting state. There was nothing left but him and his prey. Everything else disappeared from his mind.

"The hunt is on," he whispered with cold determination.

Abel gained height, beating his wings vigorously. From there, he plunged like a meteorite. His axe-thrower vibrated in harmony with the air, chipping away at the silence before impact. The shock shook the ground. Joy parried with her flaming sword as steel met fire in a shower of sparks, and sparks flew into the air.

The duel grew more brutal, the exchanges continuing relentlessly. Abel struck from the sky, using his aerial mobility to harass his opponent. With repeated swings, his point finally found a gap and he pierced Joy's chest with a powerful blow, the axe buried up to the hilt in the dark armor.

He jerked the weapon away and immediately moved away, rising higher into the sky. From the gaping hole in Joy's armor escaped a thick, malevolent black mist, spreading in dark wisps.

"Fuck off! Stop hiding and come fight, you coward!" Joy yelled angrily.

"A hunter doesn't respond to his prey's provocations," Abel replied coldly. "He's smarter than she is." Abel replied.

"So you're implying I'm stupid? Haha. In any case, you won't be able to touch me with attacks like that." 

"You think you're invincible, but you're wrong. You're not immortal. I only need to destroy your core to kill you," Abel declared.

The Dark Lords were a spectral species whose true bodies were merely a mixture of dark matter, and their armor served only as a shell. Every physical wound healed instantly and conventional attacks were ineffective. Their only weakness lay in a core, similar to a human heart, hidden somewhere within their bodies.

Joy let out a torrent of bright, burning flames from his sword, illuminating the entire courtyard.

"It's no use. Your flames will never be able to reach me from here," Abel said impassively, watching Joy from above.

The Dark Lord frowned and focused all his energy into his brazier, forcing the flame to grow, crackling with an almost blinding intensity. The burning light eclipsed everything around, like a small sun created by his hands.

Abel, still on high, contemplated him calmly, his gaze fixed on the black armor which revealed no sign of weakness.

Abel watched Joy struggle to stoke her fire, the flame growing brighter and brighter, blinding, shining like a small sun.

Without himself realizing it—and blinded by the light coming from below—his shadow was projected onto the tall pillar behind him. Joy stepped back into the darkness and her body dissolved into a black sheet. In a split second, he reappeared behind Abel and launched himself at him. The two fell together.

As he fell, Joy grabbed one of Abel's wings with one hand and with the other, he brandished his flaming sword and drew a luminous arc that sliced through the wing.

Abel screamed in pain. He spun around in mid-air, the large armor flipping onto his back. Their fall created a titanic impact on landing, a crater, a shower of dust and the crash of metal against stone.

There was only one flapping wing left. Abel righted himself as best he could, pushing with all his might to regain altitude and avoid surfaces where Joy could regain support with his shadows. But he was destabilized, and his speed, his agility, everything was reduced. His right arm had already vanished into thin air, and now his second wing was smoking, reduced to ashes before his eyes.

"Playing is over. This time you're going to die. Since your core isn't in your head or chest, it must be in your abdomen." Abel spat, rage gripping him by the throat. 

He narrowed his eyes, his jaw clenched. The hunter had switched to pure stalking. He was going to aim for the weak point, no matter the cost.

Around them, the air still vibrated from the recent collisions. Joy stood motionless for a moment, the black mist billowing around his ripped armor, knowing now that Abel had understood. The game was about to become deadly.

The war axe vibrated violently, concentrating all the accumulated energy for a final assault. Abel prepared to charge, every muscle tensed, ready to strike Joy's weak point.

But something suddenly caught Joy's eye.

Before Abel could move, Joy threw his sword again, like a javelin slicing through the air at breakneck speed.

"Ridiculous!" Abel yelled, dodging the weapon as it flew across the sky, lost in the clouds.

"Do you honestly think you can hit me from this distance, you fool?" Abel spat, panting.

"I wasn't aiming at you," Joy replied.

A low growl sounded. Something enormous was approaching him through the white of the clouds. Breaking through the mist of clouds, a marine dinosaur-like infantryman flail appeared behind Abel, charging straight at him.

On his back, Joy's sword was planted. Abel then understood that the weapon had not been thrown at random, it had been used to draw the scourge onto him.

Hesitating for a moment, he turned to face the threat. With a heavy heart, he used his final blow, his last-ditch attack, aiming to pierce the scourge through and through. The power of the strike pierced the enormous creature and shattered it into pieces.

"This is what I've been waiting for!" a shrill voice yelled, echoing nearby. Abel turned his head, but Joy was gone once again.

Joy's shrill voice echoed near Abel, but he couldn't locate his opponent.

By the time he finally understood where the voice was coming from, it was already too late. The pieces of the scourge's corpse cast a shadow over Abel's body, serving as a surface for an invisible assault. From this shadow emerged a black blade which sliced his body diagonally, from shoulder to waist.

Abel's upper body fell free, along with the remains of the scourge. Further on, Joy emerged from the darkness of the shadows, motionless and victorious. This decisive blow had sealed the fight.

"Ahh… I'm sorry… Sir Kai…" Abel whispered with his last breath, his now severed body lying on the ground.

He died before Joy's eyes.

"I've done my part. Now it's your turn, Ryo." Joy declared, her voice filled with determination.