Chapter 57 - A True Battle

Igorus and Aldes stood close to each other, surrounded on all sides by the army of angels.

"Are you ready to turn this place into a divine graveyard?" Aldes asked Igorus.

"I like it when I abuse my duty," said Igorus, with a smile uncharacteristic for him.

"First time I've ever liked you," Aldes replied.

Igorus spread his wings and flew toward the army of angels. The angels stood ready for his assault, but before they realized it, dozens of them were burned alive by the flames trailing behind Igorus' sheer speed. Those who survived stood frozen in shock at his movement. Igorus appeared before one angel and tore off his head, while another came at him from behind. He dodged the strike, seized the soldier's sword, and with one clean motion, sliced the angel's chest in two. He then used the blood pouring from the corpse as a distraction, exhaling a scorching breath of fire that killed five more angels instantly, their bodies turning to dry, shadowy husks. Three others attacked him from above.

"Too slow," Igorus muttered, as three fiery clones of himself brutally tore the attackers apart mid-air.

"Damn! I didn't know you could feel that kind of thrill, Igorus," said Aldes, watching him in action.

The angels then turned their assault toward Aldes. He drew out a card with the number 23 written on it.

"Not bad," he said to himself, just as a colossal hammer descended from the sky. The angels hadn't expected such a strike, fifty of them were split cleanly in half, as if inside a slaughterhouse. Aldes laughed, bathing in the rain of their blood.

"Tch! They're making a mockery of us!" said one of the commanders, watching from hundreds of meters away.

On the battlefield stood ten commanders, each capable of manifesting themselves, and over 2,500 angel soldiers fighting Igorus and Aldes.

"You're right, Commander Joel," said another.

"Let's erase that fire-wielder from the face of Saint Zagra," said a third.

Joel and the other two commanders took flight toward Igorus.

"Hmm?" Igorus sensed their presence approaching as he tossed aside the lifeless body of a soldier like a broken doll. The three commanders landed before him. Igorus' expression didn't change in the slightest.

"I can't quite sense your Lapus, but I can tell, you're not like these worthless gods," said Igorus.

"You'll swallow those words before you realize the situation you're in," one of them replied.

"We'll see," Igorus answered, releasing a much greater surge of flame, showing that he was finally taking the battle seriously. Commander Joel charged at him at incredible speed.

"Die!" Joel shouted, aiming a devastating punch at Igorus.

"You might have more strength than the others," Igorus said calmly, slicing the commander into dozens of pieces in a fraction of a second before he could react, "but you share the same mindset as those who already fell before me." The commander's body hit the ground lifelessly.

"Who's next?" Igorus asked, glancing at the other two commanders from the corner of his eye.

"Lapis Arts: Two Wings — Tattoos of Madness!" shouted one of them, activating a technique.

A tattoo in the shape of a guillotine began forming on Igorus' left arm.

"This looks interesting," Igorus said, attempting to burn the mark away with his flames. Though his arm began to char, the tattoo remained.

"It's not that easy," the commander smirked. "The only way to remove it is to cut off your own arm, but only a madman would do that."

"Oh, thank you," said Igorus, and without hesitation, severed his own arm with his blade.

"What?!" the commander gasped.

"It's your fault for telling me how to remove it," Igorus replied, instantly decapitating the man before he could react.

The third commander stood frozen, trembling in disbelief, until he noticed the severed head of his ally lying at his feet.

"Monster!" he screamed in panic.

"Glad you noticed," Igorus replied, thrusting his hand through the commander's chest and ripping out his heart. He crushed it like a rotten fruit.

The soldiers looked on in horror as the three commanders were slaughtered as though trapped in a nightmare they couldn't escape. At that moment, the remaining seven commanders arrived within Igorus' sight.

"More who wish to taste the feeling of death," said Igorus, dripping with the blood of the angels he had massacred.

"Don't let this filthy Dominion humiliate us like this. All of you, attack at once!" one of the commanders ordered.

"Igorus, you seem to be enjoying yourself a little too much," Aldes said, cutting down angels as he spoke. "You took all the commanders for yourself."

"My attention's on you," came a voice from several meters away.

Aldes heard it clearly, but couldn't halt his attack in time. Just as he was about to kill another angel, a leg intercepted his strike, and another kicked him, launching him thirty meters back. A young warrior with short spikey blonde hair, a nasty scar flowing between his right eye, stood amidst the broken pebbles of the divine kingdom, his red cape floating above death's odor.

"General Johannel," said the soldier who had narrowly escaped death.

"A general? Now this is what I call a real battle," said Aldes.

"I'll handle this. You, go help the commanders," Johannel ordered the soldiers.

"At once!" they shouted, hundreds of angels flying off toward Igorus.

"If I'm not mistaken, you're Aldes, the demonic inspector of quenn Kaliga," said General Johannel.

"Correct. And you seem quite confident in your abilities, taking it upon yourself to face me," Aldes replied.

"I will not tolerate such demonic arrogance against my kind. Enough talk," Johannel said, and in an instant, he appeared behind Aldes.

Aldes barely managed to block the strike, his sword clashing against Johannel's. The impact leveled ten thousand square meters of land, sending debris and bodies flying.

"You're no general without reason," Aldes said.

"You've seen nothing yet," Johannel replied, kicking Aldes in the stomach with immense force, sending him flying dozens of meters. Johannel blurred into Aldes' vision again, moving too fast to follow, but Aldes had already drawn another card, one marked with the number 41.

"Heh," Aldes grinned, as five spears materialized from the card and shot toward Johannel at the speed of sound. Each one pierced his body in a different spot.

"Tch! Seriously? That's all you've got?" Aldes said, disappointed.

Johannel opened his eyes, grinning despite the blood pouring from his mouth.

"That's what I wanted," he said, as drops of his blood splattered onto Aldes' coat, triggering massive explosions.

"Finally... a real fight," said Aldes, slightly injured but overcome with demonic delight...