"Ange of Salvation Michael against Light in Darkness Claire Sol ! You start when you want !"
After the end of the announcement, the audiance observing the Apexs went silent, they did not wanted to miss a single second of the start of the fight
Despite the fact that nobody, whether it is Eve, the Apex or other member of the audience, could hear them, it would be unbarrable if they could, Eve could vaguely sense the feeling of every spectator, thus she also stayed quiet to let the start of the fight go on without distraction.
Adam was observing from a control room outside of the Alpha World with lots of flashing computer that allowed him to see everything happening inside. This was the same for many angel, they did not, unlike every other person, been sent to the Alpha World
. . . . .
Inside the Alpha world,
Michael flew up to see who was his opponent, Claire Sol
He observed the dark blue haired puppet looking girl with her sunglasses and black oppened jacket, but he took a deeper glances at the two pistol she was holding, trying to discern if they were coated with magic or any abilties.
Claire Sol did the same to the golden haired and winged handsome angel, noticing the absence of weapon.
*Probably a ranged conjurer, let's be careful of the output.* She thought
Michael continued advancing toward the radiant golden island she was standing on. Neither of them showing any sign of hostility or want to attack the opponent
The blue haired lady moved both of her gun toward her belt, only to tuck them back inside their holster
*She's putting away her weapon ? No. Be careful this is likely a trap.* He thought
"I have worked with the IUP multiple time in the past but i've never heard the name Claire Sol, are you a new recruit ?"
The better way to know an enemy's style is to understand them. Their behaviour and emotional state were always represented in the way they approach a situation, a fight included.
Thus, talking was an effective strategy. This would also help to reduce the speed of an opponent beceause part of his brain will take the time to process the information it is receiving, thus reducing the energy it use for other actions
Even if the attack was coming from behind it, Michael was confident he could react in time and dodge
He did not attacked first not beceause he don't want to show his cards early, he know he don't have many, but beceause he want to know his opponent's one first
Before responding to Michael request, Clair put her arms next to her body and bended her body 90 degrees, bowing to the golden angel
In a voice that seems robotic, always on the same tone and speed, but showing emotion demonstrative of not being an entire machine, Claire Sol spoke for the first time since she appeared
"Beceause I've never heard of you mister, I believe you did not helped for the twelve years I've been in fonction, so maybe for you that's short enough to be considered a new recruit."
Michael was surprised by his opponent bowing to him, the same applied to the spectators. If they are here to fight each other, why make yourself look inferior ?
This did not made Michael lower his guard in any way. He kept his vigilance, trying to figure out if Claire is doing anything without him realizing
With the same stoic, almost inexpressive, face as ever, he answered
"Sure... I don't think I've seen anybody with a 100% success rate, you must have killed a ton or Abyssal, even in twelve years."
The dark blue haired girl stopped bowing, returning to her standing position, completly straight. She put one hand on her chest and closed it to form a fist, as if praying.
"I must thank you for your contribution in this war we are leading. I'm sorry we need to fight in those conditions, I would never want to fight a comrade."
The golden angel put one hand on his chin, a smile on his face
"Then why are you fighting ? What do you wish to acheive by participating in this tournament ? What are you fighting for ?"
As she got asked the question, the puppet's hand that was on her chest moved up to fix her sunglasses back to her nose and her other hand on the previously tucked gun on her belt
In the same monotonous voice, Claire Sol answered
"You don't have to know that."
Quickly, she removed the guns she was holding from its holster, by breaking it, and pointed the firearm towards the golden aired man in front of her
Michael instantly reacted by creating a golden barrier in front of him
*Output 20%, effect precise damage* - Parameters appeared in her head
A red glowing energy started to pour out of the hole of the pistol pointed at Michael. At the same time she had just reached the other gun at her waist with her other hand
As Claire's shot seemed to charge for a fraction of second, Michael also started his offensive by conjuring 5 balls of light behind the blue haired girl and hurled them toward her
Without even turning back, Claire seemed to acknowledge the dangerously condensed light orbs behind her and pointed her newly drawn pistol, who wasn't emmiting light, toward the approaching danger
*Output 20%, effect spliting* - Another parameter was chosen
A similar energy was appearing on the pistol pointing to the light orbs, this time light blue instead of the dark red from her other revolver
At the same time, her previous shot finished to be charged up and fired, a loud bang resonating in the blue sky. However, it wasn't a bullet that got shot out of the pistol, instead, a thin dark red laser flew toward Michael at an impressive speed
It colided with Michael shield and, without any delay, cracked its entirety and passed through it.
Michael, who never had any time to further the distance between his opponent, could only see as the condensed laser pierced him at the right side of his chest, where his hearth was
However, no blood came out when the dark red beam touched him. After it traversed its entire body, the right side of his chest sustained no visible injuries, it was as if the attack never happened
Claire did not had time to think about what could have caused that, after all, the light orbs behind her were still approaching. Fortunately, her other pistol had finished charging.
Another bang resonated as a light blue beam got shot out. That's what some of the audience had thought would happen
There was not one laser that got shot out, there was five. One directed to every sphere of condensed light, instantly reaching them
The energy composing them seemed to be disrupted as each orbs dispersed with the light blue beam
Meanwhile Michael, now understanding the speed of the opponent's attack, decided to fly away in the sky, his 6 golden wings flapping, to give him more time to react.
With both of them not attacking or defending, Eve took the initiative to do her job
"The first attack has been thrown but nobody managed to deal any damage and Michael decided to increased the distance. For those who couldn't follow anything, inside the Alpha World you can slow down your time perception to see things in slow motion, although it might feel weird beceause your body won't follow."
After all, she knew that not everybody was had the ability to see the fight that was happening. After all, the interaction that had happened took less than 1 seconds
She herself did not thought she would be able to follow everything once both Apexs would enter their full power and try to outspeed or outmaneuver their opponent.
While flying, the angel of salvation did a preliminary analysis based on the first interaction with Claire's attack
*The speed of her attack is faster than my average and needs to be reacted. Maybe the colors of her bullet have a meaning.*
Meanwhile Claire was looking back at Michael, not doing anything to stop him from increasing the distance. Instead, she started speaking to him
"That's not a bad strategy. But don't think that you can react, even at this distance."
She pointed once again her pistol at the flying angel in the distance
*Output 40%, effect speed*
A glowing green light shone from her pistol. But before anything could be shot out, a bright glow suronded her and her surronding
Claire almost instantly felt the temperature around her increase. This was not the manifestation of an attack, this was the heat produced from the heat of multiple suns who could now reach her body
This was a result from every obstacle that could stop the multiple suns present in the simulated Eden to be destroyed at the same time
Every floating island, every cloud, everything that is physical, even the island that Eve is standing on, transformed into a deep bright glowing white light
Not beceause their own physical structure got altered, but beceause the energy that is now composing them destroyed them and took their appearance
"And don't think I'm holding back to check what you're doing !" - Michael's voice could be heard from affar
This was the Angel of salvation's Radiant domain
At the same time, Eve panicked. *Don't you forget that I'm here to ? I can take damage.*
She quickly took out a mechanical square coated with a thin layer of pink energy and break it. Her body instantly vanishing from where she was. It appeared 5 thousand kilometers away, at the outskirt of the Radiant domain
The Radiant domain of Michael is him infusing his own mana inside the surronding area, and focusing on making it as undetectable as possible, before unleashing it
Before Claire could even detect any of Michael's preparation that started since his entry in the area, before the fight even started, what was previously floating islands became a position where an attack could come from
In a single second, Michael turned the previously empty battlefield into an area he has complete control over in a 5 thousand kilometer radius
The Light in Darkness showed no emotion to the predicament she was in, still retaining her unbothered, albeit serious, expression
From every islands, now turned into light, the energy composing them condensed into a sphere of light
Each of the extremely compact and perfect sphere of energy where weapons that would tear almost any material known to any races, although it would some time before damaging the truly indestructible. In term of firepower, it was one of Michael's best
Every entities, living being, were created with a specialty, whether it is a form of magic or an attributes given to them by their races, everything had a way to defend itself against its predator
Angels, the race that is the closest to God, and have the authority and mission to look over every universes named those abilities Singularity
Themselves were no exception. Every angel has been given a Singularity at their creation, an ability that is completely unique to all of them
The angel of Salvation Michael's Singularity is Virtue of Purity. Although it has some other application, the main use of it is the a ability to conjure and manipulate light
It is not a complex nor particularly powerful Singularity, what matter is the mana that the user possess and its mastery over it
There is no way to make such a Singularity stronger, except by condensing the mana used in the creation of light more and more
In the first realm of the angel kingdom, the light orbs that remain from the battlefield kept getting more condensed, more refined, more perfected, more deadly
Michael is an angel of war that fought again and again, he needed to be strong. He is an angel of dedication, he practiced again and again, until he reached perfect control over his Singularity
After reaching perfection, each orbs glowed brighter than ever, each of them becoming little suns shining in the blue and white sky
A bright laser came out of each and every of them, as condensed, as deadly, as perfected as the orbs they shot out from
The thousands of orbs all projected the same condensed laser of light, foving faster than light itself, all converging toward the Light in Darkness, now falling beceause any footing she could have is now gone
There was no possible escape except to this
This is a normal attack, trained over centuries, by the entity known as the Angel of Salvation.