Volume 9, Chapter 5 - Rivalry

“There are one, two…fourteen angels! That’s too many for me!”

“I know. Go hide.”

As soon as the rabbit landed on the ship’s deck, Ange and Lucia hopped off its shoulders. Ange moved forward and Lucia hid behind the rabbit’s big ears.

Micha smiled as if to welcome them. The 13 silent members of Dante descended to protect the young man lounging on the poolside.

“Prominence.”

Just like the three witches from before, the enemy’s power would be boosted by Adam. They would be much more powerful than Ange’s group, although she did not know exactly how much more.

She would have to go with her max firepower from the beginning.

“Grand Cruz!!”

A beam of light shot from her divine sword and enveloped everything on the deck.

That wide-range scorching cannon blast had enough firepower to reduce even the young man named Avalon to ashes.

This was dangerous, but she showed a certain form of trust in making the attack without hesitation. She knew Micha could endure that much firepower while returned to her prime.

“When did you learn to control Metatron so well? I’m impressed, Ange.”

The brown-skinned woman standing in front blocked the attack with the red flames spiraling out from her back.

She was not reducing the heat. She had simply produced even greater heat with her own flames. The deck and the rest of the ship should have melted in the blink of an eye and exploded into nothingness, but the 13 members of Dante had endured just as well. Avalon was fine and not even the pool water next to him had boiled.

“You could probably surpass me in my prime with another century of experience.”

“Kh.”

This was the power of Michael, history’s strongest angel. The angels did not see much value in combat, so Ange had only ever heard rumors that she was “really strong”.

This was far greater than she had imagined. Ten times greater even.

“Prominence Nova!!”

Ange was accomplishing nothing as an outrider, so she retracted her exploding flames.

She contained them within her sword.

The blade’s outer shell was blown away and the flames were concentrated into a plasma jet small enough to wield as a sword.

“Dahhhh!!”

She struck at her foe.

She made a large and powerful swing of the sword. Since Micha was acting as the young man’s shield, she would have to take the attack.

Ange was right in that assumption, so her full-power swing hit.

But she had been wrong in another assumption. Micha blocked the flame sword with a karate chop.

She had attacked with her max power at her max speed, but it had been blocked.

“Kh.”

“How about some close-quarters combat?”

“Loop!”

She could not push through with power, so she split her sword in two.

Micha responded with karate chops enveloped by the flames coming from her back. She used both hands for a two-sword style.

They clashed at close range.

While Ange used her swords, Micha responded with her bare hands, making her a little faster. Her attacks were cleverly made and her fist wove its way through a gap in the swinging blades.

It caught Ange in the face.

“!?”

Micha’s face tensed in surprise for the first time today when she felt how light the blow was.

Ange’s face was pulling back as if sucking in the fist. Micha had thought the girl’s body weight was placed behind the swords, but she had overlooked the girl shifting her center of gravity to her lower body at some point.

That small body used the force of the punch to twist around, with red hair swishing through the air.

The centrifugal force was placed behind a kick aimed for Micha’s face.

“Gwoh!”

The girl went for the jaw. Micha barely manage to dodge it, but it caught her in the throat, making her flinch.

“Gh, you have a knack for this. You really do have the greater raw talent, Ange.”

“Ryahhhhhhhhhhh!!”

The current strongest angel was not about to overlook an opening like that.

She pulled one sword back and used her full body weight to thrust it forward while her opponent flinched.

Micha could respond to the slashes, so what about a jab?

“You need another 50 years before you can defeat me.”

The glowing sword’s tip accurately caught Micha’s torso.

But now it was Ange’s time to be shocked by the lightness of the blow.

As soon as the glowing tip stabbed into that hat ever-bared brown stomach, it turned to red flames and was blown away. The severed upper body grabbed at the panicked girl’s face.

“Gah!”

And responded with a headbutt.

That stopped Ange’s charge, so she fell woozily to the deck.

Micha’s separated upper and lower body absorbed the plasma from Ange’s sword and reattached themselves.

They were both angels, but Ange never would have considered healing the holy flames of one’s body with an enemy’s flames. She stared in stunned silence.

The woman’s overwhelmingly greater experience meant more than her power or speed.

“Enough. Dante, finish her.”

She also had a more efficient view of combat.

While fighting with her two-sword style, she had also been guiding Ange to the center of the 13 watching from behind her.

The vanilla-colored flames those 13 produced were already targeting the girl who was still woozy from the blow to her forehead and nose.

“Gh…dammit.”

Forced to admit she had lost in a one-on-one battle, Ange gnashed her teeth in frustration.

“Ibekusa! Are you still not ready!?”

She called out to the giant rabbit.

“Complete.”

Its stomach split open and Machina appeared from within.

The rabbit’s interior had become a high-level databank full of cables. Machina was nude, but she had so many cables inserted into her that barely any of her skin remained visible. The cables contained those golden threads which were thinner than the molecules of her skin, so they did not harm her when inserted.

She removed the threads and moved outside.

She had two devices shaped like bunny ears inserted into the top of her head. They passed through her skull to enter her brain.

“Data download from Final Y Device O’clock is complete.”

Light vanished from the rabbit’s red eyes. The disconnected threads changed shape, transformed into black rubber, and covered the bare minimum of the naked girl’s chest and crotch.

“My, my. What a cute bunny.”

“Activating Grand Guignol System. Laplace molecular movement measurements complete for current dimension and coordinates. I can respond to any and all actions you might take. I recommend you surrender.”

“Oh, really?”

Micha laughed in amusement at the appearance of an opponent other than Ange and she aimed at the girl with her thumb and forefinger extended in a finger gun gesture.

“FeTUS has spent around 300 years researching how to fight angels, right?”

“Positive.”

“My prime was already over 300 years ago, so do you have any data on me?”

Bang. With a wink and a playful lifting of her index finger, red fire shot out toward Machina in place of a bullet.

This was only a test, but that fire could easily burn away a human body if not dealt with.

But the flames vanished not 2m away from Micha.

No, they did not vanish. They burned red a dozen or so meters behind Machina as they flew off into the night sky.

“Oh, dear.”

Micha’s eyes widened at this unexpected result.

On her signal, 5 members of Dante launched their vanilla-colored flames toward Machina.

But those too were sent behind her after traveling a few meters. Micha also balled up her flame wings like a fist and sent that flying, but it too was sent away.

When she pulled the fist back, the flames behind Machina also returned.

It looked like space itself had been severed. Anything that approached the girl was sent far behind her.

“All molecules in this space have been made into Springloaded. Dimensional control complete.”

Machina’s eyes looked even more empty than usual.

The witch herself remained still, but the rabbit ears stabbed into her head were working overtime with incredible amounts of electricity pumping through them.

The movements of all molecules – down to the smallest quantum fluctuation – had to be understood in the space their master could perceive. That processing speed could not be matched by a combined effort of every supercomputer on earth and it was a huge burden on Machina’s brain to keep up with that.

But it was well worth doing.

If the flames did not work, then what about a simple physical attack? One of the angels threw a knife that was lying nearby.

It flew right up to the witch’s eyes and – poof! – it became a white clover and fell to the ground.

“Quantum phase transformation of matter complete. No problems detected.”

“Maybe an angel isn’t one to talk, but I didn’t realize magic was real.”

Physical attacks were transformed and energy could not reach her. This was a first even in Micha’s millennia of life, so she was astonished.

With full use of the precognitive Grand Guignol System, Machina could calculate the movements of the molecules at given coordinates and apply predictive equations.

God does not play dice. Machina could see the movements of every molecule, so if she could also influence them, she could quantumly alter things a few seconds into the future. Se could send energy to a different location and she could replace the phenomenon of a knife with something else.

“You can rewrite the future, can you? Science is an incredible thing.”

“One correction. FeTUS’s research is always meant for the good of the human world, so working up countermeasures to your angels was only one piece of that. It was not the primary purpose of our research.”

“Ha ha. Shut your mouth.”

“All fields of science pursue perfection, but perfection is impossible for humans. The hands of the clock grow more inaccurate with every tick.”

Starting where the white clover had fallen, grass grew across the scorched deck to create a field.

“So science works to understand that imperfection. This is one of the answers Miss A spent years working on. This power allows us to apply the measurements of reality to a realm we can never fully understand.”

Some objects appeared a short distance away: a rocking chair and a white wooden table that looked perfect for an enjoyable teatime.

“This is the final act of Grand Guignol de Iris: Alice in Wonderland.”

“So it’s finally working, is it?”

Lucia had been hiding due to his weakness to angel fire, but now he hopped out from behind the unmoving rabbit. The flames could not reach him as long as he remained behind Machina.

“Ibekusa, clear the way.”

“Positive.”

Machina formed a finger gun of her own and aimed it at Micha.

And when she pulled the trigger…

“Kwah!”

Micha and the 13 of Dante all burst in flames.

“Wait, wh-what the hell!?”

The 14 of them audibly burned, starting from their stomachs. They did not seem in pain, but they were clearly confused as to what this was.

“Wait, is this- gh.”

Micha spat out some saliva.

When the liquid hit the grassy floor, it turned into a black Succubus. It existed in the middle of the angel flames, so it turned to ash and disappeared a moment later.

This told her why their bodies were burning.

“Hey, could you please not violate our fabulous bodies like this? It’s gross enough for me, but these girls are all virgins.”

“Ah ha ha. It’s probably a good experience for them.”

Lucia laughed in amusement.

When the 13 of Dante also noticed the change, they screamed like nails on a chalkboard and writhed around, but more out of disgust than pain.

This was the opposite of when Machina had sent the angel energy elsewhere. She had sent demon power into their bodies. The moisture forming their saliva, blood, and the rest of their body had been turned to Succubi by the demonic influence.

“Honestly.”

Angel bodies were a divine light that sliced through everything demonic.

Divine lightning showed no mercy and made no exceptions. If it contacted a demon, it would automatically burn them away.

They themselves burned away the moisture of their bodies.

The demonic influence did not affect their entire body, but it had reached their blood vessels. They were essentially losing more blood with each pump of their hearts. Plus…

“Micha…surrender. Surely that’s enough.”

Ange got up despite still being woozy.

It did look like the battle was over.

They were no longer even using their flames, but their blood was being drained by their own biological reactions. If they kept fighting, they would only worsen their wounds with their flames and Ange’s attacks would now be fatal to them.

Micha sighed in exasperation and brushed a hand through her hair.

“Dante, that’s enough. You can leave.”

Micha gave a command to the 13 waiting behind her.

They had no emotions, so they simply shut their eyes in response. A moment later, flames engulfed them and they burst just like Rapha had. 13 golden seeds entered the pool.

Ange’s group watched in shock.

Micha had sent her allies away, but she was clearly not going to surrender since she was still here.

“Get ready, Ange. I will go all out, but it wouldn’t be any fun if I killed you instantly.”

She removed the earring visible on the ear revealed when she brushed up her hair.

It was round, small, and shaped like a wing.

“Big Bang.”

“Ah.”

When it transformed into a thin, glowing rapier, Ange subconsciously let go of her own sword. Her innate battle sense told her what was going to happen next.

The thin line of the sword swept through the sky.

Ange’s Prominence was sliced in two. Ange herself jumped back and tackled Lucia and Machina to the floor.

A gust of wind passed by overhead.

“My molecular serialization can’t keep up.”

The energy coming from Micha should have had its molecular data rewritten before it arrived too close, but Machina’s eyes widened.

The floor had become a grassy field, but now it returned to being a plain ship’s deck.

The magic had been dispelled. More accurately, the molecules needed to perform the magic had been blown away by the gust of wind produced by the sweeping sword.

They had avoided the energy itself, but space looked distorted in the night sky back where it had flown. The sword had such a sharp edge and high temperature that it had tugged on space itself and violently moved the molecules in the air.

“Tch. Focus on clearing the way, Ibekusa! And on my fire resistance!”

“Positive.”

Machina’s bunny ears stood upright.

She resumed the Laplace molecular movement measurements and created a hole through which to insert demons into Micha’s body. More than just her stomach, fire burst from all over the woman’s brown skin.

“Hee hee. Excellent. This is definitely a drain on my stamina.”

Micha swung her rapier again while acting like the damage was actually pleasant.

There was nothing that thin sword tip could not cut when fully swung.

So before it could fully emit its power, Ange blocked it with Prominence’s hilt. That just barely prevented them from being sliced through.

“Nova!!”

The sword’s blade was replaced by roaring flames.

“Dahhhhhh!”

And Ange went on the attack.

Micha blocked it with an elegant sway of the rapier’s tip.

“It has been a while since we sparred with swords, hasn’t it?”

“Only because a certain someone insisted she was too old for it anymore.”

“Is that any way to speak to the person who taught you everything you know?”

Micha cleverly shifted her sword to ward off Ange’s rapid strikes.

There should have been an overwhelming weight difference between the large sword and the rapier, yet their power was even. If anything, the weight difference was the only reason Ange was not being overpowered.

Micha naturally had the greater speed, but…

“Sh!”

“Oops.”

When a scythe suddenly grew from the space behind her and aimed for her neck, she caught it on her rapier’s hilt.

“You never relax, do you? I can see why you and that old hag Lilith get along so well.”

“Watch what you say. That’s what makes Lilith so classy.”

Lucia joined in to make it two-against-one.

When they attacked in waves, they could match Micha’s speed.

Machina played a support role by redirecting the fatal flames away from Lucia and by obstructing Micha’s movements by sending steel-strong vines out to grab the woman’s legs or arms.

“Ryahhhhhhhhh!”

“Hee heee.”

Their teamwork was not a calculated thing. They were far from in sync.

But Micha could tell while fighting them that they were getting better at it by the moment. She was having trouble keeping up with their speed and, when she tried to catch up, the weight of the rapidly-swung sword nearly pushed her rapier away.

And as expected, Ange had the superior raw talent.

In the moment she was distracted by Lucia’s scythe, a kick hit her in the knee.

She stumbled for a moment and history’s strongest warrior understood all too well what that meant.

As soon as she brought her center of gravity to the foot behind her, the floor sank down below her foot. That would be Machina’s doing. Her center of gravity was thrown off and she could not gather any strength in the hand meant to block the scythe coming for her throat.

She was forced to use both hands to block it, but that left her wide open to Ange.

“Ange.”

“Prominence!”

“I knew bringing you to the surface was a good idea.”

That veteran warrior knew all too well that she had lost.

“You made some good friends there, didn’t you?”

“Shining!!”

That sword was made from two blades pressed together like a pair of scissors and those two blades fell away to leave only the central flames.

The narrow and perfectly straight beam of light pierced through Micha’s gut.

That was the exact spot that had been constantly erupting with flames due to the demonization process.

“Gah!”

All the air burst from her lungs.

It was mixed with blood that sprayed out into the air.

The blue fire – that divine light of judgment – pierced through the core of the strongest angel.

It burned through all of her blood that was being converted into demons. Her brown skin split open and the red of blood and fire scattered everywhere.

“…”

That partner had practically been family to Ange, so she frowned for just a moment upon seeing her body split apart like that.

“!”

But a moment later, all pride vanished from her face.

“But that aside.”

Micha persisted in keeping her rapier raised.

And her other hand reached for her other earring.

“I really, really hate losing.”

“Micha.”

“We’re a lot alike, Ange. That’s the biggest reason I chose to bring you down to the surface with me.”

And…

“Big Bang – Loop!!”

As soon as Micha readied the two rapiers, her brown skin turned to fire and she unraveled.

Her body began to vanish starting from the stomach.

She had gathered every last ounce of strength to continue the game, but her body collapsed first. She blinked in confusion.

“That’s enough, Micha-san. It pains me to see you hurt and I do not want to see Ange or the others hurt either.”

“Oh, dear.”

The young man stood up.

He must have intervened and forcibly returned the fire to her body. She had no choice but to give up now.

She was clearly not happy about it, but that was that. She laughed and winked at stunned Ange.

“My, my. That was fun, Ange. You’re glad you came to the surface now, aren’t you?”

“Micha.”

A moment later, she burst and disappeared like she had never even been there.

Only a speck of light remained and that fell into the pool.

The young man quietly watched it go and then turned an emotionless look toward the other three.

“It’s time, Satowa, Ibekusa.”

They had expected Micha to give them the most trouble, but this was their greatest objective here.

“I’ll tear Mutsuki-kun out of there, so you do something about Lilith once she’s all that’s left.”

“Right.”

Prominence had broken and only the core remained, rendering it mostly useless, but since Queen Lilith was a demon, an angel would have the advantage.

With nothing left to blow the molecules away, Machina was nearly omnipotent on this deck. There was no reason they should lose.

The three of them lined up side by side.

“Let’s do this!!”