"We have quite the fight ahead of us…" I said to Azrael as I began thinking of ways to take down Armando. Strength was important, but going into a fight blindly was not advisable for my current level of strength. Battle tactics and more training was needed to take down someone of Armando's level
The rest of the week went on smoothly and nothing out of my expectations happened. I and Azrael kept training, forming new tactics, and built our chemistry for battle.
As for the rest of the world, people continued to die by the millions and by the end of the week, over 3 billion people were either infected or dead. With each passing moment I could feel myself and my shadows grow slightly stronger.
The entire world was in chaos trying to find a way to combat this fast-killing virus, but to no avail. As leaders all around the world were dying, their countries had begun to go in an uproar as if there were no law. Nobody felt safe.
Humanity's true colors were being revealed as people no longer held back from going after their self-interests. They did not care about their image any longer and were hurt anyone along the way in order to protect their self interests. All that mattered to them was what they wanted.
Theft…
Rape…
Murder…
Drugs…
All kinds of twisted, human desires rose from within people's hearts and they only thirsted for more. "Only death awaits these people." I said out loud as I watched the events take place around the world through the eyes of my shadows.
"They are very…susceptible." Azrael said to me. I looked at Azrael, surprised that he made an opinion about them without me asking him to. I simply smiled and kept watching.
"Indeed, I'm surprised we had lasted this long when all anyone ever needs is a little push. It will be a while till I can get this many souls all at once, but the human race is like a cockroach. They will bounce back, and I will be here to collect lives once more." I said out loud.
A week has now passed since I began training with Azrael. Since Azrael has the learning capacity of 10,000 shadows and my increased knowledge and mental prowess, grasping new techniques and formations was simple.
I could easily look at every human being, one at a time, at such an incredible pace it seemed like I was seeing them all at once. It felt like everything was improving.
"Grayson, I've completed the tasks you've asked of me." The tailed Lilith said coming out of a dark cloud. "Good work, and Axelia?" I asked her. "She is already situated." She answered. "Alright then, soon I will no longer be able to stay on Earth and live like I used to…no need to linger anymore. We leave immediately!" I said to her.
I then transfored to my 8-foot reaper form and opened a gate with my dark cloud. "Let's go kill a reaper." I said out loud then walked through the dark cloud, alongside the tailed Lilith and Azrael. As soon as we went through the cloud, we found ourselves hundreds of thousands of light years away, hovering above a stormy planet.
An interesting thought then passed through my mind before approaching the planet.
"Tailed Lilith…how come you never fought last time we were here? I could have died you know?" I said to her. "I was not built for fighting and I just got my nails done, so don't even think about telling me to fight that ugly thing now." She said boldly.
"If I call you to battle…you will come." I said to her sternly, knowing I probably wouldn't need her to intervene. I then flew towards the stormy planet alongside Azrael. We quickly got past the storm clouds unharmed, then landed like a meteor in what looked like desert. This solar system's sunlight could never pierce the storm clouds, making the place look dark and glum.
A dry and lifeless ground could be seen as far as the eye could see. There were no big hills or mountains, just emptiness. 'Is there really any life on this planet?' I asked myself in thought.
Almost immediately, Armando appeared before us like a bolt of purple lightning striking down from the sky. He stood before us about 1km away, but when he spoke, his powerful voice reverberated as though he was right next to us.
"You dare to come back reaper, after the beating I gave you last time? You are either very brave, or very foolish…either way, you will die here today." He said to me as he conjured his rods then covered the distance between us in just a few seconds.
I then quickly conjured a scythe and Azrael conjured his greatsword. Armando then struck down at me, hard, with all four of his rods that were coated with lightning.
I blocked the strike with my scythe, the force was incredible but wasn't as overwhelming as the last time I had fought him.
Azrael then quickly slashed his greatsword at his stomach, attempting to cut him in half. Unfortunately, Armando was quick enough to use two of his rods to block the strike and swayed back from the force of Azrael's strike.
"You both have gotten stronger since last time…come on then, entertain me more." He said to me with a huge maniacal grin. He jumped back, avoiding our follow up strikes then signaled for us to keep attacking.
'His instincts are sharp, and the extra hands allow him to perfectly attack and defend at the same time. We will cut down his limbs, then we can get a fatal blow in.' I said to Azrael telepathically.
Azrael nodded at me as we both dropped our weapons. We then disappeared in a dash, running circles around Armando. A dust cloud began to form almost blurring Armando's vision. Even with his vision blurred, it still wouldn't do much since Armando's senses and instincts far outclassed Azrael and I's.
"How brave, I shall reciprocate your boldness." Armando said then dropped his weapons as well. 'He is underestimating us…good!' I thought to myself.
Anyone with an extra pair of arms would believe they are at an advantage in hand-to-hand combat, but Armando is not fighting the same duo from last time.
Azrael and I then charged at Armando unarmed. We instantly closed the distance between him and us then struck together. Applying different martial arts to our movments, we kept attacking Armando from all sides. Immediately suppressing him.
Despite the barrage of attacks, Armando brilliantly blocked almost every strike. Our combined attack was designed to continusly divert the attention away from the next one to attack.
When Azrael would go low, I would go high; when he went left, I went right. We were in perfect sync. The grin on Armando's face slowly began to disappear and was replaced by a look of worry.
As the fight continued, Armando failed to block more and more of our attacks.
It was at that moment that he summoned bolts of purple lightning to strike the area all around him. I and Azrael quickly retreated a dozen meters away from Armando, but not before getting injured by the purple lightning.
Azrael was slightly grazed on the shoulder by Armando's attack, which took out a chank of his armor. Luckily, he was not severely injured.
'We need to weaken him.' I thought to myself whilst looking at Azrael. Azrael undertanding my intentions then nodded. I then charged at Armando as though I were about to punch him. Armando then quickly raised two of his hands to block my attack.
'Now!' I thought to myself as I summoned a gate with my dark cloud beneath Azrael's feet. The gate quickly pulled him in and in the next moment, Azrael appeared right behind Armando and kicked him at the back of his head. Armondo's entire body swang forward and was enroute to hitting the ground.
I then appeared in front of Armando and grabbed him by the face before he could fall then slammed his head backwards to the ground. The earth around us shook and cracks resembling a spider web appeared wear his head struck the ground.
I then burst out an overwhelming amount of my dark cloud into him whilst he was still down. Through his eyes, nostrils and mouth, the drak cloud circulated through his body and began to weaken him.
Armando screamed in pain, meanwhile Azrael summoned his greatsword and attempted to cut off two of Armando's arms as I held him down.
His durability was unbelievable as Azrael had to repeatedly strike his arms, before finally cutting through. Armando then let out a deafening roar as he summoned a giant purple lightning bolt to strike where he lay.
I then summoned a gate behind us, which pulled Azrael and I within it and teleported us over fifty meters away from Armando. Armando then slowly got up and steadied himself. Purple lightning could be seen sparkling all over his body, even within his eyes.
He raised his hands and summoned two of his four rods. They quickly came rushing towards him as though they were magnets. As soon as he grabbed the two rods, purple lightning, that felt more powerful and ancient, coated the rods.
Armando breathed heavily and he clearly looked as though he was about to collapse. Even so, the fire in his eyes raged on and his hatred toward us now fueled his fighting spirit.
On his face was a look so fierce it could burn a man's soul. With a voice filled with rage that felt like anything he spoke would come to pass, Armando said to us, "You insects dare to come to my world thinking you can do as you please. Thinking you can just waltz in and try to kill me. ME! I am ARMANDO! Reaper of Astrapi. You will pay; One-limb-at a time!"