As the angel takes a step, the ground shakes and breaks from her sheer strength alone.
Because of this, Red couldn't run because of the uneven ground.
Though he may be fast, his speed was rendered useless as he couldn't even properly distance himself from her.
If anything, the only thing his speed could do now was avoid the swings of her sword that was backed with a lot of power.
He knows that if he tries to parry it, he'd break a bone trying.
As Physical attacks are useless on her, with her next swing, he gets under her line of sight and puts his palm on her stomach.
"
Exploding from his palm, Red attempts to damage the indestructible angel with his magic this time.
But unfortunately, the angel lives up to his indestructible opinion of her and his magic didn't do anything.
Surprised, the angel didn't leave that opening and immediately kneed him in the stomach.
The blow was so strong that lauched him in the air while leaving a trail of blood from his mouth.
Upon landing, he barely kept his balance as the pain was so great he could hardly breathe properly and stay conscious.
"What do you think? Do you feel like apologizing now?"
"Apologize?! Don't be unreasonable you gorilla!"
"Gorilla?!"
Because Red lost his cool from the pain, he accidentally taunted her.
Realizing what he had done, he uses his fire magic and launches himself up to avoid a punch that was aimed at his face.
Using the leftover flames from his launch, he turns them into sharp shards of ice and then rains it on her.
After sticking her sword on the ground, Fallenwynn claps her hands so loud that it generated a sonic explosion that broke the shards of ice into smaller harmless pieces.
"You'll pay for calling me a gorilla!"
From under the rubble of ice and mud, Harvey rises with several wounds all over his body.
Like Fallenwynn, he survived the surprise attack. But unfortunately, he took so much damage. Lucky for him, it wasn't enough to get him decommissioned.
Seeing Red in the sky flying using his fire magic, Harvey, begrudgingly takes his bow and aimed.
After creating a wooden arrow with his magic, he pulls the string while aiming at Red's face.
"Die you bastard!"
As he lets go of the string, the arrow flies cutting the air as it passes through it.
Seeing her ally's arrow, Fallenwynn stops her pursuit and watches Red from afar waiting for him to fall.
Just when the arrow was about to hit, a crimson silhouette appears and jumps towards Red then intercepts and breaks the arrow mid-air.
When that silhouette landed next to Red, Fallenwynn and Harvey were shocked to see a new face appear.
Not only that, it confused them.
"They... look the same? How!?"
Both of them didn't reply. Instead, they just simply looked at each other from head to toe. After that, they gave each other a nod at the same time.
Though the looks confused Harvey, Fallenwynn was confused of something else.
As an angel, she is able to naturally tell whether someone was using a blessing and tell which race someone is.
However, in front of her, she could feel that these two in front of her were both Demons. Not just that, both had been using the same blessing as well.
To her, the appearance of the girl was like an exact replica of the guy next to her.
"What the hell are you two?"
Seeing her reaction, both Red and Rose couldn't help but chuckle at the same time.
""The right question would be asking what am I?""
Like they were playing a game, both spoke at the same time in the same manner and in the same tone of voice. Rather than an echo, they spoke in duet.
"It doesn't matter how many more comes. I'll just shoot you all down."
Harvey says begrudgingly while approaching Fallenwynn.
Red and Rose smiles from his threat. This annoyed Harvey and made him shoot a magic arrow from his shoulder at Rose.
Though Rose wasn't looking, Red breaks the arrow to seemingly protect Rose.
""I see, your arrows aren't as strong as her punches.""
"What do you mean?"
""It means we now have a proper match up.""
Switching positions, Rose now faces Fallenwynn and Red to Harvey.
Because Fallenwynn was still confused as to what was happening, she was late to notice that Rose had taken the first move to attack.
Seeing Rose pull back her arm, it was obvious that she was going to throw a punch so Fallenwynn lifts both arms to guard.
She thought that it would land like another punch she could withstand. She wasn't wrong.
However, it took nearly her all to keep her arms up from receiving Rose' punch.
For the first time in her life, she felt a punch that was so strong it reminded her of her training against fellow War Trumpet angels.
"How's that for a punch?"
Instinctively, she jumps away after seeing Rose' devilish grin.
"Where did you get that much power?"
"A fat guy."
On the other hand, Red and Harvey are having a standoff.
"My arrows may not be as strong as her punches, but I doubt you'd be able to withstand them."
"Alright, bet!"
When Harvey fired a magic arrow from his bow, Red coats his sword with fire and immediately turns it into ice.
The arrow was quick that the way it cuts through air left a low frequency noise. However, Red was also fast.
With a single swing of his sword, he parries and breaks the arrow shot without even moving from where he stood.
Harvey knows he's being taunted. He was supposed to have a cool head when confronted by such enemy. However, that line of thought was immediately broken by a single line.
"Kind of weaker than I expected."
In an instant, his magic power exploded and disturbed the air around him. It goes without saying that Red hit a nerve.
"I hope you know who you're trying to taunt you demon."
Though his voice was in monotone, his emotions could be felt from how the air shakes around him.
Red on the other hand, was just smiling.
"Did I get your attention?"
"All of it."
"Good."
Just when Harvey closed his eyes blink, when he opened his eyes, he was already on the ground.
Unable to process what just happened, Harvey was left dumbfounded and confused.
He wanted to move, but his body wouldn't. Rather, it couldn't respond to what he wants. After a few seconds, pain suddenly sets in as he realizes he had been hit.
When he looks up, Rose was standing just above him with her skirt swaying in the air showing her spats.
"We're playing team fights you idiot. Be more aware of your surroundings."
It seems that without him noticing, Rose's initial attack on Fallenwynn was to put distance between the two of them. While that was happening, Red made him think that they were going to fight one against one by taunting him. And while he was distracted, Rose shifted her target from Fallenwynn to Harvey. Though the strategy was dirty, it was very effective.
Harvey's consciousness was fading, but before that, he begrudgingly opens his mouth with the last remaing strength he had.
"I... thought you'd... fight... fairly."
Red stands next to Rose and then crouches just to get close to his face.
"That's asking too much. There's two powerhouses against me alone."
"Alone...? But... there's two... of you."
Hearing his complaint, Red and Rose lets out a laugh like in duet.
""That is true. There is two of me.""
"What does... that... even... me-"
Harvey was confused, but before his questions could be answered, he passed out and the protection from the pendant activated.
Seeing such dirty tactic, Fallenwynn becomes furious while watching Red and Rose.
"How could you call yourself a knight? Why would you employ a strategy with no honor?"
""Honestly, it does hurt my pride when you say it like that.""
"Then why?"
Before answering, Rose pulls out her stilettos from the sheath on her thighs. She then tosses the other one to Red and then creates an Ice sword by freezing fire magic like Red.
Both of them now are dual wielding a dagger and sword.
""Because if I fight you two fairly, I would lose. In a real battle, knighthood has nothing to do with anything. That is why I'm willing to use any strategy to win.""
Upon hearing their answer, Fallenwynn was at a loss for words. However despite such dishonorable display, there was still something she found worthy to be respected.
Realizing that, she couldn't help but feel a little giggle rising up from her stomach.
"I see, I understand."
All of a sudden, she throws her sword away.
After that, she reaches out her hand to her back and grabbed the base of her wings.
"I, Fallenwynn, Descendant of the War Trumpets, will accept your resolve."
Her wings suddenly bursts into bright silver light. And when the light settled down, her former wings had become two great swords of Ivory colour. As it was originally her wings, the Ivory Great Swords had carvings reminiscent of what looks like feathers.
But the most imposing thing about it was how Fallenwynn was able to carry both large weapons on each hand.
""I assume that we hold no barrel against each other now?""
"This has become a sacred duel. It would be an insult to hold anything back."
In Fallenwynn's eyes, the two people infront of her were not different individuals. Rather, her instincts were telling her that these two people was just one the whole time.
"Prepare yourself!"
Upon dashing forward, Red and Rose disappeared from her line of sight.
Immediately, she lifts the handle up with the blades down to protect her side.
And just like her prediction, Red and Rose attacked from her sides.
""Damn, you're really solid!""
After deflecting the attacks, she immediately lets go of the handles and jumps then kicks her swords at the same time.
With sheer power alone transferred to her sword, Red and Rose were pushed back.
Immediately picking a side, Fallenwynn picks up her left sword and attacks Red.
"Fuck!"
By making fire explode from his palms, he lauched himself to make a backward arch to avoid a horizontal slash.
However, that was a fatal mistake because it left him wide open even more.
By using the momentum of the sword swing, Fallenwynn does a single rotation in the air and drops a kick on Red's stomach.
When it landed, it left a crater under Red from how powerful her hit was. However Red was able to lessen the blow by creating a block of ice around his torso which absorbed most of the power.
Just when Fallenwynn was about to catch her breath, Rose attacked from behind her.
"Gotcha!"
"No."
Before the ice sword could land on her head, Rose was suddenly blown away by something from behind her.
Out of nowhere, Fallenwynn's sword had struck Rose on the rib with the butt of its handle.
Seeing how it returned on her hand, Red realized that Fallenwynn could recall her swords at will.
"Good attempt, but attacking me from behind is useless."
Fallenwynn tried to stomp Red with his ice, but Red makes it explode to get away.
Regrouping with Rose, both of them noticed the wounds on each other.
While Rose broke a rib, the bones on Red's hands were fractured from continuous usage if the explosive fire magic.
"I hope you are still able to fight. I'm just getting started."
""I never took you as a battle junkie, you know.""
"I'm a War Trumpet Angel, fighting is in my blood. And you just got it boiling."
Fallenwynn kicks the ground and attacks once more.
Seeing that attacking was hard, Red and Rose decides to go on defensive.
Using their speed, Red and Rose dodges each swing by hair's breadth.
Thanks to having two perspectives, he is able to measure and gauge the power and speed of each swing near perfectly.
But then he realized he was way too focused in the swords way too late.
Out of nowhere, an upward kick launches Rose to the sky after it connected under her jaw. If she wasn't a durable demon, she could've been knocked out from that.
Because Red was now standing alone in front of Fallenwynn, the two swords were swung to him from both directions.
Immediately, Red takes the risk and dives towards Fallenwynn whole violently spinning with the sword and dagger on his waist.
As his rotation was fast enough, it was able to redirect the swords up and down which threw Fallenwynn out balance.
After Red rolls underneath and away from her, Rose falls from the sky striking Fallenwynn with her dagger on her lower back. Because Rose sped up using explosive fire magic under her feet, the power of the strike was boosted so much that Fallenwynn hit the ground and left a crater.
Rose thought she was already out cold, but before she noticed, she saw a back of her hand and was blown away.
"That one actually hurt, you know!"
Though it didn't cut her through, the dagger actually pierced and got lodged on Fallenwynn's lower back.
Rising from the rubble, Rose wipes off the blood dripping from her nose with her arm. But instead of groaning from pain, she makes a smile while exposing her bloodied teeth.
"Finally broke through that iron skin of yours."
"Your little knife doesn't hurt one bit-"
Just when Fallenwynn tried to pull out the stiletto, for some reason, it was hard to pull out and just by attempting in doing so sent an unbearable pain up her spine.
"Y-you cunning wren-"
"An angel isn't supposed to say those words."
Though in pain and hardly breathing properly, Rose didn't fail to let out a joke.
Realizing what she nearly said, Fallenwynn calms down and lets out a laugh with Rose.
Since it didn't feel safe to pull out the stiletto, She gives up and decides to walk it off.
"You're strong, Demon. Let me know your name."
"Oh, I didn't realize I haven't introduced myselves yet."
Though it wasn't the right time and place, Rose stands up straight and grabs the hem of her skirt. After that, despite the burning sensation the pain of her broken rib gave, she gives a graceful bow like a noble girl.
"My name is Rose, a commoner."
And out of nowhere, from behind Fallenwynn, a dagger flew past her face and left a cut on her cheek.
"And my name is Red!"
Jumping out of the cloud of dust and above the Angel, Red announces his name.
Seeing what seems to be a magic charge on his palm, Fallenwynn instinctively calls back her swords to her hands and lifts them both above her for protection.
"Take this!"
Blasting it from his palm, a pillar of fire that immediately turns to ice grows downward to Fallenwynn.
As the Angel had already had her guard up, the pillar didn't even manage to make her flinch when it landed on her. The best it could do was bury he feet under the solid ground she was standing on.
"I told you, surprise attacks don't work on me anymore!"
"Not even as a distraction?"
To her surprise, Rose was already standing before her.
Because her arms were holding up the pillar, she couldn't swing even a punch. She wanted to kick, but not only were her legs lodged into the ground, Rose put a layer of Ice on it to further immobilize her.
"W-wait!"
"No holds barrel!"
After taking a deep breath, Rose focuses her power into her arms and fists.
And with an ear deafening roar, she attacks Fallenwynn with a barrage of punches.
Not only were the punches heavy, it was increasing in intensity with each passing second.
Known for their durable bodies, Fallenwynn was confident that nothing in the mortal world could actually defeat an Angel of the War Trumpets.
But such belief became a fantasy as she could feel evert heavy punch reverberate her insides like a drum.
She wantes to cry out, but the air in her lungs were none existent as it was already pumped out by forced.
It took almost a straight minute of endless punches before the Protection Amulet's effect deemed her unable to fight and decommissioned her.
But despite that, she remained standing. Although unconscious, her body made her stood her ground till the bitter end.
Seeing that the Angel got decommissioned, Rose pulls back her exhausted arm and makes a cracking noise with her neck.
As Red had used all the magic he had for that last surprise attack, he fell asleep and fell to the as the ice dissolves into smoke.
After Rose catches Red, she waits for the amulet's protection to kick in before putting the body to the ground.
Though they were enemies, Rose felt some respect towards Fallenwynn.
So in order to honor her fighting spirit, she walks to her and takes her feet out of the ground. After that, she makes her lie next to Red to be retrieved in a few moments.
Even though they were enemies, he couldn't really stomach giving her a barrage of punches to the face hence why he only aimed for her stomach.
She then kneels and grabs her hand. Though feeling some slight guilt from what she did, she forces herself to smile.
"It was an honor, to fight an angel of your caliber."
-End of Chapter-