"How are you still alive after taking that blow?" Mathew asked with a frown.
"As I told you earlier, my attacks and defense are boosted insanely which also includes my regeneration" Orion replied.
Mathew spread his wings again, ready to engage in the fight again
"Woah woah, wait a sec," Orion said hurriedly as he pointed his palm toward the twins. Suddenly the twins were surrounded by a black layer of space and disappeared.
"No...no no. Kael? Lyra? What did you do to them" Mathew asked in fury. There was no trace of his previous calmness.
"Oh, so you can get angry too? Don't worry, I just sent them out of the subspace since they'll just get in our way" Orion laughed. He had already forgotten all about capturing the twins. Right now, he only wanted to fight with Mathew to his heart's content.
"What?" Mathew asked. There was still a trace of anger in his voice.
"Yeah, we can't fight properly, since you'll be distracted protecting them. I haven't had a good fight since 'that day'" Orion replied in a loud laugh.
"That's none of my concern. Anyway, I'm gonna finish this and get back to them quickly" Mathew said calmly as he rushed forward to attack Orion.
Orion blocked the attack calmly but before Mathew could react and leg came out of nowhere and kicked Mathew in the stomach.
Mathew flew back a bit to stabilize himself. He looked at Orion confusedly as he saw something unbelievable.
A figure slowly separated itself from Orion's back. Orion's face showed some pain. The figure stood next to Orion.
It was another Orion. It was identical to him except the left half of his face was mangled
beyond recognition.
"Pardon me, since I'm facing Mathew, the fragment of Archangel, it's only right that I go all out," the Orions said in a deranged tone.
Mathew took a step back involuntarily in confusion. He looked at Orion in confusion when suddenly he thought of something.
"So, that's how it is" Mathew nodded in understanding.
"Haha, you did your introductions, now allow me to introduce ourselves. I'm Orion and he is Norio. We are one of the Gemini, one of the 12 Zodiacs" Orion introduced themselves calmly.
"And we didn't inherit anything. We represent the Gemini constellation itself as a whole" he stressed.
"12 Zodiacs?" Mathew asked in confusion.
"Looks like Valerio didn't tell you everything," Orion said with a smirk.
"He must've had his reasons" Mathew replied without much thought. He didn't think it was that big of a deal.
"Looks like you trust him huh" Orion muttered.
"I do and also, why does the one next to you have a pizza face?" Mathew asked with a smile. Before Mathew could react, Norio rushed forward and kicked Mathew in the stomach again.
Mathew was sent flying and hit the wall of the subspace with a bang.
"Just looking at your face makes me irritated," Norio said in a rough tone. It seemed like the injury on his face also affected his voice.
Mathew stood back up with a calm smile.
"Believe me, I have quite a lot of experience in this field" Mathew replied as he looked at the Gemini in a teasing manner.
Norio charged at Mathew and Mathew also welcomed him. They both started exchanging moves.
"One of them is noble while the other is shittier" Mathew continued talking even while exchanging moves with Norio. Orion just looked at them waiting for an opportunity to strike.
"But in your case, it looks like both of you are shittier, haha" Mathew laughed loudly as he dodged Norio's downward kick aimed at his head.
Orion suddenly teleported behind Mathew's back and sent several slashes of Nova's blade. Mathew couldn't dodge in time and there was a huge wound on his back.
"Shit, that hurts" Mathew shouted as he flew back to put some distance.
"You are no match for us now. It doesn't matter if you have one of the 12 divine fragments, you will never be able to match the 12 Ascendants" Orion said calmly.
"Now, I can't fall off just like that. After all, Mr Valerio trusts me a lot, I've gotta live up to my expectations" Mathew replied as he slowly rose higher in the air.
"Just hearing his name makes the scar ache. I'm gonna end you right here and now" Norio said in anger. It seemed like Valerio's name triggered something.
"Starfall" Mathew muttered as small orbs of light formed around him like little stars. He looked like a divine angel standing amidst a sea of stars.
"I'm not gonna spoil the Archangel's reputation by losing against you two," Mathew said calmly.
…
"Summon Shinki" Valerio muttered as he extended his right arm towards the sky.
"You're crazy" Piers yelled, a look of horror covering his face.
"The window Piers, get away or there won't be next time" Valerio replied calmly. A huge horizontal pillar of light formed above his hand.
'Shit I don't have time. I've gotta flee now or else even my corpse won't be intact' Piers thought as he immediately started to flee frantically.
When Orion used his ability before, he teleported Piers and Valerio to some remote place before forming the subspace.
Valerio casually flicked his fingers as the pillar of light flew towards Piers at insane speed. There was a huge noise. The pillar of light exploded as there was blinding light everywhere. It was as if it was noon even though it was already night.
After a few moments, the blinding light disappeared and there was only a bloody and mangled arm left behind.
"Looks like he managed to get away after all, good for him," Valerio said with a smirk.
The mountains that surrounded Piers and Valerio before were now nowhere to be seen. It was like a flat plain without any mountains.
"Looks like they've gotta redraw the map again. Haha, what a pain. Anyway, I've gotta get back quickly" Valerio muttered.
…
"Fall" Mathew muttered in a calm town.
The hundreds of light orbs surrounding him rained down on Orion and Norio instantly. The whole area was filled with smoke and dust.
"Pathetic. Struggling so much against two weaklings. Looks like you're the real weakling here" Mathew heard a foul and dark voice inside his head.
"Shut up" Mathew held his head in pain. Mathew looked down as the dust cleared away slowly.
Orion and Norio stood there with a few bloody holes in their bodies. It looked like their injury was not anything serious. The flat ground surrounding them was filled with holes and rubbles.
"First, I am gonna kill you. Then I will hunt down those two brats and torture and kill them slowly" Norio said in an eerie tone. Earlier one of these light orbs injured his already mangled face.
"Haha, that's right" Orion laughed.
"I won't allow that-" Mathew suddenly experienced a severe headache. He tried to balance himself in the air with difficulty.
"Orion, the gate. Now" Norio shouted, trying to grasp the opening.
"Haha, what's gotten into you today? You're always moody but now you're full of energy" Orion replied with a laugh.
"Just do it," Norio said impatiently.
"Yes, I got it," Orion said.
"Twin gate" they both muttered simultaneously. They were automatically pulled towards each other as they warped and merged into one forcefully. It was a pretty ugly scene.
"Can't believe you just devoured your own" Mathew said in confusion.
"Bullshit, we're one now. Since we were separated before, we could only use half our strength. Now that we are whole again, let's see how well you hold on" Norio's voice replied.
The current Orion looked similar to before but had the left half of his face mangled like Norio. One of his eyes had a yellow pupil, the other had a greenish-yellow pupil. When Norio replied earlier, only the left half of the mouth moved.
It was a bizarre scene.