Age of Ember

Chapter 4

In the dark void of space within dimension 528, Tricous X, Angelo and Assori were itching to fight each other. Angelo removed his robe, revealing his towering figure, clad in his angelic celestial armor, with six wings fixed to his back made of pure gold that was adorned with azure blue blades which were edged with gold. He wore a casque upon his head, which cast a shadow upon his face, hiding his features as if to say: None were worthy of laying eyes upon his awesome visage; all that could be seen was only the piercing gaze of his pupils which held a golden glow. Angelo raised his hands, with his palms open, to beckon his weapons.

"I'll use my best weapons to fight you." His arms tensed as he called them out in a commanding tone. "Heaven's Arsenal!" Angelo's weapon materialized within his hand, a large lance, which length extended beyond his own height. It was made of a material that resembled crystallized ice, covered nearly to the tip in black and gold plating. In his left hand, a bow that rivaled his lance in size was made of pure white metal, adorned in feathers that resembled his wings.

"Getting serious from the start, huh?" Assori asserts with a knowing grin.

Angelo only returned a smirk in response. "That's fine by me. I wouldn't have it any other way."

With those words said, Assori grabs her robe and with a quick twist and pull, she ripped it off, revealing the cyan glow of her tattoos, which marked her body symmetrically, from her shoulders to her midsection. Her metallic, cybernetic wings flexed outward; a scintillating light of cyan emanated from them as each bladed feather-like segment calibrated itself for combat. Her prehensile tail snaked about behind, undulating like rolling waves from the ocean.

"It's so good to finally let loose," she exhaled in relief.

Her heaving chest quakes within its compact, restrictive breastplate. Assori wielded no weapons, for she had no need of one. Her Forux, Brute Force, allows her to topple nigh any opponent with sheer force alone, a truly fearsome ability that could prove fatal to those not careful enough to mind their distance during combat. They both began to channel their power, causing the universe to tremble. Angelo's and Assori's aura collides; his almost blindingly white and gold aura against hers that shined blue, with star-like fragments that glimmered, creating a crackling discharge of energy and heat. Angelo summoned shafts of light that rained down like a meteor shower from above her, but she skillfully weaves through them, deflecting any that got too close with her fists. The intensity of the attack grew, and her field of view was slowly consumed within the blinding flash. With her sight on Angelo's loss, Angelo quickly took advantage of this opportunity and fired an arrow of light from his opalescent bow. The sheer force of the arrow pierced through his previous attack and shattered it, causing the light to scatter about. Before the arrow could hit its mark, Assori deflected the arrow using the blades on her wings. The arrow collided with a distant star, causing it to collapse into itself and form a black hole. The blades on her wings then detach and combine, creating two bladed flower-like weapons.

One flower begins to rotate and fires broad rays of blue energy from the weapon towards Angelo, but he sidesteps through the onslaught of her attacks as if he phased through them. Assori realizes her attacks aren't landing and uses it as a feint to close the distance between them. She quickly approaches him from the side, tightening her fist. At the same time, he's still focused on dodging and lands a thunderous blow to his face, cracking his casque and sending him careening through space, thousands of miles in an instant, into a stone-like ring that orbits an unknown planet.

"Ugh! Looks like there wasn't enough power in my strike," Assori groans, displeased with herself.

Angelo's eyes flashed brighter as he ran his finger along the crack on his casque. "You're sorely underestimating me. Are you not up to the task? Or maybe you lack the resolve to take this seriously. Shall I fix that?"