The Rise and Fall

28 - Perfect Synchronisation

The duelling angels were now in the centre of the battle, surrounding them other fighting angels that smartly kept at least ten metre radius between their own battle and the two duellers who both had the looks of preying lions swiped across their faces - pearly white teeth bared and glinted dangerously in the light, noses scrunched up into a bundle of wrinkles in the middle of their faces and their eyes showed pure murderous intent as though only one was coming out unsuccessful at the end of this fight. 

"You may as well give up, Emiliana," Gabriel's voice slithered up Emiliana's neck, triggered the little hairs on the nape so that they stood to attention. Every part of her was at full alertness; she could catch a fly with the concentration she was radiating. 

"Why?" She shot back, launching her entire body at him, slamming into him like a brick wall, taking him by surprise so that she wrap her fingers around the middle of his throat, her thumbs meeting in the middle just below his protruding Adam's apple. She squeezed, her lips curling back to show how much strength she was using as Gabriel clawed at her face, dragging one of his annoyingly long nails down the scar on her eyebrow.

Emiliana felt an odd, not pain but, sensation in the back of her knee as it caved in and she flailed backwards. Gabriel had driven his heel into the back of Emiliana's knee, meaning that she was temporarily paralysed as her body fell to the ground underneath her in shock. Gabriel then tried to pelt his foot into her side as she lay on the ground for a millisecond, but she rolled away and took his foot with her, throwing him to the ground. She planted her knees on his chest and made sure the kneecaps dug into his collar bone so that he couldn't move and she replaced her hands on his neck. 

Once again, she was interrupted as someone threw her off, but from the ice blue colour of Gabriel's face, she could tell it hadn't been him. She was being dragged backwards, an arm wrapped firmly around her waist, dragging her to the edge of the great room, where the steps were. She kicked out behind her and swivelled around when the arm let go of her. The Risen soldier stared at her with a little smirk on his face as he reached for his sword, but Emiliana was too quick. She twirled around so that her back was against his chest and her hand landed on his - the one reaching for the sword. As she put her other hand over the first one, she almost guided the soldier's hands to the sword and unsheathed it from the holster. With another swift movement, she brought it up above their heads and shifted her position a little as she pulled the sword back down into its target, letting the silver slice gracefully through the flesh and straight through the left kidney, ripping through a rib to protrude out the other side. 

She let the sword stay there as the soldier staggered back, stepping on something as he fell. Emiliana glanced at his feet and saw one of his boots trampling on Mira's soft hand. Quickly, Emiliana extended out her leg and kicked the soldier to the side, away from Mira's sleeping body. She didn't need anymore pain, dead or alive. 

The Risen soldier fell to the floor with a dull thud after his eyes rolled into the back of his head. His head had snapped painfully to the right with the sheer force of Emiliana's resultant kick and with the pain and confusion that his body was already experiencing, his brain wouldn't have been able to cope with the added dizziness and so he'd blacked out, never to wake up again. 

Emiliana swivelled back around to see Gabriel storming towards her with a sword poised upright in his strong, right hand. It glinted silver and sparkled off of Emiliana's face as the light bounced off of it. Quickly, Emiliana hopped around her sleeping best friend and yanked the sword out of the soldier's side, swiping it across his uniform to get rid of the excess blood. When it looked slightly less gory, she turned to her deadly opponent and smiled. Not a smirk, an actual smile. When she won, she'd have the duty to have the Risen soldiers surrender. Kneel before their dead master. 

She lunged with the sword clasped loosely in her hands, so that it could move fluidly with each strike. Gabriel was incredibly skilled with the sword and blocked her every pass, the swords clanging loudly as they connected. Emiliana moved backwards to try and get a small distance between her and Gabriel, but when she moved, he followed so that they both moved in perfect synchronisation. They advanced up the grand staircase, hitting out at one another every single second, though a large hoard of clanging blocks or skillful dodges only ever seemed to come out of them. 

Once they'd reached the top of the staircase, Emiliana jumped up onto the railings that hung on the balcony. The height was a good advantage considering how tiny she normally was and it gave her a better idea of where to strike and where not to. One of her hits narrowly missed Gabriel's shoulder but he turned just in time so that the sword only sliced through the shoulder stitching of his suit jacket. Gabriel simply laughed and lunged at one of Emiliana's shoes with his hands, meaning that Emiliana instinctively pulled it away. 

But this is what he wanted. 

Emiliana's arms circled to try and balance her, but gravity was pulling down on her and she could just feel the prickling sensation of her wings wanting to spread and save her from falling. Except they weren't hers. And she was prepared not to use them. As her body toppled from the balcony, she readied her hands and extended her fingers, hooking them through the slits in the railings where the floor was. She dangled from the balcony calmly for a moment, waiting for the sharp sound of her sword crashing on the floor. It rung out in her ears as she craned her neck to try and see it but it only tired her arms more and so she had to look around again. 

"Aren't you going to use your wings?" Gabriel's snarled, his feet dangerously close to Emiliana's fingers. As he lifted his white shoes, Emiliana let go and felt a breeze rush past her face, slapping into her back gently. Then came the force that made her want to be sick. It was like she'd been pushed so hard, the force made her want to puke her insides out. 

Gabriel followed, spreading his feathery white wings and descending from the balcony before landing perfectly graciously on the ground next to her. 

"Stupid move," he whispered as Emiliana tried to get up. Her head was spinning and her insides were threatening to make an appearance on this floor. Every part of her was aching and shaking and her arms failed when she tried to hoist herself up from the floor. Her vision kept transitioning from blurry to clear and sometimes, there were two Gabriels. Two Gabriels that were currently raising a downwards facing sword above their heads. 

"No," Emiliana whispered, trying to lift a shaky hand. When that failed, her hands trickled to the sword laying just across from her. Her fingers trembled as she tried to lock it in her grasp. 

As his sword came down, she lunge upwards. The problem was, she couldn't see who'd been stabbed. Her or Gabriel?

A smooth grunt rung in her ears and she was certain that it wasn't her. Her vision played kind to her and settled for a little bit, but it kept wavering. All she could make out was red. A lot of red. Red on white. And silver, glittering silver. And him. Falling to his knees with a sharp crack and then the rest of his body falling forward. Something grabbed Emiliana and pulled her away from the corpse as it collapsed where she'd been led, a thick red puddle forming beneath the body. Emiliana looked up and saw Leo. His eyes searching hers desperately for any part of her that wasn't concussed but from the way he was peering at her, he couldn't see anything. Emiliana looked back at the body and noticed the awkwardness of the way it led; the sword had been pushed further through the flesh and only the butt of the sword was visible on the other side of the body. 

She'd done it. She was free. Now all she needed to do, was get rid of these damn wings.