Archangels of War

Thunder cracked against the roof of Theta magic academy, and rain pounded ceaselessly against the high peaks. 

A sudden rainstorm. Just a few minutes ago, the skies were clear, the sun was shining, and there probably wasn't a more vibrant place in the entire world. 

Now? 

Blood drenched the courtyard of Theta magic academy. 

A massive thundercloud so large and dark it seemed to zone off the outside world had appeared, and a torrential downpour of rain had been unleashed. 

In the sky, there was a massive ice palace, in which a battle was taking place. Below, in the courtyard, students were fighting for their lives. The sounds of magic attacks clashing and structures breaking could be heard faintly over the BOOM! of the thunder and the CRACK! of lightning. 

Atop one of the peaks, stood two students. 

Genji and Ichijo, both facing off against an opponent who stood atop the peak just above theirs. 

She had her arms outstretched wide, a blush on her face, and surrounding her on the peak were 7 warriors. 

Completely unperturbed by the violent rainfall all around them, she was observing the two below her. 

Dressed in a revealing pink outfit, she could be seen as the embodiment of the word, promiscuous. 

"Real bad day for rain, don't you think?" Ichijo asked, activating his wand. It hidden as a necklace, that once removed, transformed into a massive, long bow. 

"An even worse one for your terrible jokes." Genji did the same, unveiling her spear, which only shined brighter in the darkness that they were now enveloped in. 

"I have to say, now that I look at it, you really did take your wand design from Shindo-" 

A slash that would have decapitated Ichijo came out, and he barely ducked under it.

"Point Taken! For fucks sake could you not try and kill me over a joke." 

Genji simply turned to point her long spear at the 8 enemies standing before them. 

"Now isn't the time for jokes. Look at the situation were in." 

Genji nodded his head, finally putting a serious expression unto his face as he looked over their enemies. 

"This, along with the fact that we have no idea where the headmaster is; no way to communicate with everyone else-"

He took a look down at the holster on his pocket, which was suspiciously empty. The radio that had been there had vanished. 

"And these guys are no push over." He could sense the aura that they were exuding, and it was strong. If all 8 of them attacked at once, they were certain to lose. 

"You don't think we could try negotiating, do you?" Ichijo asked. 

"Alway's the coward, weren't you?" 

"I'd prefer, rational thinker, thank you!" 

"No, I wouldn't want to strike a deal with these bastards anyway. They come in here, trample over our hard work, attempt to trap and slaughter us like cattle, and do it all with smiles on their faces."

Genji was so overcome with anger that she was shaking. 

Ichijo nodded, sighing deeply. He glared at the opponents in front of him. "Ill take the three on the left, we'll split'em up."

"Is it a coincidence that they also happen to be the three shortest ones?" Genji asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Perception is subjective" Ichijo fired back. 

"Shameless coward." Genji responded immediately. 

Knocking three arrows of different elements unto his bow-wind, fire, ice-Ichijo let out the first shot. 

That commenced the battle on the rooftop. 

 ※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※ 

My opponent is crazy.

That was the conclusion that I had come too. It was the one thought that was racing through my already crowded mind. 

I jumped backwards over a slash of ice, pushing myself off of the wall and towards my opponent. 

Weaving out of the way of another slash of wind and using a flame spell to propel me out of the way of a spear through. 

"HAHAHAh, can you believe it big sister? He's actually dodging it all." A high-pitched voice spoke.

"Don't call me big sister, though I have to admit our opponent is skilled." A slightly deeper voice spoke. 

sidestepping a final attack, I let out two quick flicks of my blade, which my opponent blocked with a longsword that they had summoned out of thin air. Wielding the blade with perfect technique, he lunged at me, and I dodged out of the way, clashing swords with his next slash, and ducking under the next. 

"Beautiful swordsmanship, I can tell you've trained." A deep voice spoke. 

I jumped back from another slash, and this time let out to flicks of my blade from distance, launching flaming slashes at my opponent. 

"Don't try and zone me!" A much more excited voice side, as he drew his blade in a horizontal arc, blasting away the flame slashes. 

I had already dashed forward, and taking advantage over the fact that he was swinging a bigger weapon, I kicked my opponent square in the chest. 

They were knocked backwards, but just as they

were about to smash into the wall, a massive teddy bears plush appeared behind them, softening the blow. 

"Thanks Mr. Svarog." A child-like voice spoke. 

The wide range of voices that had just spoken, all of them came from the man that was standing in front of me. It was as if he was being completely possessed by different personalities. It was as if his mind was split by them, and he was cycling through. 

Why, there was no reasonable explanation. I had heard of a split personality disorder that stems from extreme trauma, however developing multiple. That was unheard of. 

That was why my assessment came out to be that my opponent was crazy. that was the only half reasonable explanation that I could think of, and even then, it wasn't a rational answer. 

"Though I guess anything crazy is never rational in the first place." 

I spoke these words aloud as I completely unsheathed my blade, watching the opponent in front of me. 

He was currently holding his head in his hands, speaking incoherently, his pitch and voice changing dramatically. He seemed to be experiencing some sort of break down. 

It should have been the perfect chance to attack, however I did not pounce. That was because this had happened before. He seemed to have entered a state of overwhelmed confusion, as if all of his personalities were battling against each other all at once. 

The first time It had happened, I pounced on it immediately, looking to deal a finishing blow. However just as I got close, he suddenly lashed out, summoning a multitude of blades out of nowhere, and letting out magic spells. 

I had managed to layer a fortification magic sequence with wind spell, to create a makeshift barrier, however, I still picked up a nasty cut to the side of my neck. 

I ran my finger over the warm blood. 

Just what exactly was this guy's ability? He could summon random objects from nowhere, he suffered from a split personality, and he could do a surprising number of things with perfect form. Thinking back to what he had said when me and Hikaru had first appeared, I tried to figure out some logical explanation for what this guy's ability was exactly. 

At that time, he seemed completely calm and tranquil, and he certainly wasn't battling against separate personalities. He had said something about wanting to add us into his vault.

If I took that into account, along with the fact that every single room on this floor was empty, then I could conjecture that his ability was something along the lines of absorbing things and placing them into said vault. That applied to both people and objects.

However, what were the specifics? Was the vault like a pocket dimension? Alternate reality? Did he take in the personalities of the people that he took into his vault? What about the objects? Was there a limit to what he could take in? 

There were too many questions for me to make any way, and even then, my idea was just a theory. 

With how irrational and crazy my opponent seemed to be, it was definitely possible that there was no rational explanation for his ability, that adhered to any sliver of logic. 

If that happened to be the case, then my best bet would probably be to stop trying to understand his ability all together and simply attempt to beat him. 

"I, Raiden Chisaki, won't lose." I muttered the words Hikaru had told me quietly to myself, as a bit of a motivator. I would not allow myself to lose and cause her sadness upon her return. I had hurt enough people already. I couldn't even fathom that I was actually worth being worried over, however Hikaru did worry, and therefore, I would be the greatest dick in the world if I lead her to cry. 

By this point, the man in the black suit had stood up once again, shaking his head. 

"That was a bit unsightly of me, all of those damn ingrates inside here just keep fighting for control." 

"Ingrate? Who are you to act as if in your control?" 

"Yeah, you are just as hopeless as we are in this situation!" 

Once again, he began to argue with himself, swapping between personalities constantly. 

Suddenly, and without warning, a large number of weapons simply appeared in the air behind him; aimed at me. 

They were all charging magic attacks. 

Slowly, facing the weapons in front of me, I unsheathed my blade. 

And then, they all fired. 

Ice. 

Wind. 

Fire. 

Bullets. 

Earth. 

Pure magic. 

It all came flying at me, and I dodged every single one. 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ducking dodging, I continued to count the number of attacks that I avoided. 

23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29. 

30! 

When I got to thirty, I went for my attack. 

dashing forward and behind my opponent and I sheathed my blade, and as soon as I did- 

30 slashes were called down upon the body of my opponent, cutting him up. 

That was my ability, the one that I had developed. 

I called it, Perfect counter . 

Its condition for activation was simple, my blade needed to be unsheathed. 

After which, I had to dodge attacks. The more attacks I dodged, the higher my counter went up. 

When I deemed it ready, I sheathed my blade, and the same number of attacks I dodged, would be the number of slashes sent at my opponent. Those slashes did not need to travel, as they appeared instantly on the opponent's body, or whoever I wanted them too, via a homing spell. 

Weaknesses, none that I could think of. It was an ability complex enough to not be able to be deciphered at first sight. It was created for the sole reason of beating out Shindo's mystic eyes of death perception. 

I let out a breath as I turned around, looking to face my opponent who was most likely still staggered from the number of slashes that had been released. 

However, the bloodied man in the black suit, who was covered in slashes, had not been staggered whatsoever. 

When I turned, he was standing directly in front of me. His blood was dripping all over my own black trench coat. He looked down at me with a crazed smile. 

And then, he placed his blood covered fingers on my head.