Part 3:

Lux drew his sword gracefully, as he spread out his majestic eight wings. A holy light permeated from his entire being, mostly concentrated around his golden halo.

Any seeing would call him the embodiment of good and righteousness. I on the other hand was covered in dark gold armour that gave off a menacing feeling, the thin black aura surrounding me increased that feeling.

Instinctively I could tell that magic was not effective against Lux at all. I dot know how but I sensed that Lux was immune to all types of magic. Only by using a special technique, that Ira created, is it possible to use magic against him. And that was technique I have no knowledge of.

For me it'll be a battle utilizing my pure martial abilities and powers. [Susano-o] had already entered cool down, so needed to carefully choose my next power.

It was just the slightest movement, a tiny swing of his blade. The pressure from his slash smashed full force into me. Just that alone was enough to dent the armour. In front of Lux the armour provided superficial protection, though little defence was always better then no defence.

I shudder to think what his full power slash would look like. In fact I was glad I wasn't using [Susano-o] dodging with the Yasakani no Magatama was out of the question. As soon as I entered his range I was getting cut no matter what. Teleportation would leave me vulnerable. What I needed was ultra high speed or impenetrable defence or the ability to retaliate.

Based on the situation I went with a slightly unorthodox chose.

Avalokitasvara's universal vision

“[Avalokitasvara form 1].”

[Avalokitasvara] was technically not a Japanese deity but since Buddhism was a religion in Japan I managed to squeeze it in. [Avalokitasvara form 1] granted me a portion of Avalokitasvara's universal vision, the ultimate mind's eye. The power to see through god speed. With this I could see through all of Lux's movements. For the sake of convenience I named it divine eye, ultimate mind's eye was mouthful to say. Divine eye was skill that let me the world in slow motion, making it possible to follow even godspeed with the naked eye.

I had to be extra careful this time, by now the remaining four should've seen through the weaknesses of my powers.

First they must be activated in succession, there is no way to skip a form. Once a form has been switched it is not possible to go back. Second no two powers can be activated at the same time. Third the cool down.

My advantage was that they had no clue what power each form held or the possibilities that each power possessed.

The first one to move was Lux, I was not a step behind as well. With wings growing at my back, through the slots in the armour, I clashed with Lux midair.

Or at least that was what Lux was expecting. Just as our swords were about to hit, I changed the trajectory of my strike. My sword curved around his and nearly landed a blow. Lux managed to dodge at the last second.

I could see all his attacks in slow motion. Allowing me to counter, dodge or parry.

I exploited every opportunity using a personal sword skill I call the clockwork sword. Every slash is continued by another slash, all executed in one fluid manner. No attack was launched from the same position, each deviated by a couple of angles.

I could get in a good combo until I forced to back by a powerful combo sword strike. My longest combo so far was thirty. The damage was insignificant but it will pile up.

“Marvellous. Now that I have experienced your sword for myself I am simply in awe of your skill.”

I tilted my head in confusion as Lux spoke for the first time. Was he this kind of character? He gave a more cool impression when he didn't speak.

“I can only express my gratitude by giving you me all, now it is your turn to experience my sword skills.”

Just as I thought he was a battle maniac, the type that was obsessed with fighting strong opponents. Testing his skill against them. What a conflicting personality for a supposed peace loving angel.

In terms of aerial battle skill he's far surpassed me, flying with my physical body was not my specialty.

I was slowly getting used to his sword with divine eye, and the more I saw the more captivated I was. I rushed myself as I got to point where I could relatively see through his sword without using divine eye, which in turn actually made it even better as the upper limit kept growing.

Despite it being early I wanted to advance, I wanted the sword style of the strongest angel.

My body had adapted to his speed, so know I time to head the next level.

“[Avalokitasvara form 2].”

I swapped out divine eye for abyssal insight. Divine eye was the power to see through the person, even beyond their physical capabilities. Abyssal insight was to see through the fighting style. It would steal the style technique by technique, then upgrade and adapt. Before I could see the sword in slow motion, now I can track its path through the air. I could guess where the sword is going, which path it's following, and where the next strike is coming from. [Avalokitasvara] was the god who peered down from heaven with his universal vision, seeing through something like this was child's play.

It was similar to constantly analyzing fighting videos or boss battle in video games. To find the out the attack patterns and techniques, then plotting out countermeasures.

With abyssal insight I countered with the exact same techniques he was using.

Lux noticed it almost instantly and was agape with shock. His prized sword style was being stolen right before his eyes, nothing made him happier.

Slowly all our attacks were becoming the same. Slash for slash we executed the same the moves in attempt to conquer over the other.

A thought occurred to me as the fight continued. How does Lux generate so much power? I turned my abyssal insight away from his sword and to his body.

Just as I thought Lux was immune to magic, but at the same time he was unable to use it. Imagine that, an archangel who can't even use the most basic holy spells.

He had a birth defect that forcefully expelled all the mana in his body and refused to let any back in. It was like he was born with anti magic in his body.

His strength came from ki. Lux was one of the top geniuses in history as a ki user.

I could only match him blow to blow was the fact that we were equally skilled in martial arts and using the entirety of the kurogane shomatsu-ryu. Without these I would've been heavily wounded during the first minute of the battle.

In the future I planned on learning how to use ki as well. So why not reap the benefits right now?

Using abyssal insight I began to steal his ki distribution technique and the entirety of his strength.

It was bit hard at first trying to analyze the energy flow but when I noticed a similarity to body transformation I made a breakthrough.

Same as before analyze, improve, adapt, and then strike.

All the while I kept the pressure on, I didn't give him any ground as I tried many times to land a fatal blow.

Internally I began to unravel the energy that rested in my daitian. Ki distribution was similar to something that I did in the past.

A deep dark gold aura that was outlined black formed around me. Supposedly the colours of aura had a meaning but that was beyond me.

The only reason the aura formed was I unskillfully leaked ki out of my body and tried to contain. It didn't go back in and formed aura instead.

Lux saw my aura and smiled like a battle maniac. Absolutely bloodthirsty, truly unlike an archangel.

In response to my gradually refining aura he let out his. A pure white aura that held minute traces of gold.

Wielding our respective swords, both loaded to the brim with ki, both of users our respective techniques. Ready for the final clash.

Both divine eye and abyssal insight have served their purpose. It's time for the next stage.

[Avalokitasvara's] universal vision was what my power was based on, but only my interpretations of it were used. That was why I could do something like this.

“[Avalokitasvara form 3].”

Abyssal insight was swapped with foresight, the power to see the future. It was not a unique power since many could do it but those people I could see a few seconds forward. I on the other hand could see through minutes. In my version there were no infinite paths for the future. I limited it to a select few possible futures and then shifted the battle to the direction. Essentially it was the power to control the battle.

[Avalokitasvara] powers came into three steps. Adapt, analyze, and then control. Normally adapt would come after analyze but in the all I fought were opponents stronger than me so this was the perfect order.

Lux was cautious about another form being activated, so various he was unaware that I was manipulating the battle.

I subtly led him on as our swords clashed nonstop. I confused him by showing no visible changes.

“Eh?”

He let out a dumb voice when my sword cut through his wrist. It was through the use of countless feints and strikes did I arrive at this future.

My sword cut the tendons in his right arm, which was his dominant sword arm.

Lux immediately caught the sword with his left hand, ambidextrously twirling it. Both of his hands were equal in strength, at least that was what he was insisting but I could see it.

Every future indicated that his use of his left hand is not as skilled as his right. There will be noticeable drop in ability.

Taking the chance I used my first big attack in this fight.

“Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Forbidden technique: Divinity slaying chaos blade!”

All of my aura wrapped around [Tsumi] making it seem that it grew a hundred fold in size. It was a sword that reached the end of the horizon. Around the edge of the aura was rampaging black energy, which burned like flames.

The anti god blade made by sacrificing the souls of a god and further enhanced by aura, the attack power of this technique was unmatchable.

The anti god sword crashed down on Lux at full force.

He tried to block but his prized sword gave way. The anti god blade bisected him in half.

Maintaining the attack as long as possible I unleaded countless strikes of my sword using clockwork sword. The anti god blade struck again and again, it kept going till Lux was cut to pieces.

It rained blood and body parts as coloured the ground.

The has been slain.

Part 3.5:

Panting heavily from using the forbidden technique I entered healing mode as I waited for Lux to appear.

It took quite some time for him to appear, far longer than the others so far.

Contrary to this previous appearance and previous attitude he acted like a frightened dog. Lux was fidgeting nerviously as his eyes constantly darted around.

The one spot his eyes stopped the most at was [Tsumi], that was resting at my side.

"Creation magic: sword."

In my free hand appeared a sword almost identical to the one he was previously wielding.

When he reached for the sword I pulled it away. I did this several times until I finally handed it over. The teary look in his eyes was unsettling.

Watching a grown man cry like this over sword was pretty fun, but I wanted my reword more than screwing with him.

When Lux held the sword his original confident appearance returned. Seriously unlike an archangel, much less a leader of an entire race.

Just how the hell did he become the leader of the archangels?

"Thanks you Shin-dono."

He completely disregarded me toying with him earlier.

"I am sorry to say this but while I was alive I had no interest in anything but the sword. When I discovered that I couldn't use magic I drowned myself in the world of martial arts.

I spent countless years studying and learning about ki and eventually reached the pinnacle. But throughout my entire life I never actually collected anything."

So he lived like a hermit with no interest in material possessions, meaning he won't have much to offer me.

"I do have a record of all the ki techniques I learned, both internal and external. I will pass them on to you. Shin-dono please spread them across the world as you grow to surpass them. I will name you as my succe- wait you have defeated me so I will call you master? No, no that doesn't work. How about this Shin-dono you are now both my successor and master. I will forever know you as my protégé master!"

I am not even gonna retort to his logic.

I'll just let him do what he wants, he doesn't have much time left anyway. I'll accommodate his selfishness for now.

"Fine whatever you say, so where are these records?"

"No clue! Ask one of my descendants they'll surely give it to you."

I highly doubt that. Why would an archangel give their ancestors possessions to a random stranger?

I guess I'll have to use some alternative means to get the records from heaven.

"So Shin-dono is there anything else you would like to ask me about?"

"Then can you tell me the purpose of this battle? Not that I mind fighting, I would at least like to know why you guys are testing me."

The other two refused to answer but I'm sure I can draw out some answers from Lux.

"You asked a difficult question... the duty of answering was given to Tenebris-sama..."

Lux looked really conflicted but he answered anyway.

"We are testing you to see if you're--------------------"

Just as he was speaking words stopped coming out of his mouth, not that he realized it. Looks likes there is no other way to find out what going on without defeating Tenebris.

"Ah! Looks like it time for me to go as well."

Lux's body slowly began fading away.

"Now then protégé master I wish the best of fortune in your travels."

Bowing his head with a content smile Lux faded into nothingness. I solemnly watched off one very few people he could match my swordsmanship off with a hint of sorrow.

When I wake up from this dream will I ever find someone strong enough to satisfy my thirst for battle?

As such thoughts filled my mind, my next opponent had appeared.

The great devil king of hell, the , Superbia entered the stage.