When I woke up, I felt much better than last night. Most of my stress had faded, though I knew it'd be back. Peter was still sleeping peacefully besides me.

I pinched his nose, quickly waking him up.

"Mm...morning," he groaned.

"Morning," I said, smiling.

He smiled back at me. "I take it you slept well? No stress?"

"For now."

"What're you planning on doing today?"

"Hm, probably some real training."

"Let's go then."

"You're coming too?" I asked, crawling out of he cart.

"Of course," he replied, following me. "I do have to protect you. How good would I be if I didn't practice. You wanna have a match with me?"

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of protecting me? I mean, you can't really protect me if you're all bloody, bruised, and beaten up, right?"

"I'm sorry, who protected who last time?"

"I'm just saying," I said, shrugging.

"Do you wanna fight me or not?"

"Yeah, sure. Why not?"

Out of the cart, he dug up an old sword that I assumed was his own. The red sheath looked familiar, so it probably was. I always kept my sword and daggers with me, by now it was out of habit. And, partially, fear.

We made our way to the clearing around the portal that my little army had turned into the training grounds. They'd carved circles into the ground for practice matches and even set up makeshift targets for archery. I saw Jessica shooting a few arrows and, now that I thought about it, I'd never seen her or anyone besides Peter fight before.

"Hey," I said. "The others can fight, right?"

"Of course they can," Peter replied as we reached the circle. Ewe each stood at different sides of the circle, standing in ready positions. "They've been hunters for a while, you know."

"Hunters," I reminded myself as I went over a checklist in my head. Knees bent, right foot up front, hand at hilt, eyes on the target. "Now that I think about it, isn't this the opposite of what you did before?"

"Not really," he said, shifting his position. Peter was a lefty, I'd noticed when I first met him. "All we did was try to make peace between species. This is almost the same thing. Just on...a greater scale."

All thoughts and conversations stopped as we took a step forward, preparing to attack. Out swords clashed as we attacked. Peter had amazing strength, but his larger body wouldn't be as stealthy. I used the momentum of his sword pushing against mine to quicken my back steps. I charged, again, lower this time, using his height to my advantage.

To my surprise, he reacted quickly, bringing his foot up into my stomach. I took a quick glance up at him to see him giving me a sideways smile that gave me butterflies in my stomach. Again, I was pushed back and, again, I used that to my advantage.

"Stop running!" I heard one of the Angels from the sidelines say.

"No backseat fighters!" I yelled back. Quickly, I sheathed my sword and removed my daggers. Peter raised an eyebrow at me and I gave him a devilish smile. I charged for the third and final time. I met his sword with my left dagger and attacked with my right. He had no choice but to try to push me. I didn't give this time and flapped my wings slightly to give me an extra push.

I sent him back a foot or two, but he wasn't done. He came at me, sword raised and ready to swing. As it sliced across the air, I bent my knees and crouched to the ground.

"You're wide open!" I yelled. Bringing one of my hands to the ground to support me, I kicked is ankle, bringing him down. "Winner!" I yelled, standing and smiling gat him. We'd gathered quite a crowd. They all cheered me on.

I held my hand down to Peter and he took it, still smiling.

"Any other challengers?" I asked. I got a few raised hands that made me kind of happy. Within a few hours, I'd annihilated most of them, but the final one was giving me a hard time. It was a Demon girl who I'd never met before. She fought with a staff without any blade, giving her plenty of range. She was obviously used to using it by the way her body handled it. It seemed almost natural.

I chose to fight with my sword, which also gave me a wider range to match hers. She aimed for my left side and I blocked, but only barely. As quickly as the first strike, the second came from my right side. I didn't have a chance at knocking her down, so I'd have to push her out of the circle.

Taking a step forward, I made an attack. She took a step back. Good, I only needed four more. My movements became more frantic, less predictable.

Three more steps.

Her staff came across and I ducked, taking a swing at her feet.

Two more.

When I stood straight again, she already had an attack prepared for me. My sword couldn't keep up, so I had no choice but to block with my arm. It hurt like a bitch when it hit, but it was worth it. I grabbed onto the staff and swung my sword at her stomach, causing her to take a step back.

One more.

She'd dropped her staff but hadn't given up. I swung with my sword, but without a staff I was afraid I'd hurt her, so I stopped an inch away from her waiting arm.

She didn't step out, but I'd clearly won. She stood and smiled at me, accepting her defeat. I held my hand out to her and she shook it.

"Akira!" Lucifer called from our little army tent. I made my way over to find that everyone was already waiting. By everyone I meant my human friends, Haru, Zero, and my commanders. "It's time to take out stations," Lucifer said, giving me a sad smile.

I nodded.

Within the next hour, I'd be in Heaven, fighting a war.