Well here's chapter 6 guys. I've been ridiculously busy with finals/graduation. I hope you all enjoy whats essentially a ginormous fight scene. Chapter 7 IS in the making so yea.
And now, on with the chapter!
"To what end does this serve you?" Otonashi questioned "Why are you doing this?"
There was a silence. Tension ran high in the air, and the sound of a heartbeat could be heard.
Joshua cackled maniacally, breaking the silence "What's wrong with a god reclaiming his power?"
There was a collective gasp among the group.
"That can't be!" Otonashi exclaimed "If you are god, why choose now to show your face? I've been in this afterlife for a long time and not once have I seen you until now!"
"It's simple really," Joshua calmly said, flipping his hair out of his face "I have a reason to eradicate this plane from existence. However, someone else would see that it remains to exist, offering sanctity for the tortured souls that pass through here. I'm merely playing a game with this person, and you all are caught in the middle of it. Entering this plane stole my powers from me, so I used your Angel Player program to restore myself to full power."
So that was it. He wanted this world gone, and someone else sought to save it. We're just pieces on a chessboard. But who's pieces are we?
"How does your opponent win? What needs to be done in order to protect this world?" Neku shouted, his anger rising to a boiling point. Kenta stood, still ready with his Guard Skill from earlier. A battle was inevitable.
Chuckling, Joshua playfully stated "Now now Neku. If I told you how to beat the game, what fun would that be?"
Neku roared "Damn you!" Sword and gun in hand, he charged the platinum haired deity shooting rapidly.
Smirking, "Guard Skill:Distortion"
Kenta reacted quickly "Look out Neku, he has guard skills!"
The entire group had scattered and attempted to position themselves strategically. Minako crouched behind a wall, dual pistols in hand.
"Neku are you fucking crazy! You're running at god you retard!"
Neku charged anyways, still roughly 20 feet away as he aimed his firearm and let off multiple shots. "Guard Skill:Holy Flame" Kenta chanted, the pinpoint blast striking Josh on his forehead.
Smoke covered the battlefield, multiple shots were being fired off in random directions, producing sound that could shatter one's eardrums. The scent of adrenaline hung in the air.
Using the blast as cover, Neku slipped behind Joshua. He was positioned behind the God, and time seemed to slow for a moment. Everything was happening at half speed, and Neku's heartbeat pounded, being the only thing he heard. He reeled his arm back, preparing for a strike.
"Guard Skill:Handsonic Version 10"
From Joshua's hands extended a blade on each arm. They were roughly 4 feet in length and shimmered even through the smoke. Near his hand, a guard extended from both sides making the weapons look like gigantic ornate crosses. He swung one, easily protecting himself from Neku's attack.
"Guard Skill:Handsonic Version 7" Kenta called out, his arms also turning into blades. The blades didn't look like swords, rather they bore the appearance of angel wings. The weapons curved, and the "bone" of the weapon was colored a pure gold, with white "feathers" making up the rest of the blade. Each one was razor sharp, but only upon close inspection could someone see it.
"Well those look pretty. They almost suit you." Josh casually uttered "Why don't we just do this one on one, angel vs. God?"
"Oh hell no. You are not leaving me out of this you piece of shit!" Neku screamed, attempting to strike Joshua out of sheer frustration, swinging randomly without a clear idea of what he was doing.
"Sorry, partner" he chucked, and no sooner than he did, he rotated his arm 360 degrees, catching Neku's sword with one of his blades, and used the other to pierce Neku directly through his heart.
"Neku!" nearly the entire group, save for Joshua called out of concern. Joshua withdrew his Handsonic from Neku's torso, and watched as he fell to the floor, grinning devilishly.
Everything got quiet again. Yori, the silent one screamed out "What the fuck is everyone waiting for? Shoot the fucker!"
The entire SSSII raised their weapons, all aimed at Joshua.
"Fire!" Minako shouted, and in a split second, the air was humming with a symphony of gunshots, each bang playing a note to complete the tune.
"Guard Skill:Ascension" Joshua murmured. On cue, from his back sprouted two angel wings. The wings were golden in color, possibly made with the precious metal itself. They must have been at least 7 feet in length each too. Each feather shimmered, and reflected the sunlight making the wings glow with a light that looked divine.
The wings flapped, raising Joshua into the air, and pulling him away from the bullet storm below.
"I'll get you damnit!" Kenta said, leaving out the word god, considering their opponent, and then followed with his own ability "Guard Skill:Ascension."
Kenta grew his own pair of wings. They were a combination of black and silver, with the feathers alternating between the colors and the rest being black. While Joshua's wings gave off a divine glow, Kenta's instead shone with a mystical glimmer. Not evil, just mysterious.
Taking to the skies in pursuit of his adversary, Kenta soared with his blades poised to strike the God before him.
"Give Kenta cover fire! Focus on keeping Joshua occupied!"
All SSSII members fired a barrage of lead in order to aid the would-be angel. However, Joshua wasn't fazed by this.
"My my, such dark wings Kenta. If I didn't know any better I would assume you've fallen." The silver-headed boy mused "Allow me to extend to you my forgiveness."
Each figure darted toward one another, prepared for an attack. As he approached Josh, Kenta whispered something inaudible before meeting the god head on and locking their handsonics.
As the blades met, Joshua stared mockingly into Kenta's sky blue eyes with his own violet ones, a gaze meant to mirror the one he gave after he previously murdered Kenta. Joshua could see many emotions in the boy's eyes. Fear. Anger, Sadness and the most prominent of them being disgust.
Finally, Joshua broke the stare, something had moved up in the air with them, but it definitely wasn't Kenta, as the false angel was still in front of him with their weapons locked together. A moment later, and a splitting pain overtook his right arm.
Grinning at the success of his trick, Kenta finally retreated and placed distance between himself and Joshua. His heartbeat was racing from the tension of the prior moment, and the breeze in the air only served to chill the sweat abundant on his features.
Joshua turned to see his attacker when he noticed it was another Kenta. This one wasn't quite the same as the one he was face to face with moments ago. This doppelganger appeared to lack the same lifelike features as the Kenta he was face to face with just before. At least, the eyes betrayed as much. Gripping his right arm, the boy with the violet eyes noticed something peculiar. His entire arm was missing from his shoulder onward, instead replaced with a bleeding stub.
"W-what did you do to me? What have you done to God?" The teen panicked, clearly not prepared for such a quick change of tides.
"Well I merely used my Harmonics skill to create a clone and have it take care of you while I had your attention." He smugly replied.
Joshua cringed, the bleeding from his dismembered appendage disturbing him. He closed his eyes for a moment, and grinned widely before opening them again, with a confident look in them.
"Guard Skill:Divine Recovery!" The God exclaimed, throwing his remaining arm up to the skies to add dramatic effect.
The stub where an extremity was once attached to glowed, and from it sprouted the shape of a limb. It was made entirely of blinding light that slowly dimmed, leaving in its place a whole arm.
Kenta hovered in the air wordless, distraught by what he had just seen. He broke into a heavy sweat, concerned at the direction the battle was taking. At this rate they would be completely crushed, and he was the only one even able to touch Joshua, which proved to do little good for him.
"Well now that's much better, it would ruin my perfection if I was missing a limb." Joshua teased, no longer panicking as he was merely moments before. "So where were we? Right. Guard Skill:Handsonic Version 10."
Regaining his other weapon, Joshua flew at Kenta, upset by the earlier antics of the boy.
Snapping out of his stupor, Kenta did the same, closing this distance between the two in no time.
Finally meeting face to face again, Kenta's heartbeat thumped hard. With adrenaline racing through his system, he made the first move and slashed his left arm at Joshua, the strike being harmlessly being deflected by the other teen's own weapon.
"Minako, we're running low on ammo! What do we do?" Ichirou worriedly asked.
"We've got to make all of our shots count. There are some other rounds over by Shiki, go grab only what you need and no more, we can't afford to waste any!" The blonde girl ordered "Otonashi go check on Neku's body! Be sure to put him somewhere away from further harm."
As this all happened, Kenta and Joshua were slashing and dodging one another routinely. They founght as if they were dancing, each perfectly moving to their established tempo, while dodging the barrage of gunshots from below.
"Guard Skill:Double Time" Joshua called out. The ability doing seemingly nothing. Kenta stood cautious waited for the attack.
Defensively, he reacted with his Distortion guard skill, still uncertain of what to expect.
In a flash Joshua was upon him, moving with a speed he had not seen before. He struggled, aimlessly raising and swinging his Handsonics in an attempt to block the flurry of strikes.
The air rang with the sound of steel meeting steel repeatedly. Along with the gunshots it nearly formed a tune of some sort. A symphony of battle.
"Otonashi! How is he?" Shiki worriedly asked, taking her eyes off the duel above them.
"Well he's dead, that's for sure. Josh stabbed him directly through the heart. It'll be a little while before he wakes up."
Beat turned to the pair and spoke "I can't believe dis yo. That punk is gonna get it!"
Otonashi removed a bandage from the first aid kit they had brought and carefully wrapped the wound and made sure to cover it in its entirety.
"That should make things a little more comfortable once he wakes up" The fire-haired boy stated.
Minako continued to unload her rounds in the direction of Joshua, carefully aiming each shot and making the most of her bullets. After several shots her gun clicked. "Shit, I'm out of rounds." She tossed the weapon aside and grabbed her handgun, and inspected her supply of bullets "Only 4 clips huh? Gotta make it last."
In the air, Kenta was in bad shape. While he had managed to keep up with Joshua's inhumane speed, it had taken its toll on him. The false angel had cuts littered across his body, and his clothing was ripped in multiple places. He was slowing down, barely able to raise his weapon in time to parry a strike, only to have to worry about the next blow almost immediately after.
It was just Kenta and Joshua now. The SSSII had completely run out of ammunition, and could only watch as their final hope slowly was worn down.
Kenta raised his arm to block once more, however, not in time as Joshua swung his cross and caught him before he could defend himself. The blade cut through the bone, most perfectly cutting Kenta in two.
The boy's eyes widened upon feeling the cold steel invading his system and slicing through him. He choked for a moment, nearly catching his heart in his throat. Finally, his wings ceased flapping, and he fell from his lofty seat rapidly approaching the ground. Joshua smiled in satisfaction as he landed on the ground with a thud.
"Kenta!" Otonashi called out, horrified by what he'd just seen.
"It seems we're done here. Unless anyone else was intending to put up a fight?" Joshua questioned, mocking the group before him.
The glares from all the kids were burning into Joshua. They all wanted nothing more than to deliver to him a brutal death, especially for what he had just done.
"Well if that's the case, I might as well prepare for the final week." Joshua whispered to himself.
Spreading his golden wings, Joshua flew up higher, until the sun was at his back. His wings refracted the light, shining the area in a brilliant glow.
"Guard Skill:Heavenly Judgment"
The light grew brighter. The brighter it got, the more the SSSII members couldn't focus.
Beat clutched his head, he seemed to struggle with something for a moment, but only for a moment as he collapsed almost immediately after.
One by one, everyone else followed in his stead, dropping to the ground like flies.
"U-ugh, what happened to me?" Neku awoke with confusion.
Looking around, it appeared to be early evening. The sun was setting and the sky a bright red.
Let's see... Last thing I remember is fighting Josh, and then he-
Neku gasped, recalling the gruesome manner in which he was killed. He realized his chest was wrapped securely in a bandage. Someone must have taken care of him while he was out.
In his peripheral vision, he noticed a figure laying on the floor.
"Shiki!" Neku arose quickly, rushing over to the girl's side. He placed his fingers to her neck, feeling a pulse.
"She's just passed out.." Neku said to himself. Looking around the clearing, he could make out the other members of the SSSII, all in a similar condition to Shiki. They lay on the ground, passed out as if they just fell there.
Neku's eyes welled with tears.
I'll kill him. I'll kill that fucking bastard, I swear it!
"Seems live you've woken up, partner." A voice spoke from above.
Looking towards the sound, Neku clenched his teeth when he observed Joshua floating above the carnage, staying aloft with two angel wings.
"I'll kill you Joshua! You hear me? You're as good as dead!" Neku yelled, his voice cracking as he spoke.
"Well if you're so certain, then let us play a game" The violet-eyed deity stated "Kill me Neku. You have one week. Fail and be subject to permanent erasure. Can you do it? I just can't wait to see."
With that, Joshua flapped his wings and took off into the skies, flying off towards the sunset.
Something fell slowly, and Neku scrambled to catch it. Opening his palm, he revealed a feather, gold like the sun.
I would also like to extend a personal thank you to SilverWingedGentleman, for being the first person other than my friend to review this story. (seriously guys, review, even if you're anonymous. It's freeeee)