“Oh jeez,” Cleo said and wiped away the blood by Palan’s ears. She hadn’t been affected as badly as him and Raea, maybe, because her hearing was poorer than theirs. “That really sounds like … yup, that.”

Dark clouds gathered in the sky, blotting out the moon. Black lightning crackled and struck the central tower in the capital, but the bolts didn’t disappear after contact. They stuck to the side of the building like crooked spider webs. As more and more lightning rained down, a humanoid torso without arms took shape. A head formed, touching the black clouds and absorbing them. A roar escaped from the lightning avatar’s mouth as arms shot out of its side. Its eyes seemed to narrow as it leaned towards Palan and Raea.

“Was it you two?” the avatar asked. Though its voice was crackling and gravelly, there was still something feminine about it. “It was you two wasn’t it? You killed Uriel and Creed. Play with me.”

The avatar’s right arm stretched towards Palan, causing his eyes to widen. He crossed his arms and three tails in front of his body, reinforcing them with greed. The oily barrier did nothing to stop the avatar’s hand. It grabbed Palan, holding him in place while black lightning continuously eroded the greed barrier. Luckily, Cleo had chosen to fall from the sky when the lightning avatar attacked; otherwise, there wouldn’t even be any ashes of her left. Palan gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes at the avatar’s wrist. A black hole formed, sucking away the lightning from his body.

“Oh?” the avatar asked. It raised its nonexistent eyebrows and tilted its head. “Is that pride? That’s pride! Cammy, Cammy! Look, it’s pride! He’s just an ordinary archdemon though.”

The lightning avatar’s eyes flashed. It opened its mouth and spoke in a masculine voice this time, “What do you know, it really is pride. I’m going to catch him.” The avatar’s left hand grabbed Palan before he could even react, careful not to squeeze too hard.

“Cammy!” the avatar’s voice distorted as one side of the avatar’s head expanded. “I was here first! I found him first!”

The other side of the avatar’s head expanded to a greater size. “You’re going to kill him,” it said. “Let me do it.”

“It’s okay! Raffi can bring him back,” the lightning avatar said and split into two. The side that had the black hole embedded in it was sucked away, leaving behind half the amount of lightning. The avatar shrank as it reformed, and Palan’s body was pulled ahead as a result. “Cammy’s gone now. It’s just you and me.”

Another black hole formed in the air, close to the avatar’s left elbow. “That won’t work twice,” the avatar said as its elbow bent unnaturally and avoided the space. “See?” The black hole chased after the avatar, trying to touch any part of its body, but the lightning stretched like taffy, easily avoiding the ball.

“Let…,” Raea said, raising her hands above her head. She glared at the lightning avatar with purple eyes as a black pole formed in the sky above her. It gave off an eerie glow that tinted the lightning with red as a halberd took shape in the sky. “Him…”—Raea swung her arms down—“go!”

The halberd screamed as it streaked through the air, setting the sky ablaze like someone had taken a paintbrush and colored the night sky red. “What?” the lightning avatar asked as its eyes widened. It swung its arm, punching towards the halberd at the speed of light. The fist was much larger than the halberd, but the flames cut through the lightning like a hot knife through butter. The lightning avatar yelped. “Ouch! That really hurt!”

The avatar flailed its hand like it was trying to remove water droplets from its fingers. The gash in its palm reconnected, forming a regular hand, but black flames continued to eat at it. The halberd stopped in midair before rushing towards the avatar’s neck. “I told you to let him go,” Raea said as hundreds of fire pillars began taking shape behind her. They spiraled in the air until they became pointed like needles.

“You’re not an ordinary archangel!” the lightning avatar said. It tossed Palan into the ground and punched its palm with its fist. “This is going to be fun.”

“You threw him away!?” the masculine voice asked as the avatar contorted.

“Cammy! Stop! I need to block!”

The lightning avatar screamed as hundreds of flaming needles pierced its body while the halberd cut off its neck. Raea panted as the lightning avatar dissolved, the black flames eating away at its body. The head had dispersed and reformed into thunderclouds after it was separated. The halberd vanished as Raea’s eyes returned to normal. She exhaled and flew towards the ground where Palan had been thrown. Cleo was by his side, mending his broken bones with an orb of kindness. He muttered something that even Raea couldn’t hear.

“Palan?” Raea asked and squatted beside him. “Are you alright?”

Palan gnashed his teeth and pushed Cleo aside as he sat up. His expression was dark as he clenched his hands. “Just an ordinary archdemon?” he asked, glaring at Raea. His fist pounded the ground. “I couldn’t do anything!”

Raea bit her lower lip. “Archdemons are strong,” she said. “Much much stronger than ordinary archangels.”

“Am I stronger than you?” Palan asked through clenched teeth.

Raea hesitated before lowering her head. “No,” she said to the grass by her feet. Palan’s hands seized her shoulders, pushing her to the ground.

“Why?”

Raea pursed her lips, doing her best to maintain eye contact with Palan’s purple eyes. “When I was a greater angel, I experienced an evolution because of you, but not to archangel,” she said. “Then when I evolved to an archangel, I was stronger than most because of that. But you evolved again, and so did I. I experienced four evolutions while you experienced two.” She bit her lip as Palan’s expression relaxed. “If you used my powers to fight that avatar, you wouldn’t have suffered a loss. But you chose to use pride.”

Palan released his grip on Raea and sat back. “Why didn’t you say anything earlier if you already knew?” he asked, pulling Raea up.

“I didn’t want to hurt your pride.”

Palan snorted as he slammed his tails against the ground. “Fuck. Whatever. It’s done,” he said. “The avatar’s dead.”

Thunder boomed before Raea could make a sound. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, striking the central tower with lightning once again. “Oh dear,” Cleo said, copying the headmaster’s cadence. Two lightning avatars formed above the tower.

“You’re too fat, Cammy,” one of the avatars said and shoved the other one over.

“Shut up,” the shoved avatar said as it regained its balance. “You’re the one who lost. Why did you form another one?”

“Bleh.” The first avatar stuck out a tongue made of red lightning before punching the other one in the face. “I was here first.”