Hikari vs Elesia: Blood tainted wings

This sensation... it felt strange, almost placid... like nothing mattered for the moment. Elesia tried not to let it all go to her head, knowing that this was an effect from the relic, but she couldn't help but lower her guard slightly. Even as she was literally using her own lifespan to hieghten the power she had in her, Elesia didn't seem to worry now, she just stood there for a few moments, observing the relic with... a smile? Her cold facade melted away as an almost blissful expression breached her lips, and Elesia's grip even loosened, as if she was loosing site of her mission all of the sudden.

Then, there was a light. Elesia glanced at it inquisitively, furrowing her brow in concern, before suddenly it intensified, and the bright flash nearly blinded her. "Gaah!! What... What is this blasphemy!?" She shouted aloud, cursing under her breath too as she released the spehere, and her arm shielded her eyes, feeling a burning sensation from her pupils as she tried to rub it away. For the moment, she was blinded, slowly stepping back as she was unaware of her surroundings, attempting as best as she could to try and put up a defense, fighting blindly for the moment.

The orb containing the Ark hovering in the air, above both Elesia and Hikari. After using that spell, Hikari felt like collapsing, exhausted beyond belief. But she still had to hold on. she was still the Cherubim, the guardian of heaven. She needed to protect that Ark, or else she was useless.

So Hikari pushed her battered body upwards, off of the pillar supporting her. Blood trickled out of her mouth, staining the Angel Mail armor she wore. Her wings were battered, feathers missing from them, holes torn in the shining wings. Hikari picked up her sword, with a flame that was barely even there. Her power was nearly gone, but still she needed to fight on. She couldn't just let Elesia take the Ark.

"You won't have the Ark," Hikari said, "Not while I'm here to protect it. Elesia, please listen to me! Don't take it, you can't handle its power!"

Time... right now, it was her biggest enemy. The longer she stayed like this, the more of her own life slipped by. By now, 6 months had slipped away from her lifespan, and it would only get worse of she kept it up. If only Chrono was here... his ability to control time would have helped the greatest. But he wasn't as pure as the rest of the members in Black Cross, so such a thing would never happen. No, she had to finish this, that was all there was to it.

"Silence! I won't allow your interferance. You have no right to stop me!" With intolerance and a sense of malice in her words, Elesia bend her knees, and then ran. She dashed with an impressive speed, clearing down the walkway like her legs were just a blur, and she had one glowing fist extended back, ready to unleash a powerful, running thrust, hoping to end things here and now. She was like a bullet, and with all the force she could muster up, Elesia slammed her fist not only forward, but down as well, trying to crush Hikari in a devestating blow.

Hikari was about to die, standing in front of Elesia in defiance, her battered body unable to take any more of Elesia's punishment. She knew that the next blow would probably kill her, but still she stood in defiance. She was going to stop Elesia, even if it costed her life. Blood still trickled out of the corner of her mouth. Angels were bloodless, but Hikari was a human possessed by an angel, and so she was vulnerable to injury and death. There was only one way to avoid that, and that was for Hikari to completely bind with Ariel, but that power is limited in time, and is very deadly. If the binding fails, then Hikari would be incinerated by the sheer amount of power she wields.

"We have no choice," Ariel said, "Begin the binding ritual."

"Are you sure Ariel? You're still injured..." Hikari thought.

"I'll be fine, it's you I'm worried about," Ariel said, "But we have no choice. Bind me!"

Hikari nodded, calling up the power within. Her wings completely unfurled, six beautiful white wings that seemingly radiated light. They flashed briefly, a golden light appeared on Hikari's bosom. The light expanded into a golden cocoon, surrounding Hikari. It only lasted a second, before the cocoon burst and Hikari reemerged. Her clothes were golden, from her back sprouted two enormous golden wings. In her hand she held a bow and arrow.

"Angel Nova Burst," Hikari said. Now all of Ariel's power was hers. "Lets see you face the true power of a Cherubim!"

Did she stop? Did she stare in awe at the power that was presented before her? Did she even halt for a second?

No. In all her power, Elesia closed in on Hikari during her transformation, her impressive speed leaving almost no time to take an offensive. By the time Hikari had finished her transformation, Elesia had already traveled the gap between them, her speed adding only more force to the blow as she unleashed a smiting blow with her right fist.

Golden lights, transformations, a beautiful bow and arrow, none of it meant a damned thing to Elesia. In close range combat, a long range weapon was pointless, and she didn't plan to give the angel a moment to use it. And so, as she closed the gap just as the transformation finished, her fist came slamming towards Hikari in a bright white light, her speed and power behind it enough to break bone and armor.

Hikari was a bit surprised to see that Elesia didn't stop in awe at the sheer amount of power she embodied. The fist came, too fast for Hikari to dodge. She took the hit right in her gut. Her golden armor clanged as she got knocked flying by the blow. Her two wings quickly extended out, stopping her from smashing into the ceiling. It looked like Hikari had taken a big hit.

But then Hikari raised her head and smiled. "That was unexpected," she said. She reached a hand down to touch her stomach. The armor there didn't even have a mark on it. "Did you really think you could smash through a cherubim's armor so easily?" Hikari asked, "How foolish." She was far enough away now to use her bow. She raised it, nocking the arrow to the string. "Now you'll have a taste of a cherubim's power," Hikari said, and loosed the arrow.

It flew through the air at an unbelieveable speed, shooting out from the bow like a shaft of golden light. It aimed straight for Elesia, shooting down like a ray of light, aiming to strike through Elesia's body.

When her fist connected, Elesia gave a subtle grin of success, her fist feeling like it was simply a mace slamming and crushing her foes armor. It didnâ€t feel like it cracked, but the zealot of a nun was confident that her strike had done its damage. She was quick to plan up a following attack, but came to a stop when her attack was mocked, and her foe demonstrated how much stronger she was.

It left her speechless... Elesia was sacrificing her life, her very soul, this shortening her life span just to tap into this power. And now, when Hikari decided to tap into her own power, she proved to be much stronger than her! It was insane!! But... it didnâ€t mean she would give up. Elesia still had two more seals she could unleash, and right now, if she couldnâ€t break her defenses, then that might just mean she would have to go into her second.

Before that was possible though, as Elesia stood there for only a few moments in awe at her attack being deflected so simply, she was left open for attack, taking on the next hit with full force. “H-How is that possi-!?”

*Thwack!*

Before she could even finish her sentence, raising her hands in front of her face for defense, the arrow struck its mark. Where it would have hit her chest, it instead hit her arms that she held out to protect herself. And now, a bright arrow was embedded deep into her arm, creating a large whole that was stopped only barely by the bone, leaving her right arm surging with pain as it was lodged in deep.

“Urk… n-nice.. shot..” She cringed, her body visibly trembling a bit from the pain. She remained standing though, both fists still flowing as she tried to remove the arrow, stepping back while she attempted to get lost in the rows of benches again for cover.

Hikari's eyes narrowed when Elesia blocked her shot. "Tch," she said. She held open her hand, another arrow appearing in it. "Lets see how you like another one!" she said. She shot out this arrow as well, but this time her aim was wide and the arrow missed, striking the pew Elesia was hiding behind. Hikari shook her head, deciding to go all out.

"May the lord of hosts bless my weapon and grant it power to defeat thy enemies," Hikari said. Her bow glowed with a golden light. She didn't make another arrow appear this time, but instead just drew the string back. A shining arrow of light appeared as Hikari drew the bow completely.

"Storm of Arrows!" Hikari yelled. She loosened the string. From the bow thousands of golden shafts of light shot out, raining downwards. Each golden ray became an arrow, streaking towards the ground. It didn't matter where Elesia was hiding, there were too many arrows coming for her. She would need more than just a few church pews to protect her.

Damnit! She let her guard down! The pain in her arm was tremendous, and she felt it surging through her entire arm, the bone practically splintered from the impact, and that had been just from one arrow! Elesia remained in cover as she tried to pry it out, taking a chunk of flesh from her arm as blood seeped from the wound, leaving her to immediattly clutch it with her other hand. If she kept her hand over it long enough, the holy energies that coated them would take effect on healing her wound at a supernatural rate, but it was still downtime she used to give Hikari the time to mount an offence, or even go after the Ark! She at least needed a few moments though, it was for her own good, or her arm would be as useless as a wet noodle, and hopefully this cover she had would help. Elesia knew how to use the terrain well, but even she knew that the wooden pews, holy or not, wouldn't be enough to stop those arrows for long.

When Elesia heard the announciation of another attack though, her eyes widened a little as she knew she wasn't going to be safe. She may not have known what attack it was, but whatever the case, if she was speaking for the lord's assisstance, then no matter what, it couldn't be good! Unable to get her arm to heal in time, Elesia got up, and begun to run. Her speed was once again incredable, but even she couldn't dodge every arrow, as her petite body was the victim to a barriage of arrows.

"Yaaaaaagh!!" Her scream in pain echoed out through the entire chapel after the sound of five holy arrows piercing flesh, tissue, and bone, and Elesia had quite literally become skewered by them. Two arrows had pinned her into one of the pews, as her lower left thigh, and the palm of her left hand were completely pierced right through, and stuck into the back of the pew behind her, embedding her in place. Another had grazed deep against the back of her hip, probably even getting some of her back. One was embedded into her right shoulder, deep and halting it from moving as the ball and socket joint of her bone was locked into place from the arrow. Then finally, the last looked to be the most painful, as it was struck right in the center of her chest, literally between her beasts as it too was stuck in deep. Blood poured from her body like a damned river of crimson, and she couldn't move, panting heavily for breath as she struggled to stay conscious and tolerate the pain.

"You... You monster! Aaagh! D-Damn you... *cough* Uugh... I'll... m-make you *cough* ..pay for this..." As she parted her lips to speak, cursing her like she was a demon, Elesia's lips seeped with blood, meaning that a vital organ had been pierced, and that she didn't have much time. She was losing blood, and pretty soon, she would lose her life in this pitiful state...

Seeing the sheer amount of damage she caused, Hikari couldn't help but wince. She hadn't intended on killing Elesia, though it looked like this attack might have. Elesia took an arrow to the chest after all, and it looked like she was going to bleed to death in moments. "Mortals," Ariel thought from inside Hikari, "Are truly weak."

"Do we really have to do this?" Hikari thought, "Won't this make me a murderer?"

"It's tragic, but necessary," Ariel replied, "No mortal can ever be allowed to bear the ark. She will have to die. It's best to finish her quickly now, put her out of her misery."

Hikari nodded, obliging with Ariel's commands. She felt terrible for doing this, but doesn't everybody feel terrible when they are faced with such a choice? Hikari had to agree; after all Ariel was an angel, and she was a corrupted mortal. Elesia would have to die.

Hikari alighted onto the ground right in front of Elesia. She raised her bow, nocking and drawing back an arrow, pointing it directly at Elesia's head.

"I'm sorry," Hikari said, "But this is the end." She let fly the arrow, a golden shaft of light streaking forward towards Elesia's head.