A Partisan Bout - Part 1

"Are you hurt, Malique? Did anything happen to you beforehand?" Michael asks Malique with concern as he struggles to stand on his own.

"I'm completely alright," Malique answers. He doesn't want to go into detail about the sensation he felt earlier when the hurting feeling suddenly disappeared after hearing God's voice. "Nothing, in particular, to worry about."

"Good. At least I know that you're here with me to restrain this monster." Michael tosses Malique's sword, which is lying nearby, with huge relief. He never had the chance to spar with the raging villain, Lucifer, and from the story he was told, it's something he must be cautious about.

Reminiscing, when Gabriel told the Seven Archangels that he managed to defeat Lucifer back in the Great War, Gabriel didn't seem to sustain any kind of damage nor did he anticipate any hardship. So it's hard to tell how the outcome of this upcoming duel will be fair.

"How good are you on a coordinated attack?" Michael asks one last question before he engages with Lucifer. "All I need is protection and a finishing blow whenever I create a chance."

"I believe I got a perfect score from Gabriel," Malique replies, already preparing his stance to guard and support Michael on each throw he makes. Well, just above a passing grade is all Michael seeks from someone he will rely on, as any shortcoming that could occur, he can easily patch up himself.

"That's more than enough, actually," Michael chuckles with a bit of laxness in his tone. Dragging his spear back and throwing it as hard as he could at the enemy in his line of sight, Michael is now on the offence. "On me!"

The halberd forces the surroundings to bend to its will as it embarks, absorbing the wind current and almost everything, such as the leaves and debris, forming a whirlwind behind it. It appears as if a raging storm is trying to engulf the lone invader into an appealing appetizer.

Malique and Michael launch themselves alongside the travelling harpoon, leaving no space for Lucifer to counter them.

Lucifer braces himself with nothing but his right hand in front of him in response to Michael's attack. He wears no armour or carries any weapons to protect himself from the speeding spear guided at him, powerful enough to annihilate Earth. Pride? That was his sin in the first place.

The keen tip of the spear keeps on closing, almost hitting the palm of its prey but then it suddenly vanishes from existence. Though dumbfounded, Lucifer retains his position and eyes out onto Michael and notices that his spear is already by his grip. Through the distorted view, Michael smirks, thinking that he managed to fool Lucifer and cut the fight short as early as possible.

Although the spear is not in its previous position, the wind current formed behind it is still present. With the fierce air pushing Lucifer backwards, he has no choice but to use his hand as a shield to clear his vision. Thanks to this action, he sees the light reflection from Malique's sword coming from his face.

'Caught you,' Malique brazenly declares his uncertain victory only to see that Lucifer reflexively turns his head to the side and lets the blade slide on top of the beak of his mask.

[Sling!]

After a second has passed, Lucifer flicks his head upward, throwing the sword away from him and making Malique vulnerable to him. He clutches Malique by his collar and plans to use the acute neb to stab Malique in his chest.

'Never proclaim victory unless you are certain of it,' Malique hears Lucifer mutters these words before slamming his head down. 'Goodbye, kid.'

[Slam!]

Michael's unmistakable spear saves Malique's life as it separates Lucifer's head from advancing to kill. Therefore, Lucifer lands a punch right at Malique's liver and twirls around the beached halberd to fix a kick and shove him away to prepare for Michael to charge at him.

Since he is unarmed, Lucifer grabs a hold of the spear and pulls it out from the ground to quickly deflect a blade coming behind him. It is Michael who at last shows up to face him in one-versus-one combat with Malique's sword in his hand.

Whilst airborne and trying to assault Lucifer, Michael has the opportunity to catch Malique's blade which slips out of his hand when he was thrown away and use it to his dominance. He tries to call his spear back, but because Lucifer holding it, it backfires, and so does Malique's sword at the moment as Michael is now using it.

"Stop this foolishness, Lucifer. This isn't like you," Michael claims while being on his guard.

"If that's how you think. You haven't known me enough," Lucifer insists and starts the fight by aggressively poking Michael opening never-ending.

Shoulder, knee, and eye, anywhere that supposedly is far to reach with that puny little sword, Lucifer relentlessly aims at it. And each time the leister charges at him, Michael averts it out of harm's way with such ease that it makes him wonder.

I know that Lucifer is by far sturdier than me. Am I that weak that he hasn't gotten serious with me?

By the time he thinks about that, Lucifer changes the way he uses the spear as he circles the halberd around his neck, making sure that it has the same length from one end of it to his head. Seeing this, Michael is now strained to be on his toes when Lucifer cuts the gap between them.

As of now, Lucifer intends to use both ends of the spear as weapons which helps in increasing the speed of his attack and allowing him to have an extra defensive manoeuvre. It also authorizes him to deliberately switch their distance by his chosen striking skill.

Nevertheless, Lucifer's posture mostly puts him in range of his opponent's blade. Moreover, the impact of his attack will decrease significantly and only having one end of his slash be fatal. This provides Michael with an upper hand as he will know which strike is aimed at him that he should be wary of.

While the explanation of this design is explained, the two of them are already in their brawl. Again, Michael stays on defence while Lucifer goes on the frontal. Only when Lucifer uses the sharp edge that Michael blocks it using the sword. When the back of the spear is coming at him, he just takes a step back to stay out of the span.

Lucifer goes to more length when he decreases his inertia by lowering his body and aiming at Michael's feet. Like usual, he takes another step back to get out of reach. To counter this, Lucifer uses the spear as a turning point when he leaps forward and pushes the spear to give him a boost and ultimately close the rift between them.

The honed point is far away from Michael, and Lucifer does not want to waste the golden prospect. He uses his leg instead to knock Michael off balance, giving him just enough time to pull the spear back and adjust it so that it can drive directly into Michael's heart.

Unfortunately, Michael sees the action and bends his knees to let himself fall to the ground faster. The left shoulder pad is left with a scarring mark as a result, which provides him with a second chance. He swiftly kicks the harpoon that is fixated on top of him from Lucifer's possession and rapidly recalls it.

Still lying on the ground, Michael briskly forms his javelin again, hoping that it will pierce Lucifer somewhere satisfactory. A tip to Lucifer's cracking instinct, he can avoid death when he manages to use his mask's bill to stop the cutting head from carving his body.

Knowing that the spear is grasped carelessly by his challenger, Lucifer pounds it elsewhere, and Michael expeditiously does a kick-up in the meantime so that both of them are standing facing each other. Before he can conceal the spear, Lucifer brilliantly flings one of his fists to force both of them into close-quarter combat.

Michael feels quite exhausted as he rushed back here to help Malique and was unintentionally dragged into a confrontation. As the close combat requires him to put his entire focus on it, he hopes that someone can free him, and save him before his entire body freezes out of his own will.

To answer his prayer, his spear is flying on way to his backend first. When Lucifer's second jab is about to be delivered, Michael is already clutching his javelin back and using it to block the coming punch.

"Sorry that I took quite the time!" Malique apologizes, but Michael is not angry at all. All he can feel is a tingle of reassurance to see Malique again after he ponders about his safety.

It looks like the second bout is about to begin, huh?