Chapter 40- Destruction of the Holy City

.

.

With a painful searing golden light surrounding him, Michael almost instantly appeared in front of Itachi who tried to teleport.

To his surprise however, the space was completely locked down and he was unable to break through a spatial rift. Immediately Mu Ning Xue grabbed Ling Ling flying away as Itachi met him head on. A trifecta of Lightning Fire, and Chaos spread around him as the deadly golden light was smashed apart.

Light flashed around completely destroying the building as they went head to head, but Itachi was at a bit of a disadvantage and he got smashed through the solid stone wall by a giant golden fist.

Expecting him to be severely injured, Michael watched in surprise as he stepped out from the human shaped imprint in the rock without even a scratch

*crack Itachi tilted his head "Your not too disappointing after all" he said looking down on the archangel who instantly became enraged "so you have a strong body eh? The demon element truly is powerful!" he said yanking a beautiful pendant off that was around his neck.

Clutching it to his chest he prayed "father give me the power to slay this sinner" he spoke before a convergence of energy gathered around it. It was absorbed into the pedant as it elongated in to an elegant pale white long sword.

In seemed to suck the energy out of the very air itself as Itachi felt a sense of danger he had not felt in a long time. "Guess I'll have to respond in kind" he said as a black blade connected to a long dark metallic handle that rested comfortably in his hands. Faint streaks of lightning blue streaks ran down the side giving it an intimidating appearance.

He rested the end against the ground the faint touch case ding spider web cracks across the ground. People had long since evacuated from the surroundings since the entire area was a battleground.

Leaping forward the weapons clashed in a bright flash of magic. The blades met the middle and instead of blocking it completely he deflected the momentum to the side jumping forward bringing the long handle of the weapon towards the side of the man's face.

Seeing the blow coming, he simply caught it barely moving his left hand as he sent out a backhanded slash with insane speed to try to catch Itachi unaware. Leaning back he narrowly dodged gaining a thin slash across his face. Before Michael could even celebrate that victory, it closed up as Itachi sent the Naginata hurling through the air like a Javelin that shot towards the archangel.

He was shook a bit as he deflected the blade, but instead of capturing it, it began flying around him with lightning fast slashes that forced him to block despite the relative weak power in the blows. Any attempt to grab or control the weapon was inaffective, as it seemed to be solely controlled by Itachi. Finally with a shout of annoyance, he batted the Naginata away before leaping towards Itachi.

A fierce golden aura surrounded him as he locked him down moving to attack the seemingly unarmed Itachi. Blades of chaos directly cut through space arriving in front of him, but no matter how fast they were they were slashed apart as he arrived in front of him. Suddenly he felt like he was in danger, and he immediately jumped back, but it was too slow.

A destructive beam of lighting and fire tore apart the surroundings as it smashed into Michael. the protective gold aura was broken through as he was thrown back heavily through a few walls before falling to the ground.

Instead of staying down, he stood up looking down on Itachi arrogantly. The burns and lightning Keraunographic marks across his face were steaming as the golden light surrounding him moved in to heal the wound. It cleared away leaving pure skin that would make any idol jealous 'Did you think you were the only one that could heal?" he said as he observed Itachi with a closer look "Fusion magic? Completely free from the star system?" he said with shock before his face turned sinsister "You truly are an abomination that needs to be killed"

A few of the Archangels stood were nearby, but they were quite busy at the moment. On the Horizon were thousands of Super Tier mages being led by a quite a few forbidden tier mages. These were some of the highest ranking members of the strongest national organisations, and they were here to eliminate the Holy Court. They had been planning this for a while, and they had the perfect opportunity.

Although in strength they were weaker, they made up for it in numbers, and Ramiel who was commanding the rest of the higher ups of the Holy Court looked on with a frown. 'Michael better finish this kid up quick and stop playing around' he thought taking a quick glance at the duo. before he started working on the defenses.

Just as he was about to call out orders to one of his subordinates, a surge of freezing cold energy leapt across the landscape instantly freezing all of them. A beautiful girl with long white hair stepped out from the epicenter of the cold walking forward looking around as if she was admiring her handiwork. She looked only around college age, yet he felt an intense danger from her that he has only felt from a few people in his long life.

Mu Ning Xue focusing solely on Ice had connected to the forbidden bridge in her mindscape and had reached the half forbidden tier, yet even these Holy City officials who were all peak super mages were instantly frozen with no chance to resist. It was not only that her magic was stronger than them, but there was something fundamentally different' she thought since she still had not grasped the full extent of the changes to her element.

Beside her stood Kayda giving Ramiel the most hateful glare she had ever seen her give "Are you the one who is trying to hurt brother" Kayda said coldly unlike her usual cheerful self naive self

Ramiel seeing the pair eyed the silver haired girl warily taking a glance towards the little blond girl "And what's it to you little girl" he said with derision. His eyes suddenly widened when in front of his eyes, the harmless little girl leapt into the air like a superhuman before shifting into a full grown midnight black dragon with blue streaks running along her spine. 'I'm going to kill you" the cute voice turned into a deep draconic roar that made the proud 16 winged seraphim feel a deep sense of dread

____________________________

Back at the battle, the two of them leapt into the air to have a more open space since a huge area of the city was already destroyed. They faced each other one with Lightning wings and the other with angel wings.

"It was fun, but I can't play with you much longer" the golden aura around him suddenly grew immensely and for the first time he was using his full strength that swept across the land. Most of the people still in the city below kneeled in reverence while the approaching army hesitated.

Itachi felt that deadly aura lock onto him but instead of looking fearful, he smiled "So confident when I haven't even used the power you tried to kill me for?"

That's when Michael realized something 'Was he not using it before?' as he grew a bit panicked at the though not that's impossible, it must be running through his body right now' he thought but they never were too knowledgeable about it after all. Reports were vague about some devilish appearance, but Itachi still didn't look that different right now besides a vast amount of aura surrounding him

Suddenly white flames sprang along Itachi's body as his hair grew longer. It didn't seem like normal fire, these white flames sent a chill through the archangels body like it was the flames of hell.

Through the flames, Michael could see Itachi looking at him with a malicious grin "You wanted to kill the demon, go ahead I'm right here"

Not giving Michael any time, he shot towards him whipping the long handled blade around so quickly it began to tear space even. The blade previously quite normal to Michael before, felt like he was being smashed by an asteroid as he was thrown miles smashing into the cliff side creating a few more waterfalls than there were previously.

Before he could even stand up, the Naginata in Itachi's hand transitioned into a electrical blue bow. Pulling back the string, the arrow shot out energy streaming behind it as it disappeared in a blue streak.

To spectators, it was like a flash of lightning instantly arriving in front of the crater resulting in a huge explosion that shook the entire area. Pieces of the tall cliffside dropped into the lake below sending waves sweeping across the forest as Itachi slowly lowered his hand.

Looking down he finally found the struggling figure of Michael among the wreckage. Blood streamed from his mouth as the weak golden light surrounding him was unable to keep up the recovery.

He seemed to be shaken, but he grinned clutching a old looking book to his chest "I haven't had to use this in 50 years he said chuckling as the weak golden aura around him once again surged. His chest and arms were covered by some sort of gold Armour as he stood up looking full of power.

His is sword damaged and bent grew solid again pointing straight up releasing a powerful aura to make everyone submit. Each step shaking the land he shot off the ground directly crashing into Itachi who similarly leapt up with him. They traded hundreds of slashes in the span of a few seconds with those lower than half forbidden seeing nothing more than blinding flashes of light.

He was quite surprised at this new determination, but it made little difference. Each consecutive attack came slower than the previous as all his previous injuries began catching up to him. Itachi could tell his brief surge of power would soon run out, meanwhile Itachi could go strong for a few more hours.

The amount of elements he had, and the current level made his magic energy like an ocean. Even going full strength, it would take a while for it to deplete which is why he was so focused on bringing each element up to Super Tier.

Shock waves ripped up the ground as they fought above the swift moving river below. The giant water fall was almost completely destroyed as each blow sent shock waves tearing up the entire ground. Many watched from afar in terror as mountains were destroyed left and right. Forget magic, this was a fight between two gods thought a few of them.

Meanwhile, Ramiel was fighting with the two others. Kayda shot toward Ramiel as a blur, but a massive meteor materialized beside him throwing the dragon aside. While he was a lot weaker than Michael, he was the oldest Archangel with over 2 centuries of experience. Kayda and Mu Ning Xue were having a hard time as the fight continue on.

Kayda was taking the approach of directly attacking, while Mu Ning Xue flitted around sending deathly ice attacks that threatened to turn the archangel into a ice statue. No matter how Kayda attacked, she couldn't stand up to his barrage that sent her crashing painfully into the ground a few times already.

Mu Ning xue began to feel an increasing sense of familiarity of her ice element with each second that passed. Looking to the side she got distracted for a moment looking up towards the nearby Alps mountains that were a few miles away.

It's like she had some sort of connection to them she thought as she felt like she could control it. Suddenly, she felt like she reached an Epiphany and almost as if she was in a trance she moved her arm up like she was reaching for something.

Ramiel watched on in horror as a gigantic avalanche starting at the peaks of the mountains made a beeline straight for the city. Time seemed to stand still as the wall of snow loomed over them casting a shadow across the city. It crashed down burying most of the city completely along with the pair of them.

The avalanche had little effect on Ramiel, but most of the city was buried along with thousands of the Holy Court officials. The stronger mages were unaffected, but they were being pushed back as a barrage of attacks came from the group outside, so the other archangels were preoccupied. He looked over to Michael for help only to see him getting slapped around.

"Michael" he yelled Ramiel was terrified. Michael was the strongest mage in the world yet he was getting absolutely beaten up even after using his divine power. The entire Forrest was destroyed with the once scenic view now a scene of absolute destruction.

That brief distraction proved fatal however, as he felt an immense power behind him. Turning, the Ice bow with all of Mu Ning Xue's strength behind it pierced his chest wedging itself inside. Instead of exploding, the ice energy spread out freezing his body one part at time.

He looked down horrified as any attempt to use magic failed and his internal organs were freezing. Kayda's claw came sweeping from the side completely cutting him in half at the waist as the frozen ice shattered.

Ramiel laid on the ground as the ice overtook the rest of his body. His last look was one of shock and regret before it froze over before being completely shattered.

On the other side, the organisations were pushing back the Holy Court officials while she worriedly looked towards the overwhelming surges of magic in the distance 'I hope he is doing alright' she thought preparing to go

Michael the proud leader of the Holy City, was now wedged into a wall for what seemed like the umpteenth time as he flew out. Around him, a massive hurricane gathered surging around him. Lightning flashed as the wind around Itachi picked up becoming faster and faster to the point where it was probably a category 20 hurricane if they ever had to go up that high.

The lake below surged as the wind picked up yet Itachi remained calm standing there with his eyes closed everything slowly came to a standstill and Itachi inspected the surroundings as he saw one bolt mid flash. He saw Michael's face contorted in rage as he stood there frozen. His Naginata at his side sprang from his hand running him right through the stomach as time resumed.

The strorm surrounding collapsed leaving Michael coughing blood as he looked down in shock "Y-You Temporal Order!" he exclaimed pulling out the weapon as he coughed up blood. He looked ready to collapse at any moment.

Still covered in his golden Armour he stood, yet it seemed a lot less grand with scratches covering the entirety of it, yet instead of despair he held up that familiar old book that he had carried with him *Cough "you may have defeated me, but now we can both die together" he said in a crazy manner as he held up the glowing book "This is the e- Urghghhh!!!!" he suddenly screamed as Itachi turned into a giant dragon towering over the tiny mage.

His claws cut directly through space slashing through both arms as they fell to the ground helplessly along with the book. His sardonic voice came from the maw of the terrifying dragon "Hate to break it to you, but I'm not going to let you use your little suicide technique" he said with a laugh as he threw the ancient artifact in the summon dimension in case it exploded or something.

With that book seemed to go the rest of Michaels resistance as he collapsed to the ground. He was commpletely terrified unable to even speak while he was also armless. Instead of killing him, Itachi walked up to the bleeding man "Arghhhhhhhh" he yelled as both his wings were torn off.

Then Itachi proceeded to invade his mindscape with the psychic element destroying his entire magical affinity along with destroying the meridians. "Now your just a normal human you can never use your powers to hurt others again" he said kicking him in the side. This would be a much crueler punishment than killing him he thought sadistically but fate had a different idea

"Now, I should prob-" his thoughts were interrupted by the crash of some rubble behind him "Hmm Oh Come On! He exclaimed, I leave you for 1 second and you get crushed by falling rubble?" *Sigh "Nevermind I guess I'm not leaving you alive" he said looking up in the sky 'Its like god is trying to prevent me from raising a flag' he thought burning the corpse for good measure before he flew back into the snow covered city.

After Ramiel had been defeated, most of the defenses simply collapsed, and the last of the Holy Court officials were being captured. Most of the world was in confusion since none of it was being broadcasted. Only the higher ups of all these organisations would know about this movement.

He flew over to one of the outlying towers that had not collapsed flying to the top most of the city was covered in snow because 'Xue'er went a little crazy with her ice magic' he thought wryly wondering where she was. He had been keeping an eye on events over here because he was concerned about the others, yet they had even defeated Ramiel.

Sensing the magic usage, he turned to face the incoming people with a content smile, Mu Ning Xue both flying on Kayda's back. They touched down hopping off with Ling Ling being the first to sprint towards him.

As she approached, he reached out to hug her, but she went straight for the kiss wrapping her arms around his neck pulling him into a deep kiss that had him unable to resist. A sweet flavor filled his mouth as he felt her soft wet lips against his. Itachi was completely stunned finally breaking away for a few moments looking down at the little vixen who was now licking her lips as she looked at Mu Ning Xue challengingly.

Itachi looked at Xue'er with dread waiting for the angry outburst yet it never came *Sigh "I said that I will give you a chance if you truly love him to confess, not immediately go kiss my boyfriend" she said helplessly with annoyance in her voice, but she didn't actually seem too angry about it as she looked at Itachi similarly relieved that he was alright

"What's this about?" He said raising an eyebrow at the pair Xue'er motioned for Ling Ling to speak so she looked up nervously in stark contrast to her previous attitude "Well...." she said fidgeting with the corners of her dress "I really like you and... You are the only one I can imagine being with...." she said hesitantly before looking away in embarrassment "Will you go out with me?" she said looking into his eyes as she grabbed his hand

He didn't really know what to say. On one hand, he really did like her, and her importance to him was level with Mu Ning Xue and Kayda. He couldn't imagine his life without her.

He began to notice his attraction towards her after he had come back from the World tournaments. I mean what's not to love? Beautiful, fun, and also very talented with magic, but he decided to shut it away since he loved Mu Ning Xue so much. On the other hand, he wasn't sure how this would affect everything. He looked over at Mu Ning Xue who seemed to be struggling with something internally.

Meeting his eyes, she sighed before she finally said "If it is only her, it is fine" she said a bit helplessly before the threatened him "If I find you with another woman, I will never forgive you" she said in a steely tone before she was interrupted by Kayda's cute voice "Mmmph No fair, I want in too" she said as Mu Ningxue looked even more helpless "I stand corrected, Kayda too" she said sighing again as Kayda jumped up hugging Itachi leaving Mu Ning Xue standing there.

Itachi looked with an eyebrow raised "You don't want to be left out do you?" he said raising and arm out invitingly as she smiled in response

A green light sprang from his palm covering the tower platform with a carpet of soft grass that sprouted from the floor as he sat down. Together, they sat Mu Ning Xue resting on his shoulder, Ling resting in his lap, and kayda wrapped around his side.

As he looked out into the beautiful horizon... filled with wreckage blood covering the streets and scattered fights, 'scratch that how about the other way' he thought turning away from the city looking to the side that was relatively undamaged by the fighting.

A grand forest still covered most of the landscape below the cliff side stretching out with a few water falls. "Ahh yes thats better' he thought blocking off the other view with an earthwall as he leaned back peacefully 'quick sound covering barrier and this is perfect' he thought closing his eyes contently as he put his arms behind his head.

Everyone else was similarly tired using him as a pillow as they drifted off. In fact, Ling'er was sprawled across his chest already snoring contently 'Shameless girl' he thought grouching before thinking over how to handle the current problem.

He would have to sort out everything tomorrow since everything was still chaotic, but they could figure that out later.

Procrastination was key after all and he was quite lazy. 'He had already taken out the threats and now he could just enjoy the company of these beautiful woman like any cultured man should' he thought feeling the three warm bodies pressed against his.

The ground wasn't that comfortable, and he was resting at a weird angle, but years later he would still swear that this was the most comfortable sleep he ever got. He probably should be cleaning up this mess of this situation, but he figured he would just leave it to the other organisations.

After all, "Laziness is the mother of all bad habits, but ultimately she is a mother and we should respect her" or at least, a certain idol of his would tell him in the future...