"I, Javier Asrahan, a knight of the Frontera County, will immediately execute the trespasser for threatening my lord's family."
"Hmm...?" Raphael stopped at the icy, adamant voice and gaze directed at him. He couldn't believe what just happened.
My mace was blocked? By a mere human?
Raphael was flustered and dumbstruck as his mace wasn't any ordinary typical. It was imbued with the holy powers of heaven, so an inferior creature from the lower realms should never be able to block it, even if his attack was against a swordmaster.
How dare he!
As if it wasn't enough to block the mace, this man also made an arrogant declaration. Raphael glared at Javier with an intense look in his eyes.
"Human of the lower realms... Your name is... Javier Asrahan. I suppose you did not think about the consequences of your action," warned Raphael solemnly.
Javier didn't respond.
"Foolish. I feel sorry for you. Your power to block the offense of a Throne angel amazes me, but it fills me with remorse to see you waste your talent and skills on such precipitous actions. Therefore, Javier Asrahan. Please step back and think again. You are committing the grave crime of obstructing the duties of a heavenly official."
Thwack! Clatter! Raphael put more strength into his iron mace. But Javier's sword was equally strong. It didn't sway or shake against his. And Javier's gaze was just as adamant as his sword.
Javier didn't speak because he didn't have to. It didn't matter whether he was an angel. All that mattered was that this angel had threatened the well-being of his fiefdom.
There is nothing left to do but get rid of this angel.
Twang! Javier jerked his sword upward, bouncing the mace off.
Swoosh! Javier then lowered his body at lightning speed before closing in and setting a distance that allowed him to leave a fatal hit. He then rocked his sword's trajectory.
Fwoosh! His sword emitted a brilliant aura and produced dozens of remnant light strands aligned to its shaky trajectory. As each strand glinted and changed hundreds of times, tens of thousands of brilliant remnants of the aura appeared. Raphael's eyes shook in dismay.
Eh?
Raphael tried to track the changes to spot the real aura but failed before he could step back and distance himself. One of the tens of thousands of light strands thrust into his stomach.
Raphael sensed that the blow was unavoidable. But he neither tried to defend himself nor dodge the incoming blow. Instead, he simply proceeded to raise his mace as a counterattack, aiming toward Javier's head. Then something extraordinary took place.
Fwish! Right before the sword penetrated Raphael's stomach, the two fiery rings on his back suddenly rotated and unleashed themselves, blocking Javier's sword strike.
Javier's eyes trembled at the angel's unexpected defense mechanism. But Javier was far from being perturbed. It only triggered him to lay more attacks. Clang! Clang! Clang!
Awakening hundreds and thousands of manahearts, Javier transferred the turbulent wave of mana into his sword. He soon became one with the sword. He slashed, struck, stabbed, swung, and lashed out. Thwack!
Raphael didn't stay put either. His iron mace reverberated when his heavenly rings awoke and received their holy and pure energy. His mace struck, punched, assaulted, crushed, and suppressed.
Kaboom! Javier. Raphael the Throne. Their collision created shock waves that went on for several miles and produced thick storms of dust. The impact shook the whole area. Lloyd, who had been watching their entire ruckus unfold, was caught in between them.
Ack!
And it was killing him. It was because of his swordmaster syndrome that had anomalously heightened his bodily senses.
Boom! Crash! Kaboom! Slash! Clang!
Ahh! Eek! Ugh! Argh! Ackk!
Every time Javier and Raphael's weapons clashed and created a storm of shock waves, Lloyd had to cover his ears and roll sideways in agony.
Two of you! Stop! Ack!!
Lloyd was in agony. His ears were hurting already due to his swordmaster syndrome, which amplified the sound of anyone's voice outside his own. The thundering sound booming from beside him made him feel like someone was throwing an EDM party inside his head. No, it actually felt like he had been transmogrified into a beetle trapped into a gigantic speaker at a heavy metal concert. Despite this, however, Lloyd didn't just sit back and writhe in pain. He couldn't stay put.
Ackk! This is nuts. I never expected such a messed-up situation to happen.
Beaten to a pulp by the noise and shock waves and despite his whole body shuddering, Lloyd forced himself up. He then opened his eyes wide and stared at the cloud of dust blooming around him until he could make out Javier and Raphael.
Ha... How did this happen? A clash with an angel?
The sight drew a sigh out of Lloyd. He wanted to avoid a confrontation with the angel at any cost because he knew what the novel had said about angels.
The novel said that these angels from the heavenly realms were equivalent to public officials on Earth who have control and power over global affairs.
As such, nothing good would come out of fighting against such creatures. It would be a complete loss for him. It was similar to how nothing good came out of antagonizing and making an enemy out of your supervisor at work. In the end, the subordinates would be the ones who would suffer from it. As such, Lloyd wanted to avoid having a conflict with the angel if he could help it. That was why he had desperately given a prayer and tried to have a discussion.
But it didn't work. So I guess there's nothing else I can do.
Lloyd felt bitter. Remorseful, too. But this was water under the bridge. The best thing he could do now was to mend the situation. Even if this clash made them an enemy of the heavenly realms, Lloyd resolved to desist Raphael from executing the outrageous demolition order of the Jewel of Truth.
And if my ties with them get completely severed... Well, then, I'll ask the Dragon King or the King of Hell to help me out.
Lloyd resolved in his heart that he would stop the restoration of destiny, even if it meant involving the corps of demons from Hell. With that, he watched the breathless confrontation between Javier and Raphael while rooting for the former.
Please! You can do it, Javier!
Lloyd knew not to interfere in the middle of their fight. And he was right for thinking so. Javier was a grandmaster, and Raphael was almost as strong as Javier. Seeing no place in the fight where he could jump in and help out Javier, Lloyd concluded that he'd be like a mosquito in between two aggressive dinosaurs if he intervened.
That's why you need to win! Let's go! Come on!
Lloyd rooted for Javier while enduring the painful booming sounds and shock waves.
Thwack! Boom!
Okay, you're doing wonders, Javier! Push him more! More!
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Right! That's it! Hey! Over there! Ahh!
Kaboom! Boom!
Eh? Hey! Don't let him get to you! Stab him!
Thwack! Crash! Boom!
Ohh! Oh...!
Lloyd joyously exclaimed each time Javier succeeded in pushing Raphael back. And he mournfully groaned each time Javier retreated. In the process, one thing became clear to Lloyd.
It's a losing game for Javier if this fight drags out.
Lloyd's observation was on point. As the fight dragged out, Raphael was beginning to gain the upper hand. Javier seemed to have it at first. But that was only for a short period of time. Raphael started to become more relaxed over time, while Javier started to opt for a more defensive posture. Lloyd instantly realized why this was happening.
It's because of those fiery rings.
Lloyd paid attention to the two rings of fire that enveloped Raphael's body. And at that moment, they started to move again. Blaze!
They rotated and intersected each other before precisely blocking Javier's sword as if they predicted the trajectory of its movement. Afterward, they exploded. Kaboom!
It turned out that those rings did more than block against incoming attacks. They generated fiery explosions and shock waves while fending off Javier's strikes. Naturally, this prompted Javier to spend one more second regaining his balance, costing him the chance to lay simultaneous attacks. As such, even if Javier was originally in an offensive position, he was later forced to take on a defensive posture when his offensive streak began to falter.
Those rings are moving like a piece of artificial intelligence.
Their defensive powers were top-notch as well. Not only did they manage to stop Javier's grandmaster-level attacks, but they also absorbed the impacts of his blow and sent it back to him.
That's what's giving that angel the energy to just focus on his attacks. On the other hand, Javier...
Javier was in a completely different position. He had to focus both on his offense and defense. To paint a clearer picture, Javier was comparable to a traditional racer driving a manual car, whereas Raphael was...
He's driving an advanced Al-operated self-driving car, leaving the wheel to the AI as he enjoys a cup of coffee and a bag of chips.
Their fighting method had differences in terms of efficiency, which meant the level of strain put on each of them differed. In short, things would go badly for Javier if the fight continued to drag on longer.
I can't sit back and watch.
Thump! Thump! Lloyd's heart raced fast at the ominous prospect. He realized he had to do something, like getting rid of those fiery rings. Otherwise, Javier would lose.
I can't let that happen. No one will be able to stop Raphael once Javier is gone. Dragon King Verkis? There's no guarantee that the bum is going to help me, even if he's my sponsor. No one, including me, will be able to stop the Jewel's demolition.
A sense of alarm swelled over him. Lloyd's brain started to tick at full speed.
Think. Come up with something. How can I help Javier to give him the upper hand in this fight? To help him win, what should I do? How do I turn the tide in his favor?
The current situation. The future awaiting them. Javier's strengths and weaknesses. Raphael's tactics and characteristics. Lloyd considered every factor he could see and predicted to develop a solution. He did the math. He made speculations with the clues he had. And finally, an idea popped into his head.
Oh, right.
It came to him.
The Knight of Blood and Iron. There was a brief explanation of the angels in the novel. The high-ranking angels. The Seraphim. The Cherubim. The Thrones... Right! The fiery rings of the Thrones angels!
According to the novel, the Thrones angels carried fiery rings that fended off all the attacks of their enemies and boasted an impeccable defense capability.
The source of their power was... That's right. Having a good and pure heart inside them.
A pure heart. A pure goodness that didn't have a single blemish. It was said possessing a righteous and pure heart was what powered their rings. In other words...
I just have to corrupt their pure hearts. How?
The answer was already clear. As soon as Lloyd came up with his course of action, he calmed his nauseated stomach and jumped to his feet. He then worked his legs to stand at the peak of the Jewel of the Truth. Javier and Raphael's fight was taking place on the ground. Lloyd cleared his throat as he looked down at them.
The way to corrupt an angel's heart. There is only one way that comes to mind.
For a split second, he felt wistful.
I didn't want to have this kind of reputation in my own fiefdom.
But his hands were tied. Stay on the fence any time longer, and Javier might lose out. Lloyd's time to act was now. And this was the most efficient and quick course of action.
Let's do it.
Lloyd resolved to himself. Finally, he opened his mouth. And then, he sang.
"You were created to be loved! Throughout your life, you are loved!"
Lloyd's off-tune cacophony thundered across the air. From then on, there came a rage-inducing sound that would propel even the most merciful saints to jump out of their graves and slap Lloyd in the mouth. The sound started to terrorize Raphael's eardrums.
