I'm the Hero!

Jun's pupils glowed as he used his celestial vision to get a read on Malakah's energy output.

"...He's not joking around. I don't know how he amassed so much so fast, but this is the real deal." Jun said.

"It's okay," Iris stated, "I'm ready."

Iris's right arm was covered in a black demonic armor that stopped right at her shoulder. There was a faint black haze coming off of the armor simply from the sheer potency of the power held within it.

Jun looked at Iris and saw there was clear strain on her face. "Good job, Iris. I knew you could do it." They all knew how much of a double edge weapon the armor was for them.

"Well, it'll all be for nothing if we don't stop this next attack." She replied.

It seemed as if the tip of Malakah's spear was now shining even brighter than the sun itself. He looked down upon the slayers without a shred of doubt on his face.

"Know this." His voice rang out loud enough for them to hear. "This God Core System may grant you power, but just bear in mind that this thinking in itself is an illusion - it'll never beat the real thing."

A mighty blast of light shot forward out of the spear towards the ground below. The sound of the blast was deafening as it roared with ferocity.

Iris jumped out in front of the other two just as the blast impacted the ground below! Debris flew everywhere as most of the sector of the city was bathed in this bright light. Cars are sent off into the air and others completely disintegrated.

However, the buildings held together structurally and didn't budge from the attack for some reason.

As the light from the attack faded, only the archangel Malakah could be seen hovering above the clouds of dust and dirt below. His spear now drained of the impressive energy he had poured into it.

"Hmm. I would like to think that was the end of this, but I've learned by now that slayers can be…resilient." He mumbled to himself.

He gave two mighty flaps of his remaining wings and the dust clouds were swept away from the immediate area.

Where the slayers once stood was now a shadowy dome. It began to crack until it shattered completely, revealing Jun and Jayden standing behind a defiant Iris as she held her armored hand out.

"And there we have it." Malakah scoffed.

"Clutch timing there, Iris." Jayden said as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Indeed." Jun chimed in.

"I almost didn't make it….but, let's tie a bow on this one." Iris said confidently.

"I was right to be wary of you, child." Malakah called out to Iris. "You wield that accursed armor. Requim, Armor of Corruption. It-"

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"

Malakah adopted a bewildered look as he was cut off mid-sentence by someone randomly yelling.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"

The slayers also looked around confused as to what the hell was going on.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-" A sword with a giant blade is sent spinning rapidly through the air and flies right at Malakah. He leisurely leaned back as the blade zoomed by and lodged into a nearby building.

"OOOOOO!" Malakah doesn't have time to double back to the direction it came from before a fist connects with the side of his face.

The sound of the impact echoes throughout the area as he is sent flying into the same building the sword stuck into.

The slayers looked up shocked at what just happened and who had the guts to try such an assault against an archangel. There, in mid-air still, was the person that had been watching from the top of the building with a big grin on his face.

"Sorry about that! I could just tell you were about to monologue AGAIN, and I honestly couldn't sit through another one."

The boy dropped down to the ground not far from the slayers. The sound of rubble being shifted could be heard as Malakah burst out from the building with force. His face was contorted with disdain.

"How many of your kind have congregated in this city??" He yelled out in frustration.

"Actually," Jun started, "who are you?"

The boy turned and faced them, still smiling. "Axel! And you three are taking way too long to finish this."

"Excuse me?" Jayden butted in. "You do know that's an archangel up there right? Can't just exactly run in there guns blazing without a solid plan, pal."

"Ohhh, that's right. I almost forgot. You guys are contracted. So that makes sense." Axel stated.

"Makes sense?"

"Why you guys are so cautious and rely on each other so much. Because you're contracted. Which means you're weak." Axel replied in a matter of fact tone.

"You wanna try saying that again?!"

"ENOUGH!" Malakah's voice boomed. "I'M NOT HERE TO LISTEN TO CHILDREN SQUABBLE!"

Axel turned to face Malakah who had decided that it might be better to take his chances on the ground and descended down to face them.

"I don't care if there are 1 or 100 of you. I've already put down my fair share of slayers and I doubt you'll be any different. No matter how much you struggle here at the end."

Axel chuckled to himself loudly as he put his hands on his hips. "Haha! Oh, that's where you're wrong, angel boy."

"I highly doubt that." Malakah sneered.

I don't know what this guy's deal is, but he's going to get himself and us killed at this rate, Jun thought. He's throwing off our team's rhythm.

"No, you are. See you might can kick around these scrubs behind me. But I'm on a whole different menu from these guys. It's like trying to compare fish sticks to caviar. A well done steak to a delicious medium rare. 1 ply toilet paper to 2 ply"

Jayden sighed. "This guy just loves to hear himself talk."

You two are literally the same person, thought Jun and Iris.

"And pray tell, what makes you so special exactly?" replied Malakah.

Axel grinned smugly and pointed his thumb at himself. "Because I'm the goddamn hero."