Archangels of War

An explosion ripped through the air, sending debris flying throughout the air and crashing into the walls. All around, decorations were knocked from their place, and the beauty of the lobby began to crumble. 

Another explosion quickly followed that one, and another. In quick succession, multiple explosions assailed the lobby of Theta magic academy, quickly turning it from a beautiful, well designed and decorated space to a pock marked land that resembled the face of cheese. 

Along with those explosions, spells of magic were curving throughout the smoke and debris that were constantly being kicked up. 

Water and fire. They twirled in a ballerina's dance, acrobatically swinging through the destruction and towards their target, who took them on with a crazed smile, and 

This was the situation of the battle that was taking place in the lobby. 

Wrath charged, ceaselessly attacking his two opponents, all the while they attempted to keep as much distance as possible, using magic spells to slow down his pursuit. 

Masayoshi and Suijin both understood the destructive power that their opponent possessed was nothing to be trifled with. 

Someone who could blow down entire monuments, with just a singular explosion. 

A person who could go toe to toe with possibly one of the strongest people on the planet. The clips they had seen of his fight with Julius were not forgotten. His power, his speed, and his disregard for things, they were all things that these two had to be wary of. 

But it was also these facts that brought confusion to the minds of his opponents. What could he possibly hope to achieve coming here? If he just wanted to destroy Theta magic academy, then he could have done it without all of the theatrics. But even then, destroying a magic academy just didn't seem to align with his goals. Not to mention it was extremely stupid. 

In seconds, the Mages association was probably already alerted to what was happening, and some of the strongest Magic Knights in the continent of Asia would already be on their way. Not to mention that they'd have to put up with the strength of the headmaster. Every magic Academy had one, and these were people seen as above the level of S rank magic knights, and just as strong as the world enders themselves. 

That lead Masayoshi and Suijin to the conclusion that Wrath most likely wasn't working alone, to achieve whatever his mysterious goal may be. That lead them to worry about the situation of the entirety of the magic academy, but there would be no use stressing over things they couldn't solve, nor have the time to worry about. They would simply have to place their trust that Raiden and Hikaru would be able to push through any obstacles they were meet with and get a message across the PA system. 

With inhuman speed, Wrath dashed forward and grabbed Suijin by the collar. 

"Ah-!" Her exclamation of shock was cut short by the finger that Wrath places over her lips. 

"Shhh!" He said, with a smile on his face. 

A chain wrapped itself around his body, and he was tossed away, straight into a wall. 

Sliding backwards, and trying to collect her breath, Suijin thanked Masayoshi for the save. 

"No need." He then turned to face Wrath, who was completely unfazed, despite the fact that he had been slammed into a wall, with a force that was nothing to scoff at either. "Our opponent is most likely playing with us. He won't get serious." 

Masayoshi made that assessment with the upmost confidence. 

Suijin nodded, finally getting to her feet. "If he's holding back, we could have a chance." However, Suijin shook her head at the possibility. There was no way they could win. If Wrath wasn't taking things seriously, then it meant that his goal, was the same as theirs. To hold their opponent here, in a meaningless stalemate. 

"Damn!" Suijin cursed, clenching her fists together tightly. Looking at Wrath angered her. This person had just waltzed into her, and destroyed everything that Suijin had been working on, and he was here, smiling! It made her unreasonably angry, unbelievable hateful. All of this destruction of people hard work, trampling upon it as if it were meaningless, all of this, and for what? His amusement? Wrath had no clear goal. It was all. 

Suijin's magically energy flared once more, reflecting how angry she was on the inside. Wrath smiled seeing that. 

Masayoshi had been observing Suijin quiet seething for a bit, and he had come to a conclusion. 

"Suijin, go. Check on the situation outside." 

Suijin looked at Masayoshi in disbelief. "What are you talking about? And leave you here alone with him? That's suicidal! -"

"It's clear his goal here is to do nothing but waste our time. He's a distraction, that's proven by his lack of action and the fact that he's been holding back against us. A distraction insinuates that there a much more pressing matter that he's trying to divert attention from. You are needed there." 

Masayoshi made a sound argument that Suijin could not refute. She was worried about everything going on outside, where evacuations should have been happening. However, she was reluctant to leave the lobby. Not only because she was worried about Masayoshi, but also because-

The opponent in front of her. She wanted to crush this person who took pleasure in trampling over others blood, sweat, and tears with her own hands. 

Masayoshi was cognizant of this fact, and that's what motivated his decision. 

"Fighting an opponent like this in anger, will only lead to you playing right into his hands." With that final statement, Suijin's will to argue fell, and she agreed with Masayoshi's plan. 

"Just, make sure you stay alive! Hear me? Do not be reckless!" 

With those parting words, Suijin left. 

After watching Suijin leave, Masayoshi turned to face his opponent, who had a sour facial expression. 

"You're really no fun eh, prick? Not only that, but you seem to think that your better than me." Wrath seemed like he was going to vomit just looking at Masayoshi. 

Masayoshi, however, paid his jeers no heed. 

He stretched his hands out to his sides, allowing the chains to dangle unto the floor. 10 rings, and 10 chains. In front of him, his book was floating, flipping back and forth through its pages rapidly. 

At the same time, 10, different colored orbs appeared over each one of his 10 fingers respectively. Blue, green, red, purple, white, black, orange, yellow, pink, and violet. 

"The scales of justice will not tip in your favor." He said, facing off against his opponent. 

Wrath simply laughed. "Alright then! Come and show me your scales of justice, you conceited prick!" 

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"Are you two, the next additions to my Vault?" 

Those were the chilling words that we were meet with as we entered the student council room. The man sitting before me and Hikaru was dressed in an impeccable black suit, and was sitting in Suijin's seat, with his legs crossed, as if he owned the place. In the completely empty student council room, he and the chair were the only objects there. 

He had an unnervingly creepy smile on his face. His black hair was slicked back and shined. 

I still couldn't believe what was going on. 

In every single room on this floor, all of the people and items, had vanished. As if they had simply been snapped out of reality completely. 

The literally only things on this floor besides me and Hikaru, were this man and the chair. 

The man sitting in front of us was a foreign entity. An invader. Just like Wrath. And I could sense from the magical energy gathering around him that he was no slouch either. That lead me to the only conclusion that I could possibly make. Hikaru had reached it as well. 

"You! What did you do with the students, with.... everything?" Hikaru shouted out at the smiling man in the black suit. 

The man did not even flinch, as he answered her question. 

"The kids of the magic academy, and all of the beautiful decorations and items that filled those rooms. I added them to my collection, to my vault! Isn't it just wondrous? All of the things in the world can fit in my vault, therefore I must collect all of it. So, I ask, are you two the next two additions?" 

He reiterated his question, and the pit in my stomach only fell deeper. I had a horrible feeling about what was going on. 

"Well, it doesn't matter if you say yes or no, because the truth is you will end up in my vault anyways." The man laughed as if he had just told a funny joke. 

He was speaking nonsense, in riddles. It was just, confusing. However, the bad feeling growing inside me did not stop, it only expanded. 

There was something sinister about the man in front of us. 

I turned to Hikaru. "Hikaru, you should go, head for the roof, and try to locate someone." 

She looked at me with confusion. "What about you?" 

"I'll stay here." 

She shook her head furiously. "I won't leave you alone with this guy! You can sense it too, right? There something about him that's evil. Whatever happened to everything, he was clearly responsible for!" 

Hikaru argued profusely to my suggestion. 

"Exactly, which is why we have to split up. Whatever he did to those people and objects, he's planning too due to us. It would be devastating if the both of us fell her at the same time.

"Then by that logic, shouldn't we both leave this place?" Hikaru was looking at me with worry in her eyes as she argued against me.

"We need to recover that P.A. system. And if both of us leave, then there will be no one to keep their eye on this guy." 

"And why does it have to be you, Raiden?" 

I looked at her and then decided to do what I do best: Say something stupid. 

"Well because I'm the guy here, and It'll make me look like a valiant knight." I told a joke; a trick I learned from Hikaru to lighten the mood. 

Finally, she gave in to that stupid statement. "I'll go and try and find help, but I'll come back here as quickly as possible. So, promise me, promise me you'll be okay, and you won't just vanish." She had grabbed me by the arm and forced me to look at her eyes, which were filled with worry. 

"I...Promise." I hesitated, because I didn't want to give her a false promise. Faced with an enemy I couldn't understand, there were no guarantees. 

"No!" Hikaru rejected the promise with vigor. "Say it like you mean it. Say it. Say I, Raiden Chisaki, won't lose here!" 

Her words, cut straight through me, as she set out her rules. 

She would only go if I gave her the most confident reply possible. 

So, I straightened my shoulders, facing her. 

"I, Raiden Chisaki, won't lose!" I even smiled at the end, for extra effect. 

Seeing the smile, and hearing my words, a multitude of emotions passed through her face, and she blushed a bit. She then turned around before I could see the depth of the emotions that passed through her face. 

"You better mean it. If you're not here when I come back, then, I'll never forgive you!" 

With that, Hikaru left. 

I turned back to face my opponent. 

He smiled. 

"So, you're the one up to bat. Let's see the quality of the toy I'm going to add to my possession."