I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I felt the ground beneath me being blown away by my mana. The air overhead snapped and crackled from the intensity of the mana building up around me.

I opened my eyes. A black aura surrounded me.

"Incredible," Agnes said.

I snickered. "Why are you surprised? Aren't you my guardian angel?"

"Yes, but this power is astonishing. I think it matches that of Hyosetsu's Third Heaven."

"Let's see If that's the case," Hyosetsu said, appearing behind me. I spun around and formed a barrier, deflecting his sword.

"Nice try! Though are sneak attacks all that you got?"

Hyosetsu snickered. "Of course not." He flew into the air and tapped the tips of his sword together. "Icefall!"

I jumped up before a beam of ice could turn me into a living popsicle. Where I stood was covered entirely in a matrix of giant ice crystals.

Hyosetsu moved his swords slightly and fired off another beam.

I slammed the ground with my hands and formed a barrier, knowing that I couldn't run. Quickly, the translucent wall became covered in a thick layer of ice. Thankfully, the ice didn't cause it to shatter.

I probably could've shattered it by raising the intensity of my aura, but that would cut the time I can use this form.

I pressed my fire mana-infused shield against the barrier, spreading the energy around to melt the ice away.

"Impressive, this one didn't crack," Hyosetsu said as he appeared in front of me. He drove his wakizashi through the barrier, causing the rest of it to shatter.

I raised Agnes in front of me.

Hyosetsu dashed forward and slashed at Agnes, but the contact caused a shockwave stronger than all of the others. Both of us were thrown against the newly reinforced barrier around the shattered battlefield.

I was the first one to move. Not wasting any time, I held out my hand and trapped him in a barrier. Hyosetsu winced as the sphere compressed around him.

I smiled. "Can't get out of it?"

Hyosetsu closed his eyes and stabbed the barrier with his wakizashi, shattering it. "You were saying?"

I sighed. Darn it. I thought that I finally had him. Oh well, at least it gives me a chance to try out some new tricks.

I jumped back, sheathed my sword, and proceeded to form a ball of darkness the size of a basketball in my left hand.

Hyosetsu looked at it with unease. "Such dense mana, and in such a short time too."

I smiled. "I might not be at the same level as Setsuko, but haven't been slacking off on my mana control. Nor have you apparently. It's really amazing how long you've managed to spend in your ascended angel forms."

I threw the ball down but quickly squatted, catching it in my left palm and threw it into the air as if I were aiming at a hoop.

Hyosetsu's eyes widened. "What are you doing?"

I grinned as I jumped into the air and caught my ball of dark mana. I spun it in my index finger and tossed it into the air again. I caught it once more and moved it around my waist like I used to do whenever I tried to keep the basketball from rival teams back in high school and in university.

"Are you playing around?" he asked, annoyed. He took a step back and swung his katana down, unleashing a cyan sword beam.

I jumped out of the way. "Almost got me," I said, smiling.

"What is he doing?" I heard Eiichi ask.

"No idea," Setsuko responded.

I threw the ball into the air and vanished.

Hyosetsu vanished and looked over his shoulder. I wasn't there, though.

"Look up!" I yelled as I slammed my dark sphere toward him as if I were slam dunking a ball.

Hyosetsu shielded himself with his wings. He grimaced as he opened them, blood trickled down the upper pair. "Those movements, why are you fighting as if you're in a basketball game?"

I smiled as I formed another sphere. "It's fun. Plus, these moves are cool, aren't they?" I asked as I rushed past him. I threw the sphere against his chest, sending him flying into the barrier.

Hyosetsu shook his head as he quickly moved out of my way as I performed another one of my 'Shadow Drives'.

"How childish," Hyosetsu said as he moved around me and slashed my left-side with his wakizashi. He smirked slightly. "Though, I hail you for your unorthodox way of thinking. It caught me completely off guard."

I ducked as his katana came for my head. I formed another sphere and threw it at him, but he jumped back and countered it out with a sword beam. Both attacks exploded, sending the two of us reeling from the shockwaves. It was incredible that space-time wasn't distorting around us right now. Was it due to the nature of this world? Or because of Halim's presence?

Suddenly, Hyosetsu and I were nearly knocked toward our right by a stronger shockwave. We both looked up and saw our angels engaged in combat.

"Seems that they got bored of watching," I said, smiling.

Hyosetsu laughed. "I can't blame them. I would've too." He turned to look back at me. "Baldo, finish him!"

"Huh?"

A blast of ice rained down from above, pushing me into the barrier. Nearly all of my body became covered in ice, except for my head.

"Weren't you going to fight solo?" I asked.

"That was the idea, but I had a change of mind. I can't allow my pride to blind me."

I smiled as I slowly warmed up my shield underneath the ice. "Ya know, I'm kind of proud of ya."

He scoffed. "Shut up. You are not my dad."

"True, but I'm sure that he would be proud of ya."

"You really think so?" he asked as he struck my chest with both his swords.

He's attacking me? I thought that he would be too distracted to act. I should've cast a barrier just in case.

"Y-yeah," I said, grinning. I wonder if mine would be too. Not that I need his acknowledgment.

He smiled. "I get a feeling that Takeshi would feel the same about you." He slashed again, but a pink barrier appeared around me. Except it wasn't me who made it.

I looked up and saw Agnes kick Baldo to the ground. She looked as mad as Yuko did whenever someone insulted me.

"That was dirty," she said, turning to look at Hyosetsu.

Hyosetsu backed away from me. "All is fair in love and war, they say."

"Yeah," Hyoryuu said, standing up. It smiled at us. "Speaking of love, how about the winner gets a kiss from Rosa?"

My face became so warm, that the ice had to have been melting. "K-kiss?"

"Shut up," Hyosetsu said, blushing slightly. "Or I'll recall you right now! Plus, it's unfair to that naïve girl. She's not here to accept nor decline those conditions."

Would he have accepted the suggestion if she were here and said yes?

Hyoryuu smiled as it rubbed its abdomen. "I knew that would get a rise out of you two. Though you got to admit, it would've made things much more interesting."

I definitely couldn't lose if that were the case. I can't handle Rosa kissing another guy. Then again, I did kiss Yuko. Wait, no. That was Yuko who did that. I'm not at fault there! Hmm, would she have said yes to get payback? Or even just to tease me?

"Someone is overthinking again," Agnes whispered.

I laughed as I finished melting the ice away. "Sorry. Got sidetracked."

Hyosetsu sighed. "As did I. Hyoryuu, no more useless comments from you."

"Fine," Hyoryuu said as he held out his left hand.

Agnes created a multi-layer barrier and hugged me as the beam struck. My eyes widened as the attack tore through them quickly. Agnes winced as the ice froze her goldenrod wings.

"Agnes!" I yelled.

"Move now," she said before vanishing. I clenched the ball of dark mana still in my left hand and rushed at the two of them.

Hyosetsu jumped aside and slashed my left arm with both his swords. "Two."

Two? So the count reset? How long does one have to wait for it to reset? No, that doesn't matter right now. I just need to avoid getting hit.

I focused my eyes on Hyoryuu as he charged ice mana into his left hand. He was going to fire off another one of those beams. But this time, I would be ready!

Hyoryuu smirked and unleashed the freezing energy. I struck back with a beam of ice and dashed around him, vanishing the next moment.

Hyosetsu kept his eyes peeled as he looked around to see where I was.

I smiled as I appeared behind him. He turned around to see me, only for me to disappear once more.

"Where did he go?" Hyosetsu asked, intensifying his aura.

I appeared in front of Hyoryuu, who gasped. "Bye!" I said as I threw the attack. The angel crossed his arms over his chest, but that did little to shield him from the full brunt of my attack.

"Seems that I lost," Hyoryuu said, grimacing. He smiled. "But, the winner will be Sebastian's son."

I turned around and stopped Hyosetsu's sword with my shield. Both of us grunted as a series of shockwaves threw us into the air.

"I got to find out a way to cancel that out," I said, rubbing my left ear.

"Indeed," Hyosetsu said as he landed on the ground. He staggered back as the aura around him flickered.

"You've reached the end of the rope, huh?"

He smiled as he stared at me. "So have you."

I laughed as I formed a barrier and powered down. I sat cross-legged on the powdered floor and closed my eyes.

I opened one eye as I felt Hyosetsu powered down. He two sat cross-legged on the floor.

"What? You thought that I would let you restore your mana without doing the same? I'm not stupid," he said.

I smiled and closed my right eye. Here I thought that he would attempt to attack me while he could. I breathed deeply through my nostrils as I tried to regain focus. Hyosetsu would be impossible to defeat if I failed to restore my mana.

I opened my eyes as an idea struck me. I had little mana left to cast a powerful attack, but I could still defeat him with my original weapon, my fists.

Hyosetsu opened his eyes as I appeared in front of him. He crossed his arms, blocking my left punch. The air around him grew cold.

The knight of the sword smirked. "I knew that you were going to be impatient."

I melted the ice by covering it in fire mana and jumped back. "You feigned being out of mana?" I asked.

"Who said that I was out? I was merely running low. But I have enough to defeat you," he said, swinging his sword in front of him.

I formed a barrier, but it shattered under the force of his attack.

Hyosetsu laughed as he dashed at me. His speed wasn't anything like it was at the start of our battle, but neither was mine.

I grabbed my sword and parried his katana with it while blocking his wakizashi with my shield.

"White Phoenix!" he yelled. A gale of snow blew around Baldo in the shape of a phoenix.

I grunted as the bird of snow slammed into me and threw me toward the ceiling of the barrier.

Damn it. I allowed impatience to get the best of me.

Hyosetsu lowered his swords. "You've got a long way to go still," he said, turning around.

I took a deep breath. I channeled all of my remaining mana into my shield in the form of heat, melting the ice keeping me from falling. I spread out my black wings and continued to focus my mana into the center of Agnes.

Hyosetsu turned. "So, you refuse to give up."

"I never back out of a fight, no matter how slight the chances of victory are!" I yelled as my heart-shaped shield glowed a deep red. "Burning Heart!"

Hyosetsu smiled as I rushed at him. He held out his swords with were glowing bright blue. "Freezing Diamond!"

A wave of hot and cold vapor rampaged through the battlefield as soon as our weapons met. I was thrown back into the ceiling of the barrier while Hyosetsu was pushed into the ground. If only I still had some mana left, I could've trapped him for good measure.

I winced from pain as I began to fall back down. My body felt too heavy to move. Did I defeat him?

My eyes widened as the mist swirled around; it was pouring into Baldo. Hyosetsu smirked as he raised his katana. "Nice final attempt, Tetsuya."

My hands twitched. I wanted to move my wings, but they wouldn't budge. Is this as far as I go? If so, then I still can't hope to defeat my grandfather.

I clenched my shield and moved it as much as I could to block the attack.

Hyosetsu swung his sword to the side, causing a wave of energy to swing over to the barrier. It crawled up and then back down as soon as it reached the top.

I gasped. He was aiming for my back!

I closed my eyes as I struck the ground. I screamed in pain as the energy from the concentrated mist hit the center of my back.

I watched as Halim's barrier vanished, signaling Hyosetsu as the official winner.

I'd had become too cocky. If my battle with Serrano had continued, would I have also lost?

"Here," Hyosetsu said, holding his hand out to me.

I smiled but didn't take it. I couldn't move my fingers, far less my arm.

"Here, let me heal you back up," Setsuko said as she dashed over to us.

Hyosetsu nodded. "Alright. Though, try not to use more than necessary. You will need as much of your mana as you can against Kaliq."

Setsuko glanced over her shoulder at the Munilian sage. "I think you're right."

If Hyosetsu thought that, then how strong was Kaliq?

**Solar Note: Overall thoughts on Tetsu vs. Hyo? Predictions for Setsuko, Eiichi, and Hideo versus Kaliq?**