CHAPTER 589: THE MAN WHO DESERVED HONOR

Sera dashed forward, her curved silver blades carving lines into the glass ground. Her white teeth seemed to glisten in the light covering her body as she grinned with delight.

Castiel’s polearm moved in a similar pattern, its long axe blade digging into the cracked mirror below. His face revealed a great deal of excitement and battle hungriness while running towards Sera.

She raised her sword just as he slashed upward with his polearm. With both weapons, she blocked the axe blade, then pushed it aside and slashed at Castiel’s neck.

The Executioner leaned away, her sword cutting the air only millimeters from his neck. His hands slid back on the polearm, giving him more reach to thrust at Sera’s midsection.

The Angel sidestepped the blow, then placed her leg on the polearm’s shaft and flipped over Castiel.

While in the air, she slashed at his head, but with quick reflexes leaned into a back handspring, with only his offhand, then turned midair and landed facing Sera. She was already attacking, and so he raised his polearm, deflecting both swords simultaneously.

With the same movement he turned and ducked under Sera’s quick, while slashing at her feet. The Angel jumped and spun midair, landing back on the ground a few meters away.

Her swords immediately snapped into an ’X’ shape, which blocked the polearm’s axe blade from splitting her skull.

Castiel pressed down on the weapon with his entire body, but Sera’s trembling hands held. For a moment, neither moved as they gazed into each other’s eyes, joyful grins splitting both fighters’ faces.

There was a silent understanding between the two angels. Neither used their wings nor any abilities. This battle would be decided by their fighting prowess only!

In their battle, Castiel had more experience, but Sera had more inherent talent. She also trained a lot more in the past weeks, which evened the odds. Also after resurrection, her physical strength matched Castiel’s own. In fact...

As Castiel kept on pushing, something strange happened. The resisting force from below gradually increased, and after a few long moments, Sera began rising from her crouch.

Sera didn’t just matched Castiel’s strength... She overpowered him!

After reaching a somewhat stable body structure, she pulled her right sword from the ’X’ while deflecting the polearm with her left. She spun around herself while keeping constant pressure on Castiel’s weapon and attempted to chop off the Executioner’s head.

To save himself, Castiel released his weapon and fell backward. The sudden disappearance of resistance on her left sword caused Sera to stumble forward.

Castiel then kicked out her legs and punched her side while falling, which sent the Angel flying. She hit the mirror wall, causing even more cracks to appear on its fragile surface.

Like nothing had happened, she jumped back to her feet and rushed towards Castiel. In the meantime, the Executioner reclaimed his weapon and also dashed in Sera’s direction.

Both angels brandished their weapons as the distance between them rapidly disappeared.

Castiel stabbed at Sera’s chest, but with a surprising move she fell backward and slid under the weapon. She then stabbed her sword into the ground after moving past Castiel, then used it as a lever to propel herself at the Executioner’s back.

He managed to turn around fast enough and, raising his polearm, he caught Sera’s left sword, aimed to split his face. However, the right sword, which he stabbed into the ground, arrived soon after the first.

The left sword was only a faint, while the actual attack came faster than he could’ve reacted. Sera’s gamble paid off as her sword deeply cut into Castiel’s lower chest, stomach and right leg.

Blood rained from the deep laceration. His lower ribs broke, while part of his intestines hung loose. He also stumbled from the cut on his leg, especially after Sera pushed his previous faint into a genuine attack.

From that moment, the battle was already decided. Sera jumped after Castiel, not letting him regenerate without taking more damage. He could barely evade and block the hail of slashes and stabs.

Slowly, more cuts and bruises accumulated all over his body, which made his fight much more difficult.

However, Sera felt really impressed, since even after suffering dozens of wounds, Castiel never gave up. He fought until the bitter end, which came sooner than either wanted to...

His body covered in blood, Castiel fell on his knees and slid towards the Hall’s edge from Sera’s kick. He tried pushing himself up using his polearm, but the Angel was already there.

She slashed with her right sword, which Castiel blocked and stabbed forward with her left hand, which he struck true. It pierced the executioner’s right shoulder, nailing him to the cracked mirror wall.

A groan of pain escaped his lips as Sera grabbed his polearm and stole it from his weakened grasp. She then held her other sword and stabbed it into his left shoulder.

Disarmed, bloodied and broken, Castiel finally stopped fighting. He took heavy breaths, blood and other bodily fluids dripping from his mouth. Most of his organs had ribs stabbing through them, so his throat filled with bile, stomach acid, and who knows what else...

The sight was quite pitiful, especially as he glanced up at Sera, a sad smile stretching across his trembling lips. He coughed a few times before regaining the ability to talk.

"Congratulations... Seraphine!... It seems... you’re victorious!"

A deep frown grew on Sera’s face. She didn’t feel the slightest bit of joy or satisfaction. There was only deep hatred in her heart... A hatred of reality, for placing her in this situation...

She sighed while glancing away from the broken angel, then slowly her knees bent until she was eye level with Castiel. However, she couldn’t seem to find the strength and stare into the man’s eyes.

Castiel, through all the pain and suffering, continued to smile and even chuckled at Sera’s depressed anger.

"We both knew... it’ll end like this... One of us dead... So... don’t feel sad... You shouldn’t take pity... on your enemies..."

Every few words he coughed, causing more red liquid to drip from his mouth. In reality, his wounds should’ve already healed, but he didn’t let them, which confused Sera.

She glanced towards his broken ribcage and disemboweled stomach, which made Castiel laugh again. His agonized expression revealed the pain he felt from laughing, yet it didn’t stop him.

"I won’t heal myself... You’ve won... fair and square..." he said, then glanced away into the distance with a thoughtful expression.

A self-deprecating smirk grew on his face as he continued, "Isn’t it ironic?... Neither of us believes... in honor... Yet, we’d an... honorable duel... How ridiculous..."

Sera snorted as the tiniest of smiles appeared on her face. Her sad golden-green gaze finally met Castiel’s whitish-gold eyes.

"I don’t believe in honor, but..." she began, then became silent near instantly as she choked on her words. "But... Some people deserve honor... I would rather have died than cheat in our duel... After everything you’ve been through... You’re a man who deserved an honorable end..."

A lone tear left Sera’s eye, running down her scarred face and eventually dropping in the bloody pool below. That tear, it made Castiel smile... A genuine grin, full of joy and without regrets...

"You know... I didn’t expect anyone would feel sad... and shed tears when I die... I thought... My legacy will be nothing but... death and destruction..."

He slowly lifted his right hand, Sera blade cutting deeper and drawing more blood from his shoulder. However, he didn’t seem to feel pain as his dirty, bloody hand gently touched the Angel’s pale cheek.

"They I realized... You’ll be my... legacy... Use my powers well... Seraphine... Defend those you love and... if it’s not too much to ask... help my people... They’ll follow you... lead them to a better future... A promise I never managed... to deliver..."

Another teardrop left Sera’s eye as she nodded and held Castiel’s outstretched hand. After speaking so many words at once, he began violently coughing, more blood and bile flowing from his mouth.

This time, he couldn’t stop himself. His hand went limp as his whitish-gold eyes stared at Sera, pleadingly. She knew exactly what he asked for, yet delivering it wasn’t easy.

Sera rose back to her feet. She took a few shaky breaths while summoning a simple, golden longsword.

She stood above Castiel, prepared to stab through his heart. Her hands trembled, and her body didn’t want to obey her commands.

Despite her hesitation, she gradually moved the sword closer to Castiel’s chest. When the point was nearly touching his convulsing body, Sera stopped.

Her golden-green eyes closed as she took a few deep breaths. The shaking of her hand stopped as she focused her mind, then without further hesitation, she pushed the blade into Castiel’s chest, right through his heart.

The sounds of convulsing and gurgling stopped. Sera didn’t need to open her eyes to know... Castiel was dead...

The Angel’s face took on a cold, emotionless expression. Even though she would’ve preferred to mourn her new friend’s death, it wasn’t time yet... There was still one threat outside this Hall!

A newfound determination burned in her heart as the golden-green eyes snapped open. Without waiting a moment longer, she bent down and gently touched Castiel’s hand.

The sticky blood still felt warm, but she felt no life within the body. The question soon appeared in her mind, but before accepting she reached out and closed Castiel’s eyes.

"I hope we’ll meet again..." she whispered, then after a deep breath she focused on the question...

’Do you wish to evolve?’

A dry, humorless chuckle echoed from Sera’s lips as she answered, "Sure... Let’s get this party started!"