u/Cantthinkagoodnam2

The human and the angel were as still as the now calm water that filled the arena. The monk sat on the soil of one of the islets and the god stood on the isle in front of it.

Benkei seemed relaxed, while Michael looked tense, but yet still neither moved a muscle. The audience watched with baited breath for anything to cut through the suspense.

SCHWIMM!

Within the blink of an eye, Michael shot off a barrage of feathers from his good wing and Benkei had parried them with a seamless movement from his arm without standing up.

"............" Both fighters stared at each other.

"It seems our combatants have reached a stalemate" Sandraudiga announced while the entire crowd awaited for the fighters' next move.

"What!? Why did he stop!?" Themis shouted in frustration "You were destroying him just a minute ago! Go up there and shove your spear-"

"First of all, it is Naginata" Minamoto interjected "Second of all, this angel is faster than Bennie, if he were to chase him, he would never catch up and only tire himself out, it would just be playing into his game, by just sitting and waiting until the angel changes his plan allows him to keep control of the pace of the fight, as well as get in some rest"

".....Huh" The titaness mumbled mildly amused.

"What?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.

"You actually spoke like a respectable general now" She comments surprised.

"MICHAEL YOU UTTER FOOLISH IMBECILE! If you just got your head into the game already, then this would be over already!" Sekhmet screamed at the sight "I know you care for humanity, but Cyamites would be putting on better performance!"

"I don't know if I should be offended on behalf of my entire race for this comparison just in and of itself, or proud of Michael, for you have such faith in him you are trying to make excuses for him" a deep voice said behind her as a figure walked into the area, instinctively setting Sekhmet on alarm.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU-" She began saying before her scowl refrained itself as a formal frown "I am sorry Lord Metatron, i didnt recognize you"

[METATRON - HIGH ANGELICAL PONTIFF]

"It is nothing to worry about" He said calmly while walking forward with his hands behind his back, much like Ra he carried with himself an aura of strength despite his oldened look,much like his hair his wings had lost color, now being more yellow unlike Michael's golden wings, and his physical build, cloaked by white robes, wasn't as impressive as the egyptian sun god.

"It has been a while Metatron" Ra commentated with his arms crossed "I didn't expect you to show up, considering your distaste for violence"

The old angel sighed as he took a seat close to Ra "I didn't intend to do so as well, but upon hearing that Michael was wounded....i had to see it for myself"

"Awwww so you were worried for your baby boy" Bastet teased while looking back at the two elders.

"Partly" Metatron admitted "But i also couldnt believe it that a human was able to wound Michael, much less be able to force him into a stalemate"

"So the news have spread this quickly?" Ra asked mildly surprisedly "I suppose it is quite shocking"

"Indeed, humanity is fascinating, no? They have grown so much since Eden" Metatron said with a smile "I wonder what else they would have been able to achieve with a few more years......"

'*Michael.....what happened to you?'* Metatron thought to himself while looking down at the arena.

"This is pointless" Michael complained while crossing his arms "You are just delaying the inexorable! What do you think will change by you stalling around?"

"So even after everything, you are still looking down on me" Benkei replies calmly.

".....Pardon?" The angel asked, taken back.

"You are looking down on me, like you have been doing on all of my kind ever since the very beginning of this match" the monk elaborates "Even after everything that transpired, you still don't see me as an equal. When you offered me your 'mercy' at the start of the duel, it was because you earnestly thought you could kill me in a single move regardless of what i did"

Michael's gaze softened "You are an amazing warrior, Human, you might even be the strongest of your kind, but-"

"-'you still can't compare to a god'? Is my assumption of what you were about to say correct?" The human interjected with a raised eyebrow.

The angel's expression hardened as he tried to pick his next words very carefully "It is a fact that the majority of humans don't stand a chance against a god"

"I imagine it could be a surprising sight indeed, but even then, one could expect someone who claims to care for humanity so much would be more open to the idea of our evolution" Benkei said before narrowing his eyes "In fact, one would expect someone who supposedly claims to care for humanity to not be fighting for their doom"

"You don't understand anything!" Michael protested, anger and frustration slipping into his words "Up until this year, upon each single meeting I voted for your race. I protested when the others were against, I argued and debated to give you one more millennia, I took matters into my own hands to guide your kind, I tore out my brother's wings with my bare hands for your people. And what do I see? Humanity blinded by their pride, their greed making them unable to see how their gluttony and lust for power is leading them towards their own extinction, consumed by their own wrath against each other as they cull their own numbers in envy of what they lack, and the few exceptions are too full of sloth to do ANYTHING to change things! What I am doing by voting against you and fighting here is simply putting humanity out of its own misery!"

"Like putting down a mad dog?" Benkei asks immediately after his opponent's rant "I don't doubt that you hold some level of affection for humanity, but you certainly don't care for us, you can't truly care, truly love something you think is so beneath yourself. You think you are doing us a favor by extinguishing us because deep down, that is all you can see us as, mere animals, that are acting out and need to be taken care of. You are tricking yourself into believing you are fighting for a righteous cause, but deep down you know that this is all for a simple reason, your pride"

"Enough prattle" The angel stated in a resolute tone as he stood up and readied himself, his face having a scowl on it for a moment before he just barely managed to recompose himself "You want to fight me up close? Then have at you!"

Michael then quickly sheathed his sword and clasped his hands together while his eyes locked straight ahead at his opponent as a warm golden aura began to coat his body.

A thousand may fall at your side,And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.

[DOMINUS REFUGIUM - DIVINE REFUGE]

The archangel then unleashed his blade and launched himself at Benkei, using his good remaining wing to blast off currents of air from behind that elevated his speed further. The monk in turn got to his feet and began the use of his signature attack and began his rotation.

The vacuum created from the movement of the fighters led to a whirlwind forming around the islet they stood on due to the sheer speed and power of the combatants.

"The fighters are now finally back in action!" Nike commented while being held back by Sandraudiga to avoid being sucked in the vortex "Hold on your seats everyone! It seems that the real clash is starting NOW!"

"The unstoppable force is ramming the unmovable object right on!" Sandraudiga added.

The sword of the angel collided with the naginata of the human, as the blades clashed the cyclone that surrounded the fighters paused for a second in that small moment. But as soon as both warriors began to push their weapons to gain ground over their opponent, the whirlwind unfurled itself aggressively, imploding upon itself violently and obscuring the fighters and the islet they stood on a veil of water, dirt and mud.

The audience watched in baited breath, not a word from either side, until the combatants became visible again, each standing on a piece of the now split open islet they once had their conversation. Benkei was on his knee, but quickly got up while Michael was laid with his back to the soil before standing up again just as quickly.

Both fighters looked to the side and spat out some blood before immediately charging at each other again without saying a single word.

When they stood both within a few feet away from each other, Benkei slashed his naginata vertically, sliding from the right to the left at Michael, who jumped over the weapon while stomping down his legs against it, planting the blade in the ground momentarily, before using the same momentum to launch a kick at his opponent's face and using it to once again jump back. While still in the air, the archangel started the motion to conjure the spears of fate, 4 of them being materialized in the instant the god's feet landed on the ground below the water, and within the next instant, the angel springed in Benkei's direction while the spears followed him from each side.

The human freed his weapon from the ground and just as quickly crashed it down again, shooting a massive gust of wind forward.

[TONDE IRU RYUSEI]

The god was blown away while half of the spears were destroyed, but two of them kept in their way, Benkei attempted to use Kamogawa Uzumaki, but he didn't had enough time to start the motion, with the spears colliding against his chestplate and blowing up on impact, sending him a few meters into the air.

Benkei landed on his feet and dusted himself off, Michael got up to his feet, he had multiple small gaches on his face and a few strands of his hair fell onto the water, but despite that, he seemed overall unharmed.

Without waiting a moment to regain their breath, both charged at each other again.

The human slashed sideways towards his opponent, who swiftly dodged and readied himself to attack, the monk then began the motion for his defensive rotation, but as soon as he did the angel had jumped back out of the range of the technique, and in the instant that Benkei ceased to spin, Michael closed the distance again and hit his sword against the human's chestplate, while attacking at such high velocity the archangel didn't have enough time to put the necessary strength in his attack to cleave his opponent in half, but the hit was still enough to make Benkei stagger backwards.

Without missing a beat the saint then jumped to try to behead his opponent, who just barely avoided the attack and attempted to counter with an upwards slash of his naginata, which was once again dodged.

Benkei proceeded with his onslaught at close quarters, but Michael weaved through all of his attacks, landing hits that staggered the mountain of a man and dodging with expert time every time the giant attempted to use his signature technique, using his good wing to give him small boosts to move faster and better adjust himself.

'We have been fighting for less than ten minutes, and he already has learned the way I move? Heh, as rotten as he is, he truly is a terrifying warrior' Benkei thought to himself, grimacing as for the first time in the battle he was the one needing to concoct a plan to overcome his opponent.

Knowing Michael would remain in the close range, as staying too far away from each other would just lead to another stalemate, Benkei slowly began moving towards another one of the islets, with the angel following while still dodging every attack. The monk kept attacking with full force and velocity even though he knew the chances of any of them hitting was incredibly small, he needed to keep his opponent focused on this loop of combat for his plot to work.

The moving deadlock eventually made its way towards one of the islands, and soon after Michael had avoided an attack and landed on one of the bridges, seemingly shifting the dynamic of the scuffle.

'It is over now, within the bridge's space, you can't dodge unless you leap backwards, which will leave you open to my Tonde Iru Ryusei, if you try to jump out of the bridge, you won't be able to fly away with your broken wing, leaving you vulnerable, there is nothing you can do!' Benkei thought.

He raised his naginata, his opponent was in range,he began to swing his weapon down to end the fight-

FLASH!

Michael had carved his sword into the bridge, and a blinding light erupted from the spark created from it, blinding the monk.

'This is one of my most effective techniques whenever I can pull it off, although also my most telegraphed and easy to dodge, i wont be able to get the human to lower his guard again after this, i have to finish this now!' Michael thought.

He clasped his hands together and began to cloak himself with the golden aura of Dominus Refugium, before thrusting his palms forward and screaming.

"YEHI'OHR!"

Benkei, still recovering from his sudden blindness, attempted to use his defense enough, but he was not fast enough in his stunned state, the torrent of light enveloping him while he was in the middle of his Kamogawa Uzumaki. The light enveloped half of the bridge and the entirety of the island it was connected to and devoured them both, leaving no trace of the two and making Michael have to jump to the island behind him as the bridge collapsed.

The saint collapsed to his knees, but he didn't give himself any time to breathe and immediately began to look for his opponent among the smoke of the scorched land and structure.

As the smoke cleared, Benkei stood seeming unharmed at a glance, until his Naginata could be seen at the ground, then his left arm became clear, the armor in it was completely gone, revealing the flesh of the limb, completely burnt and mangled in an unnatural way. \*I'm glad i was still able to somewhat block it and only lost an arm, if that had hit me head on...'\* He started leaning down to pick up his Naginata with his other arm, until suddenly Michael collided with Benkei while covered in golden flames like a shooting star.

The angel's Leviathan Slayer technique pushed the monk all the way to the corner of the arena in mere seconds, the collision of his body against the arena's stone wall sending cracks that spread from his chestplate like cobwebs all the way to the arena walls that began to crumble and making him vomit blood, the viscous liquid drenching the archangel's hair and painting his face red.

'Not yet!' the angel mentally shouted to himself as he then wrapped his arms around Benkei's waist and jumped into the air, using the human's body as a meat shield against the falling rock debris.

The archangel began flapping his wings, a loud snapping sound being heard as the broken wing was forced to move, but Michael was forced to move it again.

'HIGHER HIGHER HIGHER!' He screamed to himself mentally as he kept rising into the air despite the pain of breaking his wing even further.

Benkei began using his good arm to repeatedly punch down at his opponent's head, each strike making the angel cough up blood, but he kept flying regardless.

The monk then used his hand to force down Michael's broken wing right as it flapped upwards, crackling an even nastier snapping sound and making them both start to plummet. Benkei held onto the falling angel and tried to adjust him so that he could be used a cushion for the fall and control the direction towards the spot they were fighting earlier, but using his good remaining wing to create a gust of wind forward, Michael was able to spin them both in the air and remain atop of the human as they fell to the ground.

BOOM!

The impact of their collision against the ground blew all the water away and created a huge crater within the arena soil, which quickly began flooding with the receding water.

Before the hole was completely filled, a winged figure jumped out of it before landing clumsily on the shallow water.

'If I hadn't coated myself with Dominus Refugium before, this fall would have broken all my bones at the very least, even if the human took the worst of it........i havent been pushed like this since Lucifer......' Michael thought as he breathed heavily despite seeming unharmed 'There is no way he survived this, and if he did, he will drown'

"It was well fought, a worthy send off to your kind" Michael said while looking at the crater now fully filled with the water before he turned in the direction of the announcers "It is over now, call it off"

Neither Sandraudiga or Nike said anything, they just stared past Michael with a bewildered look on their faces.

“....What is it with you both now?” The angel asked, distraught.

"You are far too hasty" a grave voice said beneath him

Michael turned around in the direction of the voice before feeling a crushing weight falling upon his shoulder, forcing him to one knee on the ground as he stared directly at Benkei's face, whose torso now was completely exposed without armor.

"What!?" He said in shock as he tried to break away from his opponent's grip but was unable to move while being held by the monk's mangled and scorched arm "WHAT!?" He repeated in shock at seeing the state of the limb holding him down while the human raised his Naginata with his good arm.

"AGAINST ALL ODDS THE HUMAN IS NOT DOWN FOR THE COUNT YET!" Nike announced loudly, reverberating through the entire arena.

The announcement reverberated through Themis’ ears as she held onto the railings of her balcony, although the positive news did little to stop the fastened beating of her heart.

".....Lady Themis, do you know how many enemies Bennie killed during the Siege of Koromogawa?" Minamoto asked her.

"Huh?" She replied in mild shock, his words deafened by her heartbeat "Why are you asking me this now? Over 300 i guess-"

"Wrong" The human shot her down

"What!? That is the number of all the books in the bird brain's library listed!" She protested, irritated at his seemingly pointless questioning.

"He killed far more men, 300 was just the number he felled in his single most destructive attack."

-[SIEGE OF KOROMOGAWA, 1189\]-

Upon Gojo Bridge, a rare sight could be seen: a crumbling mountain.

Saitō Musashibō Benkei stood with countless arrows piercing through his armor into his flesh, blood cascaded from his uncountable wounds like waterfalls in his mountainesque visage, but yet, he stood.

His vision was blurry, but he could still see hundreds of enemies still attempting to charge at him, and he did not hesitate.

\*"You see, Bennie is not just a master at deflecting force, he also learned how to keep a little bit of it to himself, absorbing it if you will, usually this doesn't really change anything since he tends to win before things get to this point, but if the fight is long and arduous enough......."

Benkei took a deep breath while seeing the encroaching army charge at him stomping through the corpses of previous enemies he had felled, when the man who led the charge stepped into the bridge, the monk raised his Naginata, the very act causing the pressure of the air to change, making the enemy army stop on their tracks completely.

-[PRESENT]-

[SANBYAKUNIN RAKISEKI: 300 Men Slayer]

The monk brought down his Naginata upon the archangel, who barely to put his right wing in front of himself in an attempt to block, but the human's blade sliced cleaved through it like butter as the weapon was brought down with terrifying strength, its length also allowing the tip of the blade to cut through the angel's armor just as easily. Once the tip of the blade slammed itself into the ground, a powerful shockwave and a massive gust of wind were shot out from it, blasting the saint in the edge of the arena towards the wall with such velocity that multiple waves began to form after him.

Michael crashed violently against the wall, and in a moment later the small tsunamis that were formed slammed against him in the wall, disturbing the integrity of the structure even more and causing multiple debris to fall into the water along with the angel.

The angel fell into the water, and the debris fell onto him, making him collide against the floor of the arena.

After a moment, Michael tried to recompose, he began pushing the debris off himself until he saw the water being tinted by red.

Despite the sudden new tinge of the water, the angel was still able to locate the source of the color.

A nasty, huge laceration upon his chest, allowing blood and some guts to freely escape into the water.

Michael's eyes widened before he began to drown in his own blood.

Who is morally worse? And who did more damage to their own world?