Henry was about to block the intense hook, raising his arms in defense, only to be caught off guard as Zak abandoned his punch and spun into a roundhouse kick. The leg connected with the top of Henry's head, sending him a few feet lower in altitude as he shook his head violently. He flapped hard to regain his footing and went for a hard upwards thrust knee straight into Zak's stomach.
Burning amber fluid spilled from Zachariah's maw with a heavy grunt, sputtering into the air as the blunt force of Henry's knee collided with his gut, shattering the obsidian armor across his abdomen into bits. Zachariah hurtled upward, coughing as the wind was knocked out of him. He drew his wrist across his grimace and wiped away the leaking trail of liquid embers. Steadying himself, the fiery angel spat a wad of glowing blood toward the earth before clasping his fingers together and slamming his locked fists downward like a hammer toward the demon's shoulder.
The armor on Henry's shoulder fractured, and since there was no longer any heat sustaining the armor it simply broke under the force of the hammer blow. And so did Henry's shoulder in general yet he powered through the pain, bringing his head back and then slamming it forward directly into Zak's nose.
Zachariah reeled back in pain, clutching his face with an open hand as the impact sent him flipping head over heels downward through the air. Fire billowed through the sky, sizzling into smoke as another pair of wings diminished, leaving the archangel with his last pair, which flapped heavily to stop his descent. Fire only made up half the angels body now, as his flame emperor state drained away, flaking into the air like smoldering ashes. Zachariah growled with agony as pain shot through his nerves, before shaking away the stars from his vision. Struggling to keep himself steady, the angel launched upward with a vicious uppercut toward Henry's gut.
Henry doubled over, spitting up a bit of blood from the force of impact. He pushed himself off of Zak's fist and wiped the small trail of blood from his mouth, smiling as Zak lost yet another pair of wings. The fight was coming to a close. Henry jabbed at Zak's throat with his right hand, quickly following up with a hard right hook.
Zachariah threw up his fists, blocking the jab to his throat, but also blinded himself to the hook, spitting up a tooth as the fist solidly connected with his jaw. The archangel's form gave for a moment, nearly loosing his consciousness, but continued to bare against Henry, pushing back the fist with his face until his seething rebellious gaze locked with the demon's. Another strained battlecry escaped the angel as he threw a right hook of his own. His strength was starting to wane, and he was beginning to lose altitude.
He turned his head with the punch so it would hurt less, but he felt his skull rattle for sure. Henry's eyes glowed for a brief second and a platform formed underneath them, just enough room to continue their fight without flying but there was the small danger of falling still. Henry's smile widened as he kicked out at Zak's knee, attempting to break it and bring him to the ground, at the same time he jabbed at Zak's nose with his left hand.
An agony stricken shout rang out as Henry connected his boot to the angels knee. A sickening crack rattled out as the bone in his leg splintered. Zachariah doubled over, gripping at his leg with an absent hand when the demon threw a swift punch towards his face, aiming for his nose a second time. Zachariah barelly managed to duck, taking the strike to his eye instead. His head was knocked about and he was sent down to the fabricated ground on all fours, a spatter of blood leaking from his jaw. An enraged growl roiled from the angel as he jumped forward with his good leg, reaching to grab Henry around the waist. He left his back open doing so, but didn't have very many other options. He was losing the strength to deliver any more attacks.
Henry chuckled as his blows struck home, getting ready to kick Zak off the platform into the roiling lava below. Suddenly Zak jumped into him, tackling him to the ground with his superior size and weight. Henry began punching Zak in the ribs, hoping to knock him off or maybe make him get off to stop the pain. Something like that.
Ribs cracked and snapped as Henry struck the angel in an attempt to pry him off, but to no avail as Zachariah bared through the pain, struggling to push the demon forward, inching him toward the edge. The only flames that remained of the angel's emperor form were those of his halo, his wings, and a few random glowing patches here and there. Finally Zacharia's eyes began to glaze over and his march grew weak. With a final exertion of strength, the angel pushed himself and the demon in his arms over the edge, doing his best to keep his arms locked on Henry while throwing his weight toward the ground far below.
Henry panicked as they inched closer and closer to the edge, striking harder and harder with each blow even as he felt Zak's ribs practically turning to dust beneath his mighty fists. Zak began to slow until they were just at the edge, his eyes glazing over and Henry beginning to calm down.
"Whoo, that was a close one. Crazy motherfucker nearly sent us over the-" With one final push Zak sent both of them over the edge, plummeting to the lava below.
"AHH GOD DAMNIT YOU CRAZY SON OF A BITCH YOU'RE GOING TO KILL YOURSELF AND ME! MORE IMPORTANTLY ME!" Henry struggled to break free of Zak's grasp, but nothing was as strong as the grip of a man dying as his muscles locked into place. He began to turn them both in midair so Zak would hit the lava first, hopefully he would cushion Henry's landing and then he could fly off somewhere to heal up.
Zachariah managed a pained smile, his eyes empty. The consciousness left him, and his grip finally loosened. It seemed as though Henry was free of the angel's embrace, though as he turned to let Zachariah cushion his fall, something appeared from the lava below. A flash of blinding light pierced through the air as the Zachariah left to swim within the lava emerged, only two wings propelling him forward. His voice rang out, crossing the battlefield with a sovereign might as the angel tore through the air with a spear in hand and shot toward the falling pair. Energy vaporised in his trail as his legs and half of his body vanished. The last of the energy sustaining his form was quickly diminishing. However before he completely disappeared, launched the spear toward Henry's middle section, in an effort to cut him in half...again...before crashing into Zachariah's falling body. The explosion of fire shined out in a incendiary cloud of flames and debris. The fire was gone. The light was gone. The halo above Zak's head ceased existing, and he was left to fall to the ground.
Henry broke free of Zak in the nick of time as he began flapping his wings hard to halt his downward momentum. But the battle wasn't over yet as the final Zak burst free from the lava, tossing one last fuck you to Henry in an attempt to bisect him once again. Henry grunted in pain and prepared himself. This was gonna hurt.
The spear of holy fire almost reached Henry until he grabbed it with his good arm, straining to hold it back from his vital organs. The cleansing flame seared through the armor and into his demonic flesh, he couldn't even feel anything in that hand anymore as he held the spear back from punching straight through him. Finally with a might roar he tossed it aside into the forest, hearing a small explosion as he recovered. He then flew back to base camp to rest up for a moment and heal his injuries.
As Eve floated in the air, foot bleeding slightly from kicking Atarah, a volley of bullets would erupt from the surrounding forest towards her wings, looking to fill her full of holes from behind and remove her mobility advantage. At the same time Utada would burst from the trees, throwing a flash grenade into the center of everyone while sending Maceroy a text over the Machina communications network to cover his eyes.
The flashbang went off as soon as it hit the ground, Utada had already adjusted her eyes so that the light wouldn't blind her, after that she immediately took aim at Marie and began firing in an attempt to quickly take her out of the fight.
