The Fall of the Archon

The Maatians called it the day the sun fell.

The Bloomers called it the start of the eternal autumn, for which they still predict the coming winter and end of the world.

The Sorcerists called it the second infusing, and still celebrate it as a holiday to this day.

The Easifuh called it the falling of the primordial fire.

They say that day, all around the world, the sun went out. Replaced with the dark star. It was the final confrontation between two long time friends. Two companions who had only a blink in time before banded together to save the world. Now they fought for its ultimate fate.

Grimm floated above Noa, who himself laid on the ground, propping himself up on his palms, his chains covered in the soil he had been knocked into. He looked at his old friend. "This is not a fight even you can win, Noa Wei. You are only mortal. Return to me the Codex Umbra."

Noa got back to his feet, almost floating from where he lay as if gravity was something he long ago learned to ignore. "That tome is no more." He smiled at his old friend, pulling forth his scythe from the dimensions granted to him by his patron. "There is now only this: Koth."

Grimm's face carried a look of disdain. "So the dungeon was breached. That we set up to protect that work. By you. You, Noa Wei, are a traitor to heaven. And a traitor to the house of the rising sun." Pushing forth his hand, beams of light that looked as if they were cut from glass shot like lightning through the air and punctured Noa's body. His body dropped limply to the floor. "It is finished then." Grimm floated to the ground, and placed his hand on the scythe. As he did, Noa's fist tightened around his wrist, holding him in place. "What?"

"Henshin!" Noa stood in full armor now, gripping his old friends arm with all his force. The cracking of bone echoed throughout the valley their battle took place in. "Noble Phantasm." He pointed his other hand at his old friend, as the many gun barrels emerged from the pocketed dimension and aimed their salvo at the writhing angel. "Pinna really was a gifted girl. I always learn from the best. Now I too, do not die. Now I am truly inevitable." The shots rang out, and the world fell silent for several minutes, as the dark star above gave way to the shining sun. Church bells cracked. Tears of oil ran down the cheeks of the statues of the saints. One of the great angels, for the first time in histories long records, had fallen.

Noa took the bracers that adorned his now departed friend's arms and placed them around his wrist. He concentrated, and in a moment, he felt their power race through him. He levitated into the air. "Well, Koth. It's almost over now." Noa Wei had made a million enemies out of a million friends. Soon, though, he knew it would all drop to none.