Just as Flugel's rigid talons were about to sink their way completely into Cipher's jugular, Jericho leaped out and grabbed the assailant's wrist.
"If he dies, I don't come."
Looking partially distraught, Flugel glanced down at Jericho, then back at Cypher. His gaze was set upon the blood trickling down from the skin-deep wound he had just inflicted upon whom he thought was his prey.
"Such a waste of a sinner's blood."
Flugel harshly let go of Cypher's ankle, sending him crashing to the floor on his back. A judgmental scowl upon his face as he looked down at the bloodied man.
He mockingly kicked the defenseless man on the floor.
"Are you sure you want a man like this as your comrade? He reeks of sin and destruction."
Jericho looked down at his injured companion, and a wave of sadness came over him from the tragic sight. A man reduced to but a bloodied pile on the forest ground; it made him sick.
"And who are you to judge?"
Confused, Flugel scratched the top of his helmet and tilted his head. He looked at Jericho with an eyebrow raised and his mouth scrunched up.
"Cuz' I was chosen by God himself, of course."
Flinging both of his arms out into the air beside him, Flugel looked up at the sky, posing as if he were preaching a gospel.
Jericho reactively jumped back a little, still uneasy and ready for an attack by the disturbing heretic.
"People like me and you, Jericho, have a greater purpose than these lesser beings. My god gave me these great, godly wings; he healed me from my previous weakened state. He has done that for all of us; he has saved us from sin!"
The man looked crazed as he spoke to the sky, even though he was preaching to Jericho. Spit flew from his mouth, and his pupils began to dilate.
'Now that he's mentioning it, his wings are kind of huge.'
Examining his wings, they didn't look like they derived from any species of winged creatures within the Omnibus. Their wingspan looked to be about 10', rivaling the buff man's giant stature.
"What do you mean, he healed you?"
"He cast upon me his g-"
Flugel stopped mid-sentence, his body froze as if there were thorns wrapped around his neck, tightening and threatening to suffocate him if he spoke any longer.
Letting his arms down and putting his focus back onto Jericho, Flugel let out a hefty laugh.
"You almost got me there, Jericho. You're a smart one, aren't you!"
Flugel stretched his arms out while yawning; he wasn't taking anything seriously right now.
"Alright, let's go."
Jericho looked around warily, looking for anything to buy some time for him to think of a plan to escape or beat this guy.
Beat this guy? How was he going to do that? Cypher was dealt with like he was nothing. What could a guy who hasn't fought in a decade going to do against such an intimidating foe?
'Time and time again, I've found myself in the same situations, too weak to save anyone. Not even myself.'
"Goodness dude, let's go. I know you're like our holy prophet or something, but you're making this extremely hard for me."
Flugel signaled for Jericho to come once again. He was visibly irritated by Jericho's failure to comply.
Gritting his teeth, Jericho planted one foot in front of him and the other behind him, his hands flew up in front of him on guard.
"Ah, so you're resisting once again."
Obviously annoyed, Flugel rolled his eyes and threw his head back loudly, sighing.
'I can't let him get a hold of me. I must attack first.'
Hoping to catch Flugel off guard, Jericho darted at him while he was sighing.
The distance between them was instantly shortened as Jericho's fist was already about to connect to Flugel's chest plate.
Suddenly, Jericho felt the floor below him vanish, and his body being tilted, he was swept off the floor by a swift kick.
"Sneaky, but my eyes see all."
Flugel raised his fists into the air, clasping them together before slamming them into Jericho's stomach.
As Flugel's fists came into contact with Jericho's stomach, Jericho grabbed onto Flugel's wrists with all his might, tanking the inflicted blow.
Using Flugel's momentum against him, Jericho pulled Flugel's arms down with all of his might, causing him to lose his footing, making it easier for Jericho to wrap his legs around Flugel's arms.
'I got him!'
Jericho successfully put his arms into a full-body lock, using his legs, arms, and body weight to bring his opponent to the floor.
Twisting Flugel's right arm and using his body weight to apply even more pressure, Jericho had subdued his opponent.
"GRAAAH!"
Attempting to resist, Flugel tried spreading out his wings, but since he was pinned on the floor, only one emerged.
'I've got to get to his neck'
Flugel's wing thrashed against the air, fighting to get off the ground.
"GET OFF GET OFF GET OFF GET OFF!"
Jericho continued to constrain Flugel's arms, pulling against his legs with his own at the same time.
The sounds of tendons tearing and the high-pitched shrieks of Flugel filled the entire forest. His screams grew louder and louder.
Jericho's sense of hearing began to give out as blood oozed from his ears; his eardrums were shattered.
Even though the pain was extreme and he could no longer hear, Jericho continued to constrict harder.
'A little bit more!'
Flugel's arms were almost dislocated. If Jericho could do this, he would have a fighting chance. A small glimmer of hope, a way to win, yeah, a way to win, Jericho was about to win.
But for some reason, his arms let go; they couldn't hold him any longer. Why?
Jericho's eyes widened as he looked up from Flugel's arm. There were birds all around him, gnawing at his flesh.
Why hadn't he noticed this before? His body's natural reaction was to let go; he had already lost too much blood.
His entire back was covered in slashes from talons, pecks from small non-mutated birds. Part of his skeleton poked out from his back; one of the birds stood out from the rest of the smaller birds. It was a mutated vulture, its eyes were completely white, its beak covered in blood with bits of flesh hanging from its mouth.
Flugel pushed Jericho's body from off of him and got up, stretching his arms and legs, then cracking his neck.
Looking down at Jericho's mangled corpse, Flugel whistled, causing all of the birds to fly away except for the gigantic vulture, which flew onto his arm.
Kneeling near Jericho, Flugel put his hand out, resting it on his back.
Tears began to form in Flugel's eyes, and they streamed down his face, dripping onto Jericho's open wounds.
"I forgive you, and he will too."
Flugel reached out his other hand and placed it below Jericho, picking him up with his right hand.
"Let's go home, Jericho."
Foolishly attempting to wipe his tear, his hand was blocked by his helmet then it fell to the ground.
"Huh?"
Blood uncontrollably spewed from Flugel's severed hand; he gripped it with his other hand, attempting to stop the blood from gushing out.
The mutated vulture flew from off the severed hand and hovered near Flugel.
"I haven't heard of any avian being able to control mutated creatures?"
Flugel frantically looked around, looking for who spoke, still gripping his hand.
A mechanical noise rang throughout Flugel's ears, and tremors began to erupt from the dirt below.
The ground beneath him opened up, revealing a hole covered in metal plates with a tube leading to something or somewhere he didn't want to know.
Flugel flew up above the odd mechanism before being sent down, whistling. He sent his vulture to scope out the forest to see who was doing this.
"YOU CUT OFF THE HAND OF HIS PROPHET!"
The bottom half of his face flushed with red, and veins began to form on his neck and spread onto his face.
As Jericho fell onto the metal plates below, Flugel attempted to fly down and scoop him up, until various speakers shot up from all of the surrounding trees, sending sharp, blaring noises into his ears, stopping him from moving forward.
"You may have bigger issues, my friend."
Blinded by rage, Flugel flew up out of the hole in the ground and darted towards every visible speaker, crushing them one by one.
"GOD WILL PUNISH YOU, GOD SHALL STRIKE YOU DOWN, YOU WILL DIE, DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!"
A golden pod rose from the ground, and multicolored LED lights flashed from all around the pod.
"YOUR SINS WILL NOT GO UNPUNISHED!"
Flugel stopped in the air, instantly redirecting himself to the pod. He blasted himself towards what he thought was his enemy.
Using his helmet and the force of his speed, Flugel shot straight through the pod, and a red liquid covered his head and trickled down through the eye holes in his helmet.
He stopped in the air, believing his opponent was vanquished, he put his hands together and closed his blood-stained eyes.
"May God have mercy on my enemy."
Cogito was perched on a tree above Flugel with an oddly shaped gun in his hand.
The gun had a black short handle, the body was purple, and it was in a cylinder shape.
Cogito twirled it around before pointing it at Flugel, whose eyes were still covered in blood and praying.
"God doesn't like bipolar."
He held down on the trigger, causing the gun to pulsate in his hand. The barrel of the gun grew larger as if it were stockpiling some sort of energy.
As he let go of the trigger, a giant blob of green matter blasted from the gun. Followed by an eruption that sent a vicious wind throughout the entire forest.
All that was left was a black crater in the ground, with the tree Cogito stood on somehow still intact.