Summoning all his strength, Kaito leapt to the side and narrowly avoided the blast. 

"What the hell is that thing?!"

He continued talking to Hayato as he zig-zagged back through the trees, trying his best to stay out of the corrupted's line of fire. 

"Ok, so if we kill it we can leave?"

Kaito scoffed.

"Easier said than done"

"Oh whatever. We don't need to find out what it is right now. What matters is how we get past it"

"Well, to shut down the barrier, we're gonna have to kill that thing anyways"

Without warning, the corrupted appeared in front of Kaito, hovering in the air upside-down, forcing him to stop running and jump backwards.

"What are you doing, little human? Trying to find out how defeat me?"

Just as quickly as it had appeared, the corrupted vanished back above the trees.

"Damn it! That thing's fast!"

Kaito stood still, cautiously scanning around him. The sound of something whizzing quickly through the air and between between the leaves filled his ears.

The corrupted cackled while toying around with Kaito. 

"It's quite offending that you consider me just a 'thing'. I don't think you're worthy of knowing the true name of the one closest to God, though. Hmmm..."

"I know! You shall refer to me by the name of my categorization as a corrupted being: Seraphim"

Hearing that name sent shivers down Kaito's spine. He had never heard the name before, yet simply the word evoked some sense of power he felt he should know. Unbeknownst to Kaito, the feeling of deja vu from hearing that name came from Hayato's memories, not his own.

"Don't bother introducing yourself to me, though. Someone as insignificant as you has no right for me to know their name"

Despite the situation, Kaito quickly found himself growing irritated. How narcissistic could this Seraphim get?

"I will let you go out with something special, though. Allow me to enlighten you on the authority that the one closest to God bears"

Hyper-compressed corrupted cores streaked towards Kaito's face like cannonballs from where he had originally defeated the archangels. It was too late to dodge them.

***

"I'm... here again?"

Kaito found himself standing on the same empty, black plane from before.

Once again, Hayato materialized from the glowing flames before him.

"We don't have much time. Given the amount of power a single shard can produce, I can't hold together this level of thought acceleration for long"

"So, what are we gonna do?"

"We split up. I'll dismantle the barrier while you defeat that corrupted"

"Huh? You saw how fast its attacks were-"

"It's about time I explained something. As a God, I don't exactly have a physical body, and instead manifest myself through concentrations of aether as reality's will. The higher the concentration of aether, the longer my existence stays tethered to the physical world, but a God's presence is the only thing that can actually 'consume' aether. Once that aether becomes sparse enough, I can no longer exist in that form"

"So... you're going to die..?"

"Not die. I'm going to accelerate the process of consuming aether. If we burn up all the aether that my consciousness was tethered to, you'll temporarily have the power to rival that corrupted"

Kaito was about to object, but he stopped himself. Although he had just met Hayato, this was the only way for either of them to get out of this situation. 

"Once I start the consumption, I'll need you to be able to continue that process. Get to the barrier as soon as you can and make contact with it. I'll transfer my consciousness into the barrier, and the burning of aether should weaken its integrity until you can destroy it. With my aether, you'll be able to hold out for about two minutes. I'll give the signal once that time is up"

Hayato didn't wait for a reply, nor the same handshake they initially made with their deal. He, instead, gave a somber yet pleased smile, the type a parent gives when watching their kid grow up in the real world for the first time.

As Kaito exited the mindspace of his aether, he heard a final message:

"Seek the other shards"

***

His entire body now alight with bright azure flames, Kaito swiftly struck back at the cores, creating an explosion of dust that rose up and obscured him from vision. 

"Huh? What?"

Seraphim cocked its head in confusion. How did a mere human suddenly gain such speed?

Kaito blitzed out of the forest and laid his hand on the barrier. He gave a quick nod to the barrier, hoping that Hayato could see how determined he now was.

"Leave it to me"

Hayato's presence completely transferred out of his body, releasing all limitations that were once placed to regulate his mana. 

By now, Seraphim had left the forest, catching on to where Kaito had traveled. It caught up to him, but then froze at the sight of Kaito's newfound power.

"Y-you! Why do you have that power?! A mere human shouldn't-"

Seraphim began shouting, now completely enraged.

"I AM THE ONE CLOSEST TO GOD!"

Ignoring the corrupted's outburst, Kaito calmly took a deep breath and assumed a fighting stance.