Chapter 25

Suzaku couldn't help but sigh.

She watched, perched atop a building as hundreds of thousands of Yokai - thankfully all disguised in their human forms - spilled out onto the streets of Kyoto.

Most of them are the same gangster cosplaying Oni, with a splash of other Yokai mixed in.

It would seem Noriaki's little gift prevented a good portion of the lesser Yokai Factions from joining up right away, thankfully.

Although she doesn't think that would curtail them for long, it's much more likely that they're taking a 'wait and see' approach, as the Oni Daiyokai predictably flies off the handle.

"Lady Suzaku." One of her Clan's Shrine Maiden fades into view next to her, kowtowing as she does, "Everything is in order. Heir Nakiri and Lady Doumon have taken to the streets personally."

"And Lord Kushihashi and Shinra?" Suzaku asked, although she already knew the answer.

"They have elected to stay at the Inner Sanucatory," the Shrine Maiden informed her evenly, "citing the possibility of it being attacked. That the Oni Daiyokai might seek to free his master during this commotion."

It took everything within Suzaku for her to not openly scoff at that.

Everyone knows that an attack on the Inner Sanctuary is bound to fail, the Yokai already tried it once after all, some four to five years ago.

Even now, she'd call the additional enhanced protections and barriers excessive. It would take all the Daiyokai present in Japan to work together to snap just the first one.

And by that time? Tobio would already have been called in for cleanup, just like the first time.

No, the only reason those two aren't out here is because one of them has a stick up his ass a mile wide, and the other is just being a dick.

Simple as that.

Regardless, their current forces would be enough.

"I see." Suzaku mused, completely unamused, "Thank you for informing me. Please, return to your group, post haste," she commanded with a glint in her eyes, watching as the Yokai procession began fanning out across the city, "things may start heating up sooner than expected~..."

The Shrine Maiden audibly gulped at that, "Y-Yes, my Lady." She replied in confirmation before hurriedly getting up and jumping off.

Now all that's left is to see how far Ibaraki will go in his rage.

See, Oni pride isn't a fickle thing. Noriaki's original challenge went uncared for due to a lack of respect.

Now he's forcing him to agree, such a killing must be avenged in kind after all, so Ibaraki must come personally to squash the disrespect done to him.

But that doesn't mean he has to agree to the letter of the challenge.

No, at this point? The Oni Daiyokai is fully out for blood. He will send his people at him, droves of Oni and any Yokai who are willing to sign up.

Not to kill him of course. That's the Fierce God's sole privilege at this point.

But, if the mobs sent after him are to rough him up a little and bring him to the Daiyokai's feet barely alive, that still counts as a job well done.

So long as Ibaraki gets the last swing of the cudgel.

But even now, there's a limit.

The best way to drag out Noriaki would probably be to threaten the city, but doing that would incur the wrath of the West Yokai almost instantly.

They won't risk destroying the city, or disrupting the human world, not at the start at least.

The second best way then would be to go after those he cares about.

Sadly, as Suzaku notes, the only one she's aware of who's close to the man is that insufferable feline.

This means the last, most convoluted, most annoying option is underway.

A good old-fashioned manhunt!

Which normally wouldn't be a problem, if it weren't mostly Oni trying to do it.

Idly, almost without thinking, she holds up her hand, pointing her fingers like a gun, aiming at the streets below.

Just as an Oni, a blue one based on their jacket, tries to bring their club disguised as a baseball bat down on a shop window.

Sparks dance around the tips of her fingers.

And the Oni's torso pops like a balloon.

Head, arms, and legs flop to the floor, as the remains of his torso flutter to the ground in ashes.

The small group of Oni and other Yokai around him quickly scream and scatter.

'Convoluted' and 'annoying' aren't two words that go well together with the Oni.

With a huff, she blows the tip of her finger gun, causing smoke to waft from it.

It just started, and she could sense the rowdiness already beginning to pick up throughout the city.

So far, it's basic petty gang stuff, but it's only a matter of when it'll escalate to full-on supernatural battles that threaten the masquerade.

Truthfully, she doesn't know how this isn't going to blow up before morning.

Luckily, they've got the city locked down for the event.

Exorcists from the Clans are out prowling the streets, putting down Yokai that threaten humans or the city, purifying them on the spot.

Mystics from the Five Clans, and even Onmyoji from the Bureau, are out putting down barrier fields and traps for the inevitable twist from roughhousing to a battlefield.

Even other Yokai are starting to go out and contest the Oni across the city, both trickling in from outside the city and from within.

Interesting. Albeit not surprising considering the Oni aren't exactly popular.

For now, all they can do is try to squash and put down these idiots, and pray the message sticks long enough for morning to come and Noriaki with it.

Then he can put down Ibaraki, and they can finally get to other funner things that don't involve small-scale war!

She already has an idea or two on what to cash that favor in on for having to deal with that unbearable black cat~...

But, well, for now. She supposes she can take out some of her toiling emotions on these idiots.

The Oni haven't been acting up for the past few centuries, not since their former leader Shuten was sealed and Mt. Oe was massacred.

Therefore, it's been a long time since anyone has hunted Oni.

With a wave of her hand, the discarded limbs and head are set alight and join the torso in ash.

Leaping off her perch to another, Suzaku can't help the wry smile spreading across her face at the thought.

~ A New Sun ~

I sit now at the parapet, the barrier set up to separate Kyoto from the outside world.

While non-supernatural beings can still leave and enter freely, for supernatural beings it only goes one way.

In.

As soon as I cross this boundary, I'll be stuck in the city with a very angry Oni Daiyokai who's currently sent his entire army out after me.

According to Suzaku via the good old cellphone, it sounds like he brought nearly all the Oni from Mt. Oe with him.

Yokai flooding and dispersing throughout the streets in cacophonous waves, as time slowly ticks on, things will continue to escalate, further and further.

Lucky doesn't even begin to describe the situation so far.

The fact that hasn't immediately devolved into a full-on battle inside the city is itself marvelous.

On top of that, we don't have to wait too long for the sun to rise, it's the main reason why I say it's so lucky.

In the middle of May, the sun dawns at a little over four in the morning, with the sun rising entirely into the sky at a little under five.

I pushed the limits of sending that package, sending it practically right at the last second, and it paid off so far.

When I'm so focused on it, I can feel it, the sun as it begins to rise, even before it breaks over the horizon.

Dawn is oh so close.

I take a long deep breath, not even one meant for battle, just one to breathe.

A pair of slender arms wrap gently around my neck, with a soft body clinging closely to my back shortly after.

"Darling~?" Kuroka purred warmly into my ear, "Feeling nervous, nyah~?"

I chuckle softly, "Yeah, just a little."

And why wouldn't I be? I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

As the saying goes, no first plan survives contact with the enemy.

In the best-case scenario, Ibaraki doesn't come out until noon.

In the worst case? He comes out now, and I have to play a game of cat and mouse with him, trying to stall for as much time as humanly possible.

You know, this power of mine is practically Sunshine, but holy fuck did Escanor not have nearly as large of a problem with getting to use it as I'm having.

For him, whenever he needed to, it was high noon and he was ready to clobber a motherfucker.

Or, when it was the middle of the night, he pulled out some bullshit like simping over Merlin counting as being 'his sun' so he could use it!

And I'm over here with a straight-up sun in my chest, and I can't do that!

Well. Maybe it's a matter of needing to train it more until I can activate it whenever via Shonen logic.

Considering a good chunk of the battles here are likely to take place in alternate dimensions and barrier spaces where there isn't a sun at all, it's something to look into.

Later. I don't want to continue relying on this aspect of my power for wins.

A kiss on my cheek brings me from thoughts.

"Myah~! Well, don't you worry…I'll be with you every step of the way!" She affirms with a mischievous smirk.

I reach my hand up over my shoulder and start scratching her ears, leaning back into her touch as I do.

Can I just say I'm highly considering breeding this cat when this is all over?

Maybe it's just the upcoming life-or-death battle that's got me feeling this kind of way, but still.

I know what I need to do for sure after this is start looking into a way of reversing or purifying her reincarnation, so the Underworld holds no sway over her anymore.

It would also have the side effect of making breeding her much easier, too.

…I'm sure she'd zero in on that bit the most, huh?

For the time being, we sit there in a comfortable, if foreboding, silence.

When you're waiting for something, somehow, someway, it feels like it takes both an eternity to happen and comes far too soon.

That's how it felt when dawn finally arrived.

When yellowish-orange light finally broke over the horizon, coloring the darkened sky over the city with purple and blue.

And the way it was tinged with a rusty red, as cold dread filled the air.

Oh. Fuck.

I didn't even need to look at the messages blowing up my phone to understand what was going on, I felt it.

Ibaraki is in Kyoto.

Judging by the fact I haven't heard anything exploding, he isn't out trashing the place.

But I need to give him something to focus on before he does that or shatters the barrier around the city.

Either way could make shit hit the fan real quick.

I stand up, bringing Kuroka with me as if she were a backpack.

"Time to go." I intoned while checking my phone to check and see if Suzaku had an exact location.

Ah. The moment he left he destroyed her Shikigami that she had watching Urakyoto's entrance and exits.

Joy.

Shadow Clones it is.

All of my clones at this point had popped a while ago, and whatever help I was going to get had been acquired.

It isn't much of a shock that the smaller Yokai Factions I reached out to didn't care about me, they just wanted to bloody the Oni.

Although I doubt anyone is going to step up to fight Ibaraki besides maybe Yasaka if he starts destroying the city.

Still, extra hands are always nice, even if it's just to deal with the grunts.

With a simple sign, I create the maximum amount of clones I can manage, around half a dozen.

I spread them out, and send them in first.

It's been a while since I kited a boss, but I hope I haven't gotten too rusty now.

"You ready, kitty?" I ask tentatively, stepping toward the boundary.

Another kiss on my cheek sends a nice warm feeling to beat against the nervous ache in my stomach.

"As ready as ever~! I worked really hard on my special Onigami poison you know, nyah~!" She licked her lips, her smirk turning just a bit feral, "I can't wait to see how it works in some live testing."

I give her a weary chuckle and a slight shake of my head before I step through the barrier space myself.

~ A New Sun ~

When was the last time the Fierce God was forced to take to the field of battle himself?

Truthfully, he gave them until dawn to find the boy knowing full well they likely wouldn't.

It was a toss-up on if he was even in Kyoto at all, or had taken Mt. Oe as his to hide in.

Judging by the fact the little coward seems so intent on challenging him, and drawing him into a fight, he'll assume he's here in the city for now.

Either way, the Onigami couldn't care less.

If he isn't, smashing the barrier around the city and taking an enthusiastic walk home wouldn't take long anyway.

Considering the paper familiars he leveled into fine ash with a single swing of his club, the paper familiars watching the way to and from Urakyoto, it would appear the boy has some help. Likely from the Clans.

Ibaraki isn't surprised. It still won't save him.

The question now becomes, how to go about finding him?

The urge to start smashing shit was of course his first thought, but that's more likely to draw the ire of the fox cunt rather than the boy first.

And although using the fox's tits like oversized baseballs for his club sounds absolutely cathartic right now, he doesn't feel like fucking around anymore.

Which is why he decided to start with a bang.

In his Human form, Ibaraki appeared like an extremely tall Yakuza or gang boss on a slight chunni streak.

His mostly former business attire was marred over by a long crimson red coat, embroidered on the back with the fearsome visage of a black Oni, crowned with five horns, the symbol of his power much like an Angel their wings or a Kitsune and Nekomata their tails.

The visage is a perfect color-swapped recreation of his looks, bare one important detail.

This image? Has three eyes.

In the middle of the street, Ibaraki smashed his fists together, Youjutsu seals stamping and burning over top of each other.

With a simple motion, he turned each of his clasped fists in the opposite direction as if turning a key inside a lock.

A single symbol burned itself into existence atop his forehead, glowing as red as his true form's skin.

As it wafted away, his skin shifted and opened.

His third eye was open for the first time in centuries.

He cared little for the few humans around him who saw him and screamed, before running in terror.

As long as he didn't physically touch them, the fox cunt could complain, but not come face him.

His making them take care of whipping and changing memories will give them to do in the meantime, keep them off his ass for a while.

Now like this, he could see everything.

He could see the way the leylines flowed in from across Japan and congregated in the city of Kyoto.

He could see every single Yokai within the barricaded city with ease, their unique Yoki painted against the backdrop of the lifestream in his mind's eye.

And most importantly?

He could see the Holy Spirit Power of the gods, the Kami, from the shrines to the beings themselves.

Kyoto is considered the cultural capital of Japan by the human population, and it is shown by the sheer number of temples and shrines within the city.

All this divine power, all huddled so close together, to his enhanced senses makes it feel like he's surrounded by fireworks.

But he will push through. He must.

He can feel it, the Holy Spirit Power from the Shinto Shrines, and even the Sacred Power from the Buddhist Temples, as they burn bright, flickering seemingly in response to the goings on around them.

They are watching the chaos as it unfolds in Kyoto.

The Gods are watching.

Ibaraki let out a grin, a savage feral thing, followed by a loud bark of laughter, summoning his club disguised as a baseball bat to his hand as he did.

Good. Let the divine have a front-row seat to the finale of their meddling.

~ A New Sun ~

Due to time, I don't think Prime gave us numbers, huh?

Hmm! Well, how about I call myself…Nori Ichi then? Nori One?

I was the first to get made after all!

Now then. Where was I? Right, right.

My garbage sensing abilities aren't making this job any easier.

Us clones have one job, randomly flare our power as we run across the city, and try to draw the big red chili pepper in.

Then get bodied if he decides to pick us, but we're clones, so it's not like we matter.

Repeat ad infinitum until noon, or however close we can get to it.

Good ol' Prime is squatting at the ambush spot, where the Bureau set up that special barrier.

Now all we have to do is do what we do best.

Be a bunch of little trolls!

Which is why I'm wandering around looking for soybeans.

For no particular reason, trust.

Say, how long has it been? Need to keep a watch or something…

I suddenly stopped walking.

Not because I wanted to. Or because I remembered something.

No, I just can't move.

Every hair across my body stands on end, and footsteps, loud and heavy, approaches from my right.

I barely manage to crane my head to the side, watching as a unit of a man approaches, bat idly swinging around in one hand.

I'd say he looks like you're over-compensating chuuni yakuza or mob boss straight out of a video game with that coat, but the actual third fucking eye doesn't do anything to help that image.

"There you are." The Onigami in 'disguise' growls out, "You won't escape this time."

Hmm. If he does his whole villain speech and then pops me, how pissed off would that make him?

For that reason, I keep my mouth zipped for now.

Then he just keeps walking toward me once more, a savage grin on his face, and he speaks no more.

…wait, really? That's it?

Man, this guy must suck at parties.

Oh well.

"S-Say, I've got a question for ya?" I manage, voice unintentionally quivering under the sheer pressure in the air.

The Fierce God snarls, violent purple ki bursting out and coating the tip of his bat as he walks.

I take a deep gulping breath.

"Do you t-take your soybeans yellow, white, black, red, or green?" I ask, with the utmost serious and solemn expression I can muster.

Ibaraki pauses. He looks at me, well more like glares down at me, and for one beautiful moment, he looks completely dumbfounded, his face scrunched up in distaste.

Then he grumbled, "Red."

Did he just fucking answer me!?

Well, I guess I should have expected that, considering, you know—

~ A New Sun ~

My head buzzes as a set of new memories slam into my brain.

Slowly but surely getting easier to handle, but not quick enough.

Especially when a new set of memories ends with a bat to the face.

Also. Soybeans? Really?

This one clone wandered around the wrong side of Kyoto for soybeans, for a little over half an hour.

On the bright side, it is now sunrise.

The sun is now visible completely in a deep blue sky, the horizon awash with yellow and orange light.

On the not-so-bright side, that was kind of quick, wasn't it?

Granted, there's that paradoxical feeling again…

I shake my head and return to my meditation, in that same little bus booth from where those Oni tried to 'jump' me before.

Just passing the time at the spot I told him I would be waiting for him for my first challenge.

Because there's no way I would be here for the second one, right?

Right. Most definitely. That would be crazy.

Heh.

Another half an hour passes in the blink of an eye until my next clone gets tracked.

Then a little under that for that next, and the next, and the next.

He's getting faster.

Another twenty for the last, and as the last one pops I send out more.

The next batch gets taken down at roughly the same continuous speed.

That third eye of his, huh?

One of my clones tried throwing roasted soybeans in his eye, unfortunately, it didn't work.

That poor guy got particularly blasted. He used yellow beans after all.

Regardless, it's now a little past eight.

Solar noon in Japan is eleven fifty-three these days, if I want overkill, I need three more hours.

But that's just not feasible.

I open my eyes, as the world around us shifts, the special barrier space I had prepared triggering and folding in place.

Standing there, in the middle of the street, is the Fierce God himself.

His face is contorted into one of snarling rage, and his skin is a mix of a half-disguised human tan and beat Oni red.

Wonder what got under his skin, eh?

"Took you long enough." I idly note, ignoring the pressure preventing me from standing for now.

I'll fix that soon.

"I don't know if I even want to ask, at this point." The Oni growls out through gritted teeth, his Youki visibly leaking into the air around him, giving him a purplish-red aura.

"Hey now, I'm the real deal!" I happily confirm with a wry smirk.

"That's what the last four of those…things…said!" He points his bat at me, the aura of Youki swirling and gathering to the tip of his bat as he does so.

"Well, I suppose there's only one way for you to find out, right?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

The vicious smile that spread across his face at my words, twitching occasionally with sheer rage nearly made me chuckle.

Nearly, but a bat was swinging for my face at that moment.

So instead, I remain still, emptying my mind as much as possible, and take a deep breath…

And in the moment before his strike connects, a honey-colored aura springs up and glows around me like molten gold.

~ A New Sun ~

A flash of gold overcame his vision.

Then dust and rock and debris overtook it all, yet no blood.

Another one, then!?

"See?" The Fierce God stopped his ranging thoughts at the nearly echoing voice and turned to the side, just as the dust and dirt settled, revealing the boy whole…and changed.

"Told you I was the real one, yeah?" He smirked, but Ibaraki only snarled back.

"Real or not, you should be dead." He spat out, "What did you do, boy."

With his eye, he could see something going on.

Divine power flowed into and through the boy from all directions, yet seemingly coming from nowhere.

This power took on the form of a honey-colored aura, clad on his body like a second skin, glowing with the ferocity of molten gold.

From the freshly destroyed booth, a trail of fresh magma and slag followed straight to the boy where he now stands, the ground around him even now continuing to melt as he just stands there.

The only blemishment that marred him was the nasty-looking bruise on his forearm, the torn sleeve of his robe showing it.

Holding up his bat, Ibaraki bit back another growl, seeing the bit near the top glowing red hot.

The change in his hair color, and those markings going up his face…this is that same form from his fight with the Red Dragon, isn't it?

But even then, it should not be this strong! To take one of his blows, even if not yet entirely serious…

"Hmm," the boy hummed, turning over his arm and looking at it with a click of his tongue, "that's for me to know, and you to guess for what little time you have left." He idly threatened.

Now at that, Ibaraki barked out a laugh.

"Just because you gained a little bit of strength, doesn't mean you are my match, boy!" He denied his threat with ease.

The boy craned his head to the side, with eerily unblinking eyes, "You ever played Pocket Monsters before?"

"What does a children's game have to do with any of this!?" Ibaraki howled in indignation.

Slowly, the boy drew his golden sword from his back.

"You're a Charizard."

His sword burst with swirling flames and sparkling light, the two powers converging with a pop, becoming a roaring hurricane of golden fire around his blade.

"And I'm a Stone Edge on crack."

With that comparison, the boy charged. A haze of golden fire and divine light followed him like a comet.

~ A New Sun ~

Dance.

I bring my blade down upon the Oni Daiyokai like a guillotine.

His bat, coated in his ugly purple Youki, comes up and stops it.

He snarls like a mad beast as I push down, due to the aura around his weapon, my blade isn't directly touching his bat.

Yet even still, the thing is starting to glow.

I let my power run wild and free, golden fire encircling the two of us in a wild dance.

It burns away at his clothes, at his human skin, at his power, and I smile down upon him.

Despite him being taller, of course.

My smile turns to a smirk as his human-sized form begins to contort, twist, and crack.

Youki spills from every pore of his body, and he roars, his aura bellowing from his body in one huge pillar.

My fire and light are pushed away, but not snuffed as I'm sent skidding back once more, eyeing the Fierce God in his Yokai form.

Five horns, three eyes, Oni club nearly as big as me, at least twice as tall as before, and leopard skin loincloth.

Although not in his kaiju-sized form, which I'm willing to be in his true form.

Of which I'm thankful he isn't in, at this distance, I could probably see up his loincloth.

"Kusanagi!" The red Oni roars, punching the air as he does.

A red Youjoutsu symbol burns itself into reality.

Flame-

The air cracks at the symbol and a deluge of red lightning comes from it, cascading forth like a wave.

Dance.

My golden flame-encrusted sword lashes out twice, carving the wave into fourths and directing them around me.

I can hear it, the destruction that single attack wrought, as it tears through the fake street block behind me like a hurricane of whips.

My turn.

Sunflower Thrust.

I blaze forth like a comet once more, just as the Daiyokai raised his Youki-clad club.

Encompassed by spiraling with golden flames, I fly under his swing and slam into his stomach like a fireball.

His club smashes into the ground, Youki and rock alike blasting into the air like a geyser as he roars in pain.

My golden blade, roaring itself with Holy Spirit Power, and Holy Spirit Fire alike, can easily tear and pierce Yokai flesh.

As I just did his stomach, lodging my blade into his gut.

With a twist of my blade, fire bursts from either side of the hole in his body, prompting another roar of pain.

My eyes dart to the left, as I suddenly pull the blade from his body.

With a deft leap, I flip over his incoming grasping hand, using it like a springboard even to launch myself further up.

My eyes widen as I barely have time to hold up my blade, blocking his horns from goring me at the sudden attempt to headbutt me.

The force of just blocking the attack sends me flying into the ground, striking it like a comet.

I look up from my strike zone and roll backward into a flip as a big red foot comes following up.

The resulting stomp carves an even deeper hole in my impact crater, with my landing safely at the edge of the destruction.

I raise my sword, looking to take some toes for that, only for a big red Youjutsu symbol to suddenly appear beneath his foot, carving itself into the ground.

With me standing just within its space.

I move to jump, only to find everything solid beneath me give way far too quickly for me to react.

Ibaraki pushed his foot down, and the ground around me rose like a liquid sludge, crashing around me, enveloping me, and dragging me up with it.

Trapped in the mud-like substance, I couldn't see, I couldn't even move, but I could hear.

I could hear the muffled sound of air parting-

My power, my aura, wraps around me like a tight shell at my command, just as the mud rumbles and parts.

His club swings through the pillar of mud like a baseball bat and strikes me like a ball.

The mud blows apart, my shell exploding with it as I go flying, ragdolling through the air.

When I hit the first building, my arm snapped the wrong way.

The second? My leg bent at the knee.

I don't know how many buildings I hit, I only counted the last thunderous sound as my impromptu flight was stopped suddenly by dead air.

My mangled form was caught in a web of cracks in the air, made from my slamming into it.

He hit me straight to the edge of the barrier space.

With a groan, I slowly dislodge myself from the boundary, watching my aura cascade across my form, fixing kinks and bends and snaps with similar sounds of its own.

For a split second, a manic smirk splits across my face before I quickly pull it back, my aura flaring.

I groan once more.

Slipping already? Seriously?

During my testing the other day, I figured out that up to a certain point, I can kind of 'control' myself when in this state.

Kind of. See, it's not controlled, not truly, more like going with the flow tentatively.

Ara-Mitama. My violent half. Unlike Kami, it's always a part of me, I don't need a big shonen moment to realize that the wording was literal.

If I had to guess, it's my battle-maniac tendencies taken to the extreme.

But it's still mine. I can take the reins, but the horse loves to buck, especially during fights it seems.

Generally speaking? I can tell how far along I am to lose it based on how badly I want to kill everything in front of me.

Or when the clock strikes ten, that's the point I naturally succumb anyway.

"Kuroka…" I mutter seemingly to the air, "It's time."

And I'm feeling pretty damn violent right about now…

Slowly, from the cracks behind me, a light purple mist begins to seep through.

Not just there, the mist starts coming out from across the entire boundary, seemingly from out from under it.

I have but one goal now.

Finish this before I lose myself entirely.

At least then, I won't feel so…dirty, afterward.

The first step? Smother his powers and Youki with my own.

I breathe deeply, pulling on my power at the same time.

When I breathe out, it's a tsunami wave of golden fire, crashing down to the ground and rampaging forth, bathing the fake city in a spreading torrent of flames.

The next step?

I land on the ground amongst a city awash in a sea of golden flames, power throbbing and visibly humming in the air.

Hit him really hard.

I kick off the ground, blasting forward like a bullet train, quickly catching up to my expanding wave of fire.

Just as it reaches the Oni.

Dancing Flash.

I leap through the wave and lash out, my sword cutting into another pillar of mud just as it forms.

The flames roar and splash into the makeshift mud breakwater, rapidly baking them solid once more.

With a twist of my blade, I cut the solid earthen wall in half.

I feel my eyes spin as I almost idly dodge a club swing poised to bat me away again.

My halo forms from my aura at my back as I do so, bursting into the air, beholding the snarling Oni below me.

He diverted the wave of fire around him with his mud wall, but not the poison mist slowly seeping in from all around.

Looking around, he seems to notice the mist and growls.

Hmm. How to stop him from dealing with it and advance my cause?

Ah. No biggie. I'll just add more fire.

My mouth opened, but instead of expelling words, I expelled a column of flame.

Ibaraki seemed to understand what my intentions were, however, as he punched out, stamping reality with his power once more, creating a net or web of red lightning to catch and disperse the flames like an umbrella.

I huff embers as the net bursts apart.

Well. I do have another way of adding more fire to the fire, as it were.

The first time I used this against Vali, he face-tanked it well.

Ibaraki shall not.

My blade ignites with wild roaring golden flames.

First Form, Dance.

The air cracks like thunder as I burst down straight at him, my blade arching down with me, bringing an arc of flame down upon the Oni.

Ibaraki raises his club, holding back the strike as the fire splashes around him, just like my first attack.

Second Form, Clear Blue Sky.

I twist, spinning my body and slashing out in a circular motion, prompting a ring of golden fire to whirl out around me.

The force was like a spinning wheel, pushing the growling Oni back, his feet digging against the ground as his club was forced to the side.

Only for him to plant his feet, and swing it back.

Third Form, Raging Sun.

Like clockwork, I strike back.

Not so much as beating the oversized club back as shifting and redirecting its movement around me within the wave of flames.

He swings twice, one left and one right, each with a howl as he sees each blow merely graze me.

Fourth Form, Burning Bones, Summer Sun.

His next attack comes straight down, and I spiral up to meet it.

Flames twist, rise, and whirl out of my attack like a cyclone as our weapons clash, traveling down his club and splashing onto him directly.

He roars as he's overtaken by the flames for a brief moment, and I grunt as he wins our clash of force, beating me down to the ground once more.

Fifth Form, Setting Sun Transformation.

I burst from the cloud of rock and dirt almost as soon as I made it, backflipping into the air.

He's too tall for me to reach his neck in time while he's distracted being on fire so I'll settle for slashing something else.

"GRRAAAAAHHHH!"

He roars in anguish as I slash open one of his knees.

Sixth Form, Solar Heat Haze.

Predictably, he swings down wildly for me in retribution.

The flames around my blade, hell, around the area in general swirl around me as I move, cloaked by the heat and fire.

His wild swing clips my hair as I go under it, and his fist follows up quickly to pick up the slack.

I slash, aiming to take a few digits off, but a Youjutsu symbol bars and clashes against my blade, despite its being concealed, perfectly, protecting his knuckle.

Looking past the flames, and his fist, I see his three eyes strain in bloodshot outrage as he looks down at me.

Hmm…

Seventh Form, Beneficent Radiance.

I twist and spiral around his fist as it continues its descent, slashing as I move not to deal damage, but to use the force to make myself be thrown 'off course'.

Eighth Form, Sunflower Thrust.

Fire explodes out of my feet like a jet engine on steroids, uncaring for the fake city behind me.

At the same time, I pushed my normal flight ability to its extreme.

I shot myself straight up, more a bullet than a comet, and stabbed forward.

Right into his big third eye.

With enough force to snap his back and send him staggering back slightly.

What? You can't have such a big 'hit me here!' sign like that and expect me not to!

Ninth Form, Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance.

I don't get time to wrench my blade from his oversized socket, as I'm suddenly violently thrown off by a blood-curdling roar, equal parts pain and horror.

His Youki once more erupted off him and into the sky in a pillar as his size thrummed several more meters, just like he was when he fought Yasaka, any fire that was on him was flung off like dust.

He didn't appear to grow any stronger, just bigger.

In truth, this entire time, he's just been growing weaker.

With every attack he takes, the longer he stays in these flames, he gets weaker, poisoned by light, and suppressed by divine powers.

Although, now that he's so much bigger, I'm going to need to add more fire, aren't I?

He starts to scream something, but I merely ignore him as I raise my blade high, a pillar of golden fire exploding forth from me and my blade.

I tense my body so much it buzzes with the telltale sign of pain, before slashing once, gathering all the golden flames along the blade as I do.

What follows the stroke of my blade is more like a beam of fire rather than a slash, all in the shape of a solar dragon.

It roars forth, thundering against the air as it slams into the supersized Oni, completely enveloping him waist up with golden fire.

The force was enough to send him straight on his ass, reeling back as his roars of pain were drowned in the flame.

Now to make sure he doesn't stand back up

Tenth Form, Improvised, Lateral Fire Wheel.

I fly forward with a burst of flames, aimed down straight at his legs.

Specifically, the knee I slashed earlier.

The Oni is too busy trying to put out the bonfire that is his upper half to even see it coming, especially without his third eye.

I blast into his non-existent guard, and with a flip, complete the cut.

There is no sound of the leg falling as it's already on the ground.

But there is a roar of indignation and anguish, as usual.

"How is your throat not shot yet?" I muse aloud, continuing to fly forward.

I see the shadow of his face in the flames as his mouth opens, lights flicker as his aura gathers, and he expels it with a roar as several dozens of bullets of power.

Very clever answer, Ibaraki, very clever.

Eleventh Form, Fake Rainbow.

But my path forward is clear, I will not be denied.

I twist and rotate, flames blasting from the soles of my feet as I move.

Several dozens of afterimages, all dodging his bullets, tell him exactly what I think of his reply.

Twelfth Form, Flame Dance.

In a blur, I reached his center, my blade preemptively poised as I struck.

Two slashes, one on top of the other, one vertical, and one horizontal.

But rather than carve through a lightning attack, it carves a '' into his chest.

Thirteenth Form.

The force of my final two strikes finally parts the flames rampaging across his torso, showing the extent of his burnt form.

Almost like charcoal in some places, charred and tender in most.

"Y-You…" I look up, seeing him looking down upon me, his face scorched and swelled, yet still, somehow I can see the telltale contortions of rage, "I won't…accept this…" he grumbles, seething, holding onto a nearby building to stop himself from fall over, as he lifts his club once more, "you poison me…weaken me…I'll kill you…I'll…"

I float up to be face level with him.

He swings his club.

It clangs as it slams into me, and bends around me, the immediate parts close to me superheating and melting away almost instantly.

He pulls his club back, staring at it as its melted half falls off to the ground.

With a low groan, he fell back onto the ground at last.

I stare down at him, as I feel his life finally dwindle, devoured and eradicated by my light and power.

I let out a sigh that I'd been holding in for the longest time, before muttering.

"Red soybeans, extra roasted, just the way you like, right?"