You Don't Know How to Use Your Power

Human World, Japan, Kuoh.

In the sky above Kuoh Academy, James and Vali were facing off just after Vali's sneak attack. Shortly after James flew to meet Vali, Azazel and Katerea Leviathan's fight also began.

"So, I assume you didn't attack me to actually save her, right?" James asked with a smile.

'I really hate that smile.' Vali thought as he looked at his opponent. 'With a happy go lucky smile like that there's no way he could possibly be stronger than me.'

"Of course, not." Vali replied with a scoff. "Why would I let her take my prey?"

"Oh... I see." James nodded with that smile still on his face. "But I think you made a little mistake."

"Oh, and what would that be?" Vali asked.

*Bang!*

*Boom!*

Then, before responding, James [Flash Stepped in front of Vali and landed a right hook to Vali's left jaw.

"[Divide!]"

As James' fist made contact with Vali's jaw, the effect of the [Divine Dividing] activated, bringing James' power down by half. At the same time, Vali was thrown off into the distance and smashed into the gymnasium, unable to slow his momentum.

"Well, I gotta admit that's not the most comfortable feeling." James said while staring at the fist used to punch Vali.

"[Yeah, that bastard Albian is annoying.]" Ddraig said as the [Boosted Gear] appeared on James left arm.

"[Boost!]"

"*Sigh* That's more like it." James said with a comfortable sigh.

Instead of pressing the attack, James waited for Vali to pull himself together. In his mind, the fight had not even started yet. That punch was nothing more than a love tap. A few moments later, Vali pulled himself out of the crater he made in the gym floor, then exited the building and flew back into the air.

"Not bad." Vali said with a battle hungry smile while he rubbed his jaw. "That hurt quite a bit."

"OH, don't worry." James said as his friendly smile turned into a battle hungry one as well. "We're just getting started."

Then, James disappeared with another [Flash Step]. This time however, Vali was able to duck under the incoming right hook. And as Vali lowered his head, James stopped the momentum of his swinging fist and wrapped his hand around the back of Vali's head. Then with all his might, he pulled Vali's head downward and raised his left knee.

*Bang!*

"Hmph!" Vali grunted in pain.

Although Vali was unable to stop the knee strike, he was able to dampen the damage by getting his hands between his face and James' knee. Unfortunately, he was smashed in the face by the back of his own hands.

"[Divide!]"

"[Boost!]"

Instead of trying to take distance, Vali channeled his demonic energy into his hands and shot an energy beam toward James' abdomen. Fortunately, James' perception was good enough to sense the demonic energy amassing in Vali's hands before he fired it off. With another [Flash Step], James was 10 feet (3 m) to Vali's right. Then, with another [Flash Step], James was behind Vali. Wrapping his arms around Vali's Torso, James Flew as fast as he could toward the ground.

"[Divide!]"

"[Boost!]"

As he descended with Vali, Vali struggled with all his might to separate from James. Unfortunately, due to Scathach's brutal training, James was much stronger, physically, than Vali. As they were near to landing, James began to spin, causing both of their bodies to rotate toward the ground like a drill.

"[Izuna Drop!]" James shouted excitedly.

'I've been hit by this move so many times in Dead or Alive that it made me sick.' James thought to himself with a smile. 'It feels fucking awesome to do this to someone else.'

*Boom!*

A few moments after they began to rotate, James drove Vali headfirst into the ground while propelling himself away from the landing zone. Due to the impact, a large amount of dust and debris was blasted into the air. A moment later, James landed outside of the dust cloud with a satisfied smile on his face.

"*Cough* *Cough* Damn it!" Vali said as he freed himself from the ground. "What kind of bullshit was that?"

As he spoke, Vali walked out of the dust cloud in James' direction. When he was visible again, his clothes were torn, and he was covered in dust. Also, there was a bit of blood flowing out of his mouth.

"You're gonna need to be more specific, Vali." James said in a sing-song tone with a smile. "Are you talking about the ass kicking you've been getting one-sidedly, or are you asking about the last move I used?"

Deciding to ignore James' reply to his rhetorical question, Vali stared at James without losing the battle intent in his eyes.

"I think it's time to kick things up a notch." Vali said. "[Balance Break!]"

"[Vanishing Dragon Scale Mail!]"

An instant later, Vali was covered in a white light. After the light dimmed, Vali was clad in the same white scale mail with dragon motif that James saw after the fight with Kokabiel.

"*Sigh* Why does everyone want to force me to use my [Balance Breaker] recently?" James asked rhetorically while shaking his head. "[Balance Break!]"

"[Welsh Dragon Shihakusho!]"

Like Vali, James was also covered in a bright light. Though, unlike Vali's white, James was illuminated with red light. Then, after his light dimmed James showed up in his Shihakusho.

"Alright, let's get to it." James said with a smile.

Without giving James the chance to draw near, Vali began firing demonic energy blasts like a machine gun while moving through the air erratically. Without using his [Flash Step], James was able to avoid or parry the demonic energy shots with ease. Seeing this, Vali's frustration continued to grow.

"There's no way you can be this much stronger than me!" Vali Shouted as he continued to fire at James. "[Half Dimension]!"

As Vali shouted, everything within a certain distance shrank by half. Not only that, but James' power was also cut by half.

"Huh, that's new." James said as he began to dodge Vali's attacks. "I need to do something about this fast, I guess."

"[Boost!]"

With that, James' power was back to normal. Then, as he dodged, James began to close the distance with Vali. However, as he moved closer, he found it more difficult to dodge the incoming energy blasts.

"Well, you should be proud, Vali." James said as he placed his right hand on Ochiru Sakura's hilt. Then, as he drew the blade, he continued. "You were able to make me draw my sword. Scatter, [Senbonzakura]!"

As Ochiru Sakura's blade broke down, James used the petal-blades to intercept Vali's energy blasts as he closed the distance. When he was close enough, he [Flash Stepped] over to Vali's left. Then, he threw a hard right hook at Vali's torso.

"[Penetrate!]"

"[Divide!]" x 10

*Crack!*

"[Boost!]" x 10

Like James, when in his [Balance Breaker] state, Vali could also use his ability to half his opponents' power at will, provided he was in contact with them. Unfortunately, Vali has yet to dive far enough into the [Divine Dividing's] secrets. Although Albian has an ability that is a perfect counter to Ddraig's [Penetrate] ability, Vali has yet to learn it. Because of that, James' blow to Vali's torso cracked Vali's [Scale Mail].

Before Vali could be blown away, however, James grasped Vali by the shoulder and kicked him in his helmet. As Vali flew away because of the kick, James [Flash Stepped] into his path and landed a knee strike on his abdomen. Then, as vali's momentum was killed, James threw an uppercut and sent Vali into the air. Then, with a combination of various strikes, James continued to treat Vali like a pinball in the sky. Throughout the entire exchange, constant alerts of [Divide!] and [Boost!] were heard. Eventually, James struck Vali and sent him down to the ground.

*Boom!*

Once again, Vali's impact with the ground caused a cloud of dust and debris to be shot into the air. A moment later, James landed near the cloud and waited for Vali to stand again. While he waited, he looked around the battlefield. From what he could see, the magic circle that was allowing the magicians to enter the barrier had been destroyed, and the last of them was being taken care of by all the younger devils and Irina. Sirzechs, Serafall, Michael and Gabriel were still in the meeting room, watching over the battlefield. Then, James looked up to where Azazel was fighting Katerea. When he did, he saw that Azazel was finished and heading to the ground.

"So, Azazel lost an arm." James said curiously as he watched Azazel descend. "I guess that chick was stronger than I thought."

After a few more moments, Vali finally exited the dust cloud. As he did, James could feel rage rolling off him in waves.

"You're not stronger than me." Vali stated, almost screaming.

"I know." James agreed with a nod. "Our strengths should be about equal."

"Then, how?" Vali asked impatiently. "How are you beating me so badly."

"Because I'm better trained." James said seriously. "If you knew what kind of hell training, I've been through, you'd shudder."

"There's no way you train harder than I do!" Vali shouted indignantly.

"If you knew who my master was, you'd understand." James said with a vacant look in his eyes.

Confused by the distant look in James' eyes, Vali was unsure whether he should be angry or not. Eventually, a teleportation magic circle appeared next to Vali. When it vanished, a tall young man with golden hair and dressed in ancient Chinese armor that could be commonly seen during the Three Kingdoms period appeared.

"It looks like this operation failed, miserably." The tall young man said. "But Vali, why do you look so...?"

"it's probably because he's not use to getting his ass kicked so one-sidedly." James said, interrupting the young man's question.

At that moment, the tall young man realized there was someone else nearby. At the same time, Vali audibly gritted his teeth.

"Oh, is that the Red Dragon Emperor?" The young man asked.

"Sure am." James replied with a smile. "James Alaverus, at your service. What should I call you before I bring you in with this traitor?"

"You can call me Bikou." The young man, Bikou, said with a smile. "But I don't think it will be that easy to take me down."

"We'll have to see about that." James said as he rested his hand on Mangetsu no Shita de's hilt and dropped into an iaido stance.

"Oh, this may be harder than I thought." Bikou said as his expression turned from a smile to something solemn. "This guy might be on the same level as Arthur when it comes to sword mastery."

"Seriously?" vali asked in surprise. "He barely used it at all when he fought me."

"It looks like this will be a bigger problem than I thought." Bikou said as he materialized a staff and took his fighting stance.

Before the fight could begin, however, Azazel's voice interrupted them.

"James, let them go." Azazel said as he arrived with the rest of the Faction Leaders.

"Immediately, James dropped his stance and shrugged his shoulders.

"If you say so." James said. "Fighting Vali was too easy, anyway. I mean, he's strong, like, really strong. But his usage of his strength is kinda pathetic."

"Ouch, burn" Bikou said from the side.

Vali's anger was rising as James spoke.

"You want to see power usage? I'll show it to you, you bastard." Vali said with his eyes wide open. "I, who am about to awaken..."

*Bang!*

Before Vali could finish whatever, it was that he was saying, Bikou struck him on the head with his staff.

"Ouch!" vali exclaimed while holding his head. "Bikou, what the hell was that for?"

"They're letting us leave and you're about to do something that should be a last resort!" Bikou shouted back. "So, let me ask you, what the hell are you doing?"

James only looked at Vali from the corner of his eyes before he spoke once again.

"If you had continued, I would have cut your head off before you could enter into [Juggernaut Drive]." James said nonchalantly. "The last thing we need is an out-of-control miniature Heavenly Dragon running around."

Before Vali could say or do anything else, Bikou grabbed him and teleported both of them away. Then, James turned toward the Faction Leaders and bowed politely.

"Is there anything else you require of me?" James asked politely.

"Can I see your bloodline ability again?" Gabriel was the first to speak.

In surprise, James froze and just blinked his eyes a few times.

Before he could answer, though, Michael pulled his over enthusiastic sister by the arm.

"I'm sorry about her, James." Michael said with a smile. "Gabriel is and always has been quite taken with the sight of fluttering cherry blossoms. And the fact that she was acquainted with your mother is probably another reason for her enthusiasm."

"Huh, you know my mom?" James asked with his eyes wide open. "Should I go get her?"

"I thought she was... OH, I forgot about that." Gabriel said. "She was reincarnated, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, Dad reincarnated her after she passed away when I was born." James said solemnly. "But she's happy about it. She always talks about how good she looks for her age."

Then for the next few minutes, James spoke with Gabriel about Leona. Then, around the time Rias, Sona, and their peerages finished repairing all the damage to the school, Gabriel looked at James nervously. Seeing the nervousness in her expression, James could not help but ask about it.

"Lady Gabriel, is there something wrong?" James asked curiously.

A moment later, Gabriel answered James' question. And the answer left him speechless.

"Well, um... I really would like to see your bloodline ability again, can I?" Gabriel asked with a smile and an excited blush.