128 Calamity/Karma (2)

Sae finally reached the forest clearing. Beside her were Koga and Shigune as the young woman's bodyguards. Medea and Lavinia had stayed in what had once been a river to treat the still unconscious Kouki and Natsume.

Koga stood guard and covered Sae and Shigune when he saw that there were two unknown people within the forest. Shigune positioned himself on Sae's back, thus covering any spot for a surprise attack that might fall on Tobio's helpless childhood friend.

"They are not enemies. If they were, the great Vali Lucifer, the strongest Vanishing Dragon, would take care of them."

Vali had to do that. If Vali didn't do it, he would stop being Vali.

"Stop dreaming Vali. Sae, come here and help Tobio."

Sae was nervous and followed Jason's orders without complaining. She approached Tobio and felt sad and painful at seeing his condition, and it didn't improve knowing he was like this because of her. Before she could cry, Jason rushed her to finish.

"Cry later, get him back to normal."

Jason saw that Sae pulled out a bracelet and came over to talk to Tobio. He ordered Vali to take a look at those two and went to speak to the Nakiri.

"Well, here we are." Jason approached the siblings.

Momoji bowed gracefully. Ouryuu didn't bother to look at him.

"Nice to meet you, Jason-sama. This humble woman is Momoki Nakiri, priestess of the outer law of the Nakiri clan, bearer of Longinus Telos Karma and supervisor of Ouryuu Nakiri as long as he does not take over as head of the family."

Jason nodded with a smile. It was strange to see a Longinus carrier act in such a manner, but this surely had to do with the customs in her clan, and that was something Jason was not going to get into. Jason didn't expect to see a Longinus wielder put herself in a lower position than a non-wielder.

Momoji saw Jason's gaze and vaguely guessed what he was thinking. It wasn't the first time she had faced such a situation.

"It's not uncommon to act in a position inferior to someone who is stronger than you. I respect my brother's strength, and I know I'll never be able to get close to him."

Jason nodded. Her thinking was totally acceptable. Jason looked at Ouryuu.

"Do you think the same as your sister?"

"Hmph, I told you, my sister is the smartest and prettiest, and she is always right. If she says that, then she's telling the truth."

Ouryuu was not ashamed to say that. And he was saying it honestly. Nakagami may be the strongest in history, but as his sister, he respected the "strong". His sister's intelligence was something he admired above all else; not even the head of the clan and second strongest got half the respect Nakagami gave to Momoji.

"Yellow Dragon, Ouryuu, Huang Long. Aren't you going to show yourself?"

The two siblings looked at Jason in confusion. Was he talking to himself?

"So you are as arrogant as your carrier. I guess I'll beat him until you decide to show yourself."

The Nakiri didn't understand what was going on, but they were sure Jason wanted to fight Ouryuu.

"Come on, the strongest Ouryuu in history. Show me the strength of someone who has broken the boundaries of the human."

Jason had previously said Ouryuu was a battle maniac like Vali, but he had not mentioned that Jason was also a battle maniac. He had not killed David at the time because he wanted to feel the excitement of a close sword battle. Now that there was an opportunity to go to a higher level, why should he reject it?

"You? Don't make me laugh. You can barely handle a dog, what can you do against me?" Ouryuu didn't think much of Jason's strength.

"Is that so? Let me ask you a question first."

"Yes?"

"Have you ever fought a real demon?"

To Jason's question, Ouryuu laughed wildly.

"Of course, we five clans live off that. How could I not face a demon? Some of those bastards with bat wings are pretty strong."

Jason shook his head. Ouryuu had confused the term demon with devil. Jason's hair began to turn black, and his pupils also took on that color. Although they were not seen by the clothes, the tattoos on Jason's body began to expand, showing only the tattoo that reached up to his left cheek.

"You're confused. I wasn't asking you about those inferior beings, I'm telling you about real demons."

Ouryuu's face became serious.

"Ouryuu-sama..."

"I know, this bastard is strong." A huge grin appeared on Ouryuu's face.

"Ouryuu, Ouryuu... Let me introduce you to what an Ashura is."

The earth shook, alarmed the rest who were busy with Tobio and Jin and Medea and Lavinia who were healing Natsume and Kouki.

"What's going on?!" Lavinia was alarmed.

Medea was calmer.

"So that Jason has found an opponent who will make his blood boil."

Vali reacted like Lavinia, Koga joined him, and Nanadaru Shigune began to tremble.

Albion was the one who had to speak.

"Everybody calm down. This is not a fight you can get involved in. Those two are at a higher level than Augusta. You will die the moment you approach them."

Jason noticed that they were too close to Vali, and the rest and Momoji Nakiri was also present.

"Let's go to a more convenient place."

Before Ouryuu could speak, Jason grabbed his head and jumped to the other end of the forest, near the top of the mountain. Jason could feel the presence of Barakiel and Satanael, along with a dozen others, fighting at the top of the hill.

"Show me! Show me your power! Ouryuu."

"JaJa! Take a good look then, Jason. The power of the yellow dragon, lord of the earth."

A yellow cape surrounded Ouryuu Nakiri, the whole mountain shook. With each tremor, the layer around Ouryuu became denser and denser.

Touki. Ouryuu was using the Touki to increase his attack, defense, and speed. This technique was not unknown to Jason as it was the one used by the Nekoshou to fight.

Jason noticed a detail.

"You Touki is not common."

"Of course not. As the Sacred Beast representing the earth, the Yellow Dragon grants me the ability to harness the "veins" of ki flowing through the earth allowing me to use the earth-based ki to strengthen my own physical abilities. And this place, where the ground is fertile, I have a greater supply of earth-based ki to extract, so I am stronger."

Jason grinned.

"Something worse than that would have disappointed me."

The golden aura surrounding Ouryuu became denser and denser. There came a time when he stopped, and it seemed that the limit of Ouryuu had arrived.

"Dragon Man"

Scales appeared through Ouryuu's body, as well as a pair of horns on his head and a tail. Dragon Man allowed Ouryuu to partially transform into a dragon for a limited time and further increased his physical abilities.

The two looked at each other, and without saying a word, they began the fight.

…

Sae broke one of the five beads on the bracelet Azazel had given her. Each of the basins allowed Tobio 10 seconds of Balance Breaker without losing his sanity, which would be 50 seconds using his Balance Breaker without problems. There had only been one inconvenience before, and that was that Sae, who wore the bracelet with beads, had been seriously injured and Tobio had entered his Balance Breaker unconsciously.

The words Azazel had used to explain to Tobio the use of the beads had been as follows.

"Those prayer beads are something that suppresses your grandmother's technique. Each one will allow you to retain your sanity for a maximum of ten seconds. But, do remember that they're only at the experimental level. There may be unexpected occurrences, or there may be side effects that emerge after using Balance Breaker. Will you use them?"

Sae could not care less about the consequences of using watersheds. She broke one of the beads, and the remains of the stone fell on Tobio. Healing returned to Tobio's mind, and upon seeing Sae, the effects of his Balance Breaker vanished. The shadows left the bodies of Tobio and Jin, and they returned to normal.