Chapter 10

"If what my daughter said is correct…"

His mind briefly flashed to the conversation he had with Akeno, of how Igor still treated her normally despite her heritage.

"...then yes. I'll trust the brat."

.

|DxD|

.

It was around 10:00 in the morning. After settling the little squabble Igor had with Shuri and Akeno, the young blonde had taken to going outside. He didn't know if Baraquiel did it on purpose, but his weighted clothing was still left at where he dropped it off. 

Shuri had offered him one of Baraquiel's jackets but at a rare moment of respect, Igor had replied:

'Sorry Aunty. My father taught me that a man does not share clothing with another man. Even if I am not a proper man yet, I am not his son. I am a son of Dimori. Therefore, you giving me, the son of another man, his clothing, would be the same as slapping him in the face.'

To say Shuri was upset at being called 'aunty' was an understatement. But she stomached this resentment in favour of acknowledging his reasons for not wanting any clothing.

This left the blonde with only his torn and worn pants. However, he didn't have a problem at his current state. Being topless and barefoot was already how he mostly was in the time chamber when he was meditating.

So repeating what he usually did when outside the time chamber, he scoured the yard and found a nice tree to sit down and lean against. 

Crossing his legs, he began meditating. He calmed his breaths in line with his raging ki. The moment he breathed in, his ki surged enough to create a faint blue aura cloak on his body. But when he breathed out, the aura retreated into his body.

He repeated the process over and over again. Each time when he breathed in, the aura of ki surrounding his body would grow thicker and opaquer and when he breathed out, it would retreat into his body completely.

What Igor was doing was a ki-control method of 'Push-and-Pull'. Everytime he breathed in, he would power up in stages, circulating his ki faster and more forcefully. When he breathed out, he would draw in all that ki as quickly as possible within the time of a single breath. If all his ki is withdrawn into his body, then he can ascend to the next stage and power up further. If there is even a faint outline of wisp of aura by the end of the breath, then he will have to stay within that stage and hone his control. It also works the same way for drawing in breath. If he winces during the process of powering up, then he must remain within that stage until mastery.

Although this exercise seems pointless or time-wasting on the surface, it was extremely important in that, mastery over this exercise can influence battles in an instant. In fights, the one who can masterfully control their energy output can instantly power up to deliver crucial blows, or decrease that output to maintain their stamina.

'Fighters who can maintain a higher energy output without leakage will have a higher chance of winning, even if their opponent is more powerful than them.' -Nakamura

It was one of the few things Igor picked up from Nakamura's book. Training his body served to increase the capacity of his ki while meditating like this served to hone his control over it. However, Igor had started to see diminishing returns in his training.

In the last decade(year), the rate of his strength increases had decreased by almost half, causing him to have some concerns. But a quick analysis simply told him that he was reaching the limits of his current physique.

That is why even while meditating, Igor had a plan of action in mind.

[I'll spend one last year in the time chamber before hiding somewhere in the Himalayas and wait to grow up. Although it pains me, maybe six-years will be needed before I can build up more potential. Once I reach age ten, I can boost my body's strength even further. If I remember correctly, things should start getting hectic somewhere before the 2010 world cup, right? My memory's shaky after so long. But I do know I must keep an eye out for some red-dragon…guy? Wait. It was the red-dragon…what was it again?]

Unfortunately, he pondered so much on the topic that when he breathed in, he unintentionally powered up too rapidly and this caused his muscles to cease up.

"Argh! Cramp! Cramp! CRAMP! Fuck! CRAMP! Cramp cramp cramp cramp cramp cramp! CRAAAAMP! SHIT! Fuck! FUUUUCK! Fuck my life! Waaaaaaa!"

His muscles were visibly bulging with veins twitching all over his body. Even his neck muscles seemed twisted, causing his head to remain stiff. His eyes were wide open, his pupils noticeably narrowing in pain.

He didn't hear the pitter patter of feet rushing up to him, but he definitely heard what he would consider, the dumbest question of all time.

"Are you alright?!" 

With tear-stained eyes, Igor glared at Akeno with all the fury he could muster. Nothing could sum up the amount of pain and anger within those eyes of his.

"Fuck your mother!* Do I LOOK ALRIGHT?! SHIT! FUCK! This hurts! THIS REALLY HUUUURTS!"

Igor really wanted to continue slinging curses to dull the pain of every single muscle in his body seemingly twist on itself. 

But when he heard that…

"Ara?" 

…and saw Shuri Himejima look at him with cold eyes, he really wanted to cry at that moment, especially since he was defenseless.

.

|DxD|

.

{"Romero. I have always…ALWAYS loved you~"}

{"I know my sweet Natalie. I have loved you since the dawn of time as-"}

"Pfffffft"

Igor couldn't take it anymore.

"Fuck! How do you watch this brain-melting, cringe-inducing shi-" 

"LANGUAGE…Dimori-kun~"

Igor growled in his restraints . A white blanket was wrapped around him like a straight jacket, complete with thick cargo ropes used on trucks. He had tried to shout his way out, even going so far as swear upon his family name to remain quiet as long as Shuri released him. She didn't.

Now, it's already been an hour since he's been forced to watch this romantic movie and it was killing him inside.

"Look at his noodle arms! I could snap him in half!" 

"..."

*Vein Bulge*

Shuri couldn't take it anymore. She grabbed the remote and turned off the television…with elegance of course.

She sat down properly and turned towards Igor, a small smile accompanied by a slight vein bulging on her forehead.

"Dimori-kun. Why do you hate this actor so much~?"

It took all her strength to not growl her words out. From the beginning of the movie, Igor had been shaming the protagonist with all kinds of colourful words. She had even resorted to having Akeno sit on her lap and cover her ears whenever the blonde would go on one of his tirades.

This time, Shuri couldn't hold it back anymore. She wanted to know why he wouldn't stop.

Naturally, Igor provided an Igor-like answer.

"Why? Because he's a pansy." 

He replied as if it was a matter-of-fact. He would've lifted his hands to emphasize his point, but his whole body still felt as if it was vibrating.

Shuri nodded politely and prodded.

"Since you say he is, what you say he is-"

"A pansy."

*Vein Bulge*

"...yes, could you elaborate, Dimori-kun?"

Igor ignored the strain of lifting up his head in thought.

"Welllll…he's a pansy."

*Vein twitch*

"Yes but-"

"I mean, come on aunty. This guy has been GIVEN everything. He didn't work for anything and he didn't improve his body. While his father is busy running the estate, he's going around hunting girls. Then for some reason, he meets a pure maiden and falls for her."

He took a deep breath in, his gaze turning serious.

"My problem now is, he's chasing after her using his FATHER'S ASSETS! Everything from the car he drives to the apartment he stays in, BELONGS to his father. When he invites her for the night, it's in his father's property. When he offers her a lift, it's in his father's car. Even the money he spends on her belongs to his father! The bastard can't even afford his own clothing yet he has the balls to chase after a girl with his father's assets! Do you remember the construction worker from the beginning?"

Shuri nodded absentmindedly. His words were intriguing her, his tongue unleashing sentences far more profound than a child his age should be.

"I do."

"THAT…is a man. He had his life in gear. If he was the main character, it would've been much better. But nooo. Tell all the girls that strings and bling is the way. Ignore the capable guy. Accept the pansy who uses daddy's money."

His tone began to lower.

"Tch! I hate that. I hate that with every fibre of my being. It spits on the essence of what it means to BE a man."

Silence…

Shuri couldn't believe her ears. She watched as Igor seemed to recall something in his head.

[Never would I have imagined that the boy with such a foul mouth, could speak such compelling words.]

She was so out of sync with the world that a quick elbow jab from Akeno brought her out of her stupor. When she came to, she was embarrassed when she saw Igor stare at her with intense curiosity.

But before she could get a word out, Igor spoke. And in that one sentence, every good opinion Shuri developed went down the drain.

"Aunty. Are you one of those people that has that thing called demunten…dementin…dementu? Ah fuck it. Old people syndrome?"

Shuri…had had it up to here.

"Dimori-kun. First it was calling me 'aunty'. Now you are telling me that I have dementia-"

"Dementia! I knew the word was on the tip of my tongue-"

"Dimori-kun!"

Akeno darted her head between Igor and her mother with a confused expression. Igor was looking at her mother with a curiously confused gaze. As for her mother, she appeared to be smiling. But the steadily increasing number of vein bulges on her forehead said otherwise.

Akeno didn't fully understand what was happening, but she felt one word would be appropriate to use to describe the situation.

"Fuck!"

That cute, high pitched voice saying such a word caused the entire room to freeze.

"..."

"..."

Glance!

Glance!

A certain boy smiled like they just found a comrade. His eyes were shining brightly like he just saw the stars themselves descend upon the world.

A certain miko froze like they just witnessed the beginning of Armageddon. Her pupils shrunk in disbelief, her mind encountering errors in attempts to process what it just heard.

But before anyone could properly react, the window to the room broke open. While others saw pieces of glass, all Igor saw was a massive tanned fist covering his vision.

And like a man, he faced it with his face.

Glare!

BOOOM

.

AN

1. "Fuck your mother!* Do I LOOK ALRIGHT?!…"

Explanation: The phrase "Fuck your mother" isn't fully complete…to put in one word. It has different ways of interpretation but in most scenarios, it could be seen as: "Fuck your mother for raising a bastard/idiot like you.". In this scenario, Akeno is asking a dumb question and Igor curses her mother for raising an idiot like her.

2. I know I said I would upload today. I never specified what time. As I write this, it is 11:42pm. Reason why I'm uploading so late is because my schedule for Tuesday shifted to Monday (Today). I still uploaded so I kept my promise.

3. I'm going to bed.