Chapter 149

"You've gone too far."

Two behemoths, barely separated by a distance of a dozen metres, were bound to clash. As Igor instinctively turned his head to face this new threat, it was suddenly revealed that his pupils were entirely gone.

Only the whites of his eyes were visible, his mouth opening in a growl to display fully formed canines.

"Grrrrrrr…"

The blonde barred his teeth at Azazel, before releasing a demonic roar that resounded throughout the entire Underworld.

"RAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

GRUUUUU!

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|DxD|

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"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

GRUUUUU!

As Igor roared, a powerful shockwave was released. Like a hurricane, anyone remotely close to the redhead was pushed back, including his sister. His aura was unrestrained, his ki fluctuating wildly as his power slowly continued to climb.

His only opponent was Azazel, the governor of Grigori who was warily eyeing him. With twelve wings as dark as night on display, the pressure from his power alone served to compete with the Igor's.

[Monstrous.]

Those were Azazel's current thoughts. Very few people understood just how hard it was increase their power in the realm of supreme-class. Even monstrous geniuses like Sirzechs and Ajuka have barely stepped past the realm of mid-supreme class for centuries.

Yet, this power he felt from Igor was clearly above the intelligence report he read.

[No matter.]

FUUUUUSH

[I'll put him down.]

With the pressure from his aura thickening, he rushed forward.

Su!

And it seemed the redhead also had the same thought since he also charged forward.

Su!

Two powerful entities, both solidly in the realm of supreme class, were about to engage each other.

BOOOOOOM!

As soon as their fists met, a powerful shockwave filled the vicinity. The sound of their knuckles clashing against each other caused a loud thunderclap to resound in the region. The two behemoths wrestled each other in a contest of strength, a rabid snarl meeting a visage as calm as the morning lake.

They wrestled each other not only with their strength, but with their aura. Like two massive circular domains, black and crimson pushed against each like giant barriers battling for supremacy.

"Grrrrrrrr!"

"..."

With barely ten centimetres separating the both of them, they shoved each other with their shoulders, their free arms grappling each other as one aimed to overwhelm the other.

[Tch! This monster…]

Violet stared into pupil-less, the complete absence of consciousness in Igor's eyes making Azazel strapped for options on what he could do to make the redhead return to normal without needing to resort to extreme measures.

But as he filed for solutions in his head, Igor already had enough of this scuffle.

"RAAAAAAAA!"

With his mouth open wide, he released a sneaky ray of crimson-black energy that fortunately…

DOOF!

…Azazel was able to block with his wings. Opening his feathery barrier, Azazel watched as a feather from his wing fell to the ground…along with any leniency he had left.

[That's it.]

Boom!

In an explosive burst of power, he charged forward to meet Igor head on.

CLASH!

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Silence…

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Like flashing lights, streaks of red and black in the sky were accompanied by the rapid sound canon fire. The speed of their combat made even Aurelia who had long since retreated, unable to clearly observe the blurry figures, and that was with the use of her observation magic. But if there was one thing any observers would have to say, it was that this sight of two behemoths battling had truly opened their eyes.

Su! …Su!…CLASH!

Azazel truly showed his vast combat experience in this exchange. He was going toe-to-toe with the redhead and he wasn't losing in the slightest. In fact, his advantage was slowly, but progressively getting stronger.

Although fallen angels were known to specialise more in ranged attacks, he had no flaws when getting up close and personal with the berserk redhead. His millenniums of combat experience shined bright like a diamond in this exchange.

With all twelve of his wings out, he used them like extra limbs, their bladed edges chasing after the nifty redhead. Beyond all doubt, Igor was keeping up despite clearly lacking in extra limbs. Regardless of his berserk state, his instincts were nothing to scoff at. Despite clearly lacking any sort of eyesight, his other senses made up for that deficiency.

And, if one of Azazel's wings even tried to stab him…

CLING!

…they would barely be able to get past his skin. His extremely dense muscle fibres were like an extra suit of armour. His thick skin was what allowed him to shrug off most of the governor's attacks. And in face of fighting someone with thousands of years of combat experience on instinct alone, he needed that thick skin.

"RAAAA!"

BANG!

First hit!

Narrowly dodging a fist, Igor was able to sneak in a solid gut punch to Azazel's stomach. But it seemed Azazel had a higher pain tolerance than expected. Clenching his teeth as he bore the pain, Azazel's hands formed an axehandle above Igor's head and without hesitation, he slammed them down.

GU!

For a very brief moment, Igor lost his consciousness. The powerful blow to the top of his unguarded head joggled his brain a bit. But very quickly, he recovered. Using the momentum generated by the blow to his head, he performed a frontflip kick, one specifically targeted for Azazel's head.

But Azazel caught such an obvious move. Catching the redhead's leg, he raised his arms and held Igor upside down. With ruthless efficiency, he reeled his knee back, and hit him right in his spine.

"Argh!"

Feeling the pain in his lower back, Igor lost all feeling in his legs. Azazel then charged downwards, his grasp firmly on Igor's leg.

SU!

He was extremely fast, his wings narrowed for that extra speed. As soon as he descended a kilometre or two in altitude, he flung the redhead towards the nearby mountain range without any hesitation.

SUUuuuuu…BOOOOM!

With ruthless pragmatism at its finest, Azazel would not give Igor a break. With his arm extended, literally hundreds upon hundreds of black spears formed out of thin air. It was direct materialization with no magic circle in sight.

"Descend."

Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu!

The spears descended like focused artillery fire, precision strikes that disappeared into the massive dust cloud that had yet to disperse from Igor's crash-landing.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Like machine gun bullets, the spears continuously descended. As more and more descended, Azazel generated more, making sure to keep up a never-ending flow of dark spears.

Yet no matter how many he fired, he could clearly feel through his senses that they were not doing enough damage. To be precise, the damage that was inflicted was offset by the insane regeneration Igor had.

But, it didn't matter. He was already preparing a more powerful spear with his free hand, one that would put down Igor once and for all and end his rampage.

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|DxD|

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Pain. All Igor felt was pain, especially in his lower back.

He wasn't even sure why he was feeling pain, but it was this pain that made him wake up. Opening his eyes, the blonde found himself in a strange world. There were lush plains that extended as far as the eye could see with no tree or bush in sight. The sun was bright with no clouds in sight, its rays warmly caressing his skin.

Sitting up, the blonde idly removed the strands hovering on his face as he took in his surroundings.

"A lucid dream? But when did I fall aslee-"

*Throb!*

"Ow…"

There it was again, that faint stinging sensation on his back.

"Did I pass out on the benchpress or something? Why does my back hurt this much?"

Taking a deep yawn, the blonde stood up before giving himself a good stretch.

"Or maybe I'm in bed and sister is digging into my back with her knee again".

Yawning again, the blonde scratched his nonexistent beard.

"Whatever. Time to wake up then." 

"I'm afraid I can't allow that."

"Hm?"

Rubbing his eyes, Igor drunkenly turned towards the direction of the voice. He was met with the sight of a little girl no older than five-years-old in age. With long-flowing blonde hair, it almost seemed to glow like molten gold. In fact, it was clustered together almost like his when he transformed instead of being in individual strands.

Her skin was tan in colour, her hovering form draped in a golden dress that just barely reached her knees. She was barefoot and lacked any other noticeable accessories.

Face to face with Igor, her childish form was simply that: childish. Her face lacked the innocence or naivety a child would have, her brown eyes showing a level of maturity well beyond those a child would have.

As the blonde took in her sight, his eyes widened as he finally seemed to "wake up". Recent memories that were suppressed suddenly made their way into his head.

His return from the time chamber, his reunion with his family, news of Baraquiel, the Underworld, and his confrontation with the fallen before finally…

'Yes. I did. And I have no excuses.'

…the moment where his memories were cut off as his mind seemingly blacked out.

"..."

As the memories returned, so did his vigilance. This strange girl who suddenly appeared out of nowhere most likely had something to do with his sudden state of unconsciousness.

Increasing his vigilance, he calmly asked her.

"Who are you and why would you not want me to wake up?"

The little girl smiled brightly.

"Because…"

She raised her arms in an attempt to cup his face, but the blonde leaned back, his brows furrowing.

"Don't touch me when we don't know each other."

"..."

With her smile faltering, she lowered her arms in acquiescence to his request. However, the blonde remained unfazed. Rather, his vigilance continued to increase.

"Tell me who you are and what you want."

"I…"

With cerulean meeting amber, it was the latter that slowly gave up in this stare-down. With a sigh, the little girl turned around as she slowly flew away from Igor.

"A name? I don't have a name. At least…I don't remember it. But…"

Turning around with her arms behind her back, a childish grin formed on her face.

"...you can call me Triny~."

"..."

And just as quickly, that smile faded in the place of nervousness.

"I know it's not the best name, but it's closer to what I've been called for the longest time."

"And you brought me here?"

"Yes. I brought you…why are you leaving?"

The little girl noticed Igor's form flickering in and out of existence. At her question, the blonde grit his teeth and continued trying to leave.

[Something is happening to my body.]

That incessant pain in his back was growing hotter and hotter. Rather than spend time with some random girl he didn't know, he would rather attend to his body outside. But it seemed Triny had other thoughts.

"NO!"

Instantly appearing in front of the blonde, she grabbed him by the shoulders and immediately, his figure stopped flickering.

"?!"

Heavily confused by what just happened, further confusion was added when Triny glared at him.

"I won't allow you to leave! I won't! I won't! I WON'T!"

Like a torrent, waves upon waves of black miasma suddenly expanded from Triny's arms and gradually began covering his entire body.

"What is-"

"Even if…even if I have to keep you here by force, I won't let you leave me alone!"

"?!"

With the miasma covering him like burning flames, his resistance continued to weaken until he fell to his knees.

"Y-you…"

Glaring at Triny, all he saw were her sad eyes before he gradually lost unconsciousness. It was a haze of confusing events that happened so quickly that he could barely process what was happening. As his eyes finally closed, so too did the miasma continue to expand.

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|DxD|

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[I'm slowly getting through.]

Up in the skies, Azazel could feel that his spears were gradually penetrating through Igor's skin. After more than six-thousand spears plus two supercharged spears, the redhead's regeneration was finally stalling.

[I'll get ready to seal him soon.]

With a small black magic circle forming in his hand, he was ready to rush down and place a magic seal that would lock down Igor's strength. He just needed to whittle down his strength a little more, just enough so that if Igor has another outburst it won't break the seal.

[Just a little…more?]

It was subtle at first, barely a cause for concern. He had seen Igor's regeneration spike for a few moments before it finally fell away under the torrential wave of spears. But this time, it was different…vastly different.

"?!"

It was instant.

GRUUUUUUU!

Out of nowhere, Igor's power suddenly skyrocketed. The shockwave alone generated by his rapidly increasing power was so much that he found himself having to shield his eyes.

The last batch of spears that were raining down before he was interrupted veered off course due to Igor's power outburst.

Doof! Doof! Doof! Doof! Doof!

With hundreds of spears piercing the ground below, Azazel wasn't even remotely prepared for what he saw next.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

He found himself having to cover his ears when he heard Igor's demonic scream that was similar to a widow's wails of anguish. The massive dust cloud that was kicked up by his spears veering off course was cleared by the redhead's demonic wail.

But when Azazel looked down again, a trace of vigilance and confusion formed on his face. Like a miasma creeping up on him, the vast majority of Igor's skin had become as dark as night itself. His skin had turned completely black, leaving only his face that appeared to be encroached by dozens of spiky tentacles.

If that was all, it would be better. But…

GRUUUUUU!

"Not again..."

His power rapidly increased. The crimson-black veil covering him expanded exponentially, his aura lashing out like violent tentacles. The redhead fell on all fours, his power continuing to spike.

But…

"?!?!"

…it was what happened next that caused Azazel to panic.

"AURELIA!! SEAL THE AREA!!! NOW!!!!!!!!!!"

There were very few times that Azazel displayed this much urgency in his voice, but this situation required it. If word of this sight got out, Igor would be hunted down by every single entity in the supernatural world. Good or evil, all of them would unite to hunt him down.

Because on Igor's head, although it was illusory, his aura had shaped itself to look like ten horns.

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AN

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Ten horns. If you know, you know. If you don't know, calmly wait for the comments explaining what the hell is happening. Or wait for the next chapter.

If you're interested in reading ahead, you can find more chapters on my patreon under the same username.