Kisuke used his aura and swung his arm to blow away the dust. Half of the cameras immediately focused on the ground where Crom was embedded into it.
Everyone could see Crom having arms with extra sets of 'joints' and his caved-in the chest as he coughed out copious amounts of blood. However, it didn't take long before they started snapping back to their original positions and Crom slowly stood up from the crater created by his crash landing, "Amazing. And it looks like it's only the second step of that technique.", he commented while looking at the 'drums' behind Kisuke with two of them converted to an eye symbol.
"This is actually my limit for now. Any further and I won't be able to take much more of the stress this is causing."
"I see... So this is what you meant by being broken. Wonderful. It's already far more than my expectations." At the same time, Crom's large claws began retracting, but his lean body almost doubled in size with his black scales fully covering his limbs and extending to his chest and cheeks.
However, the most notable change was the density of his Dragonic Aura around him, "I'm ready for round two." Crom bent his knees and gathered his strength in his legs. The moment he pounced back, the crater below him grew deeper as he was launched towards Kisuke.
The latter, meanwhile, had no intention of dodging and took a stance to throw his fist. While he gained some speed with this form, it was negligible at best and was only able to surprise Crom in the first instance. As mentioned before, his Shunko was a lot heavier compared to Yoruichi's and Soifon's so his fighting style would have to adjust.
Although he was able to practice a bit within the void, Kisuke's opponents were just mindless beasts. And now that his opponent was someone who had been fighting for a few centuries, he imagined that he'll have a bit of a hard time, especially since it's the opposite of his actual fighting style and it wouldn't be an understatement that he'll be copying his style, 'So if I incorporate this style into my Zanjustsu... Would that mean I'd be fighting just like Zaraki?'
Tossing those useless thoughts behind him, Kisuke took a deep breath and met Crom's fist with his own.
As the shockwave exploded, both of the 'armor' on the two fighters cracked. However, that only fueled the berserkers, and they continued exchanging fists. Soon, it was because of an exchange of various hand-to-hand techniques encompassing both gentle and hard ways and sometimes, even grappling techniques that aimed to detach a limb or two.
Crom's technique surrounds the idea of pouring all of his strength into one single point, however, Kisuke's 'skin' was just too tough and he also noticed that it also has enhanced regeneration like himself. On the other hand, Kisuke's strength lies in him transferring all of the force he could generate into his opponent's body, destroying it from the inside. Still, Kisuke didn't think that Crom would be so resilient or that he would be able to expel the force he was injecting through his wings.
Thanks to that, Kisuke and Crom were only accumulating damages with the latter being very confident that he'd be able to outlast his opponent. Sadly for him, the former wasn't taking as much damage as he thought and was only decreasing Kisuke's stamina and stressing his body.
Naturally, the two of them had no way of containing their range of actions. In fact, they didn't really care at all. Due to that, Crom ended up crashing into Genshirou one time and blasted the latter's black armor open. If not for his strengthened defense, he would have been instantly retired.
In another instance, Yuuto's summoned army of Dragon Knights was almost decimated when Kisuke started grabbing and throwing them toward Crom in an attempt to distract him. If he wasn't careful and didn't retreat in time, Kisuke could have 'mistakenly' got hold of him and used him as a frisbee.
"I never thought it'd be to this extent... If individuals like that can run around brandishing their power, how on earth is this world still in one piece?" Riveria muttered, already feeling numb after watching for a few seconds.
Sakura looked toward her and commented, "Ho? You're taking it a lot easier compared to Line-chan."
"Line-chan? Do you mean Line Arshe?"
Sakura nodded, "She went with Kisuke to the Dizara Region, isn't she? Ever since establishing communications to that side, we've been able to talk from time to time and I've been tutoring her with what she needs to know with her Healing Magic and some tips on how to properly examine the physical characteristics of different beings."
"...I see... No wonder." Riveria realized what she just said might cause a misunderstanding and immediately added, "I mean she's talented and there's no denying that."
"Envious?"
Riveria was a bit startled at her question but after a few seconds of silence, she could only smile wryly, "I'd be lying if I say I'm not."
"Then let me tell you that she only received our help because she earned our trust... You, on the other hand... Well, I'm sure you already understand."
"I do... She would have to have done something very substantial to be able to earn your trust. And if I were to guess, it might be some sort of sacrifice that showed resolution and sincerity on her side. I, on the other hand, am only here out of convenience."
"As expected. Yoruichi-chan and Serafall-sama indeed didn't hide it from you, the real reason you're here."
Riveria nodded while looking up to the screen where things are only intensifying, "Yes. I'm only here to make sure that the long-range Teleportation Magic is working as intended. Well, now I know it's actually a 'gate' that connects two worlds."
"Yet you still agreed despite the obvious dangers."
"Because Serafall offered me something that I couldn't reject. And obvious dangers? I'm not that good at noticing those. You're giving me too much credit."
"I don't think so. You should have understood the underlying problems when you're offered something you can't refuse."
"..."
"Still, there's also no denying that you're trusted. You wouldn't be here if that's not the case. Line-chan is lucky and managed to grab the opportunity that presented itself to her even though she didn't understand it in the beginning. You're also on the same stage so it'll be up to you on how you'll spin this further to your advantage."
"..." Riveria still stayed silent, but she understood what Sakura was saying.
Meanwhile, Kisuke caught Rias' strengthened Power of Destruction that was capable of seriously injuring a God with his hands mid-flight towards Tiamat and threw it towards Crom, who was chasing him.
"The sheer disrespect..." muttered Cleria with amusement.
In response, the Evil Dragon opened his mouth and fired off a compressed fire breath to intercept the Power of Destruction, which exploded without it doing anything substantial. After that, Kisuke and Crom left the area, leaving the dumbfounded Rias behind.
Editors:
28th00: Indeed, Crom and Kisuke just be Stylin on them to the point of disrespect. Kisuke’s reputation as Mr. Hat has been solidified as “Holy shit” levels of strength now though! No wonder he had an Ophis backpack!
Peter m