Chapter 173 – Giants Battle and Bet

"They are almost done." Hagoromo Gitsune said quietly without looking at me.

I glanced at her before turning my gaze toward the three giants plus a man that fought in the distance.

The fight was chaotic. They didn't even try to work together and even punched at each other.

The strange thing was… they had a smile on their faces.

I thought that I was a battle maniac because I loved to have a nice fight too. However, when I looked at them, the real battle-maniac, I changed my mind.

"Look at their smiles," Azazel commented as he watched the battle.

The youkai were also watching the battle with interest. Such entertainment was rare, especially when three people with an additional pet that had strength rivaling Ultimate-Class devil fought each other.

They didn't want to miss it, and I heard some of them were pilling up a bet.

"Tsuchigumo is in the lead! Who wants to bet on Vali Lucifer or that black dragon?"

"Hahaha, I bet that small man will win! I will bet a bottle of sake for Vali!"

"What nonsense! I will bet my mocha for Tsuchigumo!"

"I will bet my red bean paste for Tsuchigumo too. I still remember how painful his punches are."

Their bets were food and sake, truly the youkai way of doing a thing.

I looked at Azazel and smirked.

"Do you want to have a bet too? I will put on the best sake that I have for Tsuchigumo. The spirit sake that you will not be able to get anywhere."

Hearing my offer, Azazel turned to me and smirked, "Interesting… I will bet my oldest wine for Vali then. I hope you accept my bet."

He extended his hand toward me.

I shook his hand with a smile, "Deal."

We then turned to the fights again.

Just a few seconds had passed since I shook Azazel's hand. Now the fight had become a brawl between three sides.

"Hahahahaha, this is fun!" Crom Cruach shouted with a hoarse voice, then he sent a fire breath toward Tsuchigumo.

Whoosh!

His claw moved toward Vali and slapped him to the ground.

Bam!

"I agree!" Tsuchigumo shouted back and punched the breath, dispersing it before launching himself toward Crom Cruach.

He grabbed Crom Cruach's claw with his hand before punching him repeatedly.

But Crom Cruach didn't stay silent either. He freed his claw from Tsuchigumo's grip and began to punch back. It hit Tsuchigumo's face, but Tsuchigumo just flinched a bit before his face turned into a mad grin and punched Crom Cruach back.

They repeated the same exchanges a few times and generated a shockwave that I could feel even from here.

"Woah, that's a strong punch." Commented Azazel.

Vali, who had been slapped away by Crom Cruach earlier, began to get up and flew toward both Giants that were punching each other.

"Bastard, I will beat you up!" Vali shouted as his wing flashed a bright light.

His armor changed a little, and the gem on his armor let out a bright flash similar to his wing. Energy began to gather around his fist, and he then entered the battle between two giants with his small fist.

However, the two giants knew that Vali was not someone to scoff at. Both of them stopped their punches and turned to Vali.

Crom Cruach began to gather energy around his throat. He prepared a breath.

Tsuchigumo, a cloud of black smoke began to appear around his body. He used his fear, the Hyakki Yakkou destroyer.

His Fear was a fearsome one. If I challenged him with my Hyakki Yakkou, there was a chance that I would lose.

His Fear allowed him to get stronger the more opponents that he faced at the same time. Also, it made his opponents see him as an overwhelming being that was unbeatable, and of course, he got stronger as he used his Fear too.

They seemed to be ready to end their battle. Seeing them, Hagoromo Gitsune suddenly said.

"It seems they are ready to end this. I will bet my personal sake on that dragon."

"Your personal sake? That's indeed interesting."

"Hahahaha, so the winner will get two alcohol now?" Azazel laughed as he looked at the battle that unfolded.

The battle became fiercer than before, and the shockwave was even bigger. Hagoromo Gitsune's long hair ruffled in the air because of the shockwave.

My hair only moved a little because… it literally couldn't move around.

"Tsuchigumo! Beat them, and let me get my Ohagi intact!"

"Hey! Do your best, you big lizard! I am betting my mochi on you!"

"White guy! Don't even lose! My sake is in your hand!"

The youkai cheered loudly to make sure the one that they put the bet on won.

As usual, the war that involved youkai would always end up like this. It would end in a festival.

But, the battle was putting Vali in a disadvantageous position. Mainly, it was because of his size.

The three fighters jumped back and then looked at each other. Tsuchigumo's pet was looking at them from the sky.

When they were looking at each other, Crom Cruach suddenly spoke.

"Hum, both of you are strong, but I don't think going like this is fun. That's why…"

As he said that, his dragon body was surrounded by bright light and compressed down. After a second, he became human with blond and black hair and black clothes.

"I will fight in this form."

Tsuchigumo looked at him with interest before stroking his chin. He then turned to me and met my eyes before shouting.

"Teach me how to turn into a human, will you?"

Ah, he wanted to fight them fairly?

"Move the energy inside your body and compress it while thinking to turn your body into a human!" I shouted back at Tsuchigumo, and he nodded his head.

He then began to compress his energy, as I said.

Vali and Crom Cruach understood that they shouldn't bother Tsuchigumo right now. They were battle-maniacs, so they would wait for him to have a good battle.

"Will he be okay?" Asked Azazel.

"Hah! He will be okay." I answered him, "Do you know? Tsuchigumo is famous for destroying Hyakki Yakkou. He's literally a Hyakki Yakkou himself."

"Huh?" Confused, Azazel turned to me. "What do you mean?"

"He meant that he's as strong as a Hyakki Yakkou combined. Only me and this guy would be able to fight Tsuchigumo if he fought seriously." Hagoromo Gitsune answered Azazel as she spread her fan in front of her mouth.

"Isn't that… so he's as strong as me?"

"Yep, he is."

Azazel had a wry smile on his face before turning to Tsuchigumo, that was surrounded by black smoke right now.

"Youkai is scary…" He muttered quietly. "… we are fortunate that we make rules to only fought our war in the underworld at that time."

I ignored Azazel's muttering as I looked at Tsuchigumo's body which was now compressed down into human size.

The smoke that surrounded him was now gone, and a human with a Yasha mask and four arms appeared in his place.

He moved his arms before clenching his fist. The mouth of the mask on his face moved, it curled into a smile, and he then took a fighting stance.

"Let's continue our battle!" He roared loudly with his now small body."

Crom Cruach grinned back, and I didn't know Vali's expression because he was wearing a helmet. However, knowing him, he must've smiled too.

"It's interesting! Let's kill each other!"