Chapter 23

The fire in his eyes was unquenchable and the powerful aura on his body was unmistakeable. To Baraquiel's dissatisfaction, Azazel fished out a bottle of lubrication from his pocket, his meaning clear.

[You're screwed.]

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|DxD|

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Deep within the forest of Kuoh, Baraquiel and Igor were standing with over a hundred metres of space between them. Both combatants were topless, their glazed muscles rendered naked to the afternoon Sun. They were standing on a field of green pastures while the massive trees surrounded the field like a ring. The field itself was the former location for where Igor's 'gift' to Baraquiel almost landed. While the option to restore the forest was there, Baraquiel chose to convert it into a field of grass.

The cadre stood poised and ready for combat. All ten of his wings were unfurled while brief flashes of golden lightning surrounded his body.

His fists were clenched tightly, his eyes wide open.

[He's gotten stronger. I have to take this seriously.]

On the other hand, Igor was excited. But even though he was excited, he did not dare underestimate the fallen. His stance was still, his form firm. Apart from his hair and the blue sash tied to his pants, his body remained steady while the rest flowed with the wind.

The entire area was quiet. Not one animal was nearby and not one insect made a sound. Both parties were sizing up each other, each pair of eyes analysing the other for an opening that could be exploited.

But while Baraquiel remained unsure of the blonde's new capabilities, Igor had a rough draft to work with.

So tensing his muscles, he charged forward.

Swooosh!

"?!"

Suddenly seeing Igor appear in front of him, Baraquiel was almost unable to put up his guard in time to block the blonde's powerful flying knee.

GU! Krrrrrrrrrrr

Baraquiel was sent skidding across the ground, his boots uprooting the grass like a plow. Baraquiel was completely shocked.

[Too close!]

A cold sweat formed on his brow.

[If I didn't use lightning to enhance my perception and reaction speed…]

Just imagining the consequences of what would have happened if he failed to block the knee going for his nose made the Fallen treat this situation as a serious case.

Igor noticed Baraquiel's changes in his expressions.

"So, whaddya think, old man? You gonna give up?"

In response to Igor's provocation, Baraquiel didn't say anything. Instead, the aura around him grew heavy as his power began to skyrocket. Lightning covered his entire body while his eyes became pupil-less. His hair spiked up completely while his skin seemed to visibly tighten.

Igor tilted his head at the scene.

"Huh. You've gotten stronger than last time."

A grin then formed on his face while a faint white aura covered him.

 "Good. It would be boring if it was easy."

Then he stomped his foot on the ground, his aura exploding like a torrent.

GRUUUUUUU

"Heh~."

Swoosh Swoosh…CLASH!

Both human and fallen grappled each other in a test of strength. The ground seemed to quake as their respective auras engaged in an invisible clash. But while both parties were giving their all, Igor maintained a confident grin the entire time. This made Baraquiel's clenched teeth clench even tighter.

It was embarrassing that in just a year, the brat that he could lift with one hand and give a good spanking, could now overwhelm him in a contest of strength.

"Tch!"

In the end, Baraquiel tactfully chose to retreat first, acknowledging that he could not casually engage Igor in close combat.

[Brother Azazel. Let me take a few pages from your book.]

Directly changing his typical brawler combat style, Baraquiel flew into the sky and manifested hundreds of holy spears on the spot. Although they were thin, the power contained within them was not to be underestimated.

With a wave of his hand, Baraquiel launched the spears.

Swu! Swu! Swu! Swu! Swu! Swu! Swu! Swu! Swu! Swu!

The blonde was not idle. Seeing the spears home in on him, Igor crouched down, his muscles tensing in preparation. When the first spear was only just a few centimetres from reaching his eyes, he jumped up.

He was so fast that he left an afterimage on his previous spot.

Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du

Plumes of dust were raised on the ground where the spears struck. But the remaining ones were able to change trajectory and rise up towards the blonde.

But it was already too late. Above the blonde was a large golden sphere the size of a thousand-litre water tank.

No words were needed to be sai-

"Take this, old man!"

Some words were needed to be said.

The large ki sphere sped down like a comet towards Baraquiel's position. But the lightning on the cadre's body wasn't for decoration. While the ki sphere destroyed more of his lightning spears in its quest to destroy Baraquiel, the fallen in question vanished without a trace.

Almost immediately, he appeared behind Igor with his fist outstretched. His knuckles were aimed precisely towards the blonde's neck where he could temporarily paralyse the blonde and end this battle in one go.

But the moment his fist punched through Igor, the blonde seemed to suddenly phase out of of existence.

[Afterimage?!]

His danger senses immediately spiked. Baraquiel could feel something dangerous aiming towards his back.

"?!"

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to dodge it, Baraquiel turned around and blocked the purple energy wave with his hands.

It was only a split-second or two later that he heard the blonde shout the words "[Galick Gun]". He tried to contain the energy wave in his palms but he was being pushed back. He used his wings to stabilise himself as much as he could but the force behind the attack was too much.

His hands felt like they were burning.

[Even my lightning armour can't handle this for much longer.]

But while he thought he had a dozen seconds or two to come up with a plan, Igor was not one to ignore an advantage.

Reeling his hand back, Igor channelled a bit more ki before pushing it out.

"RAAAA!"

Tsuuuuuu!

The Galick Gun doubled in size and Baraquiel was gradually getting overwhelmed. He couldn't hold on a second longer so he did the next best thing.

"Argh!"

Steeling his nerves, he used two of his wings to deflect the attack while he moved to the side. The Galick Gun continued forward without restraint before fizzling out just before the edge of the field.

Despite Baraquiel showing signs of injury, Igor didn't show any compassion and charged forward while firing dozens of ki blasts at him.

Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu Tsu

Baraquiel grit his teeth and began dodging or deflecting on the spot. His hands were still in pain from before so unless he had to, he focused on dodging. While flying away was an option before, he was too injured to take that small window of opportunity. So he was forced into this passive situation.

But he wasn't a cadre for nothing. Having lived since the beginning of human history, Baraquiel had picked up many techniques during his time alive. So while he continued dodging, he extended a thread of lightning towards the unsuspecting Igor.

It wasn't until the blonde got within the distance of 30 metres that he suddenly felt like something was tied around his waist. And before he could even properly process what happened, he suddenly found his position switched with Baraquiel.

He didn't have enough time to figure out the how's and why's when his own ki blasts were quite literally, a hair's distance away.

"?!"

Acting purely on instinct, Igor's hands began deflecting all these ki blasts without care as to where their new trajectory would be. His hands were like blurs as they moved at astonishing speed to deflect the ki blasts. His ki blasts had no eyes. The moment they exited the blonde's hands, they did not discriminate between owner and foe.

Baraquiel was not idle either. He quickly channelled his light energy to form a powerful bolt of holy lightning above the blonde.

[I don't have much time. I have to hurry.]

Indeed, the ki blasts keeping the blonde in place were almost depleted. And as much as Baraquiel wanted to take a second or two to rest, he knew that he likely wouldn't get another good chance like this to end everything in one shot.

So quickly forming the attack, he yelled out.

"[Radiant Storm!]"

From the skies, holy lightning struck Igor just before he could deflect the last three ki blasts.

BOOM!

But it wasn't just one strike.

BOOM BOOM

In quick succession, two more lightning strikes followed. Baraquiel was putting his all into these attacks. He knew he couldn't be stingy at all with his remaining energy otherwise, what good would it do if the blonde was still conscious by the end of this? His heart would bleed.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

While on a normal day, he could unleash dozens of lightning strikes without care, this time, he could only unleash seven before feeling that he was soon about to be running dry on light energy.

So without having anything else to do, he observed the situation, his face gradually turning even more grim by the second.

[How?]

With the magic contained in his lighting bolts dispersing, he could gradually feel the overwhelming ki that the blonde was releasing.

Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su Su

The dust had yet to disperse but the blonde could clearly feel that Baraquiel was standing just a few dozen metres away from him.

"Thank you, old man."

His voice came out in a serious tone with no mocking in between.

"I was arrogant when I came here to fight you, believing in my absolute victory."

The dust gradually cleared, revealing Igor who was surrounded with a red aura. While the blonde had survived the holy lightning barrage, he was not unscathed. A dry line of blood flowed from his lips while his arms still contained burn marks. His pants displayed signs of being burnt and torn on several parts while his torso also displayed dark red marks.

But despite his somewhat damaged appearance, Igor gazed directly at Baraquiel with no signs of pain or anger.

"Now, I'll take you seriously, old man."

The aura of his times-four Kaioken thundered as he took his stance.

"I'll make the first move."

Not caring that Baraquiel appeared to be injured, Igor moved quickly. And he was fast. An ear-piercing sonic boom was released just by the sheer speed of his acceleration. But with his ki-control, most other hazards that could come with such an accelerative speed were mitigated to a great extent.

Baraquiel could see Igor approaching him with his fist poised for a powerful strike. But while he could see it, his body could not react.

Baraquiel could feel it in his heart, in his instincts.

[This…this will kill me.]

It was the first time that Baraquiel felt this helpless. Even though he had lost his fair share of fights, at the very least, he could retreat. Now, he could forget about dodging, not to mention teleporting.

For the first time in millennia, Baraquiel felt what it meant to have no paths of escape.

Clash…BOOOOOOOOOM

Silence…

Baraquiel opened his eyes…to see Azazel standing protectively in front of him. The governor had come in at the last crucial moment to stop an attack that would've killed his brother.

"Let's stop here for today, Igor. You've won."

Igor remained frozen, confusion evident on his face.

"What? Already?!"

.

AN

Today is Monday. I couldn't upload on Sunday due to a sudden power outage. The problem that comes with such an outage is that my network becomes completely worthless when it happens. When I read a novel online, I have to wait close to a minute just to get to the next chapter or hit refresh multiple times. So here are two chapters. I'll cook up another one for tomorrow and for the rest of this week since I have nothing pressing that's going on.