Chapter 25

Their lips were about to touc-

BOOOOOOM

"TAKE THAT, OLD MAN!"

.

|DxD|

.

A dozen seconds prior

.

Igor and Baraquiel were still at it. The blonde, with his superior physique, kept close to Baraquiel in order to take advantage of his higher combat power. In order to combat that, Baraquiel never dared to block Igor's blows head on. He would only counter when there was a chance. With his combat experience, it was easy to sneak in a few blows. But whether those blows were powerful or not was another thing.

Having demi-ki run through his body, the blonde's defenses were naturally elevated. Even if Baraquiel tried to channel his lightning into Igor's body, the lightning would encounter fierce resistance. But Baraquiel didn't lose composure. He was fine with keeping the situation like this. It would allow him to fully study the blonde and therefore, slowly increase his advantage in the long run.

But Igor wasn't one to be underestimated. Seeing the tediousness of things, he took the opportunity to launch a dropkick, which surprisingly connected, before using Baraquiel's chest as a springboard to soar into the sky.

Raising his hands towards the sky, a massive golden sphere the size of a house instantly swirled into existence. Without any added grandeur, Igor flung the sphere down. And with surprising speed, it locked onto Baraquiel and even though the fallen changed directions, the sphere stayed locked on to him.

Soon, the distance rapidly shrunk and the sphere finally reached its target.

BOOOOOOOOM

"TAKE THAT, OLD MAN!"

The explosion was not huge but the power wasn't low. With his level of ki-control, Igor was able to contain the power of the explosion on a singular spot for maximum damage.

While the blonde felt that his attack had struck Baraquiel, he did not pin his hopes on winning just like that. He didn't know what strange method or technique Baraquiel would use to escape, but it didn't matter to him.

Pressing two fingers to his forehead, he stretched his senses to figure out where Baraquiel was. Having memorised the signature of his lifeforce, Igor almost had total assurance that the fallen wouldn't be able to hide from him.

While he doubted the fallen could escape his senses, he would rather ERR on the side of caution. So, spreading his aura out like dense sonar waves, Igor blatantly tried to find out Baraquiel's location.

[Like I thought. The old man somehow escaped the explosio- FOUND HIM!]

Igor got ready to use his Instant Transmission. But before he could fully disappear, he suddenly stopped.

He raised his hand to the sky and formed a smaller golden sphere the size of a room.

[Can't take risks with the old man.]

He flung it towards the forest where he last sensed Baraquiel. The result was instantaneous. The moment the sphere reached the location, hundreds of lightning spears formed from various directions and attacked the sphere, triggering it to explode on the spot.

BOOOOOM

Another patch of forest was destroyed by the explosion. But what was different this time was that Igor could spot Baraquiel flying from the explosion at breakneck speeds. 

[Chance!]

Spotting Baraquiel, Igor flew over to Baraquiel with the aura of the Kaioken x1,75 converged on his fist. Baraquiel was now caught between a rock and a hard place. Behind him, the dangerous shockwave from the combination of the ki explosion and holy-lightning was behind him while Igor with his demi-ki-laced fist was in front of him.

Baraquiel did try to tie a thread of lightning around the blonde in order to switch places with him, but that faint red aura around him made it impossible to do so in a short time. In fact, most of his lightning techniques were rendered almost useless against the blonde. 

Realising his predicament, Baraquiel forwent any thoughts of conserving his energy and directly went all out. A thunderous aura of lightning covered him as he also cocked back his fist to meet the blonde's.

As for Igor, he sported a wide grin at seeing Baraquiel finally decide to truly fight him. Not wanting to remain reserved, Igor directly increased the percentage of his Kaioken to 100%, finally activating the full Kaioken and its representative aura.

But what Baraquiel didn't expect was that the moment their fists were about to clash, Igor vanished…

Tswii!

And appeared above him with his fist cocked back. 

It was over.

GUUUU...…BOOOOOM

Having endured a fatal hit to his spine, Baraquiel directly shot down towards the ground and unceremoniously landed face-first. The explosion caused by the high speed of his crash resulted in plumes of dust, grass, and sand being flung in all directions.

While Igor could feel that Baraquiel was unmoving through Aura Sense, he had his doubts and immediately got into the stance for the Galick Gun.

Charging up the attack, he had no intention of waiting for the dust to clear before firing. But before he could charge up the attack, Azazel appeared in front of Igor like before and stopped him.

"Hey, hey, hey! You've won. Relax now."

Igor briefly looked at Azazel before looking at the ground. With the dust clearing, Igor could see the unmoving form of Baraquiel. The fallen's wings laid splayed out all around him while his eyes were closed. 

Focusing his senses on him, Igor could also hear the faintness of his breaths.

"Huh…"

A grin slowly formed on his face.

"Hmph! That's payback for all those times."

But even though he tried to remain excited, he couldn't help but frown a bit.

[This was…too easy.]

When he exited the time chamber, he pictured having an epic battle with Baraquiel, where bones would be broken and blood would be shed. He imagined that after hours of a gruelling fight, he would triumph over Baraquiel after an exhausting battle. 

Yet, it hadn't been an hour and he already won…twice.

[Should I wear weights next time?]

Igor flew down towards the downed fallen along with Azazel. Both of them landed gently on the ground. It was then that Baraquiel's situation came to light.

Most of his ribs had snapped while his jaw had caved in on itself. There was no point in mentioning his spine. It was completely shattered.

Azazel hissed at the sight before moving to help him.

"Yeesh. Did my brother cuck you or something?"

"What's there to cuck?"

Azazel paused for a bit before sighing.

"You a monk or something?"

"Aaaaaa…nope. Pretty close though."

Azazel who held a Phenex tear in his hand, froze.

"A-are…are you…"

He glanced down towards Igor's crotch, his face turning paler by the second.

"What do you…"

It was then that Igor noticed what Azazel was insinuating. The blonde's face turned dark.

"Your mother! Fuck! I'm not lacking in anything, Uncle A!"

"Oh…you sure? I mean, it's okay-"

Feeling Igor's killing intent begin to spread, Azazel chuckled.

"Fine, fine. I'll stop. I was just messing with ya."

Azazel turned his brother belly-up, ignoring the grating sounds of broken bones and wings on the tenterhooks of snapping.

"Bottoms up, brother."

He pinched Baraquiel's nose before nearly shoving the entire vial in his mouth. Even though the vial was empty, Azazel didn't remove it. He simply waited for a few moments before Baraquiel started coughing sporadically. But with the vial in his mouth, he couldn't cough out the Phenex tears. It was only when Azazel saw movement down his throat that he released his brother's nose and removed the vial from his mouth.

Standing up as if he didn't almost choke his own brother to death, Azazel put the used vial into his pocket, with his recently-healed arm.

This was something Igor noticed but didn't ask about. This was more so because the loud cracks of bones resetting themselves was far more interesting to the blonde.

"What are these things and where can I find them?"

"They're called Phenex tears. They are-"

"Where can I find them?"

While it appeared as if Igor was being disrespectful, Azazel could practically see the stars in the blonde's eyes that were eager to know how to obtain the Phenex tears.

"You can find them in the Underworld at the Phenex Clan-"

"Take me there. Or atleast show me the way."

Igor appeared to be having a sugar rush.

"Just having a truckload could boost my training by ten-times…"

His quiet mutters were heard by Azazel who let out a boisterous laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Kid! You really know how to crack me up!"

But before Igor could reply, Baraquiel beat him to it.

"Shut up, Azazel."

The fallen pushed himself up with a groan while at the same time, retracting his wings. Igor's enthusiasm about the Phenex tears was diverted when he looked at Baraquiel with a grin.

"So, I won…twice…in one day."

He tried to, but he couldn't stop the gradually forming smile on his face.

"So, how do you feel?"

Baraquiel merely scoffed before replying.

"If it wasn't for that damned red energy of yours, I could've won."

Azazel saw this as a chance to chime in.

"Speaking of that, what is that red energy, Igor?"

"Oh, that? That's my Kaioken. It's an evolution of my Aura-Burning State."

Azazel brought a hand to his chin in contemplation.

"I see. So it's similar to the Red-Dragon Empero-"

"RED-DRAGON EMPEROR! THAT'S THE NAME I WAS TRYING TO REMEMBER!"

Baraquiel curiously looked at the blonde.

"You know them?"

"No. A couple 'years ago, I was trying to remember who were some of the strongest people I must keep an eye out for. One of them was the Red Dragon Emperor, but it had been since I last heard the name that I forgot it until now."

Sensing an opportunity, Azazel decided to throw out a bait.

"Forgot? Just how long did you stay in that time chamber of yours?"

Contrary to expectations, Igor didn't panic.

"Huh? Around five-no. It's six decades now…I think."

Baraquiel was surprised.

"Time chamber?"

"Yeah. I've been training to beat you now for the past decade, old man. My efforts paid off." 

Shaking his head and choosing to gloss over the issue of the time chamber, Baraquiel changed the topic.

"Regardless, that Kaioken of yours is a bane to my fighting style."

"Because it can increase my strength?"

"No. Because that aura you emit in that state can suppress my energy."

Igor was confused.

"Really?"

"As much as it irks me to admit it, it is true. The efficiency of my attacks are decreased greatly and my lightning can barely penetrate through you. This makes most of my techniques useless."

"Oh…"

Igor then came up with an idea.

"Then what if I don't use it? Will you agree to another round?"

Igor was beyond trying to prove a point. Right now, he was desperately itching for a good fight where he could use all the techniques he learnt.

As for Baraquiel, he frowned at the proposal. To him, the handicap the blonde was offering left a bad taste in his mouth.

"No need-"

{Accept, brother. Just treat it as a sparring match. Both of you will benefit from this.}

Baraquiel froze for a bit in contemplation of Azazel's words. In the end, he sighed.

"I agree to another round."

The blonde's smile stretched towards his ears.

"Yes!"

AN 

Fight's over. It's time we get into some serious stuff that may, or may not affect the future of canon in the future.

Now, you could wait until tomorrow OR, you could become a patron on patre*n. There's a 7 day free trial for those who want to read three chapters ahead for free. 

Feel…*grits teeth* "free" to cancel whenever you want.

Here's the link: p@treon.com/HolyGambler

Replace the '@' with 'a' or just search for 'HolyGambler' on the platform. No other name exists other than yours truly.