Prowess of a Mid Class God

Masaru returned alone home after his meeting with Azazel and Odin since it was still quite early in the morning due to the discussion that went throughout the night, although his trip to China was already laid down with a solid plan, there was still a few more things he had to arrange for the safety of his girls. Also, that Angelica has asked to investigate her lands along with a few girls, it appears the Cannibals that emerged caused her to feel anxious.

"Another normal day huh?" Masaru muttered as he touched the handle of the door, just as he was about to enter the house he felt spatial fluctuations around him as his surrounding changed into something different as if he was teleported to a different dimension similar to that of the Rating Game.

He immediately got himself in position to fend off attacks, straining his senses while using his grimoire to cast several detection magic only to realize he was indeed within the dimensional gap.

And he was not alone, in front of him was a handsome young man whose looks was charming enough to even make Masaru flinch for a moment, luckily Masaru had many contacts with beautiful people so he had some resistance to it.

The young man was wearing an azure robe with dragon scale patterns, long black hair and azure coloured eyes that look similar to cat pupils. "So you are the current host for Byakko huh?"

The young man looked at Masaru with disdain as he sneered in disappointment, from the pressure this man was giving Masaru it appears he was in the Mid God Class which was already not only rank higher than him but also two realms higher since Masaru was only a False Ultimate Rank Devil currently

"It won't hurt to introduce yourself won't it?" Masaru asked sarcastically since he already sensed these people did not come with good intentions, there was no need to be polite.

The handsome man looked at Masaru before snorting with arrogance, "If you were not his host I would have killed you for being disrespectful towards me, My name is Meng Zhang also known as Azure Dragon one of the four direction Gods of China"

Masaru who heard this did not expect to meet a god from China this soon, since the man introduced himself he too introduced himself "My name is Masaru Belial, current heir of the Belial Family---"

Before he could continue Meng Zhang already appeared in front of Masaru, Masaru immediately equipped his sacred gear just barely dodging the palm strike that was aimed at his heart. 'That was close...' Masaru thought as he felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

He glared at Meng Zhan wondering what reason this man would have to attack him, 'Could it be having the sacred gear had me embroiled in another country's internal war?' He thought

[BOY! Activate your Balance Breaker! You won't stand a chance against him as you are now]

Masaru nodded as he felt it, the difference in both quality and quantity in Meng Zhan's strength, he also felt Meng Zhan's strength increased explosively whenever his back was facing a certain direction. Not to mention, this man has such a thick killing intent towards him yet the woman did not which was contradictory.

With the necessary distance created, Masaru clasps his hands into fists before activating his balance breaker mode.

[WHITE TIGER EMPORER BALANCE BREAKER!]

When Meng Zhang and the lady heard this announcement, both their faces show a shocked expression as they never heard of anyone managing to unlock the balance breaker for Byakko. Since it has been forever that they were waiting for the one who could awaken Byakko to arrive, not once did they believe it would happen within the country they hated to the bone.

Masaru was balance breaker outfit was his white tiger skin shirt, the once grey pants became silver pants with an open cloak white robe over his shirt. Strapped over his left shoulder was a belial crest pauldron, and a decorated belt around his waist to hold his sword sheath attached to his waist as well as his pants.

Deadheart sheathed within Avalon still kept their usual Katana form, however, silver runic inscriptions were carved on the edge of the blade and in the middle of the scabbard. His right hand was covered with a fingerless gauntlet that stretches out till his elbow, and his left arm was covered with a silver gauntlet.

His eyes became slits like a cat while the aura around his body became more draconic, a silver dragon scaled tail resembling that of a cat's tail appeared behind him. It was only his cat ears that were still the same, "Could it be my racial change caused a mutation in my balance breaker?"

[Correct, although you have not yet discovered your own Domain yet. Your life level has already evolved into a higher lifeform when you undergone that ritual together with Tiamat when you became a Devil Dragon. You can be considered a Pseudo - True Ultimate Rank Warrior]

Masaru pulled Deadheart from his waist as he enters a battle stance, he layered several body enchantment spells ontop of his Dragon Aura and Senjutsu he learnt to increase his physical body's strength, he knew based on energy and domain he was no match. Since that is the case, he could only pour his all into his physical strength.

"I would never expect to find someone who managed to awaken Byakko's Balance Breaker, however, I still feel repulsed at the thought that someone from this backwater peace-loving country would achieve it," Meng Zhan said with a look of disdain, he sneered at Masaru who was not his match.

"I never expected that you would be so barbaric!" Masaru retorted causing Meng Zhan to grit his teeth in rage.

Meng Zhang sprinted towards Masaru launching several palm strikes cloaked in dragon divinity aura, each strike was dreadful to the point Masaru could not dare take one of them head on so he focused mainly on dodging the strikes he could while diverting the flow of the attacks he could not so it diverts away from him.

BOOM!

Masaru and Meng Zhan both slammed their fist against each other, Masaru gritted his teeth trying to hold on. He never imagined to face his first life and death trial in such a manner, and the difference in power was simply too vast for him to surmount with only his capabilities, sacred gear and divine grimoire.

The battle became fierce as the surrounding barriers were even showing signs of cracks from the aftershocks of the attacks Masaru was forced to defend head-on, the lady focused on repairing the barriers so nothing would escape from here. However, she glanced at Masaru with interest and respect.

"This brat..." Meng Zhang said hatefully as his face became darker with each passing second, he was getting angry at this weakling. He was once again reminded how Byakko used to toy around with him using only her speed and reflexive sensitivity to dodge every strike while gloating at his failure to touch her.

Drago sensed the dangerous vibe emitting from Meng Zhan, he knew that the sword will only hinder Masaru's full speed [Go melee style boy!]

Masaru swiftly sheathed his blade the moment Meng Zhan approached him, while caught unawares why Masaru suddenly sheathed his sword. Masaru slamming his right elbow with flued movement in a single stroke into the chest of Meng Zhang, he used his dragon aura to the maximum output he could muster but only managed to cause the latter to back away a few steps.

"What!?" Masaru's eyes squinted when he realized his full out physical attack done nothing to Meng Zhang, since he had nothing else he spread his palms materializing several hundreds of magical circles layered on top of each other.

"Solar beam!"

With the aid of the magic circles, a beam made from condensed sunlight was launched at Meng Zhan in the form of a beam. Each Magic circle increased the mana consumed for the spell in order to increase the quality of the attack's strength.

BOOM!!!!!

The dimension shook violently as dust rose up into the skies cloaking the surroundings, Masaru could sense that his attack did nothing, however, the sound of panting caused Masaru to take a step back. He was not sure why, but he felt he needed to get away from here. He was not ready yet.

"This brat... I'll----" Meng Zhang was breathing heavily in rage, his anger reached the peak the moment Masaru managed to land a hit on him. "KILL HIM!!!"

Before Masaru could react Meng Zhang drove a fist into his abdomen, air explosion occurs behind Masaru's back from the sheer force Meng Zhan's punch contained, it has been several years Masaru felt the sensation of real pain close to death.

he blanked out for a moment and saw for an instant what death looked like in the beyond before he was brought back with his sheer willpower and fought to hold onto his consciousness as liquid metal covered his fingers on his right hand forming claws as he scratched the left side of Meng Zhang's face drawing blood,

"ARGH!" Meng Zhang roared in pain and anger as he drew back, when he drew back his hand to see the blood he had not seen since forever. His sanity was slowly drifting away, as the rage of a dragon was slowly awakening within him.

[That's right, although you are not a Mid Class God. Being the Azure Dragon he is prone to injuries when facing against one of his kind. The Four Direction Gods]

Masaru was wheezing from the pain he was feeling within his stomach but he held on. Immediately he materialized thousands of Magic Circles that layered across one another before releasing a massive ray of energy towards Meng Zhang who was looking at the blood in his hands.

When the beam struck Meng Zhang the entire area shook as the barrier began to break revealing the dimensional gap outside, Masaru was keeping his focus on the enemy in front of him. He knew that this was a Mid Class God, not something he can take on alone easily.

"You bastard!" Meng Zhang roared out in rage as the surrounding cloud disperse just from the wave of his dragon aura, even Masaru felt pressured by the sheer power this enemy was holding.

"I will kill you!!!" Meng Zhang lost his sanity as he blasts off towards Masaru entering another fierce combat,

Boom!

"Argh!!!" Masaru screamed in pain when he slammed his own fist to stop Meng Zhan's own attack, if he did not do it then he would have died back then. he glanced at his arm that was hanging limply at his side, it was thanks to his dragon scales that his arm was still attached, however, the bones within was shattered.

Boom!

BOOOM!

Using traceless steps, Masaru was able to continue dodging each attack made by Meng Zhan using perfect timing to dodge otherwise the movement technique would be useless. Facing an enraged dragon was the first experience Masaru had, even his left arm that was still fine was throbbing in pain whenever he attacked back.

Wood Domain, that was Meng Zhan's domain strength. Being surrounded in flora life forms he will never tire and only grow stronger the longer his domain remains active, this includes the strength of his defence which Masaru could no longer penetrate.

BOOM!

"AH!!!!" Masaru screamed once more in pain, just when he healed up his body, he was caught by Meng Zhan who attacked him with several palm strikes over his body. It felt like he was being ripped apart, his broken bones were protruding out of his broken skin as blood gushes out.

"Damn" Masaru grunted as he healed his body once more, glancing at the crazed dragon he continued to face off against the dragon while searching for an instant he could escape from here.

It was after a full two hours of close combat that Meng Zhang began to regain his sanity while Masaru was breathing heavily, Masaru could not count how many times he dodged the strike of instant death Meng Zhang sent towards him and had to sacrifice a part of his body for the sake of survival.

This was definitely the most dangerous battle he ever faced in his life. When Meng Zhang struck out his palm, Masaru gripped his wrist pulling him towards him while he himself leapt forward driving his knee into Meng Zhang's chin.

Meng Zhang grabbed his leg swinging him till he released Masaru who crash-landed into the ground far away. Masaru could feel his body was severely damaged, it was a miracle he was still holding this long against a powerful enemy but he knew it was because Meng Zhang was too arrogant and looking down on him that he lived so far.

Despite losing his sanity, Meng Zhan never used his full strength due to his pride as a dragon who looks down on other beings.

Meng Zhang glared at Masaru and was about to attack, the lady who saw this swept down to intervene since they did not come to kill Masaru. Using this opening, Masaru used the divine grimoire to use the remaining power he had left to penetrate through the barrier and allowed him to teleport away from this dimension.

When Meng Zhang saw this his rage exploded once more breaking the surrounding barriers but before he could continue someone pulled him and teleported the two of them out of the Dimensional gap.

>\/<

Meanwhile, Masaru who used his grimoire to teleport him out of the dimensional battlefield where he fought Meng Zhang, and ended up crash-landing in the Sitri Family's most advanced hospital reception area.

"KYAAA!!!"

"Someone call the doctors!"

The auxiliary nurses screamed, the enrolled nurses went to inspect Masaru who crash-landed under the leadership of a registered nurse before they started to move Masaru towards to the accident and emergency theatre treatment room,

"Move him carefully! I detect the bones in his body are broken, several organs have been ruptured" The registered nurse began to report her superficial glance over the current condition of Masaru.

"Get my team to come now!" The Doctor on duty arrived, when he saw it was Masaru he immediately got his personal special team to come since he was going to treat a special patient, and nothing could go wrong with the procedures.

The enrolled nurse took the responsibility to contact his immediate family which was his father Diehauser, and Diehauser contacted the rest of the family.

It was not even half an hour the entire hospital was on lockdown while the entire Belial Family were at the hospital, all of Masaru's Fiancee's, Mother, Grandparents and Damian were watching over the sleeping Masaru.

"To think it happened" Azazel got informed of Masaru's condition and arrived together with Sirzech at the same time Diehauser did,

"What the hell happened?" Diehauser spoke with Azazel,

Azazel looked at the door leading to the theatre where Masaru was currently being operated on, he had a serious face. "He was attacked but we are currently investigating who, Sirzech you got any reports?"

Sirzech shook his head, his eyes had a dangerous glint flash "No, but the enemy was definitely a God as there are still traces of Divinity around Masaru's house. Ajuka who went to investigate already speculated that it was Loki or some Gods that assisted him to escape"

Hearing this Azazel already had a culprit in mind, "Masaru was scheduled to visit China to see what is going on there while also investigating who assisted Loki, I would never expect them to make the move first"

Odin caress his beard while handing over bottle filled with nectar towards Diehauser, "Have the boy drink this and he will be fine by tomorrow"

"Thank you, Lord Odin, I will remember this favour" Diehauser bowed to thank him before leaving.

"No need, the boy has already repaid me by keeping me company. Such a bright child should live, for the sake of our old men's dreams" Odin said with a meaningful smile

"Well, we have to take this seriously since it seems that some enemies are really against peace" Odin spoke clearly while looking at the door,

Azazel nodded with a serious expression "For now, we need to know what Masaru experienced and who exactly attacked him".

Meanwhile, in the hospital waiting room, the girls were crying as this was the first time, after all, their fear struck them harder as they never realized how much Masaru was a pillar of strength and faith for them.

"Calm down girls, although it's... really scary to experience this, we have to stay strong and have faith in my grandson" Calfa muttered while tears were streaming down her face, she failed to contain her own fear.

It truly was a blind spot for them all who was used to Masaru who always came out unscathed to have ended up with such serious injuries, "Grandma" Shirone sobbed as she grasps Calfa's clothes.

"M-Mother..." Akeno stuttered as she glanced at her mother who was composed,

"Akeno, Masaru is not dead right?" Shuri asked, this question was heard by everyone in the room.

Akeno shook her head since they know he was still alive, "Then if, and I mean as a possibility. If he ends up being disabled will you leave him?"

"NO! I will look after him for the rest of my life, we promised!" Akeno screamed with her tears rolling down, Shuri smiled warmly as she embraced her daughter.

"Then calm your emotions child, he is not dead. You will look after him, instead, you must be strong" Shuri said with a warm voice calming the girls who were crying,

"Akeno... Shuri" Baraqiel arrived when he heard something happened to Masaru, although he never openly admitted it but he could not allow this boy who saved his family in his place to die while he was alive thus he rushed here as if his life depended on it and found his wife and daughter.

"Father..." Akeno called out longingly as she and her mother hugged Baraqiel together, the two ladies were feeling anxious and the sight of Baraqiel allowed them to reveal their real emotions.

Shortly afterwards, the doctor who was responsible for Masaru's recovery arrived in the waiting room. Glancing at everyone with a warm smile, "I will not beat around the bush, Masaru is fine and he will make a good recovery. He will have to stay for a while in the hospital to make a full recovery"

Everyone did not stop crying and ended up crying tears of joy and relief, they did not waste any time to enter the private room where Masaru was currently sleeping comfortably as if nothing had happened before. The girls all surrounded him leaving no space for the men to approach, except for Diana who was pregnant.

It was a dangerous period for Diana to have intense fluctuations in her emotions, it was thanks o her years in training as a Military Commander that she could control her emotions despite having mood swings due to her pregnancy.

Diana was still calm as she already scanned that Masaru's condition was only physical so he was still fine compared how he was when she met him the first time, but she still felt rage towards those who dared to raise their hands towards her favourite son. Her eyes squinted, it appears she will have to ask her husband to move for once.

Sona was the one to sit the closest while holding Masaru's hand not daring to let go, her eyes were red while looking at the sleeping face of Masaru. If Masaru were to see the girls he would tease them all for worrying about such small wounds but he would admit, if he did not escape back then, he would have been in serious danger.

"Wake up soon..." Sona muttered softly.

>\/<

"You fool!" a Beautiful woman wearing a flame pattern kimono smacked the back of Meng Zhang's head with a furious looking face but she still looked so beautiful that she could topple cities with just her face not to mention her lean body.

She looked at the handsome young man sitting with his knees on a steel plate instead of a washing board, but this steel plate had special characteristics that ignore defence so it feels the same pain as a normal human feel from dogeza on a washing board. "You were supposed to only test him! Why the hell did you become so hell-bent of killing him!?"

Meng Zhang simply snorted 'Hmph! If Wang Long was to know I had the agenda to kill the one who will stand in our faction's plans towards expanding the influence of our Mythology he will make sure to kill me instead' He thought

Glancing at the moment he uttered his usual answer to whenever he beats up an important figure "He shown disrespect towards me who is the leader of the four"

The lady simply snorted at Meng Zhang looking at him with disdain "Leader!? Ptui! Leader your head! Yellow was the leader of the five not four! But Since Yellow left China for so long how are we supposed to find her!?"

She bellowed out of rage, the original plan was to see how far the current host of Byakko progressed to see whether the host can become a suitable chess piece to use in their current internal strive, however, Meng Zhang made a mess of it all and now their own path was to extract Byakko instead.

'To think this stupid dragon would get in the way of my plans to use Byakko' She thought while looking at Meng Zhan with disdain.

"You will not get involved in this matter anymore! I will handle this" The lady snorted one last time before leaving the trembling Meng Zhang whose eyes were burning with fury thinking of how this woman humiliated him like this if it was not for the man in the shadows who advised him to keep calm he would have already killed her instead.

What Meng Zhang did not realize was that Samsara was currently watching over his actions, although Samsara the god of Life and Death remained neutral over the current strive she still kept watching over the situation. "Byakko's host huh?"

Samsara squinted her eyes when the orb changed and revealed a sleeping boy in a hospital room surrounded by women, "I see, so unlike the other hosts who preferred Dignity over being a protector... This one chose to become a Protector than living with Dignity... How interesting"

"Perhaps, he is the one who could take me away from here" She muttered as she felt her interest in this boy deepens the more she studies him.

>\/<

Next morning Masaru slowly began to regain his consciousness, his eyelids were trembling which alerted the girls who slept over the night.

"Masaru!" All of them called out to him while Masaru only groaned while opening his eyes, as his eyes open the view of the hospital room filled with familiar beautiful faces entered his sight.

a Warm smile appears on his face while he was looking at the girls, when he tried to sit upright Diana and Sona assisted him as his bones were still recovering. Azazel and the other higher-ups were all notified so they too soon arrived in the room when Masaru saw that everyone was here he began to explain what happened.

After Masaru explained Azazel nodded, "So it's true, I always wondered why the sacred gears linked with the Chinese Mythology was not recorded was because they were managing it to ensure it will remain within their lands. That damned dead man did not even record this either"

Sirzech sighed out of relief, what he was worried about the most was unfounded so he could relax "Well I am glad your safe, but to go up against a Mid Class God I can only say that you have done great"

Serafall nodded with a smile full of relief, her anxious eyes were still reflected towards Masaru "As expected of my greatest rival! The Demon King Masaru"

When everyone heard this they began to laugh happily,

Masaru looked at Azazel "From the looks of it they approached me for a reason unrelated to Loki, I am not sure since the one who attacked me was quite the hothead, something is going on there and being the host of Byakko I need to be there"

"You can't!" Diana retorted,

"You can do so" Ajuka entered the room wearing his disguise which Masaru immediately picked up,

Everyone was surprised to see Ajuka, Diana and the rest of the adults who were reluctant to allow Masaru to head off after experiencing such a dangerous situation could only listen to what Ajuka has to say.

Masaru slightly leaned his head forward to pay his respect to his one and only teacher, "Teacher"

Ajuka smiled warmly at Masaru, "I'm glad you recovered although you would have recovered anyway, you are correct to say that you do have a part in the internal war. There is an event that takes place only when the Host of Byakko has lived for longer than 14 years, that time the four directions have to meet each other in the centre. Other than that, I have no idea since most information about them is quite vague. But I am certain depending on the four directions and the centre will be able to decide if they will be our allies or enemies"

Masaru nodded, Azazel turned to look at Masaru "For now, we will focus on catching Loki before you and a few others will head over to China."

Masaru agreed with this plan as he too would prefer not to let Loki free again, everyone continued to chat while Masaru was looking at Sona and the girls.

"What's wrong girls?" Hearing this question most of them jumped onto the bed causing a commotion to break out, even Diana and his grandparents moved away allowing the girls to completely surround him in a group hug.

Masaru kept silent but gave each of them a kiss on the forehead,

"Sorry that I worried you all" He spoke with a smile allowing the girls to feel more peaceful since Masaru would recover perfectly without the need of the hospital any further he was sent back home where the girls slept together with him peacefully.

>\/<

"So the four direction Gods began making their moves huh?" Falbium was looking at the report, even the Shinto gods and varies smaller groups of Mythology were attending the conference which is held by Sirzech, Michael and Azazel.

Currently, they were discussing who will be going to China together with Masaru but instead, the varies mythologies were inquiring about Masaru who was only 16 years old and already being able to face a Mid Class god although he lost, in the end, was still too frightening.

Sirzech explained the process of how Masaru told them how he fought against the Azure Dragon with this they realized that the Azure Dragon was not even going full out as he will need to transform himself into his dragon form to unleash his full strength.

Not to mention, from their experiences they knew that the Azure Dragon did not use his ability that differentiates the power ranks between Ultimate and God ranks distinguished. a False Ultimate Rank only has the strength on par with an Ultimate, however, this rank does not contain the special characteristics of a True Ultimate Rank that was bordering to enter the Low-Class God.

Once a Devil becomes a true Ultimate Rank or a False Low-Class god that is on the border of becoming a True Low-Class God, they evolve into a higher level of Life form that allows them to suppress lower life forms and they also gain an ability that is called Divinity Domain. It is domain scaleability that comes in varies forms, each person has their unique Divinity Domain. However, this does not make them stronger than a True low-Class God.

Once one become a True low-Class God, all the powers such as Mana, Demonic energy, Dragon aura, or any form of energy the user used before will undergo a transformation into Divine Energy. This is the difference between True Ultimate Rank and True Low-Class God since the prowess in both quality and quantity granted by Divine Energy becomes a milestone to set difference between the two.

With this, they all calmed down feeling that Masaru was indeed far away from reaching their level, so they continued to talk a bit more till it was agreed that a Representative from Norse Mythology will be following Masaru in his trip to China together with a Representative from the Fallen Angel side.

When the conference was over, Sirzech turned to look at Michael who nodded "I will have Uriel come as Angel's representative"

Sirzech breath a sigh of relief, with this, the group set up was complete and it will not be that dangerous for Masaru.

Next morning Masaru went to school with Bandages, the sight of the Demon King being injured caused many people to feel surprised, some even laughed but after getting beaten by Masaru's girls they all kept quiet thinking that Masaru should heal up faster so the girls will turn back to normal as they were a tad bit protective over Masaru currently.