A Forgotten Weapon

Human World, Hanging Neck Island.

After the surge of demonic energy calmed, James stood before Acnologia with his two swords, Sixth Sense and Carnage on his left hip. On top of that, he was already in his Super Devil form. Not to mention, half of the ring that he was standing on had been turned into a countless number of cherry blossom petal-shaped blades that flickered with a cherry blossom pink flame.

While Acnologia narrowed his eyes at the power that James was currently emanating, Ddraig was shouting at James in disbelief.

"[How in the hell did you get Scathach to agree to that?]" Ddraig asked with bafflement in his tone.

'To what?' James asked in feigned confusion.

"[Don't play dumb with me!]" Ddraig shouted loud enough to cause James to wince. "[That seal release…]"

'Safe word'. James corrected.

"[… was totally outrageous.]" Ddraig continued, unbothered by James' antics. "[That was so outside of her usual style.]"

'Oh, that was easy.' James replied with a smirk. 'Several hours of hard dicking, and a mind-blowing number of orgasms.'

"[Right.]" Ddraig replied lifelessly. "[You definitely inherited a dragon's lustful nature.]"

Shrugging in response, James focused his attention on Acnologia, who had been assessing James' power since the funnel of demonic energy faded.

"Even if you have somehow reached the rank of God King, do you really think that will keep you alive?" Acnologia asked in a confident manner.

As it turns out, the only reason James had been unable to reach the God King-rank was because of his proportionally weaker physical body. However, putting his body under the amount of pressure that Scathach's seals had gave him the boost he needed to break through.

"Does that mean you've gotten significantly stronger since the last time we met?" James asked in equal parts curiosity and excitement.

"You can find out with your body." Acnologia said as he spread his wings. "[Eternal Flare]."

As Acnologia chanted the name of his spell, numerous stars made of his energy appeared around and above his wings. A moment later, they all shot toward James, intending to shred him apart with the number of attacks alone.

"*Sigh* Just the same old tricks." James said with a note of disappointment in his tone before tapping his heel on the ring that had been converted into petal-blades.

In the next moment, petal-blades shot up from around James and intercepted each of Acnologia's incoming attacks, causing them to explode. Although none of these attacks reached James, the amount of damage each explosion was capable of causing left Acnologia certain that James had not escaped unscathed.

"Seriously, dude." James said from amidst the cloud of smoke and debris. "Is that really it?"

A moment later, the cloud was dispersed forcefully when James swung his arm. Immediately afterward, Acnologia was enraged. After seeing the disinterested expression James wore, he felt as if he was being looked down upon.

Acnologia then opened his mouth wide. A moment later, a blue sphere of energy began growing between his wide-open jaws. However, instead of acting to stop him, James allowed Acnologia to continue gathering energy.

Meanwhile, in Irene's barrier, the group was in awe at the level of power on display.

"No wonder I lost to him." Jin muttered. "He's way stronger than I ever thought possible."

While most of those who participated in the Dark Tournament nodded in agreement, Hiei glared at James with three narrowed eyes.

"Feeling some regret over making that bet, Hiei?" Yusuke asked with a smirk.

Immediately, Hiei's glare transferred from James to Yusuke.

"You knew about his identity and how strong he was, did you not, Spirit Detective?" Hiei asked in a threatening tone. "And I would imagine you know who the master he spoke of is as well, correct?"

"Yeah, I knew who he was." Yusuke nodded. "And like I said before, I didn't know exactly how strong he was. But I knew he was much stronger than any of the people on the island."

Frowning in response, Hiei pressed on with his questions.

"And his master?" Hiei asked.

Instead of Yusuke, it was Genkai who replied.

"She was my contracted devil." Genkai answered. "But now that I've been reincarnated, I doubt that would still apply."

"Just answer the question." Hiei barked, annoyed that his question was not answered right away.

However, Hiei was forced to calm down when Genkai, who had reached the advanced-level of the ultimate-rank after getting used to her new physique for a while, flared her demonic energy. Then, she looked at Hiei coldly for a moment before continuing.

James' master is the Immortal Witch and Warrior-Queen of Dun Scaith, Scathach." Genkai said after Hiei realized that she was more than he could handle.

Once again, Hiei, Kurama, Jin, and Touya were the once with he strongest reactions while everyone else had slightly or majorly confused expressions on their faces.

"If you want to know who she is, go pick up a book about Celtic mythology." Genkai said, in no mood to explain Scathach's origins.

Before anyone could ask any more questions, however, Acnologia finished gathering energy for his breath attack. Then, just as he finished, James bent his knees and placed his right hand on Carnage's hilt.

A moment later, Acnologia fired his breath attack at James, who did not move in the slightest. Then, with his eyes focused on the incoming stream of energy, James drew his sword faster than everyone other than Irene could see, sending forth an energy slash that cut down the middle of Acnologia's breath attack.

At the same time, the breath attack was split just in front of James, destroying everything on either side of him, leaving a wedge-shaped area of unharmed ground and spectator stands behind him. At the same time, everything outside of that wedge was thoroughly destroyed.

Meanwhile, Acnologia was quick to cut off his supply of energy to his breath attack when he realized that it was being split by James' attack. Too late to dodge it completely, Acnologia quickly moved his head and neck out of the way of the pink energy slash, resulting in his left wing being severed.

*Roar!*

Acnologia's pain filled roared could be heard from every corner of the island while the seas surrounding the island grew choppy due to the sound waves.

Then, with Acnologia distracted by the pain, Irene slammed her staff into the ground, causing a teleportation circle to appear under herself and those in her barrier. A moment later, they were all gone, leaving James, Acnologia, and the few demons who were still alive and had yet to escape from the arena.

Meanwhile, James charged at Acnologia with Carnage wrapped in his unique flames. Then, with a horizontal sweep, he slashed it across Acnologia's chest.

"[Inferno Blade Dragon's Sweeping Claw]." James chanted as he swung his sword. Then, with Sixth Sense's hilt held in his left hand, James drew it in a reverse grip and chanted his next spell. " [Spiraling Twin Fangs of the Inferno Blade Dragon]."

Using the momentum from his initial strike, James slashed with Sixth Sense, quickly following up with Carnage once again. The result was a trio of sword slashes, leaking blood, on Acnologia's chest.

*Roar!*

"Damned Dragon Slayer!" Acnologia shouted angrily as he swung his right claw at James.

Easily avoiding Acnologia's enraged strike by leaping over it, James was caught off guard when a black wall, Acnologia's tail, was right in front of him as he reached the peak of his leap.

"*Bang!*

*Boom!*

Taking the strike, James was sent backward even faster than Rizevim, when Acnologia smacked him away, resulting in another large hole being punched into the arena.

A few moments later, James charged through the hole he himself had created, with his swords both pointed at Acnologia's throat. In reaction, Acnologia raised his left claw and formed an orb of energy in his palm.

"[Power of the End]" Acnologia chanted as the energy orb quickly formed.

Pushing his palm forward, Acnologia intended to smash the orb of destructive energy into the incoming James. However, a wall of petal-blades rose from the ring, halting Acnologia's attack in its tracks, causing the energy orb to explode.

A moment later, though he was uninjured, Acnologia was enraged once again. However, before he cold roar in discontent, James shot through the cloud of energy and petal-blades, that had all started burning with pink flames.

"[Dragon Slayer Secret Art: The Dragon Slumbers Under the Burning Cherry Blossom Tree]." James chanted.

As soon as James' chant ended, the uncountable number of burning petal-blades engulfed Acnologia while James continued forward, intending to pierce straight through Acnologia's throat.

However, before he could reach Acnologia, James was struck from behind and pierced by a highly compressed demonic energy beam. With a new hole in his torso, that would certainly be fatal, James fell from the air and slammed into the ground in front of Acnologia, who breathed a sigh of relief when the petal-blades stopped wreaking havoc all over his body.

"Hyahyahyahya!" A familiar laugh rang out over what remained of the arena. "Finally, the one who caused the most inconvenience to my plans is going to die. But I have to admit, it's such a pity that your friends and lovers got away. I would have loved to seethe look on your face as I tortured, r*ped, and killed them in front of you."

"I had a feeling you weren't dead." James said in a weak tone. "But how did you hide from my senses?"

"Oh, with this." Rizevim said as he fished a pendant out of his collar. "I don't know where this thing came from, but I found this stone in that old fool Odin's treasure vault when I stole that little girl's research. Apparently, it can hide the aura and all life signs of the wearer."

"I see." James said, weakly closing his eyes. "Good to know."

A moment later, James body began to break down into cherry blossom petals, starting from the large whole in his torso, leaving Sixth Sense and Carnage lying on the ground. While Acnologia widened his eyes in surprise, Rizevim closed his eyes, threw his head back, and began laughing uproariously.

"In that case, I'll be taking that… Yoink!" James' voice sounded in front of Rizevim. "That still doesn't explain how I never found you or Acnologia while you were hiding on the island. Oh well, I can figure that out after killing you both."

*Crack!"

Rizevim immediately opened his eyes when he heard James' voice, no longer sounding weak, from in front of him. Then, his face contorted in anger when the chain that held the pendant was broken, and James held the presence concealing pendant in his hand.

"Give that back you half-breed sc.---" Rizevim shouted before he was forced to stop.

With his mouth hanging open, Rizevim's eyes widened in surprise as blood began seeping from between his lips. A moment later, Rizevim lowered his head, only to see James' arm stabbed into his chest. And although he was not sure, he felt as if it had pierced all the way through his back, as well.

And just as Rizevim thought, James' hand had, indeed, pierced all the way through his back. And held in that hand was Rizevim's heart, that was still beating, even if slowly. Before it could stop beating, however, James' hand turned into petal-blades and shredded the heart into paste.

After reverting his hand back to normal, James pulled his hand from Rizevim's chest. Then, he turned around to face Acnologia.

"I'm surprised you're still here." James said, tilting his head in confusion. "I mean, you should know that you're no match for me, right."

Instead of responding, Acnologia simply growled. Even if he was on the verge of death before Rizevim's interruption, he did not believe that he would find himself in the same position as last time. He had already seen that trick, after all.

Meanwhile, James returned the many petal-blades that continued to float around Acnologia, something he did not seem to realize, back to their former place. Then, he released his Super Devil transformation. After that, he walked over to Sixth Sense and Carnage, picked them up one at a time, sheathed them, and took a bit of distance from Acnologia, who watched him warily.

"Well, there's no point in drawing this out any further." James said, pulling a bow and a quiver out of his storage space.

Though it was surprising to see James wield any weapon other than a katana, or two. What was most surprising was the quiver he placed on his waist. Since there was only one arrow in it. A moment later, James pulled the arrow from the quiver with a frown on his face. Then, he knocked it on the bow and pulled the string tight.

"[Hurry up and take the shot, that thing feels so uncomfortable.]" Ddraig said, rushing James.

Meanwhile, Acnologia began to step back, the arrow making him feel uncomfortable as well. Unfortunately, with one of his wings severed, he could not simply fly away.

"*Sigh* I can't believe I forgot I took this from that Shalba guy." James said as he took aim at Acnologia. "Even worse, I could have used it last time we fought and saved myself a headache and a lot of pain from over-taxing my body."

"What is that?" Acnologia asked with a nervous tremble in his voice.

"Oh, this?" James asked, glancing at the arrowhead. "It's just an arrow that had been soaked in Samael's poison."

Immediately after hearing that, Acnologia took a second step back, instinctive fear flooding his being.

"Well, I would say it's been fun, Acnologia." James said before releasing the arrow.

In the blink of an eye, the arrow traveled the distance between the dragon and the dragon slayer. Then, with little effort, the arrow pierced Acnologia's scales and sank into his flesh. Then, in less than a few moments, Acnologia's body dissolved into a puddle of foul-smelling sludge.

"But it hasn't." James continued after lowering the bow.