Chapter 19

Takae POV.

The Kawakami Temple has not changed at all, or perhaps it has, but subtly. The scar I inflicted on that stone in the garden is still there, the trees are bigger, older. And yet, everything remains the same.

Have I changed at all? I'd like to think I have. I used to run away, to be scared just by being in a social situation. But now, I am surrounded by friends and I am happy.

And it's all thanks to her. -sigh-

"Hm? What's on your mind, Takae?" Ageha bluntly asks as we wait to the start of the fight. We are sitting in the stands surrounding a large enclosed platform. Where a big bubble envelops everything around. Without even asking, I know that's Nat's work.

"Ah. Nothing." I muttered looking at her sideways. Only to receive a push from her.

"Nonsense. Speak up!" Ageha demands with her arms crossed under her bust. And the others look at me curiously.

"Ugh." I scratch behind my neck. "It's... Life has changed for me. I can't still get used to this. If it was my old self, I would have run away by now." I smile deprecatingly.

"That is true. But you ran away not because you were a coward, but to protect others. You were, and have always been a good person. Someone I am glad to be as close as a sister." Ageha exclaims looking at me straight in the eye.

"Hehe." I laugh silly for a second, before getting serious. "Alright, let's stop for now. It's about to start." Also... I may as well focus on the battle. And the feather. I think as I take the feather from my pocket.

'Listen Takae, I'll entrust the feather to you while I fight against Momoyo. Her friends are going to be there, and I can't split my focus in a battle against her. One of them must own the other feather, if it's close it will vibrate. Try to see who it is."

Is she for real? Trusting me so much? We have known each other for a short amount of time. I sigh as I pocket the feather again.

"Hah? What is that bubble?" Came the voice of a man, his voice is way too loud. The boy in question has dark skin, muscles upon muscles, he clearly exercises a lot, and yet, those muscles are just for show. He does not fight. Momoyo's friends came with him.

"Gokudera, don't shout that loud, my ear is ringing." The anxious voice of the boy beside him, who hides half his face with his hair, complains.

"Moro! Don't be a pussy! We are going to witness a glorious fight!! Momoyo is gonna fight! And not some smuck. I think. Well, it's not like the fight is gonna last long. And there's a bubble? What are they trying to cheat or something?"

I suddenly got angry, angrier than ever. I didn't control myself at all. With a flash of lightning, I appeared behind Gokudera and pinned one of his arms behind him. A little bit more effort and I'll break his wrist.

"Agh!" He screams. His friends, all suddenly got ready to attack me. Ignoring them I rise a little bit of Gokudera's arm, making him scream, and freezing them in place.

"Apologize. That bubble is there to protect us all from their fight. And Nat would never cheat, don't insult her. Apologize." I say coldly.

"Ah-h I-I apologize, I am sorry. Please forgive me." With his words I release him and duck under a kick before I could retaliate, a strong hand stop my leg and stop an arrow.

"Fuhahaha! Ageha Kuki has arrived!" She exclaims with a laugh as she let me go. "Now, the battle is not for you! If you want to fight do so after the arena has been turned to dust by our warriors! Now calm down and go sit!" She commands as she walks away dragging me from the scruff of my neck.

Huffing I see Nat exit meditation, from the Arena. Locking eyes with me and winking.

I blush. And Ageha smirks at me. "You are truly in love with her, aren't you?" She whispers.

"Yeah. I guess I am." Even if it happened in a flash. Went unsaid. We both know Nat used my loneliness to cover her own. Is that wrong? The way I see it, she saw something she wanted and took it.

Hm? My pocked its shining. Quickly concealing it behind Hideo and Ageha I look at the feather, it's glowing, I subtly point it towards Momoyo's friends, and it starts to quiver a little bit. But it doesn't stop on a single one of them. What does this mean?

Shrugging at Ageha I sit beside her. The match is about to start after all.

Hyume Hellsing POV.

I remember like it was yesterday, four hundred years ago. I was just a young man, trapped in the game of a noble. Only, that noble was a Vampire my blood was a delicacy.

Only, it was toxic to the vampire. When he caught me and tried to eat me, he burst into a ball of flames and flesh.

From there, my path towards greatness began, I discovered the secrets of my body, my ancestry. And I waged war against the Ottoman empire. In the end, it was a pyrrhic victory, as I was forced to flee, yet their empire was in tatters, and soon would be destroyed by time itself.

I ran to Japan, fought side by side with Motoyasu Kuki, a completely normal human. But blessed by the nine demon lords of the underworld.

Every single member of his family was blessed, forevermore. He defeated me, soundly. Not only in combat, but with words. His charisma... I swore to serve him. To serve them all, until the world collapses. I became the Butler 0 of the Kuki family.

The objective to the family, for three hundred years has been to conquer the world. However, it wasn't until the last head of the family was born that they had a chance. Mikado Kuki, the Emperor of Mankind. His name, his brains, his will.

He has already conquered two-thirds of the world with money alone. Even if different countries still wave different flags, soon. Soon every single part of the world will know their true rulers. And yet, that girl... Belatsunat scares me more than any god.

Her aura is old, ancient, destructive. She doesn't feel human at all. Her pressure is immense, the cold light in her eyes when she looks at me. She laughs, mocks, and banters, and yet the light in her eyes is dull, dead.

With a wave of her hand, she could erase me. I know this, I can feel vestiges of holy from her. She could banish me, she could banish the blessings of the Kuki. She's a scary monster. That's one of the reasons the Kuki is being so accomodating to her, she looks clueless, but I have no doubt she's smart like an old fox.

So I told Ageha and Mikado everything about her. They told me to just treat her like a normal person, just slightly more favorable. Even if it was worked so far, I am scared of what sacrificing Takae means.

Oh, I have seen her act chummy and lovely towards Takae, but it's probably an act. Someone so alien can't possibly feel love like that. She wants something... And we have decided to let Takae do whatever she wants. If it means we are sacrificing it. Then so be it, for the good of the world and the Kuki.

I just hope Momoyo listens to my advice.

MC POV

Takae reacted quite badly to someone badmouthing me. Haha, she's so cute! Hm, I must teach her to ignore fools.

Rising to my feet, I look around. There are way more people than I expected. Then again, this is Kawakami. And... Is that monk selling tickets?

With an eye twitching, I look towards Tesshin, who's grinning happily fanning himself with a lot of bills. This old man...

Sensing my gaze, he yelps and tucks the money inside his beard and caresses it. So that's why he caresses his beard so much!

Well, well, well. Momoyo is here.

All the racket was silenced for a second before everyone started cheering on her.

Walking slowly towards the arena, she rose an eyebrow at the bubble but grinned once she saw me. However she stopped before the bubble, trying to enter with her arm first, but it didn't budge at all.

Tesshin quickly went to her side and whispered in her ear. After that, Momoyo cut her hand and bled on a talisman provided by Tesshin. As one, the bubble shined and so did Momoyo.

"Well, it seems you didn't run away." I tease Momoyo as she steps inside the arena. The noise wasn't canceled, it was instead boosted, and yet it couldn't go over a certain level. Perfect for audiences said Tesshin.

"Hmpf. Run away?" She cracked her knuckles. "I am gonna force you to forfeit then."

"Aggressive are we?" I smirked as I closed my eyes for a second, before opening them. Shining yellow.

Momoyo's were bright red, almost like a laser.

"This battle will only have two rules, no purposely killing, and if the opponent surrenders you will stop attacking," Tesshin says out loud, before stepping out of the bubble.

Momoyo seemingly satisfied was about to speak, but talking is an action after all. I was suddenly in front of her, a straight jab to her chin.

A fraction of a second, a surprise attack, and yet, she tilted her head backward to dodge the hit.

"Hah!" She shouts as she expels a wave of Ki forcing me to retreat.

As I jump backward, Momoyo appears behind me, spinning and sending a kick towards my back.

I crouch in the air, my body suddenly encased in white flames, and yet Momoyo continues her attack. Luckily, the flames of gravity forced my body in place, dodging Momoyo's kick, extending my body I grab her leg, and spun around her, locking her arms with mine, her legs with mine, and suddenly headbutting her.

"Hmpf." Momoyo huffs and forces her body to contract, forcing me to let her go.

We're two meters apart, with no time to plan.

Her fist flashes towards me, I block it with my elbow, using the momentum to kick at her, only to have my kick blocked. Getting annoyed I start mixing martial arts.

Momoyo weaves through my attack, not knowing I am forming a pattern with my feet.

I keep charging at her, Momoyo on the defensive, but I wasn't fooled, she was learning. Her eyes followed and tracked every single move.

She threw up her forearms to block a sudden kick, I used the kick to push myself backward. Clapping my hands in the air, every single place I stepped suddenly grew spikes, including her arms. Her eyes bulged as a silver spike formed from her forearms. And with a grin she tore it from her arms, exposing muscle and bone.

With a bloodthirsty smile, her arms healed in a second. And she was upon me. She slid to my left, and I saw her in slow motion as three other Momoyo appeared from my other cardinal positions.

Suddenly I jumped, as the three clones decided to attack at the same time. One used a leg sweep, the other a roundhouse kick, and the last a flying knee. However, the real problem was the real Momoyo, who was striking at me with her fists.

I leaped, trying to dodge all attacks, only for the flying knee Momoyo to catch me with her arms, pushing me downwards. I feel a heavy kick fall on my head, punches to my kidneys, and the real Momoyo stabbed me with one of my silver spikes.

I grunt as I snap my fingers, the spike exploding inside me. Forcing the clones to die, and the real Momoyo to be sent flying towards the end of the arena.

The smoke dissipated, and I was there, in the middle of the arena, bloodied. Yet my body was mending itself in a second.

"Hm. You're more annoying than I thought you would be." I grin.

"You too. And you can heal, good, now we can stop holding back." She smirked. "Haaaa!" With a shout, her entire body was enveloped in energy, her clothes fluttering, her hair rising, and her eyes alight with power.

"Hmpf." I huff as my energy surrounds me, all my muscles and bones getting stronger, my eyes gaining even more clarity. I can sense more, I am boosting everything to the max.

With a shout, we both rush at each other, clashing fists. A sonic boom from our dash, a wave from the clash. A small quake from our power. And the arena cracks.

In a second we exchange hundreds of attacks. I am getting increasingly frustrated, I am much better at martial arts than her, or at the very least, I know thousands of styles more than her, and I have perfected every single one. And yet, she's matching me. She's learning in every exchange.

I used to hit her, and now, I can't hit her at all. She's using my moves against me, my styles, she's improving them.

Goddess of Battle indeed.

Using a mistake of Momoyo I slapped her hand downwards as my knee flies to her face, breaking her nose. I bring my other hand like a knife and cut her left ear.

But Momoyo doesn't stop, she starts laughing as we exchange more moves. Her ear regrows, her nose fixes itself.

And her fist clashes with my mouth, sending me flying towards the bubble. I spit the broken teeth. Feeling them be regrown.

Hm. This battle will become one of attrition like this, and we have the energy to spare, I must force her to expend more energy.

With a new plan in mind, I don't rush back towards her as she expects, but start chanting around, as I make weird and odd symbols towards her.

Her eyebrows furrowing, she doesn't notice a ball of fire rushing towards her from the left.

As soon as the ball of fire hits her, it's dissipated by her energy, but her coat is slightly burned.

As soon as she steps towards me, hundreds of ice needles fly towards her.

Her answer is to jump spinning to break every single one of them, however, she doesn't notice a metal wall rising where she's jumping towards. With sharp holes, with the hope that she shreds herself.

"Fuck!" She screams as her arms get shredded to the bones.

"Instant regeneration!" She shouts and her body flashes green before being completely healed.

Good. I clap my hands once, and countless pebbles turn into stars, falling towards her with the strength of meteorites.

She dances through them. Breaking the arena, a single one-centimeter pebble managing to make holes of eighteen meters of diameter, the strength is surprising.

When she thinks she has dodged them all, they fly back like a boomerang, from their craters. And I appear in front of her with a superman punch.

"Kawakami Secret Technique: Relentless Sky!" She shouts, crossing her arms. However my fists reach her, and the pebbles do too. And yet, it feels like touching a sponge.

My fist bounces back like repelled by rubber, and the pebbles drop to the ground.

She suddenly wraps me in her arms. "Kawakami Style, Human Bomb!" And she explodes.

This crazy bitch! From the crater of the explosion, we both reappear, our bodies mending. I managed to protect my mouth, damn it hurts.

Both of my arms disappeared, and most of my torso too.

I suddenly whistle a sharp sound, waves of wind rushed towards Momoyo, she didn't notice it, until her hand slid off of her body, cuts started to appear around her body, her cape was in tatters.

She rushed towards me, not knowing the wall of flying slicers she was coming to.

A step.

Her hand had regrown.

A step.

A flying invisible blade takes her eye.

A step.

Two more cuts appear on her legs, her eye regrows.

A step.

Four more cuts appear on her legs. The previous wounds get fixed.

A step, she jumps. Six bloodied lines appear on her crossed arms in front of her face.

I use that chance to uppercut her, as she jumps towards me. I feel her brain rattle.

She goes cross-eyed for a second.

"I won't fucking lose!" She screams. Her arms go from blocking her face, towards the sides, a storm of energy assaults me.

Her energy forms the silhouette of an angry buddha-I suddenly find myself flying, spitting blood.

Before I could react, another fist hits my back, and another hits my stomach.

A thousand punches hit me as I feel every single bone breaking.

"Kawakami Style, Musou Seikenzuki Midareuch!"

Eight fists assault me at the same time. Every single one filled to the utmost of her energy.

My body suddenly floats from the punches, from every single direction, gravity itself bends to her strength.

"Kawakami Style, Star-Destroyer!" She cups her hands and then pushes her arms forward. A beam hits my body, slowly vaporizing every single inch of my body.

Anger. How is this little bitch winning against me? Against Belatsunat? Against the Blighted one!?

I refuse.

"Aaaaaargh!" I scream. A mirror made of energy appears in front of the beam, redirecting it with double the potency, however, Momoyo merely smirks and jumps sideways.

Who cares, I only wanted to stop that attack. I reappear in front of her, blazing wings on my back, veins shining silver. My usually yellow eyes shine black.

I suddenly pluck my hand in her chest. And rip out one of her lungs.

As she suddenly gasps, I stomp on her left foot and wrap the lung around her neck. Suddenly I jump backward, dodging a punch from her buddha.

Oh yeah, that. Hmpf.

I grunt and dissolve my body into a giant me. Made of energy. Only my face remains, placidly in one of the eyes of my giant avatar.

A flash and Momoyo is healed. Her eyes were angry, but also slightly scared. That's right little bitch, no one plays with the Blighted One.

"Woke up yet, girl?" The voice of my avatar booms. "This is not a fight for fun." And when she was about to answer I stomp her.

There's no dirty in combat, only winners.

"Forbidden Move: Fuji Smasher!" She screams, her giant buddha dissolves, and all the energy rests in her arm, who punches the incoming avatar.

I lose the clash. The avatar crashing down. I dissolve it and land on my feet. Well, I only wanted to use it to deal with her big buddha.

Her hand smoking, her veins crisscrossing her arm, that's natural. Not something that can be fixed with a simple recovery. She overextended the energy on her arms.

"Kawakami Style: Fireflies!" She screams, looking at me straight in the eyes as I slowly walk towards her.

Five hundred balls of ki appear around her and fly towards me.

"Kawakami Style, Form of Existence, Type Awakening of the Dragon 2!"

She crouches and brings her hands to her eyes. It seems the first attack was to gain time.

However, I keep walking. I am not going to lose. Never. Nor to gods, mortals, champions. Nothing. Anything. Never.

I snap my fingers and a thousand energy balls appear beside me, destroying all of Momoyo's energy attacks. The rest rush towards her.

Blowing holes in her body. And yet, she doesn't stop her actions. I dash towards her, my fist ready to knock her out. However, before it could touch her. She opens one of her eyes, and a blood-red slitted pupil welcomes me, sending me flying.

"Haha, too late!" She laughs. And suddenly transforms into a giant dragon.

The dragon-Momoyo roars. A dragon of old. It seems she truly does possess divinity.

Her body is almost forty meters long, and twenty tall, black with red lightning covering it.

"Forbidden move: Black Hole!" The dragon roars, and from its claws ten small black holes appear, swallowing earth and air.

Hmpf. I wave my hand, and a naginata appears. Sending my energy to it, it turns into black flames.

I dash towards the black holes and swipe at them, dissipating them with the nothingness attribute of the naginata. Once all the Black Holes are gone, I change my naginata for an Uchigatana.

I parry the sudden tail that tried to smack me.

"Kawakami style: Forbidden Technique: Mini Sun!" She roars as she breathes out a mini sun.

Hmpf.

"The world is one, and the one is all. All is me. Sweeping the world." I chant slowly, the mantra of Arthur Pendragon when he had to cut a god.

My hand flashes and the sun gets sliced in two, both sides suddenly disappearing. However the slash didn't stop there, it continued until it reached Momoyo.

It seems her Dragon Form gave her a danger-sense because she tried to get away, but her large size prevented it, so she crossed her arms, and suddenly, her wail reverberated. Her arms getting cut in two. It seems she even feels more pain as a dragon.

"Fuck!" She transforms back into her human form, as he used her instant recovery, only to see me in front of her. I didn't give her reaction time, as I stabbed her.

"Kawakami Secret Technique..." She starts, but I can't hear the rest. Suddenly I find myself smashed to the ground, my sword stabbing my spine, pinning me on the ground.

"What?" I mutter confusedly. Time? Fuck!

"I used that on Takae Tachibana. That's how I won against her, her speed doesn't matter if she can't move at all. She was frozen in time, as were you. You lost, give up."

"Hmpf. Girl, it won't work again." I say as the sword suddenly disappears into my storage ring.

"You want to play with time?" I mutter to myself, but with the enchanted bubble it is heard by all.

"Very well... Oh, Kronus, father of time. I beseech you. Close thy eyes." And then the world fades to gray.

However Momoyo is still moving, it seems she used her technique while I was doing mine. Well, fine.

We rush at each other, equal in combat. However she starts to breathe harder and harder, perspiration clung to the little clothes that remain on her.

I am not pressed for energy, after all, I have used less, and I have more.

Fists clash, legs clash. And the techniques cancel. The world moves again, the arena is destroyed, and are wrestling in the middle of the arena.

Our hands interlocked with each other. Just pushing.

She suddenly grins and shouts two techniques at the same time.

"Kawakami Style, Snowman and Kawakami Style, Roasted Meat"

Her entire left side is turned to ice, and her right side becomes fire. She freezing and burning my body at the same time.

"Kuzenbo Watery Grave!" I shout, activating one of the tattoos on my back. Suddenly a part of my energy transforms to water, surrounding me. Washing away impurities and fixing everything.

Healing my arms, and pushing Momoyo away with enormous pressure.

Luckily that Tattoo was blessed by the god of Kappas.

She's tired, one last attack and she'll drop.

This time I used all my energy on my body, reinforcing it to the max, and dashed towards Momoyo.

She did the same.

"Kawakami Style, Dinasty Warriors Punch!" She shouts.

Our fists clash. The air stales, and suddenly a wave of energy explodes from our connected fists, it shatters to dust every single last drop of earth we were standing on, now we only stand on the bubble.

And then a boom. The Bubble shattered. The sound of the fist resonates through the city. Every single living being could hear it. At least the energy dissipated.

"Ah! The fight must be stopped, the bubble is down!" Tesshin shouted towards us.

"No. The fight is over, the bubble is down because she is down." I say as I look towards Momoyo with respect. Damn, and she's just a mortal, her divinity is her own. Because people worship her as a goddess, by her own strength. Amazing.

Momoyo didn't fall, but she got knocked out on her feet.

A flash of thunder and Takae is beside me. "Are you okay?" She asks worriedly.

"I am." I smile and I hug her. Feeling her melt in my arms.

"I got him. It's the brown-haired one." She mutters and points subtly towards the boy.

"His name is Naoe Yamato." She whispers. "He even brought the feather with him."