Couldn't sleep. Here's the 3000 collections chapter. Enjoy!
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"He's here for me." I said as I got up to go meet him, "Dulio, Sai. Hide."
"That much is obvious." Nurarihyon replied and seeing my curious look explained, "He has three streams of intent. Two are on us, but the thickest one is concentrated all on you."
I see. Senjutsu can be used to this degree of accuracy. Feints and distractions simply don't work against a Senjutsu users, it seems. Gotta make a counter for that when I learn it.
I returned my attention the dragon king as he floated over to us, and I slammed the door shut behind me.
"Hello." He greeted, "I have come to enjoy a relaxing time in the onsen."
"We are closed…for renovations." Magari improvised, "There was a sign up the road. Learn to read."
"I see. I must have missed it." He said, "But I'm certain you could accommodate one guest."
"No. Company policy. Sorry." Magari refused.
"Very well. Then I shall simply wait for it to be finished with the renovations." He raised a hand and pointed in the distance, as a magic circle appeared, opening up a cave on the side of the mountain.
I sighed. Let's end this charade. I have places to be.
"Did Mephisto send you here to kill me?"
He was stunned for a second before putting on a poker face and answering robotically.
Hmm…he reacted much more to the Mephisto part than the killing part, and I'm guessing he isn't giving off any killing intent seeing as how Magari and Nurarihyon's tensions have lightened.
"I am simply a regular guest at the onsen. Trying to enjoy my time off."
He sucks at lying. Goodness. He sucks so much.
At least that confirms he isn't here to kill me.
"Who died and made you a spy?" I chuckled.
"I am not a spy. I am simply a guest." He repeated and I stopped him.
"Let me guess, he wants to have a measure of me. And he sent you because he trusts you the most."
Finally, he relented.
"Gahahahaha! Yes." Tannin admitted with a laugh, "I was sent here to spy on you. You really are as smart as he said."
"No, no, no." Magari waved her paw in the air, "A three year old could have figured that out."
Rude. I huffed.
"I don't know if I should praise or insult Mephisto's choice. But you're certainly stubborn enough to not return empty handed." I crossed my arms, thinking for a moment, choosing my next words carefully to gauge his reaction, "But I know you too have responsibilities and duties, managing your lands, training your children. Do you really want to spend the next six months sitting day-in day-out in a cave watching ten year olds fight?"
He gave it a thought for a long moment and asked.
"Do you have an alternative?" As bad as he was as a spy, he was at least smart enough to catch onto the hidden meaning in my words. He was just too honest and guileless to deceive others.
He really is better dealt with using straightforward sincerity. A simple man. I like simple men.
"You are a warrior, aren't you?"
"Yes. How does that help me?" He asked humbly.
He didn't consider it lower than himself to take the opinion of child. That is admirable. I had half expected to be brushed off at the very start itself.
But I suppose that is to be expected of the man who gave up his identity as a dragon king to serve in hell, literally, all for the sake of his species of dragons, who need Dragon Apples to survive, the same Dragon Apples that only grow in hell.
An honourable, humble warrior who values duty over pride.
"How do warriors get to know each other?" I pointed out.
He nodded understandingly.
"You wish to fight." He scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Very well. Let us save time and have a conversation with our fists."
Better than having him hang around when I bring my new peerage members back.
That news leaking would be a disaster.
"You'll save me if he tries to kill me, right?" I asked Magari and Nurarihyon, just to be safe.
"Nah." Magari replied.
"Go die." Nura-san added, flipping me off.
"How reassuring." I said with a deadpan glare.
"Gahahaha, worry not, young phoenix, I am not one to betray the trust of a fellow warrior." Tannin slapped a hand on my shoulder, with such force that it cracked the ground beneath my feet, "Come, let us take the fight somewhere less populated."
"Yes, just one moment." I turned to Magari and Nurarihyon, "Can you make that twilight barrier thing…" I gestured with my hands, "from the first time we visited your castle. I'd prefer to keep our fight a secret."
They nodded and Magari shouted.
"Kids, come on now. You heard'im."
The elder nekomata all stood up, and jumped into the courtyard.
Wait kids?
"They're your children?!"
"Munya? Of course they are." She mewed proudly, "Where do you think all these little idiots came from?"
"No, I just can't believe some idiot slept with you five times given how childish you are." I stuck out a tongue at her.
"Nyahaha, don't doubt my fertility, nya! These five are all from my first litter alone." She ignored my insult and strut around the five elders proudly, rubbing against their legs, as they squirmed with embarrassment, with some even muttering 'Mooom!' softly, as if to protest the affection.
I guess the parent-child dynamic doesn't change, no matter how old you get.
Sometimes I wonder how she survived all these years being such a silly little cat, but then I remember her true form was a terrifying, ten foot tall, four eyed, seven tailed monstrosity and yeah, no. That makes sense. In the nekomata world she probably the hottest GILF around.
Seeing them all gathered, I pointed to the ground and created a teleportation circle, transporting us all to a hidden little valley a little ways from where we were, surrounded by four mountains on each side.
The cat elders split up and moved to their respective positions while Magari and Nurarihyon helped with the initial casting.
Slowly, the afternoon sun began to dim as a dark, dreary canopy set upon the sky, covering us and the entire area in dim, evening light that coloured the world as purple as Tannin's scales, before the effect stabilized and the colour turned a moderate blue-grey, reflecting the fake moon in the sky.
Tannin and I squared up against each other, right in the middle of it, demonic powers flaring to attention.
"Sooo…do I make the first move or-"
"Go ahead, young phoenix. It wouldn't be right for me to aggress." He offered politely.
Guess it is me then.
I raised my leg and stamped on the ground, a crimson hellfire blooming upon my sole, that coursed through the ground in great luminescent veins, melting through dirt and flesh in a little move I like to call 'the floor is lava'.
My hands turned to claws, I raised them to the sky, and the ground rumbled beneath me as eight giant snakes of lava shot out from the ground, six feet thick and dozens of meters long, barrelling towards him.
"Impressive." Tannin smiled, "But nowhere enough."
He reared back one fist and with pure physical power, tore through one, then another, tanking three with his body alone before he sent the last three flying with a roundhouse kick that cleaved through them like butter, splattering the mountainside in a golden shower of lava. The trees arounds had already caught fire, but that last move sent it rolling up the hillside in a great inferno, just as planned.
"Eh, I was just testing the waters. The metaphorical appetizer." I shrugged.
"Is it my move then?" He asked, and I grinned.
"Nope." I disappeared.
Hellfire fluttered at my heels as I sped along the mountain tops away from him, casting spell after spell on myself.
Hellfire boost! Haste x3! Misty step!
I flickered from mountaintop to mountain top, leaving a trails of burning hellfire in my wake as Tannin watched me curiously for a moment before he gave chase.
The ground burst beneath his feet in great waves as he shot towards me making up the distant in an instant.
What a terrifying physique!
Just the perfect gauge to see exactly how strong I have become!
Seeing that he was about to catch up, I gather two balls of wind in my hand, and he noticed.
"Those won't even tickle me." He said, his clawed hand reaching out to grapple me when I slammed the first into my side.
"They're not for you." I escaped his grasp and he, moving at such a speed kept barrelling through, unable to turn in time.
He skid to a stop some dozen meters away, carving a trench into the ground with his feet as he turned towards me, but it was too late.
The second wind burst hit my side and I spun like tornado, one hand reaching outwards for that final boost.
FWOOSH! The wind exploded behind me and I turned heel, heading straight back at him, only this time I had the momentum of a storm behind me.
One leg outstretched as I spun, dark, biting winds whirled around it with an ungodly force that tore even my own leg apart at its seams. A move that was inspired by Inazuma Eleven and came at the cost of a leg, something only a Phenex could afford to use.
"Eye of Jupiter!"
The winds howled, ripping out entire chunks of the ground, trees and all in their wake and before he could react, my leg slammed into him with force of a hurricane.
The dark storm exploded in his face as he lifted his hands to block it, shattering the hillside beneath our feet and burying him under a literal mountain of rubble as the explosion turned into a landslide, shaving the hillside into a cliff that led right back to the bottom of the valley.
But of course, that wasn't enough to down him.
"RWAURAGH!" His roar shook the entire valley and from beneath the rubble seeped out a truly enormous aura, tinged with a pinkish red and emanating such power that I even forgot to breath for a brief second.
Shit!
With one decisive move I tore off my own leg and burned through my demonic power, regenerating the leg back instantly.
My wings flushed out fully, panning eight feet across in feathers made of flame and with a single beat, I fled into the sky like a comet returning home, streaking embers marking my ascent.
Below, the entire valley had flooded with hellfire now, consuming the lives of all plants and creatures living within. A spell born at the cost of a great many lives, made to ensure complete obliteration.
As I reached the peak of my ascent, I clapped my hands, and out erupted flame, beautiful and red, flowing like silk and wine between my palms, forming a sleek and breathtaking bow of hellfire, with curved eaves and burning twine. With one hand I activate the spell carved into the valley by the blood and flame below, and pulled gently, as if a weaver upon a loom. With a single tug, the flames below began to flow and fly upwards, coalescing into one singular arrow, whirling, twisting, condensed into the form of an almost solid frame, leaving naught but ash in their wake.
Just in time too, as the rubble below exploded and out walked Tannin. Unscathed.
"Is that all you have got, boy?!"
Sheesh, I know you're tough but still…way to show me.
His aura brimming with excitement, he looked straight up at me and took the challenge. His dragon aura gathered into his mouth, his throat gurgling with barely contained flame that he condensed just like me.
A one-to-one comparison of flame.
"Dragon Shot!"
"Firebird Of Ruin!"
We both attacked at the same time, and for a brief moment the whole valley lit up as the explosion rocked through it, binding all who dared to look at it.
Which, in fact was the entire point.
"Gravity enhancement! Momentum Burst! Hellfire boost!"
I cast spell after spell onto myself as I used the cover of light to shoot straight down like a meteor, which, coincidentally, was the final spell of the combo.
Imbuing the concept of a meteor into my very bones, I formed an arcane shell with my wings wrapped around me like a blanket of flames as a sonic boom echoed out behind me.
BOOM!
Another finisher move.
"Meteor Impact!"
I crashed straight into him with the force of a meteor, the force of the impact blowing open a crater into the earth, only, it was beneath his feet.
He hadn't even bowed from it. From the impact.
With one outstretched arm he grabbed me by the head, grinning ear to ear with excitement, his menacing teeth on full display and he laughed.
"Clever tricks are never a match for raw power, boy!" His grip on my head tightened as he formed a knife hand with his claws, "Remember that the next time you challenge someone to a fight."
PUCHI!
His hand tore through my guts, ripping out my intestines and stomach, my blood and bile mixing on the ground with a satisfying sizzle, as my lower half separated from my body entire.
And I looked into his eyes and smiled.
"You've never tasted my tricks before." I gurgled out.
In a flash I wrapped my arms around his hand and he let go of my head, but it was already too late.
He had sliced through me like a hot knife through butter and now it was payback time!
My claws dug into the flesh of his arm, though I barely managed to pierce skin, and that was enough.
"Black Flames of Judgement!" An oily ash black flame bubbled up from beneath my hands and wrapped around his arm at the shoulder, whirring like a buzzsaw, eating through him like ants on candy.
This was the best property of the new and completed spell.
I can move the damage reflected onto any part of the body I choose, in any way I choose.
You made a hole in my stomach, now you get a fresh new hole where your arm used to be.
In the time it takes a thought to pass, the black flames had already eaten halfway through his arm and seeing that nothing he was doing was stopping it, he made a decision only a seasoned warrior would make.
He severed his own arm and with that same motion grabbed it, and-
Splat!
My consciousness went blank, my ears stopped ringing. Complete oblivion.
And then-
BWah!
I died.
I took deep wheezing breaths as my memories from moments ago returned to me, right with my now regenerating head as my body lay kneeling on the charred soil below.
He blew my head clean off.
He blew my head clean off using his own severed arm like a bludgeon!
MY head. For the first time this life.
MY head- am I – Who am I? Am I the same person that- the same Riser?! The-
I began to hyperventilate, clutching my chest as I fell over. I looked at the burning splatter of my former head…
My vision swam, my mouth felt like vomit and-
My memories-
Bwuaaugh!
I hurled my newly regenerated stomach out.
Magari was at my side before I knew it, cushioning my head as Nurarihyon splashed wine onto me.
Then I blacked out.
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MC gets humbled. The true difference between low Ultimate Class and peak Ultimate Class is more than a spell can cover, especially when you add the advantages of a dragon's body and hundred of years of battle experience.
A brutal beatdown.
Tell me what you thought!
Thanks for reading.
Don't forget to donate your powerstones.
600 powerstones (total- we're already over 300) - 1 extra chapter.
4000 collections - 1 extra chapter.
Bye~