Challenging the Habit

Blood dripped down his battered face sharpening the look of determination that filled his expression. Seiji locked a piercing gaze at Guri, sending a silent message to him. The hit shocked his body and he could feel the effect of it on him still lingering, but he had to keep his in the fight.

Guri applauded Seiji’s fortitude. It impressed him more than he expected to see the boy still standing after taking a direct hit from him. While it might not have been the strongest that he could deliver. He would never give that to the boy, nothing would remain of him. The strength he used should have been enough to kill the boy, to his estimation. Yet he stood up once more with resilience. “Perhaps you can still be of interest to me, boy.”

Resting a hand on the rubble next to him, Seiji measured up his surroundings. Their fighting hadn’t reduced everything to shit yet. What remained definitely only held together on a prayer by now. Just the tease of their fight had made the market quake. Between the volcanic eruptions and their fighting, the Capital wouldn’t last for long. Accepting his reality was about all Seiji could do, since there was nothing that he could do to prevent it from happening. It wasn’t him that picked the location of their fight. The advantage rested solely on the demon, there was no say from him on their site. At least the city was empty of non-fighters, Yuki assured him of that.

Seiji clasped his hand over one of the chunks of a broken building that he landed in. Judging from what remained of it, it was probably a shop. All around him he could see shattered shit that he couldn’t really identify. “I’d really like it if you’d stop this ‘boy’ shit,” he said casually sizing up the chunk of rubble.

‘His demeanor has changed,’ the Lord noted with how Seiji reacted. The determination seemed to give him more than just the will to stand, but a different attitude and tone. Guri didn’t know what was happening with Seiji now. He no longer felt like the same fighter as before. The change made him curious what more he had to offer for a fight. “I’m literally eight hundred years your elder, I’m being generous saying boy.”

Blinking for a moment, Seiji had to let that absorb in. “Oh, hell man, you’re basically dead!” He didn’t let it absorb for long.

“Charming…”

“I’m going to start beating the shit out of you now.”

“Please.”

Cracks suddenly ran down the rubble following beneath Seiji’s hand. In the next instant, the large two meter long piece of debris disappeared flying for Guri. Launched faster than Seiji could move himself, it had a little more of a threat to the Lord than what Seiji physically brought.

Guri's eyes widened a little to see Seiji no longer directly confronting him. While dodging it was effortless for the demon, the shift in attacks certainly made him pause for a moment. ‘Figured he’d be attacking more directly…gave up on that?’ Dodging debris came as slightly more effort, but not enough to be an issue for him.

Keeping out of the way of the flying rubble, Guri carefully watched Seiji for any signs of change from him. A change in countenance such as the one he saw from Seiji told him anything was possible now. It was the only reason that he continued to entertain the human after seeing the limit. He wanted to see what more he tried. They already proved to be very different from those in the past.

One large chunk of debris that Seiji lifted up and launched at him completely obscured Guri’s sight. The next instance Seiji was no longer visible. ‘Disappeared! He moved while I was focused on the debris…’ Quickly scanning the area, he looked around for any hint of him. ‘With all of the noise from the rubble he’s been tossing I can’t isolate his footsteps…’

His sense picked up on the displacement of the air that preceded the movement of a person. Guri flipped around to his right with his fist already in motion. It smashed through a chunk of wall with his arm stuck inside rather than crushing it completely. ‘Not there?!’

“Wrong side,” Seiji announced with his fist already in motion. A heavy and quaking strike crashed into the face of the Lord as a shockwave from the impact ripped through the ground just a moment before he knocked Guri back.

Chapter 445 – Challenging the Habit

Pieces of rocks and rubble rained down over the area around the two. Seiji’s fist shook up against Guri’s face as he managed to take most of the blow, though it still succeeded in pushing back the demon a little for the effort. A completely unguarded hit did far less to the Lord than Seiji hoped for. ‘Dammit! He knocks me off my feet and I can’t even get him to budge a meter. I know he’s strong, but hell…’ It still provided the satisfying hit he sought.

Once the hit finished transferring all of the force through, he pulled back taking a few steps away for caution. Guri rubbed his nose, wiping away the grime that might have collected from Seiji’s hand. A fresh smirk of excitement came over him. “You please me, boy. Figured you for the straightforward fighter type.” Nothing that he displayed before had made him think any differently.

“I prefer that shit. But our power difference is too great for me to meet you head to head. That’s something that I’ve realized exchanging punches with you.”

“Keep making this interesting and I won’t kill you yet.”

“I guess I’ll have to thank you then.”

“Just keep it up.”

Wiping away sweat from his chin, Seiji focused back on the battle lines he drew. The reality of everything that he did stared back at him. All of the setup to get an unguarded punch did shit all. ‘He really is like that fight… It’s been so long since I’ve dealt with someone that out matches me so far that I can’t get anywhere…’ He was determined to have a different outcome than that one. The proof of his growth would be this battle. ‘Keep watching me…’

Seiji slipped into the shadows of the debris that he scattered about. Plenty more remained for him to use. He chunked some debris into random areas around Guri with a few targeted ones. It was just enough to keep him on his toes. Though now that he knew that Seiji played a more deceptive game with him, his awareness increased. The same sort of sneak attack wouldn’t work. He had to keep out thinking of the demon if he was going to get any more hits on him.

The debris and noise made it difficult for Guri to sort out the different things in the battlefield. ‘He’s trying to make sure to keep his movements disguised. It’s the only method that he has in hopes of getting a hit on me. I just have to keep my senses sharp.’ It had been a long time since he had such a battle. Even against the warriors of the past, they fought battles with powers and abilities, rather than just brawn and intelligence. It was reminiscent of his battle from his home world. A place where he could still find someone that didn’t always have to rely on abilities in a battle. He welcomed such a battle now that Seiji could provide more for him.

A quake through the ground signaled the change of the peaceful shower to explosive hail. Two chunks of debris flew in at Guri from flanking positions. He stepped forward grabbing the right one that had a split second position over the left and swung it into the other creating a screen. Small chunks of debris blasted through the area pelting everything.

However, one sounded different with a softer reply. He charged forward to Seiji through the smoke to find that he wasn’t there. It was only a cloth that hung from a tattered and broken store. Behind him Seiji appeared spinning around with his full force delivering an even stronger hit than the last. It grazed over his arm that couldn’t block the hit fully. Missing a direct hit on his face, it smashed his cheek knocking him off balance for a moment.

Disappearing from his silence, Seiji dropped to the ground sweeping with his leg to finish off the balance. Then in the next motion, he erupted upwards with a reinforced jab with his elbow to the chin getting Guri into the air. The size of the demon in human form made it harder to reach the positions, but it also gave him an easier target. Seiji ended the combo with both hands clasped together to pound him into the ground.

Smashed into the tile of the street of the market district, the demon didn’t move for a moment. The pause in the stunning assault dropped Seiji guard for a split second. Just a wide enough window for Guri to grab his leg and fling him into the wall nearby. Seiji stopped himself, recovering quickly, his resolve holding himself firm against the huge ass man. His hands perched on the wall for the moment before he shot himself at the demon destroying the wall behind him in his launch.

Seiji’s quick recovery and counter surprised Guri, expecting him not to react quickly after the previous hits. A sharp punch struck in the jaw of the Lord as Seiji wrapped around the demon in motion and used everything he had to convert it into an arm lock followed by a drop. Never seeing such moves, the Lord fell over on his back guided by Seiji.

Bounced off the ground, Seiji rebounded from his move standing atop a half destroyed building. It gave him distance to watch the demon. ‘I can’t be staying close. I slipped up…’

Laughter came from Guri with the pleasing state of affairs. He pulled himself up and felt the sting of pain on his lip. The back of his hand wiped at his lip seeing the blood from the minor wound that he managed to inflict. Smirking with excitement, the Lord stared up at Seiji. “I might have to start taking this a little seriously.”

“I wouldn’t underestimate me, demon.” Some touch of bravado slipped into his posturing with his gaining confidence against the demon. He still hadn’t managed to do anything significant to him, but it looked less insurmountable. ‘Taking it a little seriously… I’m barely getting by with dirty tricks and he’s still not even serious…dammit to hell!’

Seiji jumped down from his position to disappear from sight again. Things were different than before though with Guri throwing out a punch into the air. Using the force of his punch to blast away the building that Seiji hid behind. It wasn’t enough to expose him, as he had already moved on from it. ‘He’s stepping things up now…’

Clearing out more of the structures, he began to run out of places that were safe for him. ‘I need to change things or he’s going to control the battle again!’ Seiji leapt out ahead of the next blast launching straight for Guri, who saw him coming easily. The slip into old habits prepared him for what Seiji had coming. Yet Seiji punched the ground to throw himself over Guri into the air.

The demon watched Seiji roll through the air landing a far distance away on one of the smaller inner city walls that divided the Capital’s districts. He launched off the bricks quickly striking the demon, who blocked it with his forearms. Seiji kicked off the demon shooting through the air landing on one of the debris he tossed long ago and rebounded to the next, though destroying it in the process. Switching between debris, he changed his position getting out of the demon’s sight, but destroyed each of his landing spots.

In the blind spot of the demon, Seiji launched himself through the air striking quickly, staggering the demon a little. It wasn’t enough. ‘I need more!’ He bounced back, landing again at an angle bounding from spot to spot. His feet crumbled the debris with each step as he got back into position. Seiji struck at Guri with quick punches before the demon could recover.

A furious assault landed down on the Lord, keeping Seiji in control. With each jump he made from remaining debris he only left cracks behind getting into range of the demon. Guri’s normal fast movements couldn’t keep up with the pace that Seiji set.

Seiji landed on another debris and jumped off picking up some smaller chunks to fling at the demon. Within the screen, he charged forward with a metal pipe that he swung down over the demon’s head. A deep crack and groan from the hit with the pipe bent back completely. The pipe followed through, stuck in the ground as Seiji spun around getting several powerful kicks in finishing his combo to toss the demon back.

Staggering off his feet, the Demon Lord needed a moment to recover from the barrage. He still smirked, not looking as fazed by the attack as Seiji would have preferred. Small barely noticeable bruises and red marks from the attacks surfaced on his face and bare chest, but not enough to slow him down. Guri wiped it all away with confidence as he stepped forward pleased with the results that Seiji showed. “You’ve got some skills, kid.”

“I’ve had Saki rearrange my shit enough times that I’ve learned a few things. I don’t close my eyes to what others do in a fight, even if I don’t intend to fight like them.”

“You’ve made my blood start to wake. As your reward, I shall display to you my actual power.” A dark purple-ish glow surrounded Guri suddenly as the entire atmosphere of the battle changed. He made good on his promise to start taking the fight seriously.

Seiji braced himself for whatever the hell came next. He knew that even charging in wouldn’t be enough. Completely unguarded he hadn’t been able to do much more than knock him off his feet. Interrupting the demon was out of the question as much as he would have liked to have done that. ‘Is he powering up or something else?’ A strange wind came from nowhere, giving Seiji chills to the foreboding mood set by Guri.

Above him he heard something that didn’t sound like the rest of the environment. He expected it to just be from the volcanic eruptions, chunks of earth flying around. But darkness overcame his face in complete shadow as he stared up at the unimaginable sight. “What the hell is that?!” he shouted, seeing a point of light erupt in the day sky like a star, but only became bigger quickly as it burned into the atmosphere with flames bleeding off of it.

His whole body broke out in a cold sweat as he looked down at the demon. It was no eruption or random event. Every fiber of his being understood that before his mind even processed what was happening. The demon had summoned it to their fight.

Guri stared at Seiji with a wide grin that nearly went through his entire face, displaying his glee for a worthy warrior to battle. “Die with the honor knowing that Demon Lord Guri killed you!” The falling space rock broke the atmosphere with explosive force scattering the clouds.

The entire Capital was engulfed in the blast. The meteor that fell was barely larger than the one of the estates in the Noble District, but the force of the impact ripped through everything with the force of a nuclear bomb. Destructive shockwaves tore through the Capital effortlessly leveling everything in sight. Debris and massive chunks of earth pelted against the Capital wall at the edge. Part of the wall crumbled down while it helped to contain the relative blast within the deep crater.

Near the epicenter, Guri surfaced from the cloud and inferno completely unharmed from the attack, still remaining in his human form after the meteor attack. “You were a strong warrior.” However, something came from behind him, turning his head towards it in surprise.

Out of the heat of the furnace and smoke devilish eyes appeared through with piercing lethality. “You shouldn’t have done that,” a darkly twisted voice came out from where Seiji should have been.