Challenging the Beast

An unusual chill ran down Guri’s neck when he heard the voice from within the clouds. He couldn’t see who it was inside the mess of his attack, it was safe to assume that it was the boy. Yet, there was something clearly different. ‘What’s this feeling I’m sensing?’ The Demon Lord didn’t expect to feel such things from a human. The unquantifiable feeling that remained unspoken while still known.

Despite everything, he still hadn’t seen Seiji. The attack that should have killed him without doubt didn’t seem to even faze him. A strength that he hadn’t displayed yet had to have been called up to manage such a feat. He surpassed a limit that seemed unlikely for one such as him. Guri figured out everything about him from their fight.

Or so he had thought.

Chapter 446 – Challenging the Beast

Mysteries had to be unveiled. Sweat trickled down the side of Guri’s jaw in anticipation. Mounting tension as he heard the steps approaching continued the questions of what became of Seiji after his attack.

Dragged out of the layers of smoke and heat, a soft blue-white glow preceded any signs of Seiji. As he revealed himself, there was a very different look in his eyes. It remained a focused and determined gaze, but a fierce and intense feeling added to it. Surrounding his eyes was dark shadows and wrinkles tainting the formerly pure will of fire.

More than just this new intensity painted over Seiji, paper talismans floated in the air with the same aura covering them. Light sparks of lightning jumped between the talismans hinting at something deeper with them than mere defense.

Guri’s eyes narrowed, finding something more familiar in Seiji now that he saw him. “This is a surprise, you’re like the warriors I’ve fought before then.”

“I’m nothing like what you’ve fought!” a more feral Seiji roared. The next instant he threw out his fist towards Guri creating a compressed force of air from the rapid punch that shot out at the demon. Caught off guard by the new attack, Guri took the hit directly, knocking him back a meter with his feet still planted firmly.

‘Just his fist’s air pressure did that…he’s become far more impressive now…’ The Lord smirk returned deeply carving through his lower face at the excitement of a real challenge. “You’re making this more exciting. I might actually get to exercise my true power. It’s been ages!”

Unimpressed by Guri’s declaration, Seiji summoned up more talismans suddenly. “I’ll kill you before that point.” The weight of his words seemed to make the ground shake as talismans flew at the demon.

The paper talismans moved faster than he could react. They almost seemed to disappear from his sight before they attached themselves to his body. “What?!” He dealt with his type before. Guri knew how this sort of power worked, he just never saw someone so proficient with the power. Even the ancient humans didn’t have this sort of control.

Gesturing with his fingers, Seiji closed the seal as every talisman attached to the demon exploded with divine light. Engulfed in light the Lord disappeared from sight. Ruthlessly, Seiji motioned with his hands as a talisman formed up in front of him. Connected with each other, the talismans glowed together forming a pentagram in the air as more symbols and arrays drew out rapidly increasing the divine power stored within the spell.

Before the smoke even had a chance to clear, a massive beam of divine energy released from the talismans, burning up with the expenditure. Guri could only feel the rumbling and cry of the power coming at him before it washed over him. Any smoke blasted away from the demon and punched a hole through the market district continuing into the residential district.

Impact on the demon erupted deeper blasts completely covering the entire field in smoke. Seiji paused with his target missing from the original location. He scanned through the thick smoke that sat over the area like fog. Sending out talismans he started his search.

Silence didn’t last for long as a bolt of yellow-white light shot down from the sky. A slight soft echo of pain came from the position. Seiji charged forward at the confirmed location with talismans moving around him launching at the demon. Micro explosions went off in advance of Seiji’s direct assault, punching through the smoke to knock the demon back with a spark of energy running up his arm.

Shot back through the former market district, Guri crashed into the remains of the dividing wall of the districts. He remained obscured the entire time, the damage to his body no longer clear. Seiji made no efforts to slow down his assault, however a heavy pressure suddenly erupted from the ground. Anything that hadn’t been destroyed by the meteor was crushed to the ground in an instant.

Seiji stopped immediately feeling the weight of the pressure slowing his movements down. All of the talismans that he tossed flattened into the earth before even reaching their target.

“I think you’re getting ahead of yourself,” replied Guri with the smoke finally clearing. Bloodied from the assault, it was the first real damage that Seiji managed to deliver upon him. Spots of blood soaked into his clothes and dripped along his face, but despite it all he looked completely unfazed by the damage. It was as though it was purely superficial to him. “You seem to be under the false impression that you actually stand a chance against a Demon Lord.”

A confident Guri didn’t seem to slow down any of the dark determination that filled Seiji. He only seemed more encouraged by the boast from the Lord. “There’s nothing false about it.”

“You’ve grown strong enough to damage me. That is praise enough for a human, but that is the limit of your power.”

As though to reply to the claim by the demon, a bolt struck him from above. “I don’t need to reach you to strike.”

The next strike that Seiji made was deflected by an invisible force away from him. Guri shook everything off and took a few steps forward towards the boy. “That confidence of yours now is blinding you to reality. So let me refresh that for you!”

A familiar sensation turned Seiji’s eyes to the sky. He saw another meteor breaking through the atmosphere. However, his expression didn’t change with the weight of what was coming down upon him. Larger than the last one, the heat of the entry set the bottom glowing brightly.

Lifting his arm, he resisted the pressure still upon him. The talismans around him glowed intensely with the writing disappearing behind the energy aura surrounding them. Flying away from them, they escaped the weight that Guri applied and spread out into the air. Forming a complex array with rapid duplicate energy grew out of the talismans charging into a single point of the attack.

The meteor continued straight for the array with seconds before impact. Energy build up reached a critical threshold and launched at the celestial rock punching straight through it. Enough force hit to momentarily slow down the descendant before it shattered into countless shards of rock chunks.

“You’re able to resist my gravity power and destroy my meteors,” complimented Guri, “Would seem getting serious is going to be the only way to put you down now.” The earth started to rumble suddenly at the end of his declaration. Guri glowed in his demonic aura once more as the ground beneath him crumbled away under the forceful release of his power. He sank in the crater dug by his release showing the proof of his word.

Charging straight at Seiji, he looked to test out the defense of the strangely enhanced Seiji directly. The force of his charge blasted away the tile of the markets and carved up a trench straight to Seiji. Crashing on the barrier of talismans Seiji created, the demon’s fist sparked and crackled with electricity. Demonic energy clashed with the divine energy from Seiji. Shockwaves erupted from the impact with heavy bolts of energy shooting out in random directions tearing up the earth.

At the edge of the massive crater, the ground crumbled away from Seiji as the power snapped through. He fell over into the crater with Guri flying over top. Seiji came to a slow stop part way down the crater with the demon descending into the pit. He slowly started to march towards him once more. “You’re quite strong for a human, but I’ll be putting an end to this dance.”

Seiji stood back up unflinching before the overwhelming power. “You’ve made the claim many times, but I still stand.”

“Not for much longer. I should remind you that I’m still in my human form and you’re only barely hanging in against this level of strength.”

“Then show me your demonic form and I’ll crush that too.”

“Such arrogance in the face of death. I’m not sure if you’re foolish or brave anymore, kid.”

“Let’s find out.”

Before Seiji could make another action, his hand jumped out grabbing the talisman in the air. His muscles in his arm shook until it followed through his whole body. The divine aura surrounding him flicker and dimmed in strength. The talisman in his hand crumpled and burned to ash.

Guri paused his action, now questioning what he was doing. ‘There’s a disturbance in his aura… What’s happening to him?’ He watched as Seiji ripped down talisman after talisman even with more appearing in front of him. ‘Is he fighting his power?’

Finally grabbing the last talisman and burning it away, the aura completely vanished. Panting heavily, he looked ready to collapse suddenly like all of the strength had drained from him. “Stay back there, damnit!”

The Demon Lord tilted his head a little, not sure what just happened. He saw him grow significantly weaker from whatever he did in dismantling his power. The excitement completely disappeared off his face along with the smirk. Guri crossed his arms nearly completely removed from the fight now. “What are you doing?”

Trying to ignore the damn sweat that covered his body with the severe fatigue, Seiji straightened back up. The wrecked state of his body that he ignored before through sheer will no longer worked. “Sorry about that. Was just an interruption, we can continue from here.”

“Continued?” Guri questioned with his eyes narrowing at the absurd claim that Seiji just made. “You’re nearly falling over and don’t even have a tenth of the power you had before.”

Seiji took a little offense to that claim, managing to get back some of his composure. “I’m fine! I can keep fighting!”

“No you can’t. This is pointless. You don’t have the power.”

“Can you sense my power?”

“What? No, of course not.”

“Then how do you know how much power I have then?”

“I’m observant, unlike the delusion you’re trying to sell.”

Disregarding everything the demon offered in charity to him, Seiji let out a scream summoning up his strength. He charged down the crater at Guri ignoring all of the signs present to him. “I’ll defeat you as I am!”

“You’ll die. Use your real power, this is a joke.”

“This is my real power! Nothing more than my strength!” The demon still scoffed at the notion that Seiji currently presented his real power. Seiji ignored it all still and kept closing in on the demon demanding the fight continue.

Disappointed now and bored, Guri let out a sigh as he lowered his arms to his side. “It seems you wish to die in battle. You’ve disappointed me in the end, but I’ll give a quick death.”

“Keep talking! I’ll punch your damn face in!” Seiji closed the rest of the distance to Guri, throwing all the shit he had behind his fist. With a half-hearted effort the Demon Lord met him with a fist of his own. Their fists connected with each other and for an instant the earth quaked under their power. Seiji stood despite Guri’s claims.

The next instant, Seiji’s arm exploded in blood and torn muscle. In the next moment, all disappeared in a spray of blood as Guri’s arm continued through. The Demon Lord’s arm crushed everything in the way. He came to a stop with his arm completely through Seiji’s body, utterly destroying his chest. A shocked look remained fixed on his eyes as death took him.

Guri cast off Seiji’s body to the crater and turned towards the remains of the Capital. “It’s time to destroy the Capital.”