The boy with white hair smirked at me when his companions left
"So you did let them escape without doing anything"
I shrug
"I didn't came to this town to fight, at least I didn't meant to, but this sure is one hell of a welcoming party"
Honestly, right when I promised to Tachan there would be no fights, this happens
Running away? Well, I could try, but I faced a fair share of demons in my life, and this one is not the type I should give my back to, at least not carelessly.
If I want to run away from him, I am going to need a very good distraction... and I honestly don't know if I can create one good enough to get him
"So, I think you made the first attack, are you waiting for me to do the next one?"
He says showing the wings who were burnt just when he showed up
"You actually did a pretty good job, my flames were most likely trying to set your whole body on fire, but it seems you extinguished them before that could happen"
I lift my hand pointing out
"This ability of yours is a pretty big pain in the ass, but you better start playing serious because..."
My flames intensify, I was holding back with the nekoshou and the blonde magician but with the barrier set by her, that limitation is no more
"If you don't take this seriously you'll burn to ash"
Giving a brave smile, he gets into a fighting stance
"Ho, that's pretty serio-"
Interrupting him, I throw my spears in his direction
"Ha! You damn...!"
He exclamates and quickly creates demonic bullets to counter them, but I change their direction still trying to get a full hit
"Espers attack first!"
He skillfully shifts his body mid-air, actually managing to dodge before the wounds got too deep, he's not just fast, he's also much more flexible than his body makes him look! I make the spears change direction again while shooting even more at him, however, as they are about reach, a deep voice shouts
[Divide!]
Just as that is said, the first wave of spears that scraped his body is reduced, giving him enough space to fly away from their reach and send his own magical shots to counter mine, this time on much larger amounts
"Hahaha! You really attacked me while I was talking, do you have no fighting honor?"
I click my tongue, how did he do that? I was sure my spears were going to pierce him!
"Honor? I'm trying to get you out of my way, don't expect any fair play from me. Besides, I told you espers always make the first move."
Another smile shows up on the boy's face, he seems to be really enjoying this, even though there are clear smoking wounds where I managed to graze him
"Heh, guess I have to take you seriously since you did managed to get a hit on me, this flames of yours are quite dangerous. You espers have exorcism powers too, right? I felt that when you hit, if it was a bullseye, I would be quite injured."
Even though he says those words, his confidence does not diminish even a bit. I cover myself in fire and prepare a new wave of arrows to throw at him
"So you've noticed, your powers are a pretty big pain too, but can you keep it up with mine?"
To my provocation the boy laughs joyfully again
"Hahaha! You heard that Albion? We just received a challenge from a lady, I think it will be impolite if we don't show what we can do!"
The same voice from before speaks again as the big blue wings start to shine
[Finally, I was wondering how long you were going to let this girl play around with us]
After giving this proud answer, the mysterious voice declares as a bright aura envelops the boy's body
[Vanishing Dragon Scale Mail!]
When the light fades away, the boy is wearing a glamorous white armor, his aura also seems to have increased quite a lot both in quality and quantity
So he wasn't using his full power, this is bad. I really can't hold any punches with him
I reach my hand out for the red jewel that's currently hidden by my shirt.
If I were to use this power now, I can escape, maybe even defeat him...
"No, it's too risky..."
I say under my breath as let my hand go of it
It's too uncertain, I haven't even used in a true fight yet, this should be a last resort untill I can get used to it.
"You made me take this form, now show me what you got!"
Charging with his wings, the boy comes flying right at me with a blade of energy on his right hand and a seal with magical attacks being shot at me from his left
"Burn to death!"
I yell, sending several of my flying spears counter his magic while also surrounding him with fire
"You are good!"
But this time his bullets are actually able to compete with my fire, changing directions and overwhelming mine!
He's closing in, shit! I don't want to get into close range combat at least untill I figure out the mistery behind his skill.
"I'll break everything down if I have to!"
[Hell's Wall!]
"Huh?"
He questions as a wall of fire, stone and half-melted steel is lifted from the streets and gets between us.
Steel from pipes and structures, stone from the ground and from the buildings around us, everything combined with my flames, using them I can force things to move, my control is not nearly as good as a telekinetic, but if it's only for this, then it's more than enough!
I make the fire start to circulate around him like a typhoon and eventually surround his body, with this, I can distract him with the fire and create a cocoon of fire, rock and molten steel that'll limit his oxygen, this way, even if my flames don't destroy him, he'll pass out from lack of oxygen!
I didn't want to use this movement earlier because I also need to make sure the enemy can't escape, but mostly because it also blocks my view of them, and even if I still can sense them, it's still dangerous to do such a thing with an opponent so fast
[Divide! Divide! Divide!]
"W-what?"
I feel my attack being reduced and he's doing it much faster than he did when he arrived!
"Hahaha! You are good!"
I intensify the fire trying to keep up with his dividing, but it's too taxing! I have to make him stop if I want to trap him here!
I send several attacks but he still is able to use his magic to destroy them
"Ugh!"
I groam as my attempts to keep he in are destroyed
"What, are you done already?"
He gleefully declares while escaping the grip of the fire cage and rising above
"I'm not losing to you!"
We continue our duel of flames versus demonic power, it's still impressive how he can counter me so easily. I can keep up with his speed enough to avoid his charges, but if this keeps up, I'll probably run out of power before him.
"Guh! I have no choice then!"
If I want to win, I need to make something bold
Creating a pair of flaming swords, I stop my showering of fire arrows and stand still
"Had enough of running away?"
CLANG
At full speed the boy flies towards me, we clang swords, his white-blueshish one with my red ones
"Ugh!"
I screech in pain, as expected, in physical strength he's superior to the point where just trading blows with him is enough to make my arms sore.
There's really no choice then
I step back and and close my arms, making my swords disappear and creating a large shield of fire
"Are you going on defensive now? Interesting! Let's see if your shield can block my sword"
He says swinging the energy blade down and an expression of confusion appears on his face as the sword phases through the shield and gets stuck
"Uh? What is this?"
"I wasn't trying to defend myself..."
I say looking in the eyes of the armour
"It's actually the opposite"
My shield starts glowing and in a split second both of us are enveloped by fire
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
A large explosion blasts the armored boy away and pushes me back, my feet planted on the floor allow me to hold my ground and not be sent flying like he was
It worked! Distracting him by making him think that I was going on defensive and them making this suicide attack actually worked!
"S-shit..."
I say while pulling myself together and noticing all the bruises that had appeared on my body. Even if my fire doesn't burn me, the impact of the explosion did a number on me, but it couldn't be helped, if I tried to do it from long range he would defend just like he did with the other attacks, this was so I could finally have a chance to take him down.
"Y-you damn..."
The boy says as he starts standing up, his armour is broken and I think I can see blood, but this is not the time for it!
[Hell's Wall!]
Once again, I lift a dome of fire and debris around and encase him before he can react
"Y-you!"
I hear the boy's exclamation from inside the firestorm and smile
Yes! It worked!
The fire starts compresing more and more as the stone and the iron start to fuse and my prison starts taking shape
However, my joy is short lived as the voice from inside the boy speaks again, this time with other words
[Half Dimension!]
...!
In a flash, all of my flames and all the material I gathered are reduced, leaving several gaps in the trap I was trying to build!
Blam!
Releasing a wave of aura, the boy destroys all my attacks once again
"This power...!"
Once it's over, we stare at each other for a moment
His armour has been burnt in several places from where now I could see his real body through, I managed to burn through it and a small pool of red liquid had gathered on the ground around him, I can finally confirm that I actually managed to get blood out of him.
It also seemed that he was panting, maybe due to the lack of oxygen I had created inside that typhoon
I smile a little, so it somewhat worked least, maybe this'll convince him I'm more trouble than it's worth
"You did pretty well..."
I said while trying to hid that I was panting as well, trying to disguise my fatigue after having to keep up with him
"Ha... it seems so, you also aren't half-bad"
The boy says this with his usual pride, however, he seems to have become more serious now, no more of the cheerfulness from before could be felt from him
[Vali, you can't underes-]
As it seemed that the voice would begin to scold him, the boy lifted his hand and replied
"I know, I know, Albion, no need for lectures now"
The white armour shines and is immediately repaired, he adjusts his posture and rubs his shoulder
"You got me there, now I have no choice but to acknowledge you..."
He suddenly vanishes from my sight!
!
I turn around and manage to block the attack from his light blade moments before it hits me
"I respect you as an opponent!"
He declares and starts swinging his sword much faster than before! I block his attacks with a lot more difficulty and start to cast fire from all around in order to try and destroy his armour
"Ugh!"
I kick him away and propel myself backwards to escape from close quarters whilst summoning a shower of fire, but with a huge release of aura he destroys them instantly
His aura doesn't stop at just destroying my attacks either, instead it keeps increasing and it's soon shot towards me as well, forcing me to release my own aura to stop it from hitting me
CLASH
Both our auras collide violently, leaving a trail of destruction and a huge blast where they met
The boy takes a moment to look at the aftermath our the collision
"What a beautiful red colour. Hey, Albion, it seems that we are destined to fight people with Red as their aura, huh?"
He talks as if referencing to someone else
[Are you comparing her to the red one? He would probably be offended to hear such a thing]
The boy smirks and acknowledges the words from the voice
"Heh, you don't come close to a Heavenly Dragon, but you are a good fighter"
He says closing his fist, he's still blabbering about this tenryuu crap? Is he serious about it?
"Indeed, my destiny is to fight with the Seikiryuutei while I become even stronger, that's why I'm glad there are opponents like you..."
I close my guard and hold back another barrage of attacks
He manages to close the distance instantly once again and our swords collide
"Overcoming you means becoming stronger!"
He isn't joking around, shit! I gotta think of something and it's gotta be fas-
[Divide!]
SPLAT
"H-Huh?"
A sharp pain is shot through my body and I look at my shoulder to see the blood coming out of it
"I divided the energy on your sword to create an opening"
The boy says this as panic rushes through my body and I create a burst of flames towards him propeling myself backwards
"Ah... ah... shit!"
I grab my shoulder and use my flames to cauterize the wound, that's my fault for allowing him to get the combat into close range even though I knew he could reduce my flames
"Now I'm sorry, but I'll be ending this fight"
[Divide!]
The voice resonates once again and feel my body growing weaker and fall down to one knee
"W-what the hell?"
So he can take away the energy from me as well?! Not just the flames? That's so unfair!
BLAM
Several demonic rounds are shot towards me once again, but this time, my power is not enough to hold them back! Several manage to bypass me and I get hit straight and sent backwards
"Ughhh!"
I groam and try to stand to up again, only to feel my body growing even weaker
[Divide! Divide!]
"Don't try to fight back now, you'll just embarass yourself"
I stumble, barely able to hold my ground. Shit, is this the end?
...
No, it isn't
I still have an ace up my sleeve
Reaching my hand into the collar of my now torn shirt, I feel the red jewel from before.
If this should be used in an emergency, then it's now
However, I hesitate
Is elevating my power enough to beat him? Or even enough to run away? I cannot underestimate this guy, if I want to beat him I have to find a weakness before I show my trump card
Noticing my clear desperation, the boy replies
"Don't worry, I'm not planing to kill you, I don't take pleasure in doing so, but I'll have to make you undo the seal you cast in Kuroka and then... maybe I should send you to Rias Gremory afterwards? This is her town after all..."
He says it so nonchalantly, it's like I'm not even a threat anymore! And who the hell is this Rias Gremory they keep talking about?
No, that's not the time for it, damn Ayumu, think of something! How can I face Tatseyo if I fall down here?
I look at the boy approaching me and seconds feel like hours as I try to think of a way out until a realization hits me
!
"My flames when he arrived...!"
Saying the sudden thought under my breath, I feel more stupid than I probably ever felt in my entire life
"Hahahaha! Of course, that was it!"
My suddent outburst makes the boy hesistate for a moment
"Huh? Have finally lost your mind at the prospect of losing?"
I slowly and stumbling stand back up as I reach for the jewel in my chest, a big grin drawn on my face
"The only one losing here today is you!"
Releasing my aura towards the gem, a bright red glow envelops my body and I feel my strength coming back as my flames burst out
"I'm back!"
I declare pointing one of the swords that appeared in my hand towards him
However, the boy stands still, looking at me as if paralyzed
"W-what? You are just going to stand in there?!"
I shout at him and the reply comes from the voice that shouted the names of his abilities
[What the hell is this supposed to mean, partner?]
The boy takes a hand to his chin and answers confused
"Maybe she gains power by exhibitionism... what a weird woman..."
Noticing what they were talking about, I quickly put my hands around my body trying to cover myself up
"S-shut up! I didn't choose the design, alright?!"
How the hell did I forgot about this shameful clothing?! Uhh, am I really going to have to fight like this?
"Well it seems like your aura was restored, no, maybe it's stronger than it was before? Hah, you really are full of tricks! I'm so happy I was able to meet an opponent like you!"
Is he brain damaged?! How can someone be so happy about fighting?
"You won't be so happy after this!"
I charge him right ahead, blades pointed at him and leaving a trail of fire behind as an explosion is created behind me!
Seeing my bold approach the boy asks
"Ha! Have you forgot that you're still under the effects of [Divide]?"
He swings his weapon down at me
"I haven't, but I'm soon going to see how long you can keep it up!"
Strings made of flames come out of my back as the boy lifts his sword to attack me
"Extra arms won't make you faster!"
He says whilst his blade approaches me
[Divide!]
I feel my strength leaving my body once again, but I have to endure it! Just a little more!
"I wasn't aiming at you"
I say as the strings faint their movements and grab my real target
The wings at his back!
"W-what?!"
CRASH
He shouts in surprise as my flames bypass his guard and damage his blue wings
I smile and punch him in the face as he lets his guard down, a burst of flames from my face burning half of his helmet away
"Kuh!"
Using this opening, I distance myself from him with a burst of flames and shoot several arrows of fire that are countered by his demonic bullets
"Go ahead! Divide my powers now that you have no way to get rid of the excess energy!"
I stand still, nervously waiting to see if my plan worked out untill I realize that indeed
That godforsaken "divide" crap was no longer here!
"Hahaha! It worked!"
The boy stares at me completely taken aback
"H-how did you...!"
I finally sense rage into his voice as I charge forward
"You know, I'm not the smartest girl in the world, but to have my flames outsmarting me... this is too much..."
I say with a smirk and a sarcastic laugh
"Y-your flames?"
The boy asks as we cross swords once again and I jump back sending a wave of fire arrows that are deflected by his aura
"Remember when you first arrived and reduced my flames, but when they sprang back up they went right for your wings?"
I smile remembering the scene
"I wondered why your wings... You see, my flames can work automatically to protect me or to attack, that can be a blessing or a curse, in this case they were actually smarter than me"
The boy seems to understand where I'm getting at and answers in shock
"Are you telling me your flames noticed that my wings were the place that my surplus energy was dispensed before you did?!"
I laugh once again and nod
"Hahaha, I know, that's ridiculous, right? And I only managed to piece everything together by noticing the amount of energy that your wings gave out, I actually have a friend that controls energy too, you know? Though..."
I sidestep dodging his sword and striking with my blades
"He's levels above you in energy manipulation!"
The boy blocks it, but only this time his face turns pale as a sound comes from his weapon
Crek Crek
CRASH
My blades manage to break through his and cut through his armor right away! Just like Kusuke-san said!
"Kuah!"
The boy shouts and steps back, sending a wave of aura which I counter immediately
"Shit!"
He says losing his composure
I look at the blade which pierced him, it's covered in blood! I finally have a chance to beat him!
"Guh!"
Just as I thought that, tiredness started to take over my body
I'm being careless, not only I've been fighting with everything I got over the course of who knows how long I've been here, but this armour also seems to be draining my stamina. Of course a power like this wouldn't come for free.
"Y-you are good, girl, I give you that. But even without my [Divide] I can still beat you to a pulp"
He says creating several magic circles, seemingly not even close to be as exhausted as I am
That's it, if I'm gonna win this, it will all come to this final round!
"Alright, let's burn down the house!"
I channel almost everything I have left in conjuring more and more flames to counter his attacks and charge towards him
"That's the spirit! It's no good defeating an opponent that's not giving his all!"
The boy charges at me with the same fiercefullness
I focus my aura on my blades who become red-hot and an explosion is heard as soon as I step towards him
""This is the end!""
We say at the same time, aiming our attacks at each other
Moments feel like hours as our blades and bullets are aimed at one another and just before impact, a colour spectacle annulates all of our attacks
"Uh?!"
"W-what is this!?"
We both reply, confused as to what happened
His blade stands right in front of my face, not moving an inch
This could be my chance to hit him, this moment when he's totaly helpless seems like my golden chance...
If it wasn't for the fact that I'm stuck in place as well!
Suddenly, ice starts creeping out from all around us, making my flames diminish and growing even more untill it's surrounding us
"W-what the hell?"
I ask as a figure emerges from behind the white haired boy and taps the shoulder of his armor
"Who the hell are you? How did you get in here?"
He barks, trying to look at the figure but unable to move himself
"That was rather easy... you two were so caught up in your battle that didn't even notice our approach"
He replies and my eyes wide as I recognize the figure that just spoke
"Now, may I ask you to step aside, Mr. Lucifer?"
The figure asks
"After all, the person you are trying to hurt... is my dear friend"
My excitement finally reaches it's peak and I shout outloud
"Tachan!"
Afterword: I actually laughed a little at guest's comment about espers being too OP because this chapter about Ayumu struggling trying to defeat Vali was already on sketch. Don't worry, there'll still come plenty of situations where the espers will struggle against enemies, whether they are inside or outside forces.
Thanks for the reviews, especially to Guest-Questioner, it's good to see that readers are appreciating the effort I'm trying to put into building the characters