OM (DS arc) CH 8: Pain (Patreon)

Arthur braced himself, planting his feet firmly into the ground, and let the friction gradually consume the massive momentum given to him by Akaza's punch. 

Finally, when Arthur stopped, he closed his eyes and willed his broken and twisted arm, which had been reduced to such a state by blocking Akaza's punch, to fix itself. With a sudden blur, the flesh in his arm twisted and reshaped, becoming as good as new. 

With a sharp exhale, Arthur launched himself toward his house, causing the ground to crack and web-like fissures to spread across the surface. A muddy trail followed his trajectory, marking his path. 

Flying through the air was second nature to Arthur, and at the peak of his ascent, he could see his house in the distance. 

He even spotted Akaza, who had jumped out of the broken wooden wall, in pursuit. 

Arthur halted his descent and took a moment to consider his next move. Akaza could not reach this height and could only send invisible air attacks his way, which were not too difficult to parry or dodge. Thus, Arthur was not in any immediate danger.

 He could easily fly away and leave Akaza far behind, but he needed to retrieve Ryoma and his equipment and machines from the house. The devices held valuable research data, and Arthur did not want to lose any of it. 

"Are you going to come down or just run away with your tail between your legs??" taunted Akaza, interrupting Arthur's thoughts. 

It appeared that the demon wanted to clash fists with him. 

Arthur attempted to connect with Ryoma through his senses to assess the inner state of the house and order him to escape with the important items. However, a bold idea entered his mind. '

Akaza is a formidable opponent to test my abilities and strengths...' he thought to himself. 

Arthur landed on the ground, a few meters away from the red-haired demon. "Akaza, if the Great One suspected me of betrayal, why did he send you to me? Why did he not summon me directly to him? Is that not Biwa Lady's role?" Arthur asked, his voice calm.

 Akaza raised his chin, "You should not be asking questions, traitor. You must accept your punishment." 

"And how, precisely, are you going to punish me? By striking me with your fists?" Arthur quipped, "I am a demon, immortal like you." 

Akaza scoffed and shrugged, "That merely shows your inexperience, traitor." 

Suddenly, his demeanor changed, and Akaza assumed a stance, his lips forming a challenging smile as a glowing blue snowflake materialized with him at its center. "Technique Deployment Destructive Kill: Compass Needle"

 'Hmm, he is not providing any answers, nor is he listening to me, and he is not even willing to disclose his method of killing me. There is no way to reason with him. I suppose Akaza's clear order is to eliminate me.' Arthur mused, readying himself for the coming fight. 

In the next instance, the red-haired demon vanished from his spot and appeared directly in front of Arthur, his fist aimed at Arthur's face. 

Arthur's heightened senses barely kept up with Akaza's destructive movements, but he managed to redirect the fist using his wrist. He then modified his elbow, creating a knife-like extension, and launched a horizontal elbow strike toward the striped face of the demon opposite him. 

Akaza bent his torso backward to avoid the sword-like elbow and effectively used that backward momentum to kick Arthur's chin. However, Arthur managed to step backward, causing Akaza to create distance using multiple backflips. 

Demons could be killed in many ways - they could be exposed to sunlight, beheaded using the Nichiren sword, administered with wisteria poison, or... 

'And they can be absorbed by other demons... I think that's how Akaza plans to finish me off after he beats me soundly.'

"Haha!" Akaza chuckled, "You aren't as inexperienced as I thought. our hand-to-hand combat abilities are quite impressive, and your imaginative use of demonic abilities enables you to inflict maximum harm," Akaza praised before being rudely interrupted by Arthur.

Without warning, Arthur lunged at Akaza and unleashed a flurry of punches towards the demonic countenance.

Akaza responded in kind by launching his own set of fast-moving punches, this time though it wasn't a brief exchange to gauge each other's strengths, it was a clash to land a fatal blow and take advantage of the momentary state of the frailty of the enemy but none of the two presented it to the other.

As the close-quarters combat prolonged, Akaza jumped in the air to create some distance between them to launch some invisible air attacks. 

As the battle continued in close-quarters, Akaza leaped into the air, creating a distance between them, and launched invisible air attacks. Arthur countered by summoning water jets from his inventory to repel the strikes. Some of Akaza's invisible attacks were neutralized, while others required Arthur to dodge. 

Impressed by the traitorous demon's skills, Akaza commented, "That water art of yours can slice off my hands or even my head if you put enough effort into it. You too were holding back, weren't you? I'm astonished that you survived this long even without using all of your abilities. If only you weren't a traitor, we could have engaged in battles like this for eternity. But I guess, this is going to be the first and last battle we will ever have." 

Listening to the fact that Akaza was holding back, shocked Arthur a bit. He could barely follow up on Akaza's movements, all his senses were blaring and attentive to each movement of Akaza's muscles, even still he could barely predict and think of his next moves. If Akaza were to stop holding back...

Arthur's heart pounded, a mixture of anxiety, anticipation, and excitement welled up in him.

 In the blink of an eye, Akaza vanished and reappeared before Arthur. 

"Destructive Kill: War Style!"  

A barrage of attacks was launched at Arthur, he braced himself, evading and blocking the flurry of punches. He had to distinguish between lethal and non-lethal strikes and take the latter on his body.

Akaza then started to use his legs as well, "Destructive Kill: Leg Form Flowing Light Flash."

Arthur tried to use his water jets to even cut off Akaza's limbs but his attempts were fruitless as the demon against him was just too fast to get hit by them.

"You really are one fine fighter, Heito!"

This was the first time Akaza used 'Arthur's name', the exchange of blows had made Akaza realize that the opponent was at least worth fighting.

But Arthur couldn't afford a reply, his whole concentration of Akaza's movements, he was getting overwhelmed. Akaza's assault showed no signs of abating, Arthur needed to create some distance. He needed to use his trump card, or else he might lose this bout!

Akaza pulled his fist back, to launch his next attack, "Destructive Kill: Dual Layered Demon Wic—"

But his attack got interrupted, no his whole arm was gone!

Akaza noticed something... 

A searing sensation, on his chest. a charred gash etched across his torso.

A thin crimson fire was emitted from Heito's eyes, the fire was so hot that its temperature seemed to resemble the sun!

Akaza's body had become completely numb to pain, he had forgotten how the pain felt. 

Yet that fire reminded him of the uncomfortable sensation.

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