[BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!]
[DIVIDE!][DIVIDE!][DIVIDE!][DIVIDE!][DIVIDE!][DIVIDE!][DIVIDE!][DIVIDE!][DIVIDE!][DIVIDE!]
The voices of Ddraig and Albion echoed endlessly as Arthur and Vali continued their relentless exchange, fists colliding again and again, with each impact exploding with enough force to shake what remained of the Tokyo Dome.
Neither of the hosts of the Two Heavenly Dragons slowed down as they were completely consumed by the clash.
They didn't stop, not even for a second, as the world around them didn't matter anymore.
Not the collapsing stadium, the warped space bending under the pressure of their dragon auras, nor the debris falling from above.
Only the fight and each other remain.
From Vali's perspective...
Everything hurts, his arms felt heavy, and his breathing grew shallower.
Every punch he threw carried everything he had left, yet his body screamed at him to stop with each movement.
Even with the constant use of Divide, he was nearing exhaustion.
(Does he even have a limit? Am I really gonna lose?!)
His thoughts wavered for a split second as he stared at Arthur, who still moved with terrifying consistency.
Albion's voice cut through immediately.
(Vali, I know it seems that we are at a disadvantage. But don't stop now. One mistake from your end and it's all over.)
Vali gritted his teeth.
(With all due respect, Albion... I KNOW, GOD DAMN IT! What the hell does it look like I'm doing?!)
Vali roared back in his mind, his fists tightening as he threw another punch with everything he had.
His vision blurred for a fraction of a second, and pain shot through his arms.
But he didn't stop... he couldn't.
"I'm never gonna give up!!!"
A tear slipped from the corner of his eye as he forced his body to move again, pushing past his limits, dragging out every ounce of strength he had left.
He refused to fall, not here, not now, and not against him.
From Arthur's perspective...
He is beginning to have fun, which rarely comes by.
He moved effortlessly, his body reacting smoothly, his punches controlled, and even as he matched Vali's pace, there was a clear difference.
Arthur wasn't struggling at all.
(He's doing pretty good for an upstart. Don't you think so, Ddraig?)
Arthur thought calmly as he deflected another strike with one of his own.
(To grow this much in such a short time, the boy has talent, no doubt about it.)
Ddraig rumbled in agreement.
Arthur's lips curved slightly beneath his helm.
(With enough time and proper guidance, he might reach Ultimate-Class someday.)
Ddraig hummed.
(Like you?)
(Hmmm... Maybe.)
Arthur didn't confirm or deny it.
Instead, he made a decision.
(Alrighty, let's push him a bit more.)
His next punch came slightly faster and heavier, surpassing Vali's level.
Vali's eyes widened slightly as he felt the shift.
Arthur was slowly overpowering him now, head-on, blow for blow.
The clash intensified, causing the shockwaves to grow stronger.
The pink distortion between their auras deepened, space itself warping more violently as the stadium groaned under the pressure.
Arthur's eyes flickered briefly as he noticed the Tokyo Dome cracking further.
"Crap. I guess we overestimated the durability of this place."
He muttered, then threw a faint right hook.
Vali reacted instinctively, tilting his head to avoid it.
And that was all Arthur needed.
[BOOST!]
His left fist drove upward in a brutal uppercut and slammed into Vali's abdomen.
"Guh!"
Vali's body folded from the impact, blood spilling from his mouth as the force launched him backward, sending him flying across the stadium before he managed to stabilize himself mid-air.
For the first time in a while, they separated.
Arthur exhaled softly, rolling his shoulder as he looked at Vali.
"So it turns out my Scale Mail is superior in both speed and strength."
A small smirk formed.
"…I'm satisfied with the results."
Vali hovered in the air, coughing as he clutched his abdomen for a moment before slowly lowering his hand, his breathing uneven.
"…You bastard…"
He muttered, coughing a little.
Arthur chuckled and raised a finger.
"How about this, brat? One last exchange, one punch each."
Vali looked at him, confused.
"Winner gets bragging rights and gets to rub it in the loser's face for an entire month."
Arthur's grin widened.
Vali stared at him in silence for a whole ten seconds.
Then he clicked his tongue, and a small grin formed.
"Tsk… Fuck it! Let's do this!"
He raised his arm, his Light Wings flared, releasing streams of blue energy as power gathered into his left fist, the air around it distorting from the intensity.
(Partner… try using the thing.)
Albion's voice echoed within him.
(The thing? What thing?)
Vali's eyes narrowed.
(That ability you recently unlocked.)
Albion proceeds to explain the "thing" that he talked about, which made Vali's eyes widen, and he nods.
"Got it. Let's do this!"
Meanwhile, Arthur cracked his neck slightly, his grin returning as the Boosted Gear's power gathered into his right fist.
Ddraig's voice rumbled.
(Use the thing, partner. That way, it'll be the perfect finisher move.)
Arthur's pupils turn to slits, clearly understanding the "thing" Ddraig referred to.
"Fine by me. Let's go!"
The air trembled violently as both of their auras surged to their peaks, crimson and silver clashing once more, the pink distortion intensifying until the space around them visibly warped.
They locked eyes, staring each other down in silence
And after what felt like a whole minute...
They both launched forward at the same time, their bodies cutting through the air like missiles as they closed the distance in an instant.
"SEKIRYUUTEI!"
Vali roared, his voice filled with determination.
"HAKURYUUKOU!"
Arthur answered, excitement clear in his tone.
They drew closer and closer, power condensed in their dominant fists.
[PENETRATE!]
Arthur's right fist surged forward.
[REFLECT!]
Vali's left fist surged forward.
Both attacks carried enough power to decide the outcome in a single moment.
But then, before the moment of impact was about to happen....
Dulio instantly appeared as if he had just stepped into a simple commotion, then said casually.
"Balance Breaker."
The final clash never came.
Arthur and Vali couldn't stop now, as their bodies had already committed.
But something impossible happened.
Their arms were stretched and bent away from Dulio as if reality itself had reached out and casually redirected them, and their punches curving unnaturally away from Dulio as if space had simply decided he wasn't allowed to be touched.
Arthur's eyes widened, and Vali's pupils shrank behind their respective helms.
Arthur started.
"What in...?!"
"...the world?!"
Vali finished.
They didn't even finish because Dulio moved both hands raised lazily.
One hand toward Arthur, and the other toward Vali.
A smirk tugged at his lips as he flicked the air.
*CRACK!*
The impact that Dulio's fingers caused echoed across the entire stadium like glass shattering
Arthur's Scale Mail fractured, and Vali's Scale Mail cracked at the same time.
A shockwave exploded from both of them as if something had struck them directly through their being, and they were sent flying, violently.
Arthur shot across the stadium, smashing through debris before crashing into the far end, carving a massive hole into the structure.
Vali flew in the opposite direction, his body tearing through the air before slamming into another section, creating an equally devastating impact.
"..."
Silence followed while Dulio remained hovering in the air.
He exhaled softly, blowing across his fingers before casually wiping his hand against his shirt.
"I still got it."
He muttered with a small grin.
From the bleachers, no one spoke for a few seconds.
"What the hell just happened?"
Heracles whispered.
Siegfried stared, completely frozen.
"…Did he just use... THAT... to Arthur?"
Jeanne's eyes narrowed, disbelief clear on her face.
"That ability just now…"
She didn't finish.
Valerie covered her mouth in shock, while Lavinia shook her head to see if she was hallucinating, because even her mind couldn't fully process it.
Across the stadium, Vali lay motionless and buried in the rubble of the hole he created.
His Divine Dividing: Scale Mail flickered and dissolved into light, leaving him unconscious, blood trailing from the corner of his mouth as his body remained still.
But Arthur was not down yet.
From the wreckage on the opposite side, Arthur pulled himself out of the hole, his body shaking slightly as fragments of his Scale Mail armor cracked and broke away, pieces falling off as the damage became visible.
(What… the fuck? What did he just do? Was that... Limitless?!)
All of a sudden, he puked up blood, and it spilled from his mouth and onto his palm.
Arthur's eyes widened as he raised a hand, staring at the red staining his palm.
"I... How? M-My Scale Mail and natural durability should've..."
As he pondered how it was possible for him to be damaged like this, Ddraig spoke.
(I believe I know what happened, Arthur. Whatever Dulio did, the resulting shockwave had somehow pierced through your body, ignoring all your defenses, the same way as Penetrate. This is the first time I saw something like this.)
He clenched his fist tightly, wiping the blood from his lips with the back of his hand as his teeth grit together.
"Damn it…"
His armor was breaking, cracking further.
*SPIT!*
He spat the blood from his mouth and looked up at Dulio.
Without hesitation...
[BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!]
Crimson energy surged as he forced his power upward, reinforcing his body and repairing the fractures in his Scale Mail as the red armor began to mend itself under the strain.
Arthur inhaled sharply and spread his dragon wings.
They burst outward, flaring with power as he rose into the air, his gaze locking onto Dulio with a mix of confusion and irritation.
"That really hurt, you blond glutton!"
His hand ignited, and his flames gathered, forming into a blazing arrow of fire, the heat causing the surrounding metal to glow bright red as its power built rapidly.
"Open."
Arthur fired.
The arrow shot forward at Dulio.
[DOUBLE DIMENSION!]
Arthur's Fire Magic expanded tenfold.
Its size grew massive, its speed multiplied, its destructive force amplifying into something beyond its original state as it tore through the air like a blazing comet aimed directly at Dulio.
The heat and fire scorched and illuminated everything inside the stadium.
Despite this, Dulio didn't move.
He simply raised his hand and grabbed nothing but empty air.
But the moment his fingers closed, and his hand moved, the surrounding space bent, and the area around him warped unnaturally, folding in on itself as if reality had been twisted like fabric.
The distortion wrapped around his body like a cloak, and the giant fire arrow curved around him just like their punches earlier.
The massive fire projectile warped around Dulio, redirected completely as it spiraled past him, and turned back toward Arthur.
Arthur's eyes widened as the arrow exploded right in front of his face, and Arthur was about to be swallowed whole.
"Oh fu-"
*BLAST!*
DxD
Back at the hotel.
The atmosphere inside the boys' hotel room could not have been more different from the battlefield they had just left.
Gone were the explosions, the roaring auras, and the warping space.
In their place is a heavy, oppressive silence
And centered in that silence are two kneeling figures.
Arthur and Dulio sat side by side on the polished floor, both with their hands resting properly on their laps like disciplined children being scolded.
Arthur still had faint scorch marks across parts of his clothes and skin, his hair slightly singed at the ends despite clearly having healed most of the damage.
Dulio, on the other hand, had a very noticeable, comically large swollen bump on his head that made him wince slightly every time he shifted.
Standing in front of them with her arms crossed and showing a very dangerous smile is Lavinia.
"Do either of you have anything to say for yourselves?"
She began slowly, her voice calm in a way that somehow made it even more terrifying.
Neither of them answered, but instead, Arthur glanced sideways at Dulio.
Dulio glanced back, and both immediately looked forward again in silence.
Lavinia's eye twitched.
"Oh no, you two. Don't look at each other and start playing the blame game. I want individual accountability from both parties."
Arthur cleared his throat slightly.
"In my defense, Lav, I-"
"No."
He stopped talking.
Dulio raised a finger.
"Uhhh... Technically, I-"
"No."
He lowered it.
"Arthur."
Lavinia took a step forward, her tone shifted sharply.
"You decided to engage in a full-scale battle… inside a major civilian landmark."
Arthur opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again.
"And Dulio, you decided to 'handle' the situation by escalating it further."
She continued, turning her gaze toward him,
Dulio blinked.
"But… I stopped them, though?"
"You destroyed them... AND the whole stadium along with it."
"…Semantics?"
Lavinia's left eye twitched as her smile widened.
"You both caused an incident that is now being broadcast nationally."
She gestured behind her.
The flatscreen TV lit up the room with the image of a news broadcast, reporters standing in front of the heavily damaged Tokyo Dome.
"As you can clearly see... authorities are still investigating the cause of the explosion that severely damaged the interior of Tokyo Dome earlier tonight…"
The reporter's voice filled the room while images of the destruction flashed across the screen.
Collapsed sections, scorched interiors, emergency responders moving about.
"Fortunately, there were zero casualties… but current theories suggest a possible gas leak combined with faulty electrical wiring had caused such destruction."
Arthur slowly raised a hand.
"So... Does that mean we're technically-"
Lavinia turned her head to Arthur.
He lowered it immediately.
"…Right. Not the time."
Near the flatscreen, Heracles was sprawled across the sofa, completely passed out with a bottle of sake loosely held in his hand, tilting dangerously but somehow not spilling.
Beside him, Regulus, currently in his lion form, sat upright, watching the news with mild interest.
"Gas leak, huh. Yes, clearly. Very convincing."
Regulus muttered dryly while his tail flicked lazily.
"Humans really will believe anything if you say it with enough confidence."
Lavinia turned back to the two kneeling culprits.
"Now, I'll ask one more time."
She said, her tone firm again.
"Do you have anything to say?"
"..." x2
Arthur and Dulio exchanged another glance.
Then Arthur spoke first.
"I'd like to ask a question... If it's okay."
Lavinia narrowed her eyes.
"…Go on."
Arthur tilted his head slightly toward Dulio.
"Back at the dome, you UNO Reverse Card my last attack. What the hell was that earlier?"
Dulio blinked, but smirked afterwards.
"Oh, that? That's Zenith Tempest's Balance Breaker."
He said casually, leaning back slightly despite still kneeling.
Arthur's eyes narrowed in silence
"…And?"
Dulio crossed his arms smugly.
"I'm not telling you the details. That'll be spoilers. You have to figure it out on your own, junior."
Arthur's eye twitched.
Before he could respond, Jeanne, seated calmly on one of the sofas, spoke up without even looking at them.
"It's called Zenith Quintessence."
Dulio froze.
"Jeanne... why?"
Siegfried, sitting nearby with a cup of instant ramen in hand, slurped casually before continuing.
"It's basically space manipulation."
Siegfried pointed his chopsticks toward Dulio.
"His Balance Breaker has two main gimmicks."
Dulio slowly turned toward him.
"Sieg… You too?"
Siegfried gestured vaguely.
"First... the passive one. A spatial aversion field where anything that comes near him gets automatically bent away... or deflected... or redirected... or any fancy way you call it."
Arthur's mind immediately replayed the moment his punch curved unnaturally.
"…That explains that."
"The second, the active one, is where he can literally grab space like it's tangible. He bends it, folds it, wraps it around himself, and manipulates it however he wants."
Siegfried continued, demonstrating with his hands.
Jeanne nodded slightly.
"With these abilities, he can fly, conceal himself, and is virtually untouchable."
Siegfried pointed again.
"Not only that... His flicks can cause shockwaves that can bypass any defense, and his cutting gestures create invisible slashes that can cut through anything."
"..."
After hearing all of this, Arthur went quiet.
(Ddraig.... You want to explain why you didn't tell me about this?)
He paused for a second, and Ddraig coughed.
(In my defense… Besides Albion, I don't really pay much attention to the other Longinus' abilities.)
Arthur stared forward with his expression going blank.
(You've got to be kidding me.)
(Nope. Sorry, Arthur.)
Arthur sighed deeply.
"Un-fucking-believable."
Beside him, Dulio pouted like a child.
"You guys are such killjoys, you know that? I wanted him to guess."
He muttered, crossing his arms.
Jeanne didn't even look at him.
"You were never going to let him guess."
Siegfried slurped his ramen again.
"Agreed."
Arthur rubbed his temple slightly.
"I got blindsided by a lunatic who can control space."
Dulio grinned again.
"Skill issue."
Arthur slowly turned his head toward him.
"You wanna take this outside, Blondie? This time, I won't be caught off guard."
Lavinia clapped her hands once.
"No."
Both of them froze.
"For the next hour, you two are gonna listen to a scolding of a lifetime. Got it?"
She said firmly, and neither of the two boys dared to object.
DxD
Far from the noise of sirens and the chaos below, high above the ruined Tokyo Dome, a lone figure stood on the edge of a distant rooftop.
The night wind brushed against his coat, but he did not move.
He simply watched.
Five pairs of fallen angelic wings extended from his back, folding and unfolding slightly as their dark feathers contrasted against the faint glow of the city lights.
Below, Firefighters rushed through the wreckage, and emergency crews and reporters swarmed the area.
And at the center of it all was the aftermath of a battle that should not have existed.
"Magnificent... So magnificent... To think you reached this level in just a year..."
The man murmured, a calm smile forming on his lips, and his eyes gleamed with quiet fascination.
"Your legend precedes you, Arthur Pendragon."
He let out a low chuckle, almost amused, almost impressed.
His gaze lingered on the shattered dome, the scorched earth, the lingering traces of dragonic energy still faintly distorting the air.
"Such raw power… What a beautiful display."
The man slowly turned around, his wings folding neatly behind him as his attention shifted away from the destruction.
"So, does your King intend to fulfill his end of the deal…"
He said casually, as if continuing a conversation that had already begun.
"…Enkidu?"
Standing a few steps behind him, a barefooted figure with long, flowing green hair, their appearance androgynous, watched quietly, their golden eyes calm and unreadable.
Enkidu tilted their head ever so slightly before responding in an even, composed tone.
"My King has requested your side of the agreement first, Satanael."
The man known as Satanael smiled wider.
"Of course he did."
He raised his hand.
A yellow magic circle formed instantly above his palm, and from within it, a small, ornate box materialized.
It was elegant, almost Greek in design, its surface etched with symbols that seemed to shift ever so slightly under the light.
Satanael weighed it briefly in his hand, then tossed it casually at Enkidu.
The box spun once through the air before Enkidu caught it effortlessly, their movements smooth and precise.
"There you go. One part of the deal is done."
Satanael said, lowering his hand.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Now, where is MY end of the deal?"
Enkidu didn't answer immediately.
Instead, they looked down at the box in silence as if examining more than just its physical form.
"Hmmm..."
They nodded.
A faint ripple of golden light spread outward from beneath their feet, the air around them shimmering softly as the space itself began to distort.
Satanael chuckled under his breath.
"This never gets old."
The light intensified as their figures slowly sank until they were gone, leaving the rooftop empty once more.
Elsewhere, from another rooftop.
Crouched low, hidden beneath a cloak, a lone figure stared toward the distant destruction of the Tokyo Dome, their silhouette blending into the shadows.
"So this is the power of the Heavenly Dragons."
Their voice was quiet.
They rose slowly to their feet, the cloak shifting slightly as they straightened, their gaze never leaving the distant ruin.
"Sekiryuutei… Hakuryuukou…"
A thoughtful pause.
"Maybe… just maybe..."
They turned slightly, as if already preparing to leave.
"…maybe he can help me after all."
Their grip tightened slightly beneath the cloak.
"I heard rumors that he created an organization that protects the innocent, human or otherwise."
Silence lingered for a moment, but then he muttered in a determined tone.
"No matter the cost… I promise... I'll save you, Momiji."
A brief pause happened.
"…That is MY promise."
And with that, the figure stepped away from the edge and disappeared into the night.
DxD
Hello readers!
I'm back again with another chapter!
First of all, for almost a whole week, my internet was fucked, so I couldn't upload anything.
Second of all, Zenith Quintessence is inspired by Nianzol Weizol's Schrift: The Wind and Takako Uro's Cursed Technique: Sky Manipulation.
Thank you, everyone, and see you later!