Familiar Forest.
As James and Acnologia launched their breath attacks at each other, to Acnologia's surprise, they were evenly matched. So, like he did with Tiamat, he flew up and over the flames that would undoubtedly overpower his flames that were no longer being fed his magic power.
Once he was out of the line of fire, so to speak, Acnologia put his more than impressive speed to use and dove at James thinking he would have the drop on the young man. Unfortunately, James would never go into a fight with someone who could move faster than most eyes could follow without his presence detection. So, just before Acnologia's jaws snapped around James' waist, James [Flash Stepped] away, before appearing above the back of Acnologia's head in an iaido stance.
"[Inferno Dragon's Sweeping Claw]." James said as he drew Sixth Sense at a speed that even his eyes could not follow.
*Screech!*
James' sword streaked across the back of Acnologia's head, causing an ear piercing sound to echo through the surroundings.
'Damn, not enough.' James thought to himself after seeing the trickle of blood that flowed from the wound.
Then, before Acnologia could react, James drew Carnage in a reverse grip with his left hand.
"[Twin Fangs of the Inferno Dragon]." James said as he pumped demonic energy into Carnage.
*Roar!*
After feeling the pain from James first cut, although he was not fast enough to completely avoid the second slash, Acnologia flapped his wings and flew away from James at full speed.
"Tch! Should've led with Carnage." James said, a bit disappointed in himself. "I might be looking at a headless dragon already."
"[That's not the most important thing to be worrying about right now.]" Ddraig said, getting James attention.
When James focused on Acnologia again, he saw a large number of star-shaped magical energy constructs forming around his wings. Then, Acnologia fired them at James in torrents.
"[Eternal Flare]." Acnologia said with anger in his tone.
Right now, Acnologia's usual hatred for dragons could not be compared to what he was feeling for James. As if the kick in the head was not enough, James had cut him, not once but twice. And the second almost removed his head from his neck. On top of that, the wound from the first cut refused to heal.
Meanwhile, James continuously used the [Flash Step], trying to avoid Acnologia's projectiles and close the distance. Unfortunately, as James made it closer, it seemed as if the pace Acnologia fired at him increased proportionally.
"[Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Claws and Fangs of the Inferno Dragon]." James said as both swords and both feet were covered in flames.
With that, on top of using the [flash Step] to dodge, James also used his swords and feet to destroy the projectiles that he was unable to dodge, using his attacks more often as he narrowed the distance even further.
Just like in his fight with Tiamat, Once James got close enough, Acnologia quickly whipped his tail at James. Unlike his fight with Tiamat, however, James [Flash Stepped] above the attack. Then, as the tail passed under him, James lowered Carnage through its flight path while pumping as much demonic energy as he could in that brief moment.
[Boost!] x 20
*Roar!*
"Fuck!" James exclaimed at the same time Acnologia roared. "In hindsight, that wasn't the smartest idea."
"[Yeah, I wouldn't have been surprised if you lost your arm.]" ddraig said.
As James thought when he lowered Carnage into the path of Acnologia's tail whip, he was able to cut through nearly half of the thick tail. Unfortunately, the counterforce on James' arm was much more than he anticipated, leaving him with a dislocated left shoulder.
*Crack!*
"Well, at least I still have the arm." James said as he popped his shoulder back into its socket. "But I won't be doing that again."
The only reason James had enough time to pop his shoulder back in was because Acnologia's spell ended when the pain from his nearly severed tail hit him. Unfortunately, between his natural healing factor and some [Healing Magic], Acnologia's tail did not stay injured for very long.
"I guess we're back to square one, huh?" James muttered as he watched Acnologia heal his tail.
Meanwhile, standing atop the highest tree in the area, Scathach was watching the battle.
'It was not a bad plan.' Scathach thought to herself as she watched the ongoing battle. 'Unfortunately, Acnologia is much stronger and more durable than anticipated.'
As Scathach watched the battle, James and Acnologia reengaged. Flashing around faster than most beings at their level or below could see, many melee attacks and magic spells were exchanged. Impressively from what Scathach could see, neither wone took any more damage during this high-speed battle.
After fighting at such high intensity, the stalemate was broken... sort of. Flying at James, Acnologia once again tried to snap James in half between his fangs. And just like the many times before, James [Flash Stepped] to safety. This time, however, James did something a little different. After dodging the bite, James appeared next to Acnologia's neck in an iaido stance with the index finger of his left hand pointing at Acnologia.
"[Bakudo Number Sixty-One: Rikujokoro]." James said quietly.
With that utterance, a spark of yellow energy appeared on James' fingertip. Then, six plates of yellow energy appeared around Acnologia and slammed into his waist, immobilizing him. After that, James drew Carnage and swung at Acnologia's neck, aiming to decapitate him with one strike. Unfortunately, Acnologia was not immobilized for even an instant. So, before his blade could get three quarters of the way through Acnologia's neck, James was knocked out of the air by a tail whip.
*Boom!*
After slamming into the ground, James stumbled to his feet with his right hand pressed against his left bicep.
"Damn, the bone snapped like a toothpick." James said, using his [Healing Kido] on his left arm.
"[I've never seen that spell be broken so quickly.]" Ddraig said in amazement.
"I probaby would have been enough if I had used the chant." James said while watching Acnologia focus on healing the gash on his neck. "But if I had chanted, even while continuing to clash with him, he would have noticed and been more cautious."
"[You're probably right.]" Ddraig said in agreement. "[So, what are you gonna do?]"
"*Sigh* I only have one choice." James said in an excited tone.
"[But you've never stress tested this before.]" Ddraig said cautiously.
"Is there a better stress test than this?" James asked.
"[You're insane.]" Ddraig said.
Ignoring Ddraig, James put all his focus on healing his arm. Then, at about the same time Acnologia finished healing his neck, James was also finished with his own healing. Letting go of his arm, James took a deep breath. Then, he released it slowly.
"[Senbonzakura Mugen no Ha]." James said before he began to glow in a dusk pink light.
A moment later, that same glow spread out across the ground in a circle around James, only stopping at a radius of 164 feet. (50 m) Then, with James floating where he originally stood with is skin taking on a metallic sheen, a pair of horns growing from his forehead and curving back to the base of his skull, and his irises taking on a completely dusk pink color, the ground began to float up as an uncountable number of cherry blossom petal-shaped blades.
"What kind of magic is this?" Acnologia said in shock after seeing James' Super Devil form and ability.
Instead of receiving an answer, James flew toward Acnologia with his petal-blades following behind him.
Not understanding the power and limits of this new form, Acnologia felt it would be better to keep James at a distance. So, once again he used the [Eternal Flare], firing many star-shaped projectiles. However, with the many blades floating around him, James was able to destroy all the incoming projectiles without issue.
As his attacks were defended against, Acnologia noticed that James was unable to draw past a certain point. Unable or unwilling to draw past a certain point was currently being debated in Acnologia's head, though. Unfortunately, due to James' speed when using the [Flash Step], Acnologia's focus was completely locked onto James' body, not willing to lose track of his position. So, he did not notice that the two of them were slowly but surely being surrounded by the large cloud of petal-shaped blades.
Meanwhile, inside James' head, he was currently swearing like a sailor.
'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This fucking hurts!" James shouted internally.
"[I tried to warn you about stress testing in battle.]" Ddraig said in a somewhat gloating tone.
'I know...' James said internally. 'I feel like if I tried to [Boost], I would explode.'
"[Good guess.]" Ddraig said. "[Although you're used to doubling your power when you use a [Boost], you've never [Boosted] your full power state. On top of that, your body is currently housing a power that if not equal to, is a bit stronger than your Super Devil state.]"
'So, what you're saying is that I would need a stronger body to handle all of this at the same time without issue.' James asked internally.
"[Pretty Much.]" Ddraig replied.
At this moment, James' petal-blades had completely surrounded both Acnologia and himself. Then, he allowed his body and swords to break down into another cloud of petal-blades before merging with the rest of the cloud.
When James broke down, Acnologia finally took the time to look around. When he did, he noticed that he was enclosed in a sphere of dusk pink cherry blossom petal-shaped blades. Realizing that things were not looking good for him at this point, Acnologia began invoking a teleportation circle.
[Penetrate!]
At the same time, the entire spere of petal-blades rushed towards Acnologia. As all the blades were under the effect of [Penetrate], there was no resistance when they began ripping into Acnologia's body. However, before they could do too much damage, Acnologia's teleportation circle activated and teleported the Apocalypse Dragon out of the Familiar Forest.
"I will kill you the next time we meet!" Acnologia growled angrily as he teleported away.
When James realized that Acnologia was gone, he, along with all the petal-blades, returned to where he first invoked [Senbonzakura Mugen no Ha]. Then, he let the petal-blades fill in the crater before dropping the transformation and the [Tyrant dragon domination Drive].
"Fuck, my whole body hurts." James muttered before he began to fall backwards.
However, instead of his head hitting the ground, he felt the back of his head hit something soft and pillowy.
"That was quite reckless, my disciple." Scathach said with a small smile on her face and her arms wrapped around James. "But the battle was well fought, considering you had no information about this foe."
"Thanks." James said with a weak smile. "But right now, I'm really tired."
"Rest." Scathach said. "I'll make sure we return safely."
Human World, Sicily, Cefalu.
Sitting on the terrace of his beachside villa, Rizevim was studying the research notes he stole from Asgard. As he made more progress in his research to unseal Trihexa, he could not keep a smile from appearing on his face. However, that smile would soon disappear.
"Acnologia sure is taking his sweet time." Rizevim said with a smile on his face. "Is he just playing with Tiamat or something? Hyahyahya!"
Feeling a gathering of magic power in the sky, Rizevim raised his head and saw a large teleportation circle appear above the villa.
"What is he doing teleporting back in his dragon form?" Rizevim asked himself after noticing the size and mark of the teleportation circle.
When he saw the state Acnologia's body was in, however, his eyes opened wide. Then, he grabbed all the notes on the table as quickly as he could, then he flew away from the villa as fast as he could.
A moment later, when the teleportation circle vanished, Acnologia began to fall from the sky.
*Boom!*
Thanks to gravity, Acnologia slammed into the ground, losing consciousness on impact. Unfortunately, between the ground and Acnologia stood Rizevim's beachside villa.
"My house! You destroyed my fucking house!" Rizevim shouted from the sky. "What did you do, you big fucking lizard? Do you know how many weapons and plans I was working on were in there? How the fuck are you going to compensate me for this?"
While Rizevim freaked out and continued to swear like a sailor, Acnologia's body began to heal itself while he remained unconscious.