Dimensional Gap, Team DxD Base.
"This next match should be interesting." James said with a smile as he watched Shuna and Kuroka move toward the center of the battlefield.
"Yeah, it's not every day that you get to see two people with such similar skillsets fight like this." Moka replied with a nod.
"But... I feel like Koneko-Chan will be the only one who truly understands the fight." Mizore said while pouting.
"You have no one to blame but yourself for that." James said, poking Mizore on the forehead playfully. "Shuna offered to teach you how to use [Senjutsu] and [Youjutsu]. But you said using your racial traits was more than enough."
"I know!" Mizore shouted, her pout deepening as she swept James' hand away.
"What makes it even worse is..." Moka added with a mischievous smile.
Hearing that, Mizore's eyes opened wide. Then, she shot forward in an attempt to stop Moka from saying anymore.
"Moka, stop!" Mizore shouted, unable to catch Moka, who ran away while giggling.
"When she came back to ask Shuna to help her learn [Senjutsu], Shuna told her that 'that ship has already sailed'." Moka said, finishing the sentence that she started.
"Moka~~~!" Mizore whined in an aggrieved tone.
While Mizore and Moka ran around their waiting area, Shuna and Kuroka finally made it to their designated starting locations. Then, without exchanging any words, they waited for the signal to begin their match.
As soon as the signal to start was given, both Kuroka and Shuna coated themselves in [Touki]. However, while Kuroka rushed forward to engage n close combat, Shuna shot back explosively to keep her distance.
Seeing that Shuna had no intention of fighting her up close, Kuroka raised her right hand with her palm pointed at Shuna and fired off a blast of condensed [Senjutsu] aura. Seeing this, Shuna was taken aback. However, all the training with Scathach did not go to waste.
'She's firing her [Senjutsu] aura, or Ki, like the characters from that manga Rias likes.' Shuna thought to herself. 'Maybe I should give that a try as well. I wonder if I'll get any other ideas if I read the manga...'
Pumping her [Touki] into her legs, Shuna increased her speed and dodged the incoming projectile. At the same time, in each of her hands, appeared a blood red orb of fire, each the size of a basketball. Without wasting any time, Shuna began firing smaller orbs from each of the larger orbs, causing the larger orbs to decrease in size over time.
'She added her [Senjutsu] aura into her [Youjutsu], huh?' Kuroka thought as she watched the incoming attacks get closer. 'I never considered that. I should give it a try.'
Dodging the incoming projectiles, Kuroka looked as if she were performing a traditional Japanese dance. If she had been wielding a pair of fans, it would have been perfect. However, that was not all their was to Kuroka's evasive maneuvers.
As she moved, a thin mist was ejected from the bottom of Kuroka's kimono, obscuring Shuna's line of sight, a bit more than slightly. However, that was not all there was to Kuroka's actions. As time passed, more images of Kuroka dancing around Shuna's attacks appeared in the mist.
'Illusions, huh?' Shuna thought to herself as she focused on the presences in the mist. However, after realizing that the entire cloud of mist was giving off the same aura as Kuroka, Shuna gave up on scanning the mist to find the real Kuroka. 'If I can't find the real one, I'll just get rid of them all at the same time.'
Leaving the two blood red flames orbs she was holding to float in place and continue the barrage, Shuna spread her wings and flew into the air. Then, she raised both hands above her head and created an even bigger orb of blood red flames above them.
"Ooh, Shuna is going all out." James said with a smile. A moment later, however, his smile disappeared. "But she doesn't have enough battle experience."
"What do you mean?" Flora asked curiously.
"*Sigh* You'll see in a second." James said, already able to see how things would turn out.
Once Shuna was satisfied with the amount of energy she managed to pack into her attack, she swung her hands down. This, in turn, caused the large blood red orb of flames to be sent hurdling toward the mist Kuroka had created. Once the attack made contact with the ground, a large explosion, that nearly blew away everyone below the ultimate-rank occurred.
At the same time, Kuroka's unconscious body flew out from the explosion and landed on the ground in front of Scathach and Chiron. However, neither of them even gave Kuroka more than a glance. Instead, they looked behind Shuna.
In fact, the Kuroka that landed in front of Scathach and Chiron was only another illusion made of Kuroka's [Senjutsu] aura, So, there was no need for the two masters to give it a second glance.
Shuna on the other hand was breathing heavily thanks to the amount of energy she used on that last attack. Then, when she saw Kuroka flying out of the explosion and landing in front of Scathach and Chiron without moving, she released her tension.
However, when she did not hear the match being called, she looked at Scathach and Chiron once again. Noticing where they were looking, a bad feeling began to well up from the pit of her stomach. Then, she turned her head so that she could look over her shoulder.
Noticing that the end of the match had not been called, everyone, except James, who was also looking behind Shuna, looked at the judges of this match, Scathach and Chiron, and noticed that they were staring at the space behind Shuna. So, after looking in the same direction, they were just in time to see Shuna turn her head back. Unfortunately, she was too late, as Kuroka's fist, covered in [Touki], smashed into Shuna's back.
Due to Kuroka's attack, Shuna was shot downward at high speed. Before she could hit the ground, though, James caught her. Naturally, everyone was surprised that James would interfere in the match. However, when James landed, they all realized that Shuna was already unconscious.
"You did well, Shuna." James said before kissing the unconscious Shuna on her forehead. "Even though you've had about half a year to train with Master, it just wasn't enough to make up for the gap in experience."
"Kuroka is the winner." Chiron said, bringing an end to the fifth match in this challenge.
A moment later, Kuroka landed next to James. With some concern in her eyes, she looked into Shuna's face.
"Is she okay, nya?" Kuroka asked. "I know she was originally an Oni, so I hit her pretty hard, nya."
"Don't worry about Shuna." James said with a smile while walking toward Asia with Shuna still in his arms. "She only lost consciousness because her head whipped so hard. It's just a little concussion. She'll probably have a mean bruise on her back, though."
Hearing that, Kuroka breathed out a sigh of relief. Living in James' house, over time, she grew close with most of its residents. On top of that, Shuna had created quite a few absolutely, gorgeous kimonos for her. So, the thought that she had seriously injured someone she had grown to consider a friend was eating at her.
A few moments later, James and Kuroka reached Asia's side and James dropped off Shuna with the group's healer. Then, James turned toward the battlefield once again. When he did, Vali was already standing there with his arms crossed and a confident smile on his face.
'Is he confident because he knows my power will be sealed?' James asked himself as he began walking toward the battlefield. 'Or does he have something up his sleeves. Whatever, I guess I'll find out when we fight.'
A few moments later, James stood in front of Vali, lookig at him curiously.
"Well, you seem really confident, so let's see what's got you feeling that way." James said.
"Don't worry, I'll show you." Vali replied without losing his smile.
"Begin!" Scathach commanded at that moment.
Immediately, Vali shot forward with [Divine Dividing] on his back. In response, James manifested the [Boosted Gear] on is left arm. Then, when they were in range, Vali threw a left jab at James.
Unlike the Vali of the past, however, instead of a punch that Vali threw out with all his might, in an unrefined way, this jab was sharp. Much sharper than anything vali had shown James in the past. However, James was unbothered, deflecting Vali's jab with his right arm.
[Divide!]
[Boost!]
Not even reacting to the drop in his power for an instant, James returned a jab of his own that Vali tilted his head to avoid. Unfortunately, James had much more experience with hand-to-hand combat in a structured fighting style. So, James quickly followed up with a straight, causing Vali to back off.
Before Vali could regain his bearings, however, James extended the index finger of his right hand and a small red orb of Draconic aura appeared at its tip.
"Dragon Shot]." James muttered as the orb was fired toward the retreating Vali.
Without even thinking, Vali equipped his [Vanishing Dragon Scale Mail].
[Divide!] x 10
Halving the power of James attack ten times in an instant, Vali took no damage at all when it struck on on the chest. However, Vali was once again caught off guard when James, clad in his slim fitting red, black, and sliver Shihakusho, appeared in front of him and kicked him in the chin, shooting him up into the air.
An instant later, James appeared behind Vali and wrapped his arms around Vali's arms and torso. Then, he flipped them around and began spinning as they shot toward the ground.
"Seriously, you're doing this again?" Vali asked angrily.
"Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it." James replied with a laugh. "[Izuna Drop] for the win."
All the while, Vali and James were both using their [Sacred Gears'] abilities. So, James' power was continuously being halved and restored in short order. Meanwhile, Vali's power was constantly going over what his body could handle, so a lot of power was being ejected through the [Divine Dividing's] wings.
Unfortunately, no matter how much of James' power he stole, Vali could not loosen Jamess' grip. So, deciding that he would rather not have his head slammed into the ground, Vali began chanting at high speed. A moment later, James was forced away from Vali when he was covered in a silver light.
"Well damn, I guess I should have expected that, huh?" James said with a wry smile before starting his own chant.
[Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive!]
[Tyrant Dragon Domination Drive!]
When James and Vali's power spiked, without anyone noticing, Ophis appeared next to Leona and also began watching the fight between James and Vali.
Within a moment of each other, Vali and James appeared in their upgraded forms. While Vali was clad in an armor that was similar to the [Balance Breaker] form of [Divine Dividing] with a silver color scheme instead of white. James was wearing the same slim Shihakusho with a sleeveless haori that had the name Sataniel written on the back.
"Even the name changed, huh?" James said, looking over his shoulder. "Not bad."
"[I think you have more important things to worry about than the name on your back being correct.]" Ddraig said in an exasperated tone.
"Don't worry, I got this." James replied, lifting his left hand.
*Bang!*
Just as James lifted his hand, Vali's armor clad fist slammed into to it. Then, his body was rocked by the hook James threw to his rib cage with his right fist.
"Gah!" Vali coughed as the wind was knocked out of his lungs and his armor cracked.
James then released Vali's fist and threw a left hook that connected with Vali's head. James then followed up with a straight, a left hook to the body, and a right uppercut that knocked vali into the air once again.
Before James could move, however, Vali recovered and fired a blast of demonic energy toward James. Deciding that he didn't need to do anything fancy to stop this attack, James fired a thinner blast of demonic energy at Vali's attack.
[Penetrate!]
With that, James' attack shot right through Vali's, coincidentally making a hole in the attack that left James safe from Vali's blast.
[Reflection!]
However, before James could make his next move, his attack was returned back to him by Vali's/Albion's ability.
"Ddraig, you never told me that Albion had an ability like that." James complained as he lifted his left hand toward the reflected attack. '[Hado Number 81: Danku]."
"[Sorry, I forgot.]" Ddraig admitted in an embarrassed tone. "[it's been a while since I met one of Albion's hosts that could use it.]"
Before Ddraig's words finished, James' reflected attack was blocked by a translucent rectangular wall. A moment later, James vanished from his spot in a burst of speed. Then, with the sound of [Penetrate!] ringing out repeatedly, Vali was rag dolled in the air for the next two minutes. When James was done, Vali, with his armor dispelled, fell from the sky.
"I'll admit you've gotten better, Vali." James said, watching Vali fall toward the ground. "But I've been going through systematic training for much longer than you have. On top of that, if we fought all out, you're just not strong enough yet. I can't wait till we're at the same level though. That should be an epic fight."
As James lowered his altitude, he came to a complete stop and his head snapped up toward the sky. Then, at the end of his line of sight, a spatial tear began to open.