Her tired expression was replaced by a dark glint. Feeling particularly mischievous, she hid a smirk behind the palm of her hand.
"Alright, Igor."
With a snap of a finger, she repaired his clothing as well as increased the weight of them to a total of two tons…times ten.
"What the?!"
Booom!
Falling to his knees at the sudden weight of twenty tons thrust upon him, the blonde barely had any time to spare a glare towards his dearest sister before two fists covered his view.
[Fuck your mother…]
BOOOOM!
.
|DxD|
.
"Fufu~"
Few things could make Aurelia smile. With a perpetual icy expression on her face, the things that could melt it away could be counted on one hand.
Seeing Igor suffer a beating just so happened to be one of them.
"Use the Kaioken, Igor~."
"Goddamnit! I don't need the-ACK! BLOODY PIECE OF-"
BOOOM!
Watching him get swatted down like a fly, the silverette had no intention of helping him in the slightest. Having already distanced herself from the battle site, she was content to simply enjoy the view.
"I'm cheering for you, little broth-"
" 'Little brother' your moth-"
*Dodges Punch*
"Haha! Nice try-"
Gu!…suuuuu…BOOOM
"Pfft!"
The silverette nearly doubled over in laughter. Taunting him like this and watching him suffer due to loss of focus was doing wonders in relieving her mental fatigue. Despite the clones having an inherent penchant for targeting vital spots, she was not worried that the blonde would somehow die.
For all intents and purposes, Igor could easily win against them if he was willing to use even his Kaioken x2. But for some reason, he was adamant at staying in his base form.
[If it wasn't for the weight…no. If it wasn't for the gravity here, he could've fought evenly against them.]
With how deep they were inside the time chamber, the gravity had just barely reached the triple digits. With the gravity hovering around 100x Earth's normal gravity, the blonde was in quite the detrimental situation.
If it were mundane or simple tasks such as walking or training, then the weight on him would be no problem. Perhaps even more would be welcome.
But if he was engaged in high speed combat…
"Get these clothes off of me!"
…the less weight, the better. Because Aurelia added ten-times the weight he requested, he was constantly on the back foot, Just raising his arms to block was a hassle. And what was more frustrating for Igor was that he could see every fist, every elbow, every knee, and every foot close in on him in real time. Attacks that he would normally be able to block even if he was dead tired were now something he could only watch.
[Damn me's. Why the hell do you have to strike so hard! Tch!]
Since trying to block the attacks wasn't working, the next best thing he could do was try to dodge them. Although his undershirt alone weighed over a dozen tons, it was easier to move his body left and right to dodge than constantly raise his arms.
[This better work or father will kill me for ruining this handsome face.]
Although the clones were more likely to target his throat than his nose, the possibility still existed. Either way, his arms were clearly inefficient in blocking attacks so he could only resort to his next game plan.
Faced with this realisation, the blonde gave up on all forms of blocking and directly began dodging the attacks.
Shu! …Shu! …Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu!
Although it was a bit aggravating on his spine, he was able to twist his body side while using his footwork to trail back. For some of the attacks that he couldn't block, he'd twist his body and let his arms take the hit instead of his ribs.
Tswii! …Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu!
Darting across the landscape, Igor began receiving less and less damage from the clones. As his idea continued to prove its worth, his frustrations eased further. With his frustrations eased, his mind calmed and in turn, his ability to dodge increased.
Like an endless cycle, he found himself having to use his arms less and less to block certain attacks at his body. With his highly attuned perception, there were some attacks that he didn't even need to see before he would 'feel' them nearing his body. In fact, it would be better to say that his ears and aura sense played more of a role in this fight than his eyes.
Su! Su! …Shu! BOOOM!
Having dodged a falling heel kick that came from above with a sidestep, the blonde was already three steps ahead as he jumped up to dodge a sweeping kick to his shins.
"..."
If Aurelia didn't know better, she would've thought this was some choreographed scene.
[He's bearing what equates to hundreds of tons in weight alone. Yet he's still able to dodge the clones without much difficulty? If he had created the clones with the weight he had on now, it would be one thing. But the clones were created when he still had five tons of weight on him. He's currently enduring twenty-five tons of weight and yet…]
Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu! Shu!
[...he's not in a disadvantage even when facing two of them.]
Aurelia had carefully made the scrolls so that they replicated the person's exact strength in that moment upon their creation. They still came with some flaws, but she was only a few months into her research and with Igor using an entirely different energy system from the mainstream, it was a bit difficult to tailor the seals to accept ki as well.
But what she knew was that right now…
"The clones are definitely stronger than him. Be it their power output, speed, or strength, they are superior to him. But…they still cannot stage an advantage over him."
The clock was ticking and the clones would dissipate in a minute or two.
Tswii! Tswii! …Shu! …Shu! Shu! Shu!
For over a minute, neither of them had been able to touch him. Regardless of whether they used the Instant Vanish or Instant Transmission, the blonde was able to dodge them with a weight of over two-hundred tons on him.
"Igor really is impressive. Even gods wouldn't be able to do this."
For a whole minute, no attack had been able to land on him. It was as if he was able to see it beforehand and dodged in advance. Aurelia was sure that very few would be able to do this at such an advanced level.
[If he assumed that transformation of his, he surely wouldn't be caught lacking in a fight against other gods of the supreme class.]
To have such a thought would be nothing short of preposterous. If the 'her' from the past heard this, she would consider it a joke that a human could possibly combat a supreme class. After all, those gods had all sorts of strange techniques and thousands of years of experience.
[Fighting them isn't that simple. But if it's Igor, he can do it.]
And there was no one better than him to assume such a task. In a fight where divine techniques would be used, mortal techniques had no place. In fact, mortals had no place at all.
Yet…
"Igor cannot be considered a mortal."
It was something on her mind for a while now. Getting Igor to explain it fully to her was hard, but when she came to understand exactly what the Kaioken is and how it worked, she had already concluded that the blonde had walked on the path to godhood.
[With his lifespan constantly increasing as he uses the Kaioken, he's already superior to even us Aryans.]
Expanding the existing lifespan and gradually increasing it were two different concepts. Whereas her lifespan was already above 400 years, that was the limit. Igor's on the other hand was…
[How much was it again?]
Coming out of her daze, she came face to face with the sight of the two clones abandoning their incessant attacks on the blonde to land on the ground and stand rigidly still.
"It's over already?"
.
|DxD|
.
[The clones are about to vanish again.]
Feeling the vitality within them dwindle until there was barely anything left, he knew they would soon disintegrate into little motes of light. And right on point, the clones were gradually covered in a white glow before their bodies disintegrated into little white specks of light.
"Haaa…"
Knowing that it was over, the blonde allowed himself to sit down on the ground. He was tired both mentally and physically.
[This fight tested my perception more than my brute strength.]
Once again, he was inwardly thankful for the training he received from Sun Wukong. The ability to acutely sense energy and predict an attack by observing its flow was the key determining factor in him lasting this long.
"I gotta try training like that again sometimes. Maybe I'll cover my eyes with a blindfold or something."
Filing that thought for later, he took off his armbands and leg warmers, though there was some amount of struggle.
"My arms feel like noodles and I can't feel my legs at all."
With his armbands removed and leg warmers and unfastened, he then looked at his undershirt.
"..."
Sigh…
Grabbing the collar rim, he tried taking it off, but as he thought, it was hard.
"I'm not getting this off with my arms still wobbly like this."
He considered using the Kaioken, but he was so tired that he couldn't be bothered to go through the hassle. So he manifested a ki blade, pointed it at his chest…
Zuuu!
…and cut the shirt in half. Taking his time, he removed it like a jacket and let it fall to the ground.
Thud!
"Haaa…"
Raising his arms to the sky and stretching his body, several satisfying cracks rang out. Noticing the minor bruises on his body, especially on his arms and back, the blonde quickly ran his hands over his face before releasing a sigh of relief.
"Phew. You can rest assured, father. This son of yours will still be able to find a wife."
Stretching his neck one final time, he crossed his legs.
"Now…time to heal."
Immediately, his jovial and relaxed expression was replaced by one of focus. Gradually, white aura formed around him before it slowly turned red. In the process, his hair slowly rose up while also clustering together. His eyes turned red in real time, their previous cerulean colour fading away to reveal crimson red.
su su su su Su Su Su Su Su Su SU SU SU SU SU SU SU
Entering the suppressed state of his transformation, the blonde sat cross-legged with the balls of his fists pressed against each other. Red flame-like aura covered him like a shroud, the cloak of ki making him appear like a…
[God. A god. No…a demigod.]
Aurelia never failed to be mesmerised by such a scene. With how peaceful he appeared, he was like a benevolent Buddha. But that aura surrounding him indicated otherwise. That red aura with his black hair, his crimson gaze glazed over in focus, and those tense muscles covering his torso made him seem like a god. And with his power, he had the qualifications to assume such a title.