Author's Note: For those interested, there are now three advance chapters on P-atreon (remove the spaces and dash): p-atreon/ Krakenian01.
X-X-X-X
OST Recommendation (Stop when the fight is over)
Hedge Of Tomorrow - Death Battle 2024 Remaster Ft. LoganVanAdams
X-X-X-X
Ryuichi P.O.V
My back hurt, my arms felt tired, my legs felt heavy as if they were made of lead, and my lungs burned as if they were filled with wood chips and not oxygen.
But still, the most vivid feeling that ran through my body was not desperation or fear, but desire, I desired to get up once more even though I knew I couldn't lay a finger on him.
I desired the power to claim victory even though I knew that if he had wanted it, he would have ended this in a couple of seconds.
'I only have one option left'. I thought as I tried to get up when the dust began to settle.
Ever since I saw his first move, I thought of a way to beat him, and after all this time, only one plan had occurred to me, one that was not only incredibly uncertain in its outcome but likely not even possible to do.
'So what?' My voice said in my mind, this was the only plan that had a chance to give me victory, was I going to ignore it just because it was risky?
My fist slammed into the ground, the answer was clear.
They underestimated me, not just this blonde, but everyone in this group of demons did, and they had more than valid reasons for doing so, but I was going to turn this situation around using that trust they had built.
In my mind, the unfamiliar voice of an unknown man spoke words I had never heard before.
'Fighting for the sake of others and to save them is fine, but that kind of drive always has a limit, and to overcome that limit, you must be selfish and follow your own goals, but you must do it the right way, fight, but not because it's the right thing to do, everything can be right or wrong seen from another point of view, so fight for your own desires, for your own selfishness, and save others because that's what your own selfish desire dictates'
Those words, that voice, I didn't know when or who they came from, but I held on to the feeling attached to them with all my strength, using them as momentum to get back on my feet.
I still didn't give up, after everything that was driving me at this moment was...
'The sincere desire to defeat this guy!'
My ki roared around my body like a raging flame as my legs propelled me once again towards the battlefield.
Zanzōken
I had HIS memories and experience, so maybe that had influenced me more than I thought, because just like HE always did, I was also going to...
"Let's break the limit!". I screamed as I emerged from the cloud of smoke, and next to me ran a figure that was my living reflection.
I only had enough ki left to fight properly for 20 more seconds, so it was time to show what a crazy Dragon Ball fan could do if you gave him access to ki control.
######
Third Person P.O.V
Sona's eyes widened in surprise as did Rias's eyes and those of all the members of both peerages, and both demons even heard Rias's newest vassal excitedly asking what was happening.
"So, is it a cloning technique? And it's also moving faster than before?" Rias said in a whisper, and for a moment, Sona agreed, but then her eyes narrowed as she noticed something that it seemed no one else saw.
The second Ryuichi, unlike the first, did not raise any dust with his footsteps even though they both advanced at the same speed, one considerably greater than the one he used before.
'An illusion then, what are you planning? Are you so unconscious as to not realize that even with that increase in speed and if that image was solid you couldn't reach Kiba's speed? Or is there something else?' Sona put all her attention on what would happen next.
On the battlefield, Kiba took a defensive stance to test his opponent a bit before counterattacking.
"RIGHT!" One of the Ryuichis shouted as he threw a punch to the right side of Kiba's face, though the blow was dodged when the knight moved his head back.
"LEFT!" The other Ryuichi lunged at Kiba doing the same as the first, but his attack was a kick to the knight's midsection, this time blocked by the flat of the sword.
"UP!" The first one who attacked screamed again, jumping and trying to kick Kiba in the head, but he only managed to almost graze his opponent's hair because the swordsman managed to duck in time.
"DOWN!" Once again, a scream came before the attack, this time a simple kick from below, but just like when he started this last assault, Ryuichi's speed seemed to increase a little, but once again Kiba managed to avoid the attack by jumping back.
"UP AGAIN!" This time, after jumping, Ryuichi attempted to land a heel kick on the blonde's head but was once again dodged.
In the distance, the group of demons couldn't help but give some comments.
"Well, he has quite the spirit, we have to admit that". Akeno said.
"Yes, but it's clear that that speed and attack power are temporary, or else he would have used them since the fight started, I don't think it will last much longer, and even if it did, he would not manage to touch Kiba-kun". Sona responded.
"But why does he keep shouting where the attack will come from? He wouldn't have managed to hit the pretty boy if he didn't?" Issei asked.
"No". Rias said. "Even if he didn't say anything, Yuuto should be able to avoid those blows"
"Then why?"
"Don't know". The redhead admitted before glancing sideways at the side of her. "Do you have any ideas, Sona?"
"I have a theory, but if he is going to do something it should be in the next moves"
"NOW!" And agreeing with Sona, Ryuichi's scream marked the beginning of the next step in his plan.
######
Ryuichi P.O.V
With each hit I gave, the sweat fell more and more down my forehead, my limbs began to weigh more and more, and I felt like I was about to draw on the last reserves of ki I had left.
But that was fine, it didn't matter that I hadn't been able to land a single hit until now, it didn't matter that my opponent still didn't seem to take me completely seriously, no, none of that mattered, because I was about to show my ace up my sleeve and I was mentally ready to bear the consequences of doing it.
"NOW!" I shouted, and together with the second Ryuichi, we ran across each other's path.
"FROM THE FRONT!" We both yelled as the second Ryuichi came forward, drawing his attention, and launching a kick to his chest while I ran around him ready to take him by surprise.
However, my eyes widened when he decided to ignore my copy, turning around as the kick passed through him, for a second our eyes met, and I knew it, he had discovered that the other Ryuichi was just an image a long time ago.
I felt my ki reserve dropping to dangerously critical amounts so my brow furrowed, and I launched an uppercut with my right arm using everything I had left, but before my fist went halfway, the flat side of a sword was already in position to receive my blow and stop it.
With the sword preventing us from seeing the other's expression, I finally allowed myself to smile as a thought made the silent words that left my lips come true.
"I win"
Kaio-ken
My muscles swelled slightly, my reflexes sharpened beyond their limits as a red aura manifested covering me from head to toe making me feel full of energy.
And when my fist hit the sword, it didn't stop like the last time, but rather the blade broke as some blood came out of my knuckles, but I didn't care, and my fist continued its path towards my opponent's perplexed face.
He tried to move his head to evade, but it was too late, and all he managed was for my fist to hit his cheek instead of his jaw.
"AHHHHH!" I screamed, using my legs to propel myself further and compensate for the power lost from breaking the sword, causing the blonde's entire body to rise about a foot in the air.
When my fist and his face separated he flew a few meters away from me, falling and remaining completely still while I stayed still in the uppercut pose, and the kaioken's aura disappeared.
Everything was silent, neither I, nor Kirisu-sensei, nor my brother, nor the demons said anything until after about 10 seconds our referee, Tsubaki, came out of her stupor and ran towards the blonde.
"Kiba-kun!" She screamed in a worried tone, kneeling and checking him out.
This seemed to snap the others out of their stupefied state, and both the demons and Kirisu-sensei and Touji approached as quickly as they could.
My legs lost strength as did the arm I hit with, and I fell into a sitting position with 3 of my 4 limbs almost completely unusable.
"Brother!/Ryuichi-kun!"
I heard the voices of my brother and my teacher a few meters behind me, but all I could do was turn my neck a little to try to see them, the rest of my body hurt as if I had been hit several times by a heavy-duty truck.
The fact that this happened to my body from using the kaio-ken for a couple of seconds was just another evidence that this technique was a double-edged sword, one that if not used carefully was capable of inflicting more damage to the bearer than it would do to the opponent.
"Ghk!" I tried to speak, but a pain in my chest prevented me, my only functional arm went to my chest and I felt like it was a little difficult to breathe.
'Please don't tell me that now I'm going to suffer from some rare heart disease, that's the last thing I need'. I thought as I tried to breathe as calmly, deeply, and slowly as possible, which seemed to help me a little as the pain slowly began to subside.
"Are you ok? What was that?" My brother's and my teacher's questions came with a worried tone, but I was still suppressing the pain, so the only thing I could do to answer them was raise my hand to ask them to stop.
This seemed effective, and my gaze quickly moved to the group of demons, some were looking at the fallen blonde, while others did not take their eyes off me, but the only one I was staring at was our referee, the one who had identified herself as Tsubaki, while I expected her to declare my opponent's status.
She continued examining the blonde for a few more very tense seconds before sighing and shaking her head a few times. "He is unconscious". She said as if she couldn't believe it.
Her words seemed to lift a huge weight off my shoulders, and I finally let myself fall back to the ground, I inhaled and exhaled through my mouth because I felt like I wasn't taking in enough air through my nose, my whole body ached, and I was exhausted beyond what I had ever was in my entire life, but I still managed to smile at Kirisu-sensei and Touji while giving them a thumbs up.
"See? I told you". I started talking between breaths. "That I'd win". I finished saying before looking back at the demons, or more specifically, their 2 leaders.
"So? Now you are going to try to kill me and then eat my soul? Because I can't think of a better time for you to try". I said in a mocking tone to distract them while in my right hand behind my back I held the low-mid grade potion, and being ready to jump back and put distance between us if I needed to drink it.
They both seemed to have gotten over their initial surprise and my comment seemed to incense the redhead a little, but Sona only raised an eyebrow before speaking.
"Pranks like that are not nice at all, we will keep our part of the deal, no one will try to modify or erase Kirisu Mafuyu's memories, and you will get a contract that will ensure that we will not directly or harm you or anyone around you as long as they do not attack first, right Rias?" The girl with glasses finished looking at her redhead companion, who nodded after a few seconds.
"Yes"
"That's good to hear, can we sign it now? I want this all to end so I can pass out"
"What was that last thing you did? That red aura that covered you?" The redhead asked, I assumed she would be curious because the kaio-ken's aura was the same color as hers.
"Something my body was clearly not prepared for". I responded and saw her frowning as if she was waiting for more information. "I'm not going to say anything else, or do you intend to tell me everything you are capable of doing?"
She held her gaze for a little longer, but eventually she relented. "Fine"
Then they both raised their hands, in Rias's hand a crimson circle appeared while a light blue one floated in Sona's hand, from each circle threads of energy of the same color came out and went to my still functional hand.
"Inject your energy and repeat after us". Sona said.
I used the little ki I had left, and luckily it seemed to be enough, Sona nodded, and they both began to talk. "I hereby declare this oath under my name and honor"
My throat felt a little dry, but I repeated their words.
"I will not attack or cause harm directly or indirectly to the opposing party to this contract as long as it does not cause direct or indirect harm to me or those who are part of my environment"
Once again, I repeated the words verbatim, and the magic circles in both girls' hands glowed a little brighter.
"Now inject a little more energy, and it should be ready". Rias said.
I sweated a little because I was on my last legs when it came to energy, but I still did what she said because I wanted to end this once and for all.
And when I did it, a white thread wound around the red and blue threads, forming a knot before fading away.
"It's done". Sona said, and I accepted that all this was finally over, I would no longer have to stay guard until late at night like yesterday, I would no longer have to look behind me when I walked at night, and I wouldn't have to worry about my brother or Kirisu-sensei being hurt.
"Touji, can you help me? I can hardly move". I said, and my brother flinched before looking at my arm stretched out towards him, he quickly grabbed it and pulled to help me sit up once more, but he seemed to lack strength, so Kirisu-sensei also helped by leaning down and pushing my back until I was finally sitting up.
"Thank you". I said taking a deep breath as I thought about what I would say next, because I wasn't sure if it was the right decision, but in the end, I gave up, I couldn't do it alone, and I doubted that asking Touji or Kirisu-sensei would be the right thing to do.
"Can either of you help me? I dislocated my shoulder when I threw that last punch". I asked both demons, although without much desire.
They both looked at me before looking at each other, they seemed to have a quick mental conversation before Sona turned around and Rias spoke. "Akeno". Was all she said, and the girl with black hair styled in a long ponytail stepped forward.
"Yes?"
"Help him with his shoulder please, you know more about first aid than me". She smiled slightly in my direction, and I swear she gave me goosebumps.
"Of course, president". The long ponytail demon looked at me and gave an equally chilling smile before slowly advancing towards me, and I couldn't help but feel intimidated.
"Now, there is no reason to be afraid, you may be defenseless, but I will not do anything bad to you, you have the contract to protect you, and you were the one who asked for help, right?"
"Ah, uh, yes?" I said not knowing what else to respond.
"Now". She said in a calm tone before his eyes widened slightly, giving me a half-lidded look, and this time using a somewhat threatening tone. "Lie down on the floor". She said, making me think that asking these people for help was a horrible idea.
I was about to use the potion and hope that it would fix my shoulder with as little pain as possible, but to my surprise, it was my brother who laid me down on the ground.
"Touji?!" I asked scared, and from Kirisu-sensei's expression, it seemed that she had also been surprised by the action.
"Brother, I don't think they are bad persons, let them help you, and then we can go home"
'No no no, little brother, how could you think that after knowing them for a few minutes and knowing that they are demons, we better-'
"Ara ara, you should listen to your little brother, he seems like a pretty smart kid". The girl said, catching my attention again as she took my hand in hers, making me jump. "Now, don't resist, or this will hurt even more, or do it if you want, I have no problem with either option". She said before putting the sole of her foot on my armpit.
"H-hey, are you sure this is resolved this way?" I asked as I panicked a little, wanting to get her off of me and put as much distance between me and this person as possible, but not having the strength to do so.
"I took a course in first aid, anatomy, and also massage in my free time, so I know how to fix this". She said twisting my wrist a little to test.
"Ow, wait, I'm not ready for AAHHH!" I let out a completely masculine cry of pain while the corners of my eyes filled with fluid when she pulled on my arm, and my shoulder made a cracking sound.
'Damn it, I curse you and all your fucking offspring'. I thought looking at both the girl named Akeno, and Rias too, I'm sure they were both satisfied with my pain from the amused looks they were trying to hide, this must be revenge for beating one of their friends.
If this was going to happen to me I wish I had hit him harder.
A few deep breaths served to calm me down, so I moved my arm a little noticing that it was engaged and functional once again, although I was just as sure that I had some muscle injuries due to the pain I felt in my biceps and triceps.
'Now, what should I do with my legs? I'm sure I have even more tears than in my arms, and walking could make everything worse'
My gaze went to the blue squares in front of me.
ALERT, CRUCIAL SECONDARY MISSION! (COMPLETED)
Mission: A dance with the devil!
You finally discovered the huge supernatural world that is hidden from the rest of humanity, but it seems that you also came into conflict with the city's resident group, and now you must duel.
Objective:
-Defeat the demon you will fight
Rewards:
-2 low-low grade potions.
-A low-medium grade potion.
-A gacha ticket to give to a friend.
Fail:
-Kirisu Mafuyu's memories will be irreversibly erased
-The difficulty of the mission "Lead by example" will be considerably increased.
Do you want to receive the rewards?
Yes/No/ [Remind me later]
X-X-X-X-X
And that's it, Ryuichi somehow managed to make good use of the cards he had to take the victory at the last second, the fights that will take place in the future will be similar to this one, Ryuichi has the potential to be someone disgustingly OP thanks to the chat and Goku's knowledge, but that will take time, and until that happens, ironically, his greatest asset will be the one thing that the chat didn't give him, his wit, which in my opinion is something incredibly important for any warrior.
Also, Touji's attitude towards demons will be explained in the next two chapters, which brings me to the next point, I finally opened a p -treon, if anyone is interested, and I just posted up to chapter 29, if you can, please check it out.
In the next few days I'll also be posting there 5 or 6 chapters of a couple of stories I've been working on for a couple of weeks now, one is about Tales of Demons and Gods, and the other is about My Hero Academia.
(remove the spaces and dash): p-atreon/ Krakenian01.
Remember that if you like this story, you can leave a comment, review, and a power stone, that will inspire me to write more, see you in the next chapter.