Chapter 39: Red vs. White, Round 2! The clash of the Two Heavenly Dragons shakes the Earth, and the unforgivable rage from the past awakens!? Pt. 4
Michael's angered expression turned into that of shock as Vali angrily grabbed him by the collar and butted heads with him.
"What could some utter loser, who's never known the love of a parent, ever going to understand anything from someone, who actually lost the love of their own mother!" Vali kicks Michael off of him and sent him falling a couple of feet away.
"Ugh!" Michael picks himself up and rubs his lip.
Rising up onto two feet, Vali spits out some blood. He looks spiteful at Michael,
"It's infuriating! Everything about you just pisses me off! Brother this! Equal that! I've had enough! Don't make me laugh! I already have enough problems with a detestable monster of a brother, I don't need another one making things harder for me!" Vali shouted.
"Hmph!"
"Heh!"
An unamused Zethyr avoided the look of a chuckling Kai.
"Sure, say that, but it won't change how I feel, and you should know that too since you obviously understand how I felt about those goggles. You can't deny it, which is why we should finish this fight. Not because we're the Heavenly Dragons or that we're enemies, but because we're Michael Hanamura and Vali Lucifer, two lonely kids, who only reciprocate their feelings through violence! As rivals." Michael picks himself up with a little struggle.
"There you are again! Talking about the same old thing! Why are you fixated on the thought of being my equal, you ignore everything that I've told you just to bring that up at every chance you get! How dense can you be? I have no interest on feeling the same way you do! We're not the same, and we will never understand each other! I can barely even understand your thought patterns throughout this fight!"
Vali couldn't believe how thick headed this guy was, it was like reasoning with a broken record.
"Yes, you do. You're just being an ass to even notice it!" Michael growls back.
"Yeaaaaaaaaaargh!"
{Vanishing Dragon Balance Breaker!}
Vali roars and surrounds himself with aura and charges blindly at Michael with his White Dragon Scale Mail.
"That's it! I've had about enough of you, Hanamura, you, stubborn bastard!"
"Uooooooooooooh!"
[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]
Now roaring himself, Michael now dons his own Red Dragon Scale Mail and takes Vali on in close range combat.
"See? If you already know about how stubborn I am, then you do understand how I think, bastard!"
"Shut up!"
"Make me!"
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]
Increasing the density of aura around his fists, Michael engaged Vali very much well prepared.
*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM*! *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*
Unleashing a devastating barrage of attacks on one another, both boys attacked without any intent on backing down. Each of the punches, the two fired at each other always collided before they rebounded to fire at another attack.
With Michael's punches they were strong and able to push back any of Vali's deadly attacks with the increase of dragon power surrounding them. But his biggest weakness was his speed as he got few of the punches to rebound most of them were able to reach his armor and leave as many cracks needed onto them. There was also the fact that with Michael's boost in dragon power too much for the current him was damaging his own hands and bones with each attack.
Vali's punches were more diverse unlike Michael's he may be furious, but it still didn't impart on his talented skill when it came to fighting. Knowing that the attacks Michael made were too powerful for his fists to overcome. Now, he used quick punches to negate those attacks from reaching him and use that opening he made to his disposal. Vali made sure not to hold back against him using the most power, he could whenever an opening should be found. The only difficulty that he had trouble with was that new Cursed Gear which clashed with one of his fists. It usually shattered his armored hand when contact was made, because of it, Michael was able to get a few good hits on him.
"Uooooooooooooooh!"
"Oryah! Oryah! Oryah! Oryah! Oryah! Oryah! Oryah! Oryah! Oryah!"
Vali and Michael's barrage of fists colliding and hitting the other have only intensified. Only with Michael's fists getting all banged up from all the dragon power he's using. Literal splatters of blood were spraying out of his hands and falling on the ground in streaks, but still pushing on, Michael ignored the pain and focused on doing some damage to Vali.
*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM*! *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM*! *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*
Flash-ins of their fight while throwing their punches were shown.
"Hyah!"
"Uuuurgh!"
Vali kicks Michael across the head on his neck forcing Michael to spew out some blood.
"Tah!"
"Huurck!"
Michael lands a solid blow against Vali's gut with the aid of the Dragon Slayer aura from Ascalon.
"Disappear!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!"
Vali imbued one of his fists with a fusion of lightning magic and fire magic that managed to break a hole through Michael's armor leaving a huge hole in its chest and creating a massive bleeding flesh wound Michael's naked stomach.
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]
"Suck on it!"
"Krchk!"
Vali grits his teeth as Michael imbues and syncs the boosted power of Ascalon's aura with the Cursed Gear to do some massive damage to Vali's armor easily breaking it apart and landing a devastating punch to the guy's naked solar plexus making Vali cough out a terrifying amount of blood.
Once the barrage of fists was too much for them to continue, both dragons separated only to charge at each other once more and attack each in the air with blinding speeds.
*ZOOOOOOM!*
*ZOOOOOOM!*
*THUM!* THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!*
The entire sky was glittered with red and white light as the impacts and shockwaves of their attacks clashed with severe intensity. Their movements were too hard for anyone except the leaders to follow.
"Hyaaaaaaaah!"
"Oryaaaaaaaah!"
*CLAAAAAAASH!*
With one final hit, both Heavenly Dragons separated from each other, breathing heavily with many cracks and some signs of blood flowing from out both of their armor.
Breathing heavily, Vali says, "For you to push me this far when I'm actually getting serious, you're doing pretty well, Hanamura."
"Complimenting me won't change anything, so just admit already that we're equals!" Michael panted in return.
"You're like a broken record, so I will only say this. I will never accept that notion. NEVER!"
Vali ascends higher into the air and expands his wings,
"Now this will be the last time that I'll finally show you how completely outclassed you truly are, Hanamura."
*ZHIIIIIIING!* *ZHIIIIIIING!*
{Half-Dimension!}
With his wings of light expanding out into a spread-out fashion, it released high frequency shockwaves which touched the entire wasteland from the ground to the mountains and rock formations.
"What is he doing?" Michael grunts as he flaps his dragon wings once to be at the same level as Vali in the air. He looks around himself to see that the dimension around himself was getting warped around in huge distortions.
[Partner, that technique is known for its ability to distort and halve the forms and shape of any physical object!]
"Seriously?" Michael coughs out some blood as he starts to reach his limit, the occasional use of his Touki has drained him, he may have lasted longer in controlling it but over using it along with the use of the dragon aura still harmful when he attacks takes too much out of him.
The only thing which still remained the same without drawing any defects was Michael's Cursed Gear but each time he would use it he'd get angrier than before and start attacking furiously. This new ability of his was what saved his life a couple of times throughout this fight, but it felt strange. He didn't know why it came out or what it actually is but for some reason the power itself felt like it was a part of him.
"Now watch as everything around you collapses!" Vali tightens his hand and warps the dimension they were in even further as a chain link of ripples lead to explosions happening around them.
"Gurgh!" Michael panics and starts to fly away from the destructive chaos filling the wastelands.
"You can run, but you won't escape!"
Vali made sure of that as he now used both hands to compress the area around Michael trapping him in a pressurized area about to explode.
"Oh, crap…" Michael gasped as he struggles to break free.
"It seems that you were only able to reach this point, Hanamura. I've barely begun to use this power. You're still too weak to be spouting off nonsense about being my rival!"
Feeling the space around him grow more and more unstable Michael raised both of his hands and activated the Cursed Gear's call.
[Zero!]
A black aura surrounded Michael's left arm as he claps both his hands together creating a black shockwave to cancel out the unstable space about to explode around him.
"Tch! That troublesome new power of yours…" Vali clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Y-Yeah...Whew! T-That's r...ight the Great Hanamura, ain't going anywhere…" Michael panted heavily.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Vali made that sound threateningly.
"Why so?" Michael looks behind himself to see the same chain of explosions coming right at him, "Oh well, FU-!"
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
A huge explosion filled the sky and distorted Michael's body along with it doing a far savage attack to visibly hurt Michael.
*THUD!*
Falling to the ground with his armor still barely on and completely cracked and covered in burns, Michael coughs out the equivalent of both vomit and blood after the high distortion attack hit him.
"*Pant!* *Pant!* Not yet, just a little more…" Michael panted as he could almost barely stand.
"You're testing my patience!" Vali fires a beam of magic at Michael.
"Toh!" Michael extends his palm out and nullifies the attack with his Cursed Gear.
"…" Vali glared at Michael's useless resistance.
Looking up with an exhausted expression Michael pants,
"I'm not done yet… I still have to prove that I'm your rival!" Michael glared back at Vali with half-lidded eyes and a tired posture.
Looking at the frail state Michael was in, Vali decides that things should be put to an end.
"Let's just end this…"
Vali focuses his Half Dimension and divides the area around to gain its energy into his wings as he extends his palm out to create a hand filled orb, compressing all the energy he absorbed into that one orb.
'Ddraig, how much time do I have left in this form?' Michael thought.
[You only have about 25 seconds left, Michael.]
'25 seconds, huh, I guess I'm near my limit and by the looks of him. He still has plenty of power left to spare.' Michael gave a bitter laugh despite the damage, he had received along with Vali's, he realized that unlike Vali. He got exhausted a lot faster whenever he used his own attacks.
This was the difference between the two, Vali didn't have to put too much effort with his attacks because they were filled with finesse and lacked any effort. While Michael had to put everything into every attack, he had if he didn't then he would have lost ages ago.
Now he'll have to put everything, he'll have into one attack to match up to Vali's own final attack.
'If I'm running out of time, then I'll just make every second count with this last attack…' Michael raised one of his semi-broken arms and focuses the black power from the Cursed Gear and the Boosted Gears Dragon Power into a spinning sphere of his own in size it was about the size of a baseball.
[That's the spirit, you can't just go out without a bang, that's not your style!]
'Right, so I'll use EVERYTHING, I have to overcome this last attack!'
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]
[Magnum!]
Michael looks up at Vali with a glare.
"Futile, your efforts will be in vain, this last attack is one of the strongest I've created! Anything you make will be overpowered!"
"I won't know unless I try!"
Michael's sphere consisting of both Black and red aura steadily grew brighter as it spun over his hand in crazy speeds. In fact, the attack seemed too unstable as it kept vibrating and glowing along with the Boosted Gear.
*SHIIIIIIIINE!*
Finally finished with compressing the energy in his sphere with enough collected power, Vali starts to look down at Michael with a serious look as the latter does the same. Standing in the battle torn wasteland, the two could communicate with just their eyes before engaging.
[JET!]
*FLAP!*
*WHOOOOOOOSH!*
Taking a giant leap forward with the rocket boosters on his back, Michael jumps after Vali while directing his attack over his head.
*FLAP!*
*ZAN!* *ZAN!* *ZAN!*
*WHOOOOOSH!*
Using his unmatched speed, Vali zig-zags in the air to create momentum before he propelled himself down at Michael, aiming to target his attack at the soon to be vulnerable teen.
"VALIIIIIIIIIII!"
Michael roared.
"HANAMURAAAAA!"
Vali roared.
Soon both attacks came closer and closer and closer… until they finally made contact with each other.
"Rending Dragon Nova!"
"Vanishing Dragon's Compression Blast!"
*CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!*
The entire wasteland crumbles away as the wicked force these two attacks have created a large enough shockwave to topple every mountain and rock formation in sight! The only things still left standing were Michael and Vali who were covered by a large bright light which was made by both of their attacks colliding.
"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
Both males let out a battle cry as both of their attacks tried to push back the other with their individual attacks. Being forced back at first due to the sheer power Vali's attack had over his own Michael grunts and growls as he tries to at least keep himself from being moved another inch. Vali smirked, seeing the pain that Michael was under as he struggled only made him think that it was just a matter of time before his attack finally overpowered him.
[Boost!]
'No! Isn't he finished already? How can he have that much stamina left?' Vali reinforced his attack before it was too late. But, well, sadly for him it was too late.
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]
With the reinforcement applied to his power, Michael increased the dragon energy residing in his attack and forced back Vali's sphere with a burst in energy which shook back.
"How are you…!?"
"It's just like my Multishot, but this time it goes off by itself with a little added on power…!" Michael bites his lip as he draws blood, the recoils must have been doubled as well.
Now finally being the one in control, Michael's bursts of energy were able to push Vali back and make his attack waver as it goes down in intensity compared to his own. Vali visibly showed some struggle as he had finally been pushed back for once with his own special technique as well.
"Fine then, I'll just vamp up my own technique as well!" Vali doubles the power by infusing more demonic power into his sphere to match the same power output that Michael's attack was giving off.
"Oh no, you don't!" Michael growls as he pours more power into the attack.
"You little-ROOOOOOOAR!"
"ROOOOOOOAR!"
The bright light surrounding them now filled the entire space to the point to where it collapsed around them and nothing left was there it was completely white until a huge explosion fills the space and completely destroys it.
Seeing the orb that they were watching the fight through start to glow bright, Sirzechs raises a barrier around everyone,
"Watch out!"
*PRAAAAAAAANG!*
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
Within the smoke was a small compact space filled with the light and the attacking Michael and Vali who managed to get each other with their own attacks.
*BAGAAAAAAAAN~!*
*BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!*
Michael's attack making contact with Vali's own armor and naked chest broke his balance breaker apart and caused colossal damage to Vali who managed to endure the hit while coughing up a large amount of blood.
"Urcccchk! Haaaaah!" Vali forces his attack into Michael's torso and let it dig in before.
*GOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!*
The compressed sphere compressed the left side of Michael's torso into a big bleeding gaping hole.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuurck!" Michael coughs up a disturbing amount of blood which you would rarely see a person release. Feeling everything grow cold, Michael started to remember something very important which drove him to fight against Vali this hard.
(Flashback- 6 years ago)
"Haaaaaaa!"
"You stupid, loser!"
*POUND!* *POUND!*
Both punching each other across the cheek the kids Michael and Vali fell back and tumbled on the ground. There was a quick shot of Michael's eyes flashing red at that moment before he got pushed away.
Now fallen face down on their faces both a tired Michael and a tired Vali were covered in bruises none of them wanted to let the other win so neither fell until the last blow which decided the entire fight.
"I-I can't move any farther than this…Ngh!" Michael picks himself up with shaky arms, "And looking at you, you seem to be the same way as well?"
"Ergh…!" Vali muttered something under his breath as he tries to stand.
"Ehehehehehe..." Michael gave a childish laugh as he grins, "Well, I guess this means that the winner has to be the one who drops first, huh?"
"Y-Yeah…" Vali smirks as his arms grow shaky as well.
"Y-Yup! Hahahahahahahahaha!"
"Hmhmhmhmhm…"
Both boys couldn't stop their laughter as they got onto one knee.
"Hahahahahahah…urh…"
"Hmhmhm…uh…"
*THUD!*
*THUD!*
Both boys fell down at the exact same time.
About few hours later, mumbling something under a tired breath, Michael could hear 2 footsteps as he slowly opens his eyes.
"Huh? Where am I?"
"Well, well, look at that. Your still alive aren't you, loser?" Vali said as he continued looking forward.
"You… and what are you?" Michael sees his arm slung over Vali's shoulder as he was getting dragged somewhere.
"Azazel told me to take you home afterwards, so I decided to comply." Vali sighed.
"That's not what I was going to say. What I want to ask is why are you helping me? I can walk on my own!" Michael struggles to break free.
"Careful, or else you'll just mess up those goggles."
"Goggles? What do you mean?" Michael tilts his head.
"The ones around your neck, idiot."
"Around my-? Hey! What are they doing there?" Michael gasped as he saw the goggles right there,
"Oi! What is this? Why am I wearing these?"
"Because you won the fight, I don't want them anymore." Vali said.
"Nuh-uh! I didn't win anything, it was a tie!" Michael shouted.
"If you keep shouting, then I'll drop you." Vali said with one eye open.
"What do you mean, you don't want them anymore? That was supposed to be a fair fight over this prize, and I won't accept that you'd let me win like this. So, I can't take them!"
"Well, I don't want them. I said you won, and I could care less for them anymore, so take it!"
"No, because neither of us won! We'll have to fight again right now!"
Vali groaned at Michael's stubbornness.
"You can barely stand. It wouldn't be that hard to knock you down."
"Who cares! At least I'll be satisfied with the fight's outcome, and actually be awake and argue against you to see how it turns out!"
"Hehehehe." Vali chuckles.
"What?"
"So, you're really that determined to fight me again?" Vali smirked.
"Of course! I'll kick your butt no matter how many tries it ta-!"
"Then I'll accept any challenge that you'll give me." Vali answered from out of the blue.
"Hah, don't think that you can avoid my challenges anym-! Wait, did you just say you'll accept any of them?" Michael's eyes widen.
"Yeah, if it's a challenge regarding those goggles, then I wouldn't mind taking you seriously when the chance comes up again. But if it doesn't involve them, then don't expect me to take you literal at all." Vali explained.
Michael looked at Vali with awe.
"Is there something wrong with it or are you just thinking of how futile it is to beat me?" Vali insulted.
"Hah! You wish! I'm going to kick your butt 7 different ways to happy hour, you jerk!" Michael excitedly declares.
"Yeah, yeah, say what you want, you loser." Vali and Michael come at a crossroads in the housing district, looking from left to right, Vali asks, "Oi, los...Michael, which way to your apartment?"
"What?" Michael gasped at hearing his first name be called by Vali for the first time.
"I asked you where your house was, loser." Vali narrowed his eyes, "I guess that I made a mistake with believing you could know simple directions. Seriously, even a dog has more sense than you."
With the moment gone, Michael roared, "Hey, just to have you know I, the Great Hanamura am smarter than any dog you can think of, and you should try to be respectful since it's completely dark at this hour and I can't recognize my way back ho-!"
*THUD!*
"Ow~!" Michael was dropped on the ground, "Oi! Why did you drop me?"
"I warned you to stop screaming, or else I would drop you." Vali picked his ear and walked ahead of Michael.
"Wait, no, you can't leave me like this!" Michael reached out for Vali, "Damn it, come back here, bastard!"
Turning around give a fake stunned expression, Vali said, "Hey, let's make this a challenge. If you can reach your place before I do, you're the winner!"
"Winner…" Michael eyes gleamed as he started crawling after Vali, "Move, sucker! I'm winning this!"
"Of course, that would work…" Vali shook his head and made a leisurely pace back to Michael's apartment where he presumes Azazel was.
"Gah! Must! Nyah! Win! Arms, don't fail me now!" Michael pitifully cried as he strained his arms to overexert himself.
"My, my, how odd." Leaning behind a fence away from the two boy's view was Azazel with his arms crossed. He wore an amused expression.
"I wonder what these two are doing, or what Vali did going to the lengths of helping the brat here. I guess, I'm one of the very few, who get to see this interaction between these two kids." Azazel muttered to himself.
*GLEAM!*
Michael's eyes gleamed.
*GLEAM!*
Vali's eyes gleamed.
The two looked behind themselves and said in unison,
"I'm not a kid."
'Shit! They heard me, and what was up with that? They both said it at the same time!' Azazel covered his mouth and ran off to meet both boys back at Michael's apartment.
(Present)
Clenching his teeth through the pain as he remembered that very impactful memory, Michael uses what's left of his remaining energy and raises his arm to latch onto Vali's shirt while cocking back his left black tattooed arm covering itself with black aura.
"Not yet!"
"What? Impossible, how are you-!?"
Both are now standing in the middle of the school field of Kuoh Academy after the space they fought in vanished. However, the explosion they created caused a lot of dust to surround where they stood.
Breathing heavily, Michael still held himself up and forced the pain his now gone torso provided and continued to hold Vali around the collar.
"Ngh…Grgh! Damn you! *Gasp!* Hanamura...! How can you still stand after taking that hit? Just stay down and keel over!" Vali grunts and breathes hard as he tries to shove Michael off of him. That last attack Michael hit him with nullified his ability to conjure his demonic power and dragon power. He couldn't even form the base form of his sacred gear, Divine Dividing.
His breath was quivering under the pain of the huge gaping hole in his torso, he could barely stand without leaning that much on Vali. All of his energy was gone and there was no longer any stamina he can muster to move his body, all that he was relying right no was sheer willpower, "N-Not yet..."
"Let go of me!" Vali grabbed Michael's wrist and tried to pull away from him, but found that the tired teen's grip was unbreakable.
"R-Remember? I told you that I'd get you to be in the same *COUGH!* *GAG!* s-state as me..." Michael vomited some blood as he stayed standing, "Now I'm going to end this and finally settle this fight..."
Michael raised his fist.
"You're already one foot in the grave, you won't be settling anything anymore!" Vali was faster and prepared to slug Michael in the face, he may have lost his powers, but his injuries weren't severe enough to stop him from knocking this annoying pest loose.
*GLARE!*
*BAAASH!*
"Gyuarck!"
"Ergh!"
At the last minute, Michael head-butted Vali's chin and winced in pain.
"You! ...!" Vali was stunned when he saw Michael's fist approaching his face.
"I won't go down so easily because...! I'm your-!"
"…!" Vali staggers back but gets pulled in by Michael to avoid dodging his attack.
"RIVAL!"
*WHAAAAAM!*
*THUD!*
*THUD!*
Michael jams his fist across the side of Vali's face and sent him flying through the dust and into the open where everyone could see him. Once Vali fell, the sound of another body dropping at the same time was heard as well.
On his back, unable to move an inch Vali grunts,
"Grgh! Damn, that strange ability of his...it can even disable my movement?"
"Isn't that the-?" Raynare gasped.
"Hakuryuukou? H-He's actually down." Gasper blinked in amazement, "Then that would mean that Michael-nii has-?"
"Baka-senpai…" Koneko casts a look of worry as she looks through the dust.
"Michael?" Rias called out as the dust finally settles down to reveal a fallen Michael face down in a pool of blood belonging to him.
"I'm definitely sure that we could really call this a tie this time, right, Vali?" Michael raises his head and weakly smiles as blood runs down the side of his lips.
"Michael!"
"Michael-kun!"
"Michael-sama!"
"Michael-san!"
"Michael-senpai!"
"Michael!"
"Michael-kun!"
"Michael-nii!"
Rushing past the immobile Vali, Rias, Akeno, Raynare, Asia, Koneko, Xenovia, Irina, and Gasper to check up on their friend and comrade was in a terrible condition.
"H-Hello, everyone…hehe…" Michael weakly laughed as he was turned over and had his head placed on Rias' lap.
"Asia, quick heal him!" Rias hastily orders her Bishop.
"H-Hai!" Asia nods timidly and rushes to Michael's side.
Setting up her healing magic with Twilight Healing, Asia rushes to heal the bleeding hole on Michael's torso while crying a few tears out at seeing someone she heavily adored get a terrible wound like this. And it was not just her a few of the others cried for Michael's condition as he tries to play if off like it didn't hurt,
"Hey, come on, guys. It's not that bad, I mean, remember who I am, The Great Hanam-!"
*Pull.*
"Ouch! Buchou, what are you doing?" Michael was surprised that it was a light pinch to the cheek, but still whined.
"You idiot…" Michael looks up to see a crying Rias with tears down her cheeks. He frowned, that was a face that he didn't want to see and what made it worse was that he was the one who caused it this time around.
"You can't just go rushing off all by yourself like that. I was afraid that you would have died, and-and if you did, then I wouldn't know what to do…" Rias started to break down and scolded Michael for his reckless behavior, "You promised that you would make sure I stay happy, but what you just pulled almost scared me to death..."
"I-I'm sorry for being selfish, Buchou…" Michael apologized giving a sad smile to try and cheer her up, luckily for him it worked.
"You should be. Making your master worry this much for you should deserves a severe punishment."
Rias grows a smile and wipes the tears away from her eyes, accepting Michael's apology as of now. All that mattered to her was that now he was safe.
"Well, you could consider the fight that I was in punishment enough, and I sort of feel like passing out at any moment." Michael sweatdropped and rolled his eyes, "So…could I be let off with a warning this time."
"No."
"Figured it was a long shot." Michael sighed with an exhausted expression.
Looking over to the group surrounding Michael, Vali remained silent until a shadow hovered over him.
"I guess that since you both fell at the same time. I'd call this a tie between you, am I right?" Vali looks to see the face of a smiling Kai, "Why hello there, Hakuryuukou-san. Nice to finally meet you."
"…" Vali remained silent.
"I see that you're not much of a talker, huh?" Kai sits by Vali's paralyzed body, "Don't worry, he still doesn't have that much control over that power of his. It's still maturing, but I don't think even he knows that he can use it at all. You'll regain your natural abilities in about an hour, 2 tops if you took more than 10 hits. But well, that's that. I guess you chewed off a bit more than you should by provoking him like that."
Looking at Kai closely, Vali says, "You know something about that power?"
"You can say that I'm "Well-informed" when dealing with that kind of power. It isn't something you're gifted with, but something you have to born with instead. I'm just glad things didn't go haywire or else things would have been drastic if things went any further," Kai brought up the topic of Michael's revealed family, "Anyways that stunt you tried to pull earlier was rather a little extreme, don't you think?"
Vali couldn't really move his head, but he could tell that this man wasn't very pleased, and considering how he can't move, he's found himself in a very dangerous situation with all the leaders of different factions around him. Usually, he would be excited at the prospect to fight them, but after fighting Michael, he found that his mood had changed, he felt passive. His maniac obsession with fighting has ceased to reemerge at the moment.
"Don't worry. I'm not mad because you didn't actually tell the whole story or rather you just saw the story that Azazel allowed you to see with the information, he collected. Or could it be that you wanted to spare most of Michael-san's feelings and became considerate?"
"I only say what I find necessary, that's all." Vali gave a cold answer.
"Hahii! Cold and mysterious as ever. No wonder it was easy to realize that you two were brothers."
Kai suddenly feels two daggers aimed directly at him, it was an ordinary feeling he used to feel but it was towards him directly. Directly? No, more like indirectly for bringing up a topic which shouldn't have been brought up in the first place. The killing intent was purely dangerous, and as Kai looked down at Vali, he could literally see the darkness hidden inside of Vali's eyes.
"You know of that thing?"
Vali's use of the word thing made Kai question how severe, Zethyr treated this boy.
"Well, you can say that he's sort of my acquaintance that I've known for a while. We used to hate each other and fought each other many times to settle disputes, but because of those fights, we've learned how to understand one another much better. And soon the hatred started to disappear. I mean it's still there, but not as much as it used to be, you get it? Oh, and plus, I've managed to handle my own against him, I even defeated him a couple of times."
Kai whispered then gave a sly laugh. Vali wondered what kind of person this was if he could handle beating that "thing" in a fight. Not even he was confident that he could handle that "thing" on his own.
"Just who are you?" Vali asked.
"Hm? Well, for your sake. It would be best to tell you that I'm Son Kai, Queen to the Maou Leviathan, and Martial Arts master to Michael-san over there. It is a pleasure to meet you, Vali Lucifer-san." Kai bowed.
Remembering the name from a comrade of his Vali said, "That name...yes, I've heard of that name from Bikou when he was regaling us with a couple of his old stories."
"Oh, you mean Bibi-chan~? Oh yes, he was my favorite cousin 6 times removed. He makes the best subordinate if you know his fears, insecurities, faults, weakness, and not to mention how easy it is to blackmail him. If you're having trouble with him, then I can give you a couple of pointers?"
"No…No…No…No! No! No! No! No! No! NOO!" a voice cried out from above in the sky.
Kai offered the chance to humiliate his young cousin even more, before Vali could have answered "yes" the sound of shouting was heard from the sky.
*PRARARARARARARAAAAAAAAAANG!*
Shattering the barrier covering the entire academy, was a brown haired young man wearing Chinese armor with a Bo staff in hand. Everyone now focused their attention back on the White Dragon Emperor, who was right beside the man and Kai.
Raymond would have jumped at the sight of Vali and capture him then and there, but Azazel stopped him from doing so with a shake of his head.
"Yes, sir." Raymond begrudgingly complies.
"Kai, please don't say anything unnecessary!" The man extended his hand out looking rather alarmed.
"Oh~! It's Bibi-chan, you're here! How have you been?" Kai walks over to the man and lightly taps his staff on his hand in an impatient manner,
"Also, it's really rude for a subordinate not to put the honorifics "–san" next to their boss's name."
Stuttering back the one known as Bikou says, "K-Kai, I'm my own man now! I do not follow your orders anymore!"
He looked terrified as he held his stance to defend himself.
"Oh, I see. You're a man now, are you?"
Bikou nods with a gulp as he still stays on the defensive.
Looking down with a scary smile, Kai cracks his knuckles,
"I see that my subordinate is lacking respect, so would you rather test how much of a man you are against me? Just remember, I don't hold back against men and when we men fight, we do it to the death. Do you wish to test your manliness against me, Bibi-chan?"
"P-Please forgive me, Kai-san!"
Just like that Bikou throws in the towel without even fighting back. He was on his knees, bowing to Kai.
"Now that's a good subordinate~! I'll leave you two to your business. Just make sure to hurry or everyone here will take this as a chance to get rid of both of you. I'll overlook you being with the White Dragon Emperor since you two are obviously working together. But if the Old Man comes looking for a stand in for his position, and comes to me because he couldn't find you, then don't be too sure that I won't drag you back either dead or alive to him because trust me, both results will end in complete and total hell... for you, at least." Kai chuckles, both he and Bikou knew who they were talking about and can make a guess about what would happen if that Old Man were to get angry at them.
"Understood?"
"H-Hai!"
Bikou nodded like his life depends on it. Because it does.
"Good, now if you'll excuse me."
"Wait."
Kai waved his hand as he starts to leave, but stops when Vali called him.
"Hm?"
"Tell me, why are you letting me escape? What reason do you have for this?"
"Reason? Well, it's nothing too complicated."
Vali seriously looks at Kai who rubbed his chin.
"Don't get me wrong, I don't really care about your issues. All I want is for you to stay alive because after this you surely must wanna get stronger and improve upon your weaknesses, right?"
"..."
"Thought so, and Michael-san really needs a rival to push him harder to get stronger. Dying or being captured here would be a huge waste for so much potential in the future. When you two have traded enough blows after multiple battles, your intuition for fighting and your power will really sky rocket to new heights. For you see, the future that I envision shouldn't be just drab old drawn out fights or wars, but absolutely challenging fights which get the heart pumping. For you see, Vali Lucifer, you are just another part of the big picture that I hope to see in the future."
"So, I'm being kept alive because your using me?" Vali narrowed his eyes, but smiled at the same time, though he didn't like the notion of being someone's entertainment. He still found the future that Kai envisioned to be something to hope for, too.
"I am a devil after all. So, make sure to stick around longer. Or not. I can come up with more things to brighten my day." Kai's smile was wide and mischievous,
"Also, here's a little tip, being talented may get you far with most things, but talent alone just isn't good enough. Especially, if it can't help you understand others. In fact, that is the only thing Michael-san surpasses you in." Kai waved goodbye as he walks off, "Try taking my advice, and train to work on that for next time."
"Man, that guy can be downright frightening at times." Bikou mutters to himself as he stands up.
"Bikou, what are you doing here?"
"Well, Kuroka had to go attend a summit with Arthur to discuss the future battle against the Northern Gods. When you're fight destroyed the space that she created for you, she forced me to stay and help get you back." Bikou helps lift Vali up with his shoulder slung over his own.
"I see."
"Kakakakaka! You seem to be pretty banged up! Did your rival really do all of this to you?" Bikou laughed at his leader's current state.
"Rival…" Vali looks over to the healing Michael and remembers what that weird man named Kai told him, and what those goggles had meant to Michael. Seeing no other way to start understanding anyone, Vali calls out,
"Michael Hanamura."
"Hmmm?" Michael looks over at Vali with lazy eyes and says, "What do you want?"
"…Today, this battle was undecided with no winner. I admit that you may have gotten stronger, but it's still not good enough."
"Yeah, and-?"
Michael breathed out, expecting more than just that.
"But the next time that we meet, I expect you to grow stronger, so we can finish this one day. My, rival."
Michael gasps then grins, "Hah! Who do you think your talking to? I am the Great Hanamura after all!"
"Yes, you are. Sadly, that will never change." Vali sighed.
"What the heck does that mean!?" Michael shouted angrily.
"That's all I needed to say. Let's go back to Kuroka and Arthur before they get into another spat. I, for one am not in the mood to restrain them both." Vali groaned as Bikou creates a portal leading to who knows where.
"Kakakakaka! You know you're so popular, Vali, you should be happy that you have two women fighting over you like that." Bikou laughs as he leaves along with Vali through the portal, he then gasps as he pulls something out, "Oh, and look at this, Kuroka managed to snag it."
"…! Meddling as ever, I see."
"Kakakakakakaka!"
Vali sighed as he and a laughing Bikou vanished from the school field.
'I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get Vali to somehow accept me, so that's a start.' Michael thought.
[Yeah, and all it did was cost you the inability to use your arms for 15 days or more and a huge hole in stomach. Yeah, seems like a pretty fair deal to me.]
'S-Shut up, Ddraig! You're ruining the moment!' Michael cried as he snuggled his head closer to Rias' lap with comical tear.
Smiling with happiness that her servant is safe Rias resigns herself to lovingly stroke the resting Michael's cheek,
"My adorable Michael…"
Watching most of what's happened from afar, Kai stood next to an uncloaked Zethyr, who hid his presence and physical appearance from sight.
"What a surprise. I was sure you would have been tailing them by now." Kai said amused.
"There is no need. If they were to try and pull the same stunt like this with that level of preparation again, then I'll make sure to eradicate them, completely." Zethyr turns away to walk to the leaders.
"To even fathom you had a half-brother, who possessed one of the Heavenly Dragons within him. You must feel rather stressed with all the trouble that he makes you, right?" Kai smirked.
Stopping his brisk pace, Zethyr fixes his glasses and looks back at Kai,
"You're one to talk, Son Kai…"
Zethyr takes a glance at the beaten Michael then continues walking away.
Kai looks up and grins as he stares at Michael interacting with his friends.
'Maybe…Maybe…' Kai chuckled with a big white grin on his face similar to a certain someone's, 'But my workload has gotten much heavier compared to yours.'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Retribrutus
Retribrutus Next Chapter- The Three Factions Conference comes to a close! New Doors to a Brand New Beginning starts now!
Thanks for reading these sets of chapters you guys, in total, that was about 30,000 words. Meaning, I had break the chapter into segments.
Well, I hope you enjoy the closing of this arc because I know I will...
I'm Out so Peace Out and have a lovely day!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone