Chapter 12: Mock Battle
Balor hadn't expected Vali to come by the next day to demand a fight or to do it again the day after that, but that's what happened. Nearly every day one occurred and Balor, being both quicker and stronger, rarely lost unless he carelessly allowed divine dividing to work. The boy had courage and it made him happy to see someone else not giving up in a hopeless situation when he himself was stuck in a 32-day losing streak to Yasaka. That and the fact he had a convenient person to vent his frustration on.
Perhaps noticing the baleful nature of Balor's gaze, the silver haired youth tensed up before snarling and preparing to use magic. They were standing nearly 100 meters apart on the same training field that he used with Yasaka. Any closer and Balor would win despite the handicaps placed on him. Any further and Vali could just use vastly superior magical attacks to bombard him until his Ki ran out. Demonic powers were unfair when he could barely even use Youjutsu.
"Start," Yasaka signaled from the edge of the training field.
"Do as we planned and maybe you won't die this time!" Azazel said from next to Yasaka while Valerie shouted encouragements to Balor.
So they had a plan this time? It didn't matter. Balor flashed his fangs and rushed forward to close the gap with Vali only for the boy to teleport away. Caught off guard at the unexpected move, he coated his body in touki and scanned the area. The boy wasn't even within his limited lifeforce sensing range before and now he couldn't even feel a shadow. Maybe he was in the forest off to the side? Heat on his skin gave him just enough warning to dodge as a fireball crashed into where he had been standing. nearly seared the scales off his arm.
"Bet you weren't expecting that!" Vali trumpeted in the air above him.
"I wasn't expecting you to run like a coward right at the start!" Balor said while dodging the torrent of incoming fire and lightning. "Come down here and face me!"
The taunt visibly darkening Vali's expression, but the boy stayed aloft in the air. One too many foolhardy rushes must have clued him in and now it was going to become a war of attrition again. Only using touki in small bursts, Balor focused his energy into dodging and sending small but annoying Ki blasts at Vali. He couldn't go up into the air because he barely knew how to use his wings, so he focused on playing the boys short temper while conserving his own energy.
It ended up being the worst-case scenario for Balor in which Vali stayed in the air until both of their energies were nearly depleted. He couldn't use touki to enhance his speed too many more times without shaving off his lifeforce while the panting boy still had his sacred gear. The silver lining was that it looked like the boy didn't have enough energy to fly anymore.
"As expected of the descendant of Lucifer," Balor said snidely as Vali landed. "You know how to run like a rat when your facing someone stronger only to fight seriously when they are weakened."
Balor's grin widened as Vali lunged forward with a fist aimed straight at his face. All according to keikaku. Quickly sidestepping the hasty strike, he raised his fist to deliver a finishing blow when the boy pivoted and sent a fireball straight at his chest. His arms crossed as he abandoned the attack and activated what little reserves he had to defend himself with touki. The flame seared right through it like paper and pushed him back but thankfully it was too weak to do much more. The danger wasn't over though as a light touch brushed his leg while he was blinded and sent off alarms in his mind.
"You act high and mighty for someone who just got tricked," said Vali as he hopped back out of reach. "As the descendant of Lucifer and your rival it is my job to put an insolent person like you in your place!"
The next ten seconds would decide victory or defeat for Balor and the boy was caution creating distance while showing no openings. If only he could use the restricted abilities. If only he hadn't fallen for the feint. If only… wait. The corner of his mouth quirked back up into a crooked grin as he summoned the illusion of a black flame in his hand. Two could play at that game. The boy's eye's widened as the fire sailed towards him before he dove out of the way, only to be hit by a Ki infused kick. The wonderful crunch of ribs breaking could be heard as Vali careened through the air to land in a heap on the green grass a couple meters away.
"That was cheating. You weren't supposed to use your fire anymore," said Vali wheezing out the words as he coughed up blood. He tried to get up only to fall back to the ground and lay still. It was another victory for Balor, but what a waste of blood.
"I didn't use fire," Balor said summoning another fire in his hand. "I just created an illusion that you fell for. Maybe if you learned how to sense the difference you wouldn't be lying on the floor." The boy muttered a curse as their battle medic came over with her healing drink. The word 'divide' rang out and he fell the floor as well. Maybe he was rubbing off on the boy because now they even had started to curse the same way.
Balor lay there and ruminated that he should have hit Vali harder but shook his head. Kicking any harder could have killed Vali and the rules were in place to make that happen as little as possible because it would be bad if Valerie ended up overusing the grail. That and to make it fair. It wasn't much of a fight if Vali instantly lost because he was frozen in time. No shadows, fires, or sacred gear. With so many restrictions and the fact that he could no longer play on the boys overconfidence, how was he going to win again?
As Balor lay there frustrated, Yasaka sat down in the grass pulled his head into her lap. She was wearing her standard Miko outfit instead of the usual gym uniform because her pregnancy had finally started to show. It was little more than a swelling of her stomach, but it made him feel giddy as he placed his hand on it. He was glad that she wasn't getting naked anymore now that Azazel was around although it felt foolish since the baths at the castle were communal.
"You let your intent slip out again," Yasaka said as she stroked Balor's head. "You won't be able to win our games anymore if you keep doing that."
"Are you sure that's it," Balor said as he idly wondered if he could feel a kick anytime soon. "and you're not just making them harder for me because your angry I jokingly proposed to another woman?"
"I'm not angry you proposed," Yasaka said as her hand paused. "I was already prepared for something like that. I'm angry you did it as a joke because it makes me wonder if your proposal to me was one as well."
"I wasn't joking when I proposed to you. You're the woman who has my child in her after all."
"Is that all I am to you? An obligation?"
"Of course not!" Balor said letting the words rush out as the pressure Yasaka gave off made him twitch. "You're the person who gave me a home, who saw me for what I am and still accepted me and gave me what I always wanted."
"Sex?"
"Yes, I mean no! A family! A family!"
"That's too bad." Yasaka said with a sigh. "I was considering letting you grow a bit faster but if you don't want to…."
"No, I want to!" Balor yelled out before realizing that Yasaka's frown was trying desperately to not become a smile. She was just jerking his chain. With what little energy he had recovered, he got up ready to angrily shout only for her to pull him into the gap in her top.
"Maybe I will if you manage to pull in outside energy without trying to kill everyone and don't make anymore bad jokes," Yasaka said not even trying to hide her smile. "Until then, let me enjoy spoiling my naughty child."
Feeling gazes on his back, Balor buried his red face into Yasaka's chest and bit down on her. Letting the warmth that flowed into him distract him, he could taste how her feelings shifted now that she couldn't mask them. Each person's blood contained some lifeforce that slowly dissipated over time and with it the emotions of the person mixed with their own natural flavor and created a unique meal every time. For her part Yasaka's blood was filled with the sweetness of affection and tinged with the heat of residual anger. At least the bitterness of what he thought was jealousy was no longer present.
"To be able to go from heartlessly beating up a smaller child to such a comedic skit, What can I say?" Azazel said with a cheerful voice that interrupted Balor's meal. "As expected of the person holding the name of an evil god, but I would be careful if I was you. Any other devil might hold a grudge against you for the rest of their life if they heard you talk like that about the original Lucifer."
"Where were your complaints when Vali tore off my arm?" Balor said while giving the man an aggrieved look. "Or when he blew a hole in my chest? Or how about the time he halved my energy and then continued to beat me even after I surrendered?"
"As an adult, letting minor things bother you is a sign of immaturity."
"As an adult," Balor retorted, "shouldn't you be leading your organization instead of lazing around here every day?"
"It's good to take a vacation every now and then," Azazel said while dusting off the pants of his suit. "Besides, observing the proper growth of Longinus bearers is part of our job."
"Proper growth? It's been five months since I awakened it and I haven't even managed balance break yet."
"You have a pretty good grasp of your sacred gear. It is to the point where I think you are actually using a subspecies version of it when you use your shadows, but balance breaks don't just grow on trees. They wouldn't be considered something that breaks the balance if they were so easily obtained."
The statement silenced Balor and made him contemplate. He already knew that acquiring balance break would be difficult because it usually required two things, training and an emotional trigger. Azazel had been more than happy to elaborate on the knowledge when Balor had made an Excalibur replica and the ensuing talk had led to his pet project, The Shining Aura Darkness Blade.
From what the Grigori knew about sacred gear holders, only half of the people even knew they had one. Of those people less than 30 percent could use balance break. There were even a lucky few who were born with the ability to use it, but Azazel had assured Balor during their frequent talks about sacred gears that, if he desired it enough, he would eventually obtain it.
"Well," Azazel said as he turned around and gave a halfhearted wave. "Now that Vali can successfully teleport home, I have some errands to run. Try not to kill each other while I'm out."
"Don't lose your pass or you won't be able to enter without help again," Yasaka said as she waved at the departing man. Turning to Balor she said, "How about a bath?"
"I thought you like the smell I had after training," Balor said as he cleaned himself with his shadow. "No more sweat, dirt or blood. All done."
"Nice try," Yasaka said as she pinched Balor's cheek. "But you still smell like a burnt bat. Vali, you also need a bath."
"I can bath later," said the healed Vali who was still sitting where he fell.
"Nonsense. We can get you something to eat and then your going to take a bath. It's not good to stay filthy."
"That's right you smell," Valerie said with a twinkle in her eye. "Besides, we can even have Balor wash your back."
With two people bullying him, Vali quickly acceded and they were on their way. Out of the field they went through the forest of bamboo trees. Each one was segmented green wood that reach far above Balor's head and was topped with enough leaves to make the sun difficult to see. A light sheen of frost could be seen in places as they walked down the cobblestone pathway. Soon the trees became sparse and gave way to the main hub of Urakyoto.
They first went through a residential part with its wooden homes and paper sliding doors. After a couple minutes they came to the market district. The buildings were of similar design to the homes but there were stalls and signs everywhere. The booming voice of a giant could be heard over the din of noise as creature of all shapes sought to buy and sell thing.
Taking a right after a couple of streets they arrived at one of the many food stalls. Balor wasn't sure how Yasaka found out he was working here after training, but she always made a point of stopping here every couple of days. Thankfully she never said anything, or he would have to awkwardly explain that buying a birthday present with another person's money felt wrong.
The lady behind the counter, Etsuko, was a tall mostly human looking yokai. Her head that was turned from them had black hair streaked with white and a wrinkled face with mellow brown eyes. Despite the differences in appearance she reminded Balor of grandma.
"Welcome Yasaka-sama. Your training with Ba-kun didn't last as long today," Etsuko said as she turned her head to face them and bobbing it while still mixing batter. It was something straight out of an exorcist movie and it still creeped Balor out. "I assume you will have the usual order again but what about the extra child?"
"I don't need anything," Vali said with his arms crossed while sneaking glances at the food.
"You can't hide how you mouth is watering," Valerie said while pulling on Vali's sleeve. "The chocolate one is the best."
"I'm fine."
"You can't fight on an empty stomach Vali," Balor said while poking Vali in the side with a claw.
"Stop that!" Vali shouted as Balor continued to poke him. "Fine! I'll have whatever he is having!"
"Two chocolate and two sausage then," Etsuko said while pouring batter into the molds. "First vampire children and now a devil child. You seem intent on raising all the races we have had conflicts with in the past Yasaka-sama. What's next? A qilin from the western faction?"
"Maybe I will," Yasaka said while rubbing Valerie's head. "I do enjoy being surrounded by children."
"You're not serious, are you Princess?" Etsuko said as her neck elongated and brought her head to the counter. "I have heard that there was a very important meeting going to happen soon, but are you really going to try and make peace with those people across the sea after all that's happened?"
"The worlds about to change and we will be lost in the tide if we don't change as well."
"But…" Etsuko trailed off as her wrinkles deepened into a frown. "Even if it is the will of the princess, many yokai won't like that."
"Most of them will come around when they see the benefits of peace." Yasaka said with confidence. "The hardest step will be establishing it. After that we just have to work to maintain it." Etsuko's wrinkled frown deepened at the statement, but she just sighed and finished their food quietly. Thanking them for their patronage, she handed them the taiyaki and reminded Balor that the lunch rush would be in a couple of hours before turning back to her work.
Fish shaped pancake in hand, Balor's mind mulled over what they said. He didn't know that the sides were on such bad terms. No one he had talked to had even hinted at it. Maybe stuff like that was the reason why Yasaka always had them walk through town when they could just teleport. You didn't really know the people if you didn't talk to them. Staring at the crowd in though, he noticed that Vali had already finished eating and was eyeing the untouched food in his hand.
"Here," Balor offered up the rest of his food.
"I don't need your hand outs." Vali said gruffly.
"How about a trade then?" Balor said. If there was such a thing as a real life tsundere, Vali was it.
"What do you want? I don't have any money."
"A little of your blood and for you to teach me how to teleport later."
"Why? You won't be able to do it without my blood just like you can't make lightning without it."
"It will be fun besides your blood will be like a meal to me anyway."
"Just a little bit," Vali said while snatching the proffered fish. "You can't drain me dry like you did last time."
"I'll try not to," Balor said as he chuckled. He only meant to get the boy to take the food, but this was good too. Dragon blood was far more delicious than it was.
Divine Dividing- Sacred Gear housing the White Dragon Albion. It's able to halve the power of any foe its wielder touches and adds same amount to the wielder's reserves. It also enables flight.
Touki- An ability characterized by coating the outside of one's body in ki/lifeforce. It increases offensive and defensive strength as well as increasing speed. Usable by people who practice Senjutsu or who have trained their body to an extreme extent.
Tsundere- term that describes a character in anime or manga that acts coldly and denies what they want or are feeling out of embarrassment. They can grow warmer and truthful over time as they get to know someone but usually retain their outwardly cold demeanor to new people.
Taiyaki- pancake or waffle batter cooked into the shape of a fish and filled with, most commonly, red bean paste. Other common fillings include chocolate, custard, sweet potatoes and sausage.
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