Capítulo 9: Chapter - 9
Naruto supposed he should have expected the sudden challenge. Years of whispers about his apparent superiority had a way of taking their toll, and despite the friendly smile curving Rias' lips, Naruto could easily feel the bite from her gaze.
"Alright." the redhead boy exhaled slowly, unbuttoning the collar of his white dress shirt. "Let's rock." Naruto could either accept the mock duel and have to raise his hand to the girl he'd come to view as his sister, or he'd refuse and leave everyone with the suspicion he'd done it out of arrogance. That was no choice at all. The only thing left to do was fight.
"Where do you want it?"
A slight flash of hesitation crossed Rias' face before it hardened into determination. She might feel a little guilty about fighting her nephew, and when she beat him, she'd likely feel even worse. But she needed to silence the constant mutters among the servants that she was going to end up being a poor choice for heir.
"I think the dueling arena should suffice? It's nothing so formal, but we wouldn't want to break any furniture."
Shrugging one shoulder, Naruto stepped past his much taller pseudo-sister. "Let's hurry it up then, Rias. I don't want to make a scene or anything." Under the facade of nonchalance, the younger devil really didn't. Either he'd beat Rias and end up shaming her in front of a bunch of witnesses, or she'd beat him, and then his mother would kick both their asses for such 'uncouth behaviour'. So it was best to go without others watching altogether.
The pair of devils quickly moved to the small dueling arena that squatted in the corner of the estate the Gremory main house currently resided in. The building itself was squat and rectangular, simple lines and pure utility. There were no grand seats set aside for huge crowds or overhanging balconies for a decadent emperor. No statue of a pagan god or an ancient statesman marred the stone walls. The sand of the arena itself was bounded by a simple fence that divided the fighting stage from a single file walkway where observers could stand.
Rias strode to one corner of the sandy square, turquoise eyes watching as Naruto took the other. His child's form looked even smaller when set against the tall posts of the fence, and sudden shame filled the Ruin Princess' gut. Was she so afraid of rumors and snide comments that she'd stoop to committing violence against her own nephew? "Nothing lethal." she stated, voice small with the weight of guilt.
"Of course." Naruto agreed instantly, squatting slightly and taking in the sight of his aunt. The teen devil stood straight backed with her arms folded under her chest. A poor stance for a shinobi, but to be fair typical magicians rarely worried about agility or what would happen if they were suddenly tackled. "On three?"
"On three."
"Three... Two... One... Go!"
Naruto instantly barreled to the side, short legs working furiously to propel his tiny body across the pale sand. Dirt bounced off his back as Rias' enormous balls of Bael clan sorcery bit into the ground behind him. Her spells were powerful, and if she managed to catch him she might even knock him out of the fight with a single hit. But they were slow, and easy enough to avoid if he kept moving along.
Summoning up his own red spell in response, Naruto spun on his heel and swiftly elongated the sphere into the sharp shape of an arrow. The redhaired boy launched the projectile, piercing through Rias' larger swell of magic and causing an explosive detonation. Almost reluctantly, a smile of excitement split his lips. It might be only 'practice', but it had been so long since Naruto had experienced anything like a real fight.
Rias bit her lip as her hair was thrown into disarray. Wind and dirt blown about by the force of clashing magic made the teen devil reconsider her strikes. The larger spheres were certainly powerful, even after she'd hollowed them out from the distinctive Bael destruction and left only crimson coloured concussive force, but Naruto was blowing them away with ease. Each arrow split her spells before they could even cross half the arena.
Well, if they weren't moving fast enough, then she would simply decrease the size and increase the spread. Rias began to split her larger balls of sorcery into smaller spheres, multiplying the number of her strikes and increasing the pace at which they moved. The arcs of vermillion magic began to corral her nephew, chasing his agile movements into a corner and forcing him to summon up a shield.
Peering through the glowing runic circle of his conjured shield, Naruto began to count the volleys. They came vicious and strong, but they came in a pattern, and the redhaired boy could see it. Three swift hammerings, and then a pause for Rias to 'reload'.
Naruto moved foward, ducking under a spray of fist sized balls and lashing out with a long punishing whip. The bright saffron curve swung in a cruel horizontal arc, bifurcating the entire arena and causing Rias to throw herself to the dirt to roll under it.
"Not bad." the Ruin Princess admitted, climbing back to her feet with a frown. That sort of elongating strike wasn't something she'd have thought of herself, but it put her in mind of her brother. Sirzechs had a way of cutting everyone and everything down to size. Maybe she should start doing the same.
Calling a glowing handful of the Power of Destruction to her palms, Rias pulled the bright red sparkles out into the shape of a whip. A little concentration of might enflamed the ghostly construct, adding force and power to its transparent form. The fight might be just a little rougher than she'd originally expected, but Rias wasn't going to lose.
Naruto was always the genius. He always managed to pull of a feat and leave the whole clan cooing around him. Rias had been ten years old when she'd managed to stumble through teleportation. While the spell looked easy enough, moving through time and space required more than a little power and skill, otherwise every peasant would have been using it.
Her nephew had been five. Half Rias' age and managing to make the exact same achievements as a devil she was. It was like Sirzechs' son had been some kind of genius from the cradle, fighting with instinct and skill years ahead of his time.
"I'm not going to lose to you." she promised, watching as Naruto began to call on his own power. The gathering cloud of blood red energy was a mirror to her own, focusing around the skin of Naruto's forearms and hands.
Where Rias had converted her magic into the harsh form of a cutting whip, Naruto forced his into thick gauntlets. Bloody red mist encased the boy's fists, coating Naruto's limbs up to the elbow. The rolling surface of Naruto's magic was still transparent, and Rias wondered with a touch of amusement what he'd look like if his whole body was covered with it. He'd probably look like some tiny shounen protagonist out of one of the many Japanese manga she'd read.
Shaking away the absurd image, the teen devil steeled herself for the struggle to come. She didn't want to hurt Naruto, but she wasn't going to let him defeat her either. "Ready or not," she breathed more to herself than to him. "Here I come."
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