Chapter 600: The fox loved by the moon.
"... Good! As soon as I leave the Arena, the fight will start." Kuroka jumped back, and as she fell out of the ring, dark energy covered it, and soon everyone saw that Haruna and Victor were in the 'inverse' world, a place created through massive amounts of Youki.
And as soon as the two opponents saw they were somewhere else, they got ready.
The first to start the fight was Haruna, who, with insane speed, disappeared from her position, and reappeared in front of Victor.
A blast of dark energy rapidly launched out of Haruna's body.
"… Youki?" Why isn't she using the other energies? Victor wondered.
Seeing Victor's confused look, Haruna said:
"Using something I haven't mastered in a fight like this is an insult to my opponent."
Victor flashed a satisfied smile.
"May." [All the techniques used by Haruna are spoken in Japanese, but for readers' convenience, I'll put them in English.]
Haruna's tails swirled hypnotically, and she vanished, emerging randomly in Victor's field of vision. It was as if the woman was dancing on the battlefield, just like the nature of a Kitsune; this martial art was made to confuse, deceive, and cause massive damage to the opponent.
'Let's test the waters first.' Haruna thought.
Haruna attacked Victor with her Katana, trying to cut his chest, but she was surprised when Victor didn't dodge the blow and just received it, she tried to stop her Katana, but it was too late.
The blade collided with Victor's body, and she was even more surprised when the sound of metals colliding was heard.
Instead of the Katana slicing through Victor's body, the blade just stopped as if it were an impossible-to-cut material.
"......" Everyone looked at the arena, not knowing what to say.
"Haruna, don't underestimate me," Victor spoke in a neutral tone that caused shivers down Haruna's spine.
"Even if it is a duel, worrying about your opponent is unnecessary; testing the waters is unnecessary." Victor made a fist and attacked Haruna.
Haruna felt that Victor's fist was huge, and she could feel death in that punch; she knew she had to dodge it.
Biting her lip, she woke up from her stupor, quickly covering her body with Youkai and disappearing into the darkness.
Victor only hit the air, but the consequences of that simple gesture were devastating; everything in front of him evaporated from existence. Since he didn't know how to contain himself until he got used to the new body, he unconsciously used all his strength. If Haruna had not moved, she would have died.
"... You wanted to kill me..."
Victor smiled, "Haruna, I saw your fight. I knew you could shift away from a simple attack like that... And if you died, it would only mean that you were too weak, but don't worry too much; even if you die, I will go down to the seven hells to bring you back. You won't run away from me so easily."
"..." Haruna wrinkled her eyebrows, seeing how Victor blatantly ignored the only rule of the 'duel', but the maniacal smile never left her face. In a way, she preferred it that way, and she was delighted by the possessive tone of the man in front of her.
"How comforting." She spoke in a sarcastic tone, but it contained an undeniable exuberance that could only be seen by her followers or those like her.
"That was just a greeting, a wake-up call."
"Take the fight seriously, don't blink, don't lose sight of me, grit your teeth, and get ready."
"Let go of those shackles you've put on yourself, shackles you didn't release even in the fight with Genji, or you will die."
"With me, there's no need to hold back. I can take whatever you throw at me."
Genji, who was watching this interaction, just raised his eyebrow when he heard what Victor said.
'Was she holding back when she fought me...? In a fight that was clearly very important to her…?' Genji narrowed his eyes, 'Was I not a worthy opponent? … Damn monster.'
Genji was clearly annoyed by the fact that Haruna never seriously fought him; even though her goal was so important to her, she didn't see the need to use all her power against him.
'Maybe if Inari-sama hadn't snuck in at that time, I would have forced her to use all her powers.' Genji got annoyed with the goddess that he once served.
Haruna looked at Victor for a long moment until she spoke in Japanese:
"Kai." [Release.]
Slowly but steadily, Haruna's Youki started to grow until a dark pillar came out of her body.
All of the Youkai opened their eyes in shock; even Kuroka was no exception.
Just how much energy does she have!?
'That's 10x more energy than me! Haruna... Your existence really defies common sense.' Genji was shocked, it is worth mentioning that Genji is much older than Haruna, he was also the servant of a goddess, but even he doesn't have as much energy as Haruna.
"Very Well, I will go all out!" Haruna's Obsidian eyes narrowed more and acquired a more animalistic expression, her teeth became sharper, and all the 'cuteness' was replaced by a 'ferocity' that was somehow still much more beautiful than before.
... At least for Victor.
Victor's smile grew, "That's what I'm talking about, HAHAHAHAHA!"
Victor opened his arms as if inviting her to attack, "Come to me, my little vixen."
Haruna growled a little at Victor's affectionate tone.
"First dance..." The Katana begins to be covered by a dense Youki: "Waning moon."
A gigantic moon-shaped beam of energy flew toward Victor.
"…Is this just the first dance…?"
The girls accompanying Victor looked to the side and saw Haruna's grandfather.
'Just how far you've come, my granddaughter...' He thought proudly.
Not even Yoichi could launch a beam of light like what Haruna did just now. The amount of energy it needed was absurd even by the standards of nine-tailed foxes who already had an excessive amount of Youki.
Seeing that the vampire wouldn't dodge the attack, Yoichi raised an eyebrow. 'Is he very arrogant? ... Wrong, that's confidence, and from the previous demonstration it's something normal... This attack will be destroyed.'
With the same smile on his face, Victor just let the energy beam get close to him, and with a ridiculous display of his newfound physical strength, he punched the energy.
Just like before, there was no posture, no martial arts, just brute physical strength.
For a few seconds, time seemed to stand still until the next moment, the beam of energy was completely evaporated, including the clouds in the sky.
"... M-Mother."
"Yes, Pepper... That previous punch was the answer, and this punch was the confirmation I wanted... His physical strength has become ridiculous. He's as strong as you are now; if you doubt it, his physique is as strong as mine now." Scathach spoke with a twinkle in her eye.
'In fact, he can even surpass me in pure physique in basic form. After all, his power output as a progenitor is much higher than mine, and I don't have the same quality as his body; that is something training cannot help.'
'And by utilizing his power on his body, it will further increase his physical power. If I couple that output of power with my martial arts technique... Perhaps only the most senior werewolf Generals can handle him with pure physical strength.'
Scathach's thoughts came to the same conclusion as before, she could only surpass Victor's current physique if she entered vampire count form, where all of her basic attributes would surpass him.
'Fufufu, but what would happen if he also entered vampire count form~? I really want to find out now.' Scathach knew that all she was thinking about were guesses, but with an experience as great as hers, she could easily discern many things, and she was usually never wrong about it.
Though she wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet, since she hadn't fought her disciple directly yet. Presuming what an opponent can do just by looking was foolish, and Scathach knew that a fight was not defined by raw 'power'; several factors were taken into account.
And 'Seeing', was very different from 'trying it'... And God, she definitely wanted to try those powerful punches now.
Pepper opened her eyes wide.
The reason Pepper was shocked was that Victor was demonstrating this level of strength without even enhancing his body; that was just his raw physical strength.
When she used her fist techniques, she always backed up her techniques with her mother's martial art, but Victor didn't do that; he didn't use the martial art and enhanced himself with the power of his bloodline. He just punched like he usually does.
'An ordinary punch that has the same potency as my mother's basic form.'
That was definitely a hard pill to swallow for Pepper. Victor was a monster in every way, and none of the new generation could compete with him.
'He's like a vampire with the body of an Alpha werewolf... The best of both races.'
"Ugh… That's not fair! Victor is using Hack! Call the GM!" Pepper screamed as she saw Victor looking at the sky, where five Haruna were standing side by side.
"Unfortunately, Pepper, reality tends to be disappointing, and there's no GM to manage it…Most of the time."
"Ugnnyuu..." She pouted with a dejected expression as if she had encountered an opponent who was hacking into a multiplayer match in a game. She was irritated and frustrated and felt like she was in the mood to punch someone!
"Fuck, Roxanne will definitely answer some stuff later," Siena grumbled.
"Continuation of the first dance…" The middle Haruna muttered: "Waning Quarter."
Repeating the previous attack, the four Haruna, except the middle one, launched a moon-shaped beam of power towards Victor. Different from before, this attack seemed to be much faster and more powerful.
"What!? She made a sequel!?"
"… Is it really that shocking?" Mizuki asked.
"Of course, it is, because in the martial arts techniques I created, there are only four movements, among them are the first dance, waning moon, but… I didn't do any follow-up to this dance. In fact, I didn't even know that it was possible to have a sequel."
"… Hmm, isn't it normal to create another similar technique? Didn't she just split into four and use the same attack?"
"Unlike normal martial arts, the style I created is more like a dance style that cannot be changed. It is a 'continuing' ritual, a song that cannot be stopped or changed because if stopped in the middle, the ' rhythm' of the song will no longer make sense."
"As soon as the first dance is released, Haruna, out of obligation, must continue doing the other dance steps, the choice of 'rhythm' is up to her, but she cannot repeat the first dance again until another dance is released."
"It's like following the arrangements of a classical musician, huh," Ruby said.
"Correct. In theory, she can't 'add' a continuation to the first dance because the second dance is connected to it, but somehow she's managed to do that and not suffer damage because the 'pace' has changed."
"... Take damage? What do you mean?" Lacus raised an eyebrow.
"As I said, my martial art is more like a ritual than a martial art itself. What usually happens when a ritual is interrupted?"
"Damage is dealt to the ritual user himself..." Pepper muttered.
"Yes."
Scathach narrowed her eyes, "Isn't that a very strict martial art?"
"Yes, I won't deny that... But the 'dances' are just one aspect of my martial art. It was created to completely decimate an opponent once the 'dance' is over. The other aspects, which are 'Control', and 'deception', are not restricted to 'dances', and can be combined with other types of martial arts, even 'dance' itself."
"... That..." Scathach opened her eyes wide as she realized Yoichi's implications, "Fuck, you're a goddamn genius."
"… Thank you very much. That means a lot coming from the Crimson Nightmare."
Ruby raised her eyebrow in amusement, 'Crimson Nightmare? Mother's titles continue to get more confusing with each passing day.'
"Why are you so shocked, Mother?" Pepper asked.
"This old man not only created a martial art, but he also created two martial arts that complement each other, one martial art intended to completely destroy an enemy, and another to support this martial art, and the supporting martial art can be combined with other types of martial arts that use Katana as a base."
"I presume that if the user is talented enough, he can use the support martial art he created to incorporate other styles of Kenjutsu and apply it to the 'offensive' martial art."
"Oh..." The girls spoke now that they understood why Scathach was shocked.
"... As expected from the teacher who trained heroes, you are quite perceptive..." Yoichi completely ignored being called an old man. After all, the female vampire beside him is older than Jesus! And he definitely wasn't alive at that time.
"But I must correct something; the martial arts that were combined with the control branch and deception cannot be merged with the power branch. It would be suicide to do that without perfect control or talent like Haruna. After all, you are adding partitions into an already completed song, and if the rhythm doesn't make sense, only self-damage will be done."
"Because of that, I was shocked earlier."
"....." Scathach just nodded, understanding the old man, and looked back at the fight. Seeing Victor dodge Haruna's attack, a massive explosion occurred when the energy beams hit the ground.
Victor appeared behind Haruna, Scathach saw Haruna being covered by a layer of Youki, and it was at that moment that Victor's leg hit her face, and she flew to the ground.
Victor vanished again and appeared on the ground.
At that moment, the dust raised by Haruna was dispersed with a powerful gust of wind, and everyone saw Haruna completely fine, with just a little blood falling from her lips.
Haruna's smile grew, and she raised her Katana, defending it from Victor's fist.
THINK!
The sound of two metals colliding was heard, and an explosion happened; Victor and Haruna were facing each other.
"Just how strong is your damn skin? How can you defend my Katana with just your arms and fists?" Scathach heard the fox say with a note of amusement in his voice.
Scathach saw that the woman was damaged by the recent shock they had.
'She can't fight Victor head-on. Her body isn't strong enough.' Scathach thought. 'Although she had no choice at that moment, either she defended it, or her body would go flying.'
"Who knows?" Victor responded in the same tone.
Victor pulled back his left fist and attacked again. This time, Haruna just dodged and disappeared like a mirage.
'... I still can't understand this. Is it a form of deception by the Youkai Kitsune or something?' Victor narrowed his eyes, his eyes glistened slightly, and his world changed color.
Looking around, he saw Haruna standing some distance away from him.
'It's like my friend's illusion, but it seems to be a little different...' Victor thought to himself as he kicked off with his legs.
'I'm slowly getting used to using my body normally, but exaggerated movements or knee-jerk reactions are doing more than I'd like it to.'
"Second dance."
Victor opened his eyes wide when he saw Haruna completely disappear from his sight.
"Moon fall."
As if gravity had increased several dozen times, Victor felt his body getting heavier as he looked up at the sky, and what he saw shocked him.
A literal second moon was created in the sky.
"Holy fuck..."
.....
