Golden lightning crackled to life like a protective armour. In an instant, Atid felt his perception increase to new margins. In slow motion, he could see Igor swallow the orb before preparing to blast it out once more.
“...”
He did not have the time to savour this new state. Ready or not, he had to act now.
“LET’S END THIS, BROTHER!”
“[ASCEND! ASCEND! ASCEND! ASCEND! ASCEND! TRANSFER!]”
The concentration of energy in his palm grew to epic proportions, the sphere ballooning to the size of a watermelon.
“HAAAAAA!”
“[HEAVENLY THUNDER FLASH!]”
.
|DxD|
.
A few moments earlier
.
“Grrrrrrrrr…’
A dark red sphere had formed in Igor’s hand. Black streaks of energy layered over it like spider webs. The sphere was small, but the power it contained was immense. Igor kept it suppressed within the confines of his palms, all while the sphere fluctuated violently.
He continued to suppress its size between his palms and increase the power of the sphere as much as he could. As it reached critical mass, the entire sphere suddenly turned black like an endless abyss.
From an outside perspective, it seemed to be calm, but Igor’s trembling arms revealed just how much power was contained within this tiny orb. Seemingly satisfied, Igor did the unthinkable.
He put it in his mouth.
FUUUSH!
An immense pressure fell upon the vicinity for the very brief moment the sphere was free from its confines. But that pressure vanished once Igor closed his mouth. His body trembled violently as he restrained the orb in his mouth.
Then quickly, he jumped backwards. Stretching the claws on his fingers, he dug them into the ground upon landing.
Doof! Doof! Doof!
Same with his tails, they also dug into the ground like anchors. Without hesitation, his mouth opened wide.
“RAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Ka…DRUUUUUU!
Like a massive laser, a powerful beam of light rushed out of Igor’s mouth and barreled towards Atid’s blast.
.
.
.
Silence…
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The entire Heavenly Realm shook as these powers met in the middle. The clash caused the blasts to balloon in size into a giant dome of opposing energy. They were perfectly in sync, yet one side sought to overwhelm the other.
One half of the dome possessed emerald energy lined with gold while the other half possessed dark energy layered with crimson. Both halves clashed violently, one side pushing the other for that critical advantage.
The pressure alone from their clash completely blotted out the radiance lighting the Heavenly Realm. The entire region had turned dark. The only remaining radiance was this clustered convoluted dome of energy.
The seconds passed and as they ticked on, it steadily changed from a battle of power to a battle of attrition. As neither side could definitely dominate the other, it was now a contest of who had the energy, endurance, and stamina to continuously support such a large discharge of energy without collapsing.
In such a scenario, it seemed Igor had the advantage. Slowly, the dome was steadily pushed further and further towards Atid. The dome that was originally a few hundred metres away from him was now less than a hundred.
“Haaa…haaa…haaa…”
Atid’s breaths were heavy, both in panic and in exertion. He had already reached his limits, both physically and mentally. Almost five days had passed since they fought and he was tired. Keeping up with Igor had tired him. Boosting numerous times had tired him. Entering the Zone multiple times was one of the things that tired him the most and this current exchange had sapped the last remaining dregs of his strength.
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As the dome neared closer, as his impending doom came closer to fruition, thoughts of giving up crossed his mind. With how powerful this blast was, his death would be painless. With the elders under his father, he would be resurrected within a day.
After that, everything would be fine tomorrow. He would wake up tomorrow…and he would’ve lost. Even worse, he would’ve lost after giving up.
“No! Not like this! NOT LIKE THIS!”
Scraping the bottom of his reserves, lightning surged around Atid as he forced his energy veins to accompany one last burst of power.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!”
DRUUUUUUUUUUU!
Giving his all, he cared not for the pain he was feeling in his arm. He cared not for the immensely hollow feeling in his stomach. All that was in his mind as his vision darkened, was that he would absolutely give his all, even if it meant he lost in the end…
‘I believe in you, son.’
…because as the proud son of Indra, giving up would bring shame upon his father’s name.
“HAAAAaaaa…haaa…haaa..Haaa….HAAAAAAAAAAA!”
The pain was blinding him. All of his senses were failing him. His sight was gone. His smell was gone. Even his hearing was steadily leaving him. All he could feel was the immense pain flowing like acid through his arm.
Even if he didn’t want to give up, his body would. If this continued, the energy veins in his arm would inevitably burst. The flow of energy would be cut off and he would be crippled.
Regardless, if that happened, Atid would have no regrets-
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
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|DxD|
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Very few moments earlier…
.
Igor was winning. If nothing wrong happened, Atid would be overwhelmed and victory would be secured. Unfortunately, something terribly wrong happened. It was unknown where Atid got that extra spark from, but in the face of impending defeat, he unleashed a powerful burst of energy that swiftly pushed the blast towards Igor.
Atid didn’t have a lot of energy, but his outburst contained a lot of power. It was because of this that he was quickly able to gain an advantage.
As the blast neared towards him, there was little Igor could do but do his best to prevent the inevitable. Unlike Atid, his attack could not be boosted any further. If he channelled any more energy than this into it, it would explode in his mouth, completely killing him.*
If nothing changed, then whether he liked it or not, he would die. No matter how good his self-healing capabilities were, he hadn’t reached the point where he could regenerate a head, because that was what he would lose first.
“Grrrr…grrrr….”
Possessed completely by instinct, Igor was panicking as death grew closer to him. He struggled with all his might to keep the dome from coming closer. But Atid’s output superseded his own by quite a margin.
In the end, he could only delay the inevi…table?
DRUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUU!
The dome that was nearing towards him gradually slowed to a standstill before finally, it retreated.
“??”
Faced with this confusing scenario, Igor did not dare to let this chance slip and continued to power his attack. With renewed vigor, the energy in his body pooled in his mouth in order to push back this dome towards Atid.
Unfortunately, while Igor had more than enough energy to push the dome back, the dome itself was facing imminent destabilization. Him and Atid used entirely different energy systems. Furthermore, Triny’s possession of him convoluted his energy even more. His energy was completely incompatible with Atid’s divine energy and Ddraig’s energy.
While balance was initially maintained in the initial stages, Atid’s outburst set off a multitude of reactions that upset that balance.
As such…the results presented themselves in a very violent fashion.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The dome exploded with such fury and intensity the entire region was dyed in a white light. While the explosion itself was restricted, the blinding radiance could not. It was so bright that even a blind person would have to shield their eyes.
Such was the immensity of the explosion.
SUUUUUuuuuu…
As the radiance gradually dimmed, the aftermath was slowly revealed. A massive, massive, MASSIVE crater had formed in the centre. It was perfectly concave but no one would dare enter. Even as the blast cleared, sparks of lightning occasionally flashed randomly in the crater. The air was heavy with the weight of the energy these two fighters exerted, and they were worse for wear.
The focus of everyone was on the two fighters limply lying on the ground. Gone were the tails. Gone were the horns. And gone was the aura. With life and death unknown, Igor laid face first on the ground, his blonde hair draped over him. Numerous wounds covered his body…and they were not healing.
On the other side, Atid was somewhat more fortunate. Due to the explosion occurring closer to Igor, he bore less of the brunt. Still, his sari robes were completely ruined, leaving only a few measly pieces of fabric on him. His remaining arm was bleeding from quite a few areas and he seemed more pale than before.
Twitch…twitch…
To everyone’s surprise, he was still able to move. His fingers twitched once or twice before a hiss of pain escaped his mouth.
“Ngh!”
Opening his eyes due to the pain, Atid gazed at the darkened skies. His body felt empty. His mind felt lethargic. Such a dizzying feeling accompanied him that if he could, he would’ve leaned over and vomited.
Thankfully, he possessed enough sense of mind to not allow such an embarrassing scene to occur.
“?”
Slowly a dark figure stood over him. His vision was somewhat blurry, but he couldn’t be bothered to move anymore…not that he could in the first place. If it was Igor, then he would acknowledge his defeat.
Not caring anymore, he was about to close his eyes when the figure looming over him spoke.
“I am proud of you, son. You fought well, and you won.”
His eyes that were about to close slowly widened.
“Fa…father-”
“Ssshh. Rest now, honey.”
He heard another voice next to him before he felt himself being gently picked up.
“Mother?”
“Don’t speak anymore, my son. Your father is right. You fought well against your rival. Now, you must rest. You deserve it.”
“I…yes…”
Feeling safe within the warmth of his parents, Atid let himself fall into unconsciousness. The last thought he had on his mind…was how much he would gloat his victory over Igor.
[Goku…always wins.]
.
AN
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1. As the blast neared towards him, there was little Igor could do but do his best to prevent the inevitable. Unlike Atid, his attack could not be boosted any further. If he channelled any more energy than this into it, it would explode in his mouth, completely killing him.*
Explanation: Think of this like a car. A car engine only has a certain number of RPMs it can reach before it fails. For Igor’s blast, it was already like that. He was already channelling the maximum amount of energy into the attack. If he pressed the throttle even further, the attack would explode just like how an engine would fail.
Hope that explains it and until the next chapter.