Upon finding numerous banana peels on the floor, he placed a hand to his forehead in exasperation.

“Of course. Of course you would leave me a gift like this, Old Sun.”

Grabbing the broom by the door, he began to sweep them away, his mind wandering curiously.

“I wonder how many years it will be before I see him again.”

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|DxD|

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Indra’s Palace, Svargaloka, Heavenly Realm

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Both Sun Wukong and Igor appeared in a secluded courtyard filled with golden radiance. Golden statues of warriors were neatly placed at equal distances from each other. There was no sun in the sky. Rather, there seemed to be a beautiful blend of purple and gold that visibly melded like liquids.

While Igor tried to look around and enjoy the sights, Sun Wukong interrupted him by tapping his shoulder.

“Remember now, kid. Indra is much, much stronger than you. So show him proper respect, and you won’t have any problems.”

The blonde now became truly curious as to who Indra truly was that he could make the old sage rate him so highly. A slight itch to fight such a figure spawned in his heart but he quelled it before it could show outwardly.

Looking at Sun Wukong right in the eye, Igor gave a casual reply.

“Relax, monkey sage. I will not cause unnecessary problems or anything like that. I will respect Indra since he is a god, but don’t expect me to get on my knees or lower my head and all that stuff. I have my pride ya know?”

“...”

Sun Wukong truly looked at Igor. Knowing the temperaments both the blonde and Indra had, the old sage truly had a bad hunch that things might go terribly south. He initially had trust that maybe the blonde could hold himself back, but that slight battle intent he sensed from Igor had him thinking twice about the whole ordeal.

Releasing a defeated sigh, he chose to grit his teeth and led the way forward. In front of them were stairs that led to massive golden doors. The old monkey didn’t go in but stood there.

He turned towards Igor and spoke with a tone of finality.

“Kid. Indra and I have history. So I can talk to him however I want. But, do not copy me. You do not have the appropriate strength to converse with him in whatever manner. Should he wish to, he can kill you before I can even react to save you. Just like you have your pride, he has his. I want you to remember that. He is NOT like me. Do you understand?”

Igor did not flinch from Sun Wukong’s gaze. In fact, he stared right into it.

“I know my place, monkey sage.”

As much as it grated Igor to say it, he understood the importance of hierarchy. To others, he was strong. But to the old monkey, he fell short. And if there was someone stronger than Sun Wukong, then he had to know his place. The blonde was not blind to this fact. But just because the other party was strong, didn’t mean he would start shaking in his boots. If that was the case, he would’ve become a part of Grigori a long time ago.

He would show respect, not subservience.

“I will acknowledge his power, not fear it. You have my word that I will not cause unnecessary problems for you, monkey sage.”

Satisfied with Igor’s reply, Sun Wukong grabbed the blonde’s hand and vanished along with him. It didn’t take long before they appeared inside some sort of command room. There was a large round table with more than twenty chairs surrounding it. A large window stood on the side of the door and it overlooked hundreds of square-kilometres of land. From this view, everything below appeared relatively small to the point that if a normal person looked down, they would be hard-pressed to identify a house as nothing more than a single dot. This confused Igor since the palace appeared to be 10 storeys high at best.

Then it clicked in his head.

[Maybe this is a secret bunker floating high above the ground or something similar. I wonder what will happen if this building suddenly falls over.]

Having gotten bored by the view, Igor then turned his head towards the rest of the room. Standing hunched over some documents was a relatively muscular man with a greenish-brown buzzcut. And to Igor’s complete bewilderment, he wore a simple white shirt and shorts. To complete his casual look, circular sunglasses were propped on top of his forehead while he wore flip-flops on his feet.

While Igor was surprised, that was all he was- surprised. That was because a completely different emotion surfaced in his heart, one of…excitement.

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Unlike Sun Wukong who had even less presence than air, Igor could feel it.

[Strong. He’s very strong.]

Igor could instinctively FEEL that the person in front of him was strong. He was so strong that the blonde knew even if a hundred of him were to use their Kaioken x30, none of them would leave a scratch even if they used their strongest attacks on him. It was such a frightening thought because Igor knew that with his current power, a casual attack from him could completely obliterate a city without leaving anything behind. *

Yet despite these odds…Igor couldn’t help but feel fired up.

[A mountain. I found another mountain!]

After these last few weeks, Igor had finally found a target he could aim to surpass. His first aim was Baraquiel and he eventually surpassed him. His second was Azazel. But the blonde knew that even before the third year ends, he would’ve surpassed the governor. But Indra was an entirely different ordeal.

Indra was so strong that Igor was afraid he would need more than a hundred years in the time chamber just to even get within spitting distance of his power level. But that was what made everything so exciting.

Igor looked at Indra with newfound respect.

[Worthy of being a god. But still, I’ll surpass you sooner or later…with or without the time chamber.]

With his constant use of Kaioken, Igor was inching slowly but surely towards the realm of godhood. As it stands, his lifespan alone had increased to over three centuries. By constantly having his Kaioken activated at 50% efficiency, his lifespan had increased over the last ten years. During that time, constantly keeping the Kaioken active not only allowed him to become more proficient, he was also able to gain roughly 20 years of lifespan every year. And with having achieved the Kaioken x1.6, he could expect to gain 24 years of lifespan a year.

But Igor could care less about that. It had taken him a while to notice, but keeping the Kaioken active would also strengthen his body constantly. So theoretically, he could constantly grow stronger. And if he has enough time, he would soon grow strong enough to rival Indra.

While the blonde began fantasizing about what training methods he would use, Indra looked at Igor for a moment before glancing towards Sun Wukong.

“Well, this is a first. Wukong. You brought a brat?”

His voice was calm yet laden with curiosity.

“Yes I did. And you’re not nagging me?”

Sun Wukong was also curious. He wholeheartedly expected Indra to nag him for disappearing for so long or at the very least deliver a line with sarcasm.

But Indra waved away his concerns.

“Of course not. I can feel the amount of strength he has. He will be a great asset to the army-”

Immediately, everyone paused at the subtle twinge of killing intent that suddenly spread throughout the room. Two heads turned towards the blonde who already had a red aura surrounding his body. It was like a misty haze that surrounded him like a cloak.

Igor looked at Indra directly in the eye, his gaze unyielding.

“I am no asset. I am Igor von Dimori.”

Indra looked at Igor with a blank gaze.

“Oh.”

He waved his hand and immediately, the blonde was sent flying towards the wall of the room.

BOOM

Indra then stood up straight, a disdainful expression on his face.

“Do I look like I care?”

Igor got up from the floor, the red aura around him increasing in intensity. He glared with absolute defiance at Indra while Sun Wukong watched on with a sigh of helplessness. He knew Indra’s quirk of bullying powerful newcomers into submission. It was already a tradition and although reluctant, Sun Wukong knew it was necessary.

The old monkey had a hunch that the blonde’s arrogance would cause this to happen. Thus, dousing the blonde with some painful reality would help humble him and make him more cautious in the future. The last thing Sun Wukong wanted was for Igor to die because he was too hotblooded. He would rather let Indra teach him a lesson or two since he knew the man wasn’t too heavy-handed in his methods.

Even though Igor expressed his desire to not join the army, the old monkey would not interfere as long as Indra did not go too far.

Sun Wukong watched the blonde struggle to stand straight, his face staring at the floor and his hair hanging all over his face like a mop.

[Hopefully, this will humble-]

GRUUU!

Without warning, Igor suddenly multiplied his power twenty times over. His red aura was as fierce as his glare.

Sun Wukong watched with a blank gaze as Igor got into a stance.

[He really forgot everything I told him, didn’t he?]

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AN

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I missed a day, so naturally I have to follow regulation. Hopefully, you enjoyed these two chapters.

Moving on, here is an explanation.

1. It was such a frightening thought because Igor knew that with his current power, a casual attack from him could completely obliterate a city without leaving anything behind. *

Explanation: At this point, Igor CAN destroy a planet. Yes. I mean a planet. He was actually capable of it even before he had the Kaioken. That was when he was around peak-high class. Now, why do I say that? The keyword is capability. At that point, he had enough ki and ki-control to point his palm down and charge a strong enough attack to pierce through to the planet’s core and cause a series of chain reactions that would result in the destruction of the planet. HOWEVER, that does not make him a planetary-level entity. Now, this is a personal opinion. But to truly qualify as planetary-class, you need to have enough power to quite literally obliterate the planet out of existence. Relying on the planet destroying itself does not make you planetary. That is why Igor was still classified as city-level because if his strongest attack could completely obliterate a city. He could destroy cities and tank attacks that could destroy cities. Another thing, I want to illustrate that attacks don’t necessarily have to destroy cities for them to have the potential. We know that once you reach satan class (god class), you can destroy countries or even entire continents. Vasco Strada certainly can’t destroy continents as far as we know, yet he could probably ragdoll pre-canon Serafall at his peak, in this fanfic atleast. That is because he lacks the capability to cause as much destruction as Serafall can, yet he can clobber like nobody’s business.

Now, let me explain what is meant by “casual attack”. When it is said that a casual attack can destroy a city, it means that mid-conversation, Igor can raise his hand, charge a ki sphere for a second, fling it, and an entire city will be destroyed. That is what is meant by “casual attack”. He doesn’t even need to try. Destroying a city is the same as spitting to the side.

I hope this clears things up and you didn’t skip this non-spoiler-containing information.

Also, you can read ahead on my p@tre0n.

Here’s the link: [email protected]/HolyGambler

Replace the ‘@’ and ‘0’ with ‘a’ and ‘o’ respectively. Or just search for ‘HolyGambler’.

Today is Friday so until Sunday.

Thank you