The blonde already had the foundation. His physique was already one of the best Shiva had seen in his years of life. He had the time chamber artifact, meaning he had a private place to fully train without consequence.
With all this in place, if Igor cannot reach the supreme class within a hundred-year timeframe, then Shiva will ignore him like the rest.
[I hope you have the necessary conviction.]
He then grabbed Nandi’s arm, his eyes not leaving Igor’s form.
“It’s about time I retire.”
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|DxD|
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A week had passed since the war ended. During the week, Igor was assaulted by numerous praises from many individuals in the army. His feat of driving Shiva’s army to retreat was witnessed by everyone. The constant parade of dozens of people coming to greet and congratulate him was grating on his nerves. Too many people were trying to make friends with him yet the blonde had no interest in them at all. To be precise, he didn’t want hordes of people lining up outside his room everyday. Even as the subject of the praise, Igor was more annoyed than gratified at having his privacy constantly invaded.
So in typical blonde fashion, he punched the lights out of anyone who approached him after the third day. And so for the rest of the week, his days had been relatively peaceful. It was miraculous how sending an overly enthusiastic ultimate-class into a coma for the next three months could suddenly bring peace into his life. And it was with this peace that the blonde finally set out to do what he wanted to.
Currently, Igor had flew back to the battlefield. He was standing right in the middle of it, specifically within in the area he had fought in. The traces of blood had vanished while the scars that lined the ground had almost fully been repaired. Corpses, weapons, and pieces of armour had also vanished without a trace. Compared to the bloody river it was a few days ago, the field had reverted back to its barren appearance of rocky deserted grounds.
But he was not interested in the appearance of the field nor the magic or divine power used to repair it. Rather, he was interested in reliving the fight he had been through. Now that he had calmed down, Igor began reviewing the fight in its entirety, evaluating where he showed flaws, where there were missed opportunities, where he exerted more effort than necessary, where he took too long to strike, and so on. Analysing these little details would greatly help in his growth.
The blonde treated this matter with absolute importance since knowing where he made mistakes, could help him improve in combat. Although Baraquiel had taught him how to fight and had imparted his experiences to him, there was a difference between theory and a practical session.
But one important thing that the Fallen had taught him was…
‘Brat. Remember that after every single battle you fight, review it in its entirety. It does not matter whether you lost, or won. I don’t care if your opponent was a god or an ant. Whether it was a devastating loss, or an overwhelming victory, ALWAYS review the fight.’
Even though Baraquiel had only taught him for a month, Igor still remembered the old man’s lessons. Although he might be stronger than the Fallen, his insight and experience was still a bit lacking. Baraquiel had lived for thousands of years so the blonde wasn’t about to dispute the man’s words, especially when they were true. Even now, the blonde had already analysed a few errors that he had made during his fight. Reliving the fight with his eyes closed, Igor carefully went through the entire fight, the staggering amount of errors he made shocking him to the core.
It was to the point that the veins on his forehead twitching from frustration.
[Damnit! I could’ve ended that one in a single shot but I didn’t because I was laughing.]
The blonde was reliving the battle like a spectator. Similar to an out-of-body experience, Igor was able to watch his actions with a 360-degree view. Watching how he appeared demented in the moment, the blonde couldn’t help but feel a twinge of embarrassment alongside his rage. His random cackles, the bloodthirsty look on his face, and the way his eyes glazed over in euphoria when confronting the legion of 30 warriors made Igor feel completely and utterly embarrassed and ashamed in himself.
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It was such a humiliating sight that the blonde immediately stopped reviewing the fight.
“Aaaah! I look horrible!”
Just like how a starving person would drool at the sight of food, Igor appeared to be possessed at the sight of battle. There was a stark difference between living in the moment, and reviewing the moment. At the moment, he was excited but thinking back on it now, the blonde felt like slapping his past self for why he smiled like a crazy person. There was nothing more he wished to do than rewind time on the spot. But unfortunately, he lacked the power to do so.
Either way, there was nothing he could do about it. Gritting his teeth, he analysed every single detail of the fight right up to the moment when the armed warriors suddenly flew away while the army retreated. He crucially analysed every scene, taking note of the things he could’ve done to end things a bit quicker. He endured the humiliating sights, even when his body shivered at some of the things his past self said. No matter when he felt like plucking his eyes out or strangling himself to death, he endured and continued to watch everything.
He could only chant one mantra in his head everytime he watched his past self quite literally drool at the sight of dozens of swords coming towards him.
[For power, you have to endure. You have to endure!]
And having finally endured everything, he came to a conclusion.
“If I was smarter, I wouldn’t have needed to go beyond Kaioken times-two. Most of them were low-satan class so there was no need for me to amp it up so much. I just wasted energy and a good fight unnecessarily.”
As much as he was stronger than them, he still took this little lesson to heart. Igor knew he was powerful, but wasn’t even close to the top brass that hovered high up in the clouds. In fact, just remembering now that dozens, if not hundreds of supreme class entities were watching his little fight almost made him weak-kneed at how arrogant he appeared.
Palming his forehead, he sighed.
“Don’t get arrogant, Igor. We’re still far, far away from the likes of the monkey sage and Indra.”
The last thing he wanted was to get drunk on power and eventually degrade into scum that bullied the weak and feared the strong. People like those were ones that the blonde hated since they would never improve and would act as a bar that would prevent the truly determined from passing through.
Shaking his head at those wayward thoughts, Igor took a minute to himself to readjust his mind, to bring himself back to reality and reflect on his actions.
“Okay. Let’s start this slow.”
Gru Su Su Su Su Su Su Su
Activating his Kaioken, the blonde bent his knees and got into a stance. He closed his eyes, the sudden darkness being replaced by the appearance of three armed warriors.
He took in deep, calming breaths, the fluctuations of his aura steadying.
[Let’s try this again.]
He kept his eyes closed, his legs ready to charge at his imaginary opponents.
[Alright!]
Su!
.
|DxD|
.
In the command room high in the sky, Indra and Sun Wukong were watching the blonde whiz through the battlefield, launching and blocking attacks launched by imaginary opponents. He was moving so fast that his figure could barely be seen aside from the momentary streaks of red. Igor went all over the battlefield, perfectly emulating the scenes that happened a week ago. But unlike before, his power was controlled and his moves were decisive. Igor was so into his training that there were also moments where he appeared to be struggling, his aura even fluctuating to mimic the imaginary situation. Having limited himself to his Kaioken x2, the blonde was trapped within the peak of low-god class, almost level with his opponents. And yet with these restraints, his usage of [Instant Vanish] was more concise. With him being serious and in control of his mind, he was able to use his superior strength and agility to place himself in an advantageous position.
Seeing the blonde so immersed in his training made Indra reminisce of the time when he was just a fledgling god. At just a mere few centuries of age, he had rushed to Shiva’s mountain and challenged the god to a fight.
He was beaten so thoroughly that when he got back to his mountain, he did the same thing as the blonde and relived the fight to see where he went wrong. Watching the blonde do the same made him smile.
Turning towards a wide-eyed Sun Wukong, he laid his hand on the shoulder of the sage.
“I remember that you promised to train Dimori? Train him well.”
Placing his hands into his pockets, he walked away, a satisfied smile on his face.
[How strong will he get, I wonder.]
As for Sun Wukong, he sighed in defeat when Indra brought up the matter again. Truthfully, it was more of a fault on his part due to his big mouth opened by bananas, alcohol, and happiness.
It all began when Indra dragged him from the celebrations and asked him for a way to keep Igor in the army without resorting to force.
Without thinking, he littered out his thoughts.
‘The only way ya gonna keep the kid is if ya train him, old Indra. Money, women, and power won’t work on that annoying kid. He’s too annoyingly resolute, even if he’s stupid.’
‘Oh? Do you think you can train him?’
‘Me? Well there’s no other person more suited for the task than ‘ol Wukong here. I’ll whip that kid into shape that he’ll practically beg me to stay here.’
Remembering his drunken words at that moment, the old sage really cursed his loose lips.
“This…haaaaaa.”
He lowered his head in complete defeat. He could already imagine how hard it would be to teach a loose cannon like Igor.
“I will never drink again.”
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AN
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I know the drill so here I am with two chapters. I genuinely hope you enjoyed this one and will also enjoy the next one.