Enjoy reading, rejoice and...
See you all on next time
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(...Continuing)
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With Saji now scowling and clicking his tongue, the weakened effectiveness of the Boogie Woogie came to Micael's mind after this brief use.
And curiously, its weakening came down to reducing the ability to mark objects and the range of teleportation; at its weakest level, the technique gained a cooldown.
Using it together with the Shadow Clone was only possible for this reason, as the clone technique itself was too strong for him at the moment.
"Tsk, I knew you'd come up with some trick out of nowhere." Saji said, clearly irritated after Vitra's string retracted.
"If it's any consolation, that thing can defeat me if you can hold me off long enough." Micael replied with a weak smile.
"Hah, as if it would be that easy." Saying that, Saji adopted a fighting stance, his gaze changing to a more focused one. "If Vitra is useless against you, the only thing left is to beat you one-on-one."
Micael just stared at him for a moment, then struck a pose of his own, with his left leg in front, his left arm open, and his other hand clenched into a fist near his waist.
His eyes then changed, his pupil turning into a slit like a cat's, a red ring appearing around it, the Emperor's Eyes were in effect.
Micael then waved his fingers. "Come on."
Instantly, Saji quickly advanced in a single step, propelling his body into the air towards Micael.
His fist went towards Micael's face, who simply dodged it by tilting his head, which Micael responded by grabbing Saji's arm with one hand and punching him with the other.
Saji blocked the punch easily with his Vitra-covered forearm, barely feeling the impact, his foot pressed heavily into the ground as he pulled back the grabbed arm, retaliating with his other fist that cut through the air.
Micael didn't try to block and just dodged, knowing that physically without Demon Back or Removal or any other technique, Saji was stronger than him.
And so the two continued, looking like the choreography of some martial arts movie, only at high speed, Saji and Micael's arms like blurs to normal humans.
Outside the mat, the other two groups watched in silence, everyone's eyes following the two's movements.
Well, almost everyone, in the vision of a frowning Mari the only thing she saw were Micael and Saji moving slightly in place as their arms blurred in front of them, at least she managed to understand that they were exchanging punches.
"I didn't expect Saji-kun to be so skilled. He seems to be handling Micael well." Kiba commented next to Rias.
"Yes, we already had an idea of Micael-kun's strength but Saji-kun seems to be good too." Akeno commented, following Kiba's words.
"Saji has been training a lot since his reincarnation, however, he himself said that the level of his current combat technique was far from keeping up with Micael's." Sona said, her eyes moving slightly as she followed the blows.
"He seems good, but the difference between the two is clear." Rias said in admiration of Saji's ability to keep up with Michael, even with apparent effort, her mind returning to the sparring that Micael had with Koneko and the proficiency he demonstrated.
With Saji and Micael, the exchange of punches continued, with Saji becoming increasingly aware of his inability to hit Micael as the latter dodged and counterattacked, though his attacks were more of a nuisance, not actually hurting Saji due to his lack of strength.
Frowning, Saji took another punch to the face, the sharp, irritating pain hitting him along with the impact of the fist, but his growing irritation bothered him more than the slight pain. "What are you doing? Attacking me with those weak punches won't do any good, fight seriously." He said after abruptly pulling away, pushing himself back.
Micael, still in a fighting pose, just smiled lightly. "Don't worry, I will fight seriously in due time."
Narrowing his eyes for a moment, Saji snorted. "Hmph, if you're not going to take this seriously, then I'll make you do it." Saying that, he exclaimed. "Promote! Knight!" Following his words, a red glow enveloped his body before disappearing.
"Oh." Sona said, pushing her glasses up slightly.
Rias, Tsubaki, Akeno, Koneko and the others paid attention to the next exchange of blows between the two.
Micael remained where he was waiting in silence, watching Saji lean forward slightly and then appear in front of him in an instant.
Micael barely managed to react before a fist hit him in the cheek, his body being thrown without resistance.
'Are these guys really friends?' Issei shivered at the sight, imagining how much it must have hurt.
Sitting in the corner, Mari frowned, she didn't expect Micael to be hit without even being able to mount a guard, that was a rare sight for her.
Micael flew backwards in the air for a brief moment before forcing himself to abruptly lower his feet to the ground, taking a few steps before stopping.
Feeling a sharp burning pain in his cheek, Micael brought his hand to his chin, holding it as he moved, tasting blood on his tongue as he poked his cheek. "That was a nice punch."
With a serious look and a frown, Saji spoke. "That was a warning for you to fight seriously, you already know that I didn't use all my strength in that punch, come on, fight for real." He then assumed a fighting pose waiting for Micael.
Still moving his jaw, Micael stared at him silently for a moment until he nodded. "Allright."
His back then changed, a demonic visage appearing, Demon Back being activated at full power.
Immediately the others felt the change, if before he was no different from a normal human, now he exuded a slight pressure making the atmosphere a little tense, this skill he used seemed to improve not only his physique but his very presence.
Mari watched intently, her head no longer resting on her hand as she straightened up, her arms crossed in a frown, she was about to see something she hadn't seen in a while, Micael fighting seriously, but not only that, it would be on a completely superhuman level.
Saji didn't move an inch as he waited for Micael, his gaze focused entirely on him until Micael moved abruptly, his body becoming a blur that his eyes could barely follow.
—Thud!
With the impact reverberating, Micael's fist hit Vitra hard, tensing Saji's arm, causing his feet to tense against the ground, but not moving him.
Then followed an exchange of blows at intense speed, this time much faster than the previous one.
—Shooosh—Shooosh—Shooosh...
—Thud—Thud—Thud...
With the faint sound of impacts and the wind being cut echoing, Micael and Saji exchanged punches and kicks in quick succession, with blocks and dodges followed by counterattacks being made constantly.
The others who were watching closely paid more attention, some of them now unable to keep up with the speed of the blows, Kiba in particular, who frowned with his hand on his chin, concentrating, as he was one of the few who saw the blows effortlessly.
Koneko beside him narrowed her eyes and Tsubasa on the other side had a similar expression to Kiba's in concentration.
"Wow, they're amazing!" Ruruku said, her eyes practically glowing. This kind of direct fighting was something she really enjoyed.
"They're really hitting on each other without a shred of restraint..." Tsubaki commented, somewhat dazed, next to Sona.
"That's because they respect each other, their friendship is close to the point that neither of them would take something like that personally." Sona said in response, her eyes following the two's erratic movements in silent scrutiny, as one of the few who could observe with the slightest bit of clarity.
Rias beside her remained silent, her gaze, as one of the few who could follow them, was focused exclusively on Micael.
"Gulp." Issei gulped as he saw the sheer brutality before him. He thought that the two of them were as strong as crazy, though he also wondered if he would be able to reach that level at some point.
Mari just watched in silence, her face no longer frowning, mainly because the only thing she saw at the moment were two blurry human shapes moving back and forth and nothing else.
—Shooosh—Shooosh—Shooosh...
—Thud—Thud—Thud...
With the constant collision of arms and legs that lasted a short time, but seemed like an eternity, light red marks already covered Micael's torso and arms, a sign of the bruises that would come while the same happened to Saji, although they were not visible through his long-sleeved shirt.
Frowning, Saji blocked a punch, but another hit him in the face, as had been happening constantly until then. He tried to fight back, but as expected, Micael managed to dodge the punch that only grazed his cheek.
'Tsk, this is really annoying.' Saji had rarely been able to hit Micael since he started using that Enhancement skill, whatever it was. Coupled with his already annoying eyes, it made him hard to hit, even though he was faster thanks to the Promotion.
Not only that, the disparity in technique was clear from the beginning, and Saji didn't imagine it would be so annoying, even knowing that his little combat training wouldn't be enough to surpass Micael in this regard.
'Whatever then.' With his face calming down, Saji decided to change his combat style. 'I was holding back to catch him by surprise, but if I continue like this, I'll be beaten into submission.'
Micael raised his eyebrows slightly at the sudden change, Saji's style had changed, if before his attacks were basic and telegraphable, a style that mainly depended on his superior attributes, they became more refined and erratic, going from a novice to a professional in an instant.
Micael immediately noticed something that wasn't there before, mixed martial arts.
Dodging a punch that nearly hit him square in the face, Micael took a big step back, moving away, and then looked curiously at Saji. "Since when did you learn martial arts?"
"It was clear from the start that my combat ability was lacking, training with Kaichou helps me, but it was more about timing and strategic planning, in terms of close-range combat it's just basic and simple, so I decided to learn something for myself."
He didn't look down on what Sona had taught him, he knew the basics worked, but he simply wasn't satisfied with that alone.
As he stretched his somewhat sore arms, Saji continued his explanation. "It turns out that using imagination-based magic is harder than it looks, and developing one's own magic is even harder, and with my limited reserve of demonic energy, there's little I can do in the magic department."
Finishing stretching his arms, Saji adopted a fighting stance, a Muay Thai stance, his lips stretching into a slight smirk. "However, just because there is little I can do, does not mean I cannot do anything. I have developed a simple magic that works based on the technique of copying movements."
Micael's eyebrows rose as he understood the possible implication of Saji's words. "Are you telling me that you can copy the movements of the styles you see?" He found it hard to believe that Saji had created a magic that worked like a Sharingan.
"Hahaha, no, I would love it to be like that, but no, I can't copy, it's more like imitating with at least half the accuracy, the rest I have to learn by doing."
Micael nodded, feeling that this magic was more like a weakened version of the Copy Eye than Sahringan. "I see, that's impressive, congratulations Saji."
"I know I know, I'm amazing, now let's continue, I'll show you how much I've learned in these few days." With a confident smile on his face, Saji waved his hand.
Sona and the other members of her peerage were surprised, they didn't know that Saji was developing this magic, Sona in particular only knew that he was training alone.
"You didn't know?" Rias asked, shifting her gaze to her.
Sona met her gaze before returning her eyes forward. "No, I didn't know."
Rias nodded slightly in understanding before turning her gaze forward as well. "It's a simple magic, but very practical for those who want to learn to fight faster."
Pushing up her glasses, Sona replied, "Yes, but the obvious limitation makes it not very desirable. I think something like this is only useful for those who want to learn to fight faster as a beginner, and I doubt it would work on more complex techniques."
Rias hummed. "Hmm, I thought the same thing."
On the other hand, Koneko seemed slightly interested after hearing Saji's words, she herself had already thought about creating a magic of the same nature, but as she already had her own style and creating something that complemented it was difficult, she gave up, however, she approved of Saji's attitude in his effort to match Micael.
Tsubasa had a similar opinion, she watched with interest as she gained new insight into Saji. "It seems like he can be hardworking when he wants to be." She muttered weakly.
Ruruku's eyes shone as she looked at Saji, focused on his confident figure in a fighting pose.
With Micael and Saji, Micael took a step forward, his body advancing towards Saji, his fist heading towards the smiling face who dodged his punch.
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(Continue...)