Sizzling!
Another spear was formed and thrown towards Kenshin, who nimbly dodged out of the way.
An explosion occurred at his previous spot where the spear just collided, forming a deep crater.
Kenshin knew he could not let things go on like this. He didn't know how many tricks the Fallen Angel had up his sleeves, and he didn't intend to find out.
So he quickly used one of the techniques he learned from Yasaka.
Touki!
A variant form of Ki that applies to the user's body, enhancing their body depending on how much Touki is invested.
With his near limitless energy, Kenshin pumped his body full of Touki, causing his cells to shake and adrenaline to rise.
His vision slightly narrowed as things went slow-mo for him.
The spear coalescing on Baraqiel's hand came to a halt.
This feeling… Kenshin muttered to himself, he feel energetic, strong, and like he can conquer the entire world!
Though he knew the last one was simply an exaggeration, it was just the adrenaline overwhelming his senses.
"Kid…" Baraqiel narrowed his eyes at the mysterious white energy that suddenly coated the Yokai assassin in front of him. His instincts were telling him that the boy had become dangerous all of a sudden.
True to his expectations, Kenshin instantly disappeared from his place, his speed being ten times powerful than earlier.
This time, the tables have turned. Baraqiel felt a sharp stinging pain in his back and when he turned his head around, he saw three slashes that penetrated his back.
Gritting his teeth, Baraqiel endured the pain and shifted his posture until he was facing the back.
Only for Kenshin's figure to blur and disappear in an instant.
Baraqiel, honed by his thousands of years of fighting in the Great War, predicted where Kenshin would appear next and immediately turned around.
Unfortunately for him, Kenshin outplayed his outplay and reappeared back to where he was previously, his hands clenching into fists before unleashing a flurry of punches.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Baraqiel roared in pain as Kenshin's fists hit not only his back but also the lower part. Remembering the painful thing he did with Shuri last night, which caused him to limp earlier, Baraqiel felt like his behind would be unusable for a long time.
"You little!" Baraqiel cursed. He was left with no choice but to go all out this time.
His figure was suddenly cloaked with lightning, the color changing from blue to deep purple, indicating a change in its strength and intensity.
His perception of his surroundings was enhanced, allowing him to perceive Kenshin's blurring figure while at the same time, surrounding himself with a protective cloak of lightning, each arc enough to fry a mid-class devil.
In Baraqiel's eyes, he was finally able to see Kenshin's speeding figure, it was as if the boy was finally back in his normal speed again.
Meanwhile, in Kenshin's widened eyes, he was shocked to see Baraqiel's eye pupils following him while in slow motion.
"What the?" To top it off, Baraqiel moved in almost the same speed as him, his fist crackling with purple lightning falling on him.
Kenshin cursed, he already guessed that Baraqiel's sudden increase in speed and perception had something to do with the purple lightning surrounding him.
Baraqiel grinned when he saw Kenshin's surprised expression, "I can see you, boy!"
Kenshin clicked his tongue and pumped more Touki on his body.
He only stopped when he felt a sharp searing pain in his chest, a repercussion when you overload your body with Touki.
Still, thanks to it, Kenshin was able to outpace Baraqiel and disappear like a blur from his vision again.
Seeing this, Baraqiel frowned. In his mind, he was thinking that the boy was recklessly spending his energy instead of preserving it for a prolonged fight.
Doesn't matter. I just need to hold on until he spends his reserves, murmured Baraqiel. In his eyes, he already sees himself as the victor of this fight.
If only he knew how wrong he is.
———
Two hours past and Baraqiel felt his reserves running out, being left with no choice but to deactivate his lightning cloak.
On the other hand, his opponent was still speeding around the shrine grounds. Or at least that's what it wa at first. During the hours spent in their battle, the field was filled with deep craters and scorched ground.
Their modest home, where he spent most of his time with Shuri and their daughter Akeno was smashed into pieces.
The only good news out of this was that Shuri was able to escape with Akeno, bringing a sigh of relief to him.
On the other hand, seeing Baraqiel just standing in his place with clear exhaustion on his face, Kenshin felt like he had accidentally prolonged the fight too much.
Finally, he stopped, reappearing in front of Kenshin. His appearance wasn't the same as before. His hair was disheveled and his clothes were different, replaced by something from his inventory earlier when his previous clothes were accidentally scorched by one of Baraqiel's purple lightning.
Kenshin might not look like it but he was just as exhausted as Baraqiel. If the latter is exhausted because of the lack of energy, the reason behind this is due to the strain of using Touki for too much and too long, pressuring his body.
Now that I think about it, it's a good training for the body, but not ideal when in a battle against someone who intends to silence you for knowing too much, murmured Kenshin while wiping off the sweat in the middle of his brows.
"…How about a truce?" After a moment of silence between the two of them, Kenshin finally broke it with ragged breaths.
Baraqiel seemed to consider it at first before shaking his head, "I can't, you know too much about me and Shuri. I don't want to cause any harm to her and my daughter."
Kenshin chuckled, expecting this, though he felt like the Fallen Angel in front of him was being too shameless, "Isn't it your fault that I discovered about your relationship with her?"
Hearing his reasonable explanation, Baraqiel looked away and cleared his throat with an evident embarrassment on his face.
"Ehem! Still, I can't let you go now."
"…You're too stubborn, huh?" Kenshin shook his head and continued, "Fine, how about this. Let's make a deal."
Baraqiel frowned, he felt uneasy hearing this so-called deal, "…What deal?"
"I forget about your relationship with them and also, I'll tell my men to stop following your wife and daughter, in exchange, we'll shake this everything off."
As soon as Baraqiel heard his words, his eyes widened in surprise, "You're lying…"
"Lying? Do I look like I'm lying? Hell, do I even look like an idiot who will come here alone?" Seeing the smirk on Kenshin's face cemented in Baraqiel's mind that the boy must be telling the truth.
As a former angel, he possesses one of the unique racial abilities that allows him to be able to tell between lies and truths.
And this racial ability tells him that there's not a hint of deception in Kenshin's words. Which means he's somehow telling the truth.
For the first time in his life, he felt a bit conflicted in his upcoming decision. Not even when he first met Shuri and fell for her did he feel this conflicted.
Of course, Kenshin's bluffing, his senses just allowed him to detect where Shuri and Akeno were currently at.
As for how Baraqiel was unable to detect his lies. Well, that's where his maxed-out Passive skill Lying came to do its magic. His tongue and words were so flawless that no doubt even the Gods themselves would be fooled by him.
"…You said you're here to send a message. What's the message?"
This time, a large smirk appeared on Kenshin's face as he raised his arms and spread them, "What else? But to spread the message that we, the Inu-Neko-Shachi clan alliance have declared war against the entire Five Principal Clans!"
Baraqiel's eyes turned large upon hearing the revelation coming out of the man's mouth.
As a member of the Grigori, he was one of the main forces against the Devils ans Angels during the Great War and he knows just how large the war's scale was during that time.
To be honest, just the large scale of that war, no amount of concurrent wars that followed was able to reach the same height as the Great War between the Three Factions.
Although the war between Yokais and Five Principal Clans wouldn't be as large and probably won't leak out of Japan, it is still a huge war and millions would die in it.
So when he heard the declaration, especially the mention of the three Yokai clans' alliance, Baraqiel knew something was wrong.
"Declaring war? Do you even hear yourself? Does your Yokai Queen even know about your sudden declaration?"
From what he remembers, there was a new Yokai Queen that was announced a week ago, right?
Could it be that the new Queen is a warmonger? Intending to conquer and rule Japan with an iron fist?
However, his suspicion was quickly doused with cold water when Kenshin's face turned to disgust and he responded with a snarky tone, "Tsk! The Yokai Queen? There is no Queen! We no longer have a Queen, especially that impostor that have a half-human father!"
Baraqiel was taken aback, not expecting that the new Queen would actually have rebels against her.
This is bad, I don't think there's anything good out of this war and the Queen herself doesn't even know her own people are making the decision themselves, Baraqiel could count up to twenty hands on how many disadvantages a war has on all sides.
"You should think twice before making that decision…" Still, for the sake of his wife and her family in the Himejima clan, Baraqiel tries to dissuade the boy.
Only for him to shake his head, "Too late for that. She's already arrived at the other shrine handled by another Himejima member. I'm curious though, why did she leave Akeno at a hidden spot behind a tree deep in the forest?"
Hearing his words, Baraqiel knew what his intention entailed. So he could only grit his teeth, "Fine! We'll truce. Tell your people to leave her alone…"
A grin popped up on Kenshin's face, "Good boy…"
Yeah, he's liking this. Maybe he should go out and try out being a villain for at least a month under a different appearance. Then let himself be defeated by one of his students, either Sawako or Alya.
Or maybe, since Yasaka wants to portray herself as a hero, she could be the one who slays his villain persona.
Sounds like a fantastic plan.
Sometimes, I fear my own intelligence, Kenshin couldn't help but giggle mentally.
"Oh and make sure you tell Shuri about what we talked about. After all, since we want to send a message, she needs to receive our…regards." With a mysterious smile on his face, Kenshin slowly vanished from Baraqiel's sight.
"Damn it…" Baraqiel cursed, he's left stuck between a rock and a hard place. Should he prevent the war by lying to Shuri and telling her it's just a rogue Yokai? Or should he say the truth and tell her everything that just transpired?
Baraqiel couldn't help but recall a certain smart but a bit perverted friend, "Maybe Azazel would know what to do in my place…"
Azazel is, after all, the first and current leader of the Grigori, bringing them out from the brink of extinction back when the Devils and Angels ganged them up on both sides.
"….Sigh. I'll tell Shuri. I have no clue if he heeded his own words and left Akeno alone…"
———
Kenshin reappeared a few hundred meters outside the demolished shrine grounds and murmured to himself.
"That went better than I expected. Better tell Yasaka the good news and make her prepare. Maybe even tell her about my villainy plan and put an end to the hundreds of years' feud between the Yokais and Five Principal Clans."
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[Next Chapter: Ch. 70 - The Reactions!]