HCB Chapter 499 - 499: Sparring Partners
Chapter 499 - 499: Sparring Partners
Seeing Raizen, Charles couldn't help thinking of a lamp running out of oil.No wonder the demons outside had tried to keep Charles from approaching; Raizen's weakness was visible at a glance.
But even a fallen tiger retains its might, and Raizen wasn't dead yet. That commanding presence still gave Charles goosebumps.
Raizen lifted his head, looked at Charles, and actually smiled. "An unfamiliar face! And a human, no less!"
"Let me introduce myself," Charles said. "I'm Charles, a traveler. I came specifically to see you this time."
The corner of Raizen's mouth tugged up. "You didn't just come to see me once. Your disappointment when you saw me was way too obvious."
Charles paused. "That really was rude of me. I knew your condition was terrible, but seeing it in person still stirred feelings I shouldn't have had."
Raizen threw his head back and laughed, then said, "Same here! If we'd met seven hundred years ago, we would surely have become sparring partners.
"Unfortunately, as you can see, just standing up is a struggle for me now."
Charles thought for a moment, then sat down in front of Raizen. He took out all sorts of things from his ring and piled them up between them.
"Try these. See if there's anything here that helps."
Raizen straightened and looked into Charles's eyes. "I've never seen any of these. They must be rare goods.
"So why help me? Someone like you probably wouldn't need me to repay you."
"If it's repayment," Charles said without flinching, "then if you recover, fight me."
Raizen's laughter rang out again, louder than the rumbling in his belly.
"Helping your opponent regain his strength, are you? Hahaha, you really are a rare kind of sparring partner!"
There are plenty of S-class demons in the Demon World; even among top S-class demons, there are more than just the current leaders of the three great factions.
Amusingly, most of the recluses are Raizen's old friends—what he called sparring partners.
As the name implies, they were people who forged deep friendships by brawling with Raizen.
But after Raizen refused to eat, they each went into seclusion.
Raizen hadn't expected to meet someone like Charles, a sparring partner whose strength and temperament suited him, at a time like this.
So he didn't stand on ceremony and popped the items Charles had set on the floor into his mouth one after another.
Among them were potions and materials Charles had obtained in other worlds, as well as medicines he had made by combining technologies and materials from different worlds.
For Charles, these medicines mainly served to grind EXP for the development ability [Mystery]. He genuinely hoped they would help Raizen.
In Charles's view, spiritual power and demonic power are systems with potential no weaker than those of other worlds.
If he left without getting to fight someone like Raizen, who had reached the pinnacle of this path, the trip would truly be a loss.
After Raizen drank a slightly cloudy potion, his movements paused. Then his demonic aura suddenly grew denser, his muscles visibly swelled a notch, and even his hair gained luster.
"The potion works!"
That was Charles's first thought, and he remembered which potion Raizen had just drunk.
Its main ingredient was a plant gathered in Purgatory in the world of The Seven Deadly Sins—a fruit that grows from the corpses of Purgatory creatures.
Charles blended a few other ingredients to concoct a potion that replenishes both life and soul energy.
To Charles, it was just a good tonic he'd never used, left to collect dust in his ring. The cloudiness came from trace crystallization after sitting too long.
It wasn't surprising that this nameless potion worked for Raizen, and Charles immediately took out his entire stock.
Raizen didn't fuss, downing bottle after bottle.
To be honest, the indescribable taste was one reason these potions were left over, but Raizen didn't even furrow his brow as he swallowed them.
After the last bottle, Raizen closed his eyes.
The rumbling that had sounded for over a century ceased—only for an even greater commotion to erupt.
Raizen didn't move or speak. He just sat there with his eyes closed. But the demonic aura that shot skyward was enough to make even the sky begin to change.
Fighting Stella, Hokushin felt a wave of despair the moment the rumbling in Raizen's belly stopped. He couldn't help thinking Charles had taken advantage of his weakness to kill their king.
The surge of demonic aura that followed, however, flung him from hell to heaven in an instant.
Whatever he might be now, the first reason he had chosen to follow Raizen was his strength.
And now the Battle God who had won his willing fealty was back!
Overwhelmed, he even forgot he was still fighting. Stella naturally didn't press the attack and also looked toward the tower.
Boom!
One side of the stone keep exploded, and two figures flew out, one after the other, toward the distant wilderness.
A swath of forest was flattened by the impact when they landed.
Patting his belly, Raizen said, "It's been so long since I felt this glutton filled. I owe you one, Charles!
"As payback, I won't be holding back."
Charles rolled his wrists. "Wouldn't have it any other way. I'm fired up!"
In the next instant, their forearms slammed together.
Charles's sleeve and the bandages wrapped around Raizen's wrists shattered at once, and both of them fell back.
With that exchange, each had a read on the other's level.
They charged again, their four arms weaving in a blur.
Their simple exchange of offense and defense stirred up a gale, scraping a layer off the ground itself.
Charles seized an opening and grabbed Raizen's wrist, but Raizen likewise pinned Charles's forearm.
In the same instant, both made the same choice and smashed their foreheads together.
With a crack, they both took several steps back.
Raizen's style was almost identical to Yusuke Urameshi's, yet the way it manifested was worlds apart.
Among the many opponents Charles had faced, Raizen's fervor for combat and his fighting instinct were among the very best.
Raizen didn't use any flashy techniques—he simply layered demonic power perfectly onto every strike.
Charles now understood how Raizen had earned the title Battle God. His strength was not merely the quantifiable figure of his demonic power, but the caliber of his fighting.
An opponent like this made the trip worth it.
"Raizen, you holding up? Things are about to get rougher."
"Don't be ridiculous," Raizen said with a grin. "I haven't felt this full of stamina in ages. Even if you wanted to stop now, I wouldn't agree!"
They shared a look and a smile. Flames and demonic aura erupted at once, each claiming half the sky.
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