Final Exam

Hokuren met stares with Yumi sensing the change within her from just the look on her face. ‘So she’s resolved the internal conflict that rested within her. What sort of warrior has this born?’ Anticipation and excitement crept up along his neck. There was a calm serenity within Yumi. Her maelstrom ended leaving only focus. ‘I’m glad to have pushed her to witness this transformation.’

Taking a matching offensive stance for Yumi, he showed her the respect that she earned from him. Hokuren cracked an ever so slight smile allowing his excitement for the coming fight to take him over. “I’ve looked forward to a battle such as this one.”

“Somewhere deep inside I felt the same. I wanted to see what I could do.” The ground rumbled lowly with the weight of their energy releasing. Chunks of rock started to fall down from the ceiling with their presence weakening the structure. It wouldn’t last for long with the way their battle progressed.

Chapter 462 – Final Exam

Yumi made the first move charging straight at Hokuren, her speed enhanced even more than before as though freed of weights that bound her. The collision of their fists sent out shockwaves that vaporized the falling rocks. Cracks ripped through the floor of the cave tracing up the ceiling. Larger chunks started to break free crumbling under the rapid barrage of counters and parries.

He flipped over top of Yumi striking with the back of his arm in his swing. She grabbed his arm and spun him around. The demon stopped himself standing on the ceiling and reversed her grab throwing Yumi. She bounced off the floor with a couple of flips throwing off his charge with her feet while folding her hands to launch back at him.

Battling with her feet, Yumi kept back his hands to break through his guard. Locked in a grapple with her feet, she pushed her advantage getting wrapped around his neck to throw him. Flinging him into the wall, her fist landed straight in his stomach. Or so she thought, seeing that in the last moment his hand managed to catch her. Pushing with her strength, she cracked the wall of the cave shoving the demon deeper into the earth.

The cave quaked under their pressure as Hokuren started to return the strength. Two meters into a hole she tunneled for them, they stopped with the hard stone and clay rolling down around him. Pressed power against power, the tunnel quickly started to expand compressed quickly into dense material from their expanding force.

It reached an equalization point that the density of the earth could resist their power. They stood within a near perfectly crafted dome of ultra dense rock. Their chamber had a width of twenty meters with the surface consisting of a quarter meter of this artificially created material.

The two warriors knocked themselves free seeing that they weren’t going to prove anything with just strength. They landed apart from each other in the dome staring down for their next round. Around the cave, a still quiet filled for the first time since they battled. Nothing but the sounds of their breathing stretched through the air.

Yumi flexed her hand feeling the warm sting from their exchange. She tightened up her hand, reflecting on it. A small grin came over her lips. ‘I think I can understand what they feel now…it’s quite the rush!’

Recharged for the fight, she bounced off her feet, disappearing to strike from behind him. He spun around grabbing her fist before it struck and threw her over his shoulder. Hokuren threw his fist down where she landed on the ground, but she disappeared again with his hit missing. His eyes scanned around spotting Yumi. He disappeared before she was able to land her counter.

The two keep up a pace of evading strikes jumping around the dome while it still managed to hold together despite their increasing power. With each evasion they pushed themselves more. Their power rippled through the air and bounced back against the tightly packed walls. Waves of energy from their battle started to rebound and amplify crashing upon themselves creating more dramatic clashes that exploded around them in reaction.

They popped back out of their evasion with the air shaking from their battle. Flashes of light danced over their skin shading them in bleached colors. Their eyes fixed completely on each other with the periphery blasts ignored.

Hokuren made the first move disappearing before Yumi, his speed greater than what she had seen before. His sudden move knocked her back against the wall of the dome. She felt it through her back with the wall holding against her. Yumi coughed a little surprised to actually feel pain from something other than the demon.

She winced through the pain and saw him charging after her to keep the pressure on. However, she disappeared at the last moment, his fist hitting the dome with cracks coming out from the dented surface. Yumi popped up on his flank. She kicked him in the head, throwing him to the other side of the dome.

The weight of his body quaked the dome with cracks going from his impact. He leaned forward a little, catching Yumi’s fist before it landed. They struggled again battling for the dominant position. While their hands fought for arm strength their feet exchanged kicks and counters trying to reposition to get a stronger stance over the other.

Another spike in their power sent vibrations through the air that seemed to almost give the rock itself chills. Cracks started shooting up dome sprinkling dust down around the arena. They ignored the damage to the chamber, continuing to increase their strength further widening the cracks.

Demonic and psychic energies from the two mix and stir together clashing together. They were covered in a sphere of energy that expanded slowly. Battling without care to the surroundings, the destructive wave from them ate through earth that was their floor. Even with the loosened footing, they remained deadlocked together.

Turning into a violent maelstrom, the whole dome started to creak under the growing pressure. No amount of compression could hold it back. The force exploded irregularly outward, unable to create an even force like before. Weaknesses in the wall exposed themselves shattered the thick wall. Everything collapsed down around them only to be vaporized upon direct contact with their auras.

Sunlight broke through the enlarging pit that formed from their power. In the sink hole, the released energy shot out to the sky finally free to throw off without restraint. A pillar of multi-colored light pierced the sky parting the clouds. Beneath it all, Hokuren and Yumi stood with their clash unresolved.

She smiled wide, breaking off from Hokuren landing back on the surface. The Demon Lord joined her on the opposite side. “This is fun! Let’s make things a little more exciting!” A disc of light appeared next to her left arm that her right hand rested over receiving a sword of light. Yumi drew her leg back a little, getting into a new stance for her sword.

Hokuren materialized a like sword in his hand keeping their duel even. Once he matched her, she leapt at him with the sword stretched out. Swinging down on him, he blocked her first strike with her flipping over him. The moment her feet touched the ground, she spun around sparking her blade over his with a horizontal slash that he blocked as well.

He pushed back, breaking their exchange to turn around and slash down at her. Her blade angled the strike away from her and turned it around for a thrust. Evading the blade, he jumped over her thrust and swung in mid-air at her. Yumi bent back letting the blade cleave through the air narrowly missing her nose and catching a couple strains of her hair.

Cleared of the swing, she flipped back to get her balance as he charged at her with a thrust. Braced up against her forearm, she deflected the blade away from her. When it reached its extended length, she twirled her blade around locking up his blade with her and flipped over bringing down the back of her foot in a mid-air kick.

His free hand came up and caught her heel. Pressure of the hit pushed his feet into the ground echoing a wave of dust away from them. Pushing back on Yumi, he threw her off with their blades being torn from their hands. The Lord charged forward creating a new blade. She slid over the sunken earth summoning a new blade to block him, but shattered from the impact.

Yumi ground her teeth with her balance thrown off as his swing went through connecting with her shoulder. Blood sprayed up briefly before she grappled him to the ground trying to kick his ribs in as a trade. She only managed a hit before he stopped her kick.

They broke to their separate corners for a moment to breathe. She winced a little through the pain. ‘It’s pretty shallow, so it shouldn’t slow me down. He just keeps getting stronger and stronger! How far does he go? He’s still in his human form as well.’ Around her in the far distance she could see hints of the other battles and large figures that she couldn’t recognize. She could only assume that the Demon Lords had shed their human guise to fight her friends.

Hokuren held his side, feeling the hit that she made. ‘She nearly cracked a rib. This might be a fake body, but I still live within it while not transformed. She’s getting sharper with each second that passes. I might be able to use my real power for once…’ The Demon Lord wanted to know the depths of Yumi’s power. She had so far managed to meet everything that he delivered. For a human, she was extraordinary, like none that he had ever faced. It gave him hope that he had finally found the one that he sought for so many years.

Their battle would continue again. No winner had been declared yet. They could keep the struggle going for the whole day. Though Hokuren didn’t find much excitement in their battle being dragged out for that long. She had proven herself more than worthy of a passing grade.

Piercing his sword into the earth, he held on to the hilt as he stared over at Yumi. “I thank you for such an invigorating battle. So please show me the fullest extent of what you can do!”

The air suddenly became thick in advance of the change. Yumi felt it again like before with his change in presence. ‘I really wish I could sense energy…’ Demonic aura bled off of his body in streams lashing out to the air. The earth crumbled under the release of energy. Everything about it was different from before when she compared it against what she had felt from him. Yet it made her feel like she had returned back to the start of their battle. His pressure dwarfed her in ways that made her sweat.

She tensed up feeling the anticipation of this new Demon Lord that she hadn’t faced yet. Even though her body could feel the worry from the overwhelming power that he emitted, it also hummed with excitement. Yumi grinned looking forward to testing her power against his. This was nothing like what Saki could give her. She could move freely without holding back anymore. He was an opponent that she could embrace the freedom of battle.

Matching the enthusiasm that Hokuren presented to her, her white aura expanded rapidly. Before they even clashed again their auras battled out with the release of their power. In a sight that would make Yuki squeal his shounen battle manga heart, the two warrior’s energy shot into the sky ripping apart the clouds and tearing up the sides of the hills that surrounded them.

Sparks of lightning jumped down from their colliding energy. New craters were formed from the destructive power being tossed about. They stopped having any care for control, letting the environment suffer. Deep rumbling quakes made the ground beneath them shake as though their battle was triggering more eruptions from the weakened crust Yuki created.

A new apocalyptic scene painted around them for their final battle.