Rei watched as Rigaldo shook off the rubble of the house that collapsed on him, and furrowed his eyebrows when the wolfie seemed to be completely fine after the kick to his balls.
Rei's eyes involuntarily slid down... and he promptly facepalmed when he saw nothing dangling between Rigaldo's legs.
He didn't know if he should feel pity for the werewolf-wannabe or mentally scold himself for his stupidity. Of course, the desired effect would not be achieved from kicking a dickless dude between his legs!
"Rei Yotsuba, you say?" Rigaldo regally asked with interest and eagerness shining in his silver eyes as the energy coming off of him became more intense. "You hid your strength well. Even I was fooled!"
'Damn... he is a battle junkie, isn't he?' Rei couldn't help but feel a bit dirty after realizing his kick between Rigaldo's eyes seemed to excite the guy more than it hurt him.
On the brighter side, Rigaldo seemed to lose all of his interest in the Claymores, fully focusing on Rei instead. That, at least, went exactly as intended.
"Is that supposed to be a taunt?" Rei raised his eyebrow at Rigaldo. "You know what? Let's just fight. I doubt you could give me an intelligent conversation, animal."
"I was praising you." Rigaldo dryly stated, "And your taunting skills are quite bad too." He deadpanned.
Rei blinked at him, shocked that his taunt didn't work. "Er... this is kinda awkward but you aren't wrong, dickless."
When in doubt, pull a Sai-move.
Apparently, that was a wrong thing to say because if he previously had Rigaldo's interest, now he had his full undivided attention and rage.
Rigaldo appeared in front of Rei in a burst of speed that roughly rivaled a low-level S-rank physically oriented ninja by Rei's estimation, and took a swipe at him with his claws.
Rei didn't react more than to lean back at the last possible moment, causing Rigaldo's claws to harmlessly pass less than an inch from him as he cocked his head at the three meters tall Yoma.
"Did I hit a sensitive spot?" He asked with an amused tone, causing Rigaldo to growl.
Rei did not wait for an answer and the only warning Rigaldo got was Rei's hand balling into a fist before he saw the figure in front of him flicker and then he felt a massive impact into his stomach and found himself flying back before again colliding with another house, causing it to collapse on him.
Rei casually retracted his arm and looked towards the rubble his punch caused with Rigaldo's body. He was... surprised by how durable the Yoma was.
Granted, Rei held his strength back but he doubted his punch actually hurt the werewolf-wannabe.
'I will need to use a blade or more strength.' Rei frowned.
This Yoki was certainly unbalanced bullshit when it came to Yomas. Their innate durability was nothing to scoff at.
Surprisingly, the Claymores didn't have as many physical advantages.
'Or rather, their techniques do not come instinctively to them.' Rei thought, briefly glancing at the group of worried Claymores that watched the fight with bated breaths full of hope.
After all, their survival depended on Rei's victory.
The rubble of the recently collapsed house suddenly burst from the force of Rigaldo abruptly standing up, and as Rei thought, he was not hurt even a bit from his punch.
Rigaldo fiercely looked at Rei, his eyes shining with arrogance, as he loudly and proudly proclaimed, "I am The Silver-Eyed Lion King! I am the second strongest man in the world! There is only one male stronger than me and it is definitely not some blonde-haired twerp!"
He then gave a long roaring bellow, the crimson Yoki erupting all around him as his muscles bulged and the aura around him became more fierce and primal...
Rei just watched it with a curious mind and deadpan look. He couldn't believe this was really happening and wondered when his life became an anime.
'So this is the fabled power-up during a fight.' Rei dryly thought. 'What's next? Will the next boss come after I deal with this one?'
Rei wanted to scoff at that notion. He really did. But the two S-rank Yoki signatures approaching Pieta did not inspire much confidence in him.
He really couldn't laugh it off as usual.
Rigaldo didn't care about Rei's unamused mood. He rushed at him at a speed that far surpassed his previous one and punched in Rei's direction, aiming at his head with ferocious and murderous determination shining on his broadly grinning expression.
Rei... sidestepped.
This caused Rigaldo to overreach and trip, his body starting to involuntarily somersault until yet another house stopped him.
Rei chuckled at that. Rigaldo clearly had trouble controlling this new strength of his. He was not used to this kind of speed.
But it was extremely curious. His previous low-level S-rank physical strength increased to high-level S-rank one in one big rise. All physical attributes of his were enhanced. Power, Agility, and Rei would bet his lunch money that Rigaldo's durability increased too.
With a roar, Rigaldo erupted from the newly made rubble. He shook himself, growled at Rei, a sound Rei interpreted as excitement and lust for battle, and lunged forward.
Rei wryly sighed at the sight as he once again sidestepped, this time however adding a spin kick for a good measure of Rigaldo's durability.
He used a bit more strength than what he thought to be Rigaldo's durability limit before his power up... and the werewolf-wannabe was sent through several houses.
Rei winced at that. 'We will completely destroy this town if this continues.'
He intended to privatize this island so destroying the town was basically destroying something that will soon belong to him.
'It is all for science.' He tried to appease his greedy mind.
By now, Rei had quite a clear picture of Yoma's fighting ability. Rigaldo's power-up was very interesting but in front of Rei, it was useless. In fact, Rei thought it made Rigaldo weaker.
Before he at least could fight intelligently as was shown from his attempt at Flora's life. Now he was more of a mindless beast focused only on fighting the opponent he focused on. He wasn't even using his smarts much during his pathetic attempts to attack and definitely couldn't control his new strength and speed.
All that strength and it was wasted for useless pounces.
Rei almost felt insulted.
Of course, in the face of a Claymore, even as strong as Miria, Rigaldo would totally wreck them before they could even realize what was going on even before he had his sudden power-up.
Rigaldo was an extremely strong Awakened Being.
The guy was practically a legend for centuries now. No Claymore could easily best him. Not even rank 1 could expect coming from a fight with him whole.
Rei did not see Rigaldo as anything special but his standards were skewed from the very start. He didn't value strength. He valued something else. Something much more important.
He valued sensibility.
Unfortunately for Rigaldo, he was found lacking.
Rei straightened up, shifting his body into a battle-ready state as Rigaldo found his way back to the town square after his quick roll through the town.
"I think I've got all the information and data fighting you could provide so... I am ending this now." Rei dispassionately said and raised his right hand towards the sky just as Rigaldo started rushing at him.
With a short puff of smoke, a sword appeared in Rei's hand and was quickly engulfed by lighting coating as Rei swung it in a downward arc, sending out a lightning energy wave with the slash.
Rigaldo appeared in front of Rei in a burst of speed, the kinetic force of his dash carrying him forward, just as the tip of Rei's sword reached the lowest point, the slash finished, and Rigaldo's body vertically separated into two pieces in the middle, falling around Rei who calmly stood in between them as they were on their way towards the ground.
The battle finished, Rei turned towards the Claymores only to notice them gape at him with wide eyes full of speechless wonder and admiration.
Most of them couldn't even see the clashes between Rei and Rigaldo! They were too fast! All they saw was a blur and then houses started collapsing. The Claymores felt extremely relieved that they were under Rei's protection.
Rei could only wryly smile at the degree of adoration in their eyes, deciding to leave setting the girls straight to Konan. No way was he doing something so troublesome!
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