The shinobi tilted his head, staring at his fellow blond with a frown.
"Your flames were pretty hot...but as long as I don't stay in the flames for that long, then I can take it. I said it already, right? Your flames would have been dangerous three years ago. The only reason I went through all that trouble before was to test your new abilities." Naruto explained patiently.
Riser's eyes widened. A test?
"...What? Why do you look so surprised? You do realize that your massive jump in power is pretty damn suspicious right? The only problem I had, was that I had no idea what was powered up exactly. So I intentionally allowed myself to be close to some of your attacks, testing it's heat. Then I made sure to keep the charade up to test your reflexes and tactical thinking. The only thing I saved for last, was to see just how long I could take your flames. All so I could make sure that your little 'wall of flames' wouldn't stop me." Naruto claimed with a shrug.
The older blond was incredulous, staring wide eyed at the human in front of him.
"...You're insane! Who would let themselves get hurt just to test their opponent's abilities for!?"
Naruto's eyes narrowed, a hint of a snarl making it's way to his lips as he regarded his downed enemy.
"...You probably wouldn't understand, but I have some goals that I'd like to achieve before I...'leave'. My goals are extremely difficult to get in meaningful ways, especially with what I have planned. But more importantly, there have been some...incidents lately that have made me very conscious of...coincidences." the blond noted with a glare aimed at the young Phenex.
Riser didn't know why, but his body was actively trying to sink into the rock formation that he was stuck to, seemingly wishing to hide from the human's harsh glare.
"...Both; my goals and my comrades were threatened by this 'incident'...and now there's another 'incident' where some random asshole gets a large power up for no specific reason...excuse me for being blunt, but I really don't like that. I also can't help but notice just how...close these situations are to one another." the shinobi muttered darkly.
The first incident involved a bastard that could hide his energy signal, beyond anything that Naruto really dealt with before.
This second incident had a guy that received a massive boost in energy and power, beyond anything that training for a few days could do.
Look underneath the underneath right? Well color him suspicious as fuck.
"Are...are you accusing me of something?" Riser growled, a hint of fear beginning to reach it's way to the devil's heart.
Naruto smiled.
There was no mirth in it.
"Not yet. But really...despite all of my justifications and words, there was another thing that I wanted to do. Part of it is for a genuinely good reason...and the other part is a little selfish." Naruto stated calmly, before continuing. "The good reason is to stop you from getting back at me by hurting those I care about...and given your track record, I think it could happen. While the selfish reason...is because you caught me at a really bad time."
Riser shrunk away from his enemy, getting a bad feeling...
"Riser Phenex. I want to make sure that you know the difference between our abilities. You've gained great power and large reserves of demonic energy...but that's it. To put it simply, that's about to cost you." the shinobi warned, grabbing a slip of paper inside his pants pocket and placing it onto the palm of his hand.
He only brought one of these...it was experimental. He just hoped that the thing wouldn't literally blow up in his face.
Before Naruto could complete his dastardly scheme however, Riser immediately made to escape by flaring his fiery wings and making some space.
But unfortunately for the devil, Naruto wouldn't let him.
Faster than he could have seen, a vicious fist sent Riser to the ground, intercepting him before he got too far into the sky.
Crashing into a heap, Riser managed to remain cognizant enough to create a magic circle and pour as much demonic energy as he could without blowing it up.
Seeing the attack, once more, he rocketed away from his position in the air towards Riser. Almost as if he was launched from a cannon.
Smashing his foot into Riser's gut, he sent his opponent at just the right angle to sent him skipping across the ground. Repeatedly smashing into the ground, bringing up a lot of dust from his impacts.
The moment he stopped and his regeneration managed to heal his shattered limbs, Riser finally completed his attack and sent it's fiery rage soaring to his enemy.
The blond's features were stern and unyielding as he raised his hand up and allowed the piece of paper to complete his work for him.
He just hoped it wouldn't blow up...!
"Fūka Hōin...!" (Fire Sealing Method) the whiskered teen shouted.
The large amount of flames that were heading towards him were suddenly caught into a suction, drawing it away from Naruto and to the small piece of paper on his hand.
Once the deed was done, the seal only had an extra piece of kanji that was called 'fire' to notify the user that the fire was stored.
The shinobi grinned. At least one piece of good news today.
That being said...!
The blond ripped the seal off of his hand.
Meanwhile, Riser's expression became increasingly worried, his current power wasn't enough...!
He needed more, otherwise he would lose again!
As Riser was becoming increasingly worried, he didn't notice that his enemy has made another move.
"Hey! Riser!"
Naruto immediately threw the seal at Riser.
"Wha-?"
Riser was only able to get one shocked word out.
Before he could finish, the small piece of paper lit up like a small fire cracker in the dark night.
Then suddenly, light enveloped the area around the seal as Naruto made a break for it, knowing what was about to happen.
He never did complete the seal.
*BOOOM*
*BOOOM*
The explosion was a ways away from the castle, but all of the inhabitants definitely saw it clearly.
"Incredible...! That charity case is thoroughly crushing Riser of the Phenex clan!"
"...Looks like he wasn't all talk after all."
"I wonder if it's possible to snatch him up for my Peerage..."
These were a few of the many murmurings of the high-class devils that were watching the battle from the safe confines of the castle.
Sona ignored their annoying words, as was custom for her.
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