Red vs. White, Round 2! The clash of the Two Heavenly Dragons shakes the Earth, and the unforgivable rage from the past awakens!? Pt. 2

"Wait, why not use Vanishing Drive while you're in Balance Breaker?" Michael suggested.

"Are you an imbecile? Vanishing Drive and Balance Breaker are two separate states. Vanishing Drive allows me to use as much of Albion's power in my base form, anything above that is meaningless." Vali explained.

"Is that true, Ddraig?" Michael asked.

[Like I said, the Welsh and Vanishing Drive increases your base stats to the next level based on your specific Dragon. It would be pointless to carry out those abilities to the Balance Breaker.]

"Well, that makes sense, so let's think of another new way…hm?" Michael rubbed his chin.

"Hmph! You'll probably come up with another useless idea with that tiny brain of yours." Vali tried to provoke Michael.

And it worked of course.

"Shut up! Once I get the right idea, I am so kicking your ass!" Michael shouted as he points at the flying teen in anger, but still remained stubborn to even attempt to fight back.

Shaking his head, Vali sighed because he knew this level of strategy to enrage Michael won't work anymore,

'Simple insults just won't do it, anymore will they?'

Vali clenched his open palm and finally decides to commence his part of the plan to spice things up. The change in Michael's power from before may have been better, but it still wasn't near to the level Vali was at.

The White Dragon Emperor has just barely revealed the peak of his own power inside of him. He finally felt he had a chance to fight seriously with no holding back. He personally sought out a challenge to quench his blood lust for battle, but nothing came his way nothing until he saw the past skirmish with the Gremory Family against Kokabiel.

Yes, that explosive power which broke through even a cadre leveled fallen angel, he wanted to face that power and personally get a real challenge to excite him. This was what he needed after all those dull jobs the Grigori provided him. The tasks only got tedious as the years went on.

Every job he received was to either subdue a bunch of weaklings about to revolt against the Grigori, or keep watch over clients allied with them. Honestly those he envied the most were the leaders who took part in the small scuffles against the other two factions just to enjoy a battle royale kind of fight.

He realized from watching Michael fight Kokabiel that if he was pushed too far past his mental limit, then his power could really pose a challenge to him. Before all of this, he would barely even think to attempt this on some loser, but after gathering his intel about him, he just couldn't believe he would try this on a former human.

The thought brings a smile on Vali's face as he quietly laughs,

"Hmhmhmhmhm…"

"What's so funny?" Michael raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"Oh nothing, I just find our positions quite funny, no, ridiculous, don't you think?"

"What's so ridiculous about it?"

"If you hadn't of noticed already, we are separated by birthright. I as a half devil descendant of the deceased Maou, Lucifer, and you, just a feeble human. From the beginning this fated battle didn't seem to be in your favor, Hanamura." Vali displayed his power by having his dragon aura flare up around him.

"Yeah, we sort of talked about this already, so what's the point of telling me this now?"

Michael didn't understand the recap, what was all this leading up to, and why did he have about it?

"Hold on…I'll get to that, but I'm going to continue." Vali crossed his arms in a calm manner.

'Damn, why does it feel like he's the one with the most control over this battle?' Michael bit his lip once he felt the shift in control focused on Vali.

"When we were children, you probably wouldn't have been beaten as much as you were usually used to had I not have my Sacred Gear, Divine Dividing with me. Your Boosted Gear had yet to awaken while mine was activated before I even met you or Azazel." Vali smirked, when he saw the frustrated face on Michael grow agitated,

"I've always been developing my Sacred Gear from the start while you were too late as usual just recently awakening it with no training whatsoever."

"You, son of a-!" Michael clenched his teeth as he was getting looked down by Vali.

"It's no surprise things have ended this way because after all, no matter how hard you worked, no matter how hard you tried, you can't reach up to my level because your title as a "loser" was decided once you were born the next Red Dragon Emperor."

Vali's harsh words stabbed into Michael, who trembled in uncontrollable vexation, unable to form any words in his words as he heard this.

"But you, you were just an ordinary human before turning into a devil nothing more and certainly nothing less. Hmhm! You weren't even that great of a high school student either. In fact, you were just an unnoticeable orphan with no redeeming qualities in that school."

"Well, who cares about what you have to say? I'm still going to prove to you that I'm your equal in this fight! Making it this far just proves that I can do it too, since I'm the Great Hanamura!"

Michael glared at Vali and looked serious, those words struck a nerve, but Michael tried to see what really made Vali laugh at him. As for Vali, the young man stared at Michael rather seriously from that comment.

"Oh, really…?"

"Of course, nothing will ever change that!" Michael nodded proudly, he may not have been good at most things, but one thing was for certain if he wanted something done then he could do it if he just works hard at it.

"Great Hanamura?" Vali remained quiet for just one moment, "So let me ask you would you honestly believe that if I tell you something you might want to know?"

"Pfft! Just cut the crap with all those manipulating words of yours, and besides, you don't have anything I want to listen to!" Michael wanted to continue a way to showcase his new technique

"Are you sure because what I'm about to say next could be the closest thing to a compliment that I could ever give you." Vali gestured with a roll of the wrist nonchalantly.

"You giving me a compliment? That's a first, I thought the only thing you could spew was bullshit?" Michael's insult was spot on, but Vali paid no mind to it.

"Your former human origin intrigued me. You've been making strides and achievements that no ordinary human should've been able to do if they were in your shoes. Like your fight with the Immortal Phoenix in that rating game."

Michael gasped as he heard Vali utter something that occurred before the Kokabiel fight.

'He knows about that?' Michael's eyes widened.

"I can tell from that empty expression, you always wear that you're wondering how and why I know this, yes? Well, that's an easy question, have you ever realized how sensitive we dragons are whenever we feel the presence and cries of others releasing their power?" Vali explained his answer with some more facts.

"I was well informed of your devil status with the last report that fallen angel women left with Azazel. Also, the fact about how strained the heiress of the Gremory family has become reluctant of her marriage, and decided to fight for her freedom against getting together with the 3rd son of the Phoenix. My experience with you gave me the feeling that you would butt into the business of others, so it was easy to piece two and two together after that."

"You mean, you got all that from Ray-chan?" Michael aghast at how statistical Vali was with information gasped.

"Of course, you probably wouldn't have gotten it with that small brain of yours, but to me it filled out into a perfect image you see." Vali laughs lightly, "But enough about that, I just answered how I knew you were fighting that phoenix, next is what I meant about the sensitivity and easier way for us to sense the presence of other dragons. Of course, we are opposing sides, I, who holds the power of the White Dragon Emperor."

"And you, who possess the power of the Red Dragon Emperor."

Vali compared the two dragons as he went in depth about how he sensed Michael's spike in power.

"You multiply your power and transfer them to others while I divide and steal the power of others. Our opposites attract way more than you realize. Say if you were to gain something like a power up in the middle of a fight, then I would clearly feel it no matter the distance we are apart. When you first used your Balance Breaker against the phoenix in the rating game, I was able to feel your untamed dragon power cry out, signaling me about your burst of power."

"Wait, so you knew every power up I've gone through?" Michael sweated, he couldn't believe that he slipped up this much, "Whoa, wait a minute! Why couldn't I detect your presence whenever you go through that?"

"Hmph! Because you moron, I am the Vanishing Dragon hiding my presence would be child's play. I mean, you've seen a glimpse of it before." Vali shook his head recalling back to that fight on the bridge.

Michael puffed out his cheeks as he remembered too, but tried to suppress the memory. He was humiliated back then because of that power. Each time Vali vanished, so did his presence which made it hard to track him. Of course, Michael made a measure to stop that, but apparently, Vali wanted to be a jerk as usual to deny him the pleasure of using it!

[Are you still mad about that?]

'Yes, I'm still mad! I had a cool name made and everything… Why can't I ever get one moment anymore!' Michael cried hysterically.

[You'll get a chance to use it again. Don't get too worked up about it…] Ddraig tried to console his disappointed partner.

"And after that fight, you then went to take on a well experienced Fallen Angel, who fought in the war against God and even defeated him. How strange…"

Vali inquired acting like he didn't know why all these things happened, but Michael could tell in his tone that he was screwing with him.

"What do you mean?" Michael growled.

"Just strange, in general. About how you got this far, and not to mention your compatibility with dragons since that power signature you let out against that phoenix and Kokabiel grew stronger as time passed by. From all of this, I found you rather unique, but because of that I've been conflicted on whether if that was good or bad." Vali rubbed his chin,

"I hadn't the clue of what to make out of this until I decided to find out the reason you've made it as far as you could. What made you tick and why you were so different from the other humans. So, I helped myself to see some secret information from the Grigori's data about your lineage and connections."

"My what?" Michael wasn't sure what was happening.

"Oh, come on, surely you must know something this basic." Vali chuckled.

"Look, you! I don't know the reason why you brought up into this conversation, so then tell me already, or else you're just going to keep confusing the crap out of me!" Michael hated all this talking, and just wanted to continue their fight, but this topic personally pulled him in deeper.

"Fine, I guess you want the short and simple, don't you?" Vali opened his arms and looked down with an imperial smile as he revealed,

"What, I'm talking about is your family tree from your ancestors to grandparents and to your biological mother and father, too."

"What!?" Michael shouted as he took a step back at the sudden news flying right at him, "Right now, what did you just say!?"

"*Sigh!* Not even that you understand? Well then, I'll put it in a much simpler way for you to understand. When a man and a woman love each other very much they begin to have these urges t-."

"Oi, shut up! That's not what I meant! Just what the hell do you mean about my mom and dad? How are they even relevant to this fight!?" Michael didn't appreciate the childish way Vali treated him.

"Hm, they are completely relevant. They're the only reason why I took you up on this challenge. It was because of the information that I dug out on them, your parents."

"…!" Michael's expression scrunched as he grew pale at the mention of his parents. Why were they suddenly a topic in this fight, no, why were they even talking about this in this fight at all?

This was supposed to be a fight to show Vali that he was someone worth calling an equal.

But now Michael felt his feelings go haywire he had stopped wondering about his parents since he thought worrying would only be a pain and make him always wonder why he was left al… Dammit, why is he thinking that now of all times? This was supposed to be a fight between the two of them not the time to reveal the unknown history of his family.

"What? Not even going to ask any further about your own parents? I thought every orphan would love to hear about their biological family." Vali played around with Michael, who was starting to tremble and look down with a disoriented look in his eyes.

[Michael, what's wrong? Your emotions are clouding your mind, get a hold of yourself!]

'That bastard bringing up this suddenly…but does he really know something about my parents… … no, that isn't important this fight should be the only thing I should worry about, but if it's true then… Dammit!' Michael's curiosity was getting the better of him as his emotions were conflicting with each other,

'I don't need to know... I'm doing fine on my own without caring about this…so…what is this gnawing feeling eating me up inside?' Michael puts a hand to his forehead and started to show a little panic.

"Wait? Did he say Michael's parents?" Rias questioned.

"Michael-san's parents?" Asia gasped as she was conflicted with worry over Michael and curious about his parents.

"Does he really know of Michael-kun's biological family?" Akeno watched closely.

"That young man holds too much data how much is he informed about us devils and the rating games?" Sirzechs stared daggers at Vali, someone who knew too much about forbidden information was even more dangerous than someone brandishing incredible power.

"Vali…"

"…"

Raymond looked to see Azazel crossed his arms and tapped his fingers across his bicep. The Governor-General had on a hard expression but was actually worried for what could happen next if Vali should take the wrong step with this.

"Shishishishishi! How exciting is he really going to reveal something about Michael-san?" Kai smiled as he watched more closely.

"Kai, this isn't the time for you to be amused this is serio-!" Katerea stops once she looked at the expression Kai had on his face, it wasn't that old lazy, mischievous smile he would usually pull. It was a face filled with deadly seriousness. He still had on his smile, but that was only a farce to hide something terrible should he let it down.

'He's serious, isn't he?' Zethyr noticed Kai's change in composure and remembered that old look the man used to have whenever he intended to finish things quickly, and considering how this situation was going down he was intending to, kill Vali,

'No, if he were to, then he wouldn't be here trying to pull a fake laugh, he's actually waiting and observing what happens next. It will all depend on what is explained.' Zethyr looks back to the fight.

"What do you mean? You know something about my parents?" Michael growled, eager to know what Vali's goal with this is.

"Both your parents were of course human. It bored me to even try to look further, but the secret to your abnormal growth interested me to continue even further, and then there it was. The answer that I needed. It actually made quite some sense as to why you were so compatible with that Sacred Gear of yours." Vali explained.

"It has something to do with my sacred gear too?" Michael looked at the Boosted Gear.

"Michael Hanamura, have you ever heard of the Celtic Village of Dragons?" Vali brought up.

"Celtic Village?"

"Yes, the Celtic Village of Dragons a particularly famous village off somewhere near one of the western countries. There presides a proud race of special humans, who have innate talents with Dragons. Whether it be Dragon taming, or their main profession, Dragon Slaying. These humans were blessed with the natural ability to acquire the abilities of their dragons with sheer will, no strength, no magic, and no seals just sheer willpower." Vali went on to explain,

"With their willpower overcoming the prideful spirits of many dragons, who would rather die keeping their own pride than to submit to humans, they were able to be look up the sources of their weaknesses and better use that by creating a new power called Dragon Slaying Aura."

"Okay, so these Celtic guys are people who get pretty involved with dragons so?" Michael didn't know why this mattered in their fight.

"So, have you ever heard of a Clan in which is ranked highly amongst the others in that village, a clan that can utilize both their Dragon Slaying aura and-." Vali said with a sly smile,

"The destructive power of the Welsh Dragon itself."

"…!" Everyone were stunned at the sudden reveal of something so ridiculous.

"C-Can s-something like that happen?" Gasper looked to Koneko who continued to watch the fight more attentively. It could be the very presence who allowed for them to see this fight has shaken her up a bit. There was no telling what could happen so she left her guard up, yet this unease wasn't settled with the killing intent she could feel from Kai it may have been suppressed, but the suppression of something that big was too much for her not to be restless.

"Welsh Dragon's power?" Michael remembered back on what Ddraig said about children who would inherit his power if the user were to give or help aid give birth to a child.

"Correct. It is a clan which has even preserved the Welsh Dragon's former cut up body from after decades probably centuries of searching for it after the Great War to preserve of its memory in respect than let it be used for any disgraceful purposes." Vali chuckled, "This very clan itself had a next head to lead it and that head was your mother."

"My mom?" Michael repeated, he had never heard of anything involving his mom and right now he guess he would finally know something about her and probably himself.

"That's right and the name of this clan, you wonder? Actually, it's not that hard to figure out since you share its family name." Vali revealed,

"The Celtic Children who watch over the Welsh's domain, The Hanamura Clan."

"…!?"

Michael's eyes widen at the mention of his last name in some clan he just heard about.

"Once I found this, I became a little more intrigued about your mother's history and ancestors and this piqued my interest even further as you were actually related to one of the past Red Dragon Emperors, in fact, the Strongest Red Dragon Emperor in history, Belzard." Vali explained.

"Belzard…" Katerea recalled hearing the name of the infamous, Red Dragon Emperor.

"The only Red Dragon Emperor in history to have slain the White Dragon Emperor twice in a row." Serafall stated.

"For the strongest Red Dragon Emperor in history to have a descendant, who was my sacred gear's counterpart, actually made me felt some joy to confront the power that once killed two of my predecessors. Sadly, that couldn't happen, probably if you weren't casted off for being the child of an outsider then you probably would have been experienced with your power like, no you would have mastered it and taken it to new the next level." Vali went on with his own feelings in the matter.

'Wait, Ddraig… Whenever you kept quiet about those certain children gaining your powers genetically... Was it that this whole time...you were talking about me?' Michael looked forlorn.

[… … …Yes.]

'Dammit...this is too much to take in right now. I have to try and stay focused before he tries to lure me into any more of his mind games…'

Michael begins to sweat and shuts his eyes to calm the fast beating in his chest. This brand-new revelation about himself was too much for him to handle, and, yet Vali decided to go on just to break his already deteriorating composure,

"It seemed a little unfair that the head of the Hanamura Clan was able to give birth to Belzard's child, also, the child of an outsider, but when the generation goes through every new age to see new atrocities happen to them then it would be quite fair not to judge them. But then again, I guess that it's natural for individuals to grow more and more cautious to resorting to cast off any potential threat even if the threat is one of their own kin."

"Wait? Did you just say casted off?" Michael's face turned pale, he didn't want to hear this. No, he wasn't expecting to know any of this. He didn't even want to know about this in the first place!

"Hmhmhm! Oh, did I let that one slip? Excuse me for my carelessness." Vali laughed.

"Vali, don't play freaking dumb! What did you just say!? More importantly, why? Why bring all of this up now!?" Michael demanded, harshly. He didn't care about the games Vali was doing to toy around with him anymore, all he wanted to know was what Vali meant from earlier. But he can't control his nervousness, he felt conflicted with himself.

'I thought that I'd finally convince myself that knowing anything about "them" wouldn't change anything. So why am I feeling so scared to hear it come from someone else's mouth?' Michael kept telling himself that figuring out what happened to his parents wouldn't matter right now, but still, he felt scared of what would happen if he heard some actual truth from someone else.

Ignoring the second part of Michael's question, Vali answered,

"…The Celtic Village of Dragons is a sacred ground filled with sacred secrets, draconic weapons, and treasures. If such treasures were placed out right for the picking then of course many hunters would do anything to take it from them. Whether it be by kidnapping, murder and for those who seek children to gain power, rape. These people sought out for the village, and caused many past horrific deeds to attain their greed. So, closing itself off, the village became reclusive to the world. Only allowing those of their own blood and kin to enter, no one else."

Vali explained as he watched Michael's eyes get covered by the shadow of his hair.

"The people of this clan have been reluctant to allow any outsider to take foot in their land. Anyone, who wasn't fully affiliated with them in blood would be thrown out without a second's notice. I don't have much data about him, but apparently your father was an outsider, and fell in love with your mother, which led to your birth. The elders of the village saw this as a possible threat, and decided to throw you out before you could do any damage. Apparently, your mother wasn't so defensive towards the idea, and decided to let you go without regretting anything."

Starting to tremble, Michael kept his eyes to the ground while being completely motionless. The heavy truth of being thrown away by even his own parent was enough to much for him fathom.

"I was thrown out...?" Michael thought with a shaky tone.

XXX

"Michael…no…" Rias watched with teary eyes as the harsh truth came out.

"H-How can he be so cruel as to reveal that to Michael-san…?" Asia too was on the verge of tears.

Everyone grew worried for Michael as for the leaders their expressions were completely different again.

"Whew! That's a relief…" Kai sighed in relief after hearing that.

"Indeed." Sirzechs nodded yet, he frowned, he still felt bad for the child to hear such harsh truths even if they were partially true.

"It saddens me to hear this being told, but it's not that much of an effective blow as the real truth." S. Michael placed a hand on his chest and sighed in relief.

"Seriously, that kid is unpredictable to think he would have me on the ropes to finish it with something like that." Azazel rubbed his chin, and looked at Vali closely, "Perhaps you know of the consequences of revealing the true story as well don't you, Vali?"

Azazel looked at Michael's current state and frowned,

'The brat must be shaken up about this. I can't blame him though, for his family history to be revealed right out of the blue, I could understand his nerves getting to him.'

XXX

"Now do you see, Hanamura? That is why I expect a challenge from you, whether, or not, you're human didn't really matter until I looked into your background which interested me. Your blood, your relatives. Everything about that unique power of yours has gotten me very curious about how they fare in a fight against me…" Vali's smirk grew.

"Shut up…"

Michael's voice grew deep in anger as his whole body leaked a dangerous amount of dragon aura along with the rising aura of Touki exuding his body, it seemed to want to break out of something restraining it. He was really pissed off. Any more of this would really make him snap and break loose.

"I'm going to shut that mouth of yours up, once and for all."

*WHOOOOOOOSH!*

*CHNNNNG!* *CHNNNNNG!* *CHNNNNNNG!*

A rough wind blows past Michael as the sounds of chains resonated through the wasteland.

"What?" Vali found the sight of something glowing on Michael's wrists and ankles.

*CHNNNNG!* *CHNNNNG!*

XXX

"So, he's finally going to unleash himself?" Kai smirked.

"Like I said before, I was saving this up for a secret technique to use against you, but since I'm past the point of caring, I'll just release the power that I had which would have allow me to use it!" Michael raised his arms in the air to reveal the sudden glow of the Spirit cuffs which were invisible.

"Restraints?" Xenovia said.

"Michael-kun was wearing that through the entire fight?" Raynare sweatdropped, she wished she could slap him right now, but considering the circumstances, she pushed that thought aside. He made everyone worry about him, only to reveal, that he was holding back the entire.

"And just what are those?" Vali asked.

"These are the Spirit Cuffs. I've been wearing them for these past couple days to strengthen my use over my Touki. I'm pretty sure the time to take them off is now, isn't that right, Shishou?" Michael explained as he remembered the safety word that Kai told him.

Raising his arms, Michael breathed in, and finally said the password,

"Aeron!"

*BREEEEEEAK!*

*WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!"

Once he uttered those words, Michael broke the chains and allowed the true strength of his Touki to flow out of him in large amounts as it was able to force raging winds to pick up around the area. This Touki truly revealed the strong life force Michael has been able to control through training.

"So, you've been fighting with restraints this whole time? I don't know whether to feel excited for what's to come, or…" Vali lied about his words, secretly, he felt mad that Michael would hold back this power. He couldn't explain it, but the thought that Michael intended to make a fool of him by holding back his full power made him clench his hands in hidden anger. He couldn't stop feeling so aggravated about this change of pace.

XXX

"Impressive. Way to work the kid in with those restraints." Azazel complimented Kai, and clapped his hands.

"It was nothing. I knew he would have used it, eventually." Kai waved his hand in a 'no big deal' gesture.

"And that password?" Azazel looked serious with a smirk.

"I know, I know, but if he doesn't know of its meaning then I don't think he'll mind." Kai shook his head.

"Huh?" Rias looks between the two and asked, "Is there something you both know?"

"Nope." Both answered while looking away which made Rias narrow her eyes at them in suspicion.

XXX

Gritting his teeth while holding his stance, Michael did his best to hold in the amounts of touki leaving his body. If it kept flaring out, then it would be hard to control it effectively.

With a little struggle, Michael was able to hold in just about enough to allow his movements to not be hindered. The flowing power coursing through his body was apparent. His strength, speed, and defense were raised and even better than his old state with touki. Now he will be able to land much stronger blows.

The pressure of power almost took Vali by surprise, but instead of backing away. He stayed in place and laughed,

"Interesting! Very interesting! You raised your proficiency with Touki to the next level in such a short time. See? You can do something not many would conceive of accomplishing!" Vali laughed as his voice was growing less like his usual calm tone, he truly was a battle maniac, "It may have angered me to see that you actually believed you had a chance of defeating me while keeping yourself restrained, but I can forgive that because after we go all out in this fight, maybe then you'll get to see some truth about your heritage!"

"Shut up!" Michael grinded his teeth and readied his Boosted Gear.

"In fact, the only thing that was a real shame was that you got abandoned before you could develop that power of yours!" Vali laughed as he decided to charge at Michael with his amazing speed.

"SHUT UUUUUP!" Michael bellowed as he clenched his Boosted Gear which flashed signifying his count was finished, "Ddraig!"

[The count is already finished, but Michael remember you can't let your rage control you in this fight.]

"Shut up, let's just do THIS!"

*SLAM!*

"BALANCE BREEEEEEEEAKER!"

Michael slammed his fist into the ground and took a knee as he allowed a surge of red dragon aura to cover his entire body.

*GOGOGOGOGOOOOOOOOON!*

The ground below was being expunged, and torn from the sheer power of the Boosted Gear. The dragon energy from within Michael's body began to take form of the silhouetted Boosted Gear's Scale Mail's upper half as it placed its clawed hands around Michael's body.

*ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!*

"VALI!" Michael roared as the figure of the Boosted Gear's Scale mail roared behind him.

It began covering Michael's body with the dragon's aura surrounding him as it slowly forms the red plated scale mail which took the motif of a dragon.

[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]

"Raaaaaaaaaaaargh!" Michael roared and unfurled his scale mail's dragon wings within the surging aura still covering his armored body, and presses them back with enough force to propel himself at Vali.

"Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Michael goes at Vali with his entire body covered in red dragon aura.

*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*

"That's it! Come at me!" Vali does the same while covering his body with white dragon aura.

*CLAAAAAAAAASH!*

*CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!*

Upon the two colliding, they both punched at each other and had their fists collide with one another, creating a powerful shockwave that destroyed the nearby Rock formations.

"Geh!"

"Hmph!"

The two backed away from each other, only for a moment. Before heading back in to the fray by unleashing their own barrage of punches at each other.

"Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora!"

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

Michael grunts as he fired many punches clad with enough dragon power and Touki.

[Michael control yourself! You're just attacking him blindly!] Ddraig shouted, but his words couldn't get through to Michael as he just ignored the warnings.

"Heh! Is that the best you could do, Hanamura?" Vali's speed allowed him to catch the punches before they could even reach him, after quite some time at seeing through Michael's sloppy attacks, Vali decided to use this to his advantage.

"You better do more than just attack me like that, Hanamura!" Vali leans into through Michael's uncoordinated attack and launches a strong right against Michael's stomach.

{Divide!}

"Urch!" Michael coughed out a moderate amount of blood from the blow before having some of his power drained.

"Now allow me to show you another technique of mine!" Vali engulfs himself in white aura and starts to zig zag around Michael with blinding speed which made it hard for Michael to follow.

*BANG!*

"Aargh!" Michael gripped onto the destroyed shoulder plate of his Balance Breaker.

[This speed! Partner, you have to calm down now or else-!]

'Shut up!' Michael wasn't listening anymore.

"Dragon Shot!"

*DOOOOOON!*

Michael ignored Ddraig and made a guess of an attack as his beam missed Vali completely.

"Hahahaha! Futile, now where was I…oh, yes."

*BAAANG!*

A flash of light blinded Michael as he received another hit to the chest. Making him stagger back before he got his with the next attack, and then another, and another, and another before Vali uttered his moves real name.

"Vanishing Dragon Flash Bullet!"

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

Vali's superior speed toppled Michael's reflexes as the teen had received many gaping holes on his armor along with the increasing amounts of cracks on them.

"Bloooourgh!

Along with the armor's damage blood was being forced out of Michael's body with all of his fresh wounds.

"D-Damn, where is he now?" Michael panted then gasps as he looks up to see Vali was right in front of him with his palms extended out on his chest. Was he there the whole time? Michael couldn't tell since he didn't sense his presence at all.

"Fly away."

*DOOON!*

Vali fires a magic bullet against Michael's chest, sending the teen falling crashing into the ground.

'Dammit!' Michael recovers at the last minute as he lands and gets on a knee upon the ground and looks up at Vali. The holes in the armor were revealing Michael's naked chest and damaged body. The blasts even burned off, the bottom half of his shirt from inside.

[I'll handle the damage placed on the armor! Just focus on fighting and remember not to get too mad!] Ddraig steadily fixed the large hole in the armor.

"Dammit...Dammit..." Michael clenched his fist in frustration as his aura started to rise up in a way to match his sullied mood of anger.

"Look, Albion, Hanamura's power has gone up exponentially." Vali began a conversation with Albion.

{Sacred Gears simply use strong emotions as food for power. Hanamura Michael's rage is at its genuine limit, and is turned towards you. Only straightforward people can draw out the dragon's power. Well done, you were able to use his emotions as a key to bring this part of him out.} Albion explained.

"Although it pains me to say this, but it looks like his Celtic blood makes him a much more suitable user of his dragon power than men. What a waste that he ended up an orphan before he could truly tap into this power." Vali clicked his tongue.

"You're pissing me off even more, douchebag!"

[Jet!]

Michael propelled himself at Vali and thrusts his fist out, "Take this!"

"Hmph! Another straight forward attack? You must be getting duller each time I blast you away."

Growing more and more enraged, Michael clenched his fist and shouted, "Ascalon!"

[Blade!]

*SHIIIIIIING!*

"Not bad!" Vali grunts as he narrowly dodges the sword thrusted at him as he backs away.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Michael thrusts the sword rapidly at Vali, who dodges the piercing attacks from left to right.

"Apparently nowhere with how terrible you are with that sword."

"Hey, let go!"

Vali decided to grab onto the blade with the risk of hurting his hand while cocking back his other fist. He covered it with enough dragon aura to instill enough damage upon Michael's body.

*BAM!* *BAM!* THUD!*

"Aaaaargh!" Michael received a punch to the face, an elbow to the chest and knee to the gut from Vali.

"Your proficiency with dragons may be greater than mine, but you still lack control over the Welsh Dragon's power, and that temper of yours!" Vali laughed as he placed his palm out and created large magic circle in front of Michael.

He was going to shoot at point blank range again!

"…!"

"Now try to recover from this…"

*DOOOOOOOOOON!*

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

*CRAAAASH!*

A concentrated magic beam shot Michael out of the air and sent him crashing into the ground.

"Dammit!" Michael grunts as he pushes himself up to try and stand.

{Divide!}

Having made contact with Michael, Vali halved his current power.

"Gugh! Dammit, he halved my power again..." Michael falls to a knee as the past attack inflicted on him broke through his armor. He wasn't able to set up enough Touki to cover his body because of his lack of focus and mindless rampaging.

[Boost!]

Getting up on a knee while his armor repairs itself again, Michael stares up at Vali with narrowed eyes and realizes that he'll have to do things differently now, "I have to calm down…"

Michael breathed in and out.

'My parents...where I came from...they don't matter now. All that matters now is...' Michael looked up at the cocky White Dragon Emperor looking down at him.

"Taking him down." Michael said with a more calming voice as he clenched his fist and tried to tap into the Dragon Slaying Aura that Ascalon had.

'Ddraig, sorry about before. I'm good now.' Michael apologized.

[Its fine, I'm glad you that could calm yourself before you did something rash that you would have regretted.]

'Yeah, can't be having this continue like that anymore, right?' Michael looked up at Vali who still waited for any attacks he would make.

'If I could get a single hit on him with this, then I can guarantee it will do some mad damage.' Michael nods.

[But first, Partner, look at his wings.]

'Hm?' Michael looks to see that the energy Vali absorbed from him was being dispelled through his wings, 'What's up with his them?'

[He sets the extra power, he steals from you through his wings. He may be more experienced, and powerful with the sacred gear, but he still has a limit to how much power he can hold.]

'Oh, really?' Rubbing his chin with his mouth growing into a wide grin, Michael laughed, 'That gives me an idea.'

Looking around the wasteland, Michael spots a massive boulder and rushes towards it, "That one should do!"

[Boost!]

"What is he doing now?" Vali questions.

Boosting his strength, Michael manages to heft the boulder with both his arms, "Let's see you handle this!"

Throwing the boulder at Vali, Michael quickly encompasses himself with Touki and follows after the boulder.

"Such a barbaric attack, even I expected you to do a better attack than th-."

"Haha! Element of surprise, bitch!"

*DOOOOOOOOOON!*

Michael fired a red beam of demonic power straight through the boulder and directly at Vali.

"Clever, but not good enough." Vali sticks out his hand and creates a thick barrier to block out the attack.

Seeing the charging Michael from behind the blocked-out beam, Vali simply raises another hand and fires another concentrated beam of magic at him. Sadly, though it goes through Michael as he disappears like a mirage.

An afterimage attack!

"What? I was sure that was his presence right there! Where is he?" Vali's eyes widened.

*GRAB!*

"…!" Vali looks to his right to see Michael latching onto it.

"Gotcha, dumbass!" Michael laughed as he imbues his fist with touki and Ascalon's dragon slayer aura and punches it across Vali's face damaging his mask and leaving a huge blow against his naked cheek.

"…Gugh!"

*GRAB!*

"What?"

Vali coughs out some blood, then widens his eyes when he felt Michael grab his other shoulder.

"Now let's see how much power your wings can take from my Boosted Gear!" Michael grinned.

[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]

Michael's body was absolutely covered in powerful dragon aura.

[Transfer!]

"Grgh! Hanamura…!" Vali gave a strained growl as the power he was injected with was literally burning his body out. He could even feel his scale mail start to shake from all the surging energy.

{This-! Vali, you have to pull back! The system has to be restarted before it overloads!} Albion warned.

[Just where do you think you're going, Albion! My partner isn't finished with you two, yet!] Ddraig roared.

"That's right because I need to clear a few things up with you before this fight continues…" Michael grunts as he struggles to hold the struggling Vali in place while cocking back his fused aura clad fist.

"First off, I could care less about my parents, and them abandoning me! Right now!"

*GOOOOOOON!*

*BAAGAAAAAN!*

"My armor!"

'He was actually able to break it…' Vali thought in disbelief.

Vali's entire scale mail shatters once Michael slammed his fist into his chest with enough force to even force him to spew out a large amount of blood.

[Partner, now when his defenses are low! Go all out!]

"You got it!" Michael charges at Vali while coating both his fists with Dragon slayer/Touki aura, "Now let me continue! Second, the only reason that I got pissed was because you started to bring up shit that didn't matter in this fight!"

Michael fires 3 rapid punches before kneeing Vali's chin, sending him flying higher through the air.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *THUD!*

"Ooooough!" Vali coughs out a large amount of blood while sustaining a lot of damage.

"And third of all-!" Michael roared as he flew after Vali from below.

"Damn…" Vali gritted his teeth and pointed his hand downwards and fired a piercing type of magic bullet to disorient Michael. Sadly enough, it was another afterimage of Michael's body.

'Another one? How does each one carry his presence?' Vali gasped, then looks above himself and sees a shadow above him.

It was Michael with both his hands locked over his head.

"Ngh!" Vali crossed his arms over his head.

"This is for not going into your Vanishing Drive when I told you TO!"

*THUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!*

*CRAAAAAAASH!*

Michael slammed his locked hands against Vali's head and sent him hurtling towards the ground, creating a large crater from the impact of his falling body.

"Hah! Take that!" Michael rolled his arm and laughed, "That's what you get for trying to act all smart around the Great Hanamura!"

Michael may not have known, but he sounded angrier with that last comment which confused a few of the spectators, who noticed.

"So that was the main reason he was mad…? What a kid…" Azazel shook his head with a coy smile, he felt glad that was the case, instead of the reveal of his family.

Landing himself a few feet away from Vali, Michael says, "Ddraig, how much time do I have left in Balance Breaker?"

[With the training that you did before, you've successfully gained about a total of 2 hours, well, about an hour and a half after that stunt you pulled.] Ddraig stated.

"I guess that I overdid it, but at least I got a few good hits in!" Michael laughed as he takes off his Balance Breaker's mask and visor.

"Hahahaha, amazing! You blew away my Sacred Gear and managed to do this much damage to me! See? You could do it too, if you just tried…" Vali wiped his lip as he gets out from the crater looking bruised and with some blood dripping down from his forehead.

Removing his jacket, Vali stares at Michael with a smirk.

'*GASP!*' Michael gasped.

[What is it, partner? Is he about to do something?] Ddraig asked.

'His jacket!' Michael gasped.

[Yes! What about it!]

'Everyone knows when by anime that when you remove one of your clothes, shit gets real!' Michael clenched his fist as he could feel this fight picking up already.

[…Why? Why bring something that doesn't matter into this of all times?]

'Hmm? Maybe I should take off my shirt just to make it even, but… I'm wearing my armor so that won't work…' Michael thought.

[You're literally doing this right now, aren't you? *Groan!* Just focus on the damn fight you're in already.]

"But I'm surprised how you did a well-planned attack when you were so angry."

"Okay, first off, I did some breathing exercises to cool myself down. Second off, fuck you for trying to mess with my emotions by bringing up my biological parents and revealing all that crap, I could definitely care less about. Lastly, you should take this fight seriously! Stop acting like you have complete control over everything." Michael adjusted his goggles while sounding serious.

Looking at Michael in question, Vali asked, "Hanamura, I want to ask you something."

"What is it? If it's another one of your mind games, then just stop. I won't be falling for them anymore." Michael shook his head.

"That's not it, you moron. I wanted to ask you something regarding your feelings about your reaction to hearing your mother abandoning you before and now. Why do you still feel the urge to be calm after hearing that? In fact, you said your rage before was because it doesn't matter. Just tell me, why aren't you still seething in rage anymore." Vali asked as he watched Michael's expressionless face.

"Hm? Well, it's because I don't really have an opinion on it, that's all." Michael shrugged.

"That can't be it. There has to be something more than that." Vali continued pushing Michael to answer.

"Okay then, if you really want to know then fine, I'll tell you." Michael groaned, "This is the reason why I've felt this way ever since I was little; Why should I even worry, or be angry, or even roll around in my own sorrow about some parents that I had no clue of know about?" Michael sounded very personal about this question.

"…" Vali stood neutral as he watched Michael give his answer. Somewhere deep inside, Vali felt mad again, but it wasn't towards Michael, he just couldn't figure it out.

"Was I lonely during the most important days of my life? Yes. But I also know getting into a fit or wallowing around in my self-pity won't get me anywhere. Besides, even if my real family wasn't there, I have other people to worry about." Michael held up his thumb.

"Really? Then tell me, who are these people?" Vali asked incredulously.

"Hah! Are you actually asking that? Man, and you say that I'm the moron, you moron!" Michael gave a cheeky laugh as he jabs his thumb to the left side of his chest, his heart,

"My friends, of course."

"…Friends?" Vali looked confused.

"Of course, friends worry over friends, so it's only natural to feel this way."

Michael smiled as he remembers his time with the Occult Research Club even the Student Council, and the human friends he made at Kuoh Academy. These very few groups of people that he befriended filled the hole of something he craved for more than anything. Connections.

Without connections, he would have been sad, depressed and always mad at everything. With the connections, he made he was able to attain so much from the very little things he did with them.

"My friends were able to make me happy whenever I felt down in the dumps or sad. Every path that I made was influenced by their kindness and concern over me. I can't help, but say this because I get this warm feeling in my chest whenever I laugh or smile with them. It's hard to even explain it yet, but I feel that I may lose that very feeling I got so obsessed with. So, I wouldn't mind protecting it, even at the cost of my own life." Michael grinned.

"So, what you're saying is that your friends are what make you strong? Hn! How cliché." Vali rolled his eyes, he couldn't stand hearing such trivial things.

"It may sound cliché, but what's so wrong about it? Conveying your feelings to people you love is what friends are there for." Michael still kept his smile.

'So, if his friends are what he wants to protect, then how about…' Vali thought while coming up with another plan,

"You're afraid of losing that warm touchy feeling in your chest?"

"...?" Michael blinked with an unaffected face.

"Well then, how about I decide to take that all away right in front of you? Those friends of yours, they wouldn't happen to have the names: Matsuda, Motohama and Kiryuu Aika do they?" Vali raised the question as he laughs upon Michael's face growing serious, but strangely calm.

"Seems I hit the bullet with that one. In any case, you're wondering about how I was able to gather enough information about everyone who has ever came in contact with you, including some of your closest friends? Humans, too. What do you think of this? Wouldn't it be terrible if something "unfortunate" were to happen to them?"

Knowledge was a very powerful weapon when it's in the hands of the enemy using this to bring out another burst of anger from Michael, Vali waits patiently for the sudden increase in power to blow up in his face.

But…

"Hahahahahahahahaha!" Michael laughed until his gut hurt, "Are you freaking kidding!?"

This confused Vali as he was taken back by the sudden laughter, why would he be so cheerful to hear that his own friends would die by his hand?

"*Snort!* Wooooh! Man, that's freaking priceless!" Michael wiped a few tears from his eyes, "Do you honestly believe that I'll let you do that, and besides, you have a few things wrong with this for one, I despise Kiryuu. She's like the brown stuff in my Lucky Charms, not wanted, but somehow always ends up in my spoon whenever I find something good. Second, even if I didn't protect the perverted duo, they would still die happy since they could either go to heaven and fail horribly as they get shot down by some angel chicks. Or since they are perverts, they can live their entire lives in hell, happily being tortured by some devil girls. Well, if there exists some who'd do that for them…"

Michael shivered as he remembered the S&M side of Akeno and tried to forget it.

"…What?" Vali absolutely had no comment on how to react to this. What he just heard was complete nonsense. Well, it would be nonsense if it came from someone else, but hearing it from Michael, he could feel that even attempting this would be a failure.

"Oh right, getting off track. So yeah, I can safely say that you won't be hurting my friends while I'm around." Michael thrusts his fist out.

"What makes you so certain that I won't do it? We are opposing sides, I'm supposed to do everything in my power to make sure that I can obliterate you both mentally and physically. You may not even realize it, but I may gun for your beloved master, Rias Gremory." Vali threatened, Michael felt a little off with hearing that Rias would get hurt, but shook his head.

"You can quit it with that because I sure as hell know that you won't reach, Buchou. Not while I'm still breathing! I promised that I would always be there to make sure she's always happy, so don't think you'll be able to do anything to endanger her or my friends, ya got it!?" Michael punched his open palm with a grin.

XXX

'Thank you, Michael…' Rias placed both hands on her chest as she blushed.

XXX

Vali narrowed his eyes as he examined Michael's behavior. It was all wrong. After all that's been revealed to him about his past parents, the threats to his friend, and his verbal threat of him killing his lover. He should be mad, no, hell-bent in rage. Not smiling like everything will turn out well like a happy ending. In fact, that smile just pissed Vali off even more, but it wasn't towards Michael.

It was the same as before it kept on encroaching again.

'I don't understand…' Was all Vali could force himself to think.

So, to solve this out once and for all, Vali said,

"Michael Hanamura."

"What is it? Anymore threats towards my friends? Because I can safely say, you won't be doing crap with me around." Michael confidently smiled as he takes a step back in a stance to fight.

"Do you hate me?"