Red vs. White, Round 2! The clash of the Two Heavenly Dragons shakes the Earth, and the unforgivable rage from the past awakens!? Pt. 3

The abrupt question caused Michael to do his usual "derp" face,

"Say what?"

"Do you hate me?" Vali asked the straightforward question once more.

"Geez! What's with you and asking weird questions in a middle of a fight? Are you planning to do one of your mind games again, because I already told you! I won't be toyed with again." Michael exclaimed.

"No, what I want to know is how you feel about me. Before we continue, the responses you've been making are befuddling my thoughts, and don't make sense. So, it's making me question about what you think of me. Everything I tried was supposed to get the right reaction from you since you act upon emotions like that of your red dragon emperor predecessors." Vali referred back to his past talk with Azazel bringing up the topic of the past Red Dragon Emperors, who fought and usually lived their lives with their emotions on their sleeves.

'Could it be that this loser has an easier grasp over his emotions than his past predecessors? Or is he hiding something that I have yet to know because it will be difficult for me to continue this fight at this pace.' Vali narrowed eyes grew more focused.

"Your messing with me, aren't you? You must have been planning this out and acting this way to throw me off guard. Those past acts of being childish and a fool must have been a way to make me think up the perfect plan to unleash your rage, but instead you did the opposite to get my guard down." Vali stated as he felt like a fool to believe Michael's past acts as an idiot were actually true, but perhaps there was more to him than he thought in the end.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I haven't made a single plan since this fight started? And I sure know that I have no clue about what you mean when you referred to that plan of yours to make me mad. I'm just acting out the way I feel, that's all." Michael simply answered.

"Ludicrous, if you were, then why aren't you furious, confused, and torn apart about everything I've told you? Attacking me with no mercy and losing self-awareness of your own health? It's only normal that your emotions would double with that negative reinforcement and focus your hatred towards me. Yet you still act strange. Smiling without a care and having the confidence to say that I won't hurt your friends. Just what angle are you playing at?" Vali tightened his fists as he pressed Michael for an answer.

Michael grins and pulls down his eyelid,

"Because I know you won't hurt my friends, and we're fighting because of these!" Michael points to the goggles, "The other things that you said before was so difficult that I couldn't follow what you were saying at all. You say some big blocky words, you know?"

"I'm not satisfied with just that answer me for re-."

"Okay, fine. If you want my answer then here it. I hate you, honestly, from the bottom of my heart." Michael gave an honest answer with a very truthful smile, "You're a complete and total asshole, who's better at everything than me."

The straight up answer took Vali off guard, but he soon nods in understanding. But something about that smile felt off to him a little,

"It's understandable that you would think that, besides, we both hold the two dragons the-."

"But it's not that kind of hate though." Michael rubbed the bridge of his nose as he looked to Vali then back to the sky.

"What?" Vali was perplexed, this matter continuing was all confusing than before,

"Then what do you mean by "kind" what type of do you have hatred towards me is?"

"Well, it's sort of…" Michael turns away with his arms crossed, "Kind of…like, um… well, you know…" Michael turns around and folds his arms behind his head, "It's hard to just say, you bastard. I can't describe it since I don't know how it feels for something like this to really happen, so just accept it and let's move on with the fight!"

"I won't be satisfied with that. Tell me what kind of hatred, do you have towards me?" Vali stubbornly sought out Michael's answer.

"Well, it's…Mmmmmmmm!" Michael lowered his head as he tried to come up with a response.

"What's wrong with Michael-nii?" Gasper questioned as he saw Michael's rude behavior.

"He said he hated him, but he meant a different kind?" Kalawarner rubbed her chin in thought.

Watching the way Michael acted, Azazel's eyes got wide as he smiled with a big laugh,

"Ohohoho! This is too good, I'd never have expected this development to happen!"

"And that is?" Sirzechs looks over at the Governor-General.

"You'll see." Azazel snickered as he watched, Sirzechs even saw Kai snicker a little while Zethyr looked away completely uninterested with all the talking going on through the fight, but his expression was less stern than before.

"Well, are you just going to mumble like a buffoon the whole time, or are you finally going to tell me?" Vali crossed his arms.

Face palming himself, Michael's face grew red as he tried to find the right words to say. He honestly didn't like revealing personal feelings about himself to others, especially, if this ass is the one, he's telling it to. It's a feeling that he never understood or touched upon actually. It felt strange and it was something Michael couldn't forget or abandon. This feeling made him feel like it wasn't…

"Grgh! Fine then, you want to know then I'll tell you!"

Being hysterical, Michael points at Vali with his face completely red. Vali felt strange as well as what came out Michael's mouth shocked him the most,

"The hatred that I feel towards you is the same as a sibling hating his other sibling for being better than him at everything!" Michael spouted out a few surprising words which made Vali stagger back in shock.

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

Everyone in general was speechless by Michael's outburst. The Red Dragon Emperor seeing the White Dragon Emperor as a sibling?

"W-What?" Vali exclaimed off put on how to react.

"You heard me. Don't make me repeat myself!" Michael growled, "You wanted to know and I told you! I hate you, like how brothers hate each other. You get it now!?"

"Brothers…" Vali grits his teeth as he clenches his fist, the mention of the word "Brother" didn't sit well with him.

"You may not think much of it, but you're good at everything! Every. Single. God. Damn. Thing! I couldn't even compete with you as a kid and that made me furious. Plus, with that smart-assed mouth of yours there was a time where I hated you in general for real!" Michael shouted as he starts to convey his feelings,

"I hated it. Some new kid appearing from nowhere showing the Great Hanamura up? No, I absolutely detested you for everything you were better at than me. But as time grew, I started to realize something. If someone as talented as you really existed, then why didn't you ever smile with anything you've accomplished? You were always so distant and lonely." Michael scratched his cheek,

"So, getting curious, I hounded the Ero-Ossan to tell me why you were always such a stick in the mud, and acting all emo every day, and once he told me the reason why… That was when I started to hate you in a different way because,"

Michael gave a sad smile with a little laugh,

"We're technically the same, you and I. Both of us with no parents, just your plain old orphans."

"…" Vali remained silent not bothering to spare a glance at Michael.

"Knowing that there was someone like me, made me feel strange. It made me realize that I wasn't the only one feeling alone, anymore. Kind of like the same person. Well, not entirely since I was human, and you were half a devil, but you get it, right? So, I tried to do more games with you like those challenges when we were kids just to get a response out of you, so we could try to be friends. But as usual, you were still a smartass, who talked down to me like a loser showing me up at everything we did. With you always ending up being the better one out of the two of us." Michael sneered then laughed,

"So those attempts of me trying to make friends with you ended up being real hostile challenges. It was to see, who was the better person between us. But you know, maybe it was because the Great Hanamura was jea-jea-jelly of you…."

Michael tried to play that off but knew it didn't make sense, he continued, "Yeah, soon enough. I forgot my attempts of trying to be your friend and focused on beating you, my rival."

Michael stated with a bright smile, as pictured an image in his mind. It was him as a young kid walking behind Vali, who was a few steps ahead of him. He tried to catch up, but Vali increased his pace to a run, Doing the same, Michael gets a few feet closer to Vali, before the dark silver haired boy got serious and ran farther away from the lagging Michael.

"You were always a few steps ahead of me as I always got left behind, and just when I felt that I could at least surpass you for a second, you speed up and leave me in the dust. It was frustrating, you know? Not getting to beat someone you didn't really like, but I still felt entitled that I should keep trying no matter what. Even if you did never take any of the challenges we did seriously." Michael then adjusts his goggles,

"All but one that is." Michael nods, "When we fought for these, you actually fought me with everything you had. It actually made me believe that you saw me as an equal, someone you saw that could stand against you on the same level. It made me confident that I could make a guy like you take me serious for once, and that I could have a chance to beat you as your rival."

Michael then got angry again and growled,

"But then you try and shrug it off thinking that this is not that big a deal. Thinking it as an inconvenience, but your wrong these goggles are much special than that. It's what held my connection with you up to this point. I know that we didn't really saw eye to eye, but you can't deny that you didn't feel the same, too. It does sound strange hearing it from me, but with what I got out of the time I spent with you and the Ero-Ossan, I started to think that what I was feeling back then and right now was like being in a family." Michael smiled gratefully,

"Like having a dad…"

"Chi! Like anyone would want to be the father of that moron."

Azazel shrugged, his words may say one thing, but his content expression said another.

"And a brother…"

Michael's calm voice reached Vali's ears. The latter of whom didn't get the reasoning Michael made.

Dragon aura seeping out of his body, Vali simply lowered his head and allowed his raw anger to stir up inside of him. How could a loser like this possibly believe that he had the gall to say they were equals after the many times he lost? And for him to even bring up the topic of them being brothers? That's absurd!

'This must be a joke, right…? Him? Actually, considering me as his brother? An equal? This is just too ridiculous. He managed to sully my mood more than once today, he even spoiled the fun I was having before, now I can't even think straight without my rage blinding me.' Vali tensed his arms as his hair covered his eyes.

"So, there's my answer. Now can we get started? All of this talking is making me embarrassed."

Michael scratched his head until a strong pulse of dragon power which created a strong wind that took him off guard,

"What the hell?" Michael focused his eyes to see the silhouette of a Vali's shadow through the surge of aura.

*GLEAM!*

A pair of electrifying blue eyes emerged through and stared at him in hostility.

Suddenly the strangest thing started happening, Vali was laughing…

"Hahahahaha…"

"…?" Michael looked at Vali in hopes of learning what was so funny again.

"Is Vali-sama laughing?" Mittelt's face contorted in confusion.

"Has he finally lost it?" Kalawarner said.

"Looks that way, but really he's just mad." Azazel sighed, "But I gotta say, I've never seen him this mad in a long time."

Casting a knowing glance towards Zethyr, who still looked away from the fight.

Azazel tiredly groaned,

"What a pain. Now things will get even more difficult for the brat."

Surrounding himself with his dragon aura, Vali laughed,

"How ridiculous. For me to end up like this because I can't even enjoy this fight anymore because of you, Hanamura." Vali was in disbelief,

"You think of me as a brother, and believe you're my equal? Don't be naïve!" Vali growls as he slowly walks out of the mass of aura surrounding his body as he dons his now reformed White Scale Mail.

{Vanishing Dragon Balance Breaker!}

"Everything about you just doesn't make any sense. You've pushed away everything I told you about your parents abandoning you, the threats towards you and your friends, and yet, you still rabble on about that useless item through this fight!"

Vali couldn't understand what was going on anymore. Everything was planned out, perfectly. He was supposed to get the correct reaction for everything he said, he wasn't supposed to be the one who'd end up angered. It was supposed to be this moron, not him.

It was blood boiling, to see that smile still on that face of his even though he was abandoned, it was sickening and it made Vali lose his cool. It's only human nature to hold a grudge towards those who've wronged you, so why wasn't he mad?

'Talking about family and saying you hate me as a brother how absurd!'

A brief flashback of a young Vali sitting in a pool of blood staring at a variety of swords impaling a woman on the ground, flashed through his mind.

{Vali…?}

Albion felt a disturbance through Vali's behavior. It felt completely dangerous and unstable, a feeling which hasn't been felt in over a long time.

'How absurd…!' Vali tightened his fist, he was livid and needed to let out this anger before it affects him any further.

This subject was very touchy with Vali as these questions swirled around in his head, the heated anger with the target he not could identify grew hotter in his chest. Just the sight of Michael right now is ruining his mood to even enjoy this fight, that's how extreme things have gotten.

"I have no interest in this fight anymore, or you… I'll engrave into that little head of yours, why you'll still be a loser compared to me!"

Vali roars and releases enough pressure towards dragon aura expunged the ground and created a large crater beneath him, he needed to get rid of this painful feeling going through his mind and the solution to ending it would be by taking down Michael with no hesitation.

"Heh, looks like you've gone off the deep end for once. Good, now we can start this fight for real." Michael chided with a smug grin, "But you know, it's much better seeing you mad than being a jackass with that smart mouth of yours. Helps me get a better read of what your thinking. Now, prepare to see the Great Hanamura go all out!"

Michael roars as he starts letting out dragon aura near the same output as Vali, he still wasn't good enough to be at the latter's level but he could compensate by using all the other abilities he has.

"I'm going to wipe that smile off that face of yours, Hanamura, by completely eradicating you without holding back! This petty little game of ours is over…"

*ZAN!* *ZIIN!* *ZAAAAN!* *ZIN!*

Kicking off the ground with light speed, Vali engulfs himself with white light and engages Michael while making complex maneuvers with his speed.

"Finally because I'm not playing anymore, either!"

[Jet!]

Propelling himself with the jets attached to his armor, Michael beats his dragon wings back and enclosed the distance between him and Vali with a powerful charge.

"Huraaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

*CLASH!*

Both clashed their elbows when contact was made creating an almighty push of shockwaves to clear away the many large rock formations surrounding them. Leaning in one more time, the two dragon users cocked back their fists and fired off a barrage of attacks clashing against each other.

*THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!*

Fist to Fist. Kick to Kick. Knee to Knee. Elbow to Elbow. Close combat being one of Michael's specialties, he thought he would have the edge, but with Vali's superior speed it was tough to keep up with the attacks. Vali, however, was able to get a few good hits in as they pierced through the armor and reached the defenseless Michael inside.

In unison, the two jumped back to get better, equal ground.

*FLAP!*

"Huryaaaaaaah!"

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

Michael uses his wings to flap back while clenching his fist and creating a basketball sized mass of demonic energy and dragon energy in the shape of a sphere.

"Dragon Shot!"

*DOOOOOOOOOON!*

*SNAP! *SNAP!*

"Grrrchk!"

A humongous blast of red energy sought out Vali as Michael's arm twitches in pain as he felt a least two of his fingers fracture from using too much power.

[Moron! I warned you not to use too much power, you'll just kill yourself before your opponent does!]

"Sorry! I got too into the moment to realize what I was doing." Michael winced in pain as he tried to block out the horrible pain of his broken fingers.

[Then don't get dragged into it! If you had the bracelet, then it wouldn't have had to come to this!]

In terms of size, the blast dwarfs Vali's form, exponentially, but Vali still stood in place and raised his hand forward.

"Pathetic."

Latching a single hand onto the attack, Vali manages to hold it back and stop its progression.

"What? He caught it?" Michael gasped as the massive power he released was stopped like nothing.

"Albion…" Vali coldly ordered.

{Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide!}

Dividing the power into his own body, Vali makes sure to erase the mass of the dragon shot.

"Incredible, he stopped that blast without so much as flinching!" Michael gasped in awe.

Turning to look at Michael, Vali says threateningly, "Now you!"

"Here, he comes!" Michael raises his guard and blinks seeing that Vali disappeared from where he stood. Looking for the white armored individual, Michael allowed his guard to drop as he looks to the side of any sight of him.

Unfortunately, that was his biggest mistake.

Because appearing right over Michael's blind spot to his right side was Vali with his hand stretched out to his head.

"Uh-oh!" Michael gasped.

"Eat the dirt!"

*SLAM!*

Vali dunks Michael's head into the ground and holds onto it with enough strength to keep him pinned.

"I won't allow you to even make a move anymore." Vali proclaimed as he flapped his wings and kept Michael's face to the dirt as he dragged him along through it.

"Oh cra-Bblbblblblblblblbl!"

Getting his head dunked into the rough, dry ground and forced to move through it with his face, Michael received tons of damage as even the mask of his scale mail crumpled under the forceful attack. Using his wings to speed up the process, Vali only added more damage speed.

{Divide! Divide! Divide!}

"Dammit!" Michael felt even more power leave from his body as Vali picks him up by the broken remains of his mask and throws him up a few feet.

"Haah!"

*DOOOOON!*

Firing off a serious beam of dragon power mixed with demonic power, Vali sends Michael soaring through the air with the beam still pushing him back.

"Hmph!" But that wasn't the end of his assault.

*ZAN!* *ZAN!* *ZAN!**ZIIIIN!*

Using his speed, Vali tracks after the beam and his opponent while zig zagging through the air.

"Nrgh!" Michael recovers and uses his hands to try and push back the beam attacking him, "This is bad, he got me good with this one! Maybe I can knock this attack out of the way and get some breathing space no-."

"And just who the hell do you think will give you that chance?"

Michael looks back to see a crossed arm Vali, who managed to get behind him with his phenomenal speed.

'Damn, I couldn't even sense him? How long has he been there!?' Michael gritted his teeth.

[I would be more worried about what he's going to do now!]

Placing his palm out at Michael's back, Vali muttered with a dark tone,

"Fall."

*SHIIIIINE!*

A bright light emanates from his hand and a massive beam of energy engulfs Michael and sends him hurtling towards the ground.

"Not good! Not good! Not good! Not…GOOOOO—aaaaaaaaaah!"

*CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!*

*GOGOGOGON!*

Creating a colossal crater with nothing, but his body and the weight of the attack, Michael's fall caused the earth around him to shatter and break off into large boulders and rocks as a large pile of dust surrounded him.

"He's still alive…." Vali who watched the dust finally settle sees a guarding Michael with a body completely cloaked in Touki as it enhanced the defense of his armor.

"Whew! That was close and now!" Michael raised his Boosted Gear, "It's my turn!"

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

[Michael, what did I just tell you?]

"Relax, I'm not going to use it for any of my dragon power based techniques anymore. Because starting now, I'm transferring it to Ascalon!"

[Transfer!]

Fists covered in enhanced, golden dragon slayer aura, Michael propels himself at Vali with a strong bat of his wings.

"Here I come!" Michael's used his Touki to cover his body and level up his speed to the correct level he wanted. His mastery over the power has allowed him to stay in a full state of it for a long time even focus the power to strengthen one of his attributes in battle.

"Hmmph!" Vali flies down after Michael and flicks his wrist creating a white sharp shockwave intended to slice his opponent in half.

*PHASE!*

*SHIIIIIING!*

The shockwave passes through Michael's body as it cuts a rock formation behind him in half.

"Another one of those afterimages..." Vali realizes that there were more around him in the form of Michael flying around his form.

"Let's see if you can catch me now, Vali!" Michael's voice echoed from the collage of afterimages.

"It won't take much time as you think. I'll just sense you and finish you off right now." Vali senses the presence of Michael in one go and sighed once he knew this would be easy, but then another presence appeared then another and another. Vali widened his eyes as he looks at the still images of Michael around him he couldn't just sense Michael's presence in one of them he felt it in all of them!

"I can't predict where he is!" Vali growled.

"Coming right at ya!"

Appearing from one of the afterimages came a charging, Michael with his fist cocked back ready to fire.

"…!" Vali raises his arms to guard.

*BAGAAN!*

"Trck!" Vali grits his teeth as the brunt attack of Michael's imbued dragon slayer fist caused the gauntlets of his armor to break, easily.

"Woohoo!" Michael laughed as he returned into one of the many still images to wait for another chance to attack Vali.

"How is he capable of doing this? I don't understand?" Vali muttered.

"Your guard's down!" Michael roared as he leaps out from one of his still images and attacks Vali's shoulder.

*BAGAAN!*

The shoulder plate crumbled away as Michael punched it.

"Grrrrr!" Vali twists his body around before the punch reached his naked shoulder and blasted a beam of demonic energy at Michael.

"Haha! What a lame shot, you suck at this!" Michael dodges the attack and picks up the pace of his speed to match the still images he created around Vali.

Albion fixed the cracks and damage done to the armor while Vali thought more about the technique, and tries to put aside his growing frustration towards the idiot who's making a fool out of him.

'This is testing my patience... How did he get this fast, he wasn't like this before…' Vali then realized the cloak of touki around Michael when he was picking up his speed, 'He's using that technique to increase his speed to get the best of me with this defensive measure to hide himself.'

"I can't explain the multitude of presences around me, but I can say for certain that your still here among these images." Vali raised his hand.

"Hah! Just what can you do about it?" Michael laughed as he prepared to attack again.

"This!"

*FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!*

Vali created a blinding light which covered the entire battlefield.

"Aaargh! My eyes!" Michael covered his eyes as he stops his fast momentum and made the still images of himself around Vali disappear.

"There you are!" Vali quickly charges at Michael with his hand outstretched.

"Ngh!" Michael raised his guard as he sensed him right in front of him.

*SWOOSH!*

Vali vanished along with his presence.

"Huh, he vanished? But where did he g-?"

*GRAB!*

Grabbing Michael's head from behind, Vali darkly mutters, "Right here."

*CRACKLE!* *CRACKLE!*

A few sparks of lightning release from Vali's hand and lash around Michael's head.

"No…" Michael breathily gasped as he realized what will happen next

"Die…" Vali whispered.

*BAKAAAA!* *BAKAAAAAAA!* *BAKAAAAAAAA!* *BAKAAAAAAAAAA!*

"Agagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagaga!" Receiving more than a 1000 volts directly to the head, Michael experienced hellish pain as Vali mercilessly allows the stream of lightning to course through Michael's body.

"Michael!" Rias cries out at the sight of the young man experiencing excruciating pain.

"Agagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagaga!" Michael screams out loud as the pain only continued. If Vali were to continue with this violent attack, he could've cause Michael's heart to explode with all the voltage.

"Now do you see how futile your belief in being my equal was?" Vali grunts as he stops the stream of lightning to hold up a badly burned Michael, who exhaled smoke from his gaping mouth.

*BAGAAAAAAAN~!*

The armor which covered around Michael's body completely broke apart as Michael hanged limply in Vali's grasp.

"Never stood a chance..."

*BAM!*

"Guuacgh!" Michael coughs out a large amount of blood as he received the armor cladded fist to the stomach.

"Now allow me to give you a full lesson in my power. What I just used on you right now was just half of it." Vali informed Michael about his power, "If I wanted to, I could have just continued and let the shocks kill you, but instead, I decided to take things slow before I finish you off."

Raising Michael high up in the air, Vali looks up, "Realizing your situation, I'm sure that you know the odds aren't in your fav-."

*SPIT!*

Michael spat blood on Vali's face.

"Whoops...s-sorry was trying to clean my mouth." Michael tiredly smirked, he forced himself to stay conscious just to do that.

Looking unamused but really mad, Vali takes it upon himself to calmly handle his anger.

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

So, he decided to release his pent up rage on Michael by senselessly punching him in the stomach and face for 15 minutes straight.

{Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide!}

He even halved all the power he needed from Michael just in case.

"Any other quips that you'd like to get off your chest?" Vali held up a battered Michael whose mouth had blood coming out of it and down his chin.

"*Pant!* I don't know do yo-Ugh!" Michael received a strong blow that knocked the wind out of him.

"This is enough, I suppose." Vali looked at the unconscious body of Michael and clicked his tongue, "What a waste, at least, I had some fun while it lasted. Well, time to end this."

*THUD!*

Vali drops Michael and lets him fall to the ground.

"Urgh!" Michael hits the ground hard with his body twitching, "Grgh!"

"This little game of ours truly is over. You should be honored Hanamura that you were able to make me get this serious." Vali lands in front of Michael, but raises an eyebrow when he sees him struggle to get up.

"Nhgh! Ugh!" Michael pants as he pushes himself up on all fours as his body gives the occasional twitch after receiving all that electricity.

'Durable and stubborn as always…' Vali spat.

"You're still at it? I already told you things are finished, you can't possibly think you can fight me at your condition. Just accept defeat, and I'll end this suffering by making your death swift." Vali's hand surrounds itself with dragon aura.

"Ptooo! I'm not throwing in the towel just yet. I still need to at least get you to the same state I am before this fight is done." Michael spat as he stands up and holds his bruised stomach to lessen the pain.

Confused once more by Michael's strange behavior, Vali questioned, "Why, just why?"

"Why, what?" Michael grunts as his body spasms each time he tries to take a step.

"Why do you keep acting like that? You keep saying that you'll eventually wear me down to your same state, and it's infuriating! How can you possibly think you are my equal? You're just a self-proclaiming rival, that's what you are." Vali tried to bring down the boy a couple of pegs, but he still. Kept. Smiling.

"Call me whatever you like, but just know that this loser is the Great Hanamura, and he will be your equal whether you like it or not!"

[Dragon Booster!]

Michael grinned as he summoned the Boosted Gear.

"Okay, Ddraig, how much time do I have for Balance Breaker?"

[About 15 minutes left.]

"W-What, 15 minutes? Now I know your messing with me, right?"

[No, you have 15 minutes. Your rival actually drained most of your energy, so that will be hard to get back up. Also, it doesn't help that you used the Transfer call and overused the Boosting power for the Balance Breaker in the first place!]

"So, do you think I could get at least an hour if I sacrificed an arm?" Michael sucked in his lips.

[No, 5 minutes.]

"Are you sure it has to be five minutes? Maybe you could bump it up to at least 30 minutes?" Michael twiddled his thumbs.

[5 minutes, no exceptions.]

"Oi! Be considerate here! I could die, yeah, don't make me put that on your conscious, Ddraig. I've done it before, so why can't you change the number of minutes when I want to sacrifice something to you?" Michael growled.

[Because that's how the rules work, you should be lucky that you're getting any more power than you already should.]

"Oh, yeah? Well, I-you know what forget it. I'll make do with what I got and handle, Vali. 15 minutes is more than enough for me!" Michael smiled confidently and thrusts out his fist and reforms his Balance Breaker's Scale Mail save for the mask and visor.

When Vali saw that smile creep up on Michael's face, he felt that he would lose it again had it not been for his calm disposition. He just couldn't tell why he's been feeling so mad since he started this fight with Michael, but with all the unexpected attacks he managed to pull off and even brush off the subject of his parents abandoning him with no trouble. He just couldn't understand. Being confused made him question how Michael was able to do it and questioning how Michael was able to do something that he couldn't just made him madder!

'Just what is it that makes him so positive? Why does he keep smiling when he knows things were never going to be in his favor from the beginning? He brushed off the very mentioning of his mother, who left him behind and still he's smiling. How can that be? It must be ignorance. Could he be denying it, no, if he was then he would be honest with his emotions like he has been before. Just what is it with this loser? How can he be able to do something not even I can-?'

Suddenly a flashback went through Vali's mind, the images of frightened little Vali backing away from the shadow of a woman standing right over him with a malignant smile on her face. Vali wore a disheartened look as he was backed into a wall, the tears streaming down his cheeks were more than enough to tell how much depression he was going through.

Overcome with this feeling of anger, Vali had finally realized why he was so angry it wasn't pointed at Michael or his fast progress. It was because he started to feel a familiar weakness drag itself out of him, and the fact that Michael was easy to brush off something which took years for even Vali to suppress so easily. It made him start to feel mad at his own inability to overcome his weakness.

But there was still the problem with him not understanding Michael's train of thought regarding this, but then remembered something, he was more interested on fighting over those stupid goggles than anything else that didn't pertain to it. Could it be those goggles were there to help keep up a façade through all the threats and cruel reveals? And if so what would happen if they were taken out of the equation, literally?

Curious to know the reaction Michael would make, Vali crossed his arms and spread out his wings,

"Hanamura…"

Michael responded to Vali's call.

"You've been focused on challenging me for those spectacles you were wearing, so that means they are important to you, correct?"

"Of course, that's what we're fighting for right now!"

Michael wasn't sure where Vali was going with this; obviously, he should know that by now.

"Right, you did say that before, but if you would-." Vali suddenly rushes right past Michael before he could react and vanished from his sight.

'Where did he go?' Michael panicked looking for the other sacred gear user, but felt off did his head suddenly feel lighter?

"So, you managed to keep these so well taken care of."

Michael whipped his head back to see Vali looking down at a pair of goggles, his pair of goggles!

'Wait, aren't those-?' Michael touched his forehead to confirm what he's seeing.

"You always boast about how these goggles are relevant to this fight, even more than the destinies of the two Heavenly Dragons, the Welsh and Vanishing. You even ignored everything about those who abandoned you, and yet, you cling onto this object, this piece of metal and plastic." Vali raises the goggles for Michael to see.

"Give it back!" Michael used his jets to charge at Vali, but he misses once Vali flies into the sky.

"Why are you so desperate to get it back, Hanamura? Is it really that important to you?" Vali shook the goggles around in his hand.

"I said give it BACK!"

[Boost! Boost! Boost!]

Michael fired a Dragon Shot out of desperation. But Vali flies to the side and dodges it. The damage from the blast caused another few of Michael's finger to break under the pressure.

"Damn!"

[Michael, what did I tell you? Calm down, or you'll waste more time in your Balance Breaker and hurt yourself!]

"Hah, what's wrong? You're starting to lose your cool, Hanamura!" Vali starts to fly off with Michael gaining up on him.

"I said give it back, you bastard!" Michael prepares another sphere of dragon power in his hand to fire another Dragon Shot, but delays himself from doing so once Vali stops and places the goggles right in front of him.

'That bastard!' Michael stops his attack and glares at Vali.

Vali looks at the goggles and smirked, 'That important, eh?'

Seeing the frustrated look on Michael's face, Vali laughed, he had finally done it, it truly was the reason why Michael was able shrug off the entire events through this fight was because of this thing after all.

'So, let's test if everything he's holed up inside bursts out after this.' Vali tightens his grip around the goggles.

"S-Stop!" Michael yelped.

The look of panic still remained of Michael's expression when Vali playfully clenches his hand around it making it seem he's about to crush it.

"Why so jumpy, Hanamura? Don't worry, I wouldn't do something that simple to destroy it."

That didn't sit well with Michael since that means Vali will use another method of to destroy the goggles.

"J-Just g-give it back!" Michael's insecurity only made Vali more inclined to do so.

"You know only begging me will just make me want to do this even more. I knew a loser like you could break down when something you care so much for is taken. These goggles may not matter that much to me, but to you, they mean more than any possession you have. This may just be my only way to get a real reaction out of you."

Vali admitted his plans.

"Stop! Y-You can't just do that? We still have to fight for them just like befo-!"

"This isn't like before!"

"Ngh!" Michael gritted his teeth.

Vali shook his head, tired of hearing the same thing over and over again, "Stop bringing up old news, the past was the past. We're in the present; this fight is happening because of our intertwined fates as the Welsh Dragon and Vanishing Dragon. Nothing else..."

"But-!"

"There are no but's at all. This fight should have been fueled by hate and anger with both of us trying to kill each other, not just fight for these insignificant things. This is a matter between dragons, not a fulfillment of some petty game that happened between children!"

Vali angrily tosses the goggles to the side, he even fired a blast of energy to destroy it once it touched the ground.

"No! Stop it!" Michael propels himself at the goggles in hopes of reaching them, 'I-I can't let them be broken. Not now. I still have to prove myself first! I-I can't have them be destroyed before I can prove myself as his rival! B-Before I-I-I-!'

Michael grinds his teeth as he cries out,

'Get him to accept me like an equal he could respect!'

Reaching out, Michael desperately cries,

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

*DOOOON!*

A large cloud of smoke filled the area where the goggles were last dropped, nothing remained, all that was left was a crater the size of human body.

"No…" Michael muttered as he lands onto the ground and stares at the empty crater with wide eyes.

"Finally, now we have no more nuisances." Vali breathed out in relief, now things could finally go underway like he had planned before everything got complicated.

"…" Michael continues staring at the crater.

"What's wrong? Have I finally broken you, Hanamura?"

"… …" Michael remained silent as he lowers his head.

'T-They're gone…' Michael thought with a monotone voice.

"If you were so hung up on those useless goggles, then you should try and at least pay me back for destroying them. You can let it go. Let all of your hate, anger and rejection come out at me all at once. If you keep holding it all in, you're just going to die pitifully as the loser, you've always been." Vali's insults may not have reached Michael's ears, but his encouragement to let everything go did…

"Fine then."

*THROBB!* *THROBB!*

Michael stood up. His voice was strained and low. Releasing touki from his body, Michael's form starts to slowly change starting with the dark coloring of his aura as it slowly turns from white to black.

[Michael?] Ddraig notices the imbalance of power flowing through Michael's body it felt completely furious and dangerous. It was happening again.

"If you want me to let everything out, then fine…!" Hair turning unruly and wild. His teeth's incisors growing sharp along with the dark coloring of both his now black Touki and dark reddish Dragon aura. Michael's entire form was warping into something else.

Vali arrogantly watches with his arms crossed ignoring the dense pressure Michael is exuding.

"If you really want all of these feelings unleashed upon you, then I'll make sure to break you. Make you suffer. Make you experience fear. Make you experience regret." Michael's attitude went 360 fast when he started out of character. Hardening around his left gauntlet clad arm was the black aura his body was creating.

XXX

"This power it's just like with Kokabiel." Rias gasped as she remembers the same atmosphere from before.

"Things are getting to be real dicey, aren't they?" Azazel was foreboding Vali's decision on pushing Michael this far. The way things are playing out there will be an outcome no one will like at all. If Vali continued to feed more anger to Michael's temper then things will make a turn for the worst.

"Sirzechs-chan, this is the same as." Serafall looks at the battle with a rather reminiscent expression.

"I know, but we should have expected this to happen from the beginning." Sirzechs now narrowed his eyes at Michael ignoring the White Dragon Emperor for now.

"…" S. Michael bowed his head as he remembered the last time he felt such ghastly power ran on negative emotions.

Looking over to Kai, Zethyr asked, "Shouldn't we be stopping this?"

Shrugging his shoulders and watching closely, Kai says, "We could do that, but only when things are getting too out of hand. I want to see how things play out from here."

"Fine, but you should know curiosity did kill the cat." Zethyr narrowed his eyes at the fight.

"I know, but luckily for me, I'm a monkey youkai." Kai chuckled then thought, 'Now Michael-san, show me how much anger you've suppressed to finally reach the threshold to use 'that' power.'

XXX

Once Vali had committed the unjustified task to destroy the goggles the entire area felt cold and it wasn't just cold because of the wind it just felt.

*CHILLLLSSS~!*

The cold atmosphere was able to shake some of those, who were watching outside. But as for Vali, he still remained unfazed and was actually excited that he could finally see this side of Michael.

"That's it get angry! Show me some real fun, Hanamura!" Vali prepares to fire down a blast of demonic energy, but soon stops to realize he couldn't move his hand.

'What, why can't I?' Vali whips his head back to see that his arm was being held by a black aura cladded hand.

"I will never forgive you…"

Holding Vali back was Michael himself as his hair covered his eyes.

Looking to the ground where the teen stood, then to his side, Vali laughed at the impressive speed that Michael had to reach this close to him.

"Impressive, but don't think this will be enough to hold m-!" Vali attempts at using a pulse of his dragon energy to send Michael flying but to his shock he could tap into the power at all. Thinking this as just an inconvenience, Vali attempted to use Demonic energy to do the job. But it too still does not work.

'What is this? Albion, explain what's going on!'

{This is impossible! I can't read any power coming off of you at all. It's all gone!}

'What? how is that possible!?'

Vali gasped as he realizes, he couldn't fire any kind of magic or dragon power, 'Could it be this black aura?'

Speaking up with a growl in his voice, Michael says,

"Didn't I tell you already? I will make you regret everything you did by making you suffer!"

*SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSUUUU!*

"…!"

Vali staggers back as he tries to cover his eyes from the large mass of dark energy enveloping Michael and his arm, Vali could sense it, the raw negativity the aura is giving off it was filled with sadness, anger, regret and loneliness. He couldn't fathom what kind of power it was since it was solely based on those dark emotions other than his dragon power.

Gasping out of surprise, Vali starts to feel himself sweat as he saw the now blood red eyes Michael was glaring at him with. There was something else too, a clear visible line of a liquid rolled down Michael's cheek. Were those tears?

"Those eyes…!" Vali tried to jerk back his hand but soon realizes Michael's strong grip was resilient making it difficult for him to even think about escaping.

*CRACK!* *CRACK!*

Cracking his fingers before clenching them into a fist, Michael reels back his arm as he holds onto Vali's arm tight so he wouldn't escape.

[Boost! Boost! Boost!]

Boosting the dragon power in his fist, Michael was now prepared to use it.

"Rrgh!" Vali prepares to take the brunt hit of the blow.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Michael fires the first hit of his angered state across Vali's face, the hit's force sent Vali spiraling through the air as it blew off the mask and visor on his face as created a few cracks on the rest of his armor. The hit alone caused Vali to cough up a large amount of blood.

'Tch, that really did a number on me.' Vali winced in pain.

{Vali, get ahold of yourself before he makes use of your unguarded state!}

"I know." Vali reforms the broken parts of his armor along with a couple of cracks and now flies steadily in pace, he soon realizes that the power he couldn't release before was back once more,

"It's all back again." Vali's aura slowly flows out his body once more.

'Just what did he do, and what's up with his arm?' Vali watches closely as the black mass of energy surrounding Michael's arm started to change the form of the Boosted Gear's gauntlet.

'What!?'

The red armored gauntlet changed from red to pitch black with some of it red highlights still being left alone as the jewel on its hands turns completely blood red with a certain symbol in the form of an "M." inside of it. The ominous looking gauntlet placed on Michael looked very demonic and strange.

[Cursed Gear Activated!]

[This power, how ominous... Michael just what did you do to unlock this?]

"Doesn't matter right now. Must make Vali pay!" Michael growled focused on his one goal.

[Could it be that this strange power is affecting Michael's judgement like before?]

"Cursed Gear?" Asia tilts her head at the strange name, but besides that she felt sympathetic knowing just how sad Michael was just made her feel the same way as well.

"Just what is that?" Raynare frowned and whispered over to Xenovia who shrugs.

"It seems really devilish if you look at it closely."

"Just what kind of power did it use for Michael-kun to make that?"

Xenovia and Irina looked at the strange Boosted Gear variation Michael just now made.

Mixing his surging black aura with his red dragon aura together, Michael angrily roars, "For you to do something that dastardly! To destroy those goggles from long ago! I'll never forgive you…Vali! I'll make you pay! RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW!"

Michael's energy skyrocketed; although this excited Vali he still was very cautious on what to do next.

"Albion, have you finished analyzing that black energy?" Vali knew Albion would take into account of things like this.

{I couldn't identify what it is per say in origin, or how he made it. But it's very clear that it will nullify your abilities if he touches you with it. I advise you that attack from distances and use close combat when he's disoriented.}

"That seems to be the only way to go at this point." Vali flapped his wings and elevated himself in the air to catch some speed before diving back down at Michael.

Placing his hands out, Vali fires a multiple barrage of magic beams at Michael from above.

*DOOOOOOOOOON!* *DOOOOOOON!* *DOOOOOOOOON!* *DOOOOOOOON!* *DOOOOOOOOOOON!*

[Jet!]

Taking the beams head on, Michael fires himself at Vali with his Cursed Gear faced up to grab it.

Vali could only laugh believing that the boy's anger made him a fool to take on these attacks.

Grabbing onto the first beam which reached him with a flick of his wrist, Michael dispersed it with nothing left.

[Zero!] The new call echoed.

"He can make projectile attacks vanish, too?"

Vali watched as Michael did the same with all of his other attacks raining down on him. Now with nothing to get in his way, Michael charges at Vali with a loud roar.

"VALIIIIII!"

"Chi!" Vali dives at Michael and fires a few magic bullets to blind him.

"Get that outta here!" Michael smacks his Cursed Gear into them and makes them disperse, but looking forward he sees that Vali was gone but later found when he was pulled back by the shoulder and into his attack.

He had managed to slip by his vision with the speed of his Balance Breaker.

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

Vali punches Michael across the face, knees his chest and uppercuts his chin and locks his hands together and slammed them on his head sending him crashing into the ground below. Each of those blows were brutal and weren't held back at all.

Standing right back up with a bloody forehead and a few cracks on his armor, Michael charges his power up again, "Raaaaaaaaargh! Vali!"

[Jet!]

*FLAP!*

*WHOOOOOOOOOSH!*

"He's not even fazed by that attack?" Vali grunts as he dodges a full speed Michael reaching for him.

"You're going down, Vali! I will never forgive you! Do you hear me!" Michael roars as he soars back at Vali.

"Heh, who said I even wanted your forgiveness at all, loser!" Vali raises his palm and prepares a full powered beam of his dragon power, if those last attacks weren't cutting it then maybe he could overcome that nullifying ability with his sheer output of power.

"Let's see if you can cancel this out!"

*DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!*

The gigantic beam of white dragon energy fires itself out at Michael from above who draws back his arm much to Vali's liking believing it was too much.

*INHAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE!*

"…?"

Vali's eyes widen as he saw Michael inhale a vast amount of air. What was he planning?

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

Michael boosted the extension of air his stomach could hold as it over inflated.

Watching this closely himself, Azazel squinted his eyes before realization struck his face,

"Everyone, cover your ears!"

"…?"

"Just do it!"

[ZERO!]

Everyone watching did as they were told by the frantic Governor-General.

*ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!*

*BWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*

Releasing a resounding, heavy roar which not only echoed through the wasteland space but also the outside world, Michael screamed with all his might as it pushed made the entire wave of dragon power, Vali fired at him to implode and vanish.

"Yeaaargh! Ngh!"

*THOOOOOOOOOM!*

The shockwaves of the roar managed to reach Vali, who raised his arms to guard which ended up in failure as he was forced to crash into the ground.

Unplugging their ears everyone was marveled at the sight they just saw.

"What just happened?" Katerea tried to pick out the ringing in her ear, the roar was still so loud that plugging her ears only lessened the damage.

"He managed to fuse his roar with the power of that new Gear of his... Impressive." Azazel closely inspected the Cursed Gear, "To think that he fused the Boosted Gear with 'that' power."

Struggling out of the huge crater his body created Vali stands up coughing a little before realizing something. His Scale Male was completely gone and he couldn't reform it like he had before.

"That shockwave must have had the effects of that new Gear of his…" Vali clenched his naked hand, feeling angered that he was getting overpowered by this…loser.

{Vali, behind you!}

*WHAM!*

"Urgh! Argh! Gugh!"

*CRASH!*

Looking back Vali walks right into a red armored fist which knocked him out into the air and tumbling across the ground until he hits a single rock formation.

Staring at the staggered Vali Michael starts running in and roars, "VALI!"

"For me to end up like this…ngh…" Vali grunts as he prepares for the final blow.

"Uoooooooooooooh!" Michael rushes Vali, but does something out of the ordinary. He reverts back to his base form. There was still a change of his appearance on his entire left arm which now had black tattoo marking with the same "M" symbol etched onto the back of his hand and shoulder.

"Ddraig!" Michael shouted.

[If you're going to do something, then do it. I won't try and persuade you not to overdo anything anymore. Just know you only have 3 more minutes left in your Balance Breaker state.]

'Thanks!' Michael grunts as he held his fist tighter.

"What is he doing?" Sona exclaimed at the weird action.

Getting closer, Michael finally punches Vali in the face and out through the Rock formation.

"Gurgh!" Vali grunted as he fell on his back.

Panting and trying to catch his breath from the strenuous running, Michael walks over to Vali and grabs him by the collar and shouts, "Get up… I'm not letting you off the hook after blowing up those goggles! Right now, we're going to still settle this fight as equals. Do you understand me?"

Vali wore a face of confusion, "You're still going on about that?"

"Of course. I may be royally pissed at you for what you've done and now hate you even more for doing it, but I still want you to fight me as an equal and as a spiteful brother!" Michael growled.

"…! Don't you ever say that again..." Vali was showing signs of getting pushed past his tolerance.

"Why not? It's totally alright to say it! We're both orphans, and we know how it feels to be alone, don't you get it? Just by that, we could understand each other's feelings like back then, so it's only natural that we-!"

"Don't you dare compare myself to YOU!" Vali roared in Michael's face, finally breaking his calm demeanor, "I am nothing like you! Compared to you, I'm not a complete loser, who didn't have a family to begin with. You were thrown away right when you were born. I was casted aside and experienced loneliness far more painful than yours because of my old ties with my old family!"

XXX

"Those two are…" Raymond commented worried that their picked up emotions will only clash further.

"Don't worry." Raymond looks to Azazel, who sighed in relief,

"They seem to be taking their frustration out on each other at this point. It's safe to say that this fight will come to an end."