"Yes, aunty."
Igor replied resolutely. This was important advice he once did not pay extreme attention to. Now he took it seriously.
"That's good. Now carry on."
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|DxD|- Chapter 56- Baraquiel's Advice
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Night came and frost fell once more. The bright moon peered through the window, unhindered by the blinds blocking its light. Inside, Igor lay awake, unable to sleep since Shuri spoke to him. His mind replayed the fight with Liu Xin time and time again.
No matter how stubborn he wanted to remain, Shuri was right. The best tactic was indeed to remain in the air and attack until victory was in sight. She sat down with him through every single aspect of the fight and told him where he went wrong.
Until now, Igor couldn't believe that Shuri had such a wealth of experience. He'd severely underestimated her, even subtly believing he'd surpassed her. But then again, she was mid-class too. It would've been impossible to reach that level without going through a few scraps herself.
"Nnngh…"
He turned to his side with some difficulty. The pain was his price for being overconfident. But this little bit of discomfort was nothing compared to how he disappointed Shuri. His fists still clenched every moment he remembered how Shuri looked at him. He felt so disgusted at himself he wanted to bash his face against the wall.
"Sigh…"
There was no use lingering on it. What he had to ensure was this never, ever, happened again.
"Are you planning to sleep at some point or should I make myself some coffee and wait?"
Baraquiel's casual voice tore through the darkness. Igor looked up, not having noticed the man come in. Baraquiel wore a grey nightgown and leaned on the wardrobe. Even in the darkness, Igor still saw his slight grin.
"Old man…"
Igor tried to sit up, but a firm hand held him down by the shoulder. Baraquiel was as fast as ever.
"Lie down, boy. You shouldn't be moving too much for now."
Igor groaned as the pillow swallowed his head. Idling around was not something he was used to, but his body felt heavier than steel. He took a few deep breaths. The lack of vital energy left even the simplest actions all-consuming.
"Then what if I want to use the bathroom?"
Igor had a small grin of his own. It was light conversation to break the air. He had enough self-pity for today.
"Then let it out. Shuri will clean you tomorrow."
"..."
Igor believed he mishead. Baraquiel said that sentence with such a straight face he had to ask again
"...w-what?"
"Don't you feel it? Wait."
Baraquiel closed his eyes and sniffed the air.
"That's surprising? I thought you would've soiled yourself by now. But no matter. You are wearing a…that thing.
Baraquiel saved him the embarrassment of saying it aloud.
"So feel free to let go. Shuri will clean you up tomorrow."
Baraquiel gave a friendly tap before stepping back to the wardrobe. The room felt very small with his looming figure, especially in the dark.
"Wait. You mean..."
Igor focused. Now that Baraquiel mentioned it, he'd been wondering what this new addition to his hips was. And most thankfully, his bowels didn't betray him during these turbulent times. Still, he didn't know if he'd survive the night without relieving himself. If an accident happened…
"Old man…"
Igor forced himself to banish the thought.
"Please help me to the bathroom."
"Like I said…"
Baraquiel smiled.
"...you shouldn't be moving."
"Old man…"
Igor had a look of pleading. He was a grown man. If he did that to himself, he wouldn't have the liver to remain in this house.
"Alright. I'll help you move a bit."
Baraquiel took pity and stretched out his hand. A force peeled open the blankets and gently lifted Igor out of bed. A pair of wooden crutches formed where he now stood.
"Thank you."
Igor let his weight fall on the crutches. The sensation was…foreign to say the least. It was ironic. He could fly, yet he now needed crutches to even walk on both feet.
Igor steadied himself and took slow steps towards the door and Baraquiel helpfully opened it for him. Thankfully, this home had a downstairs bathroom as well.
Baraquiel didn't follow and waited for Igor in his room. Truthfully, Shuri had chewed him out when he brought back the unconscious boy. The gravity of Igor's injuries was almost too much for her to accept. It was only after seeing Igor actually heal did she calm down.
[Still, the kid's a monster.]
Baraquiel chuckled to himself. Liu Xin's blade would've went through Igor's liver had he not blocked the tip from penetrating further. As much as he believed in the boy's healing, he didn't want to make an uncalculated risk.
In the midst of his thoughts, Igor came out of the bathroom. There was a look of contemplation on his face. He made his way back into the room and Baraquiel helped him into bed again. Once he was settled, Baraquiel was about to ask what happened when Igor suddenly spoke.
"Old man. Was the reason you didn't interfere so I could endure…this? Was it some form of lesson?"
"..."
Well, Baraquiel didn't expect Igor to jump straight into it. He had intended to wait until tomorrow to approach this topic.
"No better time than now, I suppose."
Baraquiel stood up straight with crossed arms. No longer was he casual.
"Yes. I could've stopped you from being stabbed, but I saw it wouldn't kill you. So I let it happen."
He did not mention stopping the blade. The boy needed to believe he survived this ordeal alone.
"Was it…to teach me a lesson?"
Igor's voice was low. Those sky-blue eyes held questions, but no resentment.
"Partially. But I can see you're not understanding the core."
Baraquiel moved closer and sat on the chair next to the bed. For a moment, he gathered his words beneath closed eyes. When they opened, a question came instead of an answer
"You have been training for ten years now, correct?"
"..."
Igor opened his mouth, then paused. He felt both surprise and disbelief that so much time had actually passed. He chuckled helplessly.
"Yeah, old man. Since I was five."
How time flew.
"Indeed. And after that fight, I'm assuming you gained somewhere between seven and eleven years of time. Is that right?"
"Fifteen actually."
"..."
It was Baraquiel's turn to be surprised. He hadn't thought Igor would gain so much. Fifteen years in the time chamber, yet only one year would pass in the world. As good as it sounded, Baraquiel also knew this would have immense effect.
"The reason why I did not interfere in that fight, was I wanted you to gain proper experience. You will be gone for a long time, Igor. Fifteen years is not little. During that time, I want you to use that battle as a baseline to develop a proper fighting style."
Baraquiel grew serious.
"Shuri has told you what you should've done. But I've seen that close combat is both your preference and your weakness. So you need to optimize that, Igor. And that involves addressing certain weaknesses and improving your repertoire. In your mind, you must battle Liu Xin over and over until you win every single time, until you can kill him even when you're blind, deaf, and crippled."
Visualization training—the core reason Baraquiel let Igor get stabbed. Vitality was indeed very limited in terms of versatility, but its current capabilities were out of this world. Igor's healing was something he especially saw reaching a very high level, enough to perhaps heal from even a blade to the heart.
"You know the feeling of poison in you. You know the pain of being stabbed and how debilitating it is. Your body will never forget. So I want you to use this feeling and memory to advance your healing technique. Many people in this world have firepower. Very few can withstand that very firepower. If you can withstand stabs and keep fighting, you will have another advantage over other high class."
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AN: I had some grievances with Baraquiel's method. I'm also curious how he stopped the blade. Did he use telekinesis to block it? If so, how come Igor didn't sense it? Or was he just in too much pain to notice? Questions, questions. On the other hand, how will Igor tackle that fifteen years? I wanna found out. And I really want to see the day he meets Valerie.
Also, apologies for skipping days lately. I can say nothing more than 'shit happens'. I have two things to say though.
One, an announcement is always on my p@treon if I miss a day. Additionally, there's always an extra chapter there. This is not me attempting to funnel you there, even if looks like it. I'm not that much of a bad person, especially since this is a fanfiction. If it were an original novel? Maybe I'd be that much of a d*ck. Anyway, if I die, fall sick, or god forbid go on hiatus, it'll all be on patreon.
Two, I will be making Webnovel my default uploader. This means that from now on, if suddenly busy for some reason, webnovel will still experience regular updates. Why? It's not because I love the company or prefer it. It's just easier. Before I upload chapters for my p@trons, I save them to webnovel as drafts. So if I'm not on my pc, I just use my phone and click "publish".
TLDR: This has been awkardly long, but yeah. Again, sorry for skipping days. Announcements will be on p@treon. Webnovel will experience consistent chapter updates. The end. And thanks for reading.
Chapter 56
END