[184] Tiger vs Tiger; Metal vs Ice

[184] Tiger vs Tiger; Metal vs Ice

Chapter 184: Tiger vs Tiger; Metal vs Ice

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Baihu, the White Tiger, was a very powerful heavenly beast. His body would be too much to absorb for a Gold Ascension; it'd kill Tsubasa. That's one of the reasons I'm willing to choose some weaker tiger.

After explaining the situation to him, he grumbled and nodded in understanding. He truly did seem threatened when I patted his head and said those words, but after hearing me out, he didn't hesitate to help me.Updated chapters at novelhall.com

With a roar, he summoned the top executives of his heavenly mountain, and they bowed before us. "Ancestor," he looked at me and said, "these five are the greatest of my descendants in this mountain, each an Ultimate-Class entity as you can sense. You can choose whoever you want... but I have a little condition."

Hearing his words, the newly arrived tigers flinched and looked up in shock, surely confused and curious about what their lord was giving themselves to me for. I too was surprised, but for something else. He had the audacity?

I looked up at him too, with my eyebrow raised. "Oh?"

"...No matter the case, they're still warriors. To just sacrifice them would be an insult to the years they spent under me. So..." he hesitated, closing his eyes and hesitating. "Why not a duel between that girl and one of the tigers here? She has white tiger blood in her veins; even if she's a descendant of the Shinra Clan, something like that has never happened before. So she's a tiger of her own, she should hunt her own food and not have it served on a platter."

"Uh..." Tsubasa rubbed the back of her head while I shrugged.

"Here I was wondering if your condition will be something outrageous. Sure thing, she will fight it out," I said. Tsubasa was just at Jade, while each of those tigers was Ultimate-Class, so the matching was disadvantageous for her, but I trusted in her.

The tiger grinned, "Let us prepare a duel then."

Baihu explained the situation to his five confused descendants, while I invited the others inside. The Shinra clan head, Byakko Shinra, Rias, and Tsubaki were allowed to spectate this scene. It wouldn't hurt to let them watch.

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"Whoa, insane..."

The devil girls had wildly fascinated expressions as they entered the bamboo forest, littered with maple trees here and there. Rias' eyes darted around, having never seen heaven before she must be excited. Tsubaki looked quite enchanted as well, although a sense of bitterness remained in her expression.

The clan head and Byakko's expression remained neutral. We circled an empty spot in the bamboo forest, and Tsubasa stood before five tigers, waiting to be chosen. She had taken off her hoodie for this, showing off her muscles.

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"Is she going to be alright?" the Clan head asked as if he was worried.

"We'll have to wait and see. Ah, and no she's not going against all five of them at once," I cleared up the possible misunderstanding.

"Oh, I was worried about that." Tsubaki said, "They're all strong beasts. I'll barely be able to defeat one of them, and that's if I prepare traps from beforehand."

"Yeah, she has some tricks up her sleeves. She too can't take all five of them at once, at least not yet." Tsubasa was still Jade, after all. I plan to raise her to Archlord in the next few months. Then, if she's able to connect to the Tiger Icon and become a Sage, then maybe....

Haah, let's not get my hopes up too high. I closed my eyes and sighed in my head. I then looked at Tsubasa. "Have you made a choice, Tsubasa?"

She shook her head. "Please choose for me. Which one do you think is suitable?"

"Hm," I rubbed my chin and had my Jade Perception scan the five tigers thoroughly. They're all the size of a two-story house, and they seemed to focus on Metal Elements for the most part. However, one of them had an additional element of fire. I guess I'll go with that guy since reaching Gold will grant her firestorm powers too; absorbing his spirit will help her more than others.

"You," I pointed at the one in the middle, a ferocious beast just like the others. "You stay in the arena, the other four of you scatter off," I said, keeping eye contact with the tiger who looked at me with restrained anger. He had sensed the Tiger Icon that I used a while ago, so he knew I was a big shot, yet his survival instinct didn't want to give up so easily. "Don't give me that look. I'll make it fair, fine. You'll get to live if you can defeat her. If you win, I'll just find someone else. So give it your all, alright?"

The tiger looked at me in silence before letting out a gruff breath. A moment later, as it closed its eyes and reopened, the entire area was filled with bloodlust; that beast did not wish to die. Good, this would be good training for her.

"Hey, good luck~!" Rias waved at Tsubasa, which seemed to surprise the girl from the way she blinked. She nodded and smiled, before focusing on her opponent.

The two combatants squared off, stepping around in a circle, neither attacking. Tsubasa and the tiger assessed each other. The air crackled with anticipation. I stood with my arms crossed, beside Rias and Tsubaki, and watched it unfold. The tiger made the first move, lunging forward with a speed that betrayed its size, its claws aiming for Tsubasa's throat. She met the charge head-on, her fists glowing with icy blue energy.

– Boom!

"...What's up with her?" Rias whispered when Tsubasa closed her eyes and began to cultivate. "She's a vampire too? And what was that? A yokai?"

"She's half human half vampire, and her human blood also contains white tiger blood due to her clan. Ah, and yes she has a yokai spirit sealed inside her too," I explained, shrugging easily while receiving odd glances.

"...." Rias didn't hide her shock, neither did Tsubaki.

We soon shifted our focus to Tsubasa, who was sitting cross-legged, drawing the Qi of this realm to push herself into advancement. She'd done this three times before, so it came to her easily. Baihu and the other four tigers weren't here anymore. I sent them away earlier since I didn't want them to see a member of their family get absorbed. Yet I felt the big tiger's gaze as he was curious to see what was going on.

After about ten minutes, I pointed my chin at Tsubasa, explaining to Rias, "I did just say that, but watch, her white tiger blood is about to grow more prominent just now. She'll be a hybrid between human, white tiger, and vampire; perfectly balanced."

We watched as a surge of Qi leaped out of Tsubasa, causing the wind to explode. The Qi wrapped around the dead body of the tiger. The body began to burn with invisible fire, and parts of it rushed to swirl into Tsubasa's body. Her Qi fed her. Patches of the tiger's burnt and ghostly body submerged inside her, and over the next few minutes, strange features began to flash on her body.

Her nails grew sharp, her pale skin painted in black stripes, while white fur covered her from part to part. "Grghh..." her breathing sounded like a grumble now, which I found cute.

After half an hour, the tiger's tail burned and entered Tsubasa, as a tail of her own finished forming behind her.

The procedure was done. It was a success.

In less than a week, Tsubasa has reached [Gold].

She remained in her position for a bit more, before her surviving Qi lowered and she opened her eyes. She let out a sigh and looked down at her hands. They were covered in a very thin layer of fur; her skin itself was white, so the fur was even less apparent on her than it would have been on a normal skin-shade.

"Great job. Stand up," I approached her and she looked up at me. Tsubasa grinned seeing me, and I noticed her fangs were a lot sharper than before. She leaped at me, but she seemed to have miscalculated her strength. She headbutted me in the chest, and I flew off into the bamboo forest.

I should have been more careful.

"A-aqua!" She quickly rushed through the forest to find me, her silver eyes filled with worry. She crouched down over my body, her eyes trembling. "I didn't mean to, I-"

"It's alright," I raised a hand, ruffling her white hair. She really... did look like Nyoxdanra right now. My hand let out a burst of Qi to scan her body. "Looks like the advancement went perfectly." She would grow powerful like a broken dam.

"Ah..." she watched me look into her eyes, smiling. A soft shade of red formed over her face; her face didn't have fur, and she looked like her usual self, but with chalk-like skin. She did have two black stripes on either side of her cheek, it looked cute.

I stood up, dusting myself off, and by then the others rushed in too.

"Hey, are you alright, Aqua?!" Rias asked in worry and I nodded. I pulled her by the waist and kissed her on the forehead; I did that to not make her jealous about what I was about to do next.

"Then, we must return immediately," I turned back to Tsubasa and took her in my arms. She blinked, smoothly locking her arms around my neck. "I need to teach you how to switch from your human form to hybrid form."

"Oh?"

I didn't care to say goodbye to the Shinra Clan head. I ignored him and his son, and with a slash of my hand, I split spacetime and stepped to the other side. I looked at Rias and Tsubaki, who exchanged glances before stepping behind me.

We arrived at our house, and I dragged Tsubasa to my room for a long night of... training sessions.

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Author Note: This is how Tsubasa looks in hybrid form, but with stripes around her body reminds me of someone.

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(We fr need a Black Tortoise character in the future, in my 4 years of writing only that heavenly beast has remained alone.)

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