Issei's body was shaking.
Every inch, every fiber, no, every cell of his body felt like it was standing at attention, vibrating with anxious energy as he and the legendary Monkey King, or, well, this version of him, stood across one another.
There was a breath, the ape's nostrils flared, his lips pulled back, there was intelligence and hunger in those eyes.
Clearly inhuman, but close enough to be a bit too familiar, the deity seemed no mere figment of human passion. The teenager could see the hairs in his beard twitch when his mouth moved, he could see the blood vessels in the other man's eyes, could hear the shuffle of robes and scrape of feet as he stalked forwards - practicallydemandingthe others remain behind.
This was their meeting.
This was their introduction.
And right now the two were content to circle each other, looking for any openings.
At least Issei was. Because it also meant the other heretics weren't jumping him. In fact, that had been the point of the first lap in its entirety.
Mineral garden had been hovering just beneath his skin, ready to leap to his defense, and when the anticipated attack failed to manifest it left the Campione slightly confused. Because he wasn't sure what that meant. And if it was to his benefit if it was a duel.
Wukong twirled his famous staff, cracking his neck with an eager smile.
Every single one of his muscles clenched, fingers sliding over the haft of his spear, foot turning ever slightly as his breathing stilled for a moment, when the heretic god across from him mirrored the action.
They were fighting with similar weapons after all.
But even then, the young godslayer could feel the differences between the two of them. Wukong was fluid, his movements practiced to the point of naturalness, as if he'd already had fights like these a hundred times over the course of history. The eager smile on the god's face was sharp, too, and full of anticipation.
It reminded him of Luo Hao.
'This is gonna suck, isn't it?'
The air between them was heavy, crackling with energy. Whatever it was that made up their powers clashed and pushed against one another as small, thin arcs of energy fizzled in and out of existence and the very ground beneath them started splintering, pieces of it raised into the air by the very pressure.
"Ah, that's a nice aura you have there."
Issei glared at the monkey, annoyed.
He was still pissed about the dig at Dusa-chan and her sisters, but not enough to just rush at the guy half co*cked. Even now, he could tell that as powerful and impressive as his show might be, that despite being a god slayer who prevailed twice over gods, and then survived his own senior…
That this Wukong was even stronger than that.
Still, standing around just looking at him wouldn't do anything.
"Alright, let's try this!"
Intent flashing, Issei's power responded in the form of a trio of stone spears. Rising from the ground at an angle, they aimed to catch Wukong's torso between themselves in a pincer attack. An attack like this wasn't the kinda thing Issei liked to do, but it wouldn't be smart to hold back now.
"Bend."
Twirling in place, the Monkey King lashed out with his staff. The red tinted wood fluttered in the wind like a leaf, only to strike at the stone spears, shattering them despite looking like a malleable piece of rubber.
Issei was impressed in spite of himself - though his attacks didn't stop.
He knew that wouldn't work. But a baseline did not to be established. After all, if he went all in on the first move, he'd probably just get cut down from behind.
So it was time to make a hammer
A massive chunk of stone manifested above them all, perhaps twenty feet across and forty high, and promptly smashed through the roof as it continued on its merry way to dropping on top of the heretic god. And hopefully crushing him against the ground. Or so it would have if the staff hadn't stretched and pierced through the divine rock like a hot knife through butter.
"Extend."
Issei grimaced but charged anyway, jumping over the wrecked remains of the spears from before. It was annoying that his enemy was showing off, vocalizing his technique after pulling off a super cool move, and so when he thrust his own weapon forward there might have been a bit of extra oomph to it.
In the form of a sudden hail of razor sharp splinters - tens of thousands of them - following behind as Issei thrust the tip of his spear directly at his enemy's throat.
Only to hit air as Wukong… just wasn't there. He hadn't ducked under the strike, he didn't dodge, or move, or parry. No, the heretic just simply wasn't there. And that told the teenager exactly what he needed to know!
Issei drew back and thrust again, and again, only to meet air as the monkey king weaved in and out of the way, using the staff he'd planted into the ground to vault over and around the waves of attacks. But itdidstop the man from slipping behind the Campione. After all, area denial by way of razor death was a pretty smart idea.
"Grow."
Before the Monkey King's staff expanded to block his next attempt, shattering the head of the spear and the stone hanging overhead. Loose gravel rained down on them as Issei jumped back, hoping the rain of shards would cover his retreat. Thoughhiscounter came too, as the heretic god swung the now pillar-sized staff and caught him in the side of the ribs.
Sending him flying backwards with a wheeze as air was bashed out of the Campione's lungs from the smallest graze of the immense weapon!
Rolling with the hit, Issei formed a wall behind himself, breaking the fall and softening the stone just in time to avoid crushing his back against it. But all it did was cut off an escape route as the Monkey King followed after him, massive staff ready to crush him against it.
Only for a column of stone to rise underneath Issei, pushing him up just in time to avoid the battering ram of an attack as it crushed the foundation of the pillar and it tilted backwards, but the Campione was already sliding down, hands raised over his head as the massive form of a familiar hammer formed from the ether.
"Split."
The divine stone shattered against a wall of interlocked staves, the massive one having somehow shrunk and split itself into multiple smaller ones which had then formed some kind of protective cage against the Heretic.
Issei clicked his tongue.
'What is it with these people and being so damn hard to hit?'
First that crazy lady's diamond skin, and now Wukong's staff. Sure, he remembered that it was probably unbreakable and could do all sorts of things that the monkey king commanded it, but when they said it was unbreakable they literally meant it didn't get so much as a scratch.
But that was fine.
Because the scattered debris, as well as the shattered wall and the hammer, quickly liquified under his hands. Slipping through the gaps of the wall, his creations quickly solidified once again, covering the inside in an uneven blob of stone.
Issei jumped back as it shattered with a thunderous shout.
Not just just the stone, but the windows in the main school building broke and the barrier around wobbled at the force - he could see it do so throw a gap in the roof the Campione may have… accidentally caused. The cage of staves was gone, as was all the stone Issei had conjured. Leaving only the same smiling monkey as before.
"Should have known that wouldn't have worked."
The Heretic smiled eagerly as politely clapped.
"Well now don't go putting yourself down. That was actually a pretty good plan. You have a pretty solid ability there, snake boy. Attack, defense, mobility, trapping. Environmental control. You have an all in one deal right there."
"I don't wanna hear that from you. That staff of yours is plain unfair, you know?" Having an unbreakable weapon that could change sizes, multiply, and move by itself was bad enough. Even Issei couldn't change the size and shape of the things he made without softening them up first or merging them together.
The scariest part was that the Heretic god had yet to use anything other than his weapon to counter all his tricks.
"You sure you didn't wanna save those tricks though? Any one of those would have been a nice trump card to play… if you convinced me all you could was make stone appear from nothing." Laying said staff flat across his shoulder, the monkey king sounded genuinely curious.
Isse rolled his shoulder, dusting off his shirt.
"Like that would work. If I don't use every trick I have from the word go, then I'm not actually trying to win, right?"
That was the advice he'd gotten from Goku.
Holding back now wouldn't work. And trying to be clever was just playing the Heretic God's own game.
"You still haven't put your back into it though, that much I can tell." Tail swishing side to side, the Monkey King cupped his chin with a hand, as if deep in thought for a moment. There was a gleam in his eyes that Issei didn't like, it's like he had an answer to a question the Campione wasn't smart enough to ask. "Tell you what - no weapons, no powers, sound good?"
His eyes went wide.
"No dea-"
Wukong dashed forwards, moving so fast there was a sonic boom, and threw an almost lazy palm strike forwards.
It still moved so fast the air cracked and split and the teenager could, high on adrenaline, heart pounding, and blood up, only just barely bring his arms up in an X block.
The slap-pop-crack of the impact and Issei's body subsequently breaking through several wall supports was more pleasing than having his diaphragm shattered.
"Good block! Again!"
What followed was confusing.
Issei did his best to keep up, letting hits knock him over or back, trying not to end up on his back, but, still, each punch and kick that rained down on him at the very least raised ugly welts. And the one time he fell, the subsequent kick sent him skidding down the entire hallway! However, with his back to a corner, the monkey closing in on him, and the Heretic God growing in speed and precision with each strike, the young man lashed out with a wild haymaker.
"Oof! Nice hook kid." And managed to pop his opponent in the jaw. "But is that all you've got? Haven't… didn't someone at least train you? I mean, surely, you gotta know some martial arts at least?"
"Hey! I managed to land a hit on you."
The Monkey King scratched the back of his head.
"Sure. But I was mostly just trying to match your level." Issei wobbled slightly on his feet, his enemy stepping back and giving him some air. "Why the Hell would you agree to martial arts only?"
Issei managed a glare.
"I was trying to refuse."
"No way! You were totally going to accept it! I could tell, you've got a good fighting spirit, Snake Boy. Ah. Damn it. I don't wanna bully a kid."
Feeling a bit… annoyed, Issei couldn't help but mouth off. Especially when Wukong crossed his arms and started tapping his foot, as if waiting on an explanation.
"You could just go back to sleep."
Making a face, the heretic shook his head.
"Nah. But this isn't fun. Hmm. We can't have a deathmatch like this."
"We don't need to have a deathmatch, you know?"
"Oh! I've got an idea!"
Not enjoying being ignored, Issei simply sighed, mostly just glad for a break, and then shrugged.
"So long as you don't involve anyone else in this, I don't suppose I can complain too much. Does that sound fair?"
"Well, I'll be inviting a few friends along, might do a little dance, play a little music, get down for the first time in a millennium!"
The teenager grunted and made no further comment. Mostly because he was hoping this was giving the others enough time to finish the evacuation. And only now did it occur to the young man he had no way to communicate with anyone andaskif he'd bought enough time.
"Hah! Yeah! You'll love it! We'll do a whole tournament, give you a chance to level up, and then you and I can have a proper king of the mountain match! Yeah!"
Danger.
Issei's body stiffened.
'But from where?' No, rather than a single direction, it was like all of his surroundings were giving off the same feeling of danger as Wukong himself. Flickering gold dust gathering around the monkey king, pulling itself together to form orbs of light.
"Sorry about lying, Kiddo. But I wasn't at full power before. When that seal broke, whoever did it must have screwed something up because instead of just releasing me, the power that was being slowly drained kinda went, uh, everywhere!"
"sh*t."
There was no time to think.
"Through the grass you slither unseen, through the stone you wind gracefully, through the waters you plunge, writhe, and surge. Though none may see you, in your eyes, I see a beautiful world of marble!"
Calling up every ounce of power he could muster, Issei slid a single foot forwards, raised his hand, palm out, and called up the will of everything.
"As the Buddha said, should you strike him twice, he shall become angry."
And just like that the school… crumbled.
A wall of stone, formed into the shape of the palm of the Buddha, simply pressed the world into the dirt. Issei himself had to melt a hole for himself as he passed through because even his own durability would have failed under so much mass.
Perhaps a full minute later he was finally free, chest heaving, body soaked with sweat, T-shirt stuck to his skin, now standing atop the artificial mountain on his own.
With the entire school complex crushed to powder below.
"Hah!"
Only for a voice to ring out.
"I knew I liked yah, boyo!"
Too tired to do more than swing around and face him, Issei stared in frustration as his opponents had multiplied as the motes of light from before had started growing larger and brighter, their form changing from those of simply orb into more humanoid shapes.
In his head, he felt an alarm going off.
"You gave my mountain a solid foundation." Sun Wukong appeared before him in a flicker, spear twirling as he did so, and ended up propping his elbow up in the air. "But if ya could lead our little dance with this, really, I gotta ask, why did you even agree to no weapons and no martial arts?"
"Actually, you already had this conversation." A new voice called.
Besides the Monkey King, the four shapeless forms phased fully into shape, Issei nearly belting out a curse as instead of just one Heretic God, before him now stood five.
The largest amongst them looked like a stuffed doll, a pig in bright pink carrying what looked like a rake over its shoulder.
To the right was a strange man with webbed, clawed hands and something resembling a duck's beak for a face, dressed in some kind of mixture of robes and armor, a strange staff with a shovel-like blade tip hanging from his back.
Behind them stood an even larger figure… with a horse's head and legs, muscular arms with oversized hands that dragged on the floor with fingers as long as Issei's arms and a trio of long, straight horns sprouting from its forehead.
And then, standing besides Wukong himself was a monk.
Issei didn't need to ask who they were.
Why would he? Everyone who had ever heard of the Journey knew their names and their story. Before, Issei felt like there had been some hope of victory, as small and far off as it seemed. But now, standing across from this legendary group of vandals turned legendary heroes… he felt… excited?
Fear was certainly there.
As was annoyance at the clear disadvantage that monkey had now put him through.
"Really? You were already kicking my ass before… did you really need to gang up on me too?"
The Heretic chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
"Well, just think of this as me showing I'm taking you seriously! You saying you weren't holding back from the get go got me all fired up! Bwahahaha-"
A staff bonked him on the back of the head. The gold rings on it clicked melodiously as the man leaned forward with a yelp.
"And who gave you permission to drag us from the ether for another one of your bouts of mischief, Sun Wukong." Sanzang, going by the robes and veil, spoke plainly, though the aura he emitted was far from pleased at the supposed 'leader' of the group.
Well… technically he was meant to be the leader, no? Wukong just bailed him out of trouble.
"Oi, oi, oi! That's not fair! It's not my fault that you lot got attached to my legend! I was trying to make some clones out of my scattered power but ended up bringing you over!"
Unfortunately all that earned him was another whack to the head.
"Like I care! Don't go dragging me out of enlightenment just for a joy ride!"
"I don't remember you being this temperamental… damn it, Toriyama."
"Wait, wait, wait, dragging you out of enlightenment? Uh, honored monk? Buddha? Bodhisattva? Um, with all due respect, actually to all of you, how should I address you?"
"You should call me king, hehehehehehe!"
Immediately laughing at his statement, the monkey was ignored by the rest of the group. And, somewhat surprisingly, Sanzang began chanting a sutra in response - leaving the previously laughing monkey man a now groveling, apologizing mess.
"Heh. I suppose I should ask you to do so, Honored Monk, but getting your head crushed is a bad way to die. So, ah, as a Campione, a Demon King, please don't kill this man."
"Ah! See, see, see! Even this other king is totally asking you to spare me, so spare me!"
With tears in his eyes, the Great Sun Wukong pled for mercy!
It was touching.
It was absurd.
It was giving Issei a headache.
'I really should have gotten Buchou's number. At least I could know if all of this was useful.'
And then the monk stopped chanting.
In fact, he stopped making any sound at all, frozen in place and unmoving.
"Ah? Am I good? Little brother?" Standing up, rubbing his head, Sun Wukong walked over to the monk and poked him in the head. "You can talk, you know."
"Oh no."
"Oh no."
"Ohyes!"
When the monk vocalized his sudden realization, Issei soon followed, and the Monkey King only needed a heartbeat longer to make the same connection.
"Huh? What's going on?" The pig, however, scratched its chin and tilted its head. It spoke with a squeaky, cheery voice. "Can I eat this guy or what? I'm kinda hungry."
Unfortunately for Issei, it was talking about him.
"Well, guess it can't be helped. I did summon you as you were…"
He definitely wasn't liking where this was going, but he had to check anyways, because clearly the situation couldn't get any more ridiculous than meeting the entire Journey cast and watching them slapstick one another.
"So, uhh… we're not really fighting?"
Wukong blinked, confused.
"We absolutely are, just… you know… gotta wrangle this bunch. Sorry about that by the way, I think some wires on my Authorities got crossed when I got sealed, but we still got enough for a tourney! What do you guys say?"
Was he still on about that?
"Sure, sure! But I do get to eat him if I lose right?" Zhu Bajie, the giant pink plushy, squeaked.
"Are you even listening? I just told you not to summon me for this kind of thing!"
"Just drop it, Sanzang. You know how Brother gets when he likes an idea." The kappa-like man finally spoke, seemingly spelling Issei's doom.
"Then let's get this show on the road!"
The Monkey King slammed the butt of his staff against the ground, yelling exuberantly.
Unfortunately that wasn't the end of it, because just then the ground beneath the god slayer's feet started shifting. Or rather, it was being pushed aside as something started rising from the depths of the earth as the remains of the school trembled and the peak of a mountain sprouted where the main building had once been.
It wasn't stopping either.
Higher and higher, the peak reached towards the sky as other smaller mountains started rising around it, lifting the remaining buildings of the school high above. Dragging Issei further and further away from the ground where they'd been standing.
Trees sprouted from the side of the mountains, thick roots curling around the cone shaped mountains as branches quickly grew and then sprouted, beautiful pink buds flowering around the summoned mountains with a thick, sweet smell carried down by the cool morning wind. And more concerningly, there was a brief thunderous roar as something near the peak groaned and roared… before a steady pillar of smoke rose into the air.
Kakazan
The Flower-Fruit Mountain.
Goku's personal stomping grounds, the legendary mountain where the Monkey King was born.
"Alright, then! Here are the rules, Kiddo. No leaving the city, weapons are allowed, and we'll fight you one at a time. If you make it through the first four, you get to have your fateful showdown with yours truly!"
Issei's gawking and fanboying would have to wait, because as it so turned out, the whole gauntlet match thing the Heretic God was talking about didn't have a referee or a ring.
"Bai Long Ma, you're on first! Put the hurt on him!"
There wasn't even a gong as the huge Horse Man thing immediately lunged at him, its massive hand swiping down at the spot he'd been standing on just as he'd managed to jump back.
Fast enough to avoid getting splattered, not far enough to avoid the shock wave as the stone crumbled and the force of the blow and the momentum carried Issei away from the group… and over the edge of the mountain.
"And they are off to the races, ladies and gentlemen!" Wukong crowed.
Freefalling was an experience.
Not one Issei was ever looking forward to doing it again, wind rushing past him as the mountain peak where Wukong's gang were steadily grew farther and farther away from him.
Danger, however, wasn't done with him. The massive shape of the horse dragon leaping over the edge and after him.
'Well crap.'
Turning away from the monstrous horse man, Issei manifested a large stone slate beneath his feet, forcing it against the side of theKakazanwith his own weight. Snowboarding down the side of the Flower Fruit mountain with all the grace of a drunk lemming.
"Tch. Annoying snake. I'll crush you beneath my hooves!"
Bounding down the mountainside, Bai Long Ma raced after him, somehow entire surefooted despite the treacherous terrain.
Issei had been forced to lock himself inside his stone platform to keep from being thrown off. But, at the very least, he was able to keep moving fast enough to stay away from the Heretic trying to kill him… and the pig demon. That seemed important, for strategic not getting eaten alive reasons.
"sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!"
Being knocked back and forth, bouncing, flipping, hopping, and skipping, his snowboard was a rough ride - almost as painful as getting beaten up.
'But I'm gaining distance from the rest.'
Glancing over his shoulder, Horse was charging down after him, but Issei, well, he could see that other were growing smaller and smaller and smaller… and it looked like Sun Wukong was laying down, rubbing his belly, and gorging on fruits.
'I've only got one chance at this. And Ineedto fight these guys one at a time.'
Of course, that's when Sanzang chose to appear right in front of him.
"Watch out!"
Barreling down right at him, the teenager tried, and failed to come up with a way to stop himself. At least other than the obvious. So, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes, he chose to manifest a wall of marble - rather than plow into the unarmed young man who chose to try and chastise Goku for causing trouble.
Thankfully the crash was very loud and not particularly painful.
At least not compared to getting bullied by a Heretic God.
"Hey."
Issei groaned.
"You ok?"
Grunting, acknowledging the other presence, the young man waved them away.
"Get away from him!"
Before feeling a sudden jolt of confusion.
"Huh? An evil spirit? I suppose Older Brother is the sort to attract an audience…."
Something seemed very wrong. Because that voice shouldn't be here.
"Buchou! Don't approach that monk! It's a Heretic God!"
And that other voicedefinitelysounded a little squeakier than normal.
"Bleh. What's going on? Wait, woah, Honored Monk! Buchou! Akeno! Wait, no, dang it, why are you here!? And why… why…."
Swallowing, suddenly feelingveryawkward, needing to shuffle slightly, totally just dusting rubble off his pants, he needed to force himself to stop looking at his upperclassmen.
His very beautiful, very attractive, andvery much turned into monkey monster girl classmates!
Both Devils were currently sporting long, flowing tails, the cutests ape ears on the side of their heads,that he could see twitching, and both of their skirts were being ever so slightly lifted up by their tails!?
"Are… are you ok? Did you hit your head?" Getting no response from him, Sanzang turned to the two young women and gave a confused shrug. "I just wanted to speak to the Demon King. But, um, why is he red faced, hyperventilating, and why did his pupils dilate?"
Turning to the Heretic God with hyperfocus, the teenager took a single step forwards and raised his fist high.
"Because my upperclassmen flew in to check on me. And they were wearing skirts when they did it!"
His cry echoed off the mountain, rebounded off the great trees and stone temples grown up in between the glass and cement skeleton of Kuoh. As birds flew away in the distance, and the giant horse still halfway up the slope thundered on, as the wind swept over the changed city, and as the sun slowly climbed lower and lower in the sky, there was only a single response coming from the top of the mountain.
"GOOD ONE, BOYO!"
He didn't appreciate the booming laugh that followed it.
And appreciated the recovering giant horse man even less.
'This is gonna be one of those days, huh?'
