Campione! - Volume 18 - Chapter 9.7

Part 7 

A night of strong wind.  

Heavy clouds shrouded the night sky, obscuring the stars.  

It was the next day after Dejanstahl Voban had met the Chinese mystic. That evening, she kept her promise and arrived at his mansion at Hampstead Heath.  

When the two of them met in the great hall on the second floor, Cult Master Luo Hao said:  

"I have come to pay my respects on account of your invitation. Thank you for your hospitality."  

"Not at all. I should be the grateful one. It is surely my honor as the master of the house to receive one of such greatness as you."  

The two of them engaged in superficial social pleasantries.  

Also, "dead servants" had led the way for Luo Hao from the entrance hall.  

All domestic staff had been given a special day off. A grand occasion to be enjoyed fully without disturbance from anyone. That was presumably the intent.  "A meal has been prepared, although it is nothing extravagant. If it pleases you, care to join me?"  

In the center of the great hall was a long banquet table. It would be more than enough for twenty people to sit around it.  

Dinner had been arranged on the table in advance. Quail pie, whole roasted chicken, spiced roasted lamb chops, cheese platter, sugared confectionery, various fruits, cucumber and cold cut sandwiches, etc.  

Although all of the food had cooled down, the taste should still be quite fine.  

"Of course, it is not poisoned. But should you have any suspicions, I don't mind serving as the food taster first."  

"I believe something so foolish would be beyond you. Be that as it may... I shall pass on dinner."  

Luo Hao was dressed in fluttering Han clothing today.  

Compared to yesterday's long robe, it was a more exquisite outfit. As customary, Voban was still dressed impeccably as a gentleman. Since it was within the mansion after all, the frock coat was eschewed.  

Both of them could be considered in formal attire. However, it was not for the sake of a dinner party.  

"For us, there is a more important matter than a meal."  

"Indeed. Let us make haste and begin."  

Reaching consensus, the pair chuckled simultaneously.  

How incredible. The two of them were completely different in personality and background. Never in the future would they become friends with mutual interests.  

Rather, they were more cut out to be bitter rivals.  

In spite of that.  

The two Devil Kings were similar people indeed.  

Starting from their first encounter until the duel, everything progressed as naturally as flowing water. From that first moment when their gazes met, "something like this happening" between them was already preordained.  

Was it because both of them were warriors who fought Heretic Gods persistently that this sort of situation arose?  

There was a separation of ten feet (roughly three meters) between them. This sort of distance could be closed in an instant.  

Voban bowed slightly and took half a step forward.  

In response, Luo Cuilian simply stood upright. However, she spread her palms. Perhaps the only weapons that could rival these palms were blades and spears wielded by war gods—?  

Sensing this instinctively, Voban instantly shuddered.  

At the same time, he experienced joy that made his body tremble. Anything less could not be called a fight!  

"I suppose we ought to decide on a rule first. A simple one will do."  It was imperative not to be excessively reckless in front of a formidable foe.  

Voban relaxed his shoulders and walked to the center of the great hall.  

This was the long table where the cooled luxurious dinner was kept. There was also one object placed together with the dishes.  

An oriental weapon with three-pronged ends. The three-pronged vajra.  

"To the victor goes this thing, how about that?"  

"No objections. Very well."  

Voban pointed to the prize and asked. Luo Hao nodded indifferently.  

Their interest had shifted to the duel from the divine artifact of the Tibetan plateau. The demonic wolf king of Europe versus the undefeated mystic of the east, whose power would come out on top?  

Then in that very instant...  

"Sorry for being late! I will be here to serve presently!"  

The door opened loudly while a frantic Aisha stepped inside.  

Dressed in an apron dress of black and white, a white headband on her head. A maid's official attire.  

"I can't believe it's so late after I took a brief afternoon nap. My goodness? Why are you showing such scary expressions, master and dear elder sister? What happened?"  

"This girl is here today too..."  

"Looks like something went wrong..."  

The farcical entry disrupted the rare sense of tension. Luo Hao shook her head as though sighing while Voban muttered in annoyance.  

Regardless, he pulled himself together and asked Aisha:  

"I believe I have asked all domestic staff, including you, to take the day off, didn't I? Furthermore, I expressly demanded all of you to leave the premises during this time."  

"Yes, I was already informed. However."  

Lively as ever, the Indian maid smiled tenderly.  

Like an innocent maiden searching for "happy things" every day, an optimistic smile completely devoid of darkness.  

"I already took a day off yesterday, so I was thinking I cannot forget my manners on this commemorative day with my dear elder sister visiting. That's why I came back secretly!"  

"I see. In that case—"  

Voban snapped his fingers. It was a signal to the "dead servants."  

The deceased who had led the way for Luo Hao earlier were stationed outside the door the whole time. These dead men had been palace attendants at Versailles before the French Revolution broke out and were still wearing their uniforms from back then. The dead servants grabbed Aisha by the shoulders and dragged her outside the great hall.  

"Throw her out of the house."  

"Ah! W-What are you doing!? I still have work to dooooooooooooooo—"  

The servants were very strong. The delicate maiden could not possibly resist.  

Aisha's cries gradually grew distant. Having eliminated the interloper successfully, Voban turned to today's main guest again.  

"My apologies for the wait. Well then, it is about time."  

"Yes. Let us begin, King Voban."  

The curtain finally rose for the duel between two Devil Kings.  

Signs of spring still had yet to appear in London during late February.  

During a night of extreme cold that could still be considered midwinter, raging winds were blowing strongly. The culprit who had summoned these raging winds was actually Dejanstahl Voban.  

An authority of storms, controlling wind, rain and thunder—  

A storm brought upon by wielding such a power. Wind and clouds would naturally gather in Voban's surroundings whenever he felt excited.  

Usually, a thunderstorm would bring rain too. However, things were slightly different tonight.  

Due to the low temperature, snowflakes fell instead. Powerful gusts of wind, combined with a vast amount of snowflakes, soon produced a blizzard.  

This evening, the city of London was suddenly struck by a blizzard.  

The somewhat filthy metropolis was instantly covered by a blanket of white snow. Powerful gusts of wind mixed with snowflakes turned London, extremely chilly in February to begin with, into a land of cold as though it was territory belonging to the Queen of Winter.  

In the center of the blizzard, an intense battle was heating up on a countryside plain.  

"Hahahaha. So there exists someone with similar powers as me."  

"It would be too soon for you to conclude that. The Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl I usurped from a southern goddess... is nowhere near that simple a power."  

Confronted with the sneering Voban, Luo Hao simply announced indifferently.  

Surprisingly, the Easter European Devil King was not the only one capable of controlling gales.  

Although the underlying principle was completely different, the mystic with full mastery over Daoist arts also caused magical wind to blow. To think her singing voice could turn into a gale with lyrics even accompanied by the release of shockwaves.  

"A thousand li of yellowed clouds, the dim sun's whitish glow / The north wind blows a flurry of wild geese and wilder snow..."[9]  

"Oh?"  

"Fear not that on the road ahead, no soul-mate may be found / For under heaven who is he that your name does not know!?"  

"Hmph! To think you'd use such mysterious spell words!"  

This "contest of wind" was the first round of the duel.  

From Luo Hao's cherry lips came whistling that formed a vortex before her, instantly turning into a tornado.  

Everything struck by the fiercely spinning storm was instantly demolished.  

Currently, a shockwave capable of leveling impregnable castles was rotating nonstop in Luo Hao's surroundings, displaying ferocious mettle akin to the hand of an invisible god of destruction.  

Naturally, Voban's great mansion was destroyed in a mere minute or two.  

The beautiful outer walls of white, the roof, the beams, the pillars—All construction materials were pulverized to dust and blown into the night sky where a blizzard was raging.  

"Hmm. I never expected your methods to be even more unruly than mine."  

"Nonsense. This would be on the level of mere child's play to you too."  

On this former site of the leveled mansion, the two Devil Kings were facing off.  

Both were standing calmly in composure, treating the powerful storm of magic as a mere breeze, gazing at each in natural postures.  

Putting aside Luo Hao who was at the center of the tornado, there was a reason why Voban was untroubled by magical wind.  

"Well, I suppose this level definitely could not be considered intense yet."  Naturally, it was because he was also an adept user of storms.  

Avoiding the tornado arising from Luo Hao's singing, he allowed the wind to pass by the left and right of his body. Furthermore, it was continuously while the magical wind's shockwaves persisted rather than momentarily—  

It was a divine feat only possible given the magical power and experience of a godslayer who had accumulated almost a century and a half of battle experience.  

"Fufufufu. It is almost time for me to counterattack, I suppose?"  

"Then I shall confront it. Bring it on."  

The localized strength of the powerful blizzard attacking London—increased explosively.  

Voban finally caused the blowing of a counterattacking storm. However.  

"Hill to hill no bird takes its flight / And path to path no man traces recite. Cloaked,a fisherman in his boat alone / Fishing on the river with snowy white!"[10]  

Luo Cuilian's recited lyrics further increased the wind's power.  

The tornado surrounding her gained greater strength and momentum, swallowing the powerful wind released by Voban to create an even more ferocious vortex of storms.  

"In that case—!"  

"Haste!"  

Voban summoned maximum lightning from the sky. Luo Cuilian chanted a concise spell word.  

Just as the lightning was about to strike, China's Ruler of the Martial Realm vanished. Within an instant, she had unbelievably moved ten yards (roughly nine meters) backwards.  

It was magic for moving extremely short distances instantaneously. Voban recognized this spell too.  

However, to think she could make use of such an instant so skillfully. Voban had never seen someone use the technique to such an extent. He yelled:  

"Now that is a truly clever method of fleeing!"  

He commanded the thunderclouds above to keep casting lightning to the ground.  

Of course, Luo Hao continued to use that teleportation spell, evading all of the lightning. However, what came next was real show.  

Voban increased the sharpness of his sensitivity as a master of wind—to sense the flow of the atmosphere.  

Sensing disruptions in the airflow from the sudden intrusions caused by the Kungfu Cult Master's movements, he instantly directed lightning at the corresponding location.  

Of course, he did not think this sort of method could take out the enemy in one strike.  

Until Luo Hao was cornered, he was not going to stop unleashing lightning!  

"Haste!"  

"Haste!"  

"Haste!"  

Luo Hao kept teleporting in Voban's surroundings.  

Only by doing so did she manage to evade the falling lightning by the slimmest of margins. However, she probably realized that evasion could not last indefinitely at this rate.  

She suddenly stepped directly towards Voban and charged!  

"Looks like it doesn't work too well in a battle involving timing."  

This was not a spell of instantaneous movement.  

Instead, it was extremely aggressive footwork with incomparable speed. By the time he realized, Luo Hao was already right before his eyes. Furthermore, her right palm was attacking, powered the momentum of her movement!  

Voban could evade this attack only because of his beast-like reflexes.  

"!?"  

Luo Hao was greatly surprised. It must have been quite unexpected for her opponent to dodge her palm strike.  

One could hardly blame her. Apart from war gods of heaven, this was her first time to encounter an opponent of such powerufl combat skills. While Voban clicked his tongue, she kept launching a relentless flurry of palm strikes.  

Attacking five times with each hand within a breath, she executed a total of ten palm strikes.  

Next, she aligned her fingers to thrust at the enemy like a sword's edge.  

A slicing atack using the little finger's side of the palm like a karate chop. Slice. Slice.  

However, Voban dodged all of these attacks. Rather than nimble movements, he was acting just like a cornered beast.  

"Hmph. Now you are trapped!"  

"I see. So that's your plan!"  

Seeing Voban cursing while transforming into a "wolf," Luo Cuilian nodded.  

The opponent merely had martial arts on the level of amateur hobbyists. This level was not supposed to be able to oppose the maiden who had fully mastered the essence of Chinese martial arts.  

However, Voban possessed Apollo's authority.  

It was a power allowing him to summon hundreds, thousands of vicious wolves and even transform himself into a wolf—  

It raised his instincts as a magical wolf to the maximum, enough to surpass wild wolves. Transformed into a gray wolf, he was ableto accomplish the challenging feat of engaging Luo Hao in frontal close quarters combat.  

As a quadrupedal beast, he relied on swift reflexes and agile movements.  

Then he kept dodging the skillful and powerful palm strikes. Dodge. Dodge. Dodge.  

Furthermore, seizing an opening in the opponent's attacks, he pounced fiercely at her throat. In the instant just as he was about to bite down—  

"Fufufufu. I knew you were going to make this move!"  

Luo Hao caught the left and right sides of the gray wolf's face between her palms.  

Rather than a pummeling blow, it was a gripping skill. With mighty strength capable of smashing mountains, Luo Hao's palms attempted to push into the wolven Voban's skull!  

"Tsk! Is this monstrous strength one of your authorities too!?"  

Instantly discerning the opponent's intent, Voban simultaneously invoked one of his prided authorities. A moment too late and his skull probably would have been crushed like a watermelon.  

Escaping from the Cult Master's adamantine strength required the vicious magic wolf to turn gigantic.  

Previously seven feet (roughly 210 centimeters) in length, the gray wolf's size expanded ten times as big in an instant.  

The force of expansion shook Luo Hao off and blew her away.  

Currently, Voban's enormous body was over sixty feet (roughly eighteen meters) in size, resplendent with overwhelming glory as befitted the deserved title of the "great giant wolf."  

Witnessing this dramatic change, the Kungfu Cult Master exclaimed in admiration.  

"To think you could transform into such an astonishing form... Truly befitting the incarnation of the demonic wolf."  

"The same goes for you. I never suspected such mighty strength to be hidden within you."  

While appreciating each other's power, the two of them did not stop moving, of course.  

Using a giant wolf's jaws, Voban was trying to swallow the maidenly Luo Hao whole.  

However, a gigantic fist was thrust upwards from the ground, rivaling the gigantic wolf king's head in size. An uppercut intended to smash the wolf king's lower jaw.  

Voban jumped backwards swiftly and dodged the punch.  

In the nick of time. A second too late and his lower jaw would have been shattered, perhaps even death on the spot.  

Voban looked across, only to see a smoke-like substance rising from Luo Hao's shoulders—then turning into a gigantic man with bulging muscles. Known as a Buddha Guardian in the orient. With a naked upper torso, the brawny physique was visible at a glance.  

Executing an uppercut, the giant's beautiful muscles were unbelievably shining with golden luster.  

"How is that? My avatar, an Om pair of Benevolent Kings... This is one of them."  

"Hmph. I used to lament for want of a worthy opponent, but never did I expect such a formidable foe to suddenly show up."  

One side was the martial artist monarch of the orient with full mastery over Daoist and martial arts. The other side was the demonic wolf king of Europe completely uninitiated in magic and martial arts.  

Despite the stark contrast between the two of them, they were equals as warriors.  

Ruling over the orient and the occident respectively, the two Devil Kings' encounter had developed into a duel. This was precisely what Dejanstahl Voban had always sought.