181 Cao Cao's Humiliation

Human World, Japan, Kyoto.

Like the others, James and Cao Cao distanced themselves from the other battlefields. Unlike everyone else, though, there was no conversation before their battle started. As soon as Cao Cao found a spot that was to his liking, he turned around and thrust his spear at the incoming James' heart.

As he was always on alert when there was an enemy nearby, James was able to easily deflect Cao Cao's attack with an iaido draw. After that, he lowered Ochiru Sakura and performed an upward slash that Cao Cao avoided by stepping back. After stepping back, Cao Cao performed another thrust. Making a quarter turn, James easily avoided the thrust. Then, he ducked as Cao Cao changed his thrust into a sweep.

One thing that James had noticed was that there was almost no power behind Cao Cao's few previous attacks. And he quickly understood the reason behind this. Cao Cao's [Sacred Gear] is the [True Longinus] the strongest of all the thirteen Longinus and the spear that slew Christ. It is the perfect weapon against dark creatures. Even a small scratch would injure James seriously.

"Not a bad strategy, Dude." James said expressionlessly. "But what do you do if your opponent is faster than you in every conceivable way?"

As James finished speaking, he side-stepped another thrust. Then, with a reverse grip, he drew Mangetsu no Shita de and deflected the [True Longinus] up into the air. Then with a flurry of sword swings from both hands, he walked past the stunned Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was thoroughly confused by the action James took. He was not even touched by those sword strikes. However, when he turned around, he felt a stinging pain on several parts of his body. Then, blood began to trickle from those small injuries.

"Forehead, Between the eyes, windpipe, carotid artery, heart, lungs, both kidneys and both wrists." James said as he also turned around. "Those are all the places I scratched with my blades as I walked past you. Do you know what that means, Cao Cao?"

Cao Cao did not answer. Instead, he was staring at James as if he saw a ghost. As James named each of the spots he could have cut or stabbed, Cao Cao felt the itching pain from a cut that just broke the skin.

"That means I could have killed you nine times in the time it took for me to take two steps." James said, staring directly into Cao Cao's eyes as he spoke. "Now, do you know what a mistake it was to make a move on my woman?"

"A move on your woman?" Cao Cao asked, still not believing the ease with which James could have killed him just now.

"Yasaka, Leader of the Kyoto Youkai is my woman." James said coldly.

"Even if she is, she's necessary for our goals." Cao Cao said, regaining his confident smile. "And for our goals, anyone can be sacrificed."

"Wrong answer." James said from behind Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was surprised; he didn't even see James' move. Now, he was hearing his voice from behind him. Before he could turn around, though, his chest bloomed with flowers of blood and a large X-shaped cut appeared on his torso.

Fortunate for Cao Cao, however, James wanted him to suffer. So, instead of killing him outright, James cut just deep enough so that the injury would not be instantly fatal. And because Cao Cao was at the ultimate-rank, his body would be strong enough to sustain his life for a while.

"Gahh!" Cao Cao cried in pain. Then, he placed the glowing blade of light from the [True Longinus] over the wounds, using the heat it emits to seer his wounds closed.

"You've got more guts than I expected." James said coldly. "I can respect that. It won't save your life, though."

"You bastard." Cao Cao said while gritting his teeth because of the pain. "If you think that's all it will take to kill me then you're sadly mistaken."

"Oh, if you think I want you to die by my hand, you're sorely mistaken." James said with an eerie smile on his face. "I only want to inflict suffering onto you for trying to hurt my woman. Nothing more, nothing less."

Hearing that left Cao Cao in a state of shock.

"Why do you look so surprised?" James asked with a sinister smile. "Devils are evil. Evil incarnate, right?"

Cao Cao was currently feeling that the boy in front of him was unhinged by more than just a little bit. Unfortunately, he could not be further from the truth of the matter. Everything James said and did from the moment the battle began was calculated. Since he knew that he could not kill Cao Cao because taking him in would give them quite the amount of information, James wanted to weaken his mental defenses as much as he could before handing him over to the interrogators.

"Well, I think that's enough talk." James said with a sadistic smile on his face. "Raise your spear. Entertain me by trying to stop me from carving a thousand slashes into your body."

Cao Cao was not sure how much of the anger and insanity he could see in James' expression was true. However, he did what he was told and raised his spear. Then, he took a stance and flung himself toward James. He only needed to scratch him with his spear to turn things around, after all.

Unfortunately for Cao Cao, he was severely outclassed in all aspects. Speed, Strength, and reaction speed. Any physical statistic you could think of. And because of that, James would evade Cao Cao's various strikes with the narrowest of margins. Then, he would continuously give him the shallowest scratches. Even so, after ten minutes of this game of cat and mouse, Cao Cao was covered in blood, most of his skin was covered in cuts so fine that they would not even leave a scar once they healed.

"You'd better make sure you kill me, James Alaverus." Cao Cao said through gritted teeth. "Because if you don't, you'll definitely regret this."

"If you wish." James said nonchalantly.

Then, he dashed forward with both swords sheathed and his right hand gripping Ochiru Sakura's hilt. Then, when he was close enough, he drew the blade and aimed his slash at Cao Cao's throat.

Cao Cao was completely panicked at this turn of events. He was certain that James intended to keep him alive so that he could be interrogated. However, he knew that being caught inside Georg's dimension. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do if he died.

*Clang!* *Swish!*

"Gahh!" Cao Cao screamed and covered his face with his hands.

"This is the second time, old man." James said in a disgruntled tone. "The last time was because you were just protecting your grandson, which I can respect. So, I let it go. But now you're protecting a member of the Khaos Brigade. Should I assume you or the Hindu pantheon are in league with them. Actually, now that I think about it, this is the second time you've saved a member of the Khaos Brigade from me. This is smelling more and more fishy as I think about it."

The old man, Sun Wukong, who had just deflected James' sword draw rolled his eyes from behind his shades. Then, he looked at Cao Cao who was covering his right eye which James' sword had destroyed without mercy.

"Unfortunately, I can't allow you to kill him." Sun Wukong said bitterly.

"There better be a damn good reason, old man." James said with a frown. "Or I'll have to turn my blade in your direction. Because in case you were unaware, he tried to kidnap my woman. And that's not something that can be forgiven easily."

"*Sigh* It's because he's Indra's favorite." Sun Wukong said with a sigh.

"And if his favorite toy gets broken, he's gonna throw a tantrum, huh?" James said with a frown.

"Pretty much." Sun Wukong replied.

"What is it about sky gods?" James asked in an exasperated tone. "Are they all man children? I mean, Zeus likes turning people into animals and shit like that when he's unhappy. And now I have to spare some dickhead with a hero complex... Is that even right? How does a terrorist have a hero complex? Now that I think about it, why are you even part of the Khaos Brigade?"

"Not that it is any of your business." Cao Cao spat out through gritted teeth. "But I want to prove that humans are the true ruling species. And with this spear, it is clear that I was chosen to lead the humans of the new world."

"Holy fucking shit!" James cursed. "It's even worse than a hero complex. It's a fucking messiah complex. Please, please, please, old man, let me kill him. I'd be doing the whole world a favor."

Both Sun WuKong and Cao Cao stared at James blankly. Wannabe messiahs were nothing new to this world. Why was he freaking out like that?

"I'm sure things will be okay, James." Sun Wukong said. "It's not like he's strong enough to change anything for real."

"Yeah, and no one thought Scientology would last as long as it did either, right?" James said frantically. "If we let this fester for too long, and with this guy's personality, the second coming of Scientology is definitely on the way. And it aint goin' nowhere!"

Sun Wukong and Cao Cao stared at James blankly after his little outburst. Then, Cao Cao began to boil over with rage.

"Are you seriously comparing my goal to make humans the dominant species with Scientology!?" Cao Cao shouted hysterically. "What kind of moron are you? Ow, damn it!"

At the end of Cao Cao's crazed retort, he winced with pain when the wound on his face was pulled by his shouting. Then, when the pain subsided slightly, he glared at James with fury, only to freeze in place when he saw James' smirking in his direction.

"Ah~, there's nothing better than seeing your enemy losing their shit." James said with a satisfied smile on his face. "It brings such an immense sense of satisfaction."

Once again, Sun Wukong and Cao Cao could only stare at James in blank amazement. After a few moments, it was Sun Wukong who reacted. Like a child, he laughed happily for the next thirty seconds or so.

"Oh, praise the Buddha." Sun Wukong said after getting his laughter under control. "That was hilarious. I like you more and more every time I see you, Kid."

The whole time Sun Wukong was laughing, Cao Cao did not know what to say. James, on the other hand, just watched him with a smile.

"Enough to let me kill this asshole?" James asked with a friendly smile on his face while pointing at Cao Cao. "I promise I have a bunch of jokes and stories that can make you laugh like that over and over again."

"As much as I'd like to hear those stories and jokes, I can't do that." Sun Wukong replied with a smile. "I don't wanna deal with that man child's tantrum, ya know."

James only shrugged in response.

"Oh, well, can't blame a guy for trying, right?" James asked rhetorically.

A moment later, a cloud of purple fog appeared next to Cao Cao. From it, Georg and Siegfried appeared.

"Georg, Siegfried, why are the two of you here?" Cao Cao asked when he saw who was standing next to him. "Where are Jeanne and Heracles?"

"They were defeated." Georg replied. "Luckily, they wanted to capture them alive. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had time to save them. Then, when I noticed that their opponents were moving to help mine and Siegfried's opponents, I chose to retreat."

Cao Cao nodded in response. Then, he smiled.

"Well, it doesn't matter." Cao Cao said. "We should have bought enough time for the others."

"Oh, so you did send someone to the Youkai Sub-Dimension, huh?" James said, inserting himself into the conversation. "Well, I feel bad for those guys. The person I sent to guard Yasaka is much crueler than I am, after all."

"Kid, you didn't send her there, did you?" Sun Wukong asked with a bit of fear in his eyes.

"Yup, sure did." James replied with a smile. "When they get back to their HQ, they're gonna need quite the recruitment drive."

"You make it sound like just one person could stop the best of our troops." Cao Cao said with a bit of disdain in his tone.

"Oh, she could, and easily." Sun Wukong replied. "If you knew who she was, you'd wet yourselves."

"Who is it?" Siegfried asked curiously.

Instead of answering right away, Sun Wukong turned his sights onto James. When he saw that James nodded with a smile. Sun Wukong took a deep breath, then he spoke the name and title of James' trump card.

"The former Queen of the Land of Shadows, Scathach." Sun Wukong said solemnly.

Hearing that name and title, Cao Cao, Georg, and Siegfried paled instantly. Then, Georg began to activate [Dimension Lost] with all the speed that he was able to. Just before they vanished from the spot, Cao Cao looked at James with his remaining eye.

"I'll pay you back for this." Cao Cao said with a confident smile.

"You're welcome to try." James said with an even more confident smile. "But next time the old man may not be around to save your sorry ass. Then again, I bet you'll only come to pick a fight when he's around, right?"

Cao Cao could only grit his teeth at the blatant mockery. Then, before he could speak again, he and the other two were swallowed by the purple fog and vanished. Subsequently, the dimension created to mimic Kyoto began to crack.

"Well, I'd better go." Sun Wukong said. "Oh, and you knew I was here the whole time, didn't you, Kid?"

"Of course, I did." James replied with a nod. "Even though I really wanted to kill that guy, I know what's important. I need info about the Khaos Brigade."

"So, you made sure that when I deflected your attack, it would still maim him, huh?" Sun Wukong asked.

"Yup. He needed to pay for what he had done." James said in a cold tone.

"You are one scary kid." Sun Wukong said while shaking his head. "You are definitely Scathach's disciple."

"Thanks for the compliment." James said with a proud smile. "Anyway, I'm guessing you don't wanna be seen by Azazel and Sera-Tan, right? So, you should probably get a move on, fast."

"Yeah, I'm outta here." Sun Wukong said as he leapt high into the sky. "Then, a golden cloud swooped by and whisked him off into the distance."

As James watched Sun Wukong disappear on the horizon, He thought to himself.

'Just wait, Cao Cao.' James mused. 'There won't always be someone around to save your ass. And when you're alone, your life will belong to me.'