His muscles visibly stretched underneath his clothes, a multitude of veins bulging beneath his skin while golden-red aura violently fluctuated around him like a violent flame.
This power…even Sirzechs, Ajuka…all the four satans were nothing to him now. Azazel? He was nothing.
This power…he loved it.
.
|DxD|
.
Igor stood rooted to the spot, this new sensation beguiling him with its effects. It wasn’t the power itself that had Igor halt. It was the enhanced perception. Everything- he could see, feel, and hear everything.
The massive boost to his perception was unlike anything he could ever comprehend before. Even at his best, his most effective range when sensing was a few dozen kilometres at best. Beyond that, it became harder and harder to accurately find hidden or some of the much smaller energy signatures.
But in this state, he could cover the whole world. He had covered the whole world. His senses stretched across the seas, reaching all the continents and covering entire mountains. Very few, if nothing could escape his senses.
Even plant life with their almost nonexistent energy signatures registered to his senses, a feat that almost bordered on impossible for a range so large.
Su Su Su Su Su Su
It was…amazing.
“?!?!”
Suddenly freezing, Igor’s brain finally couldn’t handle the sudden influx of information. The sudden scaling of processing a few kilometres of information to millions upon millions of kilometres was simply a scale too grand for it to adapt quickly enough.
Clutching his head, Igor could not restrain his screams.
“AAAAAAAAAH!”
He collapsed to the ground in pain, all seven of his orifices leaking blood. It was too much. The information was too much for him to handle. He didn’t just sense humans. He could sense every single living thing within the realm of his perception.
From the smallest of fishes to the most insignificant of fauna, he could perceive it. The planet contained billions of lifeforms, and he could sense them all.
“AAAAAAAAH!”
GRUUU!
In a burst of uncontrollable power, Igor released all of his aura, his outburst caused by the blinding pain he was feeling.
Covering his ears with his hands, he desperately tried to stop this pain to no avail. Information kept coming in.
His brain couldn’t handle it anymore. He was shutting down in real time and if nothing changed, he would die.
“...”
Shiva tried to watch impassively. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Nandi was looking at him with…was that a faint smile?
“Nandi.”
Purple aura leaked out of him, his displeasure very evident in his tone.
“Talk.”
What Igor was going through shouldn’t be normal. No matter what, the last thing Shiva needed was a rare talent die right in front of him. That would become a regret he could never swallow.
“Oh my. Pardon my mistake, my lord.”
Neither feeling threatened nor taking offense to Shiva’s tone, he only feigned embarrassment. Ever-so casually, Nandi tapped the ground twice with his staff before a massive barrier gradually covered them.
Ding Ding
Like clockwork, the results were nigh-instantaneous. With the barrier completely secluding them from the outside world, Igor’s perception could not stretch any further than a measly few-dozen metres.
Completely isolated from the world, his perception could no longer spread to its ludicrous range like it did before. The tsunami of information overwhelming his brain steadily decreased to a faint trickle.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Haa…haa…haa…”
His screams of agony quietened to tired pants. While on all fours, his chest heaved as he took in life-giving air. So traumatised was he that during this whole time, he couldn’t breathe.
His mental faculties hadn’t quite fully recovered, but it was enough for him to undo his transformation. Under the concerned eyes of Shiva, his hair visibly shortened while the markings on his skin receded back to his forehead.
He was still on the ground while Shiva had crouched before him, his hand on his head. The God of Destruction was not pleased with how this turned out. He could feel the extensive internal damage Shiva had suffered.
Turning to face Nandi, he faced his attendant with a rather stern expression.
“You did this on purpose, didn’t you.”
It was a statement. Not a question.
“Ohohohoho. I fail to understand what you mean, my lord.”
“...”
Shiva knew he was lying. Nandi was anything but incompetent. This was a display of incompetence. The only other reason he could see is if he did it on purpose. But for what reason, he couldn’t be sure.
“...”
In the end, he decided to drop it. Nandi had not failed him once in his long tenure as a god. In the end, he chose to trust that his attendant had a valid reason for what he did.
His most pressing concern right now was making sure Igor didn’t die under his watch.
“Dimori.”
He lifted him up by his hair, but Igor seemed to be entirely out of it. The blood pouring out of his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth had already dried, but his gaze was distant. He was tempted to slap the blonde, but Nandi halted him.
“It is not advisable for you to do that, my lord. I suspect he is communicating with his tenant.
“...”
Shiva halted at that.
“Alright.”
Letting go of Igor’s hair, he turned towards Nandi.
“Tell me. Why did you not stop him?”
“Stop him? Hmmm. Perhaps we can call it my obvious curiosity. We had already seen the result of ki combined with nature energy. I was interested in seeing what would happen if Divine Ki was used. The results were quite stellar if I must say.”
“...”
Shiva could see no arguments there. The amount of power Igor exhibited for that brief moment was indeed an incredulous amount. It still wasn’t anywhere near close to his, but it was monumental when compared to the rest of the supernatural world.
“If he can come to control this form in the future, even Indra might be forced to use his true form.”
“Indeed, my lord. If he learns to master this power, he might enter the true Top Ten.”*
“...indeed.”
Looking once more at the blonde who had crouched low on the ground, Shiva began counting the years when the kid would finally be able to give him a decent challenge.
[If he accepts, I’ll work on teaching him how to-]
“My lord. If I recall, Amaterasu sought to battle you for third place?”*
“...”
Sigh…
That woman brought him nothing but headaches. He could already feel her staring at him from her domain. To say it was troublesome was an understatement.
Thankfully, Igor soon returned to reality and stood up. He was still a bit wobbly, but he would live.
“Ow. Man that hurt.”
He seemed to have recovered enough that he was no longer in pain. Aside from a headache the size of a mountain, Igor was alright.
“I’m glad you seem to be alright, Dimori. Now tell us. How did it feel to command such power at your fingertips?”
He was confused as to what power Nandi was talking about until his mind finally remembered. As it clicked in his head, his eyes widened.
“Awesome!”
For a moment, he was back in his childish wonder.
“It’s beyond everything I’ve ever known! I mean, that insane power boost was something else entirely.”
“Indeed it was. I reckon you are amongst the ranks of the strongest mortals in the supernatural world.
“Really?!”
This time, it was Shiva who spoke.
“Of course. Though that is not something to be infinitely proud of. Being the strongest against the weak just means you’re still weak.”
“...”
At those words, Igor’s enthusiasm visibly dimmed.
“You’re right…”
As powerful as he felt he was, it was still nowhere near close to Shiva’s power, and he was still at rest. He couldn’t imagine how powerful a serious Shiva would be. But Igor knew one thing. He wouldn’t even function as a warmup.
“I am still weak. But I will continue to grow stronger!”
“...”
It was this conviction that made Shiva smile juuust a little bit. He was a bit worried that after tasting this power, Igor would grow to become complacent. Fortunately, the blonde proved him wrong.
“Good. If you want to improve even further, I once more offer you to train on my mountain.”
“...”
At that, Igor was once more struck with indecision, but Nandi saw through it.
“If you worry for your family, young Dimori, then I shall tell you that you have no need for concern. Just now, you made the entire world aware of your power. Very few would willingly try to seek trouble. And if that isn’t enough, it will soon be common knowledge that you are affiliated with my lord in some way.”
Having been somewhat muddle-headed for the past minute or so, Igor was confused as to why Nandi mentioned Shiva, but the man himself finally realised what Nandi was playing at.
“You and your tricks…”
He finally realised that Nandi intentionally let Igor suffer for longer just so that any curious gods who looked into the matter would also see him.
“Tch.”
“...”
Nandi said nothing and instead smiled, something that ticked off his lord.
“Nevermind. Listen, Dimori. Nandi is right. As it stands, the entire supernatural world will soon be made aware that we are both connected to each other.”
“...how?”
“...”
There was absolutely no chance Shiva would provide the actual reason.
“Because I said so. All you need to know is that with my name, no one will dare touch your family. And Nandi here will keep an eye on them so that nothing happens without our knowledge. Now, tell me. What is your answer?”
“...”
.
AN
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<ol>
<li>“Indeed, my lord. If he learns to master this power, he might enter the true Top Ten.”*</li>
</ol>
Explanation: My guess here is this. I am heavily assuming that since it is mentioned that Indra has a true form, then other gods would also have true forms. This conjecture confuses me though since in the novel, there was none of this when all of them were attacked by Trihexa in canon. I can only guess we’ll see the proper reason in the future.
<ol start="2">
<li>“My lord. If I recall, Amaterasu sought to battle you for third place?”*</li>
</ol>
Explanation: Going back to the mention of true forms, it seems like there’s a secret list of the top ten strongest in the world, and this list most likely comprises of gods when they fight in their true forms. Again, I’m just shooting my shot. Nothing has been confirmed.