Chapter 194: Presentation
With Vahn rising into the sky for a better vantage, Marco, a round-faced man with a hairstyle reminiscent of a pineapple, ascended after him with blue and yellow wings in place of his arms and tail feathers reminiscent of a phoenix.
"Pardon me, Your Majesty...!" exclaimed Marco, regaining ordinary limbs and spinning acrobatically through the air to drop a kick onto Vahn's left forearm, his foot resembling that of a bird wreathed in the same blue and yellow flames as his former wings.
"Everyone's trying to kick me today..." remarked Vahn, causing a bead of sweat to form on the right side of Marco's face as, despite putting his full weight and power behind the attack, the former's arm barely budged two millimeters.
"Lightning Dragon's Roar...!"
Before Vahn could decide if or how he wanted to punish Marco's attempt to blitz him, Laxus unleashed a wide, pillar-like laser of highly condensed Lightning-Elemental Energy empowered by Dragon Force. Vahn was able to block it fairly easily with his wings, but since he wasn't utilizing his Aura of Karmic Protection, he found himself pushed back several meters.
'He is an S-Class Mage, after all...' Vahn mused. This placed Laxus on par with Mid-Ranking Devils that had just been promoted to High-Rank based on merit, but as he was gradually closing the distance between himself and Sairaorg, nothing short of a peak High-Ranking Devil could penetrate his defenses.
"Giga Dragon Shot...!"
Just as Vahn was wondering who among the rapidly spreading group, besides Sairaorg, he had to worry about, Issei, modeling his red, mech-like, dragon-themed Balance Breaker armor, assailed him with a crimson laser wide enough to fill his vision.
'This had got to be the effect of my Title...' concluded Vahn, closing and encasing himself in his wings like a cacoon, several of his outer feathers disintegrating as he was pushed back several hundred meters by Issei's mountain-piercing beam attack. As for the Title he was referencing, it was Object of Envy, which passively provoked those who felt envy or jealousy toward him during combat.
Unfurling his wings after Issei's attack abated, Vahn barely had time to register his surroundings before the former appeared before him, already throwing a punch.
'How is he already this fast...?' Vahn wondered, his mind filling with a frigid sensation as he narrowly shifted to evade Issei's attack, transitioning into a snapping spin that allowed him to backhand the armored youth with his wings, producing a whip-like crack and a visible shockwave.