Flashback, Unknown Location)
"What? So you're already done here?"
Vali, who just dismissed his Balance Breaker a second ago, turned his head towards Saitama who just stepped over what it seemed to be a corpse of something rather inhuman. The Hakuryuukou only scoffed as he was merely standing amongst the aftermath of something akin to chaos of battlefield.
"What are you doing here, Saitama?" the younger male asked as he scanned around his handiwork.
"When I said that I was bored, Azazel decided to send me checking up on you…" Saitama also scanned the destruction around him. "Though it seems everything is pretty much done here."
Vali snorted at the man. "Now you know what I felt whenever Azazel sent me to check up on you during a mission."
"Well, I don't really care about that…" Saitama looked around and he saw several figures were walking towards them. "… Friends of yours?" Saitama pointed at the figures.
Vali's gaze landed on the approaching strangers and he addressed them casually. "Ah… Good work, you guys."
"Vali-chin~!"
"G-good work to you too, Vali-sama!"
"Vali, who is this man? And a human to boot?"
"Kahahaha! You never hold back as usual, Hakuryuukou! By the way, who's the baldy… Wait, is he the one you mentioned before, who had been trashing you around?"
"Yes, Bikou… He's the guy…" Seeing that a bitter memory had been triggered, Vali only sighed as he quickly moved on to another subject. "Saitama, this is the group I recently made and these are my comrades…"
(End of Flashback)
X
Everyone had taken their sitting positions as the Peace Conference commenced. Sirzechs Lucifer was the one to take the first initiative. "Now that everyone has arrived, I'll say the preconditions for the meeting. The people present here acknowledge the most important event and forbidden subject, i.e. The Non-existence of Biblical God."
At Lucifer's briefing, every guest's face tensed up, as the Conference that would determine the fate between Three Factions from the Bible of Judeo-Christian religion.
As Sirzechs looked around and saw that everyone seemed to acknowledge the information, he proceeded. "Then, acknowledging that, let's continue the conversation-"
"Can I have some tea over here?"
It was not unheard of that during a formal meeting or conference, one of the attendants would like to have some refreshments to ease up their nervousness, but it was still rather unusual for someone to immediately request for a drink at the beginning of the said meeting. Every eyes turned to Saitama who suddenly spoke up with his poker face expression. The guests were showing various reactions: Sona Sitri and her peerage were kind of dumbstruck at the laid-back attitude that the man showed during such an important meeting, while Rias Gremory and her peerage plus Irina were either sighing in exasperation or smiled uncomfortably as they had more understanding of Saitama's personality.
The VIPs and Vali were taking it better than the rest. The Archangels, Azazel and Sirzechs were only smiling good-naturedly as Grayfia dutifully provided the bald man his cup of tea. Vali only closed his eyes while showing an unreadable smile and Serafall let out a breath as she rolled her eyes while shaking her head at the man's antics.
Then Michael picked up where Sirzechs left off. "Then moving on…"
The conference went on as the leaders discussed about their past history and their mutual agreement about the pointless-ness of their bad history. Even so, as the atmosphere in the room was getting heavier with the presence of powerful individuals inside, Rias had unconsciously reached out her hand towards Issei's out of nervousness. Issei glanced at Rias' nervous expression for a moment before he gently clasped his hand with hers in understanding.
The conference moved on as the leaders would like to hear the report and testimony from Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri regarding the fiasco about Excalibur swords and Kokabiel. During the entire session, Issei caught Saitama was quietly playing a Gameboy under the table instead of paying attention, causing the boy to roll his eyes and inwardly sighed to himself.
"-That is all. The report that I, Rias Gremory and the household devils over there experienced." Rias said as she concluded her report.
"I, Sona Sitri testify that her testimony is truthful." Sona conceded with Rias.
The leaders expressed their gratitude and appreciation.
"Good work, you may return to your seats."
"Thank you, Rias-chan~ Sona-tan~" the Leviathan winked, resulting Sona's eyes to twitch before she returned to her seat.
"What you've done was no small feat." Gabriel voiced her opinion before she turned to Saitama. "And thank you for helping as well, Saitama-san."
"Yeah, no problem." The said man only glanced at the Seraph before he returned to his Gameboy. At this point, everyone had noticed his antics but decided to keep quiet about it.
Then the Leader of Heaven turned his head to Azazel. "Now then, Azazel. After hearing this report, I want to hear the opinion of the Governor of the fallen angels."
"I apologize for his actions. While Kokabiel was an old comrade and one of leaders of Grigori, he acted independently without my knowledge. I was actually waiting for him to make a move in order to uncover his schemes…" Azazel remained relaxed as he explained. "Well, I also sent the Hakuryuukou here to take care of the situation. Though in the end the Sekiryuutei managed to get things under control. I even sent Saitama there to take care of Kokabiel's back-up army. Kokabiel himself had been sentenced with eternal imprisonment inside the Ice of Cocytus afterwards, so he won't come out anymore. Everything had been written in that reported earlier, right? So it should be fine now."
"Putting aside the poor explanation, I heard that you personally not wanting to make anything big occur against us. Is that true?" Michael asked in return.
"Yep, I don't have any interest in wars. Although Kokabiel wasn't thrilled with that idea when I announced the cease-fire."
"Then allow me to ask you one thing." Sirzechs took the turn to speak up. "Azazel, why have you been gathering Sacred Gear owners for the past decades? At first I thought you were gathering humans, and attempting to augment your battle potential. I even anticipated you to wage war against heaven or us but…"
Michael put in his two-cents, "Yes, no matter how much time passed, you didn't wage a war against us. When I heard you got hold of the Vanishing Dragon, I was enveloped by a strong wariness." Then the Archangel turned to glance at Saitama, who only blinked in return. "And looking back to the report earlier, you even employed someone on Saitama-kun's calibre…."
"Nah, Saitama only did me a favour. He doesn't really take sides, you know. That's why I appointed him as this meeting's overseer." Azazel then smiled bitterly. "And seriously, it's all for the sake of my Sacred Gear research. If that's the case, should I send a part of the research materials to you as well? Even if I did research, I wouldn't wage a war against you or anything. I don't have any interest in war at this late of an hour. I am perfectly satisfied with the world right now." Then he pointed at Saitama. "Not to mention, if I were to do something funny, the dude there would have done me in before I started anything. I even have strongly ordered my subordinates, 'Don't interfere with the human world's politics', you know? I have no intention of intervening in religion either, nor to influence the business of the devils…. Damn, is my trust in the 3 factions the least?" Azazel complained about his predicament.
The other leaders showed their disagreement in an instant.
"That's true"
"Spot on~!"
"That's right."
"I'm afraid so."
Then Azazel turned to someone who he hoped to be his last saving grace. "Hey, Saitama… We are buddies, aren't we? Can you say something about the good ol' me?"
Saitama only sent him a dry look. "Well, if you ask me… I actually thought that you looked rather shady during the first time we met. Not to mention you did con me few times in the past…"
"Why you, traitor…."
The atmosphere seemed to lighten up from the interaction between Azazel and Saitama.
"Tch, fine then. Nobody's siding with me here…" Azazel clicked his tongue as he pecked at his ears. "Why don't we just have peace already? Not the cease-fire crap, but real peace. Isn't that the purpose of this meeting in the first place?"
That was something unexpected for the rest of the guests in the room. However, the leaders seemed to differ. "Yes, I also planned to propose peace to the Devil's side and Grigori. Even if we continue the relationship of the 3 factions like before, then it will become damaging to the world right now. I, the leader of the angels say it since the original cause of the war, our God and devil kings have been annihilated." Michael voiced his agreement.
"Wow, I didn't see that coming from you, Michael. Since you're all about our Father before." Azazel commented his amusement.
"… I've lost so many things in the war. However, there's no helping seeking for things that aren't present. It is our duty to guide humans. We members of the Seraph have the same opinion that the most important thing is to watch over the children of God from now on as well, and to guide them."
Sirzechs also voiced his agreement. "The same thing goes for us devils. With our original kings had gone, we have to move on to continue our species' existence. If we do another war, our race will be destroyed."
"True, If we do another war, the 3 factions will definitely be mutually destroyed. And then, it will affect the human world as well, and the world will end. A war is the last thing we need now." Azazel followed as he nodded. "Besides, do you think a world without Biblical God is wrong? Do you think a world without God would decay? I am sorry to say, but that isn't the case. Me and you as well are both healthily living like this." Then Azazel spread out his arms and said with clear voice, "The world moves around even without a God."
The room went silent at the words until Sirzechs decided to break the ice. "I see… Now then, the discussion has considerably been solved in a good direction, let's hear the opinion from the people whose power can influence over the world; the two heavenly dragons, as well as Saitama-kun." Sirzechs looked at the aforementioned three respectively.
"Saitama-kun, you may start first."
At the mention of his name, Saitama blinked first before he looked around and scratched his cheek. "Well…. For starters, I want to ask a thing or two to… Err… that handsome, shining guy with halo over there…." Saitama pointed at the Archangel Michael.
Everyone sighed again at Saitama's antics as Azazel simply reminded the bald man again. "He's Michael."
"Right, Michael. Is it okay I ask you something?"
"I'll do my best to answer your question, Saitama-kun." Michael replied sincerely as the angel did not seem to be troubled at all from Saitama's manners.
Saitama took impassive glances at the Gremory group, particularly at his son and the blonde girl beside him, before he turned back to the Archangel with unreadable expression. "Why did you exile Asia-chan?"
The others, especially Issei, widened their eyes at Saitama's unexpected question. Asia herself suddenly put her hand on her chest as her eyes shifted down. Some of them also wondered of what the man was thinking about. Michael himself only remained silent for a second before he replied.
"I can only apologize for that… After our Father had been annihilated, only the system that remains to govern divine protection, mercy and miracles. This system was, if I explain it simply, the system to perform the miracles and blessings that Father did. Our Father made the system and He used it to bring about miracles above ground. To bring about the effect of holy things like exorcism, crosses and other holy artefacts; these too are the system's powers."
"So…" Saitama actually listened and connected the dots. "What you're saying is, after the God died, there are some trouble in the system you mentioned?"
Michael only nodded at Saitama's question. "Yes. Even with my power and other Seraph to start up the system to operate again, the divine protection and blessings to the believers are not complete. It's unfortunate, but those who can be granted salvation are now limited."
Issei followed as he put the two and two together. "And because of that… You have to keep away those people related to the church who could possibly cause an influence on the system, like Asia, who possess Twilight Healing that can heal both devils and fallen angels as well, and possibly other Sacred Gear users… Is that what you want to say?"
Michael nodded again at Issei's hypothesis. "Yes. If there is a person who can heal Devils and Fallen Angels present within the followers, it will influence the faith of the ones around her. The source of us living in heaven is the faith of believers. Because of that, Twilight healing is a forbidden sacred gear that can cause an influence on the system. And also, as an example of influence on the system…-"
Xenovia interrupted the Archangel. "The people who know about the non-existence of God… Am I correct?"
"Yes. That's correct, Xenovia. Even loosing you hurt us dearly, the truth about God's death itself has a huge impact on the system that maintained our existence as well. Forgive me, but there was no other way but to make you and Asia Argento into heretics." Michael concluded as he bowed his head towards the two former members of the church – now devils.
Saitama only nodded as he took in Michael's reasoning. To be honest, Issei did not expect that his father, of all people, to address the question regarding the former Holy Maiden. Perhaps his father was not really as bad as he thought, after all; was what Issei had in mind. The boy himself only sighed as he did not intend to speak any further. If the person who created the system in the first place, as well as understanding the system's inner working, had perished in the first place; then it could not be helped if someone else, no matter how close that someone to the original creator, could not entirely manage the system as good as the original. At least the current one in charge was willing to apologize for the error.
After being taken aback by the Archangel's apology, Xenovia good-naturedly shook her head and smiled. "No, Michael-sama, please don't apologize. Even like this, till I reached this age I was brought up by the church. I somehow felt it was a bit irrational, but if you know the reason then there's nothing such as asking why."
Michael could not help but felt guilty himself. "But… it is our crime that you reincarnated as a devil…"
"It's alright… There may be some regrets, but the parts that had been sealed from my life in the church are now brilliantly colouring my life. I have no regrets, and never will about having a new life as a devil."
Asia also conceded with Xenovia. "Michael-sama, I also feel that I am happy. Since I now have a lot of important people, and I also have met and talked with the Michael-sama who I admired, that enough is an honour!" the girl said with beaming expression.
Both Issei and Michael felt relieved at the two girl's response. "I am very grateful for your forgiving hearts. Then I'll leave the Durandal to you, Xenovia. Since it's the family of the Sirzechs' sister then I am at ease that it won't be used by those who do as they please." The Archangel spoke his decision.
"Speaking of, I also want to apologize about what my subordinates had done to you." Azazel interjected as he was looking at Asia.
Then Issei narrowed his eyes at the Fallen Angel Governor. "That's right. One of your subordinates killed Asia. And if I thought about it again, you indirectly caused all of this to happen…" The boy started to accuse the fallen.
"Ise."
Suddenly a stern voice was heard from Saitama, who was staring at his son with a rather firm gaze. It was such an odd sight, Saitama of all people was taking initiative to admonish his son's small outburst, as the atmosphere suddenly got somewhat heavier. Issei himself only glared back at his father.
"Calm down, Ise…" Rias warned her pawn and the boy only huffed lightly as he closed his eyes to back off.
Seeing that he had a chance to talk again, Azazel went on. "It's true we Fallen Angels are eliminating those Sacred Gear users who may cause harm to us. As an organisation, it's obvious right? Sensing that a person may become a threat in the future, then if we know about it beforehand, you'll want to eliminate him. And because of that you died. The reason is, a human like you, not to mention when we found that you are flesh and blood of someone like Saitama here, could have run wild with the power of the Sekiryuutei plus the power you might inherit from your father, and have a bad effect on us or the world in the long run."
"And thus, I ended up becoming a devil." Issei concluded as he opened up his hands. His tone sounded somewhat ironic.
"And do you regret it?" Azazel asked. "Having bat wings, devils and all."
"Of course not." Issei snorted. "I mean, look around me. Thanks to my reincarnation, I can meet these guys." Issei turned to his friends, who blinked at his answer before smiling in return.
"Indeed. When you joined my sister's peerage, you ended up helping her family a lot." Sirzechs interjected. "And also, your father ended up coming home, right? If I recalled, Saitama-kun wanted to rush back home when he got a hold of your situation. If you remained human, your reunion with him would've been delayed." Sirzechs ended with a knowing smile along with the other leaders.
Issei himself only blinked at Sirzechs opinion before sending a look to his father, who simply shrugged in return.
"Even so," Azazel added. "It's too late for me to apologize now, so in return, I'll think of something of paying my debt to you somehow. Now then, going back to the main question. Saitama, what do you want to do about the world in the end?"
"Well... I think I'm fine with the world as it is. Besides, considering what I do for living, it's my job to preserve the world peace, right?"
Listening at Saitama's simple and somewhat expected reason, the leaders only gave a content smile while Serafall only sneered, "A hero, eh? That kind of job solely belongs to Magical Girls like me!" Serafall ended up with a small outburst.
"Wait, are you still hung up on that? Really?" Saitama only groaned as he sent a dry look at the Leviathan.
"Come on, Serafall… Now's not really the time." Sirzechs reminded his fellow king.
"But, Sirzechs-chan~!" Serafall whined in return.
The other guests only sighed yet again at the Leviathan and Saitama's antics, while at the same time, they were even more curious about what the two had gone through in the past.
"Well, moving on to Sekiryuutei there." Azazel moved the topic towards Issei. "What do you have in mind?"
Issei went silent for a second. "Well… I prefer peace, of course. I'm already content with my friends and life style here. And besides…" Issei then rubbed the back of his head as he averted his gaze to random direction. "To be honest, with the world stay peaceful, I can focus training myself to catch up with that guy over there…"
At Issei's answer, Saitama's lips twitched upward ever so slightly while all the leaders gave a knowing smile. The others from Rias' peerage also smiled contentedly at the boy's honesty.
"Then, what about you, Vali? As the Hakuryuukou?" Azazel turned to his escort.
"I'm fine with anything as long as I can fight strong people." The teen simply replied.
"Then I guess there's nothing to worry about. If you simply want to fight a strong guy, our baldy here would be more than happy to play with you. Right, Saitama?" Azazel replied and grinned to Saitama.
"Don't just decide things on your own!"
Saitama shot back when he suddenly felt something washed over the entire room. He blinked at the small sensation and he looked around the ceiling before he turned to the other leaders.
"Um… Guys? Is it just me, or you also felt…. Guys?" Saitama asked around and found the other guests, including his own son were literally frozen on their spot. "….Kids? Everyone?" Saitama waved his arms at the unmoving students.
Issei blinked at his father's question and he realized that most of the other guests, sans the leaders and Grayfia had been frozen on their position. It also appeared that Rias, Yuuto, Xenovia, Irina and Vali were also the ones who remained unaffected as well.
As the boy immediately looked around and he gave a sigh as he recognized the abnormality.
"Oh, shit…"
"Well, this is troubling…" Azazel spoke as his expression turned serious, he also had extended his arm upward as he casted a barrier surrounding the conference room.
Sirzechs, Serafall and the Archangels had stood up and extended their arms as well to reinforce the barrier. Issei dutifully manifested his Boosted Gear and aimed the gauntlet towards the barrier.
[Transfer!]
While with only one boost, Issei's additional reinforcement was enough to make the barrier lasted much longer than originally intended. The leaders nodded their heads in silent gratitude before they returned their attention to the issue at hand. Saitama then moved from his seat as he attempted to look around the situation.
"Can anybody tell me what's going on?" Saitama asked to nobody in particular as he waved his hand in front of Asia's frozen face in wonder.
"It's Gasper…." Rias replied. "And this scale of power… It feels like Balance Breaker."
"Seriously?" Saitama blinked at Rias. "That kid can actually do something like this?" Saitama then proceeded to poke Asia's head until Issei had to usher him away.
"It seems that only those with irregular powers and enough power to withstand the Forbidden Balor View. And…" Rias then trailed towards her hand that remained within Issei's clasp. "It also seems that you protected me again, Ise…" Rias concluded as she sent a grateful smile at her pawn.
"Kiba, Irina and I have our swords." Xenovia quipped in as Durandal manifested on her hand. The same goes for Yuuto's holy-demonic sword and Irina's Excalibur Mimic.
Issei returned the smile to his master before he addressed back the issue. "But why did Gasper's power activated now of all times?"
"Why don't you take a look outside?" Vali replied. Then the Gremory group who could move and Saitama took a look outside the windows.
A flash of light suddenly appeared, forcing the spectators to close their eyes. What they saw outside was, an army of people in black robes wielding ceremonial staffs were attacking the vulnerable soldiers of Three Factions as their bodies were frozen from the Forbidden Balor View's influence.
"Azazel, what's exactly going on?" Issei then asked the Fallen Angel.
"I was planning to address the issue after the alliance was made, but I guess I have to brief you guys now. Simply put, we're under terrorist attack." Azazel's answer received looks from the others who could move, sans Vali. "And looks like these magicians are also capable of using devil magic as well… I'd say each of them possesses the power of a mid-class devil."
"Magicians?" Issei raised his eyebrows. "So… Are they still humans?"
"Yes, they sure are humans." Azazel lectured. "And only humans that can be categorized as magicians."
Serafall on the other hand pouted cutely. "Geez, who do they think they are!? I'm the Magical Girl here! I already have my hands full enough dealing with that poor excuse of that so-called hero!"
The others wanted to make a retort at the Leviathan's remarks, but they decided to focus more at the crises at hand.
"And those magicians somehow found a way to force Gasper-kun to activate his Balance Breaker…." Sirzechs concluded.
"This is bad, the power is increasing by the minute. If this keeps on, even we might be stuck in time, and it will not do for all of us here." Michael picked up the Satan's conclusion.
Rias on the other hand, was trembling in rage. "Gasper has been made into a terrorist weapon at the old school building…Just where did they get information on my servant…Moreover, for them to use his power to go after this important meeting…! Never have I been so insulted like this!"
"Wait, doesn't that mean that Koneko is in danger as well?" Yuuto interjected. The others' eyes widened in realization as well that Koneko was also left behind to watch over Gasper.
"…Well, what are we waiting for? Any ideas?" Issei goaded on.
"Um…" Everyone turned to see Irina who raised up her hand. "Where's Saitama-san?"
The others blinked, and when everyone looked around, the bald man was nowhere to be seen. However, they also found one of the windowsills had been opened.
Serafall was the one to make a comment. "Heh, he's probably got a cold feet and decided to scram." The Leviathan half-joked.
Of course, some of others who knew the bald man better, did not believe that the man would have just escaped for his own safety. Before Sirzechs could have said anything else about Saitama's disappearance, his cell-phone suddenly rang and the Crimson Satan took a look at it, only to see a message from the man in question.
From: Hyoudou Saitama
To: Sirzechs Lucifer
Going to check on Gya-chan. Be back soon.
Sirzechs looked up from his cell-phone to see Azazel was holding his cell-phone as well, as the two leaders made eye contact, they reached a mutual understanding and both of them let out good-natured sighs in unison. Issei and the others, who noticed the leaders' antics, needed few seconds to figure out what was going on.
Issei was the first to figure it out. "He just left to save Gasper and Koneko-chan, didn't he?" he asked with dry look. The leaders only nodded in return. "Alone?" And the leaders nodded again.
Then everyone else let out sighs in unison as well, while Serafall pouted further and Vali simply snorted in amusement.
"I swear, that old man…!" Issei grumbled as he walked towards the window, planning to go after his father.
"Hold it right there, Sekiryuutei-kun." Azazel stopped Issei on his tracks before the Fallen Governor turned to address the others. "Now that it had come down to this, I'd say we'll leave this matter to him, however…" Azazel then turned to Vali as well. "We can't just sit here while the guy steals the thunder on his own, can we? Vali, why don't you go with Sekiryuutei here to keep those magicians busy? The Two Heavenly Dragons fighting side-by-side against common enemy, it sure will be a spectacular sight ever since the Great War, no?"
At Azazel's proposal, everyone gave skeptical looks towards the aforementioned two. Issei's expression remained indifferent while Vali's expression was rather unreadable. However, Issei was the one to give a reaction as he simply sighed.
"Well… not that I mind, but are you sure about him?" Issei pointed his thumb at the silver-haired teen.
Vali only snorted again. "I guess it's fine by me. What about you, Albion?" Vali asked and his Divine Dividing manifested on his back.
{I don't really mind about it. Didn't we state it on the other day? It's just a matter of time until the time we fight again. Isn't that right, red one?}
Confirming to the Vanishing Dragon's words, Issei's Boosted Gear manifested on its host's left arm.
[Yeah, you can count on it. Working together with the white one sounds interesting from time to time]
Then it was settled, Issei and Vali walked towards the windowsills to prepare themselves for the upcoming battle. The former sent one last cautious look towards the latter, which was replied by a small grin, before Vali returned to gaze at the battlefield in front of him.
"Ise."
Issei's musing however, was interrupted by the voice of his master. "Yes, buchou?"
Rias stared at her pawn for a second before she gave her command. "Please be careful out there. The whole school-ground is an enemy territory."
Issei caught the meaning of his master's last words. "…As you wish, milady." Issei replied with a smile and he silently promoted himself into a Queen, and the promotion instantly enhanced his strength and reserves even further, before his body was enveloped by red light, along with Vali with white light.
[WELSH DRAGON BALANCE BREAKER!]
{VANISHING DRAGON BALANCE BREAKER!}
Both teens were clad in draconic armour and immediately flew out of the window towards the enemy forces in the sky. Soon, red and white streaks followed by flashes and sounds of explosion were littering the sky as the Two Heavenly Dragons were obliterating the invading army. The spectators from conference room only looked with eyes filled with amazement.
"Amazing…"
"Are these the power of the Two Heavenly Dragons?"
"Whew, now that they're at it, let's address another issue." Azazel then picked out a bracelet from his pocket. "Just in case, in the end someone had to put this on the dhampir kid to supress his Sacred Gear power, otherwise his Forbidden Balor View might act up again at even more inconvenient time. So, who's up for the job? After all, we leaders have to stay maintaining this barrier to prevent collateral damage."
Rias was the one who immediately stepped forward. "I'll go. Gasper is my servant, it's my responsibility to rescue him."
Sirzechs stared at his little sister for a second before letting out good-natured giggles. "Fufufu… I guess I should've seen it coming from you. However…" Sirzechs gestured towards outside. "Our usual teleportation spell had been jammed, thus we can't get out of here. Having you walking towards the old school building across the battlefield was very risky. How will you do that?"
Rias contemplated for a minute before she came up with an idea. "The old school building… My base's clubroom has a remaining unused "rook" piece being safe kept within it."
"I see… Castling, huh…" Sirzechs nodded in understanding. "Since they would usually expect us to go take him back, this could catch the opponent off-guard. They'll anticipate some kind of trick."
Since The Evil Pieces system was referenced from the game of chess, the move 'Castling' could be applied when a king had an unused rook piece for the former to swap place with the latter.
"Alright. But I still can't just let you go alone. At least pick someone to accompany you." The Satan advised his little sister.
Rias then turned to one of her knights after giving another thought. "Yuuto, if you would?"
The young man straightened himself, like a knight who responded to his king's call. "Yes, buchou!" then the male knight turned to Sirzechs Lucifer.
"Kiba Yuuto-kun… I'll leave my sister in your care."
Yuuto replied with another knight-like bow. "Yes, sir. I shall see to it, Lucifer-sama." Then Yuuto and Rias walked towards Grayfia, who was preparing their gateway for Castling.
"Xenovia." Sirzechs then turned to Rias' other knight. "Will you lend us your power to fend off the magicians outside?"
"Yes! It will be an honour, Lucifer-sama!" Xenovia accepted without hesitation.
"Irina, you should help as well." Michael ordered his escort.
"Yes, please leave it to me, Michael-sama!" Irina proudly replied.
"I pray for your safety out there, Irina-san, Xenovia-san too." Gabriel gave her 'blessing' towards the former Exorcist duo, albeit Xenovia ended up with a light headache from the 'blessing'.
"Then, we're heading out! Let's go, Xenovia!" Irina declared while Xenovia turned one last time towards her master, who nodded in approval.
"Yeah!" then the two sword-wielders bolted out of the room.
While the leaders remained in the room while Rias and Yuuto were still on standby until Grayfia finished the preparation, Sirzechs addressed Azazel again. "Azazel, continuing the talk from before, what are you trying to do by collecting Sacred Gears? You've been collecting Longinus owners too, right?"
"Yes, I have. But don't worry." Azazel replied. "I'm not collecting those stuffs to wage war against you nor starting any war. Those are for preparations."
"Preparations….?" Gabriel wondered. "Preparations for what, exactly?"
Azazel simply pointed his thumb outside. "Against the ones behind this attack… The Khaos Brigade."
"….Khaos Brigade?"
The leaders only furrowed their eyebrows at Azazel's answer, and the latter explained. "I only confirmed the organisation's name and background recently, but my Vice Governor Shemhazai has also had his eye on this suspiciously acting group from before that. It's said that they're gathering dangerous members from all three big powers. Some Sacred Gear-possessing humans who have attained Balance Breaker also seem to be included. I've also confirmed a number of Longinus possessors among them."
"An organization with such members… What is their goal?" Michael enquired.
"It's pretty simple. As the name suggests, their goal is to cause destruction and mayhem." Azazel replied with a shrug. "Apparently, those terrorists are not fond of this whole idea of world peace. They're ill-natured to the extreme. Their leaders is-!"
"The Dragon God of Infinity, Ophis the Ouroboros."
Before Azazel could have said anything more, a voice was heard, followed by another magic circle appeared. Sirzechs and Serafall who recognized the insignia on the circle had their eyes widened.
"I see. So you've come! The mastermind this time—!" then Sirzechs clicked his tongue before turning to his queen. "Grayfia, transfer Rias and Yuuto-kun quickly!"
"Yes!" Grayfia, who fortunately had just finished the preparation at the time, immediately urged Rias and her knight to a small magic circle at the corner of the room. "Ojou-sama, I wish you the fortunes of battle."
Rias could not do anything else when she heard Grayfia's parting words. "W-Wait, Grayfia!? Onii-sama!" Rias could not see what happened afterwards since she and Yuuto was already transferred out from the room.
X
"Whew…"
The sound of running water was heard as Saitama let out a breath while he waited his bladder to finish emptying the residual water out of his system. After Saitama had felt enough, he proceeded to re-dress his self but he found it slightly difficult to re-zip his pants.
"Maybe I should ask Azazel to re-adjust the zipper again later…"
Saitama pressed the flush button but no water ran inside the urinal, even after the man pushed the button couple of more times. And as he suspected, the water in the basin did not run as well.
"And I should ask Sirzechs to fix the water system in this old-school building as well…"
Saitama went out from the restroom back to the hallway which was littered by numerous body of magicians on the floor, some of them were unfortunate enough to be stuck on the walls and the ceilings, there were some unfortunate others who got launched outside the building, given the state of the hallway where holes and cracks could be seen on the interior of the building.
Continuing his trek towards the clubroom, Saitama encountered another individual when he set his foot on the upper level of the building. The said individual was a middle-aged man with rather tall body, significantly bulkier than the magicians he dealt with before and right behind him was the clubroom door.
"I see that you have made your way through my comrades by your sheer strength… Impressive." The magician sneered. "It appears that you possess a touki that is strong enough to resist our magic. However, we have made a preparation in case of someone like you appeared!"
The magician then took off his robe, revealing his large, muscular body. "I am one of the few who has been training not only our magical knowledge, but also our physical strength! I have trained my body long enough to be appointed as one of the close-combat specialist! Your path shall end here!" The magician showed all of his bulging muscles before charging right towards Saitama.
(Scene Break)
Meanwhile, inside the clubroom, where Gasper and Koneko (unconscious) were being held captive by a group of magicians, suddenly a magic circle belonged to the house of Gremory appeared in the centre of the room. The circle glowed, revealing Rias and Yuuto inside the room.
The magicians did not take their arrival very well. "Wha-! Impossible, they've transferred here!"
"Damn devils!"
Gasper's eyes widened at the arrival of his master and comrades. "B-buchou! Kiba-senpai!"
"Gasper! I'm so glad that you're safe!" Rias donned a relief expression once she confirmed her bishop's safety.
"Are you alright, Gasper-kun? How's Koneko?" Yuuto asked as he readied his demonic sword.
"…Koneko-chan… She got hurt from trying to protect me…" Gasper's eyes went teary. "I-I think she's just unconscious, but it's still because of me…" then tears started to flow. "Buchou, Kiba-senpai…. It's better if I die… Please, please just kille me… Because of these eyes, I can't make friends with anyone…I'm only a bother…and a coward…"
"Don't be stupid." Gasper looked at his master again who was donning a kind smile on her face. "I won't abandon you, you know? When I transferred you into my family, I said it, right? That now that you've been reborn, you will live for me, and also find a way of life that can satisfy you."
"But I just couldn't find it. For me, who just causes trouble…to have value in living is…" Gasper trailed-off as he shook his head, tears still flowing on his cheek.
"You're a part of us, a part of the family, Gasper-kun…" Yuuto decided to try to get his master's point across. "We won't abandon you easily like that. Even though it was finally possible for you to be free!"
However, before Gasper could have replied anything in return, suddenly a female magician struck his face and sneered as she held Gasper by hair. "You people are so stupid. It's foolish how you treat such a dangerous half vampire normally. It's just as the old Maou faction says. The Gremory family are as dumb as they are deeply affectionate and overflowing with power." The magician assessed with contemptuous look.
"You should have just brain-washed this half-vampire in order to effectively use him as a tool. If you had made his Sacred Gear run out of control while throwing this child into the territory of the opposing fallen angels, he might even have taken out one of their leaders as well. So why? Do you seriously intend to treat a servant as a close friend?"
Rias' narrowed her eyes while Yuuto tightened his grip on his sword at the magician's treatment towards Gasper.
"Hmph, whatever." The magician shrugged then she gestured her comrades as she took a gal to step forward with her staves pointed towards the devils. Her comrade also pointed a knife at Gasper's throat. "Let's see how you two will fare against our superior number. Ah, make a move and this child dies. Let's have some fun…"
However, while the magician was charging her spell towards Rias and Yuuto, the magician happened to stand right at the direction of the clubroom door, and suddenly, the door busted out and something huge slammed into the unsuspecting female magicians, causing her to crash to the corner of the room.
WHAM! CRASH!
Everyone blinked at the spectacle and they turned their heads to see that the female magician was out-cold with a knocked-out, bulky man on top of her. There was also a smoke emitting from a fist-mark on the man's abdomen. Then everyone snapped their heads towards the now-ruined clubroom entrance, revealing a bald man in yellow suit waltzed inside the clubroom. The said man stepped in and he looked around until his eyes laid on the devils in the room.
"Oh, you guys are here." The man greeted.
Everyone was stunned at the man's entry for good couple of seconds. Yuuto, who had been trained for battlefield awareness during his early days as a knight, was the one to snap out of his daze as he quickly used the opportunity to use his enhanced speed to dispatch the opposing magicians inside the room.
SCHLING! SCHLING! SCHLING! SCHLING!
The stunned magicians barely had any moment to react as their bodies tasted Yuuto's demonic sword and collapsed to the floor with spurt of blood. Automatically, the spell that was restraining Gasper and Koneko dissipated then Saitama quickly grabbed the former from falling to the floor.
"You okay, kid?" Saitama asked the dhampir.
"Saitama-san…" Gasper stared back with teary eyes. "Uuh…. I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
At Gasper's sobbing, Saitama only ruffled the former's hair, effectively ceased the dhampir's crying for a bit. "Come on, Gasper. I thought we've already been through about this."
"Did you forget what I am?" Saitama asked as he stared right into Gasper's eyes. "Make troubles as much as you want. Everyone around you, your friends, your family, they will definitely stay and keep up with you. All the way, all the time." Then he turned towards Rias who was already approaching them, while Yuuto attended to Koneko. "Right, Rias-chan?"
Rias nodded in appreciation towards Saitama before turning to her bishop. "He's right, Gasper. We'll never let you go, I promise you that." Then she pulled Gasper into a hug.
Gasper then gave a weak smile as his expression turned into relief. Then Saitama turned to Yuuto, who nodded approvingly, while Koneko was starting to regain her consciousness. "Thanks for the work, err…." Saitama tried to remember Yuuto's name, but to no avail. "Kibou Yasuto…. No, no. Kubi- No, that's not right." Saitama closed his eyes in contemplation before he snapped them open. "Right! Kirigaya Kazuto!" Saitama drew his conclusion.
Rias face-faulted at Saitama's faulty memory, Gasper gave an awkward giggles, Koneko only gave Saitama a dry look while Yuuto gave a strained smile. "It's Kiba Yuuto."
"Right, Sorry 'bout that." Then Saitama turned to Koneko. "Are you okay over there, err… Who was it again…. Neko? Kaneko? Err…. Right, Kaneki!" Saitama pointed out.
Now things started to get annoying for Koneko, Rias and Yuuto as Saitama kept mistaking people's names. However, before anyone could have made any retort about Saitama's mispronouncing her name, a sultry voice suddenly filled the room.
"It's Shirone, nya~"
Koneko's eyes widened as she recognized the voice. Before Rias, Gasper, Yuuto nor Saitama could have reacted, suddenly a ghostly figure of a woman wearing black kimono appeared behind Saitama and seductively wrapped her arms around the man's shoulder, followed with a foreign magic circle under Saitama's feet and soon the man and the woman started to disappear into the bright light from the magic circle. Saitama only blinked as he saw his body was being transferred somewhere else.
"…Eh?"
"Teleportation…? Saitama-san!" Rias was too late in recognizing the spell as Saitama's lower and upper body had disappeared from sight.
Koneko's eyes were wide in horror as her eyes made contact with the woman in black's hazel, cat-like eyes. "We will meet again, baby sister - nya~" the woman muttered softly before she completely disappeared with Saitama, leaving the devils behind in the clubroom.
(Scene Break)
Saitama suddenly found himself in the middle of a forest. He scanned his surroundings, and despite the night hours he could tell that he was definitely no longer in Kuoh Town. He picked up his cell-phone to make contact with either Sirzechs or Azazel, however, the screen showed an image of empty battery before it blacked out. Saitama pressed his phone's button few more times, only to have no response at all.
"I should've charged the battery earlier…" Saitama thought to himself as he sighed. "Oh, well."
Then he put back his cell-phone turned around to see three figures were standing not far from him. The figures were; a voluptuous woman wearing a black kimono with cat-like features, a young man with short hair wearing an ancient Chinese armour, and a young noble-looking man wearing a formal business suit with a sword attached on his hips. The three were smiling as they addressed the bald man.
"Sai~tama-chin~!"
"It has been a while, Saitama-dono."
"We meet again, hero! What's up!"
At the greetings, Saitama only stared at the three people in front of him before he tilted his head. "Err… Who are you people again?"
X
Issei just finished taking down another mob of angry magicians. So far, the magicians did not pose any problem to him as his Scale Mail protected him from whatever the magicians had thrown to his person. He remained floating on the sky as he looked around the battlefield around him again. On the other side, Issei could spot Vali, who was flying his way through the army of mages while firing shots of his pure magical reserves. Unlike Issei who utilized more of his enhanced strength and speed by Boosted Gear, Vali was more versed in using his Sacred Gear's ability and magical reserves. While Vali had numerous magical and long-ranged techniques, Issei's signature technique by far was only his Dragon Shot.
[Hmm… Not only gifted with high physical strength and speed, the host of the White One seems to have better mastery over his magical reserves and Sacred Gear. He outclassed you in a way, partner. Tread carefully around him]
Issei nodded inwardly at Ddraig's input. Then, Issei spotted on the ground that Xenovia and Irina were working side by side on fendin-off a good number of invading magicians with their respective swords. It made him wonder what his master and Yuuto were doing, but he put the question aside for later when Issei took a look at the conference room, because another battle was taking place.
X
Above the sky, not too far from the conference room, two figures were floating. One was Azazel, with his 12 wings carrying him to the sky, facing a tall bespectacled woman with a voluptuous figure.
She had tan skin with long brown hair tied into a bun with a headset and blue-grey eyes. She wore a dress that was extremely low-cut and had a high slit on it which exposed a large portion of her breasts. Meet Katerea Leviathan, the descendant of the original Leviathan, one of the leaders during underworld's civil war who supported the Old Satan Faction.
Much to everyone's shock, Katerea revealed that the Old Satan Faction had decided to join the Khaos Brigade, with Ouroboros Dragon as the leader of the organization, or rather, as the figurehead for the sake of recruiting people around for greater goal. Everyone went wary as they were aware that Ophis, the Ouroboros was hailed as the strongest existence, a dragon whose power far surpassed even the two heavenly dragons, which were said to be on par with a God and Satan alike.
When she was asked of her motive, or rather, her faction's motive, the woman blabbered something about reforming the underworld and its laws into a world that is worth of their old Satan's ideology, much to Azazel's disappointment. In addition, as the descendant of the original Leviathan, Katerea despised Serafall very much due to the latter taking the throne of a devil king. Seeing that the woman's goal was too cliché for Azazel's taste, as well as the woman did not have any intention to surrender, the Grigori governor volunteered himself to fight Katerea.
"So, descendant of the former Maou Leviathan. One of the Monsters of the End... Not a bad opponent. Katerea Leviathan, are you dressed up for a bout of Armageddon with me?" Azazel declared his challenge with fearless expression.
"I've been wishing to do so, Governor of Fallen Angels…" Katerea answered the challenge as she held up her stave.
And the battle between a fallen angel and a devil began as power of unholy light and darkness clashed with each other. As the two opposing leaders were fighting, Xenovia and Irina would fight the magicians to buy more time for Grayfia analysing transfer spell-jamming by the magicians, while the leaders would maintain and strengthening the barrier on the academy.
The said two swordswomen were busy fighting some stray magicians who were smart enough not to stand in the way of Two Heavenly Dragons.
(Scene Break)
On the sky above academy grounds, the fight between Azazel and Katerea went on as both of them were attacking and defending intensely. Roaring sound was heard followed by dazzling light, as unholy light spears collided with Katerea's devil magic. As shockwaves and other after-effects from the two's attacks were damaging the schoolyards, the school building preserved thanks to the leaders' protective barrier.
While Azazel had no difficulty to overpower Katerea with his light-based attacks, the latter was faring herself quite well against the former thanks to her magic versatility. Feeling cornered, Katerea took out a small bottle from her breast and she swallowed the content, which happened to be a small black snake-like creature.
Suddenly, her magic power swelled up and her ominous aura spiked up. Generally, her power was now comparable to the devil kings of current generation. Thanks to the bottle content as well, Katerea could parry Azazel's spears of light with a simple wave of her right hand. For them, it was the start of another round.
Meanwhile, Rias, Yuuto, Koneko and Gasper managed to return to the conference room as Grayfia had finished to reclaim their transfer spell.
"I understand, so Saitama-kun had been taken away by unknown enemy reinforcement?" Sirzechs confirmed after Rias filled him in about what had transpired during her mission rescuing Gasper. He had tried to contact Saitama through magic and cell-phone alike, but he got no response.
Koneko on the other hand, was trying her best to hide her nervousness as she recognized the figure that was responsible for Saitama's disappearance.
"It appears to be so. Onii-sama, I'm going to help my servants as well. Please look after Gasper." Rias requested her brother.
"Understood. Be careful out there."
Rias nodded to her brother, then she proceeded with her rook and knight to support Xenovia and Irina in fending-off the enemy forces.
Back to Azazel's fight with Katerea, the former was caught himself off-guard at the sudden spike of power from the latter.
"…Tch, this sudden power-up of yours… That thing you swallowed earlier… Is that a snake?" Then Azazel found the answer by himself. "I see… Ophis' power, huh?"
Katerea chuckled before replying. "Yes, he who is the dragon that possesses infinite power. For the sake of the world's reformation, I borrowed a little of his power. Thanks to that I can fight against you. There's even a chance that I can beat Sirzechs and Michael. They're such foolish Governors. So are you."
"Meh, I won't deny it." Azazel merely shrugged. "I myself can't do jack-shit without Shemhazai, since I'm just a Sacred Gear enthusiast. But you know, do you really think to the extent that Sirzechs and Michael are idiots? At least they're far superior than someone mediocre like you."
At Azazel's mockery, Katerea's face twisted in anger. "Inconceivable! Very well, I'll deal the finishing blow right here and now. I will destroy you, the Governor of the fallen angels, as the first step of the creation of a new world!"
"Then allow me to use my trump card as well." Azazel then took out a golden dagger with a purple jewel at the end of the handle from his suit. "Let me present you one of my inventions. Thanks to the 'bug' the God and Maou left behind inside the Sacred Gear system after their deaths, I finally created this baby here." Then the jewel of the dagger shone in purple light.
"Balance Break!"
X
Even with Rias, Yuuto and Koneko joined into the fray, the Gremory group was still outnumbered. The magicians were individually easy to be taken care of, but their numbers kept coming from the massive teleportation magic circle on the sky. When a group of magicians were to strike from Rias' blind spot…
[BOOST!]
A red blur appeared and suddenly the magicians were blown away and falling to the ground after the voice was heard. Soon, the other magicians were also dropping to the ground after the said red blur moved across them.
"Buchou, everyone! Are you guys alright?" Issei asked as he dismissed his helmet.
Everyone seemed to be as if a burden had been lifted up from their shoulders as they finally had a chance to have a breather. "Yes, we're fine…. Thanks, Ise."
Issei then looked around before he turned to his master again. "Buchou, where's the old man?"
Rias, Yuuto and Koneko had their expressions gone bitter before answering. "I'm sorry… Saitama-san… He's been kidnapped by unknown enemy."
Issei seemed indifferent for a second before he simply let out a sigh. "….I see… He should be fine, then. Let's focus on this side, shall we?"
Everyone was kind of half-expecting Issei's reaction. "Aren't you worried?" Rias asked curiously with her eyebrows raised.
"Pssh… If he could take on an army of fallen angels by himself, I don't see why we should worry over him being kidnapped. He will manage by his own." However, before anyone could have said anything, Issei immediately raised his right arm. "Heads up!" then he fired his dragon shot towards an incoming enemy, returning everyone's attention back to the battlefield.
"Wow, you really mowed them good…" Irina commented as she scanned her surroundings, the enemy remained at large, but the numbers were significantly less than before.
However, much to everyone's grief, not only the enemy, the number allied forces of three factions had been reduced greatly due to Gasper's power. If it were not for the interference of the two heavenly dragons, the Three Factions army would have been obliterated by now.
Just before everyone could have mused any further, Issei and the others sensed a spike of power as the Boosted Gear's gem glowed all of sudden. When everyone turned heads towards the source, they saw two figures. One was a woman in sorcerer-like garment, while the other was a figure clad in golden draconian armour.
"Is that… A Sacred Gear? And in Balance Breaker state too?" Rias mused, then her question was answered by Ddraig from Issei's Boosted Gear.
[It's dragon's signature, and a familiar one… One of Five Great Dragon Kings, Fafnir…]
"Fafnir… Like Tiamat… And like Vritra in Saji's Sacred Gear?" Issei asked.
[It seems so… But somehow that Balance Breaker felt off compared with other Sacred Gears in general… Not to mention, I didn't know that Fafnir had been sealed]
Meanwhile, Katerea stared wide-eyed at Azazel's said trump-card. "That armour…. Is that a dragon-based Sacred Gear?"
"Yeah, I just sealed the Gigantis Dragon, Fafnir in this artificial Sacred Gear. I copied it from the Sacred Gears of the Two Heavenly Dragons: the Welsh Dragon and Vanishing Dragon. I've yet to see if it succeeded or not." Azazel spoke from behind his faceplate. "I call this Downfall Dragon Spear: Downfall Dragon Another Armour."
Seeing that her opponent's power was not to be taken light of, Katerea prepared her attack again as Azazel pointed his two-pronged spear of light. "Well, Katerea Leviathan…. Let's start round three."
(Scene Break)
Meanwhile, Gasper who remained in the conference room with the leaders gazed upon the battlefield. "T-this is all my fault…. Rias-buchou… Saitama-san…" the boy muttered as he blamed himself for causing the development.
Then Gasper closed his teary eyes as he recalled his past conversations with Saitama.
"Saitama-san… Can I become strong like you?"
"Hm? What brought this on?"
"It's just… You're strong, you know so many people…. You also could withstand my ability… While I'm just a failure who can't even control m own power… And I'm also just a coward who can't even face people properly…" Gasper explained with down-casted gaze.
Saitama stared for a second before he let out a small sigh. "You know, Gasper…" Saitama said with a tone that made Gasper turned to look at him in curiosity. "It's not really about whether you can do it or not. But it's more like if you want to do it or not. Say, what do you think of Rias-chan and others from the club?"
"T-they're nice and kind people who never stop putting up with me… I… I feel so useless now that I didn't make any progress as they hope…"
"Then isn't that fine?" Saitama patted Gasper's head. "You're young, Gasper…. So just take your time. Those small steps you made every day, are proof enough that you're not weak, that you're a man…"
Then Gasper's eyes glowed with power, causing Rias, Issei and the others to turn their attention at the dhampir's signature. Rias who immediately understood what her bishop was about to do had her expression gone worried. "No, Gasper! Stop it!" Rias cried in worry. "Onii-sama, please stop Gasper!" Rias pleaded as she was about to head back towards the room.
However, Sirzechs did not do anything as he simply stared at Gasper, as if the Satan was expecting something to happen.
"I am… I am…" Gasper muttered as he gathered his resolve and he took off the bracelet that had been supressing his power. "I AM A MAN!"
Gasper's eyes shone brightly and the next second, the frozen time moved again and the others who were frozen regained their movements. The large transfer spell used by the magicians had been cancelled as well. It was the same time when Azazel managed to draw blood from Katerea with a solid hit of his spear, the latter was brought down to her knees as the ground behind her was also split from the shockwave of Azazel's attack.
"Whew, that dhampir really has done it now. Now our force can retaliate." Azazel scanned his surroundings and he missed that Katerea still had a fight within her.
"THIS ISN'T OVER!" Katerea then changed her arms into tentacle-like appendages and wrapped them around Azazel's left arm. "Even if I'm going to fall here, at least I'm going to take you with me!"
Azazel recognized the energy signature coming out from the female devil's body. "Hmm? Self-destruct spell? So you'll deal great damage to me with self-sacrifice resolution. It's a tawdry way of thinking, but the result is an enormous reason." The Governor commented without any hint of fear in his tone.
Meanwhile, the others who were frozen at the beginning began to look around in confusion at the sudden turn of development.
"E-eh!?"
"My, my…"
"W-what happened?"
When Serafall spotted that her little sister had regained her movement along with the others, the former rushed towards the latter and enveloped Sona in a big hug, causing the latter to blush heavily. "Welcome back, Sona-chan!"
"O-O-Onee-sama!?" the Sitri heiress stuttered.
Issei on the battlefield only grinned at the situation. "Nicely done, Gya-suke!" the boy shouted with his thumb out.
Gasper was breathing heavily while smiling at the compliment. Then, when his body collapsed from exhaustion, Asia quickly caught his body before making contact with the floor.
"Ise-san, Buchou-san! What's going on? And where's Saitama-san?" Asia asked in bewilderment.
Feeling that she had gained some hope, Rias smiled confidently. "Everyone! I don't have time to explain, but I need your power to repel these people!" she gave her command with her wings unfurled.
The soldiers of the Three Factions were confused when they saw their comrades had fallen from attacks that seemingly came out of nowhere, but the leaders had quickly calmed them down and issued orders to retaliate against enemies as well. Soon, the enemies were now facing the might of the remaining allied forces of Three Factions altogether.
The others looked at each other for a moment, and they nodded resolutely as everyone from Gremory and Sitri peerage immediately joined to the battlefield to battle the magicians. Issei himself re-equip his helmet and returned to the sky to take out the remaining enemy forces.
"Let's rock!"
(Scene Break)
Meanwhile, Azazel was trying to cut off Katerea's arms turned to tentacles in order to remove them from his left arm, but the latter's arms seemed to retain no damage whatsoever. "It's no use!" Katerea laughed fearlessly. "That tentacle is a special-make that absorbed my life force. It will not break!"
Azazel remained silent for a second before he shrugged and cut his immobile left arm with his weapon, resulting Katerea to widen her eyes. "Wha-! Y-you cut off your own arm!?"
However, before Katerea could have reacted more, Azazel had already thrown his dragon spear piercing the devil's abdomen. "That's the least I can give for your effort. You can have that one arm." Then Katerea's body blew up in dome of light, her body vanished together with Azazel's discarded left arm.
After making sure that the enemy before him had been annihilated, Azazel released his armour and quickly apply some spell on the stump on his left arm to stop the bleeding. He observed the purple jewel of his artificial Sacred Gear before clicking his tongue. "Tch. I guess this is the limit of an artificial Sacred Gear. There's still much room for improvement, but… Oh well, as long as the core jewel is safe, I can remake it again. I'll have you keep me company a little while longer, Gigantis Dragon Fafnir…." Azazel finished with a light kiss on the jewel.
Then, he observed around the battlefield again to see that it would only take another minute or two for the entire enemy forces to be wiped out. The Governor failed to notice the incoming attack from his blind spot.
As Issei deemed that he could leave the remaining enemies to the allied forces, the boy noticed a white blur was heading towards the defenceless Azazel with high speed. The latter immediately found himself getting knocked to the ground with such a great force. As the crater was created upon impact, the Governor of Grigori slowly climbed out from the crater and everyone turned to see Vali in his Divine Dividing Scale Mail was floating on the sky.
"Heh… Now this is rather unexpected. What brought this on, Vali?" Azazel looked at his assailant.
"Vali?" Issei, dismissing his faceplate again, was a bit surprised at the revelation along with the others.
Rias then furrowed her eyebrows. "I see… So you're the one who leaked the information about the meeting of Three Factions, as well as Gasper's Forbidden Balor View."
"Indeed, I am. As you can see that I was also the one who prepared the path to get inside the meeting venue. Though I didn't expect to have the dhampir to forcefully cancel the magician's transfer spell." Vali took a glance at the now exhausted Gasper. "But I guess he's now too exhausted to use his power again."
"Care to explain your whole motive? Knowing that Saitama is attending the meeting as well, I'm rather surprised you still dare to join these crooks and pull out this stunt." Azazel enquired.
"Don't lump me together with them." Vali scowled inside his helmet. "I, along with some of my friends, are only hired to help out Khaos Brigade to attack this conference. And also, I assure you that Saitama won't be here for a while."
"And? Your motive?" Michael pressed on.
Vali only smirked and turned his attention to his supposed to be rival. "Him."
"Me?" Issei furrowed his eyebrows.
"Even I will have more time to fight against your father, I don't think that it will be enough. What I want is to fight eternally with various kinds of opponents, and going along with this idea of peace will only hold me back from what I want… And it is really boring." Vali explained. "And right now, I want to fight you, the Sekiryuutei, as well as the man who inherits that man's blood." Vali pointed out.
"I see… I suppose that I should've expected that kind of thinking coming from you…" Azazel nodded in understanding. "And here I thought you ganged up with Old Satan Faction because you couldn't get your hands on the throne as well."
"Eh?" Everyone else blinked at Azazel's claim before they turned to Vali again with expression full of questions.
"Let me introduce myself again. My true name is Vali Lucifer."
Everyone's eyes widened followed by few gasps from the other audiences. Then Vali continued while growing four pair of black devil wings from his back. "I'm a descendent of the previous generation's Maou Lucifer who died during the Great War. However, I'm a child of mixed blood born from a father who was the old Maou's grandson and a human mother. I obtained the Vanishing Dragon's Sacred Gear thanks to my human-half. It was just by chance…. However, I, who is a true blood relative of Lucifer and is also the Vanishing Dragon, was born. If there really is such a thing as fate and miracles, I may be that…" Then Vali snorted. "Well, just kidding."
The others got even more astonished at the revelation while Azazel confirmed with a wry smirk. "Of course… You might be one of some ridiculous existences in this world. With that kind of heritage, he'll become the strongest Hakuryuukou of among those I knew in the past and present, and probably the future as well."
"Then again, how about you, Hyoudou Issei?" Vali asked. "When I found that your father gave birth to my destined rival, I was looking forward what kind of Sekiryuutei would be born from a man like Saitama. Indeed, despite being a human reincarnated to devil, you've proven yourself to be fairly strong, showing that you have a potential to be the strongest Sekiryuutei to date, However…" Vali frowned. "I was disappointed that you didn't finish Kokabiel that day. I don't know either you're not strong enough or you're too soft back then, but what Kokabiel said in the end had given me some insights…"
You are nothing more than a cub that can't even bear its fangs and claws… Shackled in a cage like little animal you are…
Issei frowned at the words the Angel of Stars said before he succumbed to the injuries the former put on the latter. Then Vali's speech got his attention again.
"Perhaps it's just that you don't have enough drive to draw out your full potential… Even during my past fights with Saitama, that man never once took me seriously, no matter what I threw at him…" Vali's smirk turned bitter at the memory.
Vali's smirk then turned to a grin. "Your mother is a normal human, no? I found that she's just a full-time housewife who occasionally takes part-time jobs as well. If I kill her, perhaps you'll have enough drive to be a powerful avenger? That should be interesting. Then, after I defeat you, perhaps I'll gain more power, enough to take on your father as well. And I guess he'd take me more seriously after I'm done with his family…"
CRASH!
However, all of sudden everyone saw a red blur flew across the distance and the Hakuryuukou felt something had smashed into his abdomen, shattering a good portion his armour and threw him backwards in the process. Vali coughed as he felt the air from his lungs was forcefully taken out, he regenerated his Scale Mail and saw Issei was floating in front of him, his fist was stretched out and a smoke could be seen from his knuckle.
"Are you stupid?"
Everyone only blinked rather incredulously from Issei's rather laid back response. However, the others could sense a hint of anger in Sekiryuutei's tone. "You can't go on killing people around just to liven up your boredom, not even office ladies would think of that."
Vali only grinned in excitement despite Issei's remarks, then he flared out his aura. "In any case, that punch of yours really got me hyped up now. So, what do you say, Hyoudou Issei? Shall we fulfil the destiny of Two Heavenly Dragons here and now?"
"… Like I care about destiny and all. I'm here just to stop you from running amok." Issei replied while equipping his faceplate again.
Everyone else wanted to help Issei to fend off the Strongest Hakuryuukou, but at the same time, they were well aware that by doing so, they would only end up getting in the way of the two dragon emperors.
"Ise…" Rias muttered her pawn's name in worried tone, and as if on that cue, the two figures in dragon armour launched towards each other with their Longinus activated.
{Divide!}
[Boost!]
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