It was the day of the rating game between Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri. Issei had to take several good hours in the morning to get rid of his hangover from the other night. Even then, the boy still felt his head funny. When everyone asked him about what actually happened the other night, Issei could only vaguely remember. He only recalled that he was dancing with the girls, he felt tipsy from the drink Azazel offered to him, and the last thing he remembered was he encountered a lady in black kimono and a man in chinese armour. The rest was all fuzzy to him.
Saitama had long gone back to the human world after he shared some information about the intruders and wishing some luck to Rias for the coming rating game. Currently, the Gremory group was on standby with their respective battle gears and uniforms while the transport magic circle was being prepared under the Gremory castle. "Ise-san, are you really alright, now?" Asia asked in worried tone as she kept using her Twilight Healing on Issei's head.
Issei only smiled in return as he gently pushed Asia's hand away, telling her that her healing was no longer necessary, but appreciated nonetheless. "Don't worry, Asia. I'll be fine." Not entirely true, but still mostly true. At least the boy could at least maintain a presentable appearance.
"Last night was very troublesome, Ise. From now on I command you to be careful on what you're drinking! You ended up out cold and didn't attend our briefing for today's rating game last night." Rias chastised her pawn.
"Understood, buchou…" Issei said with his head hung low.
Lord Gremory, Venelana, and Milicas were also present to give Rias' peerage their support and wishing them luck in the game. Sirzechs and Grayfia were already in their spectator lounge for VIP guests.
"Do your best, Rias nee-sama!"
"Win this one as well, Rias."
"Make sure you performed befitting that of a Gremory. Oh, and Issei-san…. I almost forgot…" Venelana then turned to Issei. "Your father wished you luck as well."
The boy blinked at the message, then his lips twitched into a small smile. "…Yeah."
Soon, the magic circle was ready and lit up underneath the group, transporting them towards their designated battlefield.
When the group had arrived at their designated spot, the pale-faced Issei immediately broke off from the group, ran towards the nearest corner and puked the remaining of inside his stomach, much to everyone's chagrin. Asia quickly ran to Issei's side to attend the boy. After the pawn felt that he had relieved himself enough, he looked around the area and the group found themselves had been teleported into a clearing in the middle of a jungle. They looked around, and the only thing they saw aside from trees towering over them and greenery surrounding them was a hill and rocky areas at a distance from their position. They also saw a tower in the area they were at. The tower was roughly 6-7 meters high with ornate walls and cage-like rooftop in cone-shape, and a crimson glow could be seen from inside it.
"Hello, everyone. I, the Queen of the Lucifer group, Grayfia, will be carrying the role of arbiter in the Rating Game between the Gremory group and the Sitri group on this occasion." The voice of Silver-Haired Queen of Annihilation was heard across the arena. "In the name of my master, Sirzechs Lucifer, I will watch over the battle between these two families. To get right to the main topic, the battlefield for today is an island, 25 kilometres at the farthest points. Rias Gremory-sama's base will be located at the forest on southwest part of the island, while Sona Sitri-sama's base is located at the forest on the northeast, and each team had been granted with one vial of Phoenix's Tears, please use them wisely. Special rules had been implemented in this game, and those will be explained by the Governor General of Grigori, who had contributed in creating the game. Azazel-sama, if you would?"
It appeared that there would be another arbiter as Grayfia's voice was replaced by a familiar male voice.
"'Sup, there! This is Azazel of Grigori speaking, your best, greatest of the fallen angels, you may call me mad genius, the king of… Wait, what are you-…!" Azazel's tone became panicked for a moment, as he seemed to be interrupted by Grayfia, followed by some static noise from the microphone. "Okay, okay, okay! I get it, I get it! Geez! Ahem…. Well, as Grayfia, hater, has said, I'll take the pleasure as… co-arbiter for this match to explain the rules. You kids see the tower at your place?" The participants once again confirmed the existence of the tower in their designated area. "If you take a look inside the tower, you'll see a large, glowing gem that is protected by special materials founded by Grigori and Underworld's Technology Department, capable of withstand an attack of ultimate-class devil. That's your objective, destroy the gem inside your opponent's tower while defending your own! Or, eliminate the king of the opposing team before your tower got done in. Every strategy and tactic you want to defend your treasure is a free game! You have 20 minutes to prepare yourselves. That's pretty much all! Good luck!"
The speech ended. Everyone on the stage did not say anything until Issei realised something. "Wait a second…. The setting… The objective…. Hey, Azazel! You took this settings and rules from a game, didn't you! Which was it, Defence of the Ancient or League of Legends!? Spit it out!" The pawn cried out to the sky.
The others blinked at the comment, then they also looked up to the sky, expecting an answer. For few seconds, Azazel did not seem to say a word, until…
"…..Nope, neither of them. I don't know what you're talking about."
At this answer, everyone was giving a deadpanned stare at the sky as they reached the same conclusion about the fallen angel governor. Thus, the team started to prepare and discuss over their strategy.
Meanwhile, Azazel returned to the executive viewing room as he joined with other VIPs. In the room there were two of the Four Great Satans: Sirzechs Lucifer and Serafall Leviathan, along with an elderly man with long, grey hair and a matching beard. He was also wearing an eyepatch over his left eye. With the elderly man was a beautiful young woman with long, straight silver hair and light blue eyes who appears to be in her late teens, wearing a business suit.
"Oh, Azazel. Welcome back and good work." Sirzechs greeted.
"Yeah, I'm back. Damn, your queen really doesn't know how to take a joke." Azazel lightly grumbled and he addressed the elderly man. "Odin… So the old geezer from the old northern countryside also came to enjoy the show, eh?"
The man, known as Odin, the chief deity of Norse pantheon as well as the leader of Asgardian gods, flashed a smirk as he rubbed his long beard. "Yes, I sure came, fallen angel brat. Though…. What happened to your face?"
Azazel's face was apparently, looked a bit worse to wear. The small bruises were from the night where Saitama voiced his 'complains' about him giving liquor to Issei during the party. And Saitama apparently was not amused by Azazel's excuse and the latter's 'bad joke'. "…Huh. I thought it would've faded this morning. Ah, well. That guy's hit is on a whole different level, after all."
Hearing Azazel's reply, Odin raised his eyebrows. "That guy….? Who are you talking about, boy?"
"You should have known him. After all, I heard that he had helped you with some of your land's affairs not long ago."
It only took a second for Odin to hit a mark. "…Saitama?" At Azazel's nod, Odin laughed. "Hohoho… I see. True, that baldy had been a great aid for us when we're busy subduing some rascal's rebellion. And he also came to the underworld… Well, where is he now? Does he have any interest with this game?"
"Nah, Saitama was kind of being kidnapped by me in the first place. He just left back to human world this morning, saying that he doesn't want to aggravate his wife any further." Azazel replied with chuckles.
"Hmm… That's too bad. Sorry, Rossweisse. Looks like you won't be able to have any reunion with your ex-boyfriend here." Odin turned to the woman sitting next to him.
The said woman, known as Rossweisse, replied with flustered face. "O-Odin-sama, please stop saying things people would misunderstand! I-i-it was all in the past, and Saitama is already a married man!"
"That's right. You do have bad fortune when it comes to finding a man. And when you finally found someone, he's already committed. Not to mention that stuffy attitude of yours is not popular kind among men in general."
Rossweisse then broke into tears. "A-at any rate, I'm just an aged female warrior with a history of no boyfriends! I… All I want is a proper boyfriend, it's not my fault that Saitama has already found someone else!"
"Whoa/Wait/What?" came several voices. It was Azazel, Serafall and Sirzechs.
"Saitama had a girlfriend?" Azazel was the first to speak up. "Wow, never knew he's a type to hit on a teenager."
"He never said anything about this in his emails either." Sirzechs quipped in with amused expression.
"Hoh… So that guy got some balls to date other girls while already married…" Serafall muttered before she let out a dark chuckle. "Boy, I think this will be fun."
"No, no, everyone! It's all a misunderstanding!" Rossweisse whined in her embarrassment. "We did have history, but nothing as such happened between us! I swear!"
"Hahaha, let me introduce you first. This person is my current assistant, Rossweisse, a Valkyrie. There were rumours about she having a crush on Saitama during his stay in Asgard. I had thought that she finally got herself a boyfriend until another rumour about him already has a family came up. And by the way…" Odin rubbed his beard again. "Is it true, that bald head's son is the current Red Dragon Emperor?"
"Yes, his name is Hyoudou Issei, and the kid is playing in this rating game as my sister's servant." Sirzechs replied. "Look, the brown-haired one."
"Hmm…. I see no resemblance at all…" Odin mused as he took in Issei's appearance. Even Rossweisse was a bit curious as well. "Is he adopted by any chance?"
"Hahahaha! I assure you, those two are biologically, definitely father and son. People say the boy is taking more after his mother if anything."
"I see… Though he doesn't seem too well." Odin said as he noticed Issei's slightly pale face. "Is he going to be okay? It will be a shame if the Red Dragon Emperor showed us a poor performance on such occasion."
"Well…. His state is the reason why Saitama scolded me." Azazel said as he scratched the back of his head. "But he'll live. He's toughness is only second to his father, after all."
"If you say so, then…" Odin hummed in acknowledgement and he turned to his assistant again. "There, you hear that, Rossweisse? Now that you failed to get the old bull, why don't you after the young calf, instead? The story of the Heavenly Dragon is quite renown even in Valhalla, you know?"
"Odin-samaaaa!" Rossweisse cried again, much to everyone's amusement.
Everyone turned their heads when they heard Issei sneezed while Rias and the rest were still discussing about their strategy. "Ise, are you really okay, there?" Xenovia asked.
"Hmm… Yeah. I'm good." Issei rubbed his nose. "Anyway, so are we really going with this set?"
"Yes, we're going to settle this nice and quick." Rias confirmed. She found that the tower had a door and a window, presumably to grant access for the attacker towards the target. The said target was surprisingly smaller than she expected. The gem was only slightly bigger than softball. She then turned on her communication link. "Gasper, what do you have on your side?" Apparently, the dhampir had been sent out to do reconnaissance around the battlefield.
"The landscape doesn't seem that complex, buchou." Gasper, in his bat form, replied from the other side of the link. "The island is divided by a small mountain and rocky areas in the middle, with a large river and several smaller branch of streams across the whole island. I can also see the forest beyond the rocky area a bit. Should I fly higher to have a better visual?"
"Perhaps, but Sona might catch a wind of what we're trying to do. Though… Can you see anything that indicates her tower from your position?"
"Um… I'm afraid, not. However…" Gasper paused as he seemed to catch something else. "I saw several scary monsters roaming around the forest…."
"….What?"
Then Azazel's voice was heard across the island again. "Oh, right! I almost forgot! In order to make things more interesting, some monsters of Forbidden Forest and something made by Grigori and Technology & Research Department bio-engineering team, had been released across the island as your obstacles! So you have to pick your route carefully in order to avoid them. Don't worry, they're specially bred, so they won't be too strong for you to handle, but still tough enough to give you some troubles. Have fun!"
The group remained silent at the sudden announcement until everyone sighed. "He really took this from a game…" Issei commented while rolling his eyes.
"In any case…." Rias rubbed her temple. "Ise, since you had your training in the Forbidden Forest, is there anything you can share with us?"
"Hmm…." The pawn gave a thoughtful expression. Then he turned on his communication link. "Gyasuke, can you describe how those monster look like?... Actually, let me ask you this, did you see anything that resembles a giant ape?"
"…Um… So far it's negative, senpai!"
Issei released a small sigh of relief. "Good, those were the most troublesome ones." Issei said towards his friends before he turned to his communication link again. "Then what else did you see?"
"Let's see…" Gasper looked around again. "I saw some that resembles elephant, dragon-like dinosaurs…. Giant lions… And I'm not sure about others. I can't tell from the trees blocking the view…."
Suddenly, a loud sound was heard in the air, then Grayfia's voice was heard.
"The strategizing time is over. Rating Game begins now."
Rias then nodded and addressed her peerage. "Alright, everyone. Yuuto, Xenovia and Ise will be our attack team. Ise, I'll leave you in charge." The pawn blinked for few times at the order. He wanted to have a say, but when his eyes caught the two knights, who nodded, then back to his master's, who told him that she would not take any objection, Issei resolved himself.
"Roger that. We'll be able to reach there in few minutes if we're flying." Issei nodded then he turned towards the two knights.
"No." Rias interrupted. "Sona definitely has prepared some counter-measure against attacks from the sky. We need to catch her by surprise… Ise, you will lead your assault team on foot. If what Azazel said about those monsters are true, I'd like you guys avoid them if possible. Unnecessary clash with them would only be a waste of time and energy."
"Understood, then." Issei turned to Yuuto and Xenovia. "Let's go!"
""Yeah!"" The Gremory's assault team then ran into the woods.
"Gasper, I need you to be our support, eyes and ears. Make sure nobody sees you." Rias gave her instruction to the dhampir and the said dhampir affirmed and flew to hide among the trees. "Akeno, how is the preparation on your side?"
"I'm just done covering the tower with invisibility spell." The said tower slowly blurred away from sight. "I've also finished setting up some traps around the forest, as well as illusion magic around the base."
"Good, the rest of us will remain here to guard our base. Alright, my cute servants. Let's win this!" Rias declared, followed by everyone's chorus of affirmatives.
Meanwhile, Issei, Yuuto and Xenovia were running across the forest in high speed towards the enemy base. "So, Ise-kun. Since you have some experiences with those monsters Gasper mentioned, is there any tips you can share with us? Just in case." Yuuto asked as he jumped over a log.
"Let's see…. Okay, let me tell you that the real deal from the Forbidden Forest made me have to go Balance Breaker, so if what Azazel said was true about them being specially bred… Well, either way there are some ways to go around them. For those dragon-like dinosaurs, they're not so smart and only chase after moving objects. So as long as you don't move a muscle or play dead, they should leave you alone."
Xenovia nodded as she kept running, cutting through obstacles with her Durandal. "That sounds simple enough. For the lion-like ones?"
"Those are a bit harder to deal with. They… only attack from your blind spots for some reasons. Since you two have swords, make sure to hold it over your shoulder and have the tip pointing right behind you. That way they'll think twice to ambush you from behind. Also, maintain eye contact. That way you can at least buy sometime."
"Hmm…. I guess those information can be helpful. Really glad you're on our side, Ise-kun." Yuuto replied with a smirk.
"Tell me that when we've won, Kiba. But don't worry, if what Azazel said earlier is true, it shouldn't be much problem even if we're to fight them. Worse comes to worst, I'll just equip my Scale Mail and get it over and done with." Issei said as he glanced at the Boosted Gear on his left arm then he shot a confident look. "After all, I used to have these things for breakfast."
The two knights giggled in amusement at Issei's boast, a while later, they crossed over the rocky area and they were at the edge of enemy territory. Issei walked towards a cliff and what he did was to puke one more time, causing Yuuto and Xenovia to worry all over again about the pawn's well-being.
"Ise-kun, are you sure you're okay?" Yuuto asked.
Issei took few deep breaths as he massaged his stomach. "I'm okay, I'm okay…." Then he took another deep breath. "Yeah… I'm better- Hurk!" He vomited another bail, coughed and took one more breath. "….There, now I feel better." He finished by wiping his mouth clean. "Rather, are you two alright after all those running? As far as I recall, endurance isn't knight's best feature."
"Fufufu, don't worry, Ise-kun." Yuuto calmly replied. "Thanks to that 20 days of training, this kind of distance is nothing to me."
"My physical endurance had been trained far before I became a devil. I'm completely fine." Xenovia added.
Issei nodded and the three looked over the forest of Sona's territory. "Okay, let's split up. If we want to catch kaichou by surprise, we'll do by a three-way pincer attack. I'll strike straight from the front. Xenovia, can you take them from the left side?" Issei addressed his teammates.
"Leave it to me." the bluenette nodded with confident smile.
"I guess I'll take the right, then?" Yuuto concluded, receiving a nod from Issei in return.
Just when the three were about to split up, Issei then remembered something. "Oh, right. Before we move, I need to inform you guys something just in case." The two knights only blinked in curiosity at what Issei was going to tell them.
To be honest, Issei could have just activated his Balance Breaker right from the start, flew over the enemy's base in a minute, and complete their objective before the enemy could prepare. However, that would not do for two reasons. The first reason was Rias' idea of element of surprise; In case of real battle, activating his trump card so early could be a waste and ended up putting the team in a disadvantage if the fight went longer. The second reason was, the word 'game' in Rating Game meant that this match was supposed to be enjoyable by everybody. Ending the Rating Game with overkill would only spoil everyone's fun and give a bad taste afterwards. This event was not a one-man show, after all. The opposing kings' ability to lead their people and simulate a real battle scenario would be evaluated as the game progressed. Having Issei to go alone and end the match early would only give negative views on his master's image.
That was why Issei was running, this time alone, through the jungle. Keeping his speed while making sure to pay attention to his surrounding to avoid ambush, Issei felt that he was getting closer to his objective. However, he stopped and crouched upon sensing something. There was no voice heard as he waited, and several moments later, Issei heard some rustling leaves and suddenly a glowing line shot out from the bushes, Issei quickly lifted up his Boosted Gear to guard, only to find the line bent and wrapped around his neck, with Issei's left arm also got wrapped together much to his surprise. He looked at the source of the line, and he saw Saji Genshirou was pulling the line connecting to his neck with his Absorption Line. However, the Sacred Gear looked different than the last time Issei saw it. The size was now big enough to cover Saji's fore-arm, and there were more gauntlets and grieves with similar motive covering his limbs as well. An upgrade, perhaps?
"Damn…." Issei grunted. "Saji, are you trying to kill me? And are you always this strong?!" Issei exclaimed as he tried to tug the line wrapping around him, only to see Saji stood his ground.
"I've promoted to a Queen, obviously. All I need to do just to go around to avoid you guys and set my foot inside your territory. Kaichou had predicted the route you guys would take so it's not that hard to find a way around." Saji smirked in return as he slightly pulled the line. "Don't take this wrong way, Hyoudou. With an opponent like you, drastic measures are necessary."
"I guess it can't be helped. We all want to win, after all." Issei shrugged, preparing to retaliate as the orbs on Saji's Absorption Line gave a glow.
oXo
On the other side of the battlefield, Sona Sitri was crouching on a tree branch, hiding among the leaves as she looked at a monster that looked like an elephant. Its body was massive and larger than those from the human world, its tusks are more like a mammoth's rather than an elephant. Its skin was blood red, covered with some grey-ash furs. The tip of its nose was a mouth with fangs instead of holes. She narrowed her eyes, then she let out a small breath as she confirmed that the monster had not detected her presence yet. She then turned on her communication link.
"Reya, how is it on your side?" Sona whispered to conceal herself and she waited for a reply.
On the other end, Kusaka Reya, one of Sona's bishops was sitting on another tree branch as she was wearing a mask over her face, there were also several masks floating around her as well. "I've located Rias-sama's base. Scouting Persona seems to work just fine."
Scouting Persona, one of artificial sacred gears that Azazel had been researching for years. As he offered his service as trainer and advisor for all teams for the upcoming rating game, he also handed out several of his artificial sacred gears to handful individuals. He decided to reinforce Sona Sitri's peerage with his creations with intentions to conduct a field test. The fallen angel governor wished that he could have given the team more sacred gears, but apparently, Scouting Persona was the only one Azazel could test on the team, as it had the least risk to jeopardizing the fight in case of malfunction.
"Good. How many enemies can you see?" Sona asked.
"There are five hostiles. Gremory-senpai, Himejima-senpai, Argento-san, Toujou-san…. with Vladi-san hiding among the trees."
"Anything else?"
"Um… There are… multiple targets. And their readings are… strange. It seems your prediction is right on about them using illusions."
"Can you determine the real one?"
Reya tried to find the answer she looked for, then something caused her to narrowed her eyes and tapped her mask. "I'm sorry, kaichou. It seems Scouting Persona still needs improvements. They're not providing enough information, and there are some glitches as well. But…" Reya paused as she tried to focus on her reading again. "There's a possibility that all the towers I saw are fakes."
"I see… Remember to go to Azazel again after the match. Tsubasa, Ruruko, how's your status?"
Sona's rook, Yura Tsubasa was crouching on a tree branch as she set her eyes on her current objective. "I've found one. This one sure looks scary…. Is it true that Hyoudou Issei fought these things during his training?"
"Ruruko, how about you?" Sona ignored her rook's question as she waited for a reply for few seconds. "Ruruko, do you copy?" She whispered slightly louder.
"Um…" a soft whisper was heard from the other end. Ruruko was hiding in thick bushes, lying on her front. "Sorry for the wait, kaichou. I've spotted two." Then a soft gasp was heard. "And I think they're searching for me…." her now scared whisper sounded even smaller.
Sona became worried as she swore that she heard a faint growl from Ruruko's channel. Then she turned to her bishop. "Reya, go back Ruruko up. Make sure to stay hidden."
"No. Wait a moment, please." Ruruko's voice was heard again. "I… think I somehow passed them. Don't worry, they're still on sight, but didn't seem to search me anymore."
Sona let out a relieved sigh. "Good. Are you sure you don't need a back-up?"
"Don't worry, I've promoted to a Queen, after all. These things aren't looked too bright." Ruruko gave a confident smirk despite how nervous she was.
The Sitri King then closed her eyes. "I'm sorry that I have to make you girls going along with this plan." She said with regretful tone.
"No need apologize, kaichou." Reya replied. "Against a power house like Rias Gremory's peerage, I think this plan can give us a chance."
"Yes, I agree. I can handle this much, kaichou." Ruruko voiced her consent.
"I don't know about you, Ruruko… But I'm actually having fun right now." Tsubasa replied, resulting a small giggle from Reya and a soft groan from Ruruko.
Sona smiled at her peerage's replies, then her eyes flashed open with determination. "Alright everyone, there's no going back now. As we planned, keep yourself hidden, keep your eyes open and wait for my signal. We can only do this once."
"Yes/Got it/Roger that."
oXo
"Shit!" Issei cursed as he quickly took off his uniform top, which was enveloped by black flames. "What the hell is that?" Issei asked as he saw his shirt got burned off, leaving him with his red T-shirt revealed.
"Awesome, isn't it? This is Blaze Black Flare, one of Vritra's Sacred Gears that had been implanted in me." Saji smirked as he prepared to use Absorption Line again. He shot the line, and this time Issei skilfully dodged and sneaked his way towards Saji and threw his punch.
Saji quickly jerked his head away from the punch and raised his arms to guard at the same time, only to feel a shattering pain when Issei's fist made contact with his arm. If it were not for the Absorption Line covering his arm, his arm would not be usable for the rest of the game. Saji rolled on the ground as the force of Issei's punch drove him away, and when Saji got back on his feet, he found that Issei was not after him. Instead, he was looking at another direction.
At the same time, voice of birds flying away and trees breaking could be heard, and whatever making those noises was coming to their location. Saji fixed his standing as he realized that his enemy was expecting something to come over them. He readied his Sacred Gears as the voice of crumbling trees and growls were getting closer. Saji's eyes widened when a giant dragon-like creature suddenly emerged from the trees. Its body was covered in black scales with protrusions and spikes here and there, its eyes has multiple pupils, its mouth was filled with fangs, and there was something akin to a half-top of human head on top of the dragon's head.
The monster let out a growl as it scanned the area in front of him. Issei who had encountered this kind of creature immediately seized his movements. The beast set its sight upon the closest object which was Issei, and began to lower its snout and sniffed as its eyes examining Issei's figure. The boy did not even bat en eye as the monster's head was still looming over him. Thinking that Issei was just some random object on its path, the creature then noticed another presence, and this presence was alive and moving.
Saji on the other hand, did not have any knowledge about the monster and he made a mistake by moving backwards in attempt of fleeing. The dragon immediately spotted Saji, whose position was technically further away than Issei. The dragon released a loud roar as it started to make its way towards the panic Saji. "What the….!? Hey! Why are you coming after me!? That guy over there is clearly closer to you!"
Much to Saji's bad luck, the monster kept ignoring Issei, who was still unmoving and Saji immediately utilized his Sacred Gears to defend himself. "Blaze Black Flare!" The monster then let out a pained roar as it tried to shook away the black flames from its side-face. However, the damage Saji inflicted only aggravated the beast and it became more determined to attack Saji. "Damn it!" Saji cursed as he had no other choice but to run away, with the dragon monster chased after him with another roar.
Later, once Issei confirmed that he was alone, he relaxed his stance and let out a relieved sigh as he wiped his sweat. "Whew, that was close."
[Y'know, if you just activated your Scale Mail, you can take care of that dragon and that Vritra's host at the same time. Why bother going like this? And that was rather cunning of you, partner]
"I just want to test myself, Ddraig… How far I can get without Balance Breaker. Besides, it's not that I can't beat him without Balance Breaker earlier. But now that the thing had joined the party, that was the best way to deal with the situation. I do feel bad for Saji, though." Issei said as he took a glance at the direction where Saji and the monster ran to before he turned on his communication link. "Kiba, Xenovia, I got caught in a fight earlier and I'm gonna proceed to locate our target. How are you guys doing?"
oXo
Yuuto was standing with his demon sword ready as two figures stood in front of him. One figure was a girl with shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair while the other was a girl with white hair. "It seems I'm heading the right way, Ise-kun. But I ran to two hostiles. Give me 5-10 minutes." Yuuto replied confidently.
Meguri Tomoe and Hanakai Momo also prepared for battle as the former unsheated her katana while the latter conjured a magic seal on her hand. However, before the combatants could have made any move, a rumbling sound was heard from the trees. And when the devils turned their heads towards the source, a massive beast came out. The beast was a large, lion-like monster with massive wings. It had three heads; two of them double as its front paws. Each of its heads possessed a pair of large, thick fangs and multiple red eyes. To complete it all, the beast also had a long, thin tail.
Yuuto and the other devils remained silent as their wide eyes set upon the beast that began to look around them. Then Yuuto replied to his link. "Um…. On a second thought, I probably will need a longer time to catch up."
oXo
Issei only heard what it sounded like a loud roar after he heard Yuuto's reply. "…Uh, okay…. Good luck and be careful there. You hear me, Kiba? …..Kiba?" Issei waited only to hear some trashing sound, another roar, and what it sounded like a cry. "….Alright. Xenovia, how's your side?"
"I'm not sure. I probably had been only running in circle by now…. Wait a second." Xenovia sounded that she found something. "Ise, I've found our target. I'm going for the kill now!"
"Wha-!? Wait, Xenovia!" Issei shouted and he heard explosion from a distance and a scream from his link in return. "Xenovia!? Xenovia!"
"I'm okay!"
Issei let out a breath as he heard Xenovia's voice from his link.
oXo
Xenovia, now her clothes were tattered, took a deep breath to regain her bearing as she brandished her Durandal towards Shinra Tsubaki, who was guarding five towers behind her. Xenovia cursed herself as she did not take any possibility of traps lying around the target into account, and she had paid dearly for it. Now she had to face the enemy's strongest piece on a stage filled with traps.
"Fuku-kaichou (vice-president)." Xenovia nodded in greeting with straight face after she gave a quick reply to Issei.
"Xenovia-san." Tsubaki returned the courtesy as she prepared her naginata by her side. "I take that Hyoudou-san and Kiba-kun are after this place with you?"
"I guess it's no longer necessary to hide it… Yes, my two companions are heading here at the moment. I guess this is go without saying, but… I'll have to take you out." Xenovia said as she prepared her battle-stance.
"The same goes for me." Tsubaki gave a small smirk as she took a stance and pointed her naginata towards Xenovia. The two remained silent for few seconds before Xenovia took the risk and lounge first.
oXo
Issei then heard another explosion, this time more noticeable as he got the rough idea about where the sound was heard from. He decided not to waste anymore time as red light enveloped his body.
[WELSH DRAGON BALANCE BREAKER!]
oXo
"HAAAA!"
Meanwhile, Xenovia sent an arc of pure destructive aura towards one of the five towers, which were most likely decoys, and one tower immediately dispersed when the attack hit. Xenovia quickly leapt away when she set her foot on the ground, only for the said ground to explode right after. The knight then recklessly charged at Tsubaki, who nimbly dodged and parried Xenovia's strikes with minimal force, showcasing her mastery over her spear until she leapt away and made Xenovia shot another arc of destructive power. However, Tsubaki only smirked and she shot up her hands at the incoming attack.
"Mirror Alice!" a large full-body mirror appeared before Tsubaki and took the brunt of Xenovia's attack. As the destructive aura pushed into the mirror, the Sitri Queen grunted as she supported her lifted arm to push the mirror back against the attack. Few seconds later, the mirror shattered, causing Tsubaki to stumble backwards before Xenovia suddenly let out a cry of pain as her body was hit by her own destructive aura from earlier, which was twice in size and damage.
"Xenovia!" it was only the time Issei arrived, clad in his Scale Mail as Xenovia's body started to glow and slowly disappeared and Grayfia's voice was heard across the field.
"Rias Gremory's Knight has retired."
"What the hell was that?" Issei asked as he turned to Tsubaki.
"Mirror Alice. My Sacred Gear that possesses an ability to reflect enemy's attacks back with double the damage." Tsubaki replied as she twirled her naginata around before pointing its tip towards Issei. "I didn't see Saji… But considering there's no announcement about his retirement yet, I take that you either outran him, or he has yet ran to you."
"Either way, I still need to take you down and win for my master." Issei replied as he simply started to walk towards Tsubaki. However, when he took the first step, a magic trap was triggered and Issei's spot was engulfed in explosion.
Tsubaki was well aware that that kind of trap was nowhere enough to hurt the Red Dragon Emperor, but a part of her hoped that it would deal some damage. From the smoke after the explosion, Issei's armoured figure came out unscathed, as he continued his way towards Tsubaki. More traps were triggered as Issei took more steps, but Issei only ignored those traps until one trap unleashed a stronger explosion, causing Issei to stumble few steps backwards, only to trigger another stronger explosive traps, making Issei's body to rocked back and forth from the force of the explosion. Nevertheless, he was still unharmed and no scratch was seen on his armour.
Finally found a safe ground to stand on, Issei scanned the area around him as he was still a bit far away from Tsubaki and multiple towers in front of him. He could avoid the traps if he took off to the sky, but that would not change things by much. He could have boosted his power high enough to destroy the towers with his dragon-shot, but the ability of Tsubaki's Sacred Gear could make things end up badly for him. He needed something that could distract the enemy queen from using her Sacred Gear on him.
"What's the matter, Hyoudou-kun? If you're not going to make a move then I will make one." Tsubaki taunted as she thought that she had a chance to take the battle to her favour.
"Sona Sitri's Knight and Bishop have retired."
Tsubaki widened her eyes at the announcement, while Issei smiled under his face-plate as Yuuto soon jumped out from the trees and stabbed his sword to the ground. "SWORD BIRTH!" barrages of swords and blades sprout out from the earth and made their way towards Tsubaki, who was forced to dodge by flying taking to the sky. Her Mirror Alice was still unusable as it was still in cool-down period.
Issei took a glance and Yuuto and the former found the latter had seen better days. Yuuto's clothes were tattered, his sleeves were torn, his pants were also torn, revealing one of his legs and scratches and bruises were apparent on his body as well. With ragged breathing, Yuuto forced himself to smile despite his condition, and regarded his pawn comrade with a nod.
"Thanks for the help, Kiba." Issei said as he tossed a vial of Phoenix's Tears that was given to him beforehand by Rias, towards Yuuto. "How is it? Fighting one of denizens of Forbidden Forest?" Issei asked half-teasingly.
Yuuto snorted a bit as he caught the vial effortlessly and drank its content to heal his injuries. "While half of my wounds were from Meguri-san and Hanakai-san's teamwork, I must admit that my respect to you had increased by folds. How did you survive against these things? And Azazel said they've been specially bred to be weaker."
Issei scoffed. "Well, that baldy made things easier back there… Nevermind that. Fuku-kaichou, are you going to make a move, now?" Issei returned the taunt Tsubaki gave earlier.
Tsubaki narrowed her eyes as she believed she had put herself in difficult situation. However, before anyone could have made a move, suddenly a rumbling sound was heard, followed by a flying… no, a hurling object falling to the ground between Tsubaki, Issei and Yuuto. Everyone widened their eyes when they saw the said object to be a dragon's head that was burning in black flames. And when Issei turned to look at the direction where the head was thrown from, Saji emerged from the trees. His appearance was pretty much that of someone who just had a fight of his life.
"Did I make it for the party?" Saji grinned as he moved to Tsubaki's side.
"Holy shit… Am I the only one who thinks he looks so badass right now?" Issei asked to nobody in particular as he saw Saji's rather savage look.
"No. I kind of agree with you, Ise-kun." Yuuto could not help but felt amazed.
[Yeah, that was quite a dramatic entrance… Vritra really got himself a capable host] Even the Welsh Dragon approved.
"Are you okay, fuku-kaichou?" Saji asked his Queen.
"I'm fine. That should be my question, though." Tsubaki replied, but she immediately took out a vial of Phoenix's Tears and handed it to Saji. The pawn gratefully accepted and he used it to heal his own wounds.
"So, the odds are even now, I take?" Issei said as he and Yuuto prepared themselves to attack.
"…Yeah, let's do this." Saji readied his Sacred Gears and Tsubaki brandished her naginata. However…
"ISE-SENPAI!" Issei's communication link appeared and Gasper's cry was heard from it. "You need to return now! Sona-kaichou has-! Kyaaaah!" whatever was about to be said was interrupted by Gasper's rather feminine scream, followed by crumbling and roaring noises.
"Rias Gremory's Bishop has retired."
To be Continued…..