Chapter 1: Gathering of Dragons
Ophis is pissed, thoroughly pissed.
She can't beat that Great Red brat no matter what she did. That troublesome power of his is a total cheat! It's like the First True Magic only much worse!
She had just got back from challenging the red brat and was defeated… again. She is currently being nursed by one of the few beings she considers as friend. The small goth loli dragon is being bandaged by a woman with long pale blue hair and pale skin. The woman possesses the slitted eyes of a dragon and is actually one herself. She is the Chaos Karma Dragon, Tiamat, the strongest of the Dragon Kings.
"Ugh, why can't I beat that brat! That delinquent, all he does is just tossing and turning like a damn maniac all day long causing ruckus in my home. You also hate him, right Tia?"
Tiamat only chuckled nervously as she nurse Ophis' injury from fighting Great Red. The little got loli is complaining about the giant red dragon, nothing new. Ophis had fought Great Red ten times in the course of their existence, around twice every thousand years. She deals more damage every time but Great Red still remains undefeated. But then again, only Ophis could make that dragon fight seriously and still escape to fight another day. Hell, only she can even damage the Great Red!
And then each time she came back from the last five engagements, Tiamat had to nurse her and listen to her complain. She misses the old Ophis who shows no emotion. Somewhere along the way, she picked up quite a bit of a personality and can be… bratty sometimes… or most of the time.
"There must be a way to beat that brat. Hmm, what do you think Tia?"
"Uhh…"
Tiamat is not sure how to respond to Ophis' question. Whatever her answer is, she'll probably forget about it when she left. So Tiamat answered her without much thought.
"What about asking for help or make a team?"
Tiamat answered. Suddenly, she felt that she had just said something she shouldn't have said when Ophis look like she had just had an enlightment. The grin on the loli dragon's face is so feral that every dragon would be proud seeing it.
"That's it! How could I be so foolish! Make a team, no, a faction that is dedicated to destroy the Great Red! Just like how the Super Sentai would work together to beat powerful enemies! Yes, why didn't I think about that! I should gather all warriors from around the world to work for me!"
Tiamat had a sinking feeling as Ophis jump from her lap in joy while laughing like a madman… or a crazy evil dragon. The dragon god is crazy enough to do it though and many would gather under her banner. She is after all the most powerful being in existence… after Great Red that is. Though nobody should even try mention that to her face because then she would be pissed and a pissed off Ophis is a scary Ophis.
"Now then, who should I recruit? I know, some devils and some fallen angels who would probably want a good fight. Maybe some humans. I heard there's this thing called the Old Maou faction and Kokabiel is bored."
Tiamat started to sweatdrop as Ophis muttered to herself while listing several candidates to include to her faction. Most of them are bad news. Well, giving bad news to Great Red is the point but they are also bad news to herself. Although Ophis had grown a personality of her own, she's still clueless about things like scheming and politics and backstabbing. The only culture she understands is dragon culture and for them it usually goes down to beating the daylight out of each other to prove who is superior. Ophis has zero knowledge in how to lead a faction and especially how to take care of those backstabbing old maou faction cowards she heard about from Ajuka Beelzebub.
So before Ophis could go and cause too much chaos in her next attempt to beat Great Red, Tiamat decided to become the voice of reason for the infinite dragon god.
"Umm Ophis, I have a better idea."
Ophis stopped her mad cackle when she heard Tiamat calling her name. The dragon god turn to her friend with curiosity.
"An idea?"
"Yes. Well, I won't stop you if you want to make a faction (not that I can) but I want you to reconsider who or WHAT you include in this faction."
Ophis tilted her head, not understanding the point. Power is power so they shouldn't discriminate based on race. As long as the subject is strong and are free enough to help her then it should be fine. But of course that's because Ophis does not understand the intricacies of a faction so it's up to Tiamat to have her steer clear away from the clusterfuck of what she's planning… or rather from her lack of planning.
Fortunately Tiamat had an idea to solve this future problem. She won't tell her straight up that it's a bad idea though because Ophis won't listen to her. So she needs to make an appeal in a different way other than discouraging her.
"Anyway, this is strictly a dragon problem so you should not get other races involved into this. Besides, what can the other races do? They lie and cheat to get what they want and barely have any power to do anything."
Not really true but Ophis doesn't need to know that.
"So why don't we keep things local? We are the strongest race after all. It would look bad on you if you ask for help from other races anyway."
Ophis thought for a while. Tiamat's suggestion has its merit. Besides, she's right that it would look bad on her if she ask for help from another race. Plus if she only picks dragons then their power would be guaranteed. There's also a certain pride in leading an army of dragons to beat Great Red anyway.
"Yes, that could work. A Dragon faction. That sounds nice. Yes, that will do. Ufufufu… Ehehehehe… Ahahahahahahahahaha!"
Ophis began laughing as her imagination conjure the vision of Great Red being overpowered by an army of dragons with her leading the charge and Tiamat beside her while Ddraig and Albion are behind them. The Chaos Karma Dragon herself is now heavily sweating though since she got the feeling that what she had done is actually worse than what Ophis had in mind.
-4 years later-
Ophis and Tiamat had begun building their faction. First they went to the Pacific Ocean. There Ophis raised a large piece of land from the sea. It is part of the ancient lost continent of Mu, a legendary continent lost in time and is older than many mythologies. Even Tiamat doesn't know whether the infamous lost continent were real or not. But Ophis is the oldest being in the world so she knew exactly where it is and how it stayed hidden.
The land Ophis raised is large enough to equal the size of Germany. After that they began terraforming the land to suit their needs. Ophis even have the power to make the land be able to grow dragon fruit. It's surprising really. Tiamat knew Ophis is extremely powerful but seeing it with her own eyes is still something else. In fact, that was the most power Tiamat had seen Ophis expend while in her presence.
Ophis also made a barrier that would hide their island from prying eyes, though it's actually just her replacing, reinforcing, and personalizing the lost continent's natural barrier. Tiamat doesn't understand the magic used one bit. It was made using the most ancient runes, older than any of the pantheons of the world. And Ophis understand those runes.
After that, the two of them began gathering followers. Tiamat's group of course is the first to join and move into this island Ophis dubbed as Dragon's Hive. The two then split up and look for other dragons to bring with them. Of course, while Ophis went looking for strong dragons, Tiamat went to look for the weaker ones who live in endangered communities. Dragons were hunted throughout the years after all and their number had decreased significantly.
The only place where dragons can find safety are under the Dragon Kings, those dragons which no factions dare to anger without severe consequences. But only two Dragon Kings of the Six Dragon Kings are willing to take in these weaker dragons and Tiamat is one of the two with the other being Tannin. The rest of the Dragon Kings are inactive.
Now with a sanctuary to call their own, Tiamat can gather the other dragons she cannot reach before. Of course, she's also looking for strong dragons to fight for Ophis.
Tiamat is walking down the streets of Tokyo. She had returned to Japan just last night. She had travelled around the world, thrice, in the last four years and she found lots of dragons but none with the potential that Ophis needs. Although high-class dragons are as powerful as ultimate-class beings, what they need are ultimate-class dragons that could match gods and maou. She didn't even manage to find any draconic sacred gear user.
Tiamat sighs. Finding powerful dragons is a big chore and much harder than she initially thought. She can't even locate Fafnir or any Vritra sacred gear wielder. The only other choice is to visit the underworld and talk to Tannin. Tiamat was about to give up and go visit Tannin when she smell it, a strong draconic energy.
"This smell."
Tiamat sniffed the air again to make sure that she's not mistaken. No, she's not. She immediately ran towards the source of that scent.
"It can't be. But the smell is unmistakable. Ddraig and Albion, they're here? Are they going to fight?"
Tiamat hurried to where the scent is. If she's right and it is indeed the scent of Ddraig and Albion's aura then the two Heavenly Dragons have met and will likely fight once again, though the scent of Albion is much stronger. Is Albion's host stronger? But the smell is… rather different. It's like there are two of them.
When she reached the place where the scent is, her eyes widened because she did not expect to see what she's seeing.
Two children are together. One is a silver haired boy with Divine Dividing on his back glaring at her and the other is a black haired girl hiding behind the young boy.
"They are children?"
While Tiamat found the Divine Dividing's host, Ophis is sighing while sitting in a park. She's really bad at recruiting, mostly because her persuasion goes down to 'come with me or die' or a variation of such words. She had tried persuading Midgardsormr and Yu Long but they refused.
Midgardsormr's refusal is mostly because he's lazy while Yu Long has no interest in fighting Great Red. The other lesser dragons mostly hid themselves and even some notable ones ran away when she came. Ophis actually has half the mind to go visit Tannin, her second favorite Dragon King after Tiamat, mostly because he is friendly and gave her dragon fruit when she came.
In fact, she'll visit Tannin after this. She heard that Tannin had tried challenging Great Red once. Maybe he'll be interested in trying it again? It's worth a shot anyway. Ophis decided that she will find Tannin after taking a short break.
"…well, there is also the choice of trying to find her but the Temporal Dragon is elusive and she does not stay in one place for too long. My second best bet would be finding Ddraig and Albion."
Ophis mused as she took another bite on her strawberry crepe. There are some other dragons she could approach but her best bet is elusive while the others are crazy (i.e Evil Dragons). In the end, after Tannin, her best recruit candidates are the two Heavenly Dragons.
"Uuu, I'm not cut out for this."
Ophis complain to nobody in particular. She doesn't like thinking. She likes silence better and thinking made her mind loud and she doesn't like it. She misses swimming in the sea of void in the dimensional gap. There's only silence there and she loves it. Well, her life so far is also good but she still prefers silence.
Ophis closed her eyes.
"Ahh… it's peaceful here."
She enjoy these quiet times without Tiamat's nagging or the necessity to think. She just relaxed and allow herself to enjoy the wind. She loves this. She frequently sat on the tallest mountain back in Dragon's Hive just to enjoy the silence and the wind brushing through her face.
Unfortunately the peace did not last when she felt the appearance of a powerful draconic energy surrounded by several demonic signature. Devils are hunting a dragon. Ophis sighs. She can't let that slide.
"Why can't I have peace for once."
She mumbled as she quickly finish her crepe and teleport to where she felt the battle is.
When she appeared, she found a group of twelve devils surrounding a boy and a girl. The girl is sobbing while holding on to the boy while the boy is glaring at the devils. What caught Ophis' attention though is what the boy has on his left arm. It is a familiar red gauntlet she had seen many times before.
"*sob* Why… why do they have to…"
"Don't worry Irina, I will protect you."
The boy try to comfort the girl but he knew that they have no chance of escape. The girl's father was a known exorcist, and a formidable one at that who also possess a holy sword. Some devils have grudge against him and they try to assassinate him. They succeeded in killing him and his wife along with their family friend who happened to be the boy's parents.
Though it seems that the devils had ran out of luck.
All twelve of them suddenly disintegrate into nothingness without even knowing what happened. The boy and the girl was shocked by their sudden death and was paralyzed by fear. Then Ophis landed in front of them and walk up to the duo.
"I will take you two with me."
She declared.
So I decided to use the last bit of my remaining Trinity DxD plot that I had not used yet. The Dragon Faction with Ophis as the leader. Obviously, I'm not using the usual emotionless Ophis here. I'm trying to go for something like a rather bratty and lazy Ophis with Tiamat as her caretaker. So how is it? Good? Bad? Well, let's save that for later.
Anyway, for this story, Issei and Irina will be joining the Dragon faction early and so will Vali and the girl with him who is NOT Kuroka. She's a dragon and I stole her from another series. Quite a departure from my previous stories where Issei and Irina are still separated and Irina join the Church. This is roughly based on unused ideas from my Trinity DxD and the Eternal series so expect a familiar character to appear in the future although in a different way. Most of the plot is still under construction so I can't say much yet though the rough idea is closer to Trinity DxD than the Eternal series and I'm thinking about putting some Cthulhu myth stuff to give Ophis a big headache.