Indomitable Will

by Lionheart021

After feeling desolate after being berated by his clubmates for ignoring Rias Gremory's feelings...Hyoudou Issei has a life changing conversation that will lead him down the path of domination as the True Red Dragon Emperor...OP Issei...IsseixHarem

7. Chapter 6

Author Note:

New chapter guys. I will focus more on the action in the upcoming 2 chapters with slight twists in the regular canon plot. As mentioned in the previous chapter, I will skip the exams part and just gloss over it, so the beginning part of this chapter will be a little slow. It's from the end of this arc where things begin to divert a bit. Ise will receive his final major power up in this arc as I'm sure my fellow light novel readers know what I mean. I plan to put a different twist on it though, hopefully it will be one that's popular. Lilith didn't have much of a role except being a cute mascot character, so I'm not sure whether or not to have her created. Plus with the way things are going, the future events won't happen exactly the way they did in canon. I still thought she was cute though so I'll have her in there…can anyone say double-imouto time for Ise. The only problem is how to prevent Samael from stealing that much of Ophis' power without making it seem like a complete ass-pull.…so far the only idea I've got will be basically similar to what happened in canon but the permutations afterwards will be changed to suit my liking. I don't think anybody else tried this in their story when dealing with Samael. Also I'm going to borrow an idea from Harry Potter when Ise faces Samael. For those Harry Potter fans reading…..think the about the Sword of Gryffindor. Concerning Cao Cao and his butt-buddies…I think that the Hero faction are waaaay too over-rated and the fact that they stole half the power of the most powerful being in the world in a room full of enemies that were on par (Vali and Ise) if not stronger (Azazel, Ophis) was complete bullshit to me. So if you're a fan of Cao Cao, I suggest you stop reading right now as Ise is going to fuck him up real bad….and trust me it won't be pretty…expect crude humor and somewhat offensive language….but like I said…Ise will be OP and this will be his first showing of it. He's normally very respectful of his opponents but you should never touch an imouto when an OP-siscon-brother is around….

Disclaimer: I don't claim ownership of High School DxD….it all belongs to Ichiei Ishibumi.

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

[Ddraig talking]

"Attack Names"

{Past Hosts Talking}

Monsters/Dragons/Grimm Reapers talking

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Chapter 6: Expect the Unexpected- Part 2

It was now Saturday and finally time for the Mid-class promotional exam for Ise, Yuuto and Akeno. All the members have gathered at transport magic-circle located in the basement of the Hyoudou residence, including the Gremory peerage, Ravel, Irina, Azazel, Le Fay, Fenrir, Kuroka and of course the newly dubbed, by Ise, 'Infinite Imouto Dragon', Ophis, who was currently sitting on his lap, much to the jealousy of Koneko, munching cutely on the scrumptious chocolate chip cookies that Ravel baked this morning. Ise noticed the glaring absence of his hikkikomori cross-dressing vampire kohai, Gasper.

"Where's Gya-suke?" Questioned Ise. Strangely enough it was Azazel who answered him.

"Gasper actually came to me and asked for my help in getting his sacred gear under control. So I sent him off to the Grigori where they can hopefully help him out." He Replied. Ise was impressed at the determination of his kohai as well as a little concerned for him. It was no secret that those working at the Grigori were complete nutjobs, as evidenced by their leader who is the poster child of everything wrong with society today.

Ise just prayed…hmm…come to think of it he wasn't sure who to pray for. As a reincarnated devil he can't pray to god. Plus the guy is dead so it's kind of pointless. As a devil he would probably pray to the Maou, but that guy was a worthless dead-beat. Seeing as though he was mostly dragon, he should pray to the dragon god, which, after a few seconds he realized, was sitting right on his lap. Making him chuckle and pet Ophis on the head, which she greatly enjoyed, not that you would be able to tell with how expressionless she normally is. But after almost a week of spending time with her, Ise was able to pick up the subtle nuances of the Ouroboros Dragon.

The paperwork was taken care of for the magic-circle to transport them directly to the stadium due to the delays they may encounter with the regular route from the Gremory residence when taking into account the popularity of the members of the group, especially Ise after his defeat of Sairaorg Bael and his endorsement by the working class devils. With that in mind, it was decided to keep the group entering the testing area a small one with just the participants of Yuuto, Akeno and Ise along with his manager Ravel.

"Ophis-chan, I'm going to go ahead to my exam now, unfortunately I can't take you with me. You will have to go ahead to the hotel with Azazel. Le Fay and Kuroka will be with you and I will join you as soon as I'm done, so be a good girl ok." Said Ise gently to Ophis who just stared at him blankly. He stared unflinchingly into her eyes, looking expectant. After a few minutes, she slowly nodded her head and replied.

"Hai, Onii-sama."

Ise, who heard the reply broke out into a happy smile and patted her head gently. He then handed her a bag of candy to tide her over till he's done with the exam. Azazel, who was watching this scene was highly amused. Apparently, the plan is to take Ophis to Sirzechs after the exam is done in an attempt to open up negotiations. Azazel also disclosed to Ise that Vali was actually wanted to hide Ophis from the perceived threat on her life. Normally, Ise would scoff at the Ouroboros Dragon being in danger, but his rival was taking this treat seriously, for Ise that was enough to sit up and take notice. Vali wouldn't make a big deal out of nothing.

Ise, Akeno, Yuuto and Ravel stepped into the magic-circle. After all the well wishes and good-lucks they disappeared into red light.

(Scene Change)

When the light receded, the gang of four found themselves being greeted by very official looking devils. After getting their official instructions, they were led to the testing center. On the way there, Ravel gave Ise points about the center, which was located in Glaysa-Labolas territory, the original family of the current Maou Asmodeus. She also explained that due to the political backlash facing the house of Astaroth due the actions of their heir, Diodora, it was decided to use this testing center instead of the one usually used in the Astaroth territory.

Ise just smiled, gently patted Ravel on the head and expressed how impressed he was on how diligent she was at her new role as manager, which of course caused the poor girl to start spluttering with a tomato red face making Ise laugh, much to her mortification. She wondered in her mind whether Ise-sama picked up some sadistic tendencies for him to tease her in such a way.

"Then I will pardon myself. I hope you do well."

The staff left after saying that.

"I will go and bring the documents you must fill."

After saying that, Ravel goes away quickly. Wow, that girl really is thoughtful.

"…..Looks like there aren't that many people taking the test." Thought Ise out loud.

"Yeah. In the current Underworld, there aren't that many devils which can take the promotion test. The promotion test centre for High-class devil might even have less devils taking it." Yuuto answers like that. Since there isn't any War in the Underworld right now, you can only get a promotion by attaining something magnificent with the pact for Devil's jobs or by Rating Game. Though the first option is very hard to get promotion with, so it became the mainstream to get the promotion test by Rating Game.

"Ise-kun. There's one thing I want to tell you before the test." Yuuto stood next to Ise and he had a serious expression on his face.

"…What is it?"

"I'm glad that I met you."

….Here, Ise was wondering what he was about to say…..

"That's fucking disgusting….You really have become a natural at saying creepy things." When Ise said it with a disgusted face, Yuuto laughed. Thankfully Ravel returned with the needed documents and they got to filling them out.

'That guy seriously needs to find a girl for himself. If not, my chastity might be in danger.' Thought Ise, with his face turning a sickly shade of green at the notion.

Luckily, they were able to get their document in order and submitted. All that was left to do was to take the actual test. Yuuto, Akeno and Ise wished each other good luck, with Ravel wishing them the same before the former two taking off, leaving the latter two behind.

"Ise-sama?" Enquired Ravel quizzically with a cute tilt of her head. Ise just wanted to pet her so desperately but reigned in his urges. He instead got a teasing glint in his eye as he looked forlornly at Ravel.

"Here I am about to take one of the most important tests in my life and my manager just gives me a plain good luck and nothing else. I feel so underappreciated." Ise said with a depressed tone of voice that matched his expression along with his slumped shoulders. Ravel on the other hand started having a panic attack at how her actions may have hurt her most precious person. She started spluttering and gesturing wildly in an attempt to reassure him.

"I…no…Ise-sama...I…" At this point Ise felt a little sorry for the girl but not enough to stop his teasing. She just looked too adorable. Yep, he's definitely a sadist. He decided to pile on the guilt trip.

"To think if I fail today it would set me back greatly, meaning a step further away from being a high-class devil, meaning no evil-pieces and no peerage in the future. Haaa…maybe I should just go home now." Finished Ise with his ridiculous over the top acting. Unfortunately for Ravel, she couldn't detect it because of the massive damage Ise caused to her with his previous statement. It was no secret that she longed to be in his future peerage. In fact the only person who was oblivious to it was Ise. The key word being was, after all the time he spent reflecting, he was able to realise what all of Ravels actions meant as well as the conversation her mother had with him on that fateful day that changed everything. He was greatly flattered that Ravel held him in such high regarded and decided that he would definitely put her fears to rest and tell her that he would accept her into his future peerage. But having a little fun with her before that was something he couldn't resist.

Ise turned to look at Ravel to see her frozen in place before a look of horror came upon her face at the implied consequences. Ise decided that, as fun as it was to tease her, he should wrap this up and get going.

"Fufufu…I'm just kidding. After all the work my beautiful manager put in how could I possibly show my face again if I fail." Said Ise with a wink in her direction causing her to pout cutely to show her displeasure at being teased, despite having a blush on her face from the compliment.

"Ise-sama is a meanie." She said making Ise laugh loudly.

"Well I better get going, though I wouldn't mind a good luck kiss from my manager." Prompted Ise as he turned his cheek in her direction. At this point Ise could almost see the steam coming off her from how red her face was. Nevertheless, she screwed up her courage, and puckered her soft pink lips. She closed her eyes and leaned in to peck his cheek. Unfortunately, or fortunately, for her….Ise once again got a glint in his eye that she missed as she closed hers. As she got closer, at the last minute Ise turned his head…so instead of a peck on the check her lips landed squarely against his. She froze in shock at the contact, before a feeling of bliss overtook her at the sensations of her first kiss. It was made even better knowing that it was with the one she loved above all others. It only lasted a few seconds before Ise pulled back and looked at her shocked face with a gentle smile.

"Thanks for the good luck charm Ravel. I feel that I can take on the world right now. I would expect nothing less from my future Bishop." Said Ise with a wink in her direction before he took off.

Ravel was numb with shock. Not just at having her first kiss stolen but also at the implications made by her Ise-sama. It seems like her hard work is finally paying off. She brought her hand up to her lips and could still feel the lingering sensations of the kiss. She suddenly broke out into a giddy smile and squealed loudly in happiness….totally unbefitting her stature as the noble daughter from the House of Phenex…but she didn't care. Ise who heard the squeal just chuckled to himself.

(Scene Change)

After the written and practical test were done, which Ise breezed through thanks to all the work he's done in the last few months, the gang made their way back to Ravel. As soon her eyes met Ise's she blushed prettily and had a bashful look on her face as she avoided his gaze. Ise just chuckled at her adorable behaviour. They made their way to the special transport zone before using a magic-circle to join the rest of the gang at the hotel.

They were greeted warmly by their friends with well wishes and pats on the back. As Ise took a seat next to Azazel, he looked over to the corner of the restaurant and spotted Kuroka, Le Fay and Ophis eating sweets. He didn't see Fenrir, but knew he was skulking around somewhere, probably with a close eye on Le Fay. He wasn't too worried about them being spotted as with Kuroka's talent in Senjutsu and Youjutsu coupled with Le Fay's skill in the magical arts, made sure that they could fly under the radar. He waved happily to the girls who waved back at him, excluding Ophis who just stared blankly at him before nodding. Ise just shook his head at her expected reaction. Even her impassive stare was cute.

"…..I shall look at Onii-sama." She said while stuffing her face with pasta. Ise smiled wryly at the scene.

"So good job on your test. Cheers." Cheered Azazel after taking a gulp of his drink. Ise just sweat-dropped at this irresponsible governor, drinking in the middle of the day. Ise felt a little depressed at knowing this was the best role model he had in his life. Times were dark indeed. Getting rid of those depressing thoughts, Ise proceeded to dig into the gorgeous buffet set before him.

As he continued eating he kept his ears open and his senses sharp to the area around them. Some might call him paranoid, but with the luck he's had since entering the supernatural world, he preferred to think of it as being sufficiently prepared. He picked up the conversations between Azazel and Asia, who questioned the governor about a possible balance-breaker, as well as Xenovia and Irina talking about possible sword techniques. He also kept his eye to the corner of the room towards their special guests.

It happened about 15 minutes later, while he was polishing off his desert, that his instincts flared and his Haki picked it up. He immediately shot up and looked to a wall on the right, tensing his body for combat. He caught the attention of everyone else in their group, including the ones at the corner of the restaurant who all stood up and congregated around him.

"Ise, what is it?" Questioned Azazel worriedly. He could see the stony countenance that was Ise's face and knew something was wrong.

"We have company, and it's not friendly." Stated Ise before a familiar sensation overtook his body. He remembered it well from Kyoto. It was the feeling of being transported to an artificial dimension by the [Dimension Lost] sacred gear, meaning Georg. It also meant that the Hero faction was here.

Kuroka, who was regaining her bearings, looked at Ise in shock. She was a Nekoshou, and a pretty high level one at that. Her senses and abilities were top notch, to the point that she can detect and mask herself from almost any enemy, some gods included. The fact Ise sensed Georg before she had even an inkling of it was a scary thought for the Nekomata. She thought back to the last week that they spent at his house. While he had fun and played with them, going along with her whims, she can't help but wonder if she was just an ignorant little butterfly caught in a spider's web without even realising it. The thought chilled her to the bone. It finally began to dawn on her that despite how goofy and perverted he can be, Ise is the Sekiryuutei. She's been taking that for granted till now but this was a wakeup call to how dangerous he truly was underneath the silly, perverted, sis-con exterior he put up when they were around. It was even more galling when she remembered that she was in charge of concealing their group, meaning that he could find them whenever he wanted. She put those thoughts out of her mind for now as she needed to focus on the matter at hand.

"Arya-rya. Looks like Vali was ignored nya . Looks like they ended up coming here." Said Kuroka. Azazel nodded while Ise just looked focused. Everyone of their group took up battle positions as a familiar mist surrounded them.

They quickly made their way out of the room, following Ise who seemed to know where the culprits are. The group noticed that the once lively hotel was now devoid of life. They suddenly entered a spacious lobby where a fireball was headed straight in their direction. Following the trajectory, it was headed straight to Asia and Irina.

Luckily before it could hit them, Ise stepped in the way and took hold of the flames before making them disappear. While he may not be on the best of terms with them at the moment, Ise still cared about them in his own little way and didn't wish any harm to befall them.

"Ise-san…t-thank you very much." Stuttered out Asia who was still a little shaken up. Irina just looked to him in gratitude. Ise, however didn't respond as he had his eyes planted firmly on the couch on the far end of the room.

A youth who is wearing a robe on top of a familiar school uniform, and a black haired youth who is wearing a Chinese outfit on top of the same school uniform were gazing at us. The one in the Chinese outfit is tapping his spear on his shoulder while sitting down and then said it to them.

"It has been a while Sekiryuutei. And Governor Azazel. The last time we met was at Kyoto. I did my greetings right away. It's the return of Durandal from the other day." Spoke Cao Cao in a laid back manner, regardless of the fact that he was surrounded by high level enemies. Ise didn't respond to him, merely sizing him up. He noticed that his eye, which Ise was sure he destroyed, was restored to normal. Something to ponder about.

"The match against Bael the other day was magnificent. The intense fist fight between two people wearing a Balance Breaker armour. It was a fight in which people who love to battle would be ecstatic. So I will give my praise Gremory team. Congratulations on being the number 1 youth devil team. They are good servants Rias Gremory. It truly is frightening." Applauds Cao Cao.

"Should I be honoured by being praised at by one of the leaders of the terrorist? I do feel complicated. How are you doing Cao Cao?" Rias put on a sarcastic smile while being on maximum alert.

"Yeah I'm doing alright. It was only a short time when I saw you back in Kyoto, so this might be our first meeting. I was astonished at the sudden summoning. It certainly was a stimulating appearance."

"Don't say that! …..It embarrasses me even remembering about it!" Rias protests embarrassedly while covering herself up.

"So what was the reason for you to make this field in another dimension and transport us? It must be a good for nothing plot I guess?" Questioned Azazel sarcastically. Cao Cao looked behind them. He was looking at Ophis.

"Ya Ophis. I was wondering where you went with Vali, but for you to be here. I certainly didn't anticipate it." States Cao Cao. Ise immediately went on high-alert. He tensed his body and flared his senses and Kenbunshoku haki to the max for any hint of imminent danger. While he initially started it as a joke, Ise really did come to see Ophis as a little sister figure. Maybe it was the dragon part of him but he was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. He enjoyed doting on her and spoiling her. She was pure and innocent. Even though she was expressionless most of the time, he enjoyed trying to get a reaction out of her. Therefore, it would be a cold day in hell (the underworld?) before he let these egotistical fuckers try anything with her. So while outwardly, he was still the same, inwardly he was ready to spring into action at the drop of a hat.

Kuroka then stood in front of Ophis.

"Nyahahaha, we are also shocked nya . I thought you'd head to where Vali is." She said.

"We sent a different team over there. They are probably battling them now." Was Cao Cao's reply.

Ise got the basic premise of the situation by inferring from context as well as the chat he had with Azazel, so he knew what was going on in a nutshell. The others weren't as lucky as they looked really confused as to what was happening. While we were suspicious of the situation,

Le Fay, the cutie that she is, suddenly raised her hand. She made a cough and explained to them joyfully. At the same time an ash grey wolf appeared from her shadow and glared at Cao Cao.

"Well, this started from two things. The first is that Ophis-sama took great interest in Sekiryuutei, [Oppai-Dragon]-san. Vali-sama found out about it so he offered the meeting between the two through his own connections." She said whilst putting up a single finger. Ise winced internally at the anguished wail that pierced his mind from the overly sensitive Welsh Dragon. She put up a second finger as she continued her explanation.

"The second reason is that Vali-sama got a hold of some information which said that someone is after Ophis-sama from the shadows. To find out about it, we decided to lure them out. If we are lucky we can fight directly with people who get in our team's way by using Ophis-sama as a bait. …So it means that-"

Le Fay shyly pointed at Cao Cao.

"Those people over there are after Ophis-sama and us, so we thought that they will take action if Vali-sama takes Ophis-sama out of headquarters, and we can crush them when they come after us. But there was no reason for having Ophis-sama be in danger, so Vali-sama took Bikou-sama who disguised himself as a fake-Ophis-sama. And we took the real-Ophis-sama to [Oppai-Dragon]-san's house." She finished. The rest of the group were shocked. To think that they would turn on their leader who happens to be the strongest in the world. It was inconceivable. Cao Cao just nodded his head in agreement.

"It's Vali we are talking about. I knew that he won't just go around taking Ophis with him. So we knew that he would be using Ophis as bait to lure us out. But we also knew that Vali won't be using Ophis just as bait. We knew that Ophis was interested in this generation's Hakuryuukou and Sekiryuutei's changes. So we thought that maybe something like this would happen so we split into two groups. One group went after Vali. And Georg and I would check on Sekiryuutei. Just as we thought, Ophis was here. So we ended up meeting each other like this." He explains calmly.

"Cao Cao is after me?" Ophis asks while twitching her neck. Ise supressed the urge to glomp her for such a cute action. Unfortunately they were in a tense situation. He made sure to add pampering her when they get home on his 'to-do' list.

"Yeah, Ophis. We need Ophis, but we determined that we don't need the 'current' you." Says Cao Cao cryptically.

"I do not understand. I would not lose to Cao Cao." She replies.

"That would be the case. You are too powerful. To tell the truth, I don't know what would happen if I took you head on. -So let's fight a bit." Said Cao Cao as he stood up and spun around his spear skilfully.

PIIIIIIIIN!

The tip of his spear opened, and a really bright light blade formed! …..It has an intense light which gave the devils chills like always. To devils, it is the ultimate holy spear. The most dangerous weapon to their existence.

Cao Cao disappeared! - He was fast! He disappeared without making even the slightest movement! Only Azazel, Ophis and Ise were able to track his movement. Ise realised he was targeting Ophis and his protective instincts were screaming at him to defend her, but he knew that nothing Cao Cao could do with his spear would harm her. He also knew that Cao Cao had to have known this. So it begged the question of why he was doing it. He was way too calm. He behaved as he was in control of the situation. Ise didn't like it one bit. He must have some trump card if he was willing to be this open about his schemes. Ise decided that instead of unnecessarily jumping to her aid, he would keep his senses about him and move when she really was in danger.

STAB!

When he appeared, Cao Cao's spear was thrust deeply into Ophis's stomach!

-! A critical blow! If it was a devil, that stab would have killed it right away! Cao Cao then shouts while putting power into the spear he holds!

"—Shine, the spear which destroys Gods!"

At the same time he thrust his spear, enormous amounts of light were emitted!

"This is bad nya. Le Fay."

When Kuroka said that, both she and Le Fay started to mumble something. Then a mist of darkness was created around the group!

"It is a mist which greatly reduces the amount of light. It's very dense, so please don't breathe it in! It's poisonous to our body! But we won't be able to reduce the light of the Holy-spear unless we do something like this!" Shouted Le Fay

"Also it's a double layer done by me and Le Fay nya." Added Kuroka

The moment Le Fay and Kuroka gave an explanation like that, the torrents of enormous light created from the holy-spear expanded throughout the hotel! Even with the powerful barrier erected by Kuroka and Le Fay, the devils could feel the slight burn on their skin from the potent holy light.

As the light began to fade away, they all saw Cao Cao standing in front of Ophis with his spear plunged directly into her stomach. However there was no blood flowing from the wound. Ophis didn't even change her emotionless expression. As Cao Cao retracted his spear, the 'wound' in her stomach rapidly closed till there wasn't even a blemish on her porcelain skin. It was obvious she didn't take any damage whatsoever. Ise let out a silent sigh. Even though he knew this would happen, he was still happy to see her unharmed.

"An instant kill attack if it was a devil. I even put a lot of power in it so even other beings would vaporise… It would have taken half of the power of Gods whom are weak against this spear." Cao Cao say as he then looks at Ise.

"Did you see that Sekiryuutei? This is Ophis. You cannot give it a critical wound even with the Ultimate Longinus. The damage went through. -But to take down the power of infinite, it's not possible even with this spear." He said matter-of-factly. Ise was really starting to get pissed off with this guy who was explaining everything to him like he was a 5-year old. Sure he may have been ignorant to the supernatural world for the most part but now he's more than caught up thanks to his training. He decided not to say anything though and let Cao Cao continue his cheesy super-villain monologue while he would look for any openings to exploit.

"She won't even fight back against me who just attacked her. The reason is simple. -That's because she can kill me anytime she wants to. That's why she won't do it, even if I do something like this. She's not interested in anything besides Great-Red basically. Out of the Top 5 world's strongest not including Great-Red, the strongest one is Ophis, and there is a huge gap between her and the second strongest where you could say that she is in a totally different level. This is what the embodiment of Infinite means." Continues Cao Cao as he taps his spear on his shoulder.

Then what seems like a transport magic-circle is created below Kuroka and Le Fay. Kuroka then says it with a smile.

"Nyahaha, we have connected it while you were doing a side show. -Let's do it Le Fay. It's about time that we have to call him."

When the ash-grey wolf, Fenrir, positioned itself on the magic-circle, the magic-circle made an intense glow and reacted.

When the light stopped, instead of Fenrir, there was someone else standing there instead. A bishounen with dark silver hair and blue eyes decked out in what looked like casual biker gear…

It was the Hakuryuuko, Vali.

Ise doesn't even turn to acknowledge his appearance as his eyes are focused solely on Georg, who has yet to make any moves.

"Good work Kuroka. Le Fay. -It's been a while since we meet face-to-face, Cao Cao."

Cao Cao, who is confronting Vali, smirks at his appearance.

"Vali. This is a shocking summoning."

Le Fay then says it while drawing a circle in the air with her rod.

"I have called Vali-sama here switching his location with Fenrir-chan."

Vali then continues.

"I made Fenrir fight the other Hero-faction group with Bikou and the others in my place. I had predicted that Cao Cao would be coming here. So I made sure I had insurance. -Now, let's finish this between us. But coming here only with Georg. Such a bold hero."

Cao Cao then smirks.

"Rather than being bold, I thought that it would be enough with just me and Georg."

"Looks like you are confident Cao Cao. Does it mean you have the so-called [Dragon-Eater] as your trump card? I'm guessing it is a Sacred-Gear possessor who specialises in Dragon-slaying or a new Longinus possessor?" Questioned Vali. At hearing this Ise felt a chill go down his spine. For some reason, the term [Dragon-Eater] filled with a sense of dread.

Cao Cao shook his head to the sides hearing Vali's words.

"No. That's not it Vali. [Dragon-Eater] is the codename we gave to a being which existed already. We didn't create it. It was already created. -"God from the Bible" created that."

Hearing that, the youth wearing a robe, Georg, speaks.

"Is it alright Cao Cao?"

"Yeah, it's about time Georg. Vali is here. Ophis is here. Sekiryuutei is here. The infinite Dragon-God and the Two Heavenly-Dragons. A combination where we can't ask for more. - Let's call it. The time for opening the jar from hell has come." Said Cao Cao.

"Roger that. -So the time to devour the infinite has come then." Replied Georg who proceeded to draw a massive magic circle in the middle of the lobby.

An intense vibration shook the entire hotel! A very ominous aura is emitted from the magic-circle!

….A cold air which gave Ise chills permeated the atmosphere. An intense pressure he's never felt before was coming from the magic-circle! A pressure which freezes both his body and soul….he felt like a frog which is being glared at by a snake…and he didn't like it one bit.

[This presence is…! An overwhelming evil intent only directed at a dragon…!] Said Ddraig as he also seems affected as his voice was trembling.

'Ddraig is frightened…?' Thought Ise incredulously. To hear the voice of the mighty Red Dragon Emperor filled with fear was incomprehensible. What kind of being is there which can even frighten a Heavenly-Dragon which is an embodiment of power and domination?

Something ominous started rising from the magic-circle…! First a Head, then a torso….. Black-wings. A cross…?

Someone was impaled into a cross. Restraining tools were intensely binding its body. There were so many restraining tools placed all over its body and there are ill-omened letters written on the tools! There were ones which were placed on its eyes and there were tears of blood dripping from them.

-! The moment its whole body appeared from the magic-circle, Ise's breath stopped because of the bizarre existence. It had the lower-body of a snake? No, there are scales on it. It was more in line with the appearance like that of an Asian dragon! The upper-body was that of a fallen-angel and lower body of an Asian dragon! On both hands, tail, and all over its body, there were countless nails driven through! Even on its black wings! Just looking at its appearance tells them how painful it is!

A crucifixion done to a criminal who has done something very serious…. It looks like it is the personification of anger from the one who judged it…..

[OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…]

A creepy voice emitted from the creatures mouth echoes throughout the lobby. From its mouth covered in fangs, there was blood and saliva coming out as well.

Pain. Jealousy. Suffering. Resentment. A sound which is mixed with all kinds of negative emotions. One can tell it is a being which was judged by someone which harboured great anger towards it. There was a black aura and mist coming out of the fallen-angel dragon creature which was spreading throughout the lobby.

Uncomfortable sensations enveloped Ise's body making him feel as though his body was being pierced by burning needles.

Azazel's eyes changed and his expression changed to that of anger.

"…..T-this guy is… To bring such a thing….. So you unsealed the seal of Cocytus..!" He stuttered out in fear and rage.

Cao Cao took a step forward and starts to speak as if he was reading a poem.

"—It is said that this is the poison of God. It says it is the evil intention of God. A forbidden being which made the people in Eden eat the fruit of knowledge. The first crime which was judged by the dead God from the Bible and still continues to be in effect. [Dragon-Eater] Samael. The angel which received the curse of God who hated dragons and snakes. A dragon. Yes. A dragon whose existence was eliminated from the record."

"-!" Shock, fear and apprehension spread throughout the lobby at the reveal of the identity of the creature.

Ise gritted his teeth in anger at the sight of the creature and the smug expression on the face of Cao Cao. He wanted nothing more than to kick his teeth in right now but he knew he had to tread carefully as he stood before the ultimate-dragon-slayer. A being whose existence can strike fear into the most powerful of dragons.

"What is the Olympian God who is in charge of the World of the dead thinking…..? -! P-Perhaps….!" Azazel yells out.

Cao Cao smiles at Sensei's deduction.

"Yes. We negotiated with Hades-dono. I was allowed to summon him while having many layers of restriction on it."

"….That bastard! Didn't he like the fact about Zeus going into cooperation with other factions!?" Azazel spits it out with hatred. Ise had never seen him this angry before. It seemed as though the skeleton-God lent his hand to the Hero-faction. No matter how one thinks about it, it is a serious issue which will bring ruckus to the alliance! He seems like he hates devils and fallen-angels but to help a terrorist seems to be counter-productive. Like cutting off your nose just to spite your face.

Cao Cao spins around his holy-spear and then points at the group.

"Georg, I will hold them off while you try to get Samael under control." Cao Cao said,

"Can you take the two-heavenly dragons, the Governor of fallen-angels, and the Gremory team by yourself?" Georg questioned worriedly.

"I will make it happen. If I can't do something as simple as this, then I basically have no right to hold this spear." Cao Cao declared arrogantly as his spear starts to emit an intense light.

"Balance Breaker"

After that, almost silent declaration, the intense light surrounded Cao Cao before it disperses showing him with what appears to be seven bowling ball sized spheres orbiting his body. It was an unnervingly silent [Balance Breaker]. Up to this point, Ise has seen many [Balance Breakers], but none ever this simple and silent. Even Cao Cao's spear appeared the same as before. For the supposedly most powerful [Sacred Gear], it was deeply unsettling for it to be this simple.

Cao Cao takes a step forward and at the same time, the seven orbs around him move as well.

"This is my [True Longinus]'s Balance-Breaker, [Polar Night Longinus Chakravartine]. -Though it's still incomplete." Says Cao Cao. Azazel shouts in disbelief at what he is seeing.

"-! A sub-species! The Balance-Breaker which the previous [True-Longinus] used until now was [True-Longinus Geta Demelung]! From the name of it, are you implying that you are the ideal ruler!? Damn it! Even I don't know what those seven orbs are!" Azazel sneered at the smirking Cao Cao.

"I actually want to call myself the ideal ruler of heaven. That sounds cooler right?" Replies the Chinese youth with a smug expression on his face.

Vali steps up next to Ise, ready to battle and decided to give him a tip about their enemy.

"Careful. That Balance-Balance-Breaker has the ability called "Seven Treasures" and has seven [Sacred Gear] abilities. So there are abilities for each orb." He says.

Ise's eyes widen a little at that piece of information. Cao Cao was a tricky opponent with just that spear in hand. Now add in seven unknown abilities, each a top tier level one, it makes for an annoying opponent. Annoying, but not unbeatable. If there was one thing that Ise has learned during his time in the supernatural world, it's that no enemy is unbeatable. He just needed to figure out the right permutations that will allow him to grasp victory. He had to stop himself from chuckling at his thoughts. Him, the 'oppai-baka', trying to outwit high class supernatural opponents. A few months ago, it would have been unthinkable, but now it was a necessity for his survival. He would not let this arrogant little prick have his way today.

"So like that Azazel-dono, Vali, and Sekiryuutei. The curse he has will devour and kill dragons. He can kill dragons for certain. It's not on the same level as the dragon-slayer holy-swords. You can't even compare them. Ascalon is like a toothpick to him, Hyoudou Issei." Stated Cao Cao smugly. Ise was really using all of his training to control himself from lunging at the bastard in from of him. He quickly remembered though that they were here for Ophis which meant…as his eyes widened in realisation, Cao Cao snapped his fingers.

"Devour her." He commanded.

All they felt was an unbelievable displacement of wind before hearing sounds of what sounded like gulping. Turning around, they were met by the sight of a black block of some kind in the place where Ophis previously stood. Following the trail of the black block they found a black tentacle attached to it which led all the way to the mouth of Samael, more specifically his tongue. Ise realised at this point that he was literally devouring Ophis. Ise silently called up his sacred gear and quietly started boosting his power. He knew as a dragon he stood no chance against the ultimate dragon-slayer. He wasn't aiming to defeat it though as there was a much simpler way to deal with him. He just needed a few seconds to power up to an appropriate level.

"Yuuto! Cut it!" With Rias's command, Yuuto creates a holy-demonic sword in his hand and went slashing towards the black block!

But, the black block devoured the holy-demonic sword and made the blade of it disappear. Only half of the holy-demonic sword was left in Yuuto's hand.

"…It erased the holy-demonic sword? Can this black block erase an attack itself?"

Kiba created another demonic-sword and slashed it towards the tentacle, Samael's tongue. But it resulted in the same as before. When he went to cut it, the part of the blade which touched the block, got erased, and the tip of the blade got split in two!

"Half Dimension!"

When Vali made the wings of light appear, Divine-Dividing, his surroundings got warped and all the things got reduced to half while making the sound of the Sacred Gear at the same time. This is Vali's halving ability. But it didn't have any effect on the black block and Samael's tongue.

Ise took the time to appreciate the fact that his rival was able to use this ability outside of his balance-breaker.

"How's this then?" Asks Vali as he shoots a wave of demonic power from his hand, but it also got devoured by the black block as if it was nothing. It didn't even give any damage to the black block. It doesn't have neither a scratch nor dent!

"Then how about the power of destruction!" Rias shoots with enough demonic power to make things around her disappear, but it didn't do anything either. Is it stubbornly hard or does it have the power to avoid all attacks?

"That was a good attack Vali, but unfortunately for you, I'm feeling particularly vindictive today. Georg." He ordered. Suddenly, one of the tentacles broke off from the main body and pierced Vali, causing him to scream out in pure agony as the poison of the ultimate dragon slayer racked his body. He collapsed in anguish.

"Vali!" Azazel called out as he went to the side of his former protégé.

Xenovia charged up her Durandal and brought down the full force of the blade on the abomination in front of them only to be stopped by the holy spear inches away from her target.

"You do a good attack from the start again, Xenovia of the Durandal. But there's no second time." Said Cao Cao with amusement lacing his words. Ise wanted nothing more than to wipe the smugness of this motherfuckers face. "One of the Seven-Treasures—"

"Cakka Ratana"

After saying that, the orb disappears and…

BREAK!

The sound of something destroyed violently echoes throughout the lobby.

When Ise looked around, he saw that the Ex-Durandal still held by Xenovia got destroyed.

"…! My Ex-Durandal…!" Xenovia cried out. The Excalibur fragments that were remoulded into Durandal's sheath was broken.

Luckily for them though, they bought enough time for Ise to make a difference.

[Quadruple Boost!]

Sounded the voice from his sacred gear drawing the attention of the others in the room before Ddraig voice rang out again.

[Ascalon]

The famous dragon-slaying holy sword appeared in Ise's hand.

"Fufu I don't know what you're think you're doing Sekiryuutei but it is futile. You cannot overcome the ultimate dragon-slayer with that pitiful sword." Cao Cao said with a mocking tone in his voice.

In response, Ise just smirked before turning his attention to Georg, who was sweating whilst trying to main the connection that allowed Samael to be temporarily be summoned from the Cocytus. Ise concentrated his power and unleashed a concentrated burst of Haoshoku haki right at him. Georg immediately felt the effects of his mind being overpowered and dominated by Ise as he stumbled groggily, barely maintaining his consciousness. Ise could have knocked him out with a more powerful blast but didn't want to risk it affecting his allies as well.

Seeing that Georg for all intents of purposes lost control of the magic circle and therefore stopped powering Samael, Ise sped towards the black block, reinforcing both his arms and his sword with Busoshoku haki before transferring the built up power to Ascalon.

[Transfer!]

Using all of his might, Ise brought down the sword on the block like the hammer of justice where, to the shock of everyone, he sliced cleanly through the block, freeing Ophis. He scooped her up in his arms before vanishing from place and reappearing in his previous position.

Georg, losing the connection to Samael, due to whatever the Sekiryuutei did to him had no choice but to send him back to the Cocytus before it turned on them and killed everything.

Cao Cao just looked on with disbelief as his master plan was foiled so effortlessly. Before he gritted his teeth as he seethed with anger. Ise just looked at him with an infuriatingly calm smile.

"I don't know how many hours you spent on your knees, choking on skeleton dick to get Samael but it appears that your efforts are for naught. Perhaps you should go home and reflect on your mistakes." Advised Ise politely with no hint of derision whatsoever causing everyone to look at him incredulously at how he was able to speak such derogatory words so politely and gently yet still come across as so condescending.

Cao Cao's face burned with anger and embarrassment at Ise's remark.

"Georg! Get a hold of yourself! How much did we get?" Questioned Cao Cao impatiently. Georg still looked to be groggy from his experience but still had enough in him to answer his leader.

"I would estimate is just under a quarter of her power was taken." Answered Georg in a dazed tone of voice. Cao Cao made an unpleasant face at hearing that. He thought they would be able to get more but the Sekiryuutei's surprise actions to incapacitate Georg and weaken Samael at the same time wasn't something he had taken into consideration. Still, he would work with what he had…but not before punishing these devils for disrupting his plans.

While that was going on, Ise gently set Ophis' feet on the ground before dusting off any specks of dirt that managed to get on her.

"How are you feeling Ophis-chan?" He questioned concernedly. Ophis didn't answer him straight away as she was clenching and unclenching her fist with a quizzical expression.

"I, feel weaker." She answered with a tilt of her head. Ise just nodded his head already expecting this answer. It seems that while her infinite powers prevented her death, it couldn't stop her power from being stolen. Luckily he cut the line just in time or else they may have had a whole lot more to worry about from the [Khaos Brigade]. He gently patted her head to comfort her.

"Don't worry Ophis-chan, I'll find way to get your power back." He said with a gentle smile on his face as he looked at her. Before he narrowed his eyes dangerously. "But first, I have to take out the trash."

"You!" Cao Cao seethed at he stared at Ise with nothing but contempt in his eyes. "Again, you get in the way of my plans. I should have killed you when I had the chance." Cao Cao gritted out.

"Ara…you say it like you could have actually done that. I would like to remind you that the last time we met, you ran with your tail tucked between your legs and with only one functioning eye, thanks to me destroying the other, like a scared little bitch." Ise replied with a patronising smirk on his face. It made his companions look at him a bit shocked, as the expression was so out of place on his normally joyful face. "You seem to pride yourself in your over-elaborate plans, but I've made it my calling in life thus far to fuck up the stupid plans of arrogant douchebags like you. It's kind of a hidden talent of mine." He finished with an infuriating smirk on his face.

The death glare that Cao Cao sent the way of Ise was awe-inspiring with the amount of hatred that it contained. He had to work hard to get himself under control lest he make a silly mistake that could cost him, especially whilst being surrounded by so many high level opponents. He regained his composure and directed his usual smirk at Ise.

"I admit, you caught me off guard. I didn't think you would target Georg to weaken the connection. It was something I should have taken into consideration. Nevertheless, we got what we came for. It may not be as much as we were hoping for, but it will be sufficient for what we need."

Ise just looked at him with a bland stare, before sighing.

"Asia, try to heal as much of the damage to Vali as you can. Kuroka, help to stabilise his internal energy to help him fight off the poison till we can get it sorted out." Both girls were a bit startled to be addressed in this tense situation, Kuroka less so, but they both obeyed nonetheless and got to work on Vali. They didn't even second guess or question him in terms of taking orders. Such was the commanding presence that Ise currently had about him.

"Do you honestly think that I will allow you to heal him while I'm standing right here? You're stupider than I thought." Cao Cao snorted derisively. "

"Itsutei Rata-"

That was as far as he got before Ise suddenly appeared before him, swinging Ascalon at his head. The attack caught Cao Cao by surprise and he had no choice but to abandon his attempts on Asia and Kuroka just to avoid being decapitated. Ise didn't let up though, he used his superior draconic body to bully Cao Cao and keep his attention firmly on himself.

"Get Vali out of here! Azazel and I can handle Cao Cao. Yuuto, stay behind to keep an eye on Georg. The rest of you get out of here. You aren't ready to handle this kind of opponent. Protect Asia and Kuroka as they carry out their tasks. Make sure to look after Ophis. There may be more [Khaos Brigade] agents skulking around here that we don't know about so keep your eyes peeled." Ise ordered with an authoritative tone of voice that none of the girls ever heard from him before. The way he took control of the situation honestly excited them a little. They wanted to argue but they knew that if they stayed, they would only get in the way.

Cao Cao saw them getting ready to escape the room and was about to intercept them but had to stop when he felt the blistering heat searing his skin.

"Enkai"

Ise called out as blistering hot flames started to surround his body.

"Hibashira!"

He finished as a pillar of fire exploded outwards from his body, forcing Cao Cao to hastily dodge the conflagration lest he be burnt to a crisp.

The attack from Ise though, served its purpose. Cao Cao was far too concerned with dodging that he completely disregarded the girls who were able to make a hasty retreat out of the room, taking the injured Vali with them.

After a few seconds, Ise let up on his attack causing the flames to vanish. He could now be seen standing in the middle of the room, directly in front of the only door, the same one his teammates just used to escape. Azazel and Yuuto walked over and stood on either side of him, facing down their enemies.

Cao Cao looked like he swallowed something sour. Nothing seemed to be going his way today. The reason for that was standing right in front of him. Ise seemed to be taking some sick satisfaction in thwarting his plans and Cao Cao didn't like it one bit. He needed to reassert himself and regain control of the situation before things got too far outside his sphere of influence. He was contemplating whether or not to continue his attack. With the others gone, the Sekiryuutei and the Governor wouldn't have to bother holding back when fighting in such a confined space. They were both far stronger than him in terms of pure power. He could probably handle them for a while but the chance of them eventually wearing him down were far too high. It will only take one hit from either of them to debilitate him. He already got what he came for, even though it didn't go the way he planned. It didn't serve any purpose to continue fighting here. He would make a strategic withdrawal and regroup. He would finish his business with them another day, when the odds were more in his favour.

"Georg. Where is the power of Ophis that was taken by Samael supposed to be transported?" Cao Cao questioned his lieutenant.

"I made the equation during the summoning so it will be sent to the research facility at the main headquarters Cao Cao." Georg replied

"I see. I will be returning first then." Cao Cao announced. While in truth, he wanted to fight more, especially with these many strong opponents. He knew that the odds didn't favour him at the moment. He never planned on killing any of them either as that would be far too boring. He would regain his bearings and come up with a new plan.

"Georg. Call the groups of Grim Reapers. Hades is after the weakened Ophis. …..Also the swapping transportation that was done by the guys from Vali team before. Can you try that? Can you transport me and swap me with Siegfried? I will leave the rest to Siegfried." Cao Cao inquired.

"I only saw it once so I won't know if it will work smoothly. But I will try it. Also, about that information I gained before." Georg responded before he passes on a paper to Cao Cao with a serious face. Cao Cao's eyes become sharper after seeing that.

"…..I see. So this is the way the Old-Maou gives his gratitude for saving him…. No, I knew it from the start. Well, he did cooperate with us enough." Cao Cao spoke bitterly to himself.

Ise, Azazel and Yuuto watched this entire exchange but didn't make any move to intercept them. They knew that they were in a bit of a pickle right now and picking unnecessary fights would be counter-productive to their survival. They had a badly injured party and they needed to get back to civilisation. The news of Hade's sending his Grim Reapers did nothing but anger Ise and Azazel. It seemed that the God of the Dead was playing his hand far too much for their liking. The news about the supposedly defunct Old-Maou faction was also a bit alarming. They would allow Cao Cao to escape though, as it would allow them to focus on their own plans without worry.

Suddenly a magic circle lit up beneath Georg, before he disappeared.

"Georg went outside the hotel. He's preparing for the swapping transportation between me and Siegfried." Cao Cao announced casually. It seemed that Georg was able to replicate the technique used by Kuroka and Le Fay. "Very well. Let's play a game. The Vali team and the Gremory team. Soon a group of Grim Reapers will be coming here on Hades' orders to retrieve the weakened Ophis. I will also have Siegfried from my team participate in it as well. The key point of this game is whether all of you can get out of here safely. We won't know what will happen when Hades captures that Ophis. – Now...can you get out of here while protecting Ophis with your lives? Please challenge it. I want the Two-Heavenly dragons to survive but I have no intention of enforcing it to the Grim Reapers and my comrades. I think it is more suitable to fight those who overcome a crisis." Cao Cao finished with his usual superior smirk on his face. It seemed he was back in his regular mood after regaining a little control of the situation.

Ise had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at this asshole's annoying mannerisms.

"Medusa's Eye!"

They heard Cao Cao call out before his right eye glowed purple. Suddenly Azazel tripped a little and seemed disorientated. They looked down to see Azazel's leg slowly turning to stone.

"A little parting gift, as well as insurance to make sure that you don't chase after me. Enjoy the game." The wannabe hero said before vanishing in a magic circle.

"Well…that could have gone better." Ise commented, causing Azazel to look at him in annoyance. Here he was, getting his leg turned to stone and his perverted student threw out a casual comment like that.

Luckily for Azazel, the enchantment could never hold on someone of his power, so after overpowering the charm, his leg started to revert.

"We should regroup with the others and figure out a plan of action." The Governor said, getting nods from his two companions before taking off.

(Scene Change)

"There were Grim Reapers at the parking lot. There's quite a number of them." Yuuto informed after returning from his look-out duties.

"…That bastard Hades! He's seriously making a move!" Azazel spat in disgust.

After the fight with Cao Cao, the Gremory team, Irina, Azazel, Vali, Kuroka, Le Fay, Ravel and Ophis regrouped at the upper floor of the hotel in this artificial space. The hotel was roughly sixty stories high. They moved to the middle which is the 30th floor and had that whole floor covered with many of Le Fay's sturdy barriers and had it designated as the base. If she wanted to, Le Fay could put defensive barriers on the whole area, but for having a certain amount of defence only one floor was the limit. They had a surprisingly small amount of injured. Thanks to the quick thinking from Ise, and even quicker action, they were spared a more drawn out battle which could have resulted in a larger injured list.

As it stood, the only one in a bad way was Vali and he had Asia and Kuroka tending to him, with some support from Koneko. Le Fay had tried to use Dispel the curse, but it seems Samaels curse was far too powerful to be neutralised by regular methods even from a witch as talented as Le Fay. Vali had no choice but to wait out the natural time length of the curse and hope his body could hold it off for long enough.

Currently, the rest of the gang was trying to put together a strategy to ditch this place, but it was easier said than done. Georg's mastery with the [Dimension Lost] meant that they couldn't simply brute force their way out of this sub-space. They needed to think smart and exploit any weaknesses they could find.

Le Fay entered the room while expelling a sigh.

"An official notification just came from the main headquarters. To explain it simply, it said "The Vali team tried to stage a coup d'état by deceiving Ophis and making the organization become theirs. Ophis was rescued safely by Hero-faction. Terminate any remaining Vali team members when found". That's how it is." She said. Many were shocked at the fate of the Vali team, as well as the underhandedness of the Hero-Faction.

"So it turned out like that. The Vali team is not only being targeted by the Hero-faction, but things turned out like this when they were trying to grant Ophis's wish. What hardship." Azazel lamented. Le Fay then replied with a downcast attitude.

"We checked on the mysteries of the World beginning from Great Red-san, looking for legendary strong people, and sometimes make Ophis-sama's wish true….. But it seems like the Hero-faction found us a nuisance because we have immense power. Also Siegfried-sama seems to hate us a lot. Especially he didn't find it amusing that his former rival, my brother Arthur, came to this group…" She explained.

"Mysteries of the world?" Ise asked incredulously.

"Yes! We started off with the secret about Great Red-san swimming at the dimensional gap. The extinct civilisations. The technology of the lost continent of Mu and the continent of Atlantis. We also searched about parallel universes. We also went to look at the Yggdrasill from Norse mythology. Also the anecdote of legendary strong people and search on the Heroes or creatures who's status, either dead or alive, is unknown. Sometimes we do terrorism." She informed him,

"So…you guys are like adventurers." Ise remarked sceptically.

"Yes! We have great adventures every day! We also fought strong people. Vali-sama is also trying to find where the beings referred to as dragons came from. Also he's looking into the reason between the big fight of the Two-Heavenly dragons. Also if we can find a new Longinus. That is also one of the things we search!" Le Fay says it with enjoyment.

"I take back my words. You guys aren't adventurers, you're just a bunch of lazy bums with too much free time on your hands and absolutely nothing to do. Seriously, that bastard Vali needs to get a job or something." Ise deadpanned with his eyebrow twitching violently. He petted the head of Ophis, who was once again upon her throne i.e. Ise's lap, to calm his irritation at the Vali team.

"I think Vali-sama's purist nature on things is an influence from Governor-sama." Le Fay commented with a smile, completely ignoring Ise's comments.

Hearing that, Azazel let out a sigh and directed a half-lidded stare at Le Fay. His face looked like that of a father who heard the report on his naughty son. Le Fay smiles.

So far, they have come to understand that there was something restraining Ophis in this dimension, presumably something done by Georg. So they couldn't just up and leave even if they wanted to.

"Well if the Grim Reapers are here, then they have predicted certain types of resistance from Ophis. Also the current Ophis isn't infinite. She is finite. They must have a way to seal Ophis besides using Samael. It's obvious for us to be still and careful." Azazel ponders before turning to Le Fay.

"Le Fay, you are talented in using magic related to space like Kuroka right? Is there any way to get help from the outside world? Or is there any way to get at least a few members out of here?"

"There is. –But there is a limit for it. There is a magic where others can leave this space with me….. But the number of people that can is 2 at most. Since we performed a swapping transportation with Vali-sama and Fenrir-chan, I think the barrier on this space became even stronger. I am pretty sure that it is impossible to perform the swapping transportation once again. I think Georg-sama knows the majority of the formula of our magic, so there is only one more chance where I can use a very special transportation from here."

"Right. Judging from what Ophis said earlier, this space has a special barrier which has Ophis captured in here. I would love to ask them how they made such a thing, but Ophis must be the only one who can't leave here. We need to destroy the barrier somehow and escape from here together. And Grim Reapers are more dangerous than you think. In terms of potential, you guys are stronger but it is bad if you get cut with their scythe. Grim Reapers trim down life spans along with giving you damage. If Ise who is currently healing his lifespan gets hit by it, you will end up dying because your life span will go down to zero. Ophis is also finite right now. If she gets cut by the scythe repeatedly she will get weaker. So we need to protect Ophis at all cost. If we have her powers get taken away more than this, the problems will increase drastically. Especially if our opponent is Hades." Azazel explains, as everybody listened intently. "But we also have to choose the members who should leave here to get help from the outside world. Irina! You will go first. Go and tell the truth about the Hero faction and coup d'état of Hades to Sirzechs and the heavens."

Irina wanted to protest, but the sharp gaze from Azazel quelled and thoughts of rebellion. It was at times like these that they remembered just who this guy really was.

"Take Xenovia as your guard. The function of Ex-Durandal was destroyed, but Durandal itself can be used. There is a chance that reinforcements from the Hero-faction or Grim Reapers are outside this space." He added.

Xenovia made a face at that suggestion, but didn't protest. From her face, Ise could tell that she understood that Azazel was basically telling her that she might not be that useful here with her sword as damaged as it is.

Suddenly, Le fay comes forward and hands over a single sword to Xenovia.

"T-this is!"

Le Fay smiles at Irina who gets shocked. –That was the last Excalibur sword which was in possession of Arthur Pendragon. It's something called [Excalibur Ruler].

"Please take this. It is something which my brother asked me to take with me. I couldn't find the right time to give it to you, but I thought now was a good time. That sword is something which has no use to us anymore."

"Is it okay?"

Le Fay nods at Xenovis's words.

"We have obtained Fenrir-chan. Fenrir-chan's power has decreased dramatically so we can control him, but even so there aren't any creatures which are more powerful than him. –How about you use all of the Excalibur to repair Durandal?"

Irina bows her head down.

"…T-Thank you very much! Le Fay-san! I thought people who carry the blood of heroes are scary, but there are nice people among them indeed!"

"Fufufu. I am honoured. Though I am called a weirdo along with my brother." Le Fay say with a bitter smile on her face.

After that little exchange was over, Le Fay started prepping the magic circle.

Azazel, Rias and Akeno were discussing strategies in the meantime.

Ise set Ophis down gently and walked up to one of the large windows. He spotted the creepy looking dudes in black cloaks skulking about the parking lot. They were giving of an immense killing intent and a lot of hostility. They scythes were glinting dangerously in the artificial sunlight.

Ise couldn't help but wonder what Hades was thinking. He was taking far too many liberties with this scheme. This would definitely backfire. Surely he had to know that. So what exactly was his end game? Ise look down to the left as he felt Ophis standing next to him, looking out the window as well. He gently caressed her head as he vowed to himself to never let an egotistical prick like Hades ever get his hands on someone as pure as Ophis.

"Okay, from what we've been able to gather thus far, there are three ways to escape this barrier. The three ways are the following. The first way is for the caster, in this case Georg, to unseal the dimension himself. This is understood from the battle at Kyoto. The second way is to enter and exit forcefully. This is what Le Fay, the first Sun Wukong, and Yu-long pulled during that same battle. Like I explained before, this is impossible unless you are an exceptionally experienced caster. Right now Le Fay can only do this once while taking a limited number of people with her. It will be impossible to enter or exit for the third time with Le Fay's technique. –Georg must have made the barrier even stronger now." Azazel explained, getting nods of understanding from the others "The last one is simple and clear. We either defeat the caster or destroy the central point supporting this barrier. Ise destroyed the barrier device when Asia was captured, so like that we will destroy the device which is acting as the central point of the barrier." He informed.

Ise liked it. It was simple and straight-forward. Just the kind of plan that he can get behind. After getting a nod from Azazel, Kuroka and Le fay set down a map of the area on the ground before covering it in devil letters and magic symbols. It wasn't really Ise's area of forte but he did look on in interest nonetheless. Le Fay closed her eyes and slowly ran her hand over the map, which started to vibrate and the symbols began glowing. After a few minutes, her eyes snapped open.

"There is one at the parking lot. Another one on the roof. And another one at the second floor of the hotel in the hall room. In total, I have confirmed three barrier devices. And they have the shape of a snake….No. A statue of Ouroboros which is biting its tail with its mouth." She informed. Ise gave her an impressed look at what he assumed was some sort of scrying technique, and a high level one at that.

"So the barrier devices we have to destroy are the statues of Ouroboros. And there are three of them. Looks like this will be a hard job. This artificial space is specially created to have Ophis remain here. This would have been nothing to the normal Ophis. Georg must have created this barrier space, having the fact that Ophis has her power reduced in this plan. Now Le Fay. What's happening with the devices? Did the number of Grim Reapers increase from before?" Azazel questioned.

"Yes Governor-sama. There are Grim Reapers gathered at all the locations of the devices. More like they are spread everywhere, except this floor. They are even present in the corridor… It seems like most of them are gathered at the car park. Cao Cao-sama has already left this place, but Siegfried-sama is here instead. Georg-sama is also at the parking lot." Le Fay informed.

"Okay, now that we have a better understanding, it would be best if we were to take out all three devices simultaneously. Singling them out might give Georg the opportunity to reinforce them while we are trying to move to the next. That being said, Ise and myself are the only ones currently here that have enough firepower to destroy these devices. Vali's condition is too dangerous to consider and we can't be sure what effects Samael had on Ophis." Azazel advised.

"I can take out two of those devices with my attack, I've done it before as well so I have a good base of knowledge of how tough these things are. You can take the final one. Just give me a few minutes to boost to the appropriate level. Once you give the signal, we unleash our attacks." Ise suggested, getting a nod of agreement from Azazel, who readied a powerful looking light spear that made some of the devils present nervous. "I'll take the ones on the roof and the second floor. You hit the one in the parking lot."

After saying his piece, Ise got into position with one hand pointing to the roof and the other to the ground beneath him. He called out his [Sacred Gear] which appeared on both of his hands.

[BOOST]

Ddraig's voice rang out. Ise didn't break his concentration though.

[BOOST]

Le Fay, Irina and Xenovia got into position on the magic circle that she prepared beforehand.

[BOOST]

Yuuto drew his holy-demonic sword and got into a fighting stance.

[BOOST]

Rias, Akeno, Kuroka, Ravel and Koneko all readied themselves by summoning their demonic power, magic, and senjutsu.

[BOOST]

Vali stumbled into the room, looking a little paler than before. He was too much of a stubborn bastard to stay down and miss out on the action. He readied his demonic power to strike.

[BOOST]

Ise nodded to himself as he felt the build-up of power.

[EXPLOSION!]

As the power flooded his body, Ise gathered his energy into the palm of his hands. The onlookers could see it coalesce into the shape of an orb, not too different from his Dragon Shot attack. But this one was different. It was much more concentrated and far more controlled. It was a dark, emerald green mixing in with black energy compressed into a tennis ball sized orb of destruction.

He looked to Azazel and gave him a nod. Azazel held up four fingers and started counting down. Once the final finger dropped, Ise unleashed his attack.

"Twin Dragon Cannon"

He uttered before the spheres of destruction tore through the hotel and obliterated the Ouroboros statues. Azazel light spear did much of the same in terms of damage.

"The barrier devices located on the roof and hall are destroyed! Also the Grim Reapers around them as well! The same with the device located in the parking lot! –Preparation for transportation is complete as well!"

Then the lights emitted from the magic-circle intensified, and the light envelops Le Fay, Irina and Xenovia.

"Ise! Don't die!" Xenovia called out.

"We will definitely report this to the heavens and Maou-sama!" Irina added.

Ise just gave them a confident smirk and a thumbs up as they vanished through the transportation.

"Not that the devices are down, I have no doubt that Georg has taken extra measures to secure this dimension. As long as he's here, we're as good as trapped. So there's nothing to do but bust out the old fashioned way. There a lots of enemies around and plenty of ass to be kicked till we get to Georg. Let's not waste another moment." Ise declared with a challenging smirk, as he stepped towards the large open window with the hoard of Grim Reapers below.

He raised his left hand to the air and started rapidly gathering energy in his palm just like before. This time the energy was more reddish in colour and the orb was a little bigger.

"This should thin out the herd." He stated before unleashing his attack.

"Draco Meteor"

The orb shot off his hand like a cannon and sailed high into the sky before reaching a certain point, after which it exploded into life, raining down multiple orbs of destruction from the original, taking out hundreds if not thousands of grim reapers in one fell swoop in a beautiful display of wanton annihilation.

"Hahaha…looks like Ise's a little excited to get this party started. All that's left for us to do is beat up those guys and get the hell out of here. Let's go!" Azazel ordered as his wings came out and he destroyed a large window with his spear before taking off.

He got an affirmative response as the rest of the team jumped after him to join the fray. The frontline fighters like Ise, Yuuto and Azazel were taking the fight to the Grim Reapers, cutting down as many as they could. Support fighters like Rias and Akeno took to the sky and rained down magic bombardment on their enemies. Asia stayed behind and was sending a healing aura's to those who needed it. Vali was also sending magical attacks between intervals, with Kuroka providing the defence with help from Koneko and Ravel. Ophis was just standing by, watching the fights as Ise told her to sit tight, and for some strange reason, she obeyed him.

"Blaze Slash"

Ise unleashed a flaming slash from his Ascalon that dealt wide range damage to the Grim Reapers. He noticed that there weren't many allies around him so he decided to use a large scale attack. He didn't get to use the full scale version against Cao Cao, but it would be perfect here.

"Enkai"

Intense flames started circling him, taking out a few Grim Reapers that were getting too close.

"Hibashira!"

The flames exploded outwards into a huge fiery dome, obliterating any Grim Reapers that were in the radius of the explosion.

He didn't stop there though, he took a deep breath before expelling a huge stream of flames from his mouth that took out even more enemies.

Kiba was zipping around the battle field, slash at as many Grim Reapers as he could. He sometimes used his other [Balance Breaker] to give him more numbers, or even as a defence. He was doing quite well before Siegfried showed up and they were currently locked in an intense sword fight. It looked like Yuuto was getting the worse of that exchange.

Rias and Akeno were releasing the Power of Destruction and Holy-Lightning respectively, doing plenty of damage. Occasionally, Ise would transfer power to them to boost their attacks.

Azazel was much the same as he was raining down light spears like it was a bargain sale and taking out Reapers like it was going out of fashion. He did run into a bit of trouble though as it seems like one of the Ultimate-Class Grim Reapers, Pluto, decided to make an appearance. Currently they were engaged in a boss level fight.

This pattern carried on for a while, with Ise tearing through the lines of Grim Reapers like they were common fodder. It was a while later though that he stopped when he sensed someone entering the barrier.

He, as well as the rest of the combatants looked up to see the sky sparkling before a familiar young man emerged from a hole in the sky.

"It's been a while Vali, Sekiryuutei." The man, who was none other than Shalba Beelzebub said as he glared at Ise and then at Vali who was on the 30th floor of the hotel.

Siegfried took a step forward.

"…Shalba. I did receive a report but I never thought you were acting by yourself." He said.

"Hey Siegfried. I certainly did get lots of assistance from you people. You have my gratitude. Thanks to that, my wounds have healed. …Though I did lose Ophis's snake and my powers are lower than before." Shalba commented.

"And the reason for you to come here is?"

"Nothing much. I thought I would declare war on you." Shalba replied casually before putting on an evil smile and revealed what he had under his cape. Underneath was a boy. Looking at him, his eyes had shadows in them and it seemed like he was being controlled. The boy was very familiar though, to the group that fought at Kyoto but especially to Siegfried and Georg.

"Leonardo!"

It was Leonardo, wielder of the Longinus-Class [Sacred Gear], [Annihilation Maker].

"Shalba, why did you bring that boy here? No. Why is he with you!? Leonardo was supposed to be in a different mission! Did you bring him here!?" Siegfried demanded.

"I thought I would have him assist me for a bit. –Just like this!" Shalba replied with a smirk before he activated an ominous looking magic-circle within his hand and put it closer to the boy called Leonardo. Then the devil letters within the magic-circle moved fast, causing the boy to scream.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Shalba flew up from where he was and then laughed out loudly!

"Fuhahahahahaha! [Annihilation Maker] is a very splendid and idealistic ability! And people say that he specialises on creating anti-monsters! Checking the movements of Hero-faction, I kidnapped him while he was doing a mission with another group from the Hero-faction! Now then! I will have him create it! A monster which can eliminate the current devils of the world!"

The shadows around the boy started to writhe, as though they were alive before something was created from them. Making lots of waves, the shadow had a huge head coming out of it.

A head so big that it was hard to anticipate it. It was followed by a very large torso. Arms that were too thick. And overwhelming legs to support the body. The thing created from the shadows of the boy which covers the whole field was…..

GOGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

The roar of this outrageously large monster shook the very dimension it was standing in. It was absolutely enormous, at least two heads bigger than Great Red. A monster about 200 meters tall. And other monsters smaller than the original one appeared from the boy's shadow as well

A large magic-circle was created below the monsters feet. It was a transportation magic circle! Shalba shouted while laughing.

"Fuhahahahahaha! I'm planning to transport these monsters to the Underworld to have them cause havoc! It's a humongous anti-monster! It will certainly eliminate lots of Devils in the Underworld!"

The magic-circle glowed and the monsters were enveloped with the light of transportation.

"Stop them!" Azazel ordered hurriedly. The gang unleashed their attacks at the beast but they didn't even make a scratch. The attacks were useless and all of the monsters disappeared into the light.

There was silence for a moment, before the field started shaking violently.

The dimension started to become unstable because of the forceful birth of monsters and the transportation of them.

Georg then shouted at Siegfried.

"The device won't last long! Damn Shalba! Did he use the ability that surpasses the capacity of the possessor by force!?"

"…We can't help it. Looks like it's time for us to leave. Let's retreat once after retrieving Leonardo. Pluto, how about…." Siegfried stopped there and realised the disappearance of the Grim Reaper. That Grim Reaper disappeared the moment Shalba appeared. Seeing that, it seems like Siegfried understood something. "…I see. So the one who was helping Shalba from the shadows was… It's something that skull-god would think of. So he won't choose any sorts of methods to annoy us. Did he also tell the method to forcefully use the Balance-Breaker of [Annihilation Maker]…? We don't know what kind of price and bad effect it has to do a temporally Balance-Breaker like that. We were trying to increase the power of Leonardo slowly….. Now this boy is….."

Saying that, they both recovered quickly before retreating into Georg's magic circle, taking Leonardo with them.

Suddenly explosion rang out. Ise looked up to see Shalba attacking the hotel where the rest of their team was.

"What's wrong!? Valiiiiiiii! What happened to your proud demonic-powers!? You power of the Hakuryuukou!? What happened to it!? Fuhahahahaha! You are just a mixed breed between human so there was no way for you to win against me who is the real Maou!" Shalba's deranged arguments could be heard.

"…I don't want to hear it from you who names himself a Maou while borrowing the powers of others." Vali shot back.

"Fuhahahahahahahahahhahahahah! It only matters if you win in the end! Now, there is one more thing I want!" Shalba points his hand towards Ophis. A spiral of demonic power appears and it wraps Ophis like a rope. "Hou! Just like the information said! The current Ophis has an unstable power and even my current self can capture her! This is a gift to the cooperative partner of mine, the real Maou! I will have her give me a snake again since my powers are down! I will be taking her now!" He laughed manically.

He didn't get to celebrate for long though as he was hit with the force of a freight train, sending him through at least three buildings. Unfortunately, his grip on Ophis was too strong and he took her with him. Ise clicked his tongue in annoyance at the resilience of the guy. He was like a fucking cockroach.

Shalba climbs out eventually and starts laughing maniacally, he didn't even seem to register any pain and his eyes seem to be hollow.

"A curse! This is a curse! I shall become the poison that will devour the Underworld…! Those devils who declined me! I have no business with such Underworld! I don't care about them anymore! I don't care about the authority and possession of the Underworld anymore! Fuhahahaha! This Shalba Beelzebub shall use my last powers to destroy the Underworld together with the monsters!" Shalba's expression was covered with madness. He was spouting extremities whilst frothing at the mouth. It was honestly uncomfortable to watch. He then pointed at Ise "…..Yes. The children you care deeply about will be terminated by my curse…..my monsters, Sekiryuutei! Suffer receiving my curse! Struggle! Die while coughing out blood! Fuhahahahaha! This is a masterpiece! Including the inferior low-class and mid-class children of Devils, even the offspring of elites will die in the same way! See!? This is the World you guys have been hoping for. The World where there is no discrimination. Fuhahahahaha!" He finishes his crazy speech, not seeming to care about anything else around him.

Azazel and the others just looked on in disbelief at the insanity they were witnessing.

While this was going on, the dimension started collapsing into itself, with holes appearing and starting to suck in the remainder of the dimension into it.

Kuroka who was inside the hotel shouted!

"This field is at its limit –nyan! If it is now, we should be able to transfer so I will activate the magic-circle! Then all of us will leave here!"

The Gremory group gathered around Kuroka. Asia was healing Vali who was wounded from Shalba's attack.

"Fuhahahaha!" Shalba's deranged laugh continued to be heard.

As they all gathered around Kuroko, Ravel noticed a glaring exception.

"Ise-sama! Come quickly!" She shouted, gathering the attention of the others, who noticed that Ise hasn't moved from his spot. He still didn't move, even after Ravel's call. "Ise-sama?" She whispered out, with a feeling of dread.

He turned around and gave them a confident smirk.

"You guys go on ahead. Shalba needs a proper lesson in respecting his betters. Plus, I'm not leaving Ophis behind." He said, getting shocked expressions from the other. They started to protest, but he shut them up with a glare. "It will be enough with just me. You guys have to get to the Underworld as soon as possible to warn them about what's to come. Either way this dimension won't last much longer. If it's just me, I can still move around in the dimensional gap with my armour for a while after the field collapses. Similar to the time when Vali did the same. …I can't let Shalba get away and also I can't have Ophis be handed to someone." He declared.

He got an understanding nod from Vali and Azazel.

"It's at the limit –nyan! We won't be able to transfer unless we do it now!" Kuroka shouted. The others wanted to say more but there wasn't much time left. Ise gave them a reassuring smile that told them to leave it to him.

"Ise! I will open the dragon-gates afterwards to summon you and Ophis! You are okay with that right?" Azazel shouts to him.

"I'll leave it to you, sensei." Ise replies.

As his comrades look at him worriedly, Ise strides forward without apprehension. The last sight that they see before the transportation takes hold, is Ise's confident back as he fearlessly stares down his foe.

Ise hears the successful transportation and focuses his gaze onto Shalba.

"I can understand Vali to come after me, but for a failure of Two Heavenly Dragon such as yourself to come after me…..! How much do Dragons have to look down on me?!" Shalba shouted madly. He seemed to have lost all sense of reason. "What is your reason to come after me!? Are you also trying to ignore me who carries the blood of the real Maou!? Or are you trying to seek power by having Ophis!? It's you who is a Heavenly-dragon! You must be hiding the desire to dominate the human world and Underworld!"

Ise just looked at him with a condescending smile.

"You sure like the sound of your own voice don't you. I don't see the appeal. But then again, it's always the weaklings that just love running their mouth." He said, causing Shalba's face to go red with anger. "Don't go reading too much into this. I didn't come here to stop you because you're some boss level enemy. I only came here for Ophis. Honestly speaking, you aren't even worth the few seconds I have to spare to deal with you. It not like I go around fraternising with cockroaches such as yourself."

Shalba looked like he was about to pop a blood vessel with how red his face was. It was contorted in anger and hatred, all directed towards Ise. He pointed his hands at Ise and a warp was created and bugs…No bees. Something which looks like bees appeared. The whole area was covered with bees.

"I will show you the power of the real Beelzebub!" He shouted.

Ise just scoffed at him before cocking his fist back.

"Hiken!"

A fist of pure fire incinerated the bugs, leaving Shalba gaping. He didn't have much time to continue though as Ise appeared before him. Ise stomped down hard on his foot, causing Shalba to cry out, but Ise followed up his stomp with a vicious headbutt that shattered Shalba's nose.

Shalba clutched his bloody nose as he backtracked from Ise, glaring in hatred at the Sekiryuutei. It was a wasted effort though, as the tears on the corner of his eyes just made Ise laugh at him.

"You low lifeeeeeeee!" Shalba screamed as he created many magic-circles and, similar to Rossweisse, he shot out a full burst of different elemental attacks. Each and every one of his attacks were thick. It went straight towards Ise who gracefully sidestepped and dodged all the attacks with fluidity thanks to his superior senses, and his haki. For those that he was unable to dodge, he carelessly slapped them away with a haki enhanced hand. Not that Shalba knew any of this. All he saw was Ise easily dodging and slapping his powerful attacks away. It filled him with extreme anger as well as a little fear.

Shalba doubled his attacks, hoping to overwhelm Ise, but they received the same treatment.

"Is that it?" Ise asked, with half-lidded eyes and a bored expression on his face.

Hearing that, lots of veins appeared on Shalba's face.

"…What…?"

"You said you were a Maou, so assumed that you were at the level of Sirzechs or Vali. I fought both of them so I can understand and respect the power of the Maou "Lucifer". They are truly what a 'Maou' should stand for. Power and intelligence. I find it a little insulting that an impotent worm such as you has the gall to compare yourself to them." Ise said with a look of contempt on his face.

Shalba then laughed loudly, while clutching his face in insanity.

"You sure say a lot….! A mere rotten Dragon…! A former human who is the same as garbage to make a fool of this real Maou…..!"

"I am the Sekiryuutei. I embody power and dominance. I don't need to constantly call myself a 'True Heavenly Dragon' to validate my existence. Other people do that for me. It would be the biggest embarrassment of my life to lose to an inbred monkey like you, whose only accomplishment in life is being born. Then again, I'm sure your parents were pretty embarrassed when you were all they had to show for their bloodline. Being a fake Maou must be tough for you." Ise finished with a mocking smirk.

"YOU! YOU! You rotten Dragooooooooon!" Shalba screamed madly. He sent another barrage of demonic power at Ise, who had the audacity to yawn at the attack, pissing him off further. The same result as before happened, but this time, Ise didn't waste any time and closed the gap between them and delivered a haki enhanced blow to his sternum. He made sure to add his Haoshoku haki as well to further crush the spirit of Shalba.

After flying back, Shalba shakily sent his attack again, only to receive the same result. Making him cry out in agony at the painful sensations that Ise was introducing him to.

Ise felt like he was bullying Shalba at this point. The fact that Shalba literally had tears flowing down his eyes, whether it was from the pain or humiliation Ise wasn't sure, didn't help matters. But Ise was long past any shred of sympathy for this piece of trash.

As he knocked away another one of Shalba's attacks, something unexpected happened. Shalba, it seemed, disguised an arrow amongst the attacks and sent them toward Ise. Normally, that wouldn't pose any problem for him, but the intense pain that wracked his body upon contact with this arrow was alarming.

"Fuhahahahaha! It's painful right!? It's hard to endure right!? Of course! The tip of that arrow, it is covered with the blood of Samael! I received it from Hades! I kept as an ace against Vali just in case…. But for me to use it against garbage like you….. No matter now. With this, the situation is reverted. If you have high demonic-powers like Vali then you could have endured it a bit. But for someone like you who seems to have no talent in demonic-powers, then you will die." Shalba laughed hysterically.

Ise gritted his teeth in pain. It was true, if this was a few months ago, he wouldn't stand much of a chance. But now, his reserves were much, much higher. He could hold out for a little longer than he would have. It seemed that Shalba was still operating under the impression that he was magically weak, which was strange because he used plenty of magic attacks so far. The guy was probably too far gone to understand. Ise knew that he didn't have much more time to fight at the level that he needed to. He needed to end this quick and he was going to make it painful.

He raced towards a still laughing Shalba and delivered a full haki powered punch to his face. Another to his chest. One to his ribs. A chop to the neck. A clap to both ears. And a powerful kick to the groin that had him crumple to the floor in tears.

All of Ise's attacks were powered by Busoshoku and Haoshoku haki, meaning they struck not only his body, but his very soul. Embedding the fear of dragons into his very essence.

Shalba was nothing but a scared little child as he looked up in pure unadulterated fear as Ise approached him.

"No! Stay away! Stay back! Don't hurt me! I'm Shalba Beelzebub! The true Maou! You should obey me!" He screamed hysterically.

Ise just grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground. Looking at him with an arctic gaze.

"I don't even feel like using my powers to finish you off. An insignificant peon such as yourself doesn't deserve the honour. Go to your death knowing that you died like a commoner. Goodbye trash." Ise said coldly as he effortlessly snapped his neck.

As Shalba's body hit the floor, Ise was forced to drop to a knee when the pain hit again. It wasn't unmanageable, but it certainly was painful. Luckily for him, he had an inhuman pain tolerance. He knew he wouldn't die straight away from it, thanks to his larger reserves, he could survive a little longer, similar to what Vali did. But he also knew that he needed to get help quickly if he wanted to mitigate any long term damage. He saw a small pair of bare feet enter his vision and looked to see a confused Ophis standing next to him.

"Sekiryuutei, why did you help me?" She questioned with a cute tilt of her head. Ise had to chuckle at her innocence.

"Hey now…cough...you were supposed to call me Onii-sama. But since we're not at my house, I'll let it slide for now. And what do you mean, by that. You're my friend, Ophis, so of course I will help you!" Ise declared with a happy smile in her direction. Ophis gave a small nod in response, clearly trying to digest the new dynamic. "Let me ask you something Ophis…Why did you cooperate with guys like Shalba and Cao Cao?"

"They promised me that they will defeat Great Red. I want to return to the dimensional gap and obtain 'silence'." She replied.

"There's no way that they will keep their promises. Weren't you used by them a lot?"

"If I can defeat Great Red, then that's okay. That's why I gave them snakes." It was a straightforward answer. Ophis continued though. "I went to the Sekiryuutei's house because I thought I could find something that would fulfil my dream. Abnormal growth. I thought the secret behind the 'True Dragon' and 'Heavenly Dragon' lied there. I thought I could find the reason why I exist."

Ise just closed his eyes in acceptance as he smiled to himself. He finally understood Ophis. She was more pure and more innocent that anyone else. However, people, heroes, devils, gods…they all painted her in a negative light out of fear of her power. But she was never evil. She was just someone looking for a place to belong. He swore then and there, that he would always strive to give her that place.

His thoughts were interrupted though as another wave of pain took over, causing him to cough up a lungful of blood.

Ophis worriedly held onto his arm as his coughing fit hit.

"Fufufu…cough…I can see Ophis is worried. Don't fret, Onii-sama is too cool to let something like this bother him." Ise reassured, but it wasn't very convincing when he was coughing blood. Ophis just looked at him with a blank stare, something he assumed to be the closest she could get to a deadpan stare.

As the field crumbled even more, Ise heard the voice of Ddraig whilst he used the shoulder of Ophis as support.

[Partner! It's almost time! Azazel and the others are probably about to open the "Dragon Gate" for us! If that happens, then the only thing left for them is to summon us!]

"I know Ddraig, but I'm not sure…cough…how much longer I can hold out for." He managed to get out. "Hey Ophis…What do you want to do once we get home?"

"Home? I have nowhere to return to. I don't have the power to return to the gap between dimensions." She replied.

"Silly Ophis, as your Onii-sama, my home is your home too you know." As he said that, Ise collapsed to the ground, no longer able to support his weight.

[Partner, get a hold of yourself! Everyone is waiting for you!]

"Fufufu…don't be such a drama queen, Ddraig. I'll be fine. I'm not about to let some stupid curse get the better of me. I sure as shit ain't gonna die a virgin. That would be a travesty. My conscious is slipping though. I'll leave the rest up to you, partner." He said.

"Ddraig. The curse in this person's body is circulating through his whole body. He's at his limits."

[I know that Ophis! I already know that! But he won't die! He has always kept on standing up! We will just have to protect him, just like he protects others!]. Ddraig declared, getting a firm nod from Ophis.

The dimension reached its limit as it started imploding upon itself. There a scant few moments left before time ran out.

(Scene Change)

The Gremory team, Vali, Kuroka, Ravel, Azazel, Tannin and Saji Genshirou were all gathered in the basement of the Gremory mansion.

Azazel had just finished prepping the Dragon Gate and the participants took their positions.

The four points that carried the dragons lit up brightly, and Azazel cheered in success.

"….Yes! It's connected!"

The magic-circle started to glow. The jewel of Fafnir that Azazel holds glowed in a golden colour. Vali's body also emits a white-light. Tannin body also glowed in a purple colour. And the light spread through this whole floor. The others had to block the dazzling light with their hands, such was the brightness. After a few seconds, the light died down. We they looked at the centre of the magic-circle. At the centre of the magic-circle, what appeared was…. 8 pawn pieces.

There was absolute silence for a moment, as they tried to digest what it meant, before Azazel fell to his knees.

"…..You idiot….!"

Shock, fear, heartbreak, agony. Those emotions were palpable in the basement on that fateful day…

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Author Note:

Yowza…that was a long ass chapter. Probably the longest I've ever written. It's been a few months since the last chapter and it took me a while to get this one out. Writing one paragraph a week and slowly building it up and it came to this point. I hope this satisfies the ravenous appetites of me loyal readers. This will be the last chapter for at least the next two months so I wanted to make it a long one. Exams are coming up, so writing will have to take a backseat. I'll be back in November though so I hope this tides you over till then.

There's not much action here in the way of fights but I always planned it that way. I wanted to save the Cao Cao vs Ise action for the next chapter.

As you can see, I went a different route with stopping Samael, in that I didn't, I just neutralised Georg. I hope you guys liked that.

The 'Dragon cannon' attack was based on Uliquorra's Cero Oscuras. I couldn't think of a better name for it. Please give me a suggestion if you have one.

'Draco Meteor' is fairly easy to understand. It isn't the newer version though. It's the one that Gible used in the Sinnoh Championship round against Conway. It was too much of a badass dragon attack for me to leave out.

Ise still took the poison in the end, which I was never going to change was this now presents a great opportunity for him. You guys know what's coming so I don't need to tell you, but I will add a little twist to it…to make sure that Ise remains a devil that doesn't need to be reincarnated…I wonder how that will happen…I mean…it's not like there are any devils lying around that can be used to augment his body…oh wait…

Fufufufu….I should have said spoiler alert.

Anyway…next chapter will be mostly action. I will skip over the Gremory portion of it, which is a lot, and focus mainly on Ise. In your minds, just imagine their portion remaining the same.

More interaction between Ise and Ravel, and a cute little scene in the middle for my favourite gal. Expect more from Ise and the newly dubbed 'Infinite Imouto Dragon' Ophis in the next chapter.

Thanks for taking the time to read guys…send any suggestions thoughts through.

See you in about two months.

Lionheart021 out!