In his Scale Mail form, Issei charged at Vali in a burst of speed, rearing his fist back. Vali smirked and charged towards his rival, also rearing his fist back. The two rivals soared towards each other, and the Vanishing Dragon got ready to send his fist crashing towards Issei, until Issei unexpectedly evaded his rival's fist, and kneed him in the stomach. Vali grunted in surprise at the unexpected pain. Narrowing his blue eyes, he grabbed Issei's leg, using his weight to swing Issei around, and throw him across the area.

Issei quickly regained his balance, and positioned himself into a battle stance. He tightened his fists as he glowered at Vali, who stood still in position. Issei charged at Vali again, this time clenching his fist as he attempted another punch. Vali attempted the same, and as the two sped towards each other, they each sent their fists crashing into each other, each causing cracks to form in their armors.

Issei gritted his teeth and positioned himself to move away, until he heard a voice coming from Vali's gauntlet.

(Divide!)

Issei widened his eyes as he felt portions of his energy starting to fade away. He immediately jumped away from Vali, and went into another battle stance

'What was that just now?'

{Partner, the Vanishing Dragon has a troublesome yet special ability. He is able to halve his opponent's power and then add the decreased portion of the power to himself. In other words, you're power is taken away and turned into his own power. Stamina can't be recovered. It's only power to the end.}

Issei narrowed his eyes.

'So if he gets close to me, then he's going to be able to absorb my power. He has to have some type of limit though.'

{Exactly. He has a limit. Power that goes beyond his capacity is released from the wings of light on his back. Therefore he is able to maintain his power limit without destroying his body.}

Issei narrowed his eyes further, and he looked up to see Vali about to fire of what appeared to be magic energy bullets.

'He can use magic as well?'

{Vali seems to have a tremendous amount of magic power. As a paired existence, the Vanishing Dragon will also shave off power every time he uses his ability, but if the host's stamina is great, then the time in which he can use it, will also be enormous.}

Vali quickly emitted a round of magic bullets, intending to hit Issei. Issei glowered at his rival and emitted a silver sphere of energy, allowing him to withstand the bullets. Vali smirked at his rival.

"So you're resorting to using energy shields? How pathetic! You're a waste of a treasure. Your use of your power is also unskillful-"

He was cut off when Issei soared through his magic bullets, and punched him across the face, causing Vali to soar far away from the young man. Vali recovered and narrowed his eyes.

"So you charged at me? You really know nothing of combat, to go as far as repeating the same tactic."

Issei once again charged at his rival, rearing his fist back, as bolts of electricity covered his armor. Vali narrowed his eyes and summoned a shield of light in front of him. Issei augmented his speed, clenching his fist tighter and drove it towards the shield of light. Vali widened his eyes as he witnessed Issei effortlessly breaking his shield, and managing to uppercut him into the air.

As Vali soared up, parts of his helmet began to crack, revealing his face. Issei followed after him, grabbing onto Vali's light wings. Narrowing his eyes, Issei emitted a rainbow-colored aura, forming it around himself and Vali.

{Issei, what are you doing?! Why are you giving him your inherited power?!}

Narrowing his brown eyes further, Issei telepathically explained his reasoning to the Welsh Dragon.

'You said it yourself, Ddraig. The Vanishing Dragon has a limit. Remember, the Vanishing Dragon had the ability to steal his opponent's power, and while it's good for him, the amount of power he absorbs depends on his capacity on how much he can hold. If the power he absorbs goes beyond his limit, he has no choice but to dispose of the excess energy.'

{...I never would have thought you would have realized it sooner. So in reality, you're using Vali's Sacred Gear to your advantage. The more energy he absorbs, the more excess energy he has to gush out.}

The jewels of the Vanishing Dragon in his Scale Mail form, started to glow a series of colors: white, red, blue and yellow continuously. As a result of Issei's theory, the Vanishing Dragon Scale Mail ceased in its function.

(Unbelievable! Vali, remain your stance at once!)

Vali narrowed his eyes and attempted to defend himself, but to no avail. He wasn't quick enough to defend himself, as Issei landed a sharp punch to his shield, and thrust a harsh blow to his abdomen, causing the Vanishing Dragon Scale Mail to shatter.

Vali clutched his abdomen as he smiled at Issei, who stood still.

"Hahaha, amazing! My Sacred Gear was blown off! So you can do it if you just try! Just what I would have expected, my rival."

Issei narrowed his eyes as he saw that Vali's armor started to regenerate itself back into its Scale Mail form.

'This guy doesn't give up, does he?'

Issei looked around his surroundings, until he saw something. Something had reflected in his sight.

'Is that...?'

Issei flew over to the object and picked it up. It was the blue jewel of the Vanishing Dragon. He narrowed his brown eyes.

'This thing must have blown out when I damaged his armor.'

He looked over to the armored Vali.

'The section where the jewel had blown away from, seems to have reformed as well. Hmm.'

He looked at the jewel closely.

{What are you planning, Issei Hyoudou?}

Vali noticed that his rival had remained quiet, and narrowed his eyes.

"What are you standing around for, Hyoudou?"

Issei turned around to face his rival, and in response, he smashed the green jewel embedded within his Boosted Gear. Immediately after doing that, he heard a loud laughter coming from the power source from his Sacred Gear.

{Fuhahahaha! So this is what you were planning! In that case, I'll go along with this plan. I am after all the Red Dragon Emperor that was called a mass of power! Let's show them that we'll live and exceed them together, Issei Hyoudou!}

Issei nodded and drove the blue-colored jewel of the Vanishing Dragon into the place where his original jewel had been, and a silver aura emitted from his right hand. Issei widened his eyes as he began to feel an immense amount of pain. Vali widened his eyes in shock.

"Did...did you intend to wield my power?"

Albion scoffed as he spoke next.

(What a reckless thing for your host to do. Ddraig, we are existences that oppose each other. That is nothing more than an act of self-destruction. Do you intend to annihilate yourself by allowing your host to do such a thing?)

But then...

Issei's screams seemed to have quieted down, as the swirl of cosmic energy began to pool around him once more. Vali widened his eyes in absolute shock.

'Where is he getting all this energy?!'

Ddraig chuckled as he could feel his host's power increasing.

{Albion! You're as inflexible as always! Over countless eons, we've been lodged in hosts and continued to fight each other! It's a repeat of the same thing each and every time!}

(That's right, Ddraig. That is our destiny. Even if our respective hosts are different, the way we fight is the same. You raise power, I steal power. The side that skilfully uses its Sacred Gear deals the finishing blow and it ends. This is how it always has been, and always will be.)

Ddraig gave another chuckle towards his rival.

{Ever since I met Issei Hyoudou, I quickly found out he was different. Out of all the hosts I've encountered, he is the most unique! Being unique is a special quality, and if there's one thing I've learned with Issei, it's that anything is possible when you're unique!}

{Vanishing Dragon Power is taken!}

Issei's right hand was shining with a dazzling white light. A pure white aura surrounded the young man's right arm as a white gauntlet then appeared on it.

Narrowing his eyes, Issei clenched his right fist and loosened it.

'So, this is Dividing Gear.'

(Impossible! Such a thing is impossible! No one knows what will happen with the fusion of opposing powers. When that is something concerning dragons, you might die, you know? No, it would be natural for you to die.)

Issei narrowed his eyes at Albion's exclamation, and he held up the Dividing Gear on his right arm.

"It was reckless. But I just wanted to see what would happen as a result."

{Perhaps...}

Issei looked up.

'What is it?'

{The inherited power you received from the Being, might be an advantage. The Being wielded intense cosmic energy allowing him to manipulate matter and aspects of reality, including himself. So perhaps your lifespan will remain the same, or otherwise less shortened.}

Issei narrowed his eyes further.

'If it wasn't for that entity, I wouldn't even be alive.'

He suddenly heard a clapping noise, and he turned to see Vali smirking.

"Interesting. Then, I'll also get a bit serious! If I win, I'll halve all of you and everything that surrounds you with the Vanishing Dragon's power!"

Issei rose an eyebrow at Vali's claim, before his eyes widened as Vali's wings of light increased in size. Suddenly the area began to change. Vali pointed his hand near the surroundings trees, and in an instant, the thickness of the trees halved.

Issei narrowed his eyes.

'So he can halve everything in his surroundings.'

Emitting an emerald sphere of energy, along with pools of cosmic energy surrounding his body, Issei charged towards Vali and landed a punch to his abdomen.

{Divide!}

The wielder of the Boosted Gear activated the power of the Vanishing Dragon, and the aura around Vali started to fade away. Vali spat a spittle of bile from his mouth, but Issei continued. He landed a sharp punch to Vali's face, causing his helmet to break apart and the wings of light to be destroyed. Issei kicked Vali up into the air, and shot up towards him, tackling him with a burst of speed.

Vali vomited out blood as a result of the impact, and he crashed onto the ground. Issei floated down and walked towards his rival. Vali quickly sat up and started to charge a pool of magical energy. Issei narrowed his eyes and positioned himself, charging his emerald Dragon Shot, adding more power in order to increase its size. The two shot their energy beams, the beams colliding as a result. Both of the rivals gritted their teethes as one attempted to overpower the other.

{Boost!}

Glowering at his rival, Issei increased his power, allowing him to gain an advantage, and completely overwhelmed Vali with the energy blast. As the smoke started to fade away, Issei's Scale Mail started to disappear, and Issei stood still, his Boosted Gear still on his left arm, and the blue jewel of the White Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet in his right hand.

The smoke cleared, revealing a bloodied Vali. The descendant of the original Lucifer, shakily stood up, and he gave Issei a happy smile.

"You truly are an interesting one, Issei Hyoudou."

Issei narrowed his eyes, and Vali's smile formed into a smirk.

"Albion, do you think he's worthy enough for us to show the Vanishing Dragon's Juggernaut Drive?"

Issei's eyes widened.

'Juggernaut Drive?'

(Vali, it's not a good choice in this place. If you recklessly enter "Juggernaut Drive", Ddraig's curse may be removed.)

"It'll all work out, Albion. I, who am about to awaken, in supreme justice..."

(Don't act rashly, Vali! Is it your desire to be at the mercy of my power!?)

Suddenly a silhouette swooped down near Issei's and Vali's location. It was a man dressed in Chinese armor. He looked over to Vali.

"Vali, it's time for us to go."

"Bikou. What's your reason for coming here?"

Issei rose an eyebrow.

'They know each other?'

Bikou rolled his eyes.

"Aren't you cruel? I made a long journey and came all the way to this island country because my partner is in a pinch, you know? The other guys were making a fuss at headquarters, you know? Because we're joining together to fight the northern country gods, you were supposed to flee and return right away if the mission failed, right? Cattleya failed to assassinate Michael, Azazel, and Lucifer, right? In that case, your observation role is over. Come back with me."

"…I see, so it's already time."

"The descendant of the Victorious Fighting Buddha. Also known as Son Goku, the monkey in the Journey of the West."

Issei turned around to face Azazel.

"To say it correctly, he is a monkey youkai that has inherited Son Goku's power. However, it really is the end of the world if even you have joined the Khaos Brigade. No, you're the Son Goku to the Vanishing Dragon. You're also well-matched."

Bikou chuckled.

"I'm different from the first-generation that became a Buddha. I just live doing as I like."

And with that said, a cane appeared in Bikou's hand. He spun it around, and pierced it into the ground. A pool of darkness spread across the ground, and it captured Vali and Bikou, causing them to sink down.

Issei glowered at his rival, who looked back up at him with a smirk.

"I, as the Vanishing Dragon was occupied by the blood relative of the old Maou. The enemy isn't just Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils. Eventually we'll fight again, Issei Hyoudou. But at that time it will be even more intense. We'll each get stronger."

As he finished his last sentence, he and Bikou faded away into the darkness. Issei narrowed his eyes, and then he turned to look back at Azazel, noticing that he was now one-armed.

"What happened to you?"

Azazel looked at where his former arm stayed, and then he shrugged.

"I nearly got trapped into a self-destructed technique. So I had no choice but to cut it off."

Issei frowned slightly in sympathy for the Fallen Angel. Azazel looked to him and he nodded.

"Go home, kid. I think you've had enough fighting for tonight."

Pausing momentarily, Issei slowly nodded, and turned around to walk away from the school.

"Hey, kid..."

Issei turned around to face Azazel.

"Do you still have the jewel of the Vanishing Dragon?"

In response, Issei held up the blue jewel in his right hand, the object shining in the light. Azazel widened his eyes slightly.

"Amazing...theoretically, you have not only the powers of your original Sacred Gear, but also the powers of the Divine Dividing."

Issei nodded.

"So now I have a portion of Vali's powers. This should be helpful."

Azazel stared at the young man for a moment.

"I noticed that your Balance Breaker was incomplete. Later on, you should think about training yourself in attaining Balance Breaker, and also train yourself with that jewel."

Issei narrowed his eyes.

"I'll keep that in mind."

And with that he turned to walk away once more, until Azazel spoke up.

"Hey, kid."

Issei stopped in his pace.

"Vali...he wasn't going all out during the fight between you two."

Issei narrowed his eyes and turned his head to look at Azazel.

"I know. And neither was I."

NEXT DAY (IN THE OCCULT RESEARCH CLUB)

"A trip to the Underworld?" Issei asked.

The young man widened his eyes in surprise. Rias smiled as she nodded.

"That's right, my precious kouhai. There's going to be a gathering for us Devils. Did you want to come with us, Ise-kun?"

Issei frowned slightly.

"I don't know, Rias-senpai. I mean, I'm not even a Devil. Doesn't that mean I can't go?"

Rias smiled wider.

"Initially yes, but I'm positive that Onii-sama would allow you to come."

Issei rose an eyebrow, and he gained a thoughtful look in his eyes.

'Should I go?'

{Issei. There is someone I know at the Underworld that can train you to master your Balance Breaker. He was originally part of the "Six Great Dragon Kings".}

Issei widened his eyes.

'Train me in mastering Balance Breaker? I can't pass this up.'

With a smile, Issei nodded to Rias.

"Ok, Rias-senpai. When do we go?"

Many Hours Later (At the Mountains)

Issei looked around his surroundings as he waited for the Dragon King to arrive.

'While Rias-senpai and the others are at the gathering for the Devils, I can train with the 'Dragon King' Ddraig told me about. I wonder where he is?'

A shadow suddenly formed behind Issei. Issei rose an eyebrow as he turned around to look up and see a purple Western Dragon. The young man widened his eyes.

The Dragon smirked.

"It's been a long time, Ddraig."

Issei's left arm shone with a green light, revealing the Boosted Gear.

{Indeed it has, Tannin. Issei, Tannin, the Blaze Meteor Dragon became a Devil, and as a result, the Six Great Dragon Kings became the Five Dragon Kings. Despite being a reincarnated Devil, he is in the rank of the Ultimate-Class.}

Issei widened his eyes once more.

'Ultimate-Class?'

{The Blaze Meteor Dragon. His breath of fire is equal to the impact of a meteorite. He's one of the few legendary Dragons that are still active right now.}

Tannin chuckled as he looked upon Ddraig's host.

"This is my first time training someone who harbors Ddraig."

{Issei, are you ready? Attaining Balance Breaker will not be an easy task. Especially with Tannin here.}

Issei narrowed his eyes.

"There was no point in coming here if I'm hesitating to attain the perfect form of the Scale Mail. I need to make sure I finish this task."

He looked up at the Western Dragon and nodded to him.

"Tannin-sama, I'm ready."

Tannin grinned and narrowed his eyes at the young man.

"Then I sure hope you believe in your words, brat. I'll train you right to the brink of death!"