I do not own Highschool DxD.


The first order of business, as it turned out, was to reiterate events that had already happened, primarily for the benefit of Azazel; Rias had, as acting governor had to fill out her own report on the incident, which covered the events pertinent to the discussion. Her abbreviation ran from the moment the two had received phone calls from Issei, to their meeting with the exorcists (Issei glowed internally when Rias explicitly noted that he had been the one to keep things from blowing up), the first incident with Raynare, the attack on Irina by Kokabiel, then the final battle with Kokabiel gone horribly awry.

Issei winced as he remembered Kokabiel's sneering face.

"The rest of the details regarding the incident between Kokabiel and my household can be found in my official report," Rias finished. A moment later, Sona followed up:

"As a witness, I, Sona Sitri, confirm the veracity of the report given by Lady Gremory."

"Great job, ladies!" Serafall said happily. "Great job, Sona!"

Issei could see the sweat roll down Sona's face even at the distance he was standing.

"That will be all, thank you," Sirzechs said. "Perhaps the governor-general of the Fallen Angels would like to share his opinion of their report?"

Azazel shrugged. "Kokabiel went rogue, therefore my thoughts on the incident are irrelevant."

"So he acted entirely on his own?" Michael asked knowingly.

"Well, he never had my permission, if that's what you're asking," Azazel replied, a sarcastic grin on his face. "But something tells me the damn fool wouldn't have tried to destroy the whole town if he knew I was staying here. I've grown quite fond of this quaint little place."

"Try and stay on topic, if you please," Sirzechs said.

Azazel pointed at the silver-haired young man standing behind him. "I sent the White Dragon Emperor in to resolve the issue, and the culprit is frozen stiff in the lowest level of Hell. He won't bother you again."

At those words, Issei's eyes snapped over to the teen in black, his palm unconsciously tensing around Mirana's.

This guy's the White Dragon Emperor?

A moment later, the White Dragon Emperor noticed his stare and began returning it, smirking all the while. After a few seconds, Issei broke the stare and shook his head.

Focus, Issei… focus…

"What I find most troubling about the attack itself is his motivation," Michael said. "It seems he was rather dissatisfied with the status quo."

Azazel nodded. "Yeah, the war ending halfway through really pissed him off. What he wanted was perpetual combat – but at this late stage in the game, I have no interest in a war."

Perhaps Issei had been imagining it, but he would swear the White Dragon Emperor's lips had turned downwards ever so slightly at those words.

"The seeds of discontent have been sown…" murmured Serafall.

Azazel chuckled in response. "Bad behavior isn't exclusive to my faction."

"Again, I ask that we stay focused on the matter at hand," Sirzechs said, mild irritation entering his voice. "After all, that is why we've convened here."

"Spare the verbosity, won't you?" Azazel said, his tone dry. "Let's just make peace and be done with it. That's the purpose of this grand summit, isn't it? Of course it is." The leader of the Fallen Angels leaned back in his chair. "Our perpetual three-way stalemate's getting rather old and hardly doing this world any favors. I assume we're all in agreement on that?"

Heads nodded around the room.

"We have a… complication, however," Azazel continued. "Once again, it's not even our Three Powers – but these forces are equally, if not more destructive. I refer, of course, to the Red and White Dragon Emperors."

Eyes turned to both Issei and the White Dragon Emperor whose name the former didn't know.

"I'd like to hear their thoughts."

The White Dragon Emperor took the lead, shrugging his shoulders. "I just want to fight someone as strong as me." His voice was a bored, disinterested monotone; evidently he cared nothing for being here.

Issei took careful note of that.

"Yes," Azazel said, chuckling, "but you can still find a lot of powerful opponents without having a war."

"I suppose…"

The Jack of Hearts did not like the tone that his opposite used to say those words. It sounded resigned, annoyed, and aggravated rather than accepting.

Azazel, meanwhile, nodded. "And you, Red Dragon Emperor?"

Issei took a deep breath.

Here goes nothing

"What's it say about the previous wielders of the Boosted Gear that you even need to ask me that question? I want peace more than almost anything else. I've been allowed to live in this town because of the generosity of Lord Lucifer and Lady Leviathan."

Issei nodded to them as he said each of their names; Sirzechs responded with a nod of his own, while Serafall's face screwed up.

The Jack turned back to face the rest of the table. "In that time… the Devils and I here have constantly been trying not to tread on each other's toes. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that it's been incredibly annoying. All that stalemate did was constantly leave me and them on edge. And on the larger scale, it's like you said, Azazel. Nobody's gaining anything from it – all we're doing is passing the lines in the sand on to the next generation, and for what?"

Issei exhaled. "So, like I said, I'm fully behind this peace treaty."

Michael and the other Brave Saints accompanying him smiled, while Sirzechs and Azazel gave pleased nods.

"Well," Azazel said, "I suppose it's nice to know that at least one Dragon Emperor has their eyes on the bigger picture. Though… I have to wonder how much of that is motivated by the woman standing next to you."

Issei's eyes flashed over to Azazel, then to Mirana; the former was grinning, the latter was clearly embarrassed.

"Oh?" Michael said, noticing the position of Mirana and Issei's hands and taking up a mischievous grin. "Should I be concerned, Issei? Or perhaps happy for an engagement between Saints?"


There was no warning, no alarm, no indication that things were about to get ugly.

All that happened was that everyone in the room felt power wash over them, and for a few moments, there was silence as the room tried to figure out what had happened or what might have caused it.

"Sona? Sona!"

All eyes darted to the female Devil King, who had stood up and was now grabbing Sona by the shoulders. This action, as Issei well knew, should have left Sona incredibly embarrassed and struggling to pull free.

Instead, the younger Sitri sister was still and motionless as a plank of wood.

In fact, out of the younger Devils in the room, the only one moving was Kiba, the blonde Devil looking back and forth in confusion.

"Lord Lucifer, what's going on?" he asked.

Azazel had, in the meantime, stood from his seat and pulled back the curtain covering the window.

"Looks like a terrorist attack," the Governor-General said casually. "A whole horde of magicians." He pulled the curtain back all the way and set it so it remained open. "And it looks like the rest of our forces are frozen as well. Any idea what this is about, Sirzechs?"

The crimson-haired Devil King's teeth clenched. "They must have gotten to my sister's Bishop. He's sealed in the old school building on the other side of the campus – and from what I can tell, these magicians have shut off our ability to teleport."

Only when Azazel moved from the window to address the Devil King did Issei get a proper view of what was going on outside – and what he saw made his stomach flip.

Dozens upon dozens of people in odd robes were floating through the sky, some upside-down. The sight would have been amusing if they weren't firing blasts of magical energy towards the helpless frozen Angel, Fallen Angel and Devil guards stationed around the school building.

Azazel sighed, and without even looking, raised his hand.

Through the glass, Issei could see an enormous barrier come up, preventing the magicians from striking them or anyone else. The brunette sighed with relief, and looking over at the other Saints in the room, he could similar expressions across the four of them.

"Now then, Sirzechs, what's this about your little sister's Bishop?"

"Gasper Vladi," the Devil King said quickly. "He's a dhampir and the owner of the Sacred Gear "Forbidden Balor View". He couldn't control it, so for both his own sake and others Rias sealed him until she would be strong enough to help him control it."

"Forbidden Balor View?" Irina asked, beating Issei to the punch by fractions of a second. "What's that do?"

"It freezes anyone or anything that the user is looking at - in theory. It seems the magician's influence has boosted his power and frozen most people at this summit in time."

"Then how are we still moving?" Nero and Kiba demanded simultaneously.

Azazel took the reins to answer that question, and began by pointing out Nero, Irina and Kiba. "You and her," he said, addressing Nero, "have Holy Swords - they're what's protecting you from the effects, I'd guess." He shot a glance at Kiba. "You're being protected by your Holy-Demonic sword, I'd assume." His gaze spun next to Issei. "You are protected by your dragon, and I'm guessing that holding that lovely lady's hand spread the effect to her, as well."

Issei and Mirana each promptly turned a shade of red and broke their grasps.

"As for you," Azazel continued, looking Deethelm over, "I'd guess you just out-power him."

The governor-general's eyes went back to Sirzechs. "You said this kid's a dhampir?" Azazel asked, before grinning. "Perfect."

Sirzechs was left confused. "What do you mean, "perfect"? It's obvious that those magicians have broken the seals and let themselves in – and now they're exploiting his power to attack us. How is any of that "perfect"?"

"He's a dhampir. That's the "perfect" part of this. The not-perfect part is the problem of the barriers that are preventing teleportation – keeps us from just tossing the Red Dragon Emperor over there. They must've had help setting that up, though – magicians like what are out there aren't capable of locking down even our teleportation spells. Who betrayed us, I wonder?"

"What do you need me for?" Issei asked.

"We need you,"Azazel said, "to get into that old school building, free the dhampir boy from the magicians and feed him your blood. The blood of the Red Dragon Emperor should give him a small power jump – and by doing that, give him a bit more control over his power. Just a quick lick should be enough."

"We cannot do that," Sirzechs said sternly. "Our preliminary defensive barriers are the only things keeping this entire institution from being levelled. Even yours –" Sirzechs nodded to Azazel's barrier, which was still holding steady – "won't hold them back forever."

"Could we not punch a hole in the defensive barrier for a few moments?"

Everyone looked to the source of the voice – the Ace of Clubs.

"If need be, I, Nero and Irina can put up supplementary barriers to hold the magician's attacks back if they should come from another direction. A few moments is all that will be required for Issei and Mirana to slip out the hole and begin crossing the campus."

Michael nodded. "Not a foolproof plan, Deethelm, but we are severely lacking in those at the moment."

"Why do I need an escort, again?" Issei asked grumpily, despite the circumstances.

"Because the field is full of magicians on the level of Middle-Class Devils who would likely kill you in just a few shots, and Mirana is far more competent than you with barrier magic," Michael said dryly. "All in favor?"

Azazel, Sirzechs and Serafall shrugged, though only Azazel spoke, his lips set in a grim line.

"Not like we've got any better way to do that."

Michael nodded, then turned back to Issei.

"Issei, Mirana? I want the two of you to go under blackjack."

The brunette looked at Mirana, who nodded and spoke for the first time since entering the room. "You remember how to do that, Issei?"

"Hey!" Irina exclaimed. "Why does she get to pair up with Issei? I could go with him!"

Michael, however, sent her a smoldering look, making Irina assume a wilted expression.

"Mirana is far stronger and more experienced than you, Irina – and putting aside that, they are both members of the Hearts suit, which will strengthen the effect of the Brave Saint cards."

Irina gave a reluctant nod, while Issei and Mirana turned to face one another.

A moment later, having been unsealed by each Saint, the effect activated.


An enormous surge of pure strength running through him – that was the closest description Issei could have come up with to describe the effect of the blackjack state.

It was as though he had sent the Boosted Gear into overdrive, with Explosion activating over and over.

Issei had never been under the effect of any of the Brave Saint system's effects, sans the ones that saved him and purged his mind (for all the changes that ultimately made). He hadn't known what to expect.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Mirana asked, seeing the expression on Issei's face. "I always love doing this – even though it's almost never necessary."

"No need to discuss that now, you two," Azazel said, before pulling the window open and placing his hand against the empty air. After a few seconds, cracks began to form in the invisible wall the four leaders had erected.

Once those seconds had passed, the Governor-General pointed out the window, towards the armada of magicians who were regrouping and reorganizing for another assault. "You two, get going. You've got ten seconds and you just wasted five of them."

The two members of Lady Gabriel's deck were gone in a flash, leaping out the window; Azazel dropped his own barrier for only a fraction of a second before they were through.

As they ran, their speed boosted enormously by the power of the blackjack effect, Mirana kept a barrier raised over them; the Magician's shots bounced harmlessly off it.

"Which way?" Mirana called.

"Follow me!"


With their incredibly enhanced speed, it took almost no time at all for the two to cross the entire campus, Issei barely keeping an inch ahead of Mirana.

After tearing through the front door, the two Brave Saints stopped their running and resumed a quick pace.

"Is it bad that I thought that was actually kind of fun?" Issei asked.

"Yes, no, perhaps. It doesn't matter, Issei."

The brunette blinked, not expecting the completely serious tone in Mirana's voice.

"We have a mission, Issei. We need to see that it's accomplished."

At the exact moment Mirana spoke the last syllable, the blast reached their ears.


And cut.

Ugh… I hated this chapter.

On an unrelated note, if I were to create an AU to this one where Issei was taken by another Seraph, which Seraph do you think would be the most interesting?