Beyond the Outer Gates Lies...a Breaking Balance?
"Umm, hold up," I stopped after only a few steps and dropped my veil. Everyone else turned to look at me. I dug around in my pockets briefly, and took out three vials. After checking the labels and putting one back, I padded over and knelt down so I could look Kunou in the nose.
"This is an invisibility potion," I extended the first potion to the girl, "It will make you undetectable for about…"
I looked her over and did a quick calculation based on her size and probable weight.
"… just over an hour. And this is an escape potion. It will teleport you a short distance, to somewhere safer. I don't think it will take you out of this pocket dimension, or I'd make you drink it right now. If things go bad, I want you to drink them in that order."
"I will not run," she objected formally.
"And we're not letting you get hurt," I shot back, "We're the grownups here…. relatively speaking… and it's our job and prerogative to keep you safe."
"Please, Kunou-chan," Ise requested gently, "You're mother wouldn't want you to get hurt for her, would she?"
Her angry look faded as she looked at the Oppai Dragon, and she brushed slightly. Then she took the two potions from me.
"Okay, now we can go," I announced. I rejoined my team, and veiled us again.
"… slithered back down her arm, and merged back into the whip," Tsubasa exposited, "Except instead of one snake head, it now had nine."
"So her Balance Break was an armor of snakes and a hydra cat'o nine tails?" I asked, somewhat incredulous.
"The hydra analogy is especially apt," Reya nodded, "Because at full extension, they started spitting acid like a hydra. Though not so grand as a black dragon, only about half a meter."
"Still enough to catch you when you thought you escaped," Tsubasa said angrily.
"Are you okay?" I asked, looking her over for injuries. Then felt stupid, since Asia was walking maybe ten feet in front of us.
"… stayed behind to fight…. No," Ise mumbled ahead of us.
"I'm fine," she was happy that I was concerned, "The acid wasn't strong enough to get through your coats, or a Rook's skin, but it did a number on the rest of my uniform."
I checked her out again. My coats' spells only worked on the material itself, that was one of the main reasons I suggested longer coats. At least they still covered the arms and vitals; or they would if they were closed. Like usual, Tsubasa hadn't zipped up her jacket, and had her usual uniform on underneath. Except that her skirt, corset, and blouse looked pristine as always…
"You fixed your uniform with your Devil Power," I said.
"Disappointed? I could change it back," she said suggestively.
"Not really the time," I said dryly. Then I matched her expression and said, "Maybe later?"
She looked surprised, and then gave me another smoldering gaze.
"I'll hold you to that," she informed me.
"Great," I said enticingly. Then I switched over to a more sarcastic tone, and added, "Can I pencil you in for July of next year?"
She stuck her tongue out at me. Then, for the third time she switched to provocative.
"You're going to revert that uniform and then keep it for the next seven and a half months, aren't you?" I shook my head in defeat. She grinned broadly at me.
"Ugh," Saji sighed, "What happened to the cool, stern, Tsubasa that everyone looked up to?"
"She reached a point where she has friends she is comfortable being herself around," my Rook told him sharply.
"Anyway, how did you take snake girl down?" I softly shifted the topic to try to head them off. I wasn't confident of my ability to block out the sound if they got much louder. At least not while we were moving.
"Well, like Reya said, it was definitely a hydra," the Rook continued, "I tried ripping the heads off, but they grew back just as fast. We ended up in a stalemate until Reya and Rossweisse-sensei finished burying Gawain."
One of the swordsmen Hero scrubs had claimed he was the reincarnation of the Arthurian knight. And his sword Gear had been able to cut through spells. Except that was limited to combat spells, so my Bishop and the teacher had used a utility spell to pull up sand and stones and encase him in them. After he was trapped, he had started acting like Oakley when we initially interrogated her.
"Rossweisse-sensei used a chain spell to wrap up the snakes," Tsubasa continued, "And then I flicked her in the forehead."
She performed the motion, and her separating fingers rang out like a gunshot. I winced, both for the noise, and for how deadly a Rook's power could make such a simple action.
"I held back," she said, noticing my reaction, "In case she was being brainwashed, too. But it was still enough to knock her out, and her whip went back to normal."
"Gotta wonder just how many of them are brainwashed," I mused, "Neither Goth Hermione nor Ise's shadow guy seemed to be controlled."
"And what happened to you, Saji-kun?" Reya said. I was a bit surprised that she wasn't referring to him as Gen-chan. Had he pissed her off?
"Uhh…" Saji didn't seem to notice. Instead he went white, and stammered. Last time I had seen him like that was after Lash claimed Sona had pre-emptively dumped him. I still didn't know what had happened in the Student Council room, neither King nor Pawn would discuss it. But I definitely remembered the look on his face, crushed and emasculated. I really wanted to know what the Hero mooks had done to him.
Instead I held up a hand and hissed, "We're here."
Reya and Tsubasa squeezed their lips together in unison. And Saji looked relieved.
We had just crossed the bridge over the inner moat, and through a large ornate gate, into Honmaru Palace.
"I see our trap has failed," Cao Cao announced loudly, drawing us to the large garden to the left of the gate. We approached, the visible members of our group directly, while my team slunk around by the wall, trying to flank them.
Cao Cao, Siegfried, Herc, and Jeanne were standing at the front of one of the garden's embankments, along with pair of mooks with swords. Behind them was Georg, and with him a tall, gorgeous, blonde woman. Yasaka's humanoid form looked very much like her daughter, in facial features, ears, number of tails, coloring, and choice of outfit. Except the adult kitsune would have been almost on eye level with me, and appeared to be in her late twenties.
And she had huge tracts of land. Easily the largest I had seen in Bizzaro World, myself during The Incident included.
The kaiju sized Maker Beasts from yesterday had also been transferred to positions around the inner palace wall, but were again unmoving.
"Splitting up any invaders and delivering them to our ambushes should have slowed you down and inflicted some damage on you. Even if they are lower echelon members, they had all achieved Balance Break, after all. I suppose it is too much to hope that Azazel, Dresden, and the others from yesterday were defeated or killed?"
"Sorry, but they stayed behind to help the youkai protect Kyoto from Annihilation Maker," Ise spouted the lie he had been practicing with utter confidence, "Once they have that wrapped up, Dresden will bring them here to help us stop you!"
"How foolishly sentimental," Cao Cao shook his head. Then he asked, "And what have you done with Oakley?"
"Oakley? Who… what's that?" Ise stammered unconvincingly. Practice was all well and good, but improv bluffing wasn't his thing.
"So you did kidnap her," the spear wielder sighed, "How much did she tell you?"
"Everything," Kiba said quickly, "All of your plans for today and the future, the specifics of your ritual, and even the location of you home base."
Under the veil, I smiled. The Knight also appeared to be lying, because in this case he was. Now if only the Zeros took the bait…
"So you don't know anything…" Cao Cao mused, well aware of what his minions did and didn't know, "But then how did you find the anchor point."
"Dresden was able to scry using the girl as a focus," Rossweisse said.
"Oakley, B zero, zero, two, five, "Momo said angrily, "What did you do to that poor girl, that that is all she can say?"
Cao Cao just smiled condescendingly at her. And Herc smirked evilly. Jeanne looked a bit disturbed, however.
"Contemptible," Kunou said sternly, "Have you done the same thing to my mother?"
"We must have her absolute compliance for this to work," the Heroes' leader shrugged, unaffected by the girl's rage.
'Nice, Kunou,' I complimented her silently. Getting Cao Cao to confirm Yasaka was under the same brainwashing as Oakley made my job easier.
Then he slammed the butt of the Spear of Destiny into the ground. Yasaka let out a pained gasp, and then a vulpine yowl, as her body began to forcefully change. She resumed her giant fox form, though she was smaller than she had been the previous day. Because the garden was more cramped, because she was conserving power for the summoning, or both.
Xenovia took another step forward, and swung Durandal down off her shoulder. I was so used to her having it, that I hadn't noticed she had it today, or thought to ask where it was yesterday. And the holy sword looked different. The sword was wrapped by a vaguely mechanical looking sheath. The parts of the sheath clinked aside, revealing the gold edged, blue blade. But then both sword and scabbard began to emit a dense aura of Light, doubling the size of the weapon and nearly blinding me. And probably anyone else who was looking at it.
'The elements,' Lash noted, calling up images for me. The individual sections of Durandal's new sheath had the shading and markings of the Excalibits.
'You think she fused them somehow?' I asked her.
'It is highly unlikely Xenovia Quarta could do something like that,' Lash countered dryly, 'More likely the Angels or the Beelzebub did it, and that is why she did not have the sword yesterday.'
"Strike first and win!" the exorcist turned Knight declared, "Taste my Ex-Durandal!"
She brought the hammer down. Or sword, if you want to be literal. As it swung forward, its aura of Light continued to grow. It sliced cleanly through one of the Maker kaiju, and then the back wall of the palace. It completely enveloped the Heroes. And when the blade hit the ground, the castle shook like a small earthquake had hit it.
"Hey, Xenovia!" Ise complained, "That was too much! Don't forget, we are trying to save Yasaka-sama!"
"It's fine," she swept his concern aside, "Despite the appearance, I controlled and limited the power. I feel like I could have destroyed the entire castle with one blow. Truly, this fusion of Durandal and Excalibur is exceptional."
'Called it,' Lash whispered.
"Fusion of Excalibur and Durandal?" Ise parroted.
"Let me explain!" Irina said brightly, "Raphael-sama and the Eastern Orthodox church used alchemy to merge the recovered Excalibits and Durandal. The Excalibits form a sheath the masks Durandal's power and makes it easier to control. But when it is unleashed, their powers combined and amplify each other, like that."
"My goal is to match the full power of Ise's Dragon Shot," Xenovia added, "But I feel I am not there yet. That level of destruction is ideal."
"Hey, don't make me sound like some sort of destruction maniac!" Ise protested.
"Preach it, brother," I whispered.
"If they could be taken out so easily," Kiba commented, "they would have been defeated before we reached this point."
The smoke and dust settled. And then the mist cleared. Cao Cao had shifted forward, and raised the Spear of Destiny into the path of Xenovia's attack. Between that and Dimension Lost, the Heroes were unharmed. Scuffed up a bit, but not injured in any visible way.
"Not bad," their leader chuckled, lowering the True Longinus, but still keeping it basically vertical.
"I was correct to worry about your growth," he continued, "If you had not come here, in a few years you would match all but the strongest Devils, and rule the Ratings Games. Unfortunately, you have come here, so we must cut that potential short. Georg, are you ready?"
"Yes," the magician said softly. I recognized the tone of one sunk deeply into his magic. Yet he had still been able to help protect his allies. I hope Momo noticed, since I couldn't relay it.
Longinus rapped stone again, and Yasaka began to glow. She was actually emitting enough raw magical energy that it was perceptible to the naked eye without any sort of special power or detection magic. A giant mandala appear under her, and dozens more appeared in front of Georg's hands.
"Norse, Mayan, Demonic, Fallen, black, white, Fae," Rossweisse said in amazement, "What a diverse array of spells, all at once…"
"It will take some time to fully power up," Georg explained, "And I will be occupied with operating the magic circles. My apologies, Cao Cao, but it will take most of my focus."
"Understood," his boss nodded obligingly, "We will take care of the rest."
"Siegfried, Heracles, Jeanne," he looked at the other core Heroes, "I won't tell you not to have fun, but remember why we are here."
"Kojiro, Johannes," Cao Cao turned to the two swordsmen mooks, "Take out their healer and capture the kitsune princess, and the battle is ours."
"It will be done," one of them said formally.
He pointed his spear at the Devils, and the Heroes charged.
Of course, that didn't matter too much to us. Under my spell, the Sitri Peers and I had snuck until we were basically right next to Yasaka's right front leg. We positioned ourselves so that the limb would partially hide us from Georg, if my veil failed or something stuck out from under it. I tucked my blasting rod back into my jacket, shifted my staff to my left hand, and took out the tuning fork. I tied one another of Yasaka's hairs, from the brush Kunou had brought yesterday, to one of the tines. The sample of her original being would help with the sympathizing step.
"So what, specifically, do you want us to do?" Tsubasa asked.
"Okay, Saji, hit her with your Absorption Line, and drain as much of her magic as you can," I started, "You need to slow down the ritual, weaken her resistance so I can focus on the Longinus fragment, and just plain weaken her in case they make her attack."
"Reya, get your seals ready. If they move Yasaka or try to use her to attack our friends, I need you to tie her down, ASAP. Otherwise, help Tsubasa keep an eye on things, and have your Demonic power blast ready if I need it."
She nodded.
"Tsubasa, you're on defense. Watch for if we are discovered, or just if any strays are going to hit us. And be ready to wrestle a giant fox, just in case she goes out of control and Reya can't hold her alone."
"Do you think that is likely?" the Rook sounded more than a little nervous.
"They are forcing the ley line power through her and their spells are doing who knows what to make that happen. I'm going to tamper with the brainwashing. And they could order her to attack. So yeah, I'd say it is pretty likely."
"One problem," Saji said apologetically, "With the amount of power she is putting out, I'm not sure how long I can keep draining her…"
"What about that transfer thing Azazel-sensei mentioned, back when we first met him?" I suggested, "He said you should be able to shift the end to someone else, so the energy goes to them, instead. Have you gotten the hang of that? If so, you could switch it to me and Reya, since we'll be using magic."
"I've done it a couple of times," he said, "But not to another person in a combat situation. And never to a Human."
"We aren't actually fighting, yet," Tsubasa pointed out.
"It's the only idea I have," I said, "Since anything else I know you could do with the power would be a dead giveaway. Unless you know any quiet, invisible spells."
"No," he confirmed, "I guess I'll have to give it a try."
"Great," I tapped the fork against my staff. I stretched out my power, studying how the magic I felt from Yasaka differed from the residual energy in her hair.
Aura Dark deflected Nothung wide, and then caught Gram. Off to Siegfried's left, the Sword of Betrayer pushed Tyrfing to the side, as Kiba tried to remove the Hero's arm. Sieg let Tomoe force him back, avoiding Kiba's stab.
"So you knew my grandfather?" the Sitri Knight asked as she tried to disembowel her opponent, "Back when he was with the Church?"
"I'm not so old," Sieg countered, as both Knights prevented him from beheading them in near unison, "I was lucky enough to study him in one of the few training camps he held after his retirement. Even with his advanced age, it was easy to see why he was only of only three rank six swordsmen ever acknowledged by the Church. Truly, the Sword of Faith was a master. It is unfortunate that his current apprentice does not match up."
She stuck her tongue out at him, managing to tie up Gram and Nothung and drive them towards the ground.
"I think I'm doing pretty good," she claimed, "Given how much my mom opposed me learning from grandpa at all."
"Perhaps I am just expecting more, as my opponents are a pair of Knights," Sieg told her, sounding honestly disappointed. The blades in his natural hands caught their weapons, and deflected them. With his strength doubled by his Twice Critical, he easily forced the lighter Devils back. Then the Gram in Sieg's extra arm darted towards Kiba's throat. Just before the blow landed, Rias's Knight seemed to vanish. The next instant, Sword of Betrayer smashed against Tyrfing three times, knocking it out of Sieg's hand. Sieg barely avoided losing his arm and drew Balmung instead of attempting to retrieve the other sword.
"Well, if you want to fight Knights rather than swordsmen, we can oblige," Kiba said, as Tomoe darted behind the Hero faster than he could see.
Rossweisse called up a seven mandala spell, four concentric circles with three more embedded ones. It unleashed a bolt of lightning, but with a wide, oblong profile. Though she focused on Heracles, the spell would also hit Kojiro and Cao Cao. Herc laughed, stepped closer to the spell, and punched it. Variant Detonation's explosion emerged from his knuckles, and the lightning cracked and then faded.
"Ha," he barked and charged towards her, "So sexy teacher wants to fight me? Maybe I'll teach you just what I can do…"
He squinted at her chest and licked his lips suggestively. The former Valkyrie scowled in revulsion. She launched a fireball, and spikes of ice and stone at him in response. He brushed the solid attacks aside with one arm, taking minor cuts before another blast saved him from substantial damage. Herc just charged through the flame, losing arm hair and eyebrows, trading them for the chance to get perilously close to Rossweisse.
"I thought you preferred younger girls," she stated with disgust, kicking off and flying upwards.
"Young, old, slender, curvy," he smirked, "So long as they have a good face and trim waist, I'll show them a good time."
He jumped after her, a detonation under his feet pushing him higher than muscle alone. He almost caught her. She flared her wings, floating back just out of range. He snapped a quick jab, even though it would obvious miss. His knuckles exploded, the blast clipping Rossweisse. There were tears in her suit and wings, and a scrape on her cheek. But her jacket was unharmed and she did not fall. Herc did. He hit the ground, still standing despite the distance. He glared up at her, but rolled his eyes when he saw the new array of spells raining down on him. Water, stone, and explosive bolts plummeting towards him. The Hero punched them out of the air again. Then he snorted in disdain.
"D minus," she informed him. He looked confused, until the ground around him collapsed. Their explosions shattered the rock, and rumbling and water turning the bottom of the pit into a mass of improvised quicksand.
Rossweisse fired again, more water and sand. Herc's punches only forced him further down while increasing the depth of the mire. It bubbled as he tried to rocket jump again, but held him.
"Stars and stones," I managed to both sigh and growl the curse.
"What is it?" Tsubasa asked cautiously, her eyes scanning the other fights for something she might have missed.
"I found the spears in Yasaka," I answered.
"Spears?" Reya prompted, "Plural?"
"Yup," I confirmed, "There's one in her brain, one in her heart, and one in her butt."
"Her butt?" Saji asked incredulously.
"Well, the base of her spine, where it splits into her tails," I explained, "But butt is faster to say."
"Why there?" Tsubasa wondered aloud.
"That is a secondary magic focus in the bodies tailed youkai," Reya exposited, "That is why when their power reaches a certain level, their tails split."
"So the one in her head controls her mind, the one in her butt helps control her magic, and the one in her heart lets to Zeros kill her at will," I noted angrily, "So that one obviously has to come out first."
"Will you be okay, Harry?" my Bishop looked at me in concern.
"Why wouldn't he be?" Tsubasa said quickly and with obvious worry.
"It took most of his energy to remove one spear from Oakley yesterday. And that was a shorter distance and with us weakening it. And he is also maintaining the invisibility spell around us…"
"It was easier to find the spears thanks to the hair and knowing what I was looking for," I offered. Then I shrugged in acknowledgement, "But yeah, it's going to be rough."
"The Absorption Line can recharge Harry, right?" my Rook said.
"I said maybe," the Pawn insisted.
"Why don't we try it now?" I suggested, "Top me off before I start working on the heart spear. And if it doesn't work, then we'll know."
"Alright," Saji didn't sound happy, but he nodded and stepped closer, "Hold out your hand."
I stuck my right hand across my body, because of my glove. Saji pinched off the line, and transferred it to the back of my hand. It stuck on, and I immediately felt power rush into me. Within seconds I was back to full strength. I added another layer to the veil, and started to move the spear fragment away from Yasaka's heart. Then I poured more mana into the freezing spell; partly to protect Yasaka, but mostly because the Absorption Line was filling my mystical battery faster than I was draining it. And the transfer rate felt like it was increasing.
"Reya," I gestured her over. Then I placed my hand on her shoulder and instantly recharged her jacket. Normally I spent at least an hour powering up one of my coats. I could charge them instantly, but doing so would take most of my energy. And if I misjudged and didn't have enough, I could end up in trouble. Charging the coats in general was simple, but certain combinations of spells didn't react well if I started to charge them and didn't finish them. Kinda like… Actually, I don't have a good metaphor, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
Plus, it meant I didn't have to worry about getting attacked while I was low on MP.
Even though I was nearly empty from the fast charge, I was still able to keep up my spells on just the influx from the Line. And it quickly began to fill me again.
"Tsubasa," I called out to my Rook, and replenished her jacket, too. Hers was more depleted than Reya's. Probably because of the acid attack.
Still the power kept flowing, and I was running out of outlets. I contemplated Fuegoing Georg into a briquette. Briefly. But no, no violating the First Law. Or giving away our position.
Ouch. Damn. It was starting to hurt. To burn my proverbial chakras. Or Magic Circuits if you follow that series.
"Get it off," I gasped in pain. No longer moving the heart spear, I jabbed my attached hand towards Saji.
"Hell's bloody Bells, GET IT OFF!"
Both girls looked at me in concern, and Saji snatched the Line off me.
"What's the matter, can't take…" he smirked at me. But then he cut himself off as his eyes widened and he yelped, "Holy Shit!"
He winced again from the divine curse, and dissolved the Line.
"That was like five or six times the transfer rate as when I gave it to you," he complained, shaking out his hand, "What did you do?"
"Genshirou," Tsubasa looked at him suspiciously, "You weren't trying to burn out Harry, were you?"
"Of course not," he protested weakly. But I wasn't paying attention to them.
"Maybe it doesn't react well to Humans?" Reya suggested.
"It was him," I pointed my staff, and the three Devils turned to look.
Georg had an expression of confused annoyance, and he was quickly and sharply adjusting his mandalas. Then the circle under Yasaka, and us, began to glow brighter. The Heroes' magician looked relieved, and reset some of the spells.
"The circle wasn't charging fast enough," I deduced, "So Georg increased Yasaka's pull from the ley lines. That flooded the Absorption Line, too. Once Saji cut it off, Georg noticed and turned it down. So we know it was working, but Georg can compensate."
"Then what do we do?" Saji asked, looking at the lizard on the back of his hand.
"That depends," I said with a dangerous grin, "What kind of control of the Line do you have?"
"What do you mean?" he countered.
"Is it just like a switch, on or off?" I explained, "Or can you modulate the drain; turn it up or down?"
"I can control it," he didn't seem to understand. Neither did my girls.
"How much?" I asked, "Are we talking a three way light bulb? A guitar amp with settings from one to eleven? Or a computer color chart with four sliders, each going from zero to 255?"
"Probably like the amplifier," he said. Then he grinned smugly, and said, "But this one goes to thirteen."
"Why don't you just make eleven highest drain," Tsubasa asked with a broad, expectant smile, "and make eleven be the top number and make that a little higher drain?"
"Huh?" Saji frowned in confusion.
"He's probably never seen Spinal Tap," I told her, "He just knows the quote because it's a meme."
Saji coughed and turned his face away from us.
"What are you thinking, Harry?" Reya put us back on track.
"Saji," I turned to him, "Hook yourself back up, but start at like a two or three. Then slowly turn it up. Then slowly turn it back down. Then just jump it up to the max, and then back to the middle. Get it?"
"Not really," he said, but both girls were nodding.
"Georg'll have to keep adjusting his spells to compensate for your random drain. That means he'll be more distracted, focused on controlling the charge to the circle, to keep it even. And if we are really lucky, which we probably aren't, he might think the spells are failing, and have to start over."
"Got it," he nodded. Then the tongue shot out of the Sacred Gear again. This time instead of just sticking to her, he wrapped it completely around the youkai's leg.
"Reya, can I ask you to try to weaken the spear in her chest?" I asked. My Bishop quickly nodded.
"But I can't show you where it is without the Zeros potentially noticing," I added, "So I guess just aim for her chest in general. I'll tell you if it feels like I'm moving the spear out of the area of effect. Okay?"
"I understand," she said, extending her hand, "Power of the Underworld, shatter this corrupted Light and free this innocent soul."
I admired her chant for a moment. She must have come up with the focusing mantra after I left her room last night. I wondered if Momo or Rossweisse had helped, or if she did it all on her own.
Setting thoughts aside for later, I got back to work.
Momo cut off the two mooks as they angled towards Asia and Kunou, quickly and carefully separating from Jeanne and Sieg. One was tall, though not as tall as Herc or Harry. He was Caucasian, with light brown hair and eyes. And he was carrying a double-edged longsword. The other was the shortest person on either side, bar Kunou. He was slender, of Japanese descent with black hair and eyes, and was carrying a ninja-to.
Momo assumed Johannes was the Caucasian, and Kijiro was the Japanese. It was profiling, but the young woman did not care for the moment. If she was wrong, and they turned out to be more of the Heroes' tricked and controlled puppets, she would apologize then.
Both were wearing the uniform as Cao Cao, but Johannes also had a chainmail vest, and Kojiro had wrist guards.
"Stand aside, girl," Johannes said in French, "We only need the healer and the youkai."
"Unfortunately for you," Momo countered, "They are under my protection."
Hanakai had discussed her magic with Dresden on the train. Unlike Reya or Sona, Momo did not have a specific elemental affinity. She could not match the power of her King's water attacks, or her fellow Bishop's winds. Instead she had made up for it by focusing on the Black magic and Fae magic schools, learning a number of the most powerful, non-secret spells. And using her Devil Power to supplement them. Still, she was not what Dresden called a 'true magician', she did not fully understand the spells she had learned, nor could she create new ones. But she was as good as any of her Peers at manipulating them.
A large circle appeared before her, one of her favorite black magic spells in its base form. Momo released the seal, and a dense column of super-heated steam exploded into the Hero Mooks. The spell combined elemental water, raw heat, and physical impact, making it harder to defend against. But in return, it had a specific drawback, namely that the steam would block the caster's vision. So as soon as the first spell was released, the Bishop prepared a defensive mandala. As a result, she was not caught off guard when the ninja-to came flying out of the cloud.
The sword had a single edge and a chisel point like its more well-known cousins the katana and wakizashi. But the ninja-to had a straight blade and was between the other two in length. It also had a much large guard, thought instead of the traditional square, Kijiro's weapon's crosspiece was a hexagon disc, approximately seven inches on a side. The shinobi's blade had a larger guard so it could be used as a step and traditionally contained at least two poison coated needles.
Momo knew that because she had studied the tools and tactics of Japan's supernatural communities, in her role as Sitri Bishop. Not because she had had a bit of a crush on Kiba, before Saji became her Peer and she fell for him. Though the idea of Sona's Pawn in a traditional shozoku, wielding a ninja-to did have its own appeal…
She jumped to the side as she manifested the shield. The thrown sword was deflected upwards and away from her. But rather than fly off or fall to the ground, the blade stopped, hovered, righted itself, and then shot back towards where she had been before dodging. It spun in a wicked slash, which was nowhere near her. It was obvious Kojiro could control the blade remotely, but he seemed to still need to see what he was doing.
The steam cleared, revealing a giant, marble pillar that had not been there before. Then the pillar pulled out of the earth, and she realized it was actually the flat of a sword. Johannes's sword, to be precise. The shape of the blade was basically the same, though the guard and hilt were no longer visible. But the steel was now marble, and the sword was of a size that it would not have looked out of place in Gogmagog's hand.
Kojiro jumped out from behind Johannes. Then the guarding mook charged Momo, apparently unconcerned that his sword should weigh at least two tons.
"Dancing Edge," the Japanese Hero pointed at his sword. He then gestured with his hands as if swinging the blade, and the flying ninja-to matched his movements. It darted towards Momo, slashing horizontally.
The Bishop launched her next spell before Dancing Edge reached her. She encased the bottom half of the sword in a thick block of ice. The weight dragged it to the ground. Kojiro waved his hands wildly, but it just flopped around on the stone like caught fish.
Momo's next shield prevented Johannes from bisecting her, but the sheer mass of the marble sword pushed her back. She countered with a hasty set of three Force Bolt circles. Johannes swung his sword like cricket bat, and the huge blade intercepted all of the magical bolts. Still, it gave Momo time to draw back. Instead of following, the French Hero stabbed sideways, shattering the ice and freeing his partner's weapon.
Jeanne's rapier bent and cracked as Xenovia did not so much as parry, but rather hammered the thin blade down with Ex-Durandal. The sword-breaker in the Hero's left hand caught and snapped Irina's blade of solid light. Both girls dropped their damaged weapons, and both dissolved. Irina took the second long sword hovering behind her, and then started to manifest a replacement. And Jeanne summoned a broad, heavy Viking sword, one edge of the blade glowing with light and the other crackling with electricity.
Xenovia brought her legendary blade down on Jeanne diagonally. Jeanne blocked with the shocking side of her new weapon. This blade held against the weight of Durandal, and sent a charge down the magic sword than left the Knight's arms tingling. The Hero's sword-breaker trapped Irina's next attack as well, but this time Jeanne did not have the torque to break the Angel's blade. Instead Jeanne lost her weapon, Irina using a modified version of Judo hip toss to wrench it from the blonde's grip.
"What are you doing?" Xenovia asked, annoyed and a little confused. She swiped shallowly with Ex-Durandal, allowing her to stop short before clashing with the electrified sword again.
"What do you mean?" Jeanne smiled sweetly.
"Your footwork and eyes are sharp," Irina noted, "But your swordwork is sloppy, almost lazy. Are you not taking us seriously?"
Jeanne managed not to twitch. The Angel's words made the girl realize she was holding back. Dresden's words still resonated in her. She had been seeing new sides to her comrades. She had been trying not to hurt those who did not deserve it. Which included the two girls in front of her. It probably didn't help that Jeanne thought they were also Harry's friends.
"Maybe you're right," Jeanne pouted unconvincingly, "Maybe this onee-san wanted to play some with these cute imoutos. But that's not respectful."
Jeanne manifested a replacement for her sword-breaker. It was a smooth, golden hilt bearing a simple, trapezoid guard and matching pommel. It did not appear to have a blade. But with a familiar snap-hiss that would have made Dresden proud, or possibly jealous, a beam of amber light extended out about three feet.
Irina stabbed at the Hero. Jeanne parried lightly. It was not enough to deflect the attack, and the Angel almost smiled. But when the blades met, Jeanne's passed through Irina's. And then began to draw it in. In a heartbeat, the Angel's energy sword was gone, and she had suffered a moderate burn on the wrist, from where the Hero's sword had passed. A green glow hit the Angel, healing the wound, but in the meantime Irina lost both of her short swords, too.
"I should thank that Gremory Knight," Jeanne said brightly, "A sword that consumes Light is a pretty good idea. Now I just have to figure out how to make the opposite."
The Light Eater caught Ex-Durandal. While the physical sword was not destroyed, the minor loss of its Light weakened the overall attack. So Jeanne was able to easily hold back the heavier sword with one hand, while the holy edge of her Viking sword aimed at Xenovia's ribs. The Knight's speed let her dodge. But doing so freed up Jeanne to try to skewer Irina with the Light Eater. The unarmed Angel scrambled back.
"Irina!"
She glanced over at Ise's call. Not unlike the previous day, Ascalon was flying through the air. Irina caught the dragon-slayer, just in time to block Jeanne's next attack.
"That's better," Jeanne said happily, continuing the rain blows down on the church girls.
Ise rolled up the sleeve of his jacket, and summoned the Boosted Gear Gauntlet.
"Balance Break," he proclaimed, "Promotion: Queen."
He walked towards Cao Cao. He frowned as he saw the spear wielder regarding him carefully, yet with obvious amusement.
"What?" Ise demanded.
"I was just pondering summoning your armor under your jacket," Cao Cao answered, "But I realized that must be one of Dresden's coats."
"That's right," the Pawn agreed, "So?"
"Oh, I just find it interesting," the Hero explained, "You are well prepared, and willing to look the fool for the sake of expediency."
"Hey, don't talk bad about the coat Rias picked out for me!"
"It is nothing against the coat itself," Cao Cao waved it off, "I can't imagine anything looking good over your armor, except possibly a long coat like Dresden's. Likely not even then."
Ise frowned under his helmet, and looked over himself. The red and black denim coat was stretched tightly over sections the red, scale armor. Then he shrugged.
"If I had my armor absorb it, I wouldn't be able to use it outside of Balance Break. Or I'd have to buy another one from Dresden. And I'm not stupid enough to give up its protection against Light, if I have to fight that spear."
Cao Cao nodded. But he still studied Ise, this time in a more predatory manner.
"What?" Ise demanded again.
"There has been much conversation amongst the Chaos Brigade, about how to deal with you," Cao Cao confided, "Some are of the opinion that we should throw beautiful women at you, to convert you or at least distract you. The problem with that idea, of course, is that you will just grope them and become more powerful. The other, more recent idea is the use a spell or Sacred Gear that accelerates the flow of time, to run out the timer on your Balance Breaker. In fact, we have access to just such an ability."
Ise began to glance around nervously.
"Oh, don't worry," Cao Cao smiled, "I would not be foolish enough to use such a weapon against you. After all, all you would have to do is voluntarily end your Balance Breaker. Then the base power of the Boosted Gear would be accelerated instead. That exponential growth is already dangerous enough. If we were to make it activate faster, you might just be unbeatable."
"Then what is your plan?" Ise asked, genuinely curious.
"Nothing concrete," the spear user said openly, "Just to overwhelm you with power and skill."
Swiftly and smoothly, he stabbed at Ise. The Pawn barely reacted in time. Ise summoned the light-eating shield from his gauntlet. The Boosted Gear still had not fully integrated the bladeless sword Kiba had doled out the previous day. But it was still enough to slow the spear. And when the True Longinus hit the Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet, it was stopped. Cao Cao frowned slightly and pushed harder. The holy weapon did not move.
"I would not have thought the weapons of a mere Sword Birth would be enough to stop the Spear of Destiny," the Chinese youth noted, retracting said spear, "Even enhanced by the power of the Boosted Gear. Maybe that is not the only element at play. Though the shape is the same, the coloring of the Boosted Gear does not match Leonardo's painting. And he is not prone to making that sort of error."
Ise forced himself to keep his eyes off the gauntlet. But he knew Cao Cao was talking about the black edging the scales had gained after the Boosted Gear had absorbed the Rook's Glove. Dresden's creations resisted light and attempts to cut or stab, amongst other things. Hyoudou suspected that was why the Gear had stopped the True Longinus so easily.
"Your Leonardo made a painting of my gauntlet?" Ise asked, and Cao Cao nodded. Ise continued, "I guess it's pretty impressive if he did that since yesterday. But the Boosted Gear hasn't changed since then."
"No," Cao Cao countered, "The painting was made after your battle with Diodora Astaroth."
"But I just met Leo yesterday," Ise complained, "If his painting was wrong, blame the people you described the fight to him."
"You seem to be forgetting, or at least fatally misunderstanding," Cao Cao shook his head, "There were multiple Annihilation Maker Beasts in that conflict."
"So?"
"So on their own the Maker Beasts are, frankly, stupid," the Hero's leader explained, gesturing at the kaiju Beasts with one hand, "As in old school video game stupid. They do much better if Leonardo is directing them. Especially if he can see the battlefield directly."
"That's why you sent Leonardo to the real Kyoto, not just a bunch of his monsters," Ise realized.
"Correct. And while he can control them at a distance, that has its limits. Still, he controlled some of the Beasts in the Underworld, and thus saw the Boosted Gear first hand."
"But wait, what about those Beasts that you said helped your guys develop Balance Break?" Ise demanded.
"Annihilation Maker, Portrait of Creation and Destruction," Cao Cao said proudly, "A secondary form Leonardo unlocked on the path to his own Balance Break. It allows him to create a Beast that is a copy of a person, and allows that person to control it instead of Leonardo controlling it. Unfortunately, the copies are weaker and limited, so now that most of the Hero Faction has achieved Balance Break, it is not as useful."
"So you haven't all got Balance Breakers yet?" Ise asked triumphantly.
"Three of the lower echelon members have not," the spear wielder seemed unconcerned, "Including Oakley, once we rescue her."
"We're not going to let that happen," Ise said firmly, "JET!"
Flames shot out behind him, accelerating Ise forward, Boosted Gear first. Despite having the Knight-like speed of his Queen promotion, and further accelerated by his rocket propelled wings, Ise was not quick enough. Cao Cao subtly shifted his stance, and brought up the True Longinus. Gauntlet struck spear, and while neither Sacred Gear won, Ise lost as the force of his blow was deflected without harming the Hero.
Ise's wings twisted as he overshot Cao Cao. Fire erupted again, changing his linear momentum into circular momentum. He pivoted in air, his right foot on course with the Hero's neck. Cao Cao ducked easily under the kick. Behind his helmet, Ise grinned. He brought up his right hand, expecting the now crouching Hero was trapped.
"Dragon…"
A casual strike with the butt of the spear pushed Ise's wrist skyward.
"… Shot!"
The blast arced off into the fake city, missing Cao Cao by the proverbial mile. And the Chinese fighter was not done. He continued the rotation of the spear. It paused slightly when it hit Ise's coat. But then the polearm's point flared, and it sliced through jacket and spell, scale mail armor, and then the flesh underneath.
Cao Cao stepped back as Ise dropped to one knee. The young Dragon was coughing up blood. His skin was smoking where the spear had cut him, and the blackened, necrotic wound was spreading. Ise's eyes flickered and rolled back.
"Ise!" the feminine shout of worry was accompanied by the bolt of green energy. Ise's eyes snapped back to alertness. The wound closed slightly. But then started to spread again. Another blast of healing hit Hyoudou, but it appeared Asia was fighting a losing battle.
A small glass vial hit Ise's armor and shattered. The red liquid leaked down his chest. When it touched the wound, the burning of his flesh stopped. Even though the amount of liquid was tiny compared to the wound, the entirety of Ise's dying flesh reverted to normal, and then the injury vanished without a trace.
"Phoenix Tears," Cao Cao noted, "It was fortunate someone in your group had them. A little longer and you would have been erased. Even if you are a Dragon, you are still a Devil and subject to their weakness to the power of Light."
"Erased," Ise touched the skin over his stomach, "Is that what that was…"
"Are you going to retreat?" Cao Cao sensed the hesitancy in Hyoudou.
"No way," Ise shook his head. He looked at the giant gash in his armor, and the much smaller cut in his coat.
"Not after you already gave me the key," the Perverted Pawn proclaimed. The next second his armor vanished.
"BOOST!" Ddraig's voice intoned.
"Ise!" Asia diverted her focus from the battle as a whole, when she saw her beloved take the lethal hit. She used Twilight Healing on him, pooling all of her power and focus.
"It's still not strong enough at a distance," she whispered, realizing she could not save him, "Maybe if I can get closer…"
She nearly collapsed in relief when a small vial hit Ise and his wounds healed.
And with her focus on the narrowly averted death of her lover, the Bishop missed completely as the tiny Kitsune began to back away…
"Ise," I growled. Sona had told me, way back when we first talked about me selling my coats to her, that the power of Light could annihilate Devils. Not just kill them, but wipe them from existence, Soul and all. Though she hadn't describe it to me, it didn't take a genius to recognize what was happening to my friend. Putting the final steps of extracting the heart spear on hold, I dug into my pocket. Though I had a few other potions left, this one was easy to find by feel, since it was a smaller and more ornate bottle.
My housewarming slash 'thanks for saving my Bishop' gift from the Phenex siblings. The potion I had remembered at the last minute, and ultimately went back for. A single vial of Phoenix Tears.
"Ventas servitas et Forzare!" I chanted. A gentle hand of wind grasped the potion. And then a violent force hurtled it as Ise's chest. It broke on his armor, and the liquid seeped into his body. I wasn't sure if it was enough on its own, or if it combined with Asia's power. Either way, it did the job and Ise recovered.
Sighing in relief, I took out the hotel glass Az had prepared. He had moved the fragments of Oakley's mind control spear to something else, but had given me the vessel to use today. I wasn't sure it could hold three, but didn't have much of a choice.
Opening the paper cover like a ring box, I pointed my tuning fork at Yasaka's neck, where the spear from her heart was currently being held by my spells. Along the way, I realized the fork was actually better suited for this than my staff, so I passed that off to Reya.
It was at the top of her neck, so it only took a few more pushes to get the Longinus spike up and out of her ear. Then I yanked it down before the glow was too obvious, and forced it into the cup. I snapped the lid closed and energized the seals carved into it.
"Saji," I glanced at him, "Can you give me a recharge, at say one or two on your dial?"
"Sure."
"Harry, look." Tsubasa whispered. She pointed to Georg. His eyes had narrowed in suspicion, and he was looking our way. I guess he had noticed either the potion flying out of the veil, or the Light fragment flying into it. Or both. I also spotted a small trickle of blood coming out Yasaka's ear. I must have nicked something on the way out.
Then Herc let out a deafening, howling laugh, and an explosion shook us all. Georg looked away for a second.
"Saji, after you recharge me, knock it off for a while," I said quickly, "Let's give Georg full power to deal with, especially once I get that limiter out of her butt."
He nodded. And I hoped it would be enough.
The two Knights had driven Siegfried back up against the garden's stone wall. Admittedly, he had allowed them to do so. It prevented them from getting behind him.
Still, even three swords to two, his rear flank protected, Sieg was being worn down. He had one deep stab in his left calf, and numerous shallow cuts on his arms, legs, and even two on his right ear.
"Well, it seems it is about time," Sieg said in an unconcerned tone, as he saw Ise buckle. Even as the Pawn was rescued, the Exorcist turned Hero reached into the depths of his Sacred Gear.
"Balance Break," he declared. The two Knights paused, not wanting to get caught unprepared in whatever new power he unleashed.
Kiba and Tomoe heard the sound of ripping flesh, and Sieg grimaced in pain. Then three more, silver, scaled arms grew out from his back.
"What's that?" Tomoe looked at the arms.
"Chaos Edge Asura Ravage," he said, "My Sacred Gear is a Twice Critical that manifests as an additional arm, instead of gauntlet. By applying its doubling power internally, I can double the number of arms I have."
He drew Dáinsleif and an exorcist's light blade. He glanced over at where Tyrfing lay. Then he lashed out at the Knights with all five swords. They both blocked. Kiba skidded back from the force of the attack. And the smaller, lighter Tomoe was literally blown off her feet. Rias's Knight barely jumped back from the next attack as Sieg retrieved his lost sword. Then he slashed at each Devil from three different angles. Kiba slipped to the side of two strikes, but the third one, which happened to be Gram, clipped the Sword of Betrayer, and cracked it. Tomoe deflected all three attacks, but had to retreat from his continuation. Though the Knights still had the edge in speed, it was now a slight, almost imperceptible. And whereas before the duo had been able to meet his strikes, if barely, now each blow they caught head on threw them around like a balloon in a tornado.
"I understand," Kiba said, after Nothung shattered his sword and threw him into the wall. He created the Sword of Betrayer gain, and created a second blade wrapped in flames, to try to counter Dáinsleif.
"Each of those arms is another Twice Critical," the male Knight explained for Tomoe, "So rather than just doubling your physical abilities, they are increased by a factor of sixteen. Not only do you have six weapons, you have speed on par with a Knight and strength and endurance to match a Rook."
"What do we do?" Tomoe asked, deflecting Tyrfing with Aura Dark, and then ducking under the light blade.
"Wait it out," Kiba said, "Most Twice Criticals cannot be used for more than a minute. Even if he is exceptional and can double that, we should be able to outlast him. Once it runs out…"
"And if my Balance Breaker allows each arm to increase the others' durations?" Sieg interrupted with a small yet smug grin, "Then that two minutes would be sixteen…"
Kiba blanched. And Gram snapped his flame blade.
"Are you ready to surrender?" Rossweisse asked.
Heracles was buried in the quicksand, almost to his armpits. He continued to punch her spells as best he could. With his mobility limited, he could not get them all. So despite his relative toughness, his face and arms were marred with cuts, burns, and bruises.
"Nah," he said confidently, "If I'm hearing it right, it is time to kick this party into high gear. Balance Break."
Blisters appeared all over his arms. They merged, grew, and hardened, until from the neck down he was covered in a carpet of keratin cones. Then they separated from his body, firing off a barrage of tiny rockets. They curved back down almost immediately. The missiles hit the ground, their mystical flames instantly baking off the water and turning the mire into a rough yet loose dirt.
Then earth around him exploded. Herc leapt out of the hole. And for a brief instant Rossweisse could see that the Zero's skin was fully healed. Though another set of rockets quickly formed, on his legs as well as his arms. The former Valkyrie realized that has the real reason he wore so little clothing, to avoid destroying it with his Balance Break.
The next set of bombs fired straight at Rias's Rook. She countered with lightning and threw up a shield. It only took one of the missile to disrupt her attack. The rest battered her shield. Two made it through, and the explosions tore at Rossweisse's skin and knock her out of the air. Her coat protected her body, but the leather was scuffed and torn in a few places.
"Heal," Asia recovered from Ise's near death, and sent her restoarative power to her Peer. Herc just laughed derisively, and fired again. This time most of the barrage was aimed at Rossweisse, but a quarter of the missile targeted Asia. Rossweisse threw herself between the Hero and the Bishop, and conjured five different shields. Two to stop, two to deflect, and one to counter. They stopped the majority of the explosion, but the wind burst still pushed her back.
"Like my Variant Detonation's Mighty Comet, bitch? Don't worry, I won't hurt you too much. Wouldn't want to damage that pretty face."
"Balance Break," Johannes declared. The marble of his sword spread back over his body. He appeared to change into a statue, his sword no longer looking out of place against his enlarged form.
"Balance Break," Kijiro said softly. The ninja-to flew back to his hand. For a moment nothing seemed to happen. Then he slashed, seeming at random. Except in the wake of the swing, three black edged kunai floated in the air. Three more swipes, and a full dozen of the wedge knives hovered in front of him. Then he assumed a classic shinobi pose. He held his sword upside down in his left hand. His thumb, pinky, and ring fingers were wrapped around the base of the grip, but his pointer and middle fingers were pointed up.
The French Hero charged, and Momo's spells did little more than chip his stone skin. And the kunai danced around him, darting out at Sona's Bishop. She destroy a handful, but every time three were gone, Kijiro would pause to swing the sword again, replacing them. After this happened twice, Momo recognize the pattern. Her next fireball only destroyed two, and this time he could not replace them. She burned three more, and then he spawned another trio. The Bishop then made sure any more kunai she destroyed were always in multiples of three, leaving Kojiro perpetually down two.
But as she focused on the dancing kunai, she took her eyes off Johannes for a moment. And in that moment he closed the distance. Panicking the young woman summoned her wings and flew back. The stone blade clipped her right hand, snapping her wrist.
"Hanakai-san! Heal!"
Asia's voice was closer than Momo was comfortable with, considering Asia was the mooks' primary target. Then something brushed her wing, and she snapped her head to the side. Fortunately, it was Rossweisse. Unfortunately she was right next to Rais's Bishop and Rook.
"Hmm, so it's Stone Plate Faux Golem and Dancing Edge Repeating Polka," Heracles joined the mooks.
"Endless Waltz," Kijiro said softly yet angrily, "Not Repeating Polka."
"You two can't take care of one girl?" Herc either didn't hear, or ignored the other Hero.
"As if you are doing better, fake Greek," Johannes said, still in French. Herc grinned and nodded at him.
"Yeah, we can team up and show these chicks who's in charge."
Both mooks rolled their eyes, but took up positions on either side of him.
"Magic Missile!" Asia was unable to escape Dresden's teaching, and declared the name of the spell. But the bolts were too weak, and didn't even dent or chip Johannes's stone armor.
"So the healer wants to play too? Hey, Koji. She used to be a nun. How about you pin her to the wall by her wrists. Then we can see how well she can heal herself."
"Ugh," Jeanne groaned, "He's getting caught up in the battle frenzy again."
Her Light Eater blocked Ascalon, and the Viking sword slammed into Ex-Durandal again. It was technically her second Viking sword, Xenovia having cut the first one in half. This time both of the edges were electrified and the holy aura had been internalized to strengthen the weapon. Despite that it had a few chips and nicks, though in return both Irina and Xenovia had required healing from Asia to keep from losing the feeling in their arms.
"I mean, I get that the original doesn't exactly approve of Herc's choices, but come on," Jeanne complained, "He has to remember how hard it is to deal with. Both for Herc and the people around him. It's the least he can do for his great, great grandson. Or was it three greats?"
Jeanne stopped talking for a minute as she considered that. Then she added thoughtfully, "I guess I can understand why he wouldn't want Herc anywhere near his new wife and kids."
"She talks almost as much as Dresden," Irina noted.
"No," Xenovia shook her head, "Dresden-san at least uses his words as weapons. And can occasionally remain silent if necessary."
"Well, she could just be babbling to distract us," the Angel suggested.
"Then perhaps I should give her more reason to concentrate," the Knight said flatly. Then she touched a segment on Durandal's new sheath. The whole sword clanked and shifted. And then a hilt appeared from where she touched it. Xenovia pulled, and Excalibit Destruction separated from Ex-Durandal. Even though both swords appeared two-handers in terms of size, shape and especially weight, the Devil easily swung them each one-handed. She scissored the two blades, and then cut through Jeanne's Viking sword. Again.
"Pooh," Jeanne frowned at the hilt in her hands. Then she looked around at the other battles.
"Well, if everyone else is doing it," she said unhappily, "Arise my Balance Break; Blade Blacksmith: Stake Victim Dragon!"
"Why didn't she just say Balance Break like the others?" Xenovia asked.
"It sounds cooler," Jeanne protested, "Like you just taking out that second blade was just lazy. You should have announced it."
Even as she bantered, a dozen holy swords stabbed outward from the ground in front of her. Then more swords pushed them up. The third set made it clear that this was not just a just a random pile of swords or a stabbing eruption like Kiba had used from time to time. The various blades fit together in the form of jaws. Then more swords, hundreds or possibly thousands rose up, taking on the form of a twenty foot long dragon. Some sections sparked with lightning, sizzled with fire, or glowed with ice. But all of it was suffused with the power of Light.
The broken hilt faded from Jeanne's hand, but she transferred the Light Eater from her left hand to her right.
"Sorry to do this," Jeanne said sincerely, "Try not to get eaten, okay? It really hurts on the way down."
"Ha!" Irina charged forward, and slashed at the dragon's claw. Ascalon cleaved easily through the xiphos and wakizashi that formed its first finger.
"As soon as you made it a dragon, it fell under Ascalon's purview!" the Angel exclaimed triumphantly, slashing through another finger. In the meantime, Xenovia blocked a tail strike with Excalibit Destruction, and all of the swords that were hit, cracked.
"This sword loves to destroy anything physical," the Knight said, "By making this many swords, you can't protect them from its power."
"Then I will just have to keep making more," Jeanne said evenly, directing the construct to try to swallow Irina.
"BOOST," the gauntlet proclaimed again. Ise's hopped back more easily from the spear's tip, his physical attributes now increased to a factor of sixteen. But Cao Cao had him outmatched in skill, and had trained against Siegfried's Balance Break.
"Extend!" he declared, and the Longinus's tip shot out, too fast of Hyoudou to avoid.
"TRANSFER!" Ddriag declared just before the spear impacted over Ise's left lung. The teen's jacket flashed, and the spear skittered off like it was a weak thrust and Ise was a solid iron statue. The Pawn followed up by pushing the spear further aside with his armored left hand, before hammering Cao Cao's wrist his right.
"BOOST!"
Cao Cao spun the spear in his left hand, to keep Ise back, even as he shook out his injured arm. But the Devil darted forward. He caught the spear on the right sleeve of his jacket, banking on the last few moments of its defense boost to protect his arm. He fired a left cross at Cao Cao's corresponding shoulder. The Hero was unable to dodge, and his joint crumpled under the force of Ise's armored fist. Still, he caught the spear before it fell, and used it to push off, to gain some space. His left arm hanging completely limp, he studied Ise intently again.
"How are you still so strong?" the Hero asked, though he did not sound impressed or upset, "You should only have the strength of a Queen after using your power to increase the defense of your jacket. Which is an inspired choice."
Ise couldn't help but grin slightly.
"Hey," I said, looking at the scar on my stomach, "Before we get started, there is something else I wanted to ask slash try."
"What's that, Dresden-kun?" Rias asked curiously.
"So right now, Asia can accept a five BOOST transfer, right?" I prompted, throwing in my best Ddraig impersonation. Both women nodded, and Ise looked thoughtful.
"Which is two to the fifth or thirty two times her normal power," I shook my head slightly at the impossibility, "But she can't take the sixty four X boost yet."
"That's true," Asia agreed sadly.
"Don't let it both you, sister," I told her, "That is still insane by any normal standard."
"What is your point, Dresden?" Rias stepped in a bit quickly and angrily at the perceived slight on her Bishop.
"My question is, what about Ise? Can you transfer less than the full increase to someone? Could you transfer only, say, a forty times boost to someone?"
"Ddraig says it does not work that way," Ise explained a moment later.
"What way?" I pressed, "No partial transfers? Or just nothing that isn't a multiple of two?"
"Definitely the latter," the pervert Pawn confirmed, "But he's not so sure about the first part."
"I see," Rias's eyes widened.
"Right, so can we try that?" I asked, "Ise, build up six BOOSTs, but only transfer five of them to Asia? Or maybe to be safe, start by building up four, and only transfer two to her."
"We can try it," he agreed, "But why would I want to?"
"Because in the real world, you might not want to stop building up at five times so it is safe to transfer to Asia. And you don't want to reset yourself if you don't have to. Imagine if you could go up to two hundred fifty six times your normal power in a battle, and then transfer only the thirty two times Asia can handle when someone gets hurt. Then you would still be eight times as strong and quick and tough as normal, to keep fighting."
"For that level of attack, I only need to increase the power of Dresden's coats by eight to completely stop you," the Pawn bragged, "Heck, even four times an increase might be enough. But better to play it safe."
"So you are saying you have found a way to only expend a portion of your power in a transference," Cao Cao pondered aloud, "Allowing you to make more efficient use of it. Still, why not do so in your armor? There is no record of you using Transfer in your Balance Break, is restricted?"
Ise grimaced, not because Cao Cao was right, but because he still did not have enough control in his armored state to effect a partial transfer.
"Regardless, I cannot face you as you are now, not like this," the Chinese teen dismissed his thoughts. He shifted the spear to the crook of his better arm. Then he took out a small vial, a very similar one.
Cao Cao spread the Phoenix Tear across his left shoulder, and incidentally rubbed his right wrist and palm against the liquid.
"How did you get Phoenix Tears?" Ise demanded.
"Despite you Devils trying to horde them, they are still available if one has the right contacts and sufficient funds," Cao Cao offered his own boast, "and as for your boosted jacket…"
He took the True Longinus in both hands again. There was a rush of power down the haft. The head split in two. Light poured out of it, turning the narrow spearhead into a much broader, almost sword-like blade. And even just looking at it hurt Ise's eyes.
I tried not to think about where in her body the second spear was. I had had to move it first all the way up to her stomach, and was now pulling it out…
No, not going to go there.
Saji was connected to her again, but was now pulling at a steady '3' on his hypothetical amp. No more messing around with Georg, and potentially attracting his attention.
"Harry," Tsubasa called out to me, her voice angry and worried. She pointed, since I had basically had my back to all the others.
Asia, Momo, and Rossweisse had been pushed together and surrounded by Herc, the Japanese mook, and a statue I had to guess was the second mook. Unless they had managed to get him.
Siegfried had sprouted three more freaking arms and was batting Kiba and Tomoe around like dandelion fluff.
Xenovia and Irina were fighting a dragon made of swords, which would be an awesome band name. Watching two young women you considered friends live it? Not so awesome.
Ise was backing away from Cao Cao, whose spear was shining so bright it threatened to blind me from here. At least the kid's retreat seemed thoughtful and tactical, rather than panicked.
And last but not least, Kunou was nowhere to be seen.
"All right, listen up" I said firmly, "Until Saji and I can shut this down, keeping our friends alive is the priority. Reya, you have the winds, blow the Zeros back or blow them to bits. And Tsubasa?"
She looked at me with a sarcastically raised eyebrow, already knowing where I had cribbed the speech from, and what was coming next.
"Smash," I ordered her. She sent me a vicious grin, and then turned back to the battle.
"Self-Promotion," my girls announced in unison. Then their wings snapped out and they shot out from under my veil like rockets. Strong, sexy rockets, flashing their panties at me…
"so that's what it is," Georg said, his voice distant. He transferred all the spells controlling the summoning to his left hand, and thrust his right towards Saji and me. A new circle mandala appeared over his hand, one that appeared to be a derivative of the Fae spell 'Illusion Break'. When the mandala activated, my veil shook like it was being hit with a jackhammer, and then exploded. The Hero's magician stared at us angrily.
"Hey, Georg," I waved at him, my voice stronger than his despite maintaining the scanning spell and the removal spell on the spear that moving through Yasaka's lower intestine.
"How've you been, buddy?" I continued condescendingly, "I met your stalker, Goth Hermione, today. She seems nice. Maybe a little high strung…"
"kyuubi," Georg rasped, "destroy them."
Gotta admit, not what I was hoping to hear.
Next: Beyond the Outer Gates Lies...a Rearguard Action?
