"Ara it seems that only you remain and it is now a 3 on 1 situation. I am impressed with how you handled someone of Seigfrieds calibre though, that to with minimum injuries." Cao Cao commented to Issei as he stood opposite to them. All the girls were lying in the middle unconcious due to their fights.
Seeing them unconscious had set his rage on fire. He wanted to lash out and kill the transgressors responsible for harming people he was close to.
"Yes it is a 3 on 1 situation but not one you will be leaving in one piece. That I assure you." Issei coldly said as he was encased in a reddish black aura. Benihime was calling out to him even more, his feelings were empowering her normal aura increasing the bloodlust he wss feeling.
His intensified aura made the two members of the hero faction wary. While it was true that they had beaten their own opponents emphatically but apart from Azazel all of them had been the worst matched pairs. Making victories slightly easier. The data on Issei Hyoudou showed that while he was a technical fighter he had not trouble having to fight with range and as the holder of the boosted gear had more than enough power. The only person unaffected by his pressure was Cao Cao who knew that he could still face Issei without his balance breaker.
Looking at his companions he knew that despite their wide array of skills they would not come out without any significant harm. He was about to pull back since in his mind the whole situation was already a failure. Great red hadnt showed up, leo was captured and Seigfried will most likely be out of commission for a few months. Just as he was about to make the call for georg to teleport everyone away, Issei attacked going after Hercules first.
The giant man was caught of guard due to Isseis pace and wasn't able to get a good block in as a metallic fist smashed him into the ground. Causing the ground to crack up a bit.
However he didn't have a chance to do much more to him as Jeanne unsheathed her rapier and charged at Issei thrusting her sword in violent and unorthodox fencing style. Issei however quickly adjusted and was easily able to parry her attacks. What he didn't expect was for Hercules to join in the attack this quick.
He wasn't able to adjust to the double team quick enough and it was seen when he wasn't able to avoid hercules fist and the consequent explosion to his face that sent him flying into the rubble. Both Jeanne and Hercules didn't stop as both of them entered their balance breaker states. Hercules fired several explosions from a distance while Jeannes dragon fired a breath attack simultaneously.
When the dust and smoke from the resulting explosion had cleared, it revealed Issei relatively unharmed behind a red barrier that was coming out of his sword. As he stood up he dispelled the barrier showing that his helmet was destroyed and he had a heavily bleeding cut on the side of his head.
Raising a hand to the cut he touched the cut and then looked at the blood before he stared at his opponents. A bloodly smile broke into his face as he licked the blood of his face and fixed his balance breaker armor and renewed his attack. He first flash stepped towards the silver dragon and to the shock of everyone entered its mouth.
From Inside the dragon ddraigs voice could he heard clearly. "(BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST BOOST EXPLOSION)" As ddraig finished a red aura surrounded the dragon before a call was heard from Issei.
"KASAI." He shouted as the dragon exploded and a giant hurricane shaped funnel of fire escaped it. The explosion and the combined affect of her balance breakers destruction caused jeanne to scream in pain as she was thrust backwards. She However did not have a chance at respite as Issei flew out of the fire and gave her an X shaped cut before kicking her to the side.
He then jumped to the side as Hercules once again went on the Offensive, he was once again able to get a drop on Issei and Issei found himself blasted face first into a building with his back getting the full brunt of the explosion at a very close range. Before Hercules could continue his attack Cao Cao stepped forward a cold look on his face.
"Hercules I will take things from here, you go and get jeanne and Seigfried. Go and wait for me and georg. The mission was both a success and a failure." Cao Cao instructed in a no nonsense tone.
Hercules looked like he wanted to argue but looking at the cold look in Cao Caos eyes he stopped himself and bit his tongue before promptly walking away to pick up his fallen comrades. As soon as he was gone, Cao cao thrust the true longinus towards the rubble which held Issei. Exhausted due to having to fight 4 strong opponents Issei wasn't able to dodge in time and took the whole brunt of the hit causing an explosion that caused his balance breaker to disintegrate and also send Benihime back to its base state.
When the smoke cleared a partial concious Issei was seen leaning against a wall, his head hanging backwards. His clothes were damaged and his body was littered with an assortment of bruies, cuts, burns and lacerations. Looking at the broken visage of his opponent Cao Cao nodded to himself and turned to walk away to where Georg and Hercules were waiting. Hercules had both Jeanne and Seigfried on his shoulders.
Just as he reached them the sound of the stone tumbling down was heard. Hearing his teammates gasps Cao Cao turned around and felt his eyes widen a fraction at the sight before him. Despite all of his injuries and regardless of the pain he must have been feeling Issei Hyoudou was on his feet and tumbling towards the group. His sword was loosely held in his right hand. His wild hair loose from the usual pony tail and covered one of his emerald green eyes. While he panted struggling to walk.
From where he was watching Su wu kong nodded to himself. He had found his ideal apprentice. Someone with this much heart and talent was not to be ignored. He knew he couldnt teach the lad senjutsu or even any other related art, but he had just the thing that would help the lad break through from his current plateau.
Issei then shuddered as he bought Benihime up infront of him holding it in a 2 arm stance. "Okiro Benihime." He rasped forcing Benihime to reactivate. He them focused all of his remaining magical on Benihimes tip making a small red orb to appear on it.
Giving one last battle cry he swiped his sword in side along slash sending the orb flying towards Cao Cao. However in his injured state he couldn't control his motion and fell face first unconscious. The orb caught Cao Cao in the eye making his left eye explode in a mass of gore. For the first time in his life so far Cao Cao felt himself lose his composure as he snarled in rage and readied the true longinus to end the troublesome existence that was Issei Hyoudou once and for all.
However he did not get a chance as Su wu kong landed infront of Issei, his staff extended. Without any preamble he said "Non of that now boyo, you and your friends don't want to fight me now do you?"
Cao Cao was an intelligent commander and fighter and while he knew he was growing stronger as time went by, he was still not ready to face the juggernauts of the supernatural world. So he nodded reluctantly and gestured for Georg to teleport them away. As he did so, georg deactivated his balance breaker bringing every one back to the undamaged real dimension.
As soon as the mist disappeared Azazel and the sitri peerage raced towards the group. Azazel recognised Su wu kong almost immediately and asked for what happened as the others began healing the injured using the pheonix tears.
Su wu Kong then informed Azazel of what happened and where yasaka was. He however then caped up his statement by saying " You know I would really like for the gaki to become my apprentice." He finished looking over to where Issei was now being administered the tears. The rest of the unconscious alliance members were all up and about now.
"And why is that?" Azazel asked back with a raised eyebrow, inwardly shocked that someone like Su wu kong would even deem a non yokai worthy enough to become his apprentice.
"The gaki has heart and a mountain of talent to back himself up. He doesn't run from adversity and that in itself is a winner for me, since my own descendant decided to run away rather than face up to his responsibilities." Su wu kong finished with a sigh and a shake of his head.
"Very well, I will ask the higher ups of the devil faction and then get back to you. For..
" He tried to say but was cut of by a shrill scream coming from the side.
In a flash Azazel was next to the still unconscious issei and asia who was trying to heal him while Invigld, Rossweisse and narumi looked on worriedly. "Whats wrong?" He asked urgently.
"He is not healing sensei, even the pheonix tears didn't work much on him. I can feel his senses dimming. " Asia said frantically.
"Shit, Sona I need you to give me access to the sitri territory. I need to get him to the hospital pronto." Azazel said as he lifted Issei up in his arms. Sona nodded urgently and gave Azazel a summoning paper which he promptly activated and disappeared into.
Sona then created a small communication circle and sent of messages to both Serafall and Sirzechs telling them what had happened. Invigld felt her legs give as she slid down on the floor, narumi, kunou and Rossweisse all close to her having similar thoughts.
Su wu kong sighed before he straightened out his back and said " Okay everyone we are moving back to the manor, yasaka should be there, I will be able to heal her injuries and free her of the spell she is under. Lets go."
Everyone immediately complied happy for someone other than them to take charge. After a few minutes of walking Invigld spoke up and meekly asked "Umm why didn't the pheonix tears and Asias healing help Issei?"
"Because he was both physically and magically exhausted. He had literally not even a sliver of magic in him when he fell unconscious. Twilight healing and pheonix tears used by non phenex clan members depend on your innate magic to help you fix any injuries. Since he had literally no magic in him not even a drop of it, both of those things didn't help him. Its a good thing that Azazel took him to the hospital. The lad will probably be good as new soon." Su wu kong answered in a teacher voice.
The group nodded in acceptance though all of them inwardly felt guilty. Issei not only had to fight of his own opponent but also all of theirs since they failed to bring them down. As a result despite taking out a few of them he was mortally injured and would be spending quiet a bit of time at the hospital. Invigld herself was feeling more than the others. She was very emotionally close to Issei and felt that if she had trained harder maybe he wouldn't be in this predicament. In her self depreciating state she decided that she was a danger to Isseis health and would keep a distance from him to keep him safe.
(Timeskip 4 days)
Issei groaned and opened his eyes and found himself in empty black plane. As he looked around he spotted a spec of flame that was growing larger as it flew closer to him. Issei was slightly unnerved by it but chose not to flee, fire was after all his companion and had never let him down.
Soon the fire was on him, taking the shape of a fire storm as it touched him. Opening his eyes he saw ddraig in his celestial form peering down on him with Benihime sitting on ddraigs snout.
Ddraig peered at Issei for a few moments before he spoke and said "(It is good to see you back in the realm of the living haibo.)"
"I remember firing one last attack at the creeps what happened?" He asked curiously.
"Being hit with multiple explosions and then taking an attack from the true longinus injured you a lot, while the time you spent fighting drained your magical core. When you went unconscious there was no magic in your core. It was because of that the conventional healing used by your group didnt work and Azazel took you to the hospital. We thought we lost you master since we couldn't access you in this plane." Benihime explained solemnly.
"I see. So I am Alright now?" He asked his two partners.
"(Yes you are, your core is charging pretty nicely by now and will be 1% larger than the last time. However before you go we need to talk.)" Ddraig said.
"What abou?" Issei asked as he folded his arms against his chest.
"(You were distracted and were being very harsh on your king, and you know that.)" Ddraig said.
"She was asking me to speak with the occult research club again. You know what they did to me. And you are taking her side?!!!" Issei exclaimed disbelievingly.
"(I am because you are being completely immature about it. Yes I get the fact that you dont want to be any where near the red haired devil and that is fine. Even her early peerage members are fine. But you simply ignoring the others due to their link with her is wrong. Your king only asked you to listen to what they had to say not to forgive them. You are being immature over this and you know it.)" Ddraig sternly replied his voice leaving no room for any arguements.
Issei stewed silently for a few minutes as he regarded Ddraigs arguement. After several minutes of silence he sighed dejectedly and said " I am being an idiot right now aren't I?"
"You definitely are master, from what I'm seeing in your memories you were content to leaving behind your childhood bestfriend and two others who had little to do with your reincarnation because of a grudge. Not to mention Said grudge almost cost you your relationship." Benihime said in a clipped tone. She did not like when her normally ingenious master acted like a simpleton.
"Heh I have my moments, now how do I get out?" Issei asked in response Ddraig only opened his mouth and Issei found himself engulfed in flames.
Back in the physical realm Issei groaned as his concious returned to his physical body. As he awoke his mind registered the pain his body was in and he involuntarily flinched as he felt the painful throbbing spread throughout his body.
Looking around he found himself in what looked to be a traditional Japanese room. The only exception being a machine that monitored his health. As he struggled and sat up he heard Azazels voice from his right side. "How are you feeling sport?"
"Like I was put through a grinder and then had several lorries run over me." Issei said in a muffled voice.
"Sounds about right, a fair powered attack from the true longinus can do that to you if you aren't at around my level or above." Azazel said mirthlessly. He blamed himself for Isseis condition. While the others could have their mistakes excused due to age he couldn't, he was a war veteran and a leader of a whole race. He shouldn't have been caught of guard like that.
"You know shouldn't blame yourself. Despite being as powerful and as ingenious as you are, you are allowed to make mistakes every know and then. Dont beat yourself up everything turned out ok didnt it?" Issei said as he caught the slightly forlorn look that Azazel wore.
"That maybe so, but it still is my fault. I will however make sure that such a mistake isn't repeated in the future." Azazel firmly replied.
"Thats the spirit. How are hime chan and the others?" Issei asked curiously.
"Health wise fine. Everyones recovered. Even Narumi is much better now that the link with the leylines has been given back to yasaka. Yasaka was kind enough to let you get treatment here after you were to be moved from the devil hospital. Invigld however is in a right mental state, and has an aura of depression around her. No matter how much I try I haven't been able to get her out of it." Azazel finished warily and at once Issei sat attention ignoring His pain as he asked
"Elaborate."
"She blames herself for your injuries. And let me tell you that they were bad. She feels that if she were stronger maybe she could have beaten hercules and then you wouldn't have to get hit. Not to mention she was thinking of relinquishing your control back to Sirzechs because she doe... What are you doing!!?" Azazel said before he stopped and exclaimed as he saw Issei stand up and disconnect the machine from his person and then made way to put a kimono from the closet provided to him.
Ignoring Azazels calls he left the room and set out to find Invigld. It took him a couple of minutes but he did find her. She was standing in front of a vendor machine and looked to be buying a drink. Silently he moved to stand behind her making sure that she didn't sense his presence.
Absent mindedly turning around she walked head first into his chest. Squeaking in surprise she quickly righted herself before she froze when she saw Issei standing in front of her with his eyebrow quirked at her. She tried to turn and get away but Issei despite his injury was faster than, as he grabbed her by the arm and then pulled her into his chest.
The entirity of emotion that she had been holding up for days erupted and she promptly started sobbing into his chest. Issei himself was now feeling quiet guilty. He didn't know that she would be this affected. He vowed not to make a mistake like this with her ever again.
Holding her close he softly rocked her back and forth, not saying anything. After what seemed like a very long time she stopped crying and Issei gently removed her from his hug while taking her hand and leading her to sit on his lap as he took a seat on a bench.
Once again wrapping his arms around her he softly said " I am sorry hime chan,I was being a jerk and let an unwanted grudge dictate my actions. Will you forgive me?"
"I should apologise, I should have known you still werent ready, but I couldn't refuse a request. Not to mention I am completely useless in battle, I think It is better if I just leave the devil faction and go back to where I came from." She said miserably making Issei tighten his hold over her.
Softly lifting her head upwards he leaned down and pressed his lips on hers giving her a soft kiss. He then said "I can't fault you for being you hime chan. Everything about you endears you to me. As for losing, that guy was the worst match up possible for you. We will keep on training and will cover up the spots that you lack in. There is no need to beat yourself up because of this."
When she hesitantly nodded he smiled before lowering his lips on to hers and gave her kiss. The kiss while similar to the last one was much longer, with Issei moving his lips against hers. It took her a few moments but she to started getting into the kiss and her lips joined his with their moments.
When they broke apart Issei placed his forehead against hers a content smile on both of their faces. He however winced when his body throbbed again and hoped Invigld didn't notice. She however noticed it right away and asked "Whats wrong?"
"Ah it will take me a bit of time to full heal, so Im feeling a bit of pain." He answered honestly.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" She all but demanded.
"Because you mean more to me than anyother thing in the world. A little bit of pain won't stop me from coming to you." Issei said and he knew he had said the right thing as Inviglds face lit up in a shade of red that would have made ddraig jealous.
BANG THATS IT FOR THE CHAP HOPE YOU LIKED IT. READ AND REVIEW. AN OA ARC IS NEXT STAY TUNED.