Chapter 28

Somewhere in Japan

It was now nearly 3 months ago that the war had ended. In what had come to be called the `last battle´.

After they had been forced to leave the school... and their town... Issei and the Devils of the Gremory Family had found refuge with the Phenex Family. On their secret estate on Earth, that the Church had not discovered. At least so far not.

The Sitri Family, including Sona an her peerage, were staying for the time being in another Devil hideout - or maybe you could by now already call it a safehouse. One that was outside of Japan and belonged to their own family.

But it was much smaller than the Phenex residence and had barely enough place for themselves. Even if most of Issei´s Friends - especially Rias - would have preferred to stay with the Sitris.

Things were starting to look grim for all of them. Not only them, but for teir entire Factions… and maybe the entire Supernatural world.

The place the Phenex owned in the human world was a large mansion on the land, far off from the next town.

And hundreds of miles away from Kuoh or any other stronghold of any of the Three Factions. For the last weeks they had been living here relatively peacefully.

Of course none of them was happy at all that they had to leave their home.

Or about the developments they all had been following for the last months.

The Phenex were great hosts and even Raiser was starting to get along with them pretty well.

Of course none of them was happy to be here anyway, given the circumstances.

They all were more than worried.

xxx

In the moment the members of Issei´s Peerage + Raynare, Irina, Kuroka and Ravel, were sitting together in a room Lord and Lady Phenex had offered to them as their new temporary office and headquarter for their peerage.

To call it a club-room would not longer be quite fitting, since they were not longer pretending to be a school-club anymore.

"To put it short," Issei stated, "the situation is looking bad."

"It is absurd actually. We have together survived and stopped the greatest Evil of the Multiverse, to save our entire world and then..." Irina said.

The bitter irony of it all was not lost on anyone here.

"... And now everything crumbles because of the damned Church and Heaven. Why don´t you say it?" Akeno finished for her grimly.

"I..." Irina knew she was right. But it still felt hard for her to say it.

"We have both been practically raised by the Church," Xenovia stated. "Or at least I have. Even if I had left them. It is not easy for us to admit that this is all their fault."

"Well - I guess you can say old habits die hard," Akeno replied sarcastically.

"It is not alone their fault," Ravel stated. "This bitch Lamia and her allies had practically framed the entire Devil race for their crimes."

"Still, at least the Angels and the Vatican should have known better," Akeno commented.

"While we are talking about the Church," Raynare started. "You have probably heard that the humans who had been possessed before the last battle had returned to normal, but most of them had been detained by the human authorities and put into some kind of quarantie afterwards."

"Yes - of course," Rias replied.

"By what I have heard from Lady Penemue it is worse than that," Raynare stated. "A few of our informants in the Church told us that a few of these people who had been quarantied had then disappeared. And then they had been send to secret fascilities."

"Let me guess - for experimentation," Kiba said.

His expression betrayed barely anything. But they all knew he must be reminded of his past.

"Yes. They seem to be trying to find the cause of the mass-possession during that time," Raynare confirmed. "That is at least what our sources think.

"By using a few of these people as guinea pigs," Xenovia stated grimly.

"By the Lord," Irina said quietly. "They…"

"They are actually doing it - experimenting on people," Asia continued her thoughts, "... again."

"Like the Holy Sword Project," Irina stated. "Or these experiments to make better Exorcists."

"Better ones - or simply monsters like Freed you mean," Xenovia commented sarcastically.

"We need to do something," Akeno said.

"And we will," Issei spoke up.

"Have you spoken with my parents about this?" Rias asked Raynare.

"I have. Since your parents, along with a few others, are now the de facto leaders of the Devils, the other remaining Grigori leaders had asked them for a Meeting about how to deal with this situation. I just gave then the invitation."

"Could - could this mean the beginning of a new Great War?" Asia asked afraid. "... after everything."

None of the others said something for the next few moments.

"If it truly comes to a new war," Kuroka stated, "I doubt the Devils had a chance, even together with the Fallen Angels. Not with the Church and Heaven having humanity and it´s resources at their side."

"We already had left it all behind us," Issei hissed angrily. "We had peace. We had all been working together. And now these fools are throwing it all away."

"If it came to this, you probably were our best trump-card Issei-kun," Rias mentioned. "You are now clearly ones of the strongest beings in the world and easily the strongest out of the Three Factions."

It was true. With so many powerful beings (including Vali) dead and Ahriman and his Heralds gone from their universe, he was probably top-five, right behind the Dragon Gods and Shiva.

"But even Issei can not be everywhere at once," Akeno threw in.

"True," Issei admitted.

xxx

To be honest he had actually considered the idea of using his powers to create lesser secondary bodies for himself out of magical energy. These doubles would have been a great help in battle. Even if they wouldn´t have nearly the strength of his true self, they would be valuable to take on weaker opponents or distract enemies.

Okay, he admitted another reason why he was interested in it was that he could have sex with many of his girls at once.

But after the evil doppelganger that Loki´s curse had created and what he had done, he really hesitated about that.

What if he lost control of these doubles? What if some kind of Evil inside him (or in Ddraig for that matter) used them to manifest itself once again?

He had been talking about his fears with Ddraig a few times. But the Dragon could not give him any hundred percent clear answers either.

Some being - another god like Loki or maybe someone else - could always try a similar stunt again.

xxx

"The meeting will be tomorow," Raynare announced. "It might be good if you come with us as well Issei," she said to him. "Like Rias pointed out, you are now easily the strongest being in the Biblical Factions."

He nodded.

Irina was completely right, he thought. They had survived the greatest evils, only to drowned now by the smaller ones. And by old enmities and prejudices.

It was nearly absurd.

"I will," he responded. "I will be with you at he meeting."

`Whatever it is worth for,´ he thought silently.

The sad truth was, aside from taking on the entire army of Heaven by himself, there was not much he believed he could do.

xxxxxxx

Later that evening

Issei was lying…. naked on his bed in his room.

Kneeling over him was Irina, with his member in her mouth. She, just like the other girls next to them, was only wearing a white, very slim BH, panties and stockings

Her head was moving up and down as she blew him.

Lying right next to her was Xenovia… being in a similar state of (un)dress.

They were the girls Issei was spending the night with today. Like it was routine for them by now, they were still taking turns with two or three girls every night. This night it were only the two of them. They all had a hard day after all.

While Irina had his shaft in her mouth, Xenovia was currently busy, right beside her, licking his balls. (As she had told her, she had seen two girls doing this once in a porno.)

A few times Irina had to suppress a giggle at the thought that she and her old exorcist-partner, in service of the Church, were now doing this together.

"Now Issei-kun - how do you like getting a blow-job from your childhood friend?" she asked him teasingly, as she took it out of her mouth for a second… before she continued.

"It is great Irina," he said, "I am really lucky to have a good friend like you," he said jokingly.

Irina finally slipped out of her panties and then positioned herself above him and let herself sink down on his hard dick.

"You are really an Angel," Issei said to her as he felt her moving on top of him.

"Yes - a really naughty one," she replied with a wicked smile.

xxxx

Yes, a very naughty one, she thought - by the rules of Heaven and the Church both. She knew if the old System were still intact, she would have fallen a long time ago.

But after all what had happened? Seriously - fuck the Church and Heaven. She could barely believe and certainly not accept what the Faction she had once sworn loyalty to - that she believed in - had become during the last months.

She felt sick at the thought that she had once actually been willing to kill people for this organization…. even Issei and Asia.

Well, she was now with Issei and her friends and would stay by their side.

Fuck them… and especially let Issei-kun fuck her... like right now... and then rest of the girls.

xxxx

She started to moan loudly as she had Issei thrusting into her harder.

After several minutes of heated fucking, they stopped for the moment and Irina moved off him.

And Xenovia was just about to take her place.

"And now to you," Issei remarked smiling to her.

They continued like that for nearly another half hour, both girls switching places and positions… until they finally stopped and fell asleep next to each other.

xxxxxxx

The next day

Issei and the members of his peerage, Lord and Lady Gremory and Grayfia, as well as Lord Phenex and his oldest heir had gone to the meeting with the Fallen Angel leadership.

Irina and Kuroka had decided to come along as well. Mostly out of curiosity.

And beside that Irina was still devastated and disappointed about the going-ons with the Church. That and she and the Cat Yokai both wanted to know what the other two Factions (or what was left of them) planned to do about it.

As close friends of both Isei Hyoudou and the Gremory Family (not to mention Raynare, who had recently joined the Grigori Cadre) and had both done their part in helping to save the world, they were of course gladly accepted to join.

That left Lady Phenex, the regular house-staff, Raiser and his Peerage and Ravel to stay and defend the house. This was still a more than notable force and would have been enough to defend most Devil hideouts -... normally.

But in this case... somebody had only been waiting for this chance.

xxxxxxx

The same time - a few miles away

"And you are sure about this?" Taria asked her Master.

"Of course," Lamia replied. "The Gremories... and Issei…. are a few of the last things standing in my way. And here we find the key to bring them down."

Her Servants exchanged a short look.

They all had still doubts about their Master´s mental state.

But they admitted this plan was not necessary bad. It was true that both Issei Hyoudou and the Gremory Family were standing in their way.

But if they had some leverage... a hostage. It could change a lot.

"If you say so," Taria said.

They were ready. With their next move they would teleport to the Phenex estate. They had found the place some time ago. Mostly thanks to the spy they had placed in their mids.

And by now they were ready to strike.

xxx

And so they did.

They teleported and reappeared right inside the mansion. Just lke it was planned.

They were greeted by the sight of a maid of the Phenex household. The spy they had been talking about. They had in fact drawn this woman to their side months ago. But she had not openly joined them and staid a member of the Phenex House and acted as a plant for them during and after the end of the war.

Until now.

"Everything is ready My Lady," the woman greeted Lamia.

"Very good. Where is he?" she responded.

"At the moment in the dining-room, together with Lady Phenex. Lord Riser and a couple of his Servants are also in the same wing of the house," the traitorous maid reported.

"Excellent. We will take him and kill everyone who stands in our way," Lamia announced.

xxxxxxx

A short time later

The meeting with the Grigori was still going on. But as they all would admit, without any great success.

They mostly had summarized the problem. But the truth was there was not much they could do.

A few ideas were mentioned - or rather beginnings of ideas - but it was pretty clear that they were ultimaely leading nowhere.

The Church and Heaven were now simply easily stronger than both their decimated Factions combined. And there was nothing they could do to change this.

The thought was brought up to use Issei - who now pretty much possessed the power of a higher god - as a threat to keep Heaven and the Church in check.

But as powerful as he was, he was still only one person.

And beside that, their goal was still to prevent a war, not start one. Using Issei as a threat could trigger exactly the conflict they wanted to avoid.

But if it could not be prevented... - well, Issei alone could probably keep a great part of the Forces of Heaven and the Church at check all by himself. But only when he was there. And even he needed to sleep or eat or simply rest at one point.

Yes - Issei could probably slaughter their enemies in the thousands. But what would that bring if everywhere else they themselves would be slaughtered in the thousands as well?

xxx

It was then, when they suddenly received a call back from the Mansion, a call for help. They did not hear much, because the connection was suddenly being interrupted.

But it was clear that someone was attacking their home.

"Someone from the Church?" Akeno questioned.

"Or maybe Lamia," Rias suggested. "We have not heard from her in a while."

"Whoever it is, they are attacking my home," Lord Phenex stated. "I need to go back."

"We will," Issei responded. "At the moment it is our home too and we will protect everyone."

"Thank you." Lord Phenex nodded at him.

"I will come too," Grayfia told them.

"We will have to stay at the Meeting," Zeoticus told them. "Make sure everyone is alright Issei, Rias."

"Of course," Issei told them.

"I will go with you as well," Raynare offered with a side-glance to the other Grigori Leaders. "You don´t longer Need me here, right?"

"Not necessarely - no," Baraquiel admitted. Despite her latest promotion, Raynare was still new in the role of a Grigori leader and she lacked the experience for such a conference anyway. Hers was more of a field leader so far.

"If you can do anything to help there, please do so," Baraquiel suggested.

xxxxxxx

What they saw as they arrived back at the mansion of the Phenex Family didn´t surprise but still horrified them.

The entire place had been wrecked. The walls had cracked and an entire wing of the building seemed to have collapsed.

And both in and around the building, they could see the bodies of several Servants of the household lying dead on the ground.

"We need to check on everyone," Rias said.

"Okay," Akeno replied.

"You search the east wing," Issei said to Akeno, Kiba and Koneko, "we the western one," he pointed to Rias, Asia and himself,"Raynare, Irina, Xenovia, Kuroka and Grayfia - you take the upper floors."

It took them only a few minutes to find Raiser, Ravel and a couple of his Servants.

He was looking terrible. His suit was ripped and bloodied. He seemed to have been severly injured and somehow his Regeneration had not managed to heal the wounds yet. But that should only be possible if something had hindered his powers.

Kneeling beside him where Ravel and Yubeluna, who were taking care of him.

But close by they saw… it was Lady Phenex. She was dead. She was lying in her blood, a large stab-wound in her chest.

Asia only shook her head, after she had run forward and tried to use Twilight Healing on her. It was far too late. If there had been a chance at all.

"Who did this?" Issei asked sharply, looking at the two present Phenex siblings.

"Was it the Church?" Xenovia asked worried.

"No," Ravel replied.

"It was that Belial bitch," Raiser hissed.

He pointed at something lying at the other side of the hall. It was the burned up body of another killed Devil. But they realized now that it was not one of the Phenex ones.

It was one of the attackers.

"We tried to fight her," Raiser said, "but her damned Worthlessness completely negated our Regeneration and..."

"Without it they were simply too powerful for us," Yubeluna admitted.

"And Rias-..." Raiser looked at her, "she has kidnapped your nephew. Mother tried to defend him, but..."

"She was murdered by her," Ravel said with tears in her eyes.

They saw how Rias visibly froze as she heard about Milicas.

"No," she whispered horrified.

"I am sorry about your mother," Issei said to them. "... and all the others here." He watched over the place. The killed members of the Phenex Household lying everywhere.

"I promise Lamia will pay for this," he told them. "And Rias - we will find Milicas and save him."

"Don´t bother - we know exactly where he is," Raiser stated. "She actually told us where she is planning to bring him and invited you to come."

"Where?" Rias called out. "Where is he?"

He told them. They could not believe it.

"I will come with you," Raiser said full of Anger. "I will get her for this."

They left just a few minutes later. Grayfia had been equally affected and been furious as she heard about her son´s kidnapping.

Raiser, Ravel and Yubeluna were coming with them as well. The rest of his Servants where either busy taking care of the wounded or being injured themselves.

They were all teleporting back to Kuoh, to the place that Lamia told them.

xxxxxxx

Kuoh - the outskirts of the town

"I can not believe that it is here of all places," Issei said.

They were standing nowhere else than in front of the old abandoned church-building. The same one that Raynare and her old team had used as a base once.

Their group, the ones that came with them, consisted of Issei and his peerage, Raynare, Irina and Kuroka, Graifia and Raiser Phenex and Yubeluna. Everyone else was either still at the Meeting or at the Phenex Mansion to take care of the injured.

Alone seeing this place again caused a feeling of dread to rise up in all of them who had been there back then. A feeling mixed with regret, at least in case with three of them - Issei, Rias and Raynare.

Asia was visibly distraught as well. The last time she was here she had died. Her human life had ended.

"Don´t worry Asia," Issei said. "Nothing will happen to you, I promise. Never again."

"So this is the place where you died?" Raiser questioned.

"We both did," Raynare stated.

"Sorry for that," he commented. "But at least you came back. "This bitch I promise will not."

"I swear," Rias hissed, "I will have this entire damned place completely razed to the ground when this is over."

"Not if I do it first," Raynare commented.

"Let us go inside," Irina said.

They pushed the doors open. The locks were still broken from Koneko´s kick over a year ago.

As they stepped inside, they were first greeted with the sight of an mostly empty room, filled to both sides with lines of now partly broken and rotten benches, where once the audiance had been sitting to follow the mass… years ago.

Now the entire building was not much more than a wrecked ruin.

They saw the broken church-window where Issei had punched Raynare threw.

At the end of the large room though, they saw Lamia´s Queen standing.

"Welcome," she greeted them.

She spread her demonic wings, lifted of the ground and flew the short distance to the stairs that led downwards to the basement. Down to the place they knew all too well. Where Asia had died.

Without saying another word the Queen walked downwards, making a handgesture for them to follow her.

Issei and the others were overcome by another feeling of deja vu as they walked downstairs.

He for his part had a suspicion what they would see, before they actually did. But that didn´t make him feel better.

This time there was no small army of Stray Exorcists assembled. Instead there was only the small group of Lamias remaining Servants, standing in a line. Under them they could also see a Devil woman in a maid outfit. Obviously the Servant of the Phenex Family who had betrayed them.

"You," Raiser growled as he saw her.

And at the end of the room was the same cross. Only this time it was Milicas Gremory bound to it in Asia´s place.

"I see you could make it," Lamia´s voice greeted them. She was standing right next to the cross.

"Milicas!" Rias shouted.

"Mama, Rias!" the little boy called out.

"Don´t be afraid," Graifia exclaimed. "We will save you."

"That´s easier said than done, you will see," Lamia said grinning. She pulled out a dagger and held it right on his throat.

"You!... don´t dare to hurt my son you bitch," Grayfia yelled enraged. "I swear I will slowly rip you apart."

"Oh really?" she asked mockingly. "And you are in fact one of the few people who could actually do this. Honestly - you against me - just us two? It could end one way or the other," she admitted.

"And you all together could easily defeat us I am sure." She looked around into their faces.

"But we both know your little son would then already be dead as a rock," she said with a cold look at the frightened boy. "And believe me, there will be nothing left for you to resurrect, no matter what kind of spell you use."

"Mama - please help me," Milicas pleaded.

"Quiet child," Lamia hissed. "I promise you will be able to get home - if your mother and the others do what I say."

"So you sunk to taking small children hostage now," Issei stated.

"You coward," Xenovia shouted.

"And you claimed I was the one pathetic," Rias remarked.

"Shut up!" Lamia yelled suddenly. "You Little... This is all your fault - Issei for refusing me and you - all of you - for getting in my way."

"What do you want?" Issei asked angrily.

She smiled at him in a twisted invitingly way.

"That is quite easy. For you Issei Hyoudou to stand by your side as you should have from the beginning… and for the rest of you to stand out of my way when I took over as new ruler of the Devil Race and lead it to a new glorious age."

They all nearly felt their jaws drop at the insane declaration. Had she completely lost touch with reality? Glorious age? Their race was at the brink of extinction. And that to a good part thanks to her.

"She has gone mad," Rias whispered.

Akeno standing next to her gave a short not.

"Maybe she had been all along," she replied.

"You have truly lost it, haven´t you?" Raiser responded as well. "There is no way any Devil would accept you as their ruler. after all you did But I can put you out of your misery right now."

He send a wave of Phenex Fire into her direction.

"For my mother!" he shouted.

But Lamia´s Queen moved lightning quick and blocked it.

Rias was using the chance and shot a small globe of Destruction Energy in Lamia´s direction. Aiming it right between her and Milicas, trying to get her away from him. She knew it was a quite desperate move.

The attack burned a deep hole in the wall behind them.

"Enough," Lamia exclaimed. She turned her gaze back to them. "Do you really think this will help you? Do you really think I gave you any chance to save this little brat?" An evil grin formed on her face. "You remember our weapons, right?"

"No," Grayfia said, realizing what she meant.

"You have poisoned him?" Issei shouted.

"Oh - don´t worry. It is not really Samael´s blood, but a dumped down version we have developed." she replied. "Our Masters even helped us to create an antidote. But I fear if he won´t get it, he will still die... very slowly."

"You monster!" Rias shouted.

"I swear," Grayfia on the other side said in a cold and deadly voice, "you will give us this antidote and cure my son - or whatever it takes, no matter how long it takes, I swear you will die."

She seemed to have a much better control of her rage than Rias, but her Cold anger was somehow far more frightening.

"No need to be afraid," Lamia replied mockingly. "I have every intention to give it to you, under one condition."

"Say it," Issei told her.

"A challenge-," Lamia said, "to a match in Traditional Combat. If your side wins, I will give you the antidote."

"Traditional Combat?" Issei questioned.

"The old and original form of the Rating Games, as you could call it," Grayfia responded. "The difference is that there is no `Retirement´ function and no protection for the participants. This form of the game is deadly."

"This is correct," Lamia stated. "Another difference is that this was before the creation of the Evil Piece System. So there is no restriction to any peerages. Just two challengers and a equal number of allies, as Long as they are members of the Devil Faction" she explained.

"Now, if I win the Game, you will give me your word of honor that you and your peerage will join me and we will be ruling the Devil Race side by side."

"And what keeps us all from simply killing you and taking the antidote anyway - without this ridiculous challenge?" Raiser asked her.

"Do you really think I am carrying it on my body? One of my Servants has it. You can guess which one." She looked around. "But until you find it, they will have much time to destroy it. And I fear your little boy will die," she said with mock compassion.

"Okay - I accept your conditions," Issei finally said.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kiba asked him.

"Don´t worry - she must have really gone crazy. With my power I know I can easily beat her. But we need this antidote or Milicas will die."

"Do you really think she will play fair?" he said.

(He has a point,) Ddraig said inside his mind. (Something feels strange about this. She knows about your powers. So why should she make this challenge if she knows she has no chance?)

"No idea," Issei admitted, "but we need this antidote and quickly."

"So you give your word on your honor as a High Class Devil?" Lamia asked him.

"Yes," he responded.

"Very good. You will not regret this Issei. You will soon be a king. And I promise I will please you, just like your other girls." She started to laugh loudly.

xxxx

For a moment her thoughts drifted back to her old lover and former mentor. The first man he had wanted to share this world with after Ahriman´s coming. But he had died centuries ago.

At this time she had already broken completely away from the rest of the Devil Race. She had decided to leave the contination of `House Belial´ to her younger brother, who she had drifted more and more apart with. A House and a legacy she could not longer care about.

The fool was actually getting along with the new Devil society and their ways. Even if it in Lamia´s eyes meant making a mockery out of their true traditions and who they were meant to be.

It was a short time after Taria had become her new right hand. Provided to her by Kahness after her ill-fated rebel-attempt against Lord Faust. She had been a promising young Devil at this time, who shared their disdain for the new society and had joined their group.

Kahness had tried to form a secret alliance between the Old Satan Faction and his own secret cult. But someone had betrayed them - someone had sold them out.

Troops of the New Satan Faction had attacked them during the meeting.

They had found the bodies of him, along with his bodyguards, after the battle was over. It seemed that the Old Satan fighters had turned on them as well, probably thinking they were the ones who had set them up.

She never found out for sure which side it was that had dealt the killing blow. But one thing was... which was the day she promised herself once and for all that she would see the current Devil Society destroyed.

xxxx

Then (in the present) she turned her gaze around… but not to whom they all expected.

"Rias Gremory," she said, "I challenge you."

"What?" Issei exclaimed.

"Oh Issei -" Lamia purred, "I said there would be a Combat Game. I never said it would be you I would challenge. It will be Rias and four allies she can choose freely, except for you, Grayfia and Raynare and Irina of course, since they are a Fallen and an Angel. Against me and my four remaining Servants."

Issei froze. That excluded everyone present who was currently Satan Class or higher.

"You snake!" Akeno shouted.

"That are not the correct combat rules," Grayfia called out. "You can not just exclude people as you please."

"I can and I do. I make the rules here - me. I decide what is correct. And if you disagree, you can visit your son´s funeral," Lamia ranted.

Issei gritted his teeth. She would not get away with this. If she was twisting the rules on a whim just to cheat herself into victory, then he had no obligation to Keep his word either.

She - ruler of the Devils? And with him on her side? In her dreams maybe.

But Milicas? They needed to find a way to save him.

Isse and Grayfia were looking at the boy in worry. His face had started to show a strange sickly color and it looked like he was in pain.

Asia was using her Twilight Healing from the distance to help him. But as it looked her power could only lessen the effects, not remove them.

If this poison had really came from Faust and his companions, this didn´t surprise Issei. They needed this Antidote.

"I accept," Rias said.

"Rias - are you…?" Grayfia asked.

"We both know there is no other choice if we want to save Milicas," she answered.

"When you agree to the challenge, the name your allies," Lamia´s Queen Taria stated.

"Akeno…" Rias begann, "Kiba, Kuroka… " she looked a bit apologetically to the rest of her fellow peerage, before she chose the last one,

"... and Raiser."

xxx

The two groups were taking position in opposite to each other. They had moved upstairs again, into the main hall of the chapel.

Only Asia had staid in the Basement to heal Milicas regulary with the Twilight Healing and comfort him somewhat, along with the traitorous Phenex maid and an a bit reluctant Xenovia, who was watching her back on Issei´s order.

Grayfia would have wanted nothing more than stay with her son as well. But if they truly wanted to save him, they needed to bring down Lamia. And she had already proved that she was not above cheating. So it was better when she went with the others to have an eye on things.

The rest of them were creating a barrier to protect the rest of the town from the fallout of the battle. But they had been warned not to interfere for the sake of the hostage.

xxxxxxx

Just at the same time, in the Grigori Headquarters, the members of the Gremory and Phenex Families who had stayed were getting the message of what had happened.

They were devastated. Lord Phenex and his son because of the death of their wife/mother, the Gremories about the Kidnapping of their grandchild.

They all excused themselves from the Meeting and were now about to teleport back. Something that everyone understood given the circumstances.

Even the Fallen Angels were unsettled about the events. The ones who knew the two Devil Families personally and even the ones who didn´t were. The entire Devil Society had just got halfway stabilized again after their last Civil War.

If they were now shook up by even more infighting, it would not be good for anybody of them. At least not their allies.

xxxxxxx

They were now engaged in a small ut deadly battle.

Kuroka was fighting Lamia´s Queen. Both of them were maybe not quite at Satan Level, but they were close - very close. So far neither of them seemed to be winning against the other.

Kiba was crossing blades with Lamia´s own last Knight. A male Devil with a muscular stature, who was about a half head taller than him. But like the other duel, he was holding himself well.

Rias and Akeno were fighting close together, facing Lamia and her remaining Pawn - another Devil male - while Raiser was dealing with the Bishop - a dark haired woman, who was Holding him at bay with magical spells.

The combined clash of their powers had already disintigrated the roof and let half of the walls crumble.

A wave of Phenex fire that Raiser shot at his opponent, but barely missed, burned down another part of the walls. He had enough at this point and just charged directly at his opponent, while surrounding himself with an `armor´ of fire, hoping to use the weakness many Bishops had in direct combat..

In a ironic way, Rias and Raynare were getting their wish fulfilled, the church-building was getting destroyed. But not in the way they had imagined.

Rias and Akeno tried a combo-attack of Destruction Power and Holy Lightning.

Akeno had turned into her Fallen Angel Form, that had now eight wings. Together they created a powerful lightning-blast, surrounded by a half dozen spheres of Destruction Energy

But Lamia managed to dodge the first globes and shielded herself from the Lightning and the last two balls that hit her frontally, which she took head-on. Without visibly damage.

Then she concentrated her Worthlessness on them to suppress their powers. And then send a shockwave at them that blew them both off their feet.

"Stupid little girls," she said mockingly. "You might have impressive bloodlines and allies, but without them you are just two brats."

A split-second later she appeared right above Rias, moving faster than the normal eye could see, and threw a hard punch right into her.

Rias was sure she could feel at least a few rips cracking, before she crashed hard into the rubble that was left of the wall behind her.

A moment later a well known green light was radiating from her body, as she activated the Twilight Healing. Rias had never been so glad about the connection between them that allowed them to use each others power. If she was honest, she hadn´t even been sure if it was still intact after the last battle. But to her relief, she saw not it was.

xxx

The others were only stand by, in some distance away from collapsed Building, and watched… for the moment.

They were trying to find out which one of their opponents had the antidote. If it were not in fact Lamia herself who had it after all and she lied about it.

If the antidode even existed, Issei realized. Lamia had alredy proven many times that she had no problems to lie and betray. And now that she had lost her mind, there was no telling.

The poison itself sadly clearly did. They all had seen the state Millicas was in.

("Transfer-) Issei and Ddraig activated their ability.

xxx

Lamia stepped closer to the downed Rias, who was just struggling to stand up again.

"Issei is transfering some of his power to you, isn´t he?" she noticed. "What would you be without him?" she asked.

"Well, sadly that won´t even make a difference if you can´t use any of your abilities and are too injured to even stand."

Lamia´s Worthlessness power kept her from continuing using the Twilight Healing from undoing the rest of her injuries.

She raiser her sword -... her poisoned sword.

"You see - without your status and titles, you are just a lowlife," she said, "and now you die like one. Argh..." she suddenly shouted in pain.

Before she could make the strike however, her hand was hit by a blast of fire -... Raiser, Rias realized. He had just burned Lamia´s arm, who had dropped her weapon as a result.

As she looked around, she saw that he and Akeno had now switched places. She was now fighting the Bishop and bombarding her with lightning. And as it seemed, she was actually getting the upper hand over her opponent. If it were not for her own situation, Rias would be smiling.

"You…!" Lamia hissed, looking at Raiser. For a moment she was glaring at him with sheer unthinking rage. But then her expression returned to the usual confident superiority. "You should have aimed better," she told him. "You have barely scorched my hand."

"Oh - I haven´t really tried to," he responded. He lifted his arm and showed her something he was holding. She realized it was the blade belonging to her Pawn. Lamia considered killing the fool, for letting his opponent steal his weapon like that. But for now they had a fight to win.

Then she looked down at the now mangled and useless form of her own sword in understanding.

With another look to her Bishop, who was still busy fighting Akeno… and at the moment actually seemed to be loosing, Lamia saw that her Sword had also been turned into a mangled mess as well.

He had completely taken the advantage that their by Samael poisoned blades have given from them.

"Well played Raiser," she stated. "And here I was told you were nothing but a spoiled idiot."

"That was the past. I have learned from my mistakes."

"Yes? - sadly you have never learned not to cross me. But you will now." She lunged forward and was attacking him wildly.

After exchanging the first blows, Raiser was stumbling backwards. He had tried using the sword he had taken from her Servant against her, but she had parried both of his strikes with another weapon she ha conjured up for herself.

Then she charged a blast of pure energy in her hand and fired it right into his stomach. This would not have been so bad, if her abilities had not disabled his Regeneration.

From the sidelines, Ravel and Yubelluna watched as their beloved brother/Master got hit and fell to his knees. They barely held themselves back from jumping in and interferring.

"Lamia," Rias called out. She had fully healed herself by now. In her hands she had formed two light-spears. A friendly gift from the powers of Raynare and Irina.

She threw the two spears at her opponent. Lamia dodged both throws, but it bought Rias precious seconds.

Rias tried to power up to her absolute limit… and beyond that if she had to.

And seconds later, a crimson colored scale-armor was forming itself around Rias body.

xxx

In some distance the fight between Kuroka and Taria was still going on. Still without any visibly winner. But both opponents were already looking worse than at the beginning. They had taken some damage and both were breathing heavily.

Had it not been for the barrier the other had formed, their fight alone would have already devastated an entire district.

xxx

Rias, now once again clad in a female variant of Issei´s Scale Mail, was exchanging heavy blows with her opponent up in the air above the ruins of the old church.

Lamia had tried to cut her with her replacement weapon, this one not poisoned by Samael´s blood. But Rias countered it by forming a aura of Destruction Energy right around her body and disintigrating the blade.

With one strike she threw the remains of the now broken weapon out of Lamia´s hands... and caused an explosion when the Power of Destruction her hand was still surrounded with clashed with Lamia´s own power.

With another move, she fired a barrage of small Destruction Globes right into Lamia at short distance. And then threw a hard punch directly into Lamia´s face and send the female Satan-Class Devil crashing down into the rubble.

She was winnng. Rias could not believe it. She knew her power had sky-rocked during the last months of training with Raynare, Akeno and Issei. But had she truly reached that much?

She knew Issei was sending power into her, but even that was limited by how much her body was able to hold without breaking down.

That and the fact that she was using the ki-control technique she had learned from Raynare (which she in return had learned from Faust) to counter Lamia´s Worthlessness. But she knew from her that this power only worked that way if your own base strength at least rivalled or surpassed your opponent. Your own, not energy you had borrowed from others.

But Lamia was said to rival Serafall (or nearly) and that meant...

If she was honest, she hated this form. Not only because she had first reached it through Loki´s curse, but also because it made her feel like a parasite who was only living off from Issei´s power.

Not only that, but she was shrugging off her Worthlessness while it was directed at her. But that meant… no - she did not allow herself to think that thought to the end.

This worthless little brat was not her equal. She would not accept this. She would crush her.

xxx

Her opponent on her part felt in a similar way. She could not believe it. She was being punched around by… Rias fucking Gremory of all people. But that should have been impossible, no matter how much power Issei gave the Little bitch.

Lamia was coming up again. Blood was flowing down her face, that was twisted into a grimace of pure hatred. With a loud scream and without any reason, she rose up and threw herself at her foe once again.

xxx

Rias reacted to her opponent´s mindless attack.

Using Irina´s and Raynare´s powers, she formed a blade made of light... and drove it right into Lamia´s stomach as she charged at her blindly.

Her opponent was stopped in her move, her face with a shocked and unbelieving expression. And then she fell down.

Everyone else froze and stepped back. Many rules of this form of Combat might have been different from the modern Rating Game, but one was the same. If one King fell, the game was over.

"Rias," Koneko called out from the sidelines, "you did it."

Yes - she did.

Rias sank down and landed on the ground. She let the Dragon armor around her disappear.

The other, who had stood out of the game were coming close. Lamia´s peerage members were standing back. If they kept their Master´s word, they would now hand the cure over to them.

"The antidote," Issei said strérnly, "now."

The Queen just nodded to the Bishop, who let a small vial appear in her Hand and gave it to Grayfia, who quickly run back down ito the basement.

As Rias looked around to where her opponent had fallen however, she saw that Lamia was still alive... barely.

Instinctively she formed a globe of Destruction Energy in her palm.

But she nearly did a double take when she realized where exactly Lamia had landed. Behind her she could see the broken church-windown in the now nearly half torn down wall. It was nearly the same spot where Raynare had...

Lamia was watching around, looking confused. As if the reality of her defeat had just hit her.

"No… it can not," she stammered. "It can not end like this." She noticed Rias with the Destruction Globe before her.

But nothing could have prepared Rias for what happened next.

"I-Issei - don´t let her kill me, please," she stammered, still looking as if her mind was not completely there. "Not her. Not like this. Not like this."

Rias froze.

For a moment she did not saw not Lamia lying before her, but Raynare. `No´, she thought.

And then suddenly her mind was back to the time on the Spirit Plane, when she had been tormented mentally and faced with her worst fears - when she had been in chains, completely at the mercy of her enemies.

No - she could not...

Raynare and Issei froze well at what this scene reminded them of.

Rias made a step backwards, horror written all over her face.

"Rias - don´t let it control you. Get a hold on yourself," Issei shouted at her.

"He is right. We wanted to le the past behind us, you remember?" Raynare called out.

They were Right, Rias knew. She tried to Focus.

"Surrender," she said to Lamia, "it is over."

But then something happened what truly none of them had expected.

Lamia´s Queen appeared suddenly right behind her fallen Master... and stabbed her right through the chest with her own still poisoned blade.

They all watched in disbelief as their enemy sank down dead, with a shocked expression on her face.

It had once again taken me a long time to finish this chapter. During the months before Christmas, I was Pretty much overwhelmed with work on my Job.

This will probably be the second last chapter. So there will be one more before the story is finished for good.