Chapter 30 Confronting your Past

I don't own DxD; I just use its characters and techniques. All credit goes to its creator. Same applies for anything that I use from other animes

(ORC Clubroom)

As Le Fay Pendragon walked into the middle of the room, she couldn't help but smile, "To think she rejected our offer." Le Fay said happily.

"Tell me about it." Valerie smiled as she recalled the conversation between her and the nun just moments ago.

(Flashback)

Valerie led Asia to a private room in the ORC and waiting for her was something that surprised her. "Wait a minute that's me." Asia gasped. In the middle of the room was a perfect visual duplicate of Asia that even had her sacred gear.

"Not quite" the person replied before a magic circle appeared under the fake Asia and a white light revealed the real identity of the faker.

"Le Fay" Asia gasped.

"Yep. I'm here to make you a very simple offer Asia. We know Diodora is going to find a way to take you so I can take your place when you do. If I do that, you'll be safe and so will everyone else."

"What do you mean everyone else will be safe" Asia questioned nervously.

"According to a source, Diodora is planning to use a special device to reverse your power and use it to attack everyone who goes to stop him. If I take your place, that won't happen." Le Fay explained.

Asia was shocked that Diodora would go that far but quickly gathered herself, "No. I want to be there from the beginning" Asia smiled.

Valerie was pleased to see that Asia wanted to confront Diodora herself, "In that case, would you like some backup?" Valerie replied as she was about to reach into her pocket.

"Hold on Valerie sensei. You did your best to teach me everything you could, and I want to use that training to confront Diodora. I want to show Diodora I'm more than just the Holy Maiden." Asia said firmly.

"Alright" Valerie replied.

"So, should we head back" Asia wondered.

"Yes, but first let me give you a good luck charm." Le Fay smiled as she tapped Asia's wrist.

Asia could feel something happen and smiled, "Thanks Le Fay."

Valerie could appreciate the girl's friendship, but it was time to get going, "Let's go Asia. Rias is waiting." Valerie smiled.

(Present time)

"Now we're just waiting for Issei to get done with whatever is taking him so long." Valerie frowned.

"He'll be done with Freed sooner or later. Honestly I'm kind of annoyed he didn't let me kill him." Irina chuckled. A few minutes later and a magic circle appeared revealing Issei and Azazel.

"What took you guys so long." Le Fay questioned.

"Since you were hiding you probably didn't hear about it, but our psycho priest buddy Freed came by the house. Diodora knows he's exposed and that means he's gonna be extra careful." Issei said nonchalantly.

"Just great." Valerie groaned.

"Don't worry about it, Valerie. My good luck charm will make sure Asia is just fine." Le Fay smiled.

"Yeah but if Diodora knows what's coming he might change his plan." Valerie frowned.

"If you gave her the spear, she'll be fine."

"What spear?" Issei wondered.

Valerie reached into the pocket of her leather jacket and revealed a golden dagger with a purple jewel, "This is the spirit of the Dragon King Fafnir and I was going to give it to Asia to help her out, but she was determined to fight using our training."

"That's good news for you Valerie. The price for borrowing the spear was pretty steep."

"Be quiet Zaz. Since she didn't use it, I'm okay" Valerie said hastily causing Issei and Le Fay to look at her funny.

"We can discuss what Valerie may or may not have had to do later. How about we get ready to join the party." Issei smiled.

"Fine" Valerie blushed glad for the change of topic before giving the spear back to Azazel.

"Let's go" Azazel smiled as he put the spear away before activating a magic circle to take the group to where Diodora was.

(Battlefield)

The group of arrived on the battlefield just as Diodora flew away with Asia towards a castle in the distance. "Looks like he got Asia" Issei frowned. The battle was already underway and Diodora's buddies had attacked, but before they could join the party it was information time.

"How'd you let her get taken Rias." Valerie exclaimed chiding Rias for her failure.

"He snatched her when we were distracted by the troops." Rias pouted. The fact she allowed Asia to be taken despite knowing this was coming was embarrassing.

"What would you do without me" Le Fay smiled before snapping her fingers. Out of nowhere a magic circle appeared and out popped Asia.

"Asia!" Rias cried before engulfing the nun in a hug.

"Lady Rias… what's" Asia started to say before Le Fay interrupted.

"I put a spell on your wrists that would anchor you to me and I just activated it." Le Fay smiled.

"I see" Asia smiled.

"I hate to interrupt but weren't you guys supposed to back us up." Odin smiled as the Norse leader appeared out of nowhere.

"We should go" Valerie sweatdropped.

"Is that Odin" Rias said in disbelief having just noticed the old man.

"Yeah." Valerie said sheepishly.

"Enough about the old man. We have a battle to win." Issei smiled before activating his Balance breaker.

"He's right. Good luck Rias" Valerie smiled before following Issei into the air.

"Good luck" Irina smiled before she and Xenovia activated their dragon wings and soared towards the battlefield leaving Rias and her peerage alone.

'Those guys are something else' Rias thought to herself as she watched the group go before her focus turned towards dealing with a fuming Diodora. The good news was she knew exactly where he was waiting. "Let's go guys" Rias smiled.

"Right" everyone shouted, and they moved towards Diodora.

(Scene Skip)

Rias and her group stood in front of the entrance to the castle where a no doubt fuming Diodora was waiting. "Diodora here we are!" Rias shouted wanting to make it clear they were here and ready.

"I don't know how you managed to take Asia back, but I assure you Rias that she'll be mine again soon." Diodora replied the anger in his voice hard to miss.

"You say that, but I won't make the same mistake twice." Rias said confidently.

"Perhaps but seeing as how you're here, we might as well enjoy our rating game. Through this door are two paths. My pawns and rooks are on one side while my queen and bishops await on the other."

"And what about your knights. I'm surprised you'd put your queen's and bishops first instead of the knights." Ingvild said with a little snark.

"I have my reasons" Diodora snarled back.

"Well we'll worry about that later. Don't worry Diodora we'll crush your servants." Rias said confidently.

"We'll see" Diodora cackled.

Rias looked at her group calmly, "Ingvild Xenovia Yumi take out the pawns and rooks. Koneko Asia Gasper you're with me and Akeno." Rias instructed.

"Sounds good. They need to pay for what they did to Asia." Ingvild scowled.

"Let's go" Yumi said with a sadistic smile of her own.

(Rias's group)

Rias and her group stood in front of the three members of Diodora's peerage with a frown on her face. She couldn't see them at all due to their large cloaks but that didn't matter, "Sorry but you're not going anywhere." Rias said confidently. One of the figures came forward and tossed off her cape revealing a slender woman with olive eyes and silver hair that flowed down her body with two emerald hairclips by her ears. Her outfit consisted of an ocean blue sleeveless vest top with matching cape over a white dress that covered part of her breasts.

"My master will be taking that girl." the woman replied staring at Asia with a hateful glance.

"We'll see" Rias scowled as she and Akeno stood in front ready to fight.

(Ingvild's group)

Ingvild Xenovia and Yumi approached the pawns and rooks with a smile on their faces. Each girl adored Asia and they wanted to make him suffer for what he attempted to do.

"Hey girls mind if I finish them off. Save your energy for the knights." Ingvild said confidently.

"You sure?" Xenovia wondered.

"Yep" Ingvild said confidently as she looked towards the group. As the pawns charged the Leviathan heiress focused her magic as a massive circle appeared beneath the girls.

"This is gonna hurt' Xenovia smiled.

"Oh yeah" Yumi nodded. It was easy to forget sometimes but Ingvild could easily be an heiress herself and she had some serious power behind her. Diodora's group was about to learn that lesson the hard way.

"Wrath of the Sea God" Ingvild shouted and a tsunami of water shot up from the circle and it was aimed right at the stunned pawns.

"Should we be concerned about getting wet." Yumi wondered.

Ingvild looked at her with a smile, "Nope, the circle acts as an isolation barrier of sorts, so only things outside the circle get attacked.

"Phew" Yumi replied as the Tsunami overwhelmed the stunned pawns. It was a decisive victory for them and Ingvild proved her worth.

(Battlefield)

"Not bad Ingvild" Issei smiled as he saw Ingvild's attack even from a fair distance away.

"Looks like Rias got herself a live one." Valerie smirked as she dodged another attack.

"Ingvild is the descendent of a Leviathan. That type of power should be expected." Issei deadpanned while doing the same.

"I know that, but that's a really powerful attack. When did she learn it?" Irina wondered.

"Secret training, my guess is she recruited Grayfia for help. She is known as the strongest queen for a reason." Valerie smiled.

"Makes sense" Issei smiled before focusing on the soldiers attacking them again. Using his speed, he quickly got behind one and used a point-blank dragon shot to finish the job.

"Hey Valerie, when's the big boss coming." Bikou spoke up.

"Bikou please don't jinx it." Valerie groaned. Things were going so well, and she didn't want anything to ruin it.

"But I mean seriously. They haven't sent anybody dangerous and you know… shit" Bikou cursed as a magic circle appeared.

"Damn it Bikou" Valerie groaned.

"Well now the battle is about to begin." Issei smiled.

(Rias's group)

Over with Rias the battle was proving to be more difficult than Rias thought. She and Akeno were struggling to beat the queen who was being protected by the bishops. They tried Gasper's time stop spell, but the queen attacked him before he could activate his eyes. Koneko was currently guarding the weakened Gasper and they wanted to save Asia's healing for later.

"Ufufufu then we'd better up our game." Akeno smiled as she upped her output.

"Right" Rias nodded before doing the same.

"That's useless you know." the queen cackled as the attack failed to get around the bishop's shield.

"I can't believe it." Rias scowled. She was being held off and it wasn't good for her pride.

"Well believe it Gremory. We're going to win this battle and then that little nun is ours." The queen chuckled.

Rias was furious because she was trapped again. "What do we do to overcome her." Rias questioned.

"I don't know" Rias said angrily. Out of nowhere the roof collapsed and a torrent of water slammed the queen and bishops throwing everything off.

"What the hell" the queen gasped unsure of what was going on.

"Looks like Ingvild saved me" Rias pouted furious that she couldn't overcome them alone.

"Who cares. Now we win" Akeno shouted.

"True" Rias smiled and she and Akeno fired their attacks winning the battle for their team.

(Scene Skip)

Rias and Akeno joined up with the other team ready to face their next opponents, "Sorry about that Lady Rias. I was so angry that I may have overdone it with my attack." Ingvild said bashfully.

"Don't worry too much Ingvild. Your attack saved the day." Issei smiled appearing out nowhere.

"Hold on. Weren't you fighting with Valerie?" Yumi questioned.

"I'm actually a clone that was sent as backup."

Rias pouted at that, "Do you have that little faith in us Issei." Rias pouted.

"To be fair, I was created a day ago and I've been waiting with your brother, so I have no idea what's going on." The clone shrugged.

"My brother?" Rias said in confusion.

"Yep. If it wasn't already obvious, we've been preparing for Diodora to pull something for a while with the rating game. Since we knew he wouldn't use the original field, I stood with Sirzechs and when he took you the fake field, I was to come in and save Asia before Diodora could implement his plan. I was actually about to sneak attack him when what I suspect was Le Fay's spell took Asia from right under his nose."

"So why are you here now" Yumi wondered. Theoretically his job would be done.

"Well I wanted to see what you guys would do and I'd step in to make sure you were at full power when you confronted Diodora since I was sure he wanted to weaken you before the big fight."

"I see" Rias frowned. In other words, this Issei was a failsafe and now he was backup.

"Ufufufu I hate to ruin your fun Issei, but we were already resting Diodora's opponent." Akeno smiled before motioning towards Asia.

"Is that so" Issei said with his eyebrows raised. He certainly didn't see this one coming.

"Yes" Asia said with a determined look in her eyes.

Issei smiled, "Very well. I do want to watch this, so I'll join you guys but don't expect me to do any fighting."

"Fine by me" Rias smiled as they walked towards the next room.

(Scene Skip)

Opening the door to the room that held Diodora's knights, Rias had no idea what to expect but it didn't take long to throw her for a loop.

"Ahhh… keep going. YES…!" a female voice shouted stunning the group.

"Uhh why is somebody having sex in here." Xenovia spoke up.

"Ufufufu let's find out." Akeno smiled and they made their way through until they found the source of the noises and boy was it a sight to behold. Off to the side was young boy with light brown hair but given the hole in his stomach he was dead. As for the source of the noise, it was a naked young woman with grey hair in a ponytail and she was getting railed from behind by somebody with black hair. Interestingly enough that person wasn't Diodora.

"You won sooner than I thought" the young man smiled and turned towards the group.

"And I thought Freed was a cockroach." The clone groaned in annoyance.

"It's been a while Red Dragon and it's a pleasure to meet you Gremory family. I'm sorry that I could arrange a proper greeting, but I wanted to get my payment first." The young man replied while continuing to thrust inside the naked girl.

"We'll be right back" Rias said bashfully, and the group went outside. Once they were out and the door was closed again it was question time.

"I thought you killed that guy" Xenovia spoke up.

"So did I, hence why I called him a cockroach." The clone replied.

"Umm who is he" Rias said nervously unsure of what to make of the whole situation.

"His name is Connia and he was the one who kidnapped the kendo club during their beach outing. Oddly enough last time the boss saw him was when he blasted a hole through straight through him that should've ended his life. Speaking of which, I think the boss will enjoy this." the clone smiled before focusing his magic into a circle.

"I'm a bit busy." The real Issei replied.

"What if I told you that jerk from the beach was back?" The clone replied.

"On my way" issei replied and moments after the call ended the clone vanished.

"Well that was strange" Rias said calmly.

"Actually, no it isn't" Xenovia spoke up.

"How so" Akeno asked with intrigue.

"Issei absolutely hates that he got the kendo club involved with the supernatural and this guy is responsible." Xenovia revealed. They couldn't blame Jeanne since she had no idea.

"And yet he didn't erase their memories." Rias questioned again.

"Because despite everything that happened, they accepted things for how they were." The real Issei replied as he walked towards the group. When he heard Connia was here he zoomed towards them hence the short time to wait.

"Really" Rias said skeptically.

"They basically told me that a dragon shouldn't abandon his treasure and if I was so concerned then find a way to protect them. They had a point and thus I made a necklace that they could use if they were in danger."

"And yet they usually use it for a booty call." Xenovia spoke up causing Rias and Ingvild to blush.

"You're surprisingly relaxed issei. Given what he did, I thought you'd be out for blood." Ingvild wondered.

"Last time we met I beat the hell out of him. There's no way the guy can stop me." Issei smiled.

"I see" Ingvild replied knowingly.

"So, how's the battle over there." Rias wondered deciding to focus on something else.

"Basically over. Rias's brother killed some elf haired dude named Crusery Asmodeus. The rest of the troops are being beaten the hell out of by Valerie and her team." Issei smiled.

"Good" Rias said with relief. This battle was over, and they achieved a solid victory. Now it was simply a matter of crushing this guy and Diodora.

"But since we're waiting for Connia to finish and get dressed, care to explain why you didn't think to use Asia's earth magic to disrupt the bishops when Gasper's time powers failed?" Issei wondered. His clone was watching the battle and he was pleasantly disappointed when Rias didn't use Asia's earth magic.

Rias's eyes widened, "I… sort of forgot" Rias sighed. Before Issei could respond the door opened and Connia revealed himself.

"Sorry about that. Diodora offered me his two knights to do with as I please. I killed the boy and I just finished with the girl. She left this world with a smile." Connia said with a sneer.

"You're as pleasant as ever." Issei snorted as he walked in with the Gremory group cautiously behind them.

"To be fair my role was originally to meet the Gremory and taunt them about what he did to Asia, but when he realized you knew all about him, I simply became an extra body. In case you were curious, I left the hero Faction after my defeat and became contracted help."

"So, what now." Rias wondered. This was almost too easy.

"Well I've had my fun and seeing as how the Red Dragon is here, how about he entertains me while you confront Astaroth" Connia joked.

"I've got a better idea" issei smiled viciously

"What's tha-" Connia started to say before a hole appeared in his stomach.

"How about this time you stay down. DRAGONIC BARRAGE" Issei replied coldly before a series of dragon shots turned Connia into swiss cheese ending his life just like that.

"Ruthless" Ingvild gasped.

"Now where were we" Issei smiled.

"Confronting Diodora" Rias smiled.

"Luckily for us he's right behind door number 1." Issei smiled as they looked towards the curtain which came up to reveal Diodora.

"Good help is so hard to find" Diodora sneered as he sat on a throne room looking down on the group.

"It would be easier if you knew how to treat the help." Issei retorted.

"Enough!" Rias yelled angrily her focus on Diodora.

"Ah I forgot you were there Rias and it seems Asia decided to come back to me after all."

"Go to hell you bastard" Asia yelled surprising the group.

"Telling a devil to go to hell ain't exactly an insult Asia" Issei teased.

"Not now Issei. This man ruined my life and I'm going to make him pay." Asia yelled.

A smiling Diodora walked towards the group with a smile, "How could I ruin your life when you didn't have any to begin with. Without me you would've been the churches little doll, healing whoever they wanted you to. They kept you naïve Asia because you were easier to use that way." Diodora cackled.

"Shut up" Asia whimpered the emotions of the moment getting to her.

"But it's true. If I hadn't stepped in, you'd have lived in isolation with the only people to see you be those the church wants you to heal. The fact you didn't even know enough to recognize what I was made it all the easier to ruin you." Diodora cackled.

"SHUT UP!" Asia yelled her anger growing.

"I mean think about it. You were a Holy Maiden loved by all and cherished by all. And yet all it took to ruin that was little old me catching you off guard."

"I said SHUT UP!" Asia yelled and a burst of golden magic energy seemingly appeared out of nowhere catching everybody off guard.

"Incredible" Ingvild yelled out not expecting the level of magic to appear that did.

"There we go" Issei smiled. It was easy to forget due to her timid nature, but Asia actually had a fair bit of magic behind her. She would need it in order to heal as many people as she did.

"What's this. Does little Asia want to fight me herself?" Diodora cackled.

"Yes, and for what you did to me and the others. I will make you pay!" Asia screamed out. She was out for blood and she was going to get it.

That's it for Chapter 30 and things are about to get really fun. Next chapter Asia takes the fight to Diodora and everyone is ready to see what she can do.