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FICTION
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Chapter 46: Neither Hoitsu or Vali
If I had to be honest to myself, I had expected Rias to start growing curious about the reason why Xenovia and Irina had been sent by the Church to investigate Kuoh Town. Especially since Irina approached Issei and got at odds with Asia again, this time holding back from being too aggressive about it.
My words had left an impression on her, but the same I wasn't sure that happened with Xenovia. Sure, she apologized with the former nun, but Asia was quick to pick up that the apology sounded quite fake with the tone it was delivered. I had predicted that kind of childishness, but I decided again taking an immediate step, choosing to wait for the next meeting between me and the two girls to happen without me looking for them through Kuoh. I knew I was going to eventually find them again without bothering too much searching, so I didn't want to mess with my current affairs due to it as I really didn't need this mess to become the reason why I had to answer to some questionable actions aimed at the duo.
Still, back to Rias, it was also possible that Yuuto had his little moment and actually discovered that Valper was within the city. No matter the reason, there was now a soon-to-be beginning meeting between Sona and the redhead to happen in a few hours from now. I was currently sitting by the school council classroom, paperwork temporarily forgotten as the president asked for my input in the Grigori's side of the entire mess. She knew a fair bit of the situation as I had explained the Kokabiel situation in a past occasion and how he couldn't be the one behind this, but there were some troubling details tied to how Valper got inside town without us noticing and who helped him to do that.
"And you're sure that Grigori has prevented entry to any member that had requested to reach the area?" Tsubaki inquired, trying to get a straight answer out of this whole debacle. I nodded, knowing that it was only for the best to be transparent on the matter.
"Azazel had paid extra attention to make sure that no one but those he could utmost trust were garrisoning Kuoh as of recent times. While I agree it could be possible a rogue member could have slipped inside, I doubt there's an actual group acting autonomously in town," I explained without holding back any known detail of this situation. "Baraqiel has been patrolling the city for months now, he hasn't found anything of the kind. I believe this could be related to our newest trouble."
"The 'Khaos Brigade'?" Momo asked with a surprised look on her face. "I didn't think they had the means to actually attack us now."
"It's their best gamble. Not only do they get a chance to get a copy of True Excalibur used by one of their members while also weakening the standing of the Three Christian Factions," I elaborated. "It's… they got a chance to deliver that kind of serious blow to the whole Pantheon's reputation. It would be a battle they would be pressing for just to get their first serious victory."
"And they need this to enforce any diplomatic standpoint with other Pantheons," Tsubaki added while nodding. Soon, her gaze was aimed at Sona. "I believe it would be best to interest the Satans on the matter."
The Sitri heiress grimaced at the advice, but she knew that the worst would be to be caught unprepared if this whole mess proved to be as bad as it sounded to be.
"I agree with the motion!" A jovial voice chipped in and we all turned to look at… the unplanned 'guest' for this discussion.
Lilith had a happy smile as she calmly distracted the rest of the council by offering the cookies she had cooked and taken here at the event. She had asked to join just because she knew that there was a 'big chance' her son could be involved in this matter. I could only frown at that reason while also quietly reaching out for one, gaining a gleeful grin out of the woman as I realized how good those were.
"We… We weren't discussing a motion, Lady Lilith."
The 'teacher' looked a bit sheepish at that reminder, a half-nervous giggle as she returned to her cookies. I couldn't help but feel like she too wasn't paying attention to what was going on in this very situation.
"Still, I agree with Tsubaki. It's a situation that could easily blow up that badly," I supported Sona's second-in-command. "But at the same time, I feel like… having them here could end up deterring any attempt from either Valper or those that are supporting him. We can't even tell if it's the Khaos Brigade or a minor group of rebels from Grigori that somehow got in".
"And what do you suggest, Hoitsu?"
I blinked, taking a moment to make a decision on what could possibly be done. There were many options, each with its own merits and flaws but only a few standing out for the much needed caution in this specific circumstance.
"Maybe it would be best to have them knowing of what was going on, but to prepare rather than come immediately. Maybe they can also rally more Devils and provide a greater reinforcement too."
"And you think the Satans should only be called the very moment we see trouble? Isn't that too risky?"
I nodded at Tsubasa, but it was Sona that answered that question.
"It would be riskier to disrupt the rule of the Underworld with that fright. If nothing happens, we might as well prepare for some serious repercussions for this matter," The bespectacled girl argued with a serious tone. "If the situation demands it, we will be prepared for the worst."
There was a complete agreement from the room on this perception, and that put me at ease as I knew the conversation with Rias was going to be dominated by Sona's own ideas. She had a higher preparation on the whole circumstance, and while the Redhead was the daring tactician when she wanted to protect those she cared for, she knew that her 'rival' had more info than her on the situation and had the means to prepare the search better by having extra ideas on what to do in most developments.
Much to my relief, that proved to be a correct assumption. Rias tried to argue that 'calling the Maous was unnecessary' as things weren't meant to be that bad, but Sona's mention of Grigori suggesting this was actually the case seemed to put any doubt within the redhead's own grasp on the matter to rest. With the 'Devil front' sorted out, Grigori too had their own plans on the matter. Azazel was going to be ready, something he managed to pull off because he didn't exactly have to deal with any paperwork by having Shemhazai go through it on his own. Kind of a jerk move, but I couldn't exactly lament the fact he could actually avoid disasters by being there. Baraqiel was going to contact some more agents to add more to the available manpower within the area, thus completing one of the greatest traps possible.
Kunou was to be kept at home for her protection, same for Ingvild and Tiamat despite the Dragon's own insistence to be there in the fight. Considering her current role, it was best she didn't leave the young woman without protection. Reluctantly, she agreed to sit by the bench for this one. I would have extended that to Koneko if not for the fact that she was in Rias' peerage and she planned to have everyone (minus Gasper, of course) deployed to handle this kind of mess. Everyone was being prepared for the occasion with some equipment that was held back from being used commonly for 'secretive reasons' as Sona put out.
By the end of that intense rally for this important situation, we had a large contingent ready to obliterate who was behind Valper's current goals. The stage was set for something fairly impressive, but I doubted it was going to be easy if Rizevim was actually involved in this. I was stunned by the idea that we could get this kind of 'firepower' ready and… I was stunned when we actually found where Valper was located. It was night, the insane priest was enjoying a midnight stroll in the park and… he looked surprised and pleased when he was stopped by two 'passing-by' Devils.
Yuuto was more than happy with the role of intercepting Valper as soon as we knew where he was, while Issei was showing some genuine unease at the fact they were acting as counter-bait. There was some verbal interaction, with the blond furiously condemning the easy-going priest for murdering numerous innocent children but… the man didn't seem to care. 'After all, it was all done for the Greater Good', he thought and said as a response to these accusations. Things were heating up and soon… It happened. Yuuto rushed forward and struck the defenseless priest, surprising a few due to the lack of genuine reaction to protect the man… but there was one after his demise.
Numerous seals opened as a large group of the Old Satan Faction tied to the Khaos Brigade appeared before us. Katerea Leviathan and Shalba Beelzebub were in charge of the large group of Devils, magicians, and other magical creatures that had joined their group. The trap had worked and everyone was ready to jump into the fray, to start waging a serious skirmish to ultimately deal with this troublesome mess once and for all. The kind of blow a victory on the group founded by Ophis was going to be enough to definitely destroy any chance of recovering and cause further trouble. But as I glanced left and right and nodded at both Sougyoku and Kurenai to be ready to jump, here we were stopped as a spell struck us from behind our hiding spot.
"I have to admit. Didn't expect to find you so easily, kiddos," A familiar voice hummed mirthfully and my eyes widened behind the mask as I recognized the bastard owning that voice.
A chilling realization that stunned me as I reacted by instinct at that close comment. I turned around, slamming a quick punch on his ugly mug but getting no reaction from it beyond a wider smile forming on Rizevim's face as he grasped both Raynare's and Vali's shoulders at that very moment. The Super-Devil had given no indication of how he got there without them noticing- how he passed around without anyone noticing – and now, he was there, ready to give us some trouble from the look plastered on his face.
"Rude, but hello to you too… Hekishoku-kun~!"
"Bast-"
"Now, I suppose we can finally start the real plan. Hope you're ready for a nice trip into Hell," He jovially proclaimed and soon we lost our footing.
The world around us shifted and soon we were falling down into a glacial storm. The situation was quite stunning, but the freezing wind that suddenly struck through the layers of cloth we were wearing got us 'awake and aware' of the entire bad predicament we were in. Magic seemed to work into making the fall and the current chilling issue manageable, but I couldn't contact Azazel or form a teleportation seal to get us back to Kuoh Town from this situation. It was something unusual considering that there weren't seals that outright prevented people from leaving a specific area of the world for another.
Unless the place itself was warded to keep others inside and allow just a handful to leave. But those were settings that were renowned to be well away from the handling of a certain grinning devil such as Rizevim. We ultimately landed upon the largest platform of this cold hell and… I frowned as I looked down at the snow settling on the freezing floor. Why did I feel like I had heard of this kind of situation before? I looked around, trying to remember where I heard of this and… I just couldn't make much sense of it on the spot. Just as I tried to regain bearing of our current whereabouts, we all turned to see Rizevim landing in front of us and giving us a small bow before introducing this place to us.
"Welcome, children. Welcome to the deepest part of Hell, welcome to Cocytus!"
WHAT?
"It took me some time to arrange this, to get this place just for us to happily chit-chat about the past, the present… and maybe your future if you answer my many interesting and fun questions," Lucifer's first son spoke once again, this time ignoring the pure shock we were in.
There were many reasons why Cocytus was considered the worst kind of place to be, either as a free magic user or a prisoner. It was considered an isolated section dedicated to imprisoning dangerous individuals, once thought to be where Lucifer fell when he was struck out of hell. His lair, his domain and-
Can we get out of here? Do you know anything on how to… hello?
Lucifer was quiet much to my irritation, leaving me to figure out or just ask how did Rizevim even manage to pull a stunt like this one. There were way too many variables that made the task he just pulled insanely difficult to accomplish. It wasn't impossible, but there was no chance that no one noticed this kind of mess before it happened.
"How did you even manage to do this? Cocytus-"
"Is one of the most protected places in the Underworld. A place that Father had initially planned to turn into training grounds for his strongest warriors before realizing that it was too unforgiving to get any men living through these conditions," He interrupted with a smug grin on his face. "Which is why Father decided to trust the entrance through the special seals keeping it detached from the rest of the underworld to a handful of people within this realm. Guess who kept his?"
Seriously? What the fuck is wrong with you?!
...I forgot.
You WHAT?
I forgot to get his key to this realm. I just didn't see a reason why he would make use of it.
Until now.
Yes, I totally saw that he was going to pick us and drag us to Cocytus for interrogation. In fact, I can also see the future and I will genuinely kick your ass once I'm out of here.
"I thought about it. A lot. You three- you sure are the oddest morons I had to deal with," Rizevim hummed, aiming his finger at Raynare. "You are a perverted fallen angel. I guess it runs in your race and it's possible you're Azzie's illegitimate child or something.."
A squeal emerged from the girl's mouth, possibly more into the idea of being 'a Daddy's girl' and thus confirming the earlier judgment, but he wasn't done as the Super-Devil's accusatory finger was now directed at Vali.
"You are a walking jerk that I think is my grandson. So I am partly to blame for how you turned into an edgy little jackass- Hi Vali!"
The hybrid growled angrily at the cheeky way he was addressed, yet the cherry on top of the crap pie had yet to come as he aimed his finger away and to me.
"And you… I have many questions to ask you. Some of which are quite confusing, and yet I want an answer to. You will tell me everything you know or I will destroy you, your family, your friends, and you."
…
"You repeated 'you' twice," Raynare pointed out and Rizevim chuckled.
"Of course, I want to send the point across. I will kill you if you don't comply. Either me, or this place."
"How about no?!" I replied dryly, taking a fighting stance before this troublesome matter. There was no way we were going to win this through but… maybe we could get out of Cocytus. It was absurd as an idea in both instances, but the latter sounded the 'safest' and 'easier' to try out.
He chuckled, tilting his head and allowing brief crack-like noises to reach our ears. "Suit yourself, 'Doctor Evil', but don't expect any niceness from me when I beat the truth out of you."
He rushed forward, trying to take out me and Vali first. Something that was slightly countered by Raynare as she projected numerous layers of shield to try and at least delay the assault since we just didn't have the means to outright stop him in his tracks. She succeeded on the intent, and gave us the chance to dodge the direct attack. A snarl appeared on his face as Kurenai became his next target. The girl backed away, but she lacked the speed to avoid the subsequent assault aimed at her. What she could do was bring her arms up to tank the hit as Vali and I intervened the best we could. As soon as Rizevim's right fist struck the girl's arm and almost broke it, he felt his strength faltering as Vali used his Sacred Gear to halve his strength.
He was moments away from using his Canceller to restore his full power, but he was beaten in time by a well-placed kick from yours truly sending him flying away from our direct proximity. I didn't hesitate to rush by Raynare's side, the Fallen Angel groaning while she nursed her left arm. I didn't have Phoenix's Tears on myself beyond an emergency vial, the bag with those missing as I suspected Rizevim had taken those away from me before interacting with us. I used some of my magic to dull the pain and heal her up a tiny bit, at least to the point where she could still move her limb. It was too early to use the emergency vial, but I had a strong feeling we will reach that point quite soon.
"T-Thanks."
"We need to get up and-"
As I was trying to give the order, we both jumped as we saw a white bullet rushing in our general direction. Vali's Scaled Mail armor managed to last the impact, but the Sacred Gear holder was struggling to get up. He possibly stalled Rizevim from reaching us while I healed Raynare and… he was there. Approaching us slowly and smugly.
"This is fun and all, but when will I see some concrete improvement since last time we fought?"
He wants 'improvement'? I can give him some.
I used Senjutsu and Kaio-ken times 2 at the same time, heightening my current fighting capacity for the time being. It wasn't too strained since I had trained more into it and I could tell I could last much longer since the last time I really used this combination in real combat.
"Help Sougyoku, I will take care of Rizevim."
A nod, Kurenai was off to help our fellow teammate as I finally tried to engage Rizevim one on one. This time, there was no holding back from him and the gap between skills became apparent right in the first few minutes of fighting. I was outpaced, overpowered and easily weakening the more time passed as I wasn't getting any result from it. Not even as Vali and Raynare joined the melee things changed. I knew that I had to get us more time to think and leave this place and… the only way to do so was to take a big risk for a big reward. I felt my muscles instantly groaning in pain as I switched the Kaio-ken level to tenfold, reaching times twenty for a few seconds to accomplish a dangerous gamble.
Rizevim noticed, but he didn't react fast enough to avoid the ferocious physical barrage of punches and kicks that concluded with an uppercut and a full-power kamehameha that sent him soaring onto the ceiling. The ensuing explosion stunned me for a second as I dropped out of both Senjutsu and Kaio-ken, allowing my body to recover through the Phoenix's Tear. It was as I looked back up to the frozen roof that I saw something. The ceiling, it could be broken but… it was recovering very fast and the damage caused by that Kamehameha barely dented onto its surface. We had to hit it with something stronger than that. Just as I thought of that, we were all quickly pushed back by a sudden mana pulse, the impact shredding some of our cloaks in the process, with cracks appearing on our masks at the absurdly powerful impulse coming from Rizevim's core.
"As expected from you three- I had a bit of a blast! But it wasn't enough to drag the point across."
Hundreds of large magical bullets formed by his side and rushed at us at high speed. I erected as many shields as I could, even producing Spears to try and counter the unforgiving barrage of high-density magic projectiles. I knew it mattered little, but I did my best to lessen the expected damage this kind of spell was going to cause. We managed to steer most of those away from us, but some exploded and got us damaged. More tattered, the cloaks fell and my magic easily started to run low at the intense pressure exerted by the assault, Rizevim's cackling adding a sense of unease which further demoralized us.
Ultimately the attack finished and the result was dreadful to say the least. I had numerous gashes all over my body, my mask was mostly broken and… the others weren't doing any better. Vali's scale mail had fully collapsed, but his body registered less damage in the process. Raynare was unconscious, seemingly taking a beating out of the explosive barrage we had been subjected to. I knew that, at this point, I had to gamble again. This time, I really needed a question answered as I knew there was a chance to get out of there alive.
Can we break through Cocytus with enough firepower?
...Yes.
That was more than enough to give me hope as there was something we could still do and it all revolved around getting the chance of using the full power of… 'that'. It was a bit of an ace in the sleeve that I hadn't planned to use this soon due to how difficult it was to use mid-combat. We were too exposed and could be hurt and killed if Rizevim didn't allow us to pull this one through. But, at the same time, I didn't expect shit to hit the fan so suddenly and we needed to pull a risky move to not die here. Gritting my teeth, I looked at Vali, the masked hybrid looking as shocked and displeased by the sight too, but he quickly noticed my gaze on him.
"We have to… do 'that'."
His posture stiffened, mostly because he wasn't exactly pleased with the nature of that kind of idea. He carefully set Raynare's unconscious body on the ground as he took position. We had already tried it once, to see if it was feasible and… it was. We just had to be calm, focused and not miss the beat with each step to attain that kind of boost. The real issue was trying to make a difference with it. Sure, it was going to give us a chance, but not a fighting one against Rizevim.
We have to break out of Cocytus now.
"Oh? What are you two planning to do? I can tell it's going to be cool, but I have to say I don't like flashy and long transformation that-"
"Fu-" I muttered to Vali, taking the first step.
"Sion-" Vali continued as we went through the middle step and-
"HA!"
A flash of light erupted and coated the entire glacial kingdom as pure magic entered in action and complied to the requested purpose of this 'silly dance'. I had been stunned when it had worked the first time around as there were many issues that were tied to it that would have made it impossible. It was pure dumb luck that we had two defining factors that mattered the most when we first tried: Vali was half-human and I had a degree of demonic energy coursing in my body. It was little, it was insignificant, but it played a big role in this blessing and…
We sure loved the way it felt now that we had an actual opportunity to survive.
A smirk appeared on the face of the resulting combination as we felt Light and Demonic magic flaring in a strangely harmonious way. We felt strong, we felt mighty and… we had a bastard to make sure was busy for a while. Rizevim looked stunned at the development, failing to see that there was now a big issue for him to be troubled with.
"Holy shit, that was perhaps the coolest and yet dumbest thing I have ever seen. What was that dance? And why are you wearing those clothes- wait, is this something kinky and-"
He didn't get the chance as we struck him with an upward kick aiming for his chin. The shock was what allowed us to easily beat the crap out of him for a little while, just enough to set him in position for a quick 'distraction'. Punching him away, we brought our hands before us as if grasping something intensely and… a massive orb of condensed and unstable Holy and Demonic energy formed. We put a good part of our focus on stabilizing the sphere long enough to let it grow to an acceptable level and… be released in a single attack.
"Big Bang Kamehameha!"
A white, gray, and black beam erupted from the orb, slamming intensely onto the awed Super-Devil, the attack actually getting a serious reaction out of him as pained yells emerged as soon as his body was fully encased by the attack and propelled well away from us and onto one of the many cold lakes nearby. Despite the growing sense of smug we had in our chest, we turned our attention to the next step of the plan. We landed beside Raynare as we prepared our way out of Cocytus. First, we had to acquire enough energy as we were far from ready for it.
First, we applied Albion's white armor onto myself, the Scale Mail slightly different as the Fusion allowed us to use a slightly stronger but still 'incompatible' version of it due to the circumstance. And now, for the second step.
"Kaio-ken times fifty!"
Our body groaned, but the Divide power seemed to work in halving the effects of that strain as we prepared for the grand finale. Once again, same move, but greater energy input. This time, we were leaving with a big bang for real.
"Big Bang Kamehameha times twenty!"
A much bigger beam erupted by the much denser sphere of unstable energy, tearing with ease through Cocytus' ceiling and creating a way out of there. Without messing around with the chance to leave at hand and the realm quickly trying to fix the damage we caused, we picked up Raynare and soared fast thanks to the Scale Mail through the opening and… used what was left within the Fusion to teleport us back into Kuoh Town. The fusion faltered and the stress of it applied on our individual bodies as I found myself landing on the lone couch in the living room together with the rest of the team. I felt my body too drained and unable to move from the position I ended up in, but, much to my relief, Kunou had been sitting by the kitchen and heard the commotion.
"N-Niichan?!" Panic erupted from her voice, and while I wanted to try and calm her down, I knew that I didn't have the energy to pull through that kind of effort. I just had enough to say a few words.
"Ku-chan, Azazel- or… Baraqiel."
I couldn't speak further, the tiredness pulling me away and forcing me unconscious. I slumbered quietly as I knew that I did it, I managed to survive that skirmish and… yes, it was as nasty as I expected. We weren't anywhere as ready to face someone like Rizevim but we sure put up a good effort. I think. But for now, I enjoyed this little victory as much as I could. We didn't beat anyone today, but we sure survived a clear assassination attempt and…
And then Azazel came up with a new idea to 'reinforce the security back in my house', saying that I needed an extra 'responsible' head to make sure things were fine. Cue, someone I hadn't planned to deal with in a very long time. Someone with cat ears, a smug grin on her face and plenty of ideas that were going to erode my common sense in the near future.
"Hello~, I'm Sakakibara Kuroka, nice to meet nyah all~!"
AN
This chapter is… packed. I went a bit all in with twists and turns and cat-girls.
Also, a few details on the Fusion that I believe should be brought up - while it is indeed the DBZ Fusion Dance, there are some major differences that should be mentioned such as:
1) It lasts less (from max 30 minutes to 20);
2) Some elements (Sacred Gears and artifact like those) slightly lose potency due to the half-compatible system;
3) It can be broken through Magical means;
4) The power resulting by the fusion is (user + user)x2;
5) The damage suffered by the fusion is enforced on the users when defused;
Also, I will leave it up to you all to pick a name for the fusion. Tried to mix their names but… I think we can go beyond that simple naming system. A new smart-cookie name or a silly one? Your choice.
Next up, some explanations on what happened to the other battle, the situation tied to Rizevim and Lilith being annoyed about her son being her son. Of course, the reason why I'm bringing these up is… because those are just a small part of the real chapter. The next one is going to be pretty big compared to the usual.
REVIEW Q&A!
Plums: Never say never! After all, Kuroka has just returned from what many thought would have been eternal banishment or something like that.
Zackyhizra10: Will give it a look about how to integrate it, can't make much of a promise just yet.