Chapter 11 - Battle of Kings Pt.2

( Play any Battle Theme you like for the fight )

The arena rumbled as if it was hit by a high magnitude earthquake.

The stone walls started to splinter.

The small pebbles and pieces of debris on the sandy earth began trembling to the point they started to bounce.

In the center of the hippodrome unaffected by their crumbling surroundings, two fighters stared each other down, one had fiery eyes and the other had sharp silver.

Mori's black hair and Reiz's blue wavered violently in the harsh wind, generated from the clashing output of power stemming from their respective transformations.

Back in the engagement hall, the Devils looked on in sheer awe and spine-chilling terror. Their mouths and throats ran dry as sweat leaked from every inch of their bodies. Even though the fight was taking place in a different, smaller dimension, the gravity of pure intimidation weighed down on their shoulders and would only get heavier every second. As the flight or fight instincts started to kick in for nearly every devil there, all of them found themselves paralyzed in their positions, unable to move even if they desperately tried.

Some of the devils' legs shook and gave up, causing them to collapse to the ground. Others found themselves hyperventilating with a permanent shivering sensation running through their bodies. The ones with weaker minds crumbled to the floor, unconscious.

Along with the other High-Class Devils, the Occult Research Club did not escape the cold feeling of terror.

After catching a glimpse of Mori's fiery eyes and golden pupils, Koneko took two wobbling steps back before her legs ceased to work and she dropped to the ground, sitting between her legs. Trembling, she brought two tightly-clenched fists over her mouth as her eyes widened and started to breathe in short, sharp repetitions.

Yuuto dropped to one knee and he placed a hand over his chest, gripping into his sternum with his fingers as he tried to control his trembling breaths.

Akeno stumbled, and when she regained her balance, she found that her hands had automatically made their way over her chest and she could feel the rapid beating of her heart as the collar of her kimono started to become soaked in her sweat.

The raven-haired queen was about to finally collapse when Rias supported her by tightly holding onto her shoulders and allowing her to slightly lean onto her body.

But the crimson-haired devil was in no less of a predicament. Like her most trusted friend, Rias was sweating profusely, and the cold shivers ran through her body like a racecar driving in a continuous circle. Akeno nodded her thanks, and the two helped the other members of her peerage back to their seats on the bleachers.

Once her team was settled, Rias turned and looked back at the screen.

"...What are they?" Was the only thing on her mind.

Issei, who had returned with bumps and bruises along with burnt skin and cuts, was too tired to even stand from his seat in the first place. But thanks to the symbiotic relationship he had with the Red Dragon Emperor, he was in better shape than his friends, but only slightly. The drumming of his heart rang aloud in his ears as he could only stare at the screen.

"T-T-T-That's...Mori?" He thought, "What...W-What happened to him? A-And the other guy...They both look different! Agh! Every time I look at their eyes… This...This pressure, it's insane,"

[ ...Impossible… ]

"Ddraig? What's wrong? What are you talking about?" Issei asked as he looked down at his left arm and began to commune mentally with the symbiotic dragon.

[ ...The rumors all those centuries ago were true… They do exist… ]

"Ddraig? You're beginning to scare me,"

[ Partner...It's complicated, I will tell you at a later date. For now, try not faint ]

With that, the Welsh Dragon cut the connection and went silent. Issei gulped as he stared back up at the giant screen in the air.

In the engagement hall, there were only two devils that seemed to be unaffected by the transformations but had shared the initial spine-chill that attacked all the living beings watching the live broadcast. They were the two Maous, Sirzechs and Ajuka.

On the surface, the two didn't react, and they simply continued to observe the match. But in his mind, Sirzechs had gained more questions than answers, and Ajuka was thinking up theories every few seconds.

"That crab said 'One resides in the same place as your kin'. But Mori and Reiz both live and study in Kuoh, which means that one of them should be a member of The Nine...but which one is it? Or perhaps...both? No no, that would be impossible, The Nine are just mythical figures...but then again, we know nothing of Mori's history, according to Rias he just appeared one day at Kuoh and even Sona couldn't dig up any information about him aside from his time in the hospital...and then there's Reiz, he suddenly disappeared in the human world for ten years and came back stronger than any Phenex in history… I guess the only way to tell is to see who wins this fight...because the victor will most likely be the one,"

Beside him, Ajuka entered a thinking pose, he crossed an arm over his chest and held his chin with the other.

"Sirzechs told me that that boy Mori didn't have an aura, yet even in a different dimension, the effects of their clashing energy can be felt. Is it possible that the aura can only be felt upon activation of the transformation? Or is it released by choice? I'll have to run a few tests later if I get the chance,"

Inside the waiting room, Gunseng tapped all ten fingers together in excitement and anticipation. He was grinning happily and feeling all giddy, sure fighting with the other monks was fun, and so was fighting demons who crossed over the dimensional border, but it wasn't every day you can watch a battle between two god-level beings.

Then suddenly, a thought popped into his mind.

"Wait this place is connected to the arena, right?" the monk asked himself as he poked his head out the door and into the long corridor. A strong gust of wind greeted his face and he let out a loud sneeze before slipping back into the room.

"I should probably get out of here then. If they continue fighting in their current forms this entire place is going to come crashing down. Well, it's not like I'll be harmed but...if the big boss sees my robes all dirty he might lecture me again," The warrior monk shivered at the thought of the hour-long lectures he would occasionally receive from Gautama.

Gunseng rubbed the back of his shaved head, "But if I leave now, then I won't be able to watch the rest of the fight live and I'll have to somehow get ahold of a recorded copy,"

"To stay or to leave? To stay or to leave? That is the question," he started repeating to himself as he got into a meditative pose, "Stay, leave, sta-,"

A distinct beeping sound in a pattern familiar to his ears cut through his thoughts, and he dug a hand into one of the pockets of his baggy gray pants to pull out a glowing wooden orb the size of a ping-pong ball. His eyes narrowed and swiped his thumb across the smooth surface of the sphere.

[ This is Shaolin Division: Sword Unit: Head Warrior Monk, Title: Jianseng. Please confirm your identity ]

"Shaolin Division: Staff Unit: Head Warrior Monk, Title: Gunseng, present," he spoke to the ball, "Is something wrong?"

[ I'm not entirely sure but Gautama has requested for all thirteen warrior monk leaders to gather back at Thunderclap Monastery as soon as possible ]

"Understood," replied Gunseng as his expression turned serious, "Anything else,"

[ That is all ]

"Very well I'll be right there,"

With that, the small wooden orb in his hand stopped its glow and the monk slipped it back into his pocket. He turned his head to look back at the screen.

"Looks like I'm not able to stay after all," he sighed and shrugged, "Good luck Stone Monkey,"

In a flash of golden light, the warrior monk vanished.

At last, the winds in the arena died down.

Mori and Reiz glared at each other, observing the opponent carefully, and waiting to see who will move first.

Both their ears picked up the scraping of sand as they both heard the other slightly shuffling their feet into a side-on stance, preparing to pounce.

There was a split second of silence before both of them kicked off the ground and shot towards each other like ballistic, speeding meteors. As they neared the point of the inevitable clash, both fighters brought their legs up to their chest before they could reach the center of the arena.

[ RE - TAEBAEK ]

[ Eagle Style - Catching the Rabbit ]

Mori straightened his back and slightly twisted his body towards the ground as he delivered a single, but powerful side-kick. At the same time, Reiz leaned his upper body back by a minimal amount and countered with a flexible and high, push-kick.

Their feet collided with each other and sent shockwaves flying wildly all across the arena, inadvertently kicking up a storm of dust and sand.

Reiz then pointed his foot forward and started leaning forward to push down. Mori immediately saw that he was trying to pin his foot into the ground to trap the red-eyed teen's foot beneath it. With a small hop forward with his supporting leg, Mori stretched his kicking leg up, bringing both their feet even higher until the two of them were standing in the splits, but with their feet still connected.

The Roc was caught off guard for a split-second but that was all the time the Monkey needed. With his foot still attached to his opponent's, Mori jumped off the ground and quickly whirled around while bringing both his legs to his chest. In midair and in the same movement, he went to strike Reiz with a jumping back-kick to the head.

Reiz stepped back and blocked the jump back-kick with a right palm thrust. As foot and palm connected, Reiz hooked his fingers onto Mori's foot and pulled him towards him as he took a big step forward.

[ Eagle Style - Strike of the Right Wing ]

With Mori still in the air, Reiz utilized the force from the pull and step in his attack. Both of the small actions had perfectly set up the next hit, as the pull had brought Mori's body closer and created a much larger target, while the step gave Reiz the speed and extra power to make the hit hurt. The step also made it so Reiz didn't need to waste time in pulling back his arm for a stronger attack.

Mori had no time to react as Reiz's devastating palm strike crashed into his ribs on his right side. The black-haired king coughed in pain as he was launched several paces back.

As he neared the ground, he quickly arched his back and kicked his legs over his head to flip over and land somewhat softly on the arena floor. Mori released a shaky exhale as he grazed a hand over his wound, and realized that it wasn't an ordinary palm thrust.

If it were, it would've only caused mild discomfort, and at most would've caused some light cracks across a few ribs due to the trauma damage. Reiz's palm thrust, on top of the boosts in his set up, didn't hit his ribs dead-center. Instead, in the final millisecond before impact, the Roc had tilted his palm slightly more up, but enough to dig into Mori's body and strike his lowest rib from below. This attack had split the bone in half, and that wasn't the only damage caused by it.

'Shit, it's hard to breathe…and it hurts too,' Mori cursed in his mind as he straightened himself.

'That strike, bone-breaking was just the side effect. The main purpose of his attack was to use the generated force to hit and shake my lungs… I might have underestimated Reiz when I was beating him with Renewal, he must've realized that most, if not all the movements are big and require me to control my breathing to make them hit harder...and he took out one of my lungs right after getting a power boost… Damn, I didn't know he was that tactical. This is going to much harder than I thought,'

On the opposite side, Reiz smirked, "By his facial expression, heh, looks like he caught on. Let's keep this going, Mori,"

The blue-haired avian swayed slightly then rushed forward and in an instant, appeared in the air before Mori, their foreheads mere inches from each other.

The monkey immediately reacted and with a pivot of his front foot, spun around with a momentum-powered elbow aimed at his opponent's head.

Reiz turned his head to avoid and quickly dropped to the floor to sweep Mori's legs out. The boy noticed and leaped back onto the arena bleachers just in time.

'He wants to take out my legs!' he realized, 'I can't give him the chance!'

Reiz launched himself at Mori again, and the boy jumped out of the way as the Half-Phenex flew in with a frontflip assisted axe kick. The kick sent an enormous fracture on the bleachers and that section of the arena split in half as a result. The rubble debris spouted in every direction, some landed back inside the arena, while others were sent out in the purple void of the pocket dimension they were in.

'I don't have time to worry about my breath!' Mori thought as he and Reiz began exchanging lightning-fast blows across the entire battlefield.

Every second, a new crater would form somewhere in the hippodrome. Every two seconds, a giant crack would run through the sandstone monument. Every three seconds, small sections of the arena would be shaved off and sent into the void.

Their relentless clashes of fist-on-fist and foot-on-foot, sounded as if it hailed and every drop of ice that hit the ground, released the ear-shattering crack of violent thunder. It echoed throughout the entire dimension.

[ RE - HWECHOOK ]

[ Eagle - Right Talon ]

In the center of the stadium, they attempted to strike the other with near-identical roundhouse kicks, but instead of hitting the desired target, their shins smashed together.

[ RE - HOMIGYEOL-I ]

While connected, Mori hooked his foot around Reiz's and brought it down in a crescent shape. But Reiz had seen that technique before and as soon as his foot touched the ground, he was already in the middle of using the generated momentum to spin around. If he predicted correctly, this simple action would help him counter the next attack.

[ RE - 3 STAGE HWECHOOK ]

His prediction was correct.

[ Eagle - Whirlwind ]

Mori's first hook kick to the right temple that left the blue afterimage, was intercepted by Reiz's spinning hook kick.

Mori's spinning hook kick targeted at the left temple that left the red afterimage was countered by another spinning hook kick performed by the opposite leg.

Mori's third kick, a jumping roundhouse to the cervical spine that left the yellow afterimage, was nullified by a rising back kick from Reiz.

A three-second late shockwave from their collision split them apart, and the two skidded across the arena floor, drawing parallel lines with their feet until they came to a stop.

It was only a half-a-second rest, and the two combatants were at each other's throats once more.

All the Devil audience could see were two lines; one black, one blue, zooming around the battlefield at incredible speed and drawing weird, intricate shapes in the arena.

The arena had now suffered enough damage that it looked like a three-thousand-year-old ruin. Chunks of it were gone, either floating in the void or turned to dust to supply the arena floor, there were also long cracks that resembled the roots of a tree running across nearly every section of the bleachers, and the highest rows were sent flying into the surrounding purple space.

Mori and Reiz landed on opposite sides of the field and rushed each other with untrackable speed. Only a second after they clashed did the sound of them kicking off the ground reach the audience's ears. A small boom, followed by the even bigger explosion of their fist-to-fist collision.

Mori punched Reiz across the face.

Reiz retaliated with a knee to Mori's kidney.

The Monkey King countered with an elbow to the cranium.

The Roc King paid it back with an uppercut to the chin.

Mori grabbed Reiz by the head and slammed his knee into his face.

Reiz pulled him back down hard and delivered a spinning back elbow into the side of his neck and collarbone.

Simultaneously with their left leg, Mori and Reiz shot out their five hundredth spinning hook kick of the fight. When their heels slammed together, they both speedily whirled back around and with the other leg, jumped and kicked the other with a front kick to the chin.

They both flew back on opposite ends, bouncing and tumbling across the bloodstained, sandy ground before they stopped.

Without the use of his hands, Reiz brought his knees to his chest and expertly kick-flipped off the ground back onto his feet before sliding back into a basic fighting stance.

From his lying position, Mori swung his legs around in a circle as pressed his hands on the floor next to his head With the combined power from the circular motion of his legs and the push of his hands, Mori sprung backward and onto his feet, also shifting into a fighting stance as soon as he landed.

Blood dripped from his nose, and it also leaked out of the corners of his mouth. His face was decorated with bloody cuts, scrapes, and bruises. From the beginning of their frenzy battle, his clothes had been slowly suffering damage and now all that remained, were a few tattered strands of cloth wrapped loosely around his lean, muscular body. His track pants were mostly shredded and stained with both his and Reiz's blood, but at least it still covered the important parts. His left pant leg had even been ripped straight off from beneath the knee. Despite being battle-damaged, somehow his shoes were still intact but no less covered in blood.

Mori's body was also filled with a good amount of dark bruises, deep, blood-leaking gashes, and stained with dirt that was soaked in his sweat. Splatters of blood belonging to both of them were also present across his torso and limbs.

Looking over at Reiz with his fiery eyes and golden pupils, he saw that his opponent wasn't in any condition better than his. Clothing torn to shreds with red, brown, black, and blue dispersed across his whole body.

Both were breathing heavy, shaky breaths as they tried to ignore their agonizing injuries.

Reiz grabbed whatever was left of the clothes left on his torso, and ripped them off with a simple motion. Mori followed his example and threw his ruined shirt to the side.

They caught their breaths for another few seconds before engaging in combat once more.

"HAAAAAAAAHH!"

"HRRAAAAAAAH!"

[ RE - ARANG ]

[ Eagle - Spear Beak ]

An ear-destroying explosion that pulsated sand and dust into miniature cyclones, went off as the two Demon Kings clashed elbows.

As Mori and Reiz glared at each other, sparks of lightning and fire were flying out from the point of impact between their arm joints.

However, the sharp, intense gazes of red and silver eyes started to falter as they began to narrow, and a sour, slightly derpy expression started to morph across their faces.

Immediately the two fighters separated and retreated to their sides of the battlefield.

Mori started to rapidly roll his forearm around as he blew profusely onto his elbow.

'Everything is tingly! And fuzzy! And weird! And numb! Oh shit, I think I can't feel my arm anymore!' he screamed in panic in his mind.

On the opposite end, Reiz was vigorously shaking out his entire arm so much that it looked like it had no bones left inside, and doing waves that would make an experienced street dancer jealous.

'Fuck! My funny bone! I can't believe it actually got hit!' he mentally cried out in astonishment.

"Reiz!" Mori yelled at his adversary, still rotating his arm like a rabid helicopter blade, "Time out! Time out!"

"I agree! I agree!" Reiz responded while doing the same.

Just like that, they mutually agreed on a three-minute break as the two Demon Kings used the time to soothe out the bizarre pain they felt in their arm.

Once settled, they faced one another for what might've been the hundredth time in that fight.

As neither of them felt like they could go on for another five minutes, both sides knew that this fight would be coming to its end soon.

Although stumbling a bit at first, Mori broke out into a sprint towards his adversary, who also mirrored his movements.

As Mori ran, black and blue flames erupted and began to dance around his right foot.

His left foot dug into the ground and with a powerful push, Mori launched himself into the air.

At the same time, red lightning began to crackle to life and loosely cloaked Reiz's two forearms. He also leaped into the sky and now both fighters were face-to-face in midair.

From Mori's leg, a brilliant blue Eastern Dragon, with fiery black outlines formed from the flames and stretched out to tower over the red-eyed king as the faint roar of a dragon could be heard.

With Reiz, there was a similar phenomenon happening. A mixture of crimson smoke and sapphire blue electricity began discharging from his arms and spine. Still attached to Reiz's body, the combination of elements floated into the air and took the shape of a large, red bird-of-prey with sparkling blue outlines.

[ ORIGINAL - KICK OF THE AZURE DRAGON ]

[ ORIGINAL - WINGS OF THE VERMILION BIRD ]

The two Demon Kings launched their attacks.

As he kicked, the giant blue dragon rushed forward with its jaws open wide and a trail of a black and blue inferno behind it. The faint roar from before could be heard more clearly now and the beast's roar echoed across the arena dimension.

In the same manner a bird would flap its wings, Reiz swung his arms forward, and they crossed over to form an 'X'. The scarlet red bird shot forward like a comet to meet the dragon as it let out an ear-piercing, avian screech.

When the two legendary animals collided it caused a towering hurricane of red and blue until it glowed white as it morphed into a sphere, and shortly after detonated a massive explosion that shook the entire arena. The blinding brightness from the explosion washed over the dimension, as Mori and Reiz were knocked off their feet and sent into the air due to the sheer amount of force created from the collision.

Sirzechs immediately shot to his feet when he saw the screens going static for a few seconds then cut out to a blank black.

"What happened?!" he heard some of the High-Class Devils exclaim in shock.

"D-Did...did we lose connection?"

"What's going on?"

As the fire of confused commotion quickly sparked to life, Sirzechs turned to Ajuka, and the green-haired devil leader was already on the investigation.

He flicked out a small blue button from his pocket onto the railing, and it summoned multiple, much smaller screens to appear in a circle around him and Sirzechs.

All of them were blank.

"It looks like all thirty of the Recording Orbs have been destroyed," Ajuka informed, "Most likely in that explosion just now,"

"Yeah, that's the best answer we have now," Sirzechs agreed with a nod, but then looked over to a small empty space behind the populated viewing area.

"If they're too exhausted to continue then the Teleportation Circles would transport them over there," the Crimson Maou explained to his friend, "But the fact that they haven't returned worries me,"

"It's possible that the explosion also took out the Teleportation Circles," Ajuka suggested.

"Then they're trapped," Sirzechs realized, "...Shit,"

"We can't let the crowd know," said Ajuka and his fellow leader nodded in agreement, "I'll go and see if there's a way to take them out,"

"Then in the meantime, I'll find a way to appease them until you get back," Sirzechs told him.

"If they ask where I'm going, tell them I've gone to get an extra screen and orb from my lab,"

"Alright,"

With that Ajuka teleported back to his laboratory to seek a way to retrieve the two fighters from the arena dimension, and Sirzechs turned back towards the High-Class Devil audience to begin his stalling with words.

Back in the arena… If the few floating chunks of rubble, still counted as an arena that is.

On a small, table-sized piece of floating rock. Mori was hanging on with one hand, his fingers hooked into the hard surface as the rest of his tired, injured body dangled off the edge.

Breathing in pants, Mori slowly looked around as he tried to locate the other fight. He knew that Reiz wasn't unconscious as if he were, there would've been an announcement stating his victory. But that never came, and the floating rubble cluster didn't make finding his opponent any easier.

Mori then decided that his current position was an extremely vulnerable one and with all the power he could muster, hauled himself up onto the rock platform. Once on it, despite his shaky legs, Mori was able to stand up albeit at a slower pace.

"Where is he?" he murmured while putting pressure on a bleeding wound on his side.

Unbeknownst to the black-haired king, Reiz had recovered faster than him and was perched higher above on a similarly-sized floating rock.

By manipulating his body weight, Reiz tilted the rock forward until he was facing the boy at an angle. The rock acted as a launch-pad and the Phenex-hybrid was on the offensive.

He shot down like lightning and Mori sensed his presence just in time to pounce away.

Just as he was about to land on another piece of debris, Reiz rocked back and kicked the one Mori was just standing on at high speeds towards the red-eyed king's current rock.

The two boulders shattered on impact and Mori started plummeting down the void.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!" his head whipped in every direction to see if there was another piece of rubble close enough to reach out to.

Unluckily for him, there was none. It seemed that Reiz had planned for him to jump in this direction where the cluster was less prominent.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Mori cried out as he kept falling.

Then he came to an abrupt stop. He looked back expecting to see Reiz holding him up for some reason but there was nothing, just air.

"What the-?" he whirled around and looked down at his body in confusion, "I can...I can fly?"

Watching him from a sky scraper's length away while, hovering in the air without wings, Reiz smirked and laughed, "Oh good, he can fly,"

Mori gradually levitated his way up to where the arena used to be, still looking at his palms in amazement.

"I can fly," he whispered to himself then started to get a little giddy, "This is going to make life so much easier,"

"Hey, Mori!"

The black-haired boy looked up to see Reiz a good distance away in front of him.

"What do you say we end this?!" the Roc Demon King suggested, "We both know that neither of us can continue for another minute or so,"

"Yeah, you're right about that!" Mori responded back in a shout then softened his tone so only he could hear, "I feel like most of my body's gone numb, and as he said, my stamina is basically gone too,"

Reiz nodded and floated back a slight distance. Mori let out one more huff before his gaze turned sharp.

Their next move...would be their final attack.

To Reiz, it was the attack that would determine his mother's fate.

And to Mori, it was the attack that would determine the future of his friends.

Whoever came out on top would be the victor, and that was more than enough of a reason to pour every last ounce of power into this final strike.

Reiz began to calm himself with some meditative breathing, and when his heart had returned close to the normal beating pattern, he closed his eyes. A thin, light blue aura outlined his body

…

…

…

[ ORIGIN FORM - PHASE 0.5 ]

Suddenly, Reiz's hands and forearms were cloaked in the same blue aura, and at the same time, his legs from the knee down experienced the same type of phenomenon. The aura seemed to harden, then shattered like glass, revealing dark-orange, scale-like skin. On the outer side of his forearms and on the back of his calves, curved blades of azure-blue feathers had formed. Finally, his hands and feet had been replaced by ones resembling an eagle's. The differences were that, unlike an eagle, Reiz kept five fingers and toes, but instead of nails, there were sharp, black talons instead.

Reiz opened his eyes and the silver in his irises seemed to glow.

Mori had to cover his face with an arm as he attempted to block out the unbelievably turbulent winds kicking up from the transformation. If he had to give an estimate, it was ten times more violent than the first time Reiz transformed. The black-haired king could also feel that Reiz's power had once again increased, this time by only fifteen times.

But to the currently, tired and injured Monkey King. Fifteen was a lot.

"Damn it," he growled as he tightly clenched his fist.

'He's stronger now… I can't win like this… I need power...just a bit more...enough to fight on the same level he's on now'

In his despair, the red-eyed king started to drain out all surrounding sounds and started to hear the chirps and cries of a thousand monkeys, whispering in his ears.

'...more power...more...more… I want… MORE POWER!"

"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Mori released an ear-splitting, animalistic roar, and there was a deeper, more terrifying, and rumbling, roar of a large monster echoed along with it.

A black and red aura of aggressive wildfire and violent winds erupted out of Mori.

He glared at Reiz. The red of his fiery eyes glowed brighter, and the gleaming, golden, crosshair pupils had somehow become even sharper until they were almost needle-like.

His four canine teeth had even turned into fangs.

[ HUAGUO MONKEY - ORIGINAL SIN ]

This highly aggressive was an ability exclusive to the monkeys of Flower Fruit Mountain. It would activate anytime the monkey was in an uncontrollable rage or threatened with his or her own life, enhancing all abilities by a frighteningly great amount.

In this berserk state, Mori couldn't think clearly and all of his memories were mixed up together in a crazy cyclone inside his mind. But he didn't care. All he knew now…

Was to fight.

Mori and Reiz rushed into combat faster than light. When they clashed, every bit of floating debris in the vicinity was sent flying back several miles, as if they were nothing but specks of dust being flicked away.

In the very center of the purple void, the two Kings were struggling in an attempt to overpower the other. Both their hands were pushing against the other, with their fingers interlocked tightly. Reiz's talons were clawing into Mori's hands, drawing blood, while Mori's now sharper nails did the same to the Roc's backhand.

"Good to see you again, Peacock!"

"Nice of you to remember me, Monkey!"

The two Demon Kings then separated and swiftly flew back to their original places. With a simultaneous thundering roar, the duo powered up, releasing even more aura in the process.

Instantly, the two rocketed further up in the air, and it was there they planned on unleashing the decisive attack.

A towering, silver and blue electrical aura was discharged from Reiz's body, while a massive black and red flaming energy was pulsating from Mori.

With a final battle-cry, the two Kings charged at each other one last time.

Both their respective energies rapidly increased in size until Reiz and Mori looked like ants trapped inside a titan-sized, flaring, deadly blob of jello.

Reiz's electrifying blue-silver energy took the shape of a great Roc.

While Mori's blazing black-red energy morphed into a giant, muscular monkey.

As they flew forward with untraceable speeds, their two respective aura's let out fear-inducing, bone-chilling, blood-thirsty, paralyzing roars.

"GARUDAAA!"

"WUKOOONG!"

[ SUN WUKONG ORIGINAL - INFERNO BLITZ OF THE 8 TRIGRAMS ]

[ ROC DEMON KING ORIGINAL - PLASMA DIVE OF THE 1ST CALAMITY ]

Their vicious cries echoed throughout and shook the entire dimension until…

Impact.

It was a small bright sparkle at first, the size of a seed.

Then faster than anyone could comprehend, it exploded into an ever-growing sphere of destruction, engulfing the two fighters and quickly reaching sizes bigger than some countries. Every last bit of floating rubble within that arena dimension was completely evaporated the moment the sphere devoured it.

The sphere kept growing and growing and growing, its rapid increase in size had continued for nearly a minute now, and it had reached a size that could even rival the moon.

Then it started to simmer. It flickered rapidly and the destructive sphere soon became nothing more than a mere cloud, slowly evaporating into the emptiness of the void.

Mori and Reiz...were nowhere to be seen.

Back in the engagement hall, everyone was in disarray. The High-Class Nobles were exchanging glances while their panic-filled, confused voices bounced off the walls as they conversed with the ones next to them.

The members of the Occult Research Club were among them.

Worried expressions were sketched on each of their faces as they had no idea what had happened, and what was happening to their friend and fellow club member, Mori.

"Ddraig, Ddraig!" Issei called for the red dragon.

[ I'm here partner ]

"You saw what happened a couple of minutes ago right?"

[ Of course, your eyes are my eyes ]

"Then do you know what happened to Mori?"

[ Before the screens cut off it looked like Reiz and Mori had launched some sort of technique and the feedback of the clash destroyed the recording orbs within the arena ]

"Seriously?"

[ Yes, and if it had enough power to do that I'm betting that the arena isn't in any better shape. It might even be broken or splintered ]

"How is he doing now?"

[ Issei, I might be the Red Dragon Emperor but I can't see into different dimensions. The only thing we can do now, is to wait and see ]

"We don't have time Ddraig! Both of them could be dying in there!"

[ Leave this to the Maous Issei. They have far more experience than you and are already working out a way to save them ]

"Huh?"Issei turned to look up at Sirzechs who was trying to calm some of the nobles. He then noticed Rias walking up to him with Akeno by her side.

"Onii-sama," the redhead greeted her brother.

"Maou-sama," Akeno bowed.

"Ria, Akeno," As the nobles went back to their seats, Sirzechs turned his attention to his sister and her queen, "I'm guessing you want to know what's going on?"

The two beauties nodded at the same time.

"Mori is a student of Kuoh Academy and an irreplaceable member of the Club," stated Rias with a concerned look in her bright blue eyes, "I think I have a right to know what has happened to him,"

Sirzechs's eyes flicked between Rias and Akeno, he saw that both of them had the same anxious expressions and sighed.

"Very well, I'll tell you," he said, "The truth is… Mori and Reiz, they're bo-,"

The Crimson Maou's words were cut off when he picked up a faint rumbling noise coming from outside of the hall.

Then the rumbling became clearer, and clearer, and clearer. The luxurious building they were in also started to shake violently. The large chandeliers swung as if they had nearly no weight in them. The tables of food and drink collapsed, spilling the contents all over the marble flooring. Any noble devil sitting on the bleachers immediately got off and huddled in groups with other High-Class Devils. Their alarmed chatters and cries filled the engagement hall, and the entire area was thrown into chaos.

However, Sirzechs had immediately realized that it was coming from above and looked up to see that there was a point on the ceiling that was beginning to fracture. He looked over and saw several groups of nobles standing underneath it.

Marching quickly to the end of the elevated platform, Sirzechs yelled out, "All of you! Get out of the way!"

The nobles looked at their crimson-haired leader, and then their gazes moved toward the ceiling. They immediately caught on and evacuated the area. Sirzechs let out a subtle sigh of relief when he saw that they were safe, and they had moved just in time too.

*CRAAAAAAASHHHH*

The ceiling split in half and debris crashed onto the floor, along with two bodies.

Mori and Reiz plummeted and bounced off the ground once before slowly rolling over.

The devils in the room were in a state of utter shock, but that feeling was enhanced even further.

As Mori and Reiz, although both in excruciating pain, out of stamina, and had wounds covered from head to toe. The two of them still gradually pushed themselves off the ground, back onto their feet.

The entire hall went silent. All anyone could hear was the heavy panting coming from the duo.

No one else dared to make a sound. The tension in the hall became so thick that not even a knife could cut through it.

The two Kings stared at each other for what felt like an eternity.

Until, in unison, Mori and Reiz released themselves from their transformations.

They deactivated akin to a sudden pulse causing both to lurch forward. Their hair colors reverting to blue and platinum respectively, while their eyes went back to normal

Their eyes closed before even hitting the ground. Mori fell face-first onto the marble flooring and Reiz's weight had transferred to his shoulder, after doing a slight spin in midair he landed on his back.

The two exhausted and heavily wounded combatants went unconscious at the same time.

Sirzechs was the first to act. He hopped over the platform's fence and landed next to Mori.

"Grayfia," he called out.

In an instant his queen understood his orders, she jumped down from the elevated platform and dropped down next to the half-blood.

A small magic circle appeared in their hand, and they moved it over the collapsed bodies, scanning them thoroughly.

"Rozy, I can't imagine how proud you would be if you could see your son now," the silver-haired maid thought, "You and Aquilus produced quite the offspring,"

"He's alive," confirmed Grayfia.

"Mori also," said Sirzechs.

Upon hearing this, the members of the research club cheered with joyful expressions.

"Yes!" Issei and Yuuto high-fived each other.

"...I'm glad," Koneko said while smiling.

"That's a relief," Akeno sighed with a small grin on her face.

"...Mori," Rias whispered and her eyes started to water.

Just then, the doors swung open and a group of butlers came running in holding stretchers. They lowered them down next to the two injured fighters and carefully lifted them onto the stretchers. As quickly as they arrived, the butlers exited the hall with the two males and headed for the hospital.

'How did they get back here?' Sirzechs thought as he watched them go, 'Unless they can teleport, or if we go in to retrieve them, which was too risky to do. There shouldn't have been a way for them to get back...unless...no….is that possible? If they kept fighting and had somehow created enough force to manipulate the remaining stray strands of magic from the Teleportation Circles within the arena. Then it certainly isn't impossible for them to activate the teleportation with a highly concentrated amount of energy. But this has never been done before, if that is what actually happened then this will be the first-ever recorded instance… Then… Mori and Reiz… I've heavily underestimated the both of them…,"

The Maou turned on his heels and walked back to the center of the hall. There was one more thing he needed to do before finishing up for the day.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat before starting to clap loudly while yelling, "May I have your attention please!?"

Every devil in the room stopped their chattering and turned towards him, he then began his speech.

"The event that I planned has come to an end! I believe that it was indeed the Ultimate event, as this extraordinary battle that we had just witnessed will be remembered for many centuries to come. Unfortunately, the Recording Orbs were destroyed during the match, but we'll be able to salvage the footage that we already have to create copies of the film, so the residents of the Underworld will be able to view at their leisure," he announced.

"The match between the second members of the Dragon and Phoenix Teams, Dan Mori and Reiz Phenex, has concluded in a draw. And with Hyoudou Issei's win over Riser Phenex!," Sirzechs raised an arm towards the Occult Research Club, "This results in the Dragon Team's victory!"

Sirzechs and Rias locked eyes for a moment and the latter had tears forming in the corner of her eyes, as she knew what this meant. Sirzechs then shifted his gaze towards Issei, who stared back at him.

"As I've promised," he said with a smile, "Rias Gremory is exempt from the Marriage Arrangement with Riser Phenex and free to return to her normal life in the Human World,"

…

…

…

"...We did it," Issei's shocked expression slowly changed into one of pure happiness as his lips curved up, "Hahaha...WE DID IT!"

"Buchou," The Pawn turned towards the crimson beauty with a large smile on his scratched up and bruised face, and he held out his hand, "Let's go home,"

"...Issei," her tears couldn't be held back anymore and they rolled down her cheeks. Rias nodded and took Issei's hand.

The other three members of the club grinned at the two of them.

"You two go on ahead," said Yuuto.

"...Later," waved Koneko.

"We'll see you two, no you three soon," said Akeno.

"Right," Issei responded with a nod then he looked over at Sirzechs and asked, "Excuse me Maou-sama, what's going to happen to Mori?"

"We will be giving Mori the best medical services that we can offer for him to have a full recovery," Sirzechs informed, "Today is Saturday correct? Then Mori should be up and running by the time school starts again,"

"That's great to hear," Rias gave a relieved exhale.

Sirzechs nodded then called out to the brown-haired Pawn, "Issei! You know how to leave don't you?"

"Yes, Maou-sama,"

"Then safe travels,"

Issei thanked him and dug out a very crumbled black slip of paper from his pocket. He pressed the center of the drawn magic circle and it started to emit a brilliant shine. The Pawn dropped the piece of paper to block his eyes from the light, and when the brightness simmered out. A large majestic creature stood in the paper's place. It had the bottom half of a lion and the top half of an eagle. The Gryphon reared back on its hind legs and released a regal screech.

It then crouches down next to Issei and Rias, using its avian head to nudge the brown-haired teen, gesturing it to climb on. Once the duo was safely on top of the Gryphon, it rose to its feet and galloped out of the building. With a mighty leap, the Gryphon was in the air as it spread its long, snowy-white wings, and with the two passengers on its back, it flew off into the night sky in order to cross to the Human World.

In an unknown realm, inside of a dark room, illuminated only by a small glass lamp filled with a couple of small blue fire wisps, placed on a table made of dark peachwood.

The Hooded Commander reclined on a stone chair with tiger fur cushioning, and he had his feet crossed over resting on top of the wooden table. His cheek was held up by a fist as he was watching something on a small magical screen. The rest of his body was obscured within the shadows.

On the screen, it was live footage of Mori's fight with Reiz from after they had destroyed the arena.

"GARUDAAA!"

"WUKOOONG!"

The sound of the recording was very faint, but still perceptible if one had good enough hearing. A few seconds later and a muffled explosion could be heard.

The Hooded One stared at the monitor and it showed nothing but a purple void. He lowered his fist from his cheek and tapped the table with one finger. The monitor instantly dematerialized and his hand went back up to his cheek.

His lips stretched up into a toothy smirk, revealing a sharp canine from his top jaw to the light.

"You've grown weaker…"

…

…

…

"...Little Brother,"

Chapter 11 - Finish

PART 2 IS HERE!

Was it shorter? Yes! Did I make up for it with the action? Maybe.

But it's out and you guys and girls didn't need to wait another two months for it. And with this, the Phenex Arc is officially over.

(WARNING: Reasonably sized Author's Note ahead)

Now I noticed a lot of people going "What?! Reiz is Garuda?!". Honestly, I feel like I'm pulling that Astronaut meme on you all because it always has been. I've been dropping hints since his first appearance. They're small hints that you wouldn't notice but they're there, and if you go back to read them now, I'm sure you'll pick them up way easier. And yes, Reiz was always meant to go up against Mori in this Arc. He was never meant to fight Riser. That's also why I wanted to introduce Reiz before the arc even started so you guys can get familiar with him first, instead of dropping him in randomly a chapter before they fight. (You can ignore this: but Reiz was created even before this story was planned. He's in an old DXD story I wrote and his appearance, backstory, and identity are all the same in both of these stories… If you're wondering what it was about, it was basically following a reincarnated Wukong's path of redemption after being killed and replaced by the Macaque...only it's in DXD...yeah)

A couple of people mentioned Gunseng too and I do want to remind everyone that he is one of Gautama's (who hasn't officially appeared in this yet) top warrior monks. I don't want to scale him yet, but he is...pretty strong, otherwise, he wouldn't have been chosen to retrain the Monkey King. He also knows his stuff due to Gautama's teachings. And for those who are wondering what he looks like, I based him off of Jet Li.

Moving on to important things! I think that now after 10 chapters, I should do some sort of summary or guide of everything that has happened, so we're all caught up for the next ten chapters. Let's begin:

1-3: Mori is transported to a parallel universe (through means I cannot say), befriends Issei, and elbows someone really hard.

4-5: Mori befriends Asia, is revealed to the supernatural, fights and kills 200 stray exorcists. Has memory-like dream sequences of Flower Fruit Mountain and meets a little monkey. Reiz's debut.

6: First appearance of The Hooded One, Xakar, and the barbaric blue-skinned faction (name will be revealed soon enough). The faction failed to capture a girl with a certain Sacred Gear. Mori befriends the ORC. Gunseng's debut. Guanyin's 1st appearance. Gautama first mentioned. Gates of the Rift 1st mention. Mori starts training with the staff.

7: Phenex Arc Begins. 1 month has passed since Chp.6. Reiz's 2nd appearance. Riser arrives. Mori receives another memory dream that foreshadows his battle with Reiz. Crustacean Monster warns Sirzechs of The Nine.

8: Training begins. Mori vs Yuuto. Reiz and Sirzechs talk.

9: ORC loses Rating Game, causing Mori to go and talk to Sirzechs, and ultimately decides on a Team Battle for the fate of Rias. Ahri and Yasaka's 1st appearance. Gates of the Rift 2nd mention. Marine Animal-based Demons in the Antarctic searching for something. Grigori at Mt Baekdu. Gautama's 2nd mention.

10: Mori vs Reiz Pt1. Reiz's backstory. Reiz is revealed to be the Roc Demon King. Mori regains Renewal Taekwondo. Mori unlocks the Monkey King Form. Title drops for The Nine Kings. Demon Realm revealed (kinda). Arthrovian Dominion.

11: Mori vs Reiz Pt2. Dragon Team Victory. Rias is freed. New Monk mentioned. Gautama's 3rd mention. The Hooded One's 2nd appearance.

And that's about it. Now one more thing to add just so everyone is on the same track:

The Nine Kings:

Bull - ?

Saurian - ?

Wooly Horn - ?

Roc - Reiz

Lion - ?

Langur-Macaque - ?

Snub-nosed Simian - ?

Black Tiger - ?

Handsome Monkey - Mori

And that's it!

That's all for Chapters 10 and 11! Once again hope you enjoyed it, leave a review, and all that good stuff.

Thank You For Reading, and Goodbye!