Tales Of The Fearless Dragon

by streetlife34

Delinquent, Brother, Protector of the weak, Undefeated fighter, Kind, Ruthless. Add Devil to that list. There all kind's of strange beings in this new this world, but that doesn't matter, no matter who gets in my way I will be victorious. I'm the current Red Dragon Emperor, Shirou Tsukiharu and I never lose.

30. Final Clash — Dragon Vs Dragon

Hey everyone and get ready for this chapter. I know this chapter is extremely late but it just took so long to put everything together, I considered splitting the chapter in two but I said before this chapter would close the Arc so I ultimately made one huge chapter, this is easily the biggest chapter I've ever written of anything.

I was actually planning on finishing this sooner but something came up that took up a lot of my time. After being between jobs for like a year I was finally given a chance to get hired for a new one, it took a while preparing for it so now I'm just waiting to see if I get the job or not.

Back to the chapter though, the vast majority will cover Shirou and Vali's fight and the rest will be the aftermath and finally the epilogue. Hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan-based parody, Highschool DxD, Highschool DxD New, Highschool DxD Born, Highschool DxD EX, and Highschool DxD Hero are all owned by Funimation, Fushimi Shobo, TNK, Passione, and Ichiei Ishibumi. Please support the official release.

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"Shirou" Regular speech.

"Shirou" Thoughts.

DRAGON SHOT Attack names.

(Shirou) Words said previously.

"SHIROU!" Shouting speech.

[Ddraig] Dragon talking.

---

Final Clash — Dragon Vs Dragon

---

A certain night seven years ago.

The day I met that child, I remember it very clearly. It was a very cold and snowy night. Shemhazai had brought a boy before me— Azazel. The boy was wearing tattered clothes, his hair was messy, and he had wounds all over his body. What made me even more concerned were his eyes which expressed hostility, and demonstrated that he had been raised without being able to trust anyone. It was obvious that he had been harshly abused. This boy had been subjected to the cruelty of his own Father and Grandfather. Shemhazai told me that this boy was using a deserted house somewhere in the mountains of Europe as a stronghold; both the police and agents of the Vatican wanted to apprehend him, but they were repelled by the youth's unimaginable ability. After the agents of the Vatican found out that this boy had the power of a Devil as well as— The power of a great Dragon, they planned to send several higher-level agents. At that point, Shemhazai received contact from the side of the Devils, saying 'I hope that you guys can protect this boy'. When Shemhazai went with his subordinates to capture this boy, they discovered that he had the Sacred Gear of the White Dragon— The Light Wings of the White Dragon Emperor; he was the White Dragon Emperor of this generation. Although we constantly monitored all of the Longinus wielders, it could be described as the first time that we were right next to one, moreover, it was a boy. Upon seeing the boy for the first time, I spoke first.

"You sure did cause a lot of trouble. …What is your name?"

In response to my question, the boy remained silent for a while, and then replied

"…Vali…Lucifer."

Indeed, this boy— Vali wasn't just a Longinus wielder, he was also a descendant of the Maou, and could be said to have inherited the blood of the father of all Devils, Lucifer; his existence itself could be called a joke. The Vatican— If Heaven knew the truth, they would most certainly be afraid, and would immediately kill him. Or perhaps even if the Devils' side knew about his existence at that time….…Shemhazai's source of information about Vali came from a servant of the former Lucifer's son— A servant of Rizevim. That servant contacted Shemhazai— Through Devils who had connections with Fallen Angels, and conveyed that information about Vali. Precisely because we knew this, Vali was able to safely take refuge inside the Grigori. If the Devils' side learned of the existence of Vali, how would the current government, who had a poor relationship with the Old Satan Faction, especially the Great King Family treat him? Perhaps he would be imprisoned until his death, or perhaps they would dispose of him as a person that had never even existed— He was an existence who was born from a Human, yet at the same time he had the power of Lucifer and the White Dragon Emperor, so there wouldn't be a single person among the higher-ups that wouldn't panic. In order to allow Vali to survive, I felt that the choice that that servant made was not wrong. But not long after, we stopped receiving any contact from the servant. I was afraid that, no, that person had become a victim in order to allow Vali to successfully escape. Why did that servant try to save Vali even at the cost of their own life? Someone suggested that they did not want to see the good blood of Lucifer be lost. Perhaps it was because they couldn't turn a blind eye to the cruel treatment that Vali received from Rizevim. Anyway, under such circumstances, how would we deal with Vali?

Sacred Gear… Perhaps to the System of the Sacred Gears, none of the wielders had a choice. Thus, I witnessed several tragedies. Being one-sidedly given a 'miracle' from the Heavens— It was more appropriate to call it an ability. The ability controlled them, and ruined their lives… The sight of them enveloping their surroundings in misfortune simply made me feel emptiness. Especially the wielders of the Sacred Gears of the Two Heavenly Dragons; their lives were burdened with the fate of battle. Thus they experienced many rough situations and the lives of those all around them suffered similar misfortune; there were far too many of these cases. At that time, I thought that Vali might also have been drawn into such a fate.

After keeping Vali in the Grigori for a few months— Although Vali hadn't opened himself up to us, he had already become accustomed to life in there. I also spoke with him seriously many times. After I informed him of the events related to that servant, his eyes widened in surprise, and he then turned around and said a single thing.

"….…How stupid."

What did his young mind actually think about the demise of that servant? Using that as an opportunity, Vali began to ask me how to use the Sacred Gear. Reading and writing, I increased my parenting with him. That boy slowly grew up and also began to show his potential. Relying on that, when he was finally able to communicate with Albion, which he was unable to do before, I was unable to forget the wide smile that had emerged on his face. He had a very vague concept of family and loved ones, but he unconsciously pursued power…the contradiction of his existence flashed before my eyes. Vali had inherited the blood of Lucifer, and also held the power of the White Dragon Emperor. The child who possessed such an ability when he was born… His own Father feared him and was incited to abuse him by Rizevim. You should have opposed him. Even if he is your biological father, it was a life-threatening situation, so you should have been able to oppose him with that ability. When Vali heard me say this, his eyes were filled with sorrow.

"…If I wasn't beaten by that man, Mother would have been beaten in my place. Also…"

The next thing that Vali said was something that I would never forget in my life.

"…When that man was hitting me… He had a calm expression. Although I was scared, felt pain, and hated it, I think it was something that man had to do."

The man who feared Vali; upon seeing that his own son was being beaten without resistance, it was the first time that he could feel at ease. As the man who was born as the grandson of Lucifer, he should have been a 'special' existence from the moment that he was born. However, his own child— Was a 'monster' greater than himself. He felt fear from the bottom of his heart. Having the expectations that came with the position of Lucifer's grandson, he was fearful that his child who had even more potential than himself would kill him while he was asleep in the future. There was also pressure from his own chichi, Rizevim. All of this was added together. That man beat his non-resistant son in order to secure a place for his own existence. That point was realized by this boy, so he allowed himself to be abused without resisting— He was the child who was discarded by his family, without ever knowing anything about the warmth of a family.

A year after Vali came over to me— The silver-haired youth who had learned how to use his own power was already able to overwhelm the Sacred Gear wielders of his generation; he had confidence in his own power while moving forward with his life's goals. Vali said to me

"Azazel, I want to become stronger than anyone in this world. Where my own power and my innate ability can reach, I want to know that clearly. I want to be stronger than Rizevim, the previous generation's Lucifer, and even the True Red Dragon God Emperor— Great Red."

The boy who was born with the power that brought misfortune to himself decided to pursue the path of power. Compared to the power to protect someone, he didn't pursue the power to protect himself, rather, he pursued the power which wouldn't lose to anyone else. He will be at the mercy of the power of the Two Heavenly Dragons, or should I say—

"Yes, Azazel. My opponent… What kind of person is the Red Dragon Emperor?"

The Silver-haired youth asked me that, his eyes were sparkling with the splendor of curiosity.

---

Play OST — Need To Be Strong — Naruto

CLASH!

The two Dragon Emperor's fists clashed against each other in the sky. The impact caused a massive shockwave that reverberated all over the battlefield and pulling back everything around them, it also created a burst of wind that from all sides, knocking them both back.

Immediately after they were separated, Shirou and Vali regained their balance and charged at each other once again.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

The fight became more intense as trails of Red and White lights were crashing into each other, dashing all around the sky with such great speed and agility, it resembled the sight of two sparks dancing across the battlefield.

CLASH!

Once again the two fists of the Dragon Emperor's crashed into each other, this time both fists were covered in Dragon-Aura. The shockwaves were even greater than before but this time neither one of them was blown back. Vali continued his assault by bringing up his leg for a kick aimed at Shirou's head, but Shirou leaned back and dodged it.

Shirou then held out his palm and fired a blast of Demonic-power at Vali. Using the speed of his Light Wings, Vali not only evaded the blast but he circled around Shirou and appeared behind him in the blink of an eye. He brought back his fist and was about to punch him, but Shirou, without turning around, used wind-magic and created a blast of wind around his body that blew Vali back.

Now gaining the momentum, Shirou used his speed to get in front of Vali while he was off balance and throw a Haymaker aimed at his face. But before he could make contact, Vali's magic-barrier protected him and completely blocked Shirou's punch.

Shirou didn't stop his offense though and using both hands, he summoned Lightning-magic which he discharged at Vali, but the White Dragon Emperor was slick and closed in while sailing past the Lightning as if it was never aimed at him. Once he got in close range, Vali threw another punch and Shirou used his palm to deflect his punch before throwing a counter punch which Vali blocked with his forearm.

Now that they were both back in close range, they both unleashed a storm of blows at each other that was too fast for an untrained eye to follow. Shirou threw a punch at Vali's head which Vali caught with his hand. Vali threw a punch at Shirou's stomach which Shirou block with his knee. Shirou aimed a kick at Vali ribcage which Vali dodged by circling to his right. Vali threw a punch at the side of Shirou's head which Shirou dodged by ducking. Time and time again they both struck only to be blocked or for their blows to hit nothing but air.

CLASH!

They clashed once again and as if by some unheard signal, both fighters shot downwards towards the ground at a break-neck speed.

DON!

Like a boulder hitting the ground after a rockslide the impact they created kicked up a large amount of dirt and dust, which blocked them from sight. But they could still be heard and as the cloud of dirt faded away, the two youths could be seen still exchanging blows no different from when they were in the air, only now their feet were planted firmly on the ground.

Quick as a flash they separated from each other again and dashed around the grounds which shooting blasts of Demonic-power at each other. Destroying many parts of the ground as they fired at their respective targets. Once they stopped shooting, they both charged forward like bullet trains and were covered in trails of Red and White, they clashed, broke apart, and clashed again. To those watching, it was like seeing two beams of lightning continuously strike each other and massive impacts each time.

After several clashes, they ceased and became looked in a power struggle where both were trying to push the other back. The result, they both leaned back and opted for a headbutt which ended in both Devil's smashing their heads into each other with an equal driving force. If they were in any pain they certainly didn't show it.

Shirou kicked off the ground to initiate another attack as he spun his body around while coating his entire right leg with Demonic-power. Increasing his speed, Shirou made sure to aim his kick at Vali's head. Vali raised his forearm and caught the attack with little effort even though he was a little caught off guard by how fast it was.

However, that kick was merely a feint as Shirou's Demonic-power flowed from his leg to his arm, that coupled with the speed of his reflex and the fluidity of his control over his body gave him a great advantage when in close range. As he clenches his fist, Shirou leans in and duh his fist directly into Vali's gut. Vali focused enough Demonic-power to harden his muscles and took the attack with virtually no damage.

This exchange chained into the next one as they went back to throwing a flurry of blows at each other at intense speeds. While exchanging punches both combatants steadily levitated upwards in the air until before long they were back in the sky. The long exchange ended after they both punched each other at the same time, both were aiming for a headshot but both fists only barely grazed each other's heads.

They followed up with kicks, Shirou coated his leg in Demonic-power again and kicked at Vali, this time intending to strike for real. However, Vali was a sharp opponent and after seeing it once before, he replicated the move almost perfectly and coated his own leg in Demonic-power, unleashing his kick at Shirou. Both kicks clashed and canceled each other out, forcing the two back.

After that, they both moved back to gain some distance and stopped when they were a few meters apart from each other. Not missing a beat, Shirou and Vali gathered a moderate amount of Demonic-power in their hands and both fired a one-handed beam of Demonic-power.

CLASH!

The two beams were locked in a power struggle as they pushed against each other. It was a blinding sight of Red with green-outlines clashing against White with blue-outlines, both struggling for Dominance and Supremacy over the other. Sparks of excuse power were discharging around the beams and struck the ground like Lightning. In the end, like all their other struggles, this one ended in a stalemate as both beams exploded in the center and faded.

Music Off

As both of them saw that neither one of them was making any kind of progress since their battle had started, Shirou and Vali had only one response.

[Tch…] They both clicked their tongue with mild irritation.

While the Rival-showdown raged on in the sky, on the grounds beside the School Building, everyone was watching the battle take place. They all watched with anticipation, some were in awe, amazement, or interest in how this fight would turn out.

"…Amazing." Kiba breathed out.

"I've never seen two people so evenly matched before." Xenovia commented, in awe of the fight.

"It's impressive that Vali is able to match Shirou-kun so well." Sirzechs stated as he watched, socially.

"No, it's actually the other way around." Azazel argued. "As a Devil King's descendant and since he's had his Sacred Gear for much longer, Vali's base stats are much higher, the fact that the Red Dragon Emperor is able to at least keep things in a state of equilibrium is a testament to his great fighting sense."

"To be honest though, it doesn't seem like either one is using all that they have." Michael noticed. "Neither one has activated the powers of their Dragons yet."

"Which probably means they're still gagging each other's abilities before they switch to a higher gear." Serafall reasoned. "Meaning this fight may take a while before it progresses."

"You think so?" Mika lazily commented, getting everyone's attention. "I seriously doubt that."

"What?" Rias spoke out in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, Mika leaned back and narrowed her eyes at the fight as the two of them stopped.

Back in the fight, the two wielders of the Heavenly Dragons merely floated there.

[You're doing well to hold you're ground, Partner. If you keep pushing forward, you might be able to gain the momentum at some point.]

Instead of responding to Ddraig's words, Shirou just let out a sigh and mutter. "…I'm tired of this."

[He's doing better than expected, but we still have the upper hand, Vali. Just don't be too reckless, before long the chance to strike will present itself.]

"No, Albion…" Vali replied silently to his Dragon. "These past few exchanges have helped me realize….… Fighting by ordinary means against this man won't get me anywhere."

DOOOOON!

At that moment, as if they were synchronized, both the Young Devil's powered up their Aura to incredibly high reserves. So much so that they were covered in a sphere of deep Red and glistening White. Following that, White changed his Aura into two spheres of Demonic-power that were as large as his body and held one in each hand, whilst Shirou brought out Dyrnwyn and held it with both hands while covering the blade with searing flames.

Vali released the two large spheres of Demonic-power and fired them at Shirou, as they traveled towards him, the two combined into one that was twice their individual size. Meanwhile, Shirou raised Dyrnwyn above his head and brought it down upon the sphere of Demonic-power, as if he was trying to cut the sphere in two.

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

After increasing his power with the Boosted Gear's ability, Shirou's Sword succeeded in cutting through the Demonic-power and cleaved it in two before the two half flew past him and exploded.

With that down, Shirou raised one of his hands and fired his own blast of Demonic-power at Vali.

DRAGON BLAST!

His attack wasn't as large as Vali's but it was still powerful in its own right. However, Vali made no attempt to block or evade the attack and merely floated there without any kind of concern. As the attack reached him, the Light Wings of Divine Dividing lit-up.

[REFLECT!]

With an effect that caught almost everyone watching off-guard, Shirou Dragon Blast didn't damage Vali but instead changed its direction and bounced back at its user with speed even greater than the original speed it traveled in. In less than a second, the attack made contact with and exploded on Shirou.

BOOOOOM!

Back on the grounds, those watching looked surprised at how quickly and suddenly the course of the fight turned, except Mika. She merely watched as though she expected this to happen.

"This fight may take a while before it progresses?" Mika repeated what was previously said. "As if those two are patient enough to wait that long."

After the explosion surrounding Shirou cleared away, he was revealed to still be floating there looking almost unaffected by the hit, though he raised his arm to block the attack, and thus the armor around his arm was slightly cracked in a few parts.

"Surprised you a little, didn't I?" Vali spoke in a relaxed manner. "That was the second ability of my Sacred Gear, Reflect. I can reflect all magic or energy-based attacks back at my opponents with double the speed."

"Yeah, I noticed." Shirou said, looking over his arm. "This is the closest thing to damage that I've received all day, but I can't be too surprised considering it was my own attack."

"Hmph, your hubris seems to know no bounds." Vali commented with amusement.

Shirou chuckled slightly. "Heh, like you're one to talk." He retorted while fixing the cracks in his armor.

On the grounds, those watching kept their eyes peeled as it looked like the fight was about to start up again.

"How do you think this fight's going to turn out?" Tsubaki asked, with a bit of sweat.

Sona shook her head. "I can't even begin to guess, both of them have outrageous levels of power."

Back to the battle, Shirou now held Dyrnwyn with only one hand while he held out the other hand. "Since we're done flexing our muscles, I think it's about time I deal some real damage."

Spouting an aura from the magic power jets his my back, Shirou rushed towards Vali with great speed. While holding Dyrnwyn on one hand, he gathered power in his other hand and made a declaration.

"Ascalon!"

[BLADE!]

As the blade of the Dragon-Slaying Sword Ascalon shot out from his wrist like a claw, Shirou thrusts the blade at Vali, intending the hack him apart. However, he didn't manage to land a hit with his swinging thrust on Vali as he dodged with light movements.

[Vali, that Sword carries Dragon-Slaying powers. If it hits just once, you'll undeniably receive great damage.]

"Is that so, Albion. But there's no meaning if it doesn't hit!" Vali pointed out.

"Don't be so sure." Shirou taunted him. "There are ways to you a Sword outside of close wrong. You can see for yourself, here's the proof!"

Shirou raised both his blades up and, taking a page from Kokabiel's book he crossed his two Holy-Swords together, he then slashed out and sending a massive "X" shaped energy slash of Holy-aura towards Vali with power even greater than the power that was unleashed by the late Fallen-Angel.

Vali didn't attempt to Reflect this attack and instead gathered magic-power in his hands as he reached out and caught the Holy-slash as it reached him.

"Grr…" Vali grit his teeth as he struggled to push back the attack.

If it was the blades themselves, it would have been impossible for him to block them. But since it was just Holy-Aura that was detached from the Holy-Swords, it was possible for Vali to overpower them. And that was what he did as Vali pushed with all his might and deflected the slash of Holy-Aura, hurling upwards into the sky.

However, Shirou's assault wasn't finished there as right after Vali succeeded in deflecting the slash, Shirou appeared right in front of him with Dyrnwyn held out and ready to slash at Vali. The Hakuryuukou flew back to move outside the Sword's range, but the Sekiryuutei anticipated this maneuver and followed up by igniting the flames of Dyrnwyn's blade, which he then used to shot out at his opponent like a Flamethrower.

FLAME!

After being hit by the flames of Dyrnwyn, Vali received a bit of damage and was pushed back a few meters. Now, having finally created an opening, Shirou retreated Ascalon back into his gauntlet and closed his fist, while he transmuted the power of the Dragon-Slayer into his fast, causing it to be surrounded in the same Holy-light as the blade. He then pulled his fist back and was in position to strike.

Vali deployed what seemed to be a Shield of Light in front of him and tried to defend, but.

[BOOST!]

DRAGON FORCE STRIKER!

DON!

Shirou's fist destroyed his Shield of Light with no trouble and smashed a heavy and sharp blow into his abdomen. Whether it was because he received an unexpected blow or not, that Vali's posture was violently bent. Cracks spread from the edges of the armor on the Vanishing Dragon's torso as if it was made of paper, and part of Vali's stomach where Shirou's fist was buried in peeked through the crumbling portion.

The force of the attack sent Vali flying downwards and he was blasted out of the sky, crashing into the ground with the force of a cannonball.

BANG!

Vali hit the ground with a great impact and after crashing down, a large amount of dirt was kicked up while a small crater was formed around the spot where he landed. By the time the dirt cleared, Vali already stood up and had a hand over his abdomen.

"Haha, well that was a surprise." Vali noted with a voice laced with enjoyment. "I never expected a method-of-attack like that."

"I was surprised too, I didn't think Ascalon would have that great of an effect on your armor." Shirou admitted, though still seemed pleased. "Still, I love it when a plan comes together."

On the grounds, a smirk found its way to Azazel's face. "That kid, I'll say this, his fights are never boring."

"I'm confused though, why did Shirou-kun only use Ascalon's Aura inside of his gauntlet?" Irina asked, unsure about his decision. "Couldn't he have dealt more damage if he had used the blade to pierce through his opponent's armor instead?"

"Actually, his decision was the correct one." Michael informed her before he explained. "He's only had Ascalon for a short while so he's not used to using it while it's attached, in a fight like this he can't afford to fight in a way that he can't use comfortably. But more importantly, even if he used the blade instead of a punch, though the blade might hurt the White Dragon Emperor, it wouldn't finish him off and then Shirou Tsukiharu would be put in a dangerous spot."

"Yeah, you can bet this Vali would take advantage of that situation." Azazel added, agreeing with Michael. "While Ascalon would be stabbed through his armor the Red Dragon would be right in front of him, if only for a few seconds. Using that chance he'd reach out and hit him back, allowing him to lock his Sacred Gear onto him and start Dividing his power."

Irina's eyes widened as she understood. "So, he used that attack instead to not only damage his opponent but force him away to cut off his chance at a counterattack?"

Azazel nodded, still enjoying the fight. "That's right. You gotta hand it to him, he's good at thinking under pressure."

As Vali moved his hand away from his abdomen, his armor repaired itself until it was good as new and he made his way back up to meet his Rival in the sky.

"I have to admit, you're really making this interesting." Vali told him as stopped when they were at the same height. "It almost feels like you enjoy trying out new techniques while you fight more than the fight itself."

"I just think it's better to have a lot of cards on hand." Shirou reasoned. "Whenever I gain some kind of power, I always want to create a lot of different ways to use it in a fight, even if I have to invent new abilities on my own."

"Is that so?" Vali asked with a bit of amusement while he thought. "With his sharp technique and that way of thinking, it almost feels like I'm fighting Cao Cao. What fun."

With that, Vali's Light Wings lit-up for a second before he covered himself in Dragon-Aura.

"Well since you showed a bit of your hand, I'd say it's only fair that I show a bit of mine."

Shirou narrowed his eyes beneath his helmet. "What are you planning?"

Vali leaned forward. "Just don't blink."

WHOOOSH!

Saying "don't blink" was accurate considering, in the time it would take an ordinary person to blink their eyes, Shirou found Vali suddenly went from being in front of him to behind him. Not to mention he felt a sharp pain on the side of his stomach as a portion of his armor was cracked.

"That attack, that was beyond fast!" Shirou thought as he turned around. "It felt almost instantaneous or something."

"I hope you haven't forgotten. The Wings of the Vanishing Dragon are the fastest in all the world." Vali boasted with confidence. "With them, I can travel at the speed of light. Let me demonstrate!"

Once again, with speeds faster than Shirou could trace, Vali vanished from to spot he was in. Only now he appeared right away, circling around Shirou with intense speed like he was forming a ring, Vali was so fast he was creating afterimages making it appears as though there were dozens of him. But that wasn't all, outside the right of afterimages was a second one that was also created by Vali circling around Shirou with blinding speed, only they were circling in the opposite direction as if to show off. Naturally, Shirou couldn't see where the real Vali was.

Those who were watching also couldn't follow Vali's movements at all.

"Even if I moved at my top speed with my lightest Sword, I could never move that fast." Kiba admitted as he watched.

"I've never seen anyone move that fast." Xenovia added, trying to keep track of him.

"Even the maximum speed of Excalibur Rapidly wouldn't be able to reach that level of speed." Irina added sounding a little unnerved.

"Azazel, is it true?" Sirzechs questioned the Fallen Angel. "Can he truly move at the speed of light?"

"Among all the Longinus that grant the users speed, Divine Dividing is in a class of its own." Azazel calmly explained to them. "Though, while saying the current Vali can move at the speed of light is an exaggeration, he's definitely faster than anyone I've ever seen, and that's a lot of people."

"Then, is there any way for Shirou to overcome that speed?" Rias asked with great concern.

Azazel shook his head. "It'll be impossible for the current him to reach that same level of speed, his only option is to find a way to counter that speed."

"But how can he do that?" Akeno asked, as concerned as Rias.

"I can think of a few ways, but it won't matter unless he can think of one." Azazel told them, ending the conversation.

As Vali continued to circle around his prey, Shirou started to become impatient as he continued to try and fail to follow the speed of his Rival.

[What's wrong? Having trouble keeping up?] Vali's voice echoed around him. [Or is this speed not enough for you? I could move faster if you like?]

"Self-important Bastard…" Shirou grit his teeth as his patience ran out. "If you're so fast why don't you stop showing off and start fighting.

[If you insist!]

BANG!

Before anyone could even think, Vali's rings of afterimages blinked out of existence and the real Vali was right in front of Shirou with his fist buried into Shirou's stomach with crushing force. But things were only starting to get worse.

[DIVIDE!]

"Gah!" Shirou felt his shoulders fall as though his body had just grown heavier. He could feel it, his power had been siphoned and he felt weaker, slower, and heavier like he was carrying a weight on his back. "So that's what getting half your power stolen feels like."

"And I'm just getting started!" Vali assured him.

Shirou tried to punch at Vali, but he saw it coming a mile away and evaded it. Shirou then received a sharp punch to the cheek, followed by a jab to the stomach, ending with him receiving a swift kick to the chin. Spiraling in the air, Shirou tried to make sense of that last barrage as he straightened himself out.

[DIVIDE!]

"Dammit!" Shirou cursed as his power was siphoned again.

[BOOST!]

Using his own ability, Shirou doubled his power allowing him to lighten the weight that was placed on him and regain the power that was lost in some way.

Unfortunately, while Shirou is able to power up, Vali can power up the same amount while powering down his opponent. So while Shirou's Boosting only puts him back to normal, Vali is still stronger than he was a moment ago. As proof, this time he closed in at an even greater speed.

BANG!

"Augh!" Shirou gasped out in pain as this time, Vali landed three consecutive hooks on Shirou that were so fast it felt like they all hit simultaneously. One hit him in the ribcage, the second hit his chin, and the third hit his right temple. The force behind the blows made him stagger a bit as Vali reached out.

[DIVIDE!]

[BOOST!]

Shirou snapped himself back into action and Boosted his power the moment it was Divided. Sadly he could see that he was clearly dealing with an uphill battle that was only getting harder by the second. Yet again, Vali closed in with speeds higher than before.

BANG! THUD! DON!

Vali's arms blurred like a mirage and his punches traveled even faster than before. A rain of powerful blows hammered into Shirou's body painfully as he could feel his armor cracking all over. These weren't just light taps either as Vali had the raw power to back up his speedy blows. His defense was completely destroyed by his opponent's assault, Shirou felt Vali deal a final blow to his gut that blew him away from him.

SMASH!

To everyone's horror, Vali's last blow shattered through the Boosted Gear's Scale-Mail and completely destroyed the armor into pieces, leaving Shirou defenseless as he coughed out some blood and was blown out of the sky and towards the ground.

[Shirou!/Shirou-san!/Shirou-kun!/Sempai!] All the members of the Occult Research Club along with Irina cried out.

As Shirou came into contact with the hard ground beneath him, he tumbled and rolled through the school grounds helpless before he adjusted his body to roll with the momentum in a bid to get back on his feet. When he stopped moving, he stood straight up and breathed heavily before looking up while he sheathed Dyrnwyn.

"…You're… Gonna pay for that…" Shirou glared up at Vali. "Nobody rearranges my ribcage and lives to brag about it."

"Hmph…Then it's my honor to be the first." Vali bragged with little reserve.

"Ddraig, hurry up and repair the armor."

[It's already taken care of.]

After their short internal-monologue, the Boosted Gear lit up and shined a surrounding green light as Shirou's whole body was coated in a deep Red glow. Once the glow vanished, Shirou was revealed back in his Balance Breaker armor, looking good as new.

[I had to shave off quite a bit of your power to fully restore the armor. Don't let it get destroyed anymore as it'll bring you closer to your operational limit.]

"Don't worry, I won't let him give me the runaround like that again."

After Shirou's internal response to Ddraig's warning, he spread his wings and returned to the sky to face Vali.

"I'm glad to see you're able to continue fighting." Vali praised him in a condescending manner. "But even if you're armor is fixed, it's not like your situation is any different from a moment ago, I can still run circles around you and you'll never see my attacks coming."

"Is that so?" Shirou threw doubt at Vali's claim. "Why not give it another try if you're so confident?"

"Hmph… You don't know when to give up, but…" Vali leaned forward again. "That's just the way I like it!"

WHOOOSH!

This time, Vali disappeared from sight only to reappear in the form of large trails of bluish-White light that attacks Shirou in a thunderous onslaught from all sides, it was like being attacked by blades or a shredder that took the form and intensity of a hurricane. All Shirou did was take a defensive position and stay in place as Vali was attempting to tear him apart.

While he was enduring these relentless attacks, those watching were starting to fear this worst.

"That's enough!" Rias exclaimed emotionally. "I can't just stand here and watch this anymore. We have to help."

"I'll assist as well." Kiba agreed, holding up his Sword.

"So will I." Akeno added, preparing herself.

"You can't." Sirzechs rejected that idea firmly. "At this point, both their Auras have reached levels that are beyond any of you." He informed them with a grim expression. "If any of you try to get near them, you'll die."

"But I—" Rias bit her lip, wanting to argue more.

"But Sir, are you saying we should just do nothing while Shirou-kun's life is in danger?" Kiba persisted, still wanting to attempt. "We have to do something."

Asia, who was the most worried nodded. "H-He's right, Shirou-san needs help or he'll…." She didn't finish that sentence as tears were forming in her eyes.

Sirzechs clenched his fists and his eyes narrowed. The truth was that he also hated having to watch what was happening and we'll he knew he couldn't let them intervene, he still didn't like it.

"It's fine if you want to help, but what help could you possibly offer him?" Azazel questioned them, no longer smiling. "It's unfortunate, but the difference between them was just too great, this fight may be over."

"No…" Rias muttered, not wanting to accept it.

"Over you say? Tell me, what fight have you been watching?"

Everyone turned to look at Ren who spoke those words as he and Mika were the only ones who didn't seem worried.

"There's no way he'll let it end like this. In fact, the momentum is about to shift." Ren informed them.

Back in the sky, Shirou was still dealing with Vali's assault that continued in a wave of deadly precision. However, he changed his position so that his legs were bent up and his knees were reaching his stomach, while his arms were closed up to cover the front of his head and elbows were right above his knees. Basically, his whole body was closed up like a shell, not only that, unbeknownst to his opponent he was gathering a great amount of Aura.

"Alright, that should be enough." Shirou thought as he prepared himself.

Vali's assault from all directions ceased as he flew overhead to gain some distance and rushed towards Shirou for a linear-strike. "This will finish it!"

As Vali closes in, just before he can reach Shirou, Shirou opens up his shells and widely holds out his arms and legs as he releases all the power he was storing up.

HEAVENLY EXPLOSIVE WAVE!

BOOOOOOOM!

Blasting outwards from Shirou's body was a shimmering Golden Light that fired out in every direction like a sphere, simply put—It was an explosion. The intense Golden Light from Shirou's attack covered enough distance to consume Vali and beyond. Those who were watching could feel the power coming from this blast, especially the Devils since their instincts were sending warning signals that let them know, the explosion was made of Holy-Aura.

After what felt like a while when in reality it was only a few seconds, the roar of the blast subsided and the light vanished from the sky. Two figures could be seen in the air where the explosion hit. One was Shirou, his armor looking perfectly intact while some Holy-Aura residue stuck to some parts of his body. The other was Vali who looked as though he took a great amount of damage and had several large cracks all over his armor.

After taking a few breaths, Vali spoke. "Heh, unbelievable." He said as if he had just been told a joke. "So that was your strategy this whole time?"

"Yeah, that's right." Shirou confirmed with satisfaction. "It took me a while before I was able to fully transmute the Holy-Aura throughout my body, but it paid off, just try and close in now."

Azazel laughed and slapped his head. "Hahaha! That kid, he had us fooled the whole time."

"I don't understand, what happened?" Gasper asked, clearly confused though he wasn't the only one.

"If your opponent's attacks are too fast to defend against then you can stop them by using a shield that can't be touched." Ren explained to them. "Since Shirou couldn't slow down Vali's speed he used an explosion-based attack that hits from all sides so Vali can't close in without taking damage."

"And what better way to use it than having it made of Holy-element. He redistributed the Aura from his Holy-Sword all over his body before building it up and then releasing it in one huge blast." Azazel deduced with a wide grin on his face. "Something that would normally kill a Devil, but since one is a Sword made specifically for the Red Dragon Emperor and the other has been enchanted for his personal use, he can actually pull it off."

"So while it looked like he was defenseless, he was really just playing possum." Sona summarized. "And he doesn't have to worry about being on the receiving end of all those High-Speed attacks."

"That remains to be seen." Michael argued, still concerned. "That attack can only be used defensively, but he still doesn't have a way to go on the offensive yet."

"Actually he does." Mika argued. "In fact, the biggest difference between the two of them is about to show itself." She said with confidence.

"The biggest difference?" Akeno repeated confused. "What's that?"

Mika didn't answer as she kept her eyes on the battle. Vali repaired the cracks in his armor and got back into a fighting position.

"I'll admit that was a clever tactic you just pulled, but I still have the advantage." Vali reminded him, still confident. "Even if you try that attack again, all I need to do is stay out of range and blow you away with Demonic-power, not to mention I can still Divide your power until you have nothing left."

"You don't have to worry about that, I won't be using that move a second time." Shirou promised him with little care. "Besides, you won't be able to Divide my power even if you wanted to."

"What are you talking about?" Vali asked, obviously skeptical of his claim.

"The reason I spent all that time wasn't just for the Heavenly Explosion Wave, if that was the case I could have discharged it a while ago, my real plan was to do this." Shirou then held both his fists down and start powering up.

As he began powering up, the residue of Holy-Aura starting to flare up, and more of the Golden Light appeared around his body before it started coming out of his armor and surrounding itself all over his person. Once it fully coated his body, with one final push, Shirou completed the transition.

SHIIIIIIIINE!

Now Shirou's whole body was surrounded by a thick layer of Golden, Yellow, and White, pulsating Aura that hung on him like a large outline and wrapped around his body like a smoldering flame. Shirou raised his fists and inspected his body for a bit.

"Looks like it worked." Shirou noticed, pleased with the results. "Holy-Swords really are handy."

"I see, you used the Aura from your Holy-Swords to create an armor-like coating over your body." Vali summarized, sounding curious. "You plan on using that as a means to fight me?"

"Not just that, any power you steal from me goes into you after you use Divine Dividing, and unlike me, these Swords do just as much damage to you as would any other Devil. Meaning if you try and Divide my power now, it'll be the same as injecting toxic into yourself." Shirou reminded him in a warning manner. "Let's see try and siphon off my power now."

"Hmph… Interesting, so that was your plan." Vali noted, sounding more interested than worried.

Vali then closed his fists and started powering up as well. He gathered up a large amount of Demonic-power that reverberated through the jewels in his armor before all that power released itself in a flash.

SHIIIIIIIIINE!

When the flash cleared, this time it was Vali's body that was surrounded in a thick layer of Aura. It wasn't as compressed as Shirou's Aura but it had greater mass. Vali's Aura was made of his own Demonic-power and its color was White, Blue, and Silver.

"I guess great minds think alike." Shirou commented as he observed Vali imitate his technique.

"I concede that I lack the same procession that you possess when it comes to giving shape to your Aura. However, you have no choice but to admit that I greatly surpass you in power output." Vali proclaimed. "Even if you have the Aura of two powerful Holy-Swords, I have enough Demonic-power to defend against them."

"That won't change the outcome though." Shirou rushed his right fist. "I've seen enough to know how to fight you, next time you try to charge at me, you'll be blown away without knowing what hit you." Shirou proclaimed with confidence.

"Hou? A bold statement, let's see if you can back it up."

Vali raced forward at Shirou at the same speed as before, intending to blitz through him with intense force and destroy his defense. Shirou just waited for him to come as he pulled back his fist and filled it with power before he punched forward.

BIG BANG DRAGON BLOW!

BANG!

.

.

.

.

.

Then suddenly there was silence, everything went dark. Then after a few seconds, the light returned as Vali slowly opened his eyes and for some reason, he found himself looking up at the sky, and not only that, he noticed that he was lying flat on his back on the ground. Looking up at the sky, the Vanishing Dragon could see his Rival still floating up there as he got up.

Practically everyone watching was perplexed with shock at what they just saw. But none was more shocked than Vali Lucifer himself as before he knew it, everything went dark and now he found himself picking himself up from the ground without even knowing how in the world he got there in the first place.

Not only that, Vali's mind felt a bit hazily as though he was seeing double for a moment before his vision cleared up. It was then that Vali realized a key factor in all this, he reached out to his left eye felt his face, that was when realized that a chunk of his helmet was broken and a portion of his face was revealed.

"What the Hell is going on?!" Vali frustratingly asked himself. "Why am I on the ground and why does it feel like I've taken damage? Did he hit me? With what?"

As Vali was trying to get his head in order, almost everyone else was also trying to make sense of what they had just witnessed. They all saw what happened clearly, they just couldn't make sense of it.

It started when Vali rushed in, the result was him getting hit with a counterpunch in the face by Shirou's trademark punching-attack after that Vali was blown out of the sky and into the ground with great force of impact. What was confusing was how Shirou was able to even hit Vali considering he couldn't keep up with his speed a moment ago and how did he manage to damage Vali so much with just one punch.

But among everyone who was wondering about these things, Kiba was the first one to figure it out after he remembered something Shirou had told him once before.

(I actually learned about this a little while ago, when your guard is down and you take a razor-sharp blow to the head, you can completely blackout within an instant. Everything is normal, then all of a sudden Bang! Everything is dark, when you wake up you realize you must have been knocked out.)

"I get it, it's just like he said." Kiba thought in amazement. "Vali let his guard down because he was sure his attack was going to land and thus he wasn't prepared for the counterattack. Shirou-kun hit him with a blow to the head that was sharp enough to knock him out momentarily…" He thought more about it. "But then, how did he overcome Vali's speed?"

As Vali repaired his helmet, Shirou descendant onto the ground to confront Vali.

"Surprised you a little didn't I?" Shirou mockingly asked.

"Don't get so excited over landing a single punch." Vali warned him.

This time they both rushed in. Even though Vali was hurt by Shirou's attack, as the saying goes; the cleaner the cut the faster it heals. Shirou's counterpunch was sharp and possessed a strong force but it didn't have enough stopping power, Vali had already begun to recover from its effect. But that didn't hinder him as once they were in close range, Shirou masterfully dodged a series of punches and swipes from his foe. Losing his patience, Vali attempted to uppercut Shirou in the stomach but failed as Shirou stepped back to avoid it.

"Grr… How is he suddenly able to follow my speed?!" Vali thought, becoming frustrated.

Now Shirou went on the offensive and Vali responded by leaping upwards before slamming downwards into the ground, aiming to crush Shirou beneath his fist. However, when his hand hit the ground, Shirou was no longer there. He then felt a presence behind him and reacted to it by turning around and throwing another punch, only to be puzzled when his fist only hit air.

"I'm here."

A familiar voice that was laced with arrogance rang in his ear as Shirou casually stood behind Vali with his arms crossed. The split-second Vali turned his head to face him he was met with an elbow smashing into his face, followed by a kick in his stomach knocking him away. Shirou used his jets to fly after him and drew Dyrnwyn as he slashed at Vali.

DRAGON FORCE SLICER!

CRACK!

The slash from the Holy Sword cut Vali from his shoulder to his hip a cracked out his Scale-Mail as a result and made the half-Devil receive a great amount of damage. The Gremory Pawn wasn't finished though as he created a ball of Demonic-power in his free had and unleashed it at his injured Rival at point-blank range.

DRAGON BLAST!

Shirou's signature move exploded into a ferocious maelstrom of power that fully consumed the White Dragon Emperor and destroyed the ground beneath them. Shirou flew back to gain some distance. As the smoke cleared, Vali stood there on the ground on shaky legs. This time it was him who had his armor completely destroyed and so he was now in his base form with nothing left but his Light Wings. Fresh blood flew out from Vali's mouth. He stepped back unsteadily while holding his abdomen. As blood poured down from the edge of his mouth, Vali smiled as if in joy.

"…Hahaha, amazing! My Sacred Gear was blown off! Just like I thought you truly are unbelievable, aren't you?! Just what I would expect, my Rival!"

Though it was hidden behind his helmet, Shirou had the same smile on his face as he put away his Sword.

"Personally, I'd say you're the one who's unbelievable, all those hits and you're only bleeding a little from your mouth. But then, after seeing you fight, I could already tell that wouldn't be enough to finish you."

"That's right, I've only just begun. Now, let's continue."

With those words, the descendant of Lucifer held out his hands and let the energy feathers of his wings glow. After a few seconds, his whole body was surrounded by a beautiful White Light that covered him. When the light faded, just as Shirou did before, Vali had his Scale-Mail back on and fully repaired. Though Vali looked like he spent far less effort for the same result. A testament to how high his Magic-reserves were.

"Ready for another round, Ddraig?"

[Yeah, I'll back your moves Partner!]

Responding to the confidence of his host in kind, Ddraig readied himself for another class between the Twin Heavenly Dragons and their users.

They started again and in an instant, they both vanished before reappearing in front of each other as they began another exchange of blows. Just like before, Shirou was able to follow and counter Vali's moves. Vali threw a straight-right but Shirou brought his fist down on Vali's forearm, knocking his punch downwards, and off-course, now that he was wide open Shirou immediately followed up by hitting Vali with his own straight-right.

Taking a step back after being hit by that punch, this time Vali threw a fast punch aimed at Shirou's head, but that was merely a feint as Vali's real intent was a high-kick. Shirou kneeled to the side to avoid that kick and then counter by landing a strong punch on Vali's liver.

Those watching still couldn't believe what they were seeing as they watched Shirou continue to overwhelm Vali.

"This shouldn't be possible. Is the Red Dragon faster?" Azazel thought as he watched them fight. "What's going on?"

Vali endured this and attack him with a flurry of strikes that Shirou either blocked or dodged. Finally, Shirou uppercut Vali in the chin to halt his assault and kicked him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him and sending him skidding across the ground until he was a few feet away.

"He pushed him back." Kiba thought, happy at seeing Shirou have the upper-hand.

Azazel shook his head. "No, there's no way the Red Dragon is faster, which can only mean that he's somehow able to see Vali's movements. But how?"

As if she read his thoughts, Mika answered his question. "It's experience."

Hearing her suddenly speak got everyone's attention. However, it was Ren that continued with the explanation.

"Ever since Shirou first learned how to fight, he's faced all kinds of opponents that you probably wouldn't believe." Ren informed all of them. "Guys who were faster than him, who attacked in numbers from all sides, who tried to attack at his blindspot, who tried to fight him in the dark, who tried to mess up his vision while they fought. All those encounters gave him so much experience that now he's an expert at fighting a person without relying on seeing them." He explained.

"But if that's true, why wasn't he able to hold up against Vali's speed at the beginning?" Xenovia asked, still not getting it.

"Even with all his experience, Vali is no joke, he needed time before he could adjust to his speed." Mika answered her question. "But, after seeing it enough he was finally able to follow it, and then all he needed to do time his attacks with Vali's movements and he was able to strike back."

"But hasn't Vali-san been in a lot of fights as well?" Asia pointed out, still not very knowledgeable about fighting. "If so, shouldn't he also have a lot of experience? How come Shirou-san was able to adapt to his speed without him realizing?"

"Yes, why?" Rias also asked as she and many others looked to Azazel for answers.

"Vali's always been strong but that wasn't always a good thing." Azazel answered with a shrug. "He's been in plenty of fights and his battle-sense is definitely sharp, but he's never met an opponent that he couldn't just blow away with raw power, it'd be a rarity if his fights ever lasted more than a few minutes. Vali's never been in a long-drawn-out power brawl before." He described. "He's basically stepping into uncharted territory."

"Someone who has technique and finesse will always have a leg up on someone who doesn't." Ren pointed out. "Vali's never needed finesse so he has none, but you can't always throw sloppy punches and expect strength to ensure victory. Thing's like measuring reach, memorizing timing, and keeping your opponent on their toes, always probing for an opening in their defenses, a weakness to exploit." He listed down. "Shirou's both a Martial Artist and a Brawler so all that stuff is his calling card."

Rias looked at both Ren and Mika and thought. "Did they both know this was going to happen from the beginning? Is that why they were never worried?" She wondered, somewhat impressed.

"This is good though." Irina said with relief. "At this rate, Shirou-kun should be able to win."

Azazel just kept watching. "That would be the ideal scenario, but I doubt Vali will make it that easy for him."

DON!

After knocking Vali away with another attack, Shirou charges forward and delivers a hard kick to his opponent's stomach before bicycle kicking him skyward, as he flies after him to follow up with an unseen barrage of punches and kicks, ending behind the battered opponent. With a quick shift, Shirou pivots to elbow Vali in the face, spin kicking him away, and finally warping above the flying opponent to hook kick him into the ground, dealing devastating damage.

BANG!

After that, Vali slowly got up after hitting the ground. After getting it was such a large series of hits, his armor was broken apart again, except this time only the armor covering his torso and back as well as his shoulders were gone, his head and limbs were still armored.

[Vali, taking extensive damage in repeated succession will only bring you closer to your limit. You need to avoid taking so many hits.]

"I'm aware of that, Albion. But it's not like I can help it with the way he's fighting me."

[And despite that, it still sounds like you're enjoying this.]

Just as the White Dragon pointed out, Vali was enjoying himself as he had a wide smirk under his helmet. "That's because I am enjoying this. This is fun, I can't remember the last time I've ever enjoyed myself this much, this battle is has been more fun than I could've imagined." After saying all that, he calmed down and had his armor repair itself. "That said, it wouldn't do for me to constantly be getting knocked around like this." Vali then took a deep breath and covered his body in his Demonic-Aura again. "I suppose I should try harder." He now sounded more determined.

Vali then flew straightforward at Shirou like an arrow fired from its bow and brought back his fist as he prepared another assault. Shirou stayed in place and timed his own attack to counter him.

CLASH!

The end result was another clash as both their fists crashing into each other with incredible force that created another shockwave in the atmosphere around them. Following that was Vali throwing out another barrage of strikes that Shirou once again blocked or parried away each incoming attack. Now Vali threw out a straight-right aimed at Shiro's head. However, as he had done before Shirou brought his fist down on Vali's forearm, knocking his punch downwards, and off-course, leaving him wide open as Shirou followed up by throwing a left-hook at Vali's right flank.

DON!

Surprise hit him as hard as the blow as instead of Vali taking a strong hit in the form of a counterattack, the one who was countered and hit was Shirou this time. Before his punch made contact with Vali, Shirou was felt a great impact hit his stomach as he saw Vali's fist crashing into it like a battering-ram.

Shirou moved back a bit and kept his cool as he brushed off the damage. "Did I misread to timing?" He wondered.

"What's wrong? Not going to attack me?" Vali asked in a taunting manner. "Or has something happened to rattle your thoughts?"

"Not a chance." Shirou responded unconcerned and now more focused. "It'll take more than one or two punches to get under my skin."

"Let's test that theory."

Vali immediately closed the distance between them and they began exchanging punches and kicks. Every blow that was thrown was met with the same one thrown with equal force that always ended in a tie, it was like fighting a reflection of yourself. Shirou made sure to match his move-set with Vali to keep him at bay while he searched for an opening and prepared a counterattack.

Shirou then caught Vali's punch with his palm and pulled him in, intending to elbow him in the face. Vali waived his head out of the way to dodge the elbow and broke out of Shirou's hold. Shirou moved to Vali's side and spun as he threw a spin-kick at Vali's gut, which he parried before it hit. Vali then moved in to hit Shirou with a high-kick, Shirou kneeled down to avoid it and prepared to strike back.

DON!

Once again, before he could counter, Shirou was hit by Vali's attack as the moment he kneeled to avoid Vali's high-kick, Vali immediately brought his leg down and changed to an ax-kick which slammed into the top of Shirou's head like a hammer. It almost felt like his brain rattled a bit as Vali help an open palm at him.

"Did you honestly believe I'd fall for the same trick twice?"

BOOM!

After asking that rhetorical question held out his palm at Shirou and as if returning the favor from before, he created a ball of Demonic-power and fired it at Shirou, point-blank, blowing him away and out of the sky. Shirou crashed into the ground with crushing force, fortunately from him though, Vali's attack was created with speed in mind instead of power, so while it looked flashy it didn't pack any damage that Shirou couldn't simply ignore.

Shirou proved that by getting up immediately before he shook his head to get rid of the lingering dizziness he still had left.

"W-What's going on?" Rias asked, confused by the sudden change in the fight. "How's Vali suddenly moving so much better than before."

Tch… I was worried about this, but I was hoping that I was wrong." Ren complained as he narrowed his eyes.

"Wrong about what?" Akeno asked him, also confused.

"Vali's one of those types, the type that learns while they fight and steadily improve in the middle of it." Ren explained to them. "The longer the fight goes on the more he evolves."

Sona's eyes widened. "Is that possible?"

"It is, I've seen it before as well." Xenovia answered her question. "Of all the people I fought, there were a few who gave me more trouble than I expected. Even if you knock them down, they'd get back up, and the longer things dragged out the harder it became to beat them." She clenched her fists. "They were natural born fighters."

"But this is a huge step up from even that." Ren added. "He's not just getting stronger, it's like his moves have gotten sharp and his attacks are more controlled. Before, Shirou was reading his movements and timing his attacks before countering, but now it's as though Vali's doing the same thing as well as changing his own rhythm and timing to counter Shirou's counters."

"…But I thought that Vali had no experience in fights like these?" Koneko pointed out a flaw in this explanation. "…If so, how is he able to do what Sempai is doing even though he's in uncharted territory?"

"It's because he has something to make up for his lack of experience." Azazel chimed in, shedding light on their confusion. "The reason he's able to do all this is pretty simple—It's because Vali is a genius."

Kiba raised a brow. "Well yeah, he's a Devil King descendant." He said as though they were told something they already knew.

"That's not what I meant, I mean regardless of his lineage, Vali's always been a fast learner." Azazel clarified. "Be it his Sacred Gear or High-Level attack spells, he's always had a knack for picking things up right away, even as a kid he was already strong and he just kept improving. The reason for that was because he's a genius in all things involving fighting." He explained to them. "Just like how the Sekiryuutei was able to adapt to Vali's way of fighting after seeing enough of it, Vali was able to do the same."

"But wait!" Rias spoke out. "Shirou was able to accomplish that thanks to a lifetime of effort and growth, are you saying that Vali was able to match all of Shirou's hard work with nothing but natural talent?" She questioned exasperated.

"That's how much of a joke Vali's existence is." Azazel firmly confirmed. "Even without Lucifer's blood or a Longinus, Vali's genius and battle-sense would have made him someone to watch out for."

"But that's….…"

Rias trailed off as she and many of the others became dishearted at what they had heard and how unfair it all sounded. The fact that everything that Shirou had built up to us in this fight was being pushed back by nothing more than natural abilities. However, Mika then spoke out.

"Why are you sounding like it's over?" She questioned him. "If anything, now that they're on equal-footing again they've gone back to square one."

"But, aren't you worried?" Asia asked her.

"Of course not, regardless of how much a genius someone is, there are somethings that genius can't give you." Mika reminded all of them. "Before long, Big Bro will demonstrate that."

Back to the fight, after Shirou fixed his dizziness he looked up at the sky where Vali was.

"Guess I can't afford to keep underestimating him."

[I've seen many foes in my life and after, but he's the first I've come across that can show such a dramatic change during a fight.]

"No doubt about it, he'll kill me at this rate."

[So what are you going to do about this, Partner?]

"It's that obvious? I'll just get stronger even faster than he does!"

After making that cocky declaration, Shirou spread out his wings, fired up his jets, and went back on the offensive.

Play OST — Dragon Ball Super — Power To Resist

This time, Vali had the higher ground. He was coming in from above, so he braced himself to block an attack from below. But the Red Dragon Emperor pulled back at the last second, darting upward and swinging a powerful double fist toward Vali.

CRAKK!

Even as the blow sent Vali plummeting toward the ground, he twisted in place and launched a fierce flurry of magic blasts back at Shirou. The Pawn dodged easily and dove after him, but the diversion had given him time to recover. Vali flared his aura and dashed upward, firing a spinning kick that Shirou narrowly avoided.

THUMM!

Shirou's fist connected solidly with his enemy's jaw.

THUD!

A return kick from Vali sent the Welsh Dragon reeling. The two warriors traded blows furiously, the shockwaves from their attacks resounding across the landscape.

"YOU CAN'T DODGE THIS!" Shirou rushed Vali again. The terrorist readied himself to block but Shirou wasn't slowing down. He plowed into Vali with a full tackle, both of them tumbling end over end through rocky School grounds.

They both sprang to their feet instantly, their arms locking together in a fierce struggle. Muscles and armor strained and shook as each Dragon willed himself to overpower the other. Slowly, Vali's strength and stamina started pushing Shirou back.

"Damn!" Shirou thought. "I was trying to avoid this—But conserving my stamina won't matter if it ends up killing me." He felt his arms giving way as the jewels on his armor lit up.

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

An explosion of red energy erupted around the duo, and Vali suddenly found his arms flung back. A powerful kick, accelerated by Shirou's power-up, smashed into his jaw. Shirou's fist struck him in the gut, doubling him over, and a rapid blast of Demonic-power from Shirou's other hand sent him flying back, dazed.

"I just need to follow up on my advantage, I can't give him time to think." Shirou blasted off again, his red aura shining brilliantly. Just as Vali regained his footing, Shirou landed another burst of kicks far too fast for his Rival to follow.

Vali spat. "So, you've stopped trying to preserve your power in hopes of defeating me quickly? Not a bad strategy but I don't plan on leaving myself vulnerable." Grinning through bloodied teeth under his mask, he flung his arms out and raised his head.

Lifting both his hands into the air, Vali blasted a stream of White energy from his entire body towards Shirou.

Shirou dodged quickly, blasting off to one side and flying around in a wide arc to build up speed. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he found himself grinning. Not even he could deny the fact that he was having as much fun as his Rival, he was given a true challenge in his Balance Breaker state. Finally, he could truly test his new strength against an opponent where victory wasn't assured.

[BOOST!]

Shirou's fists smashed into Vali, knocking him off the rocky grounds. His momentum carried Vali forward along with him as Vali blocked and parried. The shockwaves from each powerful blow caused the parts of the grounds below them to shatter.

As they rocketed toward the nearby woods, Vali began charging a blast in one hand. He would wait till the last second to fire it, using the explosion as cover to disappear from sight.

Sensing an opening, which he probably wouldn't have noticed if he was relying entirely on his vision, Shirou grabbed his opponent's shoulders, pivoted his entire body, and put all his momentum into one powerful kick.

[BOOST!]

The Hakuryuukou saw it a moment too late, his face revealing that he had been outmaneuvered.

THUUUUM!

The kick slipped neatly under Vali's defenses and slammed right into the half Devil's face, snapping his cheek to the right. Shirou had used the impact to push himself back, decreasing his own speed while sending Vali flying even faster.

CRAAK!

Vali's body smashed into the side of the woods, forming a deep hole in the earth.

"Hard enough for you, Vali?" Shirou could sense that while it had been an effective maneuver, Vali was far from badly injured. "He's planning another quick-attack… I can't let him surprise me." The top Delinquent of Kuoh hung in midair, panting but filled with excitement. This was a real fight! He was holding nothing back, putting his strength up against another true warrior. For the moment, he forgot that it was a fight to the death; his instincts thrilled at the pure glory of combat. Any second, Vali could appear from out of nowhere with a sneak attack. Shirou reached out with his senses, ready to react at the slightest tingle.

The bluff into which Vali had disappeared was silent for a few seconds, Vali waiting patiently for the right moment. "Being fully intuned with your sense can also lead you into a trap." Vali reached out with the smallest wave of Demonic-power, causing a small pebble to fall behind Shirou. The diversion worked perfectly; Shirou was so on edge that he spun around immediately.

Suddenly, beams of White light pierced through the trees, as light reaching through the sky in streams on a cloudy day, in a brilliant firework display.

"YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

A large swarm of explosive blasts vaporized most of the bluff and everything in a 100-meter radius, a few attacks were blasting towards Shirou. The piercing, potent shot of Aura slammed into Shirou's back at lightning speed. Though not very damaging, they served as a highly effective diversion. He immediately curled up in a defensive reaction, expecting Vali to plow into him.

Instead, Vali made his move by charging a blue orb of Demonic-power in each hand as he flew straight up. Just as he expected, Shirou followed after him, his golden Aura trailing behind him like the exhaust from a rocket. Grinning, Vali slowed his ascent and flung both spheres straight down.

Shirou didn't even pause, expertly backhanding the first ball toward the horizon and dodging the second one… Just in time to look up and see Vali hovering with both hands held together at his front. "HAAAA!"

Distracting Shirou hadn't given Vali enough time to fully charge his attack, but it did give him just enough time to successfully release it before the Sekiryuutei could react. The descendant of the Amakusa could only cross his arms in front of his face and grit his teeth.

As the wave smashed into him, sending him spinning downward, he strengthened his defense. Bracing against the wave, now coalesced into an azure sphere of destruction, Shirou's defenses began to slip. Finally, after a desperate struggle, it pushed him all the way to the ground and detonated in a violent fireball. The explosion lit the entire field, momentarily causing the ground the shake.

Nearly a mile away from the blast epicenter, Shirou crouched on the ground, panting. His speed had allowed him to evade the fireball, but the concussive shockwave had dazed him and sent him flying. Though bruised from the attack, Shirou's body had taken far worse. "Okay, bad idea."

The Gremory Devil spotted his opponent's Aura, still hovering in the sky above the crater made by the blast. Loudly announcing himself, he approached. "Brace yourself, Asshole!"

[BOOST! BOOST!]

Both flew toward each other, picking up speed quickly. They clashed again, but this time it was Shirou who went on the offensive, dealing out heavy blows that pounded relentlessly on Vali's defenses. He only had a slight edge in strength, and Vali's form was flawless—Though less refined—So he had to make the most of his advantage. This wasn't like any battle he had ever fought. For all intents and purposes, the two were almost evenly matched.

Throughout the battle, Vali had taken Shirou's strongest attacks and toughest blows, yet his own endurance as a Dragon and a Devil continued to win out.

Try as he might, Shirou couldn't catch a break. He was fighting at maximum speed, pushing every muscle to the limits of its performance. Each block was firm; each counterattack was precise. But there was an unprecedented tenacity in Vali's attacks that he couldn't match. And Vali was more powerful; that much was clear. If only that were it, perhaps he would have had an edge.

DON!

After a final clash, both of them were knocked back and were separated by a fair distance.

Music Off

[Partner, you should know that all this high-intensity attacking and Boosting has cut your time-limit in half, if not more. I'd estimate you only have a few hours left before your armor vanishes.]

"Yeah, this is an uphill battle, I noticed already."

Shirou responded to the warning of his Dragon as he kept his gaze on his foe.

[And yet, you still intend on fighting this way.]

"What else can I do? Because of his annoyingly high reserves of power he can keep this up way longer than me, so the longer the drags out the worse it gets."

[It's more than that. Unlike him who releases excuss power from his wings, your power builds up inside your body like an explosion waiting to Burst. That difference in systems means that you'll always reach your operational limit before he does.]

Instead of becoming worried or annoyed by Ddraig's information, Shirou unpackaged that explanation in his mind and honed in on a certain part of what he heard.

"So what you're saying is; his wings are stabilizers for his armor?"

[Indeed. Those wings keep his power in check and within the optimal limit while acting as the core of his power generator. The Vanishing Dragon's Scale-Mail is like a giant circuit-system and all circuits connect to the wings.]

Shirou then went quiet for a moment before he smirked under his helmet.

"…In that case, I think I have an idea."

[What?]

Shirou hunched back and prepared to lunge forward.

"I told you from the beginning that ordinary methods wouldn't get me anywhere against this guy. So, I'm gonna try something wild!"

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

After powering up again he made magic power suddenly spout from the jets on his back and soared through the sky towards his Rival. Seeming to enjoy himself, Vali fired a seemingly endless number of magic bullets at his incoming foe.

And so Shirou plunged into the barrage of bullets. The magic bullets entirely struck various places on his body. If he was feeling pain, he did a good job of hiding it as he strongly clutched his left hand. Power built up in a single point.

The magic bullets were shot at his armor, and the armor was damaged little by little. Soon part of his face-area was also hit and the mask part was also shattered. But he preserved and was right on top of Vali as Vali deployed what seemed to be a shield of light in front of him and tried to defend, but—

GON!

Shirou's fist destroyed his shield of light with no trouble and made its way to its true target. Shirou's powered up fist dove forward and smashed into one of the energy feathers of Vali's Light Wings as if they were made of glass. Whether it was because he received an unexpected blow or not, that guy's posture was violently bent.

Shirou kept his hand in the feathers of the Hakuryuukou's Wings of Light that were said to gush out excess power. Because of this, the wings and jewels started to discharge electronic like power and both combatants were shaking violently.

"Gah! You!"

"Ever wonder what happens to a Sacred Gear when you mess with its core? LET'S FIND OUT!"

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

With mad-like glee, Shirou increased his own power in an attempt to destroy the Vanishing Dragon's Scale-Mail's abilities to hold its power and distribute the excess power. At that instant, his whole body felt like it was struck by Lightning. The feeling of power suddenly felt removed from my body. Then just as quickly, it came back as though he had just consumed a fair amount of stamina and magic power.

"Kuh!"

BIIIIIIIN!

All of the Vanishing Dragon Scale-Mail's jewels started to nonsensically glow white, red, blue, and yellow over and over again. As it did so, the Dragon power that they both felt from their bodies grew to the extent of being absurd, before it vanished.

Vali had forced to activate the special ability of his Sacred Gear.

His ability stole the opponent's power and used it as his own fuel. However, since the limit of the power he adds was already decided, it depended on the capacity of the host. Power that goes beyond the limit was gushed out from his Wings of Light and disposed of.

Then, what happened if you accelerated his stealing power and gushing-out power at the same time while destroying his limit. He stole so much power that he couldn't process it, and at the same time, he wasn't able to gush out the excess. As a result, the Vanishing Dragon Scale-Mail was like a reactor-core that was having a meltdown.

[—! What a thing…! Vali, regain your posture at once!]

Vali reacted to Albion's voice and tried to do something but could only watch helplessly as all the built-up power finally reached its limit and as the pulsating colors of the jewels lit up even brighter, the armor itself became so unstable that it could no longer hold and all that power finally unleashed itself in a violent detonation.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

Vali's armor exploded into a violent blast that spread out and consumed both Shirou and himself in a large Silver doom-like burst of excuses power that lit up the sky and sent out an overwhelming aftershock that blew past everyone watching before reaching the School Building and shattering every glass window. This explosion was more powerful and potent they any attack that had been used in this fight this far, as such the fate of the two inside was something to concerned about.

"SHIROU!" Rias yelled out in terror.

"What happened?" Kiba asked equally worried.

"That damn fool, he tried to forcibly short-circuit Vali's Sacred Gear." Azazel told them with a frown. "But that kinda strategy is reckless on an extreme level, even if he succeeded, he put him own in the heart of explosion to do it, there's no way he'll get out of that unscathed."

"Shirou-san…"

Asia silently wished she could pray so that she could pry that Shirou wouldn't be too damaged or at least only damaged to the point where she could still heal him. Right now, it was like torture for her to have to watch him constantly get hurt while being unable to heal him.

As the explosion cleared, two figures fell from the sky and were plummeting to the ground, it wasn't long before they both crashed into the ground with a large thud. One of the figures was Vali who was without his armor and looked like he was in pain as he struggled to get p from the ground. The other was Shirou who was still in his armor but looked damaged and was on one knee while panting for air as his Aura was gone.

Something of notice was the armor around the arm that Shirou used to punch through Vali's wing was armorless. However, to the surprise of many, his arm was intact and looked visibly unharmed.

"He's unhurt?" Akeno noticed wide-eyed.

"That's impossible!" Azazel insisted, confused at what he was seeing. "He just did the equivalent of sticking your hand into a box with a live grenade. Even with his armor, there's no way he could have come out of that unscathed."

"Wait, look!" Xenovia pointed at him.

Covering Shirou's arm was a thick layer of White transparent Aura, one look was all it took for them to realize—It was Touki.

"Touki?" Serafall spoke surprised.

Ren smirked and crossed his arms as he looked proud. "I taught him that."

"I get it now." Azazel said with a new understanding. "Before he followed up with that crazy plan he brought out his Touki and then covered every last drop of it into his arm understand of spreading out through his body. Since his arm was powered up and fortified by all that Touki it was able to withstand the blast with minimal damage." He then grinned. "It was clever but still crazy, only something a reckless daredevil would attempt."

After catching his breath, Shirou shook off his hand and remade the armor around it.

"Heh, looks like my plan worked."

While Shirou was pleased by the success of his endeavor, Ddraig didn't share those sentiments.

[That was beyond reckless, Partner. If it hadn't been for you're Touki being as dense as it was you could have blown your arm off.]

"It'd prefer to call it 'daring'"

[Whatever you call it, it was still an unnecessary risk.]

"Well, no guts no glory. Besides, any gamble that pays off in my favor was a good gamble in my eyes."

Hearing his Partner's complete brush off of the danger he put himself in made Ddraig sigh lightheartedly.

[Recklessness is a trait that appears frequently among Red Dragon Emperors. But you're exceptional even in that regard.]

Meanwhile, Vali made it to his feet and gasped as his head was facing up at the sky. After catching his breath, he looked back at Shirou and smirked.

"I'll admit I wasn't expecting that, I think I'm starting to admire that recklessness of his." Vali turned his attention to his wings. "Albion, what's the status of damage to Divine Dividing?"

[Not good, since this is the first time anyone has ever tried something like that repairing the damages right away will be impossible. Fortunately, you'll still be able to fight, but you're time limit has been cut in half.]

"Half, you say?" Vali repeated with little concern. "Then there's no problem, after all. That still means I can keep going for weeks on end."

With those words, Vali reforged his Scale-Mail and steeled himself to go again. Shirou, seeing Vali repair his armor unhindered became irked.

"Man, what's going to take to stop this guy?" Shirou asked himself. "Feels like this will go on forever."

[On the contrary, your situation is worse than his. Not only did your reckless plot failed to end this fight but you've used up more power thus bringing you closer to your limit.]

"How many times are you going to say reckless?" Shirou asked becoming annoyed.

[The point is, despite whatever damage you've inflicted on him the situation itself hasn't changed from a moment ago. So unless you have something else up your sleeve, you're out of options.]

Something else? At that time while thinking of something, something else within his field of vision reflected in the background. At that instant, an idea appeared in Shirou's mind… "Would that even work?" Those thoughts entered his mind, but as the saying goes 'if you can dream it you can achieve it'.

"Hey, Ddraig. I think I've thought of something?"

[Is that so… What would that be?]

He picked up the thing lying at his feet— A jewel of the Vanishing Dragon. Earlier, when his armor was destroyed, this thing flew out from the wreckage. His body's armor seems to have restored the destroyed section including the jewel, though. As far as Vali is concerned, this jewel will turn into trash as time passes, so it's inconsequential. However, there should be at least a little of the Hakuryuukou's power lodged in it.

"If it's all the same to you, I think I wanna try something reckless again. I'm transmitting the image to you."

As he transmitted the thing he imagined in my brain to Ddraig who was inside him. Ddraig went silent as he processed it all.

[…Partner, you've sent me quite a dangerous image. But, it's interesting! We may die, but do you have the resolve?]

"I'm not gonna die. Not even if the sky falls or the earth splits open, you know that. —If it's just a little pain then I can just grit my teeth. Besides, I've still got a fight to win so, we can worry about the same stuff later."

In the face of his undaunted confidence and Pride, the Heavenly Dragon couldn't contain his laughter.

[Fuhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Nice resolve! In that case, I'll also resolve myself! This isn't a notification of my character, but—I am the Red Dragon Emperor that was called a mass of power! Let's show them that we'll live and exceed them together, Partner!]

"What do you intend to do?"

Vali asked that, seeming interested.

"Well, let's put it this way…" Shirou held up the jewel in front of him before he asked. "You wanna see something cool?"

"Hmm?"

Vali's response showed that he didn't understand. But Shirou didn't care as he took the Vanishing Dragon jewel and placed it over the Welsh Dragon jewel on the gauntlet of his right hand, he then started slowly but firmly push into his hand as if he was trying to inject the jewel into himself.

A silver aura sprang forth from his right hand and wrapped around the right side of his body. A phenomenon from the jewel. While that was happening the base of his hand lit up with sparkling blue and green lights surrounding him and flickering back and forth between colors.

BA-DUMP

Shirou grit his teeth as he kept pushing, not letting the pain distract him from his concentration. But that was no small feat as his whole body was filled with pain coming from every cell in his body, Spears of Light and Holy Swords were nothing compared to this, it felt like his body was rejecting what he was trying to do and his blood was on fire that grew hotter with each heartbeat.

"—! You intend to take in my power?"

Realizing what I was trying to do, Vali showed a shocked but intrigued expression.

[What a reckless thing to do. Ddraig, we are existences that oppose each other. That is nothing more than an act of self-destruction. Do you intend to annihilate yourself by doing such a thing?]

Albion spoke indifferently.

[Guooooooooooooooooh!]

Unlike his partner, Ddraig didn't hold back his pain and was leaking out in agony. Not even the Dragon Emperor inside the Sacred Gear was spared from this pain. However, while Ddraig let out a scream, it contained laughter as well.

[Albion! You're as inflexible as always! Over countless eons, we've lodged in hosts and continued to fight each other! It's a repeat of the same thing each and every time!]

[That's right, Ddraig. That is our destiny. Even if our respective hosts are different, the way we fight is the same. You raise power, I steal power. The side that skillfully uses its Sacred Gear deals the finishing blow and it ends. This is how it always has been, and always will be.]

Ddraig gave a fearless laugh at Albion's words.

[Since meeting with this host—With Shirou Tsukiharu of the Amakusa, I have learned something!—Limits and restrictions are nothing more than junk! Those who shy away from the unknown are those who will always be bound by the laws of this world. But the truly fearless that aren't swayed by those laws are the ones that can turn the things you dared not to dream into reality!]

Shirou didn't respond to any of their words and still kept his attention on embedding the jewel into his gauntlet.

"Synchronize it, synchronize it. Have to time it just right, only get one shot at this."

BA-DUMP!

"NOW!"

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

Suddenly all the different colored lights stopped and Shirou's whole arm lit up like a beacon of pure White Light that grew brighter and brighter before a call was heard from the jewel.

[Vanishing Dragon Power Taken!]

His right hand that was wrapped in a dazzling White Light began to simmer down. As the pure White Aura surrounded his arm slowly faded away, something new appeared in its place. It was a White-armored Scale-Mail gauntlet with a blue jewel embedded in the hand that now covered the right arm of the Red Dragon Emperor. The White only went up till the right elbow on his red armor.

[Impossible! Such a thing is impossible!]

Albion let out an astonished voice.

"Yeah, it's impossible, unless you're me." Shirou replied with brash arrogance as he looked over his new armor. "Not a bad fit, I think I'll call it Dividing Gear."

[It seems your plan actually worked. I hope it was worth all the pain I had to suffer.]

"Well, I didn't have the luxury to worry about that. This was a lot more complicated than it looked." Shirou began. "I remembered when I first merged Ascalon into the Boosted Gear, for it to work I had to match my wavelength with the Sword in order for the two to fuse together."

[But that only worked because the Sword was recalibrated to be used by you. So this time, before fusing the power you also attempted to synchronize the jewel by matching its wavelength with that of one of your own jewels in order to make the armor recognize it as one of your own. Finally, just before the jewel was fully inserted you increased your power to an extremely high degree and had all that power concentrated in the jewel.]

"If the jewel has the same wavelength and Aura as any other jewel in my armor temporarily, it'll be treated as inserting my own jewel back into my armor, once it's inside and the Aura wears off it goes back to being a Vanishing Dragon jewel that has been synchronized to match my wavelength and thus will fuse with my armor."

[…So you mean you minimized the risk by adding synchronization and took advantage of the imperfections of the "Sacred Gear program" and achieved this? No, but such a thing is… Even if you think of that, to actually do it is just foolish. No one knows what will happen with the fusion of opposing powers. When that is something concerning Dragons, you might die, you know? No, it would be natural for you to die.]

"That kind of thinking limits the potential for discovery." Shirou told him, not caring that he could have died. "If all you ever do is stick to what's known and avoid something just because you might die, you'll never find out what you're really made of. Just because no one's done it before doesn't mean it can't be done." He raised his right arm. "Proof, the Dividing Gear, I'll bet no one's tried making one of these before."

[This was only possible because you live in an age where God and the Maou are dead. If the balance of powers was still in place this never would have worked. Personally, I'm simply relieved you put actual thought into this instead of just mindlessly smashing the two powers together and hoping they would fuse.]

Shirou shrugged. "Come on, who do you think I am? Only someone borderline retarded would try something like that."

[In any case, you succeeded without any last damage, I was worried you'd end up shaving away some of your life force to accomplish this act. Be glad that didn't end up happening.]

"Hahaha! AHAHAHAHAHA!" Suddenly Vali started to laugh a bit before his laughter burst out. It wasn't a laugh of confidence or mockery like others have done in the past, it was like laughing after hearing a funny joke or something. Before long he finally stopped. "Hahahaha! This has to be some kind of joke, just how many times are you going to surprise me?"

Vali floated into the air and opened his arms wide. His wings of light also grew huge as they started to glow.

[Half Dimension!]

Blue and white ripples of energy came out from the wings. Shirou watched anxiously as Vali pointed his hand at the school building. The White Dragon then started to slowly close his hand, and everyone watched as the building shrank under his powers.

"What's going on?" Gasper exclaimed in fear.

"Vali is warping the dimensions." Michael explained. "It's a very dangerous action."

"Wait, how is that fair?" Rias exclaimed.

"It isn't fair at all." Azazel said, flying down and landing right in front of the redhead. "He'll have to want more to win."

Mika seemed to be the most interested in this power. "He can extend his power to the scenery around him? Not only that but he's doing it without even touching it, this goes beyond just Diving and Reflecting." Mika then looked at Vali directly. "If he had a power like this then why'd he wait so long to use it, was he really just playing around, or could it be….…"

Then something popped into her mind and she shouted out loud. "Big Bro! He can't move!"

Shirou and everyone else turned their attention to her after hearing her scream. "What?"

"While he's using this ability he has to stay still so he can't defend himself at close range!" Mika informed him of Vali's motives. "The reason he's using this power now is because all of that repeated damage has messed up his defenses! He doesn't have the strength to block your attacks anymore!"

After hearing that explanation, Azazel put a hand over his mouth. "That would explain why he would choose to use such a drastic technique."

Shirou smirked and turned his head. "Thanks, Mika."

Vali didn't seem worried. "I should have expected her to have figured it out, but it makes no difference. You'll be halved into nonexistence before your fist can even come close to reaching me."

"Did you forget who you're dealing with?" Shirou responded with the same tone. "Even if you stop one of my moves, I've got a dozen more to follow up." He then raised both his fists. "In fact, here's something I just came up with."

SHIIIIIINNEE!

Shirou's Holy Aura reappeared before it resonated greater than before and started to fluctuate like a strong gust of wind. Then it went a step further as it started to grow smaller and yet brighter—No saying it was getting smaller wasn't entirely correct, it looked more like the Aura was seeping into Shirou's armor, going from an outline to an actual layer of skin, before long his entire body was shining glistening Golden color.

"Aaaaaahhhh!"

With a mighty roar, Shirou took control of the Golden Holy-Aura that overlapped his body and had it all converge into two single points. All the Aura moved away from the different parts of his body and it all came together on his hands. On the left hand of the Boosted Gear and on the Right hand of the Dividing Gear all of his Holy Aura converged around his hands.

Then that Aura took the shape of spheres, two glowing Golden spheres—Like miniature stars covered both of his fists and held the power of all of his Holy-Aura in them.

On the sidelines, everyone watching was shocked and amazed at what they were seeing. However, none were more shocked than the leaders as they seemed almost dumbfounded at what Shirou was doing, considering this wasn't the first time they had seen this power.

"….The Sacred Fist?" Serafall breathed out.

"It's impossible, I thought the only one who should be able to use that ability is Vasco Strada?" Sirzechs exclaimed in disbelief. "This can't be."

"Well, then how else can you explain it?" Azazel pointed out also surprised. "I mean we're not just imagining that glow around his fists are we?"

"It's different."

They all looked at Michael after hearing his words.

"What?" Serafall asked.

"Vasco Strada's Sacred Fist is the ability to fuse Holy power into his punches, letting him damage beings that are weak to Holy energy even without the use of Holy Swords." Michael explained. "However, what Shirou Tsukiharu is doing is concentrating all the power of his two Holy Swords into his fist. While the fundamental idea is still the same, the execution of how they are used is different."

After hearing his explanation Azazel spoke. "So, it's a rougher version of the technique but just as effective?" He summarized.

"Still though, the fact that not only succeeded in using this ability but thought of it in the heat of battle is nothing short of astounding." Sirzechs added with a smile of acknowledgment on his face.

Vali's wings were still glowing as he hovered in the sky. "That's an interesting move you've come up with, but I have to wonder. Do you have a strategy to bridge the distance between us while avoiding the reach of my Half Dimension?"

"As a matter of fact, I do have a strategy." Shirou admitted as he prepared himself by clenching his fists and entering a Boxer's stance. "It's the strategy I've been saving this entire fight in case things ever got to point where I needed it, and now's the time to use it."

"Hou, interesting, and what is this final strategy of yours?" Vali asked with curiosity.

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

Voices from jewels on various places of his armor repeatedly resounded as Shirou roared.

"GO FOR BROKE!"

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

Shirou's armor bellowed out to the red sky above as both his Sacred Gear, his right gauntlet, and left gauntlet started to glow. An intense amount of power exploded from his body in the form of glowing green and blue flames with a Golden flame at the center that were sent everywhere. The leaders of the Factions quickly put up shields to protect everyone from the power, as if they were to come into contact with them, they'd be burnt alive.

All around them the building, and trees were destroyed by the powers of the Boosted and Divide Gears. All the surroundings flew off. The ground he was standing on was also greatly gouged out and changed into a crater. The windows of the Old School Building completely cracked, and the outer wall was collapsing. His whole body was wrapped in the greatest mass of Aura it had ever had.

Vali stood his ground as he felt Shirou's Aura while the bursts of Aura were blowing past him as he felt the explosion of power which sent chills down his spine. "Albion, do you feel that?"

[I do. This power I'm feeling goes beyond anything he's shown thus far. Not just Satan-Class, this is closer to God-Class!]

"This must be all the reserves of power he has left, he's planning on ending this with one last assault."

CRAAK!

Play OST — Hajime No Ippo — Black And Blue

With speed so sudden it was almost as if an instant in time was skipped, Shirou was right in front of Vali and his fist had already connected with a devastating Right-Cross on Vali's cheek that had so much force that the armor around Vali's head was immediately cracked open like a glass mirror.

"Kuh! Fast! Have you exceeded me in speed!?"

"Does this answer your question?!"

CRAAK!

Shirou's answer came in the form of an equally heavy punch to Vali's body, specifically his liver. The Hakuryuukou coughed out some blood as the armor around the spot he was punched had also cracked and he was knocked back a few feet.

No more was there any flashy techniques or multiple-step battle plans in this fight, Shirou was intending on finishing this fight by doing exactly as he was demonstrating. Bull-rush Infighting with all the strength he had left, with each individual punching being enough to finish any ordinary opponent.

[DIVIDE!]

The chant that signaled power being Divided was heard, but its source wasn't from Vali's Light Wings but rather Shirou's Dividing Gear. As Vali felt his power drop and his body become much heavier, a sensation he'd never experienced before and thus wasn't prepared as he lost his balance. Which Shirou took advantage of as he put weight on his front foot.

"But you never thought you'd be on the receiving end of a Divide!"

THUMM!

"Augh!"

Vali felt another new sensation in the form of an odd and painful combination of having his brain shake inside his skull and having his sizzle as Shirou connected again with a Left-Hook across Vali's temple, and without the protection of his helmet, the Holy Aura surrounding Shirou's fist came into to contact with Vali's skin—If only for a moment, causing it to burn like the bodies of Devils are supposed when they come into contact with anything Holy.

Vali's whole was blown sideways and he was about to hit the ground head-first as his consciousness was about to fade due to the blow to the head and everything was about to fade to black.

CRAAK!

"GAH!"

He was immediately woken up by an extreme amount of pain which helped him regain his consciousness, regardless of his choosing. Vali wasn't even allowed to fall as Shirou bent his knees and hit him with an upwards punch right in the Solar-Plexus that hit him so hard he could almost feel some of his organs hit his back. More of his armor cracked open as his whole body hunched over.

THUD!

Shirou wasn't even close to being done as he pivoted his front foot to shift his weight in his right-side and brought up his right fist and used all his might to launch Vali upwards by hitting his chin with a textbook perfect uppercut that knocked his head upwards and even lifted his legs off the ground as even more blood sprayed out from his mouth.

SMASH!

"Gugh!"

As Vali's body came back down and his head tilted downward due to the damage of the uppercut, his face was in the line of fire for Shirou's next blow. Shirou ack-stepped so he'd been a few inches away from his wondered Rival and then brought forth his left fist to hit Vali with an overhead-strike that hit him dead-center in the face. Vali was rocked to the core by this hit as blood started pouring down from his forehead while his body was blown backward as if he was about to fall on his back.

"IT'S OVER!"

[TRANSFER!]

SHINNNNNNNNEEEEE!

Using the power of Transfer, Shirou moved all the Holy power from his left fist into his right, giving it twice the power and density. With that, Shirou moved in for a final blow as he rotated his pivoting foot, his back, his shoulder, and his fist to throw a twisting punch that had all his weight and power behind it while the rotation increased its speed and penetrating power.

Music Off

GOOOOOOOOOOOONNN!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!

The final blow strike, landing right in the center of Vali's body. The result of this caused cracks to appear all over his Scale-Mail before it shattered to pieces, but that wasn't all. All the concentrated Holy-Aura flared up after the attack landed and created an explosive blast of Holy power that consumed Vali entirely and blew him back a bit of distance before detonated.

Once Shirou was finished with his barrage, the light surrounding his fist soon vanished, and not only that, he could feel the colossal power he had quickly disappear, leaving him drained and fatigued, like a car-engine that was a few drops away from being out of gas. It was all he could do to keep his armor on.

"….Ah…Kuh.… How's that…?" Shirou breathed out while gasping for air.

Shirou's exhausting was greater than he'd ever felt in his life. His bones felt as heavy as lead, his blood felt like it was on fire, and his breathing was as shallow as a puddle. If he wasn't wearing armor right now, he'd be covered in sweat so hot that stream would be rising from all over his body.

As Shirou was working on controlling his breathing, Ddraig spoke to him.

[Partner, it's not over yet.]

Upon hearing his warning, Shirou looked to see that standing in the crater made by the blast he fired was the still conscious Vali Lucifer. He wasn't in his armor but still had his wings out, His body was greatly injured due to all the attacks he suffered, in particular, he had several bleeding wounds on his body. But more than that, all the Holy attack scorched him so much that some parts of his skin had first-degree burns and smoke was rising from his body.

Yet despite all that damage and pain, he stood tall. Even though he was unbalanced and on shaky legs, his eyes still reflected light in them.

"Is he immortal or something?" Shirou wondered exasperated at this point. "Scratch that, not even a Phenex could have survived all that. How the Hell's he still alive?"

[Don't look down on the durability of the Old Satans. He may be Half-Human but he's still Lucifer's descendant. You can't be sure that he's dead until after you've hacked off his head or gouged out his Heart.]

"Fine, then I'll do just that and end this Rival showdown."

[Then you had better be quick about it. That last rush burned out almost all of your reserves, you were counting on it to finish this and because of that, your power has fallen like a rock. At best, you have less than a few minutes before you burn out.]

"That's more than enough time."

While Shirou was confident in his victory. Vali's head was facing upwards as he quietly lowered his head as if he was deep in thought until just now. The look on his face was calm and relaxed without any kind of response, looking dazed and quiet almost as if he was intoxicated. His odd change in demeanor baffled Shirou.

"Hey, what's with the look?"

Vali sighed. "It's nothing, I'm just feeling a bit conflicted. The more we fight to more I enjoy myself. And yet, that's also making it harder for me because it's so fun, part of me wishes I didn't have to kill you."

Shirou's eye twitched a bit after hearing that. "Oi, oi, from the way you're talking you're making it sound like you think you can kill me whenever you want."

Vali's expression didn't change. "Yes, wasn't that obvious?"

Now Shirou was pissed. "Did that last blow to the scramble your brain or something?! In case you haven't noticed you're one hit away from death!"

"Yes, I acknowledge that." Vali agreed with little concern. "Over the course of this battle, regardless of what method of attack I've used, I haven't been able to get the better of you, even with the full power of my Balance Breaker…. That's why I've decided….…" Before he finished, Vali's expression changed to a smirked as he glared daggers at Shirou. "…To go beyond Balance Breaker."

"—! Beyond?" Shirou had no idea what those words implied and yet, he could just tell that Vali wasn't bluffing.

[Don't do it Vali. Now is not the best time to activate that ability.]

Vali did not heed the warning of his Dragon as he spread out his arms. "It's too bad nothing you say will change my mind."

[Don't act rashly Vali! Is it your desire to be at the mercy of my power!?]

This time he just ignored the voice of Albion entirely as he closed his eyes, then when he opened them, his sockets were glowing a deep blue light.

Play OST — Kuroko No Basket — Shield Of Aegis

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

The sound of the growl came from Vali and everyone watched as his Aura and power exploded forth from the Sacred Gear and his body, the intense White Aura around his body started to push everything and everyone else back as if warning them to back off.

That Aura started to rise, and it got bigger. It started to dye the whole area inside the field white.

CHILLS!

Shirou could understand from the quality of the Aura, more like he could feel with my skin! That aura…. Is dangerous. Through the Aura, he could see Vali's Balance Breaker reappear and from Vali's mouth, a curse-like chant is emitted. The voice isn't just that of Vali. Young. Old. Male. Female. A creepy sound which was mixed with the voices of several people.

[I, Who Shall Awaken...]

{They are going to be blasted away!} {They certainly are going to be blasted away!}

[I Am The Heavenly Dragon Who Has Taken The Principles of Supremacy From God...]

{The dream will end!} {The illusion will begin!}

[I Envy The "Infinite" And I Pursue The "Dream".]

{Everything!} {Yes, give us everything!}

[I Shall Become The White Dragon Supremacy.]

Vali's armor starts to change…. It became much sharper, and it grew larger Light Wings. From both hands and feet, claw-like things appeared. On the body, it grew many times larger than before.

—That was the appearance of an armored Dragon itself.

And then, from all the jewels in its body, a mixed scream-like voice of all the old, the young, man, and woman is emitted!

""""""And I Shall Take You To The Limits Of White Paradise!""""""

[JUGGERNAUT DRIVE!]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

Juggernaut Drive—A special ability of the Longinus' Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing, and are considered to be a forbidden move. The Juggernaut Drive temporarily removes the seal placed on the Heavenly Dragons, allowing the wielder to access powers that can make even Gods envious. It is the ultimate form of the Dragon's power that only those of reached the furthest deep of their Sacred Gear can reach and only how have resolved themselves to being consumed by its power can activate it.

But Vali's senses almost mockingly bent the power to his own will and rather the being consumed it was as if he had contained it.

With the chant finished, the transformation was complete. Standing before Shirou was the Juggernaut Drive in all its entirety. Both Vali simply had the appearance of a man in Dragon-like armor but now, it was like facing a Dragon wearing armor. He towered over Shirou—Shirou's head only reaching his midsection, not to mention his power was so great it felt like he was facing a mountain.

Faced with this overwhelming and oppressive force that was before him, Shirou only had a single response.

"…Fuck."

Music Off

Everyone watching became speechless at this sudden turn of events, up until a moment ago they were all sure that Shirou was about to win this battle, but now something no one could have predicted had taken place and now everything had taken the worst possible turn.

Among all of them watching, Azazel was the only one that had some knowledge of what was going on. Right now, his expression was that of frustration as he was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, he even started to sweat a bit. "This is the worst."

Sirzechs turned to him demanding answers. "Azazel! What's going on?"

"A worst-case scenario!" Azazel snapped at him before inhaling. "My research on Longinus Sacred Gears is still covered in blanks, there are plenty of things I'm not aware of yet. I only know the bare minimum about Juggernaut Drive and even then, I had no idea Vali could actually invoke it during a fight."

"Well then, tell us what you do know about it." Michael insisted, also feeling the pressure.

At that point, Rias stepped forward as well. "Azazel, before Vali said he would use something beyond Balance Breaker. Does this mean Sacred Gears have a level above Balance Breaker?" She asked, the rest of them also wanting to know.

Azazel shook his head. "No, there exists nothing above Balance Breaker. The ultimate and final form of Sacred Gears is the Balance Breaker. However, there are several things inside Sacred Gear that have a magical being sealed in them. A peculiar restraint is applied to those ones. This Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing are examples of that."

"But how does that tie into what we're seeing now?" Sona questioned him.

"Those ones are strongly restrained, taking out power while in that state and making sure that the host can use it. In the case of the Sacred Gears of the Sekiryuutei and the Hakuryuukou, forcing that restraint to temporarily release and unleashing the sealed power is the Juggernaut Drive." Azazel explained.

"Release the restraint? Are you saying his power is now equal to a Heavenly Dragon?" Kiba asked with dread.

"No, right now he can't possibly sustain that much power." Azazel corrected him. "However, it temporarily gives one power rivaling that of God, but the risk is also huge. It greatly shaves off one's lifespan. And it also makes one lose their sense of reason."

"Lifespan? Doesn't that mean that he'll die if he uses this power?" Xenovia pointed out.

"But if that's the case, why would he use it in the first place?" Irina found a hole in that logic. "Besides that, isn't he also supposed to lose control?"

Azazel nodded. "Yeah, to a violent degree. One would destroy all of their surroundings, and even start to destroy oneself before finally stopping. It's impossible to master that power in actual combat, but… It seems like Vali can handle it, I'd estimate for about several minutes by consuming an enormous amount of magic power as a substitute for lifespan—He should be able to do so, anyway. Since Albion was impatient back there, I guess that it still has its dangers."

"What about Shirou-Sempai?" Gasper cried out in fear and panic. "Can he still win this?"

Azazel lowered his gaze and closed his eyes. "I'm afraid that's no longer possible." He grimly responded.

Play OST — The Seven Deadly Sins — Here Comes The Jikkai Revenge Counter

Back with the fight, Shiou stood there doing everything he could to not lose his mind at this sudden turn of events. "What the Hell is this? This form? This power? I HAVE SO MANY DAMN QUESTIONS!"

But unfortunately, those questions would have to wait as Vali began to move.

"I have to admit, not once did I ever think I would be forced to use the Juggernaut Drive, but you were just so strong and unpredictable that I decided to get serious as well." Vali praised him as if he was praising a child for a job well done. "It was no small feat to reach this point, you should feel honored."

"Yeah, I'm jumping for joy on the inside." Shirou sarcastically responded.

[Vali, do I even need to explain how foolish you're being!]

"You're starting to become repetitive, Albion."

Vali thoughtlessly replied to his irked Dragon.

[The Juggernaut Drive isn't something to be used on a whim. Prolonged activation will cause even you to lose control regardless of how much magic power you have.]

"You seem to be ignoring the fact that without this form, the outcome would have been death for me and defeat for you. You're saying you'd have been willing to accept defeat?"

[.….….]

With those words, Albion became silent. Regardless of how much time passes or who their hosts were, the two Heavenly Dragons had one defining personality trait that would always remain, they were both extremely Prideful. Pride was something every Dragon possessed in both their race and power. Their Pride was what led them to challenge the Trinity Factions and become Sacred Gears in the first place.

As such, Albion would never accept defeat at the hands of the Red Dragon Emperor if it can be helped, his Pride would never allow that. So when Vali reminded him that the alternative was defeat. Albion's complaints quickly ceased and he found he had no choice but to accept the current situation.

[Don't let this drag out longer than necessary. You'll only be able to contain the Juggernaut Drive for only a few minutes.]

"Hmph… Plenty of time."

With that done, Vali held forth his, and as he gathered power that was aimed at Shirou.

[Half Dimension!]

"Ghh!?"

This time the target of Vali's attack was Shirou himself. He could feel it, a distortion in space that opened up in the center of his body, it was like an invisible hole appeared inside his stomach and was trying to suck him inside out. It was an unexplainable sensation, almost like he was forcibly shrinking. It was no doubt painful.

"Gugh! Arrrg!"

"The Juggernaut Drive magnifies my abilities to the greatest degree, the Half Dimension you witnessed before was just the tip of the iceberg by comparison."

"Argh! Bastard!" Shirou cursed as he felt himself getting smaller.

"It won't be long now, soon a chuck of your body will be removed from existence that will be the end of you." Vali said with confidence.

"I won't… LET THAT HAPPEN!"

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

"That won't work."

Shirou felt his body was on the verge of being crushed, yet he remained defiant. "I'LL MAKE IT WORK!"

[TRANSFER!]

BA-DUMP!

Vali's eyes widened beneath his helmet as Shirou's body started to grow. "What's he doing?"

"Transfer it all to what was lost!"

Upon Shirou's command, all the power he stored up moved to the center of his body which lit up his stomach in a bright red light that overlayed the distortion created by Vali's attack and after a second a small but potent shockwave dispersed from Shirou's body as he was returned to his normal size and the wrapped dimension around him was gone.

After pulling that off, Shirou was gasping for air as he held onto his stomach.

"Huff….Huff… You shouldn't have… Let me see that move the first time." Shirou attempted to brag.

"Haha! Well, that was certainly an interesting way to counter my attack. But it's too bad you can't do to your stamina with what you did to your body." Vali shot back, more amused than anything.

Shirou narrowed his eyes. "He's got me figured out."

[Partner, whatever happens, don't Boost anymore of your power.]

"Yeah, I know I'm almost drained."

[It's more than that. That last stunt used up every last drop you had left, you barely have a minute left in this form now and if you try to Boost your power again for even a single time, your armor will immediately deactivate.]

"So I can't power up, I'm completely out of gas, and I'm fighting someone who brought a tank to a gunfight?" Shirou thought to himself before he moved his hands away from his stomach and smiled beneath his helmet. "Well, guess now I can say it can't get any worse without the sarcasm. Now I know I'm screwed, I can't think of a single witty retort to all this."

Vali began to power up his Aura a bit.

"What's wrong, not going to attack me?"

"You wish!"

Shirou brought out Ascalon and unsheathed Dyrnwyn as he got ready to charge forward.

"I don't what that crazy new form is or what it can do. But it's not like I have the luxury to complain right now, I'll worry about it later."

DON!

Kuoh's Strongest Brawler rushed forth with his wings and jets giving him greater speed. Yet the Devil King's descendant just stood there as if he was waiting to be hit, once Shirou arrived within striking distance, he lashed out, holding both his Swords on his right side intending to slash diagonally.

However, to his shock, Vali simply held out his hand and caught both blades as if they were simple sticks. And with Shirou halted by Vali after his attack was thwarted, Vali followed up by pulling back his free arm and punching Shirou right in the face with a heavy blow.

CRAKK!

The armor around Shirou's face cracked and soon the helmet of his Scale-Mail shattered apart, leaving his head armorless. The punch knocked Shirou to the ground and rocked him backward with enough force that he couldn't roll with it like before. By the time he stopped, he found himself back in the same spot he started at, only now with a broken nose.

As Shirou picked himself back up, he noticed that he could repair his helmet due to his fading energy.

"Agh! How does one punch have that much strength in it?" Shirou wondered as he gripped his face. "It felt like I just got hit by a truck!"

WHISS!

Contrasting his large and bulky frame, Vali's new form didn't reduce his blinding speed even a little. In an instant, he appeared in front of Shirou and was already prepared for the next blow.

"I don't plan on letting you rest."

THUD!

Vali landed another hard fist in Goku's face, bloodying his nose even further. It was the first blow that had been really genuinely damaging beyond words.

Dazed and off-balance, Shirou began falling to the ground. Before he was allowed to fall, Vali caught up and grabbed him by the neck.

"UUCCHHH!" The Young Devil cried out, choking on the blood in his throat.

"Nothing worse than being strong but not strong enough."

CRAAK!

The Vanishing Dragon kneed his Rival hard in the gut, causing him to spit blood and destroying the armor around his abdomen. Then, his hand still gripping his enemy's neck, he hurled him into the air.

"Damn it!"

Shirou had begun to feel more panicked. Vali was relentless. Somehow, all of his stats had skyrocketed ever since he took this new form and that put him on a level that outclassed Shirou. In spite of all the damage he had inflicted, he found himself reduced to nothing more than a ragdoll that his opponent could toy with without worry. It had felt like everything was crumbling, like his armor everything that Shirou had built up and tried to accomplish during the course of this fight was crumbling to pieces.

Just before Shirou's upward momentum slowed, Vali teleported into his trajectory. The Hakuryuukou raised his fists above his head, readying a downward pummel.

"I hope you don't think I'm finished with you!"

SMASH!

Vali hammered both fists hard into Shirou's back, sending his form towards the Earth in a blurry streak.

Again, the Half-Devil terrorist zipped in front of Shirou, this time much faster. Appearing below him in the nick of time, Vali then kicked Shirou across the landscape. Shirou barely had time to cry out in pain; the blows were coming in too quickly for him to react. Before he could defend or pull out of his fall, Vali would attack again, harder than before. He was being knocked around the battlefield like a volleyball, and it would all be over soon if he didn't think of something quickly.

The White Dragon Emperor suddenly appeared right in his path, his right hand crackling with blue energy. Accelerating quickly, Vegeta gathered his energy in the palm of his hand.

"This will end it."

He released a blinding blue beam straight up toward his opponent.

"Uh oh! If I take a blast like that head-on I'm done for!"

With no time to spare, Shirou held his hand to his side and fired a blast of power himself. Using it as a substitute for his jets, the blast rocketed him sideways with greater speed. The blast Vali fired was blindingly bright as it zoomed in to view and sailed past Shirou by a few inches before flying off into the distance. Shirou was relieved that he was able to evade that, until—

CRUNCH!

Before he even had a chance to breathe, Vali had appeared immediately in front of Shirou, and he was met with a powerful blow smashing into his chest, breaking one of his ribs.

"GAAHH!" The pain was excruciating.

"Surprised?" Vali stood over him, his fist raised. "You shouldn't be. Yes, I planned on finishing you with that blast, but it was such a simple attack that I've could've easily followed up with a different one had you managed to avoid it. Did you honestly think that I wouldn't be able to anticipate your next move? You're already running low on power and it's quite apparent that you're struggling to accomplish even keeping your head straight at this point."

Shirou looked up through the pain to see nothing but the armored form that was Vali.

Anyone watching from the background could tell. In fact, it was obvious, he was beaten, now. Vali was simply too much. In the beginning, it looked like Shirou had felt some hope of victory; he had even seemed to inflict a lot of damage on his Sworn-Rival. But before he had even fully realized it, things had gotten out of control. His punches weren't didn't even seem to phase him anymore, all the while he was getting pummeled and losing more and more power.

And yet… Despite all that, he refused to give up. The fire in Shirou's eyes was still burning as brightly as they were when he began, he still believed that victory was possible.

Through the pain, Shirou gripped his hands harder on Dyrnwyn and looked directly at Vali's body.

"Just one cut…. If I can cut him… Just once… I just need one…"

Shirou brought out Ascalon and raised his arms.

"YYAAAARRRRHHH!"

KATCHIN!

He yelled as he attacked again, but this time no longer as calm or collective as he usually was in battle. It was here that they could see Shirou fully drop all pretexts and drown himself in thoughts of nothing but killing his opponent. It was a complete breakdown of Pride, leaving behind nothing but Wrath.

He now began to swing at Vali viciously with his Swords. But Vali didn't even feel the need to defend himself as he simply stood there as his body absorbed each swing with his armor's toughness which wasn't even scratched by either of those blades—It was like watching a child wildly trying to attack a grown man in vain.

There was nothing to say or any other way to describe it, he merely threw caution to the wind and just kept swinging the Swords around wildly; no longer caring if he hit anything at all.

"Reach him! Reach him! REACH HIM!"

Shirou inwardly roared.

Music Off

CRUNCH!

.

.

.

He suddenly froze. Before he was screaming out with a savage roar, but then he stopped dead, his threat dying on his mouth as his eyes widen, staring ahead of him as if in shock. Shirou didn't speak as his hands slowly fell to his side… And when he finally looked down it became clear why.

Shirou was so distracted that he didn't notice that he had gotten too close… Vali's hand had struck him in the chest; the entire palm had gone through his body as if he was made of butter, and was now sticking out of his back.

[SHIROU!/SAN!/KUN/SEMPAI!]

Almost all the spectators screamed in panic as they stared at what happened. A single trail of blood dripped from Shirou's mouth as he fell forward on Vali's arm, limp as a rag doll.

Vali was holding Shirou off the ground so that his full weight was on the hook. He was hanging there limply, blood now flooding from his body and dripping into a pool on the ground. Blood poured from his mouth and nose, dripping all over as Vali spoke to him.

"It's a shame, but you have nothing left to show me, so all I can do is end this."

Vali spoke to him softly as they listened to the steady dripping of the blood from his hand.

"…Hmm?"

Vali thought he heard something and looked downward. There he saw that even though Shirou's arm simply hung there limp and lifeless, his hand still held on to his Sword, as though he still planned to fight.

Vali smiled under his helmet, it wasn't a smile of mockery or amusement this time, but on of acceptance and acknowledgment to his fallen Rival.

"You truly were everything I'd thought you'd be and more." Vali admitted softly as if he was saying goodbye. "If your power had been as strong as your spirit you might have been invincible."

With those final words, Vali gathered a stream of Demonic-power and traced it into the hand he had stabbed through Shirou, when he had enough he discharged it.

BANG!

The blast shot through Shirou's wound and completely consumed his body before launching forth. Shirou was blown away from Vali and sent flying backward at high speed, he blew past the others and crashing into the wall of the School Building—His body broke through the wall of the second floor and landed painfully inside on of the second-floor classrooms. The room was now a mess as desks were broken and scattered after explosive entrance.

Shirou was in a world of pain, not just from the broken ribs or the hole in his chest, but that last attack and the incoming crash created a strong impact that rocked his body so much that Shirou could barely stay awake.

He suffered internal damage. The impact messed up his guts, his diaphragm is fully wounded, his lungs were being crushed… He was having trouble breathing in and out. The salty and metal taste of blood filled his mouth as he threw up a bit of blood, even though he tried to get up, his knees felt so heavy he felt he was carrying a large boulder on his back.

As he looked down, he noticed something else—His armor was gone. That last attack destroyed all that remained of his Scale-Mail and his energy was as dried out as dead bones, he had nothing left.

Play OST — Food Wars-Shokugaki No Soma — He Who Has Used Up All His Strength

Outside, as the others looked up at the hole in the building, Azazel closed his eyes in acceptance and begrudgingly said. "He was unlucky."

"What are talking about?" Rias questioned him, tears forming around her eyes.

"The battles between the Red and White Dragon Emperors typically follow this pattern." Azazel began to explain. "Once they awaken their power, they keep searching for more of it until they reach Juggernaut Drive. Whenever they meet, the first one who has awakened Juggernaut Drive ends up being the winner. First come first serve. That's the pattern."

"But Shirou-kun hasn't lost yet!"

Kiba insisted that, but both his tone and expression sounded unsure, it was clear he was shaken up by all this.

"Have you even been paying attention?" Azazel asked with irritation. "Anyone watching call tell this fight is over. It was just bad luck he happened to born in the same generation as a ridiculous existence like Vali." He then sighed. "It's enough that he's still alive."

Sirzechs seemed to be in agreement as he frowned upset. "He's accomplished more than enough to be proud of, stopping here is nothing to be ashamed of. It couldn't be helped, it just means that Vali was simply stronger than we could have prepared for."

"The most important thing is that he's still alive." Michael added with the same expression. "If he's alive he can recover and he might get another chance in the future when he more prepared. The only option now is to admit defeat."

None of the others wanted to admit it, but it was starting to look like there was no other choice. Vali was like an unstoppable force, so much so that not even Shirou's best efforts were reduced to nothing. They had always seen Shirou defy the odds and stand victorious no matter how overwhelming his opponent was. Even against Raiser, even against Kokabiel. They believed he could do it again but… Now that just seemed impossible.

"No… He hasn't lost yet."

But one person still voiced their thoughts against that statement.

That person was Mika. She still wouldn't accept or even consider the idea that Shirou would lose.

"But Mika….… He's—"

"But nothing! He won't lose, it doesn't matter who his opponent is, how strong they are, or who bad things look, as long as he's still alive he'll still keep fighting, and as long as he keeps fighting he'll find a way to win, he always has and he always will."

"But even he has limits." Azazel insisted, trying to convince her. "There's no way for him to win anymore."

"You may not believe in him anymore, but I haven't lost faith and I never will." Mika insisted, not even considering it. "…He's going to win, no one in this world can ever defeat him, nothing will make me doubt that."

Right now, this was different from the other times Mika had suffered from a breakdown. She didn't seem terrified or lost or even nervous about Shirou's fate like a frightened child, like during the Rating Game or in the fight against Kokabiel. This time was different. Her eyes seemed razor-sharp and didn't have a spec of doubt while her body was shaking—Not trembling but like she was trying to hold back any emotion and willing herself to stay still and watch, no matter what.

It was clear to see that she was extremely worried for her Brother, but at the same time she had absolute faith in him and as such wouldn't allow herself to do anything but watch with the belief that he wouldn't do anything less than end this fight as the victor.

Just as Irina and Xenovia had absolute faith in God and the Occult Research Club had absolute faith in Rias, Mika had absolute faith in Shirou.

When he saw that, Ren looked up at the building where Shirou was in. He was just as concerned as everyone else, if not more. But he also still wanted to believe that Shirou could still do something.

"Shirou, if anyone can pull something off in this impossible scenario, it's you. I'll still believe that."

Music Off

Inside the ruined classroom where Shirou was. Shirou struggled to move despite his wounds, any sound he could muster out was either coughs or pain-filled grunts. Even though he tried to stand up, at best he could only stand on one knee.

"I'm not done. Not even close." He spoke inwardly, not able to say it out loud. "Reach him… I can win if I just reach him."

[Partner, you need to withdraw.]

"What?"

[With the state you're in now you'll die if you try to stand up again. I hate it just as much as you, but the only thing to do now is accept defeat.]

Shirou's eyes widened before he reached out and grabbed one of the nearby chairs and used it to help pull himself to his feet as he coughed out more blood.

"No, never. This fight isn't over yet."

[This can't even be considered a fight. You're finished, you have nothing left to give.]

Ddraig attempted to reason with him but Shirou only grew angrily and this time he spoke out loud.

"But, I have my life to give!"

[Partner?!]

Now Ddraig was concerned as he noticed a change in Shirou's Aura. The cause soon revealed itself as a shroud of pure Darkness surrounded Shirou's body just like it had done several times in the past when Shirou was in life-threatening situations. And if there was any doubt even after seeing that Aura, that doubt vanished after he opened his eyes. They weren't the clear blue eyes that Shirou normally had, instead, they were shining Golden eyes.

These were the eyes and the Aura of Shirōu Amakusa.

"I won't stop until I've won. No matter the cost."

Shirou declared in a cold tone under the dark influence that was trying to consume him.

[Partn&*!….…]

Ddraig's voice was suddenly cut off, like before when this power showed itself the connection between Shirou and his Dragon was blocked. As if all his pain receptors had stopped working, Shirou got to his feet without any struggle and walked forward until he reached the broken wall he came in from and stood in front of the edge where he could see Vali from a distance. Seeing him turned his scowl into a death-glare.

"YYYYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONN!

As he let out a mighty howl, the darkness surrounding him flared up like a blazing inferno that spread out in all directions. This got the attention of everyone there.

"The Power of Darkness!" Vali exclaimed, unable to hide his surprise.

[It seems that on the brink of death, that power finally showed itself.]

"No… That's…"

Rias became horrified when she saw the darkness had reappeared. In fact, everyone who had present during the last battle had the same reaction. Azazel, on the other hand, looked panicked.

"Why now of all times?

"Has he been consumed?" Sirzechs asked, filled with concern.

Azazel shook his head. "Not yet, but this situation couldn't get any worse. There are only two outcomes at this point, either he'll be swallowed by the darkness or he'll die."

Shirou held a firm grasped on Dyrnwyn since Ascalon was now back inside the Boosted Gear, he held the Red Dragon Sword with both hands and brought out its Holy Aura. Now it was like a small but bright glow of light within a deep chasm of darkness.

Seeing that he was preparing to attack, Vali responded by crossing his arms over his chest. "Come!"

He did so and charged forward in a straight path towards his foe, his speed was just as great as normal. With a mighty cry, he swung his Sword down with all his might. If his Rival's armor was thick, then he would simply have to swing harder to cut through it. His blade swung with all his might

This was going to be the deciding moment一

SLASH!

A slashing attack from above him connected with his arms.

Something spun through the air, then landed heavily on the ground. He heard the ear-piercing sound of metal and a sound like a wet sack splattering on the ground.

No one could not understand it. Not Shirou nor anyone watching.

But Vali could.

Shirou's arm arms一Which had still been holding his Sword just now一Had vanished. Even as blood spurted from the severed stumps in time with his heartbeat, he could not accept reality.

Agony coursed up from his arms. Some distance away, his arms fell to the ground, still holding on to his Sword.

Only after seeing that fact did Shirou finally grasp what had just happened. And only after seeing Vali's arms now stretched out to both his sides did he understand what had happened.

He stumbled back from Vali and soon lost his footing.

THUD!

As he hit the ground with a loud thud that was as good as a blast to the ears of those watching, his blood splashing underneath and dripped around him. They stared, everything silent around them but for the sound of the wind blowing. His arms that he used to tear apart any opponent that stood before him and proved that he was the best were now severed from his body and laying in a pool of blood.

Rias and Akeno's eyes widened with shock, horror, and grief as the tears started to fall.

Kiba couldn't stop his tears and tried to wipe them away.

Xenovia and Irina either looked down or looked away as they silently cried.

Gasper cried his eyes out as he held onto Koneko who was also shedding tears.

Sona kept her head down and closed her eyes while she also wept silently, Tsubaki stood beside her as comfort but she couldn't hide the fact that she was also shaken up.

Sirzechs, Michael, and Azazel all either closed their eyes or gritted their teeth as they looked away with frustration, dismay, and regret.

Grayfia could no longer hold her composer and covered her mouth with her while looking horrified at the scene in front of her.

Serafall hugged her arms around her body and started trembling while looked away. Unable to bear the sight before her.

Asia fell to her knees and while she shed tears like the eyes, the light in her eyes seemed like they were starting to fade while her expression seemed almost lifeless. It was as if her mind couldn't come to terms with what she was seeing. To a third party, it would look like she fainted.

Ren clenched his fists and looked distraught as he also teared up.

Mika was the only one who didn't cry nor look away. However, she also didn't move, she simply stood there as though she was frozen like a statue. Her eyes were direct and tunneled, they couldn't see anything except for the fallen form of her mutilated Brother. Her expression was unreadable—Empty, like a blank slate that revealed nothing.

Standing not too far from the body was Vali who now lowered his arms. As he did so, if one were to look close enough at his hands they would have noticed that his hands were shaking a bit as he took a deep breath.

"That was close."

On the surface, it looked like saw the attack coming and responded by cutting off his arms, but the truth is there was more to it than that.

Ever since Vali invoked the Juggernaut Drive, he was able to simply tank any attack Shirou threw at him without moving or flinching, even with Ascalon. And yet, against his last remaining strength fueled by the Power of Darkness, Vali judged that letting that attack hit him would be unwise and so he countered instead.

In other words, Vali considered it to be enough of a threat to not try to take it and instead made sure to hit before getting hit.

"That must have been his final trump card, which means, this time it's over for good."

[In that case, deactivate the Juggernaut Drive, you don't have that much time left anyway.]

While Albion gave him that advice, Vali kept his gaze on Shirou's body.

He was still alive, but barely clinging to life. The pain that kept him awake was gone, now he felt nothing. He couldn't speak or make a sound, he couldn't feel anything but a deep coldness all over his body, he couldn't see anything, though his eyes were open all he saw was darkness.

The only proof that he was still alive was the fact that the Boosted Gear was still attached to his severed left arm. And something no one noticed was the jewel on the Boosted Gear was blinking its light.

---

After closing his eyes, Shirou felt my consciousness to nothing as he unknowingly entered the inner world of the Boosted Gear. He was plunged into the depths of the Boosted Gear which felt like falling down a cliff or a chasm, there was nothing but darkness, like falling into nothing. Soon he left the darkness and stopped gently stopped falling as he landed and stood, having arrived in a white space. A vast, pure, white space. There was nothing there but the white, blank, nothingness of it all. It was an endless void that stretched out in every direction. In this world, Shirou noticed all of his injuries were gone, however, he was still missing both of his arms.

The only things that were there were tables, round tables that were in front of him that were wide and they were all at least four rows up. On the various round tables and chairs, there were various different people who were sitting with their heads high, they ranged from young to old, to male, to female. They all wore white cloaks that covered their whole bodies so the only thing that could be seen was their faces.

Speaking of their faces, they all had angered expressions on their faces while having a dark Aura around them. It wasn't like the Power of Darkness, it was a misty blackish-purple that hung off them like a miasma.

{Juggernaut Drive….…}

{…..It's Juggernaut Drive.}

"Juggernaut Drive?" Shirou repeated confused. "What are you people talking about? And who are you anyway?"

He got his answer in the form of a vision that appeared in the white world. He could see himself back in the outside world. He saw the vision of him without his armor and on the ground was his arms cut off and his insides sprayed across the ground. He resembled a corpse.

"That's me?" Shirou muttered dumbfounded. "But then where are am I? What is this place?!"

{Juggernaut Drive.}

{Juggernaut Drive is the only solution.}

{Yes, that's the only solution.}

{That man is seeking it.}

The cloaked individuals got up from the chairs and showed creepy smiles while covered in their dark Aura.

Suddenly the dark miasma coming out of Shirou's body as well. It starting to cover his body. And at the same time, he felt his body suddenly become heavy, like the gravity increased and he was forced to his knees. While he was struggling to keep himself from falling further an ill-feeling was coming from inside him. He could feel it….… Grudge….. Pain.…. Hatred….… It was increasing inside of. It was whirling inside of his body like a current. All those feelings were directed to one source….… One man…..Vali.

"What's going on…. What's…Happening to me?" Shirou struggled to speak

Shirou couldn't stop these thoughts and emotions. Power…. He wanted to defeat him…. He wanted power…. Absolute power….. For that…He wanted to eliminate Vali until nothing was left…..

"No these…Aren't my thoughts…." He looked up at the cloaked individuals and realized what was going on. "It's you!"

{Now. The current Red Dragon Emperor. Shirou Tsukiharu. Let's rampage. Let's activate the Juggernaut Drive.}

One of them said that while wearing a dark miasma. Shirou with great effort looked up at them and glared.

"N…No… Gah!"

The weight pushing him down increased as his whole body was pushed to the ground, Shirou could feel his forehead being pushed deep into the floor as he struggled to move.

{It is the way of the Heavenly Dragon to become the King of Destruction.}

"I don't… Care about the… Ways of the Heavenly Dragon…" Shirou still resisted.

{No. The King of Destruction. The Juggernaut Drive is the actual way that has been planted inside this Sacred Gear.}

"Arg! Even if… It's been planted… It won't matter if I… Choose not to use it."

{There is no other path. No way to move forward. You must!}

"I won't!"

Shirou remained defiant even when faced with all their hatred and resentment. However, the darkness surrounding them only intensified as they all started chanting together

{Juggernaut Drive!}

{Juggernaut Drive!}

{Juggernaut Drive!}

{Juggernaut Drive!}

{Juggernaut Drive!}

{Juggernaut Drive!}

{Juggernaut Drive!}

{Juggernaut Drive!}

{Juggernaut Drive!}

"SHUT UP! Shirou screamed out.

While they were chanting the dark miasma kept growing and spreading, to the point where this void-like world of pure white became a world of blackish-purple that was filled with an oppressive atmosphere. The Aura coming out of Shirou's body was beginning to consume him like a parasite. The white in his eyes sockets started to black as he felt himself slipping away.

Yet, in spite of all that, he refused to relinquish control.

"I DON'T CARE HOW MANY TIMES YOU SAY OR WHO YOU GUYS EVEN ARE! I'M THE ONE WHO DECIDES WHAT WAY I DO THINGS! IF ANYONE EVEN THINKS OF TRYING TO OVERTAKE MY CONTROL THEN I'LL BLOW THEM AWAY!"

"Yes. That certainly is the truth."

Shirou's eyes widened as he recognized that voice. The cloaked figures had the same reaction. No one was there and it seemed like the voice echoed from nowhere, but the voice spoke again.

"If you had allowed yourself to be consumed by them and yet was able to fight off my control. I wouldn't be able to comprehend it."

Pitch-black darkness started to take form nearby Shirou and it quickly expanded and took shape. It took the shape of a person that had the appearance of a dark silhouette with a facial expression. The only source of light it had was its glowing Golden eyes.

Upon seeing him, Shirou became surprised while one of the cloaked individuals becomes enraged.

"It's you?"

{You are….…!}

"Yes. I am Shirōu Amakusa Tokisada. And I would appreciate it if you fools wouldn't destroy my vessel."

He spoke with brash confidence as he held out his hand towards Shirou and emitted some of his darkness. Out of nowhere, Shirou felt the miasma fade from his body, and the weight that was holding him gone vanished as though it was never there. Slightly confused by this, Shirou sat up and looked at him.

"You, how are you here? I thought…"

Shirōu Amakusa smirked at him. "Did you assume that I was gone permanently after our last encounter simply because you pushed me back? I told you that I would wait for the day when I could claim your body as my vessel. Until then I will remain within the deeps of your soul."

"Then, why did you show up now?"

"Well, after what was happening on the outside, I decided that I would reveal myself to you. There are some things I want to talk to you about."

{I won't let you! Hatred! Sadness! And hatred itself is the Sacred Gear of the Welsh Dragon! Having the curse inside. Spreading the resentment to destroy is the way of the Heavenly-Dragon—}

Shirōu Amakusa raised his hand up high and his darkness started to spread around.

"I think that's enough out of you all."

DON!

True darkness that was darker than black spread through the white world. It started to take away the dark miasma belonging to the cloaked individuals. The power of their hatred was vanishing and being overlapped. The black Aura of the Power of Darkness consumed everything, them, their Aura's, the tables, and even the whole world of white. Like watching day turn to night the white void became a black void no different than the one they were in when they last spoke and now instead of standing, they were floating as Shirou straightened up.

Shirōu Amakusa seemed satisfied. "Ah, that's so much better."

"I am so confused right now. I mean, who the heck were all those guys?" Shirou asking, now demanding answers.

"I'm a little surprised you don't know already." Shirōu Amakusa noted before he answered. "Those were lingering emotions attached to souls that remained after death."

Shirou blinked. "…Run that by me again."

"What you were seeing was the spirits of all the users of your Sacred Gear who are now deceased. After death, a small part of each of their souls was left inside that inner world where they stay eternally."

"You mean all those guys used to be a Red Dragon Emperor?"

"Indeed. Although they could only hold onto their sense of self when they're consumed by their own negative emotions. Thoughts of hatred and grudges are what keep them around and when the current wielder can no longer suppress them they come out and attempt to consume you in order to make their hatred your hatred, if they had succeeded you would have ended up becoming one of them. You can think of it as a curse."

Shirou raised a brow. "Isn't that kinda like what you are?"

Shirōu Amakusa seemed almost amused. "You shouldn't compare drops of rain to an ocean. Unlike those hellions who are only small fragments of what they were before death I still hold every last drop of the power I had when I was alive. Suppressing them was mere child's play for me."

In response, Shirou let out a tired sigh. "Sure, let's go with that."

"Moving on, we're getting off-topic, as I said I have something I want to talk to you about."

"Fine then, you wanna talk go ahead and talk."

Shirōu Amakusa extended his hand towards Shirou. "Gave me control of your body and become my vessel."

Shirou narrowed his eyes at him. "I was wondering what you were going to say when you said you wanted to talk, but is that really it? It's the thing as before, and you should already know my answer."

"Just hear me out. I told you I was aware of the situation outside. Currently, you are in a hopeless situation where the only outcome is death, but if you give me control, I can use my power to escape from this battlefield and survive as well."

"You want to run away?"

"It's better to retreat from an unwinnable battle and live to fight another day. Am I wrong?"

"You forgot about the part where I won't be living. I'll be virtually dead as my soul vanishes into nothing while you take my body."

Even though Shirou pointed out that fact, he simply went on.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I will take control but it will only be permanent if you fully consent to give me control. Since this is only for the sake of surviving, I will only overshadow you temporarily."

"…How do I know any of this is the truth?"

Shirou narrowed his eyes and glared at him while Shirōu Amakusa narrowed his eyes and grinned.

"You don't."

"Then why should I believe you?"

"Because you're out of options."

The two of them were now silent and looked at each other in the eye, while one looked angry the other seemed pleased. But the silence didn't last long as Shirou gave his answer.

"I refuse."

Shirōu Amakusa looked like he wasn't expecting that. "You're saying you choose death?"

"Of course not." Shirou denied as if coming to that conclusion was ridiculous. "I'm saying I won't run or hide, I'm seeing this fight through to the end."

"How is that any different. Death is the only outcome you can expect in this unwinnable battle."

"You're wrong, it's not unwinnable." Shirou argued. "I still have a way to win this, I just need to reach him, if I can cut him just once with my Sword I can turn this whole thing around."

"You talk about using your Sword when you currently don't have an arm to speak of."

"I'll just carry my Sword with my teeth if I have to." Shirou reasoned.

"You honestly believe you can win this battle, even now?"

"Yes."

Shirōu Amakusa asked that question while his eyes and tone with filled with doubt and skepticism but he was surprised when Shirou answered him immediately with pure confidence and not a trace of doubt.

"Why? Where do you get all that baseless confidence? You're outmatched, you're facing an opponent that you have no hope of defeating, victory is impossible. How can you still believe otherwise even now? What possible reason can there be for you to still think you can win?!"

This was the first time Shirou had ever seen him lose his composer. He didn't know what sparked this sudden frustration but he answered his question regardless.

"Because if I don't then who will?!" Shirou returned the question.

"What?"

"I believe in myself because others believe in my, my strength, the idea that I'm unbeatable. No matter who I'm fighting, how strong they are, or how many there are, I'll always win, that's what they all believe and I've shown them proof of that over and over again. That's why I won't surrender, I won't back down, and I won't really away, not while they're all depending on me and what I represent."

"What do you mean, represent?"

"No matter how bad things looked or how messed up I got, I always stood up again and fought back, I always do everything physically possible. As long as you're still alive and you can still do something, anything, you can't give up yet. That was what they all saw when watching me, I represent that ideal. So how can I ever let myself throw in the towel now when I haven't done everything, even without my arms I can still fight, so I will. As long as I'm still carrying their beliefs on my back, I won't ever admit defeat and how can anyone expect others to believe in them when they can't even believe in themselves, how can anyone put their faith in someone who already admits defeat before it even ended?"

Shirōu Amakusa was silenced. It seemed like this time he was the one who was dumbfounded and was left speechless as he didn't know how to respond to Shirou's speech. He never expected that kind of response.

"This man..."

He just stared at him, stared at the person standing before him. He could see it in his eyes, his face, in his very being that he was genuine in everything he said. His words resonated with something inside of him and that made him look down as though his mind was somewhere else and he was thinking and about something. After that, he seemed to have made up his mind about something and looked back at Shirou.

"Listen, if you're insisted on continuing this battle then let's make a different deal."

Shirou was a little thrown off by his sudden suggestion. "A different deal?"

"Instead of overshadowing you, I will lend you my power. You will still be in control but you will be able to wield my Darkness for a limited amount of time. Use it however you see fit, but this will only last a few moments so don't waste any time."

"You can lend me the Darkness?" Shirou questioned in disbelief. "Since when has that been a thing?"

"Don't forget we are two souls in one body, like your Dragon any of my powers can also be wielded by you given that the conditions are met. And as I said before, you are the ideal vessel since your body is almost exactly the same as my old one, so you should be able to effectively use the Power of Darkness."

Now Shirou seemed suspicious. "What's with the change in attitude?" You being unusually cooperative."

Shirōu Amakusa closed his eyes and smirked.

"I now see that it is impossible to reason with you. So at the very least, I will help increase your chances of survival, after all, it'll be a problem for me to if you die. You certainly won't turn this down right?"

Shirou still looked suspicious but decided to accept considering he wasn't really in a position to be picky on the kind of help he could get. "Alright fine, let's do it. So how does this work?"

Shirōu Amakusa gathered a surplus of Darkness in his hand. "Just hold still, I will take care of things."

He then stepped forward and stood n front of Shirou as he reached out and placed his Darkness-covered hand over Shirou's forehead. After that, the Power of Darkness started to spread around Shirou's body as Shirōu Amakusa said one last thing before they parted.

"Don't think this changes anything between us."

---

Back in the outside world. Despite all the time that was spent inside the inner world, only a fraction of a second had passed outside and everyone was still gazing at the possible corpse of Shirou.

"That must have been his final trump card, which means, this time it's over for good."

[In that case, deactivate the Juggernaut Drive, you don't have that much time left anyway.]

While Albion gave him that advice, Vali kept his gaze on Shirou's body. He then came to the conclusion that this battle was over.

"Yes, I suppose you have a point. I'll—!"

THUMMMMM!

Suddenly Darkness started welling up around Shirou's captured everyone's attention as tear-filled eyes looked up in surprise as they saw the fallen warrior rise up to his feet while shrouded in a darker than Black Aura. As he stood up, the Darkness started to gather around the hole in his chest and began to whirl around that area, closing it up, when the Darkness left it, his wound was gone as if it instantly recovered.

If that wasn't enough of a shock to everyone, he also held out the severed stumps that once held his arms and from them, two shots of serpent-like shape bursts of Darkness shot out. The shots of Darkness reached the ends of both his severed arms and attaching themselves to them. After that, the Darkness started retracting—Bringing his arms back with them and soon, the Darkness connected his arms back into his stumps, reattaching them before vanishing. With that, his arms were back too.

Neither Vali nor anyone watching was sure what to make of what it was that they were seeing. Shirou was back on his feet and covered in Darkness and yet, not only were all of his major injuries fixed and gone but so were all the minor ones along with any open wounds or bruises. His body looked fully recovered and good as new.

"What's going on?" Sirzechs asked, completely baffled. "I thought this was over."

"Well, clearly there's something else going on." Azazel responded, just as confused.

Akeno looked nervous ad voiced her thoughts. "Do you think this is the same thing that happened back then? When he was fighting Kokabiel and became possessed?"

"This does feel similar to that time." Xenovia added, also concerned.

"It's different." Ren spoke out, looking unnerved. "What I'm sensing from him feels off, it feels like two different Aura mashed into one person. I've never felt something like this."

"Then, what's going on?" Kiba asked.

"I just said I don't know?" Ren told him, he then noticed Mika stepping forward. "Mika?"

"Big Bro…" Mika started, her voice quiet at first before it became louder. "That's you isn't it? If so then say something, Big Bro!"

In response, Shirou just stood there for a moment. Then he slowly started to turn both his head and his body to the side as he began to face them and speak. When he stopped as was facing them, he spoke out.

"Yeah, what's the matter? What's got you sounding so worried?"

Everyone who saw his face and heard his voice was taken aback. It was something they had never seen. While he was covered in Darkness like before his face was different. Instead of both eyes being gold, his left eye was shining gold while his right eye was the usual deep blue. It wasn't just dual-colored eyes though, on the right side of his face, from his cheek to his eyelid there were black marks over his skin, in the pattern of what seemed like embers. And his voice had an echo over it, it sounded like there were two people talking at the same time in perfect sync.

"What is that form?" Ren wondered, completely baffled. "Is this the reason behind his strange Aura?"

"It's like he's half-and-half, is that actually Shirou-kun or…?" Kiba wondered, not knowing what to make of this.

Seeing their expression, Shirou guessed what they all had on their minds and just smirked.

"You guys don't need to wrack your brains on this. I'll tell you about it later."

After leaving things off with those words, he turned his head and stood forward again. Now he faced forward and turned his attention back on Vali, intending on finishing this at last.

"That's an interesting form you've taken. But I must ask, which one are you?"

"Sad fact is, I don't really have time to explain."

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONN!

"That's why I'm ending this right now!"

"Upon his words, his Darkness erupted in an explosive burst that shot out in all directions. The Darkness that was around his body now grew like a raging inferno that was spread out ten feet from his body as was surging widely.

"There is a straight-path to your death right in front of you, question is are you willing to take it?"

Vali became both interested and excited by that challenge.

"Ha! Interesting, if you think you have to power to kill me despite my Juggernaut Drive, then go ahead and try!"

[Vali! Don't—]

"YAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Vali ignored whatever warning his Dragon was going to give him and charged forward. Being the battle-manica that he was, Vali would never turn away from a challenge, the added that fact that he's been in his Juggernaut Drive state for this long has lessened his ability to think calmly and has made him more violent and instinct-pron. Because of that, he rushed right in without a moment of hesitation.

That was exactly what Shirou wanted.

"RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

With a mighty roar, Shirou raised both his arms above his head before he swung them as if he was throwing something larger than his body. This action caused his large reserve of Darkness to gather up and blast forward like a tidal wave with the speed and intensity that was aimed at a collision course straight into Vali. Vali was too late to try to dodge it and he ended up getting hit by the full force of the incoming Darkness.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNN!

In a flash, the Darkness fully consumed Vali and pulsated all over the grounds around him. The Power of Darkness changed its shape from a large wave to a rising pillar of Darkness that was very wide and very potent. Vali was in the center of the Darkness was being hit by the full weight of it. Even in his Juggernaut Drive, he was struggling to even move his fingers much less his limbs, it felt like he was being buried by an avalanche that kept getting heavier as time went on. His whole body was rattling as he struggled with all his might to keep himself from falling apart.

"Grrrr! Augh! It's not possible, I can't break free even with my Juggernaut Drive!"

[Vali, it's too much. You've reached your limit.]

"Arrrrrgg!"

SHINNNNNEEEE!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Play OST — ThunderBOLT Fantasy — Thunderbolt Fantasy

Vali's armor started to light up a bit inside the Darkness. What followed was the Darkness started to lose its solid form and shift a bit like a hurricane. Before long the pillar began to compress and vibrate until all of it became concentrated into a single point and was unleashed into a powerful implosion. The implosion didn't have much destructive power since the Darkness vanished before it was unleashed, but it created a violent shockwave that went out in all directions and ravaged everything in sight. Chunks of the School Building were blown off, trees were ripped out of the ground and blown away, large amounts of dirt and wind were kicked up and cyclone around the field, blocking it from sight and blowing past anyone nearby, they needed barriers to keep their feet on the ground.

Before long, when the dust started to clear from the battlefield, one of the combatants could be seen. It was Shirou who was standing there breathing heavily while his body was hunched over a little. One thing worth noticing was the Dark Aura around his body was gone along with the Black marks around his face and his golden eye had turned back into its usual blue.

Basically, he was back to normal.

On the other side of the battlefield as the rest of the dust cleared the other combatant was revealed. Vali stood there, barely on his feet as his Juggernaut Drive was gone, now without any kind of armor whatsoever left he was back in his base state without even his wings. Vali was panting for air as he looked extremely winded and had trouble standing up straight.

"Albion, what happened?"

[Attempting to withstand the overwhelming force of that Darkness put too much pressure on you in the state you were in. You couldn't withstand being in a Juggernaut Drive state any longer so it was forcibly deactivated.]

After hearing his partner's explanation, Vali gripped his hand over his chest in an attempt to regulate his breathing.

"It's too much, I can't fight in this state, for now, I need to—"

WHOOOSH!

Vali's eyes widened as before he even had time to think, Shirou had dashed forward and was right in front of him with Dyrnwyn in his hand. Vali couldn't hide the horror on his face and tried to step back in an attempt to defend himself but he wasn't in time as Shirou slashed his blade at him.

SLASH!

"Gugh!"

The Sword cut through his skin like warm tofu as Vali felt himself get slashed from his shoulder to his hip, the gash was shallow but it was still from a Holy Sword which made it very damaging as he could feel it burning like acid.

"Now's my chance!"

Shirou wasn't finished, however, as he stepped forward and reached out his left arm until the Boosted Gear came into contact with Vali's cut as the jewel glowed.

BOOSTED FATALITY!

[TRANSFER!]

At that moment, all Vali knew was pain. Trillion in cells inside of his body were crying out in agony as the cut on his body multiplied into something much more signifiant. Vali skidded backward a few steps as blood burst out from his torso and his mouth like water streaming out of a balloon, all he could do in response was give Shirou a death glare with all of his hatred.

"YOU…BASTAAAAAAAAAARD!"

Shirou raised his right arm, tightening it into a fist, his entire hand was overflowing with all of his remaining power, and lunged forward intending to hit Vali with one final blow. This would bring everything to an end.

"Bow Before The KIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNGG!"

Shirou roared with every fiber of his being from the deeps of his soul. His fist crashed into Vali's face with a fierce Haymaker that had the force of a stone boulder, smashing him into the ground with such a strong impact that it shook the very ground, the flat ground they were standing on was so cracked it was like an earthquake had hit, and it caused an explosion of dirt and rubble to blow out everywhere.

BAAAAAAAM!

Music Off

When the dust cleared, there was only one left standing. Shirou stood there in that same spot as his power completely faded and he was left with nothing. Shirou immediately felt it when his fatigue hit him as he let his Sword slip out of his hands and hit the ground, not to mention his Boosted Gear vanished from his hand. Despite all that, Shirou still stood, refusing to fall as an acknowledgment of his victory.

At his feet was laid Vali, beaten completely into the ground, not moving an inch. He was battered, bloodied, bruised and his eyes were without light proving that he was without a doubt unconscious. Shirou that was all the proof that was needed to know that Shirou was the winner and this long battle was finally over.

Seeing that made a small smile appear on Shirou's face.

Of everyone who had watched the conclusion of this Rival Showdown, none was more shocked by the result than Azazel.

"Vali…. Lost?" He thought to himself in astonishment before a smile also found its way on his face. "How about that."

Shirou then resummoned his Sacred Gear and brought out Ascalon as he quietly looked down at the fallen form of his Rival one last time, knowing what he had to do next.

The way he just laid there, he looked so quiet and defenseless, it almost made it feel like the feeling of Absolute Supremacy he gave off just a while ago was a lie. Shirou just stared at him with a solemn look on his face.

"I can still feel it…" He thought wistfully. "I've been at death's door plenty of times, but this time felt completely different, I really felt like this time I was really gonna die. Vali, you're the Strongest Man I've ever gone up against, I only won this time by the skin of my teeth, and that's being generous." Shirou acknowledged. "I'll never forget you."

With everything settled, Shirou raised his arm and prepared to strike down Ascalon into Vali's body in order to end his life.

"Goodnight, sweet Prince."

SHATTER!

KATCHIN!

Suddenly, the top of the barrier that protected the school crated, before completely falling apart when a silhouette crashed through it.

The person crashed to the ground right beside Vali with a wide grin. Shirou looked surprised at the person as they blocked the blade of Ascalon with a red long staff that had gold caps on both ends, who turned out to be a young man with short black hair dressed in ancient Chinese armor that was used Han dynasty during the Romance of the Three Kingdoms period. He was also equipped with a long golden ring wrapped around the base of his forehead.

With a wide swing of his staff, he pushed Shirou back to put space between him and Vali.

"I'll gonna have to stop you right there."

Shirou was understandably angry that a random strange stopped his kill and glared at him.

"What the Hell, who are you?"

"—He's the descendent of the Victorious Fighting Buddha."

The one who answered was Azazel who suddenly appeared right behind Shirou.

Shirou raised a brow. "Wait, you mean Sun Wukong? Also, where'd you come from?!"

Azazel ignored his second question and answered the first.

"To say it correctly, he is a monkey Youkai that has inherited Sun Wukong's power. However, Hell must have frozen over if even you have joined the Khaos Brigade. No, you're the Sun Wukong to the Vanishing Dragon. You're also well-matched."

He laughed at Azazel's words with a cackle.

"I'm different from the first-generation that became a Buddha. I just live doing as I like. My name is Bikou. Nice to meet you, Red Dragon Emperor."

"Yeah, it's a pleasure." Shirou sarcastically replied. "Now tell us what you're doing here."

"It's actually pretty simple. Because we're joining together to fight the Northern Earth Gods, Vali was supposed to flee and return right away if the mission failed. Cattleya failed to assassinate Michael, Azazel, and Lucifer, right? In that case, his observation role is also over. So I'm here to bring him back with me." Bikou then smiled a bit. "On the plus side, I got to watch a pretty exciting battle."

Shirou's eyes widened a bit. "Hold on, you were watching the whole time.

"That's right. I arrived here a while ago but the fight was so much fun to watch so I stayed back and observed. When it was over I wanted to time my dramatic entrance just right so I'd look really cool when I appeared. So what did you think?"

Shirou just looked at him with half-lidded eyes. "I think you're typically a pain in the ass to work with."

Bikou let out a tired sigh and shrugged. "Isn't that cruel? I made a long journey and came all the way to this island country because my partner is in a pinch, you know? The other guys were making a fuss at headquarters, you know?"

The Monkey Youkai then reached down and lifted up Vali before throwing him over his shoulder.

"The bottom line is, we'll be taking our leave."

"I don't think so."

Shirou held up his arm and pointed his blade at Bikou, more specifically the unconscious Vali on Bikou's shoulder.

"This was a fight to the death, what makes you think I'll just let him leave while he's still breathing?"

Bikou didn't look the least bit concern. "I don't know, maybe the fact that you couldn't stop me even if you wanted to."

Shirou narrowed his eyes. "What."

"Hahahaha! Don't bother trying to hide it, I could sense it the moment I saw you. While it looks like you're fully healed and ready to go, that's all just for show. You're Demonic and magic reserves are so empty they're bone-dry and while all your injuries on the outside are gone, all of your internal injuries like your damaged organs or broken bones haven't healed at all. It's all you can do to just stand there, in the state you're in now even a child could beat you."

Shirou glared and grit his teeth in frustration as he couldn't deny anything that was said. "He's got me figured out."

The Youkai called Bikou spun around his staff that had some kind of energy and then pierced it into the ground. Instantly, a circle of darkness spread over the ground. It seized Vali and Bikou and made them slowly completely sink into it as Bikou waved goodbye.

"Guess we'll see you later, and don't worry about Vali, I'm sure he'll be glad to fight you again after you've both healed up a bit."

With that last sentence just there, the Hakuryuukou vanished into the darkness along with Sun Wukong. Once they were gone, Shirou just groaned as he put away his Boosted Gear.

"Man, I wasn't able to kill him."

"True, but you still won, that's something no one can deny."

Azazel pointed out with a smile, though Shirou still looked unsatisfied.

"Maybe…" Shirou then walked away as he muttered. "Geez, I need healing."

Azazel watched him go for a bit and then he looked out at the sky as he thought in remembrance.

"When all's said and done, I can't find the words to describe everything I saw tonight, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all. Both the Red and White Dragons are ridiculous. Actually, that reminds me. Vali, you finally saw the Red Dragon Emperor. In your eyes, I wonder how you saw him."

---

With the fighting now over with, the armies of the three big powers came in and carried out the processing of cleaning up the school. Sirzechs, Serafall, and Michael could be seen giving orders to subordinates of all Three Factions. With some restoring the school to its normal size, and even repairing the gym that was destroyed.

"Finally, a joint effort between all of us." Rias said as she, Akeno, and Sona stood beside each other.

"It looks like we really have achieved peace this time, doesn't it?" Akeno asked.

While that was going on, Shirou and Azazel slowly advanced to join up with the others. When Sirzechs caught sight of them, he raised his hands.

"So you're alright. Thank goodness."

"He's fine for the most part. I… Caused trouble with Vali."

"…So he betrayed you."

"From the start, he was a guy that poured into only power. If you look at it from the results, it's possible to understand and say 'Ah, I see'. —However, it's my responsibility that I didn't stop it from happening."

Azazel's eyes seemed lonely somehow. It seemed that a part of him was going to miss the now rogue Dragon Emperor. Shirou then spoke out.

"More importantly, I need some healing." He then faced the side. "Asia, would you—!"

Before he could finish, Shirou was caught off guard as he suddenly saw Asia, Koneko, Gasper lunging towards him in the air with happy tears in their eyes and comically relieved expressions on their faces before they all crashed into him, making them all crash into the ground.

"Gah!" Shirou gasped from how much he was caught off guard by them tackling him.

"Shirou-san! I was so worried! You were!"

"…Sempai! You're alive!"

"Sempai! You're! I'm! Gaaaaaa!"

They each cried out in different ways, showing how they were both relieved for his safety and how afraid they were for his life. In Gasper's case, he struggled to find any proper words at all. But none of them could stop their tears from falling or their faces from turning red. Shirou then sat up and faced them.

"Alright, alright, just get off of me would you, I'm injured!"

After he snapped at them, they each moved back a bit but stayed close to him regardless as Asia held out her hands in front of him a released her glowing green light that started to heal Shirou's body. As that was happening, a familiar laugh was heard.

"Ha! You guys are such worrywarts, unlike all of you I was never afraid, I knew from the beginning that Broster Douglas was going to win without a doubt."

While Mika spoke with a cocky attitude, Shirou simply closed his eyes as his right eye twitched in slight annoyance.

"Is that so? Then why are you clinging to my back!?"

Just as he said, Mika was latched onto his back with both her arms ad legs wrapped around him as if she was trying to hang on to him as tightly as possible.

"I'm rewarding you, it's a customer for the protagonist to share an intimate moment with his love interest after a main-event fight."

"Well, I didn't ask for one, and you're not a love interest you're my Sister."

"Oh Brother, can't I be both?"

"No!"

While they were comically going back and forth like their usual selves. Ren simply watched them, feeling the tension melt away. "Even when everyone else gave up hope, she still believed in him."

At that point, all the others started to gather around Shirou as well, while he stayed on the ground to continue his healing.

"You are the craziest man I've ever met." Kiba told him with a smile.

"Hey, don't be a dick, call it daring." Shirou corrected him.

"There were so many things wrong with what you did tonight." Xenovia added.

"Yeah, don't you have any idea how worried you made all of us?" Irina said in a scolding fashion.

Shirou just scoffed and looked away. "Seriously, I just get a couple of flesh wounds and suddenly everyone starts getting all emotion?" He then laughed a little. "Heh, It ain't easy being a Superstar."

Some of them started to laugh with him, now that a more pleasant atmosphere filled the air Shirou stood up from the ground, now finished with his healing. Though, Ren stepped forward with a more serious look as he whispered in his ear.

"That strange form near the end of the fight, what was that?"

"I'll give you all the details later, right now don't bring it up."

Shirou told him also whispering, Ren nodded and stepped back.

"Hmm, what were you two whispering about?" Asia asked curiously.

Mika hopped off of Shirou's back and landed beside Asia with a mischievous grin. "Probably making plans for a date."

"Eh!?" Asia gasped as her cheeks turned red.

"Shut it!" Shirou barked at them.

They stopped when they heard footsteps. Shirou turned to see Rias walking up to him, with Akeno, Sona, and Tsubaki beside her. When they arrived Rias approached him silently with her had down.

"Hey Rias, what's—?"

Play OST — My Hero Academia — Now It's Your Turn (Piano & Orchestral Cover)

Shirou was interrupted when Rias suddenly wrapped her arms around him and buried her head into his chest as she started to cry softly while her body trembled a bit.

"…You jerk, I was so worried, afraid that I was going to lose you."

Shirou stayed still for a second but then gently placed his hands on her shoulders and made her look up at him. When she did, as he had done with many of the others, Shirou gave her a smile and softly wiped away her tears.

"You never change, you know that?" Shirou jokingly told her. "Every time I finish a tough fight you always start crying."

Rias' eyes still had some tears in them, but she smiled back at him. "I can't help it, you always do the most unbelievable things when you fight."

"Then, let me tell you something that will put your mind at ease. I will never lose, even if my opponent is a hundred times or even a million times stronger than me, I'll find a way. As long as victory is possible no matter how slim, I'll make it happen. No matter how banged up I look, I'll pull through. Even if by some bizarre twist of fate I end up dying, I force myself to revive from the grave and make things right. All you need to worry about is greeting me with a smile when everything ends."

Rias let go of him for a second and then smiled wider at him as she nodded. "Okay, and you better make sure you always come back."

She then hugged him again and this time Shirou placed a hand on her hand and the other around her back as he quietly said. "Yeah, that's what makes me Shirou-Sama."

Seeing the two of them share a loving embrace made all the others smile as well, it was just the kinda scene that put your mind at ease. More than that though, Shirou's vow—It felt like his words weren't just for Rias but for all of them, he could tell that Rias' worries spoke for all of them and how they felt seeing him on the brink of death. So he said all that like a promise to set all their minds at ease and believe that everything was going to be alright. Something Shirou would always do when needed to.

"Tch… It's always the big-breasted love interests that get the best scenes."

And that's something Mika would always do.

"Oh don't start that again!" Shirou snapped at her.

"Well it's true, you've been enjoying the feeling of Rias' breasts being pressed up against you this whole time."

"Huh, is that true?!" Asia asked surprised.

Shirou let go of Rias. "Of course not."

Rias pouted a bit. "You didn't have to deny it so adamantly."

Mika then put her hand on Asia's shoulder as a way to comfort her. "Listen, Asia, I'm sorry to tell you this but having breasts as small as yours means you won't be able to give Bromaki half the pleasure or enjoyment that Rias can."

"Hey, quit putting words in people's mouths!" Shirou barked at her.

"Ara, Ara, in that case, my breasts should do a much better job considering they are bigger than the Chief's." Akeno pointed out.

"Size isn't everything." Rias retorted, sounding competitive. "The shape and feeling are important as well."

"In that case, mine are both big and have great shape." Xenovia joined in. "Perfect for baby-making."

"I didn't ask." Shirou retorted.

"Shirou-san!" Asia stepped forward. "Mine might be small but I swear I'll do my best!"

"At what?" Shirou asked.

"…Sempai." Koneko stepped forward as well. "…I won't lose, I'll keep growing as well."

"I don't care." Shirou bluntly replied.

"Well, this conversation has taken an interesting turn." Kiba noted with an amused expression.

"You know, doesn't Sona have really small breasts too?" Ren pointed out.

Sona blushed and covered her chest with her hands "Leave me out of this!"

Shirou finally ran out of patience.

"Just Shut Up!"

---

Meanwhile, the leaders were still discussing things among themselves as Michael came between Sirzechs and Azazel.

"Now then, I'm returning to Heaven at once and will work on a plan for the matter of peace and countermeasures against the Khaos Brigade."

Sirzechs lowered his head a bit. "I'm sorry, I had arranged things this time. We who set up the place of this conference feel ashamed."

"Sirzechs, please don't feel so responsible. As for me, I'm just glad that the Three Great Powers are walking on the path to peace together, you know?" Michael assured him. "With this, useless quarrels should also decrease."

"Well, subordinates who don't agree with that will also leave."

Azazel made that sarcastic remark.

"That is inevitable. Because we've been hating each other for a long time. However, it should change even a little from now on. The problem is the Khaos Brigade that we can't assume is good."

"Then let's cooperate and discuss from now on regarding that matter."

Azazel and Michael nodded at Sirzechs's idea.

"Then, I'll return to Heaven at once. I'll come back immediately, so we'll conclude the formal peace agreement at that time."

"Hold on a second, Michael."

Before he could go, Azazel stopped him and stood in front of the Arch-Angel.

"What is it, Azazel?"

Instead of answering him, Azazel took out a small piece of paper and handed it to Michael who looked somewhat confused as he took it. "What is this?"

"A request from the Red Dragon Emperor."

Hearing that Michael unfolded the paper and read what was written on it, after reading it he had a surprised expression. However, Michael then gave a small laugh and nodded in understanding.

"I see, so this is what he wanted to ask of me?"

Azazel nodded as he placed his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, that's right. The day before the Summit he called me and asked me to pass on this request to you in the event that negotiations ended well, I said I'd do it but when he asked him why he didn't just ask you himself he hung up on me."

Michael smiled at his explanation. "Very well. I'll do that right away when I return to headquarters. Fufufu, how interesting."

Azazel spoke to Michael as they changed the topic of conversation.

"Michael, I'll leave the explaining to the Valhalla guys to you. Since it would be problematic for me to move imprudently. Afterward, you'll have to convey what happened today to Mt. Sumeru as well."

"Yeah, since there would be no persuasive power if either the Governor of the Fallen Angels or the Devil King explained, I'll have to tell them. I'm accustomed to reporting to God, after all."

With that taken care of, Michael spread his wings and prepared to ascend with the other Angels. "And so, I must return to Heaven to report on the Peace agreement." He said as he and the Angels turned into blinding lights as they rise up into the sky. "Next, we will work on measures against the Khaos Brigade."

And then the lights disappeared, with the Angels all gone.

Azazel declared ahead to the Fallen Angel troops.

"I have chosen peace. The Fallen Angels won't fight with the Angels and Devils at all from now on. Those who are dissatisfied with this may leave. However, I'll kill you without reservation the next time we meet. Only those who want to follow come with me."

[We will live for the sake of Governor Azazel till the day we die!]

The subordinates' loyalty became a roar. Azazel saw this and expressed his gratitude with a small "Thank you". It was a showing of his incredible charisma. Although, it was possible some of them just didn't want to be killed by him and held their tongues, either way.

After Azazel issued orders to his troops, the Fallen Angels deployed magic circles and returned.

The Devil troops also seemed to be transferring from magic circles.

The school grounds that had been crowded with all those troops became rapidly desolate, and then only a few people gathered there were left. Azazel, the only Fallen Angel left, let out a big breath and left in the direction of the school gate.

"I'll leave the cleaning up to Sirzechs. I'm tired, so I'm heading back."

He tried to wave his hand and head back, but he stopped just once and gave one final look towards the others who were still gathered around Shirou and talking about who knows what.

"Like always, both the Red and the White desire power, but how they go about it is completely different. It's funny, they're both so alike they're like twins and yet, at the same time they're so different it's like they're parallel."

Saying just that, Azazel then left while whistling.

But he wouldn't be gone for long.

---

The Following Day...

Heaven's representative Head Angel Michael, Governor Azazel of the Fallen Angel central organization Grigori, Underworld's representative Maou Sirzechs Lucifer, with these representatives of the Three Great Powers, a peace treaty was signed.

Thereafter, disputes between the Trinity Factions were prohibited, in the framework of cooperation—This treaty adopted its name from our school which became its stage, and was called the "Kuoh Treaty".

"And so, from today on I'll be the advisor of this occult research club. Please call me Azazel-sensei. Or Governor is fine too."

When the day began, even though it was a day off, everyone in the club was assigned to come to the Occult Research Club room and so all the members of the Gremory Peerage arrived at the clubroom. However, none of them expected to see Azazel there sitting at the president's desk in a worn-out-looking suit.

"…Why are you here?"

Touching her forehead with her hand, Rias was in a perplexed state.

"Hah! I was requested to take this position by Serafall's little Sister! Well, it's because I'm a super-cool guy. I score even with schoolgirls!"

"That's forbidden!" Rias shouted.

Shirou cut in a relaxed expression. "Not exactly. This School is filled with horny perverts, including the female kind, I'm pretty sure there's a few who wouldn't mind swinging with a teacher."

"Ha, sounds like my kind of school." Azazel cheered.

"That's not the issue, it's morally forbidden." Rias clarified.

"What does that matter to you?" Mika asked bluntly. "When we first met, weren't you the one who said Devils are all about encouraging sinful acts?"

"She's right, that's exactly what you said."

Knowing she couldn't possibly beat the Tsukiharu siblings in any kind of argument, Rias just changed the subject.

"Why would Sona do such a thing?"

"You're so stubborn, Rias Gremory. I was told by Serafall's Sister that this was requested by Sirzechs. That's why she requested me."

"But there's a catch right?" Kiba questioned. "Lord Sirzechs wouldn't request this of you overwise."

"You got that right. The condition for me staying at this school is that I make the immature Sacred Gears possessed by the Devils of the Gremory family grow. Well, my knowledge as a Sacred Gear enthusiast is useful, after all. You guys have also heard about it, but there is a weird organization called the Khaos Brigade. As a future deterrent against them, the Welsh Dragon and your family have become famous. Rather than that, I'm an expert on the opposing Vanishing Dragon. From the information I got on him, I know that Vali has his own team. We're temporarily calling it the Hakuryuukou Team. Several people are gathering around the ones who've been identified at present, Vali and Sun Wukong."

"Seriously, Hakuryuukou Team?" Shirou repeated unimpressed. "What kinda tasteless name is that?"

Azazel shrugged his shoulders. "Don't get mad at me, it's a working progress. Fortunately, we probably won't be dealing with them for a while, Their current opponents are Heaven and the Underworld. In the Underworld, all the Fallen Angels under my orders have joined together with the Devils. The Underworld won't fall so easily. The Seraph guys in Heaven also wouldn't remain silent. Also, there are the free-loading strong Sacred Beasts in Heaven and Demonic Beasts as well."

"So where do you rate the Khaos Brigade on a threat level?" Rias asked with concern.

"Right now, it's still at the skirmish level. You could say both they and us are in a preparatory period." Azazel answered her before he adopted a position outlook. Don't worry, something like war won't occur until you people graduate from university, let alone this school's High School division. Enjoy your school life fully. However, it is the long-awaited preparatory period. So you'll be doing various preparations, right?"

"Preparations are fine and all, but I'd rather not waste time on stupid School stuff." Shirou argued. "If they're still on the preparation phase as well why not use this chance to press the attack?"

"It's not that simple, this alliance literally just happened yesterday, we'll need time to establish all the necessary changes to our individual Factions as well as work things out with neighboring Factions." Azazel explained. "Besides, we still have time before the real fighting starts so it's better not to rush things."

"Are you sure about that?" Shirou asked still not convinced. "You say we a lot of time but what if you're just assuming that and we don't have nearly as long as you all are thinking, events happening differently than you expect aren't exactly rare."

"Even if that's true, you'll make no progress if you worry too much. Your enemy is White Dragon Emperor Vali to the bitter end. Just don't forget that single fact."

"It's not about being worried, it's about being ready." Shirou corrected him. "Besides, he's not my only enemy. If the Khaos Brigade is as deadly as everyone says then I'll need to be prepared to fight enemies of all races and types. There's nothing simple about this."

"Right now, they mainly consisted of Vali's Team and the Old Satan Faction." Azazel reminded him. "They're a threat but not one that we aren't aware of."

"They have Ophis." Shirou reminded him, quickly silencing Azazel. "That alone gives their side the advantage considering just having Ophis means you have more military power and influence than all Three Factions, even together."

The two of them stared at each other for a bit until Azazel got up from his chair and sighed.

"You're one straightforward guy aren't you? You might have a point but it's better not to be pessimistic about it and assume the worst, we're safe for now and that's the main focus of the situations, so let's leave it at that."

Rias came up to Shirou. "He's right, Shirou. You shouldn't worry too much about things that haven't happened yet."

Mika stayed sitting but spoke as well. "Besides, don't forget, even if the Khaos Brigade has a Dragon God, we've got you. And that means we have nothing to worry about, after all, you're like strength made flesh and unbeatable one on one, so no matter who they've got, we'll work things out."

At that point though, Azazel shook his head. "I wouldn't go that far, after all right now you're still not at the level where you would win against Vali."

Shirou narrowed his eyes at that statement. "What was that?"

"Azazel, Shirou already defeated Vali the night before, you saw that." Rias reminded him.

"He was only able to repel Vali because he combined the Dragon-Slaying Sword he got from Michael with Boosted Gear's power. Also, while he and Vali might've appeared evenly matched when they fought, Vali has a Trumpcard that he doesn't, the Juggernaut Drive. You all saw the result when he used that. Rather, you could only win that fight thanks to special circumstances that were in place this time, but it'll be impossible for things to play out the same way next time. If you happen to fight Vali or just an opponent who possessed power of Vali's level the way you are now, you will be killed."

Azazel's logic was sound and made complete sense. Anyone who watched the fight would know that before the addition of the Power of Darkness Shirou was cut down and moments away from death. His victory was the result of the interference of a third party and to expect the same result a second time was beyond wishful thinking.

Shirou, however, responded by standing right in front of Azazel and giving him a look of disposition.

"Azazel, since you don't seem to know, let me explain something to you. I am Shirou-Sama, the one who makes the impossible possible and turns despair into hope. It doesn't matter at all if things are different next time, I'll just get stronger and come up with a dozen more plans." Shirou declared with total confidence. "No matter who I'm up against, any outcome besides my victory is just a fantasy."

Shirou looked completely serious in what he was saying, but what Azazel focused on wasn't the person standing in front of him, but the ones who were behind Shirou. Everyone in this clubroom. Each and every one of them appeared the wholeheartedly believed Shirou's declaration.

It's said that the more overwhelming and terrifying a monster is the more awe-inspiring the Hero who slays it becomes. Seeing the colossal terror that Vali was in the final stretch of that fight be brought down by Shirou was nothing short of a miracle and thus, it made their faith in him grow all the more.

Seeing them somehow put a smile on Azazel's face as he changed the subject.

"Moving on, can you use the Hakuryuukou's power that you stole?"

Shirou held out his right arm and summoned the Dividing Gear.

"Sure can. It actually took a lot of effort and brainpower to fully integrate the power into my body, but it worked. Now I can use it, the only problem is that it eats away stamina like crazy."

"I'm more surprised you were able to come up with something like that on the spot and still make it work."

Xenovia voiced her surprise. Shirou shook his head

"It wasn't exactly on the spot. I actually got the idea from Kiba."

"Me?" Kiba asked confused.

"Ever since I saw you fuse Holy and Demonic powers, I started to wonder if I could do the same thing and not with just those two but if it was possible to fuse anything with anything else. Then when I fused Ascalon into my Boosted Gear I started thinking; What if I could integrate other elements of power into my Sacred Gear as long as I sink my wavelength with there's. Since the Red and White are opposite forces like Holy and Demonic I copied the process and the rest was just willpower."

Kiba understood after his explanation and smile. "I see now, I'm happy I was able to be of some help, still the fact that you managed to pull it off is amazing."

"Actually, the amazing part is his imagination."

Azazel corrected as he cut in.

"Using something that far off as the bases and actually devising a plan to merge the power of both the Red and White Dragons not to mention putting it into practice is mind-boggling. It's beneficial to take in another Dragon's power. It's an entirely different matter whether you can freely control it or not."

"Well, truth is ever since I first found out what the Divine Dividing could do, I immediately thought of all the possibilities a person could do with that power and how many advantages it had that the Boosted Gear didn't have. Basically, I just really wanted it so I couldn't help thinking of ways to take it."

"I have no idea what goes on in that head of yours but I won't discredit it. All those crazy and reckless ideas of yours are what helped you drive Vali back so much, I never would've thought you'd end up using the Sacred Fist either."

"Sacred Fist?" Shirou repeated confused. "What's that?"

"It's what you were doing when you covered both of your fists in Holy Aura." Akeno informed him.

"That's right, it's called the Sacred Fist, the only other user is a Cardinal from the Church who is said to be the Vatican's mightiest warrior." Xenovia added.

"Is that right?" Shirou asked, thinking about it." And here I thought I made it up. Hmm, in that case, I'll call mine Heavenly Fist instead."

"Or you could call it plagiarism." Mika jokingly suggested.

"Just 'cause they look the same doesn't mean they are the same!" Shirou snapped at her.

"You have a lot of different powers as well, fortunately, your Sekiryuutei power is more stable than one would expect at this stage. Its explosive power is tremendous, but temporarily, at the same time, the base power is high enough that a lower-rank opponent would instantly be brought down with that. Yeah, even a higher rank opponent probably wouldn't be safe either. If you're also going to participate in the Rating Games as a Devil from now on, you'll need more mastery of all of your individual powers. Having said that, Rating Games aren't straightforward either. Something like a Pawn that consumed only one piece taking down the King also happens. Everything depends on how you fight. But, you probably already know all that."

"You seem well-informed about Rating Games." Rias noticed.

"Devils aren't the only fans of the game, you know?" Azazel informed her. "Thanks to the Peace Pact, there are also a lot of Angels and Fallen Angels going out to watch the games unreservedly."

"Did you also watch our first Rating Game?" Shirou asked.

"The one against Phenex?" Azazel asked for confirmation. "'Course I say that. I planned on just seeing something entertaining and ended up learning that the Welsh Dragon had awakened, it was one crazy night."

Shirou then looked at Gasper. "Well, there are others who need to master their powers more than me, Gasper for example."

"S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-Senpai! W-W-W-W-W-W-W-What are you sayiiiiiiing!? Hiiiiii!"

Gasper cried and shouted at my suggestion. Azazel merely waved it off.

"It's not worth considering if he's alone. We don't know what kind of people are in the Khaos Brigade. Right now he has too many weaknesses."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm so useless! I'm not useful at all! I'm garbage! I'm pig food! I'm seriously reflecting deeper than the sea, and I possess a target higher than Evereeeeeeeeeest! So please don't abandon meeee—!"

SLAP!

Before Gasper could go on with his whaling, Mika slapped her hand over his mouth—Forcibly silencing him.

"Good job." Shirou praised her.

"Mika!" Rias scolded her.

"I had to do it, you have no idea how sick I am of that." Mika proclaimed.

"That's right, Holy-Demonic Sword kid. How long can you fight in Balance Breaker?"

Kiba answered Azazel's question.

"Currently, one hour is my limit."

"That's not good. At the very least, you need to make sure that you're able to continue using it for 3 days."

"Mine is around 12-13 hours."

Azazel scratched his chin as Shirou also answer his question.

"That's not bad, but you'll need a lot more than that. The Hakuryuukou can stay in Balance Breaker for one month. That's the difference between you."

Shirou didn't look concerned.

"That's cool and all but when are you ever going to need to stay in Balance Breaker for that long?"

Instead of responding, Azazel's gaze turned towards Akeno.

"Do you still hate us—no, Barakiel?"

Akeno answered with a stern expression.

"I have no intention of forgiving him. Since it's that person's fault that my mother died."

"Akeno, when you fell down to being a Devil, he said nothing."

"Naturally. That person isn't in a position where he can say something to me."

"That's not what I meant. No, well, it might be thoughtless of me to enter into the space of you—Parent and child."

"I don't consider that person as my father!"

Akeno declared that clearly.

"I see. But, I don't think it's bad that you joined the Gremory family. If things were otherwise, what would Barakiel think, I wonder?"

"….…"

Akeno did not respond to Azazel's words. She just silently showed a complicated expression. Then, Azazel's eyes turned to Shirou again.

"Hey, Sekiryuutei—Shirou's fine right? Are you a virgin?"

If this was a cartoon, this would be one of those times where are the sound just comically came to a stop, and everybody freezes. That's what it felt like, as everyone froe at Azazel's question and Shirou just looked weirded out by the suddenness of it.

"Did you seriously just ask that?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll also teach you about women. It's better to become a man that properly ensnares even beautiful women. The story of how I fell like this was because I rubbed the breasts of human women. I don't compromise when it comes to ero."

"Wait, wait, back up a bit, you're telling me you fell from grace just for that!? Are you kidding? Is he kidding!?"

Shirou turned to Rias who shook her head at his question with a fed-up face.

"It's true. According to legend, the leaders of the Grigori were tempted by human women and fell for teaching them valuable knowledge from Heaven."

Azazel smiled as he heard that.

"We were young back then too. We blindly believed that 'God was great!' and 'God was wonderful!' with our virginity standing out. Hahaha, after we lost to temptation in the end and had sex with women, we lost our virginity and also lost our place in Heaven."

Shirou didn't look impressed.

"Okay, let's review; You were all once the Highest Ranks of Angel and the literal children of God. You sold-out your brethren and home just because you couldn't keep it in your pants, and now you were driven out of your homes, all you knew and lost eternal paradise for momentary pleasure." Shirou listed down before clapping ironically. "Yeah, great choice."

"Ah well, what's done is done. The way I see it, if you're a man, live in a state of desire. Devour woman!" Azazel happy declared. "If you sleep with them and have sex, strength will follow along with confidence. I shall produce your graduation ceremony. I'll introduce you to some of the beautiful Fallen Angel women among my subordinates. They'd also probably be happy to have sex if their partner is a legendary Dragon."

Shirou just looked at him with a pitiful expression. "The way I see it, you are one pitiful existence."

"Isn't that basically prostitution?" Mika pointed out.

"P-Please wait a moment, Azazel! Please don't give Shirou strange ideas!" Rias got between them with a flustered look.

"It's fine, isn't it?" Azazel asked, not seeing the problem. "At this age, it's perfectly healthy to be acquainted with one or two women. Or is there something wrong with your servant being acquainted with women?"

"I'm the one who manages Shirou's chastity!"

"Oh really?" Shirou objected to that. "You'll have to remind me when that became the case because I can't seem to remember."

"Shirou-san, do you mean to leave me and go somewhere far away…?" Asia asked tearfully.

"Considering we live in the same house, I don't think that's possible."

"Ara, Ara, Shirou-kun, I'll be lonely if you participate on the tour." Akeno had a sorrowful expression.

"Somehow I think you'll manage."

"…Shirou-Sempai let me join you."

"Hard pass."

"With this many obstacles, it won't be easy to produce a child…Muu."

"If I already said no before, what made you think I'd say yes now?"

"You sure are popular, Shirou-Sempai! As a hikikomori, I admire you!"

"I can't tell you how happy that makes me." Shirou replied sarcastically.

"Looks like your problems just don't stop?" Kiba laughed.

Mika then went up to him and grabbed his sleeve to get his attention. "Brouisville, don't you think it's time to let the cat out of the bag?"

"True." Shirou addressed them. "Look, obviously you all got the wrong idea because of how I initially answered. I lost my virginity ages ago."

[Huh?!]

All the girls gasped.

"When?" Rias asked.

"Where?" Akeno asked.

"With who?" Xenovia asked.

Shirou casually answered. "A girl in our class named Aika."

"A-A-A-Aika-san!" Asia gasped as her cheeks reddened. "But I thought you two were just friends."

"Yeah, we dated until around a few months ago, during that time we both shared some nights in bed." Shirou explained.

"And you wanna know the best part?" Mika chimed in, enjoying this. "They still have sex occasionally, even after breaking up. So their sex friends now."

Asia became so flustered, steam was rising from her head as she covered her mouth. "That's so obscene!"

Rias just looked shocked as her eyes went wide and she stared upwards. "Unbelievable, I was between to the punch before I even started."

On the other hand, Akeno looked slightly aroused. "An affair with a former flame that's kept secret from the current lover, how naughty~."

Xenovia looked determined. "The number of Rivals has just gone up, and one with much greater experience at that."

Koneko didn't look hindered. "…Won't lose."

Watching this scene, Azazel laughed heartily.

"Hahaha! What's with this! I see I see. That's right, Dragons naturally form polygamies. So you don't require my teaching. Well, this place has become a location for representatives from the Trinity alliance. The Governor of the Fallen Angels, the Maou's little Sister, backup from the Angel's side, and a legendary Dragon. Let's all get along from now on. The current objective is for the Red Dragon Emperor to perfectly master his individual abilities. And for all of you to power up. You should train and achieve that during summer vacation."

"We also have to become stronger too."

Azazel also agreed with Rias' words.

"It doesn't hurt to become stronger. So, according to talk, there's going to be a meeting of Young Devils in a few days, right? I heard Rias Gremory was included among the names of promising Young Devils that are close to debuting."

"Yes, Noble families and old families meet together with several Young Devils. It seems to be a custom."

"Don't worry, I'll drive into you how to use your personal power and your Sacred Gear's power. And there are plans for the matches to be set during your training camp as well. I believe they're doing it in Rating Game style. I've already finished probing Sirzechs about it."

After saying that, Azazel started giving out a dangerous laugh.

"Kukuku, there's the Boosted Gear which has begun an unknown evolution. And there's also the Holy-Demonic Sword. Furthermore, there's the Forbidden Balor View. I'll drive my research results into them and explore their original evolved forms."

"What's he grinning about?" Shirou asked.

"Weren't you paying attention?" Kiba asked.

"I kinda zoned out after the words 'summer vacation'." Shirou admitted.

"Don't worry, it wasn't anything important." Mika assured him.

"Speaking of which." Asia then claps her heads together and closed her eyes. After a second she opened them and smiled, but Xenovia looked at her looking wide-eyed and confused.

"Asia, what did you just do?"

"I gave a prayer of thanks for a wonderful term at school." Asia explained." I did it last term as well."

"B-But, that means you prayed without receiving damage from the system." Xenovia pointed out still shocked.

"Eh?" Asia looked as though she hadn't even noticed that fact until now, then her eyes went wide tool. "Huh?!"

[Huh!?]

The majority of everyone else in the room gasped as well, being just as surprised as Asia.

"But how can that be possible?" Akeno wondered.

"Was there an error in the system?" Rias speculated.

"Haha! So it finally kicked in huh?" Azazel, on the other hand, laughed.

"Azazel?" Rias spoke with surprise.

"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with the system." Azazel assured them. "The truth is, this is all thanks to him."

Azazel pointed and they all looked to see that he was pointing at Shirou who narrowed his eyes at him.

"Don't point at me."

"What are you talking about? Explain." Xenovia requested.

"Shortly before he departed back to Heaven, Michael was given a request from Shirou." Azazel explained to them. "The request was to re-caliber the system so that there is to be no damage when only Asia Argento and Xenovia Quarta are praying?"

Asia and Xenovia who were on both of his sides became so surprised they were speechless.

"And, what was Michael's response?" Mika asked.

"He said it should be fine if there are only two Devils who don't receive damage when praying." Azazel passed on the message. "And that he'd do that right away when he returned to headquarters. And from the looks of things, he made good on that promise."

"Devils who can pray to God." Rias noted with a smile. "It's like a symbol of a New Era."

Azazel nodded. "I'm sure that's what he thought as well."

"Shirou, thank you." Xenovia also voiced her gratitude.

Shirou shrugged. "I figured, they weren't going to stop praying even though they were Devils despite the literal pain that came from it. and since we're not enemies anymore, I thought it wouldn't be too much of a problem if it was just two people. Besides, he technically owes me one so I cashed in on a favor."

Xenovia's cheeks turn slightly red as Mika followed up.

"That's his way of saying, you're welcome."

"Quit putting words in people's mouths!" Shirou complained at her.

"Shirou-san." The young man turned around to see Asia running towards him. Her face having a blush and tears in her eyes. "Oh, Shirou-san. I love you!" She exclaimed out of pure love and kissed him right on the lips. Time seemed to have frozen for them, as Shirou looked at her in shock as he was being kissed.

"What did you just say?! Hey, Asia!" Rias demanded with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, my goodness." Akeno said with a hand on her cheek and giggled. "Asia, I like how bold you're getting to be." The other members of the Occult Research Club and Azazel watched with smiles, while Mika looked with a mischievous grin and pose.

"Looks like the main heroine this time is, Asia." Mika commented.

Rias narrowed her eyes. "I won't lose."

At that point, their lips separated and Asia still gave him a look of unconditional love. "Shirou-san, I love you."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Shirou responded with a neutral look.

While they were doing all that, Kiba went up to Azazel.

"Azazel, what about the matter I also discussed with Michael-Sama?"

"Don't worry about that. He said he swore on the Holy-Demonic Sword he got from you that he won't allow Holy Sword research to produce any more victims. You can trust that he'll keep his word on that, he wouldn't be an Arch-Angel if he went around breaking promises."

Kiba had a look of pure relief. "I'm glad to hear that."

"Oh, before I forget. Sirzechs gave me a message for you." Azazel said directly to Rias.

She was taken aback by the news with a raised eyebrow. "A message?"

"It seems when he stayed at Shirou's house previously, Not only did he have a great time there, he also learned something. With Phenex, and again with Kokabiel, your powers always seem to be at their best when you're among your friends and those who are important to you, and that's what'll charge your powers."

"Okay. So, what are you saying?" Shirou asked.

"All right, then. This is an official order in the name of the great Devil King Lucifer. All of the current members of the Occult Research Club are hereby directed to move into the Tsukiharu household immediately. There you go."

"Wait, what?" Shirou asked dumbfounded.

"There's a twist." Mika commented.

---

In a different plane of existence within the realm of Asgard where the Norse Gods and Valkyries lived and one of the realms of the World Tree Yggdrasil there was a dark and dimly lit room where one man stood. He had the appearance of a man in his middle ages adulthood and had a face that was both serious and dignified. He was dressed in a little blue suit with a Noble looking blue cape to cover it. This man was Freyr, the God of Sacral Kingship in the Norse Mythology.

Freyr was currently standing in front of a throne where another sat and was going over a report sent by Michael.

"—And that is the report from Michael-dono, Odin-sama."

"These youngsters have sprung back up. It's a bold thing to pretend to be God, that damn Michael."

The one who responded to Freyr and was sitting on the throne was Odin, Chief God, and All-Father of the Norse Mythology. Odin has the appearance of an elderly man with long, grey hair, and a matching beard. He wears a gold and white monocle over his left eye, without the addition of the chain. Odin wears a robe, which is short and blue with a gold lining on the top and bottom of the collar, the sleeves of the robe, and at the front of his robes all the way down to the bottom of the robe. The rest of his robe is white with matching shoes. Odin also wears a golden and black hat, which is sectioned off into five mini sections that sport either the color black or gold, the top, middle, and the bottom is golden and the sections in black are below and above the middle one. The black section features blue orbs at the ordinal points: north, east, west, south, etc, and between the blue orbs are red dots.

"What shall we do?" Freyr asked. "It was unexpected that the Primordial God recorded in the Holy Bible has died."

Odin just leaned back. "Really, with that youngster Michael, that fake Lucifer, and that naughty kid Azazel, it's a play gathering of little brats."

"Then, shall we teach those youngsters what we the Asgard, the true "Gods", are like?"

"Freyr, I won't be able to respond to a war engulfing the world after so long with my old body. However, the earnestness of these youngsters is interesting. I'll go watch the Rating Games of the Devils."

"They do seem interesting, don't they?" Freyr noted with slight interest.

"It does seem fun. The struggling of these youngsters who have lost their God. Now then, what will they do from now on?" Odin wondered, also interested.

---

The day before summer vacation started. That is after the closing ceremony for the semester (Which Shirou ditched as usual) had ended. They were now back home and Shirou was answering a knock on the door.

"Hello there, thanks for having me."

"Yeah, come in."

The one who arrived at the door was Kiba who had his suitcase with him as Shirou directed him inside and into the dining room where most of the others had already gathered and made themselves comfortable.

Shirou sat down on the couch in the living room while Kiba sat down at the dining room table.

"Am I the last to arrive?" Kiba asked.

"No, Koneko and Gasper are still on their way." Rias informed him.

"Either way, I'm telling you this now. Nobody touches the alcohol cabinet, what's in there is mine." Shirou warned them.

"We're all underage." Kiba reminded him.

"You're point?" Shirou asked with minimal care.

"Ara, Ara, you seem to be in a foul mood, is there a reason for that?" Akeno asked.

"Yeah, Big Bro, you should cheer up." Mika advised him. "We're all leaving together now, it'll be fun, just like during the training camp."

"That was completely different." Shirou argued. "Back then we were staying at a mansion, now it's like nine people jammed into one house."

"I'm sorry, it was Onii-Sama's decision so we couldn't go against it." Rias sounded regret but she mumbled under her breath. "It would have been fine if it was just me."

"Yeah, but Sirzechs doesn't own the house nor does he live here. If he did he would see the obvious problem with so many people living in a house this size." Shirou pointed out. "He could have at least told me in advanced, I haven't even figured out the sleeping arrangements."

Akeno them came up from behind Shirou and embraced him. "Shirou-kun I'll sleep together with you tonight. Ufufu I want to do things with Shirou-kun in bed all night just once."

Before he could respond though, Kiba stood up. "But wait, since we're both guys, shouldn't I share a room with Shirou-kun?" He reasoned.

"In that case, is it okay if I share a room with Asia?" Xenovia requested.

"Just putting this out there but, my room is entirely a one-person room so I'm not sharing with anyone, so don't ask." Mika informed them.

Shirou sighed and looked at Rias. "See what I mean? Unless you're okay with half of us sleeping on the floor, we need a real solution."

"Yes, I see the problem." Rias understood. "How about I have the house reconstructed during summer vacation. I'll get in touch with my Brother to do it."

"Reconstructed?" Shirou repeated before he thought about it. "I guess that's our only real choice right now, just don't go overboard."

And that's how their hectic First-Semester came to an end with all sorts of new experiences and developments. But the hectic advantages that went on in their lives was just getting started.

---

End Credits — Superheroes — The Script

~All the life she has seen

All the meaner side of me

They took away the prophet's dream

For a profit on the street~

~Now she's stronger than you know

A heart of steel starts to grow~

~All his life he's been told

He'll be nothing when he's old

All the kicks and all the blows

He won't ever let it show~

~'Cause he's stronger than you know

A heart of steel starts to grow~

~When you've been fighting for it all your life

You've been struggling to make things right

That's how a superhero learns to fly

Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power~

~When you're fighting for it all your life

You've been working every day and night

That's how a superhero learns to fly

Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power~

~Oh-oh, oh, oh~

~Oh-oh, oh, oh~

~All the hurt, all the lies

All the tears that they cry

When the moment is just right

You see fire in their eyes~

~'Cause he's stronger than you know

A heart of steel starts to grow~

~When you've been fighting for it all your life

You've been struggling to make things right

That's how a superhero learns to fly

Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power~

~When you're fighting for it all your life

You've been working every day and night

That's how a superhero learns to fly

Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power (power, power, power, power, power)~

~Every day, every hour turn the pain into power

(Power, power, power, power)~

~Every day, every hour turn the pain into power~

~She's got lions in her heart

A fire in her soul he's a got a beast

In his belly that's so hard to control

'Cause they've taken too much hits, taking blow by blow

Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode~

~She's got lions in her heart

A fire in her soul he's a got a beast

In his belly that's so hard to control

'Cause they've taken too much hits, taking blow by blow

Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode~

~When you've been fighting for it all your life

You've been struggling to make things right

That's how a superhero learns to fly

Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power~

~When you're fighting for it all your life

You've been working every day and night

That's how a superhero learns to fly

Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power (power, power, power, power, power)~

~Oh, yes (power, power, power, power)

Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power

(Power, power, power, power) Ooh, yeah

Whoa (power, power, power, power)

Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power~

~When you've been fighting for it all your life

You've been struggling to make things right

That's how a superhero learns to fly~

---

And that's the chapter. I'm glad I finally got this done, there was just so much I wanted to put into this fight. The fight starts out with them feeling each other out, to the two of them going back and forth with the upper hand shifting, to each of them improving while fighting, to them showing off their individual strengths to an all-out brawl of power and force.

I had considered ending the fight like the Canon where Vali leaves before activating the Juggernaut Drive, but I decided to change that in the end. It felt like a cop-out to reveal he had it but cut it off before he could use it or before the fight could even end for that matter. Plus, it was was important to the story for Shirou to be in a fight where he was completely overpowered, helpless and basically had no possible way of overcoming the opponent in front of him, though he still technically won, this will have a lasting impression on him.

As for the appearance of Shirōu Amakusa Tokisada, I wanted you all to understand he's not just some dark presence living inside of Shirou and he actually has a role in the story. In fact, he's going to have a pretty big role next Arc, so consider this a teaser for what's to come.

Anyways thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, if you want more then be sure to leave a review, if you like the story then click the follow/favorite, and as always have an awesome day.