This is a fanfic. BUY THE FUCKING MERCHANDISE!
Rias Gremory took a sudden gasp when she realized a familiar feeling.
Looking around, shock was an expression that was brought to her mind once she registered the scene. It looked like some explosive had been detonated in the middle of the room and also had taken out a wall. Her brother, Serafall, Michael, and Azazel all were standing at the edge of the ruined structure staring out to the school grounds.
Scanning her surroundings some more, Rias had something on her mind that was concerning her. "Is everyone okay?" The red head asked, doing a small head count of who ever was present.
"I'm fine." Koneko replied.
"Yes." Akeno stated.
"I believe so." Xenovia answered.
"…Where's Issei-kun?" Kiba looked around with a frown.
Hearing that name, Rias was just about to consider the brunette that was a part of her Peerage. But as Kiba had pointed out, her Pawn piece was nowhere to be seen in the room. Another question then began to come to her. How long had they been frozen in time for? Wait, that's right… time…
"Gasper-chan!" Rias gasped in remembrance. With that realization her mood quickly changed as she clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes. "Whoever did this also dares to harm my other Bishop!?"
"Relax, young Gremory, the entire situation is under control." Azazel's voice interrupted them as the Fallen Angel approached them. "You Pawn sure knows how to deal some serious damage. Looks like he managed to rescue your other Sacred Gear user almost all by himself. That's impressive."
Rias stared at the leader with wide eyes. "Really? Issei-kun saved Gasper-chan all on his own?" She nearly parroted Azazel before looking down to the floor. "No way… I know the power of a Persona is strong. But for him to be so proficient with it already… How was he able to do it? Are Akira-kun and his group really-"
"Kaichou! Has anybody seen Kaichou?!"
Tsubaki's cries of worry caught everyone's attention. Indeed, the Student Council president had suddenly disappeared from the scene. Gone without a trace. But rather than worry like all of the students, Azazel shrugged his shoulders. "Don't worry, she's just in the middle of playing princess with her roguish prince going to save her." He reassured them.
Before anyone could even ask them what he meant, there was a sudden change of color to the scene. Snapping their head outside, all of them saw a pillar of red miasma roar around a specific spot on the grounds. But that thing look very familiar. "Is that…?"
Before Rias could even finish her sentence, she rushed over. "Rias-chan, you're okay!" Sirzechs gasped with surprise at the sudden appearance of his younger sister.
"What's happening out there?" Akeno asked, following right behind her King along with her fellow Peerage members who were trying to get a good view of the scene.
"Katerea Leviathan…" Serafall spoke out with almost a somber tone. Her normally cheery mood had been set away for the serious situation that was for the peace conference. Right now, that serious expression had grown cold. "She led a brigade of sorcerers to attack us. The Phantom Thieves managed to drive her off but she had Sona hostage. But then suddenly, Sona used her hand to stab herself right through the heart… and now…"
Rias looked down and saw a dark-skinned female and assumed that was the Katerea being mentioned. The woman then was suddenly knocked back by a large finned-tail and Rias' eyes watched the Devil soar back. That was when her eyes went back to Sona.
She stared at the fearsome Persona that had been dragged into existence. Once more, Rias was taken aback at the look of the construct. But then it also made her wonder. Issei's Persona being Ddraig made sense since that dragon was a part of his Sacred Gear which was sort of an extent of him (in a sense). "…What is that?" Rias muttered to herself.
After Akira shouted, Sona cried out the name of her own Persona. The name that came out of her mouth threw the Great Maou in a small loop of surprise.
TakeABreak
"A key thing to note, do not treat a Persona like a familiar. Treat it as if it were a physical extension of yourself. Remember the phrase, I am thou… Thou art I."
Akira told Sona this as Katerea was too busy staring at Leviathan. "Of course, fighting with a Persona will come naturally. Look at Issei for example, he was kicking ass as soon as Ddraig was out and ready to go. Just do whatever comes to mind and I can almost guarantee that it will work."
Sona nodded her head like a student listening to a lecturing teacher. But when Akira stopped speaking, she waited for a second. Without a word from either of them, she turned around from the pose the two of them had struck and looked at the boy. "Is that it?" She asked. "I honestly thought there was more to this."
"Well, that's pretty much what I think Personas are all about." Akira shrugged his shoulders, standing up straight to address Sona's concern. "But in reality, is now actually the time to give you an explanation when you can get a feel on how this works personally?" He had his arm stretched out and hand motioning towards Katerea.
"…Leviathan…" Katerea said. "…There is no way that can be Leviathan!" She cried out in denial, furiously glaring towards Sona. "The original Leviathan has been dead for centuries! I am the one with the lineage of that name! Yet you dare claim that monster is worthy of such a title?!"
"…And you find yourself fit for the name?" Sona glared. She had a feeling that it was because of her Persona, but the girl was feeling rather confident which was leading to goading. Yes, it contradicted her personality in her opinion, but it felt rather good… Either another side effect of a Persona awakening or perhaps Akira was rubbing off on her.
"Don't mock me!" Katerea yelled. Gripping her staff and raising her hand, energy began to snake around her entire body. A black aura looped around, coiling the flesh. "I am a descendant of one of the original four while your only significance is being the sister who wears the title that belongs to me! But that doesn't matter! With this power bestowed to me from the legendary Ouroborus dragon, none of you will stand a chance against me!"
"…How pitiful." Sona stepped forward, Leviathan stalking behind her while leaving its position from Arsene. "You say that you are a descendant of one of the original four with such pride and yet you drag yourself down by borrowing power. You speak as if you are strong yet are fueled by someone else. Constant bold claims that your Devil nature will win when the day is done. Only that this power isn't a yours, let alone one that belongs to a Devil…" She then stood up straight. "You're a joke, Katerea Leviathan!" The young Devil roared loudly. "A footnote in the history of failure!"
Almost taken aback at the absolute sheer volume Sona had produced, Katerea threw a sphere of energy towards the girl in absolute fury.
Much to her own surprise, Sona knew what her options were with her Persona in this exact situation. Despite just meeting it for the first time, it was as if it were a part of her since she was born. Akira's voice then rang in her head and reminded her of what he had said.
As Sona leapt into the air, Leviathan smacked the ball to the ground. The resulting explosion from the low impact sent Sona soaring up into the air. Spreading her arms as if she could fly, the teenager fell and landed with her front side facing Katerea's face and the back of her legs resting on the adult's shoulders. Clamping her legs together a second after sitting, she twisted them after and flipped over.
But Katerea was not going to give Sona an easy fight. While being thrown down, she also used the momentum from Sona to roll and slam the teenager to the ground while escaping. After leaping away a few feet, she turned around to raise her staff. But before she could fire any magic from it, Sona had already gotten back up to her feet and was already airborne while kicking the tip.
Being knocked back, Katerea heard several gunshots as Sona had followed up with her kick. Raising her arms, the Devil couldn't help but take the force of a few ice shards rather than bullets penetrating her skin, but she healed herself thanks to the power of Ophis. But while all that happened, no one made a move. Both females stood across one another in silence. Both combatants glared at each other, waiting for a move to be made.
Katerea was the one to initiate the fight, throwing her staff like a javelin with the bottom soaring towards Sona. The young Devil leaned backwards and to the side, dodging the projectile in the nick of time. But looking around, Katerea had appeared right where her weapon was thrown and charged Sona. As the staff was swung, Sona raised both guns to block the item.
Sona felt the weight of the attack lighten as Katerea used the other side of her weapon to strike. Sona struggled but used this opportunity to block and be spun around by such a blow. During her spin, the young Devil lifted her leg up and fired several shards from her heel gun once again. This time, Katerea dodged them and swung at Sona. It was a feint however as Sona had block the swing which gave the adult the opportunity to kick Sona square in the stomach.
Skidding back, Sona didn't have time to worry about such a blow as she bent backwards to avoid a thrust. Grabbing the length, Sona was too in the moment to be surprised when she started swinging around on the staff. Stopping herself, her left leg and hand were wrapped around the item. Her right hand was using the gun to help her stay in such a position was the tip of the barrel was resting on the ground. The right leg meanwhile was pointed directly as Katerea's head.
The descendant of Leviathan just managed to get her head out of the way of the barrage that Sona sent while flipping her staff over and slamming it down onto the ground. The adult felt satisfaction when the body of the younger Sitri hit the ground hard and caused her to lose her grip. Whipping the weapon around out of the girl's grip, Katerea focused power to the end of her staff and swung downwards once more.
Her attack would have connected if it weren't for Arsene re-directing the weapon with a flying kick. Her view soon began to change as well when Akira drop kicked her face at the same time to send the adult skidding away.
"Sitri-san, you okay?" Akira asked, dashing over to the girl while holding out his hand.
"Y-yes, thanks to you." Sona confirmed for the boy, grabbing the extended limb. Being pulled up, she looked over to Katerea. "She seems to be stronger than Kokabiel… This fight will be much more difficult than expected."
"That's because you're making it harder on yourself." The black-haired boy stated. Seeing the teenage girl whip her head around to give him a confused look. Blinking, Akira realized that she wanted an explanation. Rather than give a verbal one, he had Arsene show up behind him while it tipped its hat in her direction.
Sona blushed in embarrassment. "…Ah." Was all she could muster due to forgetting an absolute key element of why she currently had a lot of power.
"If you just follow my example-"
"This is an excuse for you to show off, isn't it?"
Akira grinned at Sona's accusation. "You're starting to know me too well." Out of the corner of his eye though, he saw familiar movement. He stopped the people that were the source by holding up his hand. "What do you think you guys are doing?"
The Phantom Thieves had attempted to jump into the fight but were surprised at the motion of their leader stopping them. "We're going to help you." Yusuke supplied. "That is why we did attempt to initiate combat."
"I said that Katerea is mine alone, and that statement still applies to this situation." Akira stated before pointing at Sona with his thumb. "Although I am making an exception with Sitri-san here at the moment." While the humans stared at each other, eventually the group backed up hesitantly.
Katerea, having already got back on her feet, was irritated at how she was currently being ignored. But before she could move, she saw that Akira's arm had moved to where she was standing. Looking up, she saw that the Paradis Lost knife had been tossed in her direction.
Taking advantage of her distracted nature, Akira had quickly run forward. Grabbing his weapon, he thrusted the knife into Katerea's chest. Raising his right leg, Akira struck her face right after with a spin kick. When he put his foot down after rotating, his back was facing her front. Bringing up his left arm, he rotated around to slam the elbow right against the handle of the knife while dug the blade in deeper while staggering Katerea back.
Arsene was quick to follow up as it appeared immediately behind the Devil. Throwing a straight punch, its fist pushed the blade back out of the way it had entered while striking a powerful blow to Katerea's back. Akira meanwhile had arched his back while clenching his pistol and Arsene popped up right behind him. Throwing his upper-body forward and down, he pistol whipped the top of Katerea's head and the Persona clenched its hands together to slam down on the same spot. Spreading his arm out, he swung and struck her cheek this time with the handle of the weapon with Arsene kicking her temple.
As if it were teleporting, Arsene disappeared from Akira's side to appear right behind the Devil. Cartwheeling forward, both of its sharp heels slashed Katerea's back. As she stumbled forward, Akira grabbed the handle of his knife and yanked it out while painfully shoving the bottom of his footwear against her stomach. Arsene meanwhile had finished its cartwheel. Back on both feet, without even looking, it slammed its right elbow against the dark-skinned female's back.
Twirling his knife in his hand into a reverse grip, Akira saw Arsene disappear and reappear in a flash of flames from behind Katerea to next to him. "Your turn, Sitri-san!" Both him and his Persona threw a deadly uppercut, sending Katerea up into the air.
Going sky-high, the Devil spread her wings and stopped herself mid-air. Panting and growling, she wiped blood coming out of her mouth as the wound created by the knife was healed back up. If it wasn't for the Ouroborus Dragon's power, she would be in serious trouble. But the problem was that this power was limited since, as that Sona had put bluntly, it didn't belong to her. But what annoyed her even further was that she wasn't even able to use that power to its full extent due to the human and his weird construct not even giving her a second to attack. But knocking her up gave her the perfect opportunity to get back into shape.
About to attack Akira, Katerea saw movement from the corner of her eye. A green orb had snaked its way around the air and was absorbed into her body. Looking over, the Devil flew out of the way of Leviathan's flight path while also avoiding gunfire coming from Sona who was sitting on top of her Persona. Flying around one another, Katerea tossed spells while Sona just fired ice. As Leviathan swerved all around in the air, Sona had a green light flash around her while she smoothly laid her back down onto her Persona to avoid some magic. Sliding to the side of the body, Sona soon ended up on the belly of the beast while using her legs to keep herself latched on.
That did not stop her from returning the onslaught that was going in her direction. Watching Katerea charge direction to her from the from of Leviathan, Sona loosened her legs and slid down her Persona's body. Grabbing the tail, her body straightened out due to the speed of Leviathan and avoided the older Devil's lunge.
As Leviathan sharply turned, Sona released her grip while bringing herself into an upright position. Still in the air, the black-haired girl hugged herself while spinning as if she were a figure skater. After about a second, she kept up such a performance as she spread her arms and right leg out and began spraying shards everywhere.
Katerea attempted to dodge the hailing ice but was struck by a few. That didn't stop her from charging Sona and attacking with her staff. Akira however was there to support the Sitri. Throwing into the sky by Arsene, Akira was upside down just as he arrived under Sona. The bottom of their boots both met one another. Before Katerea's item could even touch them, Akira grinned as the two teenagers had moved closer. Bending his knees, the boy pushed outwards as hard as he could which caused him to dive to the ground and be caught by Arsene. Thanks to the force behind the legs, Sona was sent higher into the sky and Katerea thrusted into empty space that was between their feet.
Arching her back, Sona had Leviathan appear right behind her. As it curled up by biting its own tail, Sona was on the inside and grabbed the body. She also kept her grip as Leviathan began careening to the ground while spinning around like a wheel. Despite her surroundings being a blur, Sona felt her Persona hit an object on the way down and had a feeling that Katerea was not enjoying her time at all.
Katerea's body was the first to hit the ground. Leviathan was next, squishing the Devil as it unraveled it body on impact. Sona however was thrown forward due to a combination of the rotation direction, speed, and her Persona suddenly unwinding with her also having been holding onto the tail.
But as she flailed her arms in the air, Akira caught her. Due to the speed however, the boy spun around a few times. When the duo had stopped moving, Akira had bent forward while holding onto Sona's lower back and her right hand. Sona meanwhile had her free hand clutching Akira's shoulder, as if the two of them were dancing together.
"There you go, you're starting to get the hang of things now." Akira nodded his head with a small smile.
"…" Sona stared at Akira's eyes, looked down, and looked back up. "This included?" She asked.
"Well, it's a good way to get under the enemy's skin." Akira replied in a matter-of-fact tone before lifting, spinning, and then holding her out at arm's length as a magic bolt rushed past their faces.
"Enough of this bullshit!" Katerea shouted due to their distance. "You are just a human. You are just a baby Devil. But me… I am one of the original! I am underestimating you no longer! It's time that I finish this fight!"
"…Most likely a bluff, but its also best to be careful. It also looks like your Sukukaja and Sukunda effects have worn off." Akira noted, still holding Sona out. He then turned his eyes to her. "Shall we get this show on the road?" The boy had a mischievous look in his eyes.
To a bit of his surprise (which was pleasant in his opinion), Sona returned with a coy expression. "I thought you didn't know how." She recalled back to the party where they danced together. Looking down to their position, it was obvious she was referring to their position as well.
"I've taken a bit of time to learn in my spare time." Akira answered. "But this is a rhythm I am much more used to."
"In that case," Sona tugged Akira's arm and the boy pulled. At the same time, the two of them spun out of the way of another magical blast and the two of them were held close together. "Let's dance!"
Pulling once more, Akira dragged Sona behind him. At the same time Arsene appeared right in front of the boy while crossing its arms. Meanwhile Katerea had charged forward with a fistful of magic and threw a powerful punch against the Persona that was defending itself. The force behind the attack was a lot stronger than anticipated, causing Arsene to careen away while crashing into Akira simultaneously.
Pointing a hand in Sona's direction, Katerea saw another green orb go inside her. But that didn't stop the Devil from firing more magic towards the teenager. Sona meanwhile flipped backwards to avoid the volley of magic. Somersaulting on the ground, she immediately dashed forward while a green light shined around her body for a second. Quickly, she kicked off a wall.
With more magical bolts soaring past her, she attempted a mid-air axe kick. Spinning like a saw blade, her attack was easily defended but Sona kicked off once more to get some distance between the two of them. Dashing forward, Sona attempted a flurry of punches and kicks while throwing Leviathan into the mix to confuse her opponent.
But despite what Akira had said, there was still the fact that she was inexperienced when it came to using a Persona. She couldn't perform such a pressuring feat unlike Akira's earlier display. Attempting a couple of low kicks as if she were break dancing, Sona missed when Katerea leapt backwards. Sona immediately took to the air right after the woman but the older Devil descended down.
Soaring towards Katerea with a dive kick, Sona had the tip of Leviathan's tail enforce her attack as it sent the woman skidding back. Landing on the ground, Sona gave chase once more. Throwing out a punch, this attack was dodged and left her exposed. Katerea grabbed Sona and slammed her onto the ground. Holding the back of Sona's collar, Katerea held the girl in the air for a second before dealing a blow across her cheek.
But just as Katerea watched Sona's body distance itself from her, Akira caught the teenager while Arsene punched the adult square in the face. With a small moment of time, Akira tossed out a Diarama card and stabbed it. As if he could control the energy, he hovered a hand over Sona's body for the healing spell to do its job.
"Up, up, up!" Akira urged the girl, holding his hand out.
"I know, I know!" Sona answered back while being dragged back onto her feet thanks to the boy.
Flipping backwards and letting Sona go, Akira had avoided a swipe from Katerea's staff. Lying on the ground, Sona planted both boots against Katerea's stomach while gunshots were released from both heels. As Katerea clutched her stomach, Akira was running towards her while taking off his jacket. Thrusting her staff forward, her arm was caught in one of the sleeves of the clothing. With good timing, Sona appeared right away behind Akira to grab the bottom of his coat while jumping over Katerea. The result was dragging the Devil around while Sona tried to tangle her opponent up.
The latter was not working. But it was causing Katerea to lose balance. That led to a perfect moment for Arsene to throw an uppercut against Katerea's chin to send her into the air. Leviathan meanwhile snapped its tail downwards to the ground, hitting the older Devil's body at the same time.
Getting up to her feet, Katerea felt a hail of bullets and ice shards penetrate her skin as Akira and Sona both fired their weapons towards the woman. After a couple of seconds, Sona ran forward. Dodging to her right, she attempted another head-on assault. With both feet pointing forward, Sona flew forward like an arrow right under Katerea's legs.
Landing on the ground, Sona got back on her feet and released a barrage of punches that were accompanied by gunshots. With one of the punched striking Katerea's shoulders, the adult spun around to have her chin kicked by Sona who had performed a flipping kick. But Sona stopped herself in the air before performing an axe kick to bring Katerea back to the ground.
Leviathan sudden appeared once more, this time its outer body covered in spikes of ice, curling up once more like a wheel, the massive body landed right on top of Katerea. Rearing her foot back, Sona gave this kick all she had as the tip of her foot struck the ice-covered Persona so hard it spun like a speeding sawblade.
But eventually, the wheel began to careen away from Katerea's ripped body. Unfortunately for the older Devil, Akira was in the way of the attack.
Despite being weak to ice, and having to be careful about this final blow, the boy smirked. Sticking his knife out, the blade penetrated the ice but didn't stab the Persona. Arsene at the same time grabbed one of the spiked and began rotating at speeds equal to the rotating wheel. Going up into the air, Arsene final threw the object back down towards Katerea.
With a powerful slam, Akira smashed the ice wheel right against Katerea's body.
Flipping over thanks to the impact, Akira landed right in front of Sona and bowed as if he were a performer that had finished its shows. "…Spare me the theatrics." Sona deadpanned. "I've already had to put up with more than enough of that in my life."
"We just won a fight." Akira looked back up with a content look on his face. "It's okay show off a bit. Besides…" He nudged Sona's side. "You just beat one of the original descendants. Tell me that doesn't warrant a victory pose."
Sona sighed but smiled at Akira's words. "You go on ahead and do whatever you want." She shook her head.
A sudden burst of red exploded off Sona and the girl suddenly felt weak. About to collapse onto the ground, Akira caught her. "The aftereffects too much for you right now?" He asked with a small frown while helping the girl sit softly on the ground.
"Yes, the feeling came quite sudden as well." The girl groaned as Akira sat down right next to her. Looking forward, she saw her audience of the Phantom Thieves and the Three Factions. Even Rias with her Peerage along with were watching. With a wave to let them know that she was okay, she turned her gaze back to Akira. "I'm going to want your honest opinion. Did my use of a Persona seem unsatisfying to you."
Akira shrugged his shoulders. "Well, everyone has their own styles of fighting but don't understand it from the get-go. It still takes time to learn."
"I see…" Sona nodded in understanding. The two of them sat in silence. It was thanks to that small moment that it caused Sona to remember a similar scene. Such a memory made something else come to her mind. "That moment of declaration earlier… when you said you were going to save me…" She started. "…That was quite something."
The boy only hummed in acknowledgement. But if Sona could figure out, the Akira was thinking about something similar to what was on her mind. "…Do you want to hang out some time?" He suddenly asked.
"We already spend time together during our lunches, remember?" Sona asked.
"I am referring to time outside of school. Perhaps on one of our days off."
That one statement made Sona's mind go blank for a couple of seconds. Taking time to process what he had said, she slowly looked at the boy. "…You mean…" She started off quietly. "Like a date?" The question was finished with surprise.
"Not like a date. As a date."
"…I… err…"
"Sona Sitri, will you go out with me?"
Sona's jaw finally dropped. Stammering about, her face soon began turning red. Despite the pain her body was feeling, she still used her hands to cover her face in embarrassment and looked away. "Wh-what?!"
"…I… like you." Akira admitted; his own cheeks flushed red.
"I believe I began understanding that once you asked!" Sona snapped back. Realizing what she had said, her face grew even redder.
Akira peeked over. "…Do you like me as well?"
"…Well…" Sona took a deep breath before talking to prevent herself from stammering. But she didn't say anything. Looking over, she made eye contact with Akira. "Yes, yes, I do!" Despite her answer, her tone made it sound so reluctant. "…I suppose it started when you won that chess match… After that… I just started thinking about the moments we had before that event… I even enjoyed our time together very much after the match as well…" Shaking her head, she did her best to regain as much composure as she could. "Why am I the only one speaking? What about you? When did you start liking me?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "It's… mainly based off of a physical attraction when I first saw you." Akira admitted while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"…Ah…" Sona blushed once more due to realizing that Akira had indirectly called her beautiful. While his reasoning was rather blunt, Sona couldn't blame him. From what she could gather from opinions, her looks were rather charming. But she knew that his intentions weren't that bad. After all, he was a pretty decent guy.
"…So…" Akira trailed off, not exactly sure if he should be doing that or giving more time for Sona to think.
"…How about our next day of school off?" She asked. "Is there anything specific you want to do?"
Akira's expression was full of surprise and shock. But after a few seconds, he regained control and slowly nodded his head. "…I'll think of something we both can enjoy." He answered.
Sona nodded with satisfaction. Soon though, she felt something grab her hand. Looking down, she saw that Akira was the one who initiated the action. Despite not looking in her direction, she could tell that the boy was rather flustered. Now that they were going out, they could do stuff like that. Smiling, she held his hand back in turn while leaning on his shoulder.
He slightly jumped at the action, facing the girl. But seeing her smile just caused him to grow a smile of his own.
"…Uhh… should we leave you guys alone?"
Looking forward, the duo saw that the Phantom Thieves were looking at them. But before anyone could say anything, all of them were pushed aside. "So-tan!" Serafall cried out while diving forward and hugging her sister. "Are you okay?! Did Katerea harm you in any way?! What about your heart?! You stabbed yourself through the chest! Was that a Persona just like the Phantom Thieves?! Was that Leviathan that you summoned?! Is Leviathan your Persona?!"
"O-onee-sama, I'm okay!" Sona exclaimed. "I swear, I'm okay!"
"Really?! Thank go-" Serafall almost completed her cheer when she noticed the position that Sona was in. Slowly, her eyes drifted to her little sister's hand that was being held by Akira. It was at that moment that she saw that Sona was resting against Akira. Looking right at the boy, his gaze didn't flinch with the intense look she was giving him. "…Take good care of So-tan, you hear me?" She gave a small smile.
Akira blinked. "I expected you to be a bit angrier at me."
Serafall gave him a confused look but then gave a comforting expression. "Why would I be angry for you being the one Sona chose?" She patted his head gently. "You have shown me that you not only have the strength to protect her, but also have the brains and heart to love her."
Taking in her words, all Akira could do was nod with thanks.
"Hey, guys, we're back!" Hearing Issei's voice, everyone turned their heads over.
Running towards them were the brunette, Futaba, and Gasper with Morgana holding onto Futaba's back. But it was an incredibly short lived moment when everyone facing those four saw a white gleam in the sky. Luckily, the brunette felt a chill. Looking back, he saw that white gleam everyone saw coming straight for him. Grabbing Futaba and Gasper, the boy managed to throw the three towards the ground before defending himself against the sudden object.
As the dust began to settle, Issei was seen struggling against a familiar being dressed in white armor.
"…Vali…" Azazel spoke out while he shook his head. "So, you were the one who betrayed us. You allowed Katerea and her minions in through the barrier… Are you really going to make me ask why?"
"My apologies, Azazel." Vail soared back and spoke loudly enough for them to hear. "The Khaos Brigade is just much more fun."
"So, the great Vanishing Dragon is submitting to Ophis?" Azazel questioned.
"Nah, just cooperating." Vali corrected. "Ophis asked if I wanted to fight Asgard, and it seemed like a nice way to test my strength. I don't imagine you would allow me to oppose Valhalla and the earth gods, right, Azazel?"
"I did tell you to get stronger, but I also said not to contribute to the Earth's destruction." Azazel pointed out.
"Like I care. I just want to fight forever." Vali stated. "And this creates the perfect opportunity for me to face against the Red Dragon Emperor!"
Creating a ball of energy, Vali hurled it towards Issei. But just as the brunette raised up his arms to defend the attack, a black battle axe slammed down and interrupted the path of the energy which made it explode. As the dust died down, everyone was surprised to see who was the one to step in.
"Haru?!" Ryuji exclaimed.
"…So it was you…" Haru spoke quietly with her hat covering her eyes. "You were the one that put everyone here in danger…" She then looked up not wanting to believe it. "You put everyone's lives at risk just to satisfy yourself?!"
"…" Vali didn't respond immediately. "That is correct. What about it?"
Her eyes soon began to narrow. The disbelief on her mouth dropped into a frown. "…So selfish." She growled. "Do you really think that after doing what you have done, you will get whatever you like?!" Glaring right towards Vali, she shoved Issei away as Milady appeared and pointed its entire arsenal towards the white-armored man.
"…I prefer not to fight you, Haru Okumura." Vali admitted. "You may be a member of the Phantom Thieves, but I have the power of a dragon. Something that even gods are worried about. Are you quite certain this is what you want?"
But Haru was unaffected by his words by heaving the axe onto he shoulders and pointing in his direction. "You want to fight I-kun?! You're going to have to beat me first!"
Now count with me. One cliffhanger… Two cliff hangers… THREE CLIFFHANGERS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Next chapter, Haru vs. Vali! Yeah, bet none of you saw that coming! Also, the end of season 2!
No flames please.