Chapter 9
Disclaimer: I do not own High school DxD or Fairy Tail they are property of Ichiei Ishibumi and Hiro Masima respectively.
Kiba rushed Oedipus with a sword drawn while Koneko flanked him fists at the ready. Rias and Akeno moved to a vantage point where they would be able to use long range attacks with Issei boosting them. Wendy and Asia positioned in between the two groups for medium range attacks and if someone needs healing they are close by.
Oedipus easily deflected Kiba's sword with his spear and blocked Koneko's punch with his shield. He continued blocking the close quarter attacks before looking up when he heard Rias tell Kiba and Koneko to fall back. From their vantage point Rias and Akeno powered up a combination attack of lightning and destruction which was increased in power by Issei's boost. The attack hit its target dead on causing a dust cloud to rise.
"Stay on guard I don't think that attack brought him down" Akeno said retaining her battle stance.
Sure enough Oedipus was not defeated by that attack. The discouraging part though was that he didn't have a scratch on him. Instead the area surrounding him was now a barren and charred crated but everything behind him in a v was completely untouched. Oedipus lowered his shield with a smile.
"Seems like you have a strategy with attacks that take some time to charge up" Oedipus observed.
He then disappeared in a blur of speed appearing next to Kiba. He sent Kiba flying with a shield to his abdomen and swept his spear in Koneko's direction which caught her in the gut making her fly into a tree. Oedipus then disappeared once again appearing near the vantage point Rias, Akeno and Issei occupied.
Issei managed to catch Oedipus' spear that came sweeping towards him. This gave Wendy enough time to launch a Dragon Roar that was a miniature tornado originating from her mouth. The roar hit Oedipus hard in his chest sending him flying into a tree.
"Who would have thought the little girl was the true hard hitter of the group, I'm impressed with the power you showed" Oedipus said before dashing towards Wendy intending to land a blow on her to take out their main damage dealer.
Asia however anticipated something like this and cast a barrier around Wendy. The barrier slowed Oedipus' attack down enough for a recovered Kiba to arrive and deflect it while Koneko who also recovered from her earlier blow managed to plant her fist into his cheek making him stumble back.
Rias, Akeno and Issei were now behind Oedipus and Kiba, Koneko, Wendy and Asia was in front of him.
"Using your numbers to your advantage in a pincer manoeuvre, good thinking" Oedipus praised them before once again charging to the larger group. A combined lightning attack on both fronts from Asia and Akeno slowed Oedipus down enough for Wendy to use some of the magic she learned from Eossinth the Dragon of the Sky.
Wendy enchanted Kiba with a spell that increases his speed and Koneko with a spell that increased her strength. Even though Wendy still had some way to go before she was able to cast more than one enchantment on a person she was still able to bring out about half of the enchantments power.
Kiba who now was followed by a stream of air that made him feel light as a feather went to slash at Oedipus. The increased speed caught Oedipus off guard but luckily for him the only damage the sword had done was a dent in his armour. Koneko used this chance to use her increased strength to his Oedipus hard in the abdomen sending him hurtling towards a boulder.
Rias blasted him with her power of destruction while Issei sent a Dragonshot his way. This combination of attacks seemed to do damage. As the dust cleared the group could see the effect their attacks had on Oedipus. He had several bruises and his armour was dented and even destroyed in certain places.
"That was a good combination using the different effects of your magic to counter my greater speed. I think you have deserved the hint. The answer has something to do with the cycle of life." Oedipus complemented them wiping some blood off his lip. He gained a crazed expression saying "Now this is fun be prepared I'm about to get serious"
He then raised his spear in the air. It started to glow a very light blue before he plunged it into the ground. The same light blue started to spread out originating from the spear.
"Let's see how you devils deal when I add light magic to the field" he said with a crazed grin.
The devils started fearing for their own safety because they could not counter the strong light magic that emanated from the spear in their condition. They were all exhausted from first fighting multiple low level beasts then the chimera and finally Oedipus himself.
Suddenly fire erupted from the ground. Large pillars of crimson red and black flames reached high in the sky burning away the light magic.
"I will have to stop you there" a deep gravelly voice said behind Oedipus. Startled he pulled his spear out of the ground and turned around. He tried plunging the spear in whatever just spoke behind him. The spear however could not pierce the skin of the being before him.
Fear, a feeling Oedipus hadn't feel in years, yes fear was what he was feeling now. In front of him stood a demon with pitch black bat-like wings, dark crimson scales covering its body and his arms were draconic claws. But the thing that frightened him the most was the two golden dragon eyes with black slits staring down at him.
"I thank you for testing my pupils but now I must intervene and put a stop to this fight" the demon said in a cold voice, "State your business or there will be consequences."
"I am here to deliver a message to the Dragon King" Oedipus said trying to keep the fear out of his voice.
"Speak" the demon ordered as he lifted the man up holding him by the head.
"My master said only to tell the Dragon King" Oedipus squeaked out.
Natsu morphed into his human form and once again ordered Oedipus to tell him the message or he will be forced to deal with him as if he was an enemy to the Dragon Realm.
Oedipus deduced that this pink haired man in front of him must be the Dragon King so he saw no reason not to tell him the message.
"My master Ophis wishes to meet with you Dragon King" Oedipus said trying to calm his racing heart.
"And what does the Ouroboros Dragon want with me?" Natsu asked getting an irritated look on his face.
"S-She didn't say" Oedipus replied getting a little frightened with the irritated look of the Dragon King.
"You can go back to that wannabe Dragon God and tell her that if she wants to talk to me she can either come herself or at the very least tell her servants what it is that she wishes to talk to me about" Natsu replied in an angry tone striking even more fear into Oedipus.
"I'm sorry Dragon King but she said she would only tell you what the meeting is about when you agree and meet with her" Oedipus fearfully said slowly edging away from the now furious Dragon King.
"You will return to that sad excuse for a Dragon God and tell her that she does not order me around and remind her that I defeated her in a duel before my ascension to the throne meaning that I am her superior in status and power. And the next time she sends a message it better have what I asked for or I can't guarantee the messenger will return" Natsu shouted in anger.
Oedipus was frozen in fear at this point could only strutted incomprehensive sentences.
"Either speak so I can understand or get out of my sight" Natsu ordered reaching the limits of his patience.
"Please don't let your anger out on me I'm only the messenger, haven't you heard of 'don't shoot the messenger'?" Oedipus fearfully asked after a minute of calming his nerves.
"That is the only reason you are still alive" Natsu coldly said, "Now get out of my sight" he ordered.
Oedipus scurried away as quick as he could not wanting to find out if Natsu would follow through with his threats.
"That damned dragon, the next time I see her I swear I will beat her to an inch of her life. The audacity of her thinking she could order me around" Natsu ranted before realising the ORC group was still there.
"Complete the riddle and return to the castle, I will meet you there once I let off some steam" he said before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.
"Why does he always disappear like that?" Issei asked.
"Let's just solve this riddle. I am exhausted and I don't know about you but I don't want to encounter another strong foe" Rias said to which everyone else agreed.
"Oedipus said the answer has something to do with the cycle of life, any ideas on how that will help?" Kiba asked.
"I think it might have to do with stages of life" Wendy said after a moment of silence.
"What do you mean by that?" Rias asked her little sister.
"I mean that I think with saying it has one voice it is only one thing. Thinking in that line of thought I guess that the answer has something to with a being that starts off on four legs then two and finally three. How that is possible I'm not sure" Wendy explained her train of thought.
"I don't get it how can something change the amount of legs it has and who would end up on three?" Issei was thoroughly confused.
"It might not be literally four, two and three legs per say but more like when you are a baby you crawl around" Asia gave her meaning.
"That's must be it" Akeno exclaimed, "What if the answer is a human"
"But humans don't have four or three legs, come on guys how is that even possible?" Issei commented.
"But when you are a baby you crawl on four like Asia said" Kiba made himself heard.
"And when you are old you sometimes use a cane that can be seen as a third leg" Rias finished realising where Akeno's thoughts were going.
"Exactly, so do you guys think it's worth a shot?" Akeno asked getting a nod of agreement from mostly everyone bar Issei who was still a bit confused.
Turning to the sphinx Akeno gave it their answer. The sphinx stood up and left after saying that they had solved its riddle and that they can now claim the prize.
The prize was a locked box. They tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. Deciding to ask Natsu about that when they met up at the castle Rias tucked it under her arm and started leading the group back to the castle. Along the way they could hear the far off sounds of destruction and desolation.
"Is Natsu making all that noise?" Asia asked when the sounds got a bit louder.
"I think so it might also explain why we aren't encountering any more beasts they were probably frightened off by the explosions" Rias said.
"Just how strong is that guy?" Issei asked feeling a bit of fear at the power Natsu possessed.
"He did say he defeated this Ophis character" Koneko made her presence known for the first time since the battle with Oedipus.
"Who is that by the way?" Issei asked. After not getting a reply from the other devils he asked the dragon in his sacred gear.
"Do you know who Ophis is Ddrag" Issei asked.
"I know who she is but not so much as to the history between her and Natsu. Ophis is one of the strongest dragons out there though she can be quite childish and naïve. She will act like a child mimicking the actions of whatever catches her attention and usually wanders off when she finds something interesting. I think it's her childishness that really bothers Natsu" Ddrag replied.
"I might get some more insight if I asked Eossinth" Wendy said thinking about the dragon that trained her.
When the group arrived at the castle, much to their luck, Eossinth was waiting for them at the entrance. She was in her human form that had long light green hair, bright blue eyes and a beautiful face and figure. Issei, being the pervert he is started fantasising about the beautiful woman only to be punched in the gut by Koneko with a "No being perverted"
"Eossinth mind if we ask you something?" Wendy asked after they exchanged greetings.
"I don't mind child ask away" her soft voice replied.
"Well when we were busy with the test Natsu gave us we ran into a strong opponent and after battling him for a while Natsu interfered before he could use light magic to attack us, but that's not important right now. The man said he had a message from someone named Ophis that she wants to meet with him. After that Natsu got really angry and started ranting about her being a wannabe and saying something about him defeating her in a duel and so forth. We want to know if you know the reason behind why Natsu reacted that way" Wendy asked her dragon teacher.
"The full story is a long one but to sum it up basically Ophis never accepted Natsu as the Dragon King but that's not so much of a problem for Natsu the thing that sets him off about her is that she acted like she owned the place whenever she was here. And after she was pushed out of the Dimensional Gap she lived in the Dragon Realm causing no end of trouble for Natsu with her child like demeanour. After Natsu challenge her to a duel with the stakes being that she has to leave if Natsu won or that she is free to do what she wants here without Natsu being able to say a word against her she was left with no other option than to leave" Eossinth explained.
"Was she really that bad that she deserved being banished?" Rias asked.
"Yes the amount of damage she did went beyond comprehension and while dragons are naturally destructive creature most of us know where to destroy things and not go around the castle leaving every second room in rubble. She also antagonised some creature resulting in them invading the area which was a head ache to clear out only to name a few. No she definitely deserved her punishment" Eossinth replied.
Natsu never returned that evening so the group decided to turn in for the night and question Natsu the following day about the box. They decided not to mention Ophis in fear of him getting angry and letting them see exactly what he did after he left to, as he said, let off some steam.
Chapter 9 done. I had to rewrite most of this chapter because it didn't save. I was so pissed now I save every time I am not busy writing. Anyway let me know how the chapter was and how the fight scene was since it was my first time writhing one with a bit of detail. See ya next time.
