Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I do not own High school DxD or Fairy Tail they are property of Ichiei Ishibumi and Hiro Masima respectively.

Azazel rushed forward, intending on impaling Katerea with his spear. His plans however didn't account for the reinforcements she got. The moment before he could drive his spear through her another spear appeared out of nowhere and deflected his away, only leaving a sizable gash in Katerea's arm.

Azazel brought his spear back and fell into a defensive stance as he searched for Katerea's saviour. It didn't take him long to spot a man with black hair donning ancient Greek armour.

"And who might you be, stopping me from having my fun?" Azazel questioned the newcomer.

"Just the vanguard," the simple reply came from the black-haired man. As the man said this Rias, her peerage and Wendy came around the corner. Natsu was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't necessarily mean he wasn't around.

"Oedipus, what's he doing here?" Rias asked in disbelief once she saw him next to Katerea.

"Wait you know this man?" Sirzechs asked his sister.

"Yes, when we went to train with Natsu he made an appearance and caused us some trouble. Later we found out he was there to deliver a message to Natsu from Ophis," Rias quickly explained.

"Katerea said she had some of Ophis' power. This might mean trouble, if Ophis decides to join the fray…" Sirzechs trailed off, not wanting to imagine the devastation that will follow.

"This is the perfect time to test my invention to the limits," Azazel said with glee.

"My name is Oedipus, I have come here to aid Katerea in her mission," Oedipus introduced himself to Azazel with a slight bow.

"A man with manners, my name is Azazel, leader of the Fallen Angels," Azazel returned the greeting.

"Even though I was sent to ensure Katerea's mission succeeds, I can still go about it my own way. As I see it, you are giving her trouble and I must step in, but to be honest with you I am more thrilled to lock myself in combat with a worthy opponent such as yourself," Oedipus said.

"I am willing to restrict this to a one-on-one duel, you get your fight and I get to field test my invention against a worthy foe," Azazel said while giving Katerea a mischievous glance.

"Why you, I will kill you," Katerea shouted in rage and was about to launch another attack only for Oedipus to hold his round shield in front of her.

"You have other things to worry about. The rest of our heavy hitters will soon be here so don't worry about the satans and angels and get that sacred gear like you were sent here to do," Oedipus told the raging woman.

"Fine, but leave a corps for me to kick or something," Katerea relented, still furious at the disrespect she was shown but she could put that on hold in order to finish her mission.

Katerea descended back down to the ground. Sirzechs and Michael kept their attention on her, not trusting her to pull a dirty trick.

"Now our battle can begin," Oedipus said as he turned to Azazel an extended his spear out as a challenge to Azazel.

"I accept your challenge," Azazel replied with a smile. The two warriors were stationary for a moment before disappearing from sight only to reappear a moment later with their spears crossed.

"You're fast, but how will you handle this?" Oedipus asked as he swung his shield towards Azazel's side. Azazel manged to block most of the damage with his free hand but the force of the blow caused him to lose the battle for dominance they had with their spears.

Oedipus used this small victory to swipe his spear across Azazel's right shoulder guard. Much to his surprise the only damage done y this was a slight scratch on the golden armour.

"Durability seems good, if the materials I used were of lesser quality that might have been a sizable wound on my shoulder," Azazel commented.

"A well-crafted set of armour," Oedipus agreed with a grin, getting one in return from Azazel.

"Those two seems to be enjoying themselves," Akeno commented from where she stood with the rest of the ORC.

"They are two warriors fighting in a duel, it is a test of strength and skill," Kiba said while observing the fluent motions the two in the sky were going through.

"They are not in the fight to kill, only to test their own against the opponent," Xenovia said.

"Having fun spectating the show?" a feminine voice came from behind the group and a moment later Kiba yelled out in pain as he was launched into a wall.

"Kiba," Wendy and Asia yelled in unison and dashed to their friend to heal him. The rest of the group quickly turned around and saw Katerea standing there with an evil grin.

"Hand over the Dhampir and no one gets hurt," Katerea said as she let her enhanced magical aura out in an attempt to intimidate the young devils.

With Serafall and Grayfia

"Go aid Rias and her friends, I will be fine here," Grayfia said to Serafall.

"Are you sure?" Serafall asked not wanting to abandon anyone.

"Yes, I have a bad feeling that they are in trouble," Grayfia said with a look in her eyes that further emphasised her concerns.

"Don't you worry, Serafall Leviathan will protect them all," Serafall declared with a happy smile as she quickly made her way towards the ORC group. She barely took a few steps when a spike in power erupted from where the ORC group was gathered.

"They don't stand a chance against Katerea," Serafall said in panic when she saw who it was that produced the spike in magic power. Serafall rushed as fast as she could to them.

With the ORC and Katerea

"We will never give you Gasper," Rias declared with the rest of the members besides Wendy, Asia and Kiba forming up in front of Gasper.

"Then I guess you will have to perish," Katerea said and launched a stream of dark energy at the group.

As if the world itself was moving in slow motion the stream of darkness slowly crept forward. Wendy casted a wind barrier type spell that slowly formed from the ground up while Akeno deployed an electric field forming above Wendy's wind barrier and slowly moved to meet the wind barrier. As the stream neared it seemed like the wind barrier and electric field wouldn't be able to protect them.

Suddenly a spec of ice formed in the middle of the two defensive fields and expanded outwards. The triple elemental barrier solidified just as the stream of darkness met it.

A massive explosion was caused by the collision and dust was thrown into the air.

"I might have overdone it, now I will have to search through their remains for the sacred gear," Katerea said to herself with a sigh, believing the devils were all obliterated.

"You might want to look again," Serafall's voice came from the dust cloud.

Katerea's eyes widened in shock when she heard this and as the dust settled her shock grew even more. Between her and her targets was a solid barrier made of ice, surrounded by wind and sparks of electricity could be seen dancing around it.

"How could you block my attack, never mind this way it's much more fun for me," Katerea said with an evil grin.

"Akeno, Wendy how about you help me with taking out the trash?" Serafall asked the two devils.

"I would me more than happy to help," Akeno replied with a gleeful smile while Wendy just nodded.

"The rest of you come with me, we will help out wherever we are needed," Rias said to her peerage and made her way to Sirzechs' location.

With Azazel and Oedipus

"Your fighting skills are impressive but sadly I must end this now," Azazel said. He had been duking it out with Oedipus for quite a while but it seemed like the victory will go in the way of Azazel.

"This was a worthy fight," Oedipus said, out of breath but a content smile on his face. He was prepared to be slain by a true warrior.

Azazel lifted his spear above his head and Oedipus closed his eye, the smile never leaving his face.

The sound of a flesh being torn could be heard but after a few seconds Oedipus realised it wasn't his flesh that had been torn and he was still alive. He opened his eyes to see Azazel still standing in front of him but missing an arm,

"So you show your true colours?" Azazel said there was no trace of pain in his voice even though his arm was just ripped off.

"I can never be on the same side as the Red Dragon Emperor, our rivalry run to deep and spreads across too many lifetimes," Vali said as he discarded Azazel's arm.

"Vali, why did you interfere with my duel?" Oedipus asked with a noticeable amount of scorn.

"I don't care about your duel. Be happy I saved your life," Vali countered.

Oedipus was about to make a retort when a new power source appeared. A cute young girl with long black hair down to her hips and black eyes came flying towards the battle. Her ears were pointed, her pupils were silted, she was wearing a black Gothic Lolita costume and she was releasing unprecedented amounts of magic.

"Who might you be little girl?" Azazel asked as all the fighting seemed to have stopped for a moment.

"Were is that stupid Dragon King, I have some words for him," the child said.

"I have been right here the entire time Ophis, a shame to see how far your sense have fallen if you couldn't have detected me," Natsu's voice was heard echoing all around the school.

"Hey, you dot have to be so mean," Ophis shouted with a pout.

"Still nothing but a child, a shame that the title of Dragon God was bestowed upon you," Natsu's voice echoed once again.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Ophis yelled as she was starting to throw a tantrum.

"Calm down, if you continue with your tantrum I will not listen to what you have to say," Natsu said as he appeared out of a cloud of black smoke next to Grayfia.

"Fine, I want you to kick Great Red out of the Dimensional Gap so that I can have it back," Ophis said with a huff and puffed out her cheeks.

"That is none of my concern, and the Dimensional Gap isn't part of my domain," Natsu said with a sigh.

"Sorry to interrupt your squabble but where is that pathetic Red Dragon Emperor?" Vali said.

"Albion, if you don't get that lowlife under control you will feel my wrath," Natsu shouted out in anger.

"Albion can't talk right now mister Dragon King, after I am done with the Red Dragon Emperor you can have your turn to duke it out with me," Vali said with a confident smirk.

"I don't have time for idiots," Natsu muttered to himself while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Issei, you have someone here who wants to fight. Ophis leave now or I will remind you what happens when a dragon defies a direct order," Natsu called out, loud enough for everyone to hear.

At this moment Katerea came flying around a building quickly followed by Serafall and Akeno.

"Natsu, where have you been?" Wendy asked a she made her way over, breathing a little bit on the heavy side.

"I was enjoying seeing how far you have come in battle. You have grown strong Wendy, I am proud," Natsu smiled down at the blue-haired girl.

"T-Thank you," Wendy stuttered with a slight blush and a happy smile.

"Don't worry too much now, this entire thing is going to end soon," Natsu said when he saw how exhausted Wendy was.

"I have a splendid idea, how about I kill your parents Red Dragon Emperor?" Vali laughed out, he was getting tired of waiting to fight his rival and wanted to give him some 'motivation'.

"What did you say?" Issei shouted in anger.

"You heard me. Are you going to stop me?" Vali taunted.

Issei's anger allowed him to enter his boosted gear. He was covered in a red suit of armour with green glowing gems in the chest, elbows and knees. A large pair of bat-like wings spread out of the back of his armour.

"I will stop you," Issei yelled out in rage and flew strait at this opponent. Vali dodged most of the blows but soon the boosted power of Issei was too fast for him and he got hit.

Vali skidded back but quickly recovered and activated his balance break. Now it was a battle between two wielders of the heavenly dragons.

A stray stream of darkness and ice nearly hit Vali and Issei as they rushed towards one another, passing between them causing them to halt their advances.

"Watch where you're throwing those attacks," Vali yelled to Katerea who seemed to be having trouble with the combined efforts of Serafall and Akeno. Even the power boost she got from Ophis seemed to be neutralised by Wendy's enchantments.

"Oedipus, Bikou, can you go aid her please?" Ophis asked the Greek armoured man who recovered most of his stamina and a new man who had just arrived. He had short, light-coloured hair and wore ancient Chinese armour from the Three Kingdoms period.

The two men went to aid Katerea in her battle which would drastically tip the scales of battle.

"Xenovia, Kiba and Asia go aid Serafall and Akeno," Rias ordered her peerage to battle as she stood next to her brother ready to jump in when needed.

Vali and Issei continued their battle with Vali being the clear winner, while the team of Katerea, Oedipus and Bikou stood against Serafall, Akeno, Asia, Xenovia and Kiba.

"Have you been able to analyse the barrier?" Sirzechs asked Grayfia.

"Yes, but we will need Akeno to help destroy it. The barrier has a weakness to lightning," Grayfia explained.

"I'll go get her you stay safe," Natsu smiled down to his Alpha mate and got a small smile in return.

Natsu quickly entered the battlefield and stopped Oedipus's spear with one hand as he was in the middle of a fight with Akeno, Kiba and Asia. Serafall was battling Katerea while Xenovia, with the help of Irina was facing Bikou.

"Sorry to interrupt but we need your lightning Akeno," Natsu smiled brightly.

"You guys okay without me?" Akeno asked the other two.

"We can hold him at bay," Kiba confirmed.

Natsu picked up Akeno bridle style and dashed off towards Grayfia. Akeno ad a small blush and a happy smile as she was carried by the man she loved.

"No you don't," Oedipus yelled out as Natsu sped away and with one powerful swing of his spear he knocked Kiba and Asia back, giving him an opportunity to follow Natsu and Akeno.

"Ophis grant me some of your strength," Oedipus called out as he crushed an orb similar to the one Katerea crushed. Dark snakes engulfed him and his magical power spiked tremendously.

Once his power up was complete he began floating up into the sky and quickly located his targets. Natsu had dropped Akeno off near Grayfia and went to face Ophis who decided to join the battle to keep Natsu's attention away from her followers.

"We will succeed in our mission," Oedipus yelled out in rage and launched a devastating attack at Grayfia and Akeno.

Grayfia was able to block the attack but Akeno didn't have enough power. Her screams of pain could be heard across the battle field and once the explosion died down her battered form could be seen lying on the ground.

In an instant Natsu was by her side.

"Wendy, heal her now," Natsu commanded with a voice full of authority.

Wendy quickly obeyed and stabilised Akeno, but was unable to fully heal her due to her exhaustion.

"I'm sorry this is all I can do," Wendy said as she started to fall over.

"You did splendidly Wendy, thank you," Natsu whispered as eh caught her and gently laid her down next to Akeno.

"Grayfia protect them," Natsu said as he stood up with a fire aura surrounding him.

The entire battlefield became silent as they felt a power spike to unimaginable heights and saw a golden ball of flames floating into the sky that could be mistaken for the sun.

Enjoy the suspense because this is the end of Chapter 26. Hope you all enjoyed it and leave a review with your thoughts. Thank you to all who participated in the poll I have some really fun ideas for a story that I will release after one of my current ones end. I know the battle scenes jumped around rather chaotically but the smaller fights aren't the main focus of this tale. Anyway see ya next time.