The Last Saiyan

by David101Australia

The Tournament of Power ends with a selfish wish. Zeno maintains his resolve. Everything is erased. A blank slate to start again. Millennia later this has a profound effect on the life of one boy, Issei Hyoudou, when he discovers that he isn't the normal boy that he always wanted to be. His life is changed irreversibly but for better or worse is yet to be known.

21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty One - Confrontation

* Living room, 19 Hyoto Lane, Kuoh Town *

Issei was excited. Finally he would get to do something other then train. His training provided him with a goal and an immediate outlet for his built up physical energy but engaging the enemy would completely relieve his frustration. He knew that it was his Saiyan instincts screaming at him for battle and in moments of more human contemplation he pondered whether his change in geneology was heavily affecting his personality but at the end of such thoughts he just couldn't worry too much about it.

His instant shift in attitude was noted by everyone present, while the devils all looked concerned and his parents' appeared apprehensive over the shift in the room's dynamic, Issei's eyes gleamed with exhileration. His father noted the raw emotion in his son's eyes and wandered briefly which side of the family these genes had come from. Neither he nor Miki had ever displayed the sort of excitement and aggression that Issei was capable of but then again, neither had ever been in such a position. Would he have acted in the same way if such a situation had arose in his life?

A quick text message from Rias and less then two minutes later the front door of the home opened with the remainder of the extended peerage and associates arriving. Introductions were brief with Miki and Gorou moving to the back of the living room, allowing the collection of allies to focus entirely on the lord of hell.

"Grigori have been located infiltrating around Osaka. Currently we have our Vanguard units deployed to Tokyo, Kyoto and abroad. Attempts to contain Grigori forces have been slowed by issues in working with local human law enforcement, military forces and government agencies. Despite some progress, diplomatic efforts have been hampered due to large degrees of mistrust. The capability for supernatural elements to masquerade as human has been a large sticking point in attempts to form resolutaions or treaties." Sirzechs began, his voice measured, like someone delivering a well rehearsed brief or lecture. Even though Issei was excited for battle, he acknowledged the importance of the current situation even if he hadn't been keeping as up to date with it as the rest of the peerage.

Most of the peerage had been paying attention to the news fairly intently. He had overheard them, as well as his parents, discussing the various concerns that had arose. He really should have paid more attention but his focus had very much been elsewhere.

"As such our vanguard forces as well as those of heaven are to now openly display themselves before the public. With our enemy operating in a covert fashion, attacking human population centres and sowing distrust and hate, we can only rally support and hope to defeat them through openly showing who we are, avoiding collateral damage and striking them promptly.

""However the enemy's ranks appear to have swollen recently. They have aligned demonic forces from the abyss, as well as rogue devil's to their forces. Furthermore Azazel has recently disappeared. We are unsure if Kokabiel has successfully conducted a coup d'etat or if he is in hiding but the Grigori ranks directly opposing both ourselves and heaven have swollen."

Sirzechs paused to allow everything to sink in for the group.

"So we show ourselves fully, when against a fow or always?" Rias clarified while seeming uncomfortable about the proposition. Devil society was not a very large society, far below the numbers of humanity with a low birth rate and still yet to recover from the high casualties sustained during the civil war. In her mind, openly displaying themselves would be like painting targets on their backs.

Both Sirechs and Grayfia acknowleged her concern.

"The new law will be enacted soon that will required all devils and angels while on earth to display our true forms. This has been agreed upon by both our Lords and the Lords of heaven fully. I understand that it is a large change from millennia of secrecy and a campaign is going to be put forward encouraging those who wish to remain concealed to avoid operating on earth. As such the economy of Hell will be expanded greatly."

Rias nodded along as he spoke as she understood her brother's intent. She wasn't happy about it, the looks of Sebastian, Ravel and Maree said they also weren't fond of the proposed changes. The changes that it would impose to the structure of both Heaven and Hell's society would cause unrest and potential further problems but everyone present understood why these actions were being taken. It was unthinkable to allow Kokabiel to continue to murder and harvest vast swarths of humanity. Whatever his plan was, it could only result in terrible harm to both Heaven and Hell not to mention the possible extinction or enslavement of humanity. Whether for the forces of Heaven or Hell that was a terrible propostion.

As if to make his point, both Grayfia and himself released their wings which remained folded on their backs. As they did so, Issei realized he hadn't ever actually seen Grayfias's wings before and seeing them now seemed quite odd to him.

Taking cues from the lords' actions, the peerage all allowed their own to unfurl and fold behind their own backs. Issei noted that despite Ravel's wings being flame, they didn't burn or ignite anything around them. In fact Issei couldn't even feel any excess heat being produced. He thought that he may ask her about it some time, it could be a good way to get the fiery girl to cool down to him a bit. Issei noted that Irina seemed almost determined to avoid looking at any of the devil's wings. He was certain that her current company had to affect her. Until recently they had been enemies.

"As for the task I have for you all. You have probably surmised by now that our forces are stretched thin and we can't afford to redeploy elements to Osaka and so I am assigning your group to deploy to Osaka. Your mission is simple. Identify the Grigori forces, intercept them and disrupt their operations in the area. Avoid human casualties and try to prevent damage to local infrastructure."

His eyes landing on Issei with the final statement. While all of the magic and strength's possessed by the group could cause damage, Issei's Ki attacks had the potential to could the most by a large margin. Coupled with the Saiyan's temperament and he was clearly the largest risk for causing collateral damamge.

"How will we identify the enemy?" Rias asked while coming up with the best strategy she could for the task assigned to her.

"Issei can identify supernatural forces by their Ki but he can't be identifying every target in battle. Even if he could, it would be too difficult for the rest of us to be able to know which were Grigori and who was human if they were mixed together."

Clearly Rias had put a bit of thought into how they were going to operate in a tactical fashion against an enemy that could hide in plain sight while they showed themselves. It was a common issue that conventional military forces faced against insurgent enemies.

Grayfia summoned a large blue plastic trunk into the centre of the room. All eyes were immediately drawn to the item. She bent down and unclasped the lid before opening it. The trunk revealed itself to be padded inside with thick black foam and housed a dozen amall objects around the size of the average smart phone. Grayfia lifted them up and began to distribute one to each member of the group. The devices were a silver resin composite. Somewhere between a plastic and metal. The left side contained a single button and the right held a rose coloured panel of a transulent crystal material. With the items handed out to each member, Grayfia held one up in her hand.

"These have been recently manufactured and tested by Lord Ajuka himself." She began.

"They are a multifunctional device. Able to act as a friendly force tracker, a communicator and their primary function is to assess and report the Shoki, Yuki and Genki levels of those around. They display all information on the screen and show an assessed level for the scanned individual. They have a range of approximately one kilometer with no requirement for line of sight and are solar charged. With a use of seventy five percent active and twenty five percent idle, they will last approximately one week for a full charge.

As she spoke, Grayfia showed how to open the eye visor out from the device and set it to either the left or right eye. Simply for the preference of the user. How to turn on the device and how it fit snugly over the ear.

Issei set his to be aligned for his left eye and then held it over his left ear. Immediately the padding produced a small suction like release and held itself comfortably onto the side of his head. Grayfia continued her explanations once the group had all placed the devices on.

"The devices access your neuropathways once fitted and so are controlled by thought. Once you turn it on for the first time, it will run a quick assessment and match to yourself. From then on, the device will only work for you." Issei held the small button on the underside of the earpiece and saw text flash across the translucent screen over his left eye momentarily before it cleared to its light rose colour.

"Controlling the device is simple. It uses the following commands of communicate, communicate to all, scan and identify. The commands are instantaneous so the moment you think of them, the device will act. Take a moment now to scan each other and identify yourselves as friends. You will then see that each other will initially be highlighted in yellow and then in blue once identified as a friend. If you identify someone as a foe, it will outline them in red."

Grayfia's voice filled the background as everyone present began to experiment.

Looking at Koneko beside himself, Issei saw her first with a soft yellow outline around the part of her in his scanner's view before the word REKIL appeared next to her. This must have shown on everyones screen as Akeno asked before he could,

"What's Rekil?"

"Registered Ki Level" Grayfia explained. "It's the total summary of someones Shoki, Yuki and Genki. Ajuka is calling them Rekil locators."

Issei couldn't help but be amazed that while Ajuka could make something like this, his ability to name things was terrible.

"That's a woeful name. It should be something simple like a tracker or a looker or something." Issei stated.

"I agree," Kiba replied while looking from at each member of their group and registering them in turn,

"But your names are just as bad. Scouting targets is what we will do with these, so why not call them scouters?"

A murmur of agreement filled the room before Sara broke the silence.

"What the hell?" the young girls let out. "Has anyone scanned Issei yet?"

All eyes turned to the Saiyan with equally shocked expressions.

"Damn." Koneko let out softly. 'This is why I was leaving you to last."

The expressions on the group all grew to read the same sentiment. Issei watched Sebastian flick between checking Sirzechs and then him a few times as if to confirm that the readings were correct.

Curious, Issei finished reading everyone elses power. As expected Irina came in at the weakest in terms of raw power but not by much when compared to Asia or Sara. Rias, Akeno and Koneko held the top three positions of their group of devils and Rias was close to two thirds of the power of her brother. Sirzechs inched just marginally higher then his wife and Issei was happy to note that the readings he got came in at what he thought they would be from feeling their Ki with his senses. Now he just had a quantified figure to compare them to.

Thinking of himself a number appeared on the screen without any indicators, Issei realized that this was indicating the power that he contained and Issei felt his grin spread until he was almost laughing. His eyes met with Sirzechs and he could see the look that spread across the lord of hell's face. Sirzechs bent and collected a scouter from the trunk that was now half empty and after a quick configuration, scanned the room's occupants before looking at Issei with a mixture of disbelief and challenge. The Saiyan merely smirked back. It wasn't every day that you found out that your power was just over four times that of a lord of hells.

Without another word, Sirzechs removed the scouter before addressing the remainder of the group.

"You should all prepare to depart immediately. I will leave the exact plan to Rias and wish you all good luck." With that both Gremory seniors returned to hell and the group began a quick preparation of what they would need to ready themselves. Mostly just Sara putting on clothes as she was still in her Pajamas and using the toilet quickly. Issei raided the fridge briefly. During his small snack, he ate more food then the average human family would in a day.

While waiting to depart Issei looked at his parents as they sat adjacent to him quietly chatting with Maree and Sebastian who had introduced themselves. Issei quickly scanned them and found his father had a single digit level of Ki that he associated with humans but his mother had triple that in the low double digits. Did that mean that his Saiyan lineage had passed down through his mother's side of the family?

Issei was unsure but thought he was probably correct in that assumption.

Within fifteen minutes the group were ready to depart. Issei's parents wished them all luck and told them to keep safe before the group vanished in a flash of crimson light emitted from the Gremory Sigil below their feet.

* Alleyway, Osaka *

The group emerged from the allway that they had just been relocated to by Rias' spell and began moving through the people that moved around the busy streets of the metropolitan city on this weekend morning. Shoppers, workers who had weekend shifts, government employees, children with parents, there was people from every walk of life and they all, as if in one collective will, avoided and made way for the group to move through. Looks of unease, fear, curiosity and distrust were those that Issei noted the most. The wings of the devils, especially Ravels, taking the most of the stares. Issei could hear the comments being whispered, Irina and himself receiving less then the devils with less obvious traits. However with his tail and the whole group wearing scouters, it was unlikely that they wouldn't be noticed.

Thousands of individual digits lit up on the top left corner of his eyepiece as Issei assessed and then dismissed each person as their Rekil matched his own assessment of their Ki. Issei noted that his own senses moved out a vast distance greater then the scouter and he extended his mind out as the group moved through the busy streets looking for any sign of Grigori activity.

The barrage of life that battered into Issei's senses while he sought out heightened Ki was almost overwhelming, focusing his senses out so far made the dull background sense of Ki become an almost overwhelming torrent of noise and he could feel himelf subconsciously retreating back before the weight of it would crush in on him. He took a moment to centre his thoughts and prepare himself mentally before extending back out with his senses at a much slower pace, allowing the Ki of the world around him to build up gradually rather then at once. He found that at about twice the distance of the scouter was where it felt comfortable before the strain hammered into his mind, Issei allowed his sense to linger that far, simply supplementing his search of their targets.

It was a slow going task as the group moved through the streets. They spread out, all along the same streets, with a few hundred metres from the first of their group being Koneko with Sara through to the last with Kiba and Asia. The idea was floated that splitting into groups similar to their last venture might be a good option for covering even more ground but that was dismissed rather quickly. Rias hadn't been comfortable with the idea of a small group being ambushed without support by their enemy. She was certain that by walking through such a city, openly displaying their supernatural traits, then the enemy had to be aware of their presence. If their group took to the air, they would be able to search far more efficiently but that too was dismissed for both reasons of being seen as too agreesive and likely to cause a panic with the population, thereby playing into what appeared to be a goal of the enemy and that Irina was unable to fly. Leaving a single member isolated was definitely a disaster waiting to happen.

So it was that the motley group led by Rias Gremory found themselves moving from kogai to kogai of Osaka while methodically checking as many inhabitants as they could with the hours dwindling on. At each glance of a person, they would appear uncomfortable to receive the brief attention of the supernatural member moving through their society. Issei noted that they had a pair of police cars that followed them from a distance and he had to suppress the scoff that threatened to escape his lips. If they engaged their enemy, would the police attempt to intervene, if they did so would they even be able to assist?

Issei was certain that he was immune to human weaponry, he hadn't tested it but was sure that his enhanced physical toughness could withstand any caliber of firearm utilised against him, heavier weapons might require active mitigation from his Ki but Issei still felt confident however as he looked around, he wasn't too sure if that was the case for everyone in his group.

Lunch time approached and passed as the group moved further east through Osaka. They had cleared the majority of the western kogai sweeping from south to north before switching and moving back again. The scouters allowing them to identify people through walls or who were otherwise out of sight and therefore allowing a strong degree of confidence that they hadn't missed a potential threat.

As the afternoon sun moved to bear heat down on the world Issei's stomach continued to rumble louder and louder. The Saiyan wasn't complaining about the missed meal, he had eaten enough that morning and was focused on the task at hand but that didn't mean that his biology wasn't informing him that a banquet needed to be sacrificed to the bottomless pit he owned within himself. Slowly the grumbles grew and grew until his belly was almost roaring at those he passed and the wide birth around himself from the locals grew as they became concerned by the unnaturally loud responses. His eye met Rias' as his belly practically bellowed while passing a local tavern style restraunt and Rias shook her head while thinking of opening communications with her group.

"We will have lunch here. We can't keep moving around with Issei's stomach causing such an uproar."

Agreements came back in reply before the group congregated in the Wild West themed tavern. The wait staff exchanged brief looks of uncertainty before showing the group to a series of booths. Previously when in the public, Issei had been forced to eat in as close to a human fashion as he could. Now however, the Saiyan could indulge himself to his hearts content. Orders were placed and he received skeptical looks when asked for three of each item on the menu.

Over the course of the next half an hour those same wait staff went through the phases of amazement, disbelief and disgust when watching the Saiyan consume everything that was brought out to him without so much as a second thought. His companions happily continuing to eat and chat among themselves while this occurred. With everything eaten and paid for by Rias, the group departed the restraunt with thanks from the manager who was looking at three weeks of profits alone from what Issei had consumed.

Dusk began to approach as they enter the kogai of Umeda, the hub of central activity for the sprawling city. It was just past five in the afternoon and most businesses were beginning to close. A heavy throng of people exiting the highrise buildings around them and making their way home or to meet with colleges.

The Ki of thousands of people pressed into Issei's senses and blurred together. He realized that the ability to differentiate Ki in a thick crowd like this was something he had never practiced and he chastised himself for it. His thoughts in identifying his own training shortfall were cut off when Akeno's voice cut through that of the crowd from the earpiece of his scouter.

"There are three large levels in the building to our left. The windowed one with the green mosaic in the glass."

Issei turned his head and found the building she inferred, a large office structure with a tech logo of some kind. Before he could reply more voices crossed the intercom.

"Five to our front, Half moon shaped building." From Koneko in a low voice as if she was trying to make sure no one could see her speak.

"I count at least three, maybe more behind us as well. Metro station entrance. Not sure if they are moving toward us or not." Sebastian spoke.

Within moments of quick glances, the team had all identified the large signatures moving around them. They couldn't positively identify their targets however due to the density of the crowds. Rias took a moment to analyse her options as she had been taught and then made the decision that had the least negative variables.

"There are far too many people here for a fight or to identify any threats. Everyone move right. Let's not get encircled."

Sharply turning and redirecting their movement presented only more targets within their scouters and soon Issei's scouter was tracking twenty six targets.

"Rias, we have to clear the area." Issei began quickly, "They want to kill humans anyway right. Chances are, even if they don't attack us, they will attack those people."

Rias agreed with Issei but how exactly were they meant to clear thousands of people from an area. They had no authority to order humans around regardless of how much power they held. The looks they received meant that people were more likely to be afraid then supportive of them. Almost all humans being unable to tell the difference or even aware of the difference between the various factions and supernatural races in play. If they were too overt, would the enemy just attack immediately to kill as many people as possible? Rias felt herself caught in a paradox of being unable to act and felt an urge to just yell at the frustration of what was presented before them by that wouldn't help. Her education is what she would have to rely upon.

She took in the area around her trying to analyse her situation, looking for that golden ticket that would present the opportunity she needed to exploit. High rise office buildings, predominantly made of glass windows, restraunts and cafes, a metro entrance and bus terminal, thousands of people moving to both so that they could finish their working days. Not ideal at all. A spike in the shoki levels of the individuals within the tall office structure that was now to their rear flashed across the scouters of all the members. The high pitch scream of glass shattering filled the air a moment later and the group all spun immediately to witness six spears of purple light breaking through the windows of the eighth floor and barreling toward the rear of their group.

A thunderclap ripped through the air as Issei exploded forward, his white aura raging around himself and the pavement split below his feet. Within a moment he had intercepted the closest spears of light, their contructs shattering as he delivered quick blows against them. Screams filled the air as people panicked and began to run from the epicentre of the commotion. Two spears passed the airborne Saiyan crashing immediately into a green barrier projected by Asia. The translucent energy held as these spears too shattered against her defensive field ineffectually.

Rias felt a groan escape her lips as the shining light of her boyfriend's aura shot toward the building that the attack had come from. She wanted to manoeuvre away from this area but now her boyfriend was already rocketing toward the enemy. Her scouter showed rapid movement from the tracked targets toward them. Their levels all fell well within the range that they could deal with. It didn't identify exactly what they were going to be facing but Rias was confident.

"Move to cover." She ordered over the scouter as her group all darted off the exposed streets and began to position to face the targets closing in on them.

Issei was at the shattered remains of the large glass window within seconds. A large office space broken up into dozens of cubicles presented itself to him. Three figures rushed away from the window, black feathered wings present on their backs as they shot further bolts of purple energy to blast out the opposite windows, clearly attempting to escape. Firing forward once again, he was upon them in an instant, his right fist crashing against the back of the rear most Grigori's head. A harsh snap resounded through the air as his target's skull and neck shattered under the force of the Saiyan's blow. The other two spun and stared at him with fear. It was clear that they knew who they faced and really didn't want to face him. They still had half the distance to travel to escape the building and Issei was within striking distance. They wouldn't escape without a fight. Summoning light weapons to their hands, the pair swung forward against him with their blades.

Issei ducked under an overhead strike of a curved blade from the man to the right of the pair as his body pivoted to avoid a thrust from his compatriot. Their attacks moved exceedingly slow against the senses of the Saiyan warrior. Issei took a controlled step forward, locking the outstreteched arm of the man thrusting the blade at him in a quick hold. Applying firm pressure on the elbow joint while striking the upper arm with an open palm, Issei felt the upper arm break. As he did so, he flicked his right foot under the body below him and punted it toward the partner of his restrained enemy as easy as player kicking a football.

A sharp yell of pain ripped from the fallen angel's throat as Issei broke his arm at the same moment as his friend was projected backward under the force of the body that collided with his abdomen. Following through and monopolizing on this momentum, Issei pivoted the arm of his enemy upward and before the distressed angel could respond he thrust his palm into the man's torso, releasing a small shot of condensed Ki. The man's eyes bulged as the Ki ripped into his chest and blew a large section from his back.

Issei dropped the body of his dead opponent and approached the third Grigori who was now picking himself back up. The fallen angel looked with horror toward the eviscerated body of his partner and then back at the Saiyan calmly approaching him. With a yell he stabbed forward with his blade, his weapon pierced the body in front of him and cut upward as the image of the Saiyan disappeared. He didn't have time to be surprised at the after image as Issei had already ducked under his attack, stepped into his guard and delivered a driving left uppercut that shattered the jaw of the Grigori and drove cartledge, bone and part of his cerebral cord into his opponent's brain.

His strike followed through and Issei retracted back in time to watch as the still upright body shook for a moment before collapsing to the floor. He had dispatched the three foes within a minute and looked for a second at their lifeless bodies. He had killed once again, for a moment Issei looked at his hands before clenching them. It had been so easy, his strength and power was so much higher then those he fought. Unlike his past battles against the Grigori, this had been a slaughter. But this was war and they were the enemy. A calm breath left his lips, Issei wasn't sure if this was the nature he had always had or if it was the Saiyan geneology taking charge but he just smirked, he didn't care that he had killed the enemy. They faced him, they planned to kill him. To kill his friends and innocents. But they fought a Saiyan, they would all learn how bad a mistake that was.

Emerging from the same window he had entered, Issei hovered in the air to take in the scene before him. His friends were spread across either side of the streets before him, focused around the interection they had turned down. It had only been a few minutes, less then three yet almost all the Ki signatures of the area had fled. People had run for their lives. Issei could see close to a dozen that had been caught in the crossfire and felt anger rise that those people had been killed by the enemy, even from his height above, he could tell the entry and exit woulds they suffered had been made by the light weapons utilized by their foes. Spears of light flashed and crashed from multiple directions as their opponents fired at them from every direction and angle, the barriage was forcing his friends into covered positions and restricting their ability to move freely. Twisted creatures of deformed flesh flooded out from the metro entrance where Issei could hear screams of terror. The creatures surged toward the closest of his friends, met head on by Kiba and Sebastian. The two swordsmen a whirl of blades as they cut through twisted horror after twisted horror. Behind them Asia was knelt inside a bus stop, the glow of her healing magic clear to Issei. He felt a packet of weak Ki near her but couldn't see the owners, his view obstructed by the side of the shelter. It was most likely injured people that she would have insisted on saving.

Across from her Akeno and Sara were unleashing controlled shots of their magic against the half moon building to their front. Their enemy returned fire recklessly while the Gremory girls took only precise shots, Issei could see Akeno coaching Sara's shots. Clearly worried about causing collateral harm to any people who may still be in the area but undetected while they were focusing on the fight. Koneko moved swiftly before them approaching the building, darting from cover to cover. It was evident that the enemy had lost sight of the nekomata and she was closing in on them rapidly. Behind her Irina moved in a similar manner. She would support Koneko. Looking further ahead, Issei could see Rias with Maree and Ravel. The trio engaging the foes that rushed at them, a mixture of Grigori with what Issei could see were various mutated rogue devils. The trio unleashed a mixture of destruction, flame and ice magic on the enemy. He watched as a rogue that resembled a human with a crow head, similar to how the ancient Egyptians depicted their gods, remained exposed from a moment too long and caught a blast of Rias' magic. A squark of pain left him before he was atomized by the potent magic.

With the battlefield understood, Issei pivoted to shoot down toward the metro entrance when gunfire erupted from below and he felt the irritating flick of bullets striking into the lower side. He looked down toward and intersection further down the road they had moved up. The police cars that had been following them all day parked across the road, officers with pistols and rifles present. One with a rifle firing at him while others seemed unsure of how to respond. Annoyance ticked in his mind as Issei shot toward them in a flash of white light. How could he have forgotten about these guys?

Issei stopped above them and dropped down to land gracefully in front of the officer who had shot at him. Panic flooded the man's eyes who then steeled himself before unloading his weapon into Issei. The Saiyan simply remained still, allowing the rounds to hit him, only moving his arm to catch the projectiles that attempted to ricochet unless they hit and injured someone else. A click left the weapon as the man's magazine emptied and his visage returned to horror at the unaffected warrior before him.

"Listen up." Issei bellowed, he already had the attention of every officer who kept their weapons pointed on him. "We, wearing these" Issei pointed to his scouter. "Are on your side. The others are here to kill humans. We are here to stop them. Simple as that. Either help or stay out of the damn way."

Before any of the officers could respond the Saiyan took to the air and fired himself back down the road with a thunderclap reverberating from the speed he accelerated to so rapidly and followed by the loud squeal of an untold quantity of glass windows, doors and other structures shattering from the percusive effect of his flight.

With the swarm of twisted horrors surging from the metro entrance before him, Issei made up his mind, that was were he could help the most. Issei pivoted and dove into the side of the pack. He took on the appearance of a white comet as he shot into the group and began to strike against the monsters that were within range. His fists, elbows, knees and feet tore through the creatures like a hot knife through butter while his Ki blasts blew off limbs and eviscerated flesh.

The beasts turned against him, attacking the white aura clad warrior within their midst. Issei felt as a bone blade shattered against his flesh, unable to injure him. The mass of creatures swarmed onto Saiyan, the light of his aura being smothered in the seemingly endless horde of grotesque terrors. A harsh yell filled the air, debris and small objects rendered immune to the effects of gravity and floating upward momentarily before crashing back to earth, Issei's aura exploding outward, creatures' closest to him evaporating at the contact of his Ki tearing them apart, others sliced into and thrown back. Bodies launched into the air as if an explosion had detonated with the Saiyan as the focus point, Issei killed the closest foes with a volley of precise Ki shots while yelloing back at the pair of swordsmen behind him.

"Let's stop the source of these things."

Confirmatory shouts came from the two devils who followed Issei in dashing toward the metro entrance. Any creature still alive from Issei's disruption of their horde quickly cut down by one of the three. The entrance way consisted of a twin set of four escalators to allow passangers up and down from the station below. The mass of seething demonic horrors climbed over each other in a frenzied motion. Their mindless rush to swarm back up toward the surface clearly more prevalent then any concern for each other or survival instincts. It was abundantly clear that these creatures were simple, mindless demons, a mass of fiends utilized as a deft club against foes. Issei felt disgust flash across his face at the sight of the half eaten human bodies strewn on the ground below this horde. Evidently these creatures weren't fussy eaters. With a shout, Issei rocketed down into the station and plunged into the mass of foes. His strikes and blasts began carving a rapidly expanding hole that he capitalized on through the enemy. Carcasses torn apart from his attacks began to dissolve in a mess of acrid goo that Sebastian was familiar with from the assault on his past home.

The two devils rushed to follow the Saiyan as he pressed onwards, their target being the three higher Ki signatures found deeper within the station. Likely the ones allowing these beasts access to the mortal realm.

Sebastian sliced through a fiend effortlessly before glancing forward in time to see Issei blast four apart with a single Ki blast, his foot following though and striking another aside with a controlled sweeping kick, his body remaining airborne and aura surging the whole time.

"I never imagined someone could be so destructive." He quipped to Kiba, his sword slicing back into another beast.

The Gremory knight spared him a glance between dispatching two foes while replying,

"Yeah, it's times like this that I am glad we have our own unstoppable wrecking ball."

Waiting areas, public toilets, food and small stalls, all passed by the trio as they fought toward their target. Issei could feel the thick Ki in the air as he rounded a corner to stare down the enemy on the seventh platform. A subway train cut in half on the track gave rise to a rift of swtirling blacks, reds and purples. Archs of energy tore from the temporal distortion. The grotesque horrors surging outward. Beyond the rift, perched on top of the cart were three humanoid individuals. The first with long black hair and a slim physique. A male carrying a red bladed knife, deformed devil wings folded on his back. The second, a human coated in scales with a flat face and reptilian eyes. The last, a blue skinned humanoid with no facial features or hair at all yet a pair of large blue devil wings. Rogue devils.

Issei's eyes met with the slim man's as he dove from the vehicles roof and run through the crowd of demons toward the Saiyan. The reptilian devil joining him with a heavy thud as his large body landed before bounding forward. The blue figure remained still while seeming to hum with energy. The twisted flesh demons continued their attacks against the trio while the three cut them down over and over. The mindless attacks easy to predict, counter and strike back against. Ki flared beside Issei as the red blade of the black haired devil shot out at him. He twisted and struck back with a side kick at his opponent. His foot flew over the devil's head and Issei retracted to avoid a vertical thrust of the man's knife. This devil was exceedingly fast, his power most likely focusing on speed. The pair began trading blows that both dodged and wove between. As they did so, Issei continued to blast apart demon's that surged at him relentlessly. His forward momentum toward the rift halted by his inability to strike his opponent. If the fight had been him and the devil alone, Issei knew he could land his attacks but the constant distraction of the demons throwing themselves at him made it impossible.

Beside him, the large reptilian monster struck out at the swordsmen with swipes of his claws that were faster then a creature of his stature would be expected to make. The claw narrowly avoided Kiba, the knight ducking under the appendage before striking with the blade in his hand. The blade cut into the hardened flesh but barely made any depth while Sebastians met the same resistance above. The pair struck reapeatedly against the armoured hide of the rogue assaulting them while dancing around the blows of the creatures that their Saiyan ally shrugged off. Kiba danced back for a moment, avoiding a flurry of blows from multiple enemies, his concentration locked and dark blades of energy winked into existence, controlled telepathically by the Gremory knight. The dozen blades sliced into the twisted horrors around them with vicious efficiency, allowing the devils to focus on the monster before them. The pair worked in unison, coordinating their strikes against the reptile who began to back step, losing ground and becoming bloody to the pair that pressed against him.

The blades of Kiba, struck out against the flesh horrors assaulting Issei, with a moment of reprive, he focused in on the sadistically smiling rogue attacking him and struck out in a flurry of jabs with increasing speed. His first left crossing the air above his foes head, a double right driving the devil back opened the rogue's guard and Issei's left knee cracked into his side. Air left the devil's lungs as he was projected to the right, impacting with the hard tiled wall. Blood splattered as his body became wedged into the tiles, a hole left and long cracks present as the devil dropped harshly to the floor while coughing up copious splatterings of blood.

The low humming from the blue skinned figure intensified, drawing Issei's attention from his current opponent.

The humming reached a fevour pitch as the rift expanded. With the portal opened further, a flesh horror of immense size in both height and girth was long blades of bone protruding from its body and multiple limbs emerged witha shuffling disjointed gait. Deformed faces were present across multiple parts of its body.

Realising what was happening, Issei cupped his right hand beside his rib, a strong pool of Ki collecting. The blue white orb condensing heavily. With the energy collected, Issei shot forward and dove around the massive horror, blades of bone and fleshy appendages stuck out all around him, missing narrowly. Sliding across the ground, Issei waited until the moment his vision presented a clear target and unleashed his Ki blast forward toward the blue skinned devil.

The devil twisted toward the Ki blast too late. The blue white orb collided with the target and erupted, tearing the target in half. A gruesome shower of gore spraying from the rendered figure. The dissected body struck the ground, the humming ceasing and a great squeal, like a car with old breaks filled the air briefly before the rift winked out of existence. Demons in the process of crossing between the dimensions were torn in half as their portal to earth ceased to exist.

With the biggest problem solved, Issei twisted back to the largest monster in time to be struck by a pair of limbs and sent careening backward into the side of the broken subway car. Pulling himself free, Issei looked up to see the grotesque demon had picked up speed into and was now charging toward him and he met it head on. A blur of limbs followed as the Saiyan dodged, parried and struck out against the target. For each strike he landed, Limbs or great swarthes of flesh were torn or destroyed, yet the creature healed or regenerated itself a new.

"We fought that thing in Paris. It can heal itself." Sebastian's voice crossed the scouter.

"Yeah I noticed." Issei responded while focusing on the beast attacking him. He took a moment to go on the defensive and simply dodge around its assault, this allowing him to sweep his Ki sense over the creature, looking for a weakness but pleasantly surprised by what he learnt. The creatures Ki was focused to a single point instead of flowing throughout the whole body. That meant only one thing to Issei. The body was a husk or shell and the target was inside. If he killed the target, he killed the creature.

He began to focus his strikes on the abdomen of the foe, the core in the location of where the appendix would be on a human. Seeming to notice the Saiyans intent, the creature began assaulting him with renewed vigor and the internal healing increased to negate anything Issei did. Issei felt himself scowl at the roadblock put before him in killing this beast. He dodged back and took up a defensive stance again, weaving through the blows before him. The mass of the creatures had thinned heavily. Unable to call reinforcements, their enemy's numbers now meant nothing. The blades Kiba summoned dispatching the remaining lesser horros and his two allies fighting the two rogue deivls. Issei knew that preventing collateral damage was important but so was slaying these fiends. With his mind made up, His hands shot to his side.

"Get back!" Issei commanded before focusing.

"Gaaaalllliiiiiiccccckkk!" He screamed out as his energy pooled and focused while he dodged a strike and launched himself backward toward his allies behind him.

"Guuuuuunnnnnn!" his aura ripped into it's trademark deep royal purple as he shot past Kiba and Sebastian.

Kiba looked past at him and realised his intent. Switftly the Gremory devil grabbed Sebastian's shoulder, wrenching the French devil around and leading him in a very hasty withdrawal. Confusion was plain on the foreign devil's face at the sudden departure from their fight and as the pair closed in on the Saiyan whose momentum was slowing, Kiba yelled out over the roar of the screaching of the demons and mounting energy in Issei's palms.

"You don't want to be anywhere near the target of what he is about to do."

If it had been anyone else Sebastian may have questioned the reasoning but considering what he had seen from Issei so far, he assumed Kiba wasn't being dramatic. More energy condensed in Issei's cupped palms as he halted his momentum and ground his legs firmly into the remaining tiles of the platform below him as a base of support. The sudden departure from the fight had allowed all three allies to create sufficient distance from their foes who charged toward them in pursuit. As the two devils sprinted past him Issei threw his hands forward and blellowed out, "Fiiirrrreeee!"

The thick wave of the galick gun erupted from in front of Issei and filled the enclosed space of the destroyed platform. Issei caught a brief look of shock across some of the more sentient faces among his opponents before the purple Ki filled his entire vision and ripped through their bodies. The wide blast tore through both rogue devils before focusing in on the twisted creature. Its flesh and regeneration were not even slightly able to resist the Ki wave that struck directly into the core of the beast. On contact the flesh of the monster exploded, firing gore outward, further projected by the Ki wave detonating as Issei released his hold on the Ki pouring from him. Dust, debris and a vapour of gore filled the air as the last remnants of the charged Ki attack faded.

With the threat of the demonic creatures halted, Issei looked to his compatriots. A victorious smile across his face. Kibe gave him a thumbs up while Sebastian just stared in mild disbelief. Ignoring the stunned Frenchman, Issei began rushing back through the metro to rejoin the group.

Kiba chuckled and gave the French devil a light shove, "Come on."

Sebastian responded with a slightly robotic nod before the pair followed the Saiyan back to the surface, dispatching the few missed demons along the way.

Bursting out of the metro station and into the now firmly dark night sky, Issei took in the battlefield once more. He couldn't be certain of how much time had passed since he dove down into the underground complex but now the sky was fully black and all natural light was gone. Events had progressed above ground as well and Issei was happy to see that the training the peerage and associates had partaken in allowed them to fair well against their foes.

Looking toward the half moon structure, Issei could no longer feel any Ki but the damage to the building indicated that Koneko and Irina had successfully closed the distance with their foes and won that engagement.

Sweeping his vision to where Rias had previously been Issei spotted the whole group of his allies engaging a large party of Grigori and rogue devils in a melee that covered the street. Shooting forward Issei crossed the distance between himself and the enemy in mere seconds. Colliding his fist with a Griogri who prepared an energy spear to fire at Rias, the enemy was launched from the power of his strike back like a cannonball off into the distant end of the street. The dull sound of a body striking a building sung out into the air like a distant gong. Issei landed and immediately engaged a rogue devil whose hands were replaced by long scythes. As he did so, Kiba and Sebastian arrived, striking into further enemies. Within a moment of the trio arriving it was clear that they now heavily tipped the engagement into their favour and the enemy appeared to also understand this.

Screaming loudly for her allies to retreat, a fallen angel woman took to the air as the remnants of their group turned back from the Gremory. Issei prepared an attack to unleash when the airborne female spun around and unleashed a blinding light upon his group. Unprepared for such an attack Issei found his eyes burning and close involuntarily. By the increasing distance of their foes Ki to themselves, Issei could tell that his friends were also blinded and unable to open their eyes properly due to the light the woman continued to produce, Issei shot forward into the air toward her, eyes closed, following the Ki he sensed. His fist struck into her face with a glancing blow. Not quite as accurate without the use of his eyes, the woman had been able to gain partial success in dodging his strike. Her Ki dropped sharply and the light vanished as the woman was rendered unconscious and fell from the sky.

Issei landed to the ground while rubbing his eyes. The enemy had already moved far enough to avoid detection by the scouters and Issei could feel them approaching the upper limit of his senses. If they were going to chase them he would need to act fast. He turned to say as such to Rias but paused as he finally got to take in depth look at the group for the first time since the outset of the enemy ambush. All were thankfully alive but in various states of exhaustion.

While he had torn through the enemy, the rest of the group had been closer aligned to the strength of their foes and that showed in the wounds they carried. Asia moved through the group healing minor injuries while they rested and took in the damage that the busy centre of Osaka had sustained. The road was carved apart with deep fissures and piles of rubble from the carnage, bodies of their enemies and locals littered around the streets, the toxic ooze left by the demons would be a further trouble.

"I'll be back in a moment" Issei stated to Rias and Akeno who both just nodded to him pensively.

Raising himself up slightly, the Saiyan flew to the police vehicles, further vehicles had joined their compatriots and they appeared to be speculating on how to handle the situation. He was glad they had not tried to intervene after he showed how foolish such an effort would be. The Saiyan approached without his aura and at a lower velocity before touching down just shy of the first vehicle.

"Hey there." He greeted to the closest officers who were startled by the tailed warrior dropping down casually out of the night air.

Issei moved forward to enter their perimeter as an officer spoke toward him in a shaky voice.

"Hal … Halt. You, you can't come in here." He stammered out. Clearly this man wasn't prepared for dealing with what had become a supernatural urban warzone.

"I'm just here for a quick chat to let your bosses know what needs to be done." Issei smiled while raising his hands with palms open in a non threatening manner.

He realized by the sudden looks of fright on their faces that just because he took it as non-threatening gesture for him to do so didn't mean that they percieved it the same way. They had just seen him eliminate a small army of monsters with only his fists and energy attacks, the pair cringed back at the Saiyan raising hands before realizing what he meant. The two looked at each other momentarily and that was all it took for Issei to move passed them and approach a larger group of officers within.

"HEY!" one of the two yelled out and the loud voice drew eyes from the remaining officers, all of whom either pulled weapons on the Saiyan or became largely on guard.

Issei stopped moving and rolled his eyes at the pointless display of weapons. He simply spoke in the loudest and clearest voice he could muster to the group as he assumed that who ever was in charge would hear him. He wasn't going to waste time with them.

'We have driven back the enemy. There was unfortunately some people who got killed. The fighting has finished though. The demons bodies dissolve into a toxic goo. Don't touch it. The metro station is trashed and will take a lot to clear. You should\ watch out in case we have missed any demons but I don't think we have." Issei stated while tapping his scouter for emphasis at the end of his little speech.

"Anyway, that's all I had. So uh … bye." With his impromptu update coming to an awkward closure, Issei rose into the air and flew back toward his group of friends casually while the officers watched him go with bewildered looks.

Asia had finished tendering to the groups injuries when Issei arrived and knelt beside the unconscious Grigori woman. The group waited for Issei to arrive before awakening her, having heard what he was saying to the police. He touched down beside Rias and Asia applied just enough healing to the woman to awaken her. Her eyes flickered open and she went rigid upon looking around at the faces that looked back at her. Attempting to move, she found herself bount by ropes summoned by Akeno to the wrists, arms behind her back and bound with her legs locked uncomfortably.

Rias approached her while the remainder kept quiet.

"You know who we are." She stated coldly.

The Grigori captive looked around at all of them before nodding simply.

"Good." Rias replied bluntly, "Now focus on Issei here for a second."

Rias pointed to the boy standing to her rear left.

"If you mess us around, our Saiyan here will tear your limbs off from your body, understood."

The woman once again nodded to Rias. Clearly she was trying to think of a way to escape but it was evident that there wouldn't be. Her eyes left the Saiyan and returned to the devil before her.

"Now then, what were you all doing here?" Rias held eye contact with the woman while standing over her making it clear that the Gremory heiress was in charge.

The fallen angel took a moment to respond which earnt her a kick from Rias. Issei smirked at seeing his girlfriend acting so ruthlessly toward the enemy. This was a side she never displayed, she would use lethal force but not aggression toward a defeated enemy like this. He wondered briefly if it was an act or if Rias really hated the Grigori. The fallen angel grimaced at the strike and responded a moment later.

"We were told to track your group, kill you all and kill as many humans as we could in the process to extract as much red mist as was possible."

Rias just grimaced at more mention of the red mist, "Why?"

The angel looked up at the devil above her with a sadistic smile.

"Lord Kokabiel is going to bring our new god to the world with it. We have so much. We only need a little more and then we will purify everything. Humans, angels, devils, demons. We will wipe everything clean and only then, when the world is clean, the faithful will inherit everything." She responded with a shock of laughter in her voice.

Rias looked the dirty blonde woman in the eyes as she placed her foot on her chest, applying pressure and holding the woman down.

"Well you failed, we are all alive and you killed only a few innocents, far less then you lost in this battle."

"No we didn't." The woman began laughing again despite the foot holding her down. Rias merely looked at the woman with disgust while Issei looked up and focused. He could feel a mass of large Ki moving back into his senses. Multiple signatures much higher then the previous Grigori. One that was above the rest of his group and close to that of Sirzechs. Another much higher again.

"We have incoming." Issei stated causing the downed Grigori to laugh further.

"Lord Kokabiel and Riser will end you all and this filthy city."

As if on cue, a light filled the sky to their east and it grew brighter as it approached. A bright shining aura of reds and yellow that approached rapidly.

With their scouters now able to register the threat, the group looked toward the rapidly approaching mass, Issei noticed the familiarity of it and his eyes widened.

"EVERYONE MOVE!" Issei bellowed and the group sprang from their positions. Clearing the road, the moment before a great gout of fire descended upon the location they had just been as a massive bird of fire shot by over head. The flames instantly caused the tarmac to begin melting and in places to combust into flames with the platic seating of the bus shelter disintegrating and only the metal poles remaining white hot and melting in sludge. The heat instantly rose to be so intense that fires erupted from plant life around them and Issei could feel the oxygen cooked from the air. Cringing in frustation he looked up in time to see the Pheonix that Riser had become once again ascend higher into the air with another figure following him. A figure with multiple black feathered wings.

Issei took to the air followed by his friends leaving Irina on the ground below.

"Get the police to evacuate the area. This is going to get messy." Rias yelled to the holy warrior who nodded before running in the direction of the law enforcement barricade.

Coming to a halt above the tallest of the buildings with the city spread out below them, each group faced off at a distance of less then fifty metres. Issei quickly scanned his opponents with his scouter as he knew the rest of his allies would do.

The phoenix before him while emitting radiant light still came in at just under Sirzechs power. Less then a quarter of Issei's own. The Grigori leader however held a level almost fifty percent higher then Issei's own scanner had revealed. Issei smirked, finally an enemy that would challenge his new level of power.

"So here you all are." Kokabiel announced in a twisted deep voice. A voice filled with malice and evil.

"I am delighted that you are all here. Such a little collection compiled to help us tie up all our loose ends at once. Ravel you still owe your brother your life energy, it was so rude and unlady like of you to deny it. Rias Gremory, killing you will destroy your brother and make engaging him all the sweeter. The remnants of house le Barton, I hate to leave a job unfinished. The twilight healing bearer, we will be taking your power back to where it should be in our arsenal.

Kokabiel monologued while facing the team before him as if their defeat was inevitable.

"Saiyan, drawing your life away will bring so much power to the revival of the true god and my daughter, you will finally serve your purpose." Both Akeno and Issei staring hatefully at him while the Saiyan placed himself to the front as a shield for the group behind him.

"I am oh so thankful for you to all assemble in one place for us." The demented former angel finished with "shrp unearthly bouts of twisited laughter.

Issei maintained eye contact with the Grigori leader as he let his voice be known,

"We can all see their power. I will take Kokabiel, you all take that overgrown turkey down."

"No, I'm fighting him too. It's my fight too." Akeno responded immediately and as much as Issei hated the idea, he knew he couldn't deny her. The man had killed her mother. So he simply nodded.

"If that's how you want it then so be it." Kokabiel responded before floating higher away from the phoenix beside him. Issei and Akeno rose into the sky in parallel to him while the remaining devils locked their eyes on the flaming bird before them. While rising, Issei felt the pool of Ki within himself and released the gates, Ki flooding into himself, he could feel it sweeping through himself and his power steadily climbing to its maximum. Finishing their rise in the air, a long gruesome sword of shining yellow energy formed in Kokabiel's hand. A gust of cold night air blew between the groups and then Issei bellowed, his aura of white energy exploding out from him as he fired himself toward the enemy who shot toward him as well.

Issei's fist struck air, whistling past Kokabiel's left side while the pulsing blade of his enemy's weapon passed through the space his head had been occupying moments before. Following in, Issei struck out with blow after blow at a furious pace, a right cross followed with a sweeping elbow, driving knee and left uppercut. Kokabiel weaved and dodged in a graceful display, his many wings folding and pivoting to avoid the blows from the Saiyan warrior. Likewise for each swing of his sword, Issei avoided the dangerous energy blade.

Akeno watched as Issei barreled into their foe, the pair moving at speeds she struggled to match. Through training with him, observing his bouts with Ddraig and her enhanced senses, she was able to observe the fight but participating or helping her boyfriend would be difficult. The readings on the scouter scared her as well. Issei was so much more powerful then them and yet Kokabiel registered power even beyond that. She knew that if needed Issei would utilize his Kaioken. Would that be enough, Issei had always said it felt as if each multiplier doubled his power but now would be a test of that. Akeno prepared herself, she channeled magic through her body and prepared to unleash a torrent of spells the moment she could ensure that Issei wouldn't be caught in any accidental cross fire as well.

The moment Issei struck toward Kokabiel, the phoenix form of Riser reared back expanding his lungs before bellowing out a torrent of flame toward the devils assembled before him. The devils scattered and dropped away from the column of flame that spewed forth. The phoenix itself elicited such a heat that it made those close to it begin to cook. Darting away the group began to unleash spells upon their foe, magic darts of green light from Sara, orbs of destruction from Rias and shots of ice shards from Maree. The le Barton devil wished to engage Kokabiel so that she could avenge her father but she knew her magic was suited for fighting this powerful foe first. The green darts exploded against the flames of the phoenix ineffectually, the damage caused by Rias' orbs repaired immediately and the ice melted under the intense heat of the creatures flames. This fight was going to be hard won. Kiba summoned blades that he fired at the massive form of Riser but little was achieved by it. The metal of the blades melted under the heat and fell toward the ground as white hot formless sludge, those few that did reach him were shattered by the claw strikes of the massive avian.

Darting around, the group avoided Riser as he shot bolts of flame and swooped in to assault them. Asia unleashed gusts of wind to redirect the fire while Sebastian carved waves of energy at their foe. Koneko simply fell back, there was little she could do against this foe. She knew that during the rating game Issei had been unable to get close to fight the phoenix and Riser seemed to have grown stronger since then. Most likely through devouring more of the red mist that he stole from people's life force. The situation was less then ideal for the group who were forced to avoid the massive bird lest it cook them alive or tear them limb from limb while also avoiding the immense gouts of hellfire he unleashed. Already a glow could be seen from areas of the the city far below them where the fires had spread from his initial assault.

Irina sprinted directly to the police blockade. The moment they saw her, the officers' weapons were raised. She didn't have time for their nonsense though and continued to rush toward them. If they fired, she would dodge. She knew she was a lot tougher then the average person but wasn't sure that she could just shrug of automatic fire like Issei.

"I NEED TO SPEAK TO YOUR BOSS!" she bellowed out while sprinting at them. Durandal resting in its sheath on her back. Her last tribute to Xenovia being to use her favoured blade after losing her own against Freed Sellzen. The officers before her seemed to be uncertain, Issei had twice entered their area and paid no attention to their authority or weapons, however had also proven to be friendly.

The closest officer lowered his weapon, if she was here to help like the flying boy with the tail had tried then he wasn't going to turn her away. This night had been crazy enough already. Pointing toward the large portable command post behind him he let her in. As she passed he eyed the sword on her back and considered that he really should ask her to disarm but the girl had moved on so fast before he could.

Irina approached the large vehicle, a long truck trailer painted white with COMMAND across the side in a deep blue. Opening the door without knocking Irina stepped inside to find five officers within. Two appeared to be manning some form of communicaitons system while the other three were in the process of the co-ordinating efforts of the police responce from a series of tablets and whiteboards. All five looked at her with an expression that said the last thing they expected was a girl with a sword in strange clothing to enter.

"Who are you? You can't be in here." Came the words instantly from a man with more accoutraments on his shoulders then the others.

Irina didn't know the police rank structure but she knew that like the military, more stuff on the shoulder meant more rank. This guy was probably in charge. He was a middle aged man with his hair beginning to recede and greying at the edges.

"My name is Irina Shidou. I am a Templar under the command of Lord Michael, Archangel of Heaven." Irina proclaimed calmly while approaching the bewildered officers.

"Now unless you have any experience fighting a demonic war, I suggest you listen to what I have to say."

A moment passed in which the senior officer's eyes twitched with annoyance or anger. Possibly both or maybe embarrassment. It was clear that he was very much used to being in charge and in control of the situations that he was presented. Now he had a young woman coming in with far more knowledge of the situation he was meant to be controlling, telling him what to do. He took a breath breath and then turned fully to the girl.

"I am chief inspector Ryoto. What can you tell us about all this?" He would swallow his pride and find out everything. The fire service was already enroute to help with the fires caused by the giant flame creature and he had no idea what was happening above the city but could hear thecacophany of thunderous clashes. He needed information if he was going to make his officers efforts efficient.

"I will keep it short. My group was sent here under the joint authority of Lord Michael and Lord Sirzechs to intercept the enemy forces planning to attack the city. As you can see we did so. Our engagement halted their plan to unleash a demonic horde onto the population and routed their forces however they have struck back with their Ace cards. Currently the rest of my fr…" Irina stopped herself before continuing, "… Allies… are engaging the phoenix they brought as well at the enemy commander. This engagement is likely to cause immense damage to the local area and so you must evacuate everyone within at least a few kilometres of this area."

Ryoto stared at her as if she were insane for a moment while his staff did the same. Irina simply resisted the urge to be frustrated before continuing.

"Look I know it sounds insane alright but right now up there." She pointed above herself for emphasis. "My allies are fighting for the fate of not just the world but everything. Heaven, Hell, the Earth, everything. Their fight is going to be destructive, its unfortunate but it is just the truth of the matter. So you need to evactuate as many people as possible. Because while the majority of them are devils, they are good people and they are sandbagging themselves due to the fact that they are worried about innocent people getting hurt." Irina declared toward the officers while trying to avoid becoming frustrated.

"Devils? But you said you were from Heaven." One of the officers spoke looking confused.

"I am, they aren't. Look I don't have time to explain all the interdimensional politics at play here. All you need to know is that the guy who has been ordering all the attacks against the world is up there right now. He is incredibly powerful and I need you all to organize for us to be able to deal with him."

The officers went silent while looking at their commander. He thought for a moment as he looked toward Irina intently before moving to the communication station and taking up a radio transmitter.

"This is chief inspector Ryoto. I am ordering an evacuation of all residents within three kilometres of Umeda station. I say again, an evacuation of all residents within three Kilometres of Umeda station."

Responses of affirmation began flowing through the reciever the moment he stopped his transmission.

Irina looked to him with a smile, "Thanks."

He nodded in response and waited to see if the girl would present any more information but Irina seemed to zone out for a moment. In reality she was listening to how the battle above was going through her scouter. She could hear the frustration that the majority of the devils were having with dealing with the phoenix above. If only they could weaken its flames then the group could strike it more efficiently. Irina's eyes wandered over the charts adorning the inside of the command vehicles walls as she listened. It displayed information on equipment capabilities, suspects, force allocation and other knowledge that would be useful to know on hand for planning operations. Her eyes stopped as she honed in on a vehicle with its primary attirbutes listed and an idea formed.

"I have another plan." She began, turning to Ryoto.

Far above the city, Issei's fist crashed into the guard of the light weapon wielded by Kokabiel, the energy biting at his skin as it stopped the momentum of his strike. He shot back as the fallen angel dropped down in altitude and struck back with the glowing weapon. Issei's clothes bore more tears then before and blood seeped from a gash on his right arm. Kokabiel wasn't without marks though. His robes ripped and bruising evident on his exposed chest where Issei had successfully struck him with a flurry of punches and elbows. Each strike the two made came with unleashing a loud thunderclap through the air. Issei shot overhead and unleashed a volley of small Ki blasts down on his foe. The energy orbs began exploding as Kokabiel tore through them with precise strikes of his weapon.

Akeno seized on the distance and unleashed bolts of compressed lighting into the fallen angel, he released a hand from the grip of his weapon and blocked the lighting with an outstretched palm. The magical electricity faltered against the powerful combatants form but the slight distraction was all Issei needed to capitalise upon as at the release of his last Ki blast he rocketed directly toward the powerful foe and struck down upon the fallen angel with an overhead double handed axe strike. The force of his blow fired Kokabiel away toward the ground below. Issei wasn't losing his opportunity and shot into the disadvantaged foe like a speeding white comet. His left fist driving into the angel's jaw while his right hand pulled back and struck over and over into the foul being's ribs.

Akeno cheered for success at seeing Issei scoring hit after hit against his target but her cheer was short lived as Kokabiel recovered while under the assault and replied with a powerful elbow to Issei's jaw. Knocked back, the Saiyan's guard was too open to prevent the blade that sliced across his shoulder from an attack that his enemy threw out at speeds far beyond what he had displayed thus far.

Kokabiel roared with rage as he shot forward at Issei while swinging his blade faster and faster while coupling the assault with kicks and strikes, his wings even battering against the Saiyan. Akeno watched in horror as Issei was pummeled from the blows while being forced to focus on avoiding the blade that would split him in half. The reading on her scouter soared upward as Kokabiel continued, twice Issei's power and still climbing.

"You thought that I was fighting with my full power, you arrogant miserable booy. It's time I stopped just playing with you." Kokabiel spat as he continued his assault.

Issei could see and feel his oppontents power rising, it was time to elevate his as well. He blocked an overhead swing of the blade while taking a jab to his ribs, this let him drive his left fist into the Grigori's jaw. Both opponents spat blood and saliva from their mouths at the force of the blows, each forced apart from the other. This gave Issei the distance and moment of reprieve required to focus in on himself for a second, sucking power into himself.

"KIAO KEN!" he bellowed, his power skyrocketing, following immediately Issei continued. "MULTIPLY THREE."

The effect was instantaneous and Akeno felt some relief at seeing the power of both combatants almost equal. Kokabiel still above but far less then he was before. Even closer then when the fight started.

Now coated in his red aura, Issei flaired his Ki and shot back into his foe. Kokabiel was taken aback by the sudden increase to the Saiyan's fighting ability and received multiple strikes from the empowered red clad warrior. A powerful strike to his forearm causing his wrist to twitch and the blade within his hand to release. As the powerful light construct fell away toward the earth below both warriors clashed in hand to hand combat. Kokabiel preferred the sword but was in no way unskilled with martial arts. The pair became a pure blur of colour as they repeatedly struck against each other. Each dodging just as many blows as they received. Blood poured copiously from multiple wounds across both warrior's bodies. Neither was phased though and focused intently on crushing the other.

Rias looked up while avoiding yet another torrent of flame from Riser. The sudden increases in Ki above her registering on her scouter immediately. She could see the red aura of her boyfriend flaring out in the darkness of the night as he struck again and again against their foe. She knew that the Kaioken drained his stamina rapidly but he had been training so heavily to improve with it, she knew he could push it further and continue to fight. She hoped it wouldn't come to that though.

She couldn't focus on worrying about Issei though as the phoenix before them was proving more then enough of a handful. All the attacks they unleashed on it either failed to breach the intense flames or simply healed immediately. Rias knew that they couldn't keep this up forever. Eventually someone would falter and then Riser would either roast them or tear them asunder. She was desperately thinking of a plan when a noise reached her ears. Engines. Multiple engines, above them and closing in fast. Rias looked toward the sound and as she did she saw a pair of large planes and half a dozen helicopters moving toward them. She knew that Irina would have argued to evacuate the area as she had requested, what could these be doing?

"Irina," she called into her scouter hoping that it had the range to reach the girl.

"Why are there multiple aircraft approaching?" She asked abruptly, within a moment the girls voice replied.

"They are fire vehicles. Holding tonnes of litres of water. Keep him in one spot and they will dump it all on him. I know it's a long shot but it should help." Rias felt a smile cross her face at that, it might just work.

"Alright, you all heard her. Let's stop him moving around."

The group acknowledged and began swooping in closer while striking with a barrage of spells, they knew that closing in would run a higher risk of being struck but at the same time it resulted in Riser hovering in place to swipe and unleash his gouts of flame at them. Koneko shot forward, she knew there was no way for her to hit the bird but she was one of the most nimble and could hold his attention for the longest on her. In an insane game of chicken, the nekomata girl darted around just out of reach of the phoenix, constantly shooting back into the range of his claws. Riser scowled with anger as she did and focused on striking the annoying girl out of the air from in front of him. Burns formed on Koneko's skin at the prolonged exposure to the heat of the phoenix and yet she refused to move away and continued to infuriate their foe.

The sound of engines roared above them as the pilots' zeroed in on the giant flaming monster in the sky below them. With a giant whoosh, thousands of litres of sea water released from the planes and helicopters in unison onto the bird. Koneko saw the water coming and dodged back, lest the weight of the aerial tidal wave crush her to the earth. The first thousand litres seemed to turn to superheated mist before reaching the bird but still thousands more doused the bird, the flames of the creature extinguishing and revealing a bird of mottled brown skin below. A cry of pure rage left Riser's avian mouth followed by grunts of pain and the sudden barriage of renewed spells hammered onto him by the devils.

Akeno struggled to follow the fight before her, yet registered the plan of Rias and Irina. Seeing the opportunity to assist, she turned from Issei and shot toward Riser as the water extinguished his flames and soaked him through. She concentrated and focused into herself to channel all the magic she could muster into her hands. Closing into point blank range she unleashed the condensed electricity into the bird. Immense howls of pain filled the air as she poured thousands of magical volts into the bird, Akeno continued her onslaught, her friends moving back to avoid the arcs of lightning jumping from Riser's body. Tears began to appear in the great avians skin and it was evident that the electricity was overwhelming his ability to heal. Heat rose from his body as the water cooked off and the flames began to return.

"AKENO GET OUT OF THERE!" Rias screamed while rushing forward to pull her girlfriend out of harm's way as the flames on Riser's form erupted back into life. The magical electricity ceased to effect him as the flames severed the connection from their power source. Akeno struggled to fly back, the sudden heat at such a close range coupled with unleashing all her Shoki in one Hail Mary attempt cramping up her body. As Riser reared back an orb of destructive energy exploded against his face causing his eyes to close and head to twitch away, Rias dove in and began pulling Akeno back while the other devils began to recommenced the onslaught of unleashing their spells against the phoenix. It's flaming body no longer anywhere near as hot as before. Ravel, Sebastian and Koneko closed in and were able to sparingly strike against the bird while covered in a cold aura produced by Maree to protect them. The three found they were now able to cut into the flesh of the bird that healed far slower then before as the massive creature twisted to strike at them.

Issei twisted at hearing the call for Akeno, he looked toward the girl unleashing magical lightning into the overgrown form of Riser and prepared to shoot to her aid when a fist buried into his stomach, the moment of distraction costing him before he was shot down toward buildings below by a powerful strike from his opponent. His body struck the apartment block before him and Issei saw rooms flash past him as he broke through floor after floor. Halting his momentum, Issei channeled in and felt the ground around him begin to rumble. The entire building shook, objects taking to the air by the distortions his rising Ki created. This fight needed to end and he was going to do it.

"MULTIPLY SIX!" Issei bellowed, the building around him tearing apart and collapsing from the power he unleashed.

Issei was sure it had already been evacuated but didn't have time to focus on that as he shot back up to meet the incoming form of Kokabiel who roared out while unleashing his own power to greater heights in response to the Saiyan. The pairs' fists clashed and the shockwave produced ripped through buildings around them. Now far closer to the ground, their attacks were causing far more damage to Osaka. A flurry of blows resulted in a concussion of thunderous booms as the pair struck repeatedly against each other.

"DIE FILTH!" Kokabiel screamed as the pair clashed over and over. Condos, office blocks, a mall, all reduced to rubble at the intensity produced by the fight between the two super powered combatants raged on further heights. Kokabiel was no longer holding back his power and fighting completely without reserves against the Saiyan who did the same.

Rias held a panting Akeno back as the assault on Riser continued, the pair looked over to see the destruction befalling the city below them from the source of the monumentous explosions.

"They are going all out now." Rias stated with worry in her eyes.

Akeno looked at her while releasing herself from Rias' hold and taking to the air under her own strength.

"You guys can handle Riser right? I will go back and ensure Issei doesn't kill himself." Akeno stated while steeling her eyes. Rias looked at her with worry. The power that the pair were utilizing was monumental. The scouters constantly ticking up further and further as they fought yet they couldn't leave Issei alone. She nodded slowly, she wanted someone to help him while she dealt with Riser.

Akeno kissed Rias on the lips, holding the connection for a moment before smiling and turning toward the destruction caused by her boyfriend and estranged father. Swooping down as she channeled into herself, willing her shoki reserve to refill faster for when she would need it. Arriving close to the destruction, she watched as the pair fought as a pure blur. The power of their strikes absolutely monumental as each gave their all in striking against the other. Issei over commited to a straight punch and was thrown back from a knee and jab combination. Kokabiel took advantage of this moment and gained altitude while pure black tendrils of energy whipped out from himself that grabbed into the cold air, plant life, soil, more tendrils moved toward Akeno who managed to utilise her remaining energy to dart away from the deft appendages to avoid ensarement. The tendrils pulsed and red energy flowed along them. Plants dying, the air becoming stale and the ground taking on a cracked sickly and hallow appearance. Kokabiel was draining the life from every entity around him.

Issei recovered and looked up to see a monumental mass of energy forming above him in the arms of his opponent. The remnants of his cracked and damaged scouter fell away from his face, finally unable to take any more abuse from the super charged fight. Issei stood upon the rubble below his feet, his clothes torn and blood seeping from multiple wounds, his shirt almost completely destroyed exposing his powerful form covered in grazes, bruises and deep oozing bloody gashes. The energy above him swirled into a long spear of blacks, purples and reds, reminiscent of Raynare's final attack and Issei took a braced stance.

His hands by his side he began to chant his signature attack.

"Gaaaaa" he began while pooling immense ammounts of Ki, his Kaioken aura raging back into life fully.

"Liiiick" the energy in his hands condensed further. The ground broke beneath him and the few structures around him that still managed to stand grew long fault lines in their fascade before succumbing to gravity's cry for them to fall.

"GUUUUUUN!" His voice rising to a scream as the attack pooled the last of his available ki.

"DIE NOW!" Kokabiel snarled while thrusting his prepared attack forward.

"FIREEEEEE!" Issei roared and the immense purple beam rushed to meet the monstrous spear of his enemy. The two attacks clashed and fought. Great jolts of energy tore from the clashing energy as the attacks collided. Issei could feel the immense energy of his opponent's attack, unbearably heavy and clustered, mercilessly pushing down against his beam. He grit his teeth, he would not be beaten, and he would not falter. He would end this now.

With a roar he dove into the remaining pools of Ki within himself.

"MULTIPLY TEN!"

The effect of Issei's incredible rise of Ki in the Kaio ken was awe inspiring. Akeno watched as the raging red aura shot up toward the heavens, fueled by the sudden release of Issei's Ki. The galick gun that was already exploding from his hands surged immensely and pushed back against the gigantic spear. She watched with pure unbridled awe at the display as Issei inched closer and closer to victory. She moved her vision to that of the man that killed her mother. She would watch the life leave his eyes, she would see her revenge and their victory complete.

The look on Kokabiel's face wasn't that of fear or worry. It was a confident smirk of victory. Akeno watched as if in slow motion as he abandoned his attack, the spear continuing to press against Issei's galick gun under its own velocity and drive. A wicked blade of red mist forming in his hands as his mangled and torn wings flared for flight before the Grigori leader turned to manoeuvre around the colossal attacks.

Akeno's mind raced in understanding. "ISSEI!" she screamed out in warning but without his scouter the Saiyan couldn't hear her over the roar of the incredible energies clashing. Twisting herself over, she dove in toward her boyfriend, shooting down toward him at the same time as her foe did.

Issei felt the resistance against his beam lessen and he committed to pushing harder, he would break the attack and kill his enemy. He felt the energy of the spear crack and splinter as a force hammered into his side and threw him off balance. His control of the Galick gun released and an explosion ripped through the air in a blinding light as both energy attacks released all their built up power against each other in a monumental eruption of light and sound. Hitting the ground and rolling, Issei looked up to where he expected his foe to be but instead was greeted with empty sky before spinning around to the sound of torn flesh and gurgling.

His eyes went wide and blood ran cold at the sight before him. Akeno was where he had been a moment before, a red blade piercing through her body. Her eyes locked with his, they pleaded for help and showed her unfaltering love. Issei felt his heart stop as her body disintergrated into a swirl of red mist, her clothes and scouter crashing to the ground and the mist entered into the fallen angel holding the blade.

"Stupid girl." Kokabiel spat.

Issei felt something in him snap. He felt rage. He felt anguish. He felt despair and he felt hate. It bubbled and surged. He heard a noise and realized that it was himself screaming. The ground tore and floated above and around him. Chunks of buildings and earth floating upward further and further as energy surged within his body. Issei rose to his feet unaware of his actions. Lightning formed within the cloudless sky and struck the ground around him as he reared back his head and bellowed in anguish. His aura no longer red or white but exploding outward as his world turned golden.

---

Edited on 14 December 2021