Devil Ninja

by The Engulfing Silence

Thrown into a new world, Naruto Uzumaki does what he does best: cause as much chaos as possible while climbing to the top. Hokage may be out of his reach, but that doesn't mean he can't set a new goal for his life.

46. Escape and Tragedy

Chapter 46

Escape and Tragedy

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Naruto frowned as he gazed at Yami in the distance. The world around them was an endless void mixed with iridescent colors that swirled and clashed. In some ways, it reminded him of the swirling nebula of stars he used to look at when he was a kid in Konoha. In other ways, it felt a lot like looking through a kaleidoscope. As the surroundings blurred and meshed together, he felt a vague and fuzzy memory pierce the back of his mind. He knew this place.

"Do you remember this place?" asked Yami as he gestured to the unique space they were floating in. "This is the Dimensional Gap, the void between worlds. During our battle with Kaguya Ootsutsuki, we traveled through this space, which tore apart our body, ravaged us from the inside out, and left you crippled. I was split off from you in that moment and wandered through this endless void of nothing, until one day when I felt power flow into me again."

"It was… the first time I used Sage Mode," Naruto said at last.

Yami gave him a malicious smile. "That's right. The first time you used Sage Mode was the first time I felt power flow into me—along with the hatred and rage of an entire world. The more you used Sage Mode, the more powerful I became, and the more hatred I took in." Vicious red irises surrounded by black sclera glared into Naruto's eyes. "These intense feelings of loathing surging through me are all your fault, you know."

"I know." Naruto neither ran nor hid from this fact. He accepted that this entire situation was his fault. "But that's all the more reason I have to be the one who stops you. I'll take responsibility for what happened with my own two hands."

"Take responsibility?!" Yami threw his head back and laughed. "If you have the means to take responsibility for your shortcomings, then by all means, do so! However…" The laughter died down as Yami's vicious expression of mirth became cold and malevolent. "You should not say something like that so lightly. I'm stronger than you. I have more power than you. You cannot take responsibility for what happened to us. If you really want to repent for what happened, then you can die!"

Yami rushed forward as he made a cross-shaped hand seal. Several Yamis suddenly appeared next to him—three—and they all branched off into groups of two. Two of the Yamis stuck out their hands and created a Rasengan. Then the other two channeled wind chakra into the pair of Rasengans. Before long, a loud ringing sound filled the void as the Rasengans turned pure white with four spinning blades twirling around them.

Naruto did not create a Rasenshuriken to counter Yamis two-pronged attack. He began a series of hand seals. At the same time, a magic circle appeared in front of him. The magic circle rotated clockwise, then released a powerful burst of fire magic just as he finished his hand seals.

"Fuuton: Reppusho (Wind Release: Gale Palm)."

Naruto clasped his hands together, compressing the wind and transforming it into a powerful gale force, which slammed into the fire created by his magic circle. He pumped more chakra into the technique than was necessary. When it hit the burst of fire, the blaze exploded as though someone had tossed gasoline into it.

An enormous cylinder of flame barreled toward the four Yamis. They moved out of the way, but Naruto created several magic circles along the path the cylinder was taking. The cylinder of fire suddenly curved and slammed into two of the Yami clones. Such a weak attack might not have been enough to do any damage to the real Yami, but clones were still just weak creations that became disrupted from a single punch. Both of them dispersed as the cylinder swept over them.

"I see you can use more than just chakra!" Yami roared as the clone beside him dispersed of its own accord.

Naruto sent his dark half a small smile. "Rossweisse has been teaching me a bit more about magic. She thought it would be good if I had more techniques up my sleeve that you can't use."

"Tch! You aren't the only one who has learned a thing or two!"

Yami thrust his Rasenshuriken forward, but Naruto had no intention of letting that thing hit him. He backed away—or he would have. Naruto was startled when he ran into something behind him. Turning his head, he saw a very basic shield made of magic behind him, keeping him from moving forward. There was also one beneath him and on his left and right, meaning he was literally hemmed in.

"I also learned some magic! I knew the day would come when you and me fought like this! Now you have nowhere to run!"

It was true that it looked like his escape routes were blocked off. There also wasn't anything he could use to replace himself with, so the Kawarimi no Jutsu was out. However, that didn't mean Naruto was not without his options.

After all, Naruto had Rossweisse on his side, and she was perhaps the greatest magic user he'd ever met. Thanks to her, he actually knew a lot of about magic, magic circles, and how to counter them.

With the knowledge he acquired from Rossweisse, Naruto analysed the magic blocking his escape route. It was protection magic. The wall put in place was normally one that protected the creator from physical attacks, but Yami was using it to restrain him instead. It wasn't Devil magic either, which relied on imagination. This was the magic circle used by magicians, which were dependant upon complex formulas. Once he figured out what kind of magic it was, creating a counter magic was relatively simple.

The wall dissolved just as Yami reached Naruto and thrust out his hand. Naruto glided backward, out of Yami's reach, and then erected his own shield, which Yami slammed into.

Of course, Yami had that Rasenshuriken in his hand, and no barrier would ever be able to counter such a jutsu. The Rasenshuriken drilled into the wall with a shrill screech and tore it apart like paper. It took a second, however, and Naruto used that second to withdraw to a safe distance. Yami glared viciously at him as he dispersed the Rasenshuriken, which was now useless to him.

"It seems you really have learned a lot of new tricks."

Naruto grinned and shrugged. "As the number one most unpredictable ninja of Kuoh Academy, I have a reputation to keep. I can't have some dark-half upstart of me stealing my thunder." He chuckled and slammed his fists together. "You might be stronger than I am, but that doesn't mean I'm not without my tricks."

It was true that in a straight up battle, Yami would win in terms of sheer power. During their last bout, Naruto had been so shocked that he hadn't been able to come up with a proper strategy for dealing with his other half, but he'd spoken with Rias, Ravel, and Rossweisse at length, and the three beauties—who were far smarter than him—helped him device a plan.

It didn't matter how powerful Yami was if he couldn't hit Naruto with his overbearing ninjutsu attacks.

Trickery and deceit would be his greatest allies here.

However, just as this thought flashed through his mind, Yami suddenly sent him a cold smile. Naruto felt a chill run down his spine before something grabbed his arms and legs. He blinked, then turned his head and found four Yami clones standing behind him, keeping his limbs pinned. When did Yami have time to make them?!

"You aren't the only one who has been working on refining his abilities," Yami said with an ominous chuckle. "I might not be as well-versed in magic as you, but I have learned how to create shadow clones without using hand seals. It looks like this is a skill you don't have."

Naruto clicked his tongue as he realized he wasn't the only one who had created new tricks. Yami had his own bag of tricks that Naruto was unaware of. It seemed like, despite how they were both the same person, the abilities they possessed were not all the same now. The different circumstances they faced upon coming to this world led them to learning different abilities.

This was troublesome.

"Now, let's see you dodge me again." Yami tossed him a dark grin as he created a wind rasengan in his hand and lunged forward.

Naruto only had a split second to think, but in that split second, he came up with a plan, closed his eyes, and surged both his chakra and demonic power. He wrapped it around himself and one of the clones, quickly replacing himself with the Yami clone. Yami's eyes widened as he slammed into the clone, which exploded upon contact with his wind rasengan. The other clones were blasted apart as well. However, Naruto once again managed to escape.

To add injury to insult, Naruto suddenly jerked his hands, which caused a long twine of ninja wire to suddenly coil around Yami, tightening to the point where he couldn't move his limbs. Before Yami could use his strength the break free, Naruto once again combined fire magic with wind ninjutsu.

A massive blaze raced along the twines of ninja wire in his hand. This fire was not the traditional orange of most flames, but a burning hot blue flame with traces of white. The ninja wire in Naruto's hand quickly melted as the attack flew along it, morphing from a simple flame into eight brilliant blue nine-tailed foxes.

Before Yami had a chance to scream, the foxes slammed into him and detonated, exploding with an incredible force that sent Naruto hurtling backwards through the Dimensional Gap. A shockwave rippled out from where the attacks met, with gouts of flame exploding in every direction. It looked a lot like the birth of a new star.

Naruto stared at the miniature nova and huffed.

"I wonder if that got him."

A snort appeared in his mind.

"Not even close. Yami is still very much alive. In fact, that attack didn't even do any damage to him."

As if to prove Kurama's point, the fire dispersed as if an intense wind had blown it all away, and Yami appeared in its place. His body was surrounded by an intense aura. Dark blackish purple chakra exuded from his body like a thick miasma, protecting him from the harmful flames. Naruto clicked his tongue when he noticed there wasn't a single hair out of place on Yami's head.

However, he did smile when he saw the dark expression on his counterpart's face.

"You really are a troublesome foe to deal with. Even now, when faced against a mirror image of yourself, you still come up with surprising tactics."

"That's because I'm just that awesome." Naruto swiped his nose with his thumb as he thrust out his chest. "I am so amazing that sometimes I even amaze myself with my own ingenuity."

Snorting laughter echoed within his mind. Naruto wore a broad grin as he listened to Kurama's rumbling chuckles. On the other hand, Yami looked like he had swallowed a lemon whole.

"I've always hated that pride of yours," Yami admitted. "Your refusal to give up when faced with impossible odds is more infuriating than anything else. It was that stubborn refusal to give up that caused me to feel a moment of weakness back when you fought me at the Falls of Truth. When you told me I should just join you because you and I were one, I truly believed you could do anything. I thought for sure you could change the world. But I was wrong. This world is nothing but a big ball of hatred and malice. No one can change it. All we can do accept it, embrace it, and use it as fuel to further our own desires and goals."

As he spoke, Yami raised his hands and clenched them into fists. There was a contemplative expression on his face, eyes narrowed slightly, brow furrowed as if he was thinking about everything he'd been through up to this point. Naruto thought about interrupting and attacking, but he was honestly curious to know what his other half was thinking. He remained silent as Yami came out of his thoughts.

"If you think you have what it takes to defeat me, then bring it on. Unlike last time, simply telling me that everything will be okay isn't going to cut it! If you want to truly change my way of thinking, then you should do so with your fists!"

"That was exactly what I intended on doing," Naruto said as he slammed his fists together.

"Kurama?"

"Remember, you can only maintain this state for a little while. Thanks to your slight increase in power, I'd say you can maintain this state for ten minutes now."

"Hopefully, ten minutes will be all I need."

A moment of silence passed before Kurama's infinite and overwhelming chakra rushed through his body with an explosive force that shook his insides. It felt like fire burning his body from the inside out. Chakra exploded from him, erupting through his pores in an overbearing and intensely painful manner. However, Naruto bore through it, gritting his teeth as a shroud appeared around him, as his pupils became slits, as his whiskers thickened to resemble the bagua trigram. His transformation only finished when the shroud took on the appearance of a haori.

Because of how vast Kurama's chakra was now, the colors swirling within the void began distorting. They writhed and jerked as though shying away from this intense power. Ripples spread across the Dimensional Gap.

Naruto pushed his chakra a step further.

Lines appeared on his haori and clothes, Uzumaki swirl designs appeared along his back and front, while ten magatama formed around his neck as ten Truth-Seeking Balls appeared around his body.

"Hmph," Yami snorted as a black cloak wrapped around him. White markings covered his shoulders and white magatama hung around his neck. Nine black orbs condensed around his body, floating around him like satellites. His hair turned into two wisps that resembled fox ears, and his pupils had turned into bars. "It looks like despite all the new tricks you have, you still have to rely on his Kurama Mode and Rikudou Sennin Mode to contend with me. However, you were defeated last time you used this power. What makes you think you'll win this time?"

"Who knows?" Naruto shrugged and smiled. "Maybe I'll lose. Maybe I won't. Weren't you the one who said we should let our fists do the talking? Why don't you just shut up and fight me?"

Yami's lips peeled back in a snarl. "Fine then! Let's do this!"

Naruto and Yami rushed forward at the same time and clashed in the center. A shockwave exploded from their bodies as they slammed their fists together, erupting and sending ripples through the Dimensional Gap. They were pushed back.

Yami was the first one to stabilize himself, and he quickly darted forward again and tried to attack Naruto with a Rasengan. When Naruto saw this, he narrowed his eyes. Instead of meeting the Rasengan with another Rasengan, one of his Truth-Seeking Balls darted forward, transformed into a jagged sword, and tried to slice through the Rasengan. It was intercepted by one of Yami's Truth-Seeking Balls.

Two of the black balls appeared in Naruto's hands and transformed into a pair of short staffs. As Yami thrust the Rasengan in his hand forward, Naruto slammed the tip of one staff into it. An intense detonation pushed them back. However, that wasn't the end of Yami's attack, as six of the nine Truth-Seeking Balls swirling around him darted forward and tried to punch a hole through Naruto's body. They were intercepted by six Truth-Seeking Balls from Naruto.

Explosion after explosion erupted between the two as they bitterly fought against each other, creating shockwaves that caused the very atmosphere around them to distort. Tears began appearing within the Dimensional Gap. These tears did not look like much at first, but when they formed, strange worlds appeared within them. Worlds that looked like earth, worlds of fire, worlds of water, and worlds made of verdant forests surfaced briefly before disappearing. It was like their powerful clash was tearing apart the boundaries between worlds.

Thanks to the orgy Naruto had with Koneko, Ravel, Rias, and Rossweisse, he was a bit more powerful than before. Of course, the majority of his chakra was still with Yami, but that little bit of chakra allowed Naruto to fight with Yami on even ground for a longer period of time. He knew, however, that five extra minutes was not much time in the grand scheme of things.

Naruto realized that if he wanted to win, he would have to do come up with something brilliant.

"Damn that Kurama." Yami scowled as he glared at Naruto. "The only reason you can even keep up with me is because of that blasted fox in your gut!"

"I rather resent being called a blasted fox by a being who isn't even half a man," Kurama grumbled.

"So? The only reason you can keep up with me is because you have most of my chakra." Naruto shrugged. "Personally, I don't think you have any room to bitch and moan like some pathetic grade schooler. Stop complaining and let me kick your ass."

Yami snarled as he surged forward. It looked like he was intending to rip Naruto apart with his bare hands.

Just before Naruto's dark half could attack, however, a massive object suddenly flew between them. Naruto gawked when giant red scales appeared in his vision. He glanced at the four massive wings spreading from this gigantic creature's back. Each one was about twenty times larger than Naruto himself—no, maybe they were even fifty times larger. Segmented scales like armor plating ran along this monstrosity's back, all the way to its incredibly long tail. It had white scales on the underside of its body. Two powerful hind legs and shorter but no less impressive front arms gave this massive creature a western dragon appearance. A single blood red horn jutted from the front of its head.

Naruto knew what this creature was.

Great Red. The Apocalypse Dragon, the True Red Dragon God Emperor, the Dragon of Dragons, and the person Ophis wanted to kick out of her home.

"I wish her luck in trying to kick this thing out." Kurama snorted. "Even I wouldn't mess with this creature if I didn't have to."

"Agreed."

Naruto was not sure what to expect when he finally met with Great Red, but the dragon before him blew pretty much every expectation out of the water. Not only was this creature gigantic, but the power fluctuations pouring off it was enough that Naruto realized even Kurama might have trouble contending with it. Of course, Kurama also had an infinite supply of chakra, but that just meant the battle between them would be truly epic if they were to fight.

As the great dragon soared past them, it performed a pretty slick aerial maneuver and turned back around again to confront them.

"The fuck is going on here?! You punks battling in my backyard without my fucking permission?! Huh?!" The dragon roared. It sounded a lot like a delinquent belonging to a biker gang.

"Oh, boy." Naruto could feel the sweat trickling down his scalp.

"Who would have guessed the most powerful creature in this world would be a delinquent."

Naruto wasn't sure what to say, so he glanced at Yami, though doing so might have been a mistake. The gobsmacked expression on his counterparts face almost caused him to snicker. That wouldn't have been good. However, it also gave Naruto some valuable information. Yami clearly knew who this great being was and didn't want to contend with him.

"Well?!" The dragon roared again. "You punks got anything to say for yourselves?! Do ya?!"

"I actually do have something to say." Naruto raised his hand, causing Great Red to turn his eyes on him. With a foxy grin, he looked at the massive dragon and gave him a thumbs up. "That was a pretty slick move you did just then. It was a Split S, right?"

"Oh ho." Great Red suddenly seemed a bit more interested in Naruto. He came closer to him with a mighty flap of his wings. "It seems you know a bit about aerial maneuvers. Not bad. It's good to know there are people out there who can appreciate my mad skillz."

"Definitely. It's gotta be hard doing such a crazy move when you're so big." Naruto nodded his head and studiously ignored the angry and savage look on Yami's face as he conversed with Great Red. "The amount of strength you have to use must be intense. I imagine just getting lift would be hard, but you do it effortlessly."

"Ha ha! That is because I'm Great Red! Any other half-bit dragon would never be able to do the crazy stunts I do."

And thus, Naruto began talking about aerial maneuvers with the most powerful dragon in existence, while Yami was forced to stand on the sidelines with an expression that made it look like someone had shoved a dead skunk up his ass. As the minutes passed, that expression grew increasingly fierce.

"So what exactly are you doing here?" asked Naruto after a few minutes of casual conversation.

"Hmph. I sensed a really powerful aura creating spatial cracks in the Dimensional Gap. Of course I came over to see what the fuck was going on. And what do I find but a couple of mirrors beating the crap out of each other. You two have some guts to start fighting in my backyard. I oughta kick your asses from here to the underworld for mucking up my place."

"I do apologize for that." Naruto rubbed the back of his head as if he was embarrassed. "You see, that guy over there pulled me into the Dimensional Gap against my will and picked a fight with me. Can you believe it? This dude is a complete asshat! What kind of guy drags someone into another person's home to fight? It's completely disrespectful."

At Naruto's words, Great Red turned to look at Yami with a glare so vicious even Naruto's dark half paled. He sent his fellow blond the most spiteful look he could muster under the circumstance. Naruto, however, tossed him the smuggest, most brilliantly evil smile in the entire world. He felt like one of those super villains in an anime when they successfully pulled off their plans and finally beat the main protagonist.

"Is that how it is?" Great Red snorted, which released a powerful gust of wind that knocked Yami back. "You've got some nerve, punk. I'm gonna teach you a fucking lesson!" Yami opened his mouth, perhaps to try and dispute Naruto's claim, but Great Red wasn't even willing to listen. "Get lost, punk!"

And then, Great Red flicked Yami with a single finger. It was just one finger. However, an explosive force erupted from the finger when it struck Yami, who flew backward so fast he completely disappeared into the distance at supersonic speeds. Naruto watched as Yami vanished, but then he turned back to Great Red as the massive dragon flipped around to look at him again.

"I sense an incredible amount of power coming from inside of you," Great Red said at last.

Naruto smiled as he dismissed Kurama's chakra shroud and his Rikudou Sennin Mode.

"What you sense isn't my power. My friend is currently sealed inside of me. It's his power you're sensing."

Great Red's neck muscles rippled as he nodded. "That's what I thought. The power is inside of you but separate from you. Hmph. It's quite powerful. Even I wouldn't want to mess with that power unless I had to. That's the only reason I haven't flicked your ass out of here too."

"I figured as much." Naruto shrugged. "Actually, I'd like to get back to my friends in the underworld, but I can't open a gate. That man I was fighting pulled me in here against my will."

Great Red was silent for a moment, but then he nodded his massive head.

"I'll open a gate back to where you were originally. It's not too hard for someone as awesome as myself. Hang on just a moment."

The massive dragon raised one of its comparatively stubby arms and extended a single claw, which tapped the empty space in front of it. Swirls of color spread outward in a ripple before a black tear opened in the center. As the tear solidified, Naruto found that what appeared on the other side was the city of Lucifaad. He could see the outside of the city, including the explosions as members of Sona's peerage fought against the Old Satan Faction.

However, what really shocked him was when he noticed Ravel fighting what appeared to be her older brother.

"There. I've opened the gate. Now get out of here."

"Will do. Thanks, Great Red. Keep pulling those crazy awesome stunts."

"Hmph. You know I will."

With a quick salute to the giant red dragon, Naruto flew head first into the tear, which closed up behind him.

~Devil Ninja~

Ravel shook as Rizer smiled at her. Her pupils dilated as the man floated before her on wings of fire. That dark gaze was enough to completely unsettle her.

"It seems you have been giving the Old Satan Faction a lot of trouble." The expression on Rizer's face grew increasingly dark. "You always were a brilliant strategist. Those strategies of yours have helped Rizer any number of times during a Rating Game. It is… most infuriating to have those same tactics used against Rizer now."

It didn't take a genius to figure out what Rizer's words meant.

"You've… joined the Chaos Brigade," Ravel choked out. "Why?"

"It should be obvious." The already dark expression became even more dense and volatile. Even his flame-like wings began surging as though expressing their master's rage. "Rizer was completely humiliated during his Rating Game with Rias Gremory. Some no name little shit not only dared to stand up to him, but he even beat the snot out of him. As if that was not enough, that bastard became hailed as one of the strongest young devils in the Underworld, snatched Rias away from Rizer, and even sunk his claws into Rizer's own little sister. This is an affront. Our parents might have allowed and even encouraged this, but Rizer will not stand for it!"

Ravel felt hot tears prick her eyes as she listened to Rizer speak.

Rizer had always been a prideful man. When they were younger, he would often boast to others and pick fights to prove his superiority. Whenever someone said something bad about him, he would use this Phenex name and his strength as a member of their clan to thoroughly humiliate that person. His pride was something that she'd always found a little annoying, to be honest, but Rizer had also always treated her well.

And now…

"What are you… planning to do?" asked Ravel.

"That should be obvious." Rizer lost the dark look and replaced it with a smile, though that only made Ravel even more fearful of him. "Rizer cannot allow you to just do as you please. Therefore, he will capture you and bring you back to our base. Do not worry. You will not be harmed."

Ravel took a step back and shook her head. "I'm not going."

The darkness in Rizer's eyes returned. "Do not do anything foolish, Ravel. You are no match for Rizer. You never were."

Ravel gritted her teeth as she listened to and acknowledged his words. As an immature Phenex, Ravel did not have the power her brother did, but that also didn't mean she could give up. If nothing else, she needed to at least try and stall for time. That said, she didn't know what sort of miracle she was expecting.

"I'm not abandoning my friends," she said adamantly.

"You mean you are not abandoning that bastard who defeated Rizer." He flew forward as Ravel flew back. "Fine. This will be unpleasant for both of us, but if you will not listen to reason, then Rizer will just force you to come with him."

It happened in an instant. Rizer appeared in front of Ravel. Flames ignited from his hands, an intense burning orange that looked molten, like it might melt the entire world into slag. He threw those fists at Ravel, who only had a moment to react.

Ravel had expected this. She knew Rizer well.

The wings on Ravel's back disappeared as she dropped, allowing the intense flame-coated fists to flash over her head. A magic circle appeared in her left hand as she swiped it at Rizer. Flames burst from it and slammed into his face. It didn't do any damage, but it did blind him for a moment.

Ravel's wings appeared again as she flew away quickly, darting through several buildings, doing everything she possibly could to get away from her older brother. She understood her own strengths and weaknesses very well. At present, she could not defeat her brother, who seemed even more powerful now than he had been back then.

"That wasn't very nice, Ravel," a voice said above her.

Ravel gasped when she turned her head and saw Rizer descending from the sky. She barrel rolled out of the way, which caused him to soar past her, but he quickly recovered with a flap of his wings. More flames appeared in his hand, which he threw at her. Ravel could do little more than grit her teeth as she created a barrier in front of her body.

Flames blasted against her shield, which shattered under Rizer's intense assault, sending her spiraling out of control through the air. Ravel was able to regain her flight, however. She flapped her wings and descended quickly, then ignited her Phenex powers over fire and struck the ground. A massive explosion went up behind her. She used the intense pillar of flames to mask her movement as she darted behind a building.

"You might be incredibly smart, dear sister, but Rizer can see through your every move." At the sound of her brother's voice, Ravel looked up to see that Rizer had not been tricked by her maneuver at all. He was floating above her. "Tricks like that might work on someone who doesn't know you as well as Rizer does. However, to someone who has watched you since you were little, those cheap parlor tricks will never work."

It had been a long time since Ravel felt this frustrated. Rizer was countering her every move. Just like she knew what he would do, he knew what she would do, and he was using his knowledge of her to his advantage.

Thinking about it like this, Ravel realized none of her usual plans would work against someone like Rizer, who knew her so well. In that case, she needed to do something that Ravel Phenex would not do. She needed to do something reckless and stupid. Something… something… yes, she needed to do something that Naruto would do.

"All right," Ravel muttered as flames ignited on her hands. "Let's try this."

"Are you planning to fight Rizer head on?" asked Rizer, looking a little perplexed. "Little sister, Rizer applauds your courage, but you have to know fighting like this is pointless. You cannot win."

"We'll see about that," Ravel said in a surprisingly loud voice.

Ravel rushed at Rizer with a straightforward assault. It was something so idiotic, so moronic, that Ravel would never do this—or so Rizer thought. From the shocked expression on his face, it seemed she had really left him stunned.

She closed the distance before he could recover and used what little she learned of combat from Koneko to sock Rizer right in the face. Her straight jab was simple and lacked the power of the little Rook. However, she had released an incredibly well-timed explosion of fire, which further fueled her punch's destructive power. The attack was enough to knock Rizer back.

"How dare you hit Rizer!"

With a roar, Rizer Phenex charged at her, completely forgetting himself as he unleashed a vicious assault that even she did not expect. Perhaps it was simply because Rizer was already unhinged. However, his attack was merciless.

Something powerful slammed into Ravel's body. She didn't know what it was, but it struck her chest and caused her to gasp in agony as her body was sent soaring backward through the air. Before she could even recover, Rizer appeared behind her. He lashed out with an explosive kick that would have broken her spine, but Ravel unleashed a timely burst of fire that changed her orientation. She was able to dodge the attack by a hair.

She could not dodge the fire-covered fist.

Ravel spat out bile as she flew through the air, struck the ground, and tumbled. Her body jarred from the numerous impacts. She would have screamed when her shoulder was torn from its socket, but her voice was lost to the wind. A yelp escaped her mouth when something sharp cut open her leg. It couldn't be heard over the blood pounding into her ears.

Eventually coming to a stop on the ground, Ravel needed a moment to pick up her bruised and battered body. Her wounds were healing as she tried to stand. She might have succeeded, but then Rizer appeared in front of her. He grabbed her by the head and slammed his knee into her nose. Ravel cried out as she was sent rocketing backward. She landed on the ground in a dazed heap as he walked over to her with cold, meticulous steps.

"Rizer did not want to do this, Ravel, but you have forced his hand." Rizer stopped in front of Ravel and reached out to grab her. "Now, it is time for you to come with—"

No more words came out of Rizer's mouth. At that moment, Rizer suddenly found himself being relieved of his hand. He stared at the now missing stump for a moment, which was all the time he was allowed, before a foot slammed into his face so hard he rocketed off the ground and crashed into a large building.

Ravel cracked her eyes open as she saw a tall and broad-shouldered figure standing in front of her. She coughed once as blood stained her lips. Her wounds were healing rapidly, but they were still a little slower than Rizer's own regenerative abilities.

"N-Naruto…"

"I'm sorry for arriving late," Naruto said, though he did not turn his eyes back to her. His gaze was locked onto the destroyed building Rizer had plowed through. "I was only just able to return from the Dimensional Gap. Please forgive me. Because of me…"

"It's… okay…" Ravel took a deep breath as she stood up. "I'm already feeling better. Do not worry about me."

Naruto didn't say anything, but that was likely because Rizer emerged from the building at that moment. He had a furious and insane look in his eyes as he stared at Naruto.

"YOU BASTARD! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU WOULD TRY TO INTERFERE IN MY BUSINESS!"

"You're damn right I would," Naruto said as he shifted his feet against the ground. "You're hurting one of the women I love. You should have seen this coming from a kilometer away."

While Ravel felt her cheeks become hot when Naruto said he loved her, she knew now wasn't the time. She moved to stand beside Naruto. The man she had given herself to was glaring at Rizer with a look of such intense loathing that even she was taken aback.

Rizer looked like he was about to have a conniption. Yet just before he could rush over and try to kill them, Shalba Beelzebub appeared. He looked at Naruto and Ravel, then turned his gaze to Rizer.

"We're leaving, Rizer. It is time to pull out."

"What?! I can't! I have to get back at that bastard and take Ravel with us!" Rizer said, looking aghast.

"Rizevim has already accomplished his goal. It is likely he will be leaving soon as well. We are leaving."

Rizer looked like he wanted to argue, but then Shalba glared at him and he shut his mouth. He took a deep breath. Then he threw a malicious glare at Ravel and Naruto. While she was shocked to the core by his look, Naruto was relatively impassive, though she could see the way his hands were twitching.

"I will remember this!" Rizer spat before he and Shalba disappeared within a magic circle. It looked like they had teleportation magic.

Naruto waited until he was sure the two were gone before turning to Ravel.

"Are you okay?" he asked. The concern in his eyes warmed her heart.

"I'm…" She was about to say she was fine, but then she shook her head. "I am not okay, but I know I can't afford to let my emotions get the better of me right now. We still have a job to do."

"You're right." Naruto smiled at her. "That man said Rizevim has accomplished his goal, which means he has likely succeeded in stealing Ophis's power. That means we should hurry. If we don't make it in time to save her…"

Naruto left his sentence unfinished, but Ravel didn't need to know what he meant. She knew. If they failed to save Ophis in time, then they would be in a lot of trouble.

~Devil Ninja~

"Dragon Shot!"

A bright orb of energy appeared in front of Euclid. It was not the traditional color that Rias was used to seeing, but a red and silver mixture. Euclid punched it with his fist, clad in an artificially made Sacred Gear. The energy orb exploded with an incredible amount of power and raced toward Rias, turning into a beam of energy that threatened to consume them.

"Scatter, everyone!"

Knowing better than to remain where they were, the members of Rias's peerage who were fighting against Euclid separated from each other and moved, presenting harder to hit targets. That was the intention at least.

"Dragon Shot!"

Their opponent seemed to know how to use the Dragon Shot, one of Issei's signature moves, quite well. He didn't aim at where they were, but where they were going to be. Rias almost found herself being blasted in the face with a beam of intense red and silver energy when it flashed by her head. She stopped just seconds before it could hit her. The beam tore past her nose and continued on, slamming into the wall and drilling a massive hole right through it.

At the same time, Rossweisse created a magic circle in front of her. It rotated before unleashing a torrent of holy magic at Euclid. The devil was smart enough to not let himself get struck by her attacks. He moved backward like a ghost as the bright beam of white light slammed into the ground. No damage was done since this attack was one that only damaged people, but Euclid still narrowed his eyes when he saw the attack hit where he'd been standing.

"That magic of yours is very dangerous," Euclid said with a growl.

"If you think that's dangerous, you should see my angel magic!" Irina shouted as she descended from above and swung her light sword.

Euclid raised a single hand. A magic circle appeared in front of it just as her weapon slammed into him. The magic circle was obviously a shield of some kind, and it looked like it was specifically meant to protect against holy attacks. It sizzled and hissed. However, the sword of light in Irina's hand did not break through.

"Gasper!" Rias shouted.

I-I'm on iiiiiiit!"

Gasper narrowed his eyes and activated Forbidden Balor View, which he used to quickly freeze the area around Euclid's arm. That was about all he could do. However, it gave Rias enough time to launch her own attack.

Dark red energy gathered in front of her. It crackled and hissed before turning from an unwieldy blob into a long spear. The spear itself did not look like anything special. If a weapon maker were to ever lay eyes on it, they probably would have gaped in horror at how un-aesthetically appealing it was, but Rias did not care about its looks as she chopped her hand down at Euclid.

The dark red spear shot forward faster than a bullet from a gun. Euclid, who had been trying to move his hand without success, suddenly narrowed his eyes when the intense wave of crackling energy neared him. He raised his free hand and created another barrier. He was just in time. Rias's spear slammed into the barrier and detonated. Reddish black energy howled as it tried to break through the barrier. Despite how much power she put into this attack, the barrier did not shatter.

While the barrier didn't break, Euclid now had both hands full and no hands to deal with Rossweisse, who held out her hands and created another magic circle. This one was a lot more complex than any she'd created so far. White light swirled inside of it before exploding outward in a powerful bolt of energy that finally slammed into Euclid's body. The attack sent him hurtling backward, Gasper's power shattering around his hand. However, even with this, the man was able to regain his balance and skidded across on the floor on his feet instead of tumbling like a ragdoll. When he stopped, a hideous look appeared on his face as he gazed at the wound Rossweisse's attack had inflicted.

A large hole had been burnt into Euclid's clothing, and Rias could see the burnt flesh underneath it. Oddly enough, the attack didn't seem to have penetrated his flesh. There was a large black mark where the attack hit, but there was no blood.

"I guess fighting against four of you at the same time really is too much even for someone like me," he admitted with a frown. He glanced at his Sacred Gear. "It's just like I thought. This Sacred Gear can't stand up to the original either. It's just a cheap imitation. In order to make it truly work, I need to use the remains of a Boosted Gear holder and the souls of powerful Dragons."

"If you know you won't win in a fight against us, then just give up," Rias said as Gasper, Irina, and Rossweisse landed on the ground next to her.

"Sorry, but I still have no intention of giving up." Euclid gave them a graceless smile. "That said, I now understand that using a cheap imitation Sacred Gear that hasn't been truly refined won't work. I guess, in the end, I can only rely on my own power to deal with you four."

As he spoke these words, an intense explosion of demonic energy burst from his body. Rias and the others tensed up when they felt this incredible power. The man took a step forward as he glared at them, the floor cracking beneath his feet.

"You should know that I'm every bit as strong as my sister," Euclid said as waves of power wafted off his body. "You four might be a lot more powerful than I expected, but I highly doubt you can defeat an ultimate-class devil such as myself."

"We'll see about that," Rias said. Despite the overwhelming pressure Euclid was emitting, she wasn't about to give up. They had faced off against several powerful opponents in the past, and while fighting someone as strong as her sister-in-law was certainly a frightening prospect, that didn't mean they would just roll over and die either.

While Rias, Rossweisse, Irina, and Gasper were getting ready to renew their battle with a now charged up Euclid, Arthur, Akeno, Kiba, Koneko, and Xenovia were continuing their battle with Grendel.

As a Dragon whose defense was one of the most formidable in the entire world, Grendel's body had received very few wounds despite being hit with nearly everything the group had. Only Arthur and Koneko were able to deal any real damage to it.

Arthur was holding a sword in his hand that Rias didn't recognize. However, the formidable aura it unleashed let her know it was a holy sword that might be even more powerful than the original Excalibur. It had a grip long enough to be used as a two-handed weapon with a rounded pommel at the end, and a huge cross-shaped guard. The long blade was mostly silver, but the edge was a brilliant golden color.

Before anyone could even blink, Arthur disappeared and appeared again right next to Grendel, slashing his sword down in an overhand stroke. Ripples appeared as the sword descended. It was like he was cutting through space itself.

Even Grendel did not dare let himself be hit with such an attack. He dodged backward, though he was not fast enough to completely avoid the strike. A small cut appeared on his skin. However, even though he received an injury, the dangerous Dragon still laughed joyously as if he found Arthur's ability to hurt him amusing.

It was at this moment that Koneko darted in behind Grendel, her two tails wagging furiously behind her as a bright glow covered her entire body. Before the evil Dragon even had time to notice her presence, she sent several powerful punches into his backside. Each attack left a fist-shaped imprint in Grendel's body. The attacks also lifted the much larger Dragon off the ground. Koneko finished her attack by placing her hands on the ground, lifting her lower body up, and mule kicking Grendel with a force so powerful he was blasted into the air.

"Let's see if you can protect yourself against this!" Xenovia suddenly shouted as she and Kiba leapt into the air and descended on Grendel.

They slashed at the Dragon with their respective swords. However, just like last time, the wounds they left on him were superficial at best. As they landed on the ground, Akeno, who was flying above them, unleashed another intense blast of holy lightning that slammed into Grendel and sent him hurtling back to the floor. He slammed into the floor, causing the room to rumble and shake. A massive crater formed in the floor around him while numerous cracks spread from the point of impact.

Despite how much damage such an attack should have dealt, Grendel stood back up like nothing had happened. He had a few small cuts, some bruises in the shape of Koneko's fist, and black singe marks from Akeno's lightning. However, the amount of wounds on his body was in no way proportional to the amount of times they had attacked him.

"Our attacks are barely doing anything to this monster!" Xenovia growled in frustration.

"It is pretty disheartening to see our attacks doing so little damage," Kiba agreed as he gripped the sword in his hands more tightly.

The five of them had been battling this Dragon for the better part of twenty minutes and had only managed to inflict some superficial wounds on its skin. While they had also managed to avoid suffering injuries themselves, the situation still appeared grim.

"I would normally just be able to cut through someone like this using Caliburn's ability to cut space, but Grendel is more durable than anyone I've fought before. Perhaps it is his powers as a Dragon, but Caliburn cannot fully cut through him like it would someone else," Arthur said.

"What should we do?" asked Koneko.

"What else can we do?" Akeno shrugged as she floated over to them, warily eying the Dragon standing several meters away. "We keep attacking."

While that didn't sound like the greatest plan ever conceived, it wasn't like they could do anything else. The group seemed to understand that and thus renewed their attacks.

At the same time, Rias found that she was no longer able to focus on her other comrades as Euclid unleashed his own attack at them. A magic circle appeared in front of him before a strange light shot from it. Rias's eyes widened as she felt the intense burst of demonic power emitting from that light.

"Everyone move!"

They moved away before the light struck the ground and exploded. The force of the explosion was so intense that Rias, Irina, Gasper, and Rossweisse were lifted off the ground and sent backward. They struck the floor and rolled. Only after tumbling for several meters did they manage to regain their balance and stand up, though all of them were now sporting several burn marks.

Rias could not help but gawk when she saw the crater where they had been standing. It wasn't big, but she could tell from how smooth the ground had become that his powerful explosion magic contained a heat intense enough to melt the floor. If an attack like that hit any of them, they would be destroyed.

"I guess this is the difference between an ultimate-class devil and us," Irina said morosely as she stared at the now calm Euclid.

"None of you have the power to beat me," Euclid said as if he'd heard her. "You might think you have a chance because of our last battle, but the only reason you did so well against me back then was because you had Metatron on your side, and I wasn't fighting against you with all my strength. I just needed to get a measure of your abilities. Now that I know what you are capable of and you have no archangel protecting you, I don't need to hold back."

Rias gritted her teeth. She refused to admit defeat, but she also knew that unless she was willing to unleash her new ultimate attack—which she couldn't do within such a confined space because it was an indiscriminate attack—she had nothing that could really destroy someone of Euclid's caliber.

It seemed they had greatly underestimated their opponent.

~Devil Ninja~

After rescuing Ravel, he and his companion traveled into the underground tunnel and swiftly raced through it, though they had no idea where they were going.

"How are we going to find Rias and the others?" asked Ravel.

"I'm following their scent."

Ravel gave him a strange look. "What are you? A dog?"

"A fox."

When Ravel saw the grin on his face, she attempted to roll her eyes at him, but she was smiling at his joke.

They soon reached a door that had been blasted open and emerged into a large hallway decorated with gaudy purple carpet. Naruto ran through it with Ravel hot on his heels. He wasn't relying on his sense of smell to track Rias, which might have been funny if he could. He was sensing fluctuations of demonic energy. Even at his present location, he could feel the incredible swelling of demonic power from further away.

It was not long after they had traveled through several hallways that Naruto and Ravel burst into a large room, which resembled an entrance hall similar to the one at the Gremory Estate. Two separate battles were taking place there.

Naruto turned his head and watched as Koneko darted between the legs of a giant humanoid dragon. She kicked its legs hard enough that he fell to the ground. When this happened, Arthur, Kiba, and Xenovia rushed forward and attempted to impale it. They weren't successful. The creature blocked Kiba and Xenovia before scrambling away from Arthur. As the Dragon got to his feet, Akeno blasted the creature with holy lightning. Once again, the attack didn't seem to do much more than stagger the dragon creature back.

"That must be Grendel," Ravel murmured as she bit her lip.

Nodding, Naruto looked from the fight with Grendel to Rias Gremory's fight with Euclid. Rossweisse and Rias were bombarding him with magic from a distance, while Irina tried to get in and attack close with her light swords. Gasper, in the meantime, was hanging back and using Forbidden Balor View to break up Euclid's rhythm. Even as he watched, Rias sent an incredibly fierce blast of demonic reddish black energy that slammed into a barrier their opponent created. Rossweisse also used her Norse magic to blast the devil with lightning. However, both attacks met a barrier before Euclid unleashed a number of bursts of light, which detonated all around the Gremory group and forced them to move.

"Is this all the great Rias Gremory has to offer?! Pathetic!" Euclid spat. "You're just as pathetic as your naive brother!"

The look on Rias's face was fierce as she surged forward. "Says the man who hasn't killed any of us yet. Don't talk down to me like you're better than the rest of us when you also haven't succeeded in doing anything."

Euclid was actually scowling now, but he didn't remain that way for long and created several more bursts of explosion magic. He tried surrounding the group with explosions. However, Rias was not stupid, and she used her Powers of Destruction to blast a hole in the formation that allowed her and the others to escape.

From this distance, Naruto could feel the heat from Euclid's explosion magic, a searing hot wind that burned his face. It was pretty intense, though Naruto thought the black flames of Amaterasu were more powerful.

"We're missing a few people," Ravel announced before looked at Naruto. "Issei and several others aren't here."

Naruto gazed around and noticed that Issei, Raynare, Asia, Le Fay, and Vali were indeed not present. "They have probably gone on ahead. Our goal is to rescue Kunou and Ophis, so we can't afford to have all our people tangled up here." Naruto turned to Ravel. "Come on. I have a feeling I'm going to need your strategies to save Kunou and Ophis."

Ravel bit her lip as she looked at the battle between Grendel and the others—more specifically, she looked at Koneko, who had just dodged one of Grendel's stupidly powerful fists. The punch had created a two foot crater in the floor. She returned fire with a touki enhanced kick to the face, but aside from a little blood gushing from the humanoid dragon's nose, the attack didn't do much.

"Koneko will be fine." Naruto placed a hand on Ravel's head. "You know how powerful she is and how hard she has been training."

"I do." Ravel took a deep breath before her eyes gained a determined glint. "Let's go save Ophis and Kunou."

While the battle was taking place, Naruto and Ravel skirted around the edge of the two battlefields. Euclid saw them and scowled, but he was unable to even try and stop him because Rias had created two brilliant reddish black swords in her hand and nearly hacked off his arm with one of them. The redhead then flapped her wings and moved back, throwing her sword at him, and while Euclid did knock it aside, he received a face full of lightning from Rossweisse.

Naruto and Ravel disappeared through the door on the other side. They eventually reached a staircase, which seemed to go down forever, or until Naruto got pissed off and destroyed the stairs. After the stairs were blown to smithereens, they passed through a hall that looked like a classic dungeon from a fantasy game or tabletop DnD. Before long, they reached the end, where an already open door was waiting for them.

What they found on the other side caused them to freeze. It was so bizarre that even Naruto, who almost always had a quip ready, did not quite know what to say.

Issei, Le Fay, Raynare, and Vali were battling against… well, Naruto wasn't sure what it was. It had the upper body of a Fallen Angel and the lower body of an Asian Dragon. This creature had been nailed to a large cross and its eyes were covered with a blindfold. Blood dripped beneath the blindfold. However, the thing that caught Naruto's attention the most was the glowing black tentacle-like thing protruding from its mouth. Not only was it long, but it had extended to several dozen meters in length and was wiggling around.

Issei, Vali, Le Fay, and Raynare were doing their best to cut that tongue off, but it was not going well for them, especially since Rizevim had decided to join in on the action. He fought alongside the Fallen Angel/Dragon hybrid thing, taking on both Issei and Vali at the same time. Naruto frowned when Vali tried to attack Rizevim using his Sacred Gear, but then the old Devil dodged Vali's attack and touched the Sacred Gear. The Divine Dividing, the Sacred Gear that made Vali so powerful, grew dim as if Rizevim had nullified it.

"Ha ha ha ha! You don't really think you can beat me, do you? Did you forget about my Sacred Gear Canceller?"

Vali gritted his teeth as Rizevim laughed in his face. At the same time, Issei fired off a Dragon Shot, but Rizevim saw it come and simply raised his hand. Just like what happened with Vali's attack, this one quickly dispersed as though it had been completely nullified.

While they were being pushed back by Rizevim, Le Fay and Raynare were unable to even launch an attack at the strange creature they were fighting. The odd thing about that battle was the creature didn't seem to be doing anything. It wasn't really attacking them, but none of their attacks seemed capable of defeating it. Raynare's light spears struck the strange tongue tentacle and bounced off it. Le Fay had summoned Fenrir, which was attacking the tentacle alongside her. All sorts of magic circles appeared around the girl, launching numerous types of magic that struck the thing to little affect. Even Fenrir's claws and fangs were not doing any damage.

"What the heck is going on here?" asked Naruto, still gawking.

"N-Naruto?"

At the sound of the small voice, Naruto turned to find Asia and Kunou kneeling on the ground some distance away. It looked like Asia was trying to protect Kunou while also casting heal on Naruto and Vali as they fought against Rizevim.

"Kunou." Naruto sighed in relief. "I'm glad you are okay."

"Naruto… I…" Kunou looked like she was on the verge of tears. Her eyes were red and puffy.

Naruto reached out and placed his hand on her head, gently rubbing it. Her fox ears twitched.

"It's okay," he murmured as he looked at Asia. "What's going on? Can you explain what happened to me?"

Asia was fairly wide eyed, but she nodded. "Y-yes. That thing… that thing is Samael. It… he swallowed Ophis. Ise and the others are trying to rescue her, but…"

"Gotcha. I think I understand."

While Asia wasn't really explaining what happened very well, likely because she was in shock, Naruto was able to piece everything together based on what he was seeing. That strange Angel/Dragon creature was Samael. It had swallowed Ophis, meaning she was probably inside of that tongue thing… or maybe she was inside of Samael's stomach. Naruto couldn't be sure on that, but he understood enough. He needed to get Ophis out.

At that moment, Vali and Issei were driven into a corner. Issei tried to use his Sonic Boost Knight ability to blitze Rizevim, but the powerful Devil avoided his attack with ease and slammed a knee into the boy's gut. Issei was launched backward. At the same time, Vali began attempting to divide his grandfather's power, but Rizevim once more used that strange canceling ability. He then created a glowing magic circle in his hand, slammed it into Vali's face, and sent the man flying backward like a rocket. Vali crashed into the wall, which dented but didn't break. That wall must have been made from sturdy stuff.

"Rizevim Lucifer lives up to his reputation has a super Devil like Sirzechs and Beelzebub," Ravel murmured. "Even Isei and Vali aren't able to beat him."

"He certainly does," Naruto said with a nod. "It looks like I'll need to step in. Go join Fay-chan and the others. See what you can do about freeing Ophis."

"I will," Ravel said with a nod.

"You two are trying so hard, but it just isn't working out for you, is it?" asked Rizevim with a laugh. He then glanced at Le Fay and Raynare as they futilely tried to defeat Samael. "You two are also getting annoying. Why don't you get lost?"

Rizevim waved his hand and created a powerful magic circle that crackled. A large sphere of demonic power exploded from it and raced toward Le Fay, Raynare, and Fenrir, who all sensed the attack and turned to look at it in shock. An attack of that level would kill them if they were struck, but they didn't have time to move.

So Naruto finally made his move.

He appeared in front of them in a burst of speed, created a Rasengan in his hand, then added wind chakra to the Rasengan. Since this attack was more powerful than anything he had blocked before, Naruto channeled even more chakra into the Rasengan to create an Oodama Fuuton Rasengan, which he thrust forward. The swirling white ball of chakra slammed into the sphere of demonic power. The two attacks exploded and canceled each other out. However, the backlash was powerful enough that Naruto skidded backward.

"Oh ho?" Rizevim raised an eyebrow. "I see you somehow managed to escape from Yami. I was certain he would kill you."

"Let's just say I had a friend help me out and leave it at that." Naruto shrugged before his eyes narrowed. "You've been doing a number on my friends. I'm not really happy about that."

"Hmph. As if I care about what makes you happy." Rizevim snorted, then smiled. "I'd much rather see you writhing in anger and agony than joy."

"What a foul man, you are."

"Thank you for the compliment."

As Naruto traded wits with Rizevim, Issei and Vali were able to recover. They quickly moved over to stand beside Naruto. While Issei looked happy to see him, Vali was mostly focused on his grandfather. His eyes were narrowed in a look of hatred that Naruto had never seen on the young man before.

"It seems fighting against you really is too hard without going all out," Vali muttered with a dark glare. "In that case, I can only use my strongest techniques!"

"Then I will also show you! I, the one who is about to awaken! The Two-Heavenly Dragons that…"

"Uh uh." Rizevim shook his head and raised his hand, creating a magic circle. "You can't really believe I'd let you enter your Juggernaut Drive, do you? Dream on."

When Rizevim created the magic circle, the restraint on Samael's right hand came off. An odd cry escaped the creature's mouth before the right hand shot toward Vali. A black block similar to the one that had enveloped Ophis charged toward him. Naruto, however, appeared in front of this and entered his Rikudou Sennin Mode. He quickly sent one of his Truth-Seeking Balls toward the black object, transforming it into a spinning sword that cut through Samael's attack.

Rizevim narrowed his eyes. "That attack of yours is nearly identical to Yami's. I see you two really are the same people. However, even if you have the ability to block these attacks, do you really think you can block them all?"

Before Naruto had a chance to respond, the strange black thing… whatever it was, appeared again, and enveloped Vali before Naruto could actually respond. Samael released a demonic howl before the black block burst apart. Vali was released, but his armor was destroyed along with the block. Blood splattered against the floor as he fell to his knees.

"Damn it! Vali!" Issei shouted in shock.

"Ha ha ha! The greatest weakness of you Dragons is Samael. His curse is powerful enough to even affect Ophis and Great Red. What hope do the two Heavenly Dragons have?"

Issei glared at Rizevim, but the man just chuckled as if that expression of his amused him.

Naruto decided to ignore Rizevim for the moment. He spun around, grabbing two of his Truth-Seeking Balls, and changed their shape into a pair of short swords. Using his incredible speed, he rushed toward the block containing Ophis.

"Oh, no you don't!"

Rizevim saw what Naruto was doing and tried to fire several demonic spheres at him, but Naruto made the remaining Truth-Seeking Balls appear in their path and intercept them. The Truth-Seeking Balls had a unique composition that allowed them to slice through Rizevim's attacks. What's more, Issei also appeared in front of Naruto wearing his Blaster Bishop Armor and fired several intense bursts of power at Rizevim, forcing the man to block his attacks.

"Tch! You are actually beginning to annoy me now. Blasted Dragon!"

With a scowl on his face, Rizevim prepared to attack Issei again, but Ravel joined forces with Le Fey. Two magic circles appeared in front of them. Fire exploded from Ravel's magic circle and wind from Le Fay's. The two attacks combined and slammed into Rizevim before he could do anything.

With a wave of his hand, the attacks dispersed. Rizevim was unharmed. However, the attack had distracted him long enough that Naruto was able to reach the black thing containing Ophis.

He sliced the black object apart with a swing of his Truth-Seeking Balls. While Samael was incredibly durable and strong against Dragons, it only offered a little resistance against the Truth-Seeking Balls. Truth-Seeking Balls were a combination of all five basic elements, and Naruto had imbued his with Yin-Yang Release, which allowed them to neutralize ninjutsu. Because of the nature of the orbs, they didn't just neutralize ninjutsu but all types of magical abilities, including Samael's powers.

Ophis was released from the power. She didn't look injured. However, her eyes were narrowed as she glanced at Samael, then at Rizevim.

"You have taken a lot of my power, but what are you going to use it for?"

Rizevim smiled at Ophis's question. "Isn't that obvious? I need the power of the Ouroboros Dragon. However, you are far too willful and would never listen to me. That is why I took your power. I am going to pour that power into Lilith, who is only an empty vessel right now. After that? Well, I don't know. Maybe I'll use her as a toy while imagining she is you?"

Once more, Rizevim smiled at his own crass joke. Naruto shifted as a small burst of killing intent flared up inside of him. He suppressed it. Right now was not the time to get into a fight.

"In either event, while it looks like I only managed to take half of Ophis's power, that should be enough for my purposes—and I can always try and take all of it later. Unlike that idiot Cao Cao, Hades and I have come to an understanding, so I can summon Samael whenever I please. Isn't that nice?" As he spoke, a magic circle appeared underneath him. "Oh. Before I forget, I should mention that part of my deal with Hades was that he would be allowed to take Ophis. He should be sending his Grim Reapers over to capture her." A cruel smile appeared on his face. "I'm sure he'll have a hard time taking her when she still has half her powers, but I wonder if the rest of you will be able to make it out of here alive."

With those words, Rizevim disappeared.

~Devil Ninja~

With Ophis safe, Naruto and the others returned to the entrance hall where the two battles were happening between Rias and Euclid and Grendel and Koneko. It looked like the battles were over now. Perhaps Euclid and Grendel had felt when Rizevim disappeared and realized he'd succeeded. Naruto didn't think Euclid was the type to run unless they were certain they had accomplished their goals, and Grendel didn't run unless Euclid forced him to.

Naruto walked over to Rias with Ophis and Kunou at his side. She took one look at them and smiled.

"I see you've succeeded in rescuing them," she said.

"Well, half succeeded." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "Half of Ophis's powers were stolen. To top it off, it seems Hades is sending his Grim Reapers over here to capture her. I'm not sure what he wants with her, but I doubt it is anything good."

Rias closed her eyes and her brow furrowed. Naruto didn't interrupt his girlfriend while she was thinking.

"If that's the case, we should meet up with the others and leave before they get here."

"I was thinking the same thing," Naruto said.

No one disagreed with her words, and they quickly went back outside using the way they had entered. It didn't take more than fifteen minutes. However, when they arrived outside, the first thing that assaulted Naruto's senses was the sound of detonations. They slammed into his eardrums and nearly blasted him off his feet. This was followed by the intense surge of energy, which caused the hairs on his scalp to prickle.

Naruto looked up in time to see Bikou and Kuroka being forced back by numerous cloaked figures wielding scythes. Grim Reapers. They were sort of like half-gods that did the bidding of Hades, the undisputed ruler of the underworld.

Kuroka created several copies of herself, but they were all illusions. The Grim Reapers didn't seem to realize this as they attacked her illusions, and while they were busy being tricked, she sent several attacks their way. She summoned multiple giant wheels covered in black flames and sent them at the Grim Reapers, destroying many of them. Meanwhile, Bikou used his extendable pole to smacked a lot of Grim Reapers out of the sky. Unlike Kuroke, who seemed to focus mostly on utilizing her senjutsu, he was almost all melee. He dove between enemies on his Flying fucking Nimbus and swatted Grim Reapers like a rampaging school teacher punishing bad students. Even Naruto winced when one unfortunate reaper received the end of his pole to their face.

While Bikou and Kuroka looked like they could handle the situation, the members of Sona's Peerage were not so lucky.

Naruto only saw a glimpse of Saji darting between the buildings. The man was being hounded by what looked like a dozen Grim Reapers. He was certain Saji could take care of himself in most situations, but the man had been lugging two unconscious bodies over his shoulders. It looked like the two he was carrying had blood matting their hair. Several hundred meters in the distance, a giant ice serpent was attacking and being attacked by many Grim Reapers. Even as he watched, the Grim Reapers descended upon the serpent, hacking it apart with their scythes until it shattered into a thousand pieces.

"We need to split up and rescue the others," Rias said the moment she also took stock of the situation out here. "Vali, I think you, Le Fay, and Arthur should help Kuroka and Bikou. Ise, take Akeno, Raynare, Asia, and Xenovia, and help Rescue Saji and the other members of Sona's Peerage. Naruto, you, me, Ravel, Kiba, Irina, and Koneko will help Sona. We'll rescue everyone and meet up at the extraction point."

"Hmph." Raynare crossed her arms. "I guess I can help out."

"I don't really like being told what to do, but I do agree that your strategy is the best one." Vali gestured to Arthur and Le Fay. "Come on, you two. Let's go help Bikou and Kuroka."

While Arthur followed Vali without a backward glance, Le Fay glanced at Naruto one last time before she turned around and flew after her brother and Vali. Fenrir faithfully followed by the girl's side.

"Ufufu, I guess I'll be teaming up with you guys," Akeno said as she walked over to Issei, Asia, Raynare, and Xenovia. "Ufufu, it should be fun."

"I don't know how much longer I'll last, but I'll keep fighting until I have nothing left," Xenovia said with a determined gleam in her eye.

'Um, Ise-kun, I'll do my best to help you out!" Asia said while clenching her fists.

"In that case, we'll head out too," Issei said, still decked out in his Welsh Dragon Armor. He looked at Rias and Naruto, then nodded. "We'll see you at the extraction point, Buchou, Sensei."

"Stay safe," Naruto said.

"You too."

With his group behind him, Issei charged off in the direction where Saji had last been seen. As they disappeared, a group of Grim Reapers appeared from above and descended toward the spot where they had vanished to. Explosions echoed from that direction seconds later. A loud boom that caused the ground to shake echoed all around them. A massive beam of red energy erupted through the sky and took out several Grim Reapers. Naruto recognized the telltale signs of Issei's Dragon Shot.

"We should also head out," Kiba said.

"Worried about Tsubaki?" asked Naruto.

"A little."

When Kiba admitted this, Naruto could not help but chuckle.

"I'll do my best to help you all out!" Irina created a sword of light from her powers. "Michael-sama gave me these powers so I can help protect my friends, so that's what I'm going to do."

"I'll do my best to come up with strategies we can use," Ravel said, biting her lip. "However, without knowing the capability of these Grim Reapers, I'm not sure how good my strategies will be."

"It'll be okay, Fried Rice." Koneko patted the girl on the shoulder.

"So I'm not even fried chicken now?!"

While Koneko's small joke had lightened the mood a little bit, it didn't change that they were still in a pretty grim situation. Naruto looked at Ophis and Kunou, still glued to his side. Kunou was shaking in fright, which he didn't blame her for. She'd definitely gotten far more than she had bargained for when she came to Kuoh. Naruto honestly felt awful for her.

"Ophis, do you think you can help us out?" he asked.

"I do not… believe so." Ophis frowned at him. "While I still retain half my powers, the loss of my powers has made them… unstable. Once I adjust to the loss, I think I will be able to use them again, but they won't be as effective as before."

"In that case, I guess we can only rely on ourselves," Naruto said with a sigh.

~Devil Ninja~

Naruto moved swiftly with Rias, Ravel, Kiba, Irina, and Koneko through the streets of Luccifaad. What had once been a nice but empty city was now a warzone. Explosions detonated in the air as Grim Reapers attacked Sona's Peerage, who had been forced to scatter across the city. In the skies above, Naruto could see Vali and his group doing their best to fight off the overwhelming number of Grim Reapers. He didn't know how many there were, but it felt like Hades had sent his entire army after them.

Ophis was sticking close to Naruto. Her powers were currently in flux. While she had plenty of power, she had no control, and thus she could not protect herself.

Kunou also stuck by Naruto's side, though hers was on account of how she didn't have much power to begin with. She might be a yokai, but she was still just a young girl.

"We've got several cloaks coming up on our six," Koneko said. She was acting as their sensor since she had such great control over Senjutsu and Naruto was still not using it.

"Leave this to me," Naruto announced.

He quickly parted from the group, disappearing within a shunshin and traveling to the roof. He could already see the Grim Reapers that Koneko was talking about. There were a dozen of them.

"Hup!"

Kicking off the roof, Naruto traveled through the sky. He made a hand seal. Two shadow clones appeared by his side, though one of them used Naruto's shoulders leap higher into the air before flapping his bat-like Devil wings.

Naruto and his remaining clone attacked the Grim Reapers. He slammed a Rasengan into one, watching as it went spinning through the air. Meanwhile, his clone launched his infamous Uzumaki Rendan onto another one. While that Grim Reaper also plummeted to the ground, one of them came in and swung its scythe, slicing straight through the clone. As the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke, the other Grim Reapers all attacked Naruto at the same time.

Only for Naruto to also disappear in a puff of smoke.

Before they could search out the original Naruto, several threads of glistening ninja wire suddenly flashed in the light as Naruto, now high above their heads after replacing himself with the clone who used his shoulders as a springboard, jerked his hand tight. The Grim Reapers were unable to escape as the ninja wire wrapped around them. Now trapped, they could do nothing as Naruto created two more clones, which created a massive Rasenshuriken between them as they dropped from the sky.

Flapping his wings in the air, Naruto watched as a large sphere of intense wind chakra exploded. He couldn't see the millions of microscopic cuts that were appearing along the Grim Reapers's bodies. However, he could see how their bodies were swiftly torn to shreds under the incredible pressure of his infamous wind jutsu. He waited until they were nothing but chunks of cloth and bone before traveling back down toward Rias and the others.

"All done," Naruto said in a cheerful voice.

"You scare me sometimes," Rias said with a small head shake.

"With my brilliance?"

"With that ridiculous power of yours."

Naruto laughed as they continued on. They ran into three more groups of Grim Reapers, but Koneko and Ravel took care of one group by using teamwork and Rias annihilated the last with her Powers of Destruction.

"We didn't really get to do anything, did we?" Kiba joked as they kept moving.

Irina shook her head. "No, we didn't. I wanted to show off my angel abilities a little."

"There will be plenty of time for that," Naruto said. "We're almost at where Sona and Tsubaki are."

Naruto's words were indeed correct. Barely ten seconds later, their group burst out between a set of buildings and found what looked like the site of an ancient battlefield. Corpses littered the ground. Of course, the corpses were little more than skeletal remains, but that just added an ancient feeling to this battlefield. It was like staring at a battle from the Edo period.

Several meters ahead of them were Sona and Tsubaki, locked in a battle against what looked like a hundred Grim Reapers. Naruto honestly could not even guess at their numbers. There were so many they blotted out the sky. It was amazing that the two of them hadn't been overwhelmed, but it looked like Sona was relying heavily on her ice magic, while Tsubaki was twirling a naginata in her hands and sliced apart any Grim Reaper that came too close. The dome above their heads kept the Grim Reapers from attacking en masse, which forced them to take on Tsubaki in close-quarters.

However, while the Grim Reapers were being kept at bay, Naruto knew it was only a matter of time before the two were overwhelmed. As a general rule of thumb, Low-Class Grim Reapers were stronger than the average Middle-Class Devil. It was likely that these two were alive only because Sona was a High-Class Devil and Tsubaki had the strength of a Middle-Class Devil.

"We're going in!" Rias shouted. "Kiba and Irina, head straight through the center with Naruto. Koneko and Ravel, take the left flank. I'll take the right."

"Got it!" Kiba said.

"Just leave this to us," Irina added.

Naruto pounded his fists together. "Time to kick more ass."

"Let's go, Fried Turkey."

"I'm not a turkey! Why do you keep changing my nickname like this?!"

"Because it's fun."

While Ophis and Kunou found a place to hide, Naruto separated from Rias, Koneko, and Ravel as he lead Kiba and Irina on a blitz run straight through the Grim Reapers's formation. His first attack, a Rasengan, slammed into the face of one Grim Reaper, blasting its skull to bits. Afterward, he created several Shadow Clones and had them quickly widen the gap they were running through. His clones were savage as they fired off Rasengans like they were going out of style, killed with kunai… one of his clones had even taken a Grim Reaper's arm and was beating his foes with it.

Irina and Kiba were right behind him.

Kiba, being a Knight, put that incredible speed of his to good use. None of the Grim Reapers could even see him. He was like a flash of light as he created multiple swords that exploded from the ground and skewered several of his opponents. At the same time, Kiba himself appeared and disappeared in bursts of intense speed and attacked while his enemies were distracted. Even Naruto was impressed when the boy jumped through the air and twirled around, hacking off a Grim Reaper's head with his Demonic Holy Sword.

While Kiba used his speed, Irina elegantly flowed across the battlefield as she hacked apart Grim Reapers. Her body spun, the light sword in her hand humming, as she danced and swung the blade. An arm was removed by her upward swing. A head was chopped off when she swung her blade horizontally. Two Grim Reapers tried attacking her, but she stepped backward to avoid one strike, then raised her sword and blocked the other one. Loud sizzling sounds emerged from their weapons as light battled against the scythe. Then Irina moved to the side and rotated her wrist. The scythe became buried in the ground as she took a step forward and sliced through the Grim Reaper's torso.

Sona and Tsubaki saw the group heading their way and fought even more viciously. Despite how hard they were working, it was clear they could not do much. Most of the Grim Reapers had already backed off in the face of Sona's last attack, but there was one Grim Reaper with much darker robes who refused to stay back.

"All of you will die," the Grim Reaper in dark robes hissed.

"That's not for you to decide," Sona said in a composed voice.

"Hmph!"

The Grim Reaper shot forward and swung its scythe at them, but Tsubaki intercepted the attack with her naginata while Sona used her ice magic to create another massive serpent. The giant snake wove around Tsubaki and attacked the Grim Reaper, but he merely swerved back, spun around, and used his scythe to hack off the beast's head.

"You should already know that doesn't work on me," the Grim Reaper said.

"Then how about this! Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ogi: Sennen Goroshi: Rasengan Style!"

Before the Grim Reaper could launch his attack again, Naruto appeared beneath him and slammed two Rasengans up the cloaked figure's ass. The attacks were so strong that when they exploded, the Grim Reaper was launched into the sky, smacked against several of his fellow Grim Reapers, and caused the Grim Reapers in question to explode.

"What kind of secret technique is that?" asked Sona. While she at least looked calm on the outside, Tsubaki had curled her nose in disgust at him, but it wasn't like Naruto cared about what this woman thought—even if she did love Kiba.

"Just an attack designed to piss opponents off." Naruto waved a hand. "You two should go. Head outside this formation of enemies with Irina and Kiba."

"And what about you?" asked Sona.

"I'm going to deal with these people."

"You say that like it's easy."

Naruto laughed off Sona's words and once more told them to leave. None of them argued as they swiftly began traveling out the way they'd come, through the weakened area they had blasted through. Of course, by this point, that area had already been filled, but the enemies numbers had also thinned. He could see the other three past the formation. Rias was on one side, using a combination of sword techniques and long-range bombardment spells to annihilate several Grim Reapers. On the other side was Ravel and Koneko. It looked like Koneko was up front, using Senjutsu to fight evenly with the more powerful Grim Reapers, while Ravel hung in the back and provided support.

Kiba was the first to emerge from the enemy formation, but Irina, Sona, and Tsubaki followed shortly behind. When Naruto saw they were safe, he created six shadow clones and had them split up into groups of two. One of them held out their hand and formed a Rasengan, while the others added wind chakra.

A loud and shrill bell-like screech began echoing around the battlefield as the Naruto clones finished creating their Rasenshurikens, three in all. Because they couldn't throw them, the three clones merely leapt into the horde of Grim Reapers and thrust out their hands. Meanwhile, Naruto ran like a Devil out of Hell seconds before all three Rasenshurikens exploded.

The Rasenshuriken was still one of his greatest and most powerful techniques. Creating three of them and launching them into a horde of enemies was basically overkill.

When the massive explosion of wind chakra lit up the sky, Sona and Tsubaki, who still weren't as well versed with some of his more destructive techniques, could do nothing more than gawk. Three large spheres several dozen meters in diameter had appeared in the sky. Within those spheres were the Grim Reapers, trapped by the vortices of wind surrounding them. Meanwhile, countless microscopic blades attacked the Grim Reapers on a cellular level, utterly destroying them.

"There." Naruto clapped his hands as if ridding them of dust. He walked over to the group and beamed at them as if nothing was wrong. "Let's head to the extraction point."

Ophis and Kunou quickly emerged from a building and ran to his side. As Naruto began moving off with the two girls in tow, Sona leaned over to Rias.

"Hey, Rias?"

"Yes?"

"Your pawn scares me sometimes."

Rias just smiled.

Their group arrived at the extraction point soon enough. Of course, while it was called an extraction point, it was nothing so extravagant. It was an empty space just a few kilometers outside of Lucifaad. In the center of this space was a large-scale magic circle, which was a transportation circle that would take them back home.

Rias and her group were the first to arrive, so they stood around and waited for the others to show up. Not long after they arrived, Vali, along with Arthur, Le Fay, Kuroka, and Bikou also made it. However, Issei and his group had not yet made it.

"Do you think Issei might have found trouble?" asked Kiba with a worried frown.

Rias bit her lip. "I hope not. It didn't look like there were any High-Rank Grim Reapers among the group that Hades sent. I don't believe he expected us to be capable of putting up such a strong resistance… no, maybe even someone as arrogant as Hades is unwilling to provoke the Four Maou by sending anything above Middle-Rank Grim Reapers to deal with us. In either event, so long as they don't run into a High-Rank Grim Reaper, they should be fine."

"How are Grim Reapers ranked?" asked Irina, now curious.

It was Ravel who answered them. "Grim Reapers are given the same ranking system as Devils. There's Low, Middle, High, and Ultimate. You can tell what a Grim Reaper's rank is by how dark their robes are. That one who was fighting Sona and Tsubaki was a Middle-Rank Grim Reaper." She paused, then continued. "You should also keep in mind that Grim Reapers are generally stronger than most Devils. A Low-Rank Grim Reaper will be stronger than the average Middle-Rank Devil. The reason we were able to fight so many was due primarily to the fact that all of us have powers far beyond a simple Low-Rank or even Middle-Rank Devil."

Everyone nodded at the girl's thorough explanation. However, as Ravel's small lecture ended, the group once more turned in the direction of Lucifaad.

"Ise and the others still haven't shown up." Rias bit her lip.

"I think they might have run into trouble," Koneko said, her ears twitching.

"Nya, this might not help, but the last time I saw them, they had been making their way here," Kuroka said. "I only managed to catch a glimpse of them, though. They were too far away for me to see and they kept disappearing between the buildings, nya."

"I don't believe Hyoudou is so weak that he can't deal with a couple of Grim Reapers." Vali crossed his arms. "I'm sure they are okay."

Despite the man's words, five minutes soon turned into fifteen, and Issei's group still hadn't shown up. At this point, the looks on everyone's faces had turned grim with worry. Naruto glanced at Rias, who looked like she was about to start pacing back and forth any minute now.

Naruto sighed and walked forward, causing everyone to look at him. He gave them a helpless smile and shrugged.

"I'm going to see what's keeping them," he said.

Rias frowned but nodded. "Be careful."

"I will." He was about to leave when someone grabbed the sleeve of his jumpsuit. He turned to find Ophis staring at him. With a grin, he patted her on the head before removing her fingers from his sleeve. "Don't worry. I won't be gone long."

Naruto raced back into Lucifaad and found the tallest building he could. There were still a lot of Grim Reapers in the area. They obviously hadn't given up on finding Ophis, though it looked like they had no means of tracking her. Naruto narrowed his eyes and searched for Issei and the others. He found them, but his eyes narrowed further when he saw how injured they were.

Issei was standing protectively in front of the group, blood running down his head as he pushed his Boosted Gear to the limit. It appeared he was using his Balance Breaker to the limit. Not only that, but Akeno had even exposed her breasts for him to power up, which meant the situation must have been dire because she'd probably never do that if she didn't have to. Asia was doing her best to heal the members of Sona's Peerage, all of whom were bloody and bruised.

Not only was Issei viciously fighting to protect the others, Akeno and Raynare had even joined forces, an occurrence he didn't think was possible. While Raynare used a light spear to fend the Grim Reapers off, Akeno was blasting at them with holy lightning. It looked like they were doing a somewhat decent job of forcing their enemies back. However, Naruto could see how their bodies were slumping. They were beginning to burn out.

Naruto did not hesitate.

He blasted off the building and activated Rikudou Sennin Mode to give himself a burst of power and speed. It didn't take more than a few seconds to arrive at their location, and when he did, Naruto didn't stop as he created a pair of staffs with his Truth-Seeking Balls and tore into the enemy forces. He became a whirlwind of destruction. Not only did he attack with the short staffs in his hands, but he sent his Truth-Seeking Balls sailing into the Grim Reapers. They might not have looked like much, but these small black orbs possessed a frighteningly destructive power.

There were quite a few Middle-Rank Grim Reapers, but in the face of Naruto while he was in Rikudou Sennin Mode, they were basically just paper.

"Naruto!" Asia exclaimed with joy.

"Sensei!" Issei shouted with tears in his eyes.

"Ufufu, it looks like Kitsune-kun has come to our rescue," Akeno said.

"Hmph. As if I needed this asshat to rescue me," Raynare mumbled.

Naruto looked at everyone, at his fellow peerage members and Sona's Peerage. All of them were injured to some extent. However, they were able to heal thanks to Asia and her Twilight Healing.

"Come on, everyone," he said. "We need to leave now. You head to the extraction point. I'll cover for you."

Everyone nodded before they set off. Because several of their members were unconscious despite being healed, some of them had to be carried. Saji, who was healed but exhausted, lifted Momo and Reya over his shoulders as they ran through the streets. Issei lead the group. They were essentially using him as a spear point since his Balance Breaker was the most powerful among them. Meanwhile, Naruto darted around the group and killed any Grim Reaper that came too close.

It looked like they were making great progress.

Naruto should have known things were going too smoothly.

They were just about to reach the outskirts of Lucifaad when a magic circle appeared and Shalba Beelzebub stepped out. He was alone, which was odd. However, even more odd was the arrow in his hand. Naruto didn't know what he was going to use it for. An arrow wouldn't even really harm any of them.

"Sekiryuutei!" Shalba screamed. "I've decided to end you! Your master has ruined my plans over and over again. If I can't kill that bitch, then I will get my revenge by killing you!"

Issei clicked his tongue as he stared at the man. "I don't know what you're screaming about, but anyone picking a fight with the Buchou is going to get their ass creamed! Prepare yourself!"

Akeno snorted into her hand while Raynare palmed her face.

Naruto was about to intervene in the battle. He had a bad feeling about it, but before he could, a Grim Reaper suddenly appeared before him.

This Grim Reaper was different from the rest in that he had his hood pulled down, though that didn't mean Naruto could see his face, which was covered by a clown mask. His scythe had a more intense aura than any of the ones wielded by the Grim Reapers they had fought so far. It was so black that it was like the light abstained from it. What's more, this Grim Reapers robes were also the darkest black Naruto had ever seen. He felt like he was staring into a black hole.

"I'm going to go ahead and say you are one of those High-Rank Grim Reapers," Naruto said as he stood on the roof of a building next to Issei and the others.

The Grim Reaper bowed slightly. "That is correct. My name is Pluto. I am an Ultimate-class Grim Reaper under the employ of Lord Hades."

"I assume you're here because you don't want me interfering in the battle between Shalba and Ise?" Naruto gave Pluto a vicious grin as he cracked his fingers. "Who the hell do you think you are? You're asking for an ass kicking."

"Hmph. I know well of your power," the Grim Reaper called Pluto said as he swung his scythe. "I also know you are not at your full strength. A man who doesn't even have half of his original power is no threat to me."

"We'll see about that."

Naruto snorted as he prepared himself for combat, but he was secretly worried. An Ultimate-class Grim Reaper was considered by many to be even more powerful than Ultimate-class Devils like Serafall Leviathan. Only a super Devil like Sirzechs could defeat someone like this, and while Naruto was confident in his own power, what Pluto said was true. He wasn't at full strength.

"Kurama?"

"You have five minutes."

After Kurama informed him of how much time Naruto could remain in their shared state, the fox's chakra spread through his body as he activated his Nine-Tailed Chakra Shroud on top of Naruto's Rikudou Sennin Mode.

Pluto did not say anything as Naruto powered up. Down below, Issei's battle against Shalba continued, while the Grim Reapers tried their best to take down the others. Xenovia, Akeno, and Raynare were having none of that and fought viciously to hold them back with the still conscious members of Sona's peerage. It also looked like Shalba did not have the strength to defeat Issei. Out of the corner of his eyes, Naruto saw Issei slam a fist into Shalba's body that sent the Devil crashing through a wall and demolishing the entire building.

"Truly, you are an incredibly powerful individuals," Pluto said at last. "Even though you lack half of your original power, you are able to emit so much energy that even I am forced to acknowledge you as a threat. I can see why Lord Hades wants to get rid of you. This kind of power is dangerous."

"If Hades wants to get rid of me, he should have come himself." Naruto grinned, revealing his sharp canines. "You aren't anywhere close to being strong enough to beat me. I'm the greatest fucking ninja in the entire world, Dattebayo!"

… There was a pause in the battle.

"Datte-what?"

"Dattebayo. You know, like, believe it… or something."

Pluto stared at Naruto, who stared back. There was a moment of uneasy silence before Pluto attacked. He rushed forward and slashed at Naruto with his Scythe, but of course, the Naruto his scythe bit into exploded into smoke, revealing that Naruto had replaced himself with a Shadow Clone.

Before Pluto could retreat, Naruto appeared behind him and tried to slam a Fuuton Rasengan into his back. It was blocked when the Grim Reaper moved his scythe to intercept. Even though the attack was blocked, the destructive power of his jutsu sent Pluto flying through the air. He managed to stabilize himself. However, Naruto was already on top of the man… Grim Reaper… thing. What were Grim Reapers anyway? All they had were bones.

Pushing those thoughts into the back of his mind, Naruto continued his relentless bombardment of attacks, which rang out as Pluto intercepted them with his scythe. Explosions and shockwaves surged from their constant back and forth. Several buildings in the general vicinity were destroyed and even some of the Grim Reapers attacking Naruto's friends disintegrated when they got to close.

When Sona's Peerage and the other Gremory group members saw this batte, they immediately backed away. Naruto noticed this and knew he could now go all out. Ten arms extended from his back. Each one held a mini-Rasenshuriken. He slammed them into Pluto, who was finally overwhelmed by the constant attacks and forced back. Even so, he didn't get blown apart, which had been Naruto's original plan. He frowned. This Grim Reaper was not stronger than him, but he seemed to have a lot of experience.

As their battle continued, the world around them began shaking. Tears in space appeared around their battle. Black rips began appearing all over the place, large spatial tears that caused the area around them to distort. He watched as one of the rips sucked up an entire building. It wasn't just the building that disappeared either. Several Grim Reapers that had been floating near it were also sucked up.

"You are indeed a powerful enemy," Pluto admitted at last. He looked at the tears in space that had opened all around them. "Even this dimension is unable to withstand your power… though this dimension was already collapsing when Rizevim and Euclid left. I understand now there is no way for me to defeat you, but it doesn't matter. Our goal has already been accomplished."

"What?" Naruto asked.

In that moment, he received his answer when a loud cry of "ISE!" went up. Naruto turned his head toward the battle between Shalba and Issei. Shalba was engulfed in a bright red light as Issei fired off several cannons from his wings. However, what caused Naruto's heart to shake was not watching as Issei killed Shalba.

It was how Issei was standing in front of Akeno as though he had protected her from something, an arrow protruding from his chest. He turned his head toward the stunned Fallen Angel/Devil hybrid and smiled as he said something. Blood was dripping from his mouth. Naruto didn't know what he said, but Akeno's horrified expression grew.

Seconds later, Issei fell forward and was drawn into a spatial ripped, where he disappeared.

"ISE!"

All of the girls who had been fighting alongside Issei screamed when they saw him disappear into a spatial crack. They would have rushed through, but Naruto was aware of how dangerous these rips were.

He slammed a Rasengan into Pluto's face, taking advantage of the situation, and then rushed toward the girls. He created four Shadow Clones, one for each girl. Before any of them could race into the spatial crack, the Naruto clones knocked them unconscious, grabbed them, and bolted as more cracks began appearing. Naruto glanced around as more and more tears materialized in thin air. He frowned as he wondered what the hell was going on.

"It seems Rizevim does not want us attaining Ophis," Pluto said as he floated down beside Naruto. "He has set this alternate dimension to collapse. I believe it was his intent to kill off all his enemies in a single swoop. Our battle here is done."

Naruto didn't bother paying attention to Pluto as the Grim Reaper flew off. It was clear the being sent by Hades had no intention of battling him when there was nothing to be gained by it, and he had lost his desire to battle.

He bit his lip and stared at the crumbling space all around him.

What should he do?

As Naruto was lost in thoughts and trying to come to a decision, the most unlikely person suddenly appeared before him. He gazed at Ophis as his eyes suddenly watered.

"Ophis…"

"I saw what happened," Ophis said. "I know you wanted to go alone, but I followed you when no one else was looking." She glanced at the crack that Issei had fallen through. "That boy… he was struck by an arrow coated in Samael's blood. Samael's curse has infected him. It is very likely that his body is dying. Once that happens, his spirit will die next."

A shudder ran through Naruto's body when he heard this. Fear took hold of him.

Issei was one of his friends—probably one of his best friends now. He recalled the times he helped the boy train, the times he, Issei, and Kiba went out to do guy things, and all of the battles they had been through together. Issei was more of a brother to him now than Sasuke had ever been. The idea of him being gone was not something Naruto could accept.

"Is there anything I can do to bring him back?" he asked.

"There is nothing you can do," Ophis said, and Naruto felt a crushing weight on his chest—until she spoke again. "But I might be able to do something."

"You can?" Naruto asked. Ophis nodded her head and Naruto sucked in the tears he wanted to shed. "Please do it. Find Ise. Then come back to me."

Ophis's eyes sparkled a little when Naruto told her to come back to him. She nodded once before turning around and blitzing through the spatial crack that Issei had disappeared through.

~Devil Ninja~

Rias and her peerage, Sona and her peerage, and the members of Team Vali disappeared through a summoning circle and reappeared inside of their house. Naruto and his clones were with them. They were carrying the unconscious Akeno, Asia, Raynare, and Xenovia.

Naruto told Rias about what happened.

Immediately after returning home, Rias contacted Azazel and informed him of what happened. It did not take long for Azazel to appear before them. Then he, along with the former Dragon King, Tannin, prepared a ritual to summon Issei.

"The Dragon Gate is a magic circle exclusive to Dragons," Azazel explained to the Gremory group. "It allows them to summon another Dragon to them. While the Dragon Gate insignia can be drawn by someone else, it only responds when there is a dragon nearby. This is why I've invited Tannin."

Everyone glanced at Tannin, who was in a much smaller form than usual. Not only was Tannin present, but even Vali had remained behind to help open the Dragon Gate.

They were currently inside of the living room of what had basically become the Gremory Peerage's house, though Naruto would tell anyone willing to listen that it was his house because his apartment complex used to be here.

The living room had been completely cleared out to make way for the magic circle, which spanned the entire room. The Dragon Gate insignia had the representation of the Five Dragon Kings, Tannin, the Two Heavenly Dragons, and Grendel. Each Dragon was represented on the magic circle by a different color: Red for Ddraig, white for Albion, purple for Tannin, blue for Tiamat, green for Yu-Long, black for Vritra, grey for Midgardsormr, gold for Fafnir, and dark green for Grendel.

Kuroka was helping draw the circle as well. It seemed she knew quite a bit about magic circles and even the Dragon Gate.

"The situation is beginning to look incredibly grim," Naruto muttered as he rubbed Kunou's head. There was something therapeutic about it, and he really needed this to keep himself from going crazy. His actions also seemed to help calm down Kunou.

Rias nodded, her eyes filled with worry as she watched Azazel and Kuroka. "Now that Rizevim has Ophis's powers, there is no telling what he will do. I've already received a report from Grayfia saying the Old Satan Faction has begun attacking towns and villages in the underworld with gigantic monsters. Not only that, but it seems Hades has been helping the Old Satan Faction from behind the scenes."

"I've heard that Hades is the one responsible for many of the monsters that have appeared in the underworld," Ravel said in a quiet voice. She hadn't been the same since her brother attacked her.

"I wonder what sort of monsters that god has given to aid the Old Satan Faction," Naruto muttered.

Rias shook her head. "I don't know, but I've heard rumors that some of them are incredibly powerful beasts like Cerberus, Orthos, and even the Hydra. There's even a rumor going around that the evil dragons have been revived somehow, though I don't know if that one is true."

That didn't sound good, but Naruto didn't say anything as Azazel and Kuroka continued to work. Ravel shifted a little and moved closer to him as the silence grew. She didn't say anything, but Naruto placed a hand on her head like he was doing with Kunou. As the girl relaxed under his touch, Rias sighed while Rossweisse looked just a little putout.

"Sorry." He grinned. "I only have two hands."

"I-I didn't say anything!" Rossweisse blushed.

"No, but you were thinking it would be nice if I pet you too, right?"

"A-absolutely not!"

"I want you to pet me," Koneko muttered with a frown.

"Later," Naruto assured her.

"Okay, the circle is complete." Azazel stood up and stepped back for a moment, wiping his brow. He looked at the group. "We will now be performing the ritual."

"Will Ophis also appear as well?" asked Naruto.

"Ophis?"

Naruto nodded. "She went after Ise when he disappeared through that spatial crack."

"Hmm…" Azazel rubbed his chin and looked at the magic circle thoughtfully. "If she is with Ise, then she should appear as well."

Naruto accepted those words as Azazel lifted the jewel with Fafnir and channeled his power through it, causing the jewel to glow a golden color. At that moment, the magic circle also began glowing. Soon, it wasn't just the circle and the jewel. Vali's body began emitting a bright white glow, while Tannin's body glowed with a vibrant purple. Soon after, light spread through the entire floor. It was so bright that Naruto, Rias, and the others were forced to cover their eyes with their hands.

The light did eventually die down, and when it did, everyone looked at the magic circle, expecting to find Issei and Ophis standing before them.

Neither of them were present.

All that appeared in the circle were 8 pawn pieces.

---

I am not too fond of my writing at the moment. I'm sure a lot of you have noticed, but there are a lot of inconsistencies within my story.

Part of me feels like I've been stretching myself too thin. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that I've been consistently writing around 8,000 to 12,000 words every single day for multiple stories for the past several months, and I think I've been getting them all mixed up in my head. Devil Ninja has also suffered as a result. I'm going to try and focus on only one or two stories from now on, though this does mean my writing for other stories will slow down.

If you've read the High School DxD light novels, then you will know that this chapter is basically the ending of volume 11. Uroboros and the Promotion Test has practically the same ending as this chapter, where Issei is killed by Shalba Beelzebub with an arrow drenched in Samael's blood.

Of course, the rest of this arc is very different from the original. That is because I have been trying my best to mix original story ideas with canonical story ideas. I do not know if I've done a good job, but I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It's quite a bit longer than usual at 18,000 words. Consider the longer than average chapter my apology for not writing faster.

Anyway, if anyone wants to know what I've been working outside of this fan fic, you can follow me on Twitter. I mostly tweet about my writing, retweet artwork from my favorite artists, and anime tiddies.

Also, I released a new book last month. It's titled Journey of a Betrayed Hero vol. 1. It's my attempt at writing an isekai light novel. It's sort of like The Rising of the Shield Hero crossed with Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero. The book is available digitally in Kindle Unlimited and paperback at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, and basically any online retailer.

Here is a description of the story:

The hero's journey doesn't always end after the Dark Lord has been slain.

After being betrayed by the very kingdom he saved, Jacob Stone forsook his title of Hero. Now he lives the simple life of a barkeep. Yet even that life is irrevocably erased when a young woman named Enyo appears before him.

She claims to be the daughter of the former Dark Lord and has come seeking his aid. He'd normally never consider lending her a hand, but when she tells him that she knows of a way for him to return home, he's left with little recourse.

His journey will take him across the kingdom of Terrasole, toward the place where it all began. If he succeeds, he'll return to the home he'd been stolen from. If he fails… well, he won't live long enough to regret failing.