Author's Notes: I apologize for the extremely long wait but a lot of personal issues came up and I had to deal with them first before I could even start working on the chapter. A chunk of them has been cleared up enough for me to finish the chapter at the very least. So now then, on to the reviews.
Kerlongsj Evert Orlejov: Thanks, I'm glad to hear that and no that won't happen. It kinda would defeat the purpose of making him neutral.
The Storm Master 567: Well, that will be explained a little later on. A thing or two might happen about Donovan sooner or later, haven't worked out much on it. Vince might tell them his reasoning for rejecting his Sacred Gear later on but as for right now, he's not going to say a word. I already have a concept for Angel/Devil's Balance Breaker but I am open to ideas. The girl is mainly a crush that Vince grew out of, glad you liked the fight between Claudia and Akeno though. Yup you are right there, if Vince was fighting a more experience Power of Destruction user, he would have had a hard time.
Yeah it was predictable but I felt that it needed to be showcased. I myself am looking for to the interactions between Cao-Cao and Vince it will be interesting to say the least. As for Issei's harem, there's also Ravel, Ophis coming up later and so on. For me I see it like this. Vince is following his own path but gets dragged on more than one occasion into the stuff Issei and the others would go through. I actually do have a concept of him meeting the past wielders of the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi along with other Shinto Deities, however I haven't had much time to work on it.
Keybladewielder97: Why he rejects his Sacred Gears will be explained soon as for when and how he'll accept it will be very also be soon. Maybe later on when Vince is more stronger, probably. But I cannot see him winning against Rias and her peerage as he is right now. Yup, I don't think anyone was surprised to be honest. Well, Double Soul best suited as the most accurate representation of what Angel/Devil does and I like the concept of it. Thanks, glad you liked it.
Izayoi Vortigern Albion: No, Claudia is mostly based off of the character Vert from the Hyperdimension Neptunia series.
Cobalt Striker Gundam: Defintely.
Guest: Actually, yes it is.
ZeroSaga: Why Helena texted Vince when he fought Rias will be explained a little later on.
Nobliss Fatso: Maybe. The idea has been on my mind for while.
Earl: Thanks.
zero kazama: I haven't decided yet exactly. I don't want to go overboard with Vince's harem though.
Blitzenf'n: It might come soon or a little later on. I do have a few things I want out of the way first before I can think about it more thoroughly.
That's it for the reviews. I hope everyone enjoys the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD or any other references or elements I may put in the story. They all belong to their respective owners I only own my OCs.
xXxXxXxXxX
"Was that really the best decision, Vince-sama?" Claudia asked as she followed him to the infirmary.
"Yeah. We didn't want to get tied down by the contract, besides someone has to play the bad guy and I'm sure a lot of devils at this point probably sees me as one." He replied with a small shrug.
"I see. What will you be doing now?" Claudia asked curiously.
"See how they're doing, patch them up with some Phenex Tears and go back to training. I want to deal with my Sacred Gears and move on." Vince stated.
"Understandable."
He sighed and then turned to her. "After seeing them, I'd like to ask you a favor Claudia."
"What is the favor, Vince-sama?" She asked curiously.
Vince took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her along with several yen bills. "You mind buying this for me?"
Claudia nodded as she took the paper and read it aloud. "Pockey, smoke bombs and small flash bombs... I understand the pockey but why do you need smoke bombs and flash bombs?"
"I need them incase I need to make a quick escape. I would ask either Kasumi or Akari, but they'll be busy training. You think you can do me the favor?" He asked her.
"Of course Vince-sama, you don't even have to ask. But do you know how to properly use them?" She questioned.
"Yeah. Just slam the bombs into the ground and run like hell or hide." Vince answered simply.
Claudia giggled and nodded as she placed away the piece of paper. "Very well. I will buy these for you right after our visit."
"Good thing those yen I stole were real. I wonder who's pocket the yen came from though." He commented with a small chuckle as Claudia giggled even more at the comment.
xXxXxXxXxX
Both Claudia and Vince walked into the infirmary seeing the others along with Rias and Akeno up and talking with them, while Rias had a few cuts and bruises, some parts of Akeno's body were bandaged as Asia healed their injuries.
"Vince, Claudia-san. You two are here." Kiba said, noticing them.
Everyone turned their attention to the two as Vince held back the urge to sigh. (This feels awkward. Then again, I'm not really used to being around this many people, even if I know them.)
"It was quite an unexpected outcome." Xenovia stated.
"Yeah it was." Rena then turned to him with a raised eyebrow, no longer in her disguise. "Was it really necessary to steal all that yen and the food from that replicated convenience store?"
Without warning Vince, grabbed her arm with one hand and gently pulled her to the side of the other room.
With his face being a few centimeters away Rena's cheeks flared up with a noticeable blush from the close contact as the others looked at them with slight looks of jealously with the exception being of Kiba, Koneko, Kiba and Claudia who looked confused at the unexpected action. Despite this however, Rena placed a small barrier in between them and the others. "I placed up a barrier to reduce the sound so the others don't hear very well but we'll have to whisper."
Vince nodded in response as he started whispering. "I needed the yen. You already know that I'm poor Rena and I can't keep asking my mom for more money. Especially with the currency conversion fee."
"If you were low in yen then you should have let me know Vince or your mother for that matter. Neither I, nor my parents have no problem giving you money to sustain yourselves." Rena whispered back with a small frown.
"You know I can't accept something like that. Not to mention my mom would immediately try to pay back the money." He replied with a whisper, also frowning.
"Geez. You two should let go of that pride and just accept the help. We're not asking for anything back and both of you helped us out a lot in the past. She commented, still continuing to whisper.
"My mom and I, I don't like to leave a debt unpaid." Vince answered as he still whispered.
Rena sighed and was about to comment until, Rias cleared her throat gaining their attention. "Is there a reason why you two have been so secretive over there and why you decided to create a barrier Rena?"
"U-Umm..." Rena remained at a loss for words as she was put on the stop.
(Sheesh. Guess, I'll have to do this. I'd rather avoid having anyone else find out about how this topic. Kasumi, Akari and Rena are the only ones in the room that know how poor my mom and I, really are.) Vince placed a hand around Rena's waist and brought her closer to him, hugging her from behind a rather intimate manner. "Rena and I were having a private conversation. Something that we've talked about when we were dating back then. Huh, kinda reminds me like we're dating again, right Rena?"
A blush appeared on her face as Rias and Akeno started radiating their respective auras. The other promptly took a step back after seeing this.
Claudia giggled at the scene he caused while Issei paled considerably as Asia hid behind him.
(Well, what I'm saying isn't a lie. We have talked about this in the past before, it led to a fight or two between us, but eh. I hope this gives them get the wrong idea.) Vince smirked a little as he gently placed his cheek against hers. "You're as soft as ever, Rena."
As he said this Rena's cheeks turned as red as a tomato. Both Rias and Akeno looked livid as their respective auras increased.
"Oh my. It sure is lively in here." A woman spoke, gaining everyone's attention.
"O-Okaa-sama?!" Rias spoke, completely surprised as did the others.
After seeing Venelana come into the room both Sirzechs, Grayfia and Azazel followed in soon right after, further surprising everyone.
"That was quite a match, you four are certainly full of surprises." Sirzechs commented with a laugh.
Rias, Akeno and Claudia smiled at the praise while Vince remained passive. Venelana then turned to him. "Why didn't you finish the match when you had the chance Vince?"
Everyone's immediately turned to Vince who shrugged a little. "I don't care much about winning. The point of the match was for me to show off, nothing else. Besides, I didn't want to hurt Rias."
Venelana smiled at his answer while Rias blushed a little and look away. "I see. And what of that powerful water spell you used? The one that you stated you created three years ago with the help of Gabriel-san and Shura-san."
"That was just to destroy their base and again to show off for the crowd. I didn't really intend to defeat them with that." He answered simply.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you got Serafall's attention with that spell, since it is called Leviathan." Azazel commented with a small chuckle.
"Lucky me." Vince said dryly.
"It was a bit of a shame that the match ended in a draw though. Three of you have gotten strong in such a short amount of time and Claudia herself is really strong too." Sirzechs commented.
"Thank you for the praise Lucifer-sama." She said bowing as Grayfia glanced at her briefly.
Vince sighed a bit and turned to Rias and Akeno. "Are you two okay? You're not hurt or anything?
"I'm okay Vince, just a few scratches and bumps." Rias stated with a smile.
"As am I, Vince-kun. The cuts weren't too deep." Akeno said, also smiling.
"Then how did you retire?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"That would be from the blood loss Vince-sama. When I attacked Akeno, I made sure to focus more on giving her more cuts, rather than making than the power behind it so she would retire from blood loss." Claudia explained.
"Ara, how cunning of you." Akeno stated with a smile.
Vince nodded and glanced at her injuries and thinking. (Asia healed Akeno really well. I can't use the Phenex Tears on her since it won't restore any blood. That actually was pretty cunning of Claudia, she may have also did that incase they had any Phenex Tears.)
Suddenly everyone felt a small surge of energy spike, they all turned their attention to Vince. He frowned a bit as he saw the Element Brand's tattoo on the back of his hand reacting, leaking out energy. His fingernails started to sharpen and turn more into a dragonic looking claw.
"That power feels familiar." Issei spoke, looking confused.
"It's the power of both Ddraig and Albion." Azazel stated with a frown. "Vince-"
"I know. I'm going to train right now. Claudia, can you do those errands first?" He asked turning to her.
"Yes, but will you be alright with your arm in this condition?" She asked looking concerned.
"It's fine. This isn't the first time I dealt with this." Vince answered, surprising the others.
"This has happened before?" Venelana asked frowning.
"Yeah." With his left hand he created a small needle made of lightning that discharged a noticeable amount of electricity. Without a moment's notice, he twirled the needle in between his fingers and stabbed the tattoo with the needle at the back of his right hand.
Everyone's eyes widened as a small trail of blood leaked out from his hand as the needle violently discharged electricity into the hand and the tattoo. However the energy from both Ddraig and Albion subsided after a few moments, thus having his hand return to normal.
"That's one way doing it. Attacking the source of where the power is leaking from." Azazel commented.
"Vince, it would be best if we watched over you while you take care of that issue." Rena suggested.
"It's too risky for my tastes the less people around me the better and besides-" He walked towards the window in the infirmary and opened it as a gentle breeze flew into the room. "All of have your own things you need to be doing and so do I."
Vince promptly jumped out of the window and towards a tree, using the momentum of from the jump he spun around the tree downwards until stopped at the bottom of the tree. Without a moment's notice he started walking, not looking back.
"Vince sure knows how to make an exit." Sirzechs commented, trying to lighten up the mood.
"Still. He really should learn more about telling people important matters such as this." Venelana commented with a frown.
Claudia then turned towards Rena with a perplexed expression. "Vince-sama, usually doesn't talk about himself, does he?"
"No, he's usually a private person. He only says something if it's necessary." Rena replied with a small sigh.
"And Vince doesn't think this is important?" Azazel asked shaking his head.
"Most likely not. Especially, since that seemed to have happened before." She answered.
"Umm... What is happening to Vince in the first place?" Issei asked suddenly with a confused expression.
"Personally, I believe he's being consumed by both the powers of Ddraig and Albion." Azazel stated seriously.
The room went silent as he continued. "Vince's instability with his Sacred Gears further increased after absorbing Ddraig's power and it went even further when he absorbed Albion's jewel when Vali was in his Balance Breaker. Which is why I prioritized his training with his Sacred Gears. With the rate he's going, he'll suffer the same fate as the previous users of both the Boosted Gear and the Divine Divide."
Sirzechs turned to Azazel and frowned a little. "You don't mean..."
"I do. If he doesn't lose his sanity first, then he'll most likely die from how violently he rejects his Sacred Gears and the power it's absorbed from the Heavenly Dragons." Azazel said with a frown.
xXxXxXxXxX
Walking through deserted part of the outskirts of a city paused for a moment. Vince paused for a moment as he felt a small chill down his spine just then, a large magical barrier appeared over Vince, preventing from escape as several magic bullets and fireballs came right for from several directions.
His eyes widened as he muttered to himself. "Oh this is bullshit..."
He placed his hand on the ground as a miniature whirlpool appeared from underneath Vince and easily deflected the attacks right back. Not wanting to waste an opportunity he, dispersed the whirlpool and have the water quickly form into several needles as a follow up to the recently deflected attacks.
Several screams and shouts echoed across the area while a few barriers were placed up. Vince's eyes narrowed as he saw several magicians coming out from their hidden areas. "Are you from the Khaos Brigade?"
"We have orders to capture you, dead or alive. Come with us or prepare to di-" The magician stopped talking as he looked down. To his horror and to the shock of the others he saw a lightning bolt pain pierce right near his chest with a heavy amount of blood pouring out the wound.
Vince scoffed as he glanced around his surroundings. "I'll pick the third option and beat all of you within an inch of your lives."
The magician fell to the floor as another spoke up. "He really is a monster. Let's get rid of him!"
The other magicians all quickly voiced their agreements and ready their spells as Vince shook his head. (So much for beating them within an inch of their lives. If they're trying to take me life then, I'll do the same.)
Multiple magic bullets and fire balls were fired at him. Vince sighed and quickly made a mini whirlpool that like last time, deflected the attacks back. However the remaining magicians this time created a barrier to protect themselves.
Sighing a bit, Vince look at the bracelet at his wrist. (Might as well end this quickly so I can get out quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a member of the Hero Faction watching this, that usually happens. I'll use my angel form it's underdeveloped but, it'll throw them off since I usually use my devil form.)
"Double Soul: Angel Soul!" Vince exclaimed as a magic circle appeared underneath him that radiated holy energy.
The magic circle enveloped him for a few moments until it disappeared. Large white wings came out his back and his body radiated the same holy energy from the magic circle.
"So the reports were true..." A magician muttered.
"Something like this doesn't make sense!" Another one exclaimed.
"Is this why this Sacred Gear was banned by God? But how did someone like him get it?" Another magician questioned.
"He must be dealt with quickly." A magician said.
(I think this is what Azazel meant about my Sacred Gear basically causing a shake in someone's normal beliefs. It makes me wonder if it's a side effect from using Angel/Devil or are they naturally this shook up about it.) Vince thought to himself as he frowned.
To the surprise of the magicians he started sliding across the ground as he summoned the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi in a burst of light and started firing light bullets at them.
A few of the magicians created barrier to protect themselves while the remaining casted and sent several lightning bolts and fire balls at him. He saw this and fired consecutive light bullets from his katana at the fire balls while doing a large sprint across the lightning bolts to avoid it. "Nice try."
Within a few moments the fire balls were pierced right through and headed towards the magician that fired them. He quickly placed up a barrier in response.
Vince slightly frowned as he saw the light bullets deflect. He then raised the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi in the air and fired off multiple light pillars from it. "Burn in the light!"
The light pillars then rained down from the sky as it repeatedly bombarded the barrier along with the magician. Several cracks appeared on his barrier before it shattered and the magician was enveloped in the pillar of light.
He breathed a sigh of relief until he was forced to sprint out of the way of several incoming attacks. Without skipping a beat, Vince blasted the attacks with a light pillar from his weapon while shooting several light bullets from his hand at a magician, surprising them.
The magician coughed up blood and started bleeding profusely before collapsing in a pool of his own blood.
The remaining magician's glared hatefully at him and starts becoming more aggressive in their attacks, sending more powerful magic attacks at him.
Despite fluidly moving and sprinting away from the attacks, Vince grunted in pain as a fire ball and a few magic bullets made it through and pierced through a few parts of his body. Despite bleeding from his wounds and suffering a burn on his back he in turn fired a light pillar at a magician, making him scream in pain which soon turned into a loud pitched scream as a light bullet was fired soon right after and pierced his groin.
The magician soon fell into the ground, unresponsive as the ground was stained in a pool of his blood.
With a fierce look in his demeanor he turned his attention towards the last magician who started to panic and take a step back. "G-Get away from me!"
"So much for your bravado." Vince pointed his weapon at the magician and fired a plethora of light bullets from it.
The last magician created a large barrier that deflect the light bullets. However his eyes widened as Vince then sprinted towards at an incredible speed. Despite the barrier placed up, protecting him. Both Vince and his holy-sword radiated a fierce amount of holy-energy. "W-What are you?!"
"The wrong person to mess with." Turning around he twirled his sword before plunging it into the ground.
The ground underneath the magician shook and the ground broke. A large pillar of light blasted the magician from underneath him. "Gaaaaaagh!"
Glancing at the magician Vince saw him bleeding profusely with several burns through various parts of his body.
He coughed up quite a bit of blood as he looked at Vince weakly. "D-Damn, it wasn't supposed to be like this... H-How could we lose to some kid- N-No, you're a monster."
"It was your own fault for trying to go after me." Vince sighed and picked up his sword from the ground and extended his hand to dismiss it in a small burst of light.
His eyes narrowed as he suddenly heard clapping. Turning around he saw Jeanne, now wearing a ponytail with a smile and right next to her, was a handsome young man with silver-white hair. "Absolutely amazing, Vince-kun."
"Jeanne." He replied, frowning a bit.
"It's kinda scary how good you've gotten this quickly. I mean those were some of our best magicians and you came out with only a few wounds. I thought for sure fighting that red-haired Devil-chan and her "Queen" would wear you down enough for them to capture you." She commented, still smiling.
"That contradicts what they wanted to do." He pointed out as he crossed his arms. (It also explains why the barrier hasn't gone away. I know that barrier is to prevent anyone else from hearing or sensing what's been happening. Given that nobody has noticed magician's attacking me.)
Jeanne however smiled. "We weren't going to let a few pawns kill you. You're too valuable to let that happen and we can always find a few elite magicians here and there."
(Not the situation I wanted to be in and it doesn't look like there's anyway I can escape with that barrier up. Tch, for now I'll revert back to save energy for now and try to stall out to recover more and to get more information.) Vince thought to himself as he examined his surroundings and reverted back to being a human.
Before Jeanne spoke up a ringtone sounded off causing the two to look at Vince who shrugged and picked up the call from his cellphone. "Yasaka?"
The young man raised an eyebrow while Jeanne pouted a little bit. "You mind Vince-kun?"
He raised his hand up and made a "shushing" gesture before continuing. "Yeah, don't worry. I'll talk to you later. I have to deal with a pushy woman that wants to kidnap me and doesn't like to take no for an answer, take care."
Vince hung up the call and winced a little bit, ignoring the somewhat strained smile from Jeanne and the raised eyebrow from the young man. (Why do I get the feeling I worded that horribly wrong?)
xXxXxXxXxX
Despite smiling a bit Yasaka released some killing intent as all nine of her tails swished around menacingly. "Oh dear. It seems, I'll have to have Vince explain to me exactly what has been happening."
Several of the yokai that watched her immediately paled and gained as much distance from her as they possibly could while doing their jobs while Kunou tilted her head in confusion. "Did something happen with mother?"
A yokai quickly scurried off with Kunou in tow. "It's nothing to worry about Kunou-sama. Yasaka-sama, just needs some time to relax."
"Oh, okay." She nodded but looked slightly confused.
xXxXxXxXxX
As Vince was about to speak another ring sounded off, slightly surprising both him and the two members of the Hero Faction. Sighing a bit, he picked up the call from his cellphone again. "Hmm? Oh, Helena."
"Geez, Vince-kun. Another woman? You certainly seem to get around-" Jeanne's smile grew even more strained as Vince shushed her for a second time.
"Yeah, sure thing Helena. I'll call you back a little later on though. I have this pushy French woman that doesn't seem to take no for answer and I have to talk to another woman afterwards. Later." He said as he hung up the call.
"Pushy French woman...?" Jeanne muttered to herself as her eye twitched.
xXxXxXxXxX
Helena blinked owlishly as she placed her phone away. "A woman of a French nationality and another woman? It appears that Vince is quite the casanova already."
A small chuckle escaped her throat as she looked at the window from her office. "Oh dear, I wonder how Kasumi and Akari will react to this development..."
xXxXxXxXxX
Seeing him turn off his cellphone and putting it away the young man took a step forward and spoke up, ignoring Jeanne's current expression while releasing the several swords from his belt. "A pleasure to meet you for the first time. Vince Reinhart. I am Sig, the descendant of the Hero Siegfried. My companions call me Siegfried. What you choose to call me is up to you."
Vince gained a slightly surprised look, but nodded. "Nice to meet you, Siegfried. I'd take it your leader Cao-Cao, sent you to capture me?"
"Why yes. However, Jeanne insisted she accompanied me. Under the reasoning of her having the most experience with you." He answered, making him sweatdrop.
Jeanne pouted a bit. "Why did you have to answer that, Seig-kun?"
"Because he asked." Siegfried replied simply.
Vince sighed a bit as he turned towards him. "Vince Reinhart, I've heard of your mentor previously being Shura Kirigakure, the church's first demonic sword user. You're the first person she's ever trained. I wish to see how well she trained you in swordsmanship."
"Big misunderstanding there. Shura, never taught me anything about using a sword, nor did she teach me any exorcist techniques." He pointed out.
Siegfried however laughed. "How unusual. However that does not matter, your feats are actually quite impressive. You were even able to be chosen by the holy-sword that was wielded by the deities themselves, Totsuka-no-Tsurugi. Not to mention Arondight, the counterpart of the holy-sword, Excalibur that was corrupted and turned into a demon-sword. Thought to be lost forever."
"Again, making assumptions here. I wasn't chosen by Arondight. I stole it from the temple it was sealed up in, Arondight and I only have a good compatibility rate." Vince said sighing a bit.
"I see. Then I wonder if it will change choose it's real owner-" Siegfried grabbed one of his swords in his hands as it started gathering demonic energy. "-Once I defeat you."
Vince sighed and in a small burst of demonic energy, Arondight appeared in his hands radiating a powerful demonic aura. However much to both Jeanne's and Siegfried's surprise, he tossed the sword to him. "Catch."
Siegfried caught the sword and frowned. "What are you planning?"
"I don't really want the sword anymore, you can have it if you want." He commented with a small shrug.
"You're just really gonna toss away a powerful demonic sword on par with Excalibur, just like that?" Jeanne asked with a surprised expression.
"Just like that." Vince replied without skipping a beat.
However to the surprise of everyone, the sword disappeared in a small burst of demonic energy and went back to Vince's hand. The demonic energy that radiated from the sword then enveloped him as a lightly scoffed. "Looks like we'll be stuck together for a bit... Stubborn sword."
"It seems you that sword has chosen you as it's wielder after all." Siegfried commented with a small hint of annoyance at being rejected.
"Don't I feel special?" Vince muttered sarcastically, he extended the hand that held Arondight and dismissed it.
Jeanne looked confused at the action while Siegfried raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to fight?"
"I'm not going to fight you with Jeanne around." He replied simply.
Siegfried then turned to Jeanne with a serious expression. "Do not interfere Jeanne."
The blonde pouted. "That's not fair Sieg-kun. I guess, I'll have to wait until after the fight if he's still conscious that is."
Vince rolled his eyes at the comment as a magic circle that radiated holy energy appeared underneath him and enveloped him for a few moments until it disappeared. Large white wings came out his back and his body radiated the same holy energy from the magic circle. His extended his hand as the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi appeared in his hand in a burst of light. "Let's get this over with."
"So, you're going to use your holy-sword instead of your demon-sword." Siegfried commented as one of his demon-swords gathered more demonic energy.
(Saving Arondight for later is more important, besides I need to be on the defensive for now. Especially with those demon-swords he's carrying. Tch, if I run out of time in my angel form, I'll have to switch into Arondight and take it from there. Damn... This is one situation I was better off not being in.) He thought to himself with a small frown.
Seeing no other choice Vince started moving fluidly across the ground while keeping his distance from Siegfried. Despite firing a few light bullets from his katana, he raised his sword and easily blocked the attack. Even after firing several more light bullets from both his weapon and his free hand, Siegfried continued to easily deflected destroyed them with a single slash from his sword.
"Balmung. This is the power of one strike from the demonic sword of Norse legends." He replied calmly.
(So that is a demon-sword. The only thing I remember most of the sword is just the name. Tch, I didn't think ignoring Rena and Chloe's tutoring lessons on Norse mythology back then would come back to bite me in the ass.) Vince thought as he raised his sword in the air.
A pillar of light fell from the sky and almost blasted Siegfried, however he removed a second sword from his sheath with his left hand and used it to block the attack until it faded. "Nothung. This is also a legendary demonic sword."
"Great. Another one..." Vince muttered to himself.
"A powerful attack. However keeping your distance will not win you this battle." As Siegfried said this a dragonic looking arm grew out of his back, wielding a third demon-sword.
"What the hell... ?" He said looking at the arm, both slightly surprised and somewhat disgusted.
"Interesting. You do not seem to be restricted to fall like the other angels." Siegfried pointed out as he laughed a bit. "And to answer your question. This dragon arm, it's Twice Critical, a very common Sacred Gear much like your Element Brand being common but mine is a little different, a subspecies. It grows something like a dragon's arm from my back."
(The hell's a sub-species? ...Questions for later, but still. I'll have to keep an eye on that arm since Twice Critical made it.) Vince aimed his holy-sword at Siegfried and tossed it with an incredible amount of force and holy energy behind it.
He quickly got into a defensive stance with all three swords and took the attack head-on. Despite skidding back a bit with albeit a small struggle, Siegfried over came the attack and repelled it.
Before the sword fell to the ground Vince extended his hand, making the blade reappear in his hand in a burst of light.
Siegfried looked at Vince with a smirk. "You have an interesting way of fighting in this form. However none of your attacks can even hurt me. Balmung!"
He brought his sword forward and did a thrust at Vince, his eyes widened when a drill-shaped demonic aura went towards him, creating a powerful whirlwind from the sword that swept down on him, ripping into the atmosphere around him.
Vince barely sprinted out of the way of the whirlwind but gritted his teeth in pain when his arm and a part of his wings were grazed by the violent whirlwind.
"Ha! Dainsleif!" Siegfried swung his demonic-swords to the side and huge ice pillars were formed from the ground repeatedly that went towards Vince.
Despite bleeding a little from his previously injury he sprinted his way out of the ice pillars as quickly as he can while firing multiple light bullets at Siegfried. However despite this an ice pillar shot up from the ground and nearly pierced right through him.
"Tyring!" A large amount of demonic energy gathered in the demonic sword in his left arm before he slammed into the ground, making a massive crater. The shockwave from the sword itself sent Vince flying into the air.
"Dainsleif!" Swinging the sword, Siegfried sent a massive ice pillar to where Vince is going to fall.
Vince winced for a bit until his eyes widened at seeing ice pillar going right towards him as he fell. "Oh shit!"
He brought his katana up and blasted the air with a massive pillar of light in addition to his free hand being pointed downwards, blasting the ground downwards. The force from the attack moved Vince away from being impaled, however the side of his ribs got grazed by the pillar. "Aaaaaargh!"
Despite him being in an immense amount of pain Vince continued to blast the ground with pillar of light from his hand until he slowly descended into the ground where a massive crater stood, due to the results of Tyring and his attack.
"Impressive. Using the momentum of that attack to not only avoid being impaled but to also descend safely into the ground. Your skills are impressive, but they aren't enough." Siegfried commented as Vince grabbed his wound in pain.
Looking at both the ground and the sides of his ribs covered in his blood he scoffed a bit and did the best he could to shrug off the pain. "Alright then. You leave me no other choice."
Jeanne looked confused as Siegfried raised an eyebrow, hearing him muttered a word to himself.
"Astra." Vince twirled his the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi twice and pointed it at him as the blade dangerously discharged lightning and radiated holy energy.
Faster than what both Jeanne and Siegfried can register, Vince disappeared from their sights in a flash.
"Where is he?" Siegfried asked as he looked around for him while keeping his guard up.
"Right in front of you." He spoke as he reappeared in front of him.
His eyes widened as Vince slashed his face with an overhead slash as the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi discharged lightning. Making him scream in pain as this happened the dragonic arm tried to respond by slashing Vince, however before this happened he lunged forward, thrusting directly into the dragonic arm, cutting off a good chunk of it as a result.
He followed up with a horizontal slash to completely slice the dragonic arm off of Siegfried's body while slashing a portion of his back, releasing both lightning and holy energy as the demon-sword that dragonic arm held on to fell to the ground.
Seeing an opportunity Vince slashed downwards horizontally and finished it by gathering a large amount of holy-lightning from the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi and shot out a holy-lightning beam from the tip of the blade at Siegfried.
Going at an incredible speed the beam pierced right through the side of his waist as Vince backflip, albeit clumsily due to his injuries.
"Gaaaaargh!" Siegfried held the side of his waist in pain as he dropped one of his demon-swords.
Vince took a deep breath and breathed out to remain calm as he examined Siegfried's injuries. (Thankfully, I can be a bit more brutal with my attacks. Since Astra cuts the damage from my attacks in half in exchange for doubling my speed for those five attacks.)
"Urgh..." Regaining his composure back, Siegfried picked up the sword he dropped and held it. He then started laughed a bit, much to Vince's surprise."This is getting interesting. Wonderful, time for me to show off!"
Siegfried made a wide swing with his demonic sword. As Vince quickly sprinted out of the way of the swing at an incredible speed.
Siegfried's body gave off an incredible pressure with a large killing intent expanding. "Balance Break!"
Much to Vince's disgust, four silver-scaled dragon arms shot out of his back, each of the new arms drawing out two of his remaining swords. While another one picked up a demon-sword from the ground. (That's his Balance Breaker...? Well, shit...)
"Don't go killing Vince-kun, Sieg-kun, we do need to drag him back to base." Jeanne stated cheerfully.
A sweatdrop formed near Vince's head at the remark as Siegfried nodded. "I am aware of that. However, I have not fought someone quite like this before. It's almost hard to contain my eagerness to fight."
Taking a stance that Vince recognized as a stance similar to Asura, he spoke up. "This is my Chaos Edge Asura Ravage. As the subspecies of Twice Critical, the Balance Breaker is also a subspecies. The power is simple- multiplying arms. A useful enough ability for one like me who only uses technique and demonic swords to fight. Let's see how well you can keep up, Vince Reinhart."
(Tch. There has to be a way around this without using my Balance Breaker.) Vince thought as he examined his surroundings.
"Pay attention to the battle! Nothung! Tyring!" Swinging the demonic-sword to the side, a huge cut formed in the atmosphere, and as he swung down the other sword a huge crater was formed near Vince, sending him flying, the attacks even fiercer than before. He winced in pain but sent out a plethora of light bullets at him.
Siegfried laughed a bit. "You'll have to do more than that, Vince Reinhart. Balmung!"
Thrusting the demonic sword towards him with his dragon arm, a large whirlwind appeared underneath him grinding against the atmosphere.
Vince glared at Siegfried as he readied his sword. "Astra!"
Despite his legs getting somewhat shredded by the fierce whirlwind underneath him, he disappeared in a burst of speed and appeared from above Siegfried. To his surprise however, instead of stabbing him, Vince instead did a downward thrust to destroy a dragon arm. Taking advantage of the opportunity. He slashed Siegfried's other dragonic arm horizontally and followed up with a well aimed diagonal slash, completely destroying it. Not being done yet, Vince did a rising slash to send him into the air and finished it off by blasting him with a powerful beam of light fired off from his katana, heading towards his back. "Burn in the light!"
At the last second, Siegfried swung his demonic blade at the beam of light. Destroying it with a single slash. Despite landing on the ground with no problem, his eyes slightly widened. "Impossible... Even with my Balance Breaker, that technique can still cause damage to me...? Even if your holy-sword has the power of a dragon-slayer, it still shouldn't have caused this much damage and you shouldn't have been able to surpass me in speed."
Vince landed on the floor and winced a bit as he saw his legs with numerous cuts and with blood in multiple areas. "That's because you underestimated what the technique itself can really do. Still... You surprised me, destroying that beam of light. Even if the potency of that attack was halved."
Siegfried gritted his teeth at the statement as two dragon arms grew back for the other two that was destroyed. "I see. I shouldn't have underestimated your technique then."
Vince frowned a bit as he slowly got up, leaning against his sword for support. (Dammit. I need something stronger to fight him with. My angel form isn't strong enough, if I lose here then I'll be captured. I refuse to lose someone like them. If only this form was stronger!)
"You've put up quite a challenge Vince Reinhart. But I believe now it's the time to end this." Siegfried spoke as he gathered demonic energy in all of his demonic swords.
Looking at the way the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi radiated with holy-energy while the way Siegfried gathered demonic energy, a look of realization appeared on his face. (That's it! It's a long shot, but I think I can make it work. I just need to gather energy from the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi and try to have my angel form absorb the energy to increase this form's power... I also need to desire it. Tch, I don't like getting worked up like this.)
Despite limping a bit, Vince grabbed his sword with both of his hands and started gathering holy-energy from the blade. (I want to use the Phenex Tears now to heal these injuries but chances are I'll be fighting Jeanne right afterwards so I need save it. Especially since I have a vial with me and Claudia has the other.)
"Go ahead and try to use that technique again. It won't work a second time." Siegfried challenged as he went into a defensive stance.
"That's a lot of holy-energy Vince-kun is getting from that katana." Jeanne commented as she looked at him curiously.
The blade continued to gather holy-energy as Vince gripped firmly. Seeing that it started overflowing with holy-energy, he pointed it up in the air. "Give me strength..."
The Tosuka-no-Tsurugi released an immense amount of holy-energy in the form of a pillar of light. To the surprise of both Siegfried and Jeanne, the pillar of light enveloped his body completely, making him drop his katana.
"What is he doing?" Siegfried asked with a frown as he felt the energy flooding the entire place.
"Wow, I never felt this much holy-energy before. You might wanna get ready, Sieg-kun." Jeanne spoke in a cheerful tone yet, somewhat surprised tone.
The light that completely enveloped suddenly dispersed everywhere around the area and disappeared as a hand extended from the light and clenched into a fist.
Vince stood there examining himself, ignoring Jeanne and Siegfried's surprised expressions. The large wings on his back disappeared, however two silver wisps trailed around his body, each wisp radiating enough holy-energy to become visible while his body radiated the same amount of holy-energy. (I didn't think my angel form would evolve like my devil form did. I feel a lot more stronger. I wonder if my Sacred Gear accepted my desire.)
"This form... Did your Sacred Gear evolve Vince Reinhart?" Siegfried questioned as he assumed his stance.
He ignored the question and out of pure instinct extended his hand. To everyone's surprise, eight different weapon covered in a warm light appeared in front of Vince and encircled him. (I'm surprised. The Sacred Gear accepted my desire, down to a tee.)
Vince grabbed the weapon that resembled a greatsword and grabbed it, in addition to grabbing the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi. Now dual wielding both swords with little to no difficulty he turned to Siegfried and tossed the Greatsword at him with an immense amount of strength behind it.
Not expecting him to throw the blade, he immediately brought his swords together to block the attack and send the sword to the ground. A small smirk appeared on his face as he seemingly vanished from their sights.
The two looked around for Vince, only for Siegfried's eyes to widen as he started coughing up blood as well as Jeanne's. Turning around the saw Vince, next the hilt of the greatsword with a small smirk still on his face. To further add to their surprise, the found his katana right through Siegfried's stomach.
"You said I had to better right? Then go ahead and tell me how's this!" Vince quickly removed the holy-sword from his stomach as he picked up the greatsword from the ground and slammed Siegfried's spine with the blunt side of the blade, sending him a few feet away.
xXxXxXxXxX
Author's Notes: That's it for the chapter. Quite a bit of some stuff has happened and Vince looks like he's seen better days. While this chapter is shorter, it will lead up to a few things in the next chapter.
Vince's dilemma with his unstable Sacred Gears is reaching a boiling point now, especially after taking in Ddraig and Albion's powers. I didn't really showcase how it was affecting him or how he would deal with it so I thought now would be a good chance to. More will be explained soon as to what Azazel meant by his statement.
I had fun making those scenes with the cellphone calls. I might try to make more of them more in the future.
As for Vince's angel form, while it is underdeveloped I wanted to show more of what it can do and I have been looking for a chance for him to use it but I never had a chance to, until now that is. While Vince's Devil form is more focused on pure power and has a pretty good regeneration trait. Vince's Angel form is the opposite, focusing on a much more technical way of fighting while providing good mobility. Think of it like two opposites.
The first half of the fight with Siegfried was fun but challenging to write since I wanted to get it just right. Especially considering the fact that Vince didn't have much time to rest, not to mention Siegfried is a powerful opponent.
The move Vince used against Siegfried, is a technique that he hasn't used in quite a while. I thought now would be a good time to bring it back. For those of you that don't know, Astra is a technique from the Fire Emblem series. Vince will be learning more of these types of techniques later on. Vince's angel, devil and his regular form will have a unique way of doing the last strike of the technique.
That's all I have to say for now, I will try to upload chapters as soon as possible. Let me know what you think about the chapter and take care.