Last of the Line
I do not own Highschool DxD or any of it's characters. I own only Vale Beleth. Nero Marchosias is property of cloudfarron.
OP: Undead by Nightcore
Nero VS. Vale Fight Song: I Like It Loud by Nightcore
Hao's Fight Song: Right In by Skrillex
Vali's Fight Song: Mr. Vain by S3rl
Edith's Fight Song: Let's Get It Crackin' by Deuce
Chapter 21: Marchosias vs. Beleth Rating Game
"Ah! I've found them-nya." Kuroka happily exclaimed as the Nekomata finished the spell she had cast to locate the opposing teams. It had been 5 minutes since the start of the match and neither Edith's skeletons and Hao's shikigamis had been able to locate the opposing team so Vale had resorted to ordering Kuroka to locate the Marchosias heir's servant's ki with her senjutsu.
"Alright, what did you find?" Vale asked as he trudged over to where Kuroka stood. When he arrived there he saw Kuroka had inscribed a map in the snowy ground using magic. In the center of the map there was the mountain the currently stood atop, nearby there was the smoking remains of the village Le Fay had destroyed and on the other side of the map from them stood what appeared to be a large castle, obviously the other team's base during the game.
"They seem to have split up into 3 groups. The first two are composed of a single [Rook], [Knight], and [Bishop]. While the last one is Nero, his [Queen], and his [Pawn]-nya." Kuroka said as 9 red dots appeared on the map with letters above them indicating their Evil Piece designations. One group was situated inside the large castle on the other side of the map while the other two were circling around to either side of the mountain, slowly but surely.
"It looks like they're gonna attempt to catch the mountain in a pincer movement while the major power players move in afterward to mop up if I have to guess. Isley, take Bikou and Edith, you guys and engage one of the groups moving toward us. Arthur, you take Kanda and Hao and engage the other group. Vali and I will take Kuroka and Le Fay and engage the group in the castle. Alrighty guys, I picked you all because you were the best of the best, don't let me down."
"We won't let you down, Vale." Le Fay said earnestly as she summoned the Trident of the Fisher King from her pocket dimension.
"I'll do my best. I'm just glad that I get a chance to test-drive my new toys." Edith said as she tapped the pommel of Excalibur, which now hung from her belt in the form of a cutlass.
"Me too, which is why I sealed Abyssal Draining for this fight. This battle is all about field testing the Sin Engine and the Twin Halos. Which reminds me. Everyone, if Edith gave you an ability via the Sin Engine, be sure to test it out during the battle but don't be careless. Which reminds me." he finished as a black material crawled from the ouroboros tattoo on his hand up his arms and spread across his chest before covering his entire body, save his face, in the armor.
"Alright, let's do it." Vali said as he materialized the wings of cyan light on his back before they announced,
[VANISHING DRAGON BALANCE-BREAKER!]
The wings called as they covered his body in a brilliant white aura before it resolved into his trademark white dragon armor.
"Arthur, Isley, take your groups and head out. We have precious little time to waste. Also Hao, see if you can't improve visibility a little." Vale said curtly as he turned to leave. Arthur wasted no time in summoning his familiar, the Nightmare named Aran, while Hao began to incant his spell.
The beast stood almost two meters tall, its midnight black fur covering its powerfully built body as it reared up on its hind legs as it flailed its flaming hooves, while it tossed its sleek head as its red mane of hellfire whipped in the fierce wind of the blizzard before Arthur vaulted up onto the saddle on its back and his boots into the rib of his steed as Hao and Kanda spread their wings before taking flight and following after him. Shortly after they had disappeared from sight, the clouds began to part before the first beam of sunlight burst through the cloud bank and before long the clouds had parted to reveal the entirety of the landscape around them.
The mountain they stood atop was about half a mile tall. It was the sole landscape feature in the entirety of the map, save for the large castle that stood on the other side of the field from them. It was tall and narrow and built atop a large, rocky outcropping in the middle of a semi-frozen lake. The ice on the lake extended about a hundred feet in every direction from the castle before devolving into small floating icebergs atop the lake. The lake ended exactly halfway across the map before turning into a flat featureless snow-covered plain. Arthur and his group had already disappeared around the curve of the mountain to engage Nero's other group. Isley and Bikou were about to set off for the second group when Vale caught sight of a group of three individuals soaring through the air towards them,
"Holy crap." Vale said, obviously flabbergasted at the sight before him.
"What is it?" Isley asked as he paused in the process of removing his armor.
"Eucliwood Hellscythe, an extremely powerful necromancer, as well as the only woman to consistently shoot me down when I asked her out. The last time I asked her out, she told me if I asked again she'd kill me, rape the body, then resurrect me and do it all over again."
"Oh yeah, that was a fun night." Vali said with a chuckle.
"Whatever, all I wanna know is can I eat her?" the youma asked as he finished removing everything but his shirt and leggings.
"I don't see why not." Vale said with a shrug as he manifested a spell inside his hand before absorbing it into himself, causing the familiar arcane markings to appear on his armored skin before he took to the sky with Vali and his two [Bishop]s, him and his [Queen] little more than two blurs in the noonday sky.
Isley wasted no time before beginning his transformation. His body began to grow and morph before it resolved itself into the form of a ten meter tall sleek, black, armored centaur with two large wings sprouting from its back.
"Ready yourself Bikou, I have died once already. I will not do so a second time." Isley said from behind his armored mask he said as his left arm morphed into an enormous bow and arrows as he took aim and launched a volley of the living arrows towards the incoming group...
Meanwhile, inside the Marchosias team's base...
Nero looked out through the window to see the enemy [King] heading straight towards his base, obviously intent on settling the game in a showdown between [King]s.
"Well well well, looks like Vale is quite eager to lose his first Rating Game." Nero said as he retrieved his pistol from the nearby table.
"What makes you say that?" Karasuba, his [Queen] said as she casually twirled her nodachi through the air.
"He's coming straight here to fight me one-on-one. Which means the Lucifer descendant can't be far behind. I'll take him, you and Tsubame worry about his [Queen]." Nero said as he holstered his revolver and grabbed his Muramasa sword from the nearby table before making for the door...
On top of the castle, several minutes later...
Vale landed atop the castle's room with a crash to see the Marchosias heir waiting for him atop the empty roof. Nero wore a long, black-purple and red coat with a red zip-up hoodie/vest underneath this coat, a navy muscle-shirt beneath that, and a pair of dark blue jeans. Behind him stood a woman dressed in a black top with a leather miniskirt and a grey cape draped over her shoulders. Next to her stood a girl in a Japanese school uniform, she had waist-length black hair and pink eyes and had a naginata grasped firmly in her hands.
"So, where's your [Queen]?" Nero asked casually as he unsheathed his revolver and casually began to spin it in circles in his hand.
"I'd be less worried about him and more worried about his familiar, Tiamat."
"Why should I worry about her?" Nero asked calmly as he pointed his revolver at Vale.
"Because she's behind you." Vale said as Nero whirled around to see the Dragon King banking towards the top of the castle before releasing a torrent of fire towards the enemy group. Vale watched as two metal arms sprang from Nero's back before launching several red spectral swords toward the Dragon King as the two women leaped to avoid the incoming torrent of flames. Vale took advantage of Neero's momentary lapse in concentration to launch into a lightning-speed full body tackle at the Marchosias heir.
Vale slammed into Nero and tackled him over the edge as the castle's roof exploded with a mighty DOGON! sending chunks of masonry everywhere as Nero pressed his revolver into Vale's chest and pulled the trigger several times, the bullets bouncing off his diamond hard skin before Vale slammed an armored fist into Nero's stomach. Half a second later, his spell exploded from his hand, launching a mighty column of lightning surrounded by a small tornado into Nero's stomach, sending him plummeting into and through the ice below, into the water beneath it with a deafening BTOOM!
Vale alighted on the ice-covered lake as Nero pulled himself from the ice and dried himself with a burst of demonic power. He called his sword and pistol back to his hands with a flicker of his power as the twin metallic arms sprang from his back as several spectral swords appeared in the air above him.
"That was a cheap shot." Nero said as he pointed at Vale's head with his revolver as Vale caused the armor to expand over his head, causing his sclerae to turn blood-red as his teeth grew to fang-like proportions.
"You talk too much." Vale siad as he "revved" his demonic powers, causing the ice covering the lake to thicken and expand to cover the entire lake before focusing his powers into the sword stowed in the gem inside his chest cavity. The stone was a gift from Edith's Sin Engine, it was one of seven she could give to whomever she wished, this particular stone was that which granted him the powerful defense the armor afforded him. Isley, Bikou, Hao, Edith, and Vali also each possessed a stone, each with unique abilities.
Vale focused his powers on removing the sword from his internal storage as the great handle and handguard sprouted from the black skin on his left shoulder as her reached up and grabbed the handle as he ripped the mammoth blade from his body. It resembled an enormous, ebony cleaver with a silver edge and ten palm-sized purple stone set just behind the edge of the blade.
"Mel Force!" Vale exclaimed as he swung the mighty blade, sending a wave of wind towards the Marchosias heir, carving a deep furrow in the frozen solid lake before it collided with the castle and exploding in a shower of rubble and masonry. Nero however, was unfazed by the show of force as he calmly sheathed his sword and revolver as two scimitars appeared in his hands, one orange, one blue. Vale then felt a massive increase in Nero's demonic energy as his body became covered in streamlined armor plates as his visage became covered in a streamlined tan helmet.
"Let's dance, then." Nero said as he reversed his grip on the scimitars.
"My thoughts exactly. Blue Crimson!" Vale said as Neo Decalogue split into two longswords before the two [King]s rushed each other with their weapons in hand...
Back with Arthur, Kanda, and Hao...
Arthur deftly blocked the sword swing from the pink haired Marchosias [Knight] before flipping her gunblade out of her hand before she back-flipped out of Caliburn's reach as he released a huge wave of Caliburn's destructive aura towards her before it was blocked by an enormous wall of ice summoned by the Marchosias [Bishop], a Yuki-Onna skilled in ice magic. Her respite was cut short however as the enormous arm of Hao's Spirit of Fire crashed through the wall of ice before being blocked by the Valkyrie in battle dress's barrier spell as Kanda shouted,
"Ascending Flower, Sangenshiki: Bakuhakuzan!" he shouted as he sliced at the barrier several times before the strikes exploded, making a large hole in the magic barrier as he rushed the Valkyrie,
"Yongenshiki: Nigentou!" he shouted as he materialized a blade of energy in his empty hand before slashing the Valkyrie 8 times in a lotus blossom shape. The Valkyrie's armor shattered as several slash wounds opened up and began to bleed profusely as he body turned into blue light and faded away.
[One of the Marchosias team's [Rook]s has retired. Marchosias team's [Pawn] is retired] Bedeze Abaddon called out over the game field.
"Hmph, looks like Vali got the [Pawn]." Kanda said as he turned to look at the castle. As soon as he looked away, the enemy leaped from a nearby cliff before she speared the [Knight] through his abdomen with her recovered gunblade. Kanda uttered a gurgling cough before falling to the ground in a heap. She turned to engage Arthur before she had to leap out of the way of the Spirit of Fire's mammoth hand came crashing down where the [Knight] had been standing.
"C'mon Sode, hurry up!" she barked to the [Bishop].
"Shut up Lightning! You try casting Frozen World unincanted and see how you do. Take this, hah!" the purple-haired kimono-weaing Yuki-Onna said as she cast her spell, causing an enormous field of ice to form around the Spirit of Fire, Arthur, and Kanda immobilizing it as Bedeze Abaddon announced.
[Vale Beleth's [Knight]s have both been retired.]
"That should slow that thing down-ugh!" Lighning grunted before the blue Shikigami, Zenki's fist slammed into her stomach sending her flying before Goki caught her in the side with a swing of his mighty battle axe, cutting her neatly in half before she disappeared in a flash of blue light.
[Nero Marchosias' [Knight] has been retired] Bedeze called out once more over the field.
Sode cast her most powerful barrier, buying herself some time to think as she formulated her next move. All her plans went out the window however as she saw two other spirits materialized behind Hao one looked like a humanoid Xenomorph queen with a long, cylindrical head with blue skin. The othe appeared to be a green, humanoid bird.
"Ice Age!" Hao shouted as the Spirit of Wind and the Spirit of Rain combined their powers to create gale-force freezing winds before directing them toward the unfortunate Yuki-Onna...
[Nero Marchosias' [Bishop] has been retired.]
Meanwhile, on the other side of the mountain...
Yume struggled to fend off the Youkai's assault as the Monkey King mercilessly laid into her, his Senjutsu-enhanced staff strikes chipping away at her defenses. The Youkai was weirdly fast for a [Rook] as he hammered her with strikes from his staff before she could counterattack. She couldn't keep this up much longer, and to make matters worse, the opponent's [Pawn] and her skeletal and demonic minions were slowly wearing down Saeko. Which was to say nothing of Eucliwood's predicament with the giant centaur as he charged toward the barrier she had erected before his lance-arm plowed solidly into the green barrier, cracking it severely as the first half-foot of the lance pierced through the barrier.
The monstrous centaur was not to be dissuaded though, Isley continued to force his lance through the barrier as sweat poured down Eucliwood's face as she strained to keep the barrier up. Even after she had removed her limiter, the White Silver King had proved to be a very challenging opponent.
Saeko was fairing no better than the [Bishop], Edith was proving exceedingly proficient in the use of Excalibur's powers. She used the Nightmare ability to cast illusions of horrific demons and skeletons while supplementing them with her own minions from her voodoo spells and her Sin Engine. Saeko could not discern which ones were real and which were illusion, making it nearly impossible to avoid them all. Whenever she tried to gain some distance Edith would extend the blade or turn it into a rope to bring her back within reach. Other times she would summon spectral cannons and blast Saeko with destructive blasts.
"Take this!" Bikou shouted as he extended his Ruyi Jingu Bang as it slammed into Yume's stomach sending her tumbling across the snowy ground before she stopped next to Eucliwood as Isley removed his lance from the barrier.
"Ugh finally, DINNERTIME!" Isley declared as his chest began to split open. His chest armor began to retract and fold in on itself before there appeared to be a vertical, toothy maw open on his chest. But by far the most alarming feature was the blood red eye that opened as the mouth began to widen before the rib-sized teeth extended out towards Eucliwood and Yume a several, small, child-like hand extended from the mouth, drawing everything within the teeth's embrace into the chest cavity. By the time the teeth retracted there was nothing left within the area of effect but a shallow ditch in the ground.
[Nero Marchosias' [Bishop] and [Rook] have been removed from the game]
Without giving her a chance to recover herself, Isley morphed one of his hands into the large bow before turning it to face Saeko...
[Nero Marchosias' [Knight] has been retired]
Back inside the castle...
Vali flew through the castle interior as he followed the enemy [Queen] back into the entry hall. The [Pawn] had fallen in minutes to the White Dragon Emperor's attacks and the swordswoman was next on his list. Vali's inner monologue was interrupted, however, as Karasuba leaped from the top of the chandelier hanging from the ceiling,
"Mei no Tachi: "Kuon"" she shouted as she swung her sword with all her might. The attack hit with enough force to shatter his Balance-Breaker armor and send him tumbling to the ground before he regained his stance in a single, smooth motion.
"Hmm, so that's how you wanna play it. Then check out this little trick I got from Edith!" he said as his shadow began to expand before several eyes and mouths appeared inside it before several hand and mouths extended skyward before slicing through the chandelier chain before several hands caught hold of Karasuba's foot and yanked her to the ground.
"Now, I think it's time I show you the real power of the White Dragon Emperor. I, who is about to awaken,
Am the White Dragon Emperor who will take the law down to the darkness.
I walk the road of domination with infinite destruction and by piercing through the imaginary dream.
I shall become a pure Emperor of White Dragon
And I shall have you obey the silvery-white illusions and the perfect evil ways!" Vali shouted as Divine Dividing announced
[Juggernaut Overdrive!] before his body became enveloped in a silvery-white aura before resolving into a silver set of Dragon Armor as he began to radiate demonic energy so intense that the entire castle began to shake and crumble.
"So you got a new paint job, that won't help you win this battle." Karasuba sneered.
"Oh really? Then I guess this won't hurt too bad. Compression Divider!" Vali shouted...
Back with Nero and Vale...
Vale was tired beyond belief, he and Nero had been slugging out for almost two hours now. His armor had begun to overheat, he could only manifest it for a few seconds at a time, just long enough to block a strike from Nero's sword.
He had managed to seal all Nero's Devil Arms with Neo Decalogue before Nero had activated his Devil Trigger, summoning the spectral guardian before he had destroyed it with Neo Decalogue's Runesave form but not before Nero had sealed Lucifer's Twin Haloes. After that, it had devolved into a demonic power slugfest. He was glad for the barrier Kuroka and Le Fay had cast a barrier to contain the fallout of their battle.
"Well, it looks like we've reached a stalemate. You can't beat me cause you haven't got the juice to beat my regeneration powers and I wouldn't finish the battle 'cuz you're just too much fun. But, time is quickly running out. So, it looks like in true manga fashion we will finish this with a single blow. Just make it cutscene worthy." Vale said as he prepared to charge Nero, who had taken the iaijustu stance.
"Bring it." Nero said with a smile as Vale rushed him in a desperate finishing attack. Nero waited until Vale was within five feet as he used the last of his ki to slow down time as he watched the black armor crawl down his arm as Vale closed the distance. In a single moment of infinite clarity, he drew his sword with all his might and slashed at the area just in front of the armor. His sword sailed up towards Vale's arm before slicing cleanly through Vale's forearm.
That did not stop the Beleth heir though, as the armor continued to form, turning the oddly shaped stump into a diamond-hard shiv as Vale plunged the point into and out the other side of Nero's chest as Bedeze Abaddon announced,
[Time's up! Both [King]s are still alive and active at the end of the time limit. So, I have no choice but to declare this battle a draw!]
Vale and Nero were silent for several seconds until they both began to chuckle before collapsing into the snow...
Author's Note:Here it is, sorry about the length, but I had precious little data on Nero's peerage so I had to wing it. Don't worry, Vale's fight against Sairaorg will be much more detailed. Don't forget to review and vote. I will cover a little bit of Rias' Rating Game next chapter. Also, just a little foreshadowing, how do you think Vale will react to seeing his ex-girlfriend, Irina, on a daily basis?(Vale does not care for Angels at all) This is the 19th Angel, signing off...