"Alright, are you prepared?" Issei asked as he stood in the middle of the living room dressed in his combat clothes.
He wore a simple shirt and a protective jacket. He had cargo pants and boots.
"Yes!" Girls replied wearing their own combat clothes, including Irina, she recovered from her last fight.
"Alright. First, we have to get to my people and get ready for the battle" Issei said.
Issei teleported them to the dragon territory and appeared in front of hundreds of dragons while the girls stood behind him with serious expressions as Tannin stood right beside him.
"Everyone listen up! Today we will march strongly to our first battle. Some might die if the chaos brigade is lucky enough but we dragons are strong and fearless. We have no other choice but to defeat the chaos brigade once and for all to achieve the peace for our loved ones.
We will show everyone that the mighty Dragon faction will come up on top victorious!" Issei declared.
The dragons replied with their strong roars as support and appreciation.
"Tannin an I will cast a powerful protective barrier around our territory that only dragons will have the ability to enter or leave. Others will have to get permission from me or Tannin.
So until we come back, please don't leave this place under any circumstances and protect each other if the worst comes!" Issei ordered before he and tannin raised their hands in the air above their heads and a huge red, black, and purple coloured magic dome-barrier appeared.
"Now brave warriors, gather up and lend me and our faction your strength!" Issei ordered.
Immediately after his words, a small group of strong dragons who were in their human forms equipped with quality armors landed in full glory behind Issei ready for their next orders.
"Wish us luck!" Issei spoke his final words before he and the rest teleported to a secret camp near their target.
"So you finally decided to come?" Azazel spoke with a smirk.
"Well, I had to talk to my people and ensure their safety" Issei answered.
"Hoh? and how did that go?" Azazel asked.
"It went fine" Issei replied.
"I see"
"Are we ready to go?" Another person spoke coming from a tent.
"Yes, we are Sirzechs" Issei Answered.
"Good, then teams gather up" Sirzechs ordered.
After a couple of minutes, everyone was made into teams.
"Thor Tannin and Dulio take care of the evil dragons" Issei ordered.
"Will do" Tannin said while Dulio nodded his head only one person started at Issei with a look of interest, that was Thor who took the form of an extremely tall and muscular man with long, red hair that went past his waist, yellow eyes with black sclera. Numerous golden patterns emanated from his hands and eyes. Thor doned a white sash around his torso. Several brown belts could be seen around his waist with one worn diagonally. He also wore two leggings that went pass his knees.
Thor could be seen carrying two well-known Divine Weapons: a gigantic hammer, Mjölnir, and two gloves, Járngreipr.
After a moment of exchanging fierce looks with the God of thunder, Issei moved on.
"Ingvild, Momo, Katase, Murayama, Irina, Kuroka, Le Fay, support them with magic.
"Right!"
"Arthur and Bikou, you protect the support team"
"As you command" Arthur replied while Bikou just nodded.
"You are now a Striker squad, eliminate your targets or at least stall them, that is your mission, and the Support squad supports the Striker squad if needed"
"Valerica, you and I will go inside, while they deal outside. We have two main objectives. First, save Valerie, second kill Rizevim if we are lucky enough. As I can guess you want to finish the job you started so you will go for Rizevim" Said Issei.
"That's right"
"Alright, then it's settled, We will leave in an hour. Our dragon, devil, angel, fallen, and Asgardian warriors will take care of brigade troops. Everyone please come back alive and well" Issei said.
"Right!"
Issei and Valerica went to the tent while everyone else went to prepare for the attack.
" 'Sigh' I'm already tired" Issei said as he sat on a chair.
"It's not over yet partner, focus on your objective" Vritra said.
"He's right partner, don't relax just yet" Ddraig agreed.
"Yeah, I know, I know"
"Everything will be fine don't worry" Valerica reassured.
"I hope so"
Valerica came up to Issei and sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Are you going to make her our harem sister?" Valerica asked as she looked him straight into the eyes.
"Yea- Huh?"
"I asked if you're gonna add her to your harem?"
"Where did that come from?" Issei asked.
"I accidentally found a letter that Gasper left you before his..."
"Death" Issei finished.
"Yeah...So are you gonna?"
"I don't know...First, we have to rescue her" Issei answered.
"You know, we don't mind her becoming our sister. But this is the last girl that we allow to join your harem understood?" Valerica warned with a pain-promising smile if not answered correctly.
"U-understood" Issei replied as he shivered slightly.
"Good!" Valerica said before kissing Issei.
After forty minutes everyone gathered outside.
"Alright, it's time to end this, so let's do our best and don't hesitate or you are as good as dead" Issei warned.
Everyone nodded as they parted their ways leaving Issei and Valerica alone.
"Well, now we have to wait for the signal" Issei said.
"What kind of signal?" Valerica asked.
"Oh, once we see the signs of the start of battle" Issei replied.
"Oh."
"Stay on your guard though. They might know that we are coming and we don't know what kind of tricks they have" Issei warned.
"Rodger that"
They waited for ten more minutes and saw a large fireball explode and light up half of the sky.
"Well, that's the signal. That means they engaged their targets and are distracting them" Issei said.
Valerica grabbed his hand and Issei stepped into a shadow and teleported themselves towards their target.
They arrived inside the castle's walls in a dark shadow, unseen by the guards.
"Are you ready?" Issei asked.
"You have no Idea" Valerica replied with a battle-hungry grin.
"Then let's go" Issei said before moving.
-With Striker squad-
Tannin, Dulio, and Thor walked through the streets to find Grendel and Aži Dahāka.
While the Support squad walked behind them. Arthur walked in front of the Support squad while Bikou was behind them.
"...it's really quiet here...Too quiet" Dulio spoke.
"I agree and I don't like this" Tannin agreed as he continued their search.
A few minutes later Tannin and Thor felt danger coming from above.
"Barriers now!" Tannin shouted.
The girls immediately created a powerful barrier around everyone.
As soon as they created the barrier a loud explosion was heard. As the smoke screen disappeared, everyone saw who caused the ambush.
"Grendel and Aži Dahāka" Tannin growled.
Grendel was a 15-meter tall Western Dragon with black scales, bright silver eyes, horns, wings, and thick limbs, uniquely being a Dragon who stood on his feet. He exuded a dark and ominous aura, filled with hostility and killing intent.
"Everyone! be Careful, Grendel is an aggressive, psychotic dragon that is only interested in fighting and killing.
He is a battle maniac who loves physical combat and destroying more than anything. He enjoys pain as he is a masochist. He's master Hand-to-Hand Combatant" Tannin warned.
Last night when Issei came to Tannin to discuss the attack, Ddraig informed a bit more because he originally had fought them.
Aži Dahāka was a giant Dragon with three heads and six giant wings. He had very dark scales with a shade of purple.
"Aži Dahāka, a cruel and wicked Dragon. It is also implied that he enjoys pain too. He is immensely strong as Grendel. He is a master Magician. He can even use forbidden magic" Tannin warned.
"Understood"
"Take down the barrier" Tannin ordered.
The girls did as ordered and deactivated the barrier.
Tannin immediately shot a powerful fireball into the sky that painted it in dark orange with the flames.
'That's the signal. Good luck' Tannin thought before he regained his attention to their targets.
"Oh look what we got here! hahahaha a bunch of weaklings" Laughed and insulted Aži Dahāka as he laughed wickedly.
"So, who is my opponent? I want to fight the strongest here!" Grendel said with excitement.
"Today is your last" Said Dulio.
"Oh? Such confidence from weak bugs such as you?" Insulted him Aži Dahāka but Dulio didn't react as he knew that he wanted to anger him.
"I and Dulio will take care of Aži Dahāka while Thor, you take on Grendel" Tannin said.
Thor nodded in response to Tannin's plan.
"Katase, enhance Tannin's and Dulio's powers and defenses!" Ordered Ingvild.
With a nod, Katase enhanced their strength and defenses with ease, at least tenfold.
"So let's finally play?" Grendel said with a wicked smile.
Tannin and Dulio didn't say anything as they engaged in the battle.
Tannin shot powerful flames to do some damage but that barely scratched him.
"That tickled me" Mocked Aži Dahāka.
"Now it's my turn ahahaha" Aži Dahāka laughed wickedly.
He used his elemental magic and lightning strikes on Tannin with immense force.
Tannin roared out of pain but he stayed strong and didn't give in as he used his flames to cancel out the rest of the attack.
"Hahaha, How did it feel? did you like it?"
Tannin didn't reply.
Suddenly four large tornados came toward Aži Dahāka as he was distracted by talking with Tannin.
Dulio created those tornados by using his sacred gear called Zenith tempest.
It's the second strongest Longinus, which allows him to manipulate the weather and elements.
But Aži Dahāka countered Dulio's tornados with his own.
"Not bad, but still too weak" Mocked the evil dragon.
"I'll have fun tearing you apart!" Aži Dahāka roared as he suddenly teleported behind Tannin and Dulio, but because of Tannin's instinct he dodged a powerful lightning attack but Dulio wasn't so lucky.
The lightning didn't hit him directly but the rubble and shockwave sent him flying somewhere into the distance.
"Dulio!"
Aži Dahāka didn't waste time as he used fire breath on Tannin.
It hurt like hell. If Tannin wasn't a dragon that had a high resistance to fire and heat, he would've died almost instantly, but tannin was not a pushover, a purple light shone from his body and transformed to his true form.
Tannin wasted no time and grabbed the evil dragon with his claws tightly before unleashing his own immensely powerful fire breath which seemed to work as the scales of Aži Dahāka stared to melt but the annoyingly he enjoyed the pain and kept asking for more, so Tannin sunk his claws into the flesh of the evil dragon, lifted him into the air momentarily and just slammed the bastard into the ground shattering at least a few bones.
But suddenly he disappeared from Tannin's grasp, surprising Tannin and the Support squad, but soon they found him as he began laughing again from behind the Support squad.
"Hahaha that was fun! but I'm getting bored already so let's go to the next level"
As he finished his words his injuries started to heal, but as Tannin saw that happening he immediately took flight towards the evil dragon and as he struck Aži Dahāka, his claws went straight through as if it was an afterimage.
"Hahaha can't believe you actually fell for that!" Aži Dahāka laughed like a madman.
Tannin growled in response and launched a few quick fireballs at the evil dragon who just blocked them with his magic barriers, but the evil dragon wasn't done just yet as around a hundred of clones manifested around them, surrounding them from all sides.
"T-this is bad" Kuroka whispered,
"Damn it" Katase mumbled.
"How are we supposed to defeat him now?" Asked Murayama.
"I have no Idea, normally I would guess that we'd have to kill the main body but... they all feel like the real one, they even have the aura of the real one which could mean that all of these clones have the same abilities as the real Aži Dahāka" Le fay explained in worry and fear.
"Then we have to defeat all of them" Said Dulio who woke up after that last blow.
"But how!? we couldn't defeat one, how can we defeat a hundred of them!?" Momo panicked.
"First we should calm down, and think of a plan" Ingvild said.
"Hahaha a plan? I don't think you have the luxury of creating a plan!" Aži Dahāka laughed as a few of the clones started to attack with elemental magic.
The Strike squad had a hard time dealing with the attacks as their own magic was running out.
"Balance break!" Dulio shouted and twelve golden angel wings sprung from his back and four halos appeared above his head.
Suddenly about fifteen of the clones were trapped in some kind of bubbles, everyone watched in interest until the evil dragon clones were struck by intensely swirling flames, violent hurricanes, freezing cold air which froze everything, and vicious torrents of lightning.
Those powerful attacks slowly destroyed the clones.
"We don't need to panic, we can deal with them if we work together" Dulio spoke.
The girls nodded and prepared their own attacks such as light spears hell fire, lightning, water torrens and so on to take down the clones.
The process was slow but with the help of Tannin and Dulio's special abilities they were able to destroy the clones, but each time it took longer to destroy the clone because they were getting exhausted from constant need to attack and defend from all directions.
About fifty clones left but the Support squad was already exhausted except for Irina who seemed to be still standing strong while the rest were either on the ground passed out or trying to recover some strength.
Bikou was flying on a golden cloud and covered the Support squad from an incoming attacks, as he used touki to enhance his physical abilities and channeled some to his staff which occasionally extended at the clones similarly like Sun Wukong's spear, but that was not it, he similarly like the evil dragon had clones of himself which helped the Striker squad a lot but he was getting exhausted from constant fighting like the others.
After some time, only Irina was standing while the rest passed out from exhaustion, Dulio was getting tired same with Tannin but they pushed themselves to their very limits just Like Bikou who had only two clones of himself still fighting.
But there were still twenty of the clones left well at least for a moment as twenty more appeared and started attacking even harder than before, they even were able to pop the bubbles created by Dulio.
"They never end... what do we do?" Dulio spoke between pants.
Tannin didn't say anything but he was visibly annoyed by their circumstances.
Irina was throwing light spears at the clones but weren't dealing a lot of damage, she looked around and saw still too many clones left but something caught her attention, a large fireball flying straight at her and the girls.
Irina loked at the ground and saw the girls still down, a sense of protecting everyone grew as her eyes were replaced by the same golden glow from before, her hair turned golden too as two large silver wings sprung from her back, a silver halo appeared above her head.
"HAAAAAA!" Shouted Irina as she motioned her arm to block the arriving attack and before the fireball made contact with Irina, holy aura glowed around her intensely and the same armor and weapons appeared on her body and managed to block the attack with the shield with ease.
The intense holy energy and the golden glow brought everyones attention, but once Dulio noticed Irina in that armor holding a shield and that greatsword, he could just blink in surprise but once he saw her large silver angel wings he started to grin as if they already achieved victory.
"What is this change in power? I thought that you're just a weak insect but look at you, hiding such power and fun toys" Aži Dahāka spoke with interest that grew into excitement.
Irina didn't answer as she had a neutral expression. With a single flap of her wings she was already in the air gazing at the clones.
With a flick of her gauntlets thousands of light-spears appeared behind and around her
"I am the angel of judgement, the warrior of heaven, and the protector of Innocent, as the judge of heaven I deem you guilty for your evil deeds!" Irina declared as the spears glowed even brighter to the point of silver in color and a loud bell ringing echoed throughout the skies, three times in total before the spears launched themselves at every clone striking every one precisely piercing their scales as if they were nothing.
The clones were quickly annihilated, Tannin and Bikou watched in awe while Dulio barely held his laughter. After thousands of years Heaven has finally chosen the suitable candidate to be its judge.
"Good job Iri-" Dulio spoke but was interrupted by an enormous killing intent.
Everyone looked towards the source and found the real Aži Dahāka who was visibly angry on a building.
"You ruined it all! that stupid angel ruined all my fun! now I'll kill you, you bitch!" Aži Dahāka roared out of rage before landing on the ground.
Tannin, Bikou and Dulio prepared to fight but Dulio's three halos disappeared leaving him only with one and his wings returned to normal white color.
Tannin was injured and tired same with Bikou but were prepared to fight until Irina landed in front of them before they could move.
"Step aside" Irina said in a cold emotionless voice.
The three flinched at her cold action but complied nonetheless.
"I'll kill you for ruining all of my fun and making me take this nonsense seriously" Aži Dahāka growled.
"I deem you guilty for your evil deeds, you will be eliminated by my blade" Irina said as she pointed her sword at the evil dragon.
Aži Dahāka just snarled before launching a few hurricanes towards Irina who blocked them with her shield, as she was distracted one of Aži Dahāka's heads launched at Irina but was soon cut off by her blade making the evil dragon bleed a lot before the head regenerated.
"You annoying insect"
Irina's blade was painted with dark blood of the evil dragon but that blood soon was absorbed by the sword making it glow more as it grew in power slightly.
Tannin and Aži Dahāka felt the sword's aura which sent shivers down their spines.
"...Dragon slaying sword?" Tannin questioned but did not receive an answer from Irina, she used her monstrous speed to dash at the evil dragon.
Aži Dahāka couldn't keep up with her speed so he just set up several barriers around himself, but it proved to be useless as she shattered the barriers with ease and cut Aži Dahāka all over his body and cut off two of his heads. Irina backed off from him avoiding a bite from his main head.
"Damn you" Aži Dahāka growled as he tried to heal himself but couldn't because of the dragon slaying properties preventing his wounds from healing.
Irina stared at the dragon for a few moments before spreading her wings to the sides and flapping them towards Aži Dahāka sending silver feathers that stabbed all over his body like sharp daggers.
That was a distraction that worked as expected and stabbed the evil dragon through the chest.
Aži Dahāka slowly moved his claws towards Irina to grab her with his remaining strength as his vision was getting blurry, however the sword started to glow an intense golden glow making the evil dragon, the masochist roar out of intense pain before falling over as the sword was pulled out, making a lot of blood gush out.
"...You killed him, you did it you amazing angel!" Dulio shouted out of excitement while Tannin and Bikou nodded approvingly before picking up the girls who passed out in the fight and heading back to the camp while Irina and Dulio stayed for a chat.
"So you're the angel of Judgement?" Dulio asked as he approached Irina whose armor and weapons disappeared after a faint golden glow.
Her hair and eyes returned to normal but her wings stayed the same, large and silver in color.
"... I don't know why I said that, those words just came to my mind" Irina admitted.
"I see, you'll have to report about this to Michael " Dulio said making Irina nod.
"Weren't those weapons heavy though? I mean, they seem to be quite large yet you were able to move around with a monstrous speed like it was nothing, and your wings, they are huge compared to normal angel's wings not talking about the unique color"
"Actually, the shield and the sword are very light, the armor is very comfortable to wear and actually enhances my speed and defense, I don't know why my wings are like that but I like it" Irina explained.
"I see, well judge, I think it's time to return to camp and rest, you look tired" Dulio said.
"You're not so full of energy yourself" Irina giggled before the two of them flew back to the camp.
-With Thor-
"So where is that insanely strong guy, the red one?" Grendel asked with a battle-hungry grin.
"He's not here, and won't be as I'm your opponent" Thor said as electricity gathered around him, especially his giant hammer.
"Oh? Good, a fight with a god should be entertaining, let's fight!" Grendel declared before leaping at Thor.
(To be continued)