My writing schedule is on my profile, so check that out to see what I'm writing and when it will be released! Before you send me a PM or ask in a review!

Read, Review and Check out my other works!

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DXD.

"Rias" - Speech

'Issei' - Thought

[BOOST!] - Sacred Gear Ability/ Ddraig and Albion Speech

DXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD

The truest test of a [King] is not when they are at their most powerful and surrounded by their subordinates; it is when they are weakened and separated from those subordinates. If they have trained themselves and their subordinates well enough, then even separated they shall triumph.

- Attributed to Mei Schwarzwald, the Untouchable Queen, a year before her betrayal.

DXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD

The Eleventh Move: Discovered Check Part 2

Mei's Throne Room

"How the hell?!" Issei gaped as the three supposedly dead members of Amadeus Bael's Peerage descended in front of a shocked Rias, Asia and Gaspar on the screen in front of him.

"How indeed." Mei said with amusement in her voice. She gestured with one hand and a familiar box emerged from a magic circle.

"That's…!" Issei eyed it warily.

"Project Fallen Terra, as Kokabiel's minions dubbed it." The Stray Devil nodded, "I have spent quite a lot of time undoing the seal and examining the contents so I could be sure that it is untouched by foreign spells or altered in any way. According to the notes inside, they tried and failed to make something that could destroy Vatican City by sending it into orbit. Hardly surprising that they failed, as one would have to have an affinity for gravity magic that surpasses my own in order to accomplish that…in combination with this."

With a flick of her fingers, the case fell apart, revealing a large purple staff tipped by the Southern hemisphere of the planet earth rotating on its axis. It radiated power like only one thing Issei had ever seen before.

"A…a second [Fatal Attraction]? That was Fallen Terra?!" he exclaimed in disbelief. The Sekiryūtei was becoming annoyed at how easily he was being taken off guard today.

"Yes. My Sacred Gear is only a step down from the Thirteen Longinus, not only in terms of power, but in scarcity." Mei stated, "There are only two of them, and there are only records of them appearing together only a handful of times in recorded history…that's Devil recorded history, mind you. They are almost always separated by about fifty years between appearances and I know why."

"I thought that the Sacred Gear system was random?" Issei said in confusion.

"It isn't random by the standards of the God of the Bible, who created the system in the first place." Mei answered, "And that's all that matters, even although lesser beings cannot understand His thoughts on the matter. Anyway there's a reason why the two [Fatal Attraction] Sacred Gears rarely ever appear in the same timeframe as each other. Watch."

In a ripple of black gravity magic, Mei's own Sacred Gear appeared. Now that he had time to look at it up close, Issei noticed that Mei's [Fatal Attraction] had the Northern hemisphere rotating on its axis.

Suddenly, black auras appeared around the two staffs and Mei let go of her own Sacred Gear as the two started to orbit horizontally in front of her, tendrils of energy arcing between them.

"You see, [Fatal Attraction] was not originally two Sacred Gears; rather, it was one Sacred Gear that was split in half." The Queen of Blood and Betrayal whispered, "The God of the Bible did so to prevent someone from gaining total mastery of Gravity. With a unified [Fatal Attraction], one could attain power equal or greater than that of your own [Boosted Gear], albeit at the cost of the user's life. Not that concern about my life is something that is high on my list of priorities right now."

Spreading her arms out, Mei covered the two Sacred Gears in multiple magic circles, far more than Issei had seen any one magic user cast before now, and then empowered them with blasts of demonic energy so potent that it made his hair stand on end.

"[Fatal Attraction], in form divided." The Stray Devil chanted rhythmically, "Join as one, in the form that Gaia decided."

All Issei could see after that was purple light.

With Rias

The redheaded Devil stopped gaping at the descending supposedly dead Devils in front of her when the topmost floor of the central tower exploded with a beam of purple light. It shot into the sky like a beacon, the light almost blinding her with its intensity.

"What is that?!" she asked rhetorically, not expecting the form of Morisato Natsuko to answer her.

"Project Fallen Terra has been unlocked." The faux-Kyūdōka said in a proud voice, "Now Mei-nee-sama is more powerful than you can fathom. She is only a step away from completing her goal!"

"What are you three?!" Rias demanded, whirling around to confront what she assumed were more golems created by the Artificial Sacred Gear [Dragon's Tooth], "You cannot be who you appear to be; you all died three years ago."

"Correct." Natsuko (?) nodded in agreement, "We are golems who have had a copy of our originals' minds downloaded into us. For all intents and purposes, we are clones with copies of the memories, abilities and Sacred Gears of the Peerage of Mei Schwarzwald. We are who you must kill to secure this ziggurat."

Behind her, the Gremory Heiress heard Asia's stifled gasp. The blond ex-nun was so, so innocent and Rias loved her for it. Had any being deserved to have been an angel based on kindness and compassion alone, it would have been Asia, although she would have Fallen quickly due to her feelings for Issei. But right now, it was going to hurt her [Bishop] to watch Rias rip these golems apart because they were so lifelike, so much like their originals that to say that 'killing them' wasn't totally wrong.

Setting her stance, Rias allowed Power of Destruction to pool in her hands as she prepared to combat these enemies. Natsuko had the [Hunter's Chance], Kawamura Aiko had the [Twice Critical] and Hibiki Shinobu had the [Crown of Forethought]. Distance attacks, close combat and precognition on the same team…troublesome and difficult to overcome, but not tremendously so.

With a yell, she unleashed a basic blast of her deadly magic at the Natsuko construct, which quickly materialised its bow and fired a [Flare Shot] arrow into the middle of the bolt of Power of Destruction, making it blow up rather spectacularly.

Speeding towards her at a run were the golems of Aiko and Shinobu, the former having already manifested its Artificial Sacred Gear on its right arm ([Boost!]) even as the latter pulled a naginata from nowhere.

"Gaspar, drink." Rias ordered tersely, "Asia, shield and be ready to heal on a moment's notice."

With a nervous twitch, the Dhampir pulled out a vial of blood and gulped it down. Dragon blood, even second-hand from the host of a Dragon-type Sacred Gear, was empowering to both Vampires and Dhampir. Whenever Gaspar needed a boost, he swallowed some of Issei's blood.

With a roar, Aiko's golem drew back her fist and slammed it forwards in a punch, aimed right for Asia, which was not something Rias would allow. Asia, hurt? The idea was abhorrent to her. She interposed one of her own shields between her surrogate little sister and her attacker with barely a twitch, but was taken aback by the shield actually cracking from the impact.

'I put enough power into that to block an attack from a mere golem…oh. Right.' Rias thought, 'These are no ordinary golems. She must have made them as strong as their originals. Time to get serious then.'

As she focussed on fighting her enemies, she failed to notice that the light from the tower had faded to nothing.

With Mei and Issei

Lowering his arm, Issei looked at the [Fatal Attractions] and gaped. Where there had been two orbiting each other before, now only a single staff floated before its mistress. Interlocking plates of purple and silver made up the haft and a complete model of the planet Earth rotated on its axis at the top. Surrounding it was an aura of power quite unlike what the separate halves had generated.

With a twitch of a finger, the staff floated over into Mei's hand and the aura around the staff encompassed her as well before seeming to seep into her skin. After a moment, the Stray Devil shuddered and sat back against the back of her throne, letting out a shaky breath.

"Whew. That was intense." She said after a moment, "I was right that it fought me for a moment, but my ownership of half of it allowed me to claim ownership over the other half as well. I love being right, on occasion."

The Sekiryūtei had the funny feeling that Mei was grinning like a lunatic beneath her mask. He couldn't say why he thought that, but he did.

"Ah, it looks like your [Queen] and her group are about to activate their ziggurat as well." The Queen of Blood and Betrayal mentioned casually, making Issei's eyes switch to the relevant screen immediately. Sure enough, Akeno and Ravel were throwing fire and lightning around the top of another ziggurat to eliminate the golems, gargoyles and Stray Devils that were attacking them.

"How did you get so many Strays here?" Issei asked.

"I proved that I was more powerful than them and forced them to obey me." Mei replied with a smirk, "Stray Devils hate it when you do that, but when I proved that it was a choice between serving me and dying…well, they proved that their self-preservation instincts are still intact. Ah, this time it's Kiba-san and Koneko-san. How industrious your friends are."

"Considering what you threatened to do to me, is it any surprise?" the Sekiryūtei asked dryly, "Would Chiaki-san hesitate to charge into danger for your sake?"

"No…no, she wouldn't." Mei answered with a bow of her head, "I apologise for the slight to your friends. I fear that were something to happen to me, Chiaki would gladly sacrifice herself for the slimmest of chances to help. Stop her if she tries."

Issei nodded. What he had agreed to didn't sit well with him, but it was what Mei wanted.

"Now, who to test who…ah." The Stray Devil pondered before a keyboard made of light appeared in front of her. She tapped in a couple of commands before Akeno and Kiba pulled the levers. "This ought to be good…"

Two magic circles appeared at each Ziggurat, a Bishop and Rook symbol in their centres. In front of Akeno and Ravel, a tall girl wearing black robes with long black hair and piercing black eyes emerged alongside a petite blonde wearing what looked like an upgraded version of Chiaki's outfit from when she was Mei's Peerage member. The biggest difference was the armour on strategic locations.

In front of Kiba and Koneko, stood the form of Takanome Arisu, looking as nonchalant as she had the last time Mei had summoned her semblance. Next to her, a silver-haired girl with a pair of pointed wolf ears atop her head and a long silver-furred tail swishing behind her. She wore a red hakama and bandages wrapped around her chest.

"How will the Priestess of Thunder and Phenex Scion match against Aria and Anya?" Mei mused, "And how will the Knight and Nekoshō deal with Maya and Arisu?"

With Kiba and Koneko

The last survivor of the Holy Sword Project used the [Balance Breaker] of his [Sword Birth] Sacred Gear and pulled a Holy-Demonic Sword out of nowhere, levelling it as he eyed the two…what, golems? It seemed to be Mei's preferred type of minion.

"I can sense life energy from them." Koneko stated bluntly, which made the two opposite him scowl at her.

"Mou, that just sucks." The being who looked like Takanome Arisu complained, "She cheated."

"Then we punish her." The Ōkami hanyou growled before launching herself at Koneko with a howl. It took both members of the Gremory group off-guard, as they were certain that this person was the one who had had Mei's [Twilight Healing] before Mei had stolen it.

Koneko blocked the punch, but was thrown back. As she flipped over and skidded to a stop, her fellow half-Yōkai smirked at her surprised expression.

"You aren't bad for someone with barely any training in chi manipulation kid, but I have a lot of practice using my abilities to survive by myself for the first decade and a half of my life." Kurozuka Maya stated, "Unlike me, you can only use the bare bones of your Senjutsu, with a bit of dabbling in chi and ki techniques. I have all that plus access to my Yōki and a bit of divine energy."

"Not a god." Koneko pointed out as she let her ears and tail out.

"I'm half Ōkami, a wolf god." Maya informed her, "Unlike Nekomata or Nekoshō, we are more closely similar to Yōko; worshiped as deities in Japan's ancient past and sometimes even in modern times. Even a hanyou like me can access some level of divine power. From the beginning, you could never defeat me."

"I will not fail! I will not let Issei-sempai die!" the usually composed girl shouted and charged in with renewed vigour.

Over with Kiba, he was deflecting ice shard missiles from Arisu, who still looked bored.

"Ne, can you be a pal and give up already?" she asked, "I'm not even using my Sacred Gear right now and you can barely dodge or deflect my ice attacks."

"Considering you were a reincarnated Yuki-Onna Hanyou and you were taught by Serafall-sama, it isn't surprising." The blond boy pointed out dryly as he smashed another icicle aiming to perforate him.

"Do you think that this team was chosen randomly?" Arisu asked archly, "Maya-chan is the perfect counter to Koneko-san's powers and abilities, while I am a more than reasonable counter to your own abilities. If things go south, Maya's [Stigmata] can put you both down, thanks to your overreliance on Asia Argento's own [Twilight Healing]. The only way you could beat us is by surpassing yourselves, and this is no Shōnen manga."

Kiba just grinned. "Oh, you'd be surprised at how many manga-like happenings come up when it has to do with Issei-kun."

With Akeno

Uttering a very unladylike word, Akeno scrambled away from the [Memoriam Blade] that sought to reap her of her memories. The knowledge of what the blade of the scythe could do sent chills running up her spine. She valued her memories a great deal and was not fond of the idea of them being taken away from her, even temporarily.

Ravel was flying in the air to avoid the berserker warrior Anya. It was amazing how someone so tiny could be so indomitable. She was only an inch or so taller than Ravel herself and was readily smashing basalt with as great an ease that a [Rook] of at least a century's worth of experience could accomplish.

"You know, it would be appreciated if you could give up." The girl wielding the scythe drawled lazily, "I have no desire to pick on the weak."

"I am Himejima Akeno! Daughter of Baraqiel and [Queen] of the Rias' Peerage!" Akeno snarled, stung by the implication that she was weak, "I will not let Issei-kun be killed as you were!"

The black-haired girl smiled sadly. "The way that I was killed? Hardly. I feel for you, but I have my orders from Mei-nee-nee. I will put you down."

"Why are you obeying her? Don't you have the memories of your original's death?!" Akeno demanded.

"I do." Aria said quietly, "Every minute of pain, every tear, and every sight right up until the end. When one dies, it tends to be something you do not forget. Especially me. While Mei-nee-nee is the most famous of us, the rest of her Peerage have our own nicknames. I was known as the Reaper of Memories thanks to my Sacred Gear. I was the only member of Amadeus Bael's Peerage who wasn't reincarnated by him; I was originally reincarnated as a member of another member of the 32 Pillar's Peerages. Because of my Sacred Gear, I was shunned and reviled, constantly traded to new Peerages. Mei-nee-nee gave me a home and love. She freed me from isolation, from self-hatred. For that gift, my life was and is a small price to pay."

The reincarnated Fallen looked at Makimoto Aria and saw a reflection of who she had once been; someone who had been isolated and hated because of something that was outside of her control, to the point that she had started to loathe herself because of what she was. Rias, her Peerage and her family had saved Akeno from that, along with sweet Asia and Issei-kun.

"I'm sorry, but the one who saved me from a similar fate has his life threatened by your mistress." Akeno said, raising one hand ready to blast her with magic, "If I have to go through you in order to save him, I will do so!"

Hefting the copy of the [Memoriam Blade], Aria smiled sadly again. "If you can do it, then try, girl."

As the battle between Akeno and Aria renewed, Ravel was having a harder and harder time keeping out of the reach of the hands of the wielder of [Blood of the Berserker]. The crimson aura around her body made her all but immune to Ravel's fire magic and despite the fact that the girl had lost herself to madness, she was still able to learn how to counter the techniques of an enemy. Anya was now bouncing off the shield around the ziggurat when she jumped.

Of course, having the ability to fly with her wings gave Ravel the advantage, but she feared it was only a matter of time before the thought occurred to her enemy to deploy her own wings. So then, what should she do?

Unlike the members of the Gremory Group, or even Irina, Ravel was a thoroughly average member of the Phenex Family, skill wise. Her ability to use wind, fire and heat was slightly above average, but nothing to write home about. She was highly intelligent and knowledgeable, but that really wasn't doing much for her at that moment. Unlike the members of the Gremory Group, she was so…standard by comparison. Yes, she was a High-class Devil with control of fire, wind and heat, as well as Phenex regeneration, but that was a little…staid compared to Koneko's Senjutsu or Akeno's Holy Lightning or especially Issei's [Boosted Gear] and [Illegal Move Tríaina].

She just…wasn't good enough.

It was a thought that had haunted and taunted her ever since she had had become close with Rias Gremory's Peerage, albeit one that she had buried deep in her mind. All of them had suffered and made it through pain the likes of which she couldn't fathom. Akeno from what her clan had done to her and her mother, Koneko from what her sister had done, Kiba from what the Holy Sword Project had done, Gaspar from what the Vampires had done, even Asia from what the Fallen Angel Raynare and Diodora Astaroth had done to her. And from that suffering and pain, strength had been born…strength that Ravel did not have.

Still, she had to at least hold her own until Akeno finished with her own opponent. Her pride, the pride as a member of the Phenex Family and as Issei-sama's manager, demanded no less.

So it was with a roar of fury that Ravel Phenex conjured more flames from her hands than ever before, flinging them at the berserker [Rook] with as much of her demonic magic as she could spare. The roar from Yuuki Anya was cut off by the flames that engulfed her, sending her crashing down to the ground, leaving a large crater in the basalt that made up the ziggurat.

Ravel only had time for a small grin of triumph before a screaming [Rook] shot up at her, one arm flapping uselessly, while the other was drawn back ready to punch her lights out.

'This is not going to be a short battle.' Ravel concluded grimly before flapping her fiery wings to dodge the berserker yet again.

With Mei

"Hmm…the young Phenex is doing surprisingly well against Anya." The Stray Devil mused on her throne, her chin resting on her steepled hands, "Baraqiel's daughter is failing her test right now."

"What?" Issei blinked.

"Each of these battles is meant to test something about the teams that take part in them." Mei stated, waving a hand at the screens, "Your master's test is to see if she can live up to her determination to protect the other two members of her group. Kiba-san and Koneko-san's test is to overcome skillsets that are the perfect counter to their own, while Akeno-san and Ravel-chan's test is to simply defeat their opponents through force of arms or strength of magic. Out of all of them, Himejima Akeno is the one closest to failure."

"Why? She seems to be holding her own." The Sekiryūtei said, watching that screen closely.

"Because, much as Rias-sama is, she is completely neglecting the physical side of things again." The Stray Devil growled, "At least Rias-sama has her sword strapped to her hip, ready to be used! Akeno-san hasn't even considered taking whatever weapon she has out. So totally focussed on her [Queen] piece's [Bishop] attribute that she neglects the [Knight] and [Rook] portions. What a disgrace."

"She's a magic using specialist." Issei pointed out, "Hell, so are you."

"I am indeed, but I am not afraid to get up close and personal with my enemies." Mei informed him, "To truly be a [Queen] piece, you must be an exemplar of all facets of the three pieces that make it up; not focus of magic, despite the large reserves you receive from the piece, nor lose yourself in the speed and strength bonuses that it also grants you. The main attribute of a real [Queen] is balance…something that Himejima Akeno evidently hasn't learned yet. Well, she'll learn soon enough the consequences of not picking up on my hints."

"Wait, what?!"

"If she doesn't respond physically within the next…five minutes, the golem of my little sister there will activate her Artificial Sacred Gear's [Balance Breaker]." Mei said with a smirk in her voice, "With the ranged ability to remove memories, I wonder how quickly Aria will win…especially since I copied her exact mind-set."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Issei asked in confusion.

"No two Sacred Gears, aside from the weaker ones, are used the same way, especially in [Balance Breaker]. That's where the Sub-Species term originally came into being, when users used the same Sacred Gear in different ways." Mei informed him, "All of the users of the [Memoriam Blade] before Aria could only use it to strip someone of memories. My darling little one, however, could accomplish more than that. One day, she asked me what the difference between 'memory' and 'imagination' was."

Issei nodded.

"I told her that imagination and memory, for diverse consideration, had diverse names." The Stray Devil continued, "She absorbed that and developed a technique she called [Imagine Breaker]."

"What…does it do?" the Sekiryūtei asked warily.

"A memory is a recording of an event of the present or past." Mei said cheerfully, "So then…what is imagination? It is the ability to create a crude forecast or prediction of the future. [Imagine Breaker] strips someone of the ability to do so regarding a certain subject. Say for example, 'What will my opponent do next?'"

This was troubling and scary for Issei to contemplate. An ability that could mess with memory was bad enough, but to be able to strip someone of the ability to imagine on top of that was…disturbing, to say the least.

"I'd guess that it isn't as all-encompassing as it sounds?" he forced himself to say.

"Quite. The technique can only be used in [Balance Breaker] form and cannot be used via beam projection." Mei informed him, "Additionally, it can be read in advance by the blade turning gold, rather than black. It can only be used on one person at a time, unlike the regular memory reaping, as well."

Even with those limitations, Issei thought it was a broken technique. He was about to ask her why it wasn't in the data that the Bael Family when he noticed Rossweisse pulling the lever on the last ziggurat.

"Oh, now this will be good." Mei almost purred with satisfaction as, on the screen, a single magic circle appeared with the symbol of the queen in the centre of it. Issei had less than a second to realise what that meant before, in a flash, a golem who looked exactly like Mei herself appeared facing the stunned trio of Rossweisse, Xenovia and Irina.

"Hell." Issei whispered.

"That team was far more problematic than the others due to how balanced it is." The Queen of Blood and Betrayal mused, "Rossweisse-san with her strong defensive barriers, Xenovia-san with her speed and EX-Durandal and Irina-san with her angelic powers and Holy-Demonic Sword. Add into that the fact that the last two used to be partners and it is quite the formidable team. I simply had to find something more…challenging…than the remaining members of my Peerage to test them. Who better than a copy of myself?"

As the copy of herself started forwards, Mei's eyes glittered through the eyeholes of her mask. "Now we shall see just how strong that team really is."

DXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD

Next Chapter: The Twelfth Move: Discovered Check Part Three

DXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD