Author's Note: OK, so I've done something I've been meaning to do for a while; I've made some badly needed changes to all chapters before chapter 12. Seriously, they badly needed it. There've been no major changes relevant to the plot, just some minor spelling corrections and a few words added here and there. You can go back and re-read it if you want, but it's basically the same as before, just better. Enjoy this chapter.

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"Rias" - Speech

'Issei' - Thought

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

Beta'd by BigCC

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A group of enemies are only ever as strong as their weakest link, much like a chainmail shirt. Strike at that weak link and you will eliminate an enemy, weaken the group as a whole and make them angry, which will make them make mistakes.

It can also be applied to a person. People have weaknesses, mental and physical, and focussing on one of those is an effective, if underhanded, way of dealing with an enemy. A person, like a chain link, can only withstand so much pounding before they snap. The pounding can be with weapons, fists or even words. The idiot who made up the saying 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me' deserves to be shot for such stupidity.

- Attributed to Mei Schwarzwald.

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The Thirteenth Move: Discovered Check Part 4

Mei Schwarzwald's Throne Room

"YES!" Issei cheered. Seeing Rias defeat the golems with her new technique had been awesome, as had Kiba and Koneko dealing with their own opponents.

"I dearly wish they had been gentler on my sisters." Mei sighed from her throne. "They didn't deserve that level of savagery."

"Considering how strong they were, I don't think Rias and the others could afford to hold back." The Sekiryūtei pointed out.

"I suppose I should thank you for the compliment." The Stray Devil inclined her head to the Red Dragon Emperor. "Truth be told, the golems of my sisters are at the level that the originals were a year before they died. Had I built them to be at their previous levels, your friends would have a much harder time with them."

"So…you deliberately gave Buchou and the others a handicap?" Issei couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in shocked curiosity.

"More like making sure that they aren't too badly hurt before they face me." Mei corrected him absently. "Against me, they need everything they can get, including you, in order to win."

She did not speak arrogantly. There was little to no conceit or false bravado in her voice. There was the simple enunciation of truth born from her own views, nothing more or less.

"Even if I were to use my [Cardinal Crimson Promotion]?" the boy asked with a frown.

That made her tilt her head in consideration, her eyes becoming momentarily distant as she ran the situation through her mind. "That is a problematic ability of yours." She admitted. "I think, in the end, it would come down to a battle of endurance, whether or not I could maintain my own defences and outlast your ability to maintain that form. My [Balance Breaker] would fulfil that role rather nicely, although it would leave me rather drained afterwards, what with how…debilitated my body's condition is."

Issei stored that away for future reference.

"Now then…that just leaves the Akeno and Ravel duo and the Xenovia/Irina/Rossweisse trio." The Queen of Blood and Betrayal hummed thoughtfully as she gazed at the screens floating in mid-air before them. "Three…two…one…zero. Akeno-san has officially run out of time."

With Akeno and Ravel

Growling in irritation as the scythe user dodged another blast of her lightning, Akeno glared at her enemy. The golem had been spending most of 'her' time dodging the Reincarnated Nephilim's magical attacks. It certainly hadn't been an easy feat, the numerous small burns covering the golem's body and clothing attested to the number of close calls it had faced, but it had done it.

"You really haven't learned much from watching Mei-nee, have you?" 'Makimoto Aria' asked softly.

"What do you mean?" Akeno questioned.

"Had you used physical attacks, you may have managed to at least strike me by this point." The golem answered. "As you have not…I will now finish you. [Balance Break]!"

A blaze of golden light covered the scythe in her hands. The blade became double-headed, and a second set of identical blades appeared on the other end of the haft.

"[Memoria Blade Balance Breaker]…[Memories of Nobody Belong to All]." Aria said softly. "Now, Akeno-san…your memories are mine."

A black aura sprung up around the blades of the Sacred Gear and Aria swung it at Akeno, unleashing a black crescent of energy at the [Queen]. She deployed her wings in response and flew out of the way, allowing the black wave to dissipate when it struck the shield trapping them atop the ziggurat.

"My memories are mine! They will not be taken by you!" the [Queen] snarled at Aria, her heart thumping in fear. It was a terrifying Sacred Gear, almost on the same scale as a Longinus, albeit different in application. The body would be left intact, but bereft of memories. That was something worse that physical damage, in Akeno's opinion.

"As my Balance Breaker says, memories belong to all." The golem hefted her weapon. "Now then…[Imagine Breaker]!"

The golden radiance surrounding the scythe's blade now was very much blinding and it filled Akeno with a feeling of dread. That it was a technique named by Aria made it somewhat dangerous.

The shifting of Aria's feet was all the warning Akeno had as the golem deployed her own wings and shot at the [Queen] like a cannonball, with Akeno dodging desperately. Thunder and lightning moved at her command, but the scythe-user gracefully dodged them easily, as if they weren't deadly Holy-infused blasts of lightning.

Over with Ravel, she was finding it hard to concentrate over the shriek of dead souls from the Balance Breaker of [Blood of the Berserker], [Lament of the Damned]. The red aura around the golem was full of indistinct black shapes and faces shrieking in sorrow and despair even as Anya flew at the Phenex Scion, the light of madness gone from her eyes.

"Stay still!" the former Pawn bellowed in annoyance.

"Not likely!" Ravel shot back and fired several blasts of fire at her that washed over the armour-like aura without so much as singing the golem's hair, utterly ineffective.

'Damn. Like this, I can't scratch her.' Ravel thought furiously. Deciding to take a leaf from Akeno's book, she constructed a magic circle in her mind that she had been playing with for quite some time, but had never had cause to actually try in practice.

Raising one hand at the charging golem, Ravel made her Phenex Circle appear and created a ball of fire in front of it. "[Flame of the Dragon-Phoenix]!"

As the flame shot forwards, it elongated and turned into a fiery Eastern dragon with the wings of a bird. It roared, coiled around Anya and then exploded. When the smoke cleared, the aura was rapidly repairing itself, and several parts of Anya's golem body were damaged. Ravel was panting, but grinning like a loon. She may not have the draconic power inside of her like Akeno did, but she did have an excellent imagination and was highly intelligent besides. That had been a firestorm compressed into the shape of a dragon. It had taken a lot of power to generate, but she was confident she could use it at least a couple more times.

"Tricky…!" Anya hissed. "But tricks won't avail you!"

At her words, phantom figures erupted from the blood-red aura around her, taking the form of numerous humans wearing Chinese-style clothing and business suits. One in particular looked more tormented than the others.

"That's Mei-nee-sama's human father." The golem informed a stunned Ravel. "She took her time killing him. He deserved it, for what he had done to Hildegard-san. Now he serves when called, like a good little minion should. Attack, souls of the dead!"

With a cacophony of wails, the dead spirits obeyed, speeding towards Ravel with Dao out and ready to cut. She used a regular fire blast to destroy most of them, but then had to dodge the swipe from the spirit of Mao-Mao Lin Wei, as well as the follow up punch from Anya.

Lacking any sort of close combat abilities of her own, Ravel needed to finish this quickly, so she poured all of her magic into one last [Flame of the Dragon-Phoenix] and unleashed it at the two enemies before her. The winged fire dragon swiftly enwrapped the two in a cocoon of its fiery body and then exploded with the force of a bunker buster.

Ravel barely managed to shield herself from the force of her own spell, but when the smoke cleared, the tortured spirit of Mao-Mao Lin Wei was gone, and the body of Yuuki Anya was crumbling before her.

"…magnificently done…" the golem rasped. "You…pass, girl…"

With that, the body collapsed, leaving behind a sphere the size of a fist, which winked out of existence via a teleport. Ravel landed on the ground, quite spent from her exertions. She had never used so much power in her life. Hell, she had never needed to use so much power in her life before now!

She immediately resolved to apply herself more assiduously to her magic training from here on out. Maybe throw in a bit of physical training to compliment it.

'Good luck, Akeno-sama.' She thought as she waited for her body to recover itself from the amount of her Demonic Power she had expended.

Back with Akeno, she grinned both proudly and savagely as she saw the destruction of the other golem by Ravel. The little Phenex girl had stepped up quite admirably.

"Anya-chan!" Aria wailed in grief.

Not one to miss the chance offered by her enemy's distraction, Akeno unleashed a veritable storm of [Holy Lightning] blasts at her, engulfing her much as Anya had been. Akeno blasted the golem with a [Dragon Lightning] blast almost as an afterthought.

Aria was in pieces on the ground by the time the [Queen] of the Gremory Group had finished with her. Irritatingly enough, there was a faint smile on the golem's face as she started to crumble.

"Ara, are you amused by something?" Akeno asked with one elegant eyebrow raised.

"You." Aria answered with a chuckle. "Even although you technically failed the test by not using your weapon, you still pass it by defeating me. How ironic."

"Why do you seem so focused on getting me to use the physical aspects of my abilities?" Akeno asked, quirking an eyebrow in honest curiosity. The golem had been pushing for her to try some form of physical attack since the battle had begun.

"Because a true [Queen] is not a powered-up [Bishop]. It isn't solely a [Knight] or [Rook] either." Aria rasped as she came closer and closer to destruction. "A true [Queen] is all three at once. In other words, the 'trait' of a [Queen] is balance. It is because Mei-nee-sama is balanced that she is a vastly superior [Queen] compared to you, Himejima Akeno. I wish you the best of luck with regaining your saviour…because at your current level of strength, you do not stand a chance against Mei-nee-sama."

With those words, the former [Bishop] dissolved into dust and the orb that was its core winked away in a teleport, leaving Akeno to frown at where her enemy had once lain.

Above the ziggurat, the Gremory Rose bloomed.

With Irina, Rossweisse and Xenovia

"And that makes three!" the bluenette swordswoman shouted triumphantly, pointing EX-Durandal at the latest ziggurat to be conquered. "We're the last ones!"

"For a reason." The former Valkyrie pointed out as she blocked another attack from the golem of Mei Schwarzwald. The tonfa that the [Queen] golem wielded were very powerful for non-Sacred Gear weaponry and seemed to gain striking power the more they were spun around. Fighting her was very different to any fight against a [Queen] that they had ever faced before, with 'Mei' eschewing magic in favour of close combat.

"I must admit that your companions are fairly strong to have defeated my sisters as they were a year before they died." 'Mei' remarked in amusement as she spun Wail and Shriek lazily. "It should be noted that I am created in the image of my original at roughly the same time period."

"You were this strong a year before you killed your sisters…" Irina shook her head in disbelief.

"Indeed." The golem sounded a bit cold there. "Observe this."

With a wave of her hand, the illusion of one Hyōdō Issei, dressed in casual smart clothes, appeared, along with a female Fallen Angel wielding a spear of Light. The Fallen sliced open the helpless Issei's stomach with a single swipe of her weapon. She even laughed as the phantasmal Issei collapsed onto his back before both images faded.

Irina felt sick. That was her Issei-kun that had been killed there, and she knew human medical science well enough to know that even if he had been taken to a hospital as soon as the wound had been made, he would have died. And he had been killed by a Fallen Angel.

"Raynare…!" Xenovia growled, having heard stories from Rias about that particular Fallen Angel.

"And so would have ended the Sekiryūtei, were it not for the intervention of one Rias Gremory." Mei said sombrely. "What an ignoble and ignominious end that would have been for him. And you wouldn't have known about it until the fiasco with the Excaliburs."

"What is your point?" Irina bit out angrily.

"He accepts Akeno-san because she is only a Nephilim…do you think he'll accept you if you Fall and become a full Fallen Angel?" 'Mei' asked silkily. The twintailed girl blanched at those words. "He does dislike Fallen in general, you know…"

"Shut up!" Xenovia snarled and lashed out with EX-Durandal, using the power of Excalibur Mimic to extend the blade like a whip, forcing 'Mei' to dodge to one side. "The man Irina and I gave our hearts to isn't someone who judges by race! Stop trying to twist things to suit yourself!"

"Words can be used to uplift and to tear down in equal measure, former exorcist of the Church." The golem laughed. "The words used to bind a community together can also be used to divide it and rend it asunder. Those who know this can cause more damage than any mere swordsman. It's why politicians are untrustworthy; they can do far more damage with words than a soldier can accomplish alone. I merely use that as a tool. Anything can be a weapon…especially when I use them on someone who is a weak link."

"Excuse me?!" Irina spluttered.

"All of the other members of the Gremory group have something semi-unique to them." Mei explained. "[Sword of the Betrayer], Norse defensive spells, Senjutsu and Yōjutsu, Power of Destruction, Holy Lightning, Phoenix Tears, the [Boosted Gear], EX-Durandal, [Twilight Healing], [Forbidden Balor View]…you get the picture. You are a standard Reincarnated Angel with a mass-produced Holy-Demonic Sword that is still far weaker than Kiba-san's. In skill and power you are at the lower end of average. The weak link among the team. Strike the weak link long enough…and it will break."

Charging forward, she rained blows down on Irina, who barely managed to fend them off with her sword. The Reincarnated Angel ground her teeth as the words of the golem echoed in her head. The aggravating thing about them was that they were all perfectly true. She was a Reincarnated Angel the [Ace] of the Archangel Michael, but she was woefully weak compared to some of the other exorcists and priests who had been reincarnated since. Her weapon was stronger than either a mass-produced Holy Sword or a mass-produced Demonic sword, but as Mei had said, Kiba's [Sword of the Betrayer] was still far, far stronger.

Still…still…!

"I'm not weak!" she roared as she threw a ring of Light around the golem's arms, binding them tightly. "I am Shidō Irina! [Ace] of the Archangel Michael and the Childhood friend of Issei-kun! I will not let your words whisper in my ear! May the Lord have mercy on you, for I will not!"

"Big words, little girl!" 'Mei' snarked as she shattered the ring with barely any effort. Seeing the confusion in the girl's gaze, she explained, "Light may be effective against Devils, but I am not my original. I am a golem, not a Devil, so Light is only as strong as you make it. No bonuses against me, I am afraid."

"Then how about this then?!" Xenovia roared, leaping in and activating the powers of both Excalibur Rapidly and Excalibur Destruction at once, further adding to Durandal's destructive force. This golem's words and actions against Irina had made her furious. She had to pay.

Wail and Shriek moved in a pair of blurs as they batted the Peerless Holy Sword aside time and time over, the inhuman speed of the giant sword not doing much to stop the lightning fast parrying of Mei's golem. Still, enchanted or not, the tonfa were not up to the level of a regular Holy Sword, let alone one of the most powerful Holy Swords in existence. After two minutes of this, 'Mei' leapt back and discarded them as the shattered into uselessness.

"Well, there's a thing." The golem remarked with a sigh. "They held up better than I thought they would, but still not up to facing the Peerless Holy Sword for longer than a handful of blows. Back to the drawing board."

Moving smoothly, she adopted the same stance that her original had taken when facing Amakusa Chiaki and beckoned Xenovia onwards. "Let us finish this."

Holding her weapon firmly, Xenovia eyed the golem warily. As dangerous as it had been with those infernal tonfa, she was an incredibly dangerous hand-to-hand combatant, possibly more so than if she was armed.

Rossweisse narrowed her eyes and raised her hands at the golem. "Enough of this. [Gleipnir]!"

Norse magic circles appeared around the Mei golem and ribbons shot out of them, wrapping around her limbs and binding them tight.

"What the…?!" 'Mei' struggled, but couldn't move so much as an inch.

"Although by far inferior to the real McCoy, this spell creates an imitation of the original Gleipnir, binding the enemy still." The former bodyguard to Odin informed the copy of the Stray Devil. "Even an Ultimate-class Devil would find it hard to break out of those chains. Irina! Kill her!"

"With pleasure!" the Angel growled. She unleashed her wings and shot forwards, her Holy-Demonic Sword thrust forwards. She stabbed into the stomach of the golem before twisting the blade around and slicing it out of the body, bringing it around using the centrifuge to completely bisect the golem of Mei Schwarzwald in half. The force of her attack had Xenovia taken aback. The last time Irina had been this vicious in battle had been when Issei had almost killed by Loki.

"Heh…hehehehe…" the golem chuckled as the two halves of her body started to crumble away. "That was a most excellent blow, [Ace] of Michael. You should loose up on your emotional control a touch, though. If it takes such words to unleash your fighting spirit, then you are still green."

"You…you deliberately taunted me into anger…?" the brunette said surprised.

"My original knew that there was never any chance of any of these golems taking you out." 'Mei' smirked. "This is simply a way of getting first hand combat data on you and your friends, rather than second-hand data from watching you fight the Old Maō Faction and the rest of the Khaos Brigade. You have won the battle, but the war shall ultimately belong to the real me…count on it. She has too much at stake and too little time for it to be otherwise."

"Too little time?" Rossweisse focussed in on this datum. "Explain yourself."

"You'll find out…when it's too late to do anything…" the golem whispered as the deterioration of its body accelerated. "…she…is…the Queen…the Untouchable…Queen…!"

With that, the last of the two halves of the golem crumbled away, leaving the core to land on the floor with a sharp 'plink' sound.

As the Gremory Rose bloomed above the ziggurat, the three teammates exchanged glances with one another.

"She let us win." Rossweisse sighed. "She could have dodged my [Gleipnir] spell easily, yet she chose not to."

"Why though?" Irina growled in frustration. "Why deliberately lose?"

"She must have had a mental link with the real Mei." Xenovia frowned. "She must have been following orders. Mei must have judged that we've been delayed long enough."

Unspoken was the fact that, if they had been delayed for a set period of time, then the fact that the time had expired meant that Mei's plan was working according to her schedule. This was not a comforting thought.

"All four ziggurats have been captured." Grayfia's voice announce calmly. "All attacks to recapture them have been repulsed. The Gremory Team has opened the doors of the tower."

With a rumble, the ziggurat beneath them started to sink into the ground. Peering over the edge, Irina saw that each 'step' of the construct was sinking into the ground before the next one started to sink down. Looking at the other ziggurats, she could see that they were doing the same thing.

"Looks like we're going to have to run again." The former Valkyrie said once she realised this. "I'd bet that we're going to be harried by more gargoyle golems en route as well."

"So? Same difference from before." Xenovia shrugged.

"Um…guys?" Irina squeaked. "The maze…it's changing!"

Upon seeing that the walls and corridors of the maze were changing, Xenovia muttered several curses that made her fellow believer scold her in a scandalised voice.

Later

Base of the Central Tower

Rias didn't appreciate the maze changing. Nor did she like the fact that the amount of gargoyle golems attempting to stop them had seemingly tripled in number since the ziggurats had been captured. It had only been a minor inconvenience for her thanks to the Power of Destruction, but having to blast so many enemies so many times was becoming tiring.

Thankfully, Gaspar had stepped up to help offensively, with Asia determinedly blocking with her shields. Really, Rias was going to spoil them rotten once this business with Mei was over. She was lucky to have such helpful and adorable servants.

They entered the courtyard at almost the exact same time as the other three groups and some of the tension in the Gremory Heiress' body fled. They were all OK. Akeno was roughed up a bit, but substantially, her beloved servants were all OK.

"In!" she shouted, pointing at the doors. "We have to get in now, before we're overwhelmed!"

Almost in unison, the Gremory Group deployed their wings and took flight, zooming through the open doors of the tower, just as a veritable army of gargoyle golems boiled out of most of the entrances to the maze. With a groan, the doors slammed shut on them, locking the golems out and the Gremory Group in.

"Whew…" Rias breathed out. "That was close."

"Well done, Rias-ojou-sama." Mei's voice said from all around her. "You have successfully entered the heart of my stronghold. Now it's the race against time. The countdown starts in either five minutes or when you or your Peerage set foot into the corridor, whichever comes first. Do hurry…"

"That witch!" the Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess growled, hands clenched tightly. As much as she wanted to charge it at once, she knew that she and her friends needed those five minutes to rest, recuperate and heal. The stakes were too high to do otherwise.

"Asia, inspect everyone and heal them if needed." she ordered. "Everyone else, sit down and rest. We have a way to go yet."

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Next Chapter: The Fourteenth Move: Pawn Takes Queen

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