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

Beta'd by BigCC

DXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDDXDDXD

Amadeus Bael...never in my life did I believe I could hate anyone more than my father, until he revealed his true face to me. My father cast out my mother when she was pregnant with me, simply because she was a magic user, then had the gall to use magic users to kill her, all for the sake of his own privilege and power. He died with my hands around his neck and his sins carved into his flesh for that.

But Amadeus...Amadeus makes me wish I could have retained control of myself before I killed him, so I could have drawn out his suffering and anguish for years to come. On the surface, he was much like a more manly and scholarly version of Diodora Astaroth, but inside, he was an oozing canker blossom of hatred, sexism, narcissism and self-aggrandizement. He cared for nothing but himself. Even the rest of the House of Bael, his own siblings, cousins and parents included, were little more that tools that he thought he could use and discard on a whim.

Really, the Bael Family should have thanked me for killing him; the man was nothing but a stain on their family's reputation and that of the entire Devil race waiting to happen. They were lucky I could kill him before his ego could cause an inter-faction incident.

- Attributed to Mei Schwarzwald

DXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDDXDDXD

The Nineteenth Move: King

With Rias

"Impossible." the Gremory Heiress breathed in disbelief. She looked up at the madly cackling man dumbly, as if her mind couldn't comprehend what her eyes were telling her. "Impossible. This is...no, this cannot be real. Amadeus Bael was murdered three years ago...he cannot possibly be alive!"

"Hmmm...ah, the Gremory slut." 'Amadeus' turned around and sneered at her. "Well it may be impossible for a walking baby factory like you, but I'm a fucking genius, bitch! Death has no meaning for me anymore!"

"Ah-ha...hahahaha...don't make me laugh." Mei laughed contemptuously. She used her staff to force herself to her feet and glared up at the form of her former [King] in hatred. "You are not Amadeus Bael. I choked the life out of his flesh and shattered every bone in his body three years ago. I don't know what you are, but you are not that bastard. Still, you must bear a grave misfortune...because I'm going to do exactly the same to you as I did you the contemptible louse whose face you bare!"

"Damn, you're just as much of a frigging arrogant bitch as you were three years ago." the male High-Class Devil jeered. "Maybe this will convince you that I'm the real deal!"

Raising one hand before him lazily, he made a familiar magic circle appear before him...one marked with the symbol of the Bael Family.

"That's...!" Chiaki paled. "Mei-nee-sama, shield! Now!"

Mei had already been moving, but her sister's words galvanised her, adding more speed and power to the shield that she had been forming. No sooner had she raised he magic circle shield than the distinctive black-tinged red energy born of the Bael's Power of Destruction flung itself from Amadeus' magic circle and slammed into her shield, sending the Stray Devil flying back to land on her feet, where she pushed back against the onslaught.

"It...can't...be...!" she ground out, arms trembling from the effort of maintaining her shield against the most innately powerful and deadly forces born of the Devil Race. "The Power...of...Destruction?!"

"Believe it, you smug little bitch!" the attacking man shouted. "Fucking DIE!"

In a surge of power, Mei was blasted back, her shield shattered to pieces. She slammed into her throne with an unpleasant-sounding CRACK and slumped down into the seat portion bonelessly.

"NEE-SAMA!" Chiaki screamed. An aura of mixed fire and lightning raged around her for a moment before the Gleipnir spell that bound her cracked, splintered and finally shattered into pieces, much to Rossweisse's shock.

"She...she broke my Gleipnir spell...like it was nothing!" the Reincarnated Valkyrie said faintly.

"BASTARD!" the [Pawn] Stray Devil screamed in fury as she deployed her wings and shot at her former [King] like a lightning bolt. "You...hurt Nee-sama! How dare you?! [Tanun]!"

The blur she became slammed into Amadeus, who had a shocked expression on his face as she used one hand to grind his head into the wall. "Gaaaah! Y-you...that...you're that useless martial artist! How do you have my Artificial Sacred Gear?!"

"Thank the Terror Twins." Chiaki growled. "How did you manage to survive, scum?! I watched as Mei-nee-sama choked and beat you to death! How did you come out of the [King] piece that Nee-sama made you?!"

"You little...! Let go of my face, you lowly Reincarnated trash!" Amadeus shouted and tried to blast her with his magic. She grabbed the hand he was trying to point at her and made it point towards a blank area, which was blasted by the deadly magic.

"Don't get full of yourself, scum!" Chiaki sneered. "Unlike three years ago, you didn't take me off-guard by doping my food with drugs! This time I can fight back!"

"Screw off!" he roared and the Stray Devil was forced to leap back as a blast of Power of Destruction erupted from Amadeus' entire body. Had she not moved, the dangerous magic would have devoured her body until there was nothing left.

"So you want to play hard-ball, do you?!" Chiaki snarled, nothing but pure hatred in her eyes for the scion of the Bael family. "Fine. We'll play hard-ball! [Gadadhara]!"

As the mace arm of the Balance Breaker glowed in preparation to attack, Amadeus' face twisted in realisation at what he was seeing. "Balance Breaker?! That lowly bitch dared to touch my designs?!"

With a roar, he sent another blast of Power of Destruction right at Mei, who was still either stunned or knocked out, and helpless to protect herself...yet Chiaki didn't move a single step to protect her, as smirk on her face.

The most powerful demonic magic struck the barrier around the throne, making a sound like a bell being struck as it did so. The shield absorbed the magic easily, much to its user's shock.

"WHAT?!" he growled, ceasing his attack in angered shock and realisation. "No...it can't be...the [Throne of Power]?! She completed it in just three years?!"

"Why don't you take your own power back and see for yourself!" Chiaki snarled. "Demi-Sacred Gear [Throne of Power]! [Reflect Bounder]!"

At Chiaki's command, the barrier shone brightly and a blast of Power of Destruction erupted from it, aimed right at Amadeus, who threw himself bodily to one side in a panic to avoid his own attack. Unfortunately, this mean that the magical blast ploughed through an entire line of the support pillars of the cathedral-sized room, forcing the Gremory Group to dodge falling debris.

"What is going on here?!" Rias growled, glaring between Mei, Chiaki and 'Amadeus' in frustration, confusion and a slow-building feeling of dread. "I demand some answers!"

"A lowly excuse for a Devil, who sullies herself with lesser imitations of their superiors, has no right to demand anything!" Amadeus snarled. "What I do and don't do with my property is of no concern to you!"

"We were never yours!" Chiaki yelled. "NEVER! Mei-nee-sama found us! Mei-nee-sama saved us! Mei-nee-sama raised us, cared for us, loved us! You were never more than a convenient way to save us, from her and our perspective. You were [King] in name only!"

With that, she sped at him, the mace arm of her Balance Breaker drawn back and ready to punish Amadeus, who blasted at her with another Power of Destruction spell. This one wasn't a concentrated blast, however; it split into dozens of different smaller streams and lanced at Chiaki like the volley of a shotgun's shell.

Growling in irritation, the [Pawn] Stray Devil dodged, weaved and barrel-rolled around the various blasts, even lashing out with her regular katar-clad fists to destroy a couple that she couldn't avoid in time.

"Stubborn, lesser TRASH!" the Bael Scion roared, and his magic circle changed slightly and unleashed another burst of the Power of Destruction, this time darker, stronger, more concentrated and focused and fired from point-blank range.

"Like I'll let you kill me!" Chiaki shrieked and slammed the [Mace of Tanun] into the crimson demonic power seeking to devour her. The two strained against each other, before the Power of Destruction began to crack, small shards of crimson-black energy breaking free and firing across the room at random. The Gremory Group was forced to scatter and then raise their own shielding spells...all except Issei, trapped as he was by the Gleipnir spell, so Rias was forced to expend energy to shield him as well, as it was too risky to remove his bindings while he was under Mei's control.

"Buchou, this is getting too dangerous!" Kiba said loudly as the stalemated clash between [Pawn] and [King] continued. "Those two are going to destroy this tower if they keep this up!"

"We can't run! Mei has the Artificial Sacred Gear that's controlling Ise!" Rias growled before reluctantly compromising. "Withdraw to the back of the hall! If you see an opportunity to bypass the barrier on the throne to grab Mei, do it!"

"Hai!" the rest answered and started to move.

Above them, Amadeus and Chiaki separated, the Reincarnated Devil flaring her wings to stop her retreat before she slammed into the wall behind her. Glaring at her former 'master', she growled.

"How did you do it?! How are you alive?!"

Amadeus swept his messed-up hair back with one hand and gazed at Chiaki scornfully. "Hmph. What right have you to demand anything of me? You have none whatsoever. Lowly scum like you should grovel before me in thanks that I bothered to accede to that miserable arrogant bitch's demands and wasted a couple of my [Pawn] pieces on you. As I gave you a new life, so too shall I take it from you, right here and now!"

"Don't screw with me!" Chiaki roared, lightning and fire engulfing her body in a powerful aura. "I may not have been a match for you three years ago, but here and now I am more powerful than you could dream of!"

"Hoh? Than by all means...prove that impudent boast of yours to me!" the High-Class Devil snorted as he raised his right arm negligently, a Bael Magic Circle appearing before it.

"Gladly!" the Stray Devil snarled. She created basketball-sized orbs of fire and lightning, one in either hand, and then smashed them together before feeding the orb more raw power. A Bael magic circle of her own appeared before her as she hurled the orb, now the size of an exercise ball, through it and pointed at it.

"Raika Gōen Kaku!" she shouted.

A massive explosion of Artificial Hellfire exploded out of the magic circle in a loose drill shape, making Amadeus' eyes widen and he quickly fired off his own spell.

"Spiral Destruction Burst!" he shouted.

With a roar, the Power of Destruction erupted once more from his magic circle, focused into a piercing drill of black-tinged crimson. With a mighty roar, the two powerful magics collided in the centre of the throne room, ancient demonic power struggling against its newly invented counterpart.

"An even clash?!" Ravel squeaked in disbelief. "Artificial Hellfire can match the Power of Destruction?!"

"It was one reason why Amadeus was a Sacred Gear Researcher; he claimed to want to build one that would compensate for his weak connection with the Bael Family Magic." Rias said grimly, her eyes locked on the clash as she tried to figure something out. "That's the issue here. Amadeus's Power of Destruction was supposed to be among the weakest of the Bael Clan and his control of it abysmal. And yet this man is wielding that same power with a level of skill and strength that nearly matches my own."

Something truly wasn't adding up here

"Ghhh...!" Chiaki grunted in effort as she pushed against Amadeus' spell. She had realized the same thing as the Gremory Heiress, that her former 'master' had somehow increased his connection to the Bael's innate magic either through or after his death. She well-remembered her dear elder sister telling her just the previous day that she was more powerful now compared to Amadeus had been when he had been killed.

'So how is this possible?! He shouldn't be matching me like this!' the [Pawn] thought in confusion. 'That bastard was always a weak fighter, he relied on dirty tricks and getting Mei to do his fighting for him. This...this can't be!'

Her disbelief grew as her [Raika Gōen Kaku] started to lose ground against the [Spiral Destruction Burst]. No matter how she pushed, it didn't do a thing to prevent the Power of Destruction from drawing closer.

'Wait...how...my [Raika Gōen Kaku] is a spiral, which should let it pierce through most other magic and substances easily, so how is his spell piercing through my spell?' she thought before the answer hit her. 'Of course! His spell is a tightly focussed drill, meaning that it has greater penetrative power in combination with the Power of Destruction!'

Just then, Amadeus added a splurge of power to his spell which overwhelmed Chiaki's [Raika Gōen Kaku]. She quickly dodged to one side, but cried out in pain as she got grazed by the [Spiral Destruction Burst] and fell to the floor with a thump.

"G-ghh...!" Chiaki grunted as she forced herself to her hands and knees, covering the wound on her abdomen with one hand with a spell designed to reduce small leftover quantities of the Power of Destruction into harmless magical particles. It was a spell that her Mei-nee-sama had invented over the last three years in order to make wounds taken from the Bael Family Magic easier to heal.

"Hmph. You being on your knees before me suits you well, scum." Amadeus said as he landed before her. While he was speaking confidently, he was pale and sweating, indicating that he had expended more effort in their little spell clash than Chiaki had.

'Tch. I hadn't expected to expend so much power as soon as I revived.' he thought with a grimace. 'Damned Reincarnated trash...always doing nothing but getting in my way!'

"Damn...you...!" the Stray Devil rasped out.

"Be silent. I shall grant you a degree of mercy, little weakling...I shall send you to join the rest of that worthless collection of trash you lovingly called your Peerage in the afterlife." Amadeus sneered as he pooled Power of Destruction in one hand. "Have no fear...your oh-so beloved elder sister shall follow you on shortly afterwards...you won't be alone in death!"

'Nee-sama...!' Chiaki thought, closing her eyes as death started to loom over her.

Elsewhere

'...-sama!'

'...aneki!'

'...-nee!'

Mei Schwarzwald's mind was sluggish and full of cotton wool as she floated in the wide, empty space where she was unaffected by anything that would touch her. No feelings, no pain, no memories...even if there were annoying voices nattering at her for attention.

"Ahh...I'm here again..." she slurred idly.

'Nee-sama, you...Chiaki-chan!' a persistent voice made her grumble. She was so tired! She just wanted to sleep for a while!

'No! No sleeping!' another voice chimed in, this one clearer than the rest. 'Silly Aneki...you can't sleep. Not now! Not when HE is here, right in front of you! Not when Chiaki-chan is threatened by him! Please Aneki, she doesn't deserve that!'

Mei was aggravated. Who was talking to her, and why was she feeling the urge to actually do something now?

'Nee-sama has fought for us for three long years, all alone, sisters.' another voice said calmingly. 'If she cannot rise, then we cannot gainsay her right to do nothing...but Nee-sama...this numb feeling of torpor can't begin to stifle the feelings that you have locked within you, that have kept you going throughout these long years, can it? The love we shared, the times we spent together...and the pain and anguish of our separation...all of those are things that, even in this state, you have not...no, cannot forget, am I correct?'

Feelings? Anguish? What was the voice talking about?

Mei's eyes snapped open as she felt a tumultuous cascade of memories crash over her, forcing her to recall everything in her life. All of the happiness, all of the joy...and the bittersweet memories of loss, combined with an endless amount of rage, hatred, despair and, above all else, determination.

In her mind, and out loud, the Queen of Blood and Betrayal screamed.

With Chiaki

The scream from her sister had Chiaki's eyes snap open immediate, as well as making Amadeus pause in his attack. All eyes in the throne room were drawn to the figure who had previously been slumped unconscious on her own throne.

"Nee-sama...!" the Pawn breathed with wide eyes.

"Tch. Stubborn bitch doesn't know when to give up." the Bael Scion clicked his tongue before turning to face Mei, who had staggered to her feet, an aura of purple energy surrounding her body. "So, you regained consciousness, woman? Considering I just ripped my way out of your soul, I have to give you credit for waking up at all; an average Devil would have fallen into a coma from that."

"Ha...haha...hahahaha!" Mei cackled. "Oh I was in a coma, I am afraid. Had you not hurt my beloved sister before me, letting me hear her cries of pain, I would likely never have awakened. But you...you stepped where angels fear to tread. You dared to harm the sole treasure that I have left in this world. Unforgivable...absolutely UNFORGIVABLE!"

The ground cracked with the weight of her power being unleashed. Mei started to walk forwards, slowly and deliberately, deploying her wings as she did so. Rather than the standard black wings that she had possessed during her battle against Azazel, her wings were half-again as large and were tinted a dark purple in colour. Streams of purple gravity magic lashed out across the throne room, emanating from the Queen of Blood and Betrayal as she let loose her full power for the first time.

"Hyōdō Issei, as your Queen, I do hereby order you with the power of the [Ring of Solomon]." Mei's voice was full of ice. "Break free of the spell that binds your body and do your utmost to slay the thing calling itself Amadeus Bael. Should it require you to die to do so, by all means do so."

"I hear and obey." the Sekiryūtei said in a monotone before using the power gathered in his [Boosted Gear] to break free of the [Gleipnir] spell, which made Rossweisse vow to herself to improve the spell so it was not easy to simply overpower it like that.

As the enspelled Sekiryūtei turned to face Amadeus, Mei cast a spell that floated Chiaki over to sit in the throne, where its healing energies would restore all of the damage that she had taken very rapidly.

"Stay put until you're fully healed, Chiaki-chan." the older Stray Devil said softly. "I'm going to make the bastard who dared to lay hands on you pay."

"Please do, nee-sama." Chiaki smiled tiredly as the healing energies of the throne washed over her. She was starting to feel better already.

Amadeus yelled in pain as one of Issei's punches to his gut sent him flying back into the wall like a speeding bullet. Coughing up blood, the Bael Scion glared at the slowly advancing Sekiryūtei with anger, and not a little fear.

"What power...so this is the strength of one of the Thirteen Longinus." he growled. "It is wasted in the hands of a useless excuse of weak Reincarnated trash such as you!"

"Gravity Bullets!" Mei growled, firing a large barrage of small gravity magic spheres at her former Master. Unlike the ones she'd fired before, the smallest orb she fired this time was the size of a grapefruit. The group of magic projectiles slammed around Amadeus, making him flinch.

"Bitch...what the hell did you do to gain this much power in a mere three years?!" he demanded. "You're on the cusp of attaining the rank of Ultimate-class with this much power!"

"I did anything and everything to gain power, so I could make my dream a reality." Mei stated, even as Amadeus fended off and dodged the increasingly powerful and swift blows of Issei. "You have no idea what I have done, all the pain I've undergone, all of the sacrifices that I have made...all to spite you and undo what you did."

"Haaaaah?!" Amadeus sneered condescendingly. "You can no more undo what I did that you can claim to be the God of the Bible, you arrogant bitch! And I did what I wished with my property, nothing more!"

It was these uncaring words that undid Mei's self-control.

"You murdered my sisters!" Mei howled in rage. "You ripped their Sacred Gears out of their bodies and murdered them, forcing Chiaki-chan and I to watch every foul instant! I wrung your neck until it snapped for that, although I dearly wished that I had taken my time in slaying you...now though...I have a chance to flense you until all that is left are organs and bones!"

The Gremory Group, plus those who were watching over the broadcast, felt the world tilt to one side at Mei's words. It just didn't compute. The strongest and most feared Stray Devil in the entire history of Reincarnated Devils, who had slaughtered her whole Peerage in a fit of bloodlust and greed for power...was not responsible for it? Had been a victim, even?

In the Palace of the Maō, Sirzechs exchanged grim and furious looks with Serafall, Azazel and Ajuka, even as Akeno covered her mouth in horror at Amadeus' next words.

"So what if I did?" he sneered. "They were my property, my Peerage! Their lives were mine to use, abuse and discard as I see fit! Had you not stopped me I would have taken their Sacred Gears from them inside of a few months of acquiring them! Who are you to look down on me?! I am a Pureblooded High-Class Devil of the Bael Family!"

"Whatever you are, you are not a Devil." Mei growled, and jabbed a solitary finger at him accusingly. "While you can use the Power of Destruction of the Bael Family, when you attacked my throne, it was at a frequency that wasn't human, Devil, Angel, Dragon or any other mythological species on the planet. You are Amadeus' spirit, possessing a clone of some sort, modified to possess the Power of Destruction without possessing the typical Devil weaknesses to Light and Holy elements, correct? I find it impossible to imagine that an average Devil scientist such as you could create such a thing, let alone without my knowing of it. Someone either made that body for you, or they did the lion's share of the work for you. Who it was who helped you I cannot imagine, as helping a pathetic excuse of a worm such as you would be below even the Old Maō Faction, even back then."

"Why you...!" Amadeus growled, furious at her words.

"Well, in the end, it doesn't matter." Mei shrugged, raising her staff to point at her former [King] threateningly. "However it was that you managed to flee the clutches of death the first time around, you're right back within my reach. This time, there is no possibility of you fleeing from my wrath. Prepare to die for the second time, Amadeus Bael!"

DXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDDXDDXD

Next Chapter: The Illegal Twentieth Move: King Takes Queen

DXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDDXDDXD