Dance With the Devil
DxD Chapter 9
Disclaimer: I own none of the series involved.
To answer reviews:
You all know that's how Irina and Xenovia were like in canon, right? They don't really mean any harm, they're just... REALLY devoted to God. That plus their ignorance of things makes it really easy for them to say some cruel things.
Kaiya Azure: I have to admit, that would make a lot of sense if that was the case in DxD proper. Then again, with a certain Fallen Angel stealing some of the Excalibur fragments, the war was really close to restarting anyway.
aliesterus: Yes I know who GaoGaiGar-tan is, she's the reason I even got into Nanoha in the first place. If anyone would have access to things like the I.S. ability, it would be Atsuko since she's a cyborg (hint for the future).
Sagitaro V: That'll get addressed in a future arc, I promise. And more additions to the harem? Perhaps, you'll see as the story goes on. ;)
Atsuko was launching a spin kick and gasped in shock as her foot connected with Ranma's face and sent him flying across the training floor, tumbling the whole way. "WAGH! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU'D APPEAR LIKE THAT! I KILLED RANMA! WAAAAH!"
"No... You didn't..." Ranma groaned as he sat up, a bruise already forming on his face. "Luckily you didn't break anything." Groaning, he flopped onto his back as the other three ran over to him in worry.
(-)
"Will he be okay?" Atsuko asked Lilith as she walked downstairs. She sighed in relief when Lilith nodded at her.
"Oh yeah, nothing broken, he's got a concussion though, Mittelt's currently healing him." She had complained about it, but Lilith had pointed out that she needed to work on support magic since she was Ranma's Bishop.
"But that's bad! I damaged his brain!" Atsuko gasped in horror. "WAAAHHH! I made Ranma go stupid!"
Lilith shook her head in amusement. "No, he's fine, the healing energy we used should keep him from suffering any real damaging effects from the concussion."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Atsuko really felt bad by what she did, even if it was an accident.
"Strip naked, go up to see him and have sex with him." Lilith said and face-faulted as Atsuko nodded and took off her shirt. "I WAS KIDDING!" She yelled before Atsuko could pull her pants down. "I mean, you can keep stripping, I'm enjoying the sight, but you don't need to have sex with Master." Besides, she was certain that Ranma would be QUITE upset with her if she talked Atsuko into having sex with him.
Atsuko tilted her head in confusion. "I don't get it, Ranma enjoys sex with you and Mittelt, why does he seem to try and fight against it?"
"Because he worries." Lilith sighed and motioned for Atsuko to follow her to the table. "Leave the shirt off, I wanna ogle your boobies."
Atsuko shrugged, causing some nice jiggling to happen before sitting down at the table, followed by Lilith. "About what?"
"You know that I gave him my Devil's Pledge to save his life, right?" Atsuko nodded, she heard that story already. "And that it imparted some of my succubus essence into him as well, right?"
"Yep, so what..."
"He's worried that if he doesn't fight against his urges that he'll turn into an uncontrollable sex monster." Lilith understood perfectly, after all, her species was the same way.
"Will he?"
"Nah, not so long as he vents his urges often enough." Lilith shook her head in amusement.
"So the reason he needs a harem..." Atsuko trailed off, tilting her head in confusion. "Is so that he can give into his urges without it being dangerous to him?"
"Yep, you got it." The only reason that it was potentially as dangerous as it was to Ranma was because of the fact that he had been human before getting the Devil's Pledge.
"And yet he fights against it?" Atsuko asked, confused as Lilith nodded. "That's so... Stupid."
"It is." Lilith admitted as she watched Atsuko's boobs move when the cyborg moved. "But Master wouldn't be Master if he didn't worry about stupid things like that."
"...Can I help?"
"Again, if I convinced you to have sex with him, I would probably get the butt whipping of my life and trust me, Master knows how to make it hurt!" Lilith wouldn't mind Atsuko joining in, but there was no way she could justify it to Ranma.
Atsuko was silent as she contemplated that information.
(-)
Meanwhile in Nerima...
Kasumi blinked as she heard a knocking at the front door. "Huh? Weird." Walking up to the door, she opened it and looked on in surprise at the person in front of the door.
"Hello, I was wondering, is the one known as Akane Tendo in?" A little girl in a weirdly perverted gothic lolita outfit asked as she stood in the doorway. For the most part the outfit looked normal, except for the front chest area, which was completely exposed, as was her belly. Her nipples were covered by pasties, which was the only thing keeping it from being obscene.
"Yes, but oh my, why are you like that? An outfit such as that is entirely inappropriate for such a young girl!" Kasumi ushered the girl inside.
"It is?" The girl asked, blinking at Kasumi. "I do not understand why, nor do I care, I am here to see Akane Tendo and I was being polite enough to use the front door."
"Hey, Kasumi, what's with all the noise?" Nabiki asked as she walked down, took one look at the girl and turned whiter than a ghost. "W...What are YOU doing here?!" It had been brief when she first used her Balance Breaker, but she remembered the image of the little girl in her home with a warning of "Do Not Anger" flashing across her image.
"I do not believe we have ever formally met." The girl looked at Nabiki in confusion. "No, I do not believe so, so how do you know of me?"
"Ophis, what are you doing here?" Nabiki asked, fighting the urge to run as far as she could.
Ophis blinked and tilted her head. "I am here for the one known as Akane Tendo. I have been as polite as I care to be." She pointed at Nabiki, her finger imitating a gun. "Her Sacred Gear, I want to utilize it."
"Excuse me." Kasumi looked at the little girl. "Please do not use that tone of voice in my house."
"Yes, ma'am." Ophis said meekly and looked down, looking ashamed.
"Now apologize to Nabiki for scaring her."
"I'm sorry." Ophis said, causing Nabiki to stare in shock at her. "I do not wish for conflict here, but if I asked any of the others there would have been conflict."
"How did you get her to apologize?" Nabiki wondered how Kasumi got Ophis, of all beings, to act like a sorry child who got caught being naughty.
Kasumi just smiled at Nabiki, not saying a word.
(-)
It was only two minutes longer when Akane walked down the stairs, took one look at Ophis and then looked at Kasumi. "Are we collecting girls for that lolicon pervert?"
"I do not know of whom you speak of." The little girl said as she stood up. "My name is Ophis, I want you." The girl pointed at Akane. "Your Sacred Gear will be most helpful with what I want."
"...What?" Akane asked in confusion and looked at Nabiki, who was shaking her head and crossing her arms, trying to tell her to say no to whatever Ophis was offering.
Ophis tilted her head. "Your Sacred Gear, Devil Alchemist, makes any food you cook a lethal poison or weapon and sometimes has randomly weird effects. With my help you can achieve your Balance Breaker and gain control of it."
"Ophis!" Nabiki got the little girl's attention. "Please, she doesn't need to know about this."
"It's too late." Ophis shook her head and turned back to Akane. "If you come with me, there are plenty of people capable of teaching you how to be a good fighter, and if you gain control of it your cooking will no longer be horrible."
"DEAL!"
"Akane, no!" Nabiki cried out as Ophis nodded and the little girl and Akane disappeared in a black mist. "SUNNVAFUCKINGBITCH!"
"Nabiki?" Kasumi looked on, worriedly. "What's going on?"
"Seeing Ophis caused all the futures I saw involving her and Akane to come into focus." Nabiki shook her head and stood up. "Shit, I need to get that program done and over to the Mishima Heavy Industries quickly!"
"What's going on?" Kasumi asked, starting to get scared.
Stopping at the stairs, Nabiki looked back at her elder sister. "Every future I saw where Ophis found out about Akane's Sacred Gear led to the destruction of the world."
"...What's a Sacred Gear?"
"I'll explain later!" Nabiki yelled as she ran upstairs.
"...Oh dear." Kasumi was worried, what was going to happen next?
(-)
The next day in Kuoh City...
Issei, Koneko and Saji were walking down the street, with Saji looking dejected. "Seriously don't know how you talked me into this. I should go now before things go all pear-shaped and things go stupidly bad. You'll see! I'm right on this."
"Quiet." Koneko ordered him. "Help us find Kiba." When the blonde didn't show up at school, Koneko had gotten worried for him and snuck after Issei, who had gone to talk with Saji. "You're in too deep, if you back out now, I'll tell Sona what happened."
"You'll get in trouble too!" Saji protested and sighed when Koneko turned and nodded. "Fine, but this is under duress, I don't like this."
"Noted. Now we have to find either Kiba or those two church girls." Issei said as they turned a corner.
"As if it'll be that easy, it's not like they're on a street corner, begging for money."
When they all turned the corner, they stopped as they saw Irina and Xenovia standing in front of a collection pail, begging for people to give them money and talking about some sort of painting. "Well... Guess I was wrong." Saji muttered to himself, unable to believe it was so easy to find them.
(-)
"So..." Xenovia looked at Issei in confusion as she sat across from him at the food place that Issei took them to. "Why did you want to talk?"
"This food is so yummy!" Irina squealed as she chowed down on the burger in front of her. "Oh Lord, thank you for looking after me, even if the help comes from a Devil, know that I only accepted because I would not be helpful to you if I passed out in hunger, amen."
"Yeah... Let's just wait a little bit, we have one more person coming." Issei said, getting a look from the others. "Hey, I sent him a text message, he should..." He heard the door open, thanks to his Devil hearing, and turned to look. "Ah! Kiba! Over here!"
"You could have gotten him at any time?" Saji asked as he was squished against the window. "Why did you need me to help look for him?"
"Because I wanted to have some back-up in case something went wrong." Issei answered and then looked at the two girls and at Kiba. "I have a question for you two."
"What?" Xenovia wondered why he would have Kiba show up.
"How important is it if the Church gets back the Excaliburs in one piece?"
Kiba stared at Issei in shock. "What do you mean?"
"What he said!" Irina exclaimed, shocked as well.
Issei drummed his fingers on the table. "I was thinking, since our match, that you need the Excaliburs back, but if they're in the hands of the Fallen Angels, they could restart the war, right?" The two girls nodded at him. "Kiba wants them destroyed and after what happened yesterday I can agree to it." Issei grimaced as he remembered the pain that made him black out.
"So you Devils wish to destroy the Holy Swords then?" Xenovia frowned, her superiors wouldn't like this, but if they teamed up with the Devils, then the odds of succeeding went up dramatically. "I suppose it would be better to have the swords destroyed than in the hands of Fallen Angels." Besides, so long as the cores were intact and the blades returned, they could be rebuilt.
(-)
Meanwhile...
"It's time." Kokabiel grinned at Valper and Freed. "Tonight is the best time to do it, is it not?"
"Of course." Valper nodded to him. "We just need to steal one of the Excaliburs that those girls have and we'll have all we need to perform the ritual."
"Excellent." Kokabiel looked at the back of the room where Bulleta, still tied to a cross, floated and glared at them. "Rejoice! You'll be at ground zero for the next war! You'll get to kill all you want to your heart's content."
Bulleta said nothing as the group disappeared.
(-)
It was later that night when Issei found himself waking up suddenly. "WAGH! Earthquake?!" He yelled as he sat up while the house shook, his hands landing on Rias and Asia's breasts as they woke up as well.
"Issei, while I don't mind this, now isn't the time." Rias smiled at him, glad he wasn't too upset with her for spanking him earlier. She didn't know why he went against her orders to stay out of the affairs of the Church, but he even caught the attention of that crazy exorcist Freed again. Thankfully after a brief scuffle, Freed left, being chased by Xenovia and Irina and, annoyingly enough, Kiba. She was going to have to deal with him when she saw him again, provided he didn't just leave her peerage and go rogue.
"Ack! Sorry!" Issei pulled his hands off of their boobs and got out of bed, wondering what was going on.
"RIAS GREMORY!" A deep voice from outside yelled and the three looked at each other in shock.
(-)
"Ah! You finally came out." Kokabiel chuckled at the glares he was getting. "It's good to see you, sister of Sirzechs Lucifer, fallen Saint of the Church and the Red Dragon Emperor himself. My, my, this city is full of surprises. To think that two of the Devil Kings would have their baby sisters be here so defenselessly."
"Kokabiel, one of the Leader-Generals of the Fallen Angels," Rias narrowed her eyes at him, "what is it that you want?"
"What?" He shrugged and looked around the city helplessly. "If you want to know..." His face broke out into a grin and Rias, Asia and Issei were reminded of Bram Stroker's Dracula for some reason. "I want to restart the war between the factions!" He started to laugh as Freed seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "Ah, there you are."
"Yep, job's done." Freed smirked and dropped the person in his hands, revealing a badly injured Irina. Not only did she look pale but her outfit was torn to shreds, revealing several bruises and cuts all over her body. "Have to admit, pigtails there was a lot of fun. Didn't have enough time to enjoy her fully, but that's fine." He licked his lips and jumped back as Issei and Asia ran up to Irina, looking at the injured girl in worry.
"And that makes four." Kokabiel grinned as he looked at Rias. "Well now, why don't you call your brother up? I want to fight him, I want something interesting! But perhaps if I kill you he'll not only come rushing up, but in doing so he'll drag that worthless Michael out of Heaven and the war will start all over again?!"
"Or you could just give up this crazed idea of a war?" Rias suggested. "I'm sure that you could fight against the other powers in the world to get your fix."
"But that's not nearly as much fun." Kokabiel sighed as he and Freed disappeared. "Well, no matter what, by the end of the night, this whole city will be nothing but a sea of death and destruction. If you wish to stop me, feel free to try, I'll be waiting at the school." The last thing they heard was his crazed laughter.
"Asia, take Irina inside and heal her. Issei, you're with me." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone to make some calls. "We're going to stop him."
(-)
"Ah, Sona." Rias said as she saw her friend and the rest of the student council surrounding the school. "Good to see you're awake."
"Just so you know, I've already called your brother, it'll take him almost an hour to get here though."
"So we'll need to hold out for that long, huh?" Rias had no doubt that they would lose against Kokabiel if he fought them seriously, not that she doubted her strength or the strength of her peerage, but rather Kokabiel was that strong. She looked back at Issei, who nodded, as did Akeno and Koneko, having joined them just as they got to the school. Asia had joined them on the way as well, having healed Irina quickly enough, but leaving her behind as she was still passed out.
"We'll keep a barrier up, that should keep the fight from spilling out too much." Sona said to them. "However your opponent..."
"I know." Rias nodded and looked at her peerage in determination. "Just so you know, I have no intention of letting any of you die. This isn't the same as Riser, Kokabiel will have no problem killing any of you if he wants to. Just trust me and we'll pull through this, I promise."
"Right." They nodded and entered the school grounds just as Sona and her peerage put up a barrier.
"It's not like this will stop others from entering." Tsubaki reminded Sona. "The best this can do is keep them from escaping. Are you sure you're okay with this?"
"I'd be lying if I said yes, but this is all we can do right now." Sona looked at Tsubaki. "Kokabiel would crush us with ease, Rias might have a chance against him." At least, she hoped so.
(-)
Sitting on a throne in the air, Kokabiel looked on in amusement as Rias, Issei, Akeno, Asia and Koneko walked into the track field under him. "Just you five? I'm almost insulted."
"Hey, it's that old man." Issei noted Valper off to the side with four swords in a magical circle doing some sort of ritual.
"Ah ah ah, Devil boy." Freed grinned as he walked out, a sword of light in his left hand and a gun in his right hand. "Just try to interfere, I'll put a bullet right between your eyes." Licking his lips, he looked at the women with Issei. "Or you can send them over, I wouldn't mind playing with them."
"...Eww..." Koneko shuddered. This guy made Issei's perversions feel pure and good.
"Enough of this." Rias glared at the them. "You'll deal with us first." Spreading her wings, she took off into the sky, followed by Akeno, who changed her outfit to a red and white shrine girl outfit.
"How amusing." Kokabiel grinned as he watched Issei and Koneko charge Freed. "Come on, show me what you've got." Rias's hands started to glow with red and black energy before launching a wave of destructive power at Kokabiel. "Pathetic." He laughed as it came close to him. Flicking his finger, he watched as it dissipated harmlessly into the air. "Is that all the Ruinous Princess has?"
"Try this!" He looked up as lightning started to form in the sky before Akeno pointed her finger at him. Grinning, he snapped his finger and Akeno and Rias stared in shock as a bleeding and tattered figure formed in front of them, bound to a cross, taking the lightning attack and screaming out in pain.
"Oh don't stop on her account, she can take it." Kokabiel laughed as Akeno stopped the attack. "Oh please, don't tell me that Barquiel's daughter is just as pathetic as he is."
"Don't bring that man into this." Akeno hissed angrily. "He has nothing to do with any of this!"
"Hate you... Bastard... So much." The bloodied blonde figure groaned out.
"Yes, yes, I'm sure." Kokabiel yawned and looked down as he watched Freed struggle to keep Issei and Koneko away from Valper. "Seriously, Freed, you're having this much trouble with a couple of low-class Devils?"
"Hey, give me some credit! I'm not even trying here."
"Maybe you should!" Issei yelled as he tried to deck the guy in the face while avoiding his blasted sword of light. That thing hurt after all.
"BOOST!"
Issei grinned and Freed had a disgruntled look on his face as the brown-haired Devil's speed doubled from what it was before. "Come on, bastard, I'll crush you."
"Fuck! I hate Sacred Gears like yours! So unfair!" He whined and shot at Koneko, who had to dodge out of the way. "Oh look, I can just keep doubling my power every ten seconds! I'm so special!" Freed said in a mocking tone as he ducked another punch from Issei and slashed up, only knicking the edges of Issei's clothing. "Feh, you're pretty pathetic." He yelped and jumped away as several swords suddenly burst out of the ground and tried to impale him.
"Then how about me?" Kiba asked as he walked onto the battlefield.
"Kiba!" Issei, Rias and Koneko called out happily as they saw him.
"What took you so long?" Issei called out.
The blonde smiled at him. "I grabbed some help." When Freed looked at him in confusion before yelping and jumping back towards Valper, Kiba's smile turned into a smirk. "Freed, meet Xenovia, I'm sure you met her before."
"Feh. I would have taken care of her if I had more time. Pigtails was fun though."
"Even if Irina were to perish at your hands, she knew the risk. I can weep for her when this is over."
"Well, it looks like you're being over-matched." Rias smirked at Kokabiel, who was looking down in boredom. "Why don't you stop using a human shield and give up?"
Kokabiel yawned before casually snapping a spear of light over to the gym, destroying it completely. "Really? A bunch of low-power Devils and an exorcist is supposed to make me quake in fear?" Snapping his fingers, he grinned as holes appeared in the ground. "How about you entertain me some more?"
Issei's eyes widened as several large dogs, well, calling them dogs would be a disservice to all mutts everywhere, but they were big, with ash gray fur, all smelled like smoldering ash and all had three heads. "What the?"
"Cerberus pups?!" Rias grimaced, glad they weren't the parent, a fully grown Cerberus was supposedly on par with some of the more powerful high class Dragons after all. "I guess we'll deal with them first."
"Feel free to take your time." Kokabiel grinned as Rias descended down. "Amuse me for a bit longer before the main event starts."
When two pink spears came out of nowhere to spear the centeral head of a couple of the dogs, Kokabiel raised an eyebrow and looked off to the side to see someone he never thought he'd see. "Well, Mittelt, what are you doing, opposing me?"
"I have my reasons!" She snarled at him and threw a pink spear at his face. When Kokabiel flicked it away, she gulped, she knew that he was far beyond her but it was hard to believe he was this strong.
"Now, how to deal with a disrespectful..." He blinked as he heard something. "What is that..."
"...uku..."
"Uku? What's an Uku?" Kokabiel asked in confusion, he wasn't sensing anything, so what was going on?
"NUKU PUNCH!" The next thing he knew his chair exploded and a strong punch blasted him in the back of the head, sending him tumbling through the air and crashing against the courtyard before bouncing off the ground and into an outdoor basketball hoop.
Everyone stopped for a moment as they looked at Kokabiel hanging upside down inside a basketball hoop.
It was so absurd that one of the cerberus dogs started laughing when it put its paw over its mouths and wheezed out a "hee hee hee" sound.
"Mittelt? Atsuko? What are you doing here?" Rias asked, though she wasn't going to turn down free help.
"Hey, need some help?" Ranma asked as he and Lilith walked out from some shadows. 'Nabiki, you better be right about this.' He thought to himself.
*Flash*
"Okay, Nabs, why are you calling me right now?"
"Don't call me that. Listen, can you get to the school right barbecue!"
"Uh..."
"Ignore it, I'll explain donuts later, okay? Sheesh, thought I was better, anyway, listen, if you don't go things might be okay or not, depending if Kokabiel uses that damn jar in his hands or not. If you go, it'll get worse for a bit, but it's better if you go."
"That doesn't make sense."
"Shut up and do what I say."
Ranma chuckled at that. "Yeah, yeah, love you too." He turned off his celle and walked out of his room, only to be greeted by Mittelt, Lilith and Atsuko. "I'm sure that all of you felt that as well, huh?"
"Hard not to. That's a WHOLE lot of magical power being thrown around out there." Lilith muttered. "So, Master..."
"We're heading out there." He looked at Atsuko and Mittelt. "You two don't need to come with."
"We're going." Atsuko said, getting a nod from Mittelt.
Ranma smiled at them. "So, Lilith, shall we?"
"Of course." The four of them disappeared in a flash of darkness.
*End flash*
With a yell, Kokabiel let his magical power explode outwards, making the hoop he was stuck in explode outwards. Righting himself, he glared at the redhead, who was pulling on the chains holding Bulleta up. "Fine, if you want to play dirty..." He reached into his robes and pulled out a jar. "Let's see if this was worth getting."
"Oooh yeah!" Freed grinned as he jumped away from Kiba and Xenovia. "Hey! Old man, are you done yet?"
"Almost." Galper smiled as his finished work came forth. "Actually, I'm finished right now."
There was a flash of light and hovering in the air was a sword that gave off an ominous amount of Holy energy, however the design of the sword was grotesque, almost a mockery of what a Holy blade should look like.
"About time!" Freed yelled and threw his other weapons away as he grabbed the floating sword. "This fused Excalibur, combining Rapidly, Nightmare, Mimic and Transparency, this is what's needed." Chuckling he gave the sword a couple of test swings and turned to face the group. "Well, between this, the Cerberus and whatever the boss has, I think I'll have fun chopping you Devils up into tiny little pieces!" He laughed as the others glared at him and took defensive stances. "Oh come on, don't be that way! It only hurts for a little bit."
"WhY dOn'T i TeSt ThAt ThEoRy ThEn?" A distorted voice came out of nowhere.
"What the?" Freed asked in confusion before screaming in pain as his hands suddenly detached themselves from his arms, causing the fused Excalibur to fall to the ground. An armored boot connected to his chest, sending him flying.
"FoOlS sUcH aS yOu ShOuLd NoT hAvE tHiS wEaPoN." A red armor seemingly walked out of a black hole in the air and reached down to pick up the sword and removed Freed's hands from it before grabbing it and looking at the group. "At LaSt! I gReW tIrEd Of WaItInG fOr ThIs MoMeNt! CoMe!"
"BISHAMON!" Ranma and Lilith yelled at the red armor, who seemingly smirked at them.
"Hannya, let me take over this one." A female voice spoke up.
"Can an armor have multiple personality disorder?" Issei asked before jumping out of the way of a jet of flame from one of the Cerberus. "OH COME ON!"
"This is perfect!" The woman said and stroked the sword before swinging it out in an arc, cutting off the head of a Cerberus as the blade extended out to an impressive length.
"Well, this sucks." Kiba growled as he pulled out his light devouring sword. He knew it wasn't enough but he had to do something to defend himself against that thing.
"Oh, how can I forget about Kien and Muramasa?" Suddenly the ghosts around the armor's shoulders each transformed into hands that held a sword on each side. "Now then, Excalibur, Kien and Muramasa..." The armor started to glow a golden color while the eyes flashed red. [b]"Let's settle this!"[/b]
Kiba grunted as the armor started to put out both Holy and Demonic energies out at the same time. "VALPER! Is this what you wanted?!"
The old man chuckled as he stood off to the side. "What does it matter what I wanted? I still got what I wanted, a fused sword, a working Excalibur and apparently someone who can use it. Though I'm surprised a Demon can do it."
Across the yard, Kokabiel sneered and summoned another Cerberus to his side. "Well then..." Floating into the air, he snapped his fingers and the Cerberus dogs all attacked.
"Don't worry about this armor!" Xenovia called out. "Yuuto and I will handle it, take care of those blasted dogs!"
"Atsuko!" Ranma called out to the redhead, who was still trying to free Bulleta from her restraints. "Don't bother, just help deal with the mutts!"
"But!"
"Go." Bulleta coughed in pain. "I'll be fine, still floating here."
Atsuko frowned and concentrated. "No! Maybe the others will let you suffer, but you're a friend, aren't you?"
Bulleta looked at her in confusion. "Friend? No one cares about me."
"I DO! So does Ranma! He won't admit it though!" Atsuko's arm was engulfed in flame as she threw everything she had into her next punch, shattering the cross and causing her and Bulleta to fall. "Got you!" She jumped off the fragments and caught the blonde and crashed down onto the ground. "Are you okay?"
"I'll live." Bulleta groaned as she found it hard to move her limbs. "Just watch out for that dog behind you."
Before Atsuko had to worry about that, several pink spears slammed into it from above, pinning it to the ground like some sort of bloody butterfly. "Thanks, Mittelt!"
"So I don't need to hold back anymore..." Ranma grinned as he slapped his hands together and two large crackling balls of emerald green energy formed in his hands. "Well, let's..." He trailed off as dozens more Cerberus appeared on the court. "Pretend we're Americans and this is an all-you-can-eat buffett!"
"YEEHAW!" Lilith screamed as she fired a concentrated white beam of energy that bisected several of the dogs while Ranma's energy blasts were lobbed like softballs, exploding against them and leaving a large mess everywhere.
"Wow..." Issei was shocked as he watched them work. "I think Xenovia and Irina owe them a big apology."
"BOOST!"
"That's four!" Issei smirked and kicked a Cerberus so hard that it flipped head over heels into the air, where it was pierced by a spear and blasted with powerful lightning.
"Want to do that thing we did before again?" Koneko asked Atsuko, who nodded and put her hand on Koneko's head. The small girl's eyes widened as her body was shrouded in flame before smiling. "Alright you damn dirty dogs, come get some!"
(-)
"Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on!" Bishamon yelled as it battled against Xenovia and Kiba. "Is that all an Excalibur user and a Devil can really do? Pitiful really."
Xenovia and Kiba would have offered a reply, but between the fused Excalibur and the two swords on its sides, it was taking everything they had just to keep themselves alive.
When Bishamon held Excalibur straight up and the two cursed swords touched it, it started to glow black.
"Oh... Shit! DODGE!" Kiba yelled as the armor swung the sword down, sending out a wave of pure destructive power that not only destroyed the ground they were on, but the Cerberus animals in front of the armor and even the barrier that was being used to contain the battle was destroyed as the wave continued on.
"Impressive. I could have destroyed anything with that attack." The armor seemed to grin in delight at the shocked expressions of Kiba and Xenovia.
"It doesn't even have Excalibur Destruction and it's that powerful?" There were only four fragments in that thing, Xenovia shuddered to imagine how strong that attack would have been with all seven of the fragments fused together.
"Impressive! Seriously impressive!" Valper gushed out praise as he saw what just happened. "This exceeds my wildest dreams!"
"Dammit!" Kiba growled as he looked at the old man. "You were a priest! Why?! How could a human of the cloth be so cruel!?"
"Human?" Valper looked at Kiba in surprise. "Why would you call me human? I threw away my humanity ages ago." He shook his head. "Those fools at the church, throwing me away just because I developed a way to make Holy swords available for everyone. Sure, there were lots of sacrifices, but that's the price we have to pay for progress."
"Sacrifices?" Kiba glared, a dark aura surrounding him. "THOSE WERE MY FRIENDS!"
"Oh?" Valper looked at Kiba in surprise. "OH! I see now! You're the one who escaped. We looked for so long to find you, but you just seemingly disappeared. Oh well."
"How could you be so cruel!?" Kiba had tears welling up in his eyes. "We were just children! We wanted to serve God with all our heart and soul! We just wanted to help!"
"And you did!" Valper smiled at him. "Your worthless lives helped me realize that everyone had a touch of Holy energy in them, but so few could actually use it." He grinned and one of his eyes seemed to expand. "Then I found out why. It's deep in the DNA of humans. So all I had to do was... Extract the little bit that was there. But it's most potent just as the person's dying, so..." He sighed and shook his head. "Alas, much like in the Old Testament when the ancient Jews slaughtered cattle to appease God, so too must I slaughter the worthless so that those more worthy can gain the power to use the Holy swords." He pulled out a blue tear drop and smirked cruely, tossing it to Kiba. He was surprised that the Armor watched this, but wasn't complaining, he enjoyed this talk. "That crystal is all that remains of your group. I have no need for it anymore."
"Kiba..." Koneko looked at him in worry as he fell to his knees and gently held the gem in his hands. Thankfully the Cerberus weren't proving to be too much of a trouble. They were durable bastards, but between her, Akeno, Rias, Issei, Ranma, Lilith and Atsuko they were being beaten down and any that got too close to harming them were taken out by pink spears raining down from the sky.
"Why?" Kiba trembled as he gently picked up the gem. "Why? Why did I have to survive? There were others with bigger dreams! Some who wanted to live more than me. I watched them all die, but they helped me live." Tears flowed freely from his eyes as years of anger and sadness came rushing up. "Why?! We all wanted to help. Some wanted to be Bishops and Cardinals when they got older. Others wanted to be Missionaries and help people in countries that needed help. Why did God have to abandon all of us?"
Freed chuckled as he crawled away from them. "Because someone worthless like you doesn't..." A shot rang out through the air and Freed let out an agonized scream as his left arm went flying from his body at the elbow. "WHAT THE FUCK?! WHO..." He trailed off, trembling as he saw who shot him. "OH... Um... FUCK!"
"Oh..." Bulleta grinned, her right eye glowing red, blood running out of her mouth as she limped up to him. "You most certainly are." Picking up speed, even though she was limping, she kicked him in the gut so hard that he coughed up blood and flipped over onto his back. "That was for the pistol whip."
"H...Hey!" Freed trembled as Bulleta held a glowing sword of light over his body. "You don't need to go that far, right? Um, sorry, right? Sorry, you'll just, GAH!" He screamed as Bulleta slammed the sword into his left shoulder and twisted it.
Still grinning, Bulleta sliced up, causing a spray of blood to erupt from his shoulder. "No." With a few swings of the sword Freed's pants and boots from his knees down were removed.
"Let's see..." Bulleta stabbed the sword down near his foot and Freed screamed out as his big toe was removed. "Yes, just like that..." Both of her eyes were glowing red by now as she sliced upwards, causing him to scream out even more as tendons and bones were sliced and severed. "How does it feel? Hmm? Does it feel... GOOD?" She put an emphasis on that as she cut through his achillies tendon. "Remember how you cut my legs off to rape me? Hmm? Oh yes, I remember..." She pointed her gun at his crotch and pressed it up against him. "Sorry, but my vision is blurry and I can't see straight, I don't want to miss a small target."
Freed's face was pale and he shook his head. "N...N..."
A shot rang out and Freed's high pitched scream was heard.
Bulleta pulled the gun away and grinned at the blood soaking Freed's pants as he cried out and thrashed on the ground. "Oh, we're not done yet." She shot his right knee, blowing it off and severing that leg. "I told you..." Her grin became maniacal. "I'm the scariest mother fucker in all realms of reality. And you raped me, brutalized me and worst of all..." She swung the sword of light down, cutting off all of Freed's toes on his left foot. "You pissed me off!"
As Freed cried and begged for her to forgive him, she shook her head. "EH?!"
"The God you pray to isn't here right now, but I am." She pressed the tip of his sword of light into his chest. "And I've been curious... Can I remove your ribs without killing you?"
"AHHHHH!" Freed screamed as the sword pressed into his body and was used to slowly peel the skin off of his chest. "STOP!"
"Oh?" Bulleta smirked as she continued to pull the sword down. "Did you stop when you were doing what you did to me? I don't think so. I wonder... It's said that human intestines are several miles long. I've always wondered about that."
"GAHH!"
(-)
While that was going on, Kiba was surrounded by the spirits of his dead friends, who all offered him words of encouragement and understanding, not one of them ever blamed him and they wanted him to live.
"But why..?" He cried softly as they smiled at him and pooled together, entering his body. Gasping, he stood up and looked at his hands as light energy formed in his right hand while dark energy formed in his left hand.
"What's going on?" Valper asked in surprise.
"I don't know, but between this and the torture going on over there..." A shot rang out and Freed screamed in pure agony. "It's been interesting."
As she listened to everything around her, Asia wondered if she was really needed at this fight, everything seemed to be going well, even if the big bad guy wasn't doing much. 'Why is he holding a glass jar in his hand? And what's inside of it?' She didn't like this, especially since he was watching in disinterest while the creatures he summoned up and even his own allies were being defeated quickly.
'Well, defeated is a nice term compared to what that girl is doing to Freed.' Asia didn't like him, but she didn't think he deserved what he was going through.
Kiba let out a yell and a European-styled broadsword appeared in his hands, one with runes on the fuller of the blade that glowed both red and gold. "This is..."
"Impossible!" Valper gasped as he saw what was in front of him. "To combine both Holy and Devil powers?! That's not possible!"
"My Balance Breaker... The Holy Devil Sword, the Sword of Betrayal!"
"Ho? To think you would do the same thing as I'm doing. This might be fun after all." The female voice sounded thoroughly pleased. "Let's see if you're worthy of the power or not."
"Well... I guess I can't hold back then either." Xenovia said as she seemingly reached into thin air and pulled out a large broadsword that was wrapped in chains. "Durandall, one of the strongest Holy Swords ever made, wielded by the Paladin Roland and now granted to me."
"Wait! How?!" Valper gasped as he saw the chains on that sword break. "It's not possible! I know my research didn't have enough of a return to allow someone to use that sword!"
Xenovia gave him a grin. "I should have mentioned, huh? I'm one of the few who was born with the ability to use Holy Swords naturally."
"Enough, let's go!" Bishamon yelled as it charged them, swinging Kien in, only to watch as Kiba not only batted it away, he broke it into pieces.
"Impressive, even your cursed sword can't match this." When Muramasa was shattered by Durandal, the armor put the swords away and swung the fused Excalibur at them, using the powers of the sword to keep them at a distance.
Xenovia and Kiba quickly dodged the attack and struck at the blade as it was extended, cracking and breaking it in several places.
"This is not possible!" Bishamon took several steps back, a half-complete sword in its hands and its aura dissipating. "I should have killed you when I had the chance!"
"Yes, you should have!" Both Kiba and Xenovia said at the same time as they broke the remains of the sword and cleaved both the left arm and right leg of the armor off, causing it to slump over and fall down.
Kokabiel shook his head. "Well, that was amusing." He held his hand up and caught a pink spear as it flew at him. "Really?" He gave the blonde an annoyed look. Sighing, he flew up at rapid speeds, ascending to her position in an instant, where she stared at him, her eyes wide while he grinned. "To think I'd have to punish you like this, in front of everyone." He shook his head at the girl. "In a way I can sympathize with Barquiel, having a naughty daughter is a pain in the butt."
"What?" Mittelt gave him a surprised look. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh nothing, I'm just going to have to discipline my daughter in front of everyone for daring to attack me." He grinned at her as she flew back, shock on her face.
"You...You lie! You're not my father! I have memories of meeting God before I fell, there's no way you're my father! I even remember how I fell!"
"All false memories that I implanted in your head. I didn't want you to be weak and pathetic." He sneered and punched her in the stomach, sending her to the ground before sending several spears of light after her. "But it looks like I failed, alas."
Mittelt gasped and screamed as the spears pinned her to the ground, piercing her wings and clothes, but oddly enough, not hitting her skin at all.
"Oh dear, I guess I have a little sentimentality in me after all." Kokabiel chuckled and looked over at the priest who was babbling out something dangerous. "Oh? Can't have that."
"Yes, it makes sense now! The only reason that this could happen is if GAH!" He cried out as a spear of light bisected him from head to crotch.
"And for that bitch." He sneered at Bulleta, who was still trying to dissect a screaming Freed. Firing a couple of spears at her, he grinned as they cut her arms clean off at the shoulders, blood spraying everywhere. "Well then, that's that." He flew down to the ground and chuckled at the hatred he was getting. "Oh don't be like that, kiddos, I was just dealing with some pests. Now then..." He grinned and threw the glass jar onto the ground, right near some heavily injured Cerberus pups were. "Let's see if what I was told was true or not."
When the glass shattered, a buzzing sound was heard a moment before a surge of Youki had the tiny thing in the jar become taller.
"It's a bee girl, and she's cute!" Issei commented, shocked to all hell.
"A Soul Bee?!" Lilith gasped as the bee girl suddenly latched onto one of the Cerberus dogs and buried its stinger into it, the area that held its stinger became swollen as the girl's flesh started to wither. "FUCK! STOP IT!"
Just as Lilith said that, the Soul Bee fell over into a boneless heap.
"Was that it?" Kokabiel was disappointed, it looked like he would have to... He blinked as the Cerberus the bee had stabbed suddenly bloated up like a balloon before exploding into bloody chunks, revealing five more bee girls in its place. "Well, this is more interesting than I thought."
"KILL THEM!" Lilith screamed as she fired a beam at the girls while the others were a little green. The bee girls scattered and quickly made their way to the other dogs. "FUCK!"
"Allow me!" Akeno called out as she blasted a few of them.
One of the bee girls zipped over to another Cerberus and was about to inject its stinger into it when Issei punched it in the face, sending it flying across the field. "Man, I hate punching cute girls." When a green energy sphere smashed into it, causing it to scream in pain before it died, he turned to look behind him, gulping as Ranma lowered his hand.
"Don't think of them as girls, think of them as Zombies if that helps."
"BOOST!"
"That's four..." Issei was panting, it was hard to concentrate on fighting, surviving and powering up all at the same time. "President! Akeno!" He called out and rushed over to them, touching them at the same time.
"TRANSFER!"
As the two girls cried out in pleasure as they were flooded with energy, Kokabiel grinned at them while the bee girls were flying around, avoiding attacks from all angles. "Come on then! This might be interesting!"
Everyone stopped and stared, even the bee girls as lightning filled the sky so much that all that could be seen was a yellow curtain. When Rias's Power of Destruction joined the lightning, it became a red and black lightning filled sky.
As the lightning crashed down on the ground, vaporizing most of the bee girls that were left, as well as the Cerberus dogs, the majority in the air arched towards Kokabiel, who grinned and folded his ten black wings around his body as the attack crashed in.
When the air exploded around him, everyone had to cover their eyes to ward off the explosion.
"Did we get him?" Akeno asked as smoke covered where Kokabiel was at. When the Fallen Angel spread his wings out wide, she cursed. Even if he was obviously hurting there was no way they could win if even that much of a boost wasn't enough to stop him. After all, he was bleeding from several open wounds and his wings were damaged, but if that was the extent of the injuries he took, they were in trouble.
Chuckling, Kokabiel grinned at them before forming two light spears and holding them like swords to block an attack from Kiba and Xenovia. "Impressive that you two can fight like this." He noted that the little white haired girl of Rias's peerage was coming up from his blind spot.
Koneko growled as she got closer to Kokabiel, knowing that if she hit him she could at least make him hurt as much as Atsuko had hurt him with that punch of hers. Her eyes widened and she gasped in pain as she felt a stab in her stomach. Looking down, she saw Kokabiel had bent his left arm at a seemingly impossible angle and had shoved a sword of light into her stomach.
Flapping his wings, Kokabiel sent Xenovia, Kiba and Koneko crashing to the ground hard where Asia ran over to Koneko to heal her. "Heh heh heh, most amusing." He laughed at them. Forming another sword, he sliced through a swarm of energy bats that were flying at him. Looking at Lilith, he snorted and pointed an open palm at her. "Worthless demons can die!"
"Lilith!" Ranma called out as he slammed the last bee girl that was trying to get to Mittelt head-first into one of the spears that was pinning the blonde down. "Hang on, Mittelt."
"Took you long enough." Mittelt groaned as Ranma's hands glowed and ripped the swords out of the ground and her wings. "Oww!"
"Sorry, had to clean up the mess." Ranma said as he helped her up gingerly. Looking up, he glared at Kokabiel. "Listen, asshole, I'm going to come up there and rip your wings off and feed them to you!"
Kokabiel laughed as he fired several lances at Lilith, who unfurled her succubus wings and smirked at him. "What are you...?"
"Shining Blade Ripper!" With a flap of her succubus wings several small blades of light energy ripped through the night, colliding with Kokabiel's attack and causing a massive explosion. "Nice try, jackass, but those kind of attacks are easy to do if you know how."
"Ah," Kokabiel laughed as he looked down at them. "Demons, Devils, Fallen Angels and the Vatican all working together. Azazel would be proud of you, but alas I'll have to bring an end to all of this." Smirking, he looked at Asia, who was healing Mittelt, then at Xenovia and finally at Kiba. "You, boy, you were wondering why God never answered your prayers when you were being tortured? Would you like to know?"
Kiba looked up at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Kokabiel's grin was practically splitting his face at that moment. "What I mean, boy... The God you prayed to, the God that the Vatican worships? He's dead."
"What?" Asia asked, shock on her face, her pupils shrinking as she heard that. "But... He can't be..."
Kokabiel laughed as everyone gave him a shocked look. "The only reason things have gone on the way they have is because Michael and the other Seraphs are running things, but that can't last forever. Why let the world be dragged out to a slow and pitiful death when it would be less cruel to just end it all now?"
On the ground, Atsuko looked around, seeing the damage that was being done to everyone, the pain that they had suffered through that day and even the way that the freak in the sky was laughing caused her to feel something she had never felt before in her life.
"You..." Issei growled at him. "You lie!"
"Boy, I'm not lying, it's too bad that fools like you can't accept it."
Atsuko felt herself trembling in anger, the circuits in her skin were going crazy. "How dare you?" She whispered and looked up at him in pure anger. "Everyone here... You're hurting them, for what?!"
"Well, I have no problem with causing you pain, if it'll make you feel better." Kokabiel laughed at her anger. He looked up as Ranma's foot came inches from hitting him in the head before Kokabiel moved back. "Not bad, boy." He thrust a spear upwards and smirked as Ranma twisted out of the way. "Not bad, not bad at all, if you had just a little bit more power you might have been able to hit me." He snapped his fingers and dozens upon dozens of spears of light formed around him and filled the sky. "Now then, I think it's time to stop playing around, you all need to die. When Sirzechs shows up I'm sure that seeing his dead sister's body will restart the war for good."
"You..." Atsuko pointed to Issei. "How many boosts do you have in that thing?"
"Ah, after that transfer, I have three..."
"BOOST!"
"Make it four."
Before Atsuko could say anything, a white streak zoomed through the air and kicked Kokabiel into the ground.
"Well, I was wondering if he would show up." The gauntlet on Issei's left arm spoke up.
"Ddrag?" Issei looked at the dragon gauntlet curiously. "What's going on?"
"Just watch, it looks like we won't have to worry anymore."
"What are you doing here, White Dragon Emperor?!" Kokabiel groaned as he got to his knees. "Did Azazel send you?" The white streak stopped just over the ground, revealing a person in a white armor of some sort that looked vaguely like a Dragon and white wings coming out of its back.
"Of course." He pointed at Kokabiel. "You should just give up, you know you can't win against me."
"Like I'll just let you win!" Kokabiel coughed in pain.
"DIVIDE!"
Kokabiel gasped as Albion's voice was heard and his power was reduced by half. "You! FUCKER!"
"DIVIDE!"
When Kokabiel's power was cut in half again, the spears in the sky disappeared and the white armor person continued to walk towards him. "It's over, Kokabiel, you can just surrender now and lose with dignity." The person sighed as Kokabiel tried to fly at him. "Come on now."
"DIVIDE!"
The fight, if it could be called that, was rather short after that as the white armor knocked Kokabiel out cold and threw him over his shoulder. "Well now..." He looked across the battlefield and nodded as he saw Issei. "I see that you've awakened, Red Dragon Emperor."
"Indeed." The Dragon in Issei's Sacred Gear called out to him. "Although this one isn't ready for a match with you just yet, Albion."
"Interesting, for some reason I don't feel the same animosity as usual from you."
"Agreed." Ddrag answered him.
"What's going on?" Issei asked.
"I'll explain later." Ddrag responded to his host.
Taking off into the air, the person Albion was possessing grabbed the partially dissected Freed and picked him up carefully. "My apologies, but he is useful for what we need." Saying that, he took off into the air and vanished.
"YOU FUCKER!" Bulleta screamed as she glared at him. "Urgh... I wanted to kill that bastard some more." She groaned as she passed out.
A few ending notes about this chapter: 1: I planned on this with Bulleta since I started this arc. Yes, she's a TERRIFYING bitch, in Darkstalkers canon her name is used to terrify little Demon kids into behaving their parents. 2: I originally planned on Atsuko actually letting loose on Kokabiel, but my beta-reader saw the way I had it and shot it down, pointing stuff out and the flaws, so I went with the canon ending to the fight. Yeah, such is the way it goes sometimes. 3: As for Mittelt being Kokabiel's daughter bit, that was something that I was shown awhile ago that apparently was a mis-translation or something, because when I went back to look, it wasn't there, but I decided to run with it a bit, besides, there's nothing in canon saying that Kokabiel didn't have kids. 4: If Bishamon's Excali-blast seems familiar, just imagine a short blonde woman with pale skin and a black visor using it. 5: Have you seen some of Q-Bee's specials in Darkstalkers? One of which is to stab her opponent, fall over dead, then burst out of their stomach. If it wasn't a fighting game, that would be a pretty gruesome death.