Dance With the Devil
New 4
Disclaimer: I own none of the series involved.
Review answer time!
Mr. Haziq: As far as I know, all Sacred Gears can fuse weapons and items onto them, seeing as the whole "Sacred Gears grow with the user's wishes" is common knowledge in DxD. Well, so long as they have a physical form, I don't think Gasper would fuse anything to his eyes.
"Are you sure?" Mittelt, in her gothic lolita outfit, asked Nabiki, who was dressed in casual clothes. She looked at the large group of Angels, Fallen Angels and Devils surrounding the school nervously. There was a serious amount of tension in the air and it was taking everything she had not to run away screaming.
"For the last time, yes." Nabiki grumbled and looked at Atsuko, who was wearing a tank top and biker shorts. "You know, considering that we're going to meet the leaders of the three major factions, I feel under-dressed."
Mittelt scoffed at that. "I highly doubt any of them care. None of us are nobility, so we might as well dress the part of rubes who get to talk to rich people."
"Technically, I'm nobility." Atsuko grinned as Mittelt face-faulted. "I mean, mom's one of the richest people on the planet, so..."
"I get it, I get it." Mittelt glared, her eyes white and blank. "But you don't act like nobility."
"I was originally a cat after all." Atsuko answered and grinned as Mittelt nodded at her. "Anyway, looks like Nabiki's right."
Ranma and Lilith walked into the area, holding hands and looking fairly relaxed. "Hey." Ranma waved. "Sorry for keeping you all. Has it started yet?" He was surprised that no one had tried to stop them, but he suspected they were briefed on who was allowed to enter the school at this time and who wasn't.
"We got one more minute." Nabiki gestured to the school. "Come on, we're meeting in one of the conference rooms on the top floor."
"Well, lead the way, since you know so much." Ranma grinned as they entered the building. He blinked as Nabiki tossed him and Lilith something. "What's this?"
"Just put it in your pockets. Only had enough time to make a couple of them." Nabiki answered as they did so.
(-)
"Glad to see you make it." Azazel smirked from his spot at the table as Ranma and his group entered the room. "And you three wanted to start early."
"I must admit," Michael spoke up as the five sat down on chairs on the far wall, "I wasn't sure if they would show up."
Ranma looked the room over as he sat down, Lilith next to him and Nabiki next to her with Atsuko next to him on his other side and Mittelt next to Nabiki. On the far left of the wall sat Sona, Tsubaki and Saji, between them and his group was Rias, Issei, Kiba, Xenovia and Asia. 'Strange, I don't see Koneko or Gasper.' He figured Gasper would probably be too afraid to be around this many people, but he found it odd that Koneko wasn't there. Looking at the conference table, he saw a man, though he suspected that the man was an Angel of some sort, with blonde hair and blue eyes sitting at the far left of the table, behind him was that Irina girl, on the far right of the table sat the guy who greeted him and Vali was standing behind him leaning against the wall, between the two guys was Serafall Leviathan, surprisingly not dressed like a magical girl, and Sirzechs with that maid Grayfia behind him.
"Anyway," Azazel continued, "before we begin these negotiations, I have a feeling that all of us have something we need to say to the people sitting here." He smirked at the surprised looks he was getting. "Let's just get this out of the way before we start any negotiations, because otherwise our minds will be distracted."
"In that case, I wanna go first!" Serafall spoke up and smiled as the other three nodded. She stood up and pointed at Ranma and Lilith. "Thank you so much for playing along with me the other day. It was really cool to find people who know how to play the role of a villain! If you want, you can be the villains of my show next season."
Ranma blinked a few times in confusion. "Playing along? I thought you were an actual magical girl."
"No kidding." Lilith muttered. "They're always a pain, going on about this or that. We just adopted the roles that we used so that we can at least talk to them somewhat normally. Because it's always shoot first and never ask questions otherwise."
"I... Must have missed something." Sirzechs replied. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh! I can show you!" Saji spoke and pulled out a tablet. "Someone recorded the whole thing and put it up online, I have it saved. Here." He hit a button and showed it to the leaders.
"You!" The girl, her voice naturally high, pointed at Lilith and Ranma. "You seem to recognize me!"
"Not really." Ranma answered her. "But I'm suspicious of any magical girls. Which one are you?"
The girl took a pose, pointing her finger at her eye as she winked and everyone swore they saw a heart come out of her eye. "I'm..." She spun around and her skirt flared up, flashing her white panties at everyone, "Mahou Shoujo Levia-tan!" Completing the pirouette, she winked again. "And you?"
Seeing everyone look at him, Ranma held an arm across his chest and held two fingers up. "Me? I'm the natural enemy of all magical girls! The Dark Lord Ranma Saotome." He ducked his head down and put his right hand over his forehead while holding his elbow with his left hand. "Levia-tan, I'm afraid that you won't be walking out of this room today."
"And I!" Lilith took a pose. "Am the Dark Lady, Lilith Aensland! Together, we have crushed magical girls from Tokyo to Kyoto and back again!"
Everyone watched as a sudden background of rocks and rushing water erupted behind the two, which was impressive, seeing as they were inside the school and not outside.
Nabiki gave the two of them flat looks. "Really?"
"You'd be surprised how much that works to make magical girls stop and listen to you." Lilith replied, not at all bothered by the giggling some of the people in the room were doing.
"Urgh, I can't believe my sister found someone who can relate to her." Sona muttered to herself, slumping in disgust.
Michael found himself smiling in amusement as Saji put the tablet away and sat back down and tried to ignore the annoyed looks of the two young female Devils next to him. "If no one has any objections, I would like to go next then." Serafall sat down and no one said anything more. Turning, he looked at Issei. "You said you had a question for me. I'm willing to listen." When Issei gave him a surprised look, he smiled gently. "I told you, did I not? That the next time we met I would be willing to listen to your question."
"Fine, my question is this." Issei stood up and gestured to Asia. "Why did you allow the Church to persecute Asia and exile her?" The blonde girl in question gasped in surprise, shocked that he would ask a Seraph that question.
"Seeing what young Asia Argento go through caused me serious pain, I never wanted to have her go through that." He looked at Kiba next. "Nor would I have wanted you to suffer what you went through, believe me." He looked at Issei again. "However, I must think of the future of Angels and the Church. If people found out that their Saint could heal Fallen Angels, Demons and Devils, it might cause people to lose faith in us. After God died, the system that he left in place was all that we have left. Sadly, even with myself as the centerpiece, it's a shell of its former self. Faith in God is what allows us Angels to survive. So, in the end, I chose to allow it to happen to protect Angels and the Church." He looked at Asia and gave her a soft bow. "For that, I am truly sorry."
"Oh!" Asia gasped, unable to believe that one of the leaders of Heaven was acting like this. "It's okay. I don't harbor any ill-will towards the Church or its followers. While it hurt to be cast out, doing so led me to meet Issei and Rias."
"Are you and Xenovia happy where you are?"
"I am." Xenovia answered while Asia nodded as well. "It's taken some time to get used to what happened, but I am truly happy here. For the first time, I made a decision of my own free will. I'll live with the consequences, but I don't regret my actions."
"And I've never been happier." Asia smiled softly. "I do miss the Church and the friends I had there, sure, but I wouldn't trade what I have now for anything."
"I see, thank you." Michael smiled, feeling a great weight having been lifted from his shoulders.
Behind him, Irina could only stare in shock. She knew Xenovia wouldn't betray them, but seeing it like this, it made her wonder what else she had been lied to about. She didn't doubt Heaven, and Saint Michael had his reasons after all.
"Can I ask a question or is it only okay if the Leaders do?" Nabiki spoke up, causing everyone to look at her in confusion. "Lord Sirzechs, am I to assume that there is no one looking for me if I came in here freely?" When Sirzechs and Serafall looked at her in confusion, she coughed. "I mean, I did accidentally kill my King when I, ah, struck him between the legs."
"Oh?" Sirzechs blinked as he thought about it. "That sounds..."
"The former member of the Old Satan Faction who decided it wasn't worth fighting. He was rather obese and ugly." Grayfia filled in the details for him.
"Oh yeah! That guy!" Sirzechs snapped his fingers as he remembered that. "No, there was never anyone searching for you."
"HUH?!" Nearly everyone in the room yelled at the same time.
"What do you mean no one was looking for me!?" Nabiki yelled.
Sirzechs sighed. "Your King survived, went to his fridge to get an ice pack, a frozen can of rolls came out, hit his foot, caused him to hop, fall to the ground when his legs couldn't support his mass, and he attempted to scream ...which is when a large fudge bar fell out, lodged in his throat, and he suffocated to death."
"..."
"It gets worse."
"Worse than the fact no one bothered to put that on the news?" Nabiki growled.
"He had no pants on."
"..."
"Or anything resembling underwear."
"..."
"We also found a bottle of lotion and a nearly empty box of kleen-"
"I GET IT!" Nabiki yelled. She couldn't believe this. "Are you SERIOUS?!" When Sirzechs nodded she let out a scream and pointed at Azazel, who was looking at her in sympathy. "I ran to this guy looking for protection from hunters because I thought I was going to die!"
Azazel chuckled softly as people looked at him. "Yeah, she did come to me, I was actually surprised she got to me so easily, and asked for my protection. Naturally I gave it, though I do admit that I was curious as to why a Human turned Devil would come to me."
"And you asked me to give you information on my home district." Nabiki said, her voice strained with how unbelievable it was that everything that happened, her running to Azazel, turning Ranma and Lilith into Devils and more could have all been avoided if she had just KNOWN about her King killing himself by accident.
"Well, when you mentioned you were in Tokyo, I thought that having a spy working there and feeding me information about various things, since Tokyo is known for insanity, wouldn't be a bad thing." He scratched his beard and then sighed as he looked at Mittelt. "Do you have something to say, Mittelt?"
"Yeah," Mittelt nodded at him. "Why did you abandon Raynare and the others? Why did you order me to seduce Ranma to bring him to our side?"
"Wait, what?" Azazel looked at her in confusion. "I never ordered anyone to seduce anyone."
"That's what Raynare told me!"
Not far away Issei grimaced at that name. He hadn't thought of the girl that had asked him out, betrayed him, tormented him in various ways before killing him, since Rias killed her, but now that they were talking about her, he couldn't help but remember her.
"What's the matter, Issei?" His eyes widened as he swore he heard her voice in the back of his head. "Did you forget about me? Don't worry, I didn't forget about you." Her voice seemed to giggle before fading away.
"The letter I wrote said that you were to talk to Ranma there, see if you couldn't get him to be an ally or at least neutral towards us. I never said anything about seducing him."
"Then why bring up the fact that he doesn't mind lolis?!" Mittelt yelled, her face flushed.
"Well, I heard that he had a preference for lolis, I figured if you asked that he'd be more willing to listen than if I had sent in Raynare or Kalawarner. As for abandoning them, I thought that Raynare and the other two were simply causing trouble for the Devils in town." He looked at Asia and Issei. "Speaking of which... You two were killed by Raynare, weren't you?" He sighed when they both looked at him with a start and nodded, though Issei glared at him.
"Yeah, you asshole! Raynare did what she did because she wanted to be like you!" Issei responded, squeezing his left hand into a fist.
Azazel nodded at him. "I am terribly sorry, I figured that Raynare went rogue or joined Kokabiel, so I let them suffer the consequences of their actions, hoping to reign in the rest of the Fallen Angels by showing them what happens if they went rogue. Fat lot of good it did with Kokabiel." He grumbled out in annoyance.
"You would have let me die with them too?" Mittelt asked softly.
"Speaking of Kokabiel..." Michael spoke up before anyone else could answer. "What have you done with him?"
"After he was brought back to me, I punished him by sealing him in Cocuytus. He'll remain there as a frozen statue for the rest of time." Azazel shrugged helplessly at the looks of suspicion he was getting. "I can't completely control everyone around me after all."
"If I might ask..." Sirzechs began, "why were you gathering up Sacred Gear users?"
"To protect myself and my faction." Azazel answered and then saw the looks of suspicion that the other leaders had. "You act like I'm the least trustworthy person here."
"You are." Sirzechs, Serafall and Michael all answered at the same time.
"Feh. Let's just cut to the chase then." Azazel leaned forward and grinned at the others. "At our current rate, with the little skirmishes we keep having with each other, eventually we're all going to go extinct, or be so weak that if the other pantheons decide they want to eliminate us, we won't be able to defend ourselves." He held his hand forward, palm up. "So how about it? Why don't we have a real peace treaty between our groups?"
"Woah..." Issei muttered in shock, he couldn't believe that Azazel would come right out and say it.
Apparently neither could the leaders of the other factions as they stared at him in shock.
"What? Seriously?" Azazel leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Listen, a true treaty of peace between our factions would help in the long run. We can hammer out the details later, but the real benefits of doing so would allow our underlings to live side by side, walk down the street and interact and not have to worry about being forced to fight against each other." He gestured to the group at large. "When facing against Kokabiel, you had a Demon, a Hanyou, several Devils, a Fallen Angel and members of the Church working together to stop him. While the situation was extraordinary and needed immediate attention, the fact that they could work together despite the fact that our factions are against each other proves that it's time to move beyond the war and unite."
"I don't neccessarily disagree." Michael nodded at Azazel. "But I am curious as to why you would agree to this?"
Instead of answering, Azazel looked at Issei. "Tell me something, Red Dragon Emperor, do you want peace?" When Issei looked at him in confusion, he smirked. "Let me simplify it for you. Peace means that our three sides won't fight against each other and you get to have all the sex you can handle, make a family as large as you want. But if we go to war, there's no sex, no fun time, and you'll never get to sleep with that hot redhead next to you."
"Peace! Peace is good!" Issei yelled out nervously as he stood straight up.
Azazel grinned as he realized that he had figured Issei out properly. "White Dragon Emperor? How about you?"
Vali sneered at him. "I don't care about a war between the factions, do what you want, I just want to face worthy opponents."
Azazel mentally shook his head. 'And here I thought he grew out of the Chunni stage by now.' Oh well, he could deal with it later if he had to. "And what about you, Princess?"
"Me?" Rias asked.
"No, not you." Azazel shook his head and pointed at Lilith. "I'm talking about her."
"Princess?" More than one person asked in confusion.
"I had the honor of meeting one of your former teachers who happens to know a thing or three about Makai."
"The Demon Realm?" Sirzechs asked in confusion. "That was sealed away from outside interference long before I was born. There's been no contact from anyone from there ever."
"Indeed," Azazel nodded and looked at Lilith. "But the teacher I talked to mentioned something very interesting to me, about Belial Aensland and his children. You wouldn't happen to be..."
Lilith nodded slowly. "Yes, Belial Aensland is my father and one of the three rulers of Makai."
"Anyway, what about you, Princess?" Azazel smirked at her. "Would Makai like to join this accord for peace?"
Lilith took a deep breath and shook her head. "No." The shocked looks from everyone had her coughing. "Not because we desire conflict with the other realms, though some Demons do wish for that, but rather because I cannot make that choice for Makai. Despite being his daughter, I have no claim to his throne. In fact, my father does not even know that I'm alive."
Before anyone could ask what she meant by that, a weird feeling overcame the conference.
"Huh?" Issei looked at his left hand and saw his Boosted Gear out, Rias's hand was over it. "What's going on?"
"Seems like they've made their move." Azazel sighed and stood up before walking over to the window where he watched dozens of people in magical robes appear out of the air. "Just lovely."
"I'm confused." Ranma looked around as he saw Kiba with his Balance Breaker, Xenovia with Durandal, Irina with that Excalibur Mimic of hers, the four leaders, Rias, Grayfia, Lilith and Vali all moving freely while everyone else was frozen solid. "What happened?"
"Gasper, his Sacred Gear can stop time." Rias said in realization. "But how..?"
"See the people landing outside?" Azazel jerked his thumb at the people out there. "They probably knew about his Sacred Gear and super-charged it or something."
"As for why all of us are unaffected, I'm sure it has to do with our power." Vali commented for the first time. "Not sure why you two," he looked at Ranma and Lilith, "were unaffected."
"Yeah, that's..." Ranma blinked as he felt something in his pocket vibrating. "What the?" He pulled out the item that Nabiki had tossed him earlier.
"Hey, Ranma, if you're hearing this then it means the events that I saw thanks to my Balance Breaker, and yes, I obtained that, oh, by the way, Michael, put a warning on the entrance to the Seventh Heaven, I almost went insane when I looked inside, anyway, only had time to make these items for you and Lilith, it'll block Gasper's time abilities from affecting you."
The message shut off and Ranma shrugged and put the item away. "Well, that explains that."
"I'll have to ask about that Balance Breaker later." Azazel muttered as he watched the forces outside that were frozen get removed from the battlefield. "Well, how nice of them, they aren't killing our forces."
"Yet." Sirzechs replied as he looked out. "Teleportation spells?"
"Yeah." Azazel put his hand on the window after the last of their forces were removed from the field. "Now then, how about this?"
Hundreds of spears came rushing out of the sky and skewered every single one of the magic-users outside in an instant, much to the surprise of the younger people in the group.
When dozens more appeared and started firing magic beams at the building, the four rulers put up a powerful barrier surrounding the room they were in.
"Hmm, judging from the strength of their attacks, I'd say they're all mid-Devil strength at least." Grayfia mused. "If only..."
"Yes." Michael nodded at her and looked at the frozen figures. "We could deal with them, but it would leave them helpless."
"Which is what they were planning on from the beginning, I'd say." Azazel grumbled. "We need to do something about this."
"Brother." Rias spoke up. "I have an unused Rook piece at the old school house. Gasper and Koneko are there. I could use the Castling Manuever to get there and attempt a rescue."
"That would be risky." Sirzechs muttered. "You could take one other person with you."
"I'll go." Issei spoke up. "I'm not going to let anything happen to Gasper or Koneko if I can help it."
"If it's alright with everyone," Kiba spoke up, "since Xenovia, myself, Irina, Ranma and Lilith can move freely, perhaps we can take on the invading forces since you have to keep the barrier up."
"I'd love to move freely, but," Sirzechs looked at the people still frozen. "Very well. I trust no one else has a problem with that?"
"Mouuu!" Serafall pouted and pointed at Ranma. "You! Dark Lord Ranma! Show these wannabe Magical Girls what their natural enemy can do!"
Sweat-dropping, but nodding, Ranma saluted her and looked at Vali. "You going to help or just sit there looking cool?"
Vali snorted at him. "These fools aren't even worth using my Balance Breaker on, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to deal with them." White Wings formed behind him and Ranma blinked in surprise. "What?"
"Nothing, didn't realize your Sacred Gear was the wings. That's neat."
Vali smirked as the window opened. "Well, guess I better deal with them then." He zipped out through the window, followed by Kiba and Xenovia and then Ranma and Lilith brought up the end.
(-)
As he flew up into the sky, Vali smirked at the magicians. "Now then, how about it?"
"Vanishing Dragon, Balance Breaker." His Sacred Gear flashed and he was covered in a white body armor that had several blue orbs across the chest and body. "Now then, let's do this, Albion."
(-)
"Issei." Azazel spoke up. "Here." He held out a couple of large rings in his hands. "Put this on your arm. You haven't been able to achieve Balance Breaker yet, have you?" Issei shook his head. "Thought so. This will temporarily give you enough ability to use it."
"What's the second one for?" He asked as Azazel put the ring around his arm.
"Gasper. It'll help him gain control of his Sacred Gear." Azazel shrugged. "Of course, if you have him drink your blood, he should be able to gain a lot more control over it as well."
"He hates blood." Rias commented as Issei walked over to her. "Anyway, thanks."
Azazel nodded as the two disappeared and a rook piece replaced them. "Hurry up, kids, I hate..." He trailed off as a magic circle appeared in the room. "Well, this was unexpected." When a tan woman wearing glasses with brown hair, large breasts and a low-cut purple dress appeared in the room, he raised an eyebrow. "Katerea Leviathan?"
"Well, Azazel, it's good to see you." She sneered at him and glared at Serafall. "And the bitch who stole my birthright."
"Hey!" Serafall objected. "You challenged me and I won fair and square! So no whining."
"My ancestor was Leviathan, bitch! You just got the title for no good reason!" Katerea snarled. "But it doesn't matter. I'm here to announce that the Khaos Brigade will be ending this alliance now."
Azazel smirked at hearing that. "Oh really?"
(-)
There was a crashing sound and everyone looked up to see Azazel and a tan woman crashing through the window out into the open air. "I have to admit, Katerea, I'm surprised you'd bother to show your face so brazenly." Azazel commented as he punched her in the chest, sending her away. "Shouldn't the Old Satan Faction just admit that they're inferior to the current batch of Devil Kings already?"
"NEVER!" She screamed and pulled out a staff and charged him, only to have her staff blocked by a sword of light.
"Man, that's a lot of power between those two." Ranma commented before throwing some basketball sized Youki blasts at the mages in the air. "Let's take care of them."
"Right."
"TaKe CaRe Of WhO nOw?" A voice from behind them spoke up, causing them to spin around and see a familiar red armor standing there with its arms crossed.
"Bishamon. What are you doing here?" Kiba asked as he held his Sword of Betrayal in front of him.
"Hannya." The female spirit spoke up as two spirits formed around its shoulders. "Why, we're here to kill you. Or at least send a message, one of the two."
"With no weapon?" Xenovia smirked at the armor. "This will be easier than last time."
"Oh?" The armor tilted its head and uncrossed its arms. "Who said I was unarmed?" A black magic circle appeared in front of it and a familiar looking hilt appeared out of nowhere. "Just finished today, the reforged..." Everyone stared as the familiar fused Excalibur was pulled out of thin air. "Excalibur. Hmm, it needs a name... Oh, I know!" A black and gold aura surrounded the sword and the armor. "Excalibur Betrayal."
"HOW?!" Irina yelled in shock. "I personally returned the fragments of the broken sword! They were used to reforge each Excalibur fragment!"
"Indeed." The armor nodded. "But I got my hands on the hilt and had it get reforged. Sadly, it lacks most of its abilities, but don't doubt this thing's power."
"Think you three can handle it?" Ranma asked, getting a nod from Irina, Kiba and Xenovia. "Okay then, we'll..." He jumped out of the way as a weighted object hit where he was a moment ago. "The hell? Pantyhose?" He looked up to where the pantyhose line went to and saw a young Chinese man with short dark hair, wearing a green Dragon-scale vest, black pants and bracers on his arms. "Who are you?"
"You can call me Tarou." The man smirked at him. "And I'm your opponent."
"Please, you can't possibly match Master." Lilith smirked and was about to help Ranma when a powerful presence made everyone, even the battling Azazel and Katerea pause and look up in the sky as a tall woman with large breasts, wearing a black leotard and purple leggings hovered in mid-air, two wings on her head and two large wings out of her back, her long, green hair fluttered in the breeze.
"Hello, dear sister." A sultry voice spoke up as the woman in question grinned down at her. "It's me... Morrigan. And I've come for you."
Well now, it's on.
Oh and have a Happy New Years everyone.