Dance With the Devil
Shake Up Chapter 7
Disclaimer: I own none of the series involved, for if I did there would be naughty tentacles.
To answer some reviews:
Guest: Yes
aliesterus: I swear! The galaxy won't go boom. ...I hope.
OBSERVER01: You'll have to find out. ;)
Mittelt was flying high in the sky, using illusions to keep people from noticing her and watching the chaos unfold on the ground. "I know that they're supernatural beings, I know that they're extraordinary, even for the standards of supernatural beings, but this is just..." The blonde loli trailed off, not sure how to describe what she was seeing.
"Ludicrous?" Nabiki asked next to her, her Devil wings out as she floated in mid-air.
"Yes." Mittelt nodded. The two watched as Ranma, Atsuko and Lilith raced around town, kicking up a dust cloud and sending random things flying in various directions. "How do they not hit anyone?"
"Who knows? Reality never seems to work right when Atsuko's on her bike anyway." Nabiki grumbled, getting a look from Mittelt.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, the laws of physics seems to get turned off when she's on her bike. Dunno why, but I looked it up and got that answer last time I checked."
Mittelt sweat-dropped heavily. "That's both convenient and just weird." Ignoring Nabiki, the Fallen Angel looked back at the race and sighed as they took it to the rooftops. "...You know, I think Azazel's right. I have changed."
"Hmm?" Nabiki was curious as to what Mittelt was talking about.
Mittelt pointed to where the trio had jumped up onto the roofs and continued on. "There was an elderly woman there, they jumped off the ground to avoid hitting her and I'm glad. Before I became a Devil I wouldn't have cared."
Nabiki smirked, she knew that to be true. "That reminds me, you still owe me for draining my bank account dry."
Mittelt turned and gave Nabiki a nervous look. "Um... How much did I make you spend on me again?" She trembled at the scary smile Nabiki had on her face. "I'm sorry!"
After a few moments, Nabiki laughed and looked away. "No worries, I told Azazel about it awhile ago, he already paid me back for it and he told me to tell you that you don't need to pay him back."
Mittelt blinked but smiled softly, thankful Azazel had done that. She'd need to talk to him sometime about that.
(-)
"I win!" Atsuko grinned as she got back to their home a moment before Ranma and Lilith got there.
Lilith was lightly panting, as was Ranma and glared at her. "You had a bike, you cheated."
"You said I could use the handicap!" Atsuko stuck her tongue out at Lilith.
Rolling his eyes, Ranma, who had already caught his breath, looked up as Mittelt and Nabiki landed on the ground. "Have fun flying?"
"So long as we don't do anything else, none of the other supernatural factions will pay us any mind." Mittelt answered, and as long as she only used her Fallen Angel wings, there wouldn't be any questions shot her way.
"You'd think that flying would be pretty awesome, wouldn't you?" Nabiki grumbled and looked away. "But do you guys have ANY idea how freaking terrifying it is to fly up and then realize that if you get shot down you're going to go splat when you hit the ground?"
Ranma, Mittelt, Lilith and Atsuko looked at Nabiki, who was looking away.
"...Are you afraid of heights?" Mittelt asked, getting a twitch from Nabiki. "I'll take that as a yes."
"If I'm not up too high, it's not a problem, it's when I'm up higher than a skyscraper that it bothers me." Nabiki couldn't help it, she was a normal person before being reincarnated into a Devil.
"Well, how about..." Ranma trailed off and turned around. "Come on out, I know you're there."
"I was wondering when you'd sense me." A familiar voice seemed to come out of thin air before the air rippled and Genma Saotome stood there, surprising everyone. "Hello, son."
"Pops? What are you doing here?"
Genma smirked at him. "I think it's time to teach you the two schools of martial arts that I personally developed."
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "What? Are they all about getting out of a lunch bill or something?" Genma face-faulted as he heard that. "You brought that on yourself."
"Fair." Genma stood up. "No, I developed two schools of martial arts so powerful and dangerous that I sealed them away before you were born, but I think it's time for you to learn them." After all, if Ranma was going to deal with the supernatural, he would need the power of these martial arts. "But before I begin, Ranma, you need to realize something." Genma had an unusually serious expression on his face as he looked at his son and ignored the girls. "If you mess up training with these, you could cause serious harm to yourself, to others or you could actually die."
"Shockingly serious for you." Lilith said as she narrowed her eyes. "You know that I'm with Master when he learns new skills."
"I will only teach these to Ranma." Genma said to her. "I would prefer if no one else ever learned these techniques, but that's for the next master of Anything Goes to decide."
"Master?" Ranma blinked in surprise.
"Master these two schools, and I'll officially recognize you as a Master of our style." Genma said, causing Lilith and Ranma to stare in shock at him.
(-)
Meanwhile...
Akane Tendo groaned as she crawled out of the river that Kuroka knocked her into.
"Nyah? Already worn out?" The dark-haired Nekomatta purred as she poked Akane's head. Jumping back, she avoided the swipe Akane took at her. "Oooh, almost, if I was standing still you might have actually hit me."
"Hate you... So much." Akane panted and stood up, her outfit was in tatters, soaked in water, mud and who knew what else, and yet, despite this, Kuroka could see actual muscles across the girl's frame.
"Nyah? Why? I'm not the one making you train." Kuroka smiled before sneezing so hard that her breasts popped out of her top again. "DAMMIT!"
"AND STOP FLASHING YOUR MIS-MASHED BOOBS AT ME! I GET IT, YOU'RE BIGGER THAN ME!" Akane screamed as Kuroka tucked her boobs back into her outfit. She grumbled and looked away. "Why do you hang out with the Monkey King and that Dragon guy?"
"Mrow? You mean Bikou and Vali?" Kuroka grinned at her. "Simple! I want to mate with Vali, but he doesn't want to mate with me." It was sad, she didn't care if Vali didn't want to stick around after that, after all, her parents weren't around when she was growing up either.
"Slut." Akane muttered before yelping as she dodged out of the way of a Chakra blast. "Sheesh!"
"I'm just honest, unless you know of someone stronger than the White Dragon Emperor or the Red Dragon Emperor, I've only got a couple of choices, don't I?" The Red Dragon Emperor was a virgin, but if even a sliver of his power carried over to her kids, then she wouldn't care if he wasn't a very good lover.
"I dunno, you could try not being a slut!" Akane yelled back and dodged another shot before twisting out of the way as Kuroka dive-kicked her. She ducked a kick at her head and even blocked the follow-up knee to her face, though she was still thrown back due to the power in the attack, she at least didn't take a direct blow.
"My species is endangered, girl." Kuroka narrowed her eyes as Akane landed on her feet and slid back. "Wanting to make sure that my children have the strongest genes isn't me being a slut."
"You sure dress like one." Akane yelled as she picked up a rock and threw it at Kuroka, who dodged it, though the rock tore through a tree behind her.
Running up to Akane, Kuroka jumped at her and grinned as Akane tried to block as Kuroka landed feet first on her arms, forcing the other girl to land on her back and slide across the ground. Leaning in, she purred and stroked Akane's face. "Maybe I should pin you down, strip your clothes off and show you some of the skills I've learned, hmm?" Kuroka reached behind her and ran her fingers over Akane's belly. "Mmm... I could just..." She trailed off as Akane raised her hips and put her feet on both sides of Kuroka's head and flipped the nekomatta off of her.
"YOU FREAKY PERVERT!" Akane yelled as she stood up and glowered at her.
Licking her finger while purring, Kuroka grinned at her. "And what's wrong with that? You're young, in the prime of your sexual shelf life, you should experiment now. You don't want to turn thirty and go 'I want to have a baby' and find that all the guys your age are ignoring you for the tight pieces of ass coming out of high school, do you?"
Akane growled at her. "I'm not a floozy!" She ran at Kuroka and punched at the older woman, who easily swayed away from it.
"But for all your complaints that you have about the boys your age," and boy did Akane complain about them when she got the chance, "you like the attention." She ducked under a roundhouse kick, noting that it came out fast enough that she had to block a follow-up punch to her mid-section. "And you're going to keep getting that attention while you're young. But when you hit your thirties? Most men start ignoring you." She threw Akane over her shoulder and back into the water. Turning, Kuroka smirked to herself. "She's getting better, I dare say that she's almost skilled."
Climbing out of the water again, Akane coughed as she staggered back to her feet. "I'm gunna..."
"Enough." A new voice spoke up and Kuroka turned to see Ophis standing on the water, floating towards them. "Is she ready?"
Kuroka threw her hands up as she shrugged, causing her breasts to jiggle. "Possibly, I'd say there's a good chance she survives, another month and I'd say that there's no chance she doesn't die."
Ophis looked at Akane, who was panting and dripping with water and mud. "That's enough. Tell me, Akane Tendo, do you wish to control your Sacred Gear and get stronger?"
Akane panted and glared at Ophis. "I've come this far! Now what do you want?" When a large snake appeared in front of her, she yelped and jumped back, only to notice it wasn't moving.
"Eat the snake." Ophis said to her. "Survive and you'll have control of your Sacred Gear completely."
"...Survive?" Akane asked with trepidation. "Is it poisonous?"
"No." Ophis shook her head. "But it could break your Sacred Gear, and then you will die." It didn't matter if she died to the loli if Akane did die, she'd just find another way to beat Great Red.
"Doesn't it take like a week to recover?" Kuroka asked, getting a nod from Ophis. "Lovely."
"Well?" Ophis looked at Akane expectantly.
Trembling, Akane grabbed the back of the snake's neck and lifted it up, noticing it wasn't moving. "Um, do I have to eat it all at once, or..."
"Just put it to your mouth, it will do the rest." Ophis said.
Gulping, Akane did just that and her eyes bugged out as the snake suddenly stiffened and went into her mouth and down her throat, causing her scream out around it, though her voice was muffled. Dimly, her mind noted that this is what those girls in those tentacle videos Yuka had shown her once must have gone through.
When Akane coughed, hacked and then screamed as snakes seemed to erupt from all of her pores at once before turning and biting her on the skin, Ophis nodded. "It seems to be working."
Kuroka turned away, she hated watching that, it looked painful, disgusting and gross.
"Take her back to camp and have her rest." Ophis told Kuroka. "I must check on the Dragon Emperors."
"I wonder how they're doing." Kuroka muttered.
(-)
In Hell...
"ASIA!" Issei screamed, no longer able to think of anything but killing the bastard that made her disappear.
"BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!" Ddrag screamed out as Issei's Balance Breaker was completely changed from what it was before, looking more Dragonic than before. "LONGINUS SMASHER!"
(-)
"Bah, I'm sure that they're fine." Kuroka said to herself as she picked up Akane, who just groaned and returned to camp.
(-)
Two days later...
Sitting in front of the small campfire, Kuroka suddenly stood up and looked at the hole that appeared out of nowhere. "Arthur..." She muttered as a blonde man in a black business suit stepped out. "What are you doing here?"
"Vali requests your help." The man said sharply to her.
"Are you sure?" She asked the blonde haired man in the dark suit. "Look, I get that Vali..."
"It's a simple job, really." Arthur said to her. "There's an artifact in Egypt that's caught Vali's attention, but apparently Bastet's blessing is all over it, so..."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it." She wondered what kind of artifact the Egyptian Cat Goddess had that Vali wanted. "I'm a Nekoshou, I can probably ignore Bastet's protection, but..." She looked at Akane's sleeping self. "I'm not keen to leave Ophis's pet project alone and you need to take me to Egypt, so..."
"We could take her with." Arthur said before turning to the side as a black magic circle appeared and a tall person appeared before them. "Jedah Dohma, I presume?"
The tall Devil grinned at the bespectacled blonde man. "Arthur Pendragon, descendant of the once and future king of the same name, you presume correctly." He bowed, noting the two Holy swords by Arthur's side.
"Is there something we can help you with?" Arthur asked as Jedah stood up.
"No, it's what I can do to help you." He looked at Akane and then back at the two of them. "I happened to get ahold of a bottle of Phoenix Tears, that should be useful in restoring Akane Tendo after she absorbed some of Ophis's power, would it not?"
"Perhaps." Arthur adjusted his glasses. "Is there another reason you are offering to heal her?"
Jedah bowed to him. "If she manages to survive, I shall test her Sacred Gear for Ophis. If it works like she hopes it will, we should make sure, do you not agree?"
"Very well. You have been helpful in finding many of us and bringing us together." Pulling out Caliburn, he cut open a hole in space and stepped through it, followed by Kuroka.
After they were gone, Jedah grinned and pulled out the bottle of Phoenix Tears. "Amazing how easy it is to get this stuff." He would have thought that the Phenix Clan would have taken better care of this stuff. Popping the top off, he poured the few drops in the small bottle onto Akane's body and watched as she glowed pink for a moment. "Now then..."
"Nnngh..." Akane groaned and slowly sat up. "What... Where..."
"Congrats!" Jedah grinned as she stood up and stared at him with wide eyes. "You successfully survived Ophis empowering your Sacred Gear."
"I don't..." Akane frowned, no, now that she thought about it, she felt different. "What is..."
"Call your Sacred Gear by its name." Jedah said softly as he knelt down behind her. "I believe it was... Devil Alchemist. Call out your Balance Breaker."
Akane's eyes seemed to flash orange. "Devil Alchemist... Balance BREAK!"
There was a flash and a crack as a large black cauldron appeared in front of Akane, full of bubbling liquid that had multiple colors to it, a lid to the side and a wooden ladle over the top.
"Fascinating." Jedah stood to his full height and looked at the cauldron. "I wonder what you could make in this."
"I don't know." Akane muttered as she walked up to it and touched it. "But I feel like I could make... Anything."
Jedah raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, no ingredients around. But how about we test it then?"
"Test how?" Akane looked at him.
"You should know, girl, that I am a Devil." Jedah smirked as her eyes widened. "Relax, if I wished you harm I would have already dealt with you. I want you to use that and create something for me."
"What?" Akane gulped as Jedah suddenly grinned, his teeth shining.
"I want you to create a small sliver of glass."
Akane gave him an incredulous stare. "...That's it?"
"No!" Jedah snapped at her. "The sliver needs to have special properties to it. Since this is a test, make it so that any Devil that gets close to it will feel their power rapidly drain away and their life force being attacked directly."
"...But that's..." Akane wondered why he'd want that.
"I didn't stutter, this is a test to see just how it works." Jedah said to her, getting a nod from Akane who took the wooden ladle and started stirring.
"Sliver of glass that can harm Devils just by being near it, draining them of power and attacking their life force." Akane muttered, wondering what she was doing. When the liquid inside started to glow brightly for a moment, she pulled the ladle out. On top of it was a single sliver of glass. Holding it up to Jedah, the Devil wondered if it worked, before his eyes widened and he grunted, falling to his knees and gasping in pain. Sweat started to pour down his face before he fell backwards and weakly raised his hand to wave it off.
After Akane dropped it back into the cauldron, Jedah gasped and started to pant, his eyes wide. "Unholy...Shit..." He couldn't believe how effective a tiny sliver was, and it wasn't even that close to him!
"Are you okay?" Akane asked as Jedah forced himself to stand to his full height.
"Just perfect." Jedah grinned, knowing that things were ready to proceed now.
"So, um..."
"Did you know that Ophis has one goal and only one goal?" Jedah asked as he walked in a circle around Akane slowly. "There's a Dragon of near-infinite power called Great Red that lives in the Dimensional Gap between the layers of reality." When Akane shook her head, he sighed. "Well, that's to be expected, Ophis kidnaps you, leaves you with Kuroka and Bikou for training and then disappears. Tell me, would you like to go back to your life?"
Akane nodded, she enjoyed this, but she was tired of it. "Yes, I just want to go home now."
"Then let's help Ophis get what she wants!" Jedah threw his arms wide to the side. "Do you know what a malto-chocolate ball is?" Akane nodded and Jedah smiled at her. "Good. Make one of those, small enough that a child could eat it in a single bite. Before you ask, Dragons can shape shift and take other forms if they wish."
"Ah! Okay, what kind of properties should it have?"
"Anti-Dragon properties." Jedah continued to smile. "That if a Dragon of near-infinite power ate it, they would find themselves losing power rapidly and nearly dying from just ingesting it."
"Why not make it so that they die instantly?"
"Not possible with Great Red." Jedah shook his head. "The thing's power was beyond that of even God's power." He ignored the massive pain that went through his body by invoking the creator's name. "So instead of killing it outright..."
"We weaken it so it can be taken out, huh?" Akane nodded as she continued to stir.
"Indeed. But you need to make sure that it has a super crippling effect attached to it."
"I get it." Akane growled and watched as the liquid in the cauldron glowed brightly and the liquid lowered by a substantial amount. "Done." She pulled out three small chocolate balls.
"Why more than one?"
"I was hungry for a chocolate malto-ball after all of this." Akane blushed as Jedah laughed and took two of them and put them in his pocket. When Akane took the other one and ate it, her eyes widened. "This is so good!" She couldn't believe it! She had made something edible! And it was tasty!
"Good thing you're not a Dragon then." Jedah chuckled. "Now then, there are other Dragons in the world. There are five known as the Five Dragon Kings, a sixth Dragon King that apparently was turned into a Devil and the two Dragon Emperors." He sighed at the confused look Akane gave him. "They are... Powerful, for a lack of a better word. Far too powerful and I fear that if they tried, they could easily kill any Devil, Demon, Angel or even a God if they wanted to."
"Wouldn't that be good for the world?" Akane asked in confusion and Jedah shook his head.
"If Angels disappeared the world would cease to exist." Akane's eyes widened in shock. "Yes, it's that bad. And these Dragons are too dangerous to just let run free. So remember that glass sliver you made to hurt me? Create a bunch of crystals, make them look like, hmm... Ah, I know, make them look like a big crystal in the center with smaller crystals coming out of the base."
"You mean like what you see in anime all the time?" Akane asked, getting a confused look from Jedah. "No worries, I know what you want in looks."
"Anyway, make sure to make it so that they have the same properties as that sliver of glass had, except that instead of harming Devils, it harms Dragons, those who are born with Dragon power and those who use Dragon power." Jedah tapped his chin and nodded. "And make as many as you can."
"Of course." Akane nodded and stirred. "So after this, I can go home, right?"
"Certainly, but we must call Ophis here and show her what you've done." Jedah smiled at her as she went to work.
It was more than thirty minutes and an empty cauldron later when Akane dismissed her Balance Breaker and sat down, sighing. "I'm beat."
"I bet." Jedah smiled as he made all the crystals disappear. "There, all stored up." He wasn't like that fool Kokabiel, he wouldn't let either of the Dragon Emperors foil his plans. "Now then..." He created a sigil and made it disappear. "She'll come now."
"Ophis, huh?" Akane was just glad that her role in this was done.
A moment later, Ophis appeared, looking at the two of them in confusion. "You recovered quickly."
"Indeed she did." Jedah nodded. "In fact, she made you a treat." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the chocolate malto-ball. Ophis's eyes widened as she saw it. "It's a very sweet treat, I know you like chocolate."
"Gimme!" Ophis took it from him. "Thank you." She turned and nodded to Akane, who nodded back at her and popped it into her mouth, munching on it and swallowing it.
Behind her, Jedah's grin could only be called sinister.
A moment later, Ophis's eyes widened and she felt her whole body throb. Grabbing at her throat, she tried hacking, but nothing came of it. Black mist came out of her back as she tried to retch the food she had just eaten out of her.
"Wh...Wh...What's going on!?" Akane gasped in shock as Jedah started laughing. "What did you do!?"
"Me? I did nothing!" Jedah laughed as a firangi sword with a pink blade appeared in his right hand. "You, on the other hand, did this to her."
"How?!" Akane could only stare in horror as Ophis fell to her knees and had one hand on the ground with her other hand at her throat.
"Oh? Didn't anyone tell you?" Jedah gave her a nasty smirk. "Ophis, here, is a Dragon of near-infinite power."
"And I just..." Akane couldn't believe what she had done. "NO!" She got up and was prepared to try and save Ophis from her cooking when a hand grabbed her from behind before she was thrown into a rock at high speeds, stunning her.
"Just sit down." Jedah narrowed his eyes as he pulled his hand out of the hole in space he had made. Stepping up to Ophis, he grabbed her back and pulled, causing her soul to become visible.
"What are... You..." Ophis groaned as she looked over her shoulder and watched as Jedah grinned at her.
"If I was Belial, I could just sever your soul easily, but I'm not him, so I need this sword to do it for me."
Akane watched helplessly as Jedah cut across Ophis's soul, severing it and dislodging it from her body. "No."
"Now then..." Jedah smirked, if he was right, he had just gotten about half of Ophis's power and soul with that. Opening a hole in space, he put the soul fragment away. "There, that'll keep it from dissipating until later." Snapping his fingers, the Pasha sword disappeared and instead a large crystal appeared in his hands. Putting it on the ground just outside of Ophis's reach, he watched as she gasped and rolled over to get away from it, only to twitch in pain. "Just wait right there." He stood up and walked over to Akane.
"You... Bastard. I'll..."
"Never tell anyone." Jedah grinned as he knelt down. "And you will help me and my army deal with the powers here. My plans are coming to fruition." Black gear-like rings formed behind his back. "Rejoice! You are the first step in my goal of salvation of this decaying world."
"What are..."
"Savage Control, Balance Break!" Jedah grinned as his body was covered in a black fur coat. Pointing at Akane, he watched as she slackened and slumped down. "From now on, you will work for me." He chuckled, stood up and watched as she did the same, just mechanically and slowly. Walking back over to Ophis, he picked up the crystal and frowned. "This needs a name... Hmm... Dragon...Ice. Yes, Dragonice, that is its name."
"How?" Ophis coughed as she looked at Jedah. "You're not human."
"Indeed, but there are rituals to remove Sacred Gears from people after all." Jedah laughed at her. "Sadly, this one, as useful as it is, has too many limits, much like Akane Tendo's Sacred Gear, to be useful for combat." He made the crystal disappear as he picked up Ophis.
"What..."
Jedah smirked at the loli. "You should have done more research into Sacred Gears, you may have discovered that there were Irregular Sacred Gears that existed."
"Where..." Ophis groaned as she felt her conscious slipping.
"Some fool from Ryugenzawa, poor kid had no memory because of this thing. I did him a favor by removing it from him." Of course, that idiot was dead now, but that was a small price to pay.
Jedah grinned as he, Ophis and Akane disappeared in a black flash. "Soon."
Dragonice is basically Kryptonite for Dragons.