Swords clashed as the mist displaced Yuzu, getting her in the air as the exorcist with holographic arms used his demonic swords to fight against her projected ones. She had only a couple of swings to make before they shattered, unmade by the sheer power behind the legendary weapons the exorcist wielded.
She found her 'down', and corrected with her wings before landing. Getting better purchase as she kicked off the rush to meet the exorcist before he could get his bearings. Again, her weapons only worked for a moment, but Yuzu managed to fend off and cut some of the projected arms. Forcing him to recreate them in the same way she did her weapons.
"What's wrong with your sword technique?" The priest sounded bothered, talking while he fought like he wasn't even walking around. Completely fresh "Your swings are fine, but there's no finesse behind it. The base form is top notch even, so why does your swordsmanship look like that?"
Yuzu threw lightning at him, forcing some of the swords to squeeze out more power out of him while she rendered everything else Worthless. Or as close to it as she could manage. Wisps and sparks escaped her Privilege Magic, which meant that she had to dodge and fend off wind and fire as the legendary weapons clashed against her demonic power.
The lunatic version of this priest appeared from within the mist, clashing against Yuuto for a couple of seconds before blue flames brushed off all the mist and forced Yuzu to reposition. She threw lightning again, and the insane priest took the brunt of the hit after her electricity pierced through the blue flames almost without opposition.
Weakening, something in that fire made her demonic power weaker. Even the projected arms didn't react like normal projections. There was a holy power in the mix, and even when Yuuto used that sword of his that absorbs fire, he struggled to keep it materialized as the flames countered the demonic nature of his own weapon.
What were those Sacred Gears? Yuzu didn't understand, furthermore…
"How are you still alive?" She asked as the many-armed priest appeared in front of her, creating a magic circle that cushioned the swing and gave her enough time to push him away with more lightning "I took your Twice Critical, what are you?"
"I'm only human." The gray haired young man answered "I was simply… Given a second chance."
Light spears rained down from the sky, but Yuzu simply turned them all Worthless. She met him outside of the other's fire range, and exchanged another two or so swings before being pushed back by his swords' powers.
She breathed in, taking lifeforce into her system. Stopping herself from biting her tongue.
She had gone for the kill each time, and it simply hadn't landed. Yuuto didn't fare better, but he didn't have the benefit of having his devil weaknesses nullified. He grew tired, more and more weakened by the holy nature of the power used against him.
"You still haven't answered my question: Why is your swordsmanship so ugly?" He pointed one of his demonic swords at Yuzu, even more bothered than before "Do you call yourself a swordsman with such poor skills?"
"I never said I was a swordsman." Yuzu pointed out, feeling another presence coming closer. Something even holier.
The Caliburn landed on the ground, right between Yuuto and Yuzu. And the blast of holy power evaporated the ground with such force that the devils got launched into the air, unable to do more than extend their wings and shield themselves from the debris. The blond young man with a sharp attire straightened his back, looking at Yuzu and Yuuto impassively. Almost like he expected them to just be evaporated by his glare.
Yuzu discarded her weapons and extended her palm forward. A fingerless gauntlet materialized in it, doubling her power once.
"Bye."
No matter how strong they were, their humanity held them back. Yuzu summoned a bolt of lightning as thick as a vehicle, slamming them down with so much demonic power that she pushed the crater left behind by the Caliburn even further down. She didn't cover the whole area, that'd have been impossible, but she still gave Yuuto those precious seconds to catch his bearings and push through the pain.
The Caliburn's holy aura extinguished her demonic power. Not even working as a shield, but its destructive aura simply shredded through the magic. Leaving behind more destructive holy power that the devils had to dodge.
What the hell? How was she supposed to deal with a weapon like that?
The blond swordsman brandished his sword again, and the kinetic wave of holy power made the devils change their flight course through sheer displaced air alone. Yuzu spun around and went back to using pure blasts of demonic power without thinking, being able to conjure them faster. And her efforts were met with blue flames that Yuuto had to absorb once more with one of his swords.
More light spears, more rendering them Worthless as the third swordsman simply waved around his legendary holy sword. They had pinned the two down, seemingly without effort, in spite of Yuuto and Yuzu being able to fly unlike their human opponents.
What. The. Hell?!
"We need to go back." Yuuto hissed, opening and closing his palms as the holy fire had graced them and his body slowly broke down as result.
"I need a gap, just one." Yuzu gritted her teeth, dodging another wave of conjured blasts while answering with her own.
"Give Freed a second." Yuuto answered, and Yuzu didn't have time to ask what he meant by that.
The lunatic priest shot himself to the air, using his Sacred Gear's flames as propellers as he howled in excitement. Spinning like a top so that the holy flames surrounded him and prevented any attacks from piercing through.
Those flames were surprisingly thick, almost liquid. The heat was unbearable, and it stayed even if Yuzu tried to make the fire Worthless.
She dove for the ground as her chance appeared, getting burned on the side of her face but kicking off her lifeforce to heal herself. Rapidly shedding skin as the other two Heroes appeared from within the mist.
Yuzu threw a huge bolt of lightning at the many-armed priest, landing on her legs and getting her bones to fracture slightly because she didn't have enough presence of mind to cushion the blow. They pulled back together, but she almost missed her chance to counter the Caliburn wielder.
Yuzu swung a projected sword at him, not rendering his blast Worthless. Instead, she targeted a different ability, one that served a better purpose.
"Tsk!" Sparks flew from within the blond's hands, the Caliburn seemingly jumping out of his hands as they burned from the mere contact with it. He still dodged Yuzu's blow, but his weapon spun in the air farther away from him.
Holy swords require a degree of connection or compatibility to use. They 'chose' their wielders, and anyone that didn't qualify suffered from even having these legendary weapons in their hands… Yuzu simply rendered that compatibility Worthless, made it so this blond wasn't 'worthy' of Caliburn. Which probably was a very picky sword given its history.
"Interesting." The blond dodged and kicked Yuzu's blows away, fixing his expression as her time ran out "This power of yours might be more of a problem than originally expected."
Light spears protruded from the ground, forcing Yuzu back in the air as the demon sword wielder closed in the distance. Yuuto hadn't been able to buy her more than a few seconds, and Yuzu didn't get any blows in.
She turned around, faced the priest. Lightning appeared from a circle on her back, piercing through the blond's stomach and cracked in the distance as he attempted to circle around and retrieve the legendary Caliburn.
The gray haired priest stopped her blow, but didn't push. Stunned into silence as the blond fell.
Yuzu only needed one chance.
Fate Weaver landed on his feet, seemingly surrounded by nothing but mist, and activated his Balance Breaker. He had no idea where everyone else was, but he trusted his team to push through. He had expected the attack sooner rather than later, and the time he spent training and coming up with countermeasures helped him stay calm in spite of being singled out from the get go…
Well, it was to be expected. He was probably the strongest in that meeting, it'd be a serious mistake to allow him to fight alongside everyone else.
"Child of Gabriel." Cao Cao appeared from within the mist, True Longinus hitting the floor with the rear end of its pole. The motion cleared out the mist, revealing that they had been transported within a very particular room… The Student Council room in Kuoh Academy "Please take a seat."
Cao Cao kicked one of the seats meant for the president's guests, forcing it back up to Fate Weaver's place in the room. The so-called 'hero' took a seat on the desk itself, spear on his right hand for support.
"Nah, I don't think so." He extended his wings, dove-like extensions of his power made out of pure light "Kicking your ass here and now sounds more promising."
"It is my understanding that you aren't the brash type. Or, rather, you're the kind of person that has the right mindset for the job." Cao Cao shook his head "Typical. Disappointing, but typical. You're still a bit young, after all."
"I'm a seasoned agent of the church, I'm not some newbie you can be scared with your big words." Fate Weaver gritted his teeth behind the helmet.
He wanted some back up on this, but none of the girls were around. And Ddraig had refused to answer any conversation since the beginning. Up to this day, the Red Dragon Emperor hadn't spoken to Fate Weaver even once.
He was alone again, and it didn't sit right with him.
"So I've heard." The human looked away, staring at the books and papers lying around the room. Taking in the way the normal students of Kuoh Academy lived "You could be more, of course. The church has a way to tighten its hold on promising individuals, keep them from their full potential. We would know, we have quite a few ex-members with us."
Fate Weaver burst forth, smashing Cao Cao with a right hit as he brought the True Longinus closer to his body to defend.
"Don't give me that crap! Did you really think you could come here and ask if I wanted to join your merry band of criminals?!"
[BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST]
Cao Cao gritted his teeth as Fate Weaver released his draconic energy, driving his back and into the wall as his power condensed and slammed the hero back.
"You're insane! Y'all are just a bunch of terrorists playing at being the good guys! Why would I join some random weirdos like you?!"
Cao Cao's answer was a direct hit with the blade of his spear, punching through Fate Weaver's multiple barriers and almost cracking the Scale Mail as holy energy erupted from the extended Sacred Gear and exploded in Fate Weaver's face.
"Because we're the future." Cao Cao emerged from the hole on the wall, dusting himself off with a bit of a frown on his face "We're the rightful inheritors of this world, those entrusted with the god-slaying arms of God. Descendants of humanity's limitless potential."
The hit had been painful, forceful enough to drive Fate Weaver to the hall and into the next room in the building. And yet… Holy energy coursed through Fate Weaver's body all the time. It'd take a lot more to really hurt him.
"Nice story, bro. I'm the grandson of God."
[BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST]
He opened his right palm, and the jewels in his armor and his wings started randomly changing colors as he merged both the dragon and angel in him.
"Dragon Smite."
Heaven's fury descended on Cao Cao. It didn't come from his open palm, nor did any magic circles appear out of the blue. Instead, wrathful flames rained from above. Piercing the mist and the sky as the sheer volume and holiness contained in the power made the fire liquid-like. So thick and charged with power that simply looking at it lacerated one's eyes.
If Cao Cao flinched, Fate Weaver couldn't know. The attack had vaporized the floor and concrete. Driving the human Longinus wielder several meters into the ground as he used his spear to reflect some of the power thrown at him.
"A pity." Cao Cao appeared from the mist outside of Fate Weaver's current room, slashing sideways with his spear and wrecking the walls in that single motion "Then, I must get rid of you."
Glass shattered and Fate Weaver felt the True Longinus connect with his helmet. Just barely being slow enough for him to duck as that piece of his Balance Breaker gave in and shattered altogether. The wall behind him blew up, leaving nothing behind but scorched masonry as Fate Weaver shot more draconic lasers at Cao Cao.
Strong, unmistakable so. Fate Weaver hadn't met that many strong opponents recently. The more he trained, the less people on his level he found. And even some of them refused to fight him on the grounds of being both a Longinus wielder and a Miracle Child. Only Rias' peerage accepted to train with him on the ground that he wouldn't boost his power, but that only got him so far.
"You can try." He smirked, feeling his blood rushing as his thrusters on the back came to life. Giving him enough maneuverability to avoid the next wave of holy power to pummel Cao Cao with both armor and holy energy.
"Bravado will get you nowhere, Miracle Child." Cao Cao spun around the True Longinus repeatedly, sidestepping and parrying with the motion just as quickly as Fate Weaver could attack.
[BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST]
The tail of the Scale Mail came to life, slashing from one side as its owner created an orb of a myriad of colors and shot it point blank at the hero. Cao Cao's spinning Longinus slapped the armor piece out of the way as he moved sideways, avoiding the worst of the spell but getting his arms slightly burned as he caught Fate Weaver out of position.
He thrusted, and Fate Weaver only kept his arm because the thrusters on the back of the armor saved him from the worst of the impact.
Kuoh Academy started crumbling even more, but Fate Weaver took to the sky. Still feeling confident because he had 'that' saved up.
It might not have worked against Sirzechs Lucifer, but Cao Cao was nowhere near that devil's level.
[BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] [BOOST] BOOST] [BOOST]
"Dragon Smite."
A star blinked into existence above their heads, and this time Cao Cao had to dodge.
The holy energy cascading into the ground shook the building to its foundation, overpowering its strength and destroying it from the kinetic wave that followed. The school didn't fall, instead it got blown up in all directions as Cao Cao hid within the mist once more. Escaping the worst of Fate Weaver's attack.
He repaired his Balance Breaker, grinning within the helmet.
"We're just warming up, 'hero'! Don't tell me you're running away already!"
A person fell from the sky, out cold and with some of their clothes shredded.
Akeno.
"...?!" Fate Weaver looked around, expecting Cao Cao to use the distraction to get a clean shot at him. But the attack didn't come. Fate Weaver rushed to the Queen's side "Akeno?!"
"I'm… Fine…" She struggled to her feet, so Fate Weaver helped her. She looked in so much pain that the Miracle Child wondered just how on Earth she was standing "They're just… Messing with us…"
Cao Cao appeared from within the mist on the ground, seemingly in the middle of blocking an attack. He saw Fate Weaver and in the split second that it took to correct his posture, he thrusted his spear against him. Forcing the Miracle Child to shield Akeno with his armor and raw holy power.
"AAAAHH!" He crossed his arms in front of his chest. The spear tip collided against him, and the raw power behind it sent him back several meters as his armor shattered and his arms bled. Still in place, but in so much pain that it circled back to complete numbness.
Fate Weaver rolled on the ground, still at the mercy of the force behind the impact. Akeno fell elsewhere, but he didn't have time to worry about that. He crossed the mist, and when he got back to his feet he found Irina and Xenovia fighting off Heracles and Le Fay's spells.
No… No!
"Damnit! Akeno!" Fate Weaver's range-filled yell took everyone out of their concentration.
His wings re-appeared, getting him to the air as he pushed his boosted power directly into his holy energy.
[Burst!]
The wave of holy aura cleared out most of the mist around them, revealing that they had been transported to the commercial area of Kuoh Town. From there, Fate Weaver would need to take a straight line to go back to the academy, but he couldn't be sure in which direction.
Cold sweat fell from his forehead, dread building up unlike anything he had felt for a long time now.
"Akeno!"
The mist closed back in, and he only had a moment to go back to his companions before they got swallowed by it again.
He landed besides them, shooting holy and draconic power straight at their foes as the girls reeled from the backlash.
Fate Weaver had been rendered speechless, his words seemingly caught in his throat.
"What the hell?" Heracles groaned as he came back to his senses, having gone unconscious for a moment "What? Shouldn't you be with Cao Cao?"
The other Hero Faction member disappeared, and Kuroka and Koneko rolled into a ball. Startled, disoriented, and very much without control over what was going on.
"Ise?! What is-?"
A blast of Power of Destruction punched through the mist, coming from the ground and disappearing into the sky.
Xenovia readied her Durandal, rushing to place her back against Fate Weaver's.
"You're here. What now?"
"What is Georg doing?!" Heracles tried to punch forward, using his Sacred Gear's Balance Breaker to compensate for the distance. He stopped mid-motion as the Caliburn fell sideways and engraved itself onto the ground "Wha—!"
Fate Weaver's heart got caught in his throat. The only thing that kept him thinking was his training, his years in this world and under Gabriel's tutelage. He tried to get a sense of the situation, feel the power in the air and how everything correlated to everything else.
Dimension Lost could shunt things seemingly without restriction, as long as the thing was touching its mist. Fate Weaver's head hurt as he 'felt' the spatial distortions with his blessing. But he did not find any human energy behind it.
From the other side of the distortions, a malevolent presence stared back.
The mist erupted everywhere, swallowing Fate Weaver and displacing him once more. He fell on his knees, but he rushed to a standing position as the Dimension Lost cleared and revealed everyone from the meeting.
Rias and Akeno clung to one another as Loup Garou and Benia formed a living wall with his transformed claws and her scythe respectively. Only Benia looked unharmed, but everyone seemed out of breath. Weakened.
Yuni and Kiba didn't look any better, although the silver haired girl took in her surroundings impassively as her finger seemingly came from a twisted position to their normal selves within seconds, the crunches and cracks of bone reknitting sickening Fate Waver as she caught her breath.
Saji had fallen, covered in black spots but not bleeding from anywhere. He was on his back, and the rough breathing that came from him would've been proof enough that he survived if he hadn't been desperately trying to stop gritting his teeth from how painful his injuries were.
"Ise!" Shinon rushed to his arms, dropping her conjured swords as she did. She looked fine, relatively, and that relieved Fate Weaver "Are you okay?!"
"I can't not be okay." He reassured her "What happened? Where were you?"
"I… I don't know!"
"We were fighting the mages and Arthur." Xenovia approached, walking backward as she had her Durandal raised toward an unseen enemy "Then, the nekomata appeared and the devils were gone. Asia got displaced, Arthur did too. I… Are they infighting? What's going on?"
As if to answer her, the mist cleared farther away from them.
Diodora Astaroth gave them his back as his hands bristled with the power of Infinity.
"There we go!" He cheered on as the mist cleared, the Hero Faction had appeared with everyone together "Nice and tightly packed!"
The swordsmen rushed forward, Cao Cao lifted his spear.
Diodora reached out.
"All is Mine."
Dimension Lost disappeared.