The Chaos that consumes the world
XII
So much for plans.
Then again, she was expecting them to die from the initial attack.
They walked right through it without so much as a single scratch, she couldn't even begin to formulate some explanation for what happened and how they were able to survive, what she needed right now was something that would let them all survive the few minutes it would actually take until reinforcements arrived.
Her body twisted, avoiding the leaping tiger and thrusting with the staff in her hand, driving the end of the weapon into the side of the beast's jaw, electricity surged through and into the animal. It spasmed from the assault but twisted itself free.
A block against a swipe had her stumble away.
Her eyes narrowed on the legs, looking ready to pounce.
It pressed down into the ground, red eyes narrowed onto her with clear intentions.
She used that instantly.
The second it pushed off the ground to leap, she was already moving. A swing of her arm off the staff, the circle formed in front of her as the energy twisted through the air, the glowing rope hurtled for a second before making contact, wrapping around the back legs of the tiger the moment it was raised upon them.
Its weight slipped out from beneath it, falling to the floor with a distinct lack of famous balance.
Landing on its side rather than on its feet.
She drove the electrified staff into the side of its head with enough force to shatter the skull, piercing through into the head itself. This time it took much more damage, though the fact she had to strengthen her own muscles was proof that there was much more enhancement upon these things than she could have predicted.
And this looked to be nothing more than a regular tiger.
The thought of what this could end up doing to something as already powerful as a Hydra…
Her body rolled backwards, the blur shot above her for a fraction of a second before it was out of sight. Swinging her arm up, she pointed her finger to the sky and closed one eye, taking aim and then loosening the spells. Lights danced across the tip of her hand before accelerating like stars.
Reaching their targets quickly and knocking them from the sky.
Mana gathered around her hand for her next shot, a short breath and then an exhale. The orb - now the size of an orange - launched itself from the end of her finger and crossed the length of the room in the span of half a second, striking the back of the large bird as it attacked Akeno and knocking it off balance.
Long enough for the Devil to wrap her hands around the throat of the creature and start choking the life from it, now pushing back and sending both of them sprawling into the ground. Though Leona lacked the opportunity to press the advantage further and render more assistance.
Her hand dove for the collection of small rubbled on the floor, scooping up the debris and then taking in a short moment. Clasping the stones with both hands, she muttered a few charms under her breath before throwing them outwards, thin strings of fluorescent blue light stretched between them.
A net formed with the attack, landing atop one of the dogs that had been preying on the Koneko girl, soon trapping the mutt in its tight embrace. She took aim and fired off another few shots in the next second, striking while it was trapped-
Her free arm came up and a gasp was muffled by her closed lips, she glared at the tiger which now had its jaws clamped down around her forearm. Her eyes narrowed as she cracked a faint smirk, one that was all teeth at this point from the pain flooding through her. Whatever protection she had wouldn't last long.
She rammed her free hand directly into the gap between her trapped arm and the back of the tigers throat, a flash of light and then a hole punched its way right out the back of the head of the feline. Twisting the body over, she pulled her arm free of the jaws and then grabbed the head with both hands. Pulling it off the ground and spinning.
Her eyes flickered around before finding a suitable target.
At the apex of her twirl, she loosened her hold and launched the body away from her with a grunt. The corpse crashed into the side of a large frog, or around its eye. Enough for the eye to retreat and for it to divert precious attention away from its current attackers. Long enough for one of them - a white haired girl - to unleash a series of magical attacks upon it, a flicker of bright spells rained down against the hide of the toad.
Not that it seemed to have much impact, but every little helped.
As long as they weren't currently dying, then it was alright-
A cry of pain caught her ears, head whipping around to see one of the student council currently in the grip of some sort of squid monster, wrestling with it as it tried to eat them.
Her hand shot low, scooping up a larger rock and then pulling her arm back. She flooded it with enough magical energy to make it as strong as it could possibly get, her arms strengthened to a point she would put the strongest athlete to shame. Then she swung her arm forwards and hurled the projectile.
It struck home, hitting the side of the squid's head and folded the soft body like wet paper, a splat as she blew out half the head with the throw. More than enough for the blonde boy to free themselves and then punch the squid in the head then roll to safety, though in the midst of everything she spotted what they had been aiming for.
Or rather, what they had been dragged away from.
The unmistakable shape of Issei Hyoudou, currently crouched down and moments away from being trampled by a deer.
She wasn't about to let that happen, and not just because it would make this entire battle utterly pointless.
Her hand flew up-
Something came barrelling towards her, only because of the rumbling noise did she turn her head and then her eyes shot wide. Kicking off to the side and throwing herself into a roll, narrowly managing to avoid being run down by a large bull, it gored into the ground and carved twin trails through the stone floor.
Hitting the ground, she turned her body and spun around, the bull turned at the same time and stomped hard enough to crack concrete, a snort escaped the monster as it charged once more. Her eyes narrowed, she shot to her feet and charged towards the bull, it moved much faster than she did.
Her hands flew out, grasping the horns and then pulling upwards, flipping herself over the top of the bull and twisting her body around as she did so, outstretching her arm and firing off magical bolts into the back of the bull as she spun through the air. Landing down and bringing her hand up once more, shooting off yet more bolts into the beast.
Each and every single one of them had struck home, she watched them impact against the skin of the dark skinned animal. They should have all been capable of shredding it to pieces and yet she didn't see anything worse than a few gouges punched through the body of the bull as it turned and faced her once again.
It didn't even flinch when she put another shot through its eyes, just charged once again-
Pain lanced through her outstretched arm. Her eyes shot down and widened in a split second. The head of a snake with fangs buried into her skin and forearm. Then the rest of the body flew towards her, a tail wrapped around her throat and constricted tight enough that it would have broken anyone else's neck.
She moved a hand across to grasp the head-
The bull struck her in the chest like a battering ram, unable to even cough out as she was punted across the room. The bouncing impacts of hitting the ground didn't deter the grip of the snake, now with black spots appearing in her vision and her body feeling numb all over. Mouth opening and closing as she just about managed to clasp the head of the snake and pulled.
Freeing herself of the jaws.
Strength left her, eyes on the verge of rolling into the back of her head.
It was getting hard to think, let alone move.
The tight sensation was ripped away from her, air flooded back into her lungs as she took in greedy gulps of air, eyes shooting wide once more and hands flying towards her throat. Coughs escaped her lips as she rolled onto her back and stared up at her saviour.
Penemue tore the snake in half, flinging the remains either side of them and then looking down at her with naked concern. Their mouth opened to say something before snapping their head away, they twisted over, wings folding over their body like a shield and covering them from something.
She heard the impacts, felt them in her very bones, but couldn't see what caused them on account of the pseudo-barrier. She could only see the pained expression which flashed over the face of Penemue before they twisted upwards, parrying whatever was away and granting Leona a brief look at the attacker.
Dark skinned, the body of a spider and the torso of something humanoid, but the head was all wrong. It stretched down was rounded, a long stretching jaw reached across and all the way down to the neck, a pair of muscular arms bent upwards and ending with big hooked spikes.
The monster snarl was cut short by a punch to the face from the Fallen, the teeth shattered and were knocked out of the jaw, staggering the monster away.
Penemue coiled their body backwards like a spring and then accelerated, vanishing in a blur and tackling the monster into the ground, smearing it through the concrete before carrying them both upwards and through the ceiling.
Leona had barely enough time to throw up a hasty barrier in front of herself before the roof finally decided it had enough of being a roof. It collapsed right on top of them, or what remained of it did. Not that any of them seemed to notice in the least, she grit her teeth as weight after weight fell atop her shield and buried her down in a mound of-
Her heart caught in her throat.
Romani was-
The shield reversed, pushing outwards and sending what debris had landed atop her flying away from her as far as she could manage. Dragging herself out of the hole and turning her head around to survey the location. A single wince at the destruction and the fact the entire building had been reduced to nothing more than rubble at this point.
Not that the fighting ended at all, rather it did little more than provide new weapons for both parties to make use of.
All that was set aside, however.
Romani was in danger.
He wouldn't have had anyone to-
Light pulsed from beneath a mound of debris, she whipped her head to face it and watched as it expanded outwards before pushing aside the remains of sheet metal and brick. Unveiling a transparent golden dome, the light faded away and revealed not just Romani stood beneath it, but also Asia and the vice-president of the student council.
The Devil woman lowered their arms, glanced at their charges and then moved off without looking as thought they spoke even so much as a word to them. Spreading a pair of wings from their back and launching themselves into the air.
A howl and a crunch had Leona turn her head, briefly catching sight of the toad choking on a slab of ceiling as the devils managed to force more and more debris into its gullet in a clear effort to choke the elephant sized amphibian, though being met with limited success as a stream of steaming liquid poured through the cracks, melting the rubble and spewing the same liquid towards the devils who scattered immediately.
She caught herself before shaking her head, dashing swiftly towards Romani without paying attention to anything else-
Her feet slipped back, her instincts cried out in warning and she pressed away from where she had been running. Pushing just in time to avoid a blur shooting right in front of her and slowing down.
It stopped, stomping hard into the ground and turning to face her, another snort shot from the nose as twin red eyes glared hatefully towards her. She felt her own frustration rise as the same bull from earlier stood in her way, lowering its head to bring its horns to bear.
Her hands curled into fists, she heard her knuckles crack as she straightened herself out.
Eyes narrowed.
"Alright then, fine." A low growl escaped her, she wasn't in the mood to put up with this thing for any duration of time. Though it seemed as though she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Romani would be safe so long as he stayed with Asia, they wouldn't let anything happen to either of them.
She had to convince herself of that.
"You want to be bullheaded? I can be bullheaded right back at you!"
A single burst pushed her off the ground and towards the bull as it matched her attack, charging towards her and stomping through the rough terrain, flattening it with each step it took and only moving faster and faster-
Ice burst from the ground like a spear, punching clean through the body of the bull and carrying it at least five metres into the sky. Her sprint slowed to a crawl before halting completely, her eyes snapped up at the now dead bull before shooting off to the left, brows raised right up her forehead.
Vlov stood with a hand outstretched, offering her not even a nod before they were away and right back into a fight with some other manner of monstrosity. Not that she would complain and, truth be told, she probably owed them one now. It saved her time at least.
Darting around the pillar of ice, she moved in on Romani and vaulted herself right into their little crater, landing down next to Asia and earning a brief squeak of surprise from the girl before her shock faded away, Romani just stared at her with wide panicked eyes for a few moments before speaking.
"Are you alright!?"
A blurted out mess of rushed words.
"Fine." She coughed out, rubbing her throat from the phantom pain which still haunted her ability to speak.
Something washed over her, the pain receded away from her body and she turned her eyes down, watching the glow fade from Asia's hands, the blonde stared up at her with a slightly worried expression before she offered a tiny little smile. Leona matched it with a bright grin of her own, then fixed them both with a stern gaze.
"You need to stay right here. He's focusing on us so you don't move. At all. Unless you're attacked but nothing else."
She paused, then her attention fell solely onto Romani.
"Understood?"
He nodded quickly, not even answering. That was fine, she was fine with that sort of reaction. As long as he understood, then everything was alright.
She turned back around, sweeping her eyes over the battle before narrowing them. "I'm going to try and get Issei and bring him back here for some healing. Get ready to give him all you can get, Asia!"
Without waiting for a reply, she clambered out of the crater and dashed right across the field towards the place where she had last spotted Issei.
This was a terrible place for him to be, he knew that and yet he could not tear his eyes away.
Still with Asia pressed down into the ground behind him, his eyes swept over the battle that went about all around them and grit his teeth. A feeling of helplessness washed over him as he watched Leona charge right back into the thick of things and quickly lost sight of her amidst the monstrous fireworks display of whatever was happening here.
Something flashed in the corner of his eye.
Throwing himself down into a roll, he grunted as he hit the bottom of the crater as something crashed into the ridge and fell down next to him. His vision cleared from the dust as he stared at the unmoving shape of Akeno lying face down on the ground, her uniform torn in several sections and deep lacerations across her side.
Blood was already pooling onto the ground beneath her.
His mouth opened, yet not a single word escaped him as he stared at her.
Then a growl caught his ears, a crunch of stone behind him had him turn his head like a poorly oiled machine, cracking with each turn until he found himself staring up at the creature perched above them.
It looked like a lion, at least until the head of the snake rose up over the top of it and the twin bat wings spread across either side of the body. Burning eyes of scarlet switched between the teenager and then to himself and Asia, his lips drew thin as he willed himself to move, sliding between the creature and the wounded girl.
The lips peeled back, revealing large curved fangs in the maw.
Its weight shifted, lowering itself to the ground and clearly preparing to pounce-
He felt warmth from behind him, barely paying attention until a chill spread through the air behind him. Something shoved him flat onto his face as a heavyweight passed through the air, followed by a growl and a thudding sound, barely able to glance up to see a lump of ice easily the size of a small car barrel right into the face of the monster, carrying them both off into the distance.
Turning his head about, he stared at the outstretched hand of Akeno, the light of Asia's healing already fading away but doing nothing for the exhaustion across the face of the teen. Sweat dripped down their brow as pants escaped them, chest rising and falling rapidly as clouded eyes turned from him and then to where the monster had been launched.
Twin leathery wings carried Akeno into the air before he could get out even so much as a single word, a battle cry escaping the girl as she crashed into the lion monster and shrouded them body in dust until the fire started spraying around, a tornado of flame rose into the sky and even then, it wasn't even close to the most devastating thing he was seeing.
He…he really couldn't do a single thing.
It had always been something he knew but it never felt more pressing than right now.
He couldn't do a single thing to help anyone.
In that one moment, that single realisation was the most terrifying thing about this entire ordeal.
Something pricked at his senses, he turned his head in the direction that his eyes were trying to move to without any prompt from him. Staring off into the distance and narrowing ever so slightly as they tried to focus on something. He didn't know what was dragging his attention to the woods, but it was important.
He just didn't know how…
The cry escaped her lips as another burst of destruction tore through her attacker, right until its body twisted and the flesh reformed in such a way that it looked as though she hadn't even done anything to it in the first place.
Her annoyance and desperation grew, watching as the head of the worm monster opened up like a flower and unveiled rows upon rows of sharp teeth. A gurgling hiss escaped the monster as it drew its head back and then flung itself forwards, shooting towards her with impressive speed.
But still too slow.
Her legs pushed her high into the air, flicking her hand out and unleashing a barrage across the side of the monster as it tried to strike at her. The bolts of destruction tore their way through the body, ripping holes right through it and spilling sickly black goo onto the ground in large puddles.
Then the worm twisted and writhed, rolling around before coiling up like a snake and twisting the head to stare up at her once more.
Flesh knit together, the damage she had done was recovered instantly-
A screech turned her head, flashing her hands out and carrying herself off to the side in the same moment she shot off an orb of demonic energy. The projectile punched through the head of the bat monster, cleaving it right off the body and sending the corpse plummeting to the ground.
Her teeth grit as her eyes caught the sight of the attacker once again, whatever their name was.
Then her breath caught in her throat as she watched the hook like insect arm burst out the body of the man and fall down upon Vlov like an axe, crunching them into the ground without any visible effort from the man, who was already in the middle of tanking a punch to the face from the Burial Agent.
Her lips pulled back, swinging a hand towards them and gathering every ounce of demonic energy she could muster in that one moment. The violent swirl of ominous dark light pulsed and twitched in her grasp. A desperate shout escaped her as she swung her arm down, hurling it forth like a javelin.
The recoil was so much that it pushed her back, sending her spinning through the air for only a second before she righted herself.
Then the javelin struck home and washed over the body of the man as though she'd thrown nothing more than a foam dart at them.
They didn't even turn their head to look at her, still focused on their own battle, blocking another attack and responding faster than she could comprehend. They had been facing one direction and in the next she heard the terrible clap of thunder and then a shockwave tore its way from the man and slammed into Vlov, the knight vanished in a mushroom cloud of dust and debris.
Her hands clenched into fists.
They weren't doing anything to them.
They weren't even scratching them.
Everything they were using was just bouncing off them.
Perhaps if she had brought out Gaspar then they might have a chance-
…No…if they were this strong then there was no guarantee they would be affected by Gaspar's Sacred Gear.
And poor Gaspar would have no way to protect themselves,
It was hard enough with Romani and Asia, if she had brought Gaspar here as well…
Her body turned, the shield formed in her grasp and spread across her entire front as the streak of magical energy slammed into it. Her brow tightened as she held the defence, it was certainly powerful but she was just about stronger. Each crack in the shield - each sound of creaking glass - only fuelled her resolve further.
"Haaaaaaa!"
The cry escaped her, twisting the shield and reflecting the beam of energy into the sky, in the same monster she looped an arm across and slung a bolt of destruction back towards the target. Then growled in frustration as she watched the unicorn unleash another blast of light from its horn, not enough to dissipate her attack but enough to slow it and allow it to dodge.
Instead, the attack burned a hole through the ground and left the unicorn untouched.
Her hands crackled with power once more-
She turned, the shadow lurched towards her and the destruction leaped from her fingers as the flower shaped head of the worm closed around her. The shroud of energy burst through the body, she remained unmoved from her position as the momentum of the worm carried it ever onwards until the darkness of the gullet passed her by and she was in the open once more.
It seemed as though the worm could regenerate with impressive speeds.
So she just needed to destroy all of it at once then.
Alright.
Fine.
Her eyes turned down to the falling body, already the flesh bubbled and sprung to close up the holes that it now bore.
The aim of her attack swung down, throwing with all her might and directly into the head but this time, she didn't stop. The concentrated stream of destruction consumed the upper half of the monster and then kept travelling downwards until it reached the tail. Within the span of a few seconds she had obliterated the entire creature down to the last atom of its existence.
That should have been more than enough for-
Her body lurched forwards, pain spread across her back and the air drove itself from her lungs. Escaping only as a faint gasp of breath that barely even reached her own ears before the world blurred right past her. Then she was face first into the ground, vision obscured in darkness only until something tight gripped the back of her head and pulled her out.
She didn't wait to see what had hit her, blasting out the power of destruction in the one moment that she was able to. The grip on her head vanished and she fell back the ground, landing on her side and sputtering out blood from between her lips, staring at the small pool where she had coughed out.
Her eyes lingered on her reflection in the crimson pool - idly noting how similar it was to her hair - before pulling her gaze away from it and towards whatever it was that had attacked her.
It was hard to describe.
It didn't have a head so much as it had a jaw for a face, a swirling mane of tendrils and a bulky torso, at least that is what she assumed it would have if it currently wasn't missing the entire right side of its body. The creature with a flat toothed smile sputtered and choked as it tried to extend its remaining clawed arm towards her.
A scoff escaped her lips as she obliterated the lipless grin with a flash.
Her hand came up, wiping away at her face and pulling her fingers back, rubbing them together and stretching the sticky liquid between her two digits.
She whipped around, clapping her hands together and forming another magical circle between them the moment she pulled them apart. The mana danced and spun in her grasp, her mind focused only on destroying whatever monsters were attacking her precious peerage and her friends.
Which meant throwing everything she had at whatever-
Her mind blanked as a shadow fell over her, eyes trailing upwards and managing only a dumb conclusion. Her previous thoughts vanished in the wake of the impossible sight falling towards her.
Why was there a whale falling towards her?
It struck the ground like a hammer, the shockwave of the impact knocked him clean off his feet and sent him ragdolling through the air.
But he didn't care much for his balance at the moment, all Kiba could think of was the fact that the whale had been falling towards his King.
His body struck the ground hard, no longer upon the paved floor of the warehouse and instead rolling across wet mud for what felt like miles. Each bouncing impact kicked more and more mud into his face and down his throat.
When he finally stopped, it had only come after his face was dragged through the ground at enough speed and with enough force to carve a trench with his front. Pushing himself up quickly, he spat out a mouthful of foul tasting muck before turning his head, blinking the spots out of his eye as he watched what he could only describe as a humpback whale give another echoing cry before it splashed back into the oily tar.
The liquid shadow swifty returned to the owner, who then proceeded to follow up the attack by twisting their body and spearing forwards a knife headed fish from their shoulder and into the ground, the Burial Agent avoided the initial attack, spinning through the air and avoiding the dark blurs that he couldn't see.
But they were visibly getting further and further away with each attack thrown at them.
He was left with little time to contemplate this, as a shadow burst from the ground before him and swung its jaws wide.
Revealing the unmistakable body of a stag beetle, yet the size of such a thing was logically unthinkable. Even with his time as a Devil, it was the notion of trying to wrap his head around a giant crab that stunned him for only a split second before attacking, swinging across at the arm of the armoured creature.
His blade hit home.
Kiba gave a single incredulous blink as he stared at the front of the beetle, without even so much as a scratch on it's body.
The world around him moved in slow motion as his eyes flickered left and right, illuminated through reflected moonlight, shards of metal spun through their air and glimmered like stars, moving further and further away from the pair of them.
He'd heard the sound of the strike, he'd felt the weight of the blow travel up his arm.
Kiba knew he had struck home with that attack and it felt like a good hit.
Yet nothing came of it.
The weight of the sword in his grasp felt lighter than before, much lighter, as though all the weight within it had been lost. Bringing his eyes towards the blade, he found the source of the problem immediately.
He was holding only the handle now, a jagged tooth of steel being the only indication that the handle had ever attached to anything.
He was awed by the sight for a touch too long, then his senses screamed at him to move.
Pressing off the ground, he darted backwards and watched the beetle slam its curved jaws into the spot where he had last stood, the ground dented inwards, a shockwave sent nearby debris rolling across the ground in a punch that sounded more like a cannon being fired.
So the beetle was tough, he should have expected something like this.
That was his blunder.
In the instant his feet touched the ground, Kiba tossed aside the broken remains of the sword and threw himself forwards, a flash of crimson light appeared in his palm as a new blade fit into his grasp, longsword made for piercing armour.
He drew his arm black, sliding to a halt around the right side and thrusting his arm forwards.
The tip of the sword slammed into the smooth plate armour.
It shattered as though it was made of glass, his eyes widened as his momentum carried him forwards. He pressed back off the ground, skipping away with another burst of speed and avoiding the swinging head of the beetle.
His brows tightened.
That was…troubling.
But not impossible, it was an armoured creature so he needed to go for the joints and the underbelly, the locations where the armour was thinner. Admittedly, his knowledge of bugs was rather limited but he assumed they worked in a similar flash to human armoured.
A flourish of the hand, a larger weapon fell into his grasp, the head curved forwards with serrated teeth lining it, made for cutting through flesh and heavy enough to carry the blow forwards. He suspected this would be the sort of thing that would work.
Kiba turned and fell forwards, then launched into a swift movement. Utilising the full strength of the knight piece and putting every ounce of his strength into his arms and legs. Without slowing, he brought his sword across and swung for the joints as the beetle turned once more, showing an ability to track him even if it wasn't quite as fast as he was.
The cleaver swung through the air, he struck the joint of the front leg with everything in the blow.
His body jerked to a halt as though he'd struck a brick wall and then he found himself flipping backwards, his eyes shot wide as he felt resistance. Unmoving resistance, with everything put into the strike, he made no account for what would happen if it didn't end up working, his legs carried him forwards even as his top half jerked to a halt.
Kiba flipped twice through the air, only the sound of shattering steel drew his attention as the sword fell from his grip.
His eyes sought it out and his heart plummeted.
The sword looked as though it had been ground into dust, broken in nearly a dozen different places and buckshotting across the landscape as it faded back into nothingness. His eyes remained glued to the disheartening sight before he struck the ground hard, bouncing several times before he rolled to a halt and a muffled thud.
A gasp escaped him, landing on a mound of debris and crunching his body into it.
He remained dazed for only a moment, the realisation that the beetle could charge him was like ice water to the face, he jerked up and already prepared to call forth another sword before he stopped.
The beetle wasn't even looking at him.
It was too busy marching away to attack someone else, he didn't even see who it was attacking, just that it wasn't paying attention to him anymore.
It…it lost interest in him?
He kept himself still.
His jaw clenched and he rocketed forwards in the next moment, swinging before there was even a sword held in his grasp.
The sound of shattering steel-
Another sword was brought forth-
Steel screeched-
Another sword-
His cheek split as the broken remnants of the blade shot past his face-
Another sword, closer to scimitar-
Another break-
The next blade was gripped with both hands, a claymore of greater size than its peers.
He swung it down with both his hands and could only watch as the spine of the weapon snapped clean in half, the beetle did nothing more than watch him impassively as sword after sword and attack after attack failed to even so much as budge the body, instead each and every single one of his weapons shattered off the hide of the creature.
It didn't matter where he attacked it from.
The result was always the same.
His sword would break, each and every single time.
He swung continuously, each time bringing out a different sword, his mind working overtime as blade after blade was summoned at his behest and broke like dried twigs against the armoured plating of the monster.
It no longer bothered to pay attention to him.
It continued on its march into the battle and ignored everything he was throwing onto it, not even that it ignored him, it was as though he was the bug in this situation. Not a single one of his attacks managed so much as a scratch, the polished shell remained as gleaming as when it first appeared.
His attacks were utterly useless.
None of them worked.
He slammed his palm into the ground and unleashed a burst of magical energy, the ice spell was without direction or control, it was nothing more than him throwing every ounce of power he had into a brute force attack.
The boulder of ice he summoned was similar to that of a large truck and fell upon the beetle with the force of a speeding one, yet the bug didn't so much as budge as the ice shattered across its armoured skin, uneven sized lumps broke through the air and drifted away. He watched them fly off into the distance and yet, even after that, the beetle ignored him as it moved off.
No.
It wasn't just that it was ignoring him.
It didn't even register him as an existence.
Kiba felt his lips peel back, frustration welled up inside of him. He was throwing everything he had, he was holding absolutely nothing back, and he was being utterly rebuffed by an oversized stag beetle. It wasn't even making an effort to block or avoid his attacks, it was just acting as though he was less than nothing to it.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaa!" A roar rippled out from throat, his emotions bubbled to the surface and he flung himself forwards once more. Calling forth yet another sword which was by far the largest he had ever summoned, a mess of crooked steel and jagged points, easily three times his height and with the weight to support the size.
He swung the lump of metal down.
It broke over the back of the insect, splitting apart violently and sending white hot lances of pain through his body as the shards flung back into him faster that he could react. Yet he ignored all the pain and swung his arms wide.
"Sword Birth!"
Within a split second, half a dozen magical circles surrounded the beetle along the ground, each of them spun rapidly as light coalesced within them.
Blades of all shapes and sizes sprung to life from each circle, taking aim on the beetle as it showed the first signs of reacting to him. He felt a twinge of something shoot through him as he watched it start to turn around to face him, but it was much too late for the bug to do anything about it.
Pockets of ice crept up each of the legs and anchored the beetle in place, stopping it from moving.
Swords rocketed from the circles into the beetle itself.
Within a moment its body was consumed with a shroud of differing effects, fire, ice, lightning and water. It didn't matter what manner of sword it was, he hurled each and every one of them without pause. The moment a single circle faded, he called forth another one and twisted the blade inwards.
Allowing not even a single moment of respite for the insect to escape.
Surely with an attack like this, he would be able to-
He blinked.
His body turned numb and he was no longer staring at the cacophony of his swords, instead he found himself facing the ground with a complete feeling of weightlessness over his body, not just that but he found himself utterly unable to move.
It was a feeling that lasted for only a single second.
Yet it was a second that stretched across for what felt like an eternity.
And then it all came to a sudden and painful halt, he struck the ground so hard that his vision whited and he was sure that he must have blacked out. For in the next moment he was staring up towards the starry sky, blinking focus back into himself as the pain crept into his body.
Yet nothing emerged, his fingers wouldn't so much as even twitch.
Thuds jerked him, his body trembled with each sudden impact as his eyes drifted away from the sky and towards the direction they were coming from. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion for him.
The crackle of lightning from the tips of Akeno's fingers as the eagle closed in from behind.
The shockwaves from Koneko's punches against the chest of a hairy ape thing as it swung its arms down into her.
The sight of one of the student Council being mauled by a tiger as their peers desperately moved to rescue them.
And the sight of the beetle charging towards him, jaws open wide and hooked spikes on a course to run him through the moment they snapped shut.
Naturally, it didn't look as though it had suffered so much as a single scratch through the battle.
Because why would it have done?
Kiba watched certain death come barreling right towards him…
…He felt nothing.
No, it was as though there was nothing to feel.
Devoting his life to one day destroying the Excaliburs and he was going to be killed by a literal bug before he even got the chance. He'd quested to destroy one of the strongest of Holy Swords and here he was…about to be killed by a bug.
An oversized garden pest.
It was actually a little funny, if someone looked at it from an outside perspective.
Everything was for destroying the Excalibur and he was about to die before he even got the chance to swing his blade at one.
What an absolute waste.
What was it all for?
What was the reason he survived if not to avenge his friends?
A cosmic joke right at his expense.
The architect of his misery was dead before he got the chance to kill them, he'd been thoroughly bested by one of the Devil races greatest enemies without even seeing them move and he'd been forced to work alongside the people who wielded the very things that had caused him so much pain in the first place.
And at the end, he was about to die from a beetle.
…
…
…
Why did he even survive in the first place, when he had achieved so little?
No, perhaps the better question was…why hadn't he been able to achieve anything at all?
…Ah.
Maybe that was the reason.
It all made sense now.
He'd never really escaped from that place, he was still trapped there even now.
…That was really unfair.
He'd just realised it and now he was going to die.
Though, perhaps it was fitting. He'd put so much into trying to destroy the Excaliburs that he had been willing to throw everything away just for the chance to get to look at one of them, for the opportunity to destroy one. He would have done anything, even if it meant dying in the process, but now when he looked at death hurtling towards him.
…He sort of wished he'd had a chance to do something a little bit more.
Talk about bad timing-
The beetle jerked to a halt as a shape crashed into the front of it, prying its jaws open and keeping them that way with a loud growling noise.
Kiba took a moment to blink several times as he tried to make sense of the impossible sight before him, but each time he did so it just became more and more unbelievable to him.
He recognised this person, not as any Devil peer of his or not even as Vlov, but as one of the exorcists who had arrived. The one with sky blue hair and a single lick of earth green across the front of it, not that he could see her face right now.
With her Excalibur wedged between the jaws, they prided them open and managed to stop them from clamping inwards, all the while he could just about hear her roar of effort over the top of the hissing and spitting of the beetle. Its body jerked up and down in an attempt to pull the obstruction free, yet the exorcist didn't let up.
Rather, with one hand still keeping the Excalibur wedged, she freed up her other hand and swung it forwards repeatedly.
Kiba was treated to the sight of the exorcist punching the beetle in the head again and again with about as much success as him, yet it didn't do anything to deter her. He watched until the skin on her hands split and she splattered blood across the skin with each blow, her fingers turned crooked and her expression turned pained.
But she didn't stop punching.
Really, he had much more at stake than she did.
If he were to die now, then that would deprive Rias of a Knight, it would mean that she was poorly defended. It would mean that everything she had gone through to keep him alive would have amounted to nothing.
So why was it that he was the one who couldn't find the strength to move while this girl, who lived only for the sake of faith, was managing to fight through the impossible and remain undeterred.
…He really was pathetic, wasn't he?
What would Vlov say if they saw him now?
His eyes narrowed into slits, he didn't know where he pulled his strength from, but it was enough for him to rise up to his feet, pushing himself forwards and then swinging and arm out.
"Sword Birth!"
The hilt fell into his hands, the blade swung with all his might behind it, yet he did not aim for a slash this time, he saw the chink in the armour, the thin gap where the jaws of the beetle had been pried open and he knew where to aim.
Thrusting past the exorcist, he buried the sword into the gap between the mandible and the head, wedging it in such a place as to provide yet more resistance to stop the jaws from closing. Dragging the serrated teeth of the blade back and forth and sawing away at the jaw.
Sparks flew, a grating sound drummed through his head, he was probably screaming like a mad man.
It must have made them look like quite a sight from the outside, but he didn't stop.
He didn't slow his pace.
He couldn't.
…Not with people still counting on him. Not when there was still something for him to protect-
The beetle jerked its head down, bodily slamming the exorcist deep into the pavement with a cracking sound, blood and spittle sprayed from between her lips and into her air, her eyes bulged wide. Kiba had only a moment before the beetle swung its head like a hammer into his chest.
A feeling like something cracking, a reverberation through his bones as he bounced across the ground and slid to a halt.
Coughing and sputtering as he fought to push himself up once more, yet pain lanced clean through his right side the moment he tried so much as to move a single muscle. He rolled over onto his arm, heaving and sputtering, crimson spat from his mouth and pooled around his cheek on the floor.
He couldn't move, no matter how much he begged his body to do just that.
A chittering cry echoed forth, his eyes turned and he watched as the beetle swung its head once more, the Excalibur being flung out from between its jaws and hurtling through the sky before landing somewhere with a metallic thud.
Splitting its hooked jaws as wide as they could go, the beetle let out a high pitched screeching noise which sounded almost triumphant to him.
Kiba clawed his fingers across the ground, calling upon his Sacred Gear once more and forming the rapier like sword in his grasp. Twisting it in his hand and pressing the tip into the ground, it sank like a nail until it budged no further. He took in a shallow breath, pain shot through his body as he did so, and then pressed his weight into the blade.
Dragging himself up, inch by inch, he stood upon his feet.
Forcing both hands onto the pommel of the rapier to keep himself upright, his breaths left him in strained pants, half-lidded eyes glared towards the beetle as black spots formed through his vision.
But he wasn't tired.
Far from it.
He never felt so determined in his life.
He was ashamed to admit that not even during the Rating Game had he felt a desire to win and push forwards this much.
A grunt escaped him, he pulled the rapier from the ground and aimed it towards the beetle, wavering on his feet and almost falling over as he found his posture. Gritting his teeth and pressing his legs, coiling them hard, he prepared himself for a single thrust-
Something cut through the ground next to him.
Kiba blinked once, twice, then a third time.
It was as though an invisible sword had just slashed through space itself, cleaving right through the left side of the beetle - armour and all - in such a clean cut that it was as though it was just meant to be.
A shape shot past him, slowing for only a moment as he stared at the figure with wide eyes.
Platinum blonde hair, silver armour, a flowing white cape billowing behind them as they moved.
Their right shone a brilliant silver.
Then a voice, quiet as a breeze and just as welcoming fluttered through his ears.
"You held out well. I shall take this beast."
And then the man was gone with the wind, only to reappear right above the beetle and with the spear in their arm pulled right the way back. Without making a single noise, the man hurled the spear like a javelin straight down into the top of the beetle's head.
Kiba blinked.
It was instant.
One second, the beetle was falling from losing its limbs.
In the next, it was simply missing the upper half of its body.
Black goo and chitin sprayed across from every direction, showering over him and shards of armour cluttered to the ground.
In the middle of the corpse of the beetle, standing tall, the simple looking spear with its head buried in the ground remained still. Then the man, dressed in the armour of a knight, dropped down beside it, his hands slipped along the shaft and pulled it free of the ground with a dull crunch.
Their body blurred, the spear hummed as it spun in their grasp before it abruptly came to a halt.
He could have sworn he saw the air distort around the head of the spear, then explode outwards like a thin streak of out of place light. As though someone had moved a small fraction of a picture slightly offset from the rest of the image.
Kiba whipped his head around, watching the thin streak collide with the fast moving bird and shred it in half clean down the middle. He hadn't even been able to track it, just that it appeared and died in the same moment, the two halves carried on and splattered into the ground in black puddles.
He turned just in time to see the man dart towards him, his eyes shot wide at their sudden movements, bracing himself-
Kiba felt a jerk of acceleration before it slowed around him, finding himself sitting on the ground and feeling utterly confounded by the situation. Whipping his head around and pausing as he found himself staring at Asia, of all people, along with Romani.
Both of whom looked just as surprised to see him as he did to see them.
"Wha…?"
"Stay here, you've done more than enough so far."
His eyes whipped onto the voice, he saw the man from earlier gently lay the exorcist down onto the ground next to him, she was clearly at a loss for words to try and understand what happened, even as the knight rose up and unshouldered their spear once more, giving it an idle twirl as they glanced down at him and nodded once.
But that was not where he was looking.
His eyes were purely fixated upon that arm of theirs.
Its Holy Aura was beyond agonising to be around, the discomfort must have shown as the knight quickly grimaced for a moment before they took several steps away from him, eyes flickering between himself and the others before they replied. "I apologise for that, the heat of the moment made me forget the poor resistance Devils have to such energies."
The knight nodded towards Asia. "I saw you treat injuries earlier, heal them as best as you are able, my lady. I will keep you safe and do what I can to aid your compatriots."
They vanished in the next moment, the only evidence they had moved was the sudden rush of wind slapping against his face and knocking them back into the ground, yet he remained utterly still as he stared at the spot where the knight had been, then turned his body around and clambered up the debris cover and peered over the edge of it.
He watched the knight, barely tracking their movements, they became like a whirlwind on the battlefield, hacking and slashing at anything and everything which was animal in nature, but it left him with only a burning question.
Who exactly was that…?
Rias blinked, trying to understand what happened.
She had been on course to get flattened by a whale and then suddenly she was no longer under the shadow of the monster, instead she was held tight against something, a strong grip looped around her legs and just behind her head.
Her thoughts of Vlov saving her were dismissed the second she turned in the direction of her saviour, her eyes widened at the panting figure looming over her slightly, their bruises faced and slightly bloody grin wrenched at her heartstrings.
The state they were in was tragic.
"Issei!?"
"Buchou…thank goodness I got to you in time." They took in a visible gulp, lowering her down and turning her over onto her feet. She darted around to his side, but he picked himself back up before she could even do anything, almost as though he didn't actually need her help in the first place in order to stand.
"Also, was that a whale?!"
Issei all but shouted out, their shock and surprise briefly stumped her as they pointed to the spot where she knew she had been, her eyes locked onto the sight of the crater and internally gulped as she realised what must have happened, though quite how Issei was able to move fast enough to grab her without her seeing him was rather…shocking.
"Well, nevermind that now…"
The brunette muttered, her eyes turned back to him and her lips pulled down into a frown at his tone of voice, her mouth opened to speak before something stopped her.
His left arm.
Her eyes snapped onto it and widened at the sensation she felt from it, the aura which was unlike what it had been before. It felt stronger, but less like that of a Devil and more like that of something else.
"How long did you say it could last?"
She thought for a moment he had spoken to her.
Then the jewel flashed bright green and a deep voice droned out of his, erasing that notion entirely.
[You get a countdown of ten. Don't blame me for it, you're just too weak to go any further with it right now. So I'd make those seconds count, brat.]
Her breath caught in her throat, eyes dancing between the gauntlet which could only be one person, and then back to Issei as they glanced over their shoulder and cracked something like a smile towards her, probably in an effort to be reassuring.
"Don't worry about a thing, Buchou." Bringing his hand up, Issei jerked a thumb and pressed it against his chest. "I'm your pawn, after all. There's no way that I could end up losing!"
[Heh. After a battle cry like that, I'll be the one you contend with if you lose.]
Issei stalked forwards, moving away from her and in the direction of the pale man himself, she could only watch in silence as he did so.
Then Issei shouted out across the battlefield, pointing right towards the man.
"Hey, asshole!"
The man battered Vlov aside and then paused, at least he did. The man remained utterly still, even as tendrils, legs and even gargantuan armoured heads exploded out from their body at random and fought off all manner of attacks levied against them.
"You want me?! I'm right here!"
Issei slammed his fists against one another, the voice from the gauntlet rang out.
[Welsh Dragon Over Booster!]
Light bathed Issei, so bright was it that Rias covered her eyes and stepped backwards, pausing briefly as power rolled over her, far beyond what she could have expected from a Pawn and yet - perhaps because of who he was - she wasn't all that surprised with the knowledge that it was Issei who unleashed it.
He was the latest Red Dragon Emperor, after all.
The light faded away.
Issei was clad in full plate scaled armour, with a style to it beyond any traditional set it was bright crimson in colouration, spikes of gold curved out from the elbows and from the cheeks, without even a single patch of skin exposed to the world.
The man, who had kept silent, finally spoke up.
His baritone voice echoed above the sounds of conflict with ease.
"An anaemic display, if ever there was one. You cannot contend with my power."
"Wanna bet!?" Issei shot right back.
The man cocked a brow, then smirked.
"I do not make gambles. I act on guarantees."
Their body bubbled and writhed, bursting forth as a shape as large as the blue whale emerged from the man and rose taller and taller. Great thudding motions as it took its first steps onto the land.
Rias took a step back, her eyes trailing upwards and her jaw parting.
Silence descended across the battlefield, everything felt as though it focused upon the latest arrival.
There was nothing else it could have been, even if it felt impossible.
The jaws of the dragon opened up, an earth shuddering roar rumbled the air and reverberated through her very bones.