High School DxD: Alternate

by AnotherJojo

Vincenzo 'Vin' Corsetti should never have volunteered at the Vatican. Now, he's been drafted into an elite order of Exorcists in-training, facing insane beasts and monsters, and he's got a 'Sacred Gear' to figure out too. Hey, at least the girls are cute, right? (My love letter to the DxD fandom: a story with proper grammar, writing, and no OP OC) Cover by marccurie on Twitter!

41. Ch 41 - Never Say Die

Chapter Forty-One: Never Say Die

Courtyard

80 Minutes Remaining

There was some part of Issei which had become very aware that he was fighting a losing battle.

"Try and dodge this one, Dragon Boy~!" Carmelita sardonically cried.

*FHWEE~!*

*THUNK-!* *THUNK-!* *THUNK-!*

A triad of feathers sunk themselves into the ground just shy of his feet, hissing with an angry red glow. Issei's instincts – forged from all the wonderful time he spent with Tannin – kicked into overdrive, making his body break out into a dive before his thoughts could even catch up to him.

*BO-BO-BOOM!*

Issei scrambled to his feet once more, pointedly ignoring the small collection of scrapes and bruises that ached along his skin – after all, a few scrapes were certainly better than getting hit by whatever that cocky lesbian was barraging him with.

Issei's head snapped up to return to Carmelita, but alas, the woman had already vanished from her former perch. Gnashing his teeth together, Issei bit back a curse as he bent his knees, preparing to take off at a moment's notice.

"Come on out here already!" Issei growled.

"No can do, Rasputin!" The mocking lilt of Carmelita's voice creeped into his ears from behind.

"Gotcha!" Issei snarled, pivoting on his heel to spin around, his left arm coming by with a hook at he went.

Only for that punch to hit nothing but thin air.

"Heh~ You really think I'm just going to let you hit me?" Issei glanced over his shoulder, finally catching a glimpse of Carmelita; who sat against the edge of the fountain as casually as one would rest in their own home.

"Let's make one thing clear, Dragon Boy," Carmelita twirled a feather between her fingers. "You may be the Sekiryuutei or whatever, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to play your game here. Quite the contrary, actually…"

In a blur that Issei could scarcely keep up with, Carmelita leapt high into the air, hands cocked back with a full grip of projectiles.

"... You're here playing mine~"

The barrage came so fast that Issei couldn't even register it all. One moment, the woman had been taunting him from the fountain, and the next; a veritable armada of glowing feathers filled his entire peripheral.

Issei hastily threw his arms up over his face and tried to leap back.

*KRA-KOOOOMMMM!*

All at once, Issei's world became red and fire. The searing sensation of pure-condensed magical energy bursting muttered itself across his skin like a coating of red-hot embers. His body was thrown back by the force of the detonation, sending the teen sprawling along the rough, uneven gravel that lined the courtyard; small pebbles jabbing at his body the entire time.

"Ugh…" Issei's vision swam for a moment, his enhanced senses having been overclocked by the stimuli of the explosion, leaving more than just dazed.

Peering through cracked eyes, Issei watched as his opponent slowly stalked towards him.

"Are you still with us, buddy?" The voice came as splotchy, drowned out partially by the ringing that swallowed up most of his hearing ability. "Come on now, this can't be the best you've got! I mean, what will sweet little Asia think about that? Not to mention, your master would one-hundred-percent be disappointed by such a… lackluster showing."

Carmelita shrugged. "Oh well, it's not like they'll be far behind you anyway."

"W-What the hell… are you… talking about..?" Issei rasped in between breaths.

"Oh, you didn't think that I was the only defense we had, did you?" Carmelita cooed, before breaking into a short laugh. "Oh, that's adorable. No, don't you worry your little head, Dragon Boy; the rest of your little posse are being kept plenty busy with our little welcome party we've set up…"

"What did you do to them?"

"Me? Nothing. But I can't say the same for the rest of my teammates~"

Issei let out a low groan as he slowly clambered to his feet. "Get the hell out of my way."

[BOOST!]

"Oh, good, you still have some fight left in you." Carmelita's lips split into a toothy smirk. "Come at me, Dragon Boy; show me what all of your little girlfriends see in you~!"

---

Viewing Platform – VIP Booth

"So that was their plan all along." Azazel idly commented, gently tilting a glass of red wine between his fingers. "Break up the core of the group, and then pick them off."

"You said you helped train these brats, right Azazel?" Odin spoke up. "Didn't you think to give them some common sense?"

"They're children," Azazel deflected, "They're bound not to pick up on everything, they don't have the experience we do, you old bastard."

Odin hummed, downing a swig of his own drink.

"While it may have been sort of obvious, the warp trap was a smart tactic." Azazel glanced once more at the monitors, "Plus, the way they broke them apart shows a deeper level of analysis than I first thought the Forneus kid would bring to this game…"

"Both Rias and Percival have something to prove with this Rating Game." Sirzechs chimed in. "It'd only make sense for them both to bring everything they've got."

"True, true…" Azazel's eyes narrowed, laser-focused on one particular video feed from the Rating Game.

---

The Tower – 4th Floor

80 Minutes Remain

Asia clenched her eyes shut for a moment, fighting the small surge of nausea in her stomach and the spots in her vision from the sudden flash of light that had engulfed them all moments prior.

"Where… Am…" Asia muttered as she slowly fluttered her eyes open.

"Asia, stay behind me!"

"Buchou?" The sudden shift in surroundings quickly jolted her to alert. Gone was the wide-open atrium, now replaced with a vast corridor of dark stone. The walls are dotted with the occasional sturdy oak door.

"W-Where is everyone?" Gasper stammered, practically shielding himself behind Rias like a child would with their parents.

"We walked into a trap." Rias answered, head continually on a swivel.

"We were warped." Asia put two-and-two together.

"Exactly. And since we're the only one's here I have to guess that they scattered the rest of us somewhere else in the building."

"So that means they know we're here?" Gasper piped up.

Rias nodded. "The only thing we can do is try to find a way out and regroup."

"R-Right!"

The trio slowly began their trek down the corridor, each step carefully made, heads constantly on a swivel. The ominous tension hung thick in the air, weighing down each breath the group took.

Asia could feel her palms begin to grow clammy. With a small grimace, she wiped them against the fabric of her skirt.

"Gasper, are you holding up okay?" She turned to the Dhampir. For as pale as the other Bishop already was, his face somehow managed to look even more devoid of color than normal.

"I-I-I…" Gasper's mouth opened and closed for a moment, unable to properly articulate a response.

"It's okay, I'm scared too." Asia gave him a little smile. "But Issei and the others are counting on us, right? So… Let's do our best, alright?"

Gasper's eyes lit up a little bit, "R-Right!"

"Well said, Asia." Rias grinned. "And don't worry you two, I swear I won't let anything happen to the two of you."

"Oh~ You three are just the cutest, you know that?"

The trio froze in place for a second. Asia could feel the goosebumps rising on her arms, a shot of adrenaline spiking through her system. No one dared to move an inch, but their eyes glanced around every which way, trying to identify the voice's origin.

Finally, after a moment of silence, Rias opened her mouth.

"... Percival, are you there?"

The squawking of an opening door drew their attention across the hall, as Percival Forneus stepped out into the open; clad in a puffy white dress-shirt bound underneath a smart purple blazer and tucked into a similarly-colored set of pants.

"Greetings dears; I trust you're all well?"

"As well as we can be, given the circumstances." Rias narrowed her eyes. "But I really didn't expect a more subtle tactic like this from you, Percy. I thought you were all about showmanship."

"You know me well, Rias." Percival frowned. "Believe me, the original plan was more to my tastes, but unfortunately, your little roster change has forced my hand, dear."

"Even separated, we're not going to back down, Percy." Rias raised her hands, crackles of magical energy dancing between her fingers and raising her hair into the air. "The three of us are more than enough to defeat you."

"Oh, I'm sure you are." Percival mused. "But can I make an honest critique, darling?"

"Go on…"

Percival sighed. "You really have a bad habit of underestimating your opponents, dear."

A fresh, horrid jolt of panic launched itself through Asia's system; as all at once, some slimy thing coiled itself around her ankle like a vice.

"RIAS!" Asia screamed, before she felt her balance robbed from her as the lasso harshly tugged her to the ground, before it began to drag her by her ankle away from her teammates, and into the darkness of the corridor.

"ASIA-!" Rias turned to face her Bishop, face etched in a sudden, disarming panic. Raising her arms to try and blast away the tendril dragging her healer away, Rias shifted her focus off of Percival.

A single moment of vulnerability.

A moment Percival Forneus did not pass up.

Breaking into a sprint, Percival raced towards Rias; the redhead quickly whipped back to send a blast of Destruction at the attacking King. In one fluid motion, Percival dropped into a knee-slide, leaning back to let Rias' attack whiz overhead. As he slid past Rias herself, his hand lashed out at the small of her back, slapping her body; finishing the movement off with a rough kick that sent Rias off-center and toppling ungracefully against the corridor wall.

Rias tried to regain her balance, but she quickly found herself far more disoriented than she should have been. Her vision swam in a sea of warm colors, lapping back and forth like the waves of the ocean. Her body's movements sluggish, as if her body was interpreting her brain's commands out of sync and failing to overcompensate.

On the small of her back, a sticker glowed.

{INEBRIATED}

Immediately, Percival's attention shifted to Gasper. The poor Dhampir looked to Rias and then to Asia in a horrified, stunned-silence. He subconsciously began to back away from his attackers, like a prey animal slowly shying back into a corner in the face of a predator.

*Pomf*

Gasper's back hit the stone wall with barely a noise, yet to him, it was practically deafening. Percival continued to stalk towards him nonetheless.

"S-Stay away from me!" Gasper begged, his eyes beginning to glow.

Percival's eyes hardened. With a flick of the wrist, Percival sent something flying towards the wall, even as his form froze under the gaze of Gasper's Forbidden Balor View.

The object Percival tossed – a sticker akin to a name-tag – soon stuck itself to the wall. The letters scrawled across the sticker's surface soon beginning to glow.

{ELECTRIFIED}

For a brief moment, the stone wall crackled with a few small sparks… But then…

"KYAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Gasper screamed out as the stone wall he was pressed up to unleashed a torrent of volts into his body. The poor bishop spasmed uncontrollably against the stones, his focus breaking enough for Percival to shake free of Forbidden Balor View's effect.

Percival slowly stepped up to Gasper, devoid of any joy on his face. He flashed the Dhampir a look which resembled something apologetic, before he used his foot to sandwich Gasper against the electrified wall, preventing his escape.

"Gas… Per…" Rias slowly tried to bring her arm up to aim at Percival.

Percival's gaze drifted over to the redhead. Still keeping his foot pressed up against Gasper, he tossed another sticker onto Rias's midsection.

{HALLUCINATING}

Rias gave a horse gasp, immediately collapsing into a heap as her entire world swam and tossed.

---

The Tower – 3rd Floor

70 Minutes Remain

This may not have been the worst position Vin had found himself in before, but it certainly wasn't a great one either.

The last fifteen-to-twenty minutes – to be frank, he'd lost count – had been essentially one brutal game of cat-and-mouse. Turns out, Percival Forneus could adapt his plans on short notice pretty well, considering the triad set against Vin was theoretically air-tight.

They'd follow mostly the same formation every time.

One of the Pawns – Mio – quickly leapt down from the rafters, a handgun clenched in her hand cracking several times, sending a volley of shots towards Vin.

Quickly, Vin fashioned a crystal wall to take the shots, before having to twist his body out of the way as Rio lunged out at him from the other side; sword narrowly missing his midsection. Vin pivoted to face Rio, attempting to sweep into her with a roundhouse kick.

Rio efficiently brought her sword up and braced the blade against her forearm, catching the kick, causing sparks to kick up between her blade and the hide of Crystal Weaver. Breaking away, Vin quickly flipped back as Mio returned to the ground, drawing her own sword to strike at Vin's blindspots.

This had been their strategy so far: the twin Pawns were exceptionally-skilled at working in tandem with one-another, creating a shockingly solid defense, purely by virtue of not giving Vin enough time to put up much of a counter-offensive.

Something about offense is the best defense… But it was hardly the time.

Finally establishing a little bit of distance, Vin summoned a light spear into his hands, but before he could properly begin to work away at the twins down-range; the sharp sounds of a hissing drew his attention.

He knew this song and dance by now, so he barely gave the glowing magical circle above his head a glance before he threw himself into a dive behind a set of crates. A moment later, and…

*BI-SHOOONNN!*

Yeah. That.

That was courtesy of the Queen – Anastasia. Unlike the twins, she hung back, away from the fighting. But every time that Vin tried to establish distance from Mio and Rio, she'd summon a gigantic orbital blast of magic right over his head.

Which meant that the only way to stay safe from Anastasia's blasts was to be close enough to Mio and Rio that she wouldn't risk it…

Vin's train of thought was interrupted as the twins caught back up to him. Mio pulled back out her firearm, causing Vin to spin around his light spear to deflect the bullets, while also weaving around enough to efficiently parry Rio's relentless sword attacks.

He was basically stuck operating in close-quarters; and that wasn't exactly ideal. His Sacred Gear gave him very little in the way of close-quarters options, and his light spears emphasised reach more than anything.

And dare he say, he was starting to get tired? Seriously, these guys weren't even beginning to slow down; and here he was, forced to play patty-cake between two jack-rabbit assassin's and a woman basically firing magical air-strikes down on his head.

It was a lot to keep up with.

Something had to give eventually. That was what scared him the most.

Rio dove in for another round of slashes. Vin spun around, bringing up a light spear at the last second to catch her blows. Yet she was relentless; every time he parried a blow, she'd simply attempt to reposition or slip her sword past his guard. He was starting to truly feel the burn; every action slowly started a fire in his muscles; and…

Wait.

Vin's blood froze for a moment.

Where was the other pawn?

Vin stepped back to dodge another swipe Rio made for his neck; and then a second later, he received his answer.

*SHHHHING!*

Vin's eyes went wide as saucers as he fell to his knees. Mio had snuck into his blind-spot, and now stood before him, her own blade fresh with his blood. Vin chanced a glance down at his leg, a nasty slash cutting right across the back of his thigh, right above the back of his left knee.

Not wasting a moment, Mio rounded back on the downed boy.

*KRUNCH!*

Vin's vision swam with a kaleidoscope of colors, his brain rattling around in his skull from the Pawn's vicious knee-strike. Adrenaline and disorientation worked hand-in-hand to numb most of the pain, but in the fog of his own delirium, Vin could vaguely make out how his nose certainly didn't feel all too right.

The blood seeping out his nose and down his front lip was also a damn good hint.

Vin grit his teeth, half-expecting another blow from the twins, yet nothing came. For a split-second, he swam in his own confusion.

Then he heard it, and his blood turned to ice. The low growl of energy coalescing, the crackle of magic being conjured.

Vin blinked rapidly to clear the fog from his head, and was met with his worst fears.

Anastasia had arranged a fully-primed array of magical circles from across the large room; all aimed right towards him.

"S-SHIT-!" Vin slurred out, throwing his hands up to conjure up some last-second form of defense.

It didn't matter much.

*BI-SHHHAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!*

The blast was gigantic; the same kinds of finishing moves you'd see out of pop-culture. It rocketed forward with all the speed of a bullet train and all the fury of a rampaging bull. It ate through Crystal Weaver's conjured defense like it was paper; scattering the crystal's shards to the wind as it struck Vin true.

It was so powerful – in fact – that the blast lifted Vin off of his feet, flinging him across the room like a cannonball and sending his curled-up form catapulting through several crates and containers.

At last, he was slowed to a halt when he crashed into a steel shipping container; his impact smashing one of the doors off of its hinges and leaving him buried deep inside the dark recesses of its interior.

Anastasia lowered her arm. The tension in her shoulders flooded out of her as she gave a sigh of relief.

"Did that finish him off?" Mio sheathed her blade and set about reloading her pistol.

"If it did, we should hear an announcement." Anastasia called out from across the room. "But he should be a breath away. Rio, Mio, go finish him off."

"How much time do we have left?" Rio called over her shoulder as she and her sister began to walk towards Vin's landing site.

Anastasia peered down at her wrist-watch. "Give-or-take a minute; we have a little under an hour left. Let's make this quick and regroup with the others."

---

A low groan spilt from Vin's lips. Nearly the only thing he could feel was pain: his clothes singed and burned, his bones aching and cracked and his head pounding like nothing he'd ever endured before.

So he laid there, nearly unable to lift a finger. Sprawled and motionless, his broken and battered body laid haphazardly atop a cradle of smashed crates and boxes. The tang of blood coating his tongue. Frankly, he had no idea exactly how he was even conscious at this point…

But despite it all, he felt some degree of comfort. After all, he wasn't going to die from this. This wasn't Kokabiel, or that lunatic exorcist Freed; no. This was a game, nothing more.

So what if he lost? All that was waiting for him on the other side was a warm hospital bed and chance to rest.

And that sounded pretty fucking tempting right now.

But then came a noise; one that finally cut through the deep *thump-thump* of his heart rate. Transmitted right into his very brain, as clear as day.

[[Gremory Bishops: Gasper Vladi and Asia Argento have retired.]]

That… That was really bad, huh?

Already, their healer and… well, Vin didn't really know Gasper, but he was a team member nonetheless. They'd been eliminated.

What was once looking to be an uphill battle was looking to be even more of an impossibility now.

"He may be relatively green, but he's just as capable as the rest of us." Xenovia's words from the previous night passed through Vin's head.

…

Vin's weary gaze fell to his fingers, wincing in pain as he clenched his fingers into a fist a few times.

They were counting on him. He was the one that they turned to for aid. He sure as hell wasn't going to let that trust be misplaced.

Vin sucked in a breath as he slowly shifted himself out of his impact zone.

---

Viewing Platform – VIP Booth

"Vinny!" Irina gasped in horror.

Irina quickly averted her gaze from the large screen. As ready – and dare she say excited – she was to watch a Rating Game for the first time, the sight of seeing her comrade get damaged so brutally brought back some… nasty memories for her.

And apparently she wasn't alone. She could see Ezekiel's right hand clenching so hard that it was subtle shaking; the only tell behind Ezekiel's otherwise stone-mask of professionalism.

"That was your golden-boy there, Azazel?" Odin raised a brow, taking a sip from his drink.

"He's not out yet." Azazel insisted, his eyes narrowed in focus, locked onto the feed.

"C'mon kid, you've got this…" Azazel whispered to himself.

---

The Tower – 3rd Floor

59 Minutes Remaining

There was one lesson that Griselda had repeated to Vin the most throughout his training: that the best exorcists are the ones who have the ability to make anything and everything a tool at their disposal…

Mio and Rio's footsteps grew louder as they approached the malformed wreck of the shipping container. Drawing her pistol, Rio took a step towards the doors.

"Hey Ana, have you received word from the others? The knights seemed like a tough pair to deal with."

Anastasia opened her mouth to respond.

"..-!"

The words died on her tongue when a burly and bloodied arm wrapped around her slender throat.

She tried to wheeze, kick, claw herself free of his choke-hold; but his grip was like a python's, only getting tighter and tighter the more she struggled. A horrid chill ran down her spine as she felt the heat of her captor's hoarse, labored breaths just inches from her ear.

"Stay down."

Her eyes practically bugged out of her head as a jagged chunk of crystal plunged itself straight through her midsection; all but sealing the deal as the last of her consciousness drained away from her.

As soon as her muscles went lax, Vin dumped the Queen to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

The best exorcists used everything at their disposal. Misdirection included.

"Ana?" Rio turned around. "Did you hear me?"

"... Rio." Mio poked her head out from inside the shipping container. "The target's gone."

"Maybe he retired..?" Rio offered. "There's no way he got out, he couldn't even stand before Ana blasted him."

[[Forneus Queen: Anastasia Heinstavitch has retired.]]

The color completely drained from the twin's faces.

"Guns up." Mio called out.

Drawing their pistols, the two pawns slowly began to sweep the floors of the warehouse. So blissfully unaware of the one stalking them from shadows of the rafters.

He needed a plan. In his current condition, trying to fight the two pawns at the same time was nothing short of suicide. His eyes roamed around the arena before his gaze landed on a large rack lining the far right wall. Large amounts of metal canisters stacked neatly up to the ceiling.

Propane.

The gears in Vin's head started to turn, the beginnings of an ingenious plan coming to his brain.

But then, the worst happened. Be it from apparent age, rust, or maybe, just maybe the teenage boy hanging from it; the rafter started to creak.

Rio and Mio's eyes shot up to the ceiling. Not a moment later, they raised their guns and opened fire.

*BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM!*

Vin swung with all his might, launching off the rafters like an olympic gymnast. A set of crystals over his arms helped to shield him from the hailfire on the way down.

Rolling into a landing, Vin wasted no time. Waving his arms back and forth, he sent tidal waves of crystals ripping through the arena, forcing the twins to finally take up evasive maneuvers themselves.

But eventually, they managed to leap through the labyrinth of criss-crossing geodes, finally closing in on Vin's position like they had all the time before.

Now, Vin was more than ready. He summoned a light spear into his hands with a twirl, and met the twins' assault head-on.

Riding whatever second-wind he was feeling, Vin weaved and parried his way through Rio's myriad of slashes and stabs. He'd been fighting sword-fighters for a while now, he knew what to do.

Vin kept himself constantly on the move. Always just out of Rio's striking distance; he forced the Pawn to work twice as hard to keep up an assault. All the while, he peppered the girl with the odd prodding strike. All in preparation for the very moment she'd overcommit.

Vin caught the edge of a blade along the crackling length of his light-spear. Clenching his hands around his polearm, he gave it a short, but forceful twist; causing Rio's sword – and by extension, arm – to swing wide.

He gave the Pawn a spartan kick square to the stomach for her troubles, sending her tumbling backward into a heap, winded. Perfect.

Now where was the other one?

Vin's emerald eyes darted around the landscape at a manic pace, taking in as much as one could. Right on time too, because he quickly spotted Mio stationed right in his former blind-spot, levelling her pistol at him. Vin cast aside his light spear, bending his knees and breaking into a sprint close to the ground. A sail of the bullets flew past his head until he closed the distance between himself and the pawn.

"When you're certain you have the chance, then make sure to strike." Griselda's guidance echoed through his head. "Aim to disarm, disorient, or incapacitate your target quickly. Don't overextend, strike decisively and prepare to fall back to defense at a moment's notice."

As he sprung back up in front of Mio, Vin's hand lashed out. With Vin being so close that the pawn's firearm was all but useless, he met little resistance as he grabbed a fistful of Mio's hair. In one smooth motion, Vin yanked her head downward right into his rising knee.

*CR-RUNCH!*

The former-exorcist grit his teeth into a feral grimace as he relished in the grim catharsis of his target's nose yielding under the blow of his knee. Cartilage and bone cracking and splitting under the force of the strike, Vin felt any semblance of resistance Mio put up quickly fade as her head swam from the concussive blow.

But Vin wasn't done, oh no. That was just the payback for earlier.

Determined to not lose his foothold, Vin yanked Mio's body up like a rag doll. Planting both hands behind her head, Vin twirled Mio around to build up momentum, before using all his might to slam her head against one of his crystals.

*KRUN-TSHHHH!*

The first sound to hit his ears was the vicious-crunch of the poor Pawn's head denting deep into the crystal spire. Then came the cacophony of shimmering chimes as the stone yielded to the force of the impact. Following through, Vin tossed Mio, head-first through the shattered crystal, leaving her a crumpled heap on the floor.

Stalking forward, Vin gazed down at the girl sprawled at his feet in a small pool of her own blood.

He raised his boot and promptly slammed it into the back of the girl's head. She twitched violently for a moment, then instantly vanished in a flash of light.

[[Forneus Pawn: Mio Ali has retired.]]

Vin slowly turned back to face his final target, meeting Rio's wide-eyed stare. The girl opened and closed her mouth a few times. She instead elected to let out an inhuman howl, charging forward with her blade poised to strike.

Vin tore one of the straps off of his uniform, wrapping it around his hand. Then charged ahead to meet Rio head-on.

The Pawn made a quick attempt to slice Vin right down the middle. However, Vin got in close, quickly trapping her wrist in a loop of strap. She tried to pound against his back, but Vin simply shifted his body, planting his pilfered firearm against her thigh.

*BLAM!*

"GRAH-!" Rio cried out as she fiercely tried to get loose.

But Vin wasn't having any of it; twisting his body around, he spun Rio into a toss, flinging her across the room by her entrapped wrist. Her sword fell from her hands, wrist completely dislocated.

*DOONG!*

A deep ring sounded out across the warehouse as Rio's head hit a metal propane canister. She looked up at the shelf in a daze, then to Vin, who leveled the firearm at the shelf with narrowed eyes. Then, her brain finally fit two-and-two together.

"NO, NO, NO-!" Rio shouted

*BLAM!*

The shot landed square in the propane tank left of Rio's head. For a single moment, there was only a horrifying, quiet hiss.

Then the entire world went up in hellfire.

---

The Tower – 5th Floor

*RATTATATATATATTATATATATATA!*

The rattling of twin machine gun fire filled the floor – a golden lounge of some sort.

Kiba quickly darted behind a stone pillar as the source of the cacophony flew overhead.

"I'd advise you to surrender yourself for termination, good sir." Angelo – suited up in a full-set of crusader plate armor – bellowed over the sounds of his twin machine gun's spewing flak.

Kiba glanced around the hall; Xenovia not too far away from him, engaged in a back and forth dance of swordplay against the last of Percival's Pawns, the Kimono-clad Hiyashi.

Meanwhile, on the entirely-opposite side of the arena flew Akeno, who was in the midst of tossing volleys of lighting down at Serval Dovin – Percival's Bishop, who countered with their own blasts of fire.

It was a total stalemate.

Normally, guns were of little issue for Kiba; but Angelo's suppression fire was so plentiful that it didn't really matter if Kiba could outrun a bullet. There were so many that he'd get hit all the same.

The seemingly endless amount of gunfire filled the room, drowning out all the noise in the room.

Which made it all the scarier when something actually did cut through.

*KAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!*

The noise got them all to pause for a moment; both teams were equally confused.

Then came the leaning.

Kiba felt it immediately, the very ground beneath them had started to shift, if only by a few degrees at first. Then a few more a second later.

Eyes widening, Kiba peeked out of cover and screamed.

"THE TOWERS COMING DOWN!"

That attracted everyone's attention, both parties tossing equally panicked looks to one another.

Then Xenovia decided to move.

In the wake of the fresh panic, Xenovia quickly heaved Durnadal into a vicious slash across Hiyashi's torso that sent them tumbling off their feet; their own weapon falling out of their hands.

"You knave!" Angelo brought up his gun's to Xenovia's position, and the air was alight with fire once again.

*RATATATATATATATATTATATATATTATATATATATATATATATATATATA!*

It was utter chaos, the tower kept leaning; furniture and fighters alike shifting and falling across the room. Kiba took off on his wings, launching into the air with his sword in hand. Angelo glanced over his way, shifting one of his rifles away from Xenovia, such that he could fire at both knights at once.

But with only half the amount of bullets to dodge, Kiba was more than ready. Twirling his sword in a blur, the Sword of the Betrayer cut a path through the oncoming fire like a plow through snow as Kiba closed in on Angelo's location.

He grit his teeth as he felt a few projectiles slip past his guard, one grazing his thigh, the other finding purchase in his left shoulder; but he kept going. Kept fighting.

"TAKE THIS!" Kiba roared, both hands grasping onto his Holy-Demonic sword, slashing it down at Angelo. But the Forneus butler wasn't about to go out that easily, with a shout of his own, he crossed his rifles over his head, catching the sword between them.

Kiba continued to press into the clash, but Angelo held steadfast. All around them, the room continued to tip precariously; now nearly shifted a whole 60 degrees. They didn't have much time before the entire building came crashing down with them still inside.

"XENOVIA!" Kiba cried out.

"Right!" The bluenette leapt into the air, Durandal reared back for another meaty strike.

"Oh no you don't!"

*FWOOSH!*

Xenovia pulled back from her flight at the last second, as the space right in front of her burst with a massive corona of flames.

"Don't forget about me, now!"

Serval's focus on halting Xenovia's approach was quickly cut off as Akeno blasted a volley of lightning at the Bishop, who managed to dodge out of the way at the last second.

"Akeno…" Xenovia muttered.

"Just go!" Akeno barked, before turning back to continue trading blasts with Serval.

Xenovia gave a small nod of understanding. Tensing her back muscles, she gave her leathery wings a strong flap, sending her barrelling through the air once again.

"RRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Xenovia roared as she flew on by, her arm muscles tensing and bracing as Durandal's blade met Angelo's side. The butler howled in pain, the impact wretching his body off balance; which allowed Kiba to finally break the blade-lock, delivering a series of hyper-sonic hack and slashes all along Angelo's torso. The final blow sent Butler hurtling down through the air.

"I'm sorry young master…" Angelo rasped from beneath his helmet before he disappeared into a flash of blue light.

[[Forneus Knight: Angelo Hierall has retired.]]

The two Knights gave each other a small glance and a nod. Before the room lurched once again. They didn't have much time left.

Kiba glanced around in a hurry. They needed a way out and fast.

Finally, his eyes caught onto a large sun-window that was now facing the ceiling.

"There!" Kiba called out. "Xenovia, Akeno, let's go!"

The three tried to head upward, but another pillar of fire cut off their escape.

"You're going nowhere!" Serval snarled at the three.

*KRA-KOOM!*

A bolt of lighting cut off Serval, as Akeno turned to face her opponent, electricity crackling from her hands.

"Kiba, Xenovia, get going." Akeno gazed down at the enemy Bishop. "I'll hold them off so you can get out."

"But Akeno-" Kiba tried to retort.

"We have no time!" Akeno cut him off. "Go. Rias is going to need her Knights."

"..." Kiba grit his teeth, "Thank you, Akeno."

The two knights flapped their wings, propelling themselves higher and higher. Before finally reaching the large window.

Xenovia swung Durandal up at the window, shattering the pane into endless shards. Each one glinting in the sunlight as they rained down upon the two as they surged forth to their freedom.

---

The Tower – Courtyard

59 Minutes Remaining

Issei took a moment to catch his breath as he skidded to a halt. The opposing Knight just in front of him, looking only a little worse for wear.

"Come on now, Dragon Boy~" Carmelita and Issei began to circle one another slowly. "Don't tell me you're all tuckered out from just a bit of roughhousing!"

Issei clenched his jaw. Any way he looked at it, he was clearly being outmatched. As a Knight, Carmelita was simply faster than him. After accumulating more boosts he was at least able to keep up a bit; but still he was fighting a losing battle.

For the last half-hour, Carmelita had been able to outmaneuver him, keeping the teen from getting in close enough to actually deal some damage. He'd gotten used to dodging explosions thanks to Tannin, but it still didn't get rid of that fact that he was being slowly whittled down.

Issei let out a groan when he realized he played right into their hands. His friends were being picked off in that tower – hell, Asia and Gasper were already gone! Yet here he was, stuck playing tag with this cocky bastard.

To say that he was getting frustrated would be an understatement.

"How much do we have left in the tank, Ddraig?" Issei growled to himself.

[A bit more, but this can't keep going, Partner.] The deep rumbling of Ddraig's voice echoed through his head. [She's got us dancing right in the palm of her hand.]

Ddraig was right on the money; and the experience was infuriating. To be so incensed and ready to unleash all this power brimming under the surface; yet he just… couldn't! Carmelita kept dodging, the clock kept ticking, and his patience kept on waning.

[Keep your head level, she wants you to make a mistake.] Ddraig chastised.

"We need an opening." Issei threw himself into a roll as a set of feathers sank themselves where he once stood.

Things weren't looking great. Issei's throat and lungs burned with each raspy, wheezing breath he took, his eyes narrowed into slits as he tried to follow the blur that was his opponent.

If he could just use his damn Balance Breaker like at the Peace Summit, but no. His train of thought was cut off by the iconic whistle of Carmelta's projectiles cutting a path through the air.

*FWEEEEE!*

Issei broke into a sprint, racing away as a line of feather's followed his heels with every step.

*TH-TH-TH-TH-TH-THUNK*

Issei flapped his wings, propelling himself up into the air right as the feather's all glowed a furious scarlet.

*BA-BA-BA-BA-BOOM!*

Issei fell back to the ground right as the dust settled. His glare locked firmly onto Carmelita, who slowly skipped around, a sardonic grin plastered across her features.

"I'll give you this, Dragon Boy, you play a mean game of tag~" Carmelita admitted. "Maybe we should stop calling you the Red Dragon, and start calling you the Red Rover!"

Issei grit his teeth to the point where he felt like they could start to crack. He could feel the visceral sensation of Ddraig's own anger beginning to stew away, churning and smoldering deep within his soul like boiling magma.

But then, all that anger, frustration, downright rage was abruptly cut short.

*KRAAAAAAABBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHH!*

A massive explosion howled with fury to dwarf even the Gods. Issei and Carmelita both almost brought to their knees as they covered their sensitive ears to drown out the cacophony of mayhem and destruction.

Eyes turned towards the tower, as they witnessed the massive stone walls blast away from the right side of the obelisk. The entire upper-half of the building groaned in protest, as it failed to resist gravity and began to buckle into the gap.

The battle from moments before was forgotten as Issei and Carmelita both gawked at the spectacle. A horrific few moments where the tower stood resolute - a horrific few moments where both Devils knew what was about to come.

They braced themselves as the upper-half of the tower finally broke loose and smashed into the ground.

*THHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!*

The deep bellow of countless tons of stone and wood colliding upon itself shook the courtyard to its core. Issei was all but blown off his feet by the massive shockwave that surged forth from its impact. Thinking quickly, he threw his hands up over his face, wincing as a wave of dust, grass and gravel spattered against his body.

At long last, they were left with a horrible silence. The only reprieve in the incessant ringing within their ears.

A beat passed. Then another. Then one more. Before finally, the sound of the commentator cut through the shrill chirp of their blown-out eardrums; as they delivered a final eulogy for the incident…

---

Viewing Platform – VIP Booth

[[Forneus Pawns: Mio and Rio Ali have retired.]]

[[Forneus Knight: Angelo Hierall has retired.]]

[[Forneus Pawn: Hiyashi Mizura has retired.]]

[[Forneus Bishop: Serval Dovin has retired.]]

[[Gremory Queen: Akeno Himejima has retired.]]

The entire booth sat in silence. The small-talk and banter passed back and forth between the delegates in the room had been mercilessly snuffed-out in the explosion's wake. Thanks to the broadcast of the game, everyone in the room, no, everyone in the Underworld watched the entire event unfold.

Honestly, Irina couldn't believe that it was Vinny of all people who did that all. Irina had known Vinny for over a year now, and that entire time she hadn't necessarily thought of him as weak – no, he improved and adapted incredibly over that time – but she certainly didn't think of him as someone capable of such… brutality. And that wasn't even mentioning just how much punishment he seemed to just shake off during that fight, an amount Irina knew not even the tankiest of their former group would have withstood as well as he had.

Irina threw a glance to her partner. Zeke's eyes locked to the screen in silent contemplation; brow-furrowed and eyes narrowed. He was processing everything Irina was too, no doubt.

The sounds of clapping finally broke the silence. Everyone turned to face the source; a certain All-Father who slowly applauded the screen with a wry, toothy grin.

"Now that's a performance!" Odin chuckled, before downing a quick mouthful of wine. "My-oh-my Azazel, you had me there for a second! Little brat may not have much spine, but the balls on that one is something alright!"

"You sure know how to pick 'em!" Odin leaned over and clapped Azazel on the shoulder.

"Glad to hear it." Azazel smiled back, clinking his own glass off of Odin's.

"He sure is making the most of his spotlight." Serafall remarked. "Did you tell him to play for the camera, Governor-General?"

"Nah, that's all him." Azazel waved off.

"Although the Vanishing Dragon's reputation precedes him, this broadcast is going to be the first official time most of the Devil-Occupied Underworld gets to witness a member of the Grigori." Sirzechs chimed in. "Whether he's aware of it or not, this Exhibition Rating Game is certainly going to put him on more than a few individual's radars."

"We shouldn't talk like it's over yet." Ajuka interjected. "After all, the actual position of your sister's peerage isn't exactly the most ideal, Sirzechs. Both Bishops down, their Queen gone, and to top it all off, your sister and Azazel's little golden-child are all but entombed inside that rubble now. Who knows how they can make this back?"

---

The Tower – 3rd Floor

41 Minutes Remaining

Everything hurt. From his bones creaking and grinding with every movement, to his nerves screaming bloody murder whenever he so much as took a breath.

Vin let out a deep, withering groan, which quickly shifted to a pained hiss as he tried to get himself to his feet. While his crystal barrier held up a surprising amount against the force of that explosion, it didn't save him completely. Now, here he was, in the partially-collapsed ruins of the

Turns out his stupid plan was – in fact – stupid. It may have taken out a large portion of the enemy, but it had cost them Akeno from the sounds of things.

"That's probably not going to help mend things…" Vin bitterly chuckled to himself, before transitioning into a quick coughing fit. "... F-Fuck… I'm so taking a nap after all of this shit."

He shambled his way around the overturned shelves and shipping containers, glancing around as he did for an exit. The only issue was, everything around him appeared to be buried under the debris from his little stunt.

So he was trapped. Great.

Vin smacked his palms against his ears to try and rid himself of the constant ringing in his head. It didn't do much, but he could slowly feel his proper hearing come back to him thankfully; it'd just take time.

So he occupied that time with looking around for a way out. He approached each of the potential exits, gently pushing against the debris to see if he could shift anything out of the way, but after a minute or two – or was it more like five or six, he couldn't tell – he was no closer to escape.

The only saving grace was that the ringing in his ears had finally started to fade away.

As his sense of hearing began to come back to him, Vin managed to catch the faintest of sounds. A little groan, or perhaps a whimper. He turned to a pile of rubble that had fallen down into the room: seemingly a part of the upper floor which had given way into this one during the mayhem.

Vin quickly moved to the pile, his ears straining to catch where the sound was coming from.

"...Ngghhh…"

There. Vin moved towards the top of the small mountain and firmly clasped at a moderately-sized chunk of stone and wood. Clenching his muscles and ignoring how they screamed in protest with every movement he made; Vin carefully shifted the rubble away.

He was greeted with the sight of something he hadn't expected; although covered in scratches, bruises and the odd wound, Vin could easily recognize her.

"Rias." Vin gently tapped her arm. "Rias, can you hear me?"

"... H-Huh? Who!?" Rias tried to lift herself up, but quickly collapsed back down.

"Relax, it's Vin."

"V-Vin?" Rias' body noticeably relaxed. "...Thank goodness."

"Yeah, I'm sorry you got caught up in that explosion."

"Don't be, I would've been taken out if it didn't happen when it-!"

Rias' sentence cut off as she twisted and writhed around, "Nnnnggghhh, guuuhhh…"

"Rias. Hey, stay with me here!" He scanned her up and down, before his eyes caught hold of something glowing on her body.

"Can you tilt yourself over a bit, Rias?" Vin asked patiently, "I need to see your back."

The redhead didn't reply, continuing to writhe around weakly as her shaking fingers clenched clumps of her hair, the locks matted down with dust and grime.

Vin furrowed his brow, before gently placing his hands on Rias and pushing her onto her side. Gaining access to her back, Vin found a sticker placed onto her, faint letters in Devil-Scripture glowing on its surface.

"What is…" Vin quickly recalled their discussions from the night before. "That's the clan magic, isn't it?"

"D-Don't directly touch it…" Rias rasped out. "... It'll transfer."

"Gotcha, I got an idea then." Vin summoned Crystal Weaver and with some precision, sculpted a rudimentary pincer by covering the tips of his thumb and his index finger independently. "Here goes nothing."

Vin carefully took the edge of the sticker between his covered fingers. After a deep breath, he yanked the sticker off, wincing as he prepared for the worst.

…

But nothing happened. Vin's face relaxed into a smile as he stuck the sticker off on a random piece of rubble.

"Feel any better?"

"Guuhhhh… O-One more." Rias screwed her eyes shut.

"Right, let me see then." Vin turned her back over onto her back, scanning the heiress up and down. "Ah, there we are."

Vin reached down to Rias' midsection; peeling the sticker away. After tossing it aside with the other, he cast off his crystal implements. Vin gave the struggling Rias a single look, before he scooped her up into his arms, carrying her down the pile of rubble back to more solid ground.

"Do you feel well enough to stand?"

"I-I think so." Rias tried to get steady on her feet. "-GAH!"

Vin's arm quickly wrapped itself around Rias' torso to save her from a fall. "Don't worry, I got you."

"My ankle is wrecked." Rias bitterly smiled. "That's not going to get repaired now that Asia's gone."

"I feel you." Vin slowly scooped Rias back into a bridal carry.

"Oh! T-Thank yo-" Rias flustered for a moment, before she finally took a good look at Vin's face and paled. "Vin! A-Are you alright?!"

"Hmm?" He hummed in confusion, the odd way it vibrated his face reminding him of his injury. "Oh, my nose. Yeah, it's not the first time it's been broken. I'll deal with it."

"R-Right… Where are we going?" Rias composed herself.

"I don't know." Vin admitted. "We have to regroup. From the sounds of things, the whole damn tower went down."

"Issei hasn't retired, so he should still be in the courtyard."

"That's as good of a plan as any." Vin nodded. "If you're able to open up an escape route through a wall or something, I can probably fly us back down."

"Of course." Rias held up her arm, tensing herself in focus as an orb of destruction flew out from her outstretched palm.

*BI-SHOON!*

The orb punched clean through the wall, leaving rays of artificial sunlight to come spilling into the room.

Vin cracked a small smile as he spread his wings. "Ready to make our descent, Princess?"

Rias snorted, "Just get us to the ground."

His arms secured around the Gremory, Vin slowly glided down from the third floor of the tower. As they descended, he gazed over the aftermath of his fight. The entirety of the top-half of the tower laid out across the courtyard and beyond; crumbled to smithereens.

He was sure that no one could have survived being caught in something like that; but considering that he didn't hear any announcement of Percival and Oliver's retirement, he wasn't about to get his hopes up.

"Over there!" Rias called out, pointing to the clearing around the fountain. Narrowing his eyes, Vin could scarcely see a stand-off slowly forming there. A shock of blue hair against the greens of the courtyard's lawn telling him all he needed to know about which side to land on.

As he got closer, Vin noticed something coming towards him. Eyes widening when a certain whistling caught his ears.

*FWEEEEEE!*

"Shit! Hold tight!" Vin leaned forward, flapping his wings and taking off into what was almost a dive-bomb. Sailing out of the way as a volley of feathers attempted to blast them out of the sky.

Swooping down, Vin angled his descent to curve around the fountain. The two skidded to a halt, Vin's feet kicking up a thick trench of gravel and dirt as they landed behind the protective front-line of the remaining members of their peerage.

"Well aren't I the popular one today!" Carmelita remarked with a laugh.

"Sorry we're late everyone." Rias addressed the whole group.

"Buchou!" Issei cried. "Are you okay?!"

"Princess doesn't look too bad to me, Dragon Boy." Carmelita's eyes drifted over to Vin, scanning him up and down. "You on the other hand… Damn, Ana and the twins really roughed you up, huh?"

"They did." Vin's eyes narrowing dangerously. "They just didn't do a good enough job."

"HA! And here I thought the whole three-on-one was totally overkill!" Carmelita's grin grew a touch more feral. "Yet here you are~ Color me impressed, Birdie. I'm not sure how the hell you can even stand right now, let alone fight!"

The shrill sound of stone scraping on stone drew everyone's eyes to the rubble. Slowly, a large slab of rock rose from the rest, before being tossed aside. From beneath that rubble rose a new figure, one whose hulking body was coated in grey, leathery skin; their head bearing the striking visage of a Rhinoceros.

"The only thing overkill here was dropping that tower on us." The rhino snorted, "You alright, Percival?"

"More than okay, thanks to you Oliver." The Forneus Heir stepped out from behind his Rook and began to make his way down the rubble mountain.

Percival sauntered out from the still-intact front gate of the tower. His Rook took up his flank, the leathery bulk and his Rhinoceros head beginning to bubble, before it almost melted off of his body - falling to the ground in wet, mud-like clumps. Eventually, the animalistic features completely vanished, allowing the American boy to run his hands through his ginger locks.

Oliver Collins. Vin scanned him up and down. The wielder of that potentially brand-new Sacred Gear, [Vile Meld].

The King and his Rook made their way over to Carmelita's side. "I trust I didn't keep you waiting too long?"

"I had it handled." The Knight shrugged. "The others did a number on all of them after all. I mean, just look at some of these guys!"

Vin glanced at his teammates. What Carmelita said had a kernel of truth. Rias' ankle was rolled. Xenovia was lined with small cuts and was visibly exhausted enough to be leaning her weight onto Durandal. Kiba was clutching his bleeding left shoulder, gritting his teeth as his thigh also bled through the dark material of his pants.

Frankly, the most healthy one of them was Issei. The boy's brow was covered in sweat, huffing and puffing as he stayed on guard.

Then there was Vin himself. Thinking about it for a moment, he couldn't doubt that he was probably the most injured on the team. His body screamed at him with every motion he made, breathing through his mouth to compensate for his crushed nose. Probably a few cracked or even broken ribs at this point, not to mention the slash along the back of his leg that he'd hastily patched up with his Sacred Gear.

Like Carmelita had said, he shouldn't have even been able to stand at this point. Yet he was. A small part of him was screaming to acknowledge how sorry of a state he was in, but frankly, that small part of him could go fuck off for all he cared.

He knew he could still fight. Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Well, they're going to need some good luck to get the relic now." Oliver threw his glance to the crumbled tower, "It's… I don't know, somewhere in all that."

"Which means that we're left at an impasse, no?" Percival mused. "We still have… ah, thirty-four minutes remaining, and with no relic, that means the only way forward-"

"Is beating you three." Issei interjected as he sank into a fighting stance.

"Indeed." Percival nodded, his hands coming to his sides.

A beat of silence passed for a moment.

"Then take this!"

Issei shot across the courtyard like a bullet sprinting right towards the enemy on the other side.

[BOOST!]

"Fat chance, Dragon-Boy!" Carmelita threw a cluster of feathers in his direction, before she had to dodge out of the way as Kiba suddenly appeared before her to try and take a slash at her midsection.

*FWEEE!* *THUNK THUNK THUNK!*

*B-B-BOOM!*

"Issei-!" Rias cried out as the explosion swallowed the Pawn in a dust cloud.

[BOOST!]

The smokescreen was swept away as Issei barrelled right on through. The shimmering splinters of a crystal barrier glinted in the sunlight as it cleared.

"I got you covered!" Vin shouted.

"YAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Issei let out a war cry as his right hand cocked back, prepared to fire off a devastating haymaker at the enemy King.

*KUR-PHOOM!*

The Sekiryuutei's fist met an unflinching wall of mass. A massive, hulking insectoid limb blocking the blow. Issei and Oliver locked, both trying to push into the other with increasing force.

"That's some force you got there." Oliver chuckled, even as the ground beneath the two began to crack and splinter from the sheer force of their struggle. "I guess the Governor General was hyping you up for a reason after all…"

"Get. Out. Of. My. Way!" Issei grit his teeth.

[BOOST!]

A surge of new strength flooding through his body, Issei pushed even harder into the struggle. Oliver's eyes widened as he slowly felt himself become overwhelmed. Gritting his teeth, he pushed back against the Pawn even harder.

Oliver's grimace soon became a toothy, shark-like grin. With a twist of his body, he pivoted out of Issei's way abruptly. With all the forward force Issei was exerting, he was helpless to stop himself from stumbling forward. Oliver cocked back his other insectoid arm and…

*KR-BLAM!*

The hand smashed square into Issei's back with enough force to create a sonic boom. The pawn spat up a glob of blood as he slammed into the ground below with such force that his body bounced back up; only allowing for Oliver to drill a vicious hook into his stomach, sending Issei flying back at incredible speed.

"I-Issei!" Rias crawled her way over to where he skidded to a halt. Coughing up blood, he just kept groaning.

"Fun fact: the Mantis Shrimp actually has an incredible amount of punching force for a creature its size." Oliver rattled off as he flexed his shrimp arms. "And, if blown up to the size of a human, their punches are nothing if not downright devi-

Oliver cut himself off as caught sight of something heading his way. At the last moment, he spun around to face an oncoming tidal-wave of crystals. Throwing punch after punch the ginger Rook smashed through the minerals like it was made of sugar rather than several tons of pure, hard quartz.

Oliver nearly missed the shock of blue hair that had dashed over to his blind-spot. Heaving her blade, Xenovia let loose a cry as she swung.

"HYAH!"

*CLANG!*

Durandal's blade didn't meet Oliver's back, but rather the gigantic, jagged stringer of a scorpion tail which the Rook had sprouted from his body at the last second.

Twirling around, Oliver swung several times at Xenovia. Backpedalling, Xenovia was forced onto defense as she narrowly avoided the same blows that had sent her teammate sprawling.

"How long do you think you could even keep this up, huh?" Oliver kept tossing jab after jab at the Knight. "Cause I could keep this up all day!"

*BI-SHOON!*

High in the sky, Vin threw down a light spear at Oliver. Yet the Rook simply peeled away from Xenovia, twirling his scorpion tail around to bat away the projectile. As he finished his twirl, Oliver's head morphed into a large Chameleons

*WH-PLASH!*

Vin's eyes widened as Oliver's new tongue wrapped itself around his ankle, rapidly yanking him in close like a fish caught on a line. In response, Vin swung his arms every which way, sending more and more spires of crystals heading towards his opponent.

Instead of reeling him in closer, Oliver took it as a chance to simply swing Vin like a ragdoll against the Fallen's own crystals, sending Vin sprawling.

"GRAAAAAAHHHHH-!"

The Italian skidded along the ground; the burnt segments of his battle suit leaving way for his skin to experience a painful amount of road-rash as the scraped along the gravel and dirt of the courtyard.

Vin tried to groan, but was cut off by a mouthful of blood rising up past his throat with a deep, gurgling cough. Spitting out a tooth along with a wad of blood and spit, Vin turned to the duo lying along the ground nearby.

"O-Oi, Issei, are you alright?" Vin rasped out, wincing as he saw the pawn lift his shirt up to reveal a massive bruise across his abdomen.

The impact site was so dark it was practically black, and upon closer inspection, almost looked like it had slightly caved-in Issei's torso.

"Fuckin' hell…" Vin groaned.

"I-I'm going to be fine…" Issei bit out. "I've got to keep going…"

"Issei, please you can barely breathe!" Rias pleaded as she grabbed fistfulls of the Pawn's pant-leg.

"No, I-" Issei coughed up a small wad of blood. "I need to finish this, dammit."

"And you're going to do that by..?" Vin questioned as he slowly sat up.

"Oi, Ddraig…" Issei took a moment to wheeze in another breath. "W-What was it you said to me about Balance Breaker?"

The Emerald Gem upon the Boosted Gear began to glow.

[[While you may not have unlocked your Balance Breaker, all that training with Tannin has basically put you right at the door.]] Ddraig's voice grumbled from the Gear. [[But Sacred Gears respond to strong emotions above all, so without some truly powerful emotions, you're not going to be able to kick that door down.]]

"Strong emotions, huh..?" Issei closed his eyes and leaned back against a tree.

Truth was, there was one thing that had been nagging at him in the back of his mind for the last few weeks…

"They really are like a doorbell…" A certain Governor-General's voice echoed in his mind. "If you push them, then they'll also cry out!"

"That's it!" Issei's eyes shot open.

"Huh?" Vin tilted his head. "Y-You got a plan, just like that..?"

"Yeah!" Issei nodded, before turning to the girl by his side.

"Buchou…"

Rias looked up into his eyes, captivated by the seriousness found within.

"... May I please poke your breasts?"

"..."

[[...]]

"..."

"A-Are you serious…?" Vin stammered out. "That's your plan?!"

"Of course!" Issei turned to Vin, not a hint of doubt present in his words. "The world of breasts is wonderful and endless! This is a new frontier that I must brave!"

"Oh my fucking…" Vin closed his eyes, "We're doomed."

"Alright. I'll do it."

"Wait, you're actually doing this?!" Vin's eyes shot open as he turned to Rias.

"I have no reason to doubt Issei." Rias simply replied. "If he says that this is the key to unlocking Balance Breaker, then I will gladly do it."

"Buchou…" Issei smiled. "Alright then!"

Vin let out a somewhat indignant shriek as Rias began to unbutton the top of her school shirt. "REALLY?! WITH ME STILL HERE?"

"I'm with the Angel boy here, Rias darling. I didn't exactly peg you as the voyeurist type."

The three snap-turned to find none other than Percival Forneus standing a little ways away. "I mean, I'm all for a little racey-fun, but on national television no less? Bold, I must say."

"Percy…"

"Well, I'm sorry, but I really must insist on you putting that on the back-burner for now." Percival fanned out a handful of stickers. "Perhaps you two could continue your fun back in the infirma- WHOA!"

*BI-SHOON!*

Percival leapt back as the hissing bite of a light spear narrowing passed his chest. "You… Goodness, how are you even still here? You look atrocious, sweetie."

Vin staggered forward, another light spear manifesting in his hand. "Like that's going to stop me…"

"Issei. Rias." Vin called over his shoulder. "Be quick. I'll buy you time."

"Vin… Thank you!" Issei cried out.

"I swear, if this doesn't work, you won't hear the end of it!" Vin barked back. "Now go!"

"Not so fast!" Percival flicked his wrist, sending a flurry of stickers towards the two devils.

Vin swung his arm, and with a pulse of Crystal Weaver, summoned a massive wall separating them from Percival and himself. The stickers slapping against the barrier harmlessly.

With a sharp inhale, Vin dove in. Twirling around his light spear as he went on the offensive against the enemy King. The two ducked and weaved around the trees and shrubs, tossing crystals, light spears and stickers at one another incessantly.

The two broke away, beginning to circle each other. They each narrowed their eyes, fingers twitching, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"Kyah..!"

"What the…" Vin turned around, right as a brilliant green glow filled their surroundings. "Oh, you got to be fucking…"

[[Y-You actually did it, Partner!]] The voice of Ddraig sounded out from behind the crystal wall. [[You finally achieved it!]]

[[WELSH DRAGON BALANCE BREAKER!]]

Vin and Percival stared at the crystal wall in awe and horror as Issei's right fist smashed right through the middle. Clawed digits grabbing onto the hole, before giving a mighty tug and reducing the barrier to shards.

Amidst the glinting shards marched an equally-brilliant armor; piercing reds and majestic golds. The emerald orbs amidst the armor plates shine with a viridian glow, pairing with the bright shine of the two slitted eyes donned upon the armor's helmet.

[[BALANCE BREAKER: SCALE MAIL!]]

"This power…" Percival murmured. "All from…"

Issei scanned his surroundings, eventually locking onto Percival. The enemy King made a move to prepare some more stickers, but he did so far too late. A moment later, Issei already closed the gap.

*BLAM!*

A punch to the gut sent Percival rocketing backwards, only to be caught by Oliver's tongue at the last moment.

"Alrighty, let's do this…" Vin cracked his knuckles. "You ready for round two, man?"

The Pawn slammed his armored fists together. "Oh, I'm more than ready!"

[BOOST!]

The two set off side-by-side, racing towards Oliver and his King. Oliver kicked Xenovia away at the last moment, right in time to catch Issei's oncoming blow. Despite that, the Rook was still pushed deep into the dirt from the sheer force of Issei's collision.

"Let me pay you back for what you did earlier!" Issei cried, rearing back his free hand before slamming it right into the side of Oliver's jaw with a loud thwack!

Oliver's head flung to the side, but he refused to yield. Six more arachnoid limbs sprouted from his back, all set on attempting to pummel the Sekiryuutei into submission. Thinking quickly, Issei leapt back right before the limbs made impact.

Before Oliver could seize back the tempo of the fight, a spire of crystals made him dodge out of the way. The next moment, a blue blur darted past his peripheral vision, forcing him to leap away from one of Durandal's mighty swings.

Working in perfect tandem, Vin and Xenovia danced between one another. To a songless rhythm, the two former exorcists weaved back and forth, perfectly complimenting each other's movements. The moment Oliver tried to edge away from Xenovia, he was corralled by one of Vin's crystal spires. The moment he tried to shift attention to Vin, he was liable to be struck down by one of Xenovia's mighty blows.

Vin sensed movement at his right side, eyes going wide as he realized one of Percival's stickers was flying right towards him.

He tried to get out of the way, but it was far too late…

Yet it never came.

A flash of red appeared before him as Issei skidded to a halt. Throwing his left fist back, he shouted with all of his might.

"ASCALON!"

The holy sword's blade sprouted from the top of his gauntlet, and in one quick swipe, sliced the sticker in half.

"Issei, tag-out!" Vin cried out as he dashed past the armored devil and started heading towards Percival. A wave of crystals summoned instantly to block another volley of stickers.

"Right!" Issei nodded enthusiastically as he leapt into the veritable labyrinth of crystals left behind from Vin's assault. The Red Dragon weaved through the maze until finally catching a glimpse of Oliver.

The Rook's form had shifted into something resembling a fearsome chimera. The head of a rhinoceros, two heavily-armored crab claws for hands, and a freakish ensemble of six additional spider-like appendages and a scorpion-tail. The enemy made use of them all as he attempted to block the strikes from Xenovia, who deftly leapt about the makeshift arena: springboarding off the crystals as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Oliver swung his entire weight into parrying an especially-devastating strike from Xenovia, hsi entire body reeling from the impact.

Issei didn't waste a moment.

Taking off into a sprint, Issei tackled Oliver's exposed side like a linebacker. The Rook cried out in surprise as he lost his footing, the two Sacred Gear users slamming through one set of crystals like it was little more than drywall before finally colliding with a second set of geodes.

The two boys struggled against eachother's holds for a moment, before Issei finally managed to wretch his left hand out from his body-press.

With a deep-bellied roar, Issei swung his left fist into Oliver's sides, just below his ribs.

"GRRRAAAAHHHHH!" Oliver screamed out as Ascalon's blade carved its way into his torso; the holy energy of the blade like a never-ending stream of scalding fire pouring over his wound.

"Give it up already!" Issei yelled into Oliver's face.

[BOOST!]

"W-Wouldn't dream of it…" Oliver snarled back, still standing his ground.

The rhino features which covered the Rook's head began to fall away into thick clumps of mud. The muck swirled around his face, before it quickly formed the likeness of a… hippopotamus?

Oliver's massive jaws snapped out at Issei's head with surprising speed, leaving Issei to awkwardly try to leap to the side. Unfortunately, with Ascalon's blade buried some six-inches into his enemy's side, escape wasn't exactly possible.

One of Oliver's crab claws slammed itself into Issei's left shoulder, sending him sprawling to the floor. The Sekiryuutei grit his teeth beneath his mask, his left shoulder most definitely dislocated at this point.

"Say g'night!" Oliver growled, his right hand raised up, transforming into a massive furred fist ready to pulverize Issei in mere moments.

Issei braced himself for the devastating impact, that was until a final roar drew both his and Oliver's gazes upward.

A blur of blue and gold leaped and soared through the spires of crystals overhead. Xenovia's legs bent against a final crystal, launching off it with such speed and force that the damn rock shattered beneath her feet. Durandal raised high above her head, she leapt down towards Oliver with a roar.

"NOT SO FAST!" Xenovia roared, Durandal's blade kicked up a myriad shower of sparks as it ground against Oliver's guard; nearly every appendage the boy had access to pushed against the colossal blade in a desperate struggle.

Issei shifted into a crouch, looking up at Oliver who was now more than distracted by Xenovia's timely intervention. An idea began to form in the Pawn's foggy brain. Holding his right hand out, he left a small, practically miniscule ball of demonic energy floating up, passing right under Oliver's arms. The ball made its way up to just below Oliver's chin with all the speed of a balloon lackadaisically blowing through a gentle breeze.

"What th-" Oliver raised a brow at the orb, but by then it was already too late.

Issei threw all his energy into his legs, rising up, his right fist at the ready.

"DRAGON…" Issei's one good fist flung into the air, the emerald gem sparkling brilliantly as it was driven right into the orb in a textbook rising-uppercut. "SHOOOOOOOOOTTTTT!"

*BBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH!*

As soon as Issei's fist connected with the pitiful orb, a titanic blast of crackling scarlet energy shot upward like a railgun blast, engulfing Oliver's stunned visage completely. The blast was so great that the Rook was lifted into the air from the blow, sent flying like a ragdoll as Issei's magic roared across the battlefield.

Oliver's body never hit the ground.

[Forneus Rook: Oliver Collins has retired.]

Issei slowly clambered to his feet, his entire frame heaving with every breath he took in.

"Good work." Xenovia wiped her forearm across her forehead. "Was that a new technique of yours?"

"I-It's something I've had for a while." Issei hissed in pain as he tried to touch his left shoulder. "Ugh, what I'd give for Asia right now…"

"What's the matter?"

"Left shoulder." Issei gestured. "I think that bastard dislocated it when he- GYAH!"

Xenovia roughly grabbed his left bicep in her hand, hoisting his entire arm up more in-line with his shoulder. "Is that where it should be?"

"I-I think-?" Issei wheezed.

Xenovia nodded, before taking her free hand and slamming her palm into Issei's shoulder with a pop. Issei let out another indignant howl, while Xenovia simply stepped back and appraised her work.

"Can you move it now?"

Issei took deep, shaky breaths as he slowly rolled his shoulder in small circles, whimpering under his breath the entire time. He simply gave the Knight a shaky nod.

"Good. Let's get moving then." Xenovia began to walk away. "The other's still need us."

---

Meanwhile, across the glade, another tidal wave of crystals tore through the earth. Vin proceeded to duck and weave through the seemingly endless supply of stricker that Percival seemed to have under his sleeve.

In his state, Vin knew getting hit with even one of them was enough to likely spell his doom. So he just kept moving, throwing out spire after spire with Crystal Weaver.

That was, until a certain announcement reached the two.

[Forneus Rook: Oliver Collins has retired.]

Vin watched Percival's face contort into a panic. Using the chance, Vin darted towards him, a light spear crackling to life in his hand.

The spear sizzled through the air as Percival leapt away from the blade at the last moment. A sticker sailed right towards Vin's midsection, the script painted upon it already glowing on the paper.

Vin planted his front foot to the ground and used it as a pivot to swing his whole body around, right before tossing his light spear towards one of the countless crystals that littered the arena.

*PING* *PING* *PING* *PING* *PING!*

The light spear refracted off crystal after crystal, picking up speed as it zipped around the makeshift arena Vin had constructed throughout their fight. Percival's eyes tried to track the projectile, but he simply couldn't keep up.

Finally, the spear refracted off of one last surface, sending it low to the ground.

*KH-KOOM!*

"AAARGH!" Percival screamed out as the light spear took a bite out of his leg, causing him to go toppling to his knees.

Vin gunned for Percival unflinchingly. The King tried to pepper the Fallen with even more stickers, but Vin just kept charging. His head began to spin, vision began to grow dark and hazy, but it all didn't matter.

Vin met Percival with a knee to the chest and a hand wrapped around the King's throat. Vin could feel his world turning sideways, no doubt some side-effect granted by Percival's magic. Vin simply focused as much as he could on his hand grasped around the enemy's throat.

The King struggled desperately in Vin's grasp, kicking and squirming incessantly in some futile effort to get free.

[Forneus Knight: Carmelita Edwards has retired.]

… Silence.

Percival's struggles soon ceased.

"Well damn…" Vin could hear the King whisper.

"It's over, Percy."

The Forneus heir looked over to find Rias, being supported by her blonde knight; who seemed worse for wear, but nonetheless was holding strong.

"I guess that means you bested Carmelita." Percival looked at Kiba.

Yuuto nodded. "She was a tough opponent."

"I'll make sure to tell her that." Percival smiled, awfully jovial despite being pinned to the ground with a hand wrapped around his throat. "Ah, and here are the others!"

Issei and Xenovia soon joined the group, standing side-by-side with their teammates.

"Well, it seems that I might just be well and truly outmatched…" Percival chuckled softly. "I guess this is it then."

"Congratulations Rias." A blue glow began to emanate from Percival's body. "That was a splendid show we put on, no?"

Rias smiled.

"It was."

---

[Forneus King: Percival Forneus has retired.]

[With no more valid participants representing the peerage of Percival Forneus, Rias Gremory is deemed the victor via Peerage Elimination!]

---

Hello everyone, it's great to be back!

This chapter represents a few big firsts for this series. First off, this is the first time I ever wrote a Rating Game! This chapter was a super fun challenge to write for: considering how I had to lay out multiple perspectives, locations and scenes over a consistent timeline was a hard hurdle to tackle that proved to be super engaging to me as a writer.

Second off, this chapter marks the point where we've reached 1,000+ Followers on High School DxD: Alternate! It completely blows my mind that I was able to manage to cultivate a following of this many people over the last few years that frankly, I feel like I'm at a loss for words right now…

You guys can't begin to understand how much this means to me. This fanfic has been a passion-project that started out as simply my way of addressing the lack of any good Xenovia fanfics and stories with really good OC's, and has quickly turned into a passion project that – no hyperbole – has literally occupied a part of my brain-space every single day for the last 3+ years.

So to see so much support and interest in this story now, after all the ups, the downs, the hiatuses, it's just the best feeling in the world. I'm actually crying as I write these author's notes, guys. I don't care if you're a person who is just casually reading this fanfic for the first time, someone who has been following since the beginning or what…

Thank you – all of you – for enjoying my art.

I love you all.

Now, let's finally bring it back, shall we!

---

REVIEW ROUNDUP:

"Antex – The Legendary Zoroark" says:

Good work! Although I'll admit that your "reassurance" on whatever Bheithir's up to could use some work… lol. But I digress. I'm excited to see how this Rating Game shall go between two childhood friends and how well Vin will mesh/not-mesh with Team Rias's dynamic! Another thing I enjoyed of course, is the possibility of whether Irina will choose either (maybe neither or perhaps both) Issei or Ezekiel (the latter having quite the crush, intending on one-upping the Red Dragon)! So that'll be another thing to look into. I also have seen that Akeno seemingly has issues with Vin and Fallen Angels as a whole. I know one cannot ask for immediate improvement overnight, but I can only pray that that issue doesn't get in the way of things either. Can't wait for the next chapter! So excited! Until then, keep up the good work!

First off, thanks for dropping a review, even after I've been putting off answering these reviews for a while!

Like you said, Bheithir's little shenanigans are very, very obvious right now. I'm trying to really make it apparent that somethings up with Bheithir, to the point where she's being pretty suspicious. I definitely want to attempt to actually have the character begin to address her behavior, especially after all this weird shit that she's been pulling. Don't worry, there's BIG plans in the pipeline for her, despite the lack of screen time she tends to have.

I'm really glad you're liking the sort-of love triangle that's beginning to form now between Irina, Issei and Ezekiel! This whole dynamic has been something I've really been waiting to write since the first few arcs of the story when I was implying Zeke's feelings and Irina's own crush. Honestly, writing Ezekiel being very eager to try and one-up Issei, who meanwhile is very, very confused is one of the funniest dynamics I've thought of for a while. There's a lot of fun stuff with Ezekiel especially that I want to have planned, especially since he may-or-may-not be shifting towards joining the main cast proper once again…

Finally, Akeno. Akeno is an interesting case where – at least in canon – her… well, her being racist actually gives her an extra bit of character that the original series doesn't really replace with anything interesting after it's resolved. I want to have her go on a bit of a character arc and hopefully she can come out of it both not-racist, but still have an interesting character. There may not be any overnight change, but it will happen one day.

Thank you so much for all your insights and the kind words near the end Antex! I hope that the over-month-long wait was worth it! I'd love to hear from you again!

"Royalrain20xx" says:

First off, congrats on reaching 40 chapters! I've really enjoyed the way you tell this story from the character moments/interactions with one another, to the alternate changes made to include the OC's in order to have it flow naturally in the story, to even now with the seeds of romance spread throughout certain chapters. I say you're doing a pretty good job fleshing out this story, to one where there's actual development rather than just bumrushing to reach big pivotal moments later down the line. Overall, just wanted to share my feelings for this story, keep up the good work, and looking forward to more down the line.

Hey Royalrain! Thank you for all the kind words about reaching 40 chapters! It's kind of funny that we went from celebrating one milestone right into celebrating an even bigger one, haha!

I'm overjoyed to hear that you like how the story's been handled so far! When I set off to make this fanfic, trying to illustrate a natural-flow of progression in the story was a big thing I wanted to get down. I know that a lot of comments over the course of this series' run have been complaints about 'why X character isn't strong yet' or 'where's the romance?', but I've really tried to stick to my guns. I'm super happy to hear that you're appreciating the slower, more-natural progression of all these factors in the story! It makes me super satisfied to hear that there's people out there like you who are enjoying it. Frankly, it's restoring my faith in humanity, lol.

Thanks so much for writing in Royalrain! I hope to hear from you again sometime down the line!

"GMotW – The Author" says: (This one's from Ch. 39, btw)

Ok, to be fair, we don't really know the kind of things Koneko saw when she was with the Naberius and she was a kid at the time so if Kuroka did something truly nasty, while justifiable given the situation, it's not like Koneko would be aware of these details. It's understandable that she got traumatized by it

That said, I agreed that it was kind of dumb that no one ever bothered to check if there wasn't anything they could do with whole Senjutsu stuff.

Kiba has survivor's guilt and was exposed to some of the worst aspect of humans by virtue of being a guinea pig who was labeled as a failed experiment whose only worth was to serve as livestock.

Sure, his hate-boner for Excalibur was a little off but the guy has faced some nasty stuff himself. He's was a goddamn kid so it's normal to see him devilling a freaking sword. It's absurd but at this point he lost all his friends, possibly thinks that others should live instead of him and the man who was responsible for these atrocious experiments not only wasn't properly punished but is STILL doing it.

The whole deal with Akeno, I admit, that's stupid as heck too but apparently she got a lot of things to deal with beside her Daddy issues because it was revealed that her mother's family was HUNTING HER DOWN like a rabid dog for at least several weeks and only managed to survive because Rias was in the immediate vicinity.

She hates men in general because so far they were the main reasons for all her tragedies and the impression she got from those who lusted after her and wanted to make the girl into their concubine didn't help.

Considering we are talking about freaking TEENAGERS who has never bothered to go with a psychiatrist, it's not that farfetched.

The real question here is WHY the heck Rias was so naive and stupid. She could've helped them if she wasn't such a spoiled brat with rose tinted glasses like the resident Glass Generation idiot we see nowadays.

No wonder they were so fucked up in their head! I mean, they're lucky that Issei (and Asia) ACTUALLY did something from time to time to help them. The Lights Novels expand on this.

With all that said, I think that the hate for Vin is too much. They guy never did something to earn so much hatred despite being such a terrible MC. I think he should've been more firm on his believes and punched Akeno but that's it.

Hey, it's great to hear from you again! You always really go all-out with the reviews and give a lot of your own perspective which I always appreciate!

Writing trauma is always a hard thing to do, because perspectives on it always will change from person-to-person. I'm glad that you think that Koneko's own repression and trauma is at least understandable.

In terms of Rias failing to account for it, the best answer I can give is that Rias is a child. The girl is only about 17-18 years old and has grown up in a pretty sheltered lifestyle. Sometimes, a person – especially someone so young – can't always be the one to root out the trauma in an individual. For someone like Rias, what matters the most would likely be how well the person is feeling on a day-to-day basis more than anything. That can easily cause things to slip under the radar, especially if Koneko, Kiba or Akeno don't make Rias privy to it.

The general hatred for Vin from Akeno started by her being baffled and maybe even a little insulted by the choice he made to become a Fallen willingly. Then when Vin demanded an explanation and finally received it (Akeno's Mom dying, her hating her Dad) he was also insulted and baffled because like he said "She still has family to go back to", something Vin himself doesn't have.

Then Vin essentially kicked the hornet's nest by throwing Akeno's Mom back in her face. They both are diametrically-opposite to one each-other, and it's something they'll have to eventually rectify. Vin not sticking to his guns, like you said, isn't really him compromising on his viewpoint. No, he says to Akeno herself that he still does believe everything he said, but he also acted like an asshole when he rubbed her mother in her face.

In terms of your thoughts on Vin being a terrible MC, you're entitled to your opinion. His character is one that's currently going through an extremely large, story-wide arc, but the seeds are beginning to show. His whole arc is one of becoming. He starts out as a normal kid, but as he dives further and further into the world of the supernatural, he's forced to change as a person to adapt and live. I've attempted to show multiple times how Vin trying to hold onto his old values, morals, ethics, etc. has been met with punishment and failure.

Now that Vin's beginning to grow in power, beginning to become stronger, he's changing. He will eventually become more assertive, more decisive, and eventually, he will be the one to move the plot along, not others, that's all been planned for a while. Vin isn't there yet, but he's getting closer and closer. He's growing into a new person.

Anyway, thank you once again for reaching out with a detailed review. Like I said before, I really do appreciate it. Constructive criticism and fresh perspectives always have their place, so thank you for sharing yours with me. It shows how much you care for the story to be critical of some of its aspects; so once again, thank you so much!

---

I think that's about it for the review roundup this time! Thank you to everyone who has been leaving reviews, follows and favorites. I hope to do more of these review roundups in the future, so if you want to share your thoughts, feelings or critiques with me; I'd be honored if you left a review! I read literally every single one I get!

Once again, although I've said it a bunch already; thank you so much for 1,000+ followers! It's… unbelievable, truly.

Until next time everyone!

ROCK ON!