The Time of Isolation Hath Come
XXI
Issei lost track of everyone else.
He rather lost track of everything else as well.
It was only the whooshing about his head and the loud whistles that gave him any warning, throwing himself backwards in a rather clumsy fall which gave him just enough of a distance away from whatever dropped from the sky, he didn't really get much of a chance to see what it was either or who it was.
Shadows writhed around and pushed against one another, but his focus was dragged away as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
He turned and raised the gauntlet up.
Hardly a block, hardly anything.
Really, it was just about putting something between himself and the sword flying towards him and even then, it hurt when it hit. His arm screamed under his skin and his bones rattled about in their sockets. His feet left the ground with the ear splitting crash of metal against metal and a shower of sparks flashing right into his eyes.
For only a few moments did he fly back before he hit something which gave away, falling inwards and landing flat on his back, Issei groaned and pushed himself onto his shoulder before he realised what was actually going on.
And it was only when a wall exploded and covered him in dust that he actually scrambled to his feet and swung his hands out to grab anything that was close enough to him. His fingers curled around something solid and metallic, he heaved with all his might and turned about, throwing it without looking to see where it would aim.
But it was perhaps because he'd just picked up a whole desk and thrown it that aiming was a secondary notion.
At least until the desk slammed into the armoured man with all the force of a hammer and then dropped straight down like he'd just chucked a paper ball at him.
Issei wasn't even given the chance to sag as the man marched forwards and stamped over the desk, splintering the wood and crushing it without even looking as though he was going to try. He grit his teeth and jumped backwards, trying to put some more distance between himself and the guy.
Only barely did he realise they were actually in a classroom.
He was only faintly surprised there was still a classroom left intact.
Issei raised the sword arm.
Rider just swatted it out of the way with a backhand and dragged him along with it, he staggered and widened his eyes, turning in slow motion as the taller man just peered down at him without even so much as blinking.
There wasn't even pity.
Air surged out of his lungs and his back exploded with pain.
It was only when he found himself staring down at a hole under him that he came to a brief realisation that he had been kicked in the gut hard enough to knock him through to what remained of the second floor, then he dropped straight back down and splattered against the mangled ruins of the floor with a gasp.
His lungs burned and his chest felt like someone just walked over him.
Coughing brought nothing but burning to his throat.
Then everything rumbled, he turned his head to the left as Rider just jumped through the hole and landed down next to him.
His fist slowly came up and it felt almost taunting because Issei could actually track this movement.
No.
Not yet.
He wasn't beaten yet because as long as this guy was here…then he wasn't fighting the others.
So that was fine.
He was terrified, he felt as though he would die, but after seeing the way this guy treated everyone else…
Issei snapped to his feet and roared - more like wheezed - and swung his left arm with all the strength he had within it, glaring past the clash of blades as the replica of his own sword just appeared in the path of his slash and ground it to a halt. His lips peeled apart and he hissed through clenched teeth, his right hand came about and he pressed his fingers against the flat of his sword and pushed with all his might.
Pushing so hard until his body started to hurt, until it felt like he would break himself.
The knight held him back with one hand.
All while he looked unblinking.
Rider hummed. "I would ask you something if you would be amenable to a conversation."
Issei couldn't believe the audacity of this-
His world ignited with pain, he blinked and widened his eyes as he fell backwards and away from Rider. Catching himself with a stumble and raising his hand towards the side of his face, then stopped and pulled his hand away before he resumed his glare, he was sure Rider had struck him and from the raised arm, he'd been backhanded.
Rider lowered the hand back down and stepped forwards, once again he moved with some insulting slowness, like he was just playing with him.
Fine.
Whatever.
The guy could play with him all he wanted because it meant he wasn't elsewhere.
Right?
It meant Issei just had to hold out until someone else came and saved him…
…Wasn't that a pathetic thought?
Once more he raised his sword arm and once more he was sent reeling the moment they made contact, it might have been a slow swing but the guy was just hitting him as though Issei hadn't put all his effort into the swing.
[Boost.]
Another announcement from the gauntlet, the gem glowed for a moment as he stomped down and caught himself.
He was panting now.
Rider continued his casual march and then swung again.
Issei gave another clumsy swing into the path of the sword, just so that it wouldn't fly unblocked into his chest. He braced his left arm with his right and grit his teeth as the grating of metal reached his ears once more, Rider continued to push him backwards, his feet stumbling about underneath him and it was all he could do to not fall head over heels and land on his ass.
"For what reason would-"
"Shut." Issei hissed back, silencing the man. "Up. You don't get to ask me about that."
Rider raised a quizzical eyebrow but kept silent.
A burst of strength wrenched both of Issei's arm aside and knocked him about, he fumbled forwards and then gasped and widened his eyes as he found himself leaning over the hole he had made when he had been kicked, waving his arms out to balance himself, he heard the crunch of a metal foot against the ground and whipped around.
Rider's fist caught his jaw and turned his vision white, everything felt light and for a moment he couldn't feel anything.
Then he was snapped painfully back into the world when his eyes snapped shut, it was like the jolt of falling out of bed from a nightmare.
His eyes widened and he rolled to his right and then kept on rolling, until he struck against the upturned desks and reached out, catching his fingers on the rims and pulling himself up against them, dragging his body over and then landing flat on his back behind them, his head twisted and he peered through the gap between the desks.
It was a slit not even an inch wide.
Rider dropped down through the hole and hit the ground without even bending his legs.
"I feel as though I am uniquely qualified to ask."
Issei felt sick with how conversational the man was, it made his blood boil.
The guy who thought he could act all nice and friendly after punching up everyone, after hurting all his friends and clubmates.
After making Akeno scream like that?
Absolutely not.
"You are the wielder of Ascalon now. A sword that felled a terrible dragon and-"
Issei rolled onto his back and drew his legs tight against him, pressing the soles of his feet against the underside of the desk and then he sucked in a sharp breath.
[Boost.]
He pushed and shot his legs forth like bullets, they hammered into the desk and launched it across the length of the classroom like a cannonball. Snapping his feet down in the next moment and launching himself after his improvised projectile, though by the time he was on his feet he was watching the desk be reduced to sawdust when Rider just kicked it out of the way.
But he was committed.
His hands flew out, snatching out a chair and throwing it ahead of himself.
Rider stepped aside, the chair sailed past his head.
Issei drew back his arm and lunged forwards, thrusting Ascalon right towards the chest of the man.
The man swung up and Issei's thrust was suddenly aimed towards the air, his balance was shifted backwards and he started to teeter in reverse. Rider leaned forward and caught his collar with the free hand, Issei had barely a moment to recover before the world was violently moved and the chalkboard was suddenly a lot closer to him than it had been in the last second.
His face cracked against it, shattering the green surface and snapping his eyes shut.
They flew open in the next second as an impact registered in his gut, Issei folded forwards and wheezed out all his air. Everything burned for a few moments as he just started down at the fist pressed against his gut, he fell backwards, clutching at his chest.
In the brief moment before his world went black, he saw the underside of Rider's boot heading towards his face.
Everything felt slow.
Sluggish.
As though he was trying to wade through water, his eyes opened and shut with a lethargic speed around them, tremors ran across the ground underneath him and Issei could barely feel anything save for some sense of soreness spreading over his entire body.
It was as if someone coated him with a weighted blanket.
Trying to rise up made him slump back down and groan, whether loud or quiet was not something he knew, only that he was groaning. At least, it felt that he was. In truth he was not hearing a single thing at the moment, he just lay there with a dazed look aimed towards the dark skies above and only the brief flicker of light passing before his vision.
It was like staring up at the stars, watching a meteor show with a faint rumble every few moments.
[-artn-]
It was a metallic growl that pierced through his mind and brought only a sharp sense of pain to his temples; he could not even raise his hand to nurse it. Instead he just clenched his eyes shut tight and tried to drown out the noise.
[-artner!]
Again it drummed loud and beat at the walls of his skull.
He felt tired.
No, not tired.
Just exhausted.
Moving was like some distant dream that he felt himself unable to achieve and lying down on the ground held such appeal at this moment.
Far too much appeal.
[Partner!]
Another scream, this one jerked him into awareness as his eyes flew wide, it was an agony that swept over the front of his face like lightning, his body tingled and twitched at random intervals, he could not feel his nose, merely a terrible pain around some void on his face, but he jerked himself upwards with a gasp and sat right up, staring with blurred vision towards the sight of something approaching him.
It looked like a blob.
Nothing more than a blob of dull copper or perhaps bronze?
He was having trouble thinking about it, it was only the shout through his head which jerked him back up but everything else was still slow to him.
Issei blinked repeatedly, trying to filter out the haze and get some detail into his eyes.
He did.
And found himself staring at the brunette man marching towards him with sword trailing twinkles of golden light.
His heart thundered away in his chest and he turned over, his body felt like lead as he all but slammed his limbs into the ground like weights and fumbled himself upwards onto his knees, it was an effort to pull himself to his legs and even when he achieved that, the swampy feeling did not leave him, his body turned like he was thigh deep in mud and he barely had the strength to raise his arms.
The man stopped just before he reached him.
Issei couldn't see his face that well, he squinted through the tears and the pain and still couldn't see the man.
But he could see enough.
Just enough to raise his trembling arms.
"Why fight me, boy?"
Any other time he would have just told the guy to piss off.
Probably.
But he wasn't thinking straight and everything still hurt.
He just felt so tired.
"...I don't know…" His words were slurred and muffled, his crooked nose made it hard to speak and he gurgled the first few syllables, something built up and stuck between his teeth as he turned his head and spat it out, an irony taste from the back of his throat as he wavered back and forth.
Why was he fighting?
Issei didn't know.
But he did know one thing.
"If I don't…someone else will…so…why not?"
The faces of the ORC flashed through his mind for a moment, the images of them laid out and screaming in pain brought a terrible clarity to him. An awful thing he saw and yet it brought focus to his mind, he narrowed his eyes further and sucked in another breath through his teeth, another gurgle from his nose as something dropped down his face.
Issei raised his hand and wiped his face, tears and blood clung to his sleeve as he glared past all that remained to Rider.
The man just stared at him.
Then he slowly nodded his head, his posture loosened.
Issei blinked.
For a moment, the man wore an expression that was almost…proud?
There was a mere ghost of a smile on his face.
"I see. You have a stalwart soul about you, young man…I am glad."
…And the guy sounded like he genuinely meant it.
Which just made him feel all the more confused.
His words of confusion, however, died rather abruptly as the man all but vanished from his line of sight. Issei felt his eyes shoot wide and any sense of lethargy or exhaustion drained out of him. It was as though someone had pumped him full of pure electricity, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and his skin prickled.
Like he'd been drenched in cold water.
Without thinking, he just threw himself down and turned as he did so, swinging his arm wide at the same time waving his blade towards whatever was behind him.
The sword of Rider passed scant but a few inches away from his eyes while the Ascalon in his own hand just grazed the surface of the bronze armour. It was a sound like nails on a chalkboard as the tip of the sword dragged its way across the plate metal, neither of them landed much of a hit.
Issei struck the ground on his shoulders, grunting as he did so and throwing his weight backwards, it was a clumsy roll which he finished the second his feet touched something solid and he pressed backwards, launching himself off the ground and into the air with as big of a jump as he could manage with his power.
[Boost.]
And he was unsure whether he should be thankful or insulted by the gauntlet's continued announcements.
Because if they hadn't been telling him a boost took place, he never would have noticed much of a difference between himself and Rider.
His feet touched solid ground, an uneven patch, and he wobbled back and forth to try and stabilise himself. It was little more than a brief crack, a sound no louder than someone kicking a stray pebble, that saved his life. Without even looking, he raised his sword and braced his other arm and leaned into the left side, turning his head as he did so.
Rider slammed into him with enough force that he very nearly dislocated his shoulder.
Or at least, that was how it felt to him.
His eyes bulged and he fought back a scream as his arm felt like it had just caught fire right at the shoulder, the blow threw him backwards and sent him careening in an effort to stay on his feet. Yet he was afforded not even that courtesy as the next blow came in with as much force and speed as the one before.
Issei barely managed to raise his sword to that direction as the sword flew in and blasted his arm wildly off course, thrown completely open before a shoulder hammered into his chest. He felt the air surge from out of his lungs, his feet left the ground and for a brief moment he was sure he was airborne.
And then he wasn't.
Cracking down hard against something, tried to spit out a hiss but managed only a wheeze, without even the air in his lungs to accomplish that.
It burned, it was like his punches and kicks were pure fire.
How many metres had that last blow sent him, but if he stayed down he would die.
And if he died then who would be there to protect everyone else?
Issei clenched his jaw so hard that it felt like he would shatter his teeth, his elbows slammed into the ground under him and the force propelled him upwards, it was such a jerked momentum that he blinked in the transition and missed it completely. Just the upwards surge and then suddenly he went from looking at the sky to looking at the man.
Who was charging him once again.
Meeting the guy in a sword fight was stupid, Issei had never been in one before.
So something else.
Something that needed to work.
[Boost.]
The announcement twitched something in his mind, he would not have all that much within it, but at least it would be something. And yet the guy was much faster than he was, so there was no guarantee of a hit.
Which meant Issei would need to get close.
He'd need to get close enough that missing was impossible.
"Haaaaaaa-!"
It was a roar that took up all the air he had left in his lungs, the scream cracked his throat and he charged forwards, pushing off and carrying himself one lunging step at a time. It was a distance between them measured in metres and yet it was cleared in seconds.
Issei swung in wildly from the side.
But that was what the guy was expecting.
Ascalon retracted back, the other sword passed through nothing but his knuckles, skimming the crimson gauntlet as they did so and Issei's fist continued on a direct course towards the gut of the man, he twisted his body and threw his entire mass into the punch.
His fist stopped.
A larger hand enclosed around it and held it form as though he hadn't even been trying to punch him.
That briefly hurt his pride as Rider's left hand moved so suddenly and caught the fist.
But Issei never thought about landing the punch.
"Dragon-!"
He barked out as a spitting of blood and air, pushing forwards as verdant light burst from the gauntlet.
The sudden movement and the explosion of power was a clear surprise and Issei was treated with the sight of Rider's face suddenly twisting in surprise, the hazel eyes dropped down to the hand he was holding and he felt the grip loosen around him. Yet in that moment, everything seemed to just move in slow motion.
Issei pushed forwards and kept his momentum going.
The loss of confidence on the face of Rider was more than enough for him.
It gave him a surge of strength.
"-Shot!"
His arm screamed and his body just fell backwards.
It was like someone pushed him roughly in the chest and his eyes snapped shut from the sudden explosion of light across his field of vision. Everything just turned into light and heat directly in front of him. His ears started ringing and muffled crashes echoed out, he felt light.
Really light.
Was he even touching the ground?
He wanted to open his eyes and yet they remained firmly shut.
Shit.
Did he get hurt?
How bad was it?
He gasped and grunted, feeling his body twist and writhe as he experienced that weightless surge all across him. There was something difficult about moving at the moment, like he was walking on water. Crap.
He had been blown into the air hadn't he-?
"Guag!"
A grunt and a cry of pain as he struck something, he wasn't sure what it was but it didn't put up all that much resistance, perhaps for a fleeting moment before he went right through it. Like it was a paper wall it just crumbled under his weight and he felt the faint whistle around him, his eyes blinked themselves slowly into detail and then squinted.
Everything was moving around-
"Ooof!"
His world turned dark as he struck something else.
His front felt rather tight, like something was pressing against it.
Issei was positive his eyes were open and yet he couldn't see.
Oh, right.
He was probably face first on the ground.
"Guuuuu-!"
Pressing his hands down flat, he pushed himself up and gasped at the same time, blinking wildly as spots occupied his eyes. Which smudges all across everything which just floated over the darkness that surrounded him. The occasional offset of some blurred movement but nothing more than that, it stung to even have them open and he felt tears stream down his face.
He hoped they were tears.
With a hiss, he pushed himself up once again and found himself on his knees.
Breathing in and out as he tried to focus on where he was.
He jerked at a shudder.
Turning his head and staring at the ground and the small pile of rubble.
He just stared at it for a moment, then turned again at another clap much like the one before.
Another pile appeared, then something else struck the ground just beyond.
Another pile of-
Issei blinked and turned around, looking sharply over his shoulder and squinting towards the sky.
He saw them fall down, trailing dust behind them.
The clumps of debris racing right towards him.
Issei snarled and pushed up.
Then his head felt light for a split second and he flopped right back onto the ground. Groaning as he did so, dragging his fingers forwards and clawing them into the dirt with a tense pain running through them. His left arm had been numb for a little bit now and he wasn't sure if that was good or bad.
It still moved, but it just didn't feel like it was attached to him.
A foot entered his field of vision.
He was sure it was a foot.
Issei gradually lifted his head upwards and squinted, at first he saw the flash of crimson hair and for a brief moment, he thought it might have been Rias. Though the details flowed back into his eyes and he found himself quickly realising that he was looking up at Sirzechs and not Buchou.
"Sirzechs…?"
"Issei-kun."
A pair of hands curled around his shoulders and slowly lifted him up, pulled closer to the face and let him catch more of the details. The concern became readily clear, as did the twitch of frustration. It was probably the first negative emotion he had ever seen on the face of the usually smiling man.
"I am sorry I was late. You did splendidly, however. Rias would be very proud."
…She would?
That was a relief.
"I shall handle him from here on out."
Right, he could leave it all to-
…wait…
Handle him…?
Issei blinked rather slowly, the itching returned in full force and he felt a terrible urge not to turn around.
Then he heard it.
The crunch of something being crushed underfoot, a clang of metal accompanied the sound as nothing more than an echo. At first he would have dismissed it as a distant sound.
Then it came again.
And again.
And again.
With each thud the sound - the drum of footsteps - grew closer and closer, louder and louder. The itching across his skin intensified to the point where it felt as though someone was dragging sharp nails right across his entire body. Issei gulped.
He shouldn't turn around.
But he did.
He turned his neck with such agonising slowness that he could feel his muscles turning, hear the grinding of his bones under his skin.
Then he saw it.
Rider just emerged from a cloud of dust.
Without even so much as a scratch on him.
Issei just blinked once again.
That was just…
…How was this guy real?
That was…he hit him.
He knew he did.
He knew for a fact he hit the guy with Dragon Shot.
And they just took it right to the face and just…kept walking?
No way.
What the hell!?
What the actual hell was this guy!?
"Excuse me for the discomfort, Issei-kun. I shall send you to Asia now."
Issei barely heard the words, but he didn't register them.
His eyes just remained fixed on the face of Rider.
And the hazel eyes remained solely focused on him.
Right until the teleportation whisked him away, he never once broke eye contact.
Sirzechs released a breath as Issei was carried to safety.
It troubled him to have been so late to the battle but he acted in the manner he thought was right at the time and he did not regret the choice he made. Rather, he was only saddened that he had been unable to achieve more.
But now was not the time for regrets or second-guessing.
He stepped forwards, ignoring the sounds of battle and the falling rock around them, the explosion and the swirling storm of dust.
Nothing but the man standing before him truly mattered in this moment because he could tell that this man - this person - was truly one of the most dangerous here and perhaps the worst type of opponent he could fight.
"Sirzechs Lucifer."
He did not respond to the announcement of his title, merely inclined his head ever so slightly towards the brown haired knight as he spoke. The armoured man wore a rather curious expression as he spoke the latter half of the name, as though he was hearing some sort of joke that missed the punchline.
But it was without the same lack of respect held by Katarea, not that he suspected she would align herself with one such as this. Or with the Angel behind this attack in the first place.
The knight spoke further, voice level. "I will admit some strange trepidation…Though you are not the one who once held the name, I still feel as though you are worthy of it in some sense. Perhaps it is truly because you appear so human and speak with such mild manners. It is always the Devil to smile so serenely, is it not?"
"I am afraid I will not be doing any smiling." Sirzechs retorted. "But I thank you for the compliment that I appear so personable to you."
"Yes."
The man nodded slowly and shifted his stance, drawing back his sword - the copy of Ascalon - and holding it as though he was preparing to thrust, his right hand held outstretched and with fingers curled.
"Long did I stand against the forces of evil and though times might change, it seems there will always be a Lucifer to lead them."
Neither made a move.
Not for what might have been years, just a stare down between the two of them.
But he knew for a fact this could not be a drawn out fight, there were places for him to be and people for him to battle. Which meant this would need to end quickly.
His fingers tingled.
Darkness danced across his knuckles and pooled around in his waiting palms, the man made no show of a reaction and his jaw clenched, his brows pinched and his features hardened.
Rider, they were called.
They would need to look into this person.
After he perished, that was.
The coiled spring inside of him snapped, it was an action that might as well have been instant. Power sprung forth from a mere flick of the hand and cleared the distance in mere breaths, perhaps even less than that.
Rider was quick on his feet, the leap to the side saved his life as the river of destruction tore through the space where he had been and left only a carved out trench where he had once stood, but he gave no quarter or reprieve to the man. Before his feet even caught the ground Sirzechs twitched again and loosened more of his strength.
He did not even so much as move.
Strain spread over Rider's face as he pushed off the very air, a thunderclap as he pressed down with all his might and launched himself into the sky for more distance, for what little it would avail him.
A trivial effort for him as he snapped from one place to the other, carrying himself and appearing directly behind the fleeing man. His intuition served him well, Sirzechs watched as his head whipped around and he turned in the same motion, sweeping out the sword which now glowed brightly with light that was anything but fake.
It was a genuine Holy sword.
Crescent gold tore away from the blade and towards him, in the same motion he drove a pike of destruction right into the light and tore it asunder, ripping apart the holy power and driving it straight down towards the man.
He fell down and thrust again, this time another streak of gold.
It met the same fate as the one before, Sirzechs did not let up and pushed past even that defence as they both descended to the ground, but it was something that happened next he did not count on. A steed of white adorned in a cloak of dark appeared under the man, earning him the title of Rider, and carried him away at speeds which were comparable to Vlov at his fastest.
Sirzechs attack missed and drove itself into the earth, he snuffed it out a second later and snapped his eyes to catch the man as he tried to flee.
But that was not the intention, it seemed.
The man jumped atop the back of his steed and launched himself from the saddle, the horse vanished into pale blue motes and faded from view, Rider somersaulted through the air and dropped down with a sharp crack, pressing down on the earth and stepping forwards into a sprint right towards him.
Sirzechs would have called it arrogance.
He dropped to the earth and waved a hand, sweeping up a wall of destruction and thrusting it forwards, it was an all consuming mass which swept clean the rubble and the bodies of those left behind. Where it passed over there was nothing but flat and lifeless landscape, he could not see Rider past it, but he could sense his presence.
"O'Lord!"
And he heard his voice.
It was a prayer or a call, something that should not have held the power it did.
But Sirzechs felt it all the same.
He flinched from the pain which drilled right into his temples, an involuntary hiss spilled from between his lips and he jerked backwards. The brief lapse in attention proved all the time that Rider needed, he watched the curtain of destruction split itself open as a shape burst through it.
Rider launched himself through the gap as he cleaved through the destruction with his sword; it did not diminish the wave, but it was an obstacle enough to keep him safe for the most part.
The wave vanished and Sirzechs thrust forwards, exerting more power than he had done previously and approaching the upper limits of what he could safely do without running the risk of harming those he was desperately trying to protect.
It was a careful balance.
His palm trembled as the darkness flew from his skin like a serpent, slamming down into the earth and snaking towards the charging opponent. In the same motion he closed his fist and drew up the circles above his head, each one poised and ready to be released, it was nothing more than a mental switch in his mind.
It rained pure destruction on that one space.
A dome of magical circles formed around and launched inwards at impossible speeds, the landscape collapsed and exploded all in the same motion. The explosions were consumed by the very spells which brought them about.
In the true essence of destruction, there was nothing that remained.
Then golden light burst forth from the epicentre of the explosion and he saw it.
Rider leaping through the air towards him, but he saw the carved wounds all across his armour, the bloodied marks on his face and the missing segments of his armour.
He was certain that he could spy a hole boring clean through the chest of the man, right around his left lung.
Sirzechs skipped backwards and drafted up a shield, the sword struck with a grinding screech against his defences and pushed ever onwards, he looked past the clash and to the bloodied face of the man, scarlet dripping down his chin and yet his eyes remained utterly firm and without hesitation.
The shield rebuffed him, Rider skidded across the steps and threw himself into wild dodges.
Each second heralded a dozen silent thunderclaps, the pressure of the spells loosening as bolt after bolt flung itself to the man.
Even with that hole in his gut, the man moved like he suffered no injury.
Some form of spell, perhaps?
Or was it just pure will?
Regardless, the answer did not interest him.
Slowly, he brought his hand up and held it with his palm flat.
A good distance from him, in amongst the dust overhead, the circle roared to life and split open, pulsing as though it was a heart. Across the glowing skin of the spell he churned away his demonic energy and gathered it all into a singular point. Collapsing the circle tighter and tighter until it was no larger than an apple.
His palm felt heavy, as though something pressed down upon it. A great weight formed right in the middle of his raised hand and he curled his fingers and pressed down against the phantom sensation. His eyes narrowed and he took in a breath before he drew forth all the muscles in his arm and swung down.
The spell hurtled right to the earth like a meteor.
Sirzechs saw the brief second in which Rider slid to a halt and then immediately jumped backwards.
Barely a second later, the orb of destruction dropped to the world and surged outwards, an expanding sphere which consumed everything around it for dozens of metres. It was an explosion of power that lasted for no more than a few seconds and by the time it passed, there remained only a deep crater where the man had been.
Yet Sirzechs kept his guard up.
He could still feel the pulsating of the man's magical energy, radiating as strong as before.
Yet where was-
A sharp crack and a growl of falling debris, his eyes darted and he swung his body about. Dragging his hand across and sweeping it out like a blade, trailing behind his fingers was nothing more than pure demonic energy, he did not even bother with a spell and just unleashed his pure aura from himself.
The weight crashed down and split open the ground, carving down and raising pillars high and above himself. Stone towers launched dozens of metres into the air and drifted through the space above their heads as though caught in slow motion.
But he saw it, the light dancing between them.
It slowed enough for him to see Rider strike the side of one of the pillars, the pair of them made eye contact.
The man leapt away not a moment too soon.
Stone vanished where he had rested, what remained did not even fold from an impact that simply did not happen. The destruction blew clean through the mass of stone and dirt and carried on as though nothing happened. He clawed his hand and dragged it across, the destruction curled and chased down the Rider.
His movements sped faster and faster, leaping between the falling debris and not turning back as the serpentine wave of all consuming darkness chased him down, tearing through his boot prints and ensuring that he was granted little time in which to plan his next movement.
Sirzechs drew up his other hand and swung in from the opposite direction.
A curtain of destruction rose right in the path of the man as he slammed down and caught himself.
He leaped away and jumped in a direction Sirzechs did not expect as he clapped his hands together and erased any trace that the stone pillars had even risen from the ground in the first place. Not even dust dropped to the earth as Rider launched himself away from certain death.
Sirzechs narrowed his eyes as Rider, caught in the air, fell right towards him with hazel eyes narrowing down.
But in the air, he was vulnerable.
Drawing in all he could manage, Sirzechs swung out his arms either side and - as though they had trapped some wild beast - he released his hold on the spell he had forged in a millionth of a second.
It was his strongest destruction he could safely release.
It broke away from him faster than the speed of sound, yet even as it charged it consumed the noise itself, leaving nothing but a silent charge across the distance of no more than a few dozen metres.
That was all it took.
A length of time that might as well have been instant.
Yet he heard a single word shouted out just above the rage of battle.
"Bayard!"
His destruction slammed into something-
Sirzechs jerked and felt something wrong, like water slipping over a leaf, he watched as his spell struck Rider straight on, washed right over his entire form and should have consumed him then and there.
But that was not what happened.
The white steed with bronze armoured man atop emerged unscathed.
Sirzechs blinked for the first time during that battle.
The sheer impossibility of what he saw left him briefly stunned.
Rider jumped from the top of his mount and launched himself right at him, Sirzechs drew his mind back into the battle as his eyes drifted to the Holy Sword now burning like a star in the hands of the man. The impossibility was banished and his instincts took over, he skipped backwards and raised his hand, gathering his power and focusing it to a single point.
The man closed the distance, a shout peeling from his lips.
"Thou art a dragon most foul!" An insult but he felt the swell of magical energy suddenly drawing into the man. Focusing and shifting. "Abyssus Draconis!"
Sirzechs felt a brief sensation fall over him, a feeling as though a blanket had been tossed over his shoulders, a faintly weighted blanket but nothing else.
In another instance, he would have released a surge of magical energy and shrugged it away from himself.
But his mind did not focus on it and instead turned to the pressing danger.
The Holy Sword and the wielder of it.
Darkness sprung from his outstretched hand and slammed into Rider, he turned at the last second but it was a minor movement and far too late to save him.
The armour held out for no more than an instant before it buckled, whatever protected him afforded no second chance as the weight of Sirzechs might tore into the man like a ravenous beast and ripped apart his side at the very atom. From his shoulder to his waist, it tore away both metal and flesh leaving him without even anything on his left side.
It destroyed his vital organs.
Sirzechs met the eyes of the man in that moment and froze.
They were still alive and it was not a sensation as though they were merely unaware of it.
No, the man lived.
The man remained utterly steadfast and pushed off the ground with another leap which closed the distance between them to a mere handshake. Sirzechs leaned backwards and turned his hand onto Rider, drawing forth what reserves he had and immediately moving to unleash another blast.
His head.
He needed to go for-
Light surged from the blade.
"Ascalon!"
Sirzechs twisted his body to the side in much the same manner as Rider had done before, it was a sharp twist of his ankle and it tore the aim of the blade away from his chest and his heart.
But the sword was faster than he.
The golden blade, radiating so brightly with holy light, was thrust right into his chest and pierced through his armour. Sirzechs felt his eyes widen as the pain unlike anything he had ever imagined coursed right through him, boiling under his skin and setting his entire body on fire.
It was unthinkable.
His mind turned white as the word just bounded around again and again.
Pain.
Pain.
Pain.
PAIN-!
The golden light surged right across his eyes and he snapped backwards, a movement that was as desperate as it was panicked.
For a brief moment, he flexed as much as he dared and dropped down.
A scream tore its way through his throat and spilled out of his mouth between his lips, all conscious thoughts vanished from him. All he could focus on, all he could feel, was the sensation of lava burning away through his insides and boiling him from the inside out.
Whether he even dropped down never registered with him.
He just kept screaming as the agony, which couldn't have possibly been worse, somehow managed to defy his worst nightmares and intensified beyond that. His eyes burned open and he registered just enough to sling back his arm in a panic, the movement dragging out another round of agony from his body.
No.
Agony was only a word.
Pain was only a word.
This was without a word.
He lashed out and dragged his arm across, it never registered with him.
Nothing more than getting whatever was in front of him as far away from him as possible.
Destruction toiled around him like an ocean and spilled forth without end, he screamed through it all and dropped down to his knees a second later, by now his throat was burned roar and he heaved, spilling out blood from his shredded vocal cords and reduced to only a mangled and wet gurgle.
Yet it did not end.
The agony pushed and pushed and pushed.
Every nerve, every single receptor of pain that existed inside of him.
They felt like they were all activated.
How could someone suffer like this?
Why was he still alive to endure this?
His head pressed down against the ground and he curled inwards, dragging everything closer to him through the muted agony. He curled and choked, gasping and wheezing as he found himself unable to focus on anything but the pain.
The sheer pain of it all.
He drew up his hands and pressed them against the wound, he forced his fingers in as though he could somehow dig out the agony and tear it free of him. As if it was something that could be grabbed.
Sirzechs writhed and heaved once more.
It was pain.
Sheer pain.
Pain beyond words.
Pain that would have made him welcome death or unconsciousness, but the latter was impossible.
It felt as though it would follow him even into those slumbering lands.
Sirzechs tried to scream.
His ears rang back with another gurgle from his torn throat.
Issei felt his back strike against something solid in the moment the flash of light dimmed, a grunt pulled itself from him in the same second as he leaned forwards, sitting up straight and shooting his eyes around at the sudden flurry of noise and movement.
His eyes caught up and his brain ground to a halt as he stared at the person just opposite him, looking rather frazzled and more than a little shocked, but definitely unmistakeable.
From the wide eyes being launched back at him, the same could be said.
"Hyoudou!?"
It was strange to hear her speak his name with such surprise when usually it was said with disdain.
"Katase-san!?"
Yes, the girl from the Kendo club in what looked like burnt up casual clothes sat right in front of him, either side of her were a pair of adults who he could only assume were her parents. But it was the shock of seeing her here of all places which threw him for a brief loop, grunting he pressed down against the floor and flung himself to his feet, staggering for a moment and then wincing as he nursed his gut.
"You're-?" He winced and staggered again, he would have spoken further but he looked beyond her and all around them. Eyes widening further as he saw more and more familiar faces and yet…
There were so few.
Most from Kuoh and some he didn't know and yet their total number was perhaps less than a hundred?
His eyes swung around and became lost in the sea of faces, the flashes of light ringing around them as he ducked under the screech of something passing over head and a drum that sounded like a ball bouncing off glass. Stumbling forwards and then feeling someone catch him by the shoulder.
"Woah! Hyoudou!"
He blinked and stared at the voice, realising that Katase had actually stood up and caught him before he could fall to the ground again.
Issei would admit a bit of surprise.
He really wasn't expecting that at all, he thought if anything she would have let him drop.
Her face twisted a moment later and she glanced to the hands that were holding him, then started to push back just enough that he was balanced on his feet. Not even a moment after he felt himself get some semblance of anchor her hands tore themselves away from him as though he burned her, but it was a strange thing as she winced.
"Are you…you…" Her words failed to emerge before she looked around, it was clear that she was struggling to cope at the moment.
Probably from all of this.
"I'm fine." Issei replied, trying for a smile. "Just a bit beat up, no difference from usual though…are the others…?"
Katase looked down in silence. "I…I…I haven't seen Hiromi or Chou yet…"
Her voice sounded so quiet as she spoke.
His jaw clenched as he opened his mouth, trying to think of something to say.
"Issei-san!"
A shout from far ahead and yet so close broke them both from it, he turned and spotted Asia positively tearing her way towards him and far from being alone, flanked on either side by the others who were moving about with less bruises and injuries than he remembered.
Issei let his shoulders drop and a smile form on his lips.
"As-oof!"
A blonde blur collided with his gut and almost launched him to the ground, he staggered and managed to catch himself, dropping his hands to her shoulders and keeping her from utterly flying into him, it was only a moment later that a green hue surrounded the pair of them and he felt the bruises from earlier start to fade away.
"You're alright." He breathed out in relief, looking up and towards the face of everyone else. "Buchou! You as well-"
He stopped and noticed something, his brows furrowed as the girl slid to a halt right in front of him.
Her own expression twisted. "Gasper is still missing…and Akeno is unaccounted for but I was told by one of the Angels that a search party went out to look for her…headed by…"
There was a pause before her shoulders dropped. "Romani…"
Issei blinked, then sharply turned his head to the barrier which surrounded them, which now had dozens of different races keeping it active, then whipped his eyes back to Buchou and widened them.
Gasper and Akeno were missing?
Romani went out to find them?
"A-Alone?"
"No." Rias did look somewhat relieved at the next part. "He has help. I'm told that the exorcist girl who is now an Angel went with him along with another Fallen. So long as they avoid trouble I'm sure they'll be alright…I was worried about you all things considered but…I see that Onii-sama found you."
"Yeah…" Issei shuffled a moment and dropped a hand atop Asia's head. "He's fighting the other guy right now so…"
Quickly shaking off his worry, because there was no way Sirzechs would lose against that guy, Issei brought his head up high and looked towards Rias. "Gasper! We need to go and find Gasper and-"
His words cut off as Rias closed the distance and dropped a hand to his shoulder. "We will do that as soon as you're healed up and ready to move out. Sona and her peerage were retrieved by Onii-sama and are helping out with the others he was able to rescue but the total number is…"
The cut off in her words left behind a foreboding silence.
"My…" Issei swallowed, his throat going dry. "My parents…"
She said the number was probably small, he couldn't see that many people and most of them were from the school.
Katase was here, as were her parents.
So it would make sense that his were here too, right?
Rias face softened. "Of course, they were among the first Onii-sama brought back."
Turning, she jerked her head. "Come on. They'll be relieved to see that you're-"
He felt it before he heard it.
It just clicked in the top of his head.
His left arm suddenly itched and burned, a sensation like something wrapped around his neck and then pulled upwards. Issei did not even think to question it before he did just that, swinging his head back and throwing his gaze straight up, he stared and watched as everything just moved in slow motion.
The dome above their heads, the barrier which kept out the fighting.
He watched the light just fall into it.
And not even a second later, the barrier shattered like thin glass and the light kept pushing, it accelerated straight down and plunged to the earth before he could utter a single noise, before even a single person could react.
The blast front stumbled him backwards, his hands dropped to Asia and turned her about, sweeping himself in front of her and leaning forwards, gritting his teeth and bracing his body.
But it wasn't that strong.
No greater than a gust of wind.
His head snapped up as the smoke was just brushed aside with an echoing breath.
Then he froze solid.
Instinctively he knew what it was, he knew who that was. There was no way it could have been anything else.
Polished silver metal covered their entire body, bulky and plated, gems of sapphire blue fitted to the shoulders and the knees and where the eyes would have been he could see the glowing gems lock onto him, the swings of scattering blue motes twisted and brushed aside, flexing out as far as they could from the owner.
But his mind couldn't make sense of it.
Yet that was not what had him freeze up.
Directly in front of Vali, lying on their hands and knees, were unmistakable faces.
His parents.
"I would apologise for doing this so suddenly." Vali's voice boomed out across the small expanse, yet it was not even a shout. It was merely that he felt the words reverberate through his body as an armoured hand was raised up, a finger curled and then pointed towards him. "But I would hate to see you lose momentum before I've managed to get some punches in."
Issei just stared at him, pulling away from Asia and keeping himself as silent as he dared.
But he could feel his heart beating faster and faster, looking between Vali and his parents, then glancing across to where the others were frantically trying to repair the barrier he had just shattered.
"What is the meaning of-"
The rest of the words were cut short by a flash of light, Issei jerked and swung his head to the speaker.
Or what remained of them.
A streak of blue vapourized their head before the rest of their sentence could be uttered, the eyes were drawn to the falling body, the corpse of the Fallen slumping to the ground like a puppet without strings.
Then eyes turned to Vali.
Who stood with a hand outstretched in the direction of the speaker, without even having turned his head.
"I'd rather concern myself only with the Red Dragon Emperor right now. I'm sure the rest of you are smart enough not to stand in my way."
A single beat passed, then the arm dropped down.
"Or not. Come at me one at a time or all at once. It wouldn't make any difference."
This was…
What…?
Surely he wouldn't do all this now?!
Issei stepped past Asia and rolled his jaw. "...What the hell are you doing?"
Vali angled his head and made a noise, one that made it clear he was just smirking under that helmet of his. "I would have thought that was obvious. Then again, there is quite a lot happening right now so perhaps you're not quite caught up. So I'll spell it out for you very simply, Hyoudou Issei."
Raising his hand, the teen dropped a single finger against his chest.
"I have no interest in this peace conference and never did. Though certainly more explosive than I anticipated, this was always the outcome I expected to happen."
Issei went ramrod straight.
What?
What did he just-?
"You-!" He took another step forwards, raising his hand and pointing towards him. "You did this?!"
With trembling shoulders, Vali shook his head. "Hahaha! No, not all of it. Frankly, I was as shocked as anyone when the Angelic Boogeyman dropped out of the sky but it got my blood pumping. Especially seeing how strong their leader was…but I was aware that an interruption was planned. I had intended to use it to fight Azazel directly but he seems a bit occupied at the moment…"
He stopped, then shrugged his shoulders almost as an afterthought.
"And your showing against that Dragon Slayer just now was a bit more interesting."
Issei grit his teeth and glanced down to his parents who by now had turned and looked in his direction, he tried for a smile to reassure them and utterly failed, looking back up and hardening his face.
"Fine. Whatever. Just get away from-"
Vali raised a single finger.
"See. That's the thing. I'd all but written you off and while you were certainly losing against the Dragon Slayer I did notice something curious. It seemed as though your power rose with…shall we say…anger? That last attack was rather…well…"
He dropped the hand and just waved it towards him up and down.
"Pitiful for anyone else but I suppose it at least showed you have some battle smarts about you so…I was just thinking. What if you're missing the right incentive for fighting me? What if you could be a semi-decent rival but you just lack the motivation for actually trying to fight me?"
Issei suddenly felt himself go numb, the proximity between Vali and his parents giving him rather ominous feelings.
Terrible feelings.
He took another step forwards.
"Move away."
Vali chuckled. "I haven't even done anything and you're already getting angry, so it seems to be working. Sacred Gears become more intune with the emotions of their wielder, much is true for Albion and myself so for you…what if you experienced something so awful? What if I personally did something to you?"
The silver hand slowly drifted down and opened up, bright blue light dancing between the fingers as it was aimed right towards his mother.
"Get the fuck back!" Issei all but snarled as he stomped forwards and stopped at the twitch of the light and the snort from Vali. "You-you get the fuck away from them or I swear-"
Vali chuckled. "See? Progress already…but hearing you bark is starting to bore me, Hyoudou Issei. I'm far more curious to see if you have any bite. Not that I expect much from you now but perhaps later? Perhaps once you've trained yourself to your peak in the hope of getting revenge?"
The light brightened.
"Perhaps you'll be worth a fight then."
"You-!"
"Issei!" He stopped at the shout, he and Vali swung down.
His mother looked back at him with a smile that she really shouldn't have.
She always smiled like that.
"Everything is going to be fine, alright?"
No it wasn't.
"It's fine."
It wasn't.
"That's right." His father nodded his head, voice shaking slightly. "Listen to your mother. She's always right about these things."
Not now.
She's not right about this.
"Issei." His eyes drifted to his mother once again, that smile was awful. "I…I…I love you. We both do…"
He loved them too.
"I-" The words caught in his throat, if he spoke them out loud.
If he said anything.
…He was worried he'd never get to say them again.
His eyes locked onto Vali and he glared at him.
"You'll be just fine." It was a declaration, Issei meant it. "Everything will be fine."
Vali met him with silence.
The light around his fingers vanished.
"Prove it then."
Issei barely had a moment of silence.
Vali just disappeared from behind his parents, but he saw their expressions transition in slow motion, the widening of their eyes and the horror slowly creeping onto their faces as they saw something right behind him.
He could feel it.
The hair on the back of his neck rising up.
Issei lunged forwards and turned, his neck creaked as it twisted about and then he saw it.
Vali's fist rocketed right towards his head, so large that it just engulfed his entire field of view.
It was going to hit.
There was no avoiding that.
He was too slow and by the time he'd turned around it was practically touching his nose.
It was going to hit.
Ddraig!
[Balance Breaker!]
It snapped over him in an instant, adorning his body in a tight plate, his vision obscured with a green tint as the fist closed in.
But he knew he'd never keep it up, because he just wasn't strong enough for that.
But he didn't need to be strong enough to make it last.
He needed it long enough to kick this guy's ass.
[10]
Half his vision was shorn away in the instant the fist collided with him, his head twisted with the force of the punch and his eyes split, caught between the green tint of his left eye and the flashing colours of the right, the pressure of the helmet all but vanished on that side as it was torn away.
His feet pulled off the ground and he felt himself go airborne.
But Vali was still moving, the blur of silver launched itself in front of him and he saw the knee flying up.
He was too slow.
It felt like he was just stuck as the knee drove itself up into his gut.
The kick felt like molten fire, his gut burned and his organs felt like they turned to jelly as he was launched upwards into the air, the thunderclap came not even a second later as he cleared well over a hundred metres in a mere blink of an eye. Or so he assumed as he just watched the ground fly away from him and all the people turn to barely visible blobs.
That was…
"So slow."
Issei twisted over and raised his arms, it was the only thing he could think of, the guard protecting his face.
A fist smashed into the side of his forearms, Issei grunted as the backhand from Vali ripped his guard open in a moment, his eyes flying wide as the fist entered his field of vision once again and accelerated for his exposed face.
"Shi-"
If there was ever a feeling of being hit in the head with a hammer but not being knocked out, then this was that feeling.
Everything flashed white, his eye snapped shut and he felt a scream pull away from him, his body jerked and moved without his permission and he flailed around, left eye shooting wide as everything just tumbled around beside him, flicking about and sweeping out his legs and arms to balance himself.
He turned, arms wide either side.
But his right eye refused to open and he could not feel much.
He didn't know if that was a blessing or a curse.
[9]
…Seriously?
He felt like he was seconds away from being killed.
His head swung about and looked up, Vali loomed on high with arms crossed.
It felt like his guts just dropped into his trousers.
All that took…was one countdown?
"You're boring me, Hyoudou." Vali sounded almost offended. "After you declared so passionately to your mother you would keep her safe. Is this meagre effort all her love is worth to-"
Words were cut short with a metal clang.
Issei's fist was trapped in Vali's palm, his arm trembling as he tried to force it further towards the helmet. Both eyes wide and unblinking, though his right held a red tinge about it now.
"Better."
Vali's smirk was audible.
Then Issei felt his chest explode with agony as Vali slammed a kick into him.