Chapter 21
DxD Universe-1 - Base (mansion) of Issei´s team
"How long do you think it will take?" Asia asked.
"I´m not sure either," Raynare replied.
They had just arrived back home at their base and nearly instantly send a message to the other Guardians.
As it turned out they only had to wait a few minutes for a response.
It came in the form of a telepathic call.
"We received your message." It was Darien.
And he was calling them right out of the middle of a battle, they realized a moment later.
As he was speaking to their minds with his own, they could see small bits what was going on around him, practically through his eyes. And this small bit were already more than enough.
It was literally a world shattering battle. One that shocked and frightened even them, even after all they had seen.
And it lowered their hopes somewhat that the others would be able to spare time to help them.
xxx
Many of the most powerful Elder Guardians and the Lords of the Dark Order, along with several of the more powerful other members of both sides were fighting each other in some system, somewhere in some universe.
They saw glympses of scenes of several powerful entities of both sides fighting each other.
The battle stretched over nearly the entire star system, spread over three planets and in the space between.
On the planet Darien was standing on, he was facing the Dark Order Lord named Thanos.
In some distance to them there were two large dragon-like beings that were clashing in the air. The entire landscape around them was long turned to a giant field of ash.
In space above them, the two Lords Faust and Thenis were right now fighting against Jean Grey and her clone Madelyne - both using the power of the Phoenix Force and the Sorcerer Doctor Strange.
The entire sky was literally on fire.
Further away, on the next neighboring planet, Kal El - a.k.a Superman - was fighting the Lord named En Sabah Nur (or Apocalypse as he was also called)
... and Jean´s and Madelyne´s X-Men teammate Rogue with another powerful being they could not identity.
On the third planet the version of Dracula a.k.a Alucard, who was on their side, was currently fighting his own counterpart who was one of the Lords of the Dark Order. Both of them seemed to have their full powers unleashed.
It seemed like two hundreds of kilometer wide clouds of black energy clashing with each other. While both Draculas had manifested multiple bodies that were fighting each other and also monsters and familiars formed out of the black energy that were constantly appearing and destroying each other.
In some distance to her Master ALucard´s Vampire fledling Seras was fighting a small group of other powerful vampires that were on the side of the Dark Order.
If there had ever been any kind of life on any of this three planets, it had long been wiped out by now as a result of the clashing forces.
xxx
In space between this planets two fleets of spaceships were firing at each other. Through Darien, they could practically `see´ the ships in orbit above them and even sense of of the the people inside. They could for example sense the presence of a few other members of the X-men team like Scot and Logan, the super-soldier Steve Rogers and others they knew.
In this moment Thanos was telekinetically using his powers to pull a moon close by in the system and trying to throw it at the spaceships in space above them that belonged to the Guardians...
... and Darien interfering with his own telekinetic and telepathic powers to stop him from doing it...
... and the moon crumbled into dust instead.
xxx
Back home
While they had seen all this, Raynare, Rias and the others had actually not moved one centimeter and were still standing at the same place in their base.
It took them a moment to get their senses back together after what they had just seen.
They mentally send Darien a short resume of what had happened and their current situation though their memories.
They were careful however, trying not to accidentally distract him at a critical moment.
"I see," Darien replied in their minds. "We will try to send you help. I think at least one of us should be able to..."
"I will go," they suddenly heard another voice in their minds.
xxxxxxx
DxD Universe-23 - Europe, Italy - the Vatican
Practically all of the Japan of this world had just been wiped out, Issei had sensed.
And with that millions of humans who had still lived there and a significant part of the Devil race of this reality, who had been held there as slaves.
But it had also been the center of the Erebos Empire on this planet. An Empire that now should been pretty much decimated and thrown into chaos.
This should have been a good thing, but they had only been replaced by an even bigger threat.
Issei knew that Darkseid had just attempted to open a portal or a rift between the universes, a giantic one. And as Raynare, Rias and the others had found out in their spy-mission, it had been part of a planned greater project.
But whatever Darkseid had planned however, something must had gone wrong... terrible wrong.
Should he had staid and fought him after all? Issei asked himself.
But the fallout of such a fight would have most likely caused a similar disaster like this one... at least.
There was no point in asking that question now.
Issei tried to concentrate on the people he could save... and that meant in this moment moving as many people away from this planet as he could. Before something else happened.
And that might already be the case. On the other side of the planet, at the epicenter of the disaster that just happened, he sensed a change.
A change in the same being that caused it.
Issei had already sensed it during their last meeting, the creature called Darkseid was unstable... and now whatever strings that had still been holding his mind together had broken.
He just watched how the last of a group of people disappeared into a dimensional portal that he had formed. And he was already ready to open the next one.
Evacuating people to a parallel world - were they overreacting?
The terrifying presence on the other side of the planet clearly told him no.
xxxxxxx
The burned wasteland of Japan
Darkseid/Vali - whoever he was - was regaining some of his senses.
He looked around. What had he done?
Well, it did not matter. He had done worse. Both as Darkseid... and as Leader of the Devil Hunters, if he was honest. He reminded `himself´ that he and his team were complicit and the destruction of an entire Underworld not long ago.
But what did matter was that he had just wiped out the heart of his new improvised `Empire´.
Of course the Erebos Demons were only a mean to the end. But it had been means to build up a new powerbase and bring back a new Apocolypse.
Which had now failed. Of course given the presence he had sensed at the other side of the portal, this was possibly a good thing.
No! It suddenly shouted through his mind. He was not afraid of this being. He was not.
He reached out with his mind up into the sky. Trying to rip open another dimensional portal. This time without assistance, only with his own power.
The structure of space and time was bending under his will. His power created an enormous gravity-veil, that in turn formed an opening in time and space.
What was he doing? he thought.
The portal he was just creating was unstable and too close. He realized this only now.
It would throw this planet here out of it´s orbit and rip it apart. And he would still not succeed in forming a portal that would actually be able to bring this new Apocolypse here. So it would be for nothing.
He just stopped himself. He nearly instinctively tried to draw back and dissolve the energy. And tried to return the structure of space back to normal at the same time.
Suddenly it was as if something was screaming at him inside his own head.
Yes - of course, he needed to use the released energy to normalize the space-time first, before dissolving it. What was he thinking?
But it was too late.
He once again lost control. Instead of disappearing the halfway formed dimensional portal caused a violent explosion of both physical and supernatural energies, before it collapsed into itself leaving a small singularity.
The shockwave of the explosion he had just caused would hit Earth in a few minutes. And he had just created a miniature black hole in the close proximinity. At the same time another part of him asked why he should even care if this planet got destroyed.
He let himself sink to his knees and began to laugh madly.
Inside his head different voices were shouting - voices that sounded like Vali Lucifer, Emperor Dagon and even the original Darkseid.
Who was he? Did it even matter?
Yes - he was power plain and simple. He was destruction and entropy given form. He would give order to this universe... by burning every world in it down.
xxxxxxx
At the border of Japan
The two members of the Devil Hunters Kuroka and Koneko had just avoided the explosion that had destroyed the entire country.
"What do we do now?" Koneko asked her sister.
That was a good question. Was there even anyone still alive they could turn to and trust?
"Vali is lost," Kuroka admitted resigned, more to herself than to Koneko. She saw the grief in her expression.
"We don´t know if any of the Highlords is still alive either. And we are not able to leave this world on our own either. So I guess the best thing we can do... is go to the other Factions."
"But will they accept us?" Koneko questioned.
"We can not tell for sure. They should not know much about the Devil Hunters anyway, since we worked mostly in other worlds, aside that our team exists of course." Kuroka stated.
"And that we work for their enemies," Koneko commented.
"Yes. But one thing is sure, now that Vali had turned into this... monster, they will probably need any ally they can get."
They were not the only ones who had similar thoughts.
xxxxxxx
Underworld - DxD Universe-23
The two Demon Highlords Pazuzu and Ninlil had transported themselves directly into the Underworld. Switching dimensions was the safer way to escape the explosion after all.
The Fallen Angel Leader Gabriel had the same idea as them, they realized.
They sensed her close by and she was coming closer. She appeared a few moments later, flying towards them, with all her twelve wings materialized.
"I see you two have made it as well," Gabriel addressed them. "Not surprisingly. You two were always not only powerful, but also some of the most crafty."
"Well, that says the right one," Ninlil replied. "After all you did the same thing as we did. And..." She just seemed to realize the full implications of what just happened.
"That explosion had been strong enough to destroy not only our Capital, but most of our territory on Earth. We got barely away, but all the others did not. That means most of our people there are dead. This is a disaster."
"Well, to be honest most of them were your people," Gabriel replied. "Most of the Fallen Angels are in the Underworld. I guess that means that the ballance in our alliance is shifting."
"You worry about that now," Ninlil exclaimed. "A great part of our population is dead. Not only that, most of our army as in Japan. Our entire alliance is weakened like never before. Our enemies could destroy us now. And Darkseid..." her voice became quieter
"... you two felt it as well, didn´t you?"
"Yes - Darkseid has become unstable," Pazuzu said. "I guess that should not surprise us after what had happened when he possessed his `new body´. But we just did not want to see it," he admitted.
"It is not as if we could have done much to stop him anyway. He is more powerful than we all put together. We were at his mercy from the moment he regained his power and took a new body."
"Well, maybe you should have thought about this before you helped him regain his strength and take a new body in the first place - or rather the late Emperor Dagon should have."
Gabriel was not alone, they realized. A group of other Fallen Angels had just appeared close by, very powerful ones. They had obviously noticed Gabriel´s and their own magical energies and teleported here.
"You supported that plan," Pazuzu reminded her.
"I went along with it because I had no choice," Gabriel responded. "Dagon had made up his mind and we Fallen were not strong enough to go against your people. Unless we wanted to risk getting enslaved like the Devils. We were not strong enough. But now it seems our alliance will be on a more equal basis."
"You spend thousands of years spreading your legs for the Emperor," Ninlil repeated heatedly, "and now that he is gone, you suddenly say you had `no choice´. At least a quarter of our population is probably dead and the greatest part of our military.
And that while we have enemies at our borders and an uncontrallable Super Being running around inside our territory. And you all you think about is making a powerplay?" she yelled.
"I guess you understand how the Devils had felt the entire time right now," Gabriel replied.
That comment hit the mark. Both of the Demon Lords grimaced.
"This filthy halfbreeds had rebelled and stolen the Underworld from us..." Ninlil begann.
"Oh - that story again," Gabriel retorted. "Seriously, aren´t we Demons pitiful? Our slaves had rebelled against us and kicked us out of the Underworld... because we had grown too fat and arrogant to control them. I don´t know how often I have heard it. For all your supposed power, you Demons seem to whine all the time over something that happened thousands of years ago.
Dagon sometimes even talked about it when we were in bed together, hell - I think he even mentioned it once while we were having sex."
"You bitch," Ninlil growled.
Gabriel simply continued, not impressed by her insult at all...
"It is because of your people that the Devils even exist in the first plance and we and all the other Factions had trouble with them for centuries," she reminded them.
"It had been then your people´s decision to turn them into a servant-race and exploit them. And then you were so weak to allow them to overthrow you. Still you act like you were the victims in this story and can not shut up about it?"
"Who do you think you are talking to?" Ninlil exclaimed.
"Someone who as you just said had just lost at least a quarter of their population and the greatest part of their military," Gabriel replied, using Ninlil own words, "and that means my people do not longer have to grovel before yours."
In this moment the other Fallen Angels who had just teleported in earlier showed themselves behind them. One of them was Baraquiel. The others were three High-Class Fallen.
The chance of even two Demon Highlords like them defeating Gabriel and this group here together was more than slimm. It was really not an good idea to start a fight with them, for more than one reason.
"Enough of that you two," Pazuzu interrupted them. "We have other problems than going against each other now. The question is what do we do? Darkseid could appear any moment and cause the same destruction here he did on Earth.
I am sure you agree with me Baraquiel." He addressed the Fallen Angel Cadre, who was generally known to be more level-headed and down to Earth than Gabriel.
"Lord Pazuzu has a point," he simply replied.
"Baraquiel - how good to see you again," Gabriel addressed him.
"Lady Gabriel," he greeted her. "I only wished the circumstances were better. What do you intent to do about the disaster on Earth?"
"We will see," Gabriel replied. "By the way, did you know that your daughter is part of the Resistance?"
Baraquiel stiffened. Akeno had been found out.
Pazuzu and Ninlil looked at him as well. This detail was new to them. Neither Gabriel or Darkseid had informed them about it before.
"But like you said Lord Pazuzu, we have far more important problems right now," Gabriel continued. "So we should deal with this matter another time."
"Right," Pazuzu replied. "The Fallen Angel Resistance should be the last of our worries right now. We will deal with this later," he said, looking straight at Baraquiel.
This meant simply they would deal with Akeno later and investigate him as well, Baraquile knew. That meant of course if any of them were still alive later.
"So what do you suggest we do?" Gabriel asked Pazuzu.
"As much as I hate to admit it, the insane Super Being that we recently called our Emperor is obviously the greatest threat to us. So we should consider contacting the Church and Heaven... and ask for an armistance."
"You can not be serious," Ninlil said. "What makes you even think they would accept that? They would now have the perfect chance to destroy us."
"Because Darkseid is just as much a threat to them as to us," Pazuzu replied.
In the next moment, it was nearly as if his words were being confirmed by what was happening.
They all sensed that Darkseid had also appeared here in the Underworld.
xxxxxxx
DxD Universe-23 - Earth - the Vatican
Issei was standing on a street close to the Saint Peter´s Cathedral. The street, just as the neighboring ones and the entire district was crowded with countless thousands of people who had heard the Church´s call after the disaster.
Issei had just send another group consisting of a few Church officials, members of the Swiss-guard and a few Exorcists and over 900 normal civilians of the town Rome through a portal to the world they had chosen as their refuge.
This was the 27th portal he had opened by now... nearly 70.000 people. And he was not nearly finished.
His old self would have already been exhausted by now. But the change in him through taking the `final step´ had also increased his reserves. And regenerating himself from damage and fatique, something that actually required effort and energy before, was coming to him completely natural now.
So he had no intention to stop anytime soon.
But it was still going far too slow. Giving this speed it would take at least the entire day to evacuate the population of Rome alone.
Technically he was capable of opening multiple portals at once. Issei had in fact kept two at once open for the most time and let people pass through both of them. But never more than two.
The higher the number of them he created at once, the more concentration did it require to keep them open and stable for an extended time. And he did not want to take the risk of the portals becoming unstable and accidentally killing the people he was trying to save. By for example having them collapse while they were passing through or sending them to the wrong place, like to the wrong reality or into open space.
That was also the reason he did not simply keep the same portals opened the entire time. Whenever he felt his concentration slipping or the energy fluctuating, he closed them for a few moments and opened new ones afterwards. His energy might be practically inexhaustable no, his concentration was not.
For a moment it had crossed Issei´s mind to just manipulate time. To form a space-`bubble´ around this district or maybe the entire town of Rome, where time flows faster than for the rest of the world, to give them more time.
But then he realized that it would be impossible to create and hold open a stable interdimensional portal when time flows differently at both ends.
In this moment the Archangel Michael of this world appeared flying above the street and landing before him.
"Hyoudou-dono," he greeted him, "You should know we have contacted the Hindu Faction. They want to try to send people off world too. Shiva has actually said that he wants to learn your method to open interdimensional portals."
"Sadly this is not a technique that you can learn in one day," Issei replied. "It took myself over a year to create a save one."
"I thought so as well. Otherwise I would have already asked you to teach me myself," Michael-23 responded. "But that is not the only reason I am here. I want to tell you that we just received another couple of visitors. One that will probably interest you."
"Since it are clearly not my friends who have returned with help, I would have noticed that even if I am fully focussed here. So who is it?" Issei asked.
"Two members of the group called the Devil Hunters - Kuroka and Koneko Touchi. They are asking for asylum."
This actually caused Issei to pause for a moment.
"I see," he said. "I guess that is not all too surprising after what had happened with Darkseid and their version of Vali. They do not happen to have one of the devices with them that the Demons use to open portals?" he asked.
"Sadly no," Michael-23 replied. "We have also asked them this as well. But by what they said the Demons only gave them access to them when they were out on mission."
"Of course, I guess that should not surprise us as well," Issei commented. "What are you doing with them?"
"To be honest, we are not quite sure," Michael admitted. "They are part of a group of dangerous enemies. And by the information you gave us they have commited terrible crimes for the Demons, even if it has not been in our world," he stated.
"But they are also both powerful beings and we need any help we can get in our situation. That is at least what they said to our men when they arrived here. Technically they are not wrong," Michael admitted.
"Honestly, we and the Church have other questionable people working for us."
The same as the Church in his world, Issei thought. He remembered people like Freed Selzen, Valper Galilei and others.
"So we would be hypocrites," Michael continued, "if we rejected them just because `they are evil´ or `they have commited crimes´. Even if it was never to this extend. By what you told us they have helped the Demons invade entire worlds."
"I see," Issei responded.
"But aside from that we can´t trust them, I would doubt that two more Ultimate Class beings would even make a difference against what we are facing," Michael added.
"I would guess not," Issei said. "You know, maybe for now you can just send them to me. They might be able to do anything to assist me here."
He was looking at the crowds of people that were waiting around them.
"And if they are planning anything shady, I will sense it instantly."
xxxxxxx
The Underworld
Darkseid/Vali appeared levitating in the air above the largest Demon city in the Underworld.
He raised his right hand and instantly a large wave of Omega Beams formed in the air and moved over the place, eradicating everything... and everyone in their path.
Many of the Demons and a few Fallen Angels who also lived in the city fled in panic as they saw what happened. Some got away, while other were caught up by the Omega Beams and wiped out.
A few moments later, over half of the city did not longer exist.
"Order... death," Darkseid said absend-mindedly. "Order born from destruction."
He raised his arms once more... and high in the sky above him, in a close orbit, another rift in space was opening.
A rift that was opening at the same time in the Underworld and Earth and was connecting both dimensions with each other.
xxxxxxx
Back in the Vatican, Issei could sense it instantly.
xxxxxxx
And so could the two Demon Lords Pazuzu and Ninlil and the Fallen Angels with them and countless other beings here in the Underworld.
"No," Ninlil said.
"What has he done?" Pazuzu stated quietly.
"This can not be true," Gabriel said as well shocked and terrified.
Darkseid - or whatever this being had become has just opened a connection between the Underworld and Earth, one that was unstable and was widening quickly.
"I think your idea of contacting our enemies and call for a truce is not bad," Baraquiel told Pazuzu with some sarcasm.
Of course, Baraquiel was sectretly the leader of the Fallen Angel resistance. Or not longer so secretly now, since Akeno had been exposed and it would not be a great leap to come from her to her father. And `their enemies´ had been his secret allies all along.
So he found it a good idea for more than just one reason to contact them in this situation.
xxxxxxx
Vatican
Issei had just sensed what had happened.
"I feared something like this," he said.
Michael and Azazel-23, two of their Angel guards and the Devil Hunters Kuroka and Koneko, who they had brought there sensed it as well.
All of them were looking shocked.
"That - that is...?" Koneko asked.
"A rift in space that someone has ripped open," Michael stated. "By what I sense, it seems to be a rift connecting this realm and the Underworld. I think you can guess who is most likely responsible."
"Vali," Kuroka said, "or rather this monster that he has become."
"It is worse," Issei told them. "It shows no sign of of closing. The opposite actually, the rift seems to be widening and there are no sign of stopping."
"He is right," Azazel said after a moment.
"Widening?" Michael repeated. "But that means..."
"As I see it, it the rift is not somehow stabilized," Azazel stated, "Earth and the Underworld might collide, completely destroying both. Maybe even Heaven could be destroyed as well."
"We have to get as many people as possible away from here," Michael said.
"I am trying my best," Issei responded.
This time he took the risk and opened three portals at the same time. With Issei holding an iron-grip on his own mind the entire time, concentrating to keep all three portals functional the entire time.
People were streaming through them in the hundreds. Together with another group of Church Warriors and Angels.
Of course it was still far from enough. Despite the century long supernatural wars, there still lived billions of people on this Earth. Too many even for him to transport in a short time.
"You two," Issei said to the two Devil Hunters Kuroka and Koneko, "do everything you can to help with the evacuation. And don´t think that anyone of us trusts you. We are keeping an eye on you."
"Yes."
"Yes," both of them said nervously. It was more than clear that Hyoudou was quite on the edge.
He could turn back time, Issei considered for a moment. For a few hours. But doing that for the entire planet would be difficult even for him.
It would also not effect Darkseid or any of the other most powerful supernatural beings here. And he was pretty sure that it would not affect the rift that Darkseid had just ripped into the space of this world either. If he turned back time, the rift would most likely transported back into the past and might become even more destabilized.
So if he tried it would not affect the source of the problem and might even end up making the situation worse.
It seemed that despite his now even far greater power, there were still things he could not do. Or maybe he just did not know how to use them effectively, he thought.
What else could he do? Issei was rattling his mind. An idea was coming to him.
In the same moment a small magic communication-circle appeared beside Michael in the air.
The Vatican had meanwhile gotten another call.
"Lord Michael - we just received a message," the voice of the Archangel Raphael was to hear. "It came from the Underworld. It came from the Demon Lords and Gabriel. They are asking us for an armistance."
"What?" he said one moment later.
"I understand."
What he had just been told was something else that should not surprise them given the situation.
"Tell them one thing," Michael said, "their dimension-travel technology. If they want a meeting, they should bring a few of their devices of it with them."
"Understand," Raphael replied.
They ended the communication and the small circle disappeared.
Issei had just closed the three portal, after a few hundred more people had passed through.
"Michael," he said, "I want to try something."
"And what?" Michael asked.
Issei raised his hands and he was reaching out with his powers. Like he had thought before, he formed a space-`bubble´, around the entire town. But instead of moving it back in time, he did something else.
He imagined the interdimensional coordinates of the universe they were evacuating the people to. It´s `place´ in the Multiverse... and was transfering the entire `bubble´ to it. Or at least he tried.
So far he had imagined the other universes as another place far away to reach, when he formed the interdimensional portals. But the parallel universes of the Multiverse existed next to each other on different `planes´ inside the hyperspace, inside the void. Their particles vibrating in different measures.
Issei was using the ground-principle of the phasing-technique, just going a few steps further. He was `phasing´ the space-bubble - with the entire town inside and it´s millions of citizens - out of phase with the universe they were in and move it through hyperspace to the one were trying to reach.
And it was working, it was moving.
Issei felt like his head was going to explode. He felt how the energy was drained out of him.
But he held himself together. He knew if he made one mistake now, everyone would die... everyone but him, the Seraphs and maybe a few others.
"What are you doing Hyoudou?" Michael-23 asked him in awe.
He Azazel and the other Angels present were starring at Issei in absolute shock. They could just not believe what was happening.
xxx
A minute later it was done.
The entire town of rome had disappeared from the Earth of DxD Universe-2... and appeared on the unpopulated Earth they were evacuating to.
Just a few kilometers away from the gathering place of the people Issei had already send off world in the few hours before. The ten-tousands of refugees, civilians, priests, warriors and Angels alike were starring in similar shock and disbelief at the place where their hometown had just appeared.
xxx
And inside the town in the Vatican area, Issei was lying on his knees in front of Michael, Azazel and the others. His head hurt like never before and he was completely exhausted.
"Unbelievable," one of the Angels said.
"Thank you," Michael and Azazel both told Issei.
xxxxxxx
DxD Universe-23 - a short time later
The two Demon Highlords Pazuzu and Ninlil and the Fallen Angel Leaders Gabriel and Baraquiel were (for the umpteenth time today) seeing something that they just could not believe.
They and the two Fallen Angel guards they had brought along could only starre at the empty area where the town Rome had been before.
"What in the world has happened here?" Ninlil asked.
They had however not much time to think about it, as one minute later a dimensional portal opened in front of them...
... and out came Raynare, Rias, Asia, Irina, Xenovia, Kiba, their version of Gabriel and the woman they knew as Specter - only that she was not wearing her typical green cloak, but instead a black battle-gear, similar to the one of Irina, Xenovia and Raynare.
Issei´s teammates too were completely looked at the place where the town used to be... and at Pazuzu, Ninlil and Gabriel.
"You," Raynare said. "Where is Issei? And all the others?"
The two Demon Lords and the Fallen Angel leaders found themselves from Issei Hyoudou´s lovers and friends to the disappeared town...
... and back.