DxD - The Last Amagiri

by HolyKnightX

Kensei Amagiri, the surviving heir to the Amagiri Clan, after losing his mother now lives on an island, where he fights for survival with his new friends. Left for dead by the Old Devils and Taro, is found by two legends who'll assist him in taking his fate back into his own hands.

48. Fighting Heroes II

Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:

altair96: Thanks. As you should since it is going to be an intense match between them.

Slimereader17: I have a good idea for Maria's Balance Breaker, which I feel fits her the most.

Evan: Here is comes.

---

Fighting Heroes II

"Dammit, be still!"

Heracles roared, making various movements and grabbing motions directed at the person that he's been fighting against. As a result of Variant Detonation, whatever he touched, the ground and buildings around him exploded violently. Whatever it came into contact with was reduced to nothing, but rubble, however, that was the issue in this instance.

"I hear that a lot, but remaining still to get exploded doesn't sound fun."

Hisui stated as she landed behind him as perfect as a cat landing on its feet.

Around them, the entire battlefield was turned into remnants of what it was. But, there wasn't the slightest hint of damage on Hisui's clothing as she moved around as if she was playing around. Since the battle started, Heracles hadn't come close to touching Hisui at all. True to her lineage, she's fast and agile like a cat, combined with all the dance-like movements she had been using.

It was, in fact, a dancing routine she added to the Nekoashi Style she invented combined with her aura sense, called Bakeneko Buyou. And it has been something she's been using to avoid all Heracles' explosions since the fight started several minutes ago.

"Avoid this!"

Heracles slammed his fist into the ground, creating a massive explosion around him, ripping apart the ground all around them. From the aftermath, there was a smoke cloud and rubble kicked up around him, obscuring most of his vision; but he realized that he stood in the middle of the crater caused by the explosion.

"Hah, I hope that one knocked some…."

"Miss me, miss me, but please don't kiss me," Heracles made an irritated look as he noticed Hisui standing at the top of the crater, then started a cat-like smile and laugh. "Because I'm a happily engaged neko, nyahaha~"

From that comment, several veins started appearing on Heracles' forehead as his muscles bulged up more than before. He tightened his fists from the frustration building up, thinking back to the previous fight that he had with Lingqi who pitied him.

"Shut up, and stop mocking me! Balance Break!"

At that roar, Heracles released his Balance Breaker, resulting in a massive, blinding light from the crater where he'd been standing. Hisui closed her eyes to protect them from the light, not that vision mattered as she could sense more than made up for simple vision loss. And at that moment, Hisui leaped backward as a missile was fired at her and exploded in the sky.

"Well, that was something."

Hisui commented before looking down to find Heracles standing there covered in an aura, which was producing a bunch of missiles. Soon enough the numerable missiles he manifested were all released at Hisui, who still looked as casual as before. Using the speed and reflexes that she has spent a long time honing, it wasn't all that difficult to avoid the missiles.

"Hmm, this is a bit difficult."

Hisui commented as she was almost caught in one of the explosions.

Although, the explosions produced from explosions, more so than conversed on one another made it more than likely that she'd get caught in it. It was then that she covered herself in touki to defend herself from the explosive force while increasing her speed at the same time.

At this point, Hisui was moving around on the battlefield and covering distance without much concern, while she left behind afterimages too. It didn't take long for Heracles to walk from the crater, where numerous missiles kept on being produced from the aura around him.

"Hahaha, I didn't get the chance to use this against that bitch! But, I doubt that you're as durable as her!"

Heracles announced, while the missiles produced annihilated the battlefield, which was a replica of the illustrious Forbidden City. Leaving this section of the once-popular and famous location, of course, a replica into nothing but smoke and rubble.

"You know, I don't think it's heroic to call a woman a bitch."

Hisui continued avoiding the explosions caused by the missiles landing on the ground, but the ground at this point would end up being too unstable to move around. After taking another step, she leaped into the air, then like; no the same as Kensei, she kicked off the air. Hisui learned Tenpo, letting her move across the air as much as the ground.

"Hahaha, escaping to the air isn't going to help either! The missiles of Detonation Mighty Comet are still going to hit whether you're on land or air!"

Heracles declared as the missiles were now being directed towards Hisui, who was kicking off the air avoiding all of them. In moving around the air, and hopping from place to place avoiding the missiles and explosions caused by them. Hisui in avoiding the missiles soon manifested numerous clones of herself created from a mixture of illusions and ki, granting them a tangible presence.

As a result of that, the missiles started altering their course in an attempt to hit their targets, triggering numerous explosions and a massive dark cloud.

"Tsk, now I can see any…huh?"

Heracles looked to find there was 'something' heading in his direction.

Shooting out from the massive dark cloud was Hisui, but she was riding on top of the missile as if it was a surfing board without triggering it.

"What the hell?!"

"There was something wrong with this product! So, I'm returning it to the sender!"

Hisui announced as she leaped off the missile, then launched it at Heracles, who clicked his tongue as a result of the building irritation. Reacting he created and aimed another one straight at it, triggering an explosion that made a massive explosion. Heracles almost covered his face from the smoke produced by the two missiles colliding against one another.

"Ugh!"

Before Heracles could react, he felt a sharp and hard kick aimed at the back of his right leg, which caused him to stumble forward. He caught himself before falling to the ground, that hit wasn't as bad as the previous punch he'd received from Lingqi. But, it didn't end there, as Hisui appeared beside him with her leg raised straight up toward the air in a perfect position, still shrouded in touki.

"Keibu!"

Hisui aimed a downward kick towards the back of Heracles' neck.

"Kuh!"

A strong impact could be felt from that position as Heracles was sent further downwards and the blood started to rush up his head. Leaping high into the air from her previous position, Hisui used the momentum from that spin, then aimed a downward hit aimed at Heracles' back.

"Uchikuda!"

From that impact, Heracles was now knocked to the ground and splintered the ground underneath them, noting a bit of ki was added into that last attack.

"If it wasn't for Ken Ken, then I wouldn't have been able to fight against a person like this."

Hisui thought leaping backward as Heracles started standing back up.

She could sense that Heracles wasn't weak in terms of physical strength, in fact, under normal circumstances it would've been almost impossible to fight for this long. However, because of the martial art training under Kensei, learning about proper body mechanics, she felt as if the sky was the limit.

"Dammit, it's going to take more than that to bring me down!"

Heracles declared, standing up from off the ground and started manifesting more missiles.

"I didn't doubt that. I don't like fighting like Ken Ken, Maria, and Zane. I just fight to keep other people from going through what we did and for those close to me," Hisui stated, before releasing a green, almost beautiful jade aura, surprising Heracles. "But, whenever I do fight, I feel like testing out the power that I inherited from my mother and what I learned from Ken Ken. Two people that I love and respect."

"This chick isn't your normal youkai."

Heracles noted as he sensed the youki and ki being emitted from Hisui at that moment. It wasn't long until both of those energies started mingling together into a single green concentrated sphere in her hands.

"She might be someone more focused on being a doctor rather than fighting. But, my mother is strong enough to be called a Daiyoukai," Hisui noted as she manipulate the sphere in her hands, then tossed it straight up into the air. As it was descending downward, she relaxed and started beginning preparations. "Here's a special move that I learned. Kikouhou!"

Once the sphere dubbed a Kikouhou landed in the right position, Hisui kicked it, launching it at high speeds over towards Heracles. Reacting to this, he summoned and released a missile toward it, resulting in an explosion, but it continued sailing forward. It maintained its speed as Heracles moved aside avoiding it, then looked at the blast that destroyed a far away building.

"Let's keep this up because this nekomata is still raring to go."

"Then bring it on!"

Heracles declared as he continued creating missiles from his balance breaker.

---

In another location, the place where both Layla and Jeanne were fighting was covered in both holy swords and ice that spread across the entire area. There were waves of ice being produced using Glacial Trident as Layla could be seen skating on them. Just as she turned the corner, something smashed through the buildings right nearby, revealing a giant dragon.

It wasn't a normal Western Dragon, instead, it was produced through Jeanne's Balance Breaker, which had been activated minutes ago. Of course, riding on top of it was its creator and master, who was giving a cheerful smile despite the situation.

"Hahaha, I never thought that I'd see someone using ice powers like that! You're a fun person, you know that?"

Jeanne announced, while her dragon roared and went in to attack Layla.

"And I didn't expect to meet someone who could create a dragon using swords," Layla replied.

Reacting at that moment, the bluenette produced an ice loop and road up it to avoid the attack. It didn't end there as Layla landed on top of the dragon, spinning around her trident then moved forward and attacked Jeanne. She produced a rapier in her hand and started countering the assault. It was surprising that despite her cheerfulness, if not playfulness, Jeanne was an adept swordswoman.

"You're quite good. This Onee-sama is impressed."

"I have one person who I refer to as an older sister. And that isn't you."

"That's so mean. Up, Dragon-chan!"

Roar! Following that command, the dragon sped up and turned around, causing Layla to fall off of its back. Layla reacted to this, she created a slide using her trident, then road down and stood in a prepared stance. Stopping in the air, the dragon turned and dove towards the bluenette. After spinning around her Glacier Trident at a quick speed, she stabbed it into the ground.

A cold air started being released from Layla's body as her sacred gear started releasing a brilliant bluish light. From the cold breath exhaled out of her mouth, she uttered two phrases.

"Balance Break."

Once that phrase was uttered, the ground around Layla was covered in ice and spikes, continuing to the point of it covering almost the entire area. In the epicenter, she stood there bluenette donned a blue armor which bore a resemblance to something a knight wears but was easier to move around in. However, the most notable change was Layla's Glacier Trident, which had a more modified shape that had draconic features.

"Oh, I'm impressed that you gained a Balance Breaker too! But, isn't it getting a bit chillier around here?"

"It's about to get colder," Layla declared as she spun around her trident as the temperature around her started to decrease more. "This is my Balance Breaker, the Glacial Knight Trident, a Sub-Species!"

From a swing from her modified trident, a blue aura was released toward Jeanne and her dragon. In reacting to it, the blonde ordered the dragon to avoid the blue slash aimed at it. It did avoid the attack, but she felt a slight chill and turned to find that the edge of her dragon's wings was frozen.

"Her attack didn't hit either of us, but parts of my Dragon-chan's wing were frozen."

Jeanne announced as she thought it'd be best to avoid them.

She looked to notice that there were ice spikes released from the ground around Layla, despite not being near the ice fields. Jeanne started commanding her dragon to avoid them, but some spikes penetrated its wings.

"Ah, my Dragon-chan!"

Jeanne screamed a bit, as her dragon started falling to the ground and forced its master to fall off. But, realizing it would be the same as entering Layla's domain, she created flaming holy swords around her that started melting the ground. Jeanne turned around to find that her dragon started being frozen over too, however, it started to break through the ice. It wasn't that alone, but the swords she produced from the ground started freezing over too.

"So, this entire area became under your control too."

Jeanne uttered out loud, but Layla didn't speak about her abilities as she started rushing forward.

Knowing that her one chance at countering was to wait for her dragon to break free and use flame holy swords at this point too. So creating a red-colored rapier in her hands, Jeanne started clashing against Layla, and both of them started releasing ice and flames from their weapons. As the two were fighting against one another, it was noted a bunch of dark thunderclouds started manifesting around "that" battlefield.

---

On "that" battlefield, both the leaders from their respective groups continued going at it, wounds could be seen on them. It wasn't surprising as the two started kicking it up a notch in their match. Differing from before, there were two more katanas sheathed a Kensei's side. He even started protecting and strengthening himself using touki, as it was kept tighter around him instead of spreading up.

It was supposed to be a more applied version of Touki, which he had been working on for some time in focusing on improving his ki control. Of course, there were moments where the spear managed to hit him, not surprising as it was a spear strong enough to pierce gods.

"Raimeiken!"

Kensei released a lightning slash from Kurogane towards Cao Cao, who had rushed at him. Reading that slash, he leaped to the side as it passed him and destroyed one of the smaller buildings.

"Hahahaha, this is fun! I didn't think that someone without a Longinus or Sacred Gear, in general, could survive a confrontation against the True Longinus for this long!"

Cao Cao looked to be enjoying this battle the more it continued.

"And I didn't think that I'd fight against the Strongest Longinus on my vacation," Kensei pulled out one of the two swords kept at his side, then he leaped towards Cao Cao. "Otatsu Hitokuchi!"

At that moment, Kensei brought down both katanas in his hand, which Cao Cao blocked with the True Longinus, causing the ground to splinter underneath him. The True Longinus wielder's attention was soon directed towards the clouds above them, now teaming with lightning.

"So, is this lighting a part of some big attack?"

Cao Cao mused as Kensei's feet touched the ground again.

"Let's find out."

"Huh?"

Cao Cao was confused for a moment as he was sent backward without Kensei showing any signs of movement at all. It's as if an invisible pressure had sent him flying, but he tried recovering from the invisible assault, as his opponent started making preparations for the next assault.

"Since last year, I got a better handle about what it takes to use Telekinesis," Kensei thought, as he realized that it took spiritual power rather than ki to use it to the fullest. He then got into a strong position as he held Kurogane using both hands as lightning was infused inside of it and gathering from above him too. "Tougen Amagiri-ryuu Ougi…."

A mass of lightning started forming into a sphere, which started increasing in size; more so, as a massive amount of lightning was released downwards on top of it. He manifested an enormous lightning sphere, that continued to release sparks of lightning. This could be the completed version of the technique that he previously learned from the Amagiri-ryuu and added to his Tougen Amagiri-ryuu.

"…Shin Raimeiken!"

Kensei released the enormous lightning sphere toward Cao Cao, who managed to recover from the telekinetic hold. But, he looked up to find that it was too late to avoid the lightning sphere that was speeding towards him at a faster pace.

"Heh, this is an attack worth being called a secret technique. I doubt a High-Class Devil wouldn't be erased if they took a direct hit and might wound an Ultimate-Class Devil. So, this might end up putting me out of the commotion for a bit. As thanks for giving me more of a fight than I hoped, I guess that I'll use it," Cao Cao stated as he started to gasp his True Longinus much tighter. "Balance Break!"

From there, an intense light was released from Cao Cao, and soon enough Kensei's Shin Raimeiken was moved or teleported upwards. And from there, it exploded releasing a massive shockwave that could be felt by those on the ground. In noticing the change in Cao Cao; behind him, there was an intense halo of light, and seven orbs of the same shape and size floating around him.

"Whoa, I'm guessing that this is the True Longinus' Sub-Species Balance Breaker. Most of the Balance Breakers of the thirteen Longinus have been a combination of powerful and flashy. But, I never that the Balance Breaker of the strongest one would be this silent and simple," Kensei stated, feeling his instincts altering him that there was more about that Balance Breaker. But, it was more than that, he could feel that his blood was being stirred up in facing it. "I'm going to tell you that this is going to be fun."

"I thought that I'd keep it simple, this is Polar Night Longinus Chakravartine. But, to be honest, it is still a bit incomplete."

Cao Cao replied as he started getting into a prepared stance.

"I heard that one before," Kensei said as he started preparing himself in pulling out the second sword again, and prepared to pull out the third one. "Even Maria mentioned that she was still working on completing her Balance Breaker since it turned into something more than she thought. But, no doubt as a High-Tier Longinus' Balance Breaker it's going to be insanely powerful."

"As a test, I think that Cakkaratana should be first!"

At that announcement, one of the orbs vanished and appeared right in front of Kensei. In reacting to this, Kensei leaped back a bit, not knowing what it could do. The orb, Cakkaratana started to release an unknown presence, and Kensei felt the same presence being focused on the three swords he wielded.

[….]

Among them, Kensei felt Kurogane, in particular, reacting to the sudden assault originating from Cakkaratana; it felt as if something within the blade was grumbling. In the end, he managed to power through it and noticed there was some damage done to his two other katanas.

"Hahaha, surprising! I almost didn't think that you'd be capable of holding out against that one," Cao Cao said as he looked more amused than before while calling back Cakkaratana. "It's one of my sacred treasures, which can break weapons. It takes someone of considerable strength to resist it."

"Ah, so that's what that was. It explains the reason that Kurogane appears rather in a bad mood after being hit by that one. So, I'm guessing that means the other six have different abilities too."

Kensei asked as he started getting into a prepared stance while wielding both katanas as he felt Kurogane was sending him stronger signals.

"Let's see how many of them I would have to use for this fight."

Cao Cao replied, spinning around the True Longinus and rushing at Kensei.

He thrust his spear forward with great speed and precision, which Kensei avoided using impeccable reaction and footwork. Both of them continued their high-speed match of skills, the swordsman was moving all around on the battlefield using footwork and movements that resembled an Eastern Dragon. In response to this, the spearman moved around and countered fluidly.

If others witnessed the battle from the perception of those witnessing the battle, most would see the afterimages left behind in their wake. The sound of their clashing swords and spear could be heard throughout the area, being the sole sound.

"I tried sensing those seven orbs, but they're quiet to the point that I can't tell which is which. Well, the simplest things can be difficult to deal with too…and he mentioned that his Balance Breaker is still incomplete. Counting it and his skills alone, there's no doubt that he is, or could become the Strongest Human."

Kensei said, instead of being worried, he was becoming more exhilarated as the battle continued.

He moved in to slash Cao Cao using the katanas, but then one of the jewels started moving and he disappeared from that position. Feeling his ki right behind him, Kensei moved to avoid the counterattack, but Cao Cao was far faster than his attempt at avoiding it. In that, the holy spear pierced through his touki and opened a wound on his right side.

"Ugh!"

Kensei felt pain originating from that spot and moved back from Cao Cao.

It was a deep wound as blood started leaking from the cut, and Kensei started working on kneading his ki to heal and close the wound. He looked to find Cao Cao rushing at him using high-speed, where he noticed that a mass of light started being emitted from the spear.

But, as Kensei was preparing to defend against it, Cao Cao vanished again and the same present could be felt from behind him. He turned around to find that the spearman released a blast of light at him, which blasted him in the air and backward in another direction.

---

Elsewhere, Siegfried stood there now with four dragon arms, wielding all five demonic swords and the light sword in his possession. She recognized the five demonic swords: Gram, Balmung, Nothung, Dáinsleif, and Tyrfing. He had some damage on him, but he was still smiling about fighting against Maria either way.

"That's quite an interesting Balance Breaker."

Siegfried commented as he looked forward.

Maria stood there, but she wasn't alone. Around her were seven different colored draconic knights wielding their holy swords: silver knight, gold knight, purple knight, black knight, blue knight, red knight, and the green knight. None of them gave off a weak presence at all as Maria looked forward as the captain of a knight corps.

"This is my Balance Breaker, the Virtuous Dragonar Corps, a sub-species like yours. Due to certain conditions, the seven knights around me ended up looking like dragons."

Maria replied.

She didn't think that her seven knights would resemble dragons, but she realized that the cause must've been Iris herself. Dragons, powerful ones, in particular, could cause different changes in those around them under certain circumstances. As an artificial Humanoid Dragon created using cultivated genetic material from Fafnir, one of the Five Dragon Kings and multiple high-ranked dragons.

It wouldn't be odd if that was the case, considering Maria and Layla spend most of their time around Iris, whether in normal life or training. Even Layla's Sub-Species Balance Breaker gained draconic features too, as a result of Iris' influence. For Maria, instead of creating an army of knights, she creates seven knights, which represents the seven knightly virtues.

Their actions reflect Maria's knowledge, but the most notable trait was that each of the seven knight's strengths depends on her maintaining the seven knightly virtues with the purest intentions. As such, each knight can become much stronger depending on these feelings. However, as Kensei stated beforehand, her balance breaker was still incomplete and she felt there was more it could do.

"Let's see their power!"

Siegfried rushed forward at Maria and the seven knights beside her.

Maria and her knights rushed for Siegfried as the black knight was the first person to make a move, clashing with Siegfried's first demon sword, Tyrfing. It endured the brunt of the destructive power released from the sword with the silver knight moving in to assist. In response to that, Siegfried released the power of Dáinsleif, creating a big pillar of ice, blocking its path.

He followed up by releasing the power of Nothung, splitting through the ice pillar and even the space in front of it. Before the silver knight could be slain, the red knight moved in and took the brunt of that slash attack. Its sword was cracked from the slash before being blown backward. All the remaining knights started moving in to join in on the assault as Siegfried ended up facing off against the six dragon knights using his newfound six sword style.

He was releasing the power of the five demonic swords, aside from Gram without a care in the wielding as all of the six dragon knights were being dealt with. In blowing most of them backward, Siegfried was surprised that neither of the knights were destroyed yet.

"Huff, I didn't expect them to be this strong. Now how to handle the captain herself?"

Siegfried turned to find Maria propelled herself forward almost as a blur, then could barely react as a wound soon opened on his side.

"Ugh!"

He groaned as he turned to see Maria standing up after that attack, then moved to attack her from behind. But, a slash from Nothung passed through, slashing their Maria and space, however, her image seemed to fade once it sliced her. He soon realized that the thing that he cut was a vivid afterimage, and ended up sensing Maria behind him. But, then Siegfried started seeing different vivid afterimages appearing around him, then noticed that she'd created a silver-blue unique-shaped single-edged blade.

Reacting to that, he released the powers of Balmung and Tyrfing, releasing a whirlwind and destructive aura that blow apart the ground around him and the afterimages. Siegfried let a light breath escape from his mouth, before sensing Maria approaching him again at high-speed. He noticed that there was another sword in her hands, but it gave off a different feeling.

The first attack was blocked, but then received another one from the second newer sword as the dragon wielding Gram was cut off. At that moment, Siegfried felt pain originating from that dragon arm, however, it was more than what one would expect.

"T-This pain is that a Dragon Slayer?!"

Siegfried asked as the pain seemed more apparent and terrible than losing one of his dragon arms.

"Yea, I learned to create dragon slayers a year ago and mastered them in the following year," Maria said as she pointed to the holy dragon slayer, one sword that had draconic features on it. "This one is named Dragnarok."

"You're a serious talent, if anything it wouldn't be odd to state that you're superior to Jeanne when it comes to the use of Blade Blacksmith. I wouldn't be surprised if you'd end up developing a sub-species for your sacred gear in its normal state too."

"I'm planning on it too."

Maria replied as the seven dragon knights started gathering around Maria once again, while Siegfried started to recover from losing one of his dragon arms.

Just as the two were beginning to charge against one another again, there was a blast of light being fired toward a nearby building. It caused an explosion that destroyed the building top, then something, no someone ended up falling to the ground in a loud thud. Maria turned around to find out that three katanas were stabbed in the ground around the person.

"Kensei?! Are you still conscious?!"

Maria called out in an attempt to catch his attention, with a mixture of concern too.

"Ugh, yea," Kensei uttered, relieving Maria of some concern. "Damn…that was a good hit…. He charged up that last light blast before teleporting in my blindspot. Well, good thing that I protected myself using touki too."

Kensei stared straight into the manufactured sky, as blood leaked from the wounds caused by those two good hits from the True Longinus. His uniform was damaged a good deal despite being as durable as actual armor, in addition to being more resistant to normal and magic attacks. Kensei felt pain traveling across him as a result of that last blast, but it wasn't enough to keep him down.

Aside from the pain and damage, he could still keep fighting, but he started circulating ki to cause his wounds to be healed before getting back up.

"Ah, this is what it feels to fight against THE Longinus, the original one higher than even Alice's Annihilation Maker. Despite being a spear that pierced god and bathed in his blood, its balance breaker is so simple, and insanely powerful too. …it might be terrifying for someone without a Longinus, let alone a sacred gear, but I can't help having a blast," Kensei said without feeling anything that resembled fear creeping inside his mind. "I don't if it's because I have the blood of an evil dragon, though. Ah, speaking of, I could feel it getting riled up after that light blast hit me. Wait, there's something else…I can feel something within me starting to build up. …why now. Eh, I still have a bit of time left. So, I might have well attempt it now before I miss this chance."

As Kensei was deep in thought, he started using a special breathing technique he developed that mimics an Asian Dragon. He'd doing to have to thank Yu-Long for all the things he managed to create from hanging around him in the month since the two met. But, in breathing, he used senjutsu to circulate "that" power around a bit more until it started building up a bit more.

Not knowing what Kensei was doing, Maria focused her attention on Siegfried, while sending her purple knight to her downed teammate just in case.

"Hmm, I guess that Cao Cao hit him a bit too hard. I'm surprised, human or not, he did end up taking a hit from a powerful spear that pierced Jesus Christ. I kinda expected him to be damaged a bit more."

Siegfried commented as he noticed Cao Cao appearing through the use of his teleporting sacred treasure. His sub-leader was surprised that Kensei managed to push him to the point of activating Balance Breaker. Cao Cao in that instance noticed Kensei, but then looked at Maria and stared at her seven dragon knights with interest.

"Hmm, this does appear to be an interesting Balance Breaker too even for a Sub-Species. Instead of summoning an army of knights, you instead focused on seven knights. I guess this might be about the seven virtues the knights follow," Cao Cao said as if realizing that part of Maria's Balance Breaker, surprising her a bit at his analytical skills. "So, Siegfried how are you enjoying your battle?"

"She's an interesting and strong swordswoman. I'd think she could either be or is the strongest wielder of Blade Blacksmith too."

"I'd say, she even cut off one of your dragon arms it seems."

Maria looked as Cao Cao and Siegfried looked to be conversing with one another without the slightest care in the world. Instead of being worried or careful, the two looked to be having the time of their life.

"I can't tell if these two take us as serious opponents or not. It's as if they're enjoying everything and anything that happens whether good or bad."

Maria thought as she had some of her knights looking at Cao Cao in case something happened, more so as he'd turned his attention to her knights.

"For a moment I thought your balance breaker was similar to one of the abilities that I'm working on perfecting for my mind. But, it appears as if yours has an entirely different concept. It looks as if you are still thinking about whatever it'll end up becoming in the future."

Cao Cao surmised, gaining that insight from looking at Maria's balance breaker.

"Great insight, but are you sure that you should be this casual? Longinus user or not, Kensei isn't someone who would go down from an attack like that. There was a certain group of people who thought that he was dead at ten years old, and came back."

Maria stated as she turned to face Cao Cao.

"Hmm, I'd hope not. I was having a fun fight against him since we started this little match," Cao Cao commented as he rested the True Longinus on his shoulder. "As a sign of that, I even activated my Balance Breaker, which is something that I haven't done against unworthy opponents. I'm just waiting for him to get back up."

Maria could see that Cao Cao had the kind of childish confidence and curiosity while having the power and skills to back it up. She had to admit that there was as a chance that she and Zane would be struggling against Cao Cao if either of them fought him. But, she wasn't concerned as she knew whether it was a Dragon, God, or Longinus, Kensei would meet their challenge head-on.

But, she felt a sudden pulse originating from the same direction as Kensei, and her purple knight seemed to stop in response to that thought.

"Kensei, you're about done, right?"

Maria asked.

At that moment, Siegfried too started to feel a familiar presence originating from his remaining three dragons' arms, which tingled a bit.

"Ah, I'm about done. It looks as if this fight was exactly what I needed," Kensei from that position, propelled up into the air and landed on the ground. His hands were positioned beside him as he started stretching his arms. In standing up, he started feeling a different kind of power much clearer than before. "It was unexpected, but this is what it feels like."

Kensei stared at his right hand, where he noticed that there was a more black aura flicking around it. It was still a bit weak, but there was no doubt about it since it was the same kind of power he sensed from Yu-Long.

"Hmm, this feels like dragon power, but I know that you don't have a sacred gear. Hahaha, this is interesting!"

"It might be a bit different for me though. All things considered, I might call this Dragon Ki instead. It's a bit weak to use in an actual fight, but it helped me heal up and close up those serious wounds. And I'm feeling all energized right now," Kensei spoke in a more elated tone in discovering this Dragon Ki, then he noticed Gram on the ground too. "That's the Demonic Emperor Sword, Gram, right? Each time Zane talked about swords, that one came up a lot since we were kids. It made me a bit curious about it too. So…."

Extended his hand outward, facing Gram, which was still resting on the ground in front of Siegfried. Despite not using telekinesis to move it, much to Siegfried's surprise, the demon sword started inching closer to him. Before long, Gram flew over toward him and reached his hand without showing the slightest sign of rejection.

"Gram reacted to him?! And it even accepted him without rejection!"

Siegfried couldn't help his surprise, while Cao Cao looked interested in it.

It was ironic as he and the others from the Sigurd Institute were created using genetic materials from the original Siegfried. Despite all that no one until him was able to wield Gram, however, the strongest demonic sword chose someone it met for the first time. Maria looked on without being surprised by that fact.

"That's Kensei, the son of two dedicated swordsmen and walks the same path as them. His clan also earned the blessings of the gods, as a result of their dedication. So, it wouldn't be surprising that one of them included being able to wield legendary swords."

Maria explained as Kensei looked to be examining Gram in his hand, and couldn't feel a malicious aura aimed at him from it.

"So, this is the Demonic Emperor Sword. I can see the reason Zane was interested in it, the power that it's giving off is insane," Kensei said as he performed several practice swings using it as it wasn't sending any hostility towards him. "I can sense the strong curse from it too. If you're not trained right, then using Gram once would be an exhausting task. Well, members of the Amagiri Clan are resistant to curses and possession. Now, let's see."

In an instant, Kensei swung Gram at a building, releasing a destructive aura without needing to charge it up. He looked on as it split the building in two down the middle, severing it using a clean-cut, and continued splitting a couple of more buildings too.

"Phew, Gram has great sharpness and destructive power, aside from being a dragon slayer too. But, the thing that makes it a good sword is the fact I didn't need to charge it up," Kensei let out an impressed breathed and marveled at the Demonic Emperor Sword. He then turned towards Cao Cao, then he held up the demonic sword. "So, let's continue our fight."

Kensei released Sandanzuki again, releasing three simultaneous and powerful slashes towards Cao Cao, who'd blocked it using the True Longinus. However, the power behind the three slashes reached him a bit and pushed him backward a great distance. Using telekinesis, Kensei lifted the three discarded katanas, then he moved in the middle of Maria and Siegfried.

"So, you got this?"

"Of course."

"Just had to be sure."

Kensei said, then stabbed Gram into the ground near Siegfried, who looked surprised about him doing that since he relinquished the strongest demonic sword. But, then he turned around clapping his hands together, while he bowed in front of the Demonic Emperor Sword. For Siegfried, it appeared as if Kensei was in the middle of paying his respects to the demon sword.

"I heard that demonic swords have their own will. So, I'd like to thank you for complying with me for a bit, Gram. I hope that you'll find yourself being wielded in the most respectful manner possible. If not, then I hope that in the end, you'll find a host that'll do that," Kensei uttered with respect, something that caused Maria to smile. She knew that he was the kind of person who'd rather master the sword rather than a sword. "Besides, if I did take Gram. It might make Kurogane hate me a bit."

Soon enough, Kensei returned the three katanas to their scabbards, then he started rushing forward in the same direction Cao Cao was sent. In witnessing him leaving, Siegfried reached for Gram's hilt and felt that he was still acknowledged as its wielder. Thinking about the entire situation as he played out, it could've been viewed as an insult to him. But, instead—

"Hehe, hahaha."

Siegfried couldn't help laughing about what happened at that moment.

As Maria looked forward, her seven knights stood right beside her and stood there until Siegfried stopped laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Hahahaha! That person embarrassed those involved in the Sigurd Institute without intending to," Siegfried said as he continued as if mocking those who were responsible for creating clones. "It's as if he's a combination of both the first and second generation. Those people went through a lot to make someone wield Gram, and he does it without trying. He even has dragon powers, if not dragon blood without side effects too. Despite all the trouble put into creating people artificially, he's naturally what they tried reproducing."

Maria looked at Siegfried and could hear that he had negative feelings directed toward the Church, as a result of whatever happened in life. However, at this moment, none of that mattered for the moment as she heard 'Boost' coming from one of his silver dragon arms. A basic power of a Twice Critical was doubling the person's powers, but with four arms, he could do it four times.

But, Maria noticed that Siegfried was putting more focus on concentrating its power, and before long, the severed silver arm was regenerated.

"Ah, it's not the same as Jeanne and those who're able to regenerate their Balance Breakers. It feels a bit weird to regrow an arm," Siegfried stated, then he picked up Gram once again, but lowered its power so that it wouldn't affect him. "Now, shall we continue our battle?"

"Sure thing. I'm curious to see whether or not this battle would give me some hint about my Balance Breaker."

Maria said, then she and Siegfried started rushing towards one another once again, resulting in the collision of a holy and demon auras. Aside from that, the two different swordsmanships that the two have trained in up until this point clashed against one another. There were several shockwaves from the clash between them as the two kept fighting against one another.

---

Meanwhile, outside of the artificial space, Lingqi was leading her group through one of Wu Jun's bases, which was filled with several men. All of them were people dressed in black combat uniforms, but their numbers weren't that of the true group under Jun's direct control. But, a battle soon commenced inside of the base, breaking apart the building's interior.

"Nemesis Orion!"

Claire called out, manifesting her angelic bow, then released a hail of light arrows toward her intended targets. A lot of arrows pierced the targets in almost non-lethal places, leaving them unable to act. Some of them who were adept at defensive Taoist magic defended themselves, but the arrows pierced through them. Alice then brought out Gladius, who fought against martial arts among the group.

The martial artists from the White Tiger Sect, Jian, Li, and Hui joined in on the fight against the combatants, all of them showed their mastery of the Byakko Kenpo too. Differing from their opponents, the three used a good level of teamwork in covering one another's weaknesses. Kunou, Iris, and Lena were providing the others backup from the sidelines using their particular talents. It ranged from the gold and silver-haired girls releasing fireballs aimed at the foes and Lena assisted them using magic.

In noticing the three women who were providing such support, there were certain power users among them who released their powers at them. None of them looked worried as Alexander, the newest member of Maria's team stood in front of them. On his left arm, there was a black distorted-looking shield with a golden lining on it, which he held before the assault.

"Stygian Aegis!"

Alexander called out, as the black shield released a golden light as all the attacks aimed at them were attracted to the shield. He maintained his stance as the attacks came in contact with the shield, pushing him backward, but all the attacks were successfully blocked. Seconds later, the attacks were reflected towards the combatants who moved to avoid them.

Alexander's Defensive/Counter-type Sacred Gear, Stygian Aegis, let him block, then reflect both physical and magical attacks. He remained standing there in front of the young woman, who stood behind him almost looking like a gallant knight.

"Don't be concerned. I'll defend you all even if it costs me my life."

"Thanks, Alex."

Iris thanked him, as Alex looked a bit flustered at the compliment from Iris.

"Keep your hormones down and focus on the mission."

Lena spoke bluntly, deepening the blushes on Iris' and Alexander's faces.

"These people are strong!"

"We didn't expect that there would be this many people here."

"We thought if anyone, it'd just be Han's eldest child and some of her people."

"I have a plan to get through this situation."

There was someone among the group of opposing combatants, while one of their allies devised a solution for this situation. As his allies turned their attention to hear the solution their comrade came up with, however, the same comrade started attacking them.

"""Gah!"""

Three of the allies around that comrade fell to the ground as blood escaped from their mouth, and fell motionless on the ground. Surprised to find one of their comrades betraying them, but before either of them could raise their concerns, a pinkish light covered their hand. Seconds later, pinkish-red aura tethers came from their hands, then wrapped around and restrained multiple of their comrades.

All the people who were retrained were surprised about this development as their bodies hit the ground unable to move around. A surprised gasp escaped from all their mouths as the tethered down allies glared straight at their "comrade", who continued standing there grinning to themselves.

"What?!"

"What are you doing?!"

"I'm helping my friends."

A female voice came from their male comrade, then a puff of smoke covered their body. Once it vanished, it was released to be Rui, who hid among their allies and stood there wearing a smile on her face.

"Y-You're one of them…."

"But, when did you…."

"Hmm, since the fight started. I had to do a couple of things on my own," Rui replied as she started shrugging her shoulders, then reached inside of her pockets. "Lingqi, I found something for you!"

Lingqi, who had been fighting against the crowd of people attempting to detain her heard Rui calling out and then turned around as she knocked another person into the wall.

"Yes?"

"Here you go!"

Rui pulled out a unique-shaped key, then tossed it to Lingqi.

Reacting to that announcement, she caught the key in her hands with little-to-no difficulties as she sent someone else downward using a kick. She stared at the black key and wondered where Rui found something like this while all of this chaos was happening.

"Where did you find this?"

"Ah, I was scouting around the area, where I found some locked room that wouldn't happen no matter what I did. I came back and pickpocketed that key from the strongest guy, thinking that he of all people who've been granted the key to that room. I don't know what's there, but based on the ki I sensed, there's someone strong guarding it, and likely something important."

Hearing that comment from Rui caused Lingqi to appreciate the amount of work that she had put into helping her in this situation. She clasped her hand around the key, holding nothing short of thankful emotion about what the people around here were doing for her. She then looked up to notice Rui pointing her finger in the direction where the room was located.

"Thanks, I'll be heading out there."

Lingqi said smiling, then moved faster as the men around her tried stopping her from going to that room.

In hearing about the chance that someone strong would be there too, Claire sent a nod to her teammates, who'd returned the same one. Receiving that, the gray-haired girl started moving and passed up the people who tried to block her path. Lingqi was moving much faster than she thought, but Claire soon managed to catch up to her as the older woman noticed her presence.

"Claire?"

"Rui mentioned that there's someone else guarding that room, someone strong. And I'm coming to provide some assistance wherever possible."

Claire replied as Lingqi didn't tell her to return to the others.

"Thanks. I appreciate this, most of the time whenever I thought about going into straightforward situations like this. I'd always imagine myself going at it alone."

"Why?"

"…this group, the Black Dragon Alliance takes whatever and whoever they want without hesitation. A man of Jun's type gathered the kind of people who shares the same feeling like him. Losing a fight to them, meant that the Black Dragon Alliance took anything they want, their treasures, soldiers, and women," Lingqi replied as it was becoming more apparent that the two were reaching the door. "Jun's so-called wives were the daughters of the people he defeated and took. His truest men are granted the 'privilege' of choosing their women too, while Jun takes the 'pure' women who have potential."

The more that Lingqi talked about these people, the more Claire could hear the amount that she despised them as their actions go against everything she believed in. And the more that Claire heard about these people, the more she started hating them too. It wasn't long until the two women arrived in front of the room that Rui found, as the two could sense the presence she felt.

"I know the feeling of hating people who feel that because of their status or power, it entitles them to do as they please without repercussions. You can find numerous people like that in various factions in the world. For me, it's in the Underworld where I lost my parents and first family because of the Great King Faction," Claire revealed as she and Lingqi stopped in front of the door. "And preventing things such as that from happening as much as we possibly could is the reason we formed the Kibou Alliance."

"…Claire."

Lingqi was stunned as she heard that from Claire, who sent a smile in her direction.

"So, let's ensure that no one else loses their lives or daughters because of this guy's selfish beliefs."

"Right."

Lingqi nodded her head as she stood in front of the door and inserted the key she received inside it. But, once it was opened, she was met with the fist belonging to the individual residing inside of that room. Reacting to that, Lingqi summoned the right gauntlet of Shimon Mouko and blocked it. From the collision, a shockwave occurred, cracking the wall around them.

"Well well, it looks as if that small child from before grew up into a fine woman."

Lingqi heard the voice of a well-built man dressed in a combat uniform different from the others outside, which showed his higher rank compared to them. More than that, she recognized him as one of the men who was sent to meet her father all that time ago.

"You're Dong Gang. One of Jun's direct subordinates."

Lingqi replied as she stared at the man, named Gang.

"Ah, I guess you're here as our respected leader guessed. He knew that the vengeful daughter of the person he beat into a coma," Gang replied as Lingqi and Claire stepped back from him, while he started looking her up and down, admiring her growth. "He also guessed that you'd train and get stronger to defeat him, which would be to his benefit as well. I mean, you are one of the women he decided will bear his children."

"…."

Lingqi didn't utter a single word as she glared at the man, who reminded her too much of Jun.

"If you're thinking about finding some clue about where he is here, then you're out of luck. All that's here is the big business we held in this region. Besides, our boss has moved into some bigger things than anything he would've guessed possible. But, not wanting to disappoint you, he had us wait here to deliver a message to you after all this time."

Lingqi still didn't speak as she simply chose to listen to the message, but guessed it'd be something she had no use for at all.

"He said, 'I'm sure that you have trained and worked hard in your pointless attempt at vengeance, a wasted effort for someone who would be better off as one of the Queens of the future Emperor. But, if won't stop your attempts at defeating me, then I'll humor your challenge. I'll still make you mine in the end. However, if you've become an "impure" woman since the last time that we met, then I'll just hand you off to my subordinates to become theirs. It makes no difference since there's another one I could get instead'," Gang stopped speaking as Lingqi tightened her fist knowing Jun meant her sister as anger built up. "I am a loyal subordinate to our leader, but seeing the fine woman that you've grown into makes me want to take you. The other women I had aren't as fun anymore."

"…Claire," Lingqi breathed out and called Claire, who turned her attention towards the older woman. "Jun has a total of five subordinates who wields sacred gears. Gang's sacred gear strengthens his defenses the more you hit him as long as he remains conscious. I believe it's called Sturdy Saint. If you want to assist me, then I won't mind that at all. But, I don't mind dragging this fight for different reasons."

"I understand. After hearing this, you're free to cut loose without concerns."

"Thanks," Lingqi gave glare a gentle and appreciative smile to Claire, then turned around to give Gang the exact opposite. She brought out the left gauntlet and greaves of Shimon Mouko as a white aura started to cover them. "I'll end this as fast as possible. Balance Break."

From that utterance, a brilliant white light was released from Lingqi's body as Gang got into a fighting stance and prepared himself. Claire covered her eyes from the brilliance of the light originating from Lingqi, and the aura that was being released from her too. Alice, Kunou, and the others who were left behind wondered what the source of the shockwaves and tremors originated from their position.

---

Inside the artificial dimension, where Zane and Georg were having their match, the surrounding area was all but wrecked from the colliding magic. The chimera that the opposing magician summoned was surprisingly able to able endure the firepower of Nacht and Licht. If Zane had to take a guess, then either theirs someone among the group adept at creating chimera or has a sacred gear that can strengthen monsters.

There was still a wide range of chimera that Georg still had, making him wonder how many he had stored inside his special dimension. His next batch ranged from the usual flying, ground, and defensive types, all of which were meant to overpower him. If it were normal magicians, then there would have been an issue for them, but Zane wasn't that kind of magician and received training in combat.

His magic skills and gunmanship earned him the moniker of the Magic Gunner, which was a first in the entire history since the magicians came about. That knowledge was something that both interested and confused Georg to the fullest. In noticing the current horde of chimera rushing toward him, Zane looked down at the Magus Akashic around his neck.

"Alright time to go."

[Yes, Master.]

Annelisse spoke as the grimoire started shining, then it enlarged into its regular form and floated beside him as if it was a loyal servant. It then flipped to a certain page as Zane switched to a different bullet, causing both of his handguns to gain a golden light.

"Let's handle the airborne opponents first. Heaven Thunder!"

In gaining additional magic power from the Magus Akashic, Zane fired Nacht and Licht toward the sky releasing a massive lightning bolt that covered the sky. As such, all the airborne chimera that Georg summoned were burned to ashes from the abundant lightning. Because of the scattering lightning released too, he defended himself using the mist produced using Dimension Lost.

"Such a high-level lightning spell like that was released from two bullets instead of using a magic circle?"

"That's the easiest thing about using bullets instead of magic circles. But, it is a bit difficult storing certain spells in bullets since there's a chance that the spells could explode before releasing it."

Zane explained as he started turning his attention to the creatures that were still on the ground. It was obvious all the airborne monsters were all modified to counter such spells being used against them. All the airborne chimera ranged from a mixture of different land beasts combined with other species, ranging from tigers, lions, and wolves. In addition, others are based more on defense and endurance ranging from turtles, elephants, and rhinos.

"Well, I guess that this point is perfect for this situation," Zane spoke as he holstered both Nacht and Licht before opening a tear in space. He reached his hand inside it, then much to Georg's shock and almost horror, the thing that was brought out was Donnerkeil. "I have this thing here."

"How many things do you have?"

Georg didn't want to think about what Donnerkeil could do against him.

"Just Nacht, Licht, and this," Zane replied, not realizing that he rhymed at that moment, but it didn't stop him from training it on the chimera who was positioned in front of him. "I'm working on different firearms too. So, let's see the kind of effect that Donnerkeil has on all the chimera in front of me."

As Zane looked to be charging up Donnerkeil, Georg looked to be concerned about what was preparing to happen next. Amid the tension building in the air, there was an explosion of light and different attacks that could be heard and felt, approaching the area. It started getting close enough to the point that the two stopped fighting for a moment.

"Senhachiju Pound Ho!"

At that moment, three powerful slashes were released from the air and slashed apart three of the more enduring chimera Georg summoned. Just then, Zane and Georg looked to find Cao Cao floating about the air, avoiding the technique Kensei released. It looked to be due to the result of one of the True Longinus user's seven treasures, Hatthiratana.

"Wasn't that one of Zoro's techniques?"

Zane thought, noticing the attack name and recalling watching One Piece with Kensei.

Speaking of which, he looked to find Kensei landing on the tip of one of the rhino chimera's horns, before leaping off of it. Before then, Kensei could be seen wielding Kurogane and a second sword in his left hand, then the third sword in his mouth. As the two were still in the air, Cao Cao turned around pointing the True Longinus straight at him, and fired rapid light blasts.

It wasn't as strong as a charged up to light blast, but it made up for it in numbers and the speed behind them. Not looking concerned, Kensei strengthened the touki around him, then shrouded it around the three swords he was wielding at that moment. Using all three swords, Kensei split through the rapid light blasts, then propelled forward as the light blasts exploded in the air.

"Hahaha, that's a rather unique three-sword style. I thought that Siegfried's was odd since he summoned another arm on his back."

Cao Cao looked to be having the time of his life, as Kensei rushed after him inside the air, while the two clashed in midair. Based on what Zane could see his longtime friend looked to be having fun too, and wielding that Three-Sword Style copied from One Piece better than most would expect. Both of them continued fighting airborne for a bit more time and caused shockwaves before leaving the area.

"Well, that was some interruption."

Zane commented, noticing both the swordsman and spearman leaving the area and leaving them there. There was a part of the time that wondered whether or not the two noticed the places they'd been heading around to continue with their fight. And Georg wondered just how long the two of them had been moving around, and fighting without either stopping.

"I didn't think that Cao Cao would be this into the fight to the point of activating his Balance Breaker."

Georg uttered to himself.

"Well, let's continue with our own business. That interruption gave me enough time to charge Donnerkeil."

Zane pointed out as he pointed Donnerkeil at him, while Georg recalled the urgency of the situation and started to surround himself in mist. Once the trigger was pulled, Donnerkeil released a powerful blast that tore through the chimera in his path, despite their natural defenses being strengthened by Georg's magic. Having witnessed Donnerkeil's firepower, Georg wondered if all he could do at that moment was remain on the defensive.

But, at that moment, there was a sudden disturbance that caught his attention, as a result of one of the fail-safes added to the artificial dimensions he created. For some reason, it looked as if someone was attempting to mess around and enter the produced dimension.

Elsewhere, Cao Cao blocked another space from Kensei, which could be felt despite blocking it. Having blocked it, the spearman moved to release a series of rapid thrusts from the spear, one of them hit Kensei and the others were blocked using the three swords in his possession. In landing on the ground, he looked at the swords that he had, noticing the other two had some damage done.

Of course, neither of them were normal swords as each of them belonged among the weapons used among the Amagiri Clan, strengthened using spiritual power. More so, the weapons were strengthened as a result of Zane, as well as the others who practiced craftsmanship alongside him. Kurogane, of course, wasn't damaged at all, despite taking hits from the True Longinus, but that's to be expected.

It was the latest masterpiece Amakuni created among the swords he referred to as a Houtou, which are swords that resulted from him continuing to hone his craftsmanship for centuries.

"Hahaha, we've been going at it for a while now. To be honest, I didn't think that I'd find someone this strong with no sacred gear to speak up. But, it at least appears as if you have the power of a dragon, or at least even dragon blood flowing through your veins too."

Cao Cao uttered as Kensei started thinking about the reason that his dragon power started awakening during this fight of all things. All the fights that he had hadn't been this intense, but there have been other times that he'd been pushed to the point of death.

"Well, I'll dwell on that one when this is all over," Kensei said as he sheathed the other two swords aside from his favored black blade. "I'd rather have fought against you when that Balance Breaker is more complete. I know you haven't been putting that much effort into revealing your cards against me."

"Ah, I wonder," Cao Cao looked to be playing about that, but was surprised that Kensei caught onto that. "Well, I can tell that there are several other techniques that you've got stashed too. So, let's see how far that you'll continue faring against this next attack."

As Cao Cao made that declaration, he positioned the True Longinus right beside him, then started charging up a strong light around the spear, forming a blade. In noticing that, Kensei smirked and held Kurogane right beside him, wearing a challenging smirk on his face.

"If you're not careful, this next one is going to incinerate you and leave the spear."

At that moment, Kensei produced strong flames around him, then started infusing them inside Kurogane, which kept on greedily absorbing them. Added onto the ki and natural ki that he added onto the flames, fueling and causing them to burst out, turning into an uncontrollable wildfire. Instead of going out of control, he continued controlling it as Kurogane continued absorbing them. The temperature was rising to the point that Cao Cao could feel it on his skin, and noticed the flames turning crimson.

In absorbing in the flames, Kurogane took on the same attributes as it too, its color started changing from a black blade to a deep crimson one. It seemed completed as flames could be spiraling around the now crimson-colored katana, as Kensei breathed.

"Tougen Amagiri-ryuu, Ougi: Benitsurugi Entenka."

"That's one interesting technique."

Cao Cao commented as the True Longinus formed a light blade around the point of its spear.

There was silence between them as the two seemed to stand in a prepared stance, then moved forward towards one another as making their final move. Just a couple of more seconds until the two would be standing straight in front of one another. Cao Cao, having the advantage due to the length of the True Longinus stopped and aimed it forward. Kensei, in response to this thrust Kurogane forward as the flames, seemed to become concentrated at the katana's point.

Both the blades of light and fire collided against one another, producing a shockwave between one, then a shockwave occurred between them. A blinding light and raging heat started clashing against one another as it soon exploded, breaking the ground around them. Once the smoke cleared, the buildings that were around them crumbled too. From the rubble of one of the buildings, Kensei pushed the rocks off of him, revealing that the last hit tore off portions of his clothing.

"Ugh, that's the last time, I'm doing something like that. It reminded me of a beam struggle from Dragon Ball, but I had a first-row seat for the collision."

Kensei felt his stamina take a big hit from that last technique and defend against Cao Cao's last attack too. A serious injury could also be seen on his dominant arm, which was focused mostly on that tack.

"Well, that attack was sure a good attack. Instead of one big fireball, it was concentrated into a single blade."

Cao Cao came out from the rubble too, showing that he used the True Longinus to protect himself too. But, there was notable damage done to his uniform too, and serious injuries as well.

"Well, at least we managed to procure these too."

Cao Cao surprisingly pulled out a Phoenix Tear, then sprinkled it on his injuries. In a matter of seconds, all of his wounds were healed.

"Well, at least we agree on one thing."

Cao Cao looked to see that Kensei pulled out his vial of Phoenix Tears, which he used to heal his wounds to full health. But, of course, stamina couldn't be recovered.

"Oh, how did you procure those? Our side when through a lot to get ours."

"Oh, well, my father knows a guy, whose daughter happens to be tsundere."

---

"Achoo."

Meanwhile, in the Underworld, sitting down in the Phenex Clan's living room, Ravel sneezed without warning as she was working on things related to Riser's peerage. Sitting there beside her, her mother's attention was taken from the business related to their clan's Phoenix Tears.

"Ara, Ravel, are you feeling ill?"

Ravel's mother asked with some hint of concern.

"Hmm, no, I have no idea why I sneezed like that."

Ravel spoke confused but didn't think much about it considering that it was just one sneeze.

And so, she started getting back to doing her diligent work as her mother thought about something fun.

"You know, Ravel, there's a Japanese superstition that states if you sneeze once that means someone's thinking about you. I wonder if there could be a certain someone who comes to mind."

Ravel's mother teased while looking on to see if it had any kind of effect.

It did just that, as Ravel paused as her face started turning bright red from the thought. She couldn't focus on working anymore as her teenage mind started thinking more and more about the chance of that. And it didn't take much longer as anyone other than Kensei entered her mind.

"O-Okaa-sama! Now, I can't focus on my work!"

Ravel became flustered as she couldn't focus anymore, while her mother gave a cheerful laugh about the kind of effect it had. She loved seeing her daughter having expressions such as this; recalling the last time when Ravel was a child talking about heroes. And it makes her all the more grateful that Kensei of all people was handpicked to be her bodyguard.

"Ah, I must thank Kensei-san for bringing back this adorable side of my daughter."

As Lady Phenex thought, her husband and oldest son came into the room, wondering what happened.

---

"Ah, well it seems your connections are easier than ours. Our wounds are healed, but it's not like our stamina will return. Even for you, it's going to be hard focusing on that and fighting at the same time. So…."

[Cao Cao, we have to leave!]

Cao Cao paused as a magic circle appeared beside his ear, and heard Georg speaking to him.

"Why, things are just…."

[We've been found out. He's attempting to break into the dimension and see what we're doing. All of the attacks launched around the battlefield, in addition to yours have weakened it enough.]

Georg informed as Cao Cao didn't need to guess and think about who would, or at least be able to entire a space like this. In realizing the person coming for them, Cao Cao disengaged his Balance Breaker, much to the surprise of Kensei. A sigh escaped from the True Longinus wielder's mouth as he rested said spear on his shoulder.

"Well, it looks as if our fight will have to wait for another time. Someone is coming here that I won't be able to deal with even if I was in top condition."

Cao Cao revealed as Georg's mist started wrapping around him.

"I guess that means you've given up going after Lingqi."

"I thought she would've left from the Hero Faction at some point, so there's no issue in regards to that. But, I do hope that we meet again so that we can settle our fight."

"Same here."

Both the two combatants sent a challenging smirk in one another's direction as the True Longinus wielder left the area. The same occurrence was happening in the other areas too.

---

In the battle between, Hisui and Heracles, the nekoshou managed to strike once again using Kikouhou, which blew him back a bit. He managed to recover as his breathing started becoming more irregular, taking on multiple ki attacks from Hisui. His Balance Breaker was still engaged and the battlefield around them was now filled with holes and craters.

"Huff, huff, huff, don't think that this is going to be enough to take me…."

At that moment, Heracles was covered in the same mist as Cao Cao, which was Georg preparing to teleport all of them elsewhere.

"Oh, it appears as if you're being called back."

Hisui pointed out as parts of her clothing looked damaged too with some simple injuries.

Noticing that, Heracles disengaged his Balance Breaker, guessing that it must've been something important and something authorized by Cao Cao.

"Listen up, Cat Girl, this isn't over. Next time, and you won't get out of this easily!"

Heracles exclaimed while he was being taken away by mist.

"Bye-bye, Hera-chan. It was fun, though your brain moved slower than your feet!"

"…you…!"

Heracles was taken away before he could utter a single word, while Hisui waved her hand towards him smiling.

---

"Well, it would appear as if our time is up."

Siegfried noted as he disengaged his Balance Breaker, then sheathed his five demon swords and the light sword in his possession too. Around them, the battlefield was wrecked from the collision between them, while the seven knights Maria summoned looked damaged too from the demon swords and disengaged her Balance Breaker too.

"It would appear so. I have to admit that this fight gave me a lot to think about in terms of my sacred gear and my balance breaker too. But, I wonder if your care about your life at all considering you wield and release the powers of your demon swords without caring."

"I'm sure that you're aware that girl of yours was created by the Sigurd Institute to become a weapon and soldier for the Church's use alone," Siegfried pointed out as he looked forward. "To some extent all the warriors there are the same too and would be disposed of at a moment's notice. So, faith or not, what's the point of remaining loyal to those kinds of people. I might as well live as I want if that's the case. I think that you of all people would know about the same feeling."

Maria heard those words from Siegfried and thought about some people who crossed her mind, which made as a result of her particular lineage. But, remained silent as the silver-haired demon swordsman was teleported out of the area through the use of Georg's mist.

"I get it. But, that doesn't mean you have to hurt others."

Maria uttered as she wondered what Kensei and the others were up to.

"Sis."

Maria turned around as she noticed Layla arriving in the same location as her older sister-figure using her ice as a means of transport. Maria looked at the bluenette, noticing that there were some wounds, but nothing serious, something that she felt grateful for.

"Good, you look alright. I'm guessing that fight when well."

"Y-Yes," Layla despite her strong demeanor, felt her heart fluttering as she earned a compliment from her older sister. "She was strong as a hero descendant, but Jeanne's sacred gear and balance breaker weren't as efficient as yours. So, I didn't have as much trouble as when I would often spar against you."

"It shows that you've trained well. But, that leaves, what we're going to do here. I wonder what the situation is in regards to Claire and the others during their business."

Maria spoke out loud, wondering about what happened to them.

---

"Hmm, I guess that I should head out and find the others," Kensei said to himself, sheathing Kurogane, and then started heading to the closest person. "I wonder who was it that Cao Cao was scared of fighting against. It must be someone strong because that was the hardest fight that I had in a long time."

"Ohohoho, I was wondering for what reason that spear brat came here after him. But, then I was interested in the different ki signatures too, and a familiar one too."

"Well, well, this was a big surprise. I didn't think that I'd see you here again."

Kensei paused as he heard two familiar and distinct voices; the first one was elderly and the second was younger and energetic. He turned around to find a distinctive green massive Eastern Dragon, Yu-Long, and riding on top of him was a recognizable monkey youkai around the same height as a kindergartner. In the presence of one of the Five Dragon King and a Daiyoukai, who ascended into a Buddha, no doubt, these two were the reason that Cao Cao left. However, for Kensei, these two were irreplaceable and important people.

"Yo, Sun-sensei," Kensei called out, then turned to Yu-Long, who was expecting a similar greeting. "Iguana!"

"…!"

Yu-Long looked miffed about that, as he seemed to soar straight for Kensei. In noticing that, Sun Wukong leaped off the Dragon King and onto his other mode of transportation, a golden cloud. In shrinking down, Yu-Long found himself wrapping around Kensei's neck as he tried strangling him.

"I told you to never call me something as demeaning as an Iguana! I'm a Dragon, one of the Dragon Kings!"

Yu-Long pointed out as he went straight up to Kensei's face and exclaimed.

"Right, coming from the guy who retried as soon as his job was done."

Kensei replied, laughing as Yu-Long found himself instead wrapped around the young samurai's neck similar to the time when he was still ten years old.

"Well, it appears as if you still have that mischievous side of yourself. However, you seem to have grown into a fine and strong young man."

Sun Wukong stated, showing a good amount of happiness that a disciple of his managed to grow into that kind of person without falling down a dark path. There was such a decent moment, between the three during this sudden reunion, but it didn't as they noticed the artificial dimension was starting to break apart.

"Well, it appears as if we'll need to cut this short. But, if your group appears injured like this, then more questions will end the uprising among the populace. So, let's this former master handle it."

---

At that moment, Sun Wukong pulled out his Ruyi Jingu Bang, then started spinning it around in a circle. It wasn't long until it lightly struck the ground and created a magic circle around the three of them. Before long, Kensei had turned around to find that there were five pillars of golden light where Zane, Hisui, Maria, and Layla were located.

Before the dimension crumbled apart, all of them were teleported to another dimension entirely instead of being at the Forbidden City, where the battle started.

"Uh, what happened?"

Hisui was the first to ask that question, noticing that there was a magic circle she didn't recognize and teleported all of them elsewhere. She looked to find that Zane, Maria, and Layla were all standing right beside her all wondering the same thing at that moment.

"I think we were transported somewhere. Was that you, Zane?"

Maria asked, turning to Zane.

"No, I think that was a Taoist magic circle. I examined it after Magus Akashic stored it."

"Hmm, this is the first time that we're meeting like this," the four turned around as Sun Wukong could be seen at a distance looking at and examining them. "The last time that I got a look at the people who were around this one here was almost over seven years ago."

Turning around the four noticed Sun Wukong and Yu-Long, the latter was still wrapped around Kensei's neck in a comfortable position. Hisui was the first to notice the amazing ki that could be sensed from the two of them, more so Sun Wukong who was staring at them. But, Hisui could almost immediately guess the identity of the Monkey King himself without being told anything.

"Ah, you must be Ken Ken's teacher. The legendary Youkai who mastered Senjutsu and Youjutsu then became promoted to being a god."

"Ho, you're quite the strong and young nekoshou. It appears as if you've also got quite the talent for senjutsu and youjutsu yourself. A Norse magician, in the possession of one of those special grimoires, maintaining his rational senses. A girl who has quite the strong amount of light within herself aside from her sacred gear too. And another one who has quite the frigid presence too. Hmm, this disciple of mine sure did find some good allies."

Sun Wukong said as he examined and understood the four in almost an instant after meeting them.

"Hahaha, what this, Ken Ken?"

Yu-Long laughed in response to hearing the nickname Hisui came up for him, as Kensei looked a bit flustered.

"Keep that up and you won't get the present that I got for you."

Kensei replied as Yu-Long seemed to stop with the teasing about him being referred to as Ken Ken.

From fighting against the members of the so-called Hero Faction, finding out more about the other power residing within me, and reuniting with the two people who rescued him.

"Hah, this vacation wasn't what I was expecting it to be. None of us planned on doing all this, but I'm sure that all of us had one hell of a good time."

Kensei stated, smirking to himself as his friends had to admit that it had been a long time since all of them could cut loose like this. And this fight against them did give them much more of a perspective about what all of us can do in the future using our powers. At that moment, all the people there sensed that another battle going on at a distance from their location was going to an end.

"Well, I think that their side should be finished with their battle. So, should we head out there and have you meet everyone at the same time."

Kensei suggested turning to his second master.

"Hmm, that sounds like an interesting idea. I can see that you've become quite patient, the kid that I knew before would've been quicker to finish things."

Sun Wukong said, almost teasing him as the others agreed with him without uttering it.

Kensei guessed that Sun Wukong teleported them to the location closest to Claire and the others, meaning that it wouldn't take all that long for them to reach that location.

---

A/N: And there goes the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, this was the conclusion of the match of the Kibou Alliance and Hero Faction. Hisui was fighting against Heracles in the manner most irritating for the human giant and dealt him some great damage. Maria and Layla revealed their Balance Breakers in this battle, both of which were influenced by Iris. But, there's still more to be revealed about Virtuous Dragonar Corps. Zane showed more of his magic firepower against Georg, who'd been forced to be more on the defensive.

But, I think that the highlighted battle in this chapter was the match between Kensei and Cao Cao, both of whom dealt serious blows against one another. Kensei didn't leave that fight unscathed after that blow from Cao Cao in Balance Breaker, but that seems to trigger his innate dragon power, something he referred to as Dragon Ki. In their battle, there was a short time where Ravel was shown too after she'd been mentioned by Kensei.

There was also the situation with the infiltration of Jun's base, where a newer sacred gear was revealed from Alexander, a member of Maria's team. Lingqi seemed to have gotten serious for a time and Claire got to see what her Balance Breaker was. In the end, there was the reveal of Sun Wukong and Yu-Long, both of whom reunited with Kensei too.

---

Translation

Hisui

Kikouhou – Spirit Cannon

Kensei

Senhachiju Pound Ho – 1080 Pound Cannon (from One Piece)

Benitsurugi Entenka – Crimson Blade under the Blazing Sun

Other

Houtou– Treasured Sword

---

Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Yasaka, Lu Lingqi, Sarah, Minako, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel, Amaterasu, Brynhildr, Rossweisse, Ophis.