Successors

Mitsuru has been working up a storm for the past few hours. You were concerned about her since she hadn't contacted you today, but when you arrived in the lab you found her deeply immersed in the creation of her new form change system. Though the amount of effort being put into the creation of the system is not matched with real results. Mitsuru is getting increasingly frustrated as she stares at the complicated calculations of her teleportation system.

"Why on earth can't I get this to work!" she rages, "I'm supposed to be smarter than this!"

"Want me to summon someone to help?"

She sighs and waves you away, "No. I'm afraid this is something only I can really comprehend. Training another person to understand the ins and outs of my code would take even longer than simply doing it myself."

You scratch your chin, "So why not summon another copy of yourself?"

She is unusually hesitant about your idea, "I wouldn't like that. Just leave it to me. I'll make a breakthrough soon, and then those alien invaders won't know what hit them." Perhaps some kind of unknown calamity will happen if too many Mitsuru's gather in one place, she certainly looks shaken enough to make you believe that.

Your phone starts vibrating – one of the custom alerts that you and Mitsuru set to watch the news has been pinged. There's an attack ongoing a short distance from here. "We can talk more later, looks like it's time to fight again."

Mitsuru nods, "Don't hesitate to call for help. Remember, I gave you that thing for a reason."

You hurry over to the bike and kick the engine to life, it's time to dispense some justice.

------

When you arrive at the scene, there's nobody around to lead into another hostage situation. A few burning cars lay on either side of the street. Aside from some property damage there isn't much to concern yourself with; it doesn't seem like a lot of people were here when the attack started. Waiting in the middle of the chaos is Sundar, perched atop a pile of rubble like a makeshift throne. The smell of smoke chokes your senses.

You groan, "Why are you back? I was enjoying not seeing you again after that last fight."

The prideful commander smirks and slicks back his hair; "Ah, still upset about your previous loss, huh? Must have hurt your feelings to be so thoroughly outsmarted like that."

"Outsmarted? I seem to recall things a little differently. With you running like a beaten dog."

"Only because I got what I wanted. Those other morons in the officer's cadre don't have a brain cell to share between them. I realised early on that fighting you on uneven footing was a waste of time. I've seen enough of Faust flailing around and coming home with no results. So I'm changing the game."

You press the button on your bracelet, summoning Herarmor-kun around your body and get ready for a fight, "And how are you gonna' do that?"

Sundar was waiting for you to ask. He snaps his fingers, bringing forth another of his spark spewing portals. Your throat runs dry. A single black boot emerged from the gaping maw, and then another – you quickly discover exactly what Sundar meant, and why he had stolen a copy of the Sledgehammer from you in the first place. A black and purple imitator, wearing modified armour similar to yours, and wielding a weapon of matching décor.

They are… much shorter than you.

"Copyright infringement! I'll see you in court!" Mitsuru yells through your radio.

That aside, Sundar is hopping from foot to foot in excitement, "Oh, I wish I could see that tortured face of yours! I'll have to ask my new soldier here to tear that pathetic helmet from your head and allow me to see your despair properly."

You're not scared. "Who says I'm going to lose against your third-rate knockoff?"

"Misplaced confidence is a deadly mistake. I asked a comrade of mine to reverse engineer that precious dimension shattering technology of yours, and fielded a number of different candidates to take on the mantle. Now, allow them to give you a demonstration of their power." A breeze rolls through the street. The copycat remains completely still. Sundar turns to her and barks the same order, "That's your cue to do something! Idiot!"

The person inside of the armour is panicking. They clumsily retrieve a card from one of the armour's pouches and slide it into the dark-Sledgehammer. The mechanism of the barrel is slightly different to yours, but they've obviously taken liberties in copying Mitsuru's design.

"VALI LUCIFER! SUNDERING!"

"Vali?"

The trigger is pulled, and reality is shattered in front of you. Emerging from the gap in space and time is the one and only Vali Lucifer, the white dragon emperor. He seems extremely confused about where he is and why whatever he was doing was just interrupted. He twists around and notices the black armoured stranger behind him – who is now prostrating themselves on their knees and bowing to them like they're some kind of medieval king.

"…This was the best candidate you could find?"

Sundar's voice nearly cracks, "She's the only one who knew anything about your odious media!"

She? That explains why she summoned a guy, you guess, and why they don't fill out that armour as well as you do.

"What the hell is this?" You point at Vali and his summoner, "He doesn't even know what's going on!"

Vali smirks and wags his finger at you, "That's where you'd be incorrect, Hero."

Oh great.

"I may not look the part, but I'm a rather big fan of your television series – and especially of your main rival. After all, I can empathise with a woman who must face down someone who is too high on their own righteousness to admit they are outmatched."

Sundar smiles again, "Oh, the doctor did calibrate it correctly. Thank you very much."

Vali reaches down and pulls the copy back to her feet, "There is no need to bow to me, my dear lady." You nearly gag as the slimy bastard starts sweet talking her right in front of you. The squee of joy that escapes from inside of her helmet means that she's totally eating it up. Vali snaps his fingers and is engulfed in the white armour of the dragon; "Allow me to dispatch this pest." He turns and starts to march towards you.

You draw your gun and fire multiple shots at him, but he holds up his gauntlet and musters the power of the white dragon emperor. "Divide!" No matter the volume of your fire, the shots are quickly divided in half and bounce harmlessly from his plated hide. He stops in front of you and shrugs, "That little toy can't hope to damage the Vanishing Dragon."

Suddenly you feel your entire body lose all contact with the ground below. Vali kicks you with the full force of his power and sends you flying backwards into the nearest building. Your entire body rattles from the impact as you crash through the wall and through several office cubicles. That really, really hurts! It takes all of your strength just to keep hold of the Sledgehammer.

This is bad, like, super bad. You scramble into cover before he can fly through the hole and see you again. Your UI comes up with several names, but can any of them even hope to stand up to someone as stupid overpowered as Vali Lucifer? You should have done something like this earlier, but now you're away from the computer and unable to press someone to counter him. To your chagrin, you can only conclude that you'll just get one of them hurt.

"God damn it," you mutter. You should have pressed those cards while you had the chance.

Before you can gather your thoughts and concoct a new strategy, a draconic claw grabs the back of your collar and sends you flying back through the same hole that you came in using. Vali is hot in pursuit, unleashing half-hearted blows against you in mid-flight that threatens to snap you in two. The pain is intense, you can't handle him like this. At the end of the day you're just a guy in a mechanised suit of armour.

You come crashing down against the top of a wrecked car. Happy that you can't resist any more, he lands next to you and drags you to Sundar and the woman, dumping you in a broken pile in front of them. The HUD of the armour is blaring just about every warning it can at you. There's critical damage to every system, and your fleshy insides aren't faring any better.

Sundar is eager to gloat, "Easy. That's one pest dealt with, not so fun to be on the other end, right?"

You pant, "The next time… won't be so easy…"

"There won't be a next time. Finish him off."

The armoured girl next to him stiffens up in place, "F-Finish him?"

Sundar scowls, "Yeah, kill him."

Her voice is soft and wavering, "You never said I had to kill anybody."

"What do you think this was about? I gave you a gun!"

She backs away meekly and says nothing. Sundar didn't vet these people as much as he wanted to let on. She seems completely unwilling to kill another human being. Sundar turns to Vali and points his finger, "Fine. You do it."

Vali cracks his neck, "I don't follow your orders. I only did this because my lady asked."

"You didn't seem to have much of a problem putting him on death's door. Put him out of his misery!"

Vali looks back to his 'lady' for affirmation, but she simply averts her gaze and stares a hole through the floor. Before the argument can continue any further, a boom explodes from behind you – and a wave of black and red lighting knocks all three foes back away from your prone body. A winged figure descends from the sky, wearing a black coat and red pants. He holds out his left hand and brings forth a bustling tangle of chains to ensnare them in place.

"This magic…" Vali gasps.

Whatever it is, it's seriously powerful! Not even the Vanishing Dragon can seem to break through the ethereal chains that hold him. He tugs and pulls on them to no avail. His helmet disappears into silver sparkles – he isn't happy.

"You're a Gremory."

You double-take, the vibrant red hair and powerful magic, that seems to line up. But you don't recall any Gremory who looks like this. He's too old to be Rias' brother, and too young to be one of the eldest.

He speaks with confidence, "Sorry to break the bad news, but this fight is over. Go home, old man."

That touched a nerve. "O-Old man?" Vali sputters, "You don't look any older than I do!"

"Explain yourself," Sundar demands.

"You killing him here would be seriously problematic for me, so – I'm just gonna' cut in here and put a stop to that, okay?"

"No, that is not okay-"

Before Sundar can finish his sentence, a magical circle appears beneath you both and drags you under the ground. The magic he weaved worked so quickly that neither of them had time to stop him. You emerge back inside of the garage, where a surprised Mitsuru hurries over to your battered corpse.

"Shit, that hurts," you cough. What a humiliating defeat it is.

Mitsuru is worried, "Don't disable the armour. It's built to keep any broken bones in place. Vali did this in just two attacks?" She reaches down and presses the override on your gauntlet, ejecting Asia's card into her palm. Her healing is going to be badly needed now.

The stranger sighs, "That's Vali for you. First time I've seen him in action myself. I've heard a lot of stories from Issei but…"

"Who are you again?" Mitsuru says witheringly, "I don't appreciate strangers breaking into my labratory."

"Oh, right. I guess a few introductions are in order while you get him fixed up." He smiles and bows with a flourish of his coattails, "My name is Zandias Gremory, the heir of the clan in waiting, and first son of Rias Gremory and her beloved husband."

You cough out a question, it hurts really bad; "Husband? But Rias isn't married."

He nods, "Yes, not yet she isn't."

Everything falls into place, the red hair, his strange resemblance to you. You gawk at him, "You're screwing with me."

He rubs the back of his head sheepishly, "Man. You look a lot different like this. I mean, I knew it was coming, but it gives a totally different impression in person versus just hearing about it. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Dad."