Kokabiel's Pets

Human World, Japan, Kuoh.

As James, Rias, Xenovia, and Rias' peerage entered the barrier, the first thing they noticed was a large magic circle that covered the entire academy grounds. After that, there was a much smaller magic circle at the center of the first. Beside it, there were two men, one an old man that only Yuuto could recognize and the second was Freed, the psycho priest. And last, but certainly not least, was Kokabiel who was floating high in the air while sipping a glass of wine.

Noticing the new arrivals, Kokabiel smiled. Then, he projected his voice so they would be able to hear him from where they were.

"Only about thirty minutes, huh?" Kokabiel asked with a bit of shock in his tone. "I thought you'd take more time to prepare."

"You're not really worth it." James said nonchalantly. "Honestly, I could take care of all this by myself, but I gotta make sure everyone else gets some experience sometimes.'

"You're a cocky one." Kokabiel said with a frown. "Well, that will just make killing you slowly more fun."

"*Sigh* That's the issue with people not knowing about you, I guess."

Everyone who knew James' power simply nodded their heads in agreement. Everyone else could only look at him like he was some kind of overconfident kid. Finally moving on from the shock James brought him, Kokabiel snapped his fingers.

*Snap!*

With that, three magic circles appeared between James' group and the smaller magic circle. As they rose from the ground, they revealed three quadrupedal monsters. After they reached their zenith, which was about 16'7" (approx. 5 m) high, a total of nine canine heads could be seen.

"This is getting complicated." James said with a frown.

"What do you mean?" Rias asked, not following James' thought process.

"Those are Cerberus." James said while pointing at the summoned beasts.

"Yeah, they're guard dogs for the realm of the dead." Rias said, still confused.

"From which pantheon?" James asked

"Umm... If I remember correctly, it should be the Gree..." Rias said while showing an expression of contemplation. As she remembered the answer, she froze, and her face paled slightly.

"That's right. It looks like Kokabiel is working with a nasty character." James said while shaking his head. "I guess this is gonna be a bit more difficult. Now it's imperative I take him in for questioning."

"You're quite the intelligent one even if you're arrogance is just as high." Kokabiel said from the sky. "But things won't be as simple as you think, boy."

Deciding to ignore Kokabiel, James looked at the smaller magic circle, more importantly at the four floating orbs that surrounded it.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I feel like we need to stop that smaller magic circle." James said. "I'll let you guys take on those Cerberus, I guess."

"Okay, let's go my adorable servants." Rias said with confidence. "We'll split into three groups. Akeno and I will handle one, Yuuto and Xenovia can take the second one. Koneko and Issei, you take the last one."

"Got it!" Akeno, Koneko, Yuuto, and Issei replied simultaneously.

"Why should I take orders from you?" Xenovia asked in irritation.

"Because it's obvious you can't be left to make decisions on your own after running into such an obvious trap earlier." James said nonchalantly.

"Fine." Xenovia replied through gritted teeth.

"Umm... Buchou... Wh... What about me?" Gasper asked nervously.

"I want you to support all three battlefields, Gasper." Rias said solemnly. "Use [Forbidden Balor View's] ability to stop time if anyone looks like they're about to lose their lives."

"O... Okay!" Gasper stuttered out with a serious expression on his face.

"Alright, let's go!" Rias exclaimed as she dashed forward.

Behind her, everyone else, aside from James, dashed forward with Rias. Along the way, they broke into their designated pairs. The first to arrive was Yuuto, with the speed provided by his [Knight Piece], he was the fastest of the seven, hands down.

Noticing Yuuto's approach, the center head of the Cerberus Yuuto targeted breathed in deeply. Then, after a moment, it exhaled a column of flames in Yuuto's direction. Instead of dodging the incoming attack, Yuuto created one of his demonic swords. In his hand a sword with a royal blue blade and gold accents was created. This sword also had the attribute of absorbing flames.

"[Flame Bane]" Yuuto said quietly as he continued toward his target.

As he ran, Yuuto held the [Flame Bane] in front of him. Just as he expected, the fire breath was absorbed by the sword he created. Unfortunately, the sword superheated due to the absorbed flames as well. Luckily, he had already been wrapping his body with his demonic energy while enhancing his speed. Otherwise, the burns to his palms would have been crippling.

'I'll need to end this quickly.' Yuuto thought to himself as he approached. 'I don't know how long I'll be able to resist this heat.'

With that thought, Yuuto sped up even further. Then, in a blur of speed he passed right under the Cerberus.

"*Roar!*" The Cerberus roared in pain as Yuuto passed by.

Using his max speed, Yuuto slashed each of the Cerberus four legs multiple times with the superheated blade he wielded as he passed under the creature. As the Cerberus lowered its heads to find the enemy that dared to cause it pain, it noticed an approaching holy power. Turning its right head toward the approaching holy power, it saw Xenovia falling from above with her sword, a greatsword with a golden blade, golden handguard, with a white hilt, raised above her head.

Before the Cerberus could react to the sneak attack, Xenovia lowered her blade and removed the Cerberus right head.

"*Roar!*"

*Thump!*

Once again, the Cerberus roared in pain. This time, however, the roar was accompanied by the sound of a large head falling to the ground and a geyser of blood shooting from its stump. Enraged by the loss of one of its heads, the Cerberus turned its remaining heads toward Xenovia. This of course was a mistake.

"[Wind Slicer]" Yuuto muttered as he approached the beast from its left.

[Wind Slicer], a sword with a thin, white blade a green handguard, and a black hilt was created with the wind attribute. By condensing the wind around the blade, its cutting power is greatly enhanced. Using this enhanced cutting-edge, Yuuto flashed past the two remaining heads. Shortly after he did, they fell, much like the first.

*Thump!*

*Thump!*

*Boom!*

As Yuuto dispelled his sword, the sounds of the two heads falling could be heard. Not long after, a much louder sound that was accompanied by the trembling of the ground was also heard. The ground trembling did not surprise either Yuuto or Xenovia, though. With a body that large, it would be more surprising if it did not cause some trembling when it fell.

Meanwhile, at the same time Yuuto first attacked his Cerberus, Issei, with the [Shadow Claws] equipped, appeared behind the one assigned to himself and Koneko. Using the creature's large shadow as a fast travel point. Wasting no time, he manipulated its shadow. Eventually, the Cerberus' four limbs were restrained, while its three snouts were muzzled.

"Koneko-Chan! Hurry!" Issei shouted as he struggled to hold the Cerberus in place.

Though he knew it would not be easy, the Cerberus was much stronger than he expected it to be. However, he did not have to wait long. Koneko, growing taller and more voluptuous with each step she took, was using her [Senjutsu] at full capacity. She could also tell how much strain Issei was under. Although she did not like him much, she did still see him as a comrade. Because of that, she would not let him suffer unnecessarily.

Just as Issei was reaching his limit, Koneko reached the Cerberus underbelly. Then, with all the strength she could muster, she jumped and threw a powerful uppercut.

*Crack!*

*Roar!*

As her fist, covered in [Touki], made contact with the Cerberus, the sound of ribs breaking was clearly audible. Not only that, but it was also lifted from the ground, following Koneko's momentum. As both the Cerberus and Koneko rose into the air, Koneko continued to throw punches into its unprotected underbelly. And as these punches landed, the sound of roars and broken bones continued. Eventually, Koneko reached the peak of her jump. And when she did, she threw a kick that sent the Cerberus even higher. At the same time, Koneko used the counter force to shorten the time it would take her to return to the ground.

When she landed once again, Koneko was quickly sucked into her own shadow. A moment later, she appeared next to Issei who had backed away from where the Cerberus was standing before it was launched skyward.

"Wow!" Issei said while following the Cerberus that was still rising due to the last kick from Koneko. "That's the first time I've ever seen a dog fly."

"It won't be flying for long." Koneko said as she returned to her usual state.

And just like she said, the Cerberus eventually started to lose to the force of gravity. And as it fell, Koneko and Issei felt the ground tremble twice. Once of which was preceded by a bright flash and a crack of thunder.

*Boom~~!*

A few moments later, the falling Cerberus finally impacted the ground. And when it did, the trembling was much more intense than the first two.

"Well, that was easier than I expected." Issei said as he turned toward the other two battlefields with Koneko.

At around the time Koneko began launching the Cerberus she was fighting into the sky, Rias and Akeno had finally approached close enough to engage.

"Akeno, if you wouldn't mind, could you immobilize it?" Rias asked with a confident smile on her face. "I wanna see how effective this new attack will be."

"Not a problem, Rias." Akeno said with a sadistic smile on her face. Then, she took a step forward and raised her left hand high. "[Lightning Calamity]!"

As Akeno muttered the name of her spell, a large amount of demonic energy was gathered above the Cerberus. Feeling the energy above it, all three of its heads looked upward. When they did, they saw close to fifty magic circles forming above it. Feeling that the situation it was in was dangerous, it inhaled with all three of its mouths. However, before it could exhale its flames, the magic circles activated.

*Flash!*

*Boom!*

*Boom!*

In an instant, lightning bolts fell from each magic circle with the Cerberus set as their target. Even though each lightning bolt was not very powerful individually, being hit by nearly fifty of them would be quite painful if they did not outright kill.

Shortly after being struck by the many lightning bolts, the Cerberus muscles began to cease. Unable to control its body because of the paralysis caused by the lightning. On top of that, it received extra damage because of the light element in the lightning. So, after a moment, it fell to the ground while whimpering in pain.

"Naughty doggies need to be punished." Akeno said with a sweet smile. As she raised a hand to cover her smile, she continued. "Now, if you lay down like a good doggy, I promise the pain will be gone very soon."

As Akeno was speaking to the Cerberus, Rias was standing a few steps in front of her. With her right hand raised above her head, Rias gathered a large ball of the [Power of Destruction]. Instead of throwing it directly, Rias compressed, flattened, then stretched it into a thin disc. When she was satisfied, she nodded then swung her arm forward, toward the Immobilized Cerberus.

"[Destruction Disc!]" Rias said, naming her attack.

As Rias arm was swung forward, the disc of [Destruction] flew toward the downed Cerberus while rotating at high-speed. A moment later, the disc cut into the eyes of the three lowered heads. It did not stop there, however. Instead, it cleanly sliced through the Cerberus three heads and passed through the rest of its body without issue. Shortly after the Cerberus was bisected, Rias dispersed the [Power of Destruction] the disc was created from. She had no intention of damaging any of the school grounds more than necessary. At the same time, blood began to flow from the smooth cut the disc left on the Cerberus body.

"Just like Krillin's." Rias said while nodding in satisfaction.

"You've really taken a lot of inspiration from Dragon Ball, huh?" James said as he walked up to Rias and Akeno, giving each of them a quick kiss. "Either way, good job, you two."

A few moments later, the rest of the group approached.

"I... I didn't get to do anything." Gasper said with his head down.

"That's a good thing, isn't it Gaspy?" Koneko said while patting Gasper on his shoulder. "That means no one was in danger."

"I guess so." Gasper said while raising his head with a slight smile.

"Alright, guys, stay focused." James said sternly. "I'm sure this overgrown crow has more in store for us."