Prelude to the Battle

As the months/days slipped by everyone continued the training to master their new powers in ernest, especially as those who weren't going to participate in the attack joined them. It had been a fairly bitter pill for several of the girls that had been traveling with Alex to realize the difference between themselves, and those who actually had nothing better to do than train for days at a time, even if it meant extending the time until they could actually see each other again. Not just Akeno, but Rias's whole peerage had made leaps and strides in each of their respective fields of combat, so much so that if she hadn't undergone evolution Rias wasn't sure if she'd be qualified to continue being their King. This had also applied to each of the peerages of those who had stayed behind, due to them both having to occupy their time and because they were technically supposed to be the primary fighting force of Asora if the need should ever arise. Though they'd never say it outright, several people were annoyed when they heard they'd be left out of the invasion of Ehito's divine realm and only their "Kings" we're going to be present, at least they were until they were shown a demonstration of their new abilities after being evolved. With the members of the various peerages pacified, everyone continued working hard for the upcoming battle until it was finally the day before they were supposed to move out, and almost everyone who was going to attack was gathered to discuss tactics with Sona.

"After several discussions with Noint I've narrowed down our approach to two different options, we could use the key to either travel directly to where Ehito is in the heart of his divine realm, or we could use it just to get us there and go the rest of the way on foot." Everyone took a moment to discuss among themselves what they thought of Sona's plans, before Sairaorg asked,

"Why bother with the second option, wouldn't it just give him time to prepare for us?" Sona nodded before replying,

"Indeed, but with the first option we would be entering the very heart of territory instantly, meaning we would be entering the heart of his power without any idea of what to expect. He could easily expect us to do such a thing and prepare a trap or something, let's remember that the magic we're using to get there was originally his to begin with." Everyone took a moment to take this in and think, before Kuroka pointed at Shia and said,

"Hey rabbit, you can see the future can't you? Why don't you look and see what option is the best~Nyan?" At this everyone turned towards Shia, who squirmed a little at suddenly being the center of attention before replying,

"My future sight isn't so cut and clear, it's based off a decision and shows us the result of that decision. Also because it uses so much magic power I would only see one option, which would be useless since we wouldn't be able to compare them." Everyone was silent as they contemplated this, while Kuroka muttered,

"How useless~Nya." Shia glared at the nekomata and retorted,

"Say that again and I'll show you the results of three months of sparing against a super Saiyan firsthand." Kuroka looked stunned at how Shia snapped back at her, before narrowing her eyes slightly and responding,

"Maybe I'll take you up on that rabbit after we deal with this problem, and I'll show you the strength of your queen~Nyan." By this point everyone else was watching the duo, until someone else stated,

"Knock that off, you both know that if Alex was here right now he probably would've knocked both of you upside the head by now. And Kuroka don't use the queen argument if you don't plan to act like one, a queen is supposed to help the king lead and settle disputes, not start them." Everyone turned and faced the new speaker Grayfia, who glared at both Shia and Kuroka one last time before stating to the rest,

"As for both of the options we have, I think it would be safe to say that regardless of which we choose there'll be a fair share of risk, but that shouldn't matter since if we can't handle it then what have we been doing for the last three months to begin with?" Everyone was silent at this, before deciding to spend their last few hours relaxing while leaving the final decision to Alex, though he'd have the final say to begin with. As everyone separated, Sona approached Grayfia and asked,

"So where is Alex? When he told us to relax the last day before the attack, I thought he would as well." Grayfia sighed before responding,

"You know how he is, plus he said training until the last minute shouldn't be too hard on him. I don't think we need to worry anyways since he hasn't been training as intensely as the rest of us anyways, but has been focusing on getting accustomed to his new form." When she heard Grayfia mention it, Sona couldn't help but ask,

"What is his new form? I've heard a little about it, but not too much." Grayfia's eye twitched before she sighed once more and explained,

"He told me that it doubles his strength from his previous form, kind of like how the boosted gear acts." Sona was silent for several seconds before saying,

"I wonder how many of these forms there are, if they keep increasing his power in such a way, well I shudder to think of the kind of opponents he'd need such strength to fight against in the future." Grayfia nodded in agreement as the they both left to prepare for the upcoming attack, while the subject of their discussion was of course training diligently. Alex was currently using his ki to float in the air with his SSJ2 active, while also bearing an intense increase in Gravity even after several hours had passed. Currently his biggest concern was extending the time he could maintain his SSJ2 transformation since with each form upgrade, the energy drain increased tremendously. As he had already been doing this particular training for several hours now, Alex was getting dangerously close to his limit as a steady stream of sweat flowed down his face. Finally he canceled the gravity and the transformation, and let himself fall somewhat back to the ground beneath him before saying,

"It certainly is more draining than the usual super Saiyan, but thankfully nowhere near as much as grade three super Saiyan." (A.N. The super muscular form) At that moment the familiar feminine voice in his head replied,

'Just wait until you get to SSJ3, that ones the worst of all.' Alex nodded and replied,

"Though I'm planning to train it to some extent, I think that's one I'll try to move on from as quickly as I can because of that. The main problem is trying to determine the truth behind the super Saiyan forms..." After he said this a very familiar metallic gauntlet appeared on his left hand, and Ddraig's voice said out loud,

<Is there any room in your plans for me? I keep hearing talk about mastering your Saiyan bloodline, yet there seems to be little regarding your dragon abilities...> Alex couldn't help but chuckle lightly at Ddraig's concern, and replied,

"Of course I'm planning to train my dragon abilities, my SSJ2 is just the best thing I could use against Ehito right now. Plus remember the Boosted Gear is also my ultimate trump card, anyone who knows about Saiyans will be able to guess my capabilities so being able to increase my strength even after transforming like that is the best hidden card there is." Ddraig snorted at Alex's explanation, but didn't say anything else for the moment while Lauren added,

'With how much free time is available to him now, there should be more than enough time to train his dragon abilities, so let's just focus on Ehito for right now.' Though silence greeted her initially, Ddraig once again snorted contently as he realized the truth in her words. Alex himself couldn't help smirking when he thought about the advantage he now had. With the space-time orbs he was now able to take a single year and extend it to literally spend years training before moving onto the next world, something he wouldn't hesitate to say was a major advantage over most of the other "contestants". After a short conversation with Ddraig and Lauren regarding future training, Alex then repaired the mountainous area he was training in before returning to the main orb for the evening. As he stepped out of the magic circle Alex found a small crowd of women waiting for him with exasperated expressions as Grayfia stepped forward and stated,

"You tell us to spend the day relaxing so that we're at our best before tomorrow, yet you go off and train yourself to the point that you're coming back all sweaty and exhausted?!" Alex was taken aback slightly at the welcome he received, but before he could say anything Miledi stepped forward and declared,

"Yeah! What are we supposed to do if you're too tired to fight properly tomorrow?! Go clean yourself up and rest properly!" Alex couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at how she was speaking, but a quick glance told him that each of the gathered girls were thinking the same thing. He decided to take a page from Ddraig's book and snorted in response, though he still decided to take a bath before dinner, but not before he grabbed Grayfia and Miledi to accompany him. After a fairly long bath that left both girls more exhausted than him, Alex finally made his way down to the dining hall for some dinner where he found almost everyone who would participate in the attack waiting for him. As he ate his dinner Sona quickly outlined both plans she had come up with, to which Alex replied without any hesitation,

"We'll go with the second option, we can deal with any traps or so on that he might have prepared in our path, and acting otherwise would show that we're scared. Though it's a good thing to have a healthy amount of caution, with our line up there shouldn't be a single thing he can prepare that can actually threaten us." There was a round of murmuring in response as everyone couldn't help but agree with his argument, especially since Grayfia had said something similar earlier. With his decision made, Alex finished eating before rounding up all of the women that were in the orb and heading to bed for the night. Unlike his bath earlier all they did was silently lay there in the giant bed, enjoying the warmth and comfort everyone provided before entering a deep sleep.

***

The next morning there was a a nearly palpable tension as everyone was both nervous and excited for what was to come. As they quickly got up and gathered before the magic circle Alex glanced around at those who would be attacking, Rias, Kuroka, Grayfia, Yue, Shia, Shizuku, Tio, Miledi, Noint, Serafall, Ingvild, Sairaorg, Sona, Roygun, Ravel, Seekvaira, and Vali. As they gathered those who were staying behind couldn't help but come to see them off with Anne at their head, as she approached Alex and said worriedly,

"Please be safe, all of you..." Alex smiled and kissed her gently before saying,

"There's nothing to worry about, I practically fought gods for a living back in my previous world. Plus I've got a bit of a surprise for you all before we leave." Anne was confused for a moment, but learned what Alex was talking about when they all left the space-time orb and found another crowd there to see them off. At the front was certain emerald haired little girl, who ran forward the second she saw them and shouted while leaping into Alex's arms,

"Be careful papa! come back safe and sound!" Myuu shouted while everyone watched on with warm gazes. Alex hugged his adoptive daughter gently and said,

"Of course, I'll always come home to you and everyone else." Myuu beamed at Alex's reassurance, while he turned towards Hajime and asked,

"Did you finish it?" Hajime grinned as well at Alex's question, and answered,

"Of course, who do you think I am?" After saying that he handed Alex half a dozen small metallic birds, which he promptly threw into his personal storage. He then turned towards everyone else and explained,

"Thanks to Hajime's effort, I am happy to say that this fight will be broadcasted to Asora for everyone to see in real time. When the final battle starts I will activate the viewing drones, and they will transmit a signal to their creator, Hajime, who will then relay the signal through another device onto the giant viewing screen that is also being prepared." After hearing that they'd be able to at least watch the fight as it went on, there was a noticeable loss in tension in the crowd as it was replaced by some mild excitement. after another round of goodbyes, Alex led them once more through a misty gate that led to the Orcus hideout, before continuing through a spatial opening into the Gruen desert. As they were all suddenly greeted by the blinding sun and intense heat, Vali couldn't help but ask,

"And why are we here?" Alex shrugged and answered,

"Truth be told the only thing I'm worried about is Ehito launching some kind of surprise attack while we're in his divine realm dealing with him, so to prevent that I'm opening the spatial gate in a place that has nothing of concern." Everyone shuddered at this idea as they all suddenly imagined an army of apostles invading Asora through the portal at the bottom of Orcus or something. Though those staying behind weren't weak by any means, and there was still Ophis to consider, it would still be a horrible tragedy if they couldn't prevent such a thing from happening in the first place. With everyone prepared, Alex used the magic key and opened one last gate, causing a set of giant doors to appear out of nowhere before they slowly opened to reveal a completely different world beyond.

"Woah..." Shia muttered as they stepped through the door onto a long stone pathway, before the door slammed shut behind them. Though a few people jumped at the sound, everyone else was busy looking around at that place there now in. They were surrounded by a space seemingly empty of anything except a variety of vibrant colors, and the stone path they were on. It extended down for what seemed forever like an impossibly tall stone wall instead, and stretched out endlessly into the distance. As they all looked around Vali muttered,

"It's kinda like the dimension gap back in our world....." This earned a round of agreement from everyone else as Rias muttered to no one in particular,

"I wonder if this is where we'll fight them." Alex however shook his head and answered,

"I doubt it, we're talking about someone who's been trapped in this space for literally millennia, so I'm sure that Ehito would've made more than this to live in." After he finished speaking, Alex then led the way once more as he started heading down the seemingly endless pathway towards whatever awaited them, before eventually taking to the air and flying. They moved swiftly and silently through the air as everyone kept their eyes peeled for any enemies (Miledi was sitting on Tio's head after she transformed), before Kuroka muttered,

"It's too quiet~Nya, you'd think they would've attacked us already if they knew we were here." Everyone nodded in agreement with, and felt thankful Alex took steps to prevent anyone from tracing their steps into Asora once more. Eventually they found what seemed to be a hole in space at the end of the path, and passed through it find themselves in yet another location. This place seemed like an ancient city like what you'd find in post apocalyptic or zombie flicks, which meant that there seemed to be endless places for potential ambushes. However as they followed Alex, who used the magic compass to locate the next area, nothing happened still. This continued as they passed through another four or five different areas, all varying in scenery to dizzying degrees. It wasn't until they entered an area that seemed to be an endless sea that monsters suddenly jumped from the water and attacked them.

"Finally, I was starting to wonder if there was even any point in coming along!" Vali exclaimed as he eagerly leaped into annihilating the sea monsters. Though several people groaned at his attitude, they couldn't help but think the same as they also started fighting to warm up. Alex could only smiled wryly as he let them release their built up tension as they wished, but his attitude changed as they continued moving forward above the seemingly endless sea. The sky started darkening where it was clear moments before, and the waves below them started turning choppy as an unnatural wind kicked up. As all of the sea monsters they had been fighting fled, everyone returned to Alex's side as they awaited whatever was quickly approaching them. Generating even larger waves and even whirlpools, an impossibly large figure could be seen moving about under the surface of the waves, before a scaly and metallic Looking figure rose up from the water.

"GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The beast roared as it glared at those who would dare trespass within its realm. As for the very same trespassers, those who's hearts and souls were supposed to shaking in fear, they all let out sighs of amazement at seeing an actual sea dragon, or rather a Leviathan. As he looked up at the exaggeratedly massive sea dragon, Alex calmly and nonchalantly said,

"Well hello there."