Chapter 24: Khaotic Situation & Clash of the Heavenly Dragons

A/N:

" " : Dialogue,

' ' : Thought,

"Italicized text" : Telepathy,

[ ] : Spells, Techniques and Sacred Gear Casts,

"Bold text" : Ddraig & Albion.

Sorry for the late chapter, and enjoy.

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Narrator POV

Everyone was shocked at the level of power that Haruki was giving off, but they were even more shocked at the fact that Katerea had the backing of Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God, and second most powerful being in the world as they know it.

Almost everyone here had the knowledge that Haruki had a relationship of sorts with the Ouroboros Dragon God, but they never expected it to be so close that he called her so affectionately.

To everyone's surprise, Katerea soon stopped screaming, then she glared at Haruki, who was now glowering over her, his green draconic eyes emitting a soft glow. "You have only two choices here. Tell me how you smell like Ophis, or scream in agony. Don't think that death will be an easy escape for you." Haruki said, sending chills through the spines of the reincarnated devils.

"I only answer to Ophis-sama, not some foolish false Satans, or some petulant child." Katerea said through gritted teeth. "I see. Then suffer." Haruki said, and everyone felt the area heat up, but none moreso than Katerea herself.

She writhed on the ground with many of her blood vessels seemingly pushing against her skin. Her complexion began to redden as she let out a horrific scream. Then it abruptly stopped.

"Ophis-chan isn't here to save you, and the Satans here have already decided that they're better off with you dead. Your life is nothing but clay in my hands now, and I'm an enthusiastic art kid. So, if you wish to avoid suffering, it is best you answer me truthfully." Haruki said as he reached down, grabbed her by the neck and lifted her.

"Why do you smell like Ophis?" He asked, his voice colder than ice. Although everyone knew of his relationship with Ophis, no one was sure of why he was angry about someone else smelling like Ophis.

At least for the first few seconds, it was that way. "I think I know why he's so angry." Issei whispered, which in a room full of supernaturally powerful beings might as well have been speaking out loud. He then began explaining.

...

Flashback

One month ago

Issei POV

"I don't like how you smell." Ruki told me out of the blue, while we were on lunch break. "The hell is that supposed to mean?!" I asked him, genuinely concerned that my hygiene had gone to shit.

"You smell like Rias, that's why." Huh? What the fuck? Why would I even smell like Rias in the first place?

"Listen, okay. You know how our senses have all been enhanced, right?" He asked, and I nodded. It was a struggle to get my senses under control when the dragonification reached my head.

"Well, my senses are still higher than yours, thanks to me having learnt senjutsu long before my dragonification. So I can very easily identify people by smell." This I also knew, because I could do that. It still surprises me to this day that Aika smells so clean, or as Ddraig told me, smells like a virgin.

"If you come in contact with someone, their smell just lingers on you lightly. However, if you're related to anyone by blood, you end up smelling very much like them, just with a slight difference." He said. But how did that lead to me smelling like Rias?

"So you smell a bit like your mom and dad, and you also smell like Rias." He said with a growl. "Wait, wait, wait. How does that even makes sense?" I asked him to explain.

"Right. I forgot that you don't know the way noble devils make their Evil Pieces." He said, facepalming. "You see, when a devil receives their Evil Pieces, they add their demonic power and some of their blood. So when they reincarnate other beings into devils, those beings become family to them, figuratively and literally." As he said that, it clicked. It really made sense now.

Thinking about it, I understood where he was coming from. I wouldn't want some guy to come around me smelling like Asia or Xenovia, especially when I know that that guy isn't related to them.

Flashback End.

...

Narrator POV

Hearing Issei's explanation, everyone looked at Haruki, a bit more understanding of his anger. But they wondered if Katerea was actually able to bear the absurd load of energy that would have been Ophis' blood.

Katerea choked out a scoff, exhibiting a level of defiance that was positively insane. "Fine then. If you won't talk, then I'll dig the truth out of your body." Haruki said, then plunged his claws into her chest.

His right hand dug deeper into her chest, and eventually grasped her heart. But despite that, Katerea looked at him with disdain. "Khaos will destroy this decayed world and reform it anew for us to rule." Azazel frowned at her words.

"So it's really you people, huh? I guess I should have expected the Khaos Brigade to attack us during this time. After all, you're all just terrorists that are blind to the prosperity that is already present in today's world." Azazel said, then began laughing.

"What's so funny, you bastard?" Katerea choked out another set of words, pushing through the agonizing pain of having a hand in her chest. "I don't understand why it's only the excessively strong that choose to adopt such foolishness. It makes you a nuisance to others, not to mention, you end up looking like a pathetic villain that's about to die." Azazel responded with a mocking smile.

Katerea was about to respond, but screamed in pain, as Haruki began boiling her blood once more. But this time, he sent light magic throughout her body, amplifying the pain.

As she screamed in agony, Haruki sniffed for a short few seconds, then his eyes widened in realization. "Kukukuku. Kuhahahaha!" He laughed aloud, seeming crazy.

"Haha. Haah. Sorry about that. I guess I went a bit hard on you." Haruki said, shocking everyone. "What do you mean by that?" Serafall asked him.

"Well, when she came in here smelling like Ophis-chan, I got a bit pissed, since I know that she doesn't give out her blood willy-nilly. But now that I sent light into her body, damaging her demonic power, I just noticed that it wasn't Ophis' blood." Haruki said, then threw Katerea to the ground, her body steaming and limbless.

"Apparently, the tiny sliver of power that Ophis gave her was so overwhelmingly greater than hers, that it basically clouded over her own scent for the most part." Haruki said, flicking his hand clean of Katerea's blood.

Although Katerea was angry at his words, she couldn't do anything about them, as his dragon slayer magic muted her connection to Ophis' power, and the light impaired her directly.

"Well, if you've got anything you want to interrogate her about, you can take this chance to do so. We on the other hand, are going to go out and take care of the intruders." Haruki said to the leader's, the flew out of the room, beckoning the other devils to follow him.

After they left, Serafall looked at Katerea with a difficult expression. "Why, Katerea-chan? Why are you doing this?" She asked, genuinely pained by Katerea's actions.

"Don't get sanctimonious with me, you bitch. I'm the one that's truly descended from Leviathan, yet you stole the position of Satan from me." Katerea said with a growl, then suddenly started to laugh, or at least she tried, before spewing out more blood.

"Even if you kill me here, it won't be the end." She said in a cryptic tone. "What does that mean?" Sirzechs asked her, and her mouth broke into a bloody grin. "Almost all the members of the Old Satan faction have decided to cooperate with us, the Khaos Brigade." Her words caused a deep frown to form on Sirzechs' face.

"Ophis may be our leader, but that thing is but a mere figurehead. When this world is destroyed and remade anew, we will be the ones to rule." Katerea said,the bloody grin not leaving her face. "I see. Then there is truly no reason for us to let you live." Sirzechs said, and released a black cloud of his Power of Destruction that engulfed Katerea, reducing her to nothing.

On the spot where Katerea used to be was a bunch of purple snakes, writhing on the spot, until they dissipated into nothing.

...

Meanwhile, with Kuoh Academy's supernatural students.

"Okay. As far as things go now, you should all take this attack as a declaration of war. So you all have my permission to go all out." Haruki said, and lightning streaked across the sky. And everyone immediately flashed away to kill the attacking magicians.

Issei entered into his own Balance Breaker, Rias covered her body in a full body armor made purely of PoD, Akeno turned her clothes into her shrine maiden's habit, and unfurled her devil and fallen angel wings, then began attacking with both her thunder magic and light magic, combining them to create the Holy Lightning her father is known for.

Yuuto entered into his own Balance Breaker as well, Koneko flared her senjutsu, causing her cat ears and tails to pop out. Gasper scattered into hundreds of bats made of darkness, and began freezing many of the magicians in time, leaving them open to devastating attacks.

Tsubaki activated Mirror Alice, absorbing many of the magicians' attacks, then reflected the attacks before they could reach her Sacred Gear's limits. Sona created a simple oval pane of water that absorbed the attacks, and much like Tsubaki's Mirror Alice, reflected the attacks.

Using her magic, she began forming multiple rope like streams of water from the rain, making sure they passed by as many magicians as she could reach, then she clenched her fist, causing the water to let off powerful explosions that killed any magicians nearby.

Many of the remaining magicians fired at Rias, but their blows were destroyed upon contact with her PoD armor. She then concentrated a considerable amount of her PoD into a large ball, then fired the ball upward into the air. After reaching a height of 30 meters, the ball exploded, splitting into multiple smaller balls that targeted multiple magicians, killing them in a single hit.

Saji latched on to a dozen magicianswith his Absorption Line, and activated a spell that he made, which absorbed all forms of energy within the target. "[Ravenous Drain!]" The magicians lost their magical energy and soon lost all their life energy to Saji, as their bodies dried into mere husks.

Koneko and Yuuto dashed around with Shūndō, creating multiple afterimages of themselves as they killed the magicians in the air. Koneko's strong blows released shockwaves that ruptured organs, and Yuuto released energy slashes that cut through the magicians' defenses like a blade through wet paper.

As they were attacking, they noticed a bright flash, then a massive beam of fire and lightning streaked across the sky, killing off over a hundred magicians. On the ground, Haruki's mouth was letting off smoke as he just finished releasing a roar.

"[Dragon Blaze Blast!]" Elsewhere in the air, Issei fired a Dragon Shot that had been imbued with his flames, and Boosted 20 times over, clearing another multitude of magicians.

"Gasper! Aim your power at the gate they made!" Haruki says, causing Gasper to look at a massive magic circle that was teleporting more magicians into the fray. He then focused the power of Forbidden Balor View onto the magic circle and activated his Sacred Gear. The power flowed into the magic circle, stopping its activity, and stranding the few remaining magicians in what was essentially a death zone for them.

By this point, all the faction leaders had come out of the school building and witnessed Haruki and Kuoh's devils annihilate the magicians. But something that none of them expected happened.

"Issei, watch out!" Ddraig shouted, and Issei's draconic senses scream at him to move away from his current position. He quickly dashed away from his position, only for a white flash to pass by him. This white flash was Vali, who had attacked Issei with lethal intent.

"Vali! What the hell do you think you're doing, you idiot?!" Issei shouted at Vali after he stabilized himself in the air. This sequence of events attracted the attention of the faction leaders, and they turned to face Azazel.

"Azazel, take control of your man." Sirzechs said with a small frown. "Hey, Vali. If you're in the mood for games, I advise that you get a gaming console." Azazel said, trying to calm the situation.

"No can do, Azazel. Things over on this side are more interesting." Vali replied, seemingly nonchalant about the repercussions of his actions. "It was you." Haruki's voice reverberated around the entire area.

"You betrayed us, betrayed me." He said, his voice pained by Vali's unexpected betrayal of their cause. "Sorry, Haru. But you should have known by now. I only want to fight strong beings, and the peace wouldn't allow that. So I joined this side. At least this way, I'll have my fun." Vali said, his voice void of remorse.

"When was it? When did you choose to betray us, Vali?" Azazel asked. "Ophis made me the offer while I was en route to the headquarters after Haru killed Kokabiel. Their offer was quite enticing." Vali said, then retracted his helmet.

""Wouldn't you like to fight against Asgard?" That was what I was asked, Azazel. And you know me well, I just couldn't resist getting a good fight. But since you dislike war and the very idea of fighting against Valhalla, I decided that I couldn't continue to stay with you." Vali said, causing a prominent scowl to form on Azazel's face.

"You may have raised me, Azazel, but I've never once forgotten my heritage." Vali said as he put his hand on his chest. "My real name is Vali Lucifer." The name rang loudly in the ears of all the devils.

"I am a direct descendant of the original Lucifer. I'm a mixed blood devil born from the original Lucifer's grandson and a human woman. Due to my nature as a half human, I gained the Divine Dividing, becoming the White Dragon Emperor." He said, and grew out multiple pairs of devil wings, a trait that only Super Rank devils and direct descendants of Lucifer possessed.

While the devils had their own reactions, Azazel looked at Vali with a dark expression, and that due to his heritage, Vali would most likely become the most powerful White Dragon Emperor of all time.

"I see." Haruki said with a gravely tone. "Vali. You wish to fight strong people, and eventually become the strongest, right?" Haruki said, looking up at Vali with a blank stare. "Of course, not that I expect you to understand the feeling." Vali said, his words sparking a flame within Haruki.

"Fine, then. I will make it so that you'll never achieve that. I will make those around me so much stronger, that no matter what you do, you will fail to ever truly enjoy the rush of a battle. I'll be in your way and the Khaos Brigade's way until this foolishness ends. If you have to die for that, then so be it." Haruki said, as if making an oath.

"Iseei, you have my permission to use everything against him." Haruki said, turning his head to look at Issei. "Everything?" Iseei asked, a bit of worry in his voice. "Everything." Haruki replied, his tone final. Iseei gulped at the pressure coming from Haruki, then nodded.

"You overestimate your disciple, Haru. A mere human that happened to be lucky enough to be bestowed with the power of a legendary dragon cannot hope to match me." Vali said, looking at Issei with disdain. And Issei looked at him, wondering what exactly he was talking about.

"I investigated you a little, Hyoudou. Your father is a mere office worker, and your mother is an ordinary housewife that sometimes goes out to a part-time job. Even going into their parents and ancestors before them, your entire bloodline is ordinary, without even a weak magician. Without Haruki intervening in your life, and the Boosted Gear, you are nothing." Vali mocked Issei with a loud laugh.

Issei said nothing, and Haruki just watched as Vali continued speaking, berating Issei for the details of his own existence. "To think the one that is meant to be my rival is so boring and is this much of a disappointment. Tell you what, how about I spice up your story by making you an avenger?" He said with a mocking smile.

A sonic boom went off, and faster than Vali's laugh could leave his mouth, Issei's fist had already gotten in front of his face, a flaming punch speeding towards his head. Quickly resummoning his helmet, he pushed himself away from Issei.

"What's the matter? Did I hit a nerve?" Vali said as he retracted his devil wings. "Shut up." Issei said, his voice filled with rage, and multiple Boosts going off from the jewel on his gauntlet. "I don't care what the fuck you're gonna try and say now. I'm just gonna kill you." His voice had gained an edge that wasn't there when he spoke to Haruki.

"[Boost!]"X12 Ddraig's voice came from all jewels on Issei's armor,, and Issei's body was flooded with so much power, that Sirzechs flinched in shock at the level of power that Issei was wielding.

Much to Vali's shock, Issei sped off as a red streak of light and landed a crushing punch on his midsection. Vali tried to get away from Issei, but Issei stayed on him, not giving him any time to attack. "Ascalon!" Issei called out as he stayed in close range.

"[Blade!]" The dragon slaying sword came out of Issei's left gauntlet, and before Vali could move away, Issei sent the sword towards Vali's body. "Transfer it now!" Issue shouted, and Ddraig's voice came by a second later. "[Transfer!]" The power surging through Issei's body was swiftly channeled into Ascalon, drastically boosting its dragon slaying power and the smidgen of holy power that was within it, attacking both Vali and his Scale Mail.

The sword broke through the passive barrier that Vali normally kept over himself, then slowly cracked the armor of the Scale Mail, but the power reduced as Albion continued to repeatedly Divide it. Before the last bit of power was removed from the blade, a considerable bit of Vali's armor had broken off, letting a jewel fall off his armor.

Taking advantage of this opening in Vali's armor, Issei pushed the sword forward, stabbing into Vali's side. Despite not seeing Issei's expression, Vali knew that he was truly out for blood, and unless one of them died or went unconscious, this battle wouldn't end.

Powering through the pain, Vali put his hands together and knocked Issei down to the ground, removing the sword from his gut. Issei crashed onto the ground with immense force, causing a small quake, but soon recovered.

Issue looked up at Vali, who was recovering from this wound, and saw that his armor was repairing itself. "Hahahaha!" Vali, despite his wound, laughed out heartily. "That's more like it! Entertain me!" Issei's eyes narrowed, then be looked around on the ground, and saw a round blue jewel not far from him.

Using Shūndō, he dashed and picked up the jewel with his right hand. "Hey, you bastard! You like taking other people's power? Let's see how you like it!" Issei shouted, then focused his will and anger on the singular task of integrating the power of Albion within the jewel into his own Scale Mail.

An intense green light erupted from his body as his power was being increased. And then an agony filled shout rang out from Issei. Albion's power within the jewel formed a silver aura that surrounded Issei's right arm, but due to the antithetical relationship between Albion and Ddraig, an intense rejection was taking place.

This pain also affected Ddraig, as he was also shouting out, but at the same time, he laughed out loudly. Vali and Albion looked at this with scrutiny, wondering why Issei would put himself through so much just for a single battle. Did Vali's words really rile him up to such an extent?

Issei shouted so loudly that it sounded like a roar, and pushed through the pain, forcing the jewel's power to fuse with his right arm. "Vanishing Dragon power is taken!" With that announcement, the silver aura cleared, revealing a white gauntlet with a blue jewel that went all the way up to Issei's elbow.

"Impossible. Such a thing is impossible!" Albion said, astonished at the development. "If Kiba could fuse holy, demonic and draconic power to create a single sword, absorbing the powers of another dragon shouldn't be too difficult for me." Issei said with a growl.

"Well, it's shortened your lifespan a little. It could have been worse if you were weaker." Ddraig said. But before Issei could respond, he saw Vali clapping. "Not bad. How about I finally get serious with you? I'll halve you and everything in your surroundings with the power of the White Dragon Emperor." Vali said, his armor fully repaired.

"Not if I do something about it!" Issei shouted, and rushed down Vali once more. He used Shūndō in tandem with his devil wings to boost his movement speed, and when he got close enough, the back of his armor morphed to create boosters that propelled him forward at an even faster speed.

But Vali had been prepared for this, and sent a blast that collided with Issei and released a powerful explosion. Using the chance that this had opened up for him, Vali used a technique that only one person alive had seen him use. "[Half Dimension!]"

Vali's crystal wings glowed with a silver radiance as it activated, then he swiped his hand to area at his side, where a group of trees were, and as he did that, the thickness and size of the trees directlt reduced by half.

Issei saw this, but wasn't bothered, he even started laughing at Vali, much to his confusion. "That's not going to be enough to take me down, Vali!" He shouted out, sounding maniacal.

"Ddraig, we're in the final stretch. So let's beat down that fucker!" As Issei shouted that, his power began climbing once more, but to everyone's shock, not a single "Boost!" had been uttered by Ddraig.

When his power hit a certain point, Issei used a technique that he had been developing by himself. "[Welsh Dragon Burst Booster!]" With that announcement, magic runes covered the entirety of Issei's armor, and his power began climbing far faster than before.

This technique was truly a last resort. Issei had been working on creating a technique that would boost him far quicker than Ddraig just shouting Boost every time, and through his training, he created this technique.

It worked by boosting him a total of 10 times per second, and used the total number of Boosts Issei's body could take in the Boosted Gear's normal state as the number of seconds that he could keep this technique up for. Right now, Issei would hit his physical limits after 30 Boosts, meaning Vali was going to deal with Issei continually getting stronger than he could significantly affect for the next 30 seconds.

One second passed, then two, and Issei took off faster than Vali could track, and hit him with a punch that caused a shockwave, and sent Vali flying over a hundred meters away. Before he can stabilize himself, Issei gets close to him again, and punches him downward.

But before Vali reaches the ground, Issei dashed to him, and unleashed one of the Kyotōryū techniques, the Wild Strawberry, hitting him with four powerful kicks to his body, and an axe kick that caused his body to crater the ground.

Although the blow should have taken Vali out, he stood back up and focused the dividing power of his Half Dimension on Issei, taking most of Issei's power for himself.

Issei noticed the drop in power, but didn't pay it much mind, as he dashed at Vali with his arm cocked back to deliver a punch. Another second passed, giving Issei another 1024 times increase in power, and he hit Vali, then activated the power within his right gauntlet. [Divide!] Vali felt his own power drop by half.

Just before Vali could pull away, however, Issei brought out Ascalon once more, and slashed at Vali's torso. The blade glided through Vali's armor and slashed Vali across his chest.

Instead of shouting out in pain or rage as he got away from Issei, Vali let out an ecstatic, boisterous laugh. "This is it! Albion, as he is now, he is just about worthy of facing Juggernaut Drive!" He said loudly. "It's not a good choice to use it here. Besides, if you used it here, Ddraig might get released from his curse." Albion said with a well veiled anger in his voice.

"Don't worry, Albion. It'll all work out. [I, who am about to awaken, in supreme justice—]" Vali began to chant mysteriously. "Don't be so rash, Vali! Is it your desire to be at the mercy of my power!?] Albion said, his anger much clearer to see.

Issei didn't care much for this, and began to send more power into Ascalon, preparing to end the fight before his time ran out. But before anyone made any more moves, the bounded field in the area was seemingly shattered, and a young man in armor reminiscent of those worn by military commanders in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms came between Issei and Vali, interrupting the battle.

"Hey, Vali. I've come for you." The young man said with a cheerful smile. "Oh, it's you, Bikou." Vali said dismissively of the young man's presence. "What have you come for?" He said as he wiped the blood from his mouth, his eyes still on Issei, who was getting closer to his time limit.

"Aren't you being a bit cruel? I came all the way over here to this island country because my partner is in a pinch, you know? The others were making a fuss since you didn't come back after Katerea failed to assassinate Michael, Azazel and Lucifer. You observation role was over once that happened. Now come back with me." Bikou said, only to get attacked by a staff that had been hurled at him.

Bikou pulled out a staff, and hit the staff that was coming at him away. The staff was caught by a large, burly man with brown hair, and a pair of rounded ears on top of his head. This was Natsuhiko Nadeyoshi, Haruki's father, who had activated his yokai powers for the first time in a while.

"Didn't think that Old Man Sun had any kids, let alone a descendant multiple generations down." Nadeyoshi said with a click of his tongue. "If I'd met you earlier, I'd have bullied you like that damn monkey bullied me." He said with a sharp toothed grin.

"He's not an actual descendant, dear. He's a monkey yokai. It's more likely that he somehow inherited Sun's power." Hanabi said as she stepped closer.

Issei, seeing that the battle had ended and he wouldn't be able to interfere without causing problems, deactivated his Balance Breaker and the Welsh Dragon Burst Booster, causing his body to become considerably drained of energy.

But since he had about 7 seconds left before the WDBB ran out, he was still conscious, with his body being wracked by pain and exhaustion. And so, he dropped to the ground, grunting in pain, but was caught by Asia caught him and began healing him up.

"Don't worry, Hyoudou Issei. Our battle has just begun. I will definitely return stronger. My only question is; Will you?" As Vali said that, Bikou hit the floor where they were standing, creating a passage in the shadows, through which they were transported away.

After they left, Nadeyoshi and Hanabi rushed toward Haruki, checking if he was okay, and checking if using Dragon Force had affected him negatively. While he didn't feel anything negative in his body, he and everyone that was here knew that while the 3 Biblical factions had buried the hatchet in the name of peace, a new, more dangerous enemy was on the horizon, approaching them with haste. But that's a story for another time.

All in all, this was an eventful first semester at Kuoh Academy.

Chapter End.

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Word Count: 4,789