Chapter 78: Umbrella Organisation

"*Yawn* Mornin…" Ray mumbled as he stretched his body after waking up in the morning.

Leaving the bed, Ray found Ophis hugging his thigh while keeping her sight constantly on Ray. He vaguely remembers seeing Ophis in his dream talking to him, asking for forgiveness before being extremely cuddly to him. Ray would easily forgive her in his heart if she made such an adorable display.

After that, he wakes Kalawarna up to have a quick breakfast of pancakes with syrup. Then both went their separate ways, Ray go to attend class as usual while Kalawarna return to the company to continue assist Ravel running it.

———

Fast forward a few days later.

"Today I declare the start of the IS Tournament. For the duration of the tournament, there is no class and students are instead expected to use their time to observe IS duels in the arenas. For those that participated, I wish you all the best." The students cheered after the announcement by the blue haired Student Council President holding a folding fan that had a paper sticking on it. Then a few fireworks exploded to signal the start of the IS Tournament.

For students with personal IS, they can skip the first few rounds. They are strong enough to wipe the floor with most students using mass produced IS. Ray, Cecilia and Laura that have personal IS sat with their fellow classmates that didn't join the tournament.

Class 1-1 has 3 other students that joined the tournament which include Houki who is piloting an Uchigane.

To Ray, the tournament is boring in the first half where most students' piloting skill is very sluggish and mediocre, especially the first year students. Houki is an exception in this as she gracefully defeats most of her opponents with Kendo techniques as opposed to her opponent that mostly didn't even have a strategy when dueling.

Another student that caught Ray's attention is a first year student that has the same hair colour as the Student Council President. This student isn't exactly a strong pilot like Houki that has a solid foundation in fighting. However she compensated for those weaknesses by analysing her opponents and exploiting their weaknesses. She didn't blindly attack or try to overpower her opponent but instead she depleted their stamina and shield energy with blocking and dodging before she attacked with a decisive strike to end her opponent.

Unfortunately she meets Houki in the last round and her previous methods don't work very well on Houki because she is proficient in reading her opponent's intentions. Houki knows her blue haired opponent is trying to tire her up which made her use aggressive but precise attacks to end the duel quickly instead of falling to her opponent's scheme.

After Houki won the duel, students are given half an hour to rest and eat before the tournament for students with personal IS starts.

Ray joined his circle of female friends and had a meal made by Lancelot. Cecilia still stubbornly tries to feed Ray her poisoned food which Ray always finds an excuse not to eat after what happened when he did once. Ray wonders how she could mess up something simple as egg sandwiches and turn it into a poisonous food.

Just a glance at the sandwich is enough to kill any appetite he has. The bread had metallic luster and shiny, the scrambled egg looked unnaturally bright orange and the lettuce looked too good to be a real vegetable. It overall looks very pleasing to eyes but the taste is very horrible, he tried once and regretted it.

After the break, the tournament continued for students with personal IS but only for the first years for some reason. The first match is between Cecilia and another student from class 1-3 which is a representative pilot for Australia.

The IS for the Australian representative pilot is a mid to long range IS that have missiles, automatic rifle and a railgun rifle as its main arsenal and few more smaller missiles for support purpose that can deploy smokescreen, flash, etc. Quite versatile in Ray's opinion but is a bad match against Cecilia's Blue Tear that is specialised for long range combat with laser rifle and multiple drones system.

The duel went along with Ray's prediction that Cecilia won but not an overwhelming victory either because her opponent displayed a great fight, using everything in her disposal to seize the victory and only failed because she eventually ran out of missiles to use meanwhile Cecilia used energy based weapons and didn't face such problems.

Then it's Ray's turn with his opponent being Laura since the whole first year, only four students have personal IS.

———

"Get ready, Ray. The duel starts in a minute." Maya said while checking on Ray in the hangar.

"Also, Chifuyu sensei asked me to tell you that she forbade you from using your barrier ability." Maya added while she was running a mandatory inspection on Ray's IS to make sure his IS is adhering to the tournament's standard since his IS is different from normal IS.

"Hm.. I'll keep that in mind, Maya sensei. Haah… There goes my plan for a quick win." Ray sighed in Ouroboros before thinking of another method of winning.

His weapon is basically all melee weapons. They are a bad match against IS like Laura's which can fight at long range.

"That is the point, Ray. Chifuyu sensei forbade the use of the barrier ability to make the duel more entertaining. The tournament is a way for the academy to advertise itself and now we have a male pilot for the first time in 8 years. We need the duel to be entertaining for the world to see." Maya said before she finished the inspection and tapped Ouroboros' frame to tell Ray she was finished.

"Ugh, what a pain…" Ray complained since he will be recognised if the duel is watched by the world. He can't keep his identity a secret anymore which is a problem if he needs to be anonymous in the future.

What the people will say when the previous mob boss suddenly appeared as a student in IS Academy. He will attract problems like this. Especially against the Umbrella organisation that he is trying to eliminate right now. They definitely recognise Ouroboros if they didn't recognize his face.

"Ray!" Maya called and Ray snapped out of his thoughts before he noticed the duel had already begun and he should enter the arena.

Ray takes a deep breath before exhaling. Then he dismissed Ouroboros to Maya's confusion. He only uses his armor instead which Maya assumes Ray uses partial deployment of his IS. He prepared himself before an electromagnetic catapult pushed him out of the hangar, into the arena where many students were cheering and Laura was waiting.

Immediately when he arrived, Laura looked at Ray with some dissatisfaction.

"Why are you not fully deploying your IS?" Laura questioned with some anger because she thinks that Ray is looking down on her. Which damages her pride as a soldier because Ray isn't taking her seriously.

Ray sighed because he sort of expected this response from Laura. But he also has a perfect excuse for this.

"Chifuyu sensei asked me to hold back by putting limitations on me." Ray replied, which isn't wrong but he only left out some information to let Laura fill them with her own thoughts.

Laura scrutinized him but soon sighed in acceptance.

"If it's Chifuyu sensei order then I'll overlook the humiliation this time." Laura said before materializing her Purizushi, the heavy railgun rifle and the six wire guided dagger.

Ray assumed she was going to engage Ray with short range combat. Using her daggers like tentacles to hold Ray and defeat him using the heavy railgun rifle at point blank. An unorthodox method but effective and very deadly for very experienced pilots like Laura who is formerly a soldier for Germany.

Just like Ray expected, she immediately threw her daggers towards him and moved closer. Ray summoned the default sword on Ouroboros to block the daggers but he couldn't move it because Laura used her AIC field to trap his sword, preventing him from defending himself from the daggers that managed to constrict him.

"I'll make sure you regret looking down at me." Laura said with a very competitive tone when she was face to face with Ray.

The crowd cheered because the duel now looks like it is in Laura's favour as she overpowered Ray very easily. Though Ray didn't look worried at all and still relaxed with his head exposed without a helmet.

Laura tried to yank the wire on the dagger but Ray didn't budge at all, to her and everyone else's surprise. He just stands on his spot unmoved. It was thanks to his Brute Strength skill that increase the force he could exert by ten times and this allowed him to resist the pulling force from Laura. Instead, he pulled the wires connected to the daggers to pull Laura toward him before using his sword that was released for the AIC field when Laura lost her concentration to slash her shield and reduced her energy by 4%.

"I think you are the one that is looking down at me, Miss Laura." Ray said with a provoking smile after he retreated a few steps away from Laura.

Meanwhile Laura is very levelheaded and didn't get provoked into attacking Ray. She instead nodded to Ray's comment on her and agreed to him.

"Indeed. It seems that I am too, looking down at your ability despite only partially deploying your IS." Laura said before she started to take Ray seriously.

Laura aimed her heavy railgun at Ray and opened fire. Each bullet accurately reached Ray but he would either dodge or deflect the bullets. He would prefer the former method since the bullet carries a huge amount of force that numbs his hand after deflecting a few of the bullets.

He had no chance of attacking her unless he used abilities which he tried not to as the people might assume it as One Off Ability which is an extremely rare occurrence in IS that only a handful IS ever exhibit such ability before. However he had to. At least he wouldn't use the flashier one like Reload On Fire and instead only activate Hold The Line for the defence piercing power to break the annoying AIC field that keeps making his sword stuck. Since the AIC field is technically a type of defensive shield, logically piercing should fix Ray's problem and it did although with some difficulty.

The AIC can no longer trap Ray's sword for long as he keeps able to break free from it, much to Laura's surprise as AIC literally reduces the Inertia of everything to zero which means no movement is possible. Whatever the yellow aura that surrounds Ray is, it makes her AIC not working as intended that she had to abandon short range combat in favour of her heavy railgun.

———

"Did you see that! Laura is struggling against Ray." Student A said.

"Impossible, I thought Laura is the best in combat class with how she is able to outperform every other pilot in combat class." Student B said.

"Tsk tsk tsk, you definitely didn't watch the match between Cecilia Alcott and that guy. I was there when it happened and he is definitely in another league. Some rumors even said his IS is 4th Generation." Student C said while the others around her exclaimed while she happily shared all the rumors and gossip she had in her pocket.

"What! I thought Cecilia sama won the duel effortlessly… to think she was defeated. Ughhh I regret not skipping class to watch the duel." Student A said while clutching her head in regret.

Meanwhile with Houki and Cecilia. They were so focused on the duel that they almost held their breath and forgot to release it. They both understand the capability of both Laura's and Ray's IS to understand a bitter struggle is happening in the ring.

"Why isn't Ray using full deployment or his barrier ability!" Cecilia called out with anger at Ray for not using his full power.

"I think sensei told him not to or the duel will be brief and not interesting. Like, how are you going to fight against someone with a cheat-like ability as Ray? He can disable your weapon just by jamming them with his barrier." Houki explained while huffing out her dissatisfaction with Ray's op ability. Even Cecilia had to stop shouting at Ray and nod in agreement with Houki's statement.

Cecilia tasted the absurd ability of Ray's barrier and she knew how annoying it is. He can disable anything by creating a barrier on the IS internal part, disable any weapon, hiding under his unbreakable turtle shell, etc. The one she hated the most is she being isolated in a barrier and couldn't do anything as she is in Ray's mercy until he releases her. She couldn't break it and was basically a sitting duck for Ray since the barrier can also be weaponized, according to Laura.

"Houki, do you think he can win against Laura while holding back like that?" Cecilia asked but Houki didn't have the answer to it and could only answer with a shrug.

"Not sure but from the look of it, Laura is down to 73% while Ray is at 87% shield energy. He had the upper hand for now at least." Houki explained while pointing at the large screen that displays both sides' energy levels.

"But Laura currently have the advantage or ra-" Cecilia was cut off by sound of explosion and crashing glass

*Boom* *Crash*

"Kyaaa!"

"Run!"

"Student! Please evacuate Arena 3, unknown IS is detected and found to be hostile."

"I repeat. Student! Please evacuate Arena 3, unknown IS is detected and found to be hostile."

The students immediately evacuated after Chifuyu shouted the announcement to the whole academy. Meanwhile the staff all quickly went to equip IS to protect the students that took refuge in secure locations.

———

While Ray and Laura are in heated exchange of bullets and slashes, the sudden interruption makes them stop and look at the shattered artificial sky above and a few unknown IS that entered the arena.

Those intruders all look almost too similar. Almost 3 meters tall men with bald heads, faces are partially covered with visors and all 5 of them are piloting an unknown model IS that has a colour scheme of black. They look around to scan the surroundings before locking eyes with Ray. It seems he is their target.

"I think this is a good reason to call for a truce." Ray said to Laura who nodded, sharing the same thought as Ray.

"Do you know what they are, Ray?" Laura asked because the height of almost 3 meters is a dead giveaway that these humans aren't normal and their appearances are extremely similar like twins.

"Got an idea as those replicated IS cores are a dead giveaway. Though I didn't expect the US government to be involved with the Umbrella." Ray replied with a low mumble as he entered a prepared stance against the three intruders.

"Laura, leave this place and join the other students." Ray said and before Laura could refute his request, he revealed another news that shocked her. "Listen. These three aren't the only intruders that are within the academy ground. There are more of them and the students and academy staff needed you more than me right now.

Ray then sends Laura the current live feed from his satellite that revealed a larger force outside the arena, attacking the academy. They couldn't see it now because of the artificial sky created by the barrier around the arena that isolated them within.

After that, Ray didn't give Laura a chance to respond as he covered her in a barrier he made and yeeted her out of the arena from the entrance point breached by the three intruders. Then he creates another barrier to trap the mutated humans in IS within the arena.

"*Sigh* If only Chifuyu didn't prohibit me from using my barrier skill, I would have completed the duel before these rats arrived." Ray grumbled as he caressed the Sacred Gear ring on his unarmoured right hand.

"Ophis, remove the limiter and return Ouroboros power output to normal."

"Mhm" Ophis replied as she removed the restrictions applied on Ouroboros that downgraded its power level to match this world from the power level of the DxD world.

Then, for once since Ray arrived in this world, he revealed the real power of Ouroboros, the Sacred Gear that is the vessel for the Infinity Dragon God to express her might through her contractor.

Like a battle raiment of a war god, the mecha appeared over Ray's armor and oozed sheer power unrivaled by anything the world had to compare. Violet flame blazed violently around Ray like an aura while the dark purple phantom of a serpentine dragon appeared behind him like a stand.

Though the three intruders is unphased by Ray's transformation as they watch Ray for almost a minute, waiting for him to finish his superhero transformation with emotionless expression.

"Finally, I can let loose and fight without holding back." Ray declared with a small chuckle before he resummoned the sword that now wreathed in the same flame-like aura that burns on Ouroboros.

He wonders how strong is the mutated human combined with an IS which he tested by giving his best slash of sheer blunt force of the black sword in his hand. Ouroboros also open its wings to do Ignition Boost to increase the momentum on his sword that smashed into one of the intruders and literally cause it to burst open while the other two raised their left arm with perfect coordination to shoot some kind of energy cannon at him.

The two energy cannon bullets hit his Ouroboros but not even a scratch as the aura made of extremely high density of mana, act like a natural barrier that coats his entire body and his mecha. Although the previously smashed intruder is reforming its flesh and armor. The healing factor is its mutation and nano machine in its body and IS.

"Tch, they couldn't talk and had an annoying regeneration factor that dragged the battle unnecessarily long…" Ray assessed the situation before an idea came to his mind.

"Ophis, open portal sun in 20 seconds please." Ray said before he used his normal tactic when dealing with such annoying enemies.

The three intruders that were about to do a coordinated attack on Ray suddenly encased in barriers before being compressed into a small sphere. Ray made sure to crush their IS so they didn't have protection until their IS reformed before he threw the three into a portal Ophis opened for him. He throws the three into the surface of the sun while waiting for them to get burnt alive in the sun. Ray makes sure to throw a little magic at them to make sure they are all disintegrated before closing the portal.

"Right… with them done, now I should go and fight the rest of the intruders… I hope Roseweisse and Xenovia arrived earlier with the boys… if they have those mutated humans, casualty on our side would be impossible to avoid." Ray mumbled.

Then Ophis appeared and floated at Ray's chest level before looking at him with an adorable and expectant gaze at him.

"Here, you did great helping me to defeat the bad guys." Ray takes out a chocolate mousse and a small spoon before giving Ophis.

"Mhm." Ophis hummed before snatching the dessert from his hand.

Ophis since that day Ray got angry at her and left, had been feeling guilty for some reason unknown to Ray and talked even less with hum being her main way to communicate. She also became extra clingy which Ray didn't find to be a bad thing at all and enjoyed her cuddles and clinginess.

(She blamed herself for supporting Raynare that day and the next day she followed Raynare to the mansion to stay the night. That same day Ray was with Kalawarna and his soul was abducted. Then almost killed if not for the two ghost officers Impermanence protecting Ray until she could find him and save him.)

"Let's go then, today is our only opportunity to resolve the problem with Umbrella and kill those rats once and for all. If what I guessed is correct, we could finally leave this world." Ray said excitedly before tapping his shoulder to tell Ophis to sit there.

"Mm…" Ophis hummed with her favourite chocolate mousse stuffed in her cheek before she floated to his shoulder before Ray flew and exited the arena through the hole in the artificial sky.

—————

(Finally we're gonna deal with the Umbrella organisation and as I mentioned, no virus outbreak that will destroy the world but there will still be some weak ass zombies I guess. Although I didn't know if I should wrap up this world that early, I also didn't know what else to write except copy the canon which at this point wouldn't work because of how much I modified this world… maybe I should get into saving Myui the yandere loli imouto and Yao the dark elf that I had been procrastinating for more than 60 chapters. I mean, just need to intimidate Hardy, the goddess of underworld with Ophis help and force her to give back Yao and Myui souls that he can revive later by making a body for them.)