Chapter 48: Peace Conference Part 2
"Do your best and repel the enemies." This is what Azazel told Ray before he departed to fight against a challenger named Katerea Leviathan.
Michael, Sirzech and Serafall were told to stay and observe Ray's group though the latter one actually wanted to fight the original descendant of the Leviathan but was forced by Sirzech to stand down because her magic will cause too much collateral damage if used in a serious fight. The same with Sirzech who was also forced to sit back and watch because of the destructive nature of his power.
For the Valina case, the leaders agreed to let her fight against her fated rival, Issei who wields the Boosted Gear. They didn't really see her as a legitimate threat and her goal is simply to fight strong opponents instead of terrorism like the most if not all of the Khaos Brigade's member. Valina herself is very pleased with the arrangement.
Ray equipped his exoskeleton suit with the armors before using Shotlite Hornet sniper rifle to shoot down the magicians and other soldiers of Khaos Brigade that consists of other members of the biblical factions that defected. Most of them are devils since the leader of this invasion is Katerea Leviathan.
His enemies at first laughed and snickered at Ray for using a mortal weapon against them. The magicians deploy magic shields while the melee fighters simply rely on their magic armor to protect them. However to their surprise, Ray and the sniper rifle glowed before he shoot the fully automatic sniper rifles and easily pierce the enemies without any resistance like a wet tissue. The bullets easily shatter the magic shields and kill the magicians.
The packed formations of the enemies allow Ray's to kill a few with just one bullet by piercing multiple enemies. When the magazine was emptied, at least two dozen enemies fell from the sky like birds without wings. The whole exchange happened in less than four seconds and most are too shocked to even comprehend what just happened.
Using the confusion and surprise of the enemies, Raynare, Mittelt, Kalawarna, Elrien and Evelyn commanded their respective group to attack the enemies. Kalawarna and Mittelt groups are composed of melee users and close combat magic users that take the vanguard while Raynare and the twins lead the long range magic users and support magic users to assist the vanguard team. With their formation, they engaged the enemies outside of the conference room with the assistance from escorts brought by Michael and the Satans.
However, to both the enemies and allies surprise, none of Ray's unit suffered injuries even after being hit by an attack. The injuries simply never applied even if the blow was connected. Azazel was also away to fight Katerea and couldn't explain it was Ray using Sacrificial Bulwark to absorb all injuries to himself that allow the girls to attack aggressively without worry.
Ray used his strong firepower to his advantage and dispatched the magicians manning the massive teleportation magic circle to disable the enemies entry point. Meanwhile the others defend him from being interrupted by the enemies because he is considered a bigger threat to their invasion if Ray disabled the teleportation magic.
…
On the other side of the battlefield, Azazel and Katerea are staring at one another.
"Tch, those incompetent Hexennacht sluts." Katerea complained with a sigh before she focused on her opponent. She smiled sadistically as it didn't matter as long as she manages to kill Azazel and the alliance will be nulled. She is confident to win with the snake bestowed to her by Ophis.
"This is another proof that Ray's existence is a blessing…" Azazel muttered to himself.
As he already theorised previously, Ray's arrival to DxD world is too convenient as his ability is exactly what this world needed to fight against Khaos Brigade. Now the contract Ray made with Rias indirectly thwarted the Khaos Brigade invasion when Koneko was way stronger than they expected and managed to prevent the Hexennacht magicians from using Balor Forbidden View to their advantage.
"The Governor General of Grigori is the one to give me a warm welcome huh? Although I wanted to fight that girl over there, guess I have to make due with you, Azazel." Katerea said as she created a magic circle that proudly displayed the crest of the original Leviathan bloodline. "I am Katerea Leviathan, the original descendant of Leviathan."
Azazel whistled when hearing the identity of his opponent. For Serafall and Sirzech, they were incredibly surprised that the original descendant of Leviathan herself is colluding with the Khaos Brigade.
"Leviathan… why is the true descendant of Leviathan like you joining the Khaos Brigade instead of helping the devil race!" Serafall exploded in anger.
"Why? Well ask yourself, clown. My birthright, my title of Leviathan was stolen by you and the devil race… it disgust me what it has become. The glory of our ancestors defiled by you and the other Satans that stole our title." Katerea said with venom in her voice as she spat at the thought of uttering Serafall's name.
"Look at how weak the devil race had become under the New Satan's rule. I admit that Satan Lucifer or Sirzech is a capable ruler but pacifism? That is the ideology of the weak and the devil race should aspire like our ancestors for world domination. War and conflict is the defining trait of the devil race and through it can we weed out the weak for the strong one to grow even stronger." Katerea declared with a loud laugh that sounded like a psychopath. "We, the real descendants of the original devils will rule the Underworld with Ophis as our god and we will destroy the world to carve out a new world worthy of our ancestors!"
Multiple magic circles appeared and assaulted Azazel with serpent dragons, leviathans made of her magic. Serafall and Sirzech know it's useless to convince Katarea to stop since she is very committed with her ambitions. However it isn't demoralising to know that the descendants of their ancestors themselves are against them seeking peace and wanting conflict.
The tendrils of the Leviathan serpent dragon are easily evaded by Azazel like nothing, which tells that Katerea is still lacking strength to be on par with Azazel. She didn't even have a chance to think about it when Azazel instantly created multiple Light spears and shot them toward Katerea. She immediately holds her staff in a defensive stance before instantly creating a magic shield, big enough to cover her body and block the wave of Light spears.
A large explosion was created when the Light spears hit the magic shield. Katerea was slightly injured with the explosion scraping her skill a little but no injury other than her pride.
"Looks like I still have to rely on this thing…" Katerea said as she took out the black snake which is a power up item given by Ophis. An ability of Ophis that allows someone to reach their higher potential in exchange for ruining their potential in the long run if the user is too dependent on it.
The other leaders are alarmed as Katerea Leviathan was consuming the snake and her power broke through the roof in an instant that her power is on par with Super Devil like Sirzech and Ajuka. Although Azazel himself didn't panic and looked at the scene with amusement as he already expected this but still wary since Katerea is leagues above hik in terms of raw power.
"Interesting…" Azazel said as he observed the changes in Katerea and discovered a fatal flaw with the snake's power boost.
"Interesting you say? Ahahaha, is that your last word, crow?" Katerea said before she created her serpent dragon again but this time they look visibly bigger and had black hue on the magic which is attributed to Ophis snake.
"I wouldn't say so but you seem foolish enough to not notice that your sudden increase in power reduces your control over your magic." Azazel said while gracefully dodging the attack with minimal movements as he took out a miniature golden lance with a large purple gem on its pommel from his suit.
"Time to give this baby it's practical test." Azazel said as he held the miniature lance out before it shone brightly in golden light.
"Down Fall Dragon Spear Balance Breaker: Down Fall Dragon Another Armor!" Azazel declared with unhidden pride and excitement that he couldn't hold back since this is his first ever successful prototype in creating a Sacred Gear to mimic the Heavenly Dragons gears, Scaled Mail Balance Breaker mode.
…
"This feeling… Do you feel it, Albion?" The emerald-colored gem embedded in the gauntlet on Issei's left hand glowed momentarily.
"Yes, Ddraig. A Sacred Gear made from another dragon, the treasure hoarder Fafnir." The wing of Valina glowed as Albion spoke.
"It looks exactly like my Scaled Mail too." Valina added as she temporarily declared a truce with Issei as both of them and the two Heavenly Dragons watched Azazel in his Artificial Sacred Gear.
Not even the leaders are spared from the massive bomb Azazel dropped on them. A fully functional Artificial Sacred Gear? No one can produce a Sacred Gear since the biblical god died and now Azazel can make one. This tilted the weight in Grigori favor as they now got hold of two massive advantages which include Ray that can create experts like growing bean sprouts and now Artificial Sacred Gear.
Michael especially is very surprised and happy that Azazel did manage to create an Artificial Sacred Gear since he knew how much Azazel is obsessed with it since before the Great War even ended.
"Hey people! Less admiring and more attacking please!" Ray shouted as everyone seemed to stop and marveled at Azazel and forgot that their enemies were not gonna do the same.
"Ray, all teleportation magic shutted down!" Raynare reminded Ray who is busy fighting the horde of enemies brought along by Katerea. Ray nodded and gave order to his girls to focus on the mages at the back and let the soldiers brought by Michael and Sirzech to distract the enemy's vanguard.
(Ray PoV)
"Damnit these people still have time to get distracted." I cursed out while using my Shotlite Hornet sniper rifle to gun down the mages that got smart and formed a large group to create a very strong shield facing my direction. The bullet isn't strong enough to shatter the magic shield in an instant and even if it did, another shield can be created immediately.
Looking at the direction of the devil heiresses and their peerage, they are also occupied with enemies to help me bust the shield. Then I saw Grayfia that didn't attack but only protecting Rias and her peerage. Our eyes met for a moment but she immediately looked down and bowed slightly, seemingly out of respect which confused me but I didn't delve into it and focus on my enemies first.
"Girls, Attention please." I called out through the coms I gave to each group leader. Then I used it to contact Mittelt and Kalawarna in the frontline, clashing with the enemy's vanguard. "Ignore the enemy's vanguard, let our allies take care of them. Ready to do all out attack on enemy magicians and magic users. I'm going to blast them with my big gun."
"Okay! Roger, that boss." Everyone replied and only the twins said the latter part.
Quickly I swap my primary weapon to the Proposition, Then activate the implant and suit to full power to boost my aim and recoil control. I look at the timer for my skill, waiting for its cooldown to end.
"3..2..1 Attack!" I ordered as I activated Hold The Line skill for the extra penetration power and shot my hot load on the enemies shield. They were caught off guard when not just a few bullets but dozens of bullets impacted their shield in less than a seconds and created a crack on the shield instantly regardless of how much mana they pumped into the shield.
The grouped up enemies now in a panic as their previous unbreakable magic shield breaks apart like a fragile glass and leaves them exposed to the other girls that throw every attack they could on them which decimates them instantly which leave the enemies now like a fangless beast. Enemies' vanguard also didn't last long as their fire support from the backline ended and now allowed the angels and devils soldiers to easily steamroll them.
All in all, this ended greatly with me secretly benefiting from this battle and was unaware by anyone except the trio who are aware of my abilities. There are a few enemies I defeated but aren't killed somehow and now subjugated then received implant and unsummoned. Most of them are magicians that he sniped earlier when he was trying to disable the teleportation magic with a few devils mixed in.
I turn my attention to Azazel who dominates the fight easily after being equipped with the Artificial Sacred Gear. He ended Katerea in one strike before looking at me. Communication magic appeared next to my ear.
"Ray, can you enslave her? She is an important source of intelligence, I assume as a high ranking member within the Khaos Brigade."
"Sure, just throw her at me after you beat her half dead and I will take over after that." I replied that Azazel terminated the magic which Ray assumed Azazel meant yes.
Azazel then wields a spear made of light that is shaped like a Sasumata and slashes at the already injured Katerea to further weaken her. Meanwhile I move closer towards the two with Proposition replaced by Shotlite Hornet for lighter weight.
As Katerea already weakened with multiple slashes decorated her body and bleeding heavily, she was easily subdued by Azazel and allowed me to do my 'magic'. Azazel landed next to me to observe the process and I aimed my sniper rifle at her limb, ready to shoot and leave her half dead for the implant to forcefully enslave her but we both realized too late that this was a trap made by Katerea.
"If I'm going to die, I'm going to drag you with me to the grave! At least I can kill you to ruin the alliance and your little secret weapon." Katerea who look weak and exhausted suddenly jolted to live and used some sort of ability to extend and multiply her right arm to constrict me and Azazel as she is preparing her suicidal attack to bring all three of us to death.
"Shi-" Azazel cursed as he was conflicted between running and helping me.
I didn't have time to say anything as I activated Die Another Day then Sacrificial Bulwark to absorb both Azazel and Katerea damage since Azazel needed her alive. My last act was kicking Azazel as hard as I could from ground zero before a devastating explosion consumed all three of us and expanded rapidly but I saw Sirzech raise a wall made of his Power of Destruction to contain and annihilate the magic before it could reach the others.
From my own sight, I looked at my interface as my barrier durability then HP dropped rapidly although I already activated the Die Another Day skill. Whatever ability used by Katerea is very strong which is understandable since it was a suicidal ability that consume herself to bring down other. Before I could prepare myself, my HP reached 0 then I lost consciousness. The pain barely had time to register since everything happened in a split second and I once again died.
…
"Ray!" Azazel shouted in great concern. But he saw with his own eyes that Ray did use his ability and absorbed all the attack and directed himself.
If its normal magic or attack, Azazel wouldn't care but this suicidal magic is aimed to disintegrate the target and the caster and Ray absorbed three person worth of attack.
As he feared, he saw Ray's flesh disintegrating but not fully at the very least. His exoskeleton suit has been in disengaged mode since Ray died. Ray's body then undergoes the usual process of healing. His body turns glowing red and steaming while his rapid regeneration tries to outpace the disintegration.
"At least he is healing which means he is reviving soon…" Azazel muttered as he observed Ray's condition before he went and apprehend Katerea before she could use the chance to escape.
Everyone soon gathered around Ray, Azazel and Katerea. The trio and the unit under Ray didn't look very worried as they were accustomed to Ray's revival ability that they always saw him using in Mission mode. Issei, Xenovia and the others didn't as they looked very worried and Asia even tried using her Twilight Healing to accelerate the healing.
"What is happening to him, Azazel?" Michael asked with a worried expression.
Azazel glanced at Ray for a moment before he explained to the others that Ray has another ability that allows him to be revived upon death but he is unaware of the ability limitations.
"Miraculous ability of revival but it felt more like a malevolent curse than blessings…" Gabriel commented which Michael agreed to. He can feel the healing on Ray is not healing but more of a curse that forces his body to return to a pristine state like vampiric regeneration.
They waited for a few more moments before Ray fully healed and his body stopped disintegrating. He awakened like nothing happened to him and greeted his girls before the other. He immediately materialized his sniper rifle and shot at Katerea until he received a notification then Katerea vanished due to her being unsummoned. None stopped him as most thought it was a payback for killing him.
"Wonderful, since everything was resolved. Let's end our conference here and we can discuss another day as today is quite eventful enough and morning is about to arrive." Azazel announced since they have to return the city to normal by morning or the human might get suspicious why the whole Kuoh is emptied.
None objected and dismissed themselves except Issei, Asia and Xenovia that wanted to talk with Ray. Ray and the trio plus the twins stayed behind to catch-up with Rias and her peerage since they couldn't meet for 2 weeks due to the training.
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(Note: This was taking longer than I expected due to the earlier part I keep having to refer to DxD fandom and the anime itself to research writing materials. The latter part I rushed, which if the quality is bad, then my bad but I stalled it long enough and I have to post a new chapter.)