High School DxD: Fox of Ill Omen

Yuki

Our healer and our most powerful teammate were gone.

We had just watched Issei and Asia both retire after two strategies to defeat them were used by Sona-Kaichou.

Defeating Issei was more complicated and a slow process involving having Saji-san fight him to stall for time.

Defeating Asia by using that reverse ability that the members of the Sitri peerage seemed to know was fast.

It was jarring how quickly Asia went from trying to heal Issei to retiring. 

But even so, we still had most of our team left and the Sitri servants were separated from their master.

And thanks to Issei’s strange, but powerful new ability, we knew exactly where the enemy [King] was.

Issei’s new ability was perverted and off-putting, just like the Dress Break ability he created, but I couldn’t deny that it was powerful. 

His lust and desire for women’s bodies had allowed him to create such a stupid but powerful ability that would turn any attempt to use a complex strategy into a waste.

As long as his opponents were female.

As Koneko had said he was a true pervert, and I still blame Rias with how open he has been with his pervesions.

We faced off against Shinra-senpai and Kusaka-senpai.

Shinra-senpai looked calm and determined.

Kusaka-san looked nervous as her eyes shifted between us.

Xenovia and I each took a step forward towards them.

Rias looked away from where Issei had disappeared from and looked up at the ceiling, to where Sona-Kaichou would be.

“Koneko, can you sense Sona’s spirit now that the barrier is gone?” She asked.

Her voice sounded too calm.

She was probably directing her anger into focus so that she could finish the match as soon as she could.

She needed to act as a [King] and not let her emotions get the better of her.

Koneko’s ears twitched once as she closed her eyes and focused.

“Yes, Buchou. I wasn’t able to detect her before, but now I can feel Kaichou’s presence on the roof. She was telling the truth about that barrier containing an illusion that made it seem like she was inside. Now that it’s gone I can properly perceive her location.”

Koneko was right that the barrier they used was blocking our abilities.

I had tried to look through it with my Veil Sight, but the barrier prevented me from seeing that it was only an illusion of Sona-Kaichou and not the real thing.

But now that we were aware due to Issei exposing her deception, we could find her and end the match.

Yuuto stepped forward and pointed her sword at the two enemies before us.

“Now then, how shall we do this?” She asked. “As fellow blade users, I think that Shinra-senpai, Xenovia and I should finish our earlier fight.”

“I will let you face her first, Yuuto, it wouldn’t be a worthwhile fight if we both attacked her now.” Xenovia added.  

I watched the two of them as they decided that we were going to be having more solo duels despite having the obvious advantage of outnumbering them three to one.

I got that Yuuto wanted to be honorable and test her skills and that Xenovia wanted a good fight, but this was an official match that we had been tricked once.

There was no need to give them any more room to fight.

Shinra-senpai answered Yuuto without changing her expression.

“That is fine with me,” she said. “Things have not turned out exactly to Kaichou’s plans, but if you are willing to face me in a duel, then I won’t back down. A [Queen] against a [Knight] should be an interesting match.”

As she spoke I noticed that Akeno had begun to release small arcs of lighting.

Her normal mask over her emotions was gone and she looked upset as golden lighting arced around her.

I moved closer to her.

“Akeno-san, what’s wrong?”

“…I wanted to show Ise-kun my determination… I wanted him to see that I was trying to overcome it… by using this hateful power in front of him…”

Her eyes were beginning to tear up as she spoke. 

The pressure she was giving off was quickly growing.

The lighting around her began to arc and move violently.

I moved in front of her so that she had to look at me. 

“Akeno-san, even if Issei-san isn’t here right now, he will still know how hard you’ve tried. And like I told you before we are all here for you, not just him. I'm here for you too. If you want to show us that you can overcome your Fallen Angel half, then I can watch you.” I said.

She stopped as she looked at me.

“…I can show you my determination? You’ll watch me?”

I nodded

“Of course.” 

Akeno searched my face for a moment.

She nodded and moved past me.

She raised both hands towards our opponents.

“Ise-kun isn’t here, and because of that, I’m going to put more effort into making sure that this hurts.”

She smiled widely in a way that I had only seen a few times.

It was a face she only showed when she was giving into her sadistic desires.

“Disappear”

She fired a massive torrent of lightning towards Kusaka-san. 

She quickly put her hands up towards the attack

“Reverse!” She shouted, sounding panicked.

A light shone from her hands and the lighting’s gold color began to turn darker as it collided with her. 

Kusaka-san let out a scream of pain. As she was engulfed by the attack.

As the lightning faded she collapsed and quickly disappeared in retirement light.

Grayfia-sama’s voice sounded once again.

[Sona Sitri-sama’s [Bishop] retires.]

“Fufufufu, it looks like Reya-chan’s attempt at defense was useless,” Akeno said.

She sounded far too pleased with her own brutality. 

“She tried to use the same reversing ability that was used against Asia-chan. She tried to reverse my attack but my attack consisted of both thunder and lightning. She was only able to reverse the light portion of the attack, and it clearly wasn't enough.” She grinned as she spoke. “It looks like the Sitri group’s training with that Reverse ability was lacking.”

After finishing Akeno turned towards me and smiled while letting out a sigh.

“I feel much better now. Even if Ise-kun wasn't here to see it, I was able to show how far I have come. Thank you, Yuki-chan.”

She gave me a wink as she moved to stand near Rias again.

It was slightly terrifying how much joy Akeno took in hurting our opponent once she realized the weakness in that reverse ability.

But she seemed to be doing better, and she had used her Fallen Angel powers in that attack.

It was progress, I guess.

I turned back to Shinra-senpai as she took a step back after seeing Akeno’s power.

It didn't look like she would be interested in a duel anymore.

Yuuto pointed a sword at her.

“Now, Shinra-senpai, we can test our swordsmanship with–”

Shinra-senpai turned and began to run before Yuuto could finish.

I wasn’t going to let her escape again.

I used Misstep and appeared in front of her.

I quickly entered Malediction’s Embrace.

I would defeat her with it so that I took the least amount of backlash as I did so.

I would need to focus to prevent myself from falling under its influence.

If I was able to exit quickly, I would be able to control myself for this short fight.

Shinra-senpai’s eyes widened as the physical changes of my state quickly appeared.

I felt myself grin at her reaction and the wariness in her eyes.

It made a part of me react when I saw that small amount of fear.

I forced that down and quickly moved to fire a Baleful Bolt with each hand.

I sent one at her with my right hand as she brought up her naginata to defend herself.

She dodged the first spell.

But I had already fired another from my other hand.

She barely managed to deflect that one with her blade.

So I fired another, and another after that.

I was receiving far less backlash from my attacks.

I could cast a spell multiple times before I received the backlash that I normally would.

But while in my state ability, I was more eager to cause harm and defeat my opponents.

I had to focus on not overdoing it and injuring myself unnecessarily.

The third spell hit Shinra-senpai in the leg.

The fourth hit her in her side as her stance dropped from the wound she just received.

The next one hit her shoulder and caused her to drop her weapon.

I felt myself becoming more excited at how quickly I was taking down my prey- my opponent.

I couldn’t stop the wide grin that was on my face as I stared down at Shinra-senpai as she fell to the ground after taking repeated hits from my curses.

I walked towards her as I held one of my wrists and flexed my hand.

I hardly felt the sting of the backlash right now, but even in my altered state, I could tell that I hadn’t over done it yet.

I kicked away Shinra-senpai’s weapon as I moved next to her.

I leaned down slightly as I prepared to finish her off.

She looked up at my face despite the pain she was in.

“What is–”

I fired another bolt into her chest as she tried to ask me something.

[Sona Sitri-sama’s [Queen] retires.]

Her body was quickly swallowed by retirement light as she disappeared from the battlefield.

I stood and let out a content sigh at my quick victory.

I heard a sound to my left and quickly turned.

I felt my tails lash behind me as I prepared to face the next threat.

As I turned I saw that Yuuto and Xenovai were near to me while Rias, Koneko, and Akeno were still slightly further away.

I had been so focused on Shinra-senpai that I had forgotten they were here for a moment.

“We came to help, but it seems that we weren’t needed.” Xenovia said.

“That was impressive, Yuki-san. If we hadn’t been trying to have you save your strength earlier, our fight in the parking garage would have been much easier.” Yuuto commented.

I couldn't stop myself from letting my eyes move over their figures as they moved closer to me.

My eyes were drawn to Yuuto’s legs and Xenovia’s chest as I gazed at them.

I felt my body grow warmer as I stared at the two of them, and I felt like there was a reason that I wasn't supposed to be looking at them this way, but I couldn’t remember why.

Yuuto lifted her eyebrows and Xenovia tilted her head in response to my intense stare.

Then I heard Koneko shout.

“Yuki-senpai! The fight is over for now!”

I froze.

Then quickly shut my eyes as I forced myself out of my ability.

After a moment I felt the rush I had been feeling from my victory fade.

I realized that I had gotten too close to losing myself due to Yuuto and Xenovia’s proximity to me.

I shook my head once to rid myself of the lingering thoughts and stray desires that my state had brought out of me.

“Is everything alright Yuki? Did you injure yourself with your spells?” Rias asked as she and the others approached.

I let out a breath.

“No, Buchou, I am alright. My arms are sore, but that’s all. Luckily Shinra-senpai was worn out from our first fight and our pursuit here.”

“I understand that she fled, but I would have preferred to have had my duel.” Yuuto said sadly.

She looked away and kicked a piece of debris after speaking.

She was actually pouting.

I knew that she would be upset that she did not get to show off her swordsmanship, but this was a bit much.

“I even practiced using Durandal after borrowing it for training from Xenoiva.” She muttered. “I wanted to show my new fighting technique.”

I glanced at Rias.

She looked away and left me to deal with our moping [Knight].

“...Well, Shinra-senpai fled, so I doubt you would have gotten to show much of your new fighting style.”

She sighed.

“....You’re right. I just wanted to show that I am a valuable member of Buchou’s peerage. I want to show that I can stand on the same level as Ise-kun, as the Sekiryuutei.”

It seemed that Issei had another rival aiming for him.

Yuuto was already paying more attention to him, and now she was looking at him as a barrier to overcome to prove her own strength.

And that had led to her mood dropping due to a missed opportunity.

I decided to go with the easiest thing that would fix her mood.

“Just show the new technique to Issei-san. Or better yet, use it on him in a spar. He’ll probably be amazed by it. If you train against his Balance Breaker, your own will benefit from it.”

That got her to perk up.

“You’re right.” She repeated.

“I will need to be there for that spar.” Xenovia said.

“...Since you didn’t use it against Kaichou’s group, that means that you still have a secret technique, Yuuto-senpai. It will be useful for future matches.” Koneko added. 

That was also a good point.

Akeno-san laughed softly behind us.

“I think Koneko-chan is right, Yuuto-chan. It’s very useful to save some surprises for later.”

I glanced back at her.

Akeno-san’s expression had softened now that we had defeated the enemy.

She gave me a small smile when she noticed my gaze.

I saw Konkeo frown at me for some reason.

I raised a brow at her, but she looked away.

Buchou spoke to us before I could get too distracted by those two.

“The only one left is Sona.”

She looked at each of us.

She still looked annoyed at the way the match played out, but she was focused on ensuring we won.

“We will head to the roof and finish this game. Let’s go, my servants.”

We regrouped and headed for the roof.

The path up felt strangely short.

Perhaps because the battle had been one fight or event after the other.

But now things were reaching an end.

By the time we reached the roof, the sky above us was white.

It was the empty false sky of the game field.

And there, waiting for us alone, was Sona-kaichou.

She turned her gaze toward us and smiled bitterly.

“Sona, why on the roof?” Rias asked.

“The [King] must survive until the end,” Sona-Kaichou replied. “That is the duty of the [King]. I predicted that you would not send anyone here, so I was able to use it as a hiding spot. After all, if the [King] is taken out, then the game will end. So I removed that as a variable on my end.”

“Your predictions for this match were all correct, so I won’t question the depth of that.” Buchou said.

Then Sona-kaichou looked at Buchou.

“Rias, Saji won against the Sekiryuutei. Neither Hyoudou-kun nor you made any mistakes.” Her voice sharpened slightly. “Please don’t make light of that child’s efforts. You aren’t the only ones that are desperately trying to win.”

“I can tell, Sona,” Rias answered quietly, “Now then, let’s settle this” 

She took one step forward.

It seemed that this would be another one on one battle.

It seems that most everyone in Rias’s peerage believed that this was the way to fight.

“If I sense danger, I’ll enter the fight immediately,” Yuuto said. “As our [King] we can't allow you to fall.”

Rias didn’t answer.

I think she understood that Yuuto wasn't going to back down, and I would be involved just as quickly.

But this was a match between two old friends.

She wanted it to end between them.

They began the last fight of the match.

Water began to gather around Sona-kaichou and began to form a larger shape. 

It looked like she was drawing all the water in the mall to herself.

The Sitri family’s specialty was water magic, and I could see that it was true with Kaichou as well. 

Rias didn’t wait for her to finish forming her magic as she fired a volley of demonic power bullets 

Each bullet was densely packed with demonic power 

Her attacks carried the power of destruction.

If it hadn’t been for the rules about destroying the battlefield, the Russ would have been able to be much more active in the game. 

Sona-kaichou answered by shaping the water into a wall.

Rias’s attacks erased the water they came into contact with as her power of destruction showed its strength, but Kaichou was able to immediately replace the water she lost as she drew in more from the mall.

“Now then, Rias,” Sona-kaichou said, “I shall thoroughly display my water magic to you.”

The water transformed again.

It formed into different beasts.

Hawks, looks, snakes, packs of wolves, and even Dragons.

She formed a massive army of beasts.

Her control over her demonic power was truly impressive.

“Just as I wished for, Sona!” Rias answered with a fearless smile.

She created more and more bullets with her power of destruction as she compressed their power even further. 

The two of them faced one another.

Rias displayed her overwhelming power.

Sona-Kaichou displayed her masterful technique and control. 

And then they attacked at the same time.

The rooftop erupted.

Water beasts and demonic power bullets carrying the power of destruction crashed into one another, exploding and vanishing and reforming in a storm of demonic energy.

And then, in the middle of that final exchange Grayfia-Dana’s voice called out one last time

[A participant has resigned. It is Rias Gremory-sama’s victory.]

We had won.

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