High School DxD: Fox of Ill Omen

Rias

A Dragon King.

Even after Azazel said it so casually, my mind failed to wrap around the idea of it.

One of the legendary Great Dragon Kings being used to make an artificial Sacred Gear. 

Standing in front of us in gold armor with twelve black wings.

And somehow, even in the middle of all that, the thing that made my stomach tighten most was the way Vali smiled at it.

Like he was excited by the man he just betrayed becoming stronger.

Like he was already imagining how strong Azazel would be to fight.

I kept one hand slightly behind me, near where Gasper had dropped from Ise’s shoulders and crouched behind him.

He was close enough to Ise to count as half hidden behind him.

He was trembling again.

Not his normal blind panic from before.

It was a quieter kind that came from being thrust into the middle of a battlefield. 

But besides being scared by what was happening around us, he was otherwise fine.

That meant Issei and I had reached him in time.

Everything else would have to be dealt with one thing at a time.

Katerea Leviathan looked angered by Azazel’s transformation. 

That was another thing I didn’t expect was to see a member of one of the original Maou families here.

It seemed that she had joined with the terrorists. 

This may mean that the Old Maou Faction had joined them as a whole.

If that was the case then there would be another Devil civil war. 

We would need the peace agreement to happen more than ever if that was the case.

“Azazel! You already possess so much power, but you still created something like this?” Katerea said. 

 A demonic aura rolled off her hard enough to make the broken stones at our feet rattle.

Her hair lifted in the force of it, and her demonic power swelled around her until even the night air seemed to twist under it.

She was extremely powerful.

It reminded me of being near Onii-sama or the other Maou.

It didn’t make sense that she could be that powerful or she would have been a major contender for the position of one of the four Maou.

Azazel met her anger with a grin.

I hated how much that steadied me in the face of her overwhelming power.

He was infuriating and too willing to treat everything around his as inconvenient unless it interested him.

He was also the strongest presence on our side currently standing between us and immediate death.

There are limits to the amount one can afford to be picky under those circumstances.

“That’s rich coming from you Katerea. You were losing earlier until you borrowed power from Ophis during our fight. And my power up was much less disgusting than yours.” Azazel said.

The enemy was receiving power from the Dragon of Infinity?!

The more I understood about the situation the more dire I understood it to be.

“Your research of Sacred Gear shouldn’t have reached this state yet…” She said. 

“So, it seems that some of the Fallen Angel’s who betrayed my side to join yours are able to steal some of the Sacred Gear research. That’s an issue I’ll have to deal with later, but it’s of no real consequence. All of the real breakthroughs are known only to Shemhaza and I.”

Katerea clicked her younger in annoyance at Azazel’s words.

Then she readied herself for a fight. 

I am a descendent of the true Leviathan. I am one who should rightly rule over Devil kind as Maou. I Katerea Leviathan will break the false Maou’s attempt at peace by first killing you, Governor or the Fallen Angels!”

Azazel beaconed her towards him.

“Well, come on then.”

“Even now you look down on me! I will wipe you and all memory of you from this world!”

Katerea covered herself with a dense aura and kaunched herself at Azazel.

He raise his spear towards her.

The first clash split the ground around them.

His spear met her strike in a burst of white-gold light that forced me to pull Issei and Gasper back with me.

I raised a barrier on reflex, barely in time to catch the shrapnel of power and stone that tore free around them.

The old school building behind us shuddered from the impact.

That’s when I noticed the the massive wound Azazel had inflicted on Katerea.

Blood gushed from the wound in her stomach as she collapsed to her knees.

The ground behind her had been split from the force of Azazel’s strike.

I quickly looked to Vali.

He only watched as the man he betrayed defeated his new ally with a single blow.

Simone who had power on the level of a Maou had been defeated by the Govenor of the Fallen Angels with one strike.

The fight had been over before I had even realized it. 

Then Katerea forced herself to stand.

“I… I won’t let it end this way! This isn’t over!” She rasped. 

Her arm transformed into a blackened tentacle that she then launched at Azazel, latching onto his arm.

A series of magic social began to appear on Katerea’s body.

I recognized it with immediate terror.

“That formula is for a self destruct technique! She’s going to detonate herself!”

Azazel tried and failed to remove the tentacle attaching him to her. 

“It’s useless Azazel! I was supposed to take my rightful place as Maou, but instead I will have to settle with killing you. Even if you try and kill me now, the magic I am using will still activate and kill you too!” Katerea shouted with zealous fervor.

“So you’re determined to take me with you since you’ve realized you can’t defeat me. It’s a sloppy and insane method, but it’s effect at least.” Azazel replied.

I knew what to do before they finished speaking.

My body moved on instinct.

“Ise! Gasper! Get behind me!”

I shoved both him and Gasper lower behind me at then turned and deployed as many barriers as I could

“What about Azazel?!” Ise asked.

Even though he seemed to hate him he was still worried for someone on our side.

“He’s the Governor of the Fallen Angels. Hell figure something out to survive it. We, on the other hand, need to focus on surviving ourselves!”

I continued to create barriers and reinforce our protection when I heard Gasper cry out.

I couldn’t look away from the barriers I was creating, but I heard Ise shout in anger. 

“Vali! What did you do to Gasper’s eyes?!”

I could spot Vali floating in the air near us while looking down at Ise.

“Sorry about that, but I’ll have to seal the Vampire kids Sacred Gear. I can’t allow him to stop time and save Azazel.”

“Gasper! Are you alright?!” I shouted.

“I-I’m fine Buchou! I j-just can’t see r-right now!”

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding.

Even though I wanted to punish him for daring to lay a hand on one of my servants, I could only listen while I reinforced our defenses.

“If you’re aware of the activation conditions for a Sacred Gear’s ability then you can easy deal with it. The half-Vampire’s ability relies on his eyes and there are plenty of different ways to block or seal someone’s vision. What’s even worse is that if he becomes affected by illusions Simone could turn his ability against his own allies. 

The way Vali spoke was less like gloating over taking out one of my servants from the fight easily, and more like he was trying to teach us what to look out for in a fight.

It was strange.

Perhaps it was his way of ensuring that his opponents were strong enough so that he would not be bored when he fought us.

He kept saying that his only interest was fighting strong opponents, so that though made sense.

In front of me Azazel continued to fruitlessly try to free himself.

He couldn’t remove the tentacle connecting him to Katerea and the digits on her body were glowing brighter. 

At this point I could only hope my defenses would be enough.

I realized that I was being a bit hypocritical currently considering how much I had talked to Kusari-san about not sacrificing herself so easily.

But I knew that my defenses most likely wouldn’t be enough to fully protect us.

At least Gasper and Ise would likely be fine since I had positioned them behind me.

Katerea mocked Azazel as he tried to cut the tentacle away with his spear.

“It’s pointless, Azazel. The tentacle restraining you was created by absorbing part of my lifespan. You won’t be able to cut it.”

She had a mad grin on her face as she began to laugh.

Azazel looked at her and then back to the tentacle wrapped around his arm before shrugging.

He then swiftly cut off his own arm.

Blood flowed from the wound as the severed arm broke down into dust after being removed from his body. 

Katerea looked shocked.

“Wha- you would cut off your own arm?!”

Azazel then launched a spear of light into her stomach, piercing her and launching her up and backwards. 

“I’ll let you take my arm at least.”

Katerea’s body detonated.

The sky became filed with a  black-red light.

The blast spread outward in a hideous sphere. 

It hit the barrier around the school like a hammer and made the whole barrier flash and shudder from the strain.

My own barriers cracked instantly.

I forced more power into it anyway, teeth clenched so hard pain shot up my jaw.

If Azazel had not been there—

It didn’t matter.

The world was still here when the light started to clear.

The grass around us had flattened under the pressure.

Broken glass and stone fell around us.

My ears rang.

Ise lifted his head first.

“Did that crazy woman just—”

“Yes,” I said.

Azazel stood where he had been before.

The golden armor on him faded away leaving his battered form beneath, still missing one arm below the elbow.

Even then, he still looked more irritated than defeated.

“She really was stupid,” he muttered.

Then he looked at the jewel core of the artificial Sacred Gear in his hand.

“Thx. So that’s as far as an artificial Sacred Gear can go at the moment. Well I guess this was a good field test for it, and I’ve already thought of multiple ways to improve it. As long as I still have the core I’ll be able to fix it later. So that means you’re stuck with me for a while longer, Giagantid Dragon Fafnir-kun.”

Azazel finished talking to himself by kissing the keels before putting it back in his pocket.

He seemed more upset at his own criticisms of his artificial Sacred Gear’s performance than he did at losing an arm.

I couldn’t understand his obsession with Sacred Gear.

We turned to the only opponent left.

Vali, who floated in the sky while still in his balance breaker state. 

“Your artificial Sacred Gear seemed to need more study, Azazel. I was looking forward to facing you in it. But it seems like I won’t be getting a chance now.”

Azazel pointed at him.

“Now then, Vali. What will you do? Even without my armor and down an arm I am still more than a match for you. So, will I be fighting again?”

 A spear of light formed in his hand as he threatened Vali. 

Instead of getting ready to fight, Vali turned fully toward Issei.

I moved half a step in front of Issei before I fully meant to.

“I said before, didn’t I?” Vali said. “I wanted to see whether the current Red Dragon Emperor was worth anything.”

“I’m standing right here,” Issei snapped. “You don’t have to talk like I’m not!”

Vali’s eyes stayed on him, calm and cutting at once.

“You are standing there,” he said. “That much is true, but don’t you think that destiny is cruel?”

Ise looked confused at his question.

“I think it is, after all we are determined to fight by being born as possessors of the Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing.” Vali said calmly. “And on one hand there’s me, born from the bloodline of the strongest Maou, trained by Azazel and the Grigori, and receiving the Sacred Gear of one of the Heavenly Dragons. Then there’s you, a totally normal human who only awakened the power of a legendary Dragon after dying and becoming a Devil. The gap between the two of us is too great. Us being predetermined rivals is cruel. So fate must be cruel.”

Ise stepped forward.

“What do you even know about me?!”

“Enough.” Vali replied. “I decided to look into the life of my rival and found it to be very plain. Both of your parents are ordinary humans. Your father is an office worker and your mother is a housewife with a part time job. Both of their families are completely normal as well. There is no supernatural connection anywhere in your family, no unnatural abilities. Even your friends are completely normal, and until you became a Devil you were too.”

Vali stopped and shook his head.

“Without the Boosted Gear you would be nothing. You’re completely boring. When I found out I was so disappointed that I delayed killing you so that the Boosted Gear might move onto someone more interesting. I was ready to give up on you completely. If you had been born to even a slightly special family it might have been different. Hmm…. Maybe that would work. If I push you far enough, maybe you’ll become more interesting to face. If I give you a reason for revenge it might give you that push you need!”

Vali laughed after coming up with an idea.

Ise didn’t seem to get what he meant yet.

I went pale at the realization that Vali would be willing to ruin my Ise’s life just to get a better fight out of him.

His eyes drifted past Issei for just a fraction, toward the direction of the Ise’s home.

“If I kill your parents,” Vali said, “would that finally wake something useful up in you?”

There was only silence after Vali spoke.

Until Ise spoke with a much colder voice than I’d ever heard from him before.

“What?”

Then Vali made it very clear to him.

“I’ll kill your parents.” He repeated. “If I do that, then maybe you’ll devote yourself to becoming strong enough to face me. Revenge is a wonderful motivator after all. Plus it would make you more interesting as a rival. Yeah, I think that will work. After all, your parents are just ordinary humans. They’ll grow old and die in a few decades anyways.”

Ise glared at him with more hate and rage than I’d thought he was capable of. 

Killing intent burst out of him so suddenly that Gasper made a panicked sound behind me.

The pressure around Issei changed shape and weight at once, dragon power roaring through him and into the air hard enough that even Azazel’s eyes sharpened.

He glared at Vali.

“I’m going to kill you.” 

He said it quietly, but all of us could hear the venom in his words.

I was worried for him, but knew that I wouldn’t be able to interfere without potentially making things worse. 

“You’re right that my parents are normal people. My father works every day to provide for my family and my mother feeds nand takes care of our home. And in my mind they are the best parents I could have.” Ise said. 

I realized that this is exactly what Vali was aiming for. 

He wanted Ise driven far enough that whatever slept deeper in Boosted Gear would answer his rage.

I knew it and still couldn’t stop him.

Because more than Vali interfering, the look in Ise’s eyes told me there was nothing in the world that would talk him down right now.

“Why should they have to die? My mother and father have nothing to do with our world. So why should they be dragged into this by someone like you and killed for it? I don’t know anything about destiny’s cruelty, but I know that I cannot let you lay a finger on themv I can’t forgive you, Vali Lucifer!”

[Welsh Dragon Over Booster!!!!]

The Boosted Gear’s light intensified.

Red and violent.

The armor began to form around him faster than I had ever seen, scales rising over his body as if the Dragon inside him had finally stopped waiting for permission.

And as the power erupted upward, all I could do was watch as Vali had gotten exactly what he wanted.

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