Meanwhile, Saitama was watching the whole fiasco from the location where he had been brought too through some kind of far-sight magic as the space in front of him had been distorted and revealing the scene that took place at Kuoh Academy as if it was a television.
The corner of his lips twitched upward when he witnessed Gasper's display of courage, and he was not that surprised when Vali was revealed to be the traitor of the Three Factions. He remained indifferent when the said traitor was about to fight with his own son.
"Are you sure about this, Saitama-dono?" a voice came from Saitama's side. The voice belonged to a man with glasses and clad in business suit.
"Arthur." Saitama addressed the one who questioned him.
Meet Arthur Pendragon, a member of the team Vali had created beforehand. He is a descendant of King Arthur, as well as a descendant of the witch Morgan le Fay.
"I know your son is not weak, but are you sure to pit Vali against the Sekiryuutei?" the man identified as Arthur asked sceptically. "After all, you had been spending quite some time in training the current Hakuryuukou…"
"Nah, can't say that I trained him." Saitama dismissed the fact. "Most of the lesson had been taken care of by Azazel, I simply helped him as his sparring partner."
"And thanks to you, Vali had become even stronger than ever." Arthur commented as he looked at the scene showed by the far-sight magic.
"By the way…" Saitama looked around. "I didn't see your little sister this time. Where is she?" the man asked the blonde man.
"Le Fay is currently looking after our base." Arthur replied. "Oh, she's also sending you her regards." Saitama only nodded in acknowledgement before returning to the magic screen.
" You sure are calm when your son is in a tight spot like that - nya, Saitama-chin." This time, the young woman who 'kidnapped' him in the first place spoke up.
Meet Kuroka, a Nekomata. She was a beautiful and attractive young woman with a voluptuous figure, long black hair with split bangs, and hazel gold eyes with cat-like pupils. Her attire consisted of a black kimono, a yellow obi, a set of golden beads, and an ornately detailed headband. The kimono featured a red interior and it was open at her shoulders, giving view to her enormously large breasts. A pair of black cat ears and two black tails could be seen on her body, signifying her race.
"I was expecting you're going to ask us to send you back so you can stop them or probably help your boy there, nya." The woman said like a cat.
"It's probably no use, Kuroka." Saitama replied to the woman who was identified as Kuroka. "I heard that those two are destined to fight each other sooner or later, right? So, instead of prolonging the inevitable, I guess they can just duke it out and get it over with…"
"Kahahahaha! You sure one harsh father, Saitama! If your comrade found out that you're simply hanging with us, I wonder what they'll do to you…" another male voice was heard.
"And I also wonder what your gramps will do to you when he found you here, Bikou…" Saitama replied with dry tone.
Meet Bikou, another member of Vali team. He is a monkey youkai descended from the Monkey King Sun Wu Kong. He was dressed n ancient Chinese armour that was used during the Three Kingdoms period.
"Come on, now… That old geezer always knows that I'm doing this kind of jobs every now and then! Lighten up! Here, have a banana." Bikou patted Saitama's back before handing the man the yellow fruit.
"Oh, thanks." Saitama gladly accepted the fruit as he peeled the skin off and grabbed a bite before returning to watch.
"By the way, Saitama-chin…" Kuroka took her turn to speak. "I see that you've met with my baby sister, nya?"
Saitama blinked as he swallowed his banana, and he turned to the woman. "…You have a sister?"
Kuroka's eye twitched in slight irritation. "So you weren't listening that time, nya…." The nekomata grumbled as she decided to leave the topic for another time.
"Moving back to the situation at hand…" Arthur spoke up. "Saitama-dono, despite what you have said about the Two Heavenly Dragons, what will you do if Vali ended up killing your son?"
Saitama only huffed as he swallowed his banana. "Let me tell you this…" Saitama's lips twitched to a faint smirk. "Ise won't die that easily. That's all." Saitama said with his eyes were staring at Arthur's.
"I know that the Sekiryuute-chin is quite strong, but Vali-chin had been trained by you, as well as the strongest Hakuryuukou to date, you know?" Kuroka stated. "What makes you so confident, nya?"
"Why, it's because-"
However, Saitama's answer, along with the conversation were interrupted by Bikou. "Uh, guys…?" the monkey youkai called out as he warily looked around. "Is this also part of the plan?"
"Huh?"
When the rest of others turned their heads, they blinked at the sight of a massive, dark green magic circle with dragon insignia on it. Appearing slowly from the magic circle, a giant figure of western dragon with dark green scales covering its body and a pair of silver eyes.
"The Dragon Gate?" Arthur muttered with incredulous tone.
An ear-splitting roar was heard as the dragon arrived at the scene.
GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
"That colour of the dragon gate… No friggin' way!" Bikou's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Legendary dragon, The Crime Force Dragon, Grendel…" Arthur said in grim tone as he readied his sword.
"Nya!? I thought that broken dragon is dead from long ago!" Kuroka complained as she prepared herself for battle.
Saitama on the other hand, remained indifferent as he eyed the giant reptile. "A dragon? Broken? Looking at it again, it looked kind of different from those folks…." Saitama mused.
Indeed, the dragon was standing on its hind legs like a human. In a way, one could say that the dragon was more like a giant with features of a dragon.
Upon arrival, the dragon that was identified as Grendel, opened his jaw filled with sharp fangs and let out a thunderous laugh. "Guhahahahaha! It's been a while since going through the Dragon Gate! Hnn…?" Grendel then scanned his surroundings. "What do we have here? Two youkais and two humans… Where's this strong enemy I've been told about!? I've been itching to fight some powerful opponents!"
Saitama only calmly addressed his current companions while pointing at the dragon. "Is that… A friend of yours?"
"Hardly." Arthur sarcastically replied as he grimaced. "To be precise, that dragon was supposed to be dead long time ago."
"So…. He's an undead?"
"No… And that's the ridiculous part, nya." Kuroka explained. "His aura was pretty much that of a living being. Someone had revived an Evil Dragon, somehow…"
Bikou only remained silent as he cautiously kept his eyes on the dragon. Having unexpected development such as this could make things more exciting, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth. While the group, sans Saitama, had never met the real life Grendel before, the moment they laid their eyes at the Crime Force Dragon, they could easily tell that the creature was nothing but powerful. Not to mention Grendel's class as an Evil Dragon had put them further on their edges.
Evil Dragons, also called as Broken Dragons, are stated to be the most vicious and brutal of all dragons, all being dangerous battle maniacs that want to destroy everything including themselves. Grendel in particular, was also known as one of dragons with toughest scales to break.
Even from the looks alone, the three of Vali team could see the overwhelming aura and killing intent that was radiating from Grendel's being. The dragon would be a formidable opponent, even with the power of everyone combined. However, Saitama on the other hand simply walked towards the Evil Dragon, much to everyone's surprise. Grendel's expression turned into a glee as soon as his eyes landed upon the bald man.
"Hooh!?" Grendel seemed astonished as he pointed his clawed finger at Saitama. "You! You over there! You're the strongest around, aren't you!? I can tell from the way you're carrying yourself! That aura and that kind of confidence is definitely no bluff! Guhahahahahaha!" Grendel laughed in anticipation.
Everyone else eyed warily at Saitama who did not show any sign of fear. In fact, the way Saitama walked was more like the one who was walking in a park instead of battlefield. "Yeah, yeah…" Again, to everyone's surprise, Saitama was pecking his ear as he glanced back at the far-sight screen, which was still active before returning back to the dragon. "Look, we're getting to the good part here. So let's just get this over and done with, okay?"
Bikou, Kuroka, and Arthur were not sure whether to worry for Saitama's attitude or to expect Saitama's response from a mile away. They were rather fond, or at least did not hate Saitama as a person, despite they only knew him for a short time; while at the same time, they were also curious of how Saitama would fare against an Evil Dragon on Grendel's calibre.
Grendel maintained his grin while a hint of irritation could be detected from his reply. "Straight to the point, eh? Not bad! There is the strong me, and there is the strong you! What else should we do but fight to the death? Come at me, then!"
Then with another roar, Grendel prepared to fight as he flexed his claws and cracked his fingers. While the other three prepared themselves for the worst, Saitama remained impassive as he clenched his fist, as he saw the giant reptile lounged towards him.
X
At the sky above Kuoh Academy, white and red streaks were flying and twirling across the sky as the two streaks clashed every seconds and during those clashes, the two would exchange blows to each other. The spectators could feel the waves from the sheer force of their clashes even they had distanced themselves quite far. In the fight itself, Issei and Vali managed to land a solid hit on each other, while both of them were also desperately trying to get an upper hand through the ability of their Sacred Gears.
Vali just managed to land his punch on Issei's chest-plate, shattering some parts of the red armour and Issei immediately regained his bearing and solidly hit Vali's jaw, shattering the Hakuryuukou's helmet as they quickly separated again. As they were floating and facing each other, both combatants' faces had seen better days as their breathings were stating to get heavy. However, Vali only grin in excitement and Issei found himself returning the courtesy.
The two immediately flew again across the sky, with spectators only saw red and white blurs tried to overwhelm each other. Vali kept halving Issei's power by his Divine Dividing, while Issei tried to keep up by doubling his power with his Boosted Gear. However, since they had started to use their ability at the same time, the two ended up in stalemate, none of them managed to gain an upper hand.
During the exchange however, Issei managed to notice few things. Whenever they clashed and exchanged blows, as well as kept trying to overpower each other with their respective Longinus, Vali would always be the one to take the initiative to gain distance. While Issei was more versed in close combat thanks to his strength, Vali was not a pushover either. Not to mention Vali also had more variety in his devil magic, allowing him to give Issei a hard time whenever they were separated.
In Issei's opinion, Vali would have a chance to gain an upper hand if he maintained his position during their clashes, so why would the half-devil bother to gain distance, only to shower the Sekiryuutei with barrage of magical attacks, which the latter could take most of its brunt with his armour?
Issei's eyes then widened as he recalled Ddraig's lecture about Vanishing Dragon. Divine Dividing took the form of wings of light, which also served as power storage whenever the user absorbed half of the opponent's power. However, excessive absorption would cause Divine Dividing wings to go overdrive and stop its function, and the user would have to expel some of his stored magic until the wings would have an empty space to be able to half the opponent again.
From this information, the Sekiryuutei got himself an idea as well as a gamble. Wrong timing would lead to the Hakuryuukou to have an upper hand over him, so Issei would have to be careful. As they kept exchanging blows during another clash session, Issei noticed Vali's wings were almost reaching their limits and the latter was preparing to fly away. Then, boosting his power once again, Issei stretched his arm towards Vali's light-wings and Boosted Gear's jewel glowed.
[Transfer!]
Then, the jewels on Vali's Divine Dividing scale mail started to glow brightly before they died down altogether, like a light bulb suffering a power-failure. That meant that the Divine Dividing had stopped its function until Vali managed to let out his excessed power.
{What a thing! Vali, regain your posture at once!}
Albion warned his host in panic tone. Vali himself was having hard time to regulate his now overflowing reserves.
"Chance!" Issei did not waste anytime as he started relentlessly throwing combos of punches and blows towards Vali. "HAAH!"
Issei's attacks managed to shatter a good portion of Vali's Scale Mail as well as damaging Vali's body, enough to force the half-devil to spit a good amount of blood. The latter clicked his tongue as he did his best to defend against his enemy's onslaught. However, unknown to Issei, Vali managed to gain control over his reserves as the Hakuryuukou quickly regenerated his armour and stretched out his arm to use a new move.
{Half Dimension!}
Issei's eyes widened as he suddenly felt his body and the surrounding space were forcefully being distorted, and his body was enveloped in explosions of his surroundings.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Issei grunted in pain as he took the brunt of Vali's new attack. Unlike the dividing from earlier, the boy felt that Vali's move was trying to half his physical body as well.
Vali, however, only laughed in joy as he kept his eyes on Issei who was regenerating his badly damaged armour. "Hahaha, amazing! You managed to force me to use this move against you! As expected of my rival!"
Half Dimension. It is an ability of Divine Dividing that unlike the regular dividing, Half Dimension halves the size of objects and living beings around the user. The explosions around Issei earlier was caused by the space distortion of Half Dimension, of course the boy was strong enough to resist the actual effect of the said move.
Vali immediately took flight again as he began to divide Issei's power again, with the latter was a step too late in regaining his posture, causing Vali to gain a slightly upper hand. Issei himself also began to chase after Vali, as the sky was littered again with red and white streaks of light manoeuvring and clashing against each other. However, as the time went by, Issei started to get desperate to keep up with Vali's power, in addition that Vali kept using his Half Dimension on him, causing Issei's armour to get more damage.
The Sekiryuutei considered using his Dragon Shot to widen his range attack, but he dismissed the idea as he was aware that Vali could just easily divide his signature move until it was weak enough to be parried. Issei needed to find a new plan to turn the tables, fast. As Issei and Vali kept flying and striking each other around, the former spotted one of Divine Dividing's jewels laid on the ground, and he got something in his mind.
"…Say, Ddraig. The Sacred Gear responds to feelings and evolves, right?" Issei asked the dragon in his mindscape.
[Yeah, that's right, but…Why?]
"Because I just got another idea…" Issei quickly rotated and snatched the Divine Dividing jewel from the sky and proceeded back to the sky. "Here's the deal…"
Vali also stopped moving as he kept starring at his opponent in wonder and curiosity, then after Issei had explained his plan to the Welsh Dragon, the said dragon then laughed in amusement and excitement.
[Ku… KUHAHAHAHAHA! Interesting! If it's you, you might be able to pull it off! However, that plan of yours is going to hurt you like hell! Do you have the resolve?]
"Well, it's not like I have much choice! So are you with me or not?"
[Hahahaha! Very well, you're the man, after all! If you have the resolve then I'll make one for myself too! Let's show them what we're made of, partner! No, Hyoudou Issei!]
"What do you intend to do, Hyoudou Issei?" Vali finally asked.
Issei simply revealed the blue jewel of Divine Dividing and a grin was adorning his expressioin. "Vali Lucifer, and Vanishing Dragon Albion! I'll be taking your power!" Then Issei smashed the blue jewel into the back of his right back into pieces, shattering his Boosted Gear's jewel in the process as the blue jewel's fragments made their way through inside the red gauntlet.
Then, a silver aura sprang forth from Issei's right hand and wrapped around the right side of his body, then immediately, Issei's body was overcome by imaginable pain.
"UOOOOOOOGGHH!"
Issei's cry of pain was heard across the battlefield, as Rias' peerage and the others became worried of their comrade's well being. Azazel, however, had his eyes glinted in interest at the development.
Vali on the other hand, had his eyes widened at Issei's unexpected move. "You-! You're trying to assimilate my power into your own!?"
{What a reckless thing to do… Ddraig, we are existences that oppose each other. That is nothing more than an act of self-destruction. Do you intend to annihilate yourself by doing such a thing?}
[GUOOOOOOOOOOOOH!]
At Albion's impassive comment, Ddraig simply roared in agony as he was also suffering from the rebound of his opposing power. However, the red dragon managed to let out his own remarks as he withstood the pain.
[Albion! You're as inflexible as always! Over countless eons, we've lodged in hosts and continued to fight each other! It's a repeat of the same thing each and every time!]
{That is correct, Ddraig. Such is our destiny. Even if our hosts are fundamentally different, the way we fight never changes at all. You raise power while I steal power. The side that skilfully uses its Sacred Gear deals the finishing blow and it ends until new hosts are chosen. This is how it always has been, and always will be}
[Exactly. However, after meeting with my new host, Hyoudou Issei, I've learned one thing: Anything is possible through sheer will!]
"HAAAAA!" Issei kept roaring in defiance as his reserves were drained to supplement the assimilation process. "COME OOOOOOOOON!" With the last cry, the pain in his body ended abruptly and Issei's right hand was enveloped in bright white light.
[VANISHING DRAGON POWER IS TAKEN!]
Issei let out a breath of relief and he looked up to see his right arm was now clad in white gauntlet with blue jewels instead of his usual red gauntlet with green jewels. At the sight, Issei only chuckled.
"Heheheh… So it worked. Let's call it Dividing Gear."
Vali and his inner dragon was shocked at the result, with Albion to be the first one to comment.
{Impossible! Such a thing is impossible!}
"Why not?" Issei replied. "The chance was incredibly slim, but it's possible in the end. After all, Kiba had managed to achieve his Balance Breaker by fusing holy and demonic element together. This phenomenon was probably thanks to the absence of the Biblical God. Didn't Azazel mention this, that there are bugs and errors in this world's system, Sacred Gears included? I simply used it for my advantage, that's all."
{…So you mean you nudged the imperfections of the "Sacred Gear program" and achieved this? No, but such a thing is…Even if you think of that, to actually do it is just foolish. No one knows what will happen with the fusion of opposing powers. When that is something concerning dragons, whose strength and power can even rival gods alike… You might die, you know? No, it would be natural for you to die…}
"I know, right? I thought at first I'm gonna die, but it worked in the end, so who cares?" Issei dryly replied as well as conceding with Albion's point.
Ddraig sighed at his host's words. [Yeah, you're one crazy son of a bitch, you know that? If it's not for your large reserves from your past trainings, you'd have ended up using your lifespan instead]
Issei did not reply this time as he only looked up again at Vali, who was now grinning in excitement and amusement for obvious reasons. Without another word, much to Vali's surprises, Issei was already right in front of him.
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]
And the Sekiryuutei launched numerous combos of hits and punches towards Vali, shattering his armour and damaging his body in the process. Vali immediately retaliated as he quickly activated his dividing power to keep up while regenerating his armour, but Issei quickly put his newfound ability into use.
[Divide!]
On cue, Vali's power decreased sharply. "How does it feel to taste your own power, huh!?" Issei yelled as he kept pressing on his assault.
Vali started to get cornered as he was overwhelmed by Issei's boost as well as his own dividing power. As Issei wanted to finish things up, he boosted further his power and charged his magical reserves into his left hand and he shot it out directly at Vali.
"DRAGON SHOT!"
The red beam hit Vali square in his chest-plate, forcing him to be thrown a good distance away. When the attack had stopped, Vali was seen remained floating while he still could regenerate his severely damaged Scale Mail. More wounds and blood were visible on his person, as Vali felt that some of his bones might be broken, but the Hakuryuukou's eyes did not loose their fighting spirit. In fact, his fighting spirit only burned more.
"Fufufu… Fuhahahahaha!" Vali suddenly laughed. "Ah, this is just too fun! I know now, that I can't go half-hearted against you! Albion, let's use that!"
{…. Normally I will forbid you to use that move, but I admit that the current Hyoudou Issei is too strong for you to take on with just the regular Scale Mail. Very well, I shall allow it this time}
"Perfect! Behold, Hyoudou Issei! I shall show you the pinnacle of White Dragon Emperor's power!" then the jewels on Vali's Scale Mail began to glow with power as his body was emitting tremendous aura.
Small, bluish white orbs of light started to emerge from the Scale Mail's jewels, and voices of cry of numerous people could be heard from those orbs as Vali began to speak.
"I, who is about to awaken…."
{He will be blasted away!} {Yes, he will certainly be blasted away!}
Issei on the other hand, simply furrowed his eyebrows at Vali's chanting, as well as the strange voices coming out from Divine Dividing jewels. That voices were mixture of human's voices, ranging from male to female and young to old. Ddraig however, was freaking out all of a sudden as he warned his host.
[Oh, shit…. Partner! Stop him now! Don't let him finish!]
Issei blinked at the Welsh Dragon's sudden change of demeanour, however he decided to follow Ddraig's words as he immediately charged at the Hakuryuukou. However, as if finding a new strength, Vali quickly dodged and flew up to avoid more of Issei's attacks. While evading, Vali resumed his chanting as his power kept spiking up.
"…Am the Heavenly Dragon who has taken the principles of supremacy from God."
{The Dream ends!} {And the Illusions begins!}
Issei started to get an ominous feeling as his instinct began telling him to stop whatever Vali was doing at the moment. The boy could sense that Vali was preparing something while solely keeping up his evasion while his power grew stronger by passing seconds. The two kept flying with high velocity across the sky and caught in a game of cat and mouse.
"I envy the 'Infinite' and pursue the 'Dream'."
{Everything!}
At this rate Issei clicked his tongue as he proceeded to charge his dragon shot one more time.
"I shall become the White Dragon of Supremacy…"
{Yes, give us everything!}
As Issei was still charging his attack, Vali recalled his previous conversation with Saitama in the past.
"Vali… I heard from Azazel that you're bound to fight Ise sooner or later. And when the time comes, can you give him everything you got?"
Vali's eyebrows furrowed sceptically at Saitama's request. "Hey, now… Are you sure to ask something like that from me, regarding your own son?" Vali then smirked. "So is it alright for me to kill him, then?"
Saitama in return only snorted as he turned to Vali with surprisingly a SMIRK of his own. "Don't get ahead of yourself, now. This is my son we're talking about, y'know."
Vali's grin grew wider in anticipation as Issei launched his signature attack on him.
"DRAGON SHOT!"
"Saitama, you should be proud…" Vali mused as he saw the large red beam made its way towards him. "My rival… Is truly your son!"
"AND I SHALL TAKE YOU TO THE LIMITS OF WHITE PARADISE!"
{JUGGERNAUT DRIVE!}
Vali's voice at the last line was merged with other foreign voices from the jewels, followed by Albion's voice across the entire field. Then, Vali's body was enveloped in blinding white light at the same time Issei's dragon shot made contact.
Dust and smoked were flying around from the explosion upon collision, and Issei felt that he had been too late. All he could do at the moment was hoping that his Dragon Shot was able to deal some damage. However, his hope was short-lived.
CRASH!
"Gahk….!" Issei spat a mouthful amount of blood as something akin to a white meteor suddenly slammed into his abdomen, shattering his Scale Mail and broke his ribs in the process.
He fell on his back to the ground with a loud thud, as the said ground caved in from the force of Issei's fall. When the boy regained his senses as he tried his best to withstand the raging pain on his body, his eyes widened at the sight of Vali's appearance.
X
Back to the conference room, most of the spectators were at loss of words at the clash of Two Heavenly Dragons. After seeing two streaks of red and white flying and twirling around on the sky for a while, they were shocked at Issei's dangerous gamble on assimilating Vanishing Dragon's power into his own, then after Issei seemed to have an upper hand, the Hakuryuukou's power suddenly spiked up as he chanted several lines followed by ominous voices coming out from the air around him, then a blinding white light enveloped their visions just on time Issei's Dragon Shot made contact with him.
When the view cleared up, they were surprised at the devastation caused on the area as well as Vali's change. The first change was his now tremendous aura and power that could rival the leaders as his armour was shining so bright that everyone was having hard time looking at him. The said armour had significantly changed as well, with its size became slightly bigger and claws had grown on its greaves, arms and feet. The helmet was altered as well with fangs adorning its mouth. Horns could be seen sprouting from the jewels as well as the wings of light. To sum it all, Vali's Scale Mail's appearance had become much more draconic.
"W-what in the…!?" Rias gasped at the new sight and the oppressing atmosphere of the White Dragon Emperor.
"Damn…. He's really done it now…" Azazel muttered as he smirked humourlessly. "I guess the Sekiryuutei was strong enough to force Vali to activate his Juggernaut Drive."
"J-Juggernaut Drive!? You can't mean-!" Rias became even more worried as she looked back at the battlefield.
Even the others shuddered and flinched as they had heard of stories about what happened when a host of Heavenly Dragon activated the forbidden move.
Rias stepped forward, intending to help out her pawn. However, Sirzechs placed his hand on his sister's shoulder, stopping the latter from advancing any further. His expression was that of authority, demanding no objection before Rias could have protested anything in return.
"Now that the Hakuryuukou had entered Juggernaut Drive, it becomes more crucial for us to stay and maintain the barrier to prevent the damage from spreading outside. We have to trust in Issei-kun with this."
Rias scowled at her brother's point. Even she brought her peerage along, she might end up getting in Issei's way. It irritated her that all she could do was only hoping for her pawn's victory.
"Your brother is right, Rias Gremory…" Azazel interjected. "Just as the legend says, the Two Heavenly Dragons will fight through eons whenever they met. There's nothing much we can do to stop them at this point. Besides…" Azazel pointed at Issei who was getting back on his feet. "That Sekiryuutei did not seem to have any intentions of loosing."
Then everyone else could only stay back and watch the next round of the fight between Two Heavenly Dragons.
X
"What the fuck is that?" Issei stared at Vali's new form as the boy spat out and he tried to stabilize his breathing, as well as regenerate his shattered Scale Mail. The boy could tell that his ribs were broken, and his organs were hurting, but fortunately his internal damage was not bad enough to hinder his body from keep fighting.
[Juggernaut Drive…]
Issei furrowed his eyebrows at the Welsh Dragon. "Juggernaut… Drive?"
[Also known as Dragon of Supremacy… It is a special ability of Longinus that contains us; Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing. The forbidden move that removes the seal placed on us, allowing our host to unleash the full power of the Two Heavenly Dragons]
"Great… So you're telling me that Vali just made himself into a mini version of Albion? And if you said this Juggernaut Drive is exclusive for you and Divine Dividing, why did you never tell me before?"
[Because that ability is a double-edged sword. Despite the overwhelming power, the user will find themselves abundant with newfound abilities and enhancements powers upon application. However, what makes Juggernaut Drive to be dangerous for the users is what it consumes: life - force and sanity. I never told you this before because this move is still way too dangerous for you to utilize. Not to mention you still need to learn more how to regulate your reserves properly]
"Well, if you said that the ability also consumes sanity…" Issei saw that Vali was still floating above him. "That guy sure isn't behaving like a berserker to me."
[And that's the terrifying part of him. Through our clash earlier, the current host of Vanishing Dragon had shown us that he had an enormous amount of magical reserves, and he managed to use his reserves as an alternate fuel of his Juggernaut Drive instead of his life - force. A mad person in Juggernaut Drive is troubling enough, but a person who remained sane with the power of Juggernaut Drive… No wonder the Fallen Angel Governor deemed him as the strongest host of Albion…]
"….Heh, we're fucked, aren't we?" Issei snorted in sarcasm as he finally regained his bearing as well as his Scale Mail.
Vali who believed that he had waited long enough prepared his stance once again as his wings flared. Issei barely had anytime to retaliate as the Hakuryuukou suddenly charged at him with greater speed and force than before. The two's fists crossed each other and managed to land solidly on each other, with Vali's on Issei's cheek and Issei's on Vali's side-belly, and the two immediately engaged in another exchange of punches and kicks as their Sacred Gears were doing their functions to help them gaining an upper hand.
{Divide!Divide!Divide!Divide!Divide!Divide!Divide!Divide!Divide!Divide!}
Issei found himself to be the one who was driven to the corner. "What the-! His dividing rate had gone even higher!? This is getting ridiculous!"
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]
Issei quickly recovered his lost power and this time, the boy was the one who was forced to fly away, ended up giving Vali a chance to blow off some of his stored power. While Issei was busy evading Vali's barrage of magical blasts, Issei kept boosting his power to find his way around Vali's defense.
[Divide!]
Issei used his Dividing Gear, successfully halving Vali's power to throw him off the loop for a second and creating opening for Issei to use. The Sekiryuutei immediately forced his way towards the Hakuryuukou and the former landed a solid uppercut towards Vali's abdomen, damaging the chest-plate and thrown the white dragon's body a good distance away and at the same time, Issei also fired his dragon shot to further the damage.
Of course, with the enhancement of Juggernaut Drive, Vali could take the brunt of Issei's attack without much trouble as the former continued to half the latter's power in alarming rate. At this rate, Issei found that his Dividing Gear only served as a dead weight, due the usage of the gear consumed his stamina more than his Boosted Gear. Regardless, Issei continued his relentless assaults right after Vali had parried off the dragon shot, and Issei managed to give a surprise attack to Vali, forcing Vali to fall to the ground. The Red Dragon continued his onslaught as he threw a barrage of punches towards Vali, only for the latter to be intercepted easily and the two ended up in another stalemate as the two's fists locked up to each other, but Issei was having harder time with Vali slowly pushed him down.
"Hahahahaha! Impressive, you're still faring quite well in the face of my Juggernaut Drive! However!" Vali boasted as he stretched out his arm. "It's still far from enough!"
True, while Issei's attack was strong enough to deal some cracks on Vali's armour, the attacks were not nearly enough to deal any actual damage on Vali's own body.
"I actually invented this technique to fight against Saitama, but I might as well will test it on you!" While their fists were still connected, Vali activated his other ability on Issei at point-blank range.
{Compression Divider!}
"HNGH!?" Issei's eyes widened when suddenly felt his body was being pressured over and over again, as if the space around him was trying to squash his body. Vali's Compression Divider was an enhanced version of Half Dimension, which compresses the body of a specific opponent until they vanish from existence.
"OOOOOOOHH!" Issei roared in defiance as he tried his best to fight back the space distortion, and the spot where Issei and Vali were clashing on each other finally exploded from Vali's technique.
Another dust cloud was filling the air again, and Vali emerged from the wall of dust, taking a flight to the sky. Still donned in his Juggernaut Drive, Vali scanned the area where he locked-fist with Issei to find any sign of his opponent.
"…Is that it?" Vali wondered as he kept searching for his enemy. "Does Hyoudou Issei finally succumb before my Juggernaut Drive?"
However, from the depth of the smoke screen, Vali spotted a pair of gleaming green eyes and suddenly, Vali found a red blur shot out from the smoke right towards him and the Hakuryuukou found Issei had already planted his left fist into the centre of his torso.
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]
"UOOOOOOOGH!" Issei kept pressing his punch as he charged his power to his left arm. His left gauntlet started to glow from the sheer power charged into it.
"Uohk!?" Vali found Issei's strike managed to go through his body as he spat out a good amount of blood from his mouthpiece. Even so, Issei kept pushing his gauntlet into Vali's body as deep as possible.
[Transfer!]
"DRAGON SHOT!"
A massive red beam shot out from Issei's left fist in point-blank range and drove Vali along into a distance, as Issei descended to the ground and breathed heavily. The latter was aware that even his last attack did connect, it was not enough to actually defeat the strongest White Dragon Emperor. It left him one option if Issei really wanted to win this battle.
"Say, Ddraig. This Juggernaut Drive… We can do it too, right?"
[Well, yeah. What are you…] then Ddraig's eyes widened at what his host was trying to say. [Whoa… No… No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…. No way. Your stamina had been depleted low enough thanks to your earlier stunt with Albion's power, and now you want to surrender yourself under my power? You may have quite large reserve, but in your current condition, you could die from the drawbacks!]
"Well, what else do we do?" Issei shot back. "We're gonna loose anyway if this keeps up! If I'm gonna go crazy, at least I'll make sure that I'm gonna drag him along with me away from this place! At this rate it's an eye for an eye, a dragon for a dragon! Besides…. He's set on fighting me alone."
Ddraig contemplated on the situation at hand for a minute, until the dragon groaned and sighed at his host.
[Oh, fuck it…. Fine! Don't say I didn't warn you!]
"Never dreamt of it. You know that I won't die easily from something like this." Issei smirked. "Now what do I have to do? Do I do the same thing like that guy did?"
[Just follow my lead and repeat after me]
X
"I, who is about to awaken…"
Everyone who was watching from the conference room widened their eyes in shock when they heard the familiar chant that came out from Issei's mouth and saw Issei's Scale Mail was emitting red aura as well as small green orbs of light.
"Holy shit…. Him, too?" Azazel mused. The others however, did not take the sign too kindly.
"That aura…. That chant! Is he trying to use that move, too?" Rias gasped incredulously, followed by some other females.
"Looks like it, our Sekiryuutei is sure desperate now. Michael, Sirzehcs… I believe an evacuation is in order?" Azazel turned towards the other leaders, who nodded in agreement.
"Yes, it is. Everyone must evacuate this ground! I and the other leaders will remain on stand by should the worst were to happen!" Michael sent out his command as he himself, his sister and the other leaders prepared themselves.
"No! Ise is still out there! I won't leave without him!" Rias, being restrained by Sona and Akeno attempted to go to her pawn's side. The others from Rias' peerage were reluctant to leave, but they also were aware of the danger towards the others as well.
Sirzechs on the other hand, simply stared at the battleground, particularly at Issei, and he looked up towards the sky, as if hoping for something. "Saitama-kun… Wherever you are now, we can really use some help here…"
X
Meanwhile, Vali was floating with smokes were emitted from his entire body thanks to the red beam from earlier. His chest-plate was badly damaged, and the man could tell that Issei's last attack had dealt a serious damage on his body despite his armour protecting him. However, while breathing heavily, Vali only got excited even more. His rival, the Red Dragon Emperor could still deal some damage on his Juggernaut Drive, by his regular Scale Mail.
"Fufufufu…. Really… In the end, that little cub is still a beast through and through…" Vali mused before started to head back towards Issei.
However, Vali suddenly stopped abruptly when he found Issei's body was emitting red aura and small green orbs of light, and his grin beneath his helmet widened even further when he heard what came out from the Sekiryuutei's mouth despite the distance.
"…Am the Heavenly Dragon who has stolen the principles of domination from God."
{That boy… Don't tell me-!}
Albion's retort was interrupted by Vali's maniacal laughter. "FUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Amazing! You truly are amazing, Hyoudou Issei!" Vali shouted gleefully. "Come! Break free from your shackles! Bear your fangs and claws at me! Then the world shall be reminded of the Two Heavenly Dragons once again!"
Meanwhile, inside Issei's mindscape, Ddraig was watching over the conditions of the white world around him. To be more precise, ever since Issei's reincarnation into a devil, his mindscape somehow altered its appearance to be more like a massive grand hall with the eight mutation pawns acting as the supporting pillars. As Ddraig occupied the space, in front of him were the souls of his past hosts, every single one of them was donning an emotionless expression on their faces. However, when Issei started the activation sequence of his Juggernaut Drive, all of them suddenly rose up their heads and their faces turned into something akin to anticipation.
The past souls started to muttered words of grief, regrets, things that reflecting their past hatred and grudges during their life as Sekiryuutei. And as Issei got further into the chant, the souls became more erratic and their voices became louder.
"I laugh at the 'Infinite', and grieve at the 'Dream'…."
However, when Ddraig heard his host had arrived at that one sentence, he felt a pulse across the mindscape. Correction, the dragon had felt that pulse when Issei had finished the first line, but now the pulse became more noticeable, and suddenly the entire room was shaking in tremor. Strangely enough, the souls did not even bother the tremors and they did not even notice that the pillars, Issei's evil pieces was trembling and crackling from the wave of the foreign power.
Ddraig, being the only one to notice the anomaly, looked around and he felt something powerful, something whose power even exceeded his and Albion's power combined, was flaring from even the deeper parts of Issei's mind.
[Damn it, I know this is a bad idea after all!]
Listening to what his instinct was telling him, Ddraig immediately looked up to make contact to his host, the cry of the souls of the past predecessors were getting too influential from the safe point, anyway.
[Partner! Partner, do you hear me!? Stop chanting, something is not right!]
In the real world on Issei's side, the boy was gritting his teeth as he felt the surge of overwhelming power washed over him. There were numerous voices, similar to the voices he heard from Vali's Divine Dividing earlier, littering his mind, as if those voices were the ones guiding him to activate Juggernaut Drive instead of Ddraig. Issei tried his best to ignore the voices, but their noises were slowly and surely invading his mind as he unconsciously proceeded to the next line, ignoring Ddraig's warning.
"I shall become the Red Dragon of Domination…!"
[Partner! Stop!]
"AND I SHALL-!"
"Alright, that's enough."
BAM! CRACK!
"Guheh!" Issei let out a funny cry of pain as suddenly a hand was slammed into his head. For the boy though, it was like a giant hammer was slammed against his head. At the same time, the tremors, as well as the cry of the predecessor's souls in Issei's mindscape immediately died down and Ddraig sighed in relief.
The spectators were surprised at the sudden development when a man suddenly showed up and knocked his fist into Issei's cranium.
Vali widened his eyes at the interference. The said interference was a bald man wearing a yellow suit with white cape, he was wearing a pair of red boots while both of his hands were covered in red gloves. The man's right hand was balled into a fist and just made his way towards Issei's skull, knocking him out, shattering/dismissing his Scale Mail, and forcing the ground beneath Issei to cave into a crater as soon as the head made contact.
The said Sekiryuutei was now out-cold with his face down and smoke was coming out from the spot Saitama just knocked. The man himself was now staring impassively at Vali, who was still equipped in his Juggernaut Drive.
"Saitama…" Vali glared at the man. "Why are you here of all times?" The Hakuryuukou was honestly and thoroughly annoyed when things were starting to get really good for him.
"Sorry, but it's already late and I don't want him to miss dinner." Saitama simply pointed at his knocked-out son. "So can you let him off and continue to play some other time?"
The others quickly approached the father and son as Rias' peerage helped to tend to Issei's body, while everyone else gathered around Saitama to confront the Hakuryuukou.
At the same time, a space besides Vali was torn and from the gap between space, came out two figures. One was a young man with blonde hair and formal business suit with a sword on his waist, and the other one was a man with short hair clad in ancient Chinese armour wielding a long staff. The two of them were seen riding a flying golden cloud, presumably was controlled by the latter.
"Vali, we've come for you." The man with blonde hair stated as he and the other guy flew to Vali's side.
"Arthur… Bikou, as well. Couldn't you guys hold him off a bit longer? And where's Kuroka?" Vali complained.
The one with Chinese armour snorted. "Oh, come on! You expect us to handle the guy on that calibre? It's already a miracle that we're still alive by now! And by the way, Kuroka had returned first to our base."
At his ally's whining, Vali sighed after few seconds. "….I guess you're right. It seems quite selfish and foolish of me to give you guys that kind of task." The teen admitted his blunder.
"Put that aside, we have a situation in our hands as well." The man in suit leaned his head to whisper something. Vali nodded at the whisper couple of times until his eyes widened.
"What?" Vali seemed not taking whatever whispered to his ear well.
"We'll get you the details. But now is not the time nor place for that." The man in suit scanned his surroundings that were surrounded by forces of heaven and underworld along with their leaders as well.
{I agree with him, Vali… Right now your condition is far from adequate to take on all of them here. Not to mention, you're well aware of the outcome if you're to fight Saitama in your current state}
"I see… Then it's time to go." Vali, albeit begrudgingly, reverted his Juggernaut Drive into his regular Scale Mail.
"Wait! Who are you people!?" Rias shouted as her peerage along with Sona's peerage were readying themselves to attack at the moment's notice.
The one in suit was the one to reply first. "My name is Arthur Pendragon from the house of Pendragon, the descendant of original King Arthur and Morgan Le Fay."
The one in Chinese armour followed suit. "'Sup! The name's Bikou, nice to meet y'all."
"The descendant of King of Knights and the descendant of the Victorious Fighting Buddha…" Azazel smirked at the introductions. "Vali, that's quite a roster you have there."
"You have no idea." Vali retorted. "Anyway, I'll withdraw for now. Saitama, tell this to my rival. That was fun, and don't forget to be stronger by the time we meet again…" Vali said as he and his other friends vanished into the gap in the air, leaving Saitama, Issei (still out-cold) and everyone else at Kuoh Academy.
X
Issei's eyes fluttered and slowly open as his mind slowly returned back to the realm of consciousness. When his view cleared up, the first thing he saw was his master, followed by Asia, who was using her Twilight Healing and the rest of his comrades from Rias' peerage.
"Ah, he's waking up! Thank God... Ouch!" Asia was the first to notice Issei's awakening but she clutched her head immediately as soon as she expressed her gratitude.
The rest also relieved and glad to see Issei waking up.
"Ugh… Asia? Buchou and everyone, too…?" Issei woke up and Rias immediately pulled him into a hug. "B-buchou…?"
"I'm so glad…" Rias muttered with tears leaking from her eyes. "My Ise…. Always making me worried so much…"
Issei's expression softened, he pulled away from his master slowly and he felt his head was aching. "My head… What happened? I only remembered I was fighting Vali, the guy used Juggernaut Drive, and I was cornered, then…" Issei then blinked before he let out a sigh. The last voice he heard before he was knocked out, and the one strong enough to do so, there was only one person that fitted the criteria. "Where's that guy who knocked me out?"
"He already left a while ago. Saying he wants to prepare for something else… But anyway, he did the right thing for knocking you out." Rias expression then turned into a firmed one. "Ise, what were you thinking, attempting to use Juggernaut Drive in your already beaten-up state? If it were not for Saitama-san's interference, you might end up destroying yourself and the surrounding area!"
Issei looked dejected as he slumped his head down. His master was right; his plan to use Juggernaut Drive earlier had lots of holes in the application. He realized that his mind was being overwhelmed by the strange voices from earlier during his activation. Even if he were able to defeat Vali in his Juggernaut Drive, in the end he might end up destroying everything else in a fit of rampage. How did he come up with such idea? Was it desperation? Desire to win? Overconfidence that he could control his power? All in all, Issei berated himself in his mind for coming up with such reckless plan.
"I'm sorry…" the boy apologized. "It's just…. Vali had become too powerful for you guys to get involved, and I just found myself don't want loose against him…. It's my lack of judgement in the end, and for that, I'm sorry."
Rias stared at her pawn with judging eyes for few seconds before speaking up. "Will you promise me not to pull those kind of stunts ever again?"
"Yes, you have my word." Issei then turned and bowed towards the others as well. "I'm sorry too for worrying everyone."
The others seemed satisfied enough of Issei's apology, then Rias hugged her pawn again. "Then I'll hold you to that… Make sure to rely on us more often, okay?" Issei only smiled and realized that he was immersing himself into his master's embrace.
[Glad to have you back]
"Ddraig?"
[Yes, Ddraig. And you almost gave me a heart attack with your stunts back there. Good job] the dragon spoke sarcastically. [And here I thought you wouldn't wake up for next couple of days. I guess you did get stronger day by day]
"Or maybe he held back even more that time…." Issei grimaced at the thought. "By the way, sorry about earlier. How are things down there?"
[Back to usual… But still, what was that power all about?]
"What was what? What power?"
[…Nevermind. Sorry, I was just imagining things. Anyway, good to have you back, partner. And when you started training again, I strongly advise you to focus on managing your reserves]
Issei wondered about what the Welsh Dragon was implying just now, but he dismissed the thought. "Yeah, sure thing."
"Really, Ise-kun… You scared the hell out of us with your stunts there." Yuuto commented, the others also nodded in agreement.
"But to be honest, your overall performance back there had turned me on, ufufufu…" Akeno interjected playfully.
Issei laughed sheepishly as he broke the hug from his master, then the boy looked around to see the devastated school-grounds, with the remaining army of the three factions, angels, fallen angels and devils alike were working together to clean up and repair the mess.
"Another thing, what about Vali?"
"He got away."
Issei turned his head to see Azazel, along with other leaders sans Serafall were approaching him. "Apparently, right after your father came, his friends also came to pick him up. They escaped through Dimensional Gap." Azazel explained.
"Dimensional Gap?"
"A void world, it's a space that lies between different worlds and dimensions." Michael filled in. "We wanted to give a chase at first, but Dimensional Gap was too dangerous for our soldiers to venture to, so the Hakuryuukou managed to get away in the end." The Archangel's tone went bitter.
"And Vali wanted you to be stronger when you guys meet again. Looks like that kid really enjoyed his fight with you." Azazel quipped in again. "You really surprised me when you're about to use Juggernaut Drive, Hyoudou Issei."
"If it were not for your father's interference, there's a good chance that we might have to deal with you instead of Hakuryuukou, Ise-kun." Sirzechs also put his two-cents with his expression and tone becoming stern. "Please be more careful about your decisions in future. Your actions earlier may endanger everyone here."
Issei looked ashamed before the devil king. "I understand. Please forgive me for my unsightly performance, Sirzechs-sama." The boy bowed deeply.
Sirzechs's expression then softened as he smiled at the boy. "Very well… Since everything's fine now, I'll let this slide. I'll be counting on you again in future, Ise-kun."
"Yes! I won't let you down, sir."
"Now then, I'll return to the heaven and I will work on a plan for the matter of peace and countermeasures against the Khaos Brigade." Michael then spoke as he prepared to take his leave.
Sirzechs nodded. "Thank you for coming, and I'm sorry for the chaos that had taken place since I had arranged things this time. We who set up the place of this conference feel ashamed."
"Please don't blame yourself too much, Sirzechs. As for me, I'm just glad that the three great powers are walking on the path to peace together, you know? With this, useless quarrels should also decrease." Gabriel replied in kind.
"Well, since those who don't agree will have to leave, anyway." Azazel put in his sarcasm.
"I know our race had been each other for a long time now, but this Khaos Brigade is the real threat for our newfound peace. Let's cooperate and discuss from now on regarding that matter." Sirzechs proposed, which was responded positively by the other leaders.
"Then, I'll return to heaven at once. I'll come back immediately, so we'll conclude the formal peace agreement at that time."
Michael was about to leave, but Issei stopped him. "Please wait, Michael-dono!"
"What is it, Sekiryuutei-kun?"
Issei hesitated for a second before proceeding. "There's one thing I'd like to ask of you. Is that okay?"
Michael blinked before smiled in kind. "There isn't much time, but I will hear you out. What is it?"
The boy swallowed a lump. "Can you please look into the Heaven's system and allow Asia and Xenovia to pray without any repercussions?"
Everyone blinked and raised their eyebrows at Issei's question, before they slowly giggled and ended up laughing, resulting a confused look from the boy.
"Eh? What? What's wrong? What's so funny?"
Michael was the one to cease his laughter. "I'm sorry… It's just… Sekiryuutei… No, Hyoudou Issei-kun, you truly are your father's son."
"Eh?"
"Saitama-san just requested the same thing from us before he left earlier." Gabriel followed.
"Eeeeeeeeh!?"
"I know, right? That's exactly everyone's reaction when your father of all people asked such a request." Azazel said between his laugh. "When Michael and Gabriel offered him a reward for his service, he actually asked what you just asked. That guy said that, having those two to be able to pray to the Heaven could serve as a symbol of our alliance. Damn, that baldhead really knows what to say when the situation calls for it…"
Issei blinked in disbelief at the information, then he turned towards Asia and Xenovia, who smiled and nodded in confirmation at the testimony. Then the boy gave a long sigh and ruffled his own hair in frustration, before finally giving a goofy grin towards the two former church members. "Well, if the old man has done so, then it's good for you two to be able to pray again without problems, right?"
"Again, Saitama-dono had done us another great favour…." Xenovia nodded. "But we appreciate your thought."
"Thank you very much, Ise-san… For thinking about us…" Asia also gave her appreciation as she wrapped her hands around Issei into a hug, which the latter gently pat the former's head in return.
"One last thing, where are the Student Council and Leviathan-sama?"
"Sona and the others had left to take care of papers regarding the school's repair." Rias replied, followed by Sirzechs.
"And as for Serafall, she had returned first to the Underworld to announce the alliance. Of course, she had first sent a couple of… parting words to your father before she left." The Crimson Satan shook his head in amusement at the memory.
Issei only chuckled bitterly at the information, some of others also smiled uncomfortably at the memory of the Leviathan's swearing that was really out of her character towards Saitama before she went off.
"Michael-sama, about what we have agreed before, please do as you said." Yuuto then moved towards Michael.
"Following your advice, I swear on the Holy Demonic Sword you gave us that I will not allow Holy Sword research to produce any more victims. It was a huge error for us to flatly reject important believers to this extent."
Issei raised his eyebrows for a second at Yuuto and Michael's conversation, but when he heard about Michae's response, Issei understood the gist of it as he grinned and shot his thumb up towards Yuuto. The knight also nodded with a smile in return.
Then Azazel sent his piece to the Archangel. "Michael, I'll be waiting the result of the negotiation with the folks from Valhalla and Mountain Sumeru to you. Since they won't have a good impression if I was the one to show up."
Michael simply nodded resolutely as he along with his sister and the rest of his angelic troops proceeded to fly towards the Heaven. Irina was given a teleportation pass and she turned around to send her goodbyes to her devil friends before she disappeared into the light.
"Bye bye, Ise-kun! I'll see you all again, Xenovia, Asia-san, everyone!"
Then Azazel announced to his fallen angel subordinates about his alliance with devils and angels, which was replied with roars of absolute loyalty, before he gave orders to return to the Grigori headquarters.
"Well then, I'll leave the cleaning up to Sirzechs. I'm tired, so I'm heading back." Azazel said before he took his leave. "Ah, but I need to talk with Saitama again later… Whatever, I'll make it quick."
"Oh, one more thing, Sekiryuutei." Azazel suddenly stopped and turned around. "I plan to stay here for a little while longer, so I'll help that dhampir of Rias Gremory. Since I can't stand to see a Sacred Gear that can't be controlled."
Issei blinked as he was unsure of Azazel's offer, but in the end, the Fallen Angel Governor could give some good advices about Sacred Gears, as long as Issei could prevent Azazel to drag Gasper into his lab. "…Sure thing."
Then Azazel waved his hand before he finally returned to the Underworld.
Heaven's representative Archangel Michael, Grigori's representative Fallen Angel Governor Azazel, and Underworld's representative Satan Sirzechs Lucifer, with these representatives of the three great powers, a peace treaty was signed.
Thereafter, disputes between the three great powers were prohibited, in the framework of cooperation. The treaty adopted its name from the name of academy that became its stage, and was called the 'Kuoh Treaty'.
X
(Unknown Location in Underworld)
Three dark figures were standing in a dark room, in front of them was a large screen equipped with an observation spell, and the screen was showing the image of Saitama standing in front of a dragon carcass.
"Holy shit! Did you see that!? Did you see what he did there!? One punch! He nailed him with a single punch, I tell you! Uhyahyahyahyahyahya!" One of the three was jabbing his finger at the screen while laughing maniacally.
"You don't seem to be displeased at the development… I thought that dragon was one of your minions?" the second figure asked.
"Oh, please…. I can always revive him back later. But back to that scene! Did you see what that fellow did?"
"Hmph, how absurd… I bet that was probably just a fluke, or you messed something up during the revival. And to begin with, I never approved of us to rely on those… broken dragons you favour so much… Not to mention, relying on those magicians and that half-breed Hakuryuukou did not do any good in the end." The second figure scoffed. "In any case, I still think the Two Heavenly Dragons, as well as those… alliance, pose a bigger annoyance in our agenda."
"Bah, don't be such a sourpuss! Those youngsters and my dear grandson sure are quite some trouble, but then again, you always looked down upon other races. Oh, well! I'd better go and look over my schemes again! This development had warranted more of my attention!" the figure that laughed earlier proceeded to leave the room.
"Don't tell me that you honestly think that a mere human can pose a threat to us." The third figure finally spoke up.
"Believe what you want. In my case, that man really got my hopes up now… It will take such a great evil to take down that kind of hero. Smell ya later!" the figure then disappeared from the room.
The third figure then turned to the second. "What do you think about current situation? Katerea is dead, and she had failed her mission."
The second figure remained silent as he contemplated about the past events. He glanced again at the image of Saitama on the screen for a minute before he scoffed again.
"Ridiculous…"
"We shall proceed as planned. Go contact our spy, tell him that we'll move on to our next step soon."
X
The next day, Issei was getting yet another news ever since the day of conference. First, he learned from Haruka that his father had set out for another journey when he got home, and his mother did not seem to be upset at all. Secondly, at the moment, Issei and the rest of others were gathering inside the room of Occult Research Club with Azazel, wearing a worn-out suit, was sitting on Rias' chair.
"So, from today on I'll be the chemistry teacher of Kuoh Academy, as well as the advisor of this occult research club. Please call me Azazel-sensei. Or Governor is fine too." The Scapegoat declared casually.
Issei, having lost for words, only sent a dry look and robotically turned to his master while pointing his fingers at their new teacher and advisor. Rias only sighed while rubbing her forehead. "I know, I know. As absurd as it is, he had requested to teach us more about Sacred Gears. There's nothing much I can do at this point…"
Issei did hear that Azazel would hang around longer to help them about Sacred Gears, but the boy expected that the fallen angel would do so through visits during after-school period, not being a full-time teacher and advisor of all things. "Then… What about the arm? I thought you lost it?" Issei turned back to the Governor.
Azazel lifted up his supposed to be gone left arm and moved it just fine. "Ah, this... It's a genuine artificial arm that I produced while researching Sacred Gears. It's an all-purpose arm that can be loaded with light power-style laser beams and tiny missiles. I wanted to be equipped with such a thing once. I equipped it in commemoration of my lost arm." Azazel explained and his artificial arm flew out like a rocket, only to be caught easily by Issei after flying around the clubroom for few seconds and the boy threw it back to the owner.
Azazel caught his mechanical arm and placed it again on his left stump. "I can stay here as long as I can make the immature Sacred Gears possessed by the Devils of the Gremory family grow. Well, my knowledge as a Sacred Gear enthusiast is useful, after all. You guys have also heard about it, but there is this Khaos Brigade. As a future deterrent against them, the Welsh Dragon and your family have become famous. Rather than that, I'm an expert on the opposing Vanishing Dragon. From the information I got on him, I know that Vali has his own team. We're temporarily calling it the Hakuryuukou Team, or Vali team will also do."
"And this Vali team… Are they gonna attack this place again?"
"Unlikely. Vali has said that his team is just a hired gun for the last assassination attempt, which failed, and that alone has made them the enemy of Heaven and Underworld alike. With Heaven is now on full alert, and Underworld is now under joint-forces of fallen angels and devils, even our enemies would at least have to think twice before attacking again."
Everyone's face went thoughtful at the information. At least they now had a breathing room until the enemy decided to attempt another assault. Azazel then clapped his hand.
"Moving on! You, Holy-Demonic sword user." Azazel turned to Yuuto. "How long can you fight with your Balance Breaker?"
Yuuto was a bit startled being asked by Fallen Angel Governor all of sudden, but replied nonetheless. "Err… My limit is one hour, give or take."
Azazel frowned at the answer. "Okay, that's not good. If you really want to contribute in future battles, at least you have to be able to hold it on for at least 3 days, give or take."
Yuuto only replied with an expression of determination and fire in his eyes. Then Azazel turned to the Queen in the room. "Next, Akeno!"
"Y-yes?"
"…Do you still hate Baraqiel?" Azazel did pause for a second, but he asked without hesitation.
Akeno replied with stern expression in return. "I still have no intention of forgiving him. That's all I have to say."
Azazel's expression remained serious when he carried on. "You know, when he found out about your reincarnation into a devil, he did not say any word."
"It's only natural for him not to have any position to make any comment about my life."
"Well, I guess it's not my place to butt in between you two…" Then the Scapegoat turned to Issei. "Speaking of, Sekiryuutei, or if Ise is fine, what is your opinion about your father now?"
Everyone turned their attentions towards the boy in question who blinked at the fallen angel's question. "I still intend to surpass him someday, and I will put him in his place when the time comes." Issei replied with determined smile before asking again. "Actually, did you get any word about him? Since you guys hang out a lot."
"I guess it's only natural coming out from you. Besides, you did wake up after an hour or two after he knocked you out, compared to the first time when you're out of commission for three days." Azazel snickered. "And yes. While he did not tell me much about where he's going to, but he did leave a message to you guys."
Don't expect me to do all the work and clean up your mess all the time! Even I can get too old to keep up, you know!
At Azazel's relay of Saitama's message, everyone's expression turned into that of being thoughtful and understanding. Issei on the other hand, simply snorted while he also took in his father's message.
"Can you believe that? 'Too old to keep up' he says…" Azazel said in amusement as he shook his head. "Because, as the matter of fact, this old-timer we're talking about is the strongest that humanity could ever offer. Hell, at the very least, he even can destroy the entire Underworld single-handedly many times over if he wants to. We from the alliance are planning to make him into our trump card. Because most of the enemy forces were not aware of his power and existence."
Those who had witnessed Saitama's display of strength in the past like Xenovia, and those who had tasted Saitama's strength first-hand like Issei, could somewhat understand Azazel's idea. However, there were still others who remained skeptical of Saitama's power.
"Well, I know Saitama-san is not to be underestimated, but I'm sure you're exaggerating too much, Azazel-sensei… Saitama-san is still a human in the end." Rias voiced out her opinion.
"Well, if that's what you think…" Azazel rose up from his seat and walked over towards the door. However, he stopped by Rias and he leaned in to whisper something to her. After listening to what Azazel was telling her, Rias' eyes widened followed by a gasp, then she stared at Azazel who was proceeding to open the door.
"Eeh!? W-w-wait a second! Azazel-sensei, i-is what you said just now true?" Rias stuttered at the new teacher.
"I mean every part of it. Now then, I'm off to visit Serafall's sister now. I'll see you kids later!" then the door was closed.
Rias remained stuttering on her spot at whatever revelation Azazel had given her. "Then… Onii-sama… Those rumours… His condition when he came home those years ago…!" then the girl's face went white after she pieced her whatever puzzles together.
"B-buchou-san? Are you alright? You looked pale…" Asia asked with worried look.
"Buchou? What's going on? What did he tell you?" Issei asked with concerned tone.
However, before anyone could have said anything, the door of the clubroom opened again, revealing Azazel's head popping in. "Oh, I forgot one more thing. Sirzechs had gave out this one command: 'All girls in the Occult Research Club must move into Hyoudou residence in order to foster relations with each other.' So there you have it, Ise. I'll leave it to you and Rias Gremory to take care of things. See ya!"
Everyone remained silent as they stared at the door where Azazel had left of, Rias' face was still pale from her newfound revelation and Issei could only blink and came up with one answer.
"…Huh?"
The life of Hyoudou Issei had become even livelier that day.
To be Continued…