Capítulo 308: 19
Chapter 19: Assault on the Peace Summit
It was supposed to be a simple fight. Legions upon legions of human magicians versus three Holy Sword wielders, while their Devil leader took one of the strongest of the Fallen Angels. Each one of them had a fairly predictable fighting style. The blue-haired one used her Durandal to simply create of much destruction as possible, the sheer number of explosions and amount of damage she was causing meaning the she didn't even need to worry about defense.
What few hits did get past Xenovia's guard were blocked by Irina, who was did not possess nearly the same destructive prowess as her former comrade, but was no slouch with a blade either. And the shapeshifting ability of her Excalibur Mimic meant that, anytime she needed, she could change her sword into a shield and back to either defend or delivery a near-surgical strike.
As for Kiba, despite his ability to wield any of several different kinds of swords, he never used anything besides his Holy-Demonic Sword for that particular fight. And he likewise did not favor sheer strength, but speed instead, moving faster than the Magicians could react and thus could not really be target for attacks.
Put all three of them together, and they were more than a match for the rank-and-file Magicians that were being sent to kill them. But their fighting styles, lethal as they were, could still be somewhat predicted. And more importantly, none of them could go on forever, Eventually, with the amount of energy required to continue using Durandal, Xenovia would run out of steam and her attacks would weaken. Kiba, given enough time, would become slower and slower in his movements. And Irina, while probably lasting the longest out of all of them, would eventually be overwhelmed was it was just her fighting alone.
In effect, their victory over the three teens would be almost assured, provided they had keep go one fighting long enough, and had the numbers to do so. Sure, they would be suffering devastating losses just to take out three Holy Sword fighters, but then, their bosses hadn't exactly been expecting the Magicians to be more than cannon fodder anyway.
All of this changed, however, once Saji, Sona and Keijutsu were added to the equation.
The nature of Saji's Sacred Gear meant that just sending enemy after enemy against him would accomplish nothing. Any energy he lost from moving around or dodging would be replenished the next time he used in, completely draining one of their own in the process. With all the practice that he had gotten in using the Absorption Line while trying to help Gasper, he could do it in a matter of seconds. Effectively, as long as he could use his Sacred Gear, Saji was an inexhaustible foe that could keep going no matter how long the fight lasted.
The Sitri heiress, while not able to restore her own strength at their enemies' expense, was powerful enough to earn her birth-given status as a High-Class Devil. Her skill with her family's trademark water magic was second to none, able to conjure and manipulate it in truly massive amounts, summoning miniature tsunamis and water whips. And her above-average intelligence, combined with the versatility of her water magic, meant that there was no small number of things she could do with it. Besides the waves and whips mentioned already, she could create razor-sharp spinning discs of water, living water snakes that could bite and/or choke her enemies, turn the ground into mud and then use that to literally bury them… You get the idea.
But even that paled in comparison to the sheer chaos being created by Keijutsu. When it came to using magic in combat, or even combat in general, Keijutsu was of the firm opinion that, even if it worked, you should never use the same move twine. Or, if you were using it twice, to use it a different way each time.
One example was his use of the teleportation inherent in the magic circles. Whether it be redirecting the Magician's shots back at themselves, warping them unto the surface of the barrier to be electrified to a crisp, even using them into forcibly teleport Person A into the same space as Person B (and, as a result, causing Person B to spontaneously explode into many grisly chucks of flying meat).
To be fair, as focused on research and inventing as he was, Keijutsu did not often get to utilize his magic for combat purposes. And if he did, like in the fight with Kokabiel, Suzuno, or those wooden dummies, the enemy was either so strong or so few in number that he didn't really have a chance to show off, or he wasn't allowed to do anything that could kill them. So, in cases like this, with droves of average-strength enemies that he was free to use lethal spells on, he had a tendency to go… overboard.
"Try this!" Keijutsu yelled, conjuring two magic circles in front of him with their corresponding two appearing on either side of the latest group of Magicians. Quickly, he channeled some of his energy to his vocal cords and released the same magic-enhanced scream he had once before. Only this time, due to the sound coming from either side of his targets, it was amplified enough to render them completely stunned and probably deaf. Then, while they were too focused on covering their ears to defend themselves, Xenovia finished them off.
The Artificer grinned before redirecting another volley of energy shots back at their casters, who apparently hadn't learned the lesson that killed almost twenty of their numbers already. That let Sona wrap one of them up with a water whip and then slam it into several more of them, bloodying both the Magicians that were hit and the one she was hitting them with. Seeing that, he decided to match her by targeting the air around a trio of enemy grunts and willing it to move apart, creating a spherical vacuum with those three inside.
The Magicians in question immediately began gasping, having no air to breathe. It grew worse as Keijutsu removed more and more air out of that region, coming closer and closer to creating a complete vacuum. Then, after nearly ten continuous seconds of this, he stopped, letting it all rush back in from the top and bottom. The resulting pressure difference between the atmospheric pressure and the pressure in that spherical region was enough to crush all three Magicians, creating a spray of bloody pieces that spread outwards in a horizontal disk before raining to the ground.
Once the air had finished rushing back in, Keijutsu looked at the rest of them. "Issei said that one should never underestimate the power of a twisted mind. Yet you should also fear me, the one who, with but words and his will, crush you all like insects! Ha-hahaha!" he cackled. And then, to emphasize this, he was once more warped one of the Magicians into the same place as another, causing the Magicians already there to tele-frag.
The performance worked. Fully terrified by his actions, and not willing to attack him in case he decided to pull another trick out of his sleeves, the Magicians completely paused in their assault. That led to a stand-off between the two sides, both glaring at each other and daring them to make a move.
That stand-off lasted less than a minute, interrupted by a voice calling "Dragon Shot!" and two Magicians near Kiba being hit with a blast of red energy. Looking over in the direction it had come from, they saw that Issei had been the one to fire it, and he was accompanied by Rias, Koneko and Gasper.
Once those four joined fight, it became that much easier to get rids of the droves of Magicians. Akeno and Tsubaki were also able to join in once Gasper was able to reassert control over the area of frozen time around the school, undoing it and letting everyone frozen move more. That same act also destroyed the giant magic circle that Magicians had been using to appear, cutting off any reinforcements as well as chances to escape.
With so many of them there, and even the weakest of them in a whole other league from the Magicians, it stopped even being entertaining to fight the, and soon just turned repetitive and, in Keijutsu's opinion, boring. Still, it had to be done, so he continued fighting with the rest of them, sticking to only using creative uses for teleportation circles just because he could. In short ordered, not a single enemy remained.
That was when Azazel chose to hover down near Keijutsu, saying "Well, looks like that takes care of that."
The Artificer nodded, before looking over at him. "What the-? What the hell happened to your arm?" he bluntly asked, gesturing at the stump where Azazel's left arm had been.
The Fallen Angel glanced down at it before looking back at him. "Oh, Katerea had grabbed me there and was going to use some kind of suicide attack at finish me off. So I cut my arm off and them stabbed her between the eyes," he said far too casually.
Keijutsu simply stared at him for a moment. The way Azazel was acting, you'd think someone had just stolen one of his shoes, one that he could find a replacement for at any time and just keep on acting as normal. 'Actually, now that I think about, he probably could make himself a prosthetic arm. And depending on how work he put into it, he could likely make it behave almost exactly like a real arm,' he thought.
Which inspired his next blunt question. "Exactly how many parts of your body have you lost before now?"
Azazel grinned somewhat sheepishly. "If we're including all the times I've had to replace my liver from drinking too much over the centuries, as well as all the times I had to make myself a new set of balls because a angry woman I had previously slept with cut them off? Probably about fourteen times. But this is the first time I've lost an arm," he stated.
That stare turned deadpan, and Keijutsu silently wondered just how much of a drunken pervert Azazel was when he wasn't leading the Fallen Angels or working on Sacred Gears.
Before they could continue with that fascinating conversation, however, they were interrupted by a blast of white energy, one which hit Azazel and sent him to the ground. That same blast also created an explosion that briefly sent Keijutsu flying until he summoned his Devil wings. Looking in the direction it came from, he was only slightly surprised to see Vali hovering there, the white wings from his Divine Dividing armor keeping him aloft.
Before the teen could even say anything, the Artificer said "Let me guess. You're the one that betrayed us and let the Magicians past the barrier so they could kidnap Gasper Vladi?"
"That's right, Artificer. Sorry, Azazel, but I've switched sides," Vali stated, looking down at the crater his attack he created.
Azazel climbed out of the crater, still wearing that same smirk, before rising into the air via his own wings. "I suppose I understand. You like fighting, and an established peace would out an end to that. Still, let me ask you something. Shemhazai, my right-hand man, has been giving me reports of an underground organization gathering followers from all three factions. The Khaos Brigade. And aren't they being led by Ophis?"
Keijutsu blinked. 'Wait. Ophis. As in, the Infinite Dragon God, strongest being alive in all dimensions? That Ophis?' he thought.
Vali nodded. "That's right. Though trust me, neither Ophis or I have any plans for world domination. That was the Old Satan Faction's ambition, and theirs alone. And despite also having one of the original Satans as an ancestor, I have no interest in joining those fools," he stated.
That caused the others to look at him in shock, with Issei asking "Wait a sec. You're a descendant too?!"
"I am. My mother was a human, but my father was the grandson of the first Lucifer, making me half-Devil!" he declared.
Keijutsu blinked. Huh, so there were such things as Devil-Human hybrids. Well, that answered that question. While he spent time thinking about that, he managed to tune out Vali taunting Issei for not being as strong as him, and offering to kill his parents if it would put him on the path to grow stronger. Actually, Keijutsu did hear that last part, and it made him roll his eyes. This was not some kind of shonen manga; avengers were not needed here.
Seeing as how that 'offer' pissed off Issei to the point that he was able to unleash his own Balance Breaker, Keijutsu wisely flew back down to the ground and moved back towards where Michael, Sirzechs and the others were. This was a rivalry between two dragons that had existed long before he had even been conceived. Keijutsu had no intention of interrupting this and getting himself killed.
At least, that was until he watched Issei transfer power to his sword Ascalon and then punched Vali hard enough to shatter his armor, including the blue crystal in the center of his chest. Checking to be sure that everyone else was focused on the fight, Keijutsu discreetly focused on the ground where several of the shards had fallen. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, that mound of earth rose upwards a few centimeters, before slowly sliding across the ground towards him.
Once they were close enough, Keijutsu pulled a small bag out of his pocket and began picking the crystal shards. Danger or no danger, he wouldn't pass up the opportunity for free samples from armor made by a Longinus.
That said, he was somewhat surprised to hear that, while in Balance Breaker form, the Divine Dividing could also reduce the size of objects and livinbg beings. 'Exactly who does that work. Does he half the volume they occupy and the body decreases in mass to maintain a constant density? Or does he half the object's mass and it shrinks itself to compensate? And how does that work for a living beign without killing them?' he thought.
Not that he would have the chance to find out, even by observation, as then Azazel decided to pull a fast one and mention the 'Half Dimension' ability could reduce the size of Rias's breast by half as well. Which, predictably, sent Issei on a warpath against Vali. At that point, Keijutsu could only wonder if it was a blessing or a curse that the Boosted Gear had ended up in the hands of such a perverted fool.
Fortunately, before Vali could take it up a notch further and unleash something called the 'Juggernaut Drive', the barrier was abruptly shattered. Landing in front of Vali was a young man with light hair and dark eyes, dressed in ancient Chinese armor and carrying a spear.
Vali blinked. "Bikou? What are you doing here?"
Grinning, the newly-named Bikou said "We're finally going to engage with some of the gods, so I was sent to find you and bring you back."
The White Dragon Emperor smiled. "Really? About time," he remarked, before looking at Issei. "The next time we fight, I would like it if we could take things up a notch, Be ready for then, Issei Hyoudou," he declared, before he let Bikou take him away.
And with that, the two of vanished through a gateway Bikou conjured with his staff.
Keijutsu watched them go, and couldn't help but remark, "Looks like another anti-climactic ending. Boring."
Despite herself, Sona couldn't help but snort. "Only you would consider not potentially being caught in the cross-fire between two dragons as 'boring'," she told him. Still, she was smiling as she said this, prompting Keijutsu to smile as well.
"But of course. The point of observations is that they're up-close and first-hand. Anything else just won't do it," he stated matter-of-factly.
Sona chucked, before abruptly sobering once Azazel came close.
"Well, looks like all that's left to do now is more clean-up. And once the new peace treaty's actually written and signed, the Three Factions and work together at last. Including us," he said, looking straight at Keijutsu.
The Artificer blinked. "Wait. Even now, you still want me to work with you on making Sacred Gears?" he asked, somewhat surprised.
"But of course. After all, there's always room for improvement, and two heads are better than one," Azazel replied.
Keijutsu looked at him for a moment… and then smiled. "I couldn't agree more," he said, holding out a hand. Azazel smiled as well and shook it with his own. "And I can't wait to get started."
With that, Azazel turned and began walking away, likely to head back to his apartment and enjoy a nice drink. No sooner had he gone, however, than Serafall approached them. "You know, So-tan, I've taken quite a liking to this town and school. So much that I'll probably visit soon!" he said cheerfully.
Sona stiffened. Having to keep up with her older sister's excitability every once in a while was enough. If she started making visits on a regular basis… "You don't have to do that. Really, I think it'd be better you actually tried spending more time back in the Underworld-" she began.
But then Serfall cut her off. "Aw, does you not want to see your precious older sister?! Tell me it isn't so! Tsubaki-chan, you're don't mind me visiting, right?" she demanded, pouting.
Momentarily flummoxed from being put on the spot, Tsubaki said "Well, I… I guess I wouldn't mind…" Then she caught sight of Sona's eyes narrowing, and added on "But that's just my opinion. It would be Kaichou that has the final say."
"That's not fair at all!" Serfall complained, before rounding on her last avenue of attack. "Hey, Kei-san! You'd like to see me more often, right?!" she asked.
Too focused on watching the Angels and Fallen Angels fix the school, Keijutsu nodded absently. "Sure, sure, Levi-tan. I don't think I'd—mmmph!" he started, but stopped when Serafall squealed and grabbed his head, stuffing it between her breasts.
"Yay! I knew someone would be happy if I made regular visits. And you even remembered to call me Levi-tan!" she said, spinning him around with a strength that one would expect from a Satan, but was still disproportionate to her smaller stature.
"Mmm, mm mmph mmm mm mph me mmm. Mm-mmm, mm mmph mmm," Keijutsu said calmly. Which, were his voice not muffled due to his current position, would have translated to "Well, you did ask me to do that. Also, I can't breathe."
Tsubaki carefully schooled her features to avoid laughing at the scene. Sona, meanwhile, was torn between dismay over Serafall appearing more often… and a smidgeon of jealousy over the breast smothering that her sister was giving her Bishop.
That last part caused Sona to blink. Wait, what?
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder