Beta read by n1ch, check out his fic it's amazing!
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-Kuoh Central Park, abandoned house-
Wow, not seeing and hearing anything but my own heartbeat was never something I think I would get completely used to.
I could still breathe and feel my heart. I could even feel the blood flowing through my body more clearly. Too bad it ate away at my magical reserves constantly.
'Yeah, very uncomfortable.'
I still had about five minutes before I collapsed from exhaustion, probably less since Vali is on my tail.
I holed myself up inside the deepest part of the house, a discreet corner hidden away by a few bits of rubble and my own spell.
'Partner, I need you to concentrate on our next course of action.' Vritra chimed in my head.
We had decided to come up with a few solutions that might help us escape from this predicament.
'Yeah, so how do we escape this situation?'
As much as I prided myself with my quick thinking and definitely above average intelligence, I knew that without Vritra's advice I had no way out.
'And also can you guess why he's after me?'
'I do not know, he called you a thief, so I presume he came to reclaim something, for which the object I'm not sure of.
'Now the matter with escaping, I have some options, but it will be up to you to decide which one to pick in the end.
'First option, you choose the hard way out by temporarily incapacitating the White Dragon Emperor. Do not misunderstand my words, this does not mean you can defeat him, his powers and progress with the Divine Dividing gear far surpass yours.'
'I get it, I get it, I'm too weak and all that, don't waste your time with these useless warnings and just tell it to me straight.'
We had to hurry; I could already feel some straining in my reserves from keeping up the spell.
'Aye, forgive me. This method I speak of is sacrificing some of your body parts to me, turning them into that of a dragon. This will heavily boost your strength and grant you far more power and magical energy to use.'
Wait, what? There was such an overpowered cheat way to get strong so fast!? Then sign me up for it- wait a minute.
'What are the drawbacks you aren't telling me about?'
The term 'sacrifice' did not sit well with me. There was no way in modern hell that I was willing to believe that such an exaggerated power boost didn't just come with its fair share of negative effects.
'Hahahaha, as expected from my current host! You were not blinded by greed with the appeal of easy to attain power. Keep in mind nothing is given without cost.
'But as you have suspected, there are consequences. By replacing a part of a being such as you, a human or even a devil for that matter, with a dragon's does indeed grant you immense long term strength and a short term explosive power boost.
'This is quite a common tactic used in life or death situations. But beware. The human soul, mind and body are NOT meant to sustain such a degree of change. Sure, at first this is not noticed by the dragon gear's hosts, they might have a dragon's limb that could be returned to normal by draining out the draconic energy.
'And if you think that is not as bad as you have thought, then also know that you lose years of your life from changing a single limb.'
Oh…
Well, that sucked, as a human, I already had a tiny lifespan compared to other races who could comfortably live past their thousand years.
I did not want to squander away what little I had left.
Vritra however was not done.
'But with time they risk losing themselves to madness.'
Of course, there's the main issue, 'What type of madness?'
Vritra became silent for a bit, I could feel his hesitation and regret bubbling inside him.
'A madness, no a curse where they turn into the form of the very being they carried inside their soul.
'In other words, they turn into a real dragon.'
What!
Such a thing was possible?
I was amazed at this revelation; no wonder dragon type sacred gears were so popular among the factions. It had the power to turn any human into the most powerful species in the world! But something was not right. How does this count as madness?
'For a human to suddenly transform into a dragon, it is like taking the mind of a newborn baby, which in this case is the human soul, and placing it inside a grown adult's body with the power to destroy cities, the dragon's body.
'At that point, you do not have any thoughts, any self-control or any self-awareness. You have nothing but your base instincts.
'Of course, this is but a simplified explanation of this madness. In truth, it is a much more complicated ordeal that connects the current user to his predecessors.
'Many enter this stage through rage, anger or grief. When they do so, all they seek is destruction. They will target everyone including close ones and family, followed quickly by the death of the user.
'We call this stage, the [Juggernaut Drive].'
For some reason, that very name sent shivers down my spine. It's a very anime superpower name, but it did not change how dangerous it was. 'What is the second option.'
Just like Vritra said, I would rather reserve this option for life or death scenarios. According to him, my pursuer was not here to kill me, so I shouldn't reveal my cards so soon. 'And for god's sake, he is a Heavenly Dragon Emperor's host. He can get the same power boost as me but at a much grander scale!'
Vritra for his part told me my second option.
'We fight smart.'
{Break}
-Vali POV-
Step
Step
Vali approached the abandoned house at a slow pace.
He did not worry about his target running away from him; Albion had already locked on Vritra's energy signature. And he had memorized the boy's face and aura. Escaping was impossible.
When he first came to the park, he thought that a great fight was awaiting him, yet it only took barely two strikes to put his opponent down. To add another layer to his disappointment, he was not even using half his power, let alone his [Balance Breaker].
'What a weakling,' he thought.
'Do not underestimate the current host of Vritra, Vali.' Albion warned him.
'Why? He is barely a middle-class opponent. You saw how easily he got down. And he merely possesses a single sacred gear from Vritra, the weakest Dragon King when it comes to power.'
Honestly, he did not know why Albion was worried about these lesser foes. Unlike his potential rival red, these were just cannon fodders, here to only satiate his boredom.
Albion did not take well to his dismissal, his wings flashed a bright blue showing the dragon's displeasure.
'I will not have my current host die out of negligence. Many of your predecessors have died the same way and one even died to a former Black Dragon King! Never underestimate Vritra, he may the weakest among the kings, but he is the craftiest.'
Well, that was news to him, a dragon king defeated a dragon emperor? What a bummer, he would have liked to battle against the guy.
The current one was a joke.
As he reached the entrance, he expanded his senses to find his target. From every room to every corner, his naturally enhanced senses tried to pick up the slightest change.
"Oh? Interesting."
He could not detect anything or anyone inside.
'What an interesting thing, I don't believe this is one of Vritra's abilities, tread carefully, Vali.' Commented Albion.
He was still here, his guts telling him so. He couldn't have escaped, 'It's probably that [Absolute Silence] spell he used.'
Yes if he could use that spell on others, what is to say that he couldn't use it on himself?
'Smart move.'
He checked every room until he came across one with a black sphere in it. It was a sound tactic, confusing the enemy to buy enough. He had already spent the last 10 minutes searching every corner of the house.
It wasn't until he reached the last room did he catch sight of an out-of-place looking black sphere in the corner.
He approached the spell, and his wings started glowing blue.
"But ultimately you did not account for the black sphere from the outside, I cannot see you, but I can see your spell."
[Divide]
The sphere shrunk twice its size and started crumbling apart.
Vali decided to end this play and prepared a small condensed magical shot on the tip of his finger, to incapacitate his target.
As the sphere finally disappeared, he found no one to be inside it.
"What?"
'VALI, BEHIND YOU!'
Despite the warning, Vali couldn't react in time.
"ARGH!"
Pain! He felt an immense amount of pain from his back.
Two glowing arrows made of magic we're sticking out his wings. While his target was suspended on the ceiling, emerging from another black sphere.
'That spell was a decoy!'
[Delete Field!] [Restrict!]
In his moment of weakness, he lost control of his power for a split second, his pierced wings vanished and he suddenly felt a strong impact against his skull, dropping him knee first on the ground.
Vritra's host used his falling momentum to dropkick Vali. Quickly following up his surprise attack, his opponent swung around and punched his face full force.
"This is for earlier, you prick!"
[Restrict!]
[Restrict!]
[Restrict!]
[Restrict!]
[Restrict!]
[Restrict!]
[Restrict!]
[Restrict!]
He could no longer move. It felt like dozens of invisible strands of ropes entangled around his every limb.
Bound in place as he was, there was no stopping another punch to the nose again; the appendage surely broken if not for his devil physiology.
"And that's for ruining my SUPER Coffee drink!"
Immediately after saying that, his attacker started running away from the house.
"..."
Vali was stunned.
A weakling got the drop on him and caught him off guard. If it was one of his enemies, he would have died by now.
"hehe…
"haha haha...
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
His mad laugh echoed through the abandoned house, giving off an eerie vibe.
"Albion was right! Fine. From this moment I will underestimate you no longer!"
His magical energy started to swell at an unbelievable rate, and with a bit of effort, he freed himself from the invisible restraints.
"ALBION!" He called out the dragon, "We are going for it!
His blue ethereal wings once again returned but this time without any damage visible on them.
'...as you wish.'
[DIVINE DIVIDING!] [BALANCE BREAKER!]
The abandoned house exploded in a burst of white light.
{Break}
-Hachiman POV-
'That last punch was completely unnecessary, partner. We have lost precious seconds from it.'
Vritra scolded me and with good reason.
'I know, but I was high on adrenaline back there!' I defended myself while continuing to run at full speed.
Like come on, that prick just made me want to bash his head on the floor continuously.
I could feel my magical reserves were drained from simultaneously using two [Absolute Silence] spells for long periods of time. My stamina was nearly depleted with using the remaining scraps for running.
'Vritra just in case we couldn't shake off that guy, what are my other options?' I wanted to remain positive and hope that our plan worked but unfortunately, I was a realist and things don't always go the way you want.
'We have little to no other choice but to rely on the first option I told you about. Though our lives specifically are not targeted, it would be foolish to take such risks.'
Was that really it?
'Vritra if I sacrifice my arm or any other organs, how long before I'm gone?' If that was my only option then so be it, I very much like staying alive.
'The side effect does not happen immediately. If you only turn one of your parts into a dragon, the chances of activating Juggernaut Drive will happen through pure anger or any other extreme emotions.
'But the stronger you become, the easier it will become. It can take years or decades for you to be in any real danger but if you turn more than one part of you, then that risk multiplies by many times.'
So it was an ever-decreasing slope of no way to return.
[Ba...ce Br...er!]
Whooosh!
From the abandoned house in the distance, a thick pillar of light appeared destroying the house and parting the clouds in the sky!
I think I even faintly heard the mighty roar of a dragon, establishing his supremacy to the world.
A heavy pressure descended on the surrounding area, rippling through the air and forcing me to nearly trip.
"What now!?"
'Don't stop! That's his [Balance Breaker] , he is serious now.'
Yeah, I kinda noticed it with the freaking white knight Chūnibyō armour flying straight at me.
I couldn't dodge this time.
My vision blurred, as I saw the scenery of the forest pass by me.
It was a split second later that I felt an intense feeling of pain from my abdomen. 'I didn't even register his attack after I was punched?'
My back impacted many trees, destroying them and a few of my bones in the process and I nearly bit off my tongue from the sheer pain I was experiencing. It felt like someone poured molten lava all over my body.
"I commend you, Black Dragon King. Your tactics have successfully put me down. If it were someone else, I wouldn't even be alive right now," Vali said through his white and blue coloured helmet.
I could barely stand up, my breathing trouble got worse and black dots started appearing in my vision.
"Before I die or get kidnapped,' I spat, as pained coughs wracked my body, 'can you at least tell me WHY you're after me?"
Now was the time I was really regretting my lack of healing spells.
"I told you before, didn't I? It's because you stole something that at first did not belong to you. And some of the people I know are curious about how you did it. So I was tasked to peacefully bring you back." I could just feel his smug grin inside his helmet.
"What part of this do you call peaceful!? And I didn't steal anything, least of all from your group since I don't even know you are!" I shouted out in anger.
For him to accuse me of something I did not do and attack me on top of that made my blood boil in anger. 'Vritra we're gonna go for the first option.'
I was fed up with this guy and I wanted to go back home, alive. I did not have the time, willpower or energy to deal with all this bullshit.
My logical side was screaming at me to think of another plan but I was just tired at this point.
'As you wish, partner.'
Vritra did not argue with me, he could sense my emotions and be a good judge of our current situation.
Vali meanwhile readied his last strike to probably knock me down and take me to whoever was in charge.
"Take pride in the fact that you were one of the few who forced me to use [Balance Breaker]."
As I was bracing for the impact and being in the process of sacrificing my entire right arm, something else happened.
The air began buzzing all of a sudden, and my hair started to stand up straight.
[Raigeki!]
The skies became enveloped with heavy black clouds, white lighting snaking around them. Thunder began to boom all around us.
"What is going on-"
Then descended the mother of all lightning bolts, struck from the heavens towards Vali with a thick pillar of golden light.
"Aaargh!" Caught in the middle of the attack Vali's screams of pain were soon drowned by thunder and lightning.
The impact created a large crater that uprooted the surrounding trees and scorched the land. Even the air became ionised by the high-intensity voltage, it was almost like the very heavens or Zeus himself send down their divine punishment.
The shockwave itself sent me again hurtling in the opposite direction and halted my last resort process.
"I got you!"
A pair of arms wrapped around me and I felt my head push itself against two big soft mounds.
As I turned my head around I caught sight of Rias who was holding me carefully. She still wore her Kuoh Academy uniform and her devil wings were unfolded behind her back keeping us away from the ground.
But that is not what caught my attention.
I saw Akeno clad in her Miko outfit, something she wore only during serious battles.
Her eyes sparked with arcs of electricity, she had her right arm extended to the skies with golden and white electricity covering it.
Her usual smile was gone, replaced with an expression I haven't seen since the fire. Something I had always hoped to prevent.
Anger. Pure and righteous, and more than willing to deliver swift retribution.
"Whoever you are, know that for your actions, you won't leave this place alive!" She snarled at Vali.
She then waved her hand again, sending another pillar of lightning but this time it was far larger than her previous attack and was completely golden.
[Holy Lightning!]
As the attack neared the rubble and smoke where Vali was previously standing, a white figure flew up towards the attack; wings expanded and glowing a bright shade of blue.
[Divide]
[Divide]
[Divide]
The previously majestic looking golden lightning grew so small until it was barely the size of a golf ball. Despite the host of Albion's grunt of pain, his armour was still pristine and clean, with not even the smallest crack or smudge.
Rias who was carrying me was shocked by the sight. "He wasn't damaged at all?"
From her point of view, such an attack would have decimated any opponent. Yet there he was completely unharmed.
I don't think that was necessarily true. He probably did in some way. The quiet noise he made earlier had to have meant something hurt.
The White Dragon Emperor hovered in the sky looking down upon us with the moon behind him, creating a very grandiose image.
"Now this has gotten even more interesting."
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 3 other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.