Beta read by n1ch, Shigiya, Solitary heart and 8kagi
Chapter 1-16 have been reworked and polished in this story on Fanfiction. I'll be updating the chapters here, but the problem that all of the previous comments will disappear... we'll see how to handle things.
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-Kuoh-
Lightning rained down the skies, the streets had become empty, the restaurant they were eating at just became deserted before they knew it and worst of all—Hachiman-kun was taken away by an unknown enemy.
'This space… is just like that time during the rating game. We are trapped inside another small dimension, similar to Kuoh.' Kiba thought, worried about both Akeno and Hachiman.
"Look up!"
"Who is Akeno-senpai fighting?" Momo said, casting various spells to make sure there weren't any other traps nearby.
"Don't know," he used his Sacred Gear to form a dark longsword. "Don't care."
Fwish!
He brought out his wings, and broke the window with a spell. "Koneko-chan, stay vigilant, we don't know if there are any other enemies nearby!" For all he knew, this could easily be a trap of some sort set by Kokabiel or someone else to catch them by surprise and kill them in one place.
"Got it, Yuuto-senpai!" Koneko said, bringing out black fighter's gloves with pink cat pawprints on the upper palm, a set of cat ears appeared on her head as she tapped into her Nekoshou powers and channeled a small portion of her life energy all across her five senses, using her chakra to heighten both her senses and strength.
"Wait!" Irina called out to Kiba, but the latter ignored them, finding the matter of his friend's safety taking a bigger importance than hearing the Exorcists.
Flying through the air, he witnessed the fight more clearly now.
"Not good," she was bleeding! Whoever she was fighting was wielding a divine sword that he didn't recognize, and seeing the cuts around Akeno's right arm made his heart drum with horror.
Akeno could use Holy Lighting with her Fallen side, but she also was a Devil with a weakness against holy energy. He didn't know if it would be as severe for her compared to a full blooded Devil, but he wasn't planning on finding out.
Rumble!
Akeno called forth another lightning strike, a large pillar of pure golden energy descended from the heavens towards the armored opponent. They didn't dodge it, instead, the individual used a rapier covered in white energy and shot a powerful beam of condensed destructive energy and canceled out the attack.
Kiba saw Akeno sweating, taking deep breaths as she couldn't even fly steadily.
Both taking a small pause in their fight, Kiba was finally able to get a good look at the attacker. The individual features belonged to a young woman with blonde hair who rushed towards Akeno at a fast speed. Running across the sky using some sort of spell which created a magic circle beneath her feet to act as a platform.
"All those who seek chaos, bring destruction to the world and lay waste to the lives of the innocents, may your soul rest in peace! Now begone!" she shouted, going for a slash across Akeno's torso, ready to end her life.
Like hell he'd let her do that!
KACHIN!
Kiba raised his demonic-sword out quickly and blocked her slash. Gritting his teeth, he felt his skin sting from the close proximity of holy energy. His instincts pleaded for him to run away, to stay away from his race's biggest weakness and poison. He ignored it, pushing the surprised blonde away before quickly getting a hold of Akeno.
"Akeno!" He called her, the hands which held her body shaking as Kiba felt the warm blood soaking her clothes dripping from his skin. "Don't worry, I'll get you to safety!"
"K-Kiba…" she tried to talk, her voice sounding hoarse and dry. "That… that person…"
The man berated himself for not having brought with him any healing potion. This feeling of frustration further deepened when he realized that he didn't know any healing spells as well.
"Don't talk! Just save your strength!"
Kiba didn't care who this person was, she tried to kill his family and that was all the reason he needed to make her suffer. He would destroy her!
"Kiba-kun!"
Momo came flying towards, shocked at Akeno's state.
"Give her to me! I can treat her wounds until we find Asia or someone else to heal her!"
She didn't hesitate to take Akeno away from Kiba. Gently straddling her body as to not further worsen any wounds. Momo was shocked to find so many burns around the areas where Akeno got cut. Fallen or not, she was still a Devil and any contact with holy energy would cause severe damage or even poisoning if not treated. Dozens of spells came to mind, each serving the purpose to heal minor physical wounds and slight headaches. Though they wouldn't do much, it was still better than her current condition.
"We need to leave!" the Bishop said to Kiba, not wanting him to battle the unknown Holy Sword user.
"I'll be fine. Just get her out of here!"
He couldn't let this person go, not after what they did…
Back on the ground, both Xenovia and Irina stared at Jeanne's face.
'She looks familiar…', Xenovia's memory going back to their holy sword training classes years ago—she recalled seeing someone similar like her.
"What do we do!?" Irina shouted in frustration, watching the sword wielders duke it out.
They didn't have any wings to bring them to the sky like Kiba, nor any particular spells like Jeanne was using. Xenovia cursed as she remembered Hachiman's words back during their spar, when he easily dodged her Excalibur Destruction's special attack. If they couldn't even fight this unknown human on equal grounds, then how could they hope to battle Kokabiel!?
She had to do something, just staying on the ground like this and doing nothing was unacceptable!
"I will scout the area for any other enemies, Irina, you stay here and search for any opportunities to help Kiba out."
Not to mention that she needed to guard the two Devils nearby, they just couldn't leave both of them alone while focused on helping their comrade.
"Right, stay safe!"
"Momo!" Saji came along, followed by Issei, both worried about the injured Akeno and Kiba—the latter facing up against the enemy.
"Saji, do you have anything on healing that might help?" she asked, while already started the treatment on the injured Fallen.
"I have nothing, I didn't expect this to happen! Hyoudou, you got something?"
Issei shook his head, feeling sick to his stomach as he saw her current state. He never saw such a scene in his life, so much blood that it made him sick to his stomach. Reminding the boy of what could have happened the day when he met Yuuma… would he have ended up in a similar situation?
Their heads jerked upwards, where they saw Kiba clash with Jeanne. Their swords meet in an explosion of sparks and magic spells thrown around. Even without wings, Jeanne was able to keep pace with Kiba with her unknown spell, making everywhere her feet landed look as if she was standing on a solid surface.
"He needs our help!" Issei shouted, bringing out wings and getting ready to storm upwards to lend help.
"Stop!"
Unfortunately, he was halted by Saji of all people.
"I can't let you go up there."
"Why the fuck not!? Can't you see that pretty boy up there is in trouble?"
"You're still a newly reincarnated Devil! You barely have any magical powers and can't fully control your Sacred Gear! Listen to me, I know that you want to help, but you need to remain here and protect Momo and Akeno from any danger along with Irina—I'll go help Kiba instead."
"Saji…"
Momo, who was focused on her minor healing spells, heard their conversation. She was worried to say the least. Saji recently had his Sacred Gear removed and replaced by Azazel's artificial Sacred Gear. Unlike Absorption Line, it was stronger and came in a complete state rather than a separate piece of the dragon. That would have been good news if only it didn't make his goal of mastering his Gear that much harder. It had the perfect tool in hand to provide support for Kiba and dash out enough damages at a distance, but she just wasn't sure if he would end up injured by what brought Akeno to her current state. Even so close to her cut skin, Momo felt some residual holy energy stubbornly clinging onto the Miko.
Koneko was also doing her best by purging any and all sorts of Holy Energy poisoning from her system.
'Damn it! Is there truly nothing I can do to help!?' Momo thought as she saw how little her healing spells were helping Akeno.
They were just too weak to have an effect against such deep wounds coupled with the fact that they were clashing against the foreign energy.
Wait…
An idea came to her mind.
"Issei, I need your help."
"Just say the word!"
The boy was ready to do anything at this point, he wouldn't let anyone die under his watch!
"Call out your Sacred Gear, I have a plan."
It was a desperate attempt, but she hoped for it to work out in the end. Sacred Gears were meant to adapt to a user's needs, and Issei certainly was passionate enough when it mattered… hopefully he would be able to pull it off.
{Break}
Tiring, swift and strong.
Another slash which ended up by both being pushed back. He could call it a stalemate, Kiba loathed to call the current fight along with their last exchange anything other than tedious and dangerous. Her beam attacks were strong enough to destroy some of the buildings down below from where they stood in the sky.
"Wow, you're a good swordsman. Impressionnant!" Jeanne complimented him, dodging another one of his sword strikes.
"Shut up!"
His insides packed with nothing but anger, the young man didn't have the patience to hear her words. "You'll pay for what you've done."
"Hey, I'm not the bad guy here! It's your friend's fault, she's the one who attacked me first. I'm the victim her—" she got cut off by another one of Kiba's barrage of attacks.
His sword glinting with his devil magic coursing through the steel itself, Kiba noticed the little amount of damage he was doing to her.
"Ha!"
In an unexpected move, he threw his sword at her, catching Jeanne by surprise as she brought up her vambraces to shield the impacts, only for Kiba to appear above her, holding a brand new sword.
Clang!
Once again, their swords clashed together, the force behind the attack being enough to make Jeanne nearly lose her footing before she caught herself. What followed was another surprised reaction as she found her holy energy sword slowly losing its power. Upon closer observation, she saw how it was Kiba's weapon absorbing it.
"Mon Dieu, a fascinating weapon I must say." Jeanne backflipped, making the blade miss her stomach by a hair breath.
This was crazy, he knew it, but crazy didn't mean that it wouldn't grant him victory!
Kiba brought one of his hands, below and right next to her stomach. A flash of light appeared before another Holy Eraser formed in his hand and went right for her stomach.
"Merde!"
With inhumane flexibility, Jeanne managed to bend her body backwards to an insane degree and only managed to get nipped by the blade of the sword. In a panic, she canceled her platform magic spell and free fell down the sky by a few meters before reactivating it and creating another large gap between them. She held onto her the light cut on her stomach.
"That was a dirty move!" she exclaimed in anger. "What kind of disgraceful Knight are you?"
Thankfully, Jeanne concluded that the wound wasn't so troublesome in the first place. It already stopped bleeding and would heal in a few days on its own. Maybe Le Fay could help her out with another of her amazing potions.
"Why are you Devils so troublesome? I just came to bring back someone important and I got attacked out of nowhere by lightning! Your species really are a danger to the human race."
Her opponent charged forward, now with dual blades coming from two different directions. With both swords held horizontally, which she chose to counter by ramming herself against him—making the latter spit out saliva from the impact. Unfortunately, he proved to be a quick thinker as his knees shot up and hit her point blank in the face. Now having time to check if it was broken, she continued to dodge Kiba's swings, once, twice, thrice and continued to do so for the next following attempts. But at one point, Kiba got close enough for Jeanne to use her rapier as a shield and be sent flying by the force.
Though she wasn't that hurt, as the girl followed by a quick backflip and got up like nothing happened.
"You certainly have good swordsmanship, but you're so angry that it kinda becomes easy to predict your next move. Also, sword creation? Are you perhaps the user of Sword Birth?"
Kiba glared at her, the only damage he had done so far was that little wound near her stomach and some rips and tears on her exposed clothes. Her armor on the other hand, didn't have a scratch or dent to it, remaining in pristine condition. While he was already starting to sweat profusely, experience light headedness and far more cuts across his body that burned like hell. Even if he wasn't bleeding that much, holy damage just made everything feel a thousand times worse. And he was beginning to resist the effect of poisoning inside his system.
"What… What does it matter to you? I could be wielding a special type of sword that allows me to fight people like you. It might also be Blade Blacksmith for all you know."
"Pft-hahahahaha!" Unexpectedly, Jeanne began laughing out loud.
"Why are you laughing!?"
Was she mocking him? It certainly looked like it.
"O-Of course, it's because I fo-found what you said to be funny." she said in between her laughs. "You have no idea who you're fighting, don't you? I expected Tobi to have talked about me a bit more with you Devils… then again, he might already be a Devil at this point."
Tobi? Kiba had no idea who this person was, nor did the name ring any bell inside his mind. From how she was talking about this individual, it sure sounded like someone she expected for them to be close to.
"Eh, don't know him?" Jeanne said as she saw Kiba's confused expression.
It soon dawned on her the mistake she made.
"Ah! My bad, I didn't say the correct name. His real name is…" she went all silent. "What was his name again? You must know the guy, with mean fishy eyes that are kind of cute at a certain angle, short black hair with strands of hair sticking on top, hunched posture, talks in a dry tone when he likes to speak his mind, wields one of Vritra's Gear—Delete Field and he likes to look up girls skirts."
Eh, wasn't that…
"You're talking about, Hachiman? Wait, what was the last one?"
Jeanne made a fist with her right hand and smacked it on her opened left palm, not answering his question.
"Oh right, Hikigaya Hachiman, now I remember! Merci for the recall~! After all, it's been a few years since we last met in Paris, a tragedy that our paths had to seperate in such a way."
Paris?
One by one, the puzzle pieces inside his head started to align, Hachiman's previous words coming back to him. Of a story he once told him out of nowhere, something that very few people knew about. A past of which he kept the details a secret from everyone, including Akeno.
But during their trip, he slipped once accidentally and revealed a small piece of information about his time there. Something along the lines of 'the hero faction'.
So because Kiba pestered him some more details wanting to know the story his friend hid for so many years. He had a vague understanding of what happened during the events all those years ago, it was vague and filled with holes. Hachiman finally caved and told him the story of a previously 'slightly jaded, emo and idiot person' called Hikigaya Hachiman. The fate of someone who was too idiotic and nearly lost someone special that day, which he managed to reunite after years of silence.
He talked about his kidnapping by Azazel.
Him being thrown through the air to push his Sacred Gear to finally gain some wings.
Having found a hideout with corpses of people being eaten by a monster that turned out to be a distorted copy of a Vritra gear. The mastermind behind all of the carnage being a Devil who kidnapped children and used them as experiments. The last one hit Kiba the most as he could understand the horror and pain they must have gone through.
In the end, he brought up a person he accidentally encountered during the mission. A young girl who initially helped him to battle the monster… that same person ended up backstabbing him when the odds turned against them when faced with hundreds of monsters. Not hesitating to use Hachiman as a human shield before running away.
A hypocrite, he called her.
But to Kiba, she was just another target alongside Valper.
And to think… he was now confronting the same person in front of him.
The same person who nearly repeated history with Akeno this time!
Woosh!
Both of the combatants got distracted by a bright green light from below, they turned their heads below to see Issei with his Boosted Gear covered in a green haze of concentrated magic all being transferred to Momo as he touched her shoulders.
"Amazing…" Kiba felt awed at the sight.
The Bishop was using some basic healing spells on Akeno, the moment the well of energy entered her body, that small magic circle grew ten times its size, now covering the entire street—shocking Momo herself. She was shaking from trying to not break the spell and lose control of it, as it was a healing spell rather than an offensive one, she still needed some degree of control.
"I feel… so powerful." Momo said she wasn't a fighter nor a destructive mage like her friends and even Hachiman.
But at that moment, feeling the near ocean sized magical power coursing through her body from Issei's Boosted Gear made her feel like she could even battle a high class Devil on her own and win.
"Fuck yeah! I did it! We're the best, Ddraig! Your method worked!" Issei shouted in glee, talking to his Sacred Gear spirit out loud while hugging his gauntlet with pride.
Akeno's wounds started to mend and close at visible speed. Right under their eyes, as if she had taken a phoenix tear, all of her cuts had vanished. Leaving behind the red stains and nothing else. But her face still remained pale and sick, revealing to Momo that her enhanced spell could only heal her physically and not get rid of the holy energy poisoning.
"Oh wow, I guess that's to be expected from the Red Dragon Emperor."
Back in the sky, Kiba heard Jeanne speak and returned his attention to her.
"I wonder if I can bring him up to Cao Cao…"
Not that he would let her!
"Aaaahhhh!"
With a loud battlecry, Kiba advanced forward once again.
"You're the one who tried to kill him!"
Swish!
An arching shot sliced the fabric on Jeanne's skirt, missing the flesh by a single inch. She retaliated faster with her sword, even as a Devil, Kiba could barely keep up against this human. He was being reminded of his fight against Irina, and how he lost there as well.
'Why is this happening!? Is my anger not enough!?'
"It was either him or me! We were surrounded and wouldn't have been able to leave the place alive if Hachiman did sacrifice himself for the good of the world."
The good of the world!?
Jeanne continued, "If I had died there, then I would have let myself, my ancestor and millions of humans down. Our goal is to go to any length to create a better future for humanity and along the way, we are bound to make some sacrifices. I know you, wielder of Sword Birth, born human and victim of the Church's vile experiments."
Kiba stilled when he heard that, his past was kept as a secret and was only known between Rias' close allies like Sona and Hachiman. How did this person know his past history?
"You, out of every person here, should understand what I'm trying to say. We seek not death of the innocent, but saving the world and breaking the shackles of our oppressors from the supernatural world. Using our gifts, we can push back the evil forces of those oppressors back to their own dimension and create a free world for humans!"
Did she regret her actions? No, Jeanne knew that in a matter of life and death, hesitation would be her downfall. She learned that thoroughly from her time in the Church.
"What a load of bullshit!"
Kiba snarled in disgust at her reasoning, no wonder Hachiman called her a hypocrite!
He tried to shut her up, but Jeanne had gotten faster and stronger. Her white glowing rapier struck as fast as lightning and with the power of a meteor behind each move.
"This has gone for long enough. She has already left the area, and I need to track her down before I lose her again." Jeanne muttured, her patience running dry the more this battle stretched out. "Knight of Gremory, if you don't cease your mindless attack like your friend previously, then I will not hesitate to go for the kill. This is your first and final warning."
Her previous smile vanished and was replaced with a cold and narrowed eyes. The air became tense from her change in attitude, Kiba clearly feeling the killing intent coming off of the woman in front.
"..."
"I'm giving you this one chance, you are one of Hachiman's friends, I presume—like the last one. So I lower this olive branch to you so that we may end this fight and return to deal with our own matters."
Her answer came in the form of a glowing yellow arrow, shot by Kiba. Jeanne thrusted her rapier and easily destroyed the magical construct.
"That is my answer." Kiba said, getting into a sword stance with his Holy Erasers.
"Then so be it." Jeanne answered. "As for the previous question about how I know that you were the user of Sword Birth—here is your answer!"
This time, it was Jeanne who took the initiative to attack. She rushed at him, with speed far surpassing her previously shown feats. Leaving behind an after image to Kiba's eyes before he saw a shadow appear next to him. The growing shine of the rapier releasing another wave of holy energy nearly burned him as he brought his Holy Erasers up to defend himself.
Boom!
A shockwave spread across the space from the impact, both of Kiba's wings and swords could take it and gave up on him. Shards flew everywhere as his body shot straight down to one of the roofs. "Argh!" The crash of his body hitting the tiles made Kiba gasp in pain.
"Kiba!" Issei shouted, about to run straight into battle. Irina was also ready to follow suit, but both were stopped by Momo.
"Why are you stopping us? He needs our help!"
"Calm down, Irina-san. Saji went to help him, you may not believe me but I implore you to keep faith in him. He won't let Kiba down, right Issei?"
The look she gave Issei made the latter realize something, he gritted his teeth before sighing.
"If things don't work out as intended then I'll go to their rescue no matter what you say."
"I know."
They both looked at Jeanne, she stood up there with her eyes closed as a large amount of Magical Energy started to gather around his hand.
"Balance Breaker!"
"Stake Victim Dragoon!"
The sky changed to white as a large explosion of light happened around Jeanne. In front of Kiba's eyes, swords formed in the middle of the sky, from one to ten, to a hundred and thousands. All of them huddled together and grew in numbers and size till a giant figure floated in the sky, casting a large shadow over his area.
Kiba who was half buried within the rubbles had his eyes along with everyone within the space widened as they gazed upon the sight above the sky.
"A… dragon?"
Not just any dragon, with scales made of swords, with a large wingspan and blue coloured eyes—it was as if a real beast had been created in front of their eyes. The sound of metal screeching filled their ears as more swords started to fuse with it. Now having four limbs and a large roar that made Kiba's heart shudder.
"Blades… Blacksmith."
Now he knew why Jeanne recognised his Sword Birth from a single glance! If he had to describe his Sacred Gear, it would hold very similar properties to Blades Blacksmith, with the only difference being that his was a demonic version.
Roar!
The dragon made of sword roared once more as it descended towards him.
"Shit!"
He needed to get out of there! "Hurgh, it's stuck!" Half of his body was trapped beneath the entire room, he couldn't free himself in time.
"Flame sword!"
In a desperate attempt, Kiba called out more of his swords and threw them straight at the dragon, but to his despair, they would immediately break on contact.
"Ice Sword!"
"Flame Delete!"
"Repression Sword!"
No matter what he threw at it, nothing worked as each of his swords kept getting destroyed to dust. His focus was wavering and so was his will, and this began having an effect on his Sacred Gear. Each construction became weaker than the last, cracks appearing on the blades and breaking before he could even grasp them, some not even forming.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
Even after everything he tried, after swearing revenge to his fallen family, he still couldn't destroy a single holy sword–let alone defeat the wielder. Hachiman managed to do it, yet he still remained so weak. He couldn't even avenge Akeno-senpai, Hachiman would be disappointed in him if he were to find out.
He failed everyone, again.
Not having the strength to do anything anymore nor the time, Kiba fell back to the ground with his arms wide open. Staring blankly at the approaching dragon… and so, he closed his eyes and awaited death.
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"Bind Ragnarok, [Lædingr!]"
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 2 Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword having 3 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 and Snafu.