Naruto stared at Cao Cao with what he hoped was a suitably incredulous look.
"I'm a threat so you'll remove me? Dude, are you even listening to yourself? That was like the most cliched line in the history of cliched lines spewed by corny villains in low-budget action flicks ever."
His words had the effect of making Kiba snort into his hand, while Issei outright laughed and even Asia giggled a little bit. Irina looked a tad incredulous, but even she broke into a resigned smile. Kunou just seemed shocked. She was staring at him with her big, wide eyes like she couldn't believe he was insulting their enemy.
A vein appeared on Cao Cao's forehead. "Your insults haven't changed at all, but I'm done talking to you. Leonardo, I'll let you handle the devils."
A boy with dark-skin stepped forward. He looked pretty young, though that was mostly because he was so short compared to everyone else. His grayish-blue hair was cut short and messy, leaving his purple eyes visible. The clothing he wore was the same school uniform as Cao Cao and the others. However, he'd thrown a jacket with a hood over it.
Without warning, shadows appeared underneath the boy's feet, rapidly expanding across the ground like the tendrils of an abominable monster.
"Everyone, be careful," Naruto warned. "That boy has the Annihilation Maker. I've heard about it from Azazel. It's a powerful Sacred Gear It allows him to create a countless number of monsters based on his imagination."
"That sounds like a troubling Sacred Gear," Kiba mumbled as he created a pair of swords in his hands, one holy and one demonic.
"You are correct," Cao Cao said with a laugh. "This boy carries one of the Longinus. It's not the same as my True Longinus, but it is a deadly Sacred Gear nonetheless. I don't believe you have been acquainted with its power yet, Naruto.
The shadows continued to grow, soon covering the entire Togetsukyo Bridge. Then the shadows writhed like living creatures, expanded, and took shape. Arms appeared from out of the shadows. They landed on the ground and flexed as though pulling something out of a deep ocean. Next came the heads. Wide gaping jaws and glowing red eyes appeared from the surrounding shadows, followed by a neck, shoulders, and a torso. It was not long before these monsters fully emerged from the ground.
Naruto decided to call these creatures Shadow Monsters since they had black skin and emerged from the shadows at Leonardo's feet. They were bipedal. Their solidly built bodies were covered in thick muscle and rough hides. Naruto noticed their sharp claws and teeth as the monsters formed a line and stood at the forefront of the battlefield.
"I want all of you to be careful," Naruto said. "Annihilation Maker and the other Sacred Gear, Dimension Lost, are incredibly dangerous."
"How so?" asked Issei. His Sacred Gear was already out, the Red Dragon Emperor Gauntlet glistening in the misty world they found themselves in.
"Annihilation Maker is a lot like Kiba's Sword Birth. However, where Kiba can create countless swords, this boy can create countless demonic beasts of various strength and power. All it requires is imagination. He could even create one of those massive, fire-breathing monsters that are over one hundred meters tall. Ever seen Godzilla? It's like that. Dimension Lost is even worse. That mist of his can transfer people straight into the dimensional gap. Imagine if someone had the power to cover an entire country with mist. They could send it straight to the dimensional gap and the country and its people would be destroyed."
Issei, Kiba, Asia, and Irina all paled. Kunou was also quite pale, but she was spending most of her time glaring at Cao Cao.
"Fortunately, no one here is at that level," Naruto assured them. "While I was being held captive, I made sure to get as much information on these people as possible. They're definitely tough customers, but they aren't like those broken characters you see in some video games."
"So, um, what do we do?" asked Irina. "How do we defeat this Sacred Gear user?"
Though her words said she was focused on the battle at hand, she only had eyes for Xenovia, who stood alongside the other Hero Faction members. Irina hadn't taken her eyes off the blue-haired woman since she appeared.
"The best way to defeat Annihilation Maker is to target the user. According to all the information I gathered while in captivity, Leonardo hasn't mastered using his Sacred Gear yet. If he had, the Hero Faction would have created multiple armies and attacked every faction by now. We have to take him out before he can mature." Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Of course, Leonardo does have one specialty."
Cao Cao's lips slowly peeled into a smile, sardonic and twisted though it was.
"I see you didn't just let yourself be captured for kicks like I first suspected." The man narrowed his eyes. "I wonder how much you know."
"I know enough."
Naruto shrugged, not letting in on the fact that half the reason he knew so much was because Vali, Kuroka, Bikou, and Fay-chan had fed him a good portion of that information. Really, the only person who hadn't helped him was Arthur. That may have been his fault. Arthur was such a stuck up prick that Naruto couldn't help but tease him. In either event, Naruto knew everything the members of Team Vali knew.
Cao Cao narrowed his eyes. "You're pretty good. I guess you don't call yourself a ninja for nothing." He glanced at the Shadow Monsters, primed and ready to attack the members of Rias Gremory's Peerage at a moment's notice, and then back at him. "You are correct. Leonardo still hasn't fully mastered his power. That said, he does have one specialty, as you said: creating monsters that target his opponents' weaknesses. I like to call them anti-monsters." He grinned. "And these current demonic beasts were made specifically to counter devils."
As if his words were some kind of cue, one of the monster's opened its mouth. Naruto only had a brief instant to realize what was about to happen. His eyes widened.
"Everyone get behind me!"
Naruto didn't have time to look back as he held out his hands and channeled wind chakra through them. He mixed the chakra with demonic power, creating a massive wall of wind composed of over several million tiny magic circles.
In that instant, a beam of light shot from the beast's mouth and slammed into the wind shield. Naruto grunted as he slid back slightly. The beam continued pushing against his barrier, crackling and hissing as it tried to break through. If his shield had been made entirely of demonic power, it might have done just that, but Naruto's shield was composed mostly of chakra. It wasn't demonic by nature. The barrier held.
"That was a light attack!" Issei exclaimed.
"No way…" Irina muttered. "That's the same kind of power angels have…"
Naruto took a calming breath. "I see I wasn't the only one gathering information."
Cao Cao smirked. "Of course not. Every good strategist knows that having information on your enemy is the key to victory. I had Leonardo here create monsters that could help him gather intel on our enemies. All that data was then compiled for him to use in his Sacred Gear, allowing him to create anti-monsters." Tapping his spear on the ground, Cao Cao chuckled. "The current anti-devil anti-monsters can produce light attacks equivalent to a mid-class angel."
If Naruto could have cursed, he probably would have. It looked like he'd underestimated Cao Cao. Granted, it wasn't hard to do. This guy screamed arrogant prick. That kind of person almost always overestimated themselves, and so Naruto hadn't given him too much thought, despite knowing about how powerful he was. That was his bad.
Knowing that battle would be upon them once this very necessary pre-battle banter was out of the way, Naruto formulated a plan of action.
"Ise, I want you to quickly enter your Balance Breaker. Kiba, you'll be protecting Ise while he enters it. After that, I'll be relying on you, Ise, to take care of those monsters while Kiba protects Asia and Kunou."
"Got it!" Issei said as he clenched his gauntlet-covered hand.
"Boost!"
"It seems you have a plan." Kiba created several more swords, though he only held the two. "I'll follow your lead."
"What about me?" asked Irina. She already had the short sword Kiba had made for her in hand. Her angel wings were also out. Naruto didn't say anything, but he noticed that a small portion of her wings had turned black, just a few feathers, but still…
"I'm going to cut a path through these monsters so I can take on Heracles, Georg, Siegried, and Jeanne. Follow me in. I'll take you straight to Xenovia so you can make her see reason… with your fists if you have to."
"Naruto…" Irina's eyes glistened with unshed tears.
"I have just one question," Kiba said.
Naruto frowned. "What is it?"
"Who is going to take on Cao Cao?"
"Don't worry. Azazel is going to handle him."
As if his words had been some kind of cue, a massive spear of light pierced the ground where Cao Cao had been standing—had been because he leapt back before the attack could hit him. Oddly enough, the bridge did not receive any damage. Naruto assumed Azazel had canceled his attack the moment it missed so it wouldn't destroy the bridge everyone was standing on.
Everyone looked up as Azazel swooped down, a spear in his hand. He slammed it against Cao Cao's holy spear, the True Longinus, creating a violent shock wave that rippled outward. It was powerful enough that the Katsura River was disturbed. Waves crashed against the bridge, causing water to spray violently into the air.
"Ho…" Cao Cao grinned as he pushed his spear against Azazel's, who had the advantage of gravity on his side. "Not even a proper greeting before you attack? That shows poor form, Governor-General."
"That's former Governor-General, and you have no right to talk about poor form, given your rude hit and run attacks against our faction."
"I suppose you have a point."
The two began attacking each other in quick succession, more shock waves spreading across the bridge, causing it to rock. Azazel took to the sky soon, forcing Cao Cao to follow him as they took their battle further away.
With the initiation of the battle between Azazel and Cao Cao, the others decided it was time to fight as well. The Shadow Monsters surged forward to attack them en masse. It was like watching a wall of darkness press closer.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Several dozen Narutos surged forward, meeting the Shadow Monster army head on.
"Rasenrengan!"
They created a rasengan in each hand and used them to attack with great zeal, annihilating the monsters as if they were nothing. Body parts flew through the air as the Narutos, running in a spear-point formation, plunged into their depths. Once they breached the army, the Narutos spread out and widened the gap. Then, from within that gap, the real Naruto flew out with Irina following close behind him.
"He's coming!" Heracles rushed forward to meet Naruto, his hand already pulled back to punch him. "I'm going to pay you back for what you did to me!"
Heracles threw a punch, a straight jab that moved at speeds so fast it broke the sound barrier, but Naruto slipped underneath the attack and slammed a rasengan into the underside of the man's forearm. As Heracles howled and pulled his hand back, Naruto slid beneath the man and kicked his legs out from underneath him. The massive man fell onto the bridge with a loud thud that rocked the Togetsukyo.
In a one-on-one match, Naruto would have finished this man by slitting his throat with a kunai. That didn't happen here. Jeanne and Siegfried attacked Naruto in a pincer maneuver. The silver-haired swordsman was swinging Gram, the strongest Demon Sword in the world. Meanwhile, Jeanne was attacking him with a holy sword she had created from her Sacred Gear, Blade Blacksmith.
Naruto ducked underneath Siegfried's swing. However, Jeanne appeared to have anticipated what he would do, for she was attacking exactly where he appeared upon dodging. Her blade pierced right through his head.
"Gotcha, Foxy!"
Jeanne's cry of victory turned into a scream of shock when Naruto disappeared and a log took his place.
"You should never let an opponent get behind you," Naruto whispered behind her. The woman froze for one second, but one second was all Naruto needed. "Sennen Goroshi (Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death)!"
"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF TECHNIQUE IS THAT?!"
Jeanne's face as Naruto jabbed his fingers straight up her ass was a sight to behold. Her entire face contorted in a mixture of shock, pain, and humiliation before she was launched into the air like a missile. She held her hands to her abused butt as she flew well over the bridge and slammed into the water. A large splash went up.
"Hahahaha!" Naruto placed his hands on his hips, thrust out his chest, and laughed. "Nobody can withstand the most powerful of techniques! How did you like it? Did you enjoy having my fingers shoved up your rectum?!"
As an enraged cry from somewhere in the water echoed around the battlefield, Siegfried and Heracles attacked him in concert. Naruto slipped around Heracles' punch and launched a heel kick into the man's chest. It didn't do much. Heracles was quite durable, and so the most it did was push him back, but Naruto used that space to avoid Gram, which the silver-haired pretty boy swung at him.
Of course, it wasn't just Gram that Naruto had to worry about. Balmung, another powerful Demon Sword, suddenly appeared in Naruto's face, though he avoided the attack with a quick substitution jutsu. Balmung drilled through the log with ease, a powerful whirlwind expanding outward as it blew the log apart.
"Oh, blessed log!" Naruto clapped his hands together in prayer. "I thank thee for thine sacrifice! May you forever shine in log heaven!"
Naruto had scarcely finished praying to the log when several dozen magic circles appeared around him. From each magic circle came a wide and diverse range of powerful attacks. Ice. Fire. Light. Darkness. Every conceivable magic he could think of flew at him, exploding against the very ground he'd been standing on.
"Did that get him?" asked Georg as he stared into the expanding cloud of destruction.
"What do you think?" asked a voice behind him.
Georg froze, and in that moment, the person who'd been standing behind him attacked.
"Rasengan!"
Naruto's swirling blue ball of energy slammed into Georg's back and sent him sailing. The man didn't scream in pain, oddly enough, but the attack launched him clear across the bridge. He slammed into the ground, tumbled along, and then hit the railing, which cracked underneath the force.
As Georg broke through the rail and plummeted into the water's below, Naruto found himself with little time to celebrate. Heracles and Siegfried were attacking him again. Both of them were using their Balance Breakers, too.
Four arms had grown out of Siegfried's back. They were not regular arms, but the arms of a dragon. Held within each arm was a sword. Nothung, Tyrfing, Dainsleig, and a light sword. Meanwhile, he held Gram in his left hand and Balmung in his right. He attacked Naruto with a series of lightning-fast slashes and jabs. Whirlwinds flew all around him, explosions rocked the ground at his feet and caused the air to burst, and large pillows of ice shot from the ground to skewer him.
Naruto moved. He danced across the ground to avoid the explosions, negated the whirlwinds with powerful wind chakra shaped like a drill, and destroyed the ice spears with rasengans.
The constant attacks from six different swords left Naruto with little time to counter. He replaced himself with another log, hoping it would give him some breathing room, but Heracles had been waiting for just such an occasion.
His body glowing, the aura surrounding him had transformed into numerous objects shaped like missiles. Heracles shouted a battlecry as he launched the missile-like projectiles at Naruto, who channeled more wind chakra into his fists and punched each missile out of the sky. The missiles detonated. The explosions were powerful enough to push him back. As he stumbled backward, Heracles burst out from the explosions and threw a powerful punch.
Naruto crossed his arms.
The punch was powerful, no doubts there. Naruto could feel it in his bones as he was lifted clean off his feet.
As he soared through the air, Jeanne appeared underneath him. She looked awfully pissed. Not only were her clothes soaking wet, but her face was red and steam poured out of her ears.
"I'm going to enjoy murdering you! Balance Breaker! Stake Victim Dragon!"
Hundreds of thousands or perhaps even millions of holy swords appeared around Jeanne, swirling together and taking on the shape of a dragon that was at least fifteen meters tall. It was so big that it barely fit on the bridge. The creature opened its mouth wide as Naruto flew toward it, and then it chomped down on Naruto and swallowed him whole.
"Yes! I got him!" Jeanne cried out victoriously.
"No, you didn't." Siegfried looked up. "He replaced himself again."
"What?!"
Jeanne looked up as well to find two Naruto's plummeting toward the ground. One of them had his hand outstretched, a swirling rasengan floating above it, while the other was adding wind chakra into the attack.
"I've got this!" Heracles snarled and bent his knees to jump. Except he didn't move. "What the—"
Looking down, Heracles found nearly a dozen hands emerging from the ground to grab his legs. He barely had a second to figure out what was happening before another Naruto appeared in front of him, a giant ball of swirling blue energy held within his thrust out hand.
"Oodoma Rasengan!"
The attack slammed into Heracles, exploding with enough force to send shockwaves everywhere. Heracles was blasted clean off his feet. The clone who attacked him disappeared in a puff of smoke as its chakra was used up.
While Heracles was attacked by a clone, the real Naruto finished creating his jutsu and fell upon the dragon like an avenging angel.
"Fuuton: Rasengan!"
The Fuuton Rasengan might have been a weaker variation of the Rasenshuriken, but it still produced millions of cutting blades that sliced through the dragon's neck. Metal squealed as his attack tore straight through the creature. As he landed on the ground, the dragon's head fell to the bridge and shattered. Of course, the dragon was still moving even without the head. It was, after all, something being controlled by Jeanne.
Naruto leapt backward as a massive claw slammed into the ground. His dodge took him right to Jeanne, who attacked him with numerous lightning quick thrusts and slashes.
"How are you able to dodge me!"
Meeting Jeanne's frustrated growls with a bright smile, Naruto said, "How could I not dodge you? You're so slow."
Jeanne let out a frustrated howl as she tried to attack him alongside her dragon, but Naruto dodged her next attack, and then shoved her in front of the dragon as it prepared to stomp on him. The dragon stopped attacking for fear of hitting Jeanne. Naruto used that time to slip beneath it.
"Fuuton: Shinku Renpa (Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves)!"
Naruto took a deep breath, then exhaled several blades of wind, rapidly moving his head from side to side so the blades would fly out at different angles. The blades sliced clean through the dragon. Each attack cut something off: A leg, the tail, a part of its torso. The dragon soon fell apart.
He would have pat himself on the back, but Naruto found himself surrounded by Jeanne, Siegfried, Heracles, and Georg. All of them were injured in some way. George was hunched over, Heracles had a massive spiral mark on his chest, Siegfried had numerous cuts on his arms and legs, and Jeanne's clothing was ruined.
As he looked at the enemies, he released a sigh.
"I'd give anything to enter Sage Mode," he muttered.
"Don't even think about it," a voice growled inside of him.
"I'm not going to. I just wish I could."
As he spoke those words, the four members of the Hero Faction attacked again.
~Devil Ninja~
The moment Naruto had broken through the line of Shadow Monsters, Irina, who'd been following close behind him, split off and charged straight toward Xenovia.
She met the woman in a clash of swords. Irina's light sword ground against Durandal, the holy sword wielded by her friend.
Because Xenovia was a power fighter, she was much stronger than Irina, a technique fighter. Despite this, she strained her muscles and pushed against Xenovia's blade with all her might. Her muscles strained, veins bulged on her arms, and her legs locked up as she flexed her thigh muscles.
"Why?!" she all but screamed as she asked that single word question. Xenovia looked away, causing frustration to well up inside of her heart. "Why would you do this?! Why did join the Hero Faction?!"
"You should know why better than anyone," Xenovia said as she used her superior strength to push Irina away.
She would have gone flying backward, but Irina flapped her angel wings and landed adroitly on the bridge floor several meters from Xenovia. The two of them faced off. However, neither of them attacked.
"I see you've become an angel," Xenovia muttered in a cool voice. "Congratulations. I know that's always been your dream."
"You could have become an angel too," Irina said, her voice sounding as if it was on the verge of tears. "You could have joined me and become one of Michael's Brave Saints."
Xenovia snorted as she shifted her stance. "I'm not like you, Irina. I don't have your level of devotion and faith. When I discovered that God was dead, my entire world felt like it had come to an end. Everything I had believed was a lie. What made it worse was that the Church higher ups knew about God's death and said nothing. They lied to me. How can I forgive that?"
"So you joined the Hero Faction?!" Irina shouted as she raced toward Xenovia, tears flying from her eyes.
The two of them met in a series of powerful attacks. Irina swung her light sword, but Xenovia destroyed it with a swing of Durandel, though all that meant was she had to create another sword.
Xenovia raised Durandel into the air and brought it down, the atmosphere howling as it was rent, but Irina moved out of the way. She almost gawked as a powerful blast of energy carved straight through the bridge like it was made of paper. She'd known Durandel was a powerful holy sword, but being on the receiving end of it was a different experience entirely.
"What else was I supposed to do?!" asked Xenovia as she brought Durandel back around in a powerful horizontal attack. Irina flitted into the air to avoid it. "I had nothing left after that! I'm not like you, Irina! I couldn't go on pretending everything was okay after what happened! I was empty! When the Hero Faction asked me to join them, they said I could find a new purpose!"
Xenovia swung Durandel despite it not being long enough to reach Irina. However, each swing of her blade generated a powerful destructive force that flew at Irina, forcing her to weave around in the sky and dodge the attacks. Even dodging was dangerous, though. The amount of power behind those aura attacks caused the very air to burst, pushing against Irina and knocking her off course.
Not giving up, Irina created several light-based weapons that resembled halos and threw them at Xenovia. The woman down below destroyed them with a swipe of Durandal. However, Irina then created a light spear and sent it hurtling toward her former-partner like a Javelin. Xenovia raised her blade. The light spear slammed into the flat end of Durandal, and the power behind the spear was enough that she skid backwards along the ground. When the power of the spear vanished, Xenovia lowered her sword.
Only to find Irina right in her face.
A whirlwind of blades appeared all around them as the two attacked each other with increasingly sloppy swings of their swords. It was less like they were trying to injure each other and more like they were releasing all of their frustration at each other. Alongside their battle of blades was the battle of words.
"I understand why you would be angry at what happened, but that doesn't mean you had to abandon us!"
"How could I not abandon the Church when the Church already abandoned me by lying?!"
"They didn't have a choice!"
"There's always a choice!"
The two were forced apart when their latest clash of blades created a near catastrophic shockwave between them. They skidded along the bridge before stopping several meters away from each other. Running at each other again, the two met in another clash filled with blades and tears.
~Devil Ninja~
"OVERBOOSTER! BALANCE BREAKER!"
Issei entered his balance breaker almost as soon as the battle started. He could feel energy flowing through him, feel his body getting stronger just by donning the armor of his balance breaker. However, he didn't charge in right away. There was something he had to do first.
"Asia! Promote me to Bishop!"
"Yes!"
The moment he said those words, Asia took out a small card, one that Rias had given to her before they left on their trip.
Issei felt power surge through him as his demonic power was raised past its natural limit. The reason he had chosen to be promoted to Bishop was so he could focus on using long-range bombardment.
A crackling sphere of energy appeared in front of Issei. It was small, but it grew to the size of a basketball quickly. Issei didn't hesitate to slam his fist into it.
"Dragon Shot! Burst Fire!"
Even though Issei didn't train in his long-range attacks often, that didn't mean he never trained or thought about creating new attacks. He'd always thought it would be cool if he had an attack that could attack multiple enemies at once. The idea had come from an anime he had watched called Dragon Go. One of the characters was able to create an attack that launched beams in a scattershot fire like a shotgun.
Issei's attack did just that. Numerous beams of energy blasted from the sphere and struck the bridge, detonating with an incredible amount of force and creating gale winds that he could feel even from where he stood. A lot of anti-demon monsters were wiped from the map. Issei would have loved to cheer, but now wasn't the time for that. The kid was creating more of these Shadow Monsters.
There has to be a limit to how much of those he can make!
No power was invincible. Everything had a weakness. Naruto had taught him that, and he'd taken it to heart.
A power like Annihilation Maker probably relied on the user's imagination and energy to create these monsters. That meant if he ran out of energy, he wouldn't be able to make anymore. However, at that moment, it seemed like there was no end to them.
Just as he was thinking that, a group of women burst out from within the Shadow Monster's ranks and charged at them. All of them were wearing the same school uniforms, carrying spears and swords that flashed in the light, and moving fairly quickly for humans.
"We'll handle you, Sekiryuutei!"
"Ha!" Issei suddenly felt invigorated. "No woman can stand up to me! Breasts, liberate your words! Bilingual!"
As Issei released the magic around the girls, a magical space with him at the center was deployed around him. It wasn't visible to others. Only he could see it.
"Come, breasts of the ladies! Let me hear your thoughts!"
Crying erupted from inside of him as the breasts began speaking to him. The crying was, of course, Ddraig, but Issei put his partner's tears out of his mind.
"We're going to use a feint to mock him and then attack all at once!"
"I'll attack from the right!"
"I'll hit him straight on!"
Issei grinned as the breasts told him exactly what his enemies would do. He felt like giving off a diabolical laugh. These women would never be able to defeat him so long as he knew what they were doing.
The women charged in and attacked, but Issei was already moving. He swerved around the spear of the girl attacking him from the front, placed his hand on her clothing, and then leapt back as the girl on his left swung her sword. This took him into the range of the last girl, but he ducked underneath her attack and placed his hands on her clothing as well.
"I-Impossible!"
"How did he dodge us?!"
"Hahaha! Now taste the power of my ultimate technique! Let me see them tiddies! Dress Break!"
Issei activated his technique, and with a loud tearing sound, the clothes the girls were wearing was blown apart. The girls breasts were completely exposed. This not only was a feast for the eyes, but the girls, so ashamed at being seen naked, were unable to battle because they were too embarrassed. Hmph. He guessed they really were just normal high school girls at heart.
"W-what a vulgar technique. I've never seen anything so despicable before," Kunou muttered.
Ouch. That one had actually heart a little, but Issei didn't have time to feel sorry for himself. Regardless of what anyone said, this was a legitimate technique. It also meant he didn't have to injure his opponents to win.
"Now, Asia! Promote me to a Knight!"
"K-kay!"
Asia quickly changed Issei's promotion from Bishop to Knight, which he switched to because his long-range attacks had served their purpose. Now what he needed was speed.
"I'm going!"
"Boosted Gear! Whip!"
Issei launched himself into a sprint. He moved so fast the world around him became a blur. In less than a second, he was already in front of the line of anti-matter monsters, and he swung the whip attached to his right arm.
In most cases, one would expect a whip to strike the enemy and maybe send them stumbling backward, or wrapping around the enemy so they could be pulled off their feet. That wasn't what happened here. Issei's whip went straight through the monsters, cutting them apart like a hot knife through butter. It was so easy even he was shocked.
However, he didn't have time to celebrate. More monsters were coming.
A little ways off, Issei could see Naruto battling against four members of the Khaos Brigade. He seemed to be holding his own. However, Issei knew that was subjective. Naruto wasn't taking any damage, but it was also hard for him to damage his opponents. The four Hero Faction members were doing an excellent job of forcing him to switch targets, never letting the blond man land a solid blow.
Determined to take care of this monster problem, at least, Issei moved into the army of anti-demon monsters and began mowing them down. He stuck primarily with his whip. However, he also used Ascalon, the holy sword given to him by Michael.
Spinning around, he slashed at the nearest monster, severing its head. He turned again. One monster had tried to sneak up behind him, but he ducked and attacked with his whip, cutting it down the middle. More and more monsters came. Issei cut them down in swaths. He could see Leonardo, the boy who was creating these monsters. Just a little more… just a little more, and he would be able to—
Almost before the thought entered his head, something screamed at him to run. Issei acted on instinct. Leaping back, he just barely avoided having his head split open by a sword.
A man stood before him. Elegant and refined, the man bore a princely aura that didn't lose out to Kiba in the least. Like the other members of the Khaos Brigade, he was wearing a school uniform with some Chinese-style clothing added for good measure. His white hair was a bit messy and fell around a handsome face that made Issei hate him even more.
"I am surprised by how competent you are." The man tilted his head a bit, as though Issei were a puzzle he was trying to solve. "Given the description of you by Vali, I had been expected someone incompetent but powerful. You seem to have more intelligence than I had been told you were."
"W-what kind of insulting introduction is that?!" asked a thoroughly annoyed Issei.
The man was holding a sword in each hand as he walked forward.
"It is a pleasure to meet you for the first time, Gremory servants. My name is Siegfried. I am a descendant of the hero with the same name."
While the man had a gentle-looking face, Issei wasn't fooled for even a second. Pretty boys like that were always the enemy! They were his natural born nemesis!
"I see you have Irina with you," Siegfried commented as he watched the battle between irina and Xenovia. The two of them were really tearing apart their battleground. "I was once a former colleague of Irina's, a top-class warrior of the Catholic Church. They used to call me Demonic Emperor Sig because I could use holy and demonic swords."
At first glance, Issei wondered what was going on. Hadn't Naruto been fighting this guy? It wasn't until he looked over that he could see Naruto was now contending with the other three members of the Hero Faction, plus Leonardo's monsters. It seemed they had decided to switch tactics to defeat him. Now they were using wave tactics.
I see. They want to overwhelm him with enemies.
That would have been a sound plan, but now that he was so thoroughly outnumbered, Naruto was matching their tactics by spamming Shadow Clones. It was like a free for all brawl over there.
"I don't particularly care who you are." Issei cracked his knuckles. "If you're gonna get in my way, then I'm gonna move out of the way!"
Issei was just about to launch himself at the man—when Kiba suddenly stepped in front of him.
"Hey, Kiba? What gives?"
"Sorry, Ise, but if you don't mind, I would like to be the one who takes Siegfried on."
"That's good," Siegfried murmured as he held up his sword and pointed it at Kiba. A strange chill traveled down Issei's spine as he looked at the demonic blade. "You're the one I want to fight."
"Let's hope you don't regret iiiIIIIIITTTTT!"
Before the battle between these two could actually get started, Siegfried was suddenly launched into the air. Behind the man was Naruto—no, it was probably a Naruto clone. Sometime during the battle, Naruto had spammed what looked to be over a hundred clones. They were fighting against the anti-demon monsters. A lot of them were getting dispelled by the monsters, but Naruto would just spam more clones while he continued to battle Jeanne, Heracles, and Georg.
The clone gave Issei a grin before it went back to fighting the Shadow Monsters. It was dispelled moments later when a blast of light slammed into it.
Several loud explosions drew their attention to the battle between Azazel and Cao Cao. The fallen angel was trying to stay mostly at range and attacking by hurtling spears of light. It didn't look like he was holding back either. Each spear exploded to create a colossal impact, causing the earth to rumble and the world to shake. Issei was actually worried his attacks would disrupt this place.
The ground where their battle was taking place had become a merciless wasteland, a place filled with fire and brimstone. A lot of the water from the river had evaporated and hissed into steam, and the ground underneath it looked red hot, like boiling magma. It was no longer a place of tranquility. Now it was a place of destruction.
Almost like some kind of cue had told them to, Azazel and Cao Cao landed on the bridge between the Gremory group and the Hero Faction. Likewise, Naruto had somehow managed to retreat and was now standing alongside Issei and the others. He didn't look very injured. He had a few scrapes and bruises, and his left arm was bleeding, but Heracles, Jeanne, and Georg were in much worse shape. Oh! Siegfried had also come back. He was holding as butt as though it had just been violated.
Azazel and Cao Cao were in much worse shape than Naruto, with cuts, bruises, and torn clothes all over the place. If Issei was being honest, he was surprised Cao Cao looked so uninjured. He hadn't expected a human to do so well against a fallen angel.
Cao Cao stared at them as he cracked his neck and frowned.
"I suppose it's true: You guys really are a great team of devil servants. I see now why you are so well-known amongst the new generation of devils. While I was expecting a good fight because Naruto was here, I hadn't known what to expect from the rest of you." He paused and looked at Issei. "You, especially, Sekiryuutei. Despite your lack of natural talent or demonic powers, you were able to hold yourself up to us quite well."
"Er… thank you?" Issei said, though it sounded more like a question.
"Unlike the Old Maou and that fool Loki, we don't intend to underestimate you." Cao Cao pointed his spear at them. "We believe that in the future, you guys will become the most dangerous threat we face. If we eliminate you now, we not only rid ourselves of a serious obstacle, but we should also gain some useful data."
Issei frowned as he realized how different these guys were from the arrogant members of the Old Maou Faction. They weren't underestimating him and his comrades. Was it because they were human? Issei narrowed his eyes in frustration. He had no idea how to fight opponents like this.
"I've got a question for you," Azazel said suddenly. "What motivates the Hero Faction? Why are you doing all this?"
Smiling through his narrowed eyes, Cao Cao said, "Governor of the Fallen Angels, you might find this surprising, but our reasons for everything we do is incredibly simple. We just want to know the limits of a human and challenge that. We want to see how far we can go, and we want to prove to everyone that we'll win no matter who we face. Angels, devils, dragons, fallen angels… every other race will eventually fall against us."
Azazel frowned at the young man. "Do you really think it will be that easy?"
"I don't think it will be easy at all." Cao Cao shrugged. "I know the road ahead is difficult, but I—"
SLURRRRRRPPP!
Cao Cao stopped talking as a loud, slurping sound echoed around the battlefield. As one, everyone turned to look at Naruto who, much to their shock, was eating instant ramen. Issei had no idea when his sensei had pulled out that ramen, or when he had time to cook it. No. Wait. Just why was Naruto eating ramen in the first place?
As if just now realizing that everyone had turned their attention to him, Naruto looked up, a noodle hanging from his mouth. He slurped up the noodle.
"Why did you two stop with your cliched banter?" he asked, tilting his head.
"Naruto… what are you doing?" asked Azazel.
"Eating ramen."
"Yes, I can see that. What I meant was why are you eating in the middle of a battle?"
"Hmmm… because I was hungry." Naruto shrugged as he stirred the cup noodles with a pair of chopsticks. "Also, it was getting boring listening to you two talk. I figured while you guys were doing your thing, I would use this opportunity to put something delicious in my belly."
Azazel sighed, and even the Hero Faction members seemed off kilter. Issei and the others had grown fairly used to Naruto doing weird things that made no sense, so they didn't react like the others, but even they found it a bit unusual to see him eating ramen in the middle of a battle.
Before anyone could give voice to their thoughts, a magic circle appeared on the ground between their two forces. Issei didn't recognize the crest. However, as Naruto looked up, his eyes sparkling.
"Oh! This magic circle is—"
Someone appeared from within the magic circle just then. It was… an extremely cute girl dressed in a school uniform. Her blonde hair only reached to about her shoulders, but it was curled at the ends, making Issei think her hair was longer unstyled. She wore a khaki-colored jacket over a white shirt with a tie. There were blue and khaki checkers along the hem and sleeves. Her skirt was pink, and it was short enough that he could see most of her long legs.
While seeing a cute girl in a school uniform wasn't odd, the girl had thrown a dark blue cloak over the whole attire. Furthermore, she was wearing a large witches hat. Given all that and how she had appeared within that circle, it was safe to assume she was a mage. Actually, now that he was looking at her, Issei thought she looked familiar.
The girl turned toward the group of devils and gave a radiant smile as she waved.
"Naruto! It's good to see you again!"
"Fay-chan!" Naruto grinned as he waved back. "How are you?"
"I'm doing good. Life's been a bit boring since you went back home, but Vali has been keeping everyone busy."
"Vali?" Issei was confused. "What does Vali have to do with this?"
"Don't you know?" Naruto asked. "That's Le Fay Pendragon. She's a member of Team Vali and the younger sister of Arthur."
Issei was shocked. He actually remembered a bit about Arthur, but he had no idea that boy had such a cute little sister.
"Le Fay." Azazel scratched his chin. "Do you mean like Morgana Le Fay? I remember hearing that Mogana and the hero king, Arthur Pendragon, were related by blood, but…"
As the conversation continued, Cao Cao and the other Hero Faction members appeared shocked over Le Fay's sudden appearance. It seemed they hadn't expected this either. That made Issei wonder what a member of Vali's team was doing there. Also, why did Naruto seem so close to her?
"What is going on here?" asked Cao Cao. "What does Vali want now?"
"Oh, yes." As if she had just now remembered what she was here for, Le Fay spun around to face Cao Cao. She was all smiles. "I came here to bring a message from Vali-sama. He says: 'I thought I told you not to disturb be!' That's the message, but oh, you also need to be punished for trying to put us under surveillance!"
Following Le Fay's announcement, which came complete with an adorable smile, the ground shook. Issei nearly fell onto his butt. He grabbed Asia to keep her from falling when she squeaked. About a meter to his left, Naruto was holding Kunou to keep her from falling too.
Crack!
A loud noise echoed all around them as the ground was split open like an egg being cracked. Issei gawked as something huge emerged from the ground. First came a hand. It was a massive hand made of stone, and it was easily four times the size of Issei's head. After the hand, an arm emerged, followed by another hand, then a head, a torso, and then legs and feet. When the massive thing had fully emerged, all Issei could do was stare in shock. That thing was over ten meters tall!
"It's a Gogmagog!" Azazel shouted in surprise.
"That's right," Le Fay answered. "This is one of the members of our team. Gogz-kun!"
While Issei was shocked to hear such a cute name being given to a giant stone monster, something else about this situation was bothering him.
"Sensei, that giant rock is moving…"
"It's called a Gogmagog," Naruto answered. It seemed he was finished with his ramen. He threw the empty cup away. "It's a type of gollum found within the Dimensional Gap. It's a type of mass produced weapon of destruction, though I don't know much else about them. Supposedly, all of them are floating around in a state of suspended animation. However, Fay-chan found this one and got it moving again."
"So this is something from the Dimensional Gap?" asked Issei, still in shock.
"Yup."
"This is fascinating," Azazel said, his eyes shining like a child's. "I've heard of Gogmagog's, of course, but this is my first time seeing one in person. To find that one of them has begun moving after so long… I can barely contain my excitement!"
After a moment, Azazel seem to realize where he was and recovered his wits. He actually still looked like he had many questions. Were the circumstances different, Issei was sure the man would have picked Le Fay's brain.
"I'd heard that Vali was checking out the Dimensional Gap." The fallen angel narrowed his eyes. "I guess that means he wasn't just there for Great Red."
"That's right!" Le Fay nodded several times. "Vali-sama was the one who detected Gogz-kun. Ophis-sama once told us she had discovered a giant that could move in the Dimensional Gap, so we went to search for it."
"That reminds me, I don't even know who is on Vali's team…"
"Currently, there's Vali-sama, Bikou-sama, Arthur, Kuroka-san, Fenrir-chan, Gogz-kun, and me." Ley Fay was all too happy to answer. She didn't even seem to care that she was standing in the middle of a battlefield. "That makes seven of us in total."
Seven was such a small number, but Issei didn't let that fool him. Vali was a tough customer. That meant whoever was on his team must have been monsters as well.
"I'm a bit confused," Issei admitted. "Doesn't Great Red live in the Dimensional Gap? Why would it have this kind of giant?"
"The Dimensional Gap is a big place, Ise," Azazel said. "And it's not like Great Red really cares about whether there's anyone else in there or not. He just wants to fly around in the Dimensional Gap and doesn't actually cause trouble for anyone. Actually, Great Red is a special existence so powerful none of the other factions have placed him in their rankings."
As Azazel finished speaking, the golem raised its giant fist at the Hero Faction. Issei only had a moment to be surprised as the golem smashed apart the Togetsukyo bridge! The bridge shattered. Large chunks of wood flew into the sky, scattering all over the now ruined riverbed, along with a number of those Shadow Monsters.
The Hero Faction members appeared to be unharmed. They were able to escape the bridges destruction in time. Cao Cao looked at the destruction caused by Gogz-kun, and then he turned back to Le Fay.
"I see Vali learned that we were spying on him. That's unfortunate. I'd been hoping to spy a little while longer, but oh well." He studied everyone again, including Le Fay. "It looks like there are too many factors interfering, so we'll let things go here."
While he was speaking, a young man with a feathered cape produced a thick mist from his hand. The mist spread across the area. It wasn't long before Cao Cao and his cohorts vanished completely. However, just because they could not longer see him didn't mean they couldn't hear him.
"It was fun, Governor-General. We'll have to do this again sometime. Tonight, we will be using Kyoto's leylines and the Kyuubi leader to turn Nijou Castle into a massive battery for our experiment. I hope you'll all come to watch."
"Bye bye, Cow Cow!"
"It's Cao Cao! Get it right!"
Naruto's words had completely ruined Cao Cao's attempt at being cool, but there was nothing he could do by that point. The mist had thickened, It started beneath their feet, spread to their chests, and soon covered their faces.
Issei gagged on reflex but nothing happened. The mist didn't invade their bodies or anything, and when it cleared, they were standing on the streets next to the Togetsukyo Bridge. Not only that but the other tourists were crossing the bridge as if nothing had happened.
"Everyone, quick! Put away your weapons!"
Before anyone could grow suspicious of them, Issei and the others dismissed their weapons. The armor that had been covering Issei disappeared, as did Kiba's sword birth and the other weapons they were wielding.
"Ise? What's wrong? You're making a really scary face?" Matsuda said, staring at his face. However, he soon realized something. "All of you are making a scary face."
"It's nothing," Issei tried to reassure his friend that nothing was wrong. He gave a long exhale and tried to put away his frown. The other members who'd gone into battle with him also wore some really deadly expressions. Only Naruto, the man who had basically taken charge and fought four members of the Hero Faction on his own, did not look serious.
"Maaaaannnn! I am so hungry!"
"But… didn't you just eat?" asked Motohama.
Not only did he just ate, but he had eaten ramen during the battle. Issei didn't say that, though.
"I always have room in my stomach for more food," Naruto answered.
Le Fay was gone, as was the giant, Gogz-kun. Issei didn't know if they had disappeared alongside the Hero Faction, but he put the thought out of his mind as Irina came walking down from a little ways off. She'd been fighting against Xenovia, and her battle had taken them away from the bridge.
"Are you okay, Irinachi?" asked Kiryuu.
The reason she asked that was probably because Irina was limping, but it might also have been due to her frown. She did not look pleased. If anything, she looked depressed. However, Irina swallowed whatever she was feeling and gave the other girl her best smile.
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I just tripped."
It was a lame excuse, but Kiryuu accepted the explanation with a shrug.
"Mother… those people plan on using mother… why?"
At those words, Issei glanced at Kunou, who trembled as she looked abjectly at the ground. Her posture reminded him of how she'd looked the other day. Yet before she could get too depressed, Naruto placed a hand on her head and began stroking her hair. His sensei had a way with kids, so he let him take care of it.
He looked back at the bridge and thought about Cao Cao's attack, his announcement about the experiment at Nijou Castle, and what they were going to do about it.
Issei clenched his hands into fists.
~Devil Ninja~
"It's been quite the day, huh?" asked Kiba.
"Yeah… a lot more happened than I expected."
It was late evening. A glance outside revealed the setting sun was beginning its crawl below the horizon, and the rays of light were casting multi-colored hues across the sky.
After the battle on the bridge, Naruto, Kiba, Issei, Asia, Irina, and the others had continued their tour as if nothing was wrong. The two groups had split up after awhile since they were going to different locations. Issei and his group headed to Nijou Castle. Naruto's group had already been there, so they traveled elsewhere. Upon returning to the hotel, the groups had eaten dinner, taken a bath, and now the Naruto and Kiba were messing around with the flat-screen TV. Kiba had taken several pictures and wanted to view the photos.
On a side note, Rossweisse had not been in his room when they arrived. He assumed she'd gone to her own room upon waking up.
"I had no idea you were a photographer," Naruto murmured as Kiba connected the flat-screen TV to his camera.
"I'm not," Kiba answered. "I just thought it would be fun to memorialize the trip with some photos."
"Makes sense."
Tomorrow would be the last day of their trip, which would consist of mostly buying souvenirs and such. Naruto almost sighed. The trip hadn't lasted very long at all. There was still a lot to see, but he understood they couldn't afford to stay for too long. This was a school trip, after all.
I'll come here with Rias and the others on an actual vacation next time.
"Irina hasn't shown up yet," Kiba muttered.
Naruto shrugged. "She might be with Ise. She does have a crush on him."
"You think so? I'm not so sure about that."
Naruto pretended not to hear Kiba's muttered last sentence, but he understood what the blond swordsman was talking about. There were times when it seemed like Irina might have feelings for him instead of Issei. Part of the reason he'd asked Irina if she loved Issei was because he wanted to know if there was anything between them—him and Irina. If there was, he would have asked her to become his, but it seemed there were lingering feelings for Issei, and Naruto did not want to interfere in her love life if that was the case.
Someone knocked on the door as these thoughts flashed through his mind. Curious to know who would come by at this hour, and wondering if it might be Irina, he answered the door.
Irina it was not.
"You're… Mimori-san, right?"
The girl standing at the other end was fairly plain. She was cute, certainly, but her cuteness was the kind that could be found anywhere. Brown hair tied into a ponytail matched her brown eyes. She had light skin and a modest figure. Adorning her body was a basic white kimono that looked like a bathrobe.
"Y-yes." Mimori blushed a bit, though that was likely because Kiba had peeked over to look at her.
"Is there something we can help you with?" asked Naruto.
"Um… I was just wondering if you could talk to Irina," Mimori said. "She's been holed up in our room since dinner. All of us have asked her if something is wrong, but she just smiles and tells us not to worry."
He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Yeah… having someone say that when they look depressed only makes people worry more. I wonder what makes people think telling someone not to worry would actually have the effect of making others not worry."
"Um…"
Mimori looked confused by his words, but Naruto waved her off with a smile. "I'll talk to her for you."
"Th-thank you!"
Kiba told Naruto he'd get everything set up for the picture viewing and wait for him to return.
"Be sure to bring Irina. I'm sure getting to see all the pictures we took would help her out."
"Just leave it to me."
Naruto followed Mimori to the room she shared with Irina. She didn't bother knocking on the door. She gave Naruto the keycard that would let him enter and told him she was going to visit her friends room before leaving. He watched her go, sighed, and then unlocked the door and entered the room.
He found Irina sitting on her bed, her knees drawn up to her chest and her face buried between them. She was wearing the same white kimono as Mimori. She must have at least taken a bath then. Unlike with Mimori, the kimono seemed a bit small around her chest, or maybe it was because her knees were pushing against her breasts that caused them to bulge out the way they were. The lower half was folded slightly, allowing him to glimpse her lean legs. She was barefoot, and her toes were clenching and unclenching the bedsheet.
Irina didn't respond to his entrance. Perhaps she assumed he was Mimori coming to check up on her. Naruto closed the door behind him and wandered further into the room, sitting down on Irina's bed. Finally, at the shifting of her bed, Irina looked up.
"Naruto? What are you doing here?"
"Mimori was worried about you. She asked me to talk to you."
Irina sighed. "I told her not to worry."
"You know that telling someone not to worry when you clearly look like someone just killed your pet hamster only makes them worry more, right?"
"That was an oddly specific description."
"Rias has been on a Hamtaro binge recently." His words elicited a small chuckle from Irina but not much else. Naruto took a deep breath. "This is about Xenovia, isn't it?"
"Y-yes," Irina admitted with a sigh.
"Will you tell me about it?" Naruto asked.
She said nothing for several seconds, but eventually, her feet slid across the bed, legs straightening as she leaned back against the headboard. As though gravity were pulling them down, her feet canted inward, toward each other, and she began hooking her toes together, similar to how someone twiddled their thumbs when nervous. Even though she tilted her head to look at the ceiling, her eyes were faraway. She was clearly not looking at anything he could see.
"When Xenovia and I fought, she told me she felt like the Church had betrayed her and that's why she left and became a member of the Khaos Brigade. I… to be honest, when I heard how she felt, I couldn't really blame her. A part of me felt betrayed as well, but I ultimately decided to simply switch my devotion from God to Michael. Xenovia told me she couldn't do that after being lied to."
Naruto nodded as he listened to Irina. "I'm guessing you tried to reason with her."
"Yes, I did." Irina released an even bigger sigh than before. This one seemed to be filled with all the disappointment she felt at herself. "But it didn't work. Xenovia said she could never go back to being a member of the Church after what happened, that she could never trust them again. I couldn't even… say anything in their defense! I…"
A strange impulse overcame Naruto as tears leaked from Irina's eyes and down her pale cheeks. He knew it came from his own selfish desires, so he ignored the urge he felt to hug Irina. It wouldn't be right. Instead, he found a box of tissues and present them to her so she could wipe her face and blow her nose. She accepted them with a smile and did just that.
"While it may be impossible for Xenovia to join the Church, have you considered trying to convince her to become a devil?"
"What?" Irina looked up from her tissue, currently covered in snot.
Naruto took the tissue from her, wadded it up, and tossed it into the trash can several meters away. He offered another tissue.
"Xenovia is lost because her faith was destroyed, and she didn't have the devotion that you do, so once her faith was gone, she felt she couldn't return to the Church's fold. However, angels and devils have now allied with each other. It shouldn't be a big deal if she becomes a devil instead of an angel, right? I'm sure Rias would be willing to reincarnate her, and then she can move in with us."
It was a bit of a stretch, but Naruto's logic was that since angels and devils were now allies, it wouldn't matter which faction she joined. She could become a devil and still be Irina's ally and friend.
"That…" Irina bit her lip. A war took place within her, visible through the conflicted look in her eyes. After a few seconds, however, she nodded. "That could work. After everything I've seen and all we've been through, I realize now that devils aren't evil beings who need to be punished." A dejected expression crossed her face. "But how would I convince Xenovia to become a devil?"
"The same way I've convinced all my friends to become my friends." Naruto grinned as he clenched his fist and held it up. "You beat the crap out of her until she agrees!"
"…"
"…"
Irina stared at Naruto who, upon realizing his enthusiastic reply hadn't gotten through, slowly lowered his hand.
"Is that not a good idea?"
"Well, you did suggest beating up one of my best friends."
Naruto shrugged. "From everything I've seen, Xenovia is the kind of person who responds to actions better than words. In that case, you need to show her through your actions that you aren't going to let her run off on her own. The next time you two fight, I want you to defeat her with everything you have, fight her with all your strength, and when she lies defeated and unable to argue with you, convince her to become a devil."
Despite Naruto speaking with complete confidence, Irina still looked unsure. "Do you really think that will work?"
"There's always a chance that it won't." Naruto shrugged. "But think about this. If you do nothing, then nothing will happen. There's nothing worse than inaction."
"I… yes, I guess you're right." After thinking about everything he had said for a moment, Irina finally nodded, and her face broke out into a smile. "Thank you, Naruto. I feel a lot better now."
"Hey, I'm always here when you need me." His words caused Irina to blush, but Naruto pretended not to notice as he stood up and held out his hand. "Anyway, Kiba wants to show off the pictures he took during our tour. Why don't you come back to our room and watch them with us?"
Irina stared at his hand for a little bit, but then she slowly reached out and placed her hand in his.
"Okay," she said with an adorable blush.
~Devil Ninja~
Naruto brought Irina back to his and Kiba's room, where they enjoyed looking at all the photos that had been taken. There were more than Naruto expected. Kiba must have been taking them when he wasn't looking.
Had this been a normal school trip, Naruto imagined they would have gone to bed after that, but that wasn't what happened. He, Kiba, and Irina left the room and headed to Issei's room. Asia, Azazel, Serafall, Rossweisse, and the Sitri servants were already inside. They were going to discuss tonight's mission to rescue Yasaka from the Hero Faction.
Issei's room was tiny. It wasn't bigger than eight tatami mats or so. This forced everyone to stand.
"Rossweisse, how are you feeling?" asked Naruto as he looked at the woman. Her face was a tad pale.
"I'm fine." She smiled at him. "I took a potion to recover after waking up. You also helped me a lot. T-thank you for taking care of me."
"You're welcome."
Naruto couldn't help but notice how adorable Rossweisse looked when she was blushing. However, for whatever reason, Irina was looking at him with a disapproving glare. Part of him wondered if she was jealous. He didn't say anything, though.
Azazel glanced at everyone, and after making sure they were all paying attention, he spread a map of Kyoto on the floor in the center of the room and began.
"You all know what's going on, so I'll start by explaining our battle plan." He marked several places on the map with a marker. "The areas centered around Nijou Castle and Kyoto Station are now on high alert. All devils and fallen angels stationed in Kyoto have been mobilized to search for any suspicious characters. The Kyoto yokai are also providing us with assistance. Although we haven't been able to confirm the movements of the Hero Faction, we have successfully detected an ominous presence with Nijou Castle at its center."
"That would explain why Cao Cao told us about his plan," Naruto said. "He probably knew he wouldn't be able to hide it."
"That was my thought too," Azazel admitted.
"What did you mean by an ominous presence?" asked Kiba.
"Since ancient times, Kyoto has been a city constructed using the principles of Yin Yang and Feng Shui. In many ways, the city is like a large-scale magic circle. As a result, there are many areas within Kyoto that contain a lot of power like the Seimei Shrine's Seimei Well, Suzumushi Temple's Kofuku-Jizo, Fushimi Inari's pine tree Hizamatsu-san, and numerous other locations. There are too many to count. However, that flow of power is becoming more turbulent by the second, and all of it is gathering at Nijou Castle."
A lot of what Azazel was saying went over Naruto's head. He didn't understand the intricacies of Ying Yang or Feng Shui, but he still got the gist of what Azazel was telling them.
"What will happen if all that power gathers at Nijou Castle?" asked Saji.
"We don't know, but I can bet you anything it won't be good." Azazel stood up and put the marker away. "Since the Hero Faction plans on using the kyuubi leader who controls the leylines of this city to carry out some kind of experiment, I can only assume that whatever they plan on doing, it will be harmful to the inhabitants of this city. Nothing good ever comes from messing with the natural flow of energy like this."
Even if they didn't necessarily understand what Azazel meant, or what would happen if they did nothing, everyone nodded. The fallen angel former governor looked at them all. His face was quite serious. This was no longer the easy-going man who drank during the day and slept with women at night. Naruto realized, in this moment, why Azazel had been the leader of the Grigori until resigning from his post.
"Now, let's begin with the plan. The Sitri Peerage is going to be on guard in the area around Kyoto Station. Guarding this hotel will also be your job. The hotel itself already has a barrier around it in the event that something unexpected happens, but that won't protect it if the Hero Faction decides to attack. That's why, if anyone suspicious approaches, it will be your job to handle them."
"We understand!" the Sitri Peerage replied in unison.
"Next, I will be explaining what the Gremory Peerage plus Irina will be doing." He glanced at them, and this time, his smile turned apologetic. "I'm sorry for putting you all on the spot like this after everything that's happened, but you guys are going to be the assault squad. Your job will be to advance toward Nijou Castle. We have no idea how many enemies you will have to face or what their powers will be. This is going to be a dangerous gamble. That said, your first priority is rescuing Yasaka. Once you succeed, you can pull out. Cao Cao said they were using Yasaka for an experiment, but there is a chance this was just a bluff to make you guys show up. It could be that the reason he was so willing to tell us his plan is because he wants you to show up."
Naruto had also considered the possibility that this was a trap. In fact, he was almost 100% certain Cao Cao had told them about what they were doing to lure their group into a trap, and then take them out. At the very least, he knew that Cao Cao wanted him gone. He'd already said it himself. Naruto was a threat.
"Do we even have enough power to launch an attack?" asked Issei. "I mean, it's going to be myself, Kiba, Naruto, Irina, Rossweisse, and Asia against who knows how many enemies."
"You bring up a good point, but you don't need to worry about that." Azazel assured Issei. "I have already enlisted the help of some anti-terrorist experts. They've been a great help in battling against the Khaos Brigade so far. With them at our side, the chances of success will raise quite a bit."
"Reinforcements?" Kiba blinked several times. "Who will be helping us?"
Azazel gave him a mysterious smile. "Just think of them as exceptionally powerful beings for now."
While the fallen angel teacher looked quite pleased with himself, Naruto could not help but frown. Years ago, he would not have really cared about not being told everything, but those days were long gone. He understood now that information was a key component to attaining victory. Not knowing who his allies were meant he wouldn't know how much he could trust them.
Saying that, Naruto was pretty confident they wouldn't need help from whoever Azazel had called in. Even weakened as he was, Naruto had confidence in his power. Should the worst come to pass, Naruto would use his new jutsu, though it would require the help of Issei and the others to protect him while he activated it. That said, once activated, he highly doubted anyone less than Ophis would be able to stop him.
"I would rather we not use a jutsu that is still in the experimental phase."
"So would I, but we might not have a choice."
"Ha… well, you have always been reckless, so this is all par for the course."
Naruto smiled at Kurama's backhand acceptance of his decision. The fox might complain about how his jutsu was still experimental, but he knew the great being inside of him wanted nothing more than to stretch his limbs.
"I do have a bit of bad news," Azazel said, interrupting Naruto from his thoughts. "We were only able to acquire three vials worth of Phoenix Tears."
"W-what?!" Saji cried out with wide eyes. "Only three vials worth?! That's not enough! Our enemies are the Khaos Brigade!"
"I'm aware of who our enemies are," Azazel's reply was mild, as if he had been expecting someone to react like this. "However, due to the Khaos Brigade's terrorist activities all over the world, Phoenix Tears are currently in great demand. The numerous strongholds of various factions are low on supplies, thus requiring a greater need for powerful cure-all potions like Phoenix Tears. The Phenex family has been incredibly busy producing them. What was originally a valuable commodity has since become so precious that the devils have banned the use of Phoenix Tears during Rating Games so they can be used to help fight the Khaos Brigade."
A lot of the information Azazel was telling them was stuff that Naruto already knew a little about, but he had been unaware as to how serious the situation had become. Because Rias was still considered an immature devil, she and her peerage were not allowed on the frontlines. This meant they lacked a lot of the information that older, more experienced devils like Sirzechs, Serafall, and Beelzebub possessed.
Everything was on a need to know basis.
Azazel continued. "This is a secret known only to a few, but right now the various factions have banded together and redoubled their efforts to find users of Twilight Healing. Even though it's a rare Sacred Gear, it's not unique. Our investigations have discovered there are several others aside from Asia who have it. Finding them will also give us a great advantage over the Khaos Brigade, since it will prevent them from being able to use their powers." The man paused, as though debating something, and then continued. "The current Beelzebub has also been carrying out some personal research on new ways to heal people. That's all I can really say on that. The Grigori is also researching how to create recovery-type artificial Sacred Gears. In fact, Asia has been secretly helping us with our research. Thanks to her, we've already obtained a lot of promising data."
While Naruto looked at Asia in surprise, Issei was puffing out his chest in pride, as if he was the one who had been helping them out. He assumed that meant Issei must have known what Asia was doing. Did Rias know as well? Probably. It wouldn't be like her to let one of her precious family members do something without her knowledge.
"Anyway, that's our situation," Azazel said into the silence. "These tears will be divided. Two vials will go to the Gremory Team since they are the main offensive, and the other one will go to the Sitri Team. Please only use them in emergencies."
Everyone voiced that they understood. Naruto didn't think he would have any use for Phoenix Tears. On the off chance he did need them, he had the ones Ravel had given him, which he kept in the necklace around his neck, but he was loathe to use them.
These tears are her way of confessing her feelings.
"Now that everything else is out of the way, there is one addendum I would like to add." Azazel looked at Saji. "You'll be joining the Gremory Team."
"I-I will?!" Saji pointed to himself with a flummoxed look on his face, but it didn't stay for long. "Ah. Because of the Dragon King, right?"
"Yes." Nodding, Azazel explained his decision. "I know you've been training hard and become able to enter a Dragon-like state recently. That will be very useful in combating the Khaos Brigade. Furthermore, the black flames you produce can seal the movements of your enemies and absorb their power at the same time. It's not a skill that we can afford to squander."
"Well… I mean, I don't mind, but…" Saji looked a bit out of sorts, or perhaps reluctant. "I mean, whenever I use Vitra Promotion, I usually lose consciousness and go berserk once I enter it."
"That's not a problem," Azazel said. "We've done some research and concluded that Ise will be able to help you regain control of yourself."
"I can?" Issei asked.
"You can." Nodding Azazel told them about his theory. "The state Saji enters is similar to the Juggernaut Drive, a berserk-like state of those who wield the two Heavenly Dragons. In order to come out of that state, someone has to use a set of powerful words infused with their intent. As the wielder of the Heavenly Dragon, Ddraig, you are probably the only one strong enough to properly control Vitra using those words."
"But what words do I say?" asked Issei.
"It doesn't matter. So long as they resonate with you and Saji, they will work."
That seemed like an awfully flimsy approach to Naruto, but he didn't say anything. It wasn't like he hadn't done stuff that wasn't stupid and reckless.
Irina raised her hand. "Have the other factions been informed?"
At her words, everyone gazed at Azazel. Given the nature of this mission, it was pretty important that other factions know what was happening.
"Of course they have. Outside Kyoto, a large number of angels, devils, fallen angels, and yokai have gathered. In order to prevent the escape of the Hero Faction, we have also set up a number of barricades. We're hoping to capture them alive if possible."
After Azazel spoke, Serafall, who had been mostly silent up to this point, stepped forward.
"I'm gonna be in charge of directing and coordinating our forces outside of Kyoto. If those kinds try to run, we'll destroy them!"
Several people shuddered. Naruto now understood why Serafall was not leading the attack on Nijou Castle. She would probably just annihilate the castle, along with the Hero Faction, Yasaka, and probably half of Kyoto.
"What about Buchou and Sona?" asked Issei. "Are we going to tell them about this?"
"I don't think now is the right time to tell Rias," Azazel said.
"What? Why not?"
"Because several riots have broken out in a few of the cities located within Gremory territory," Naruto answered for Azazel. "I spoke with Rias after returning to the hotel today. She suspects the riots were incited by supporters of the Old Maou. She and the rest of the Gremory Peerage aside from us have gone back to the underworld in order to help quell the riots. I hear they are working alongside Grayfia and Venelana."
"I don't envy those rioters." Azazel shuddered. Naruto could only agree.
"Haha! The Flaxen-haired Madame of Extinction, the Crimson-haired Ruin Princess, and the Silver-haired Queen of Annihilation have gathered in one spot." Serafall looked amused. She was wearing a large grin as she crossed her arms. "Those idiots are going to learn a hard lesson."
Clearing his throat, Azazel quickly got them all back on track. They discussed the situation a little more. Azazel was going to be their "eye in the sky" and search for the Hero Faction from above. If he found anything, he would report to them. Likewise, if they found anything, they would report it to each other. The mission would start in one hour, so they were asked to get ready.
Once his battle preparations were complete, which honestly didn't involve much, Naruto entered the lobby. Everyone else was already there. He greeted Asia, Kiba, Irina, and the others. It looked like Issei was talking to Azazel about something. The fallen angel was giving the boy a red jewel. Naruto didn't know what that was all about, but he ignored it and went over to lean against the wall beside Rossweisse.
"What's going on over there?" asked Naruto as he gestured to Azazel and Issei.
Rossweisse scowled. "Apparently, that jewel is somehow tied to Ise's power. It contains his perverted desires to see breasts."
"Uh-huh…" Naruto wasn't sure how to think about that. "So I see. Breasts, huh? Well, I already knew Issei was a pervert who gains power from touching breasts, though I have tried to steer him toward another power source." He shrugged. "Well, whatever works, I guess."
"How can you say that?" Rossweisse looked appalled. "Not only is getting power from boobs vulgar, but he has caused trouble for the people of Kyoto. That power ran amok all around the city and turned people into molesters!"
That would explain why Naruto had seen several molestation attempts during the trip. He'd just assumed Kyoto had a lot of perverts.
"Well… I can't really say anything about that, but ultimately, there's not much I can do about it." Naruto shrugged. "I've already done everything I could. The rest is up to him."
"I suppose that is the best anyone could ask for…" Rossweisse released a tired sigh.
As the conversation wound to a close, Issei's conversation with Azazel finished. At the same time, it looked like the two Sitri girls were telling Saji not to overexert himself. They seemed quite worried about him. Naruto wasn't good friends with Saji like Issei was, so he didn't know how well the boy got along with his peerage, but they seemed a lot closer now than they had been.
At some point, Ise, Kiba, Irina, Asia, and Saji wandered, up to Naruto and Rossweisse. All of them looked like their preparations were finished. Naruto gazed at each one in turn. However, when his eyes landed on Irina, she caught his gaze, blushed, and then turned her head as though she was too embarrassed to meet his eyes.
He decided to ignore that right now. Her emotions were too muddled. Naruto would wait until Irina figured out her own feelings before doing anything. If it turned out she still loved Issei and wanted to be with him, then Naruto would quietly back off. That said, if nothing happened between the two of them, Naruto would make a move. He already had Rias' permission.
"It looks like this is it," Kiba said. His arms were crossed and the expression he wore was primed and ready. "We're gonna be counting on you to lead us in Rias's absence."
"I understand." Naruto nodded. "Is everyone ready?"
They all nodded.
"Alright then. Let's head to Nijou Castle," Naruto announced.
The mission to rescue Yasaka had begun.