Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.
Everybody Look Alive
"Now, let's not do anything we would regret, yes?" Georg asked, an insufferable smile on his face as a purple mist formed around him. The circles over Joshua's hands disappeared almost instantly.
'Dimension Lost,' He recognized easily. He'd been making wards to counter that exact thing for a while now. 'Didn't think they'd come for me though,' He mused bitterly. He'd set some wards around their house but none of them would work against this man. After all, he was still working on those for Yasaka…
"I'm guessing you wanted to… talk?" Joshua asked curtly as he walked forward. As he sat in front of Georg though, he waved for Jeanne to leave, which she didn't, much to his chagrin.
"No need for her to leave," The Khaos Brigade member said then, a mockery of friendliness in his voice. "I came to talk with her too."
"Me?" Jeanne asked, clearly as caught off guard as Joshua felt.
"Of course," Georg answered, almost excitedly. "Jeanne… Davis," He said, after some hesitation for the surname, which just worked to further throw him in Joshua's shitlist, and Jeanne's, if her expression was anything to go by. That was saying something, considering the hatred both of them held for Khaos Brigade. "We are fairly sure you are a Descendant of Jeanne d'Arc, after all," He informed them.
Neither of them reacted to that piece of information though. They were well aware of that, after all. How could they not be? It was plenty obvious once they found mentions of them through their supernatural books.
Hero Descendants, all but reincarnations of people that had left a mark on the world's magic so deeply that they seemed to reappear through history. Sometimes similarly as their history said, sometimes differently, but they were always distinctly recognizable.
Jeanne d'Arc's descendants, for example, usually held some connection to the Holy, either through wielding a Holy Artifact or a Sacred Gear. That was a check for Jeanne, since she had Blade Blacksmith. Furthermore, Jeanne d'Arc was said to have visions that guided her. Jeanne Davis might not have seen things, but the voices were close enough, really, especially since they were pretty sure those held some connection to the supernatural.
Really, it was easy to see and they knew about it. They hadn't wanted to think about it too much though. After all, what did it change for them, really? Jeanne was still Joshua's sister and she was still herself. A fancy title didn't mean anything.
"You are aware of it, huh?" Georg noted curiously. "And yet you work in tandem with monsters."
"Monsters?" Jeanne asked, blinking in confusion.
"The Youkai," The man clarified, as if that explained everything. It did not, though, only causing the girl to frown. "Ah, I see, they've already poisoned your views, it seems."
Joshua so wanted to do… something. Cast a spell, activate his wards, even just punch the guy. However, the purple mist was still there, mocking him as a reminder that nothing he could do would affect Georg.
"I guess we have you to thank for that," The Khaos Brigade agent said as he turned towards Joshua, all but snarling. "Are you proud? You've corrupted one of the world's heroes."
'My God, he's a fanatic, isn't he?' Joshua realized, which helped little. Fanatics were one of the most dangerous things out there, he was sure. People that were entirely convinced of what they were doing, even if it was just wrong. Like this man was, convinced that the Youkai were monsters for the heroes, himself included, to slay. He could almost see the sickening picture in the Longinus user's mind.
"What are you doing here?" Joshua asked, not feeling like discussing believes with a man that most probably couldn't be reasoned with. He wasn't dead yet, and this Georg clearly didn't care about his life, so he must have wanted something else, he supposed.
"I came to take care of an annoyance," Georg explained easily. "Most of us, magicians, have a clear weakness, did you know?"
'He's gonna monologue, is he?' Joshua thought, his mind racing.
"We require preparation to be at our best, doubly so for warders," The Longinus user continued, smirking and lifting his hand when Jeanne went to move. She was quickly surrounded by purple mist that left her standing straight, unmoving lest she touched the cloud around her. "Fights between magicians often end with the one most prepared winning. Do you know which of us is the most prepared?"
"And I'm sure that you having a hack of a Sacred Gear has nothing to do with it," Joshua all but growled.
He hated it, the feeling of being in his own house and being powerless. He'd felt like that with Ajuka, he'd felt like that with Serafall and he was feeling like that now. The first two he could take, they were faction leaders and they were sort-of allies, especially after recent developments.
This though, this couldn't stand.
"Complaining about such things is a pointless endeavor," Georg said with a pitying smile. "Men aren't created equal and whoever says otherwise is lying. Anyway, you've got some impressive wards around this place, especially considering your circumstances and that you've been here for a short time."
So, he had information on him too, huh? Somehow, Joshua wasn't surprised.
"It's a shame, really," Georg commented, as if he really thought so. No one believed him though. "That Dimension Lost makes them useless. As for your own fighting capabilities, they are impressive, but, once more, nothing that can stand against a Longinus Sacred Gear. Even if I didn't have it though," The man continued, bringing his hand up and making several circles appear. Then he formed a fist and Joshua felt one of his wards, a Detection one, disappear. "I'm an accomplished magician in my own right."
"I see," Joshua said then, his tone uncaring. If Georg wanted to see him cower or plead, he would be disappointed. He knew now that the supernatural world held little in the way of mercy for those that couldn't defend themselves. He didn't expect a Khaos Brigade member to be swayed because of such things either. Especially one that talked as this one did.
Besides…
"With that said," Georg continued. 'God, he loves the sound of his own voice, doesn't he?' Joshua thought to himself. "Any last words, Joshua Davis?"
"Only one," He said, closing his eyes and deflating on the sofa. "Now," He called then, opening his eyes just in time to see Georg freeze. "Preparation, was it?" Joshua asked, leaning back against his seat and looking at his unwanted guest. "You don't look prepared for that, Georg," He pointed out as he activated his Draining, Weighting and Weakening wards.
The man didn't move, but Joshua could see him paling as the seconds passed and it brought a grin to his face.
"Josh?"
"Just… see if you can contact Serafall through the flier, yeah? Our Youkai contact probably was… taken out by our guest here. Some tea would be nice too, I guess," Joshua told his sister, who quickly stepped out of the room, leaving his familiars behind.
All of which quickly made their way to him. Nagini, for her part, slithered towards Joshua and tilted her head at Georg. Joshua placed a hand over the serpent's head as he regarded the Khaos Brigade agent. Another of his hands moved up to Margalo, who flew to stand on his shoulder.
"Margalo is a special bird, you see," Joshua commented. Nagini was going to be annoyed with him later, but he could take that. "She has a few handy abilities. Pretty neat thing, I'm sure you can tell," He said as the little bird seemed to catch on and keep her eyes locked on Georg as if she were really the one that held him where he was.
As he talked, Joshua kept a part of his mind focused on his Detection and Monitoring wards together with Magic Sense. He wanted to know how his Draining wards were doing, after all, and when this… pest that had appeared was all but out of the 'fight'. Then, he'd be able to truly relax. It was a shame, really, that just killing him was a bad idea. That and trying to stab him or hit him might disturb Nagini's work.
"I expected more, you know?" He continued talking, mostly because if he could distract Georg even the smallest bit, then it was a win for him. Last thing he wanted was for the rug to be pulled from under him, just as it had happened to Georg himself. "Longinus wielders are supposed to be these unstoppable forces, almost godly, in a way. I guess they are still human though. They can still fall to the same things the rest can, if they aren't prepared," He said, rubbing his victory on the other man's face.
A victory that was short-lived, really, because a moment later, his eyes widened. A teleportation spell was active inside his wards and it wasn't a Devil. That meant that it wasn't Serafall. It could be the Youkai though, he suppo-
Humans.
They were humans, his wards told him.
Joshua wanted to be optimistic, he really did, but how could he? It had to be Khaos Brigade, he knew. His wards were active though. Magic was being drained from the intruders, making his more offensive wards stronger and stronger. They weren't weak though, sadly, which meant they would hold and-
"Jeanne! Come back here, we are under attack!" He called then, focusing back on his surroundings instead of what his wards were telling him. "Don't let up on him, girl," He ordered, making it sound like he was talking to Margalo, who chirped obediently. 'God, I gotta do something nice for these two later,' He noted to himself. The Longinus wielder was getting weaker and weaker due to his wards, so danger was going down on that front. Before that though…
Joshua walked up to the man and searched for what his wards informed him of, something that had been hidden a moment before. In one of Georg's pockets, he found it. A magic circle that, while he wasn't sure since he didn't know this particular setup, he suspected had caused the sudden invasion of his house defenses. He instantly ripped it in half, feeling the magic dispersing.
An explosion was heard, and he felt the Shield ward around the house shake. He'd admit that his shields weren't as good as his other wards just yet, but that was a bit much, especially considering that some of the drained energy was being channeled into those too.
Another explosion.
"Seems like you weren't so unprepared," Joshua growled as he started walking towards the intruders. "Morag…" He paused and then turned around just before leaving the room. "Hit him with some poison, yeah? Distance only. Don't get close, you either, Nagini, Margalo," He told them. Georg was restrained and basically useless at the moment, but Joshua didn't want to risk anything. The smallest of slips and the man could unleash his Sacred Gear on all of them and then they would be screwed.
Cheshire meowed.
"Right," Joshua nodded. "You are with me, girl," He told his feline companion, almost stopping when he heard the very familiar sound of his sister's Sacred Gear. "You ready?" He asked, turning his head to see Jeanne walking towards him. The girl had already summoned swords in her hands.
"I am… I think," She said firmly, before her confidence seemed to leave her. "I tried to call Serafall, but…"
"We'll be fine," Joshua reassured her, although he actually meant that. From what his wards were telling him, the intruders weren't too strong. That is, unless they could bypass them, which… he couldn't really know, considering that Georg had slipped by them easily enough. They couldn't start panicking though.
"Right," She nodded, almost like she was talking to herself. Cheshire, on his other side, had already morphed into her lynx form, ready for battle, it seemed. Joshua, for his part, started walking again, taking a card from his pocket and placing it behind his ear as he pulled out two Holy Knives.
He was keenly aware of Setan Kober's presence though, and ready to draw it out if he really needed it.
Another explosion, the Shield ward was getting weaker. One or two more and it would fall apart, Joshua knew. He needed a better view of his opponents before that.
One more explosion, the ward held, if just barely.
They made it outside, just in time. Joshua got a good look at the group that was attacking his place. They were all wearing similar uniforms to Georg, was the first thing he noted. There was a big man with some Greek-looking armor on him, he seemed to be the one behind the explosions. Then there was another, smaller guy with similar armor and a shield and sword combo.
Behind them, there were four more people. A man with shades who's shadow seemed to be moving on its own, another whose hands had white fire over them, and then there were two women with bows. All of them had Sacred Gears, from what Joshua's wards said.
"Cheshire, go for the ones at the back," Joshua said. "Jeanne, sword and shield, careful with the ranged attackers."
"Ok," The girl accepted easily with a nod, readying her swords.
"Give me an exploding knife, would you?" He asked then and it didn't even take his sister a second to offer him one. Just in time, since the explosion guy was already sending his fist against the ward once more. Before it could hit, Joshua threw the knife in the ranged attacker's direction.
In barely more than a second, several things happened. One, the bigger man, hit the ward, generating an explosion and bringing the defenses down. Two, the knife landed and exploded. Although they had seen it coming and had dodged, it did its job at distracting and separating them. Three, Cheshire dashed forward, almost a blur of white and black as she rushed the women with bows. Four, Jeanne charged forward towards her opponent, who readied himself for that confrontation.
'They are holding up entirely too well,' Joshua thought, but that made sense. He'd barely worked on his defenses in this place. He'd devoted most of his time to the job and that might have been a mistake. The wards hadn't been charged that much, which meant they were barely getting to do anything for the moment as they charged through the Draining wards.
He didn't dwell on that too much though. Didn't have the time for that, really. Instead, he started throwing knives in quick succession. Or so he planned, because that was a path he quickly scratched after the first knife. A first knife that was seemingly sucked into the shadow of the guy wearing shades and redirected towards Cheshire, who was just fast enough to dodge it. 'Redirecting attacks, like Kuisha,' Joshua noted. It was good that Jeanne and Cheshire didn't have many of those. It limited his own options though.
His hand twitched, but he suppressed the urge to pull out the Demonic Weapon just yet. He really didn't trust himself using that with a Mind Resistance of 18. Maybe he was paranoid, but when a literal Devil had warned him about that, he felt like he should be especially careful. He was even less inclined to test it in an uncontrolled environment such as the one he was in at the moment.
Normal Holy Knives would have to do.
It was good that he didn't hesitate much besides noting the shadow Sacred Gear's power and a second of doubt about his weapons, because the explosion guy was already looming over him, it seemed. Soon enough the fist came down on him like it had his wards. However, dodging it was… not that much of a problem, actually.
'Huh… this is easier than I thought,' Joshua mused as he jumped out of the way of the attack. It was almost like the punch had been going in slow motion, really. Even the blast that followed did nothing to him, since he was already behind the man.
'The wards,' Joshua realized with a start. His Detection and Monitoring wards were giving him a lot of information due to the several redundancies he'd placed just in case. And his mind was processing that as he went, with the practiced ease that months upon months of having them around gave. 'Almost like a sixth sense, huh?' Joshua mused, making a mental note to train with that at some point.
The wards told him that the man was going to turn around almost before he did. Joshua could have guessed that, but having that sort of information… The man started pulling his fist back and Joshua could almost tell where the punch was going to go before the man's arm moved. Thus, he dodged once more.
"Stay still!" The brute shouted then, as another explosion hit basically nothing but ground. With his opponent occupied, Joshua followed his 'ward sense' for lack of a better name, and tried to get a read on everyone else. Cheshire seemed to have no problem dancing around and occasionally slashing at the bow wielders. Jeanne, for her part, was dueling the sword and shield guy no problem, even blocking any fire that came from the other man… "Stop mocking me!" The brute in front of him demanded.
The words were ineffective, obviously. Although, being honest, Joshua didn't think he'd done anything to mock the man to begin with. However, they did snap Joshua out of his surprised haze and reminded him that he was, indeed, in a fight.
'Maybe I worried too much?' Joshua considered, dodging another attack and slashing at the man's leg. It wasn't a deep wound, but they would stack. He had the time. 'Did they only get to send the weakest of them here before I ripped the circle?' He wondered, as he took in the situation, almost distractedly evading the brute's attempts at attacking him.
The fight was, after all… easy.
Especially so, as his wards continued draining them, weighting them, weakening them. With their effects growing as time passed, these people had no chance of winning, Joshua knew. 'All that worry, all that fear… for this?' Joshua thought, frowning. It couldn't be that easy, could it?
As if mocking him for thinking that, the shadow user sent a shadow blade at him. 'So, redirecting isn't the only thing he can do?' He thought as he dodged another blade, his eye twitching as he had to dodge again, this time an attack from the brute. He wasn't too concerned though, since his wards picked up on shadow guy's attacks too, warning him without him having to see them coming.
One of the women with a bow Sacred Gear screamed and he didn't need to turn to know what happened. Cheshire had jumped straight at her, apparently deciding to forgo the hit and run plan she'd been going for so far. The why, well…
Another screech followed, as Morag jumped on the other bow wielder and bit her, before moving once more. Jeanne, for her part, was having no trouble holding back her opponents. Probably would get to just 'wait' there for reinforcements to arrive, either his familiars or Joshua himself.
"Stop," The brute growled, punching forward. Surprisingly, no explosion followed this time. He did have very little energy left though, Joshua noted. "Ignoring," He punctuated with another fruitless attack. "Me."
Joshua didn't know why he thought that. Was it because he didn't answer? That seemed… kind of stupid. And difficult too, since he was focusing on what his senses and wards were telling him. Processing that information was difficult on its own, let alone having a chat in the meantime.
He'd have liked to point that out, but the shadow guy sent another attack his way. 'I can't attack like this,' Joshua mused. He was too busy avoiding his enemies' efforts to do any damage of his own. Fortunately, his wards would make them fall eventually, but he didn't like the idea of just… waiting those out.
'What can I do th-' His thought was interrupted though, when Brute decided that it was time to turn the explosions on again. Joshua, a second too late, realized that wasn't all. When he dodged, the man's other arm twitched towards him and sent another explosion without actually punching. It didn't hit him directly, but it did disturb his stance and movement, throwing him back some.
Bringing one arm up, Joshua summoned a Neutral Shield between himself and the shadow guy that had taken that opening to attack. More attacks kept coming though, which forced him to maintain that defense. Fortunately, Brute didn't seem to be in any hurry to reach him again, neither Joshua's familiars or Jeanne for that matter. Strange, but he wouldn't look at a gift horse in the mouth, that was for certain.
Thus, he focused on Shadow, maintaining the Shield and using his other arm to send a Neutral Bolt his way. As Shadow scrambled to redirect the attack, Joshua went to turn his attention towards Brute, not wanting to leave an enemy out of his-
He paused, and snapped towards Jeanne, bringing a Shield between her and the white fire user just in time. His sister was being drained from fighting two opponents, it seemed. Not a surprise, but an unwelcome development.
"Not so cocky anymore, are you?!" Shadow shouted from across the battlefield as he sent an attack to… Cheshire, which Joshua had to put a Shield in front of, since she was still assaulting a bow wielder.
It was then that a big explosion happened…
'Fuck!' Joshua shouted in his mind, before realizing that the blast hadn't even been directed at them. Not him, nor Jeanne, nor Cheshire, nor Morag. No, instead, it had been sent straight to the house. The why-
"Now it's our turn," The Brute announced, and Joshua's eyes widened when he saw purple smoke coming from the hole in the house. Georg was let out? Nagini- 'Nagini's fine,' Joshua realized then. The snake was relatively fine, at the least, but her Eyes of Misfortune had been interrupted by the blast.
That still left the big problem of a Longinus user being set free, which-
Before Joshua could start coming with worst case scenarios though, the smoke/mist disappeared. For a moment, there was silence all around. His wards didn't pick up as much as a twitch from the Khaos Brigade people. At least, until Brute turned to look at the house, as if confused.
"Georg?" The man asked. "Georg!" He called. "We need help here!"
No response came. Joshua didn't trust his wards and senses regarding Georg anymore, since he'd slipped from both before. However… he was fairly sure that he'd left. Why? He didn't know, but he could use that.
Snapping into action, Joshua sent a knife flying towards Shadow. He was either very distracted or very shocked by what had just happened, because he reacted entirely too late to dodge, getting the blade embedded inside his arm. Another knife flew off of his hand afterwards and this time Shadow was ready. Unfortunately, Joshua hadn't thrown that one towards him but towards White Fire, who was equally unprepared.
And from there, knives rained upon the Khaos Brigade members.
"Are you happy?" Joshua asked, turning towards Brute, who was on his knees facing the house. Shadow had fallen with three knives in him. One of the bow users had been taken out entirely by Cheshire while the other did so under a combination of Morag and two knives. Jeanne had Sword and Shield with her sword under his chin. White Fire, for his part, was struggling to take out a knife out of his leg. That is, until the magical lynx approached him, at which point he surrendered.
His question brought the attention of the Brute back towards him. Joshua knew that he wasn't kneeling because of despair or anything of the sort. The wards and his own attacks had just drained him too much, that together with the weakening and weighting was already pressing the man against the ground. Joshua actually had to commend him, since his teammates were no longer even capable of resisting anymore.
"I hope you are," Joshua added, only then realizing that he was all but snarling at the man. Yes, he was very angry, he'd admit. "Because I'm annoyed, very annoyed."
[} Chapter End {]
(AN:Please remember that this story is not mine and will never be mine. Make sure to give thanks to the original author on fanfiction.net https://m.fanfiction.net/u/11459794/)