NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13: Chapter 11
You know, I thought I was going to have to hurry up and start searching for Issei right away.
Then the town started to shake like an earthquake was hitting it.
Not long after, the warehouse district exploded.
And at its center? A bright pillar of pulsing red and green touching the sky.
I stood, ramrod still as an aura washed over my entire body, sending it shivering and sweating.
Issei went Juggernaut Drive when they tried to take his Sacred Gear, didn't he?
Those fucking idiots.
"Ah…well, fuck." I huff out through gritted teeth.
And yet, slowly, a grin starts etching its way across my face regardless.
I need to hurry. The town won't last much longer if I don't give him something to focus on!
My hand rests upon the hilt of my sword.
And several things happen at once.
I breathe and kick off into the sky. Both my halos burst forth into existence before I blast off, flying right in the direction of the pillar.
My ki explodes out, a dark golden mist wrapping around me to form a rudimentary touki.
And I get faster.
Molten fire suffused my face, my veins, my muscles, and my blood as my Mark activated and roared to life.
And I get faster.
Chakra swirls around my network almost immediately as it gets molded, suffusing my being internally as my ki does externally.
And I get faster!
Air snaps as I draw my now crimson-bladed sword.
Hinokami Kagura—
Fire whirls around my blade.
Shooting like a comet, I fly straight down into the pillar of draconic aura, cutting through it all with a whirl of flame.
Sunflower Thrust.
Straight to the red dragon in the center.
"AUGGHHH!" He roars as my blade stabs straight into his chest, barely piercing the strange metallic-like flesh perhaps only a few inches deep.
But I heave with all my strength, picking up the raging dragon by the tip of my blade and pushing him back, carrying him my momentum and speed away from this district.
And hopefully, out of town entirely.
The dragon growls and snarls, looking down at me, his mouth opening to reveal a bright bloody red mass of aura ready to fire.
I smile, "Aww, for me?" My eyes spin as they activate, "You shouldn't have!"
I drop him off my sword and barely have time to twist and dodge out of the way as a beam of crimson red fires from his mouth.
It hits the ground behind me, annihilating it, before exploding out and creating a mini ravine that erupts with aura.
I grimace, looking around quickly to find that we are still in the now very ruined warehouse district.
But we're close, very close, to the edge of town.
It'll have to do!
I eye the dragon as it turns to me, and fires another blast of red aura with an animalistic roar.
My eyes widen at the sheer speed, but I raise my blade in time nonetheless and breathe.
Radiant Scorching Sun.
I spiral into the air, whilst slashing upwards in a circle, combining both Beneficent Radiance and Rising Scorching Sun to cut the aura shot in half and send it twisting into the air.
Where it detonated, bathing the sky in violent red fireworks.
I shakily land back on my feet, clicking my tongue and steading myself once more.
That single shot of aura? Felt like cutting through some sort of diamond silk.
Dodging it is then!
I kick up into the air, just as the dragon begins changing up another blast.
Fake Rainbow.
Which is promptly used to annihilate the afterimage that took my place.
That singular afterimage has its place taken by dozens more, all flying around the dragon and fading in and out rapidly.
"Guh…Grah…AGHH!" The dragon looks around quickly, before just deciding to rapidly fire off lasers into the sky every which way.
I grimace, watching my afterimages getting blasted left, right, and center.
But, at least like this? None of his attacks will hit the town, instead, they merely light up the sky.
I'm under no delusion that I can kill him by myself.
Even my one attack from earlier, that piercing strike with loads of speed and momentum to build up to it?
Barely did anything.
And I can see what little damage I did already healing, bubbling with aura as the metallic flesh restores itself.
Really, the only reason I can fight him right now is because this is an Issei who's not even a Devil.
No training, no Pawn Pieces to boost his non-existent base power, nothing.
All of this is Juggernaut Drive, all of Ddraig's original power. And a mere fraction of it at that.
Wild, absolutely insane.
Even when Rias and Sona's Peerages get here, I don't think we'll be able to put him down.
We may well have to wait for his life force to run out!
Or, maybe, since he's rather mindless right now, I can try this.
I suddenly appear in front of the red dragon, just after he blasts apart another afterimage.
He turns, and when our eyes meet, mine spins.
"Go. To. Sleep." I command, opening the floodgates of my Holy Spirit Power to bury his mind and force it upon him.
For a second, the red dragon falters, staggering under the pressure of my aura, and the sudden weight on his mind.
Then I hear…whispers?
Voices.
A cacophony of voices.
I blink, as all around me hooded and cloaked figures scream and shout and roar.
Old, young, men and women.
I couldn't make out any words. Just their sheer hatred.
Their loathing, their contempt for life, purely focused on me.
The world darkens, and the voices and people are suddenly consumed in violent crimson fire.
But they never stop screaming, frothing with rage. Never.
From the flames, a red beast rears its head up, emerald eyes looking down into mine with contempt.
A Red Dragon. The Red Dragon Emperor.
"Think you might have pushed a tad far, aye, Godling?" The dragon, Ddraig, says over the screams and fire, melancholic, "You can't save him, boy. He's gone, long gone."
I clench my fists tightly, and refuse to meet his gaze, "Sorry." I mutter quietly.
The dragon snorts, "Don't be. It's not your fault." he says chidingly, then sighs, "I'm used to it ending like this, anyways."
Please don't say that. I'm trying hard not to think about that right now.
"Dodge." He adds all of a sudden.
"Huh?" I blink.
"I said dodge, brat!" He roars indignantly.
And suddenly, I snap into the real world.
My Holy Spirit Power is crushed, tossed from his mind, and violently batted to the side.
And a bloody red glow is rapidly approaching me.
Even with my eyes, I could barely see it move, I couldn't even move myself!
Aura like liquid red diamond slams into my body and explodes.
My body is sent flying from the blast, unable to feel anything sans the fizzles and buzzes all over, as I ragdoll through the air and crash into the ground with a thunderous thud.
Before my body hits the ground, I'm already cycling Holy Spirit Power through my body.
Boosting my native healing factor to mend my newly acquired broken bones, seared and broken skin, torn muscles, and other comparatively minor injuries.
All from that from one blast striking true.
The fuck.
My touki snapped like a loose twig in front of the blast, but without it bracing my body, I might have just gotten my limbs blown clean off as well!
Regardless, moments after I hit the ground, I spring back to my feet, skin red and revealed by my lack of yukata, but still alive.
Very much alive, judging by my smile being so wide it physically hurts.
Well, fizzles lightly, but you get it.
You know, I really shouldn't be so into this fight after nearly getting my arms and legs blown off…but…
Fuck it.
I can't help it.
My touki explodes out, weakly enveloping me once more as I eye the dragon who thought that blast killed me.
I could tell, because of the way its attention focused on me as soon as I stood up.
He roared, but rather than try to blast me with more aura as I expected, it charged, claws and teeth spread.
I take my stance and breathe.
Fire reignites around my blade, around my body, suffusing my aura with raging flames.
"Test me, Red Dragon Emperor!" I call, before launching myself straight at him.
"GUOOOOOH!" The dragon roared in ferocious response.
Heaven knows I'll need the experience, for the hell that's about to come after this battle!
~ A New Sun ~
Rias surely wasn't expecting the new student in her class, one Noriaki Kusanagi, to straight up poof in the middle of class.
She most definitely didn't see the town starting to shake soon afterward, followed by a pressure slamming down upon every one that even made the normal humans afraid.
Deciding that dealing with all of that later and figuring out what the hell was going on was more important, she put the entire school to sleep with ease before gathering up her Peerage and heading out.
To find…well.
"Oh my…" her Queen, Akeno Himejima gaped at the image before them, "Rias, this is…" she trailed off, struggling to find the proper words to use.
Behind her, her Rook Koneko, clenched her fists tightly, body tense and face twitching.
Besides Koneko, her Knight Yuuto had a much more calm yet clearly focused look on his face, hand at his side ready to use his Sacred Gear at any moment.
Meanwhile, Rias just bit her lip, trying to figure out how exactly to deal with this.
Before them, Noriaki Kusanagi was fighting the actual Red Dragon Emperor, who's currently raging out in Juggernaut Drive.
He wasn't winning, that's for sure.
But he wasn't losing either, thankfully.
"He's stalling for time," Yuuto suddenly said, eyes glued onto the battle, "that I'm sure of. He's dancing around him, literally." He notes.
His fighting style does resemble a dance, doesn't it?
"President." Koneko suddenly spoke up, her voice hard.
Rias turns to look at her due to her tone and grimaces at the frown she's projecting down at the battle.
She didn't need to say anything more, Rias knew what she wanted.
She knows Koneko holds something of a spot for Noriaki, her client of a month or so.
Even before today, she was aware of him being a part of the Supernatural, Koneko told her as much, but as her adorable little Rook seemed to like the young man Rias never felt much need to personally talk with him.
Even still…
Rias turned back to the scene in front of her and crossed her arms under her chest, her eyes dead set on the two fighters.
"We won't let him fight alone." She declared resolutely, prompting her Peerage to look at her.
Realistically, even if they all fought together, they wouldn't be able to bring the Red Dragon Emperor down.
All they can do is weaken and tire him out faster so he'll die due to running out of life force.
"What's the plan then, Rias?" Akeno asked patiently.
Watching Noriaki go, she started to think.
She watched as he deflected several raging claw strikes, and slid under the dragon's body as it tried to bite him in half, flip over, and parry a tail strike.
Rinse and repeat, all in a circle, all in a flowing dance, never getting out of the beast's personal space.
Seeing the two's physical prowess, she came to a decision almost immediately.
"Koneko. Yuuto." She called out, prompting the two to nod, "I want you two to pepper the field with traps, Yuuto, using your Sword Birth, and Koneko to set them off."
"President." Koneko immediately stresses in objection, prompting Rias to glare right back at her.
"Koneko, those two are far too strong and fast for you two right now," Rias explains, "please, just for right now, focus on support, okay?"
Koneko glared right back, but didn't abject further, rather she looked away and huffed through gritted teeth.
Rias' heart throbbed a bit with pain for her little Rook, for having to tell her off like that.
She gets why she wants to go down there, really, but it's just too dangerous right now for them.
Both her Knight and Rook lack ranged attacks, it's better this way.
Yuuto grimaces, but nods regardless, seemingly having already figured that much out himself.
Having settled that, Rias turns to Akeno, "Akeno, when an opportunity presents itself, you and I are going to open fire right on top of that dragon to give Noriaki-san some breathing room." She declares, "Hold nothing back."
Akeno giggles at this, flying up higher as she does for a better vantage point, "As you command~! How will we know when to start?"
Rias frowns slightly, racking her brain for a moment.
Noriaki is too close for them to unleash their Demonic Powers, so…
A moment will have to be created, first. And there's only one person who can do that right now!
Thinking quickly, Rias summons a devil magic circle and makes it glow brightly as she holds it up.
Just as Noriaki himself is flipping over the dragon, she can see it, the moment his eyes flicker up and sees them.
He—
Hold on a moment.
Are those Sharingan!?
Why does Noriaki have Sharingan!? How? Where? What!?
She momentarily falters but regains herself when she sees the way he smirks at them.
Internally huffing, she decides to shelve that as a conversation for later.
Needless to say, she's regretting not talking to him before!
Koneko never mentioned this before, either!
…why does she suddenly feel a very smug smirk being aimed at her back by her Rook right now?
Before she can turn and confirm her gut feeling, Noriaki lands, before leaping up high.
Her eyes widened.
"Akeno!" She calls urgently, red demonic magic circles erupting into existence around her hands.
Her Queen merely giggles, and raises her now electrical sparking hand, causing a bright yellow devil magic circle to roar into the sky above.
Koneko and Yuuto drop behind them to the ground suddenly, as three separate things happen.
Thunder builds and bellows from above.
Noriaki's blade and entire body ignites with crimson fire as he spins.
Around her hands, pitch black and lashing out to destroy all creation, her power surges forth.
"Resound, Thunder." Akeno intoned diabolically.
And the gathering lightning dropped like a hammer.
"Summer Sun, Burning Scarlet Mountain." Noriaki called breathlessly.
He slashes, arching and spinning as he moves, creating a spiraling growing arc of flames that wraps around the dragon.
Meanwhile, she throws her arms forward with a shout, blasting forth her destructive power in something like a beam.
Internally, she laments, because she doesn't have a cool named attack or callout.
But really, later!
All three attacks converged on the dragon, who took too long trying to figure out what to do about all the sudden attacks coming its way.
As a result, its form is suddenly engulfed in a cacophony of flames, lightning, and black destructive power.
"GGUOOOHHH!" The resulting roar the dragon gives out as the pillar of powers explodes atop it halts even Akeno's sadistic giggling for a moment.
Hell, it even gives her pause for a moment, causing her to shiver slightly.
He sounds…like he's in pain…?
"Nice of you all to show up." A new, slightly tired voice draws her from her mind.
Turning towards the source, she finds Noriaki there, having floated up to them with two actual halos at his back.
He waves at her, half-heartedly.
Rias chuckles right back, "Sorry we took so long, Kusanagi-kun. Are you holding up okay?" She asks, noting his, well.
Lack of clothes. And very red skin.
"Yup!" He replied with a wry smile, "Managed to keep my boxers and my limbs, so I can keep going!"
Rias felt more than a little concerned, hearing that part about his limbs.
"Well, okay…?" She replied wearily, not entirely sure how to respond to that.
Only, before she could think of something more, both their attentions were snapped away, as a growing growl reverberated from the ground below.
The dust cloud clotting the view of the red dragon's form below falls, revealing a worse-for-wear dragon underneath.
Across his metallic flesh, spider web cracks lay, barely skin deep and smoldering.
Superficial wounds. They could see them already healing as aura bubbled into them. They barely did anything.
And that was putting everything into an attack!
Rias clicked her tongue in annoyance, and her Queen frowned, hand twitching with more lightning.
Noriaki didn't seem surprised, rather, he sighed, slowly floating before the two girls.
"Yeah, that makes sense," He voices her earlier thoughts, "I don't believe he can last much longer though, we can do this!" and he smiles, not entirely unlike Akeno's smile when she does her…thing.
Although Rias gets a distinct feeling this smile is a different kind of bloodthirsty.
"Hmm, although…" Noriaki adds thoughtfully, "Where is Sitri and her Peerage?" he asks, "Thought they'd come with you, but I don't see them anywhere?"
"Ah, they did." Rias confirms, "They're setting up a perimeter around the battle and are going to place a barrier up to protect the town."
The moment she said that Noriaki froze, before slowly turning to her with wide almost enraged eyes.
"She fucking what!?" he hissed, prompting her to flinch slightly. "She decided to leave the one person that could deflect his attacks back at him to deal some real damage out of the fucking fight!?"
Huh. You know. She didn't really think of it like that.
Just as he says this, the world around them begins to shift slightly, as a crystalline sheet starts to spread up and around the area they're in, beginning to form a dome.
The dragon looks up at them but has its eyes drawn to look around at the dome as it climbs higher and higher into the sky.
He snarls. Seeing all the enemies, seeing the attempt to trap it.
The dragon's gems erupt with a blinding bright light as they all begin to announce—
[BOOST!]
A bloody red aura explodes around the dragon.
Everyone pales.
"He…hasn't done that yet…" Noriaki mutters, only causing Rias to pale more.
[BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!]
The dragon continues, its chest opening up, and aimed towards the sky.
At them and the barrier.
[LONGINUS SMASHER]
"To the ground! Now!" Noriaki shouts, as suddenly grabs her!
Just as a bright bloody red beam coated in green thunder blasted forth from its chest, easily the width of a building, and soared into the sky so fast she could barely see it as a bright blur.
It blasted through the barrier, shearing it apart like it was made of paper, before climbing ever higher and turning the blue sky sparking and flickering with red and green.
Even being nowhere near the beam of energy, the shockwaves it sent out caked and cracked the ground in kind.
Rias, although she didn't even realize it until it was over, was holding onto Noriaki for dear life, trembling slightly at the sheer force of that single attack.
Akeno, who was much further away from them, actually used her Knight Pieces speed for once to get out of dodge.
Luckily she did.
"You okay?" His voice broke through the haze of her mind and made her look at him, at the three pupils in his eyes, as he looked down at her in concern.
She nodded slowly, knowing if she said anything, it would just be about his eyes. And now is really not the time!
"Good!" He smiles, a non-bloodthirsty smile, "Because this fight ain't over, and I'm not keeling over until I maim a certain Sitri, and fuck her Knight and Pawn!" he states casually and far too happily.
Rias blinked.
Now she has several questions.
But first!
Her eyes widen looking behind him, "Kusanagi-kun!" she suddenly called out.
Noriaki whirled on the spot, forming a sign with his hand as he moved.
There the red dragon was flying towards them, having grown red bone-like wings encrusted with jewels all over it from its back.
It growled and snarled, holding its claws out on either side of its body, ready to strike.
Fortunately, they both had an answer for that.
Rias held out her hand, her power gathering haphazardly and crackling as it burst into existence in front of her palm.
Noiriaki breathed deeply, leaning back before suddenly dipping back forwards, and breathing out.
As one, a beam of raw destruction blasted forth from her palm, as a gout of crimson flame from his mouth turned into a cascade.
The two powers slammed into the advancing dragon, who raised his wings to block the brunt of the attack and continued pushing forward through it all, barely even slowing down his advance!
Lightning crashed down upon its frame from above, prompting little more than a primal grunt as it barrels on through, shrugging it off just as well.
"Damn it!" Noriaki curses as he finally reaches them, blowing through their combined attack completely.
He drops her quickly, kicking her away from them as he grabs his sword and just barely blocks his claws from running him through.
Rias sits up, her eyes widening rapidly as she watches Noriaki get barreled down upon hard.
The dragon begins a pure all out assault of claw slashes that Noriaki is barely able to dance through!
Thinking fast, she calls out, "Koneko! Castling!"
A magic circle quickly spiraled into existence beneath her, promptly flashing, trading places with her Rook.
Rias appeared overhead of the battlefield, where Koneko was seemingly watching for a time to trigger their trap, or so she guessed.
So, Rias decided to give it to her!
Koneko understood exactly what she needed to do the moment she got there.
"Senpai!" She called, raising her fist, "His wings!"
Noriaki blinked and looked closely.
Seeing the wings the dragon just used to block their attacks filled with cracks and splinters, he took the chance with a grin.
A dark golden aura exploded out around him as he slipped past the dragon's claws with a jump, getting gashes on either side for effort, but that didn't appear to deter him.
Just as he reaches the apex of his leap, his blade ignites with whirling crimson fire, and he lashes out with two raging strikes, one for each wing.
This time, with as thin and damaged as those wings are, his blade completes its cuts.
"GUAAAGHHH!" The dragon roars in outrage as its severed wings hit the ground.
Quickly, he opens his maw, and goes to bite down on Noriaki, finally finishing him off.
Only to find itself tumbling back, as the ground beneath him shatters.
With Koneko's fist now buried into the ground, she triggers their very rudimentary trap, and the dragon falls into a pit of demon swords jutting out from the walls and ground.
"GUHH!? GRAAAHH! GOOOHHH!" Konenko winces slightly, hearing his near desperate roaring and raving as he tries to cling onto the swords to stop his fall, but only breaks them under its weight.
More importantly, however…
"Senpai!" Koneko rushes over to the downed form of Noriaki, just as Rias gets back to them, having flown down as soon as the trap was sprung.
Noriaki lay there on his side, clutching the wounds on one of his sides, breathing heavily and deeply, but still controlled.
Shockingly, as the two girls found, he wasn't bleeding in the slightest, but the wounds still looked pretty deep
Before the two could even begin fussing over him, he held out a hand to them and waved them off, "I'll be fine!" He exclaims with a heave, "I heal real fast, you know that Koneko-chan, don't worry, see?"
The three looked at his wounds.
His wounds began receding, at a remarkable pace!
Then nearly halted entirely.
Albeit they did continue to heal, just fairly slowly, not exactly fast.
Noriaki lowered his head suddenly, "Ah. Never mind, ran out of juice." He said solemnly.
And promptly got batted over the head by Koneko.
"Stupid. Know your limits, Senpai." She chided him coldly, glaring down at him.
"I know, I know!" He waved his hands and sighed, "But I…think I have an idea to fix myself up and put down the dragon for good."
Koneko raises an eyebrow, "You're going to do something stupid, aren't you?"
Noriaki merely smiled widely back, "You betcha."
As much as Rias would love to tease these two over their antics, they've got bigger trouble to deal with right now.
Rias grabs both of them, pulling them away from the pit as the ground around it begins to shake violently.
"As much as I don't think it's a good idea what with the state you're in, Kusanagi-kun," Rias voices her thoughts solemnly, "I can't think of anything else to do now. Will you be safe, doing…whatever it is you plan on doing now?" She asks, slightly afraid.
She really doesn't want to have to knock him out and take him away to safety for Koneko's sake if he's planning on hurting himself here.
He shrugs, "Worst case scenario? Nothing happens, and I'm…" He sighs, reluctantly, "out of the fight, I guess."
Okay, that makes her feel better.
The ground cracks and shatters next to the pit, and a clawed red hand soon bursts forth from it.
Nevermind!
"He…dug out? So soon?" Koneko intoned, bewildered.
Noriaki closes his eyes, "Alright, doing it now! Let's see how this goes!"
"GUOOOHH!" The dragon roars in rage as it charges down towards them.
~ A New Sun ~
I didn't really start thinking about it until recently, but…
Why don't I get stronger during the day?
I mean thinking about it? I should.
Even Devils get a burst of energy during the night, all Devils.
And it's no shocker that God's are more powerful within their domain.
So then what gives for me? Beyond that nice feeling sunlight grants me, it does little to nothing else.
This brings me to a thought I had. Like just now.
What if I absorbed the sunlight like the world's most handsome plant?
What could go wrong? Already got a raging dragon running us down, literally nothing could get worse at this point.
I opened my eyes, looking towards the morning sun as it climbed ever higher into the sky.
Like so long ago, I grasp onto that nice feeling that I first felt so long ago.
But instead of just holding it, memorizing its touch, and finding my own sun…I take it in.
And then some more. And some more. More.
It's like the reverse floodgates open.
I gasp, stifling a breath as my sun explodes in my chest, reinvigorated, greedily sucking up the sunlight like a parched man in a desert.
A molten gold aura wraps around my being, and I sink slightly into the ground as the rock beneath my feet melts.
Vaguely, in the corner of my scenes, I hear the girls around me yelp and quickly back away.
No matter.
This feeling…is so, so, nice.
I breathe, and energy ripples and thrums across my tired body.
My chakra and ki are gone but with this? I can keep restoring my Holy Spirit Power, at least.
Hahaha! Why haven't I thought of doing this before!?
This is…I feel…so right.
As the dragon finally reaches us, or rather me, I take up my now golden-bladed sword, and slash once, into the claws that lash out for me.
And cutting the animal's sharp metal tongs from its hands.
"GUUUOOHHH!?" The dragon reels back at the loss of his claws, and I slowly rise.
Smiling, laughing with glee.
I look upon the wretched beast that has run quickly out of its usefulness, and grin.
"S-Senpai…?" I hear a girl's voice behind me. A weak, terrified girl's voice.
But I promptly ignored it. After all…
"Throughout Heaven and Earth, I alone am The Honored One." I declare to the world.
I am Akaruihiruotoko. He of the Bright Midday Sun.
"And you, dragon…" I point a finger at it, "Have outstripped your welcome."
~ A New Sun ~
Rias feels like she's been saying this a lot, but she doesn't really know what's happening now.
All of a sudden, Noriaki began glowing, thrumming with heat, and coated in Holy Spirit Power from head to toe.
His hair changed color, gaining purple highlights in the sunlight, and his pupils and marks around his face started glowing golden.
And he…doesn't sound like himself anymore.
Judging by the way Koneko is staring at his back, he isn't acting like himself either.
Rias takes Koneko's shoulders, and gently pulls her back, further away from them, "Koneko, come on, we need to get away from here!"
Koneko flinched at her touch, and tried to resist being pulled, "But, S-Senpai, he…!"
"He'll be fine, Koneko, please!" A wave of heat washes over them, and Koneko trembles as she stares at him, before falling back into Rias' arms herself, and letting herself be pulled away to a safe distance away.
Noriaki just stood there, a smirk on his face as the dragon recklessly charged straight for him.
"You know, I have to wonder." He muses out loud, jumping back to dodge the dragon's diving maw, "Why haven't you shot any blasts at us to finish us off after your Longinus Smasher? You could have easily done so multiple times."
The dragon's tail lashes out, and Noriaki casually knocks it away.
"Or, could it be…you can't? No…" He smiles maliciously, now so much more like her Queen it makes her shiver, "You won't. You're trying to save energy, aren't you?"
The dragon snarls as aura bubbles around its hands, its claws quickly regrowing.
"Don't worry," He intones, raising his sword…it engulfs itself in crimson fire, "I'll make sure to take your head before you run out, then." His grip tightens, and the fire around his blade crackles with light, before fusing and bursting into deep golden flames!
The dragon seemed to object to that.
[BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!][BOOST!]
Noriaki didn't seem to care, giving an even wider smile in reply.
The dragon's aura engulfed his body as he rushed forward, swinging wildly like a trapped caged animal.
Noriaki deflected his claw swipes with his flaming blade, each swipe turning the dragon's claws into molten crimson slag due to the sheer force and flames behind each strike.
Only for his aura to restore them, and the dragon to continue.
Rias hasn't seen Noriaki fight for long. But the way he swiped back at the claws, using pure force rather than dancing around his attack, it just felt…wrong.
Noriaki clicked his tongue in annoyance, his body vanishing into a blur that the next claw swipe cleaves through, leaving nothing but air.
He reappeared at the dragon's side, upside down, already swinging.
"Setting Sun Transformation."
He speaks, as his blade cleaves into the dragon's neck, getting about halfway through it before abruptly stopping.
Golden fire erupted from his neck, but the blade refused to go further.
"Even like this, huh?" He says, seemingly equal parts annoyed and fascinated.
Suddenly, he wrenches his sword from his neck, his halos flashing into existence behind him and he turns.
Cleaving through the dragon's thin tail as it tries to strike him from behind.
"G-GUUHHH…GUUUOOO!" The dragon staggers back, growling and heaving aura as its neck restores itself.
"You know, dragon." Noriaki idly muses, "The longer this fight goes on, the stronger and stronger I'll get." He points to the sun, his eyes full of mirth, "And the weaker you get as I deal more damage." He eyes the dragon, in particular, his face? "So let's end this, then. Before this fight becomes a chore."
And with that Noriaki blasts forward, a blur of light and heat.
The dragon's eyes widen, and instinctively, he opens his mouth and starts rapidly firing aura beams.
Each beam is cut through, all the same, being divided in half and diverted around him.
But just before Noriaki reaches him…
The dragon's chest suddenly snaps open!
[EXPLOSION!]
All the gems announce as one. His aura explodes around him once more, forming a pillar of energy that reaches the sky.
Noriaki makes it there, in a golden blur, and swings.
He…misses.
Just barely, he missed his face, he swung for his mouth.
[LONGINUS SMA—]
Yet, the dragon's final announcement was suddenly cut off by gurgling metallic static.
As the top part of its head slowly slides off its body, and hits the floor, cut straight across from its mouth.
"Solar Heat Haze." Noriaki intones, as the dragon's body clambers to the floor with the top half of its head.
Looking down at the fresh corpse, everyone stares stunned, except for the victor himself.
Who starts laughing. Loudly, joyously, boisterous!
"You, you! Hahaha! You almost had me there, you tricky bastard! Hahahaha!" He continued to laugh, barely managing to get the words out.
Rias wasn't too sure whether or not to be relieved just yet, but she let out a relieved sigh anyway.
Koneko, however, continued to tremble in her grasp.
"R-Rias!" Rias turned in the direction of her name being called, finding Sona…only Sona…flying down to her.
"Sona!" Rias called back as she landed next to them, "There you are! What happened after the barrier broke? Are you all okay!?"
It was slightly worrying how they didn't come running after their barrier broke. She actually thought they may have gotten caught in the blast.
Sona grimaced, "The destruction of the barrier sapped everyone's Demonic Power, and knocked us all unconscious. I just woke up, and sent everyone away…" She looks around before finally eyeing Noriaki and the corpse, "Is it over?" She asks quietly.
Rias looks towards them as well, "I…think so?"
Noriaki stops laughing.
Slowly, he looks down at the corpse one final time, before raising his sword and pursing his lips.
Golden fire swirls around the blade, and with a single swing downwards, a column of said fire erupts from his slash, engulfing and consuming his slowly deteriorating body in the flames.
"Not. Enough." Noriaki huffs out.
Guess it's not over then!
He turns, and once he sees Sona, his eyes lock onto her.
"You." He remarks scathingly, voice dripping with sheer fury.
His look alone froze Sona in place like a deer caught in headlights, his tone sent her shivering on the spot.
Rias, as much as she wanted to get up and defend her friend from what she felt was coming, couldn't even muster the courage to move her legs!
"K-Kusanagi-san—" Sona tries.
But Noriaki cut her off by having his blade burn brighter with flames while barking out, "Silence. I will hear none of your dumbass excuses! What I will hear, however, is your screams as I—"
"Alright, that's enough mister."
He stops, they all stop, and blink at the soft female voice that interrupts him in turns.
Standing there, right next to Noriaki, is suddenly a woman wearing a very elaborate shrine outfit of white, gold, pinks and reds. Long light pink hair ruffled nicely in the wind behind her as she regards them all with a small smile.
Yet, her violet eyes were trained solely on Noriaki himself.
He turns his head slightly to look at her, "Don't you interrupt me— ACK!"
He's promptly silenced again as he's slammed down onto his knees by an invisible force, all the woman doing is narrowing her eyes.
But the Devils? They could feel it.
A titanic amount of Holy Spirit Power, purely focused and pressed down on Noriaki.
"You! You!" He grunts out, trying to rise back onto his feet.
The pink-haired woman, meanwhile, just giggles slightly.
"You are some thousands of years too early to try and challenge me with your violent half, Akaruihiruotoko." She chided lightly, "Now, you take a well-deserved nap!"
He growls in response, still trying to rise.
Only for the dull thud of bells ringing to be heard as she smacks him over the back of the head with her Kagura Suzu.
She hits him so hard that he flops straight down, his face impacting the ground with such speed and force that the ground cracks and splinters and craters.
His aura pops off him, his hair fades back to normal, and he finally lets go of his sword.
Now, he's just a very unconscious, almost naked Noriaki, just like that.
The Devils just stared, eyes wide and bewildered.
The woman reaches down, and picks him and his sword up, throwing both over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, before finally turning to the Devils, immediately causing them to tense up.
Only for her to begin with, "Apologies, Heiress of the Gremory and Sitri Clans, our little Noriaki here isn't used to that part of his powers," she pats him on the rear, "not yet, anyway."
Sona, still too shell-shocked at almost getting torched, doesn't respond with the obvious, but Rias manages.
"Who…are you?" She asks, trying very hard to remain stoic in front of obviously a deity.
They just don't know which one.
The woman gives a fox-like smile but doesn't respond.
Instead, it's her Queen, who floats down slowly next to them while staring at the women in awe and fear, "Inari Okami-sama…?"
She giggles, "Correct, little Devil, of course it would be you that recognizes me. You do take care of one of my shrines, after all." She walks over, and pats Akeno on the head, prompting her to still at her touch.
Sighing though, Inari backed up, looking at all of them scathingly, "You're all very lucky though, I came as soon as I could when I felt that aura, truly, do none of you have any self-preservation?"
Everyone looks down, ashamed, but Inari just huffs. "Although I suppose it's not my business, is it? It's your brother and sisters, no?"
That prompts both Sona and Rias to perk up.
"They'll be here soon, I think," Inari muses, "when they get here, please tell them not to worry about his mother on this." She smacks Noriaki's rear, "It was him who jumped into this battle, after all."
Sona blinked, "His, mother…?"
Inari smiled, "Why, Amaterasu Omikami, of course. Can't you tell?" She points up to the sky, "She's watching us right now."
Of course, neither girl dared look at the sun directly, mostly because they were too busy being in awe, or wishing they had been torched by Holy Spirit Fire.
But both did notice, at least slightly, that the sunlight did feel slightly…harsher…than before.
"Before I go, though…" she utters, walking up to them again, this time kneeling to Koneko, and petting her head. "Don't worry, little one," she mutters softly, quietly, "he's still there, that was just another side of him, is all. Okay? I'll make sure he talks to you again soon."
Koneko barely nodded at that, but at least for the moment, she trembled significantly less.
Smiling, Inari stood back up, waving to the Devils as she walked away, "Have fun dealing with your siblings~!" And with the scent of tea and rice in the wind, she suddenly vanishes without a trace.
Leaving the only one to regain her bearings, Rias, to sigh, as the sky fills with several dozen devil magic circles.
The cleanup for all of this…isn't going to be fun, that much Rias knows.