By the time Kuroka and I reached the town of Tepes, it looked like Rizevim had already pulled out. Apparently, Vali—who's got a personal grudge against him—charged in, but since the whole "destroy the vampire town" event got derailed, his enthusiasm took a nosedive. He left in a huff after just telling us he was renaming their group to "Qlippoth."
Guess things didn't go according to plan for him. He came back onto the world stage full of energy, spreading malice like confetti, only to trip right out of the gate. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.
All around the town, the Evil Dragons that had collapsed unconscious were being identified using whatever scraps of their former clothing and vampire records remained. The surviving vampires were sealing them up tightly, layer after layer. What happens to the Evil Dragons now will probably be decided in talks among the remaining higher-ups of the vampire society.
Valerie, as expected, hasn't woken up. Azazel-sensei said that since the Holy Grail was once removed from her, her consciousness shut down—and to wake her, they'll need to completely restore the Grail to its original state.
Gasper, having said his final farewell to his father, is now carrying the sleeping Valerie. The two of them were sent back to Japan via teleportation along with the rest of us.
Once we got back, Gasper and Valerie were taken to Grigori so they could examine her condition in detail. Azazel-sensei also started reporting everything that happened in the vampire town to the various allied leaders.
Since I wasn't there for the full debriefing, I got the rundown from Issei and the others.
"So yeah," Issei said, "none of my Cardinal Crimson Promotion's attacks got through to Rizevim, and same goes for Kiba's Holy Demonic Sword. Kiba can still use non-Sacred Gear weapons like Gram, and the Dragon Knights can be equipped with demonic swords too, so they've got options. But me? If my Sacred Gear gets neutralized, then I've got nothing. I can't even land a hit."
Yeah, the gap between a high-class devil and a transcendent being is basically cosmic.
"If you have to fight him again, your best bet might be to stick with the Holy Sword Ascalon," I said. "Use the Boosted Gear's doubling power solely to enhance your physical strength, then go in for a slash with Ascalon. That said, you can't amplify its holy aura through your gear's transfer ability, so while it's still a holy sword, it'll only be marginally better than a regular blade."
Also, if you do use Ascalon, separating it from the gauntlet might be the safer move.
Issei nodded grimly as I explained that Rizevim's next move was likely to resurrect the Apocalyptic Beast—Trihexa, then kill Great Red and use that to make his debut in a parallel world. Yeah, he's that unhinged.
I went on to tell them about the behind-the-scenes work Kuroka and I had been doing, and how Euclid had used the power of the Holy Grail to create a degraded replica of Issei's Boosted Gear from a part of his body.
That revelation left the whole room in stunned silence.
"No way! A replica of my armor!?" Issei cried out.
"Even if it's lower quality, that's... not something to take lightly," Kiba added, solemnly.
"A grave concern indeed," Ravel said. "Even going by records of the last war, Euclid Lucifuge's achievements rival those of Lady Grayfia. He's likely of Maou-class power even without the armor."
Rizevim, Lilith, and the Evil Dragons already posed an overwhelming threat. Now, adding a replica of a Sacred Gear like Longinus? Yeah—everyone was visibly tense.
Still, President Rias, as always, kept her cool and steered the conversation forward.
"Hey, Ikki. Did Euclid use Issei's Cardinal Crimson Promotion too?"
"No," I answered. "He stayed in the base armor state the entire time."
'That makes sense,' Ddraig chimed in. 'That Crimson form is less about the Boosted Gear's specs and more about... that, er, Milk Power, combined with the Evil Piece system. No way to reproduce that with just a lookalike shell.'
"Yeah, pretty sure unless you add Issei-senpai's pervy personality into the mix, the armor won't activate," Shirone added with an utterly straight face.
"Exactly!" Xenovia cried. "The Milk Power must be a trigger activated by Issei's intense desire for breasts!"
...If that's true, then for Euclid to unlock that power, we'd need to alter his personality into some insane pervy breast maniac via the Holy Grail... Honestly, knowing him, if we handed him a R-rated Grayfia gravure photobook, he might awaken it—but no, let's hope it never comes to that.
"Anyway, Azazel-sensei's already been informed about how my blood and DNA were used. He's probably already working out countermeasures with Sirzechs and the others. If we can get the Holy Grail back, we should be able to manage."
Of course, any armor made before we recover the Grail will have to be destroyed manually.
"Hell yeah! I'm gonna smash every one of those creepy fakes of me and Ddraig!"
'That's the spirit, partner! The Two Heavenly Dragons are me and Albion—and our past hosts. I refuse to stand by while cheap knockoffs with no soul mock our legacy!'
Looks like the current Red Dragon Emperor and his partner are fired up.
"Oh, and Issei. I think this goes without saying, but after all this? If some hot mage asks for your blood in exchange for a contract—refuse. Who knows how it might end up in Qlippoth's hands."
The more detailed their data on Issei gets, the easier it'll be to mass-produce armor on the cheap. Definitely not something we can allow.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it already!"
Just then, Azazel-sensei walked into the room.
"Yo. Are you guys still here? A big incident just went down—anyone who can go home should. Though... most of you basically live here, huh."
He's not wrong. This is Issei's house, and me, Kuroka, and Shirone live right next door. Yuuto and Gasper live in the same apartment building not too far from here.
Oh, and apparently, after summer break ended, Gasper moved into the same unit Yuuto lives in, though he still keeps his old room in the abandoned school building.
"Sensei, how did the meeting go?"
"Well, it wasn't really a full meeting. More of a preliminary report. I've gotta write up the details and send them over to arrange an official summit with the top brass. Some folks were unreachable on short notice. But the content... yeah, when I first reported Rizevim's return two days ago, the devil faction was already in an uproar. But once I mentioned Trihexa and the other world stuff, even Odin and Zeus were left speechless. It's global crisis-level stuff. I'm pushing for as many groups as possible—both allies and neutrals—to at least attend via remote communication. And yeah, I stepped down as Governor, so this would usually fall to Shemhazai. But this time, I'm too involved to hand it off. I'm gonna be busy the next few days."
He scratched the back of his head like, "man, what a pain."
"Well then, I suppose I need to start drafting my report for the Maou as well. Let's call it a day," Rias said.
And with that, the meeting wrapped up. Everyone headed off to their own rooms, houses, or the shower, and when we returned home, Ravel and Ophis were there to greet us.
"Welcome back, Ikki-sama, Miss Kuroka, Shirone."
"Yeah... Ophis, could you not talk with your mouth full?
"Hehe, Ophis-sama stayed with me the whole time I was home," Ravel said.
"This house, and Issei's house—are our home. I will protect."
Seems Ophis's divine dragon protection is now active on both our homes. The ultimate home security system.
We took turns patting her on the head to thank her, and then she headed back to Issei's place. She technically has her own room there anyway, though she usually just hangs out wherever everyone else is.
It was already past midnight by then, so we just took quick showers and hit the hay. For devils, this would normally be peak activity time, but we've got school tomorrow.
Ravel said, "You all must be exhausted. Let's talk more tomorrow." We gladly took her up on that offer.
========
Three days later.
Most of the major discussions among the higher-ups seem to be settled, with only details left to finalize. But as for us? Same routine—training, training, and more training.
Shirone's been working on stabilizing her power so she can maintain her adult form while also using her triple-split technique. Ravel's been honing her forbidden arts with Rossweisse and Le Fay. Everyone else is focused on refining their basics or developing new techniques.
That's when I noticed Yuuto staring intently at his Holy Demonic Sword, looking troubled.
"What's up? Something bothering you?"
"Oh, hey Ikki. Yeah, kind of. I've been wondering if there's a way to boost the attack power of my Holy Demonic Sword. Lately, I've been fighting a lot using demonic swords alongside the Dragon Knights. Most of the swords I use are legendary ones like Gram, and honestly, they outperform my Holy Demonic Sword in both quality and raw power. The Holy Demonic Sword's kind of become my go-to for mid-tier enemies—something to save stamina with. Against Grendel, I used it to channel Akeno-senpai's lightning into a wound, but a regular holy sword could've done that."
He looked conflicted.
"I mean, I chose the Holy Demonic Sword because I thought it would land better... but yeah, it's complicated."
Makes sense. That sword is the crystallization of his and his comrades' will. Seeing it reduced to mop-up duty must be hard.
"You weren't there for it, but when Xenovia and the others first showed up during the Kokabiel incident, things got real tense between us. I even ended up making a massive, heavy demonic sword just to try and beat her Excalibur Destruction in sheer power... which totally ruined my speed. I don't want to repeat that mistake, but I still feel stuck."
Right. A "Knight" who gives up speed is like... that one second-division captain from a certain shinigami anime. Unless the attack power justifies the trade-off, it's not worth it. Same deal with early-days Rossweisse and her paper-thin defenses.
Then an idea hit me.
"Hey Yuuto, weird question—but your speed comes from both training and your 'Knight' piece powers, right?"
"Huh? Well, yeah. What about it?"
He gave me a puzzled look. Fair—it was a pretty basic question at this point.
"I was just thinking... remember how Rossweisse reinforced her magic shields using her 'Rook' powers? What if we applied the same idea to your Holy Demonic Sword—infusing it with 'Knight' traits?"
If a 'Rook's' power-up isn't limited to physical strength but can apply to external magic, then maybe a 'Knight's' speed trait can be channeled the same way—like a category of 'speed magic' or something.
"Intriguing... though increasing a weapon's speed sounds tricky. I mean, I still have to swing the sword myself."
"True, but here's a twist. Your Sword Birth creates blades from your will, right? So, what if you made something like... a 'vibro-blade'? Or maybe a high-frequency cutter?"
Like a progressive knife from Eva or an ultrasonic scalpel.
"Oh! That might actually work!"
Yuuto immediately created a high-frequency Holy Demonic Sword, and for a test run, we had Akeno-senpai cast a magic barrier. Rossweisse and the others were still mid-discussion, so they sat this one out.
First, we tried a regular high-frequency blade for comparison.
Screeeeeeeeeeeech!
The blade scraped against Akeno's barrier with a grating sound, visibly cutting into it. Not bad already.
Then, Yuuto channeled his inner 'Knight' energy directly into the sword and swung again—
CHUGA! GYAAARRIN!
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100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter
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