Y/N POV
"Brimstone Lake!"
After casting the spell, the grass, pavement, and everything on the surface of the ground within 30 meters from me crumbled away and revealed an underlying layer of lava. Being the caster, I was unaffected, but Cerberus wasn't so lucky.
"AWWOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
The cries of the creature rang loud for all to hear. When the dust cleared, we saw how much damage I had done, and was still doing. Its paws were nothing more than stumps of flesh with bones sticking out. Countless icicles stuck onto it, with blood seeping from the wounds, covering the mutt in a layer of its own blood. It continued sinking into the lava as more icicle fell onto it.
Soon, it fell on its side and melted away. Its whimpers rang clear in the silence that followed. The lava still remained and set a few nearby trees on fire from the sparks.
"No! This can't be!" Kokabiel couldn't believe his eyes. The fire reflected in his eyes, which were full of madness.
"Believe it! And I'm coming for you next!"
A minute later, his face twisted into a sick grin, showing more insanity in his eyes.
"HehehehehehahahahahahahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
I took a step back when he started laughing maniacally. Someone who laughed like a maniac was almost sure to have a trick up their sleeve.
"What's so funny? You want the same treatment?"
Without another word, Kokabiel waved his hand as two more magic circles appeared around me.
"Shit!"
I tried to leap back, but I was too slow. A Cerberus caught me and tackled me to the ground.
"You didn't really think I only had one, did you?" he laughed.
Teeth gnashing and spit flying everywhere, the Cerberus snapped at me while I tried to fend it off while it was standing above me.
"Away mutt, away! Ack!"
At that moment, two off its heads clamped down on my arms, trapping them. But because of my passive ability, they were unable to pierce through the gauntlets. Still though, their bite felt like a vise and I could only struggle beneath it, trying to find a way to break free. The other Cerberus joined us and looked at me with a twisted smile.
That same Cerberus got close and smacked we with its paw. A warm, metallic flavor flooded my mouth. I spit out the blood as some trickled down my cheek.
'Man, if only I was paying attention a bit more, I wouldn't have been reduced to this state.'
'You still have that move.'
My eyes lit up with enlightenment. Relaxing both arms and ignoring the new marks on my face, I smiled up at the Cerberus holding me down.
It tilted its head in confusion .
"Congratulations, you get to be the second roast dog of the pack."
*FFFWAAAAAAAA*
A burning sensation reached the back of my throat, prompting me to open my mouth. Flames erupted from my mouth, hitting the mutt right in the face, and the flames continued on until the whole dog burned away, save for the two heads hanging on to my arms.
I hastily got up and ripped off the heads. My arms felt sore from being squeezed for so long, so I had to shake them around to get them properly working again. Smoke seeped out of my mouth as I breathed heavily. "Man, is this how rappers feel when they spit fire?."
'Stop it, get some help.'
"Y/N WATCH OUT!!!"
I turned around to see the last Cerberus with an open mouth and a foot away from my head.
Suddenly, a brilliant sword light decapitated the head closest to me. I looked to see who had done it and saw Xenovia with Excalibur Destruction nearby.
"I've come to provide backup," she said.
"Xenovia!"
She also slashed at the second Cerberus, cutting it in half.
"As expected of a holy sword that can do countless damage to evil things," Akeno said.
"I wish we didn't need the help, but I'm glad you're here," Rias added.
A tick mark appeared on my head. "Hey! I was doing just fine without your help you know!"
A third Cerberus appeared, and was soon cut down by Xenovia, who looked at me scornfully, but also a bit warily. Being ignored despite being the main tank here, peh, how ungrateful.
TRANSFER!
I look over to see Rias and Akeno surrounded by a green glow. They shivered for a bit before their auras spiked. Looks like his Sacred Gear has some use.
They then started focusing their attacks on the Cerberuses. Cerberi? Cerberopodes? Whatever Cerberus is plural.
Flying upwards, I stopped when I was eye level with Kokabiel. "Ready to play fair this time?"
"Oh, it's you. You're pretty interesting, to be able to fend off Cerberus with little injury."
"Enough talk, die already!" I rushed at him with my swords out. My swords hit something hard and I was deflected away from him. An almost invisible barrier surrounded the throne. Unsatisfied, I flew around shooting bullets, but none of them pierced through.
"Hahaha, try as you might, you are still too weak to fight with the likes of me."
"Bullshit! I don't believe I can't break through to you. Charged shot!"
Holding down the triggers, two balls of light grew at the end of the swords. When they grew bigger than my head, I let go and they shot towards the throne. I streaked after the two balls, using them as cover to get close.
They crashed into the barrier, but all that was left was a little crack. Still not enough.
Suddenly, a crimson energy rushed towards Kokabiel, but he only redirected it back towards the ground, creating a huge crater.
Before I could attack any further, a beam of light shot up towards the sky. We all looked towards the source to see a floating sword towards the bottom.
"It's complete. With this, it's finally complete."
'Emynth, you feel that?'
'The combined energy of the four Excaliburs? Yeah.'
'Not only that, the blue draconian aura.'
Emynth was silent.
'I'll take it you notice it now.'
I landed on the ground and ran to the ORC. "Guys, with the energy of the four Excaliburs, this town will only have 20 minutes left. We have to end this now."
"You're right."
Rias and Akeno flew up and attacked Kokabiel with Holy Lightning and the Power of Destruction. Kokabiel merely laughed and combined the two balls of energy before sending it back towards Rias.
"Not on my watch!"
A curved wall of ice rose and stopped the ball of energy in its path. It melted away after the energy ball disappeared.
"Your opponent is me! You two go deal with Freed and Valper!" I drilled into the throne, piercing through the barrier and knocking back Kokabiel. "Never take your eyes off of your opponent."
His eyes were filled with shock when he saw I pierced through his barrier. But he composed himself quickly before. "Hmph. Turns out you're harder to deal with than I thought. I might actually get serious with you."
I smiled back at him. "I appreciate the compliment. But I think I'll get serious too. Asura-Kannon!"
I waved by hand, and a fan of swords appeared behind me. Kokabiel's eyebrows raised up in interest. With another wave of my hand, another fan of swords appeared behind me. They were complete copies of my swords, so you could only imagine the piercing power of the two fans.
Pointing right at his head, I released the swords and let them fly at him.
He quickly grew alarmed and summoned multiple light spears and blasted a good number of the swords out of the sky, but he missed a few and they stabbed into his body.
"Urk!" He coughed up some blood as I looked down on him scornfully. "Hehe, impressive. I didn't think you had it in you to be so powerful."
"Asura-Kannon: Yaksha!"
The two fans appeared behind me once again. This time, Kokabiel summoned numerous spears at his side. It was now a battle between a sword Undyne and a spear Undyne. I fired two shots and the swords rushed forward.
Kokabiel raised his hand and the spears shot out, intercepting the swords and creating explosions in the sky.
Flying amidst the smoke of the explosions, I smirked.
His face contorted in shock as he saw what had happened. When the swords had exploded, they split up into individual knives that still aimed at Kokabiel. He hastily waved his hands and another barrier appeared.
The knives created numerous cracks in the barrier, and I moved in to break it. When it did break, the Cadre coughed up more blood.
I forced him from his throne, making him fight me in close combat. An Arctic Barrier appeared beneath us and was covered in a Hell Dome. Kokabiel was now trapped.
My feet landed gracefully inside the improvised arena.
"Do you dare fight me in close combat Kokabiel?" I asked with a flourish of my swords.
He responded by summoning two light spears and then charging towards me. I smiled before charging towards him.
Our weapons clashed against each other in a flash of light. Sparks flew when they made contact, holy and demonic energy rubbing against corrupted holy energy. We pushed off our weapons and we came at each other once again.
I struck out with one sword, only for it to be parried, so I struck with the other sword, which got parried. Kokabiel pushed me back and came at me. He thrust towards my stomach, so I cross my swords over it and brought it down, redirecting the strike into the ground. This left me open for the other spear.
My mouth opened and I blew fire once again, blocking his vision while also pushing myself backwards. Needless to say, his strike missed.
In the break between our attacks, he called out, "Well done young one. But I'm afraid you're a few centuries too inexperienced to face me in a one-on-one."
"Well then, I'm sorry to disappoint, but I think you haven't been exposed enough to face off against me. You may have fought in a war, but my partner fought against the world."
Without responding, he only came at me again.
Wordlessly, I raised my sword and pulled the trigger. He slashed it out of the way, but I continued to shoot. When he got close enough, I retreated and stabbed my swords into the ground. The ice rumbled before purple and white tendrils shot out of the ground.
Kokabiel tried to fight them off, but there were just too many. The tendrils did not strike to capture or wrap around him, no, they struck to pierce holes into his body.
Soon, he had multiple holes in his wings and he was bleeding profusely.
He staggered for a bit, so I slammed into him, sending him to the barrier. He screamed as his flesh burned, but I opened the barrier and he flew out. I followed him and he retreated back to his throne.
I looked to the ground and I saw that Kiba had unlocked his Balance Breaker, but Freed still forced him and Xenovia back in an act of survival. I left Kokabiel and flew down to ward him off.
My guns fired at his feet, forcing him to retreat, then I slashed a light spear out of the air without looking back. I continued forcing Freed backwards until Kiba could take him on again.
"My my, it's entertaining to watch you all scurry for masters who doesn't exist," Kokabiel suddenly said.
"What did you say?" I said with ice.
"Oh my, did I let that slip? I meant to say your true leader are dead. Gone. Killed by the other factions. God himself slaughtered the original Satans, but was killed in the process. Oh, it is fun to see the Church run around like chickens without heads for the sake of a nonexistent god."
Everyone below me fell to their knees. The two exorcists were a mess, and the Devils' eyes were all hollow. I looked back at Kokabiel with a sadistic smile.
"Oh? Why are you not affected?"
"God is dead, the Satans are dead. So what? I was never religious and my partner gave me that information when I first got her, so you're a month or so too late. I'm still gonna fight, God or no God, as long as it's to make the world a better place, I'll keep fighting."
He gazed down and motioned to Freed.
I looked back to see Freed leap up and swing the combined Excaliburs at me. Alarmed, I crossed my swords and took the brunt of the attack. I managed to keep myself from falling, but I was being suppressed under all the holy energy.
To add on to that, Kokabiel summoned a light lance the size of the school, and he threw it at me. Faced between two forces, I let go of one sword, leaving my left arm to hold two swords in one place. With my other hand, I pushed back against the lance. The purple light was so bright, I had to squint to see.
I was slowly being forced to the ground by the two attacks. My gauntlets were starting to crack under the excessive force. I knew I couldn't last long under the strain.
'Emynth. Give me the armor.'
'For what?'
'Take. . .my senses.'
'Very well.'
Freed continued to put more force behind the Excalibur while Kokabiel made the lance bigger. Meanwhile, I felt an indescribable feeling course through my body. Then, my eyes could see farther, my ears could hear more things, I could pick out individual scents in the air, my tongue could differentiate between new blood and backwash blood, and my skin seemed to become more sensitive. From my hands, black armor started forming on my body, with jagged edges everywhere.
Soon, my entire was covered in my Balance Breaker armor. Red lines glowed underneath the armor, and I felt my hands get relieved of some pressure, but that didn't change the fact I was about to be obliterated by two city-ending attacks.
The people below had recovered and tried to send attacks to help me, but they disintegrated by the sheer force of the two attacks.
Finally, we reached a deadlock. I was stuck in between a rock and a hard place, but Freed couldn't move or else I would strike back, and Kokabiel seemed to have put his all into this attack.
Out of nowhere, something snapped in my chest. I screamed in pain, as more of my ribs cracked under pressure. Blood leaked out of my mouth and my eyes became red.
'I can't die here. Not now.'
'I can't let him win, she's still here.'
'I can't let her live in a world ravaged by war.'
'I can't afford to let her get hurt.'
I can't.
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I can't
I CAN'T
I CAN'T
I CAN'T
I CAN'T
I CAN'T!!!!
My mind snapped, and a lock broke in my subconscious.
An image appeared in my mind and two words appeared before me.
Slowly, painstakingly, my arms forced the attacks back until I had some room to breath.
I spit out blood. My arms were shaking. My eyes were totally red. My body was about to collapse.
At last, I let out two words.
"FULL
COUNTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
* * *
Koneko POV
We stared in shock as a bright flash appeared in the sky. The giant lance flew back at Kokabiel and Freed shot out to got knows where, but he dropped the Excalibur.
I saw Y/n's falling body and my body moved by itself. I rushed to where he was falling towards. I jumped and caught his body before he fell to the ground. I set him on the ground and I checked his injuries.
Hi gauntlets were smoking, but they fell of to reveal totally charred black hands. His armor dissipated and what I saw made me burst into tears.
Both of his arms were charred black. Blood ran up and down his body. One eye was swollen shut and his forehead was caked in blood. The hand that blocked Excalibur was almost split in half, the other hand had a whole that ran into his arm; I could see into his arm when I looked through his hand.
"Y/n! Y/n!" I cried, "Wake up! Please, wake up!"
After some shaking, he weakly opened one of his eyes. He stared right at me before opening his mouth to speak.
"Ko. . .ne. . ko. . ." he croaked.
Everyone else rushed away to check the situation around the school. I was left alone with Y/n, who kept drifting in and out of consciousness.
"It's okay. Y/n, look at me." He looked at me. "We're gonna be okay. You can rest now."
"I. . . sorry. . . for trying. . . too hard. . ."
He closed his eye, but he didn't go away. He opened them again.
"Looks like I did it again, didn't I?" he said weakly. "I saved the day, but I nearly killed my self huh?"
Tears streaming down my face, I could only nod in response.
"Hah, hah. I guess I did. Hey, Koneko." I fought back more tears as I looked at him.
"Yes?"
"You know what I said earlier? About taking you on a date? Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon. These injuries will take a while to heal, but just know that one day, I will take you on that date. I knew it would end up this way, but I still did it.
"I had to do it. To protect you and Tio. If I didn't, how could I live with the knowledge that I let some guy get away that would only come back to hurt us? I did everything in my power to protect you. No sacrifice is too great if it means keeping you two safe.
"You big idiot! You nearly died and you have the nerve to talk about going on a date?"
He tried to laugh, but he entered a coughing fit not long after. Asia finally came back and started to heal Y/n.
"Don't," he said, "This isn't something Twilight Healing can handle."
The rest of the peerage came back and gathered around us. Akeno and Irina nearly burst into tears and Xenovia had to take a little walk after seeing Y/n's condition. Rias gave us a rundown of what happened.
"Thanks to Y/n's efforts, the danger has been neutralized. Kokabiel'l whole upper torso is just gone. Freed is nowhere to be found, and Valper is burnt to a crisp. I told Sona she could let the barrier down, so we should be able to leave in a few minutes."
She knelt down and held Y/n's charred hand. "Y/n, thank you, for everything."
He nodded, but then his eyes became wide. "Stand me up."
"What? Y/n, you're in no conditi--"
"Stand me up!"
I complied. When we stood him up, he looked up at the sky. We all looked up with him.
"What is it?" I asked.
"He's here."
"Who?"
"The White Dragon Emperor."
Immediately after he said that, a black-clad figure with blue wings appeared in the sky. He looked around before looking at us.
"Oh, it seems I am too late," he said.
He glanced at Issei, and then Y/n.
"My my, what do we have here? The Red Dragon Emperor, and an unidentified dragon?"
We all looked at Y/n. A dragon? He never told us he was inhabited by a dragon. And what's more, a dragon that not even Ddraig was able to detect.
"He's right. Because Y/n is weak, I can feel a draconian aura radiating off of him. He must have a very profound technique to hide it. After all, not even Ddraig knew of him," Rias said.
"Why have you come here?" I asked the figure in the sky.
"Well, I came to collect Kokabiel since he was getting too far out of line, but looks like you guys killed him before I got here. I must say, I'm impressed. Some unknown dragon defeated a Cadre-class Fallen Angel, something the Red Dragon Emperor can't do."
"Don't get too cocky now Albion's wielder. I still. . . have some strength in me," Y/n said. He stumbled and nearly fell, and I caught him.
"Oh, I wouldn't do something that low. Seeing as my purpose to come here is gone, I'll be leaving now. I look forward to battling the wielder of Ddraig, and you as well, wielder called Y/n. I hope you won't die before then. After all, a dragon's pride never allows it to back off from battle."
"Pride? What pride? I threw my pride away the moment I chose to survive and kill you all! Don't you dare bring up pride before me Albion! You may seem all-powerful, but in truth, you're just a leech that gains power by stealing others' power. Yes, I do look forward to battling you in the future, but don't think I'll accept any challenge you send. I have no such thing as Dragon's Pride. You took that away from me when you all cast me out! I will kill you Albion! I swear on it!"
"It spoke?"
Y/n looked at his gauntlet. "I thought you were waiting for a later time?"
"I knew we would face him sooner or later. But if Albion thinks he can win in a battle of words, he's was too outclassed. No one knows how to twist words better than me."
"You heard that Albion?!" Y/n shouted. "We're gonna get you! It doesn't matter how long it takes, but we will kill you! We will definitely show all the dragons the result of their biggest mistake in history!"
The figure smirked before disappearing from our sight.
Y/n fell out of my grasp and he fell to the ground. The last thing he said before he hit the ground and passed out was:
"Motherfucker."
To be continued. . .
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Let's play Reference Hunt!
First person to find the hidden reference in the chapter gets a shoutout in the next chapter and also a follow. Good Luck! Also, no hints.