Ch 116: The Peace Conference going as expected.
The negotiations started with each side restating their willingness to put a formal end to the war, and then they got down into the details of it, settling pet peeves and territorial disputes.
Noah didn't pay too much attention to it, as he was focusing on the detection array that he had put all around the academy, searching for any disturbance, and performing regular sweeps of the academy and its immediate surroundings with Promise.
And after about fifteen minutes, Noah spotted a group of forty or so hooded figures heading toward the academy from the East. From their aura, they seemed to be quite weak. He took his smartphone out, sent a message to warn Asuna, and she sent back an acknowledgement quickly after. Less than a twenty seconds later, another similar group of hooded figures came from the West.
Noah knew that the three factions had their own reinforcements ready to be summoned, and Noah pondered telling them about the incoming groups immediately, but he refrained. From what he felt, the robed figures where little more than cannon fodder, comparable to two-winged angels or devils at best. His girls shouldn't have any trouble dealing with those, and he wanted for the enemy leaders to commit themselves to the attack.
He warned Hisui, Reina and Himari as well, and sent another message to Rias and Alice to inform them of an imminent attack.
Noah hadn't bothered hiding his messages from Ren and Kyouka, who had noticed him taking his smartphone. They looked at each other and nodded slightly, ready to act in an instant.
The two groups of intruders entered the academy's grounds. The western group made their way to the cafeteria and moved tables and chairs to free some space, then got to work drawing a large circular array on the floor. The eastern one did the same on the open ground behind the science building. Noah watched the arrays carefully, and deduced from the script they used that their purpose was to erect a strong isolation barrier around the academy. Although Noah noted that there were exceptions included in the script, to allow some people access.
Asuna, Kaede, Suzu, Himari, Reina and Hisui all crept close to the two groups, ready to pounce on them the instant hostilities started.
The robed figures on both sites took position around the magic array, some of them checking the time, and at precisely 11:00, they started channeling their power into the arrays. They shone as they activated, and seconds later, a teleportation formation appeared inside the Gymnasium, a few meters above the ground.
…
Serafall was arguing with Michael about the treatment of rogue exorcists when she stopped, frowning at the magic array forming in mid-air.
Three people appeared, one woman and two men. She recognized them and jumped to her feet.
"You! You dare show you face here?"
The intruders were part of the Old Satan faction, the radical warmongers that had been ousted out of power by the five Great Satans and forced to go into hiding. Katerea Leviathan, Shalba Beelzebub, and Creuserey Asmodeus.
Katerea was center and front and answered for them.
"Silence, impostor. We have come here to declare war." She looked down her nose at Serafall.
"And who is 'we'? calmly asked Michael.
"We are the Khaos Brigade." said Shalba. "You have become weak, suing for peace instead of making war to grow stronger. That is why we will kill you."
"And you think we're just going to take it?" asked Venelana with a raised eyebrow as she rose slowly.
"Of course not, but we came prepared!" laughed Katerea. The three intruders reached for their pockets, and each of them took from them a black snake.
Serafall and the other Great Satans recognized instantly what those snakes were, but the three intruders had covered themselves with strong barriers before teleporting, and they gave them enough time to swallow the snakes unimpaired. In moment, their power easily doubled.
"We've already isolated the academy, and you won't be able to call in your reinforcements! And that's not the only surprise we have for you!"
Serafall tensed, wondering what other crap they were going to pull out, when she hard a strangled gasp from Azazel. He had a dagger stuck in his flank, and Vali stepped back, smiling.
"Vali!" said Azazel, in pain. Possibly more by the betrayal of his adopted son than by the dagger in his flesh.
"Sorry, Azazel. But a world at peace would be too boring. I have joined the Khaos Brigade, too."
"Enough speaking! It's time for you all to die!" shouted Katerea, a mass of red energy condensing in her hands. She threw it at Serafall, who hurriedly created a barrier with Grayfia's and Michael's assistance.
The resulting explosion destroyed the gymnasium.
…
A few moments earlier, Noah was writing on his phone to give the go ahead against the two groups of magicians when a new sweep using the array informed him of two more enemy groups present and already fighting. The so called 'Hero' group in the north, made of descendants of legendary heroes and possessing potent sacred gears, including the True Longinus, and an evil god from Asgard in the south.
"Ren, go reinforce Rias, please. Be especially careful of the spear carried by their leader. It has many different abilities." said Noah with a low voice, and she nodded and teleported to the northern group.
"Kyouka, go South, please, Loki and his pets are over there. Don't let Fenrir claw or bite you."
"On it."
The three devils from the Old Satan faction glanced in his direction as the girls just disappeared, but they didn't seem to care much and returned to exchange insults with the VIPs. Noah activated the barrier he had created around the academy to interfere with demonic teleportation magic,
Vali betrayed Azazel, and as Katerea launched her attack, Noah teleported to Azazel, removing the dagger and casting Greater Healing on him.
The gymnasium exploded around them, spreading debris in all directions. Noah and Azazel weren't affected as they were inside the barrier created by Serafall and the others. Vali wasn't injured, either, having covered his body with the white and gold Divine Dividing Scale Mail.
"Noah, you could have kept your nose out of it and stayed home, you know?"
"Venelana is my future MIL, and Serafall my future SIL." answered Noah. Of course, he intended for them to be a little more than that, but they didn't need to know yet.
"So I take it you're in the mood to fight this time? If you don't intend to do anything but heal people, I'll just go fight Ddraig. Fighting someone who won't fight back is no fun."
"Can't have you challenge my King before defeating me first." nodded Noah, stopping Azazel's treatment and casting Augment on himself. Azazel wasn't completely healed, but his injury had been reduced from incapacitating, to barely affecting him.
"But, that fight won't be very fun for you, I guarantee that."
Noah smiled as he drew his Zanpakuto and stabbed the ground.
"Come and Subjugate, Seifuku no Ken!"
Seifuku appeared, clad in her own white and gold armor, and with barely a glance toward Vali, pulled the sword from the ground and joined the fight against the three superpowered Old Satans.
Noah used Shunpo to appear right in front of Vali, and punched his armor-covered face before he could react.
Vali was projected dozens of meters away, and Noah ran after him, not intending to give him time to breath. Vali quickly broke his momentum, and tried to counter his opponent's charge by one of his own. Noah acted like he didn't care about the white gauntlet coming toward his face, but tilted his head at the last instant to evade it and punch Vali in the abdomen, then seized his extended arm and threw him over his shoulder in a classic judo throw, using Vali's body as a fulcrum and throwing him on the ground so violently that Vali bounced.
A short cry of pain escaped Vali as he released in a panic a burst of magic, creating a shockwave and forcing Noah a few meters away.
In the original DxD novel, by the time the peace conference came, Vali and Issei were about equally matched.
But Noah was no Issei. He might not possess the sheer raw power of the protagonist assisted by Ddraig, but he had much better reflexes, extensive combat experience, and was a martial arts expert.
Vali deployed his wings and took to the skies.
"You! I admit, you're strong! But you haven't defeated me yet!" He extended his right hand, palm facing Noah.
"Divide!"
Noah smiled, as this was the one thing he had waited for. The only reason Noah had not pounced on Vali right after the shockwave pushed him away. For half a second, Noah felt a wave of weakness impact him, before it was nullified by his Negative Effect Immunity. And his Gemini Drive proved its usefulness once more.
[User has learned Divide.]
Noah quickly glanced at the fight between the Old Satans and the VIPs. Serafall and the others had been pressured and forced on a defensive stance at first, but Seifuku was changing that. Creuserey had already lost an arm, and Seifuku was dancing in the air, evading all the magic attacks sent her way while sending light swords at Shalba. She was forcibly diverting the attention of one of the old Satans.
And then, she grinned as she extended a hand toward him.
"Divide!"
Shalba lost his crap as he felt his power being halved, starting to scream incoherently. Vali noticed and asked with an outraged voice.
"Who is she? Why can she use Divide?"
"Didn't do your homework before coming, did you? Unfortunately for you, I'm not going to monologue like a two bits villain."
Noah sprinted on the ground toward him, then jumped, deploying his own devil wings to gain more agility mid-air.
Vali got ready to punch him, confident that Noah wouldn't be able to evade in mid-air, when Noah created a few blocks of light around Vali to serve as footholds and used Shunpo, appearing on Vali's left, his body already spinning to deliver a downward roundhouse kick. Vali was struck by Noah's leg on the left shoulder and was sent crashing on the group at a high speed, fractures appearing on his white armor. Noah followed him down and punched Vali on the back of his head as he weakly tried to rise, and Vali collapsed.
Since he wasn't moving, Noah decided to take the second thing he wanted from Vali, as compensation for making trouble. Using his Soul Magic, he started plundering the Divine Dividing sacred gear from Vali. Albion resisted, but only managed to slow down the process, and in less than fifteen seconds, a silvery ball of light floated above Noah's palm.
"Noah, don't kill Vali, please." urged Azazel, now clad in a golden armor that looked a lot like the Divine Dividing Scale mail, as he split his focus between maintaining the barrier protecting Odin and the others, and watching Vali.
Noah checked on Vali to made certain he wasn't going to die.
"Never intended to." shrugged Noah, looking at the old Satan devils. Their situation was only getting worse, with Seifuku using Divide on each of them, and the boost offered by the black snake not lasting indefinitely. Creuserey tried to retreat with a teleportation array, but the array fizzled out half-way, thanks to Noah's own barrier around the Academy.
…
"Hey, Suzu, Kaede, want to see something good?" grinned Asuna as Noah gave them the signal to act. They were hidden on the rooftop of the science building, with the forty-two magicians three floors below them.
"Sure." smiled Kaede. Suzu nodded, a hand on the hilt of her sword.
"A bit of Shinigami magic."
Asuna and the twins stepped closer to the edge, and she pointed her right hand at the magicians, index and middle finger joined. She took a deep breath, and mimicked drawing a line downward with her two fingers as she spoke.
"Bakudo n°1, Sai! (Restrain)"
The magicians had spotted them and were about to attack when they suddenly lost control of their arms. Their hands opened, dropping their staves and wands, and their arms snapped into position behind their backs, wrists crossed as if they were tied with a rope. They struggled to free themselves, to no avail.
"That's very cool!" shouted Kaede. Suzu made a thumb up while nodding her head.
"Let's take them out quickly, I can only restrain so many people for maybe fifteen seconds of so."
For three girls able to use Shunpo and Augment, fifteen seconds were more than enough to deliver hand chops to the magicians or punch them strongly in the stomach, making them all lose consciousness.
"What do we do with them now?" Asked Kaede. Her smile indicating that she already knew the answer.
"We put Stop runes on them all, then it's triage time! We only take the cute ones." grinned Asuna, examining the faces of the unconscious people and turning over those who were lying face down.
Suzu hadn't bothered to wait for confirmation and was already slapping metal handcuffs on the wrists of a pretty girl with semi-long dark blue hairs.
The three of them worked quickly, securing two girls each in less than twenty seconds, and teleporting with their prizes to their new home's basement. Some of the playrooms had attached cells, and the girls locked them inside. Then they came back, and took six more. There were still thirteen girls, but they weren't up to their standards, and the rest were men.
"Master should be happy with this. Let's join the others." Suggested Asuna. "We go check with him where we are needed most."
"Yes."
Using Shunpo to reappear on the rooftop of the science building, and then to jump from rooftop to rooftop, it only took them seconds to return to the gymnasium, what was left of it. They were relieved to see Noah healing Governor Azazel, with all the other VIPs except Vali, being unharmed, and the lone enemy survivor, a woman, being restrained by Michael with golden chains.
Noah was standing with his eyes closed, obviously focusing on in far-sight ability.
"Noah, what happened to Vali?" asked Asuna to Noah as they came closer.
"He sided with the enemy, so I gave him a beating and seized Divine Dividing. I'll give it to Akeno."
"Who should we help?" Asked Kaede.
"Hisui, Himari and Reina are done. Hisui got the same idea as you girls and is in the process of convincing Reina, who is hesitating. Himari is fine with it. On the northern quadrant, Rias and the peerage were in trouble, but Ren is kicking butt and taking names. She's actually stronger than me. I'll go south, you girls go north. Please capture Jeanne, the blonde girl wearing armor. She has potential.
"Yes!" The girls wasted no time using Shunpo to head north.
The isolation barrier was gradually weakening now that there were no magicians to supply their magic power to the arrays. Soon, the three factions would be able to bring their reinforcements.