Chapter 41

3° person P.O.V.

As the announcement of the ones that had been eliminated was made the reaction of Akeno was fearful, imagining if Gasper would be fine or not. On the other hand, Rias continued to look at a map with some markers on it that were changing by the use of a magic that Yuno had taught her. Those markers represented allies and enemies, their locations and approximate state.

She normally would be many times more worried than Akeno, but since her training, she had learned to keep a cool head in times of battle or else… she'd rather not think about the 'or else'.

"Calm down, Akeno. It is going better than expected, I believe that you can go now since most of Raiser's pawns had been eliminated and from the three remaining one is wounded and the other two are facing off against Koneko. This is a chance! You are to be deployed to the forest to finish off the remaining Pawn there and following that you are to go for Koneko to help her, but in case that Raiser's queen appears you must intercept her with all your powers." Rias said that already planning when to leave this base.

All she was waiting for was for the rest of the pawns to be eliminated as remaining on this spot was like having a target above her head on plain sight. Allowing the enemy to have the certainty of your location was not a good idea, a fact she learned when, during a simulation, she had explosives blow up near her more than once because she allowed her enemy to know where she was.

The feeling of having your body being partially blown up and need to see and feel the life leaving your body was one that could really drive home the lesson there. The pain was a terrifyingly good instructor.

As Akeno heard her she nodded her head and followed the instructions given to her. But she was perplexed and could not help but think about what sort of experiences had Rias undergone for there to be so much of a change in demeanor.

After Akeno left Rias waited a few moments before-

PUNCH

Punching the table with so much strength that it cracked so much that it nearly broke in half. She was extremely angry about knowing that Gasper was defeated and could not help but want to know how he was and if he was wounded. But, as long as this match continued she could not go see him, and that eats away at her.

The feeling of true helplessness was not one that she had learned only during that training (she was an ojou-sama after all) but experiencing it, in reality, was even harder.

As she took a deep breath so as to control herself she sat down to wait for an update, she wanted to go out and help her precious servants NOW.

///---///

On the poolside, a fierce battle was happening.

Koneko was on all fours, her cat ears and tail fully exposed while she faced two enemy pawns. Their names are Ni and Li, two nekomatas just like Koneko.

Both of them wear short skimpy, white sailor uniforms that reveal their abdomen, shoulders, and lower breasts. They also wear short black skirts. The two had similar builds and almost identical appearances due to them being twins. The main difference between the two is the fact that Ni has red eyes and blue long braided hair, in contrast to Li's blue eyes and red shoulder-length hair.

As they faced each other it was clear that Koneko had a greater strength while Ni and Li had a nearly perfect teamwork and tactic understanding between the two.

Koneko decided to use her nekomata side instincts from the start of the fight since as soon as she saw the two she felt that she was in danger. And her instincts were correct since the two are the third and fourth strongest pawns of Raiser and they had trained for a long time in youjutsu being extremely proficient on it.

Proof being the pain that Koneko was feeling on her insides from the few punches that managed to strike her, if it was not for her new control (unwanted as it may be) of youjutsu she would have been defeated long ago.

But that is not to say that Ni and Li are unscratched, oh no sir since when you looked at them there were a few bruises and many scratches on their arms and legs.

As both sides eyed each other another person was getting bored as she did not participate in the fight. Her name is Xuelan, the final rook of Raiser. She is a well-endowed young woman of Chinese descent with shoulder-length black hair and blue-green eyes. Her hair has two Chinese-style buns on both sides of her head, while the front features bangs that form a slight V-shape across her forehead. Her outfit consists of a navy blue qipao with gold accents, a white sash around her stomach, and black, low-heeled shoes. The qipao is open at the chest area, giving view to Xuelan's breasts and cleavage.

She is Raiser's third strongest piece, just losing to his queen and the new bishop, and as such did not find this match all that interesting. She was contemplating leaving here to go look for a worthy foo when the need to do so no longer was there.

"Koneko-chan, we have come to help you!" Issei yelled from the distance as he approached with Kiba right by his side. Not only that but they could feel that someone else was approaching very quickly from the forest if the heat they could feel was anything to go by.

As Xuelan saw the two approaching she decided to ask Raiser for instructions about how much she should pull her punches. The answer was such.

"Against the little pervert that DARED to expose my girls in such embarrassing form to the whole world, beat him to death." Clear hate in his voice. Raiser may be seen as a chauvinistic ass for most, but he loved every single one of his peerage members from the bottom of his heart so knowing what Issei did push way too many of his buttons.

"Understood." Was what she said.

"But remember that you must find an opportunity to lose as we can't win this game." Raiser said after calming down somewhat, even if barely.

She understood her orders and so she decided to leave Ni and Li to face off against Koneko and went straight toward Issei, but Kiba positioned himself in front of Issei so as to protect him due to the orders he just received from Rias that said 'protect Issei to the best of your powers, we will need him to win this'.

As Kiba crossed two swords he just made, specially designed to be as sturdy as he could, he managed to stop the punch of Xuelan even if barely. At that moment.

"Let me help you Kiba! With my new magic, she will surrender instantl-"

"We have a message to make." The speaker for the event said. "It is from a young man with blond hair, slightly tan skin and with an extremely pissed of face, that may or may not be pointing his sword to my back right now to requested this announcement." The speaker most definitely was (not) close to tears when he said that.

As everyone heard this strange message they all stopped to listen, no one moving to attack as curiosity overwhelmed them.

"And the message is such: 'Use that damn thing again and you will lose the only head that seems to think for you! And I did NOT teach you magic for that!'." After saying that a sweet drop appeared on everyone's face, except on Issei that put his hands over his crotch and seemed terrified as he understood that his 'secret weapon' has just turned into a giant taboo for this game. Meanwhile, an almost pleading voice came out of the speaker. "Now can you please lower that sword? The bloodlust is almost killing me by itself."

Hearing that a new sweat drop appeared on everyone's face.

"…what are you waiting for? Continue the game." A (not) flustered voice from the speaker said quickly.

As soon as that sound happened Xuelan went ahead with no fear to face of Issei. She still remembered her master's orders, she would defeat this man here and now.

Seeing himself being ignored Kiba almost teleported from how fast he moved and appeared in front of Xuelan with an ice sword in hands due to his previous one not being in conditions anymore.

She gave a condescending look at the knight in front of her, clearly feeling no threat from him. She then went to strike him with a kick, but he avoided it by moving one step back before rushing in and giving four slashes at Xuelan.

She felt no more than a tingle from those slashes, her body was too powerful due to her rook piece and all the training she did over the years.

"Is this all you got?" Xuelan asked.

Kiba smirked at her and said.

"This is all I need." As he said that a shocking scene happened. From all those cuts ice started appearing at high speed and a few moments later Xuelan was turned into a popsicle.

Seeing that, Kiba turned to Issei and was going to ask him to finish Xuelan as his power, when using the boosted gear, was likely enough for it but at that moment-

"PPPPPPEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRVVVVVVEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTT!" A women shrill shocked all as Kalarmine appeared from the forest. She had managed to obtain a new cloth, a bulky and ugly armor that she didn't like using, but got no other choice. If there is one good thing about that armor, in her opinion, is how much it boosts her fire energy as it was made with the scales of a fire drake.

As she sprinted toward Issei with bloodshot eyes Kiba appeared in front of her so as to stop her in her tracks.

He tried to use the same trick again, but this time no matter how much he slashed at her no ice appeared. It happened due to the high temperature of the metal any and all ice attacks he made were being hindered useless. Seeing this Kiba discarded that sword and changed to one that was made to absorb heat and in that instant, Kalarmine retaliated with her sword liberating an immense amount of flames that almost engulfed Kiba.

He managed to get out of the way, but not before getting some nasty burn marks on his arms and legs. The feeling of his skin boiling over due to how hot the flames were.

At that moment Kalarmine was NOT pulling her punches. This was her actual strength and it terrified Kiba as he could feel that he was that highly outmatched in a direct contest. However, it did not matter as he remembered some of the words of Assassin-sensei:

'Even if you are the weaker party, one good attack can defeat anyone.'

It had sounded obvious at first, but the more he thought about it the more he realized that it was the truth. He just needed one good strike, just one to win this fight.

He would not allow this enemy to defeat Issei, especially not allow for her to reach Rias. And so he created one sword. One simple Japanese sword that was the most optimal to execute a movement that Assassin-sensei had taught him. Apparently, he was taught this one from Castiel's father so as to help Assassin in reaching even higher levels in swordplay, and to this day he was still working on how to use it to advance further than anyone has ever reached.

Kiba only had less than a week to study this move and, according to Assassin, while far from mastering it he was still quite accomplished due to infusing both his talent and the capacity of his sacred gear.

As Kalarmine approached him with another swing he took a deep breath and executed the move.

'One silent step… two steps infinity… three steps, a sword absolute!'

"Lightless, Three Stage Thrust!"

As he executed that movement he managed to pierce right through the armor of Kalarmine, giving her a nasty cut on her side and defeating her.

This move originally belonged to Okita Souji (the heroic spirit, not the one from DxD), the captain of the first unit of Shinsengumi and a master swordsman. The move is composed of three sword trusts that happen at the exact same instant, managing to be impossible to defend and when reaches the absolute best it can destroy even space itself.

While impressive, Kiba was still far from reaching this point. He is only capable of reaching a level where he replaces the original sword he made by copies that occupy the same space and when impacting the enemy makes piercing armor much easier. It is a sloppy and forceful way of reaching poorer results, yet it remains an impressive feat.

Assassin said that in just a few more years Kiba might reach the point where he can execute this move flawlessly due to how much talent with the sword he has.

However, this was not without his costs. Kiba may have a sturdier and healthier body than Okita had due to being a devil, but he still forced himself to execute a technique that his body was not ready for, adding that to the many cuts and burns that he got until that point and…

Kiba fell. He was completely and utterly spent, not a single muscle could move anymore. Normally just some rest would be enough but when he crossed paths with Kalarmine she also attacked and even if she did not manage to get a clean hit it still burned his back and arms even further.

"Rias Gremory's one Knight has retired, Raiser Phoenix one knight has retired."

And so both Kiba and Kalarmine were removed from the field directly to intense treatment for blood loss and burns.

Seeing this all Issei did not know what to do. It might have taken a while to tell all of this, but in fact, it lasted no more than 10 seconds total. Being stunned is normal.

A normal mistake as, at that instant the ice covering Xuelan broke revealing her in all her glory without a single wound on herself.

She smiled as she took a deep breath of fresh air. She might have been fine in there but the feeling in there was too uncomfortable for her.

Seeing that Kalarmine was defeated did not bother Xuelan or the other pieces of Raiser. They needed to be 'defeated' anyway so it was fine for her, but the fact that she was locked in ice was not funny.

Not funny at all.

And she just found the ideal person to put all that stress she was feeling in, the guy that undressed some of her friends for all of the devil society to see.

She turned to Issei cracking her knuckles, more than ready to give him a beating when-

"Raiser Phoenix three final pawns defeated."

Ni and Li were 'defeated'. It was actually a decision from Raiser as he needed his pieces to leave the field and he did not want them to suffer any large wounds as he was already close to a breakdown from when he saw Kiba cutting Kalarmine and how Gasper wounded so many of his lovers. If it was not because he wanted to be defeated he would have taken to the field already and dealt with all of them, even if just to keep his loved ones safer.

On the next moment, Koneko launched herself in front of Issei so as to guard him. She also got the same orders than Kiba and knew what she had to do, but did not know if she could do it or not since she had many internal and external wounds on her body.

If it wasn't for the training in the senjutsu and learning how to tap into the life force she would have been downed long ago.

"Koneko-chan, let me help you!" Issei said, but Koneko shocks her head.

"No, buchou said that you needed to survive this fight no matter what." As she said that she readied herself to face Xuelan, but Issei realized that Koneko's energy reserves were dangerously low.

"Even if you don't want me to help you, I will not let you behind as I will protect you." As he said that he failed to notice the slight pink hue in Koneko's checks. "Hey, let me give you a hand. Transfer" As he said that his sacred gear took effect.

His sacred gear Boosted Gear had two primary powers. One is Boost in which he can double his power at every 10 seconds, but could only use said doubled power for a short while. The second one is the one he just used, its name is Transfer and it allowed him to transfer the accumulated power from on his gear to another for a temporary energy boost.

As Koneko felt that energy entering her she felt many times more powerful than before. She then felt this energy within her wanting more of this, instincts that she did not have before awakening little by little. The desire for power, for dominance, and for a… mate?

That last one she decided to look into later. Now that she was developing correctly she was approaching her first mating season and this draconic power was NOT helping her keep her cool.

Deciding to push down her feelings she involuntarily smiled at Issei as she said.

"Thanks, Nyaa~"

Issei's heart skipped a beat when she did that. She was just so cute on his perspective that it should have been illegal.

"*cough* *cough* How long do you two intend to continue flirting?" Xuelan said, noticing how Koneko and Issei had slight pink hues on their checks.

Deciding to go ahead the two went to face Xuelan together. Issei used his little boy so as to manage to face Xuelan fire punches, and even if Xuelan was faster than him she could not focus on him properly since Koneko kept attacking her on the back.

As she was getting pissed Xuelan punched Issei while ignoring Koneko's attack. She got a large scratch wound on her back, but Issei was much worse. He was launched many meters away with his left arm that faced that punch broken in three different places.

"Ggghhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! My arm, it hurts, it hurts so much!" Issei said holding his arm that was bent in a strange direction.

Koneko was desperate, she knew that she could help Issei to recover his wounds and that he needed her to do that, but as long as Xuelan was there she would not dare to show her back to her and go threat Issei because of her fear of being attacked on her back.

'Please, Rias, Akeno, please get here fast. We need your help.'

And, in that despairing moment.

"What do you think you are doing with my cute servants?!" A red-headed savior came to the battlefield.