COUNTER

A/N: Sorry, I was busy with something else. Final exams being one. Enjoy the chap. Hope you appreciate the combat scene too. They're hard to write, but they're my favorite. Also, Riser's arc coming to an end soon.

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Seeing no uses in taking his time. Julian jumped in the air and brought out his pair of devil wings.

Then, with a sonic boom, he arrived above Riser's base.

Taking note of every magical aura in the surrounding in a split second. He smirked.

"Riser! You better get out of there and come meet me before I make you!"

Not sensing any movement, Julian rolled his eyes. "Look, I know Rias made you lose some face and you're trying to get it back by making me meet you down there. I'm being considerate right now, because I swear, if you keep this up. You'll leave worse for wear today."

"Still nothing? Then don't blame-"

"Lord Riser said that since you only have one pair of wing. You'll have to prove yourself by defeating us first." A soft voice spoke out.

Gazing at the speaker, Yubelluna, and ignoring the rest of the peerage rising to his level. Julian quirked a brow. "He wants me to prove myself?"

Yubelluna nodded. "Our lord think that as you are alone. It is only fair that you aren't gang-up upon."

"Really~? This talk of fairness is good and all, but I can't help but ask myself... Where was your fairness yesterday? Where was it when you outnumbered Rias and her peerage peerage 2 to 1 and severely outclassed them in experience? You guys seems pretty satisfied with the state of things then." Julian frowned, both at all the girls and Riser who he knew was listening.

"Thinking about it, nevermind. You know what? You were right... They had no need for it since you girls got absolutely owned in the end." He shrugged while smiling, his words putting an angry scowl on the opposite party's face.

"What I really want to say is that, underestimating your opponent is a grave sin and something that should never be done. Unfortunately, it seems that lesson didn't quite sink in for you the first time. However, you lot are a lucky bunch as I offer you all my help to make sure the lesson will be thoroughly carved into your mind this time around." As he finished talking, Julian wasn't smiling anymore.

His fingertips lit up with a dark red flame, he sliced the air in an x shape and threw a cross of destructive energy taller than his body at Yubelluna. Then releasing PoD from his pores, he shrugged off the compulsory counter attacks and spells from the girls.

Noticing the close quarter fighters closing in on him, Julian spread his palms to his side. Then, releasing all the pressure building up inside him. Unleashed two high-pressured waves of destructive energy to his sides.

In silent horror, Yubelluna and Ravel watched from both his front and back as more than 2/3 of their teammates were utterly vaporised by the attack.

Julian wasn't done, as wrenching back at something invisible in the air with his hand. He made his first attack that had been dodged by Yubelluna reverse direction and fly back toward her.

"BEHIND YOU!" Ravel cried out.

Not expecting the move but thrusting Ravel, she barely had the time to fly out of the way of the cross shaped beam again.

Julian shook his head as he simply made the energy blade follow the queen like a honing missile.

Turning his attention to the rest of them, he wondered which spell to test next.

Deciding that it was time for his magical spells. He pointed at the last remaining rook who was too afraid to come closer and fired a grey lightning strike at her. A grey magical circle materializing before his finger.

The rook blocked it, but seized up as she received it. Paling as the spasm contracted her heart but didn't let up like normal lightning do. It just kept her in one long, agonizing paralized state as she dropped to the sky, her heart having not beaten for too long.

Julian made an appreciative sound, what he used couldn't even be called proper lightning. It was more like a magically enhanced paralizing beam. It wasn't that hot, nor that destructive. It wouldn't even harm a normal human in fact.

But what it would do, is leave their entire body's muscle paralyzed for an hour straight. And the heart found itself to be a muscle.

The time left in a paralyzed state varied depending on the strength of the target.

It was designed in such a manner that if it hit, even someone considerably stronger than Julian would be paralized for a split second.

Of course, it was a pretty costly spell. But Julian considered it a very nice addition to his ever growing list of tool

It would serve well against Riser.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Julian leaned back and dodged the zweihander seeking to decapitate him.

Straightening up, he didn't waste any time and reciprocated in kind. His PoD coated hand bluring and separating the head of the offending knight.

Sending a glance to the building serving as Riser's base and sensing no movement from the man himself, Julian sighed. "So that's what you really want, eh?"

Shaking his head, he looked at the four still standing member of the peerage. "Sorry gals, but it's time to end this."

Saying this, he made the cross still pursuing Yubelluna speed up exponentially and catch up to her. Just as she was bisected, she sent a glare to Julian and as a final fuck you before she faded away, made a magical circle appear under him.

She hadn't spent all her time simply running away, no. She profited from the fact that Julian had never moved from his position to set up a big attack with her magic.

*BOOOM*

A massive explosion occured, the wind pressure flattening the trees under the fight scene.

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Ravel worriedly looked at the explosion, she hoped it would have done the job. The new Gremory scion was far stronger than she had thought. And that was considering that she had taken into account that he was supposedly the one who trained her brother's fiancee and her team to take them on and win in such a short time frame.

The whole situation surrounding this Julian was strange. He was currently the talk of the underworld, having antagonized two scion of pillar clans on his debut. She couldn't appraise his strength, nor even if he was a devil. In fact, nobody could, not even her father. His legitimacy as a devil, or more precisely, of being granted a peerage was quietly questioned by devil society because of it.

Now that he showed his single pair of wing, he proved that he was a devil. But it just muddled everything more, High-Class devil were born with 3 pairs of wings. Only Low-Class devil had one, so it didn't make sense for him to have the same number of wings as them, and having a peerage to boot.

His strength made even less sense given that.

She felt as if she was facing an Ultimate-Class. As if she was facing her brother.

As the smoke of the explosion cleared, her heart sinked into her stomach at what she saw.

The boy was totally unarmed by the all out attack of Yubelluna, a magical circle above him forming a protective barrier of dense wind.

Ravel sighed, she suddenly wasn't so sure about her brother victory anymore.

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"Eh, that's what happen to one trick pony. They get countered." Julian smiled in derision.

Wind was the most readily available element in nature, it was also the less costly to manipulate due to its abondance. And flame without any physical anchor get blown away by wind, go figure the counter to explosion magic.

As for the kinetic energy? Julian still had his coating of PoD that couldn't cohabit with anything other than itself and its user. Only time, space and what he chose to ignore himself were the exception. That's why PoD makes no sound and have no real momentum behind it.

Also, Koneko's in her neko form punches harder than that explosion.

Julian gazed at Ravel and fell in a thoughtful state for a moment. He had the fleeting curiosity of if her future would be the same as canon, ending up with Issei and becoming essentially his manager.

It reminded him of his wish of keeping the plot the same. With all the changes he had done and the things he had observed. He thought he had a pretty good grasp of what 'plot' was affected by it now. But he couldn't be entirely sure yet.

Refocusing his attention on Ravel made him briefly think about the future.

She supposedly had a great mind akin to Sona, but sheltered as she was. She hadn't the opportunity to exploit it and bloom into her potential. She would be useful to manage his company in the certain eventuality that it grow too big and annoying to do so by himself.

'Eh, something to keep in mind.' Julian shrugged and blasted her with the same grey lightning from earlier.

The Phenix's regeneration was just that, they healed from any wounds they suffered. Even fatal ones, until their ability couldn't keep up anymore. But what if their ability didn't treat something as a wound? What if their heart just stopped? Or rather was forced to stop beating? Like in this case.

Could they regenerate from an heart attack?

That's the question Julian had in mind when creating the spell.

Demonic magic was incredibly versatile, counter for everything could be created with it.

That's why relying too much on only one ability, no matter how strong, was sincerely foolish in devil society who had access to demonic power.

Julian eyebrows raised as he saw the spell work wonderfully on Ravel, only for her to immole herself in her own flame.

Magic cast by its user normally didn't hurt the caster, that's why Akeno could manipulate lightning without frying herself. But it could affect them if they wished to, like when he himself used PoD on his own body to destroy any signal of pain being sent to his brain while he could perfectly coat himself in it and treat it as air.

Thinking that, he grinned as he saw her burn away her skin and muscles along with her nerves only for them to reapear anew a second later.

"Aren't you quite ressourcefull, eh? But almost regenerating your entire body at once should have taken quite the toll on your regeneration, no?"

Ravel panted lightly and glared at Julian in defiance. "It's not just called regeneration, it's immortality."

"Who cares? Now do it again." Julian shrugged her off before his face became deadass serious, zapping her with another bolt.

"Riser, don't you see how I'm treating your deary sister? Aren't you a siscon? Why haven't you come to her rescue yet?" Julian drawled, he had no idea what Riser was thinking. If it was a ploy to prob his strength, then it was useless as he hasn't even showed 50% of what he could do right now.

Maybe he really had to destroy his base in the end.

Just as he thought that, his eyes sharpened as he finally noticed the mana fluctuating weirdly in the building.

It was heating up, fast.

"You fucking bastard-"

A monstruous maëlstrom of white flame and scalding wind exploded from the melted mess that was previously Riser's base. Too wide and fast for Julian to dodge.

The blast engulfed him, roaring as it devoured his now dark red figure.