DxD: Ascension - Redux

Chapter 15: Academy Under Siege, Part 1

Zach floated above Kuoh, releasing thousands of orbs of blue light from his palms. Each one sought out a civilian in town and floated into their heart without them noticing. "There," Zach said, catching his breath from the wide-scale spell.
"Did you do it?" Sona asked, flying up to meet him.
"Yeah. If we need to, we can teleport the entire population of Kuoh out of harm's way in about a second. But maintaining the spell will eat at my reserves while I'm also trying to fight, so don't expect me in top form."
"As long as you'll be able to help, that's fine by me."
"How's things on your end?" Zach crossed his arms, looking down at the school as a barrier manifested over its grounds.
"So far, so good," Sona answered. "This barrier should be able to keep anything beyond it from being damaged, but it'll only work if the conditions remain exactly the same." Together, the duo returned to the ground.
Rias, waiting for them, crossed her arms. "Thank you, Sona. This means a lot."
Tsubaki appeared out of a magic circle. "Irina is recovering well. She'll be just fine, thanks to the combination of ours and Asia's healing." She hesitated, then added, "...And Zach's help." She took her place next to Sona to maintain the barrier.
Issei looked around. "Where's Xenovia? Is she even going to show up?"
"Have you guys heard anything from Kiba?" Saji asked.
"Nothing yet," Akeno answered. "But he'll definitely be here."
"Just a warning," Sona began, "We might not be able to keep the school from collapsing if things get dire."
"That's not going to happen," Rias promised.
"Rias, it's not too late to contact your brother," Sona reminded her.
Rias shook her head. "You know what I don't see? You contacting your big sister."
"With good reason, too. Sirzechs loves you, Rias. There's no doubt that he'd come as soon as he could if you called him. So call him."
"No need," Zach interjected. "I already did. But he needs time. He and his forces will be able to get here in an hour."
"Without my permission?" Rias turned to face the Phoenix. "Why would you do that?"
"Because I asked him to," Akeno answered. "Rias, I get that you don't want to bother your brother unless we have to. But our enemy tonight is a leader-class fallen angel. He's not someone you can take on your own. I think that qualifies this as an emergency situation."
Rias sighed. "Fine. I just can't win against you two..."
Zach smirked. "It'll be a fun hour."

BGM: Persona 5 - Life Will Change (Instrumental)

The Occult Research Club walked through the empty halls of their school, heading for where they assumed Kokabiel was located.
"Issei, I want you to run support this time around," Rias requested. "You'll be using your new ability to transfer power to the rest of us and boost our strength."
Issei nodded. "I'm all over it!"
Rias smiled. "Thank you. In the meantime, I'm sure the rest of us can stall and give Issei enough time to build up enough power to mean something."
Zach added, "Let's try and stay on the offensive, everyone. We have to get to Kokabiel and stop him from destroying the town. And unlike your fight against Riser and his team, your lives are at risk. There's no telling who'll walk away from this battle. But I'll promise you this much: I'm not going to let any of us die tonight. We need to survive, so we can come back here and live out our tedious lives as students!"
"Yeah!" Issei cheered. "Wait a minute... that doesn't sound fun."
Zach laughed. "That's the joke. Now get promoting, dragon boy."
Issei nodded. "Promotion: Queen!" He felt a rush of power as the strength of a Queen flowed through him. "Let's do this."

The group stepped outside and onto the school grounds, just in time to see a beam of golden light shoot up from the field.
"What is that thing?" Asia asked, her fright clear by her tone.
A voice above them boomed, "It seems as though the four Excaliburs have been combined into one." Sitting on a floating throne in the sky above was Kokabiel. "So is Big Brother Sirzechs on his way yet? Or is it Serafall instead?"
"Right now, we're here to fight you, and that's all that matters," Rias countered.
Kokabiel simply smiled and snapped his fingers. A golden spear of light formed next to him and shot at the gym. As soon as it made contact, the building exploded, leaving nothing behind. "So boring. I could use a diversion."
The force of the blast knocked Issei off his feet. As he hesitantly stood, he heard Ddraig's voice. What's the matter, kid? Scared? the dragon taunted.
"Cut me some slack, dude." Issei brought his left hand up from his side. "I've never seen a lance that big before. It's like light from another dimension."
Of course it's powerful. Look at it. We're dealing with a man who survived fighting against both God and original Satans.
"Can we even beat him?"
If it comes down to it, we'll beat him, even if I have to turn most of your body into a dragon.
"Most of my body? Just be sure to leave all the important parts."
"Since you came all this way to see me, I may as well let you play with my favorite pet!" Kokabiel shouted. A giant hole opened in the ground, spewing flames and lava, like a volcano. Out of the hole crawled a giant three-headed dog with fire coming out of each of its mouths.
Rias gasped. "Is that-"
"Cerberus," Zach confirmed. "The watchdog of Hades. Either Kokabiel turned in a ton of favors, or he kidnapped Cerberus and is setting him loose to rampage throughout the city. Either way, this isn't good."
"Bringing it to the human world is forbidden," Rias added. "So let's send it back! Issei, start charging up power! Akeno, Koneko, you're both with me!"
Akeno and Koneko nodded, launching into battle along with Rias.
Issei boosted his power as he took Asia to a safe place. "Don't worry, we've got this. You just stay here and be ready to heal us if we need it."
"O-okay!" Asia nodded. Issei's power boosted again.
Zach's clothing changed into his combat gear as he joined the fight.
Cerberus roared, opening his left mouth wide. Zach took his chance and blasted the inside of Cerberus's maw with scarlet lightning, dealing significant damage. "Everyone, aim for inside the mouths!" he suggested, narrowly avoiding being bitten in half.
Issei watched the battle from near Asia as his power boosted a third time. Still not enough. Dammit, if only I was stronger! I could enhance everyone in a split second! His thoughts were interrupted by Asia's scream as a fireball sped toward her. Issei grabbed Asia and the pair tumbled out of the way. Issei looked at the attacker: a second three-headed beast, albeit one that was more like a bear than a dog. "There's more than one? You've got to be kidding!"
Rias noticed this as well. "Zach! We've got this. You go handle the second one!"
Zach nodded and began to attack, employing a similar strategy to the one he'd used against Apophis in the Familiar Forest. He blinded each head with lightning and flung fireballs down the mouths of each head when they opened.
Meanwhile, Koneko was doing fairly well against Cerberus. She kicked and punched at each head. However, she was distracted by Issei avoiding being eaten. Cerberus's jaws closed her in and tried to bite down. Koneko pushed the jaws apart and backflipped out of the monstrous mouth, kicking out a few teeth in the process. She spread her wings and flew over to Asia, where the latter was ready to heal her injuries.
Issei continued to provide as a distraction for Cerberus while he charged up power, running around and keeping it away from Rias and Akeno as they attacked. But Cerberus was almost too fast.
As its middle head came down on Issei, about to bite him in half, Xenovia sliced the head off with her Excalibur. She smirked as she looked back at Issei. "You guys need a little help?"
Zach paused, flying away from the bear creature. "Talk about making an entrance. I'm impressed, Xenovia!"
"Don't compliment me just yet," she warned as she continued to slash at Cerberus, cutting off its remaining heads.
As Cerberus died, the Boosted Gear's gem glowed incredibly bright. "What does that mean?" Issei wondered. It's the signal to let you know that you've built up an appropriate amount of power for this fight, Ddraig answered. Transfer it at your leisure. "That's convenient. Heads up, ladies!" Issei ran toward Rias and Akeno as the pair flew toward him. He leaped into the air in between them. "Go, Boosted Gear!" Transfer!
Both Rias and Akeno were surrounded by a green aura, appearing to experience a sensation of pleasure as they felt the rush of the dragon's power entering their bodies. Rejuvenated, Akeno fired an extremely powerful blast of lightning at the bear monster, which sidestepped, resulting in it only being grazed. It focused on Asia's scent, charging at her. When it was only a few feet away, dozens of swords burst out of the ground, impaling the creature. Kiba landed in front of Asia.
"Kiba, you're here!" Asia exclaimed.
"Give it another shot, Akeno!" Rias yelled.
Akeno nodded, firing another powerful bolt of lightning at the bear monster. At the same time, Rias attacked with her Power of Destruction, finally killing it.
Issei fist pumped. "That was awesome, all of you!"
"Awesome is a bit of a stretch," Kokabiel commented.
"Take this!" Rias yelled back, firing her Power of Destruction at Kokabiel. The latter simply swatted it aside. The attack reduced the tennis courts to little more than a crater and a smoldering net.
"Impressive," Kokabiel admitted. "Look how much stronger you are now that you've had a little bit of Red Dragon Emperor inside you. How fascinating!
"It is complete!" Valper exclaimed triumphantly. He laughed like a maniac. "Finally, it is done! Now, if you all want to live..." He faced the Occult Research Club. "I suggest you leave. This place will be destroyed in less than twenty minutes."
"And if you want to save it, you'll have to defeat me," Kokabiel added. He spread all ten of his wings, his throne disappearing. "Are you ready, Rias Gremory?!"
"Of course!" Rias unleashed a massive blast of destructive power, which Kokabiel effortlessly caught in one hand and formed into a dense ball of energy. Akeno attacked him from the other side with her lightning. The attack suffered the same fate as Rias's. Kokabiel smashed the two orbs into each other, forming one giant sphere, which he hurled at Rias.
"No!" Akeno flew in between the orb and her master, taking most of the damage in her place and falling to the ground, where she was caught by Issei just before impact. "I'm sorry, Issei... you wasted all that power on me."
Issei stood, leaving Akeno to rest. "Don't worry about that now." He looked up at Kokabiel. "Hey, asshole! How could you do something like that?! Now you're gonna pay!" He ran toward his adversary, boosting his power.
Rias landed next to Akeno, where Asia was now working on healing her. "It doesn't look like we'll be able to hold out... where is Sirzechs?" She shook her head. "No, we can't depend on him. We have to find a way to win ourselves."
Meanwhile, Kiba was walking toward Valper, sword in hand. "Valper Galilei. I am a survivor of the Holy Sword Project. I was able to live because I was reborn as a devil. I refused to die because I knew... one day, I would avenge my friends!" He raised his sword and charged. At the same time, Kokabiel prepared two spears of light to throw.
"I don't think so!" Zach destroyed one with a blast of blue flames, but the other managed to get past him and strike the ground. At the same time, Issei and Koneko ran toward Kiba. The impact and blast of the spear knocked them over but left Kiba badly injured.
"So he was able to avoid a direct attack," Kokabiel noticed. "What a quick little rat. Freed!"
Freed Sellzen stepped out of seemingly nowhere. "You called? I'm here!"
"This is our last bit of entertainment. Use the Excalibur to get rid of the remaining nuisances."
Freed grinned. "Oh, I would love to!" He picked up the sword. "You know that fancy new Excalibur with the ridiculous specs? I just got one as a gift. Now, who wants the pointy end of this bad boy first?!"
Xenovia leaped over Issei's head, swinging her sword at Freed. Before she could even get close, he seemed to disappear. He reappeared behind her, attempting to attack. Xenovia performed a handstand, twisting around and kicking Freed away.
"Oh, that brings back some memories," Zach commented, rubbing his ribs. He thought back to a fight he'd been in once with a succubus, around the one-year anniversary of when he awakened his powers. The she-demon had used the exact same technique against him, only in sharp five-inch heels. He suddenly felt a new presence enter the battle, looking up to the sky. "Something's coming. I'll stop it. You guys can handle this!" He spread his wings and flew up towards whatever he was looking at. Then, he collided with something. From the ground, it looked like a scarlet and jet-black comet while it was moving. When the object stopped, it revealed bloodred light in the shape of a winged woman, wearing black crystalline wristguards and greaves. "Who and what are you?" Zach asked. The woman remained silent. "Can you speak?" The woman, again, said nothing. The sharp back ends of her wristguards extended into blades, and she slashed at Zach. He grabbed the blade mid-attack and threw the woman across the sky. Gotta deal with this while they handle Freed and Kokabiel. Something tells me this woman could be an even bigger threat...