Seriously, one time. Just one time, where I do not have to get my ass attacked during a meeting, be it from poisoning, bombs, assassinations, decapitations, and bloody terrorists!
Just One. Root Be Damned. Time!
After letting my thoughts run wild on a heated rampage with a few chosen words not appropriate for kids, I got up from my spot and shook my head a little to rid myself of the ringing in my ears before I looked around me. Soon after another thought came into my head.
Sona and Rias were so going to murder the people attacking them right now.
The windows were completely unsalvageable and the walls were wrecked, revealing the courtyard from which I could there were several people standing around in dark cloaks. From there, I could sense the presence of a barrier that covered the entire academy and supposedly isolated us from the rest of the world. What little I could tell, the attack force seemed to consist mostly of humans, the remainder being Fallen Angels and supposedly Devils.
Great.
"Ah~ you are awake." I turned my head to find the leader of Grigori stretching his arms and cracking his neck. "That blast got us good~"
"Don't suppose you know who our party-crashers are?" I asked while wincing from some pains in my arm.
"I might have an idea or two." Azazel turned to look at the group outside. "Meet the Chaos Brigade."
"Seriously?" I turned to him with a deadpan expression. "Chaos Brigade?"
"I know, not the most original name in the block, but it is their name." Azazel shrugged as he pointed to the others. "Forget them for now. Could you check on our companions?" I turned to find some of them frozen in place, a couple of them were literally floating in the air, their expressions of surprise and fear stuck on their faces.
"What happened to them?" I quickly made my way to Sona and Reya, noting how the expressions were stuck in the transition of surprise to fear.
"My guess comes from the missing Bishop of the Gremory." Azazel supplied the answer as he pushed some of the rubble away from those frozen in place, watching them float away in the same position. "He has issues controlling that Sacred Gear of his and it tends to act up and freeze time sporadically. However in this case, I believe the enemy has located him and forcefully activated his Sacred Gear to create this field, hoping to disable us." He looked around with a raised eyebrow. "They did get some of us, so that would be a problem."
"Then how did you and I escape?"
The fallen angel pointed behind me that revealed the presence of [Hell's Trident], having come out in its true form to protect me from whatever the attack was. "The gear you procured activated automatically and created a small film of demonic energy to cover your body, protecting you from the blast and the time effect of the field."
"As for me, you can thank your magic sword for that." Azazel used his thumb to gesture at the Excalibur which I only just noticed. The item in question was hovering in the air to create a barrier of Holy Light on the leaders and some of the others, and from where I was I could tell that the devils were the most confused as to why they were not being affected negatively by the weapon. At me looking at it, the swords pulsed before bringing down the barrier, before coming at me quickly blade first, forcing me to dodge it before grabbing the handle as it passed.
"Why does every weapon that you meet wants to go back to you in such a rough manner?" Kiba asked as he looked at the sword as though it would bite his head off.
"If I ever know the answer, you will be the first to know." I glared at the holy sword in question as though it could answer my question, and the response, if it was one, was to glow brightly. I sighed before putting it back into the dimensional pocket. I should consider getting a scabbard for that.
Maybe a copy of Avalon? That might be suitable and safer than using the actual item, I don't want to know what would happen if the two got into contact with one another. Probably blow up in my face like one of Rin's experiments.
"This is so bad~" I turned to find Serafall Leviathan looking around with a pout on her face, more focused on her sister frozen in time. "Why do these guys have to ruin our meeting?"
"People don't want peace so easily." Michael spoke solemnly with a saddened expression and with a tone that spoke of his years. "Considering our factions had been at war for so long, some may feel that would be their only purpose in life. The Three Factions pushing for a disarmament and joining of hands would be an affront to them."
"Just like it did with Kokabiel." Azazel frowned as he remembered the fallen angel. I merely nodded at both of them, recalling my fight with the man. There was the underlying feeling that the angel of war was weary of peace and seek to battle with the strongest. That was why he came after me, to have someone fight him to the death.
"In any case, this is a problem." Azazel turned to Vali who was standing around with a bored expression. "Vali, I need you to deal with our guests until we can get the freezing effect removed."
"Very well, I was getting bored anyway." Vali activated his Sacred Gear and hovered off the ground, sparing a look at Ise before looking at me with a look that sent alarm bells ringing in my head.
"The both of you better be alive when I come back, because I will settle the score as the White Dragon Emperor." With that declaration, he activated the [Balance Breaker] ability that covered him in that white armor and flew out of the wrecked room. In no time, the courtyard was lit with explosions and one shooting star that kept flying all over the place.
Holy mother of the Root! That gear was seriously fast!
"Oh man…" Ise looked down in frustration, biting his lips while his eyes showed the tell-tale signs of self-loathing and worthlessness. I merely raised my arm and hit him hard on the head. "OW! What gives?!" Ise cradled his head while glaring at me.
"You are yourself, Vali is someone else. You do not need to compare yourself to him all the time." I looked at him with a steady eye. "Besides he is not the best role model for you to emulate. That guy has a brain hardwired for fighting only. You have some other goal, don't you?"
Ise looked at me with a stunned look before nodding slowly with a smile. "Yeah, that's right. I am going to become a harem king! I want to bed Buchou, not fight like a mad man!"
"While that goal is a little questionable, at least I do not need to worry of you being a fighting maniac." I smiled before adopting a more serious expression. "But I do need to say this, beware of him. I don't trust him that much."
"Oh, you don't trust us that much?" Azazel came to us with a raised eyebrow.
"I said Vali, not you or Grigori." I replied as I checked my circuits and charms to make sure they were still safe. "That guy is setting off every alarm bell in my head and I don't like it. And it is not just the fight from earlier."
"I see." Azazel nodded lightly. "That is a good thing I suppose." Turning to Ise, he handed him a very thin bracelet. "Here, you would need this."
"What is it?" Ise looked at it while moving it around his fingers.
"Something to help you achieve [Balance Breaker]. I figured you have yet to achieve it, so you would need something of the sort." Azazel paused before turning to me with another bracelet. "Speaking of which, I think you might need one as well."
"Me?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"You do remember having a Sacred Gear called [Hell's Trident], right?" Azazel pointed at the spear that was currently behind me, its body glowing in the presence of the enemies around me. "I will admit this to you, you have progressed quite a fair bit considering you have it for a little over 2 months and what I can tell, you are really close to obtaining [Balance Breaker] yourself. Faster than most users of other gears, but you might need to bring it out earlier if we are going to be going against some heavy-weights."
"But I believe there is a catch?" I narrowed my eyes as I examined the bracelet.
"For one, this bracelet can only help achieve [Balance Breaker] for a few minutes, and it is only achieving what could be considered as the default state of that ability." Azazel explained while gesturing outside where Vali was decimating the troops. "Also, I am only giving one because to use it multiple times could weaken the gear and likely hinder the growth of your true [Balance Breaker]."
"I see." I promptly handed him back the bracelet. "Thank you for the offer, but I think I can do just fine without either of them."
"Oh?"
"If what you say is true regarding the time limit, then I think we would need it more for those who already has some inking and control over their [Balance Breaker]." I looked to Ise with a finger pointed at him. "See if you can extend the one he has, because I think he would need the extra time considering Vali is out there. Something tells me that Ise's [Balance Breaker] would be the ace we need."
"You really have it against Vali huh?" Azazel asked as he did what I suggested and inspected the bracelet to Ise.
"I just don't trust him." I shrugged without caring about their feelings. Something about that fellow was really making me uneasy, and it was not just because the overall scent of power coming off of him. Something about him overall was reminding me a little of Illya for some reason.
"Very well. I can't stop your thinking." Azazel turned to those who were not frozen and were now gathered around us. "I think it is safe to say that we should get our friends out of the way before we can figure out a way to take down this time effect and the barrier."
"Half of us will deal with the intruders and the barrier." I looked to Ise, Kiba and Koneko. "You guys go and find that Bishop of yours. If he is really the one causing the time issue, you guys deal with that. I will take down the intruders that are closest to us."
"Mister Emiya, we will accompany you." Xenovia said with Irina nodding.
"No, I think you should stick with the leaders." I cut her off before she could argue. "It's not like I doubt your skills, but what little I have seen, we will need some assurance that no one decides to attack the leaders and those frozen. With you two here at least, the leaders can concentrate on attacks or reversing the effects of the frozen time."
"That is correct." Griselda spoke from her end.
"So that's settled." Azazel looked to all of us. "Let's roll out!" He smiled at our deadpan expressions, with the exception of the angels who looked confused. "I always wanted to say that!"
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A/N : The Story Needs More Power Stones ;)
PS : if we can reach 400 Stones by the end of the week, I will throw you an extra chapter
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if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to my p atreon :
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