57Null and Void
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Highschool DxD or any elements of Kingdom Hearts that may appear in this story.
'Person thinking'
"Name of an attack/weapon/speech"
"Distorted/Demonic/Dragon voice"
Chapter 4
Unknown Location
"Aww man now that is some good sake right there." Bikou grinned with a light blush as he savored the sweet taste of the alcoholic drink in his hand.
"Honestly who drinks this early in the morning?" Bikou turned around to face his comrade. Behind him was a woman that could only be described as a goddess in terms of beauty. She had long silky black hair hat went down to her hips with two black cat ears. She wore a black Kimono with red trimming, leaving her shoulders bare and barely covering her large breasts. She had yellow prayer beads surrounding her waist and two black cat tails swaying lazily behind her. The women radiated an otherworldly beauty that no human could match as she walked towards him.
"Hey Kuroka, it's like they always say. It's never too late or early to enjoy a nice cup of booze with friends." He joked while chugging down the bottle.
The cat woman, Kuroka, gave him a deadpanned expression. "Then shouldn't you be sharing your alcohol with me then?"
Bikou blinked then pulled up the bottle and gave it a quick shake, the liquid inside sloshing around. He then gave a cocky smile and sighed, "Sorry, but looks like there is only enough left for one."
Kuroka smiled and walked up to him, swaying her hips seductively and bringing down her kimono down slightly making her already barely covered breasts even more revealing. She got close enough that she had her body pressed into Bikou's. He blushed from more than just the alcohol as he could feel the firmness and softness of the nekoshou's breasts. She got in closer, her lips an inch away from his own. Then at the last moment she darted past his mouth and whispered into his ears.
"Better luck next time then" she pulled back and walked away, showing off a rather familiar object to the stunned Bikou. He blinked and looked to the bottle in Kuroka's hand and back to his own.
"Hey no fair, I wasn't ready! You crazy neko I let you take it on purpose."
Kuroka giggled as she gulped down the last of the sake and she sighed in relief with a blush on her cheeks. The descendant of Son Goku chased after her, who eagerly enjoyed playing with him a little. The two ran without paying attention to their surroundings and eventually their little game of cat and mouse came to an end when Kuroka tripped and fell down, shattering the gourd and spilling what little liquid remained.
Kuroka and Bikou's lament over the spilled sake was short-lived as they finally took notice of their surroundings. In front of them were two large iron doors. In terms of size each door was the size of a six story building and the doors were covered in thousands of sealing tags written in a large variety of languages.
"Hey Cao Cao aren't these the doors that Ophis-chan, told us to avoid at all costs?"
"Yeah, I think so. Man look at the size of these doors. What the hell could Ophis have in here that it merits her to declare this spot off limits to nearly everyone? I mean does she think we are to weak to handle whatever is on the other side?"
"In the case of people like the both of you, it may very well be the case." Both turned around to stare at a young child no older than twelve. She was decked out in a rather revealing Gothic Lolita outfit that had her breasts exposed with the only thing giving her modesty was some tape crossed into an x shape over her small nipples. They couldn't help but feel on edge when the girl walked past them. To anyone who was not attuned to the supernatural world, they would have simply passed her off as some weird cosplayer. However the moment you would gaze into her violet eyes, they could tell right away that she was not someone they would want as an enemy. Next to her was the unmistakable form of Vali, the wielder of the longinus the Divine Dividing, vessel to the white dragon emperor Albion and a descendant of the original Lucifer.
"Ophis, what brings you all the way out here? Nya don't tell me that you were worried for the both of us and you decided to come pay us a visit."
Ophis did not even turn to look back at her, "Of course not. In fact neither of you had crossed my mind. My arrival here is purely coincidental. Also in regards to your earlier question. It appears you misunderstood my intentions. I didn't say that people were forbidden from entering these doors. Rather I said that you are warned not to enter them. Whatever you decide to do, I couldn't care less if you did."
"Then why the hell would you warn us from staying away from it?"
"Well to anyone else entering these doors comes with risks and dangers to one's health, that much is unavoidable. However when it comes to senjutsu users such as yourselves, these risks are greatly amplified. Because behind these doors lie something incredibly powerful born from the very heart of darkness. For senjutsu users such as yourselves, entering this place would be akin to suicide."
Vali smiled coyly as he placed his hand under his chin, "Whatever's in there is incredibly powerful that even senjutsu users should fear it? Call me curious not show them to me, after all I am probably the only one present here that can actually stand to whatever these things are."
Ophis turned to him her face emotionless, "Do not get over confident Vali."
"Not to mention Cocky!" Bikou barked as he marched right into Vali's personal space. "If you can handle it then so can I!"
Kuroka, stared with a sweatdrop as Bikou argued with Vali,"Well look at the pot calling the kettle black. But I suppose this time he does have a point. Ophis we would like to accompany you. After all it isn't every day that we meet something as strong as you claim it to be."
Ophis observed three of her strongest allies, her eyes analyzing them in fine detail. Then she turned around and waved her hand causing magic seals to appear on the door and causing the tags to vanish and unlocking the doors. The moment the doors opened a strong wind blew past Ophis looking to escape from the confines of whatever holding they were in. The wind swept over them causing their eyes to open wide in shock when they felt the dark taint in the winds. They also each heard small voices whispering to them in the wind. The voices were incomprehensible, spoken in a form of ancient dialect, but they all understood the meaning behind them. The desire to destroy all of which lived in the light.
"Enter at your own peril." Ophis walked forward through the doors. Her tiny form vanishing into the shadows as they engulfed her the moment she stepped past the arches.
Kuroka, Vali and Bikou looked at one another. "Well I ain't backing down if none of you are."
Bikou turned and walked towards the doors. Kuroka and Vali walking on either side of him. As the entered the shadows, the giant doors slammed shut behind them. The world of light vanished replaced by a domain of shadows.
"Xenovia look out!" Xenovia raised her Excalibur just in time to block Axel's attack. However Xenovia flinched in pain as sparks flew into her face and hair from Axel's Chakrams. His rings were spinning with a powerful rotation with wheels of fire surrounding them. To anyone else looking at him it looked like Axel was wielding rings of fire with his bare hands. Axel smirked and threw his chakram. Xenovia jumped up, the ring of fire flew past her but Axel performed a series of hand movements and the ring changed direction like a boomerang heading straight towards Xenovia who was unable to dodge while in the air.
Irina dashed forward using her Excalibur Mimic transforming it into a whip. She lashed out and struck the side of the wheel of flame. She was surprised by the force behind it, but she powered through it and was able to divert the attack enough that it avoided dealing a fatal wound to Xenovia, only lightly grazing her arm
The pain caused Xenovia to turn away from Axel for only two seconds but that was more than enough time for him to turn the tide of their stalemate. The flames surrounding his chakrams grew in size as he released a burst of power, increasing the rotation and force behind them. It was enough to send Xenovia flying, but years of training forced her to keep her grip on her sword.
Axel back flipped and threw his chakrams. They crisscrossed each other flying through the air towards Xenovia and Irina. When they were within reach Xenovia and Irina jumped in the air to intercept them, they were surprised when their trajectory changed course. Instead of flying towards them they arched wider going past them. Time slowed down as the chakrams grew closer and closer to one another. When they came into contact, a huge explosion erupted with enough force to send both Xenovia and Irina flying towards Axel. Axel ran towards them and jumped meeting them in mid-air, he spun delivering a powerful split kick to the stomachs of both girls, forcing the air out of their bodies.
Axel must have been stronger than he linked, because Irina and Xenovia flew to opposite sides' of the fire ring. Xenovia dug her sword into the ground slowing down her momentum before she could hit the fire wall. Irina was not as lucky. She was able to halt her momentum, but unlike Xenovia's, her Excalibur was not heavy enough to stop her momentum causing her to come in contact with the wall. Irina screamed as she felt her arm crash into the side of the ring of fire causing her to scream in pain as it her arm was burned. Oddly she did not go through the ring instead she was pushed her back into the ring.
Axel flipped in the air landing on his feet. He looked up at the girls grinning as he looked down at Irina who was clutching her arm and fighting back tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"Come now ladies, you didn't that getting out would be that easy did you? This barrier of mine has all sorts of surprises."
Axel sighed as he made his way towards them, his chakrams materializing from bursts of fire.
"Tsk, tsk and here I was hoping that you two were going to pose a challenge. Guess I was wrong." He snickered in a condescending tone that infuriated Xenovia.
"Don't you dare look down on us you damn harlequin!"
The insult seemed to strike a nerve as Axel stopped smiling and his chakrams dispersed into sparks. He looked Xenovia with a neutral expression. He sighed as he picked his ear with his pinky looking bored, "I suppose that now you expect me to get all angry and then recklessly charge you for calling me a fucking clown. Well jokes on you little girl. It doesn't matter how many insults you throw my way I am not going to care."
"Big words coming from a man who is doing all this for the sake of a disgraced nun." Irina spoke holding her blade with one hand while her injured arm hung limply by her side.
Axel blinked and then he did something that neither of them expected him to do. He laughed like a maniac. "Oh man that's rich. You think that's why I am doing this? Oh that's rich." His laughter dying down to a chuckle as he brought his hand up covering his eyes, but still showing his smile to them.
"You guys think that I am fighting for the pretty nun devil huh? Well sorry but that is just wrong. You better memorize this well girls, I could not give a damn about what you say about that girl."
The flames shifted in size and power, turning into a ghostly blue color. Shadows danced over Axel's face, his eyes were covered but his mouth was set in a creepy grin. He raised his hands and tongues of flame soared towards his open hands morphing back into his signature chakrams.
"Hell I could walk out of this ring right now and murder her friends in the most gruesome way possible and then torture her just for kicks. The bottom line even if I did something that even the devil wouldn't, I would not care in the slightest. In fact I don't care about anything. Anything that I do is for the benefit of my existence."
Xenovia and Irina stared in horrid shock as Axel's eyes shone pure white in the shadows. Combined with the smiling grin he had on his face, it made him look very intimidating.
Irina was at loss for words, but Xenovia spoke for her. "How… how can you say something like that? Something so horrid with a straight face?"
The flames returned to normal as Axel slowly made his way towards them making his opponents wearily take a step back. "Why you ask? Let's just say that it's because I can stand the existence of others"
"Can't stand the existence of others? But why?"
Axel stopped, looking down at the ground, hands in his pockets, with a solemn look on his face. "Because in this world full of people living their everyday lives…. I am just a nobody."
'A nobody? What does that mean?'
Axel took out his hands and summoned his chakrams, juggling them anxiously, "Enough babbling! We've got a fight to get back to."
"He did what?" Naruto paced across the room without looking up at at his companion. Roxas watched him nervously with beads of sweat going down the side of his head, while Xion was busy reading a comic.
"I can't believe he would go and do something like this when I expressly told him not to go and do anything crazy. What is going through his head right now?"
Roxas chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, "Well this is Axel we are talking about. He doesn't like being told what to do or being caged."
"If anything you should have expected that Axel would have gone AWOL and went to carry out some crazy messed plan to get attention. If anything this is your fault for not properly anticipating Axel's behavior." Xion commented out loud without looking up from her comic.
Naruto looked at Xion who was continuing to read her comic. Naruto rolled his eyes and made his way toward her. Before Xion realized what was going on, his hand was already over her comic and with a single tap it vanished.
"Hey I was getting to the best part!" Xion pouted childishly while giving a trying and failing to glare at Naruto, who sported a tiny smirk. "The best part about what?"
"You know the part about…. Uh…. With the thing…. And… the other thing when…uhhh…. Dammit Naruto I hate it when you do that!"
Naruto inwardly smirked as he watched seeing Xion waved her arms and playfully smacked her fists against his chest. Xion would have continued had she not seen the glare Naruto gave her. The next thing they knew Xion was holding a surprised Roxas as she hid behind him staring at Naruto from over his shoulder.
"HOW DID YOU GET BEHIND ME?" Roxas cried bug eyed at the situation that happened in less than a second.
"That doesn't matter. What does matter is that I feel a little ticked off that you think I would be the one responsible for this mess, especially considering you guys were here for the sole purpose to make sure that Axel did not go rogue. So if it is anyone's fault its little miss innocent over there!"
Xion took a note from Roxas' book and started to look away while whistling an innocent tune. However just looking at her expression you could tell that she was far from innocent. Naruto sighed at his friends antics and plopped down on the seat behind him.
"This just like Hong Kong all over again" he rubbed his forehead as he recalled the events of a rather unwanted memory.
"Hey how were we supposed to know that Axel was going to get in deep with all those spider yokai? Besides it all worked out in the end didn't it?"
"You let your guard down, got bitten and nearly had your arm ripped off."
"Well… besides that. I mean the swelling wasn't that bad… sure my arm was the size of a balloon…. But it was only for a few days. Besides Axel ended up doing more good than harm."
Naruto released a tired sigh rubbing the bridge of his nose as he took a seat. "Well do you guys have any idea where that red haired idiot may be?"
Roxas and Xion looked at one another then back at Naruto and then turned their backs to him as they talked in low whispers. 'Is that really necessary?'
Their huddle continued for a couple of minutes before they turned to him, "What day is it today?"
Naruto was a caught slightly off guard. Usually when Axel had went off on his own and he asked them about where he had gone they would usually answer that they had no idea. Naturally after hearing them say something completely out of habit, he was a little surprised.
"Umm… I think that today is Friday." Xion and Roxas looked at one another and then back at him showing off some cocky grins.
"Well we know that Axel's been pretty fussy about those guys from Kuoh Academy lately. He often muttered about them finally giving him a chance to stretch his legs and cut loose. So naturally… Hey where are you going?"
Naruto was already halfway to the door during Roxas' explanation. "I know where that idiot is. Let's go."
"Wait hold one you did not let me finish!"
"There's no need. The moment you mentioned those students from Kuoh I knew right away that Axel would be heading to their school. In addition it's already late afternoon so the likelihood of normal people being at the school at this time would be slim. Unless of course, you have extracurricular activities such as an Occult research club which the Gremory girl happens to be a part of according to the information Axel retrieved from her file."
"…You could have at least let me finish." His body was hunched over and a cloud of depression hovered over him. Xion stood right by him giving him comforting taps on the shoulder.
"There, there, I thought your explanation was pretty good!" Xion spoke with a positive tone in an attempt to cheer him up.
Naruto grunted in annoyance, "If you two morons are done playing dumbass, we have a red head to find before he puts us all in an uncomfortable position with the locals."
Xion and Roxas' personality did a complete one eighty and in moments all three were flying out the door to find their rogue comrade.
Rias cried out in anger as she released a barrage of dark red energy blasts against Axel's flame barrier. From up above Akeno materialized a magic circle in front of her, releasing arcs of lightning. The attacks from the two great Ladies of Kuoh fused together as they collided against Axel's barrier. The powerful beams pushed and writhed against the barrier, trying to overpower and disperse it. However to the utter frustration of the two ladies the barrier fought back against the beam, the flames roaring in defiance. Finally unable to supply any more power to their attack the beam disappeared and both Rias and Akeno slowly flew back down, landing on their knees in exhaustion.
"It's…. no good… not enough power." Akeno replied through heavy breaths, her miko outfit clinging tightly to her body. Rias was in no better condition than her queen, having used up even more energy than Akeno did.
"Issei, can you give us any more power." She asked her pawn who had come to kneel next to her. He looked exhausted, not as much as the two girls in front of him, but still pretty exhausted.
"It could take me a while before the Boosted Gear can do another transfer. Besides even if I was able to do it, you two are in no condition for me to do that."
"What?"
Issei gulped out of nervousness when Rias looked him in the eye, "It's old man Draig. He says that you have both reached your limits and anymore transfer of my power to you could be fatal. Not to mention I delivered a few too many dragon shots earlier so I am pretty much at my own limit already. I apologize Buchou."
Rias sighed as Issei helped her up before heading to do the same to Akeno, "Very well then, I don't like it, but there isn't much that we can do now."
Akeno walked over to her king, "Still the power of the first flame is incredible. No matter how many attacks we fire at it. The fire wall is not only dense, the heat it generates is enough that it will just burn away whatever we throw at it until there isn't anything left. Even water magic is useless."
"We can't disperse it, nor can we create barriers to pass through it. I would have liked for Sona to be here. Unfortunate that she and her peerage are all otherwise indisposed of at the current time."
"Hold one what if we wait a little longer and we try to blast it down again. If Axel is creating these flames then maintaining them should also be draining him of his own power right?"
Rias looked towards her pawn, "A good guess Issei. It may work, but there is so little we know about the power of the Eternal Flame. These flames are beyond supernatural, for all we know they could be burning independently of Axel. So long as he can will the flames to burn and if there is oxygen in the air, it won't stop burning."
"So we just sit here until Axel decides to drop it?" What about Irina and Xenovia?"
"I don't think we should worry." All three turned towards Kiba who had joined p with them along with Asia and Koneko. He looked at the flames with an angry expression that put all of them on edge. It was really uncomfortable for them all to see a look on Kiba's face that should not even be there.
"I can sense their power from here. By the looks of it they seem to be running out of strength at a rapid pace. At this rate, I don't think that they will last much longer."
Issei wanted to punch Kiba at that moment for saying something so cold. Sure he was pissed at the way Irina and her friend had treated Asia, but it wasn't like he wanted them to get seriously hurt either. However a gentle hand on his shoulder made him look to his king who gave him a calming look, which mad him calm down. He looked into the fires of Axel's barrier and could not help but feel concern for his old friend Irina.
Axel was grinning like a mad man as he chased Irina and Xenovia around the barrier of flames. Xenovia was keeping him busy forcing him on the defensive as she attacked with frieghtening ferocity. Axel whistled, impressed with the strength Xenovia had despite being a human. The Excalibur she wielded was so heavy that even the strongest man would have trouble, yet here she was waving it around like it was a stick. Axel spun his chakram parrying Xenovia's blade and releasing hundreds of sparks that expanded into small spheres of flame that would have burned bone to has had Xenovia not dodged them. Whenever she got defensive Axel used amazing acrobatics to keep her back and delivered powerful spin kicks in an attempt to get her guard down. Both fighters carried scars, Xenovia flinched and bit back a scream whenever Axel's attacks managed to land on her. However Axel did not appear to flinch when she was able to land a hit. Even though the power of her sword cut into his body, all it did was make him smile even more, freaking her out on the inside.
Axel was having the time off his life. It had been ages since he had the pleasure of fighting such an opponent, especially an opponent that wielded a holy sword of all things. Axel was so preoccupied by Xenovia that he did not notice Irina sneak up right behind him. Her Excalbur Mimic transforming into a giant Halberd. Xenovia started to swing her sword and he rushed forward to intercept it, but she pulled back at the last minute causing Axel to fall forward from the force behind his attack. Axel's confusion disappeared when he felt something cut into his backside. He frowned as he spun around generating a tornado of fire around his legs. His kicks burned both exorcists and almost sent them flying back into the walls of the barrier.
Irina and Xenovia fought through their pain and glared at Axel who slowly stood back up and turned to look at them. He dusted of his cloak and popped the joints in his neck. Irina and Xenovia looked on in disbelief. Xenovia and Irina were stunned, no being on Earth, human or otherwise, could survive a direct strike from one of Holy Swords without succumbing to their injuries. Yet standing in front of them was human who able to brush off a strike from a Holy Sword like it was nothing.
Axel rubbed his back and looked at his hand to see it covered with blood. "This sucks… just had this thing cleaned you know." He replied in a bored tone.
Irina and Xenovia face faulted at how causal Axel was being," THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT!?"
Axel blinked at the girls, "Of course it is, I mean these things don't come cheap you know. I mean washing out blood is hard enough, but stitching it back together with this material? It's ruined no matter what I'd do."
"HOW ABOUT THE GIANT WOUND THAT'S ON YOUR BACK! SHOULDN'T YOU BE WORRIED ABOUT THAT?!"
Axel's then slammed his a fist into the palm of his hand. "Oh right thanks for reminding me." He pointed two fingers at the flame barrier and a tongue of flames flew out from the barrier, attaching to his two fingers. The fire morphed into a small sphere of fire. Axel then brought it to the top of his shoulder where the wound began. As though they it had a mind of its own, the sphere separated into two serpent like streams of fire that sutured the wound and cauterizing the wound shut.
"There now I am not likely to bleed out. Now let's get back to the fight." Axel bent down and threw his arms back with his chakrams spinning. Balls of fire materialized at the center before exploding outwards propelling Axel forward like a rocket.
"Vulcan Booster"
Irina and Xenovia jumped up avoiding the charging Axel. Axel canceled out one of the jets and threw one arm forward propelling himself up to Irina. Before Irina could scream, the outer ring of Axel's chakram materialized into the shape of a dual sword, which he used to slice through Irina's body.
Axel watched with a frown as Irina's bisected form fell down with a terrified expression etched on her face. 'Crap I was sure she would dodge or block that! Naruto is gonna be pissed that I…'
Suddenly Axel's eyes widened and red filled his vision as he felt something flat and metallic smash into his face, sending him falling to the ground. His whole body tossed and flailed so much that he could not see what was happening or who had hit him. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he felt something else hit him.
"HOME RUN" a familiar voice cried out as he felt a cylindrical weapon strike at his blind spot and was sent straight towards a waiting Xenovia who raised the flat end of her blade and crashed it into Axel's sternum, knocking the air out of him. The force behind the blow sent him flying into the barrier where his own flames swallowed his body.
"Well that was a close one huh?" Xenovia looked towards Irina, or rather Irinas. Three Irina's were staring at Xenovia each one nearly identical with beaming smiles on their faces. The only difference were the weapon each one was carrying. The first Irina was holding the regular katana form of Excalibur mimic, while the other two Irina's were holding a hammer and metal bat respectfully.
Xenovia frowned and flicked the sword carrying Irina in the forehead, causing the other two Irina's to vanish. Irina looked at Xeniva with puppy dog eyes.
"What did you do that for?"
"That was for keeping me out of the plan and scaring the life out of me when Axel cut you in half."
Irina chuckled nervously, "Yeah well it was a spur of the moment kind of thing. I thought it would be best to use Excalibur Mimics copy ability. Anyways good job not cutting Axel up."
Xenovia sighed, as she rested her blade on the ground where it sunk a foot or two into the ground. "He obviously has information that could be useful to us."
"I just hope that he isn't dead. I mean he did pass through a wall of flames."
"He should live, besides the Gremory heiress and her peerage are out there on the other side. If anything they will properly detain him and the witch can heal him."
"Well now being a little too harsh on the young nun again are we?"
Xenovia and Irina froze and despite the heat produced from the barrier they could not help but feel their whole bodies freeze from the sound of Axel's voice reverberating within the barrier.
"Irina…" she started but her partner already knew what she was going to say.
"I know the barrier isn't disappearing. In fact it feels like it's getting stronger."
Then slowly from the upper right side of the barrier, Axel began to slowly emerge from the walls. As he emerged from the wall, his hair had taken a more fiery appearance almost as if Axel had become part of the fire itself. He looked down at them with a smirk showing the blood stained gums and the area around the right side of his face was bruised and the sclera of his right eye was red, indicating a popped blood vessel. He still did not seem to show any pain and that only made the two exorcists even more nervous.
"That was quite unexpected using that little trick to deceive me. I can assure you I've got it memorized and I will not be falling for it again..." He sunk back into the flames and his voice once again echoed through the barrier.
"If you thought I was scary before, get ready to memorize a whole other level of crazy!"
Xenovia and Irina were on edge as they stood back to back with one another. Suddenly something shot out of the barrier straight towards them and Xenovia swung her Excalibur to intercept it. The moment it came into contact Xenovia was pushed back several feet, while the projectile rebounded off of her blade and back into the wall of flames. Before she could catch her breath three more projectiles, flew from three different directions, Xenovia and Irina deflected two of the projectiles, however the third one manoeuvered above them and was revealed to be Axel. In his hands was an orange sphere lifted over his head like a basket fall.
"MOVE!" both girls reacted just as Axel literally dropped the bomb on them. An explosion of orange fire washed over the girls as they used their swords to protect themselves to use their swords to defend themselves from the heat Xenovia slashed her Excalibur and parted the flames that passed on either side of her. Irina's sword radiated a white light and transformed into a giant war fan. With a loud yell she swung the fan with enough force to send the flames from the explosion back on itself causing it to die out.
Axel frowned and disappeared back into the fire. A few seconds later he flew from the barrier walls like a comet attacking both girls by throwing his chakrams which they deflected using their swords. Axel caught them and with an impressive display of juggling his arms became a blur as the chakrams flew at incredible speeds so fast that they were barely able to keep up. Every time they deflected a shot Axel would catch the rings and throw them again. Even when they tried deflecting the rings away from him they would simply change directions and quickly fly back to him.
Irina then began to concentrate and her whole bod began to glow and before Axel's attack could hit. Irina had already replaced herself with a copy that dissolved the moment it was hit. This gave her a two second window that she used to get into Axels guard. She transformed her sword into a whip and flung into the path of an incoming chakram, deflecting it away from Axel long enough for her to transform her sword into a mallet. At the very last minute before the mallet could hit him Axel grabbed it with his bare hands. Irina grunted as she pushed Axel back, but the red head was determined to win. He easily pushed Irina back and he then delivered a devastating lariat to her throat. The attack left her gasping for air as Axel sent her flying back with his superior strength. Xenovia let out a war cry as she tried to cleave Axel in two. Axel dodged by back flipping into the air and threw his chakrams at Xenovia's feet causing them to explode. Xenovia was sent flying away from the explosion but was caught by Irina. While the two exorcists were collecting their bearings Axel vanished into the flames.
He reappeared above them with fire materialising around his two chakrams and solidifying their form until it looked like he was wielding a dual blade sword in each hand. He delivered an overhead strike to Xenovia who managed to block the blade of fire causing sparks to rain down on her face. Axel brought the other sword down intending to stab her, but Irina saw through the ploy and managed to deviate the blow with her katana. Jumping onto the flat of the holy sword and ignoring the burning sensation on the soles of her feet, she jumped up after Axel who parried a blow to his right side. He spun his chakram and the fire sword forced the blade back and with graceful movements he started spinning both chakrams at incredible speeds making his dual flame swords seem like blurs. Irina movements were becoming sloppy and more predictable, a fact which Axel quickly took to his advantage. Along with the energy she used to create those copies of herself and her still burned arm, it was taking everything Irina had to keep up with Axel. She screamed when he managed to break through her guard stabbing into her flesh which burned from close proximity to the flames. Axel kicked Irina away, returning his attention to Xenovia.
Xenovia was in the middle of reciting a chant, but Axel interrupted her, preventing her from completing it. "I don't know what you were planning on doing, but I sure as hell won't allow you to finish it."
Xenovia growled as Axel forced her onto the defensive. Excalibur Destruction was indeed powerful, but it was clear that someone of Axel's caliber would require something much more powerful. She had tried to bring out Durandal, but Axel interrupted her chant, stopping her from summoning it. Axel then unleashed a barrage of silver fire down on her.
"Night of Forgotten Stars" Xenovia quickly dodged the incoming assault as dozens of comet like fireballs streaked down from above. Xenovia barely managed to doge the last set of projectiles before Axel burst through the smoke his previous attack created. Sensing a gap in his movements Xenovia countered his overhead slash. They collided and his constructs held for a few seconds before the power of her sword broke through them in burst of sparks. Axel uttered a silent curse and then released a roundhouse kick strong enough to send Xenovia reeling back from the blow and making some room between her and Axel. The broken flames around his chakrams flickered, slowly repairing themselves and reforming the blades Xenovia had just destroyed.
Her mind went into overdrive, while she avoided becoming a piece of roasted flesh. She thought about restarting her chant, but she thought better. Axel would never allow her to complete it. Also the heat of the barrier began to intensify, making it harder and harder to breath. It was only thanks to their harsh training that she and Irina had survived this long.
Irina leap up above Axel bringing down for an overhead strike a giant war hammer. Axel raised one hand willing the flames on his chakram to reform into a shield fire, stopping the blow, while his other charkam flew out of his hand forcing Xenovia to bend backwards avoiding the deadly ring of fire as it sailed overhead singing a few strands of her hair.
The ring detonated in the space behind her, making her fly straight towards Axel. She barely managed to bring up her free arm to stop a Axel's fist from smashing into her face. The strength behind the punch sent her skipping across the ground several yards away. She got back to her feet and flexed her arm to ease the pain starting to form on her forearm. She glared at Axel's cocky smirk and wanted nothing more than to wipe that it off from his face. Suddenly a sly idea started to form in her head as she remembered that Durandal was not the only thing that she could summon. She extended her arm out and in a flash of white light an oval shaped object the size of a stone appeared in the palm of her hand. She clicked a small button on the center of the strange object and it started to ring and blink like crazy. She threw the small object at Axel, the ringing becoming more and more frequent every passing second.
"A grenade?" Axel was a little put off by the blue haired girl's unexpected tactic, but he made no move to dodge. Instead he smiled and transformed his chakram into shield of flames. "Did you forget? Fire is my element! You'll have to do better than that."
Xenovia's smile never left her face, "That wasn't an ordinary grenade."
The grenade went off, but instead of an explosion, Axel was surprised by a deluge of water. Upon contact with his shield the burst of water vaporized into steam clouding Axel's view of his opponent.
'What the hell just happened?' Axel focused on the mist and he picked up on something that he had not expected.
"This is…?"
"A holy water grenade!" Axel was momentarily shocked to see Irina burst through the mist a chokuto in her hand. Axel raised his chakram and started to summon his flames, however he was shocked when all the came out was smoke. He was forced back as Irina's blade met the metal of his chakrams halting the small blade inches from his eye.
"If you're wandering about your flames, those holy water grenades were enchanted by the archangel Gabriel herself. They not only stun devils, they also serve to nullify all forms of fire based magic and attacks for a short time. Lucky for us, Xenovia still had one in reserve from one of our past missions."
Xenovia rushed in towards his exposed side swinging down her Excalibur. Axel saw her from the corner of his eye and frowned. Without taking his eyes or focus off of Irina, he spun and summoned the flames form his chakram. Only instead of fire a thick cloud of steam came out temporarily blinding Xenovia's field of vision and making her miss Axel by millimeters. As the blade came down Axel slammed his chakram onto the blade. The spinning stopped as the space between the chakrams blades caught onto the sword's sharp edge and held the blade down. Xenovia struggled against the pressure Axel was exerting to keep her blade down.
"Did you really think this would be enough to extinguish the power of my Eternal Flame?"
Sure enough the steam emerging from his weapons began to dissipate, slowly being replaced by his signature flames. At the same time, Irina's blade started to glow as a white light enveloped the chokuto, causing Axel eyes to widen in realisation.
"Nope, only long enough."
In the blink of an eye, her chokuto transformed into a spear that shot straight for Axel's face. A spray of blood splattered on her cheek and she felt Axel's body go limp. His body started falling back, but to her shock he caught himself at the last moment. Using Xenovia's sword as a spring board he pushed with his arm and propelled himself into the air. He jumped back onto the walls of the barrier were he stood perpendicular to the girls. He looked down at them as blood leaked down the side of his face from where his eye used to be.
Axel, dabbed his finger on his wound and took a look at the bright red substance that was tinged with flecks of silver. He looked down at them with his signature cocky smirk, then started to clap slowly.
"Well done girls, I hope you got this moment memorized. That was a good display of teamwork, not to mention, it's been awhile since anyone's done this much damage to me and was still alive."
Axel made a flurry of motions with his chakrams and the ground beneath Irina and Xenovia started to glow. Almost at once, both girls jumped out of the way just as pillars of fire erupted from the ground where they were previously standing. Irina being the closest to Axel, retaliated before he summon more pillars. Axel twisted his body just as Irina swung Excalibur Mimic transforming the sword into a whip with a razor sharp edge. Axel dodged the attack by sliding down the walls of fire, however Xenovia expected this. The blue haired girl jumped in the air and with speed that surprised Axel, she swung her giant blade with enough force to cleave a building in two. As Xenovia came closer and closer to him, she saw the sight of his panicked expression and couldn't help but smirk. However her smirk vanished when Axel's expression changed and he stuck his tongue out at her.
Suddenly whatever was allowing Axel to stand on the walls of fire stopped supporting him and he fell through the wall of flames just in time to avoid Xenovia's powerful swing.
Xenovia was so preoccupied by Axel's disappearance that she failed to notice him rise out from the flames behind her. Axel raised his arm and his chakrams materialised hovering a few inches out from his palms. The chakram started spinning and all of the nearby air was drwn to the perimeter of the rings of the rings fueling the growing fires surrounding the weapons. Axel thrust his arms in front of him aiming right at Xenovia.
"Explosion: Fire Storm!" the chakram spun clockwise, the flames burning with contained power begging to be unleashed. However seconds before it burst Xenovia felt something wrap around her leg pulling her down, just as the attack was released.
Xenovia cried out as heat seared the side of her face and singed strands of her hair. Looking up her eyes were wide in fear as she watched a fire cyclone tear through the air in the exact same spot where she had been previously. Xenovia growled and twisted her body around, tightly gripping the handle of Excalibur Destruction. The blade started glowing an ethereal white and with one giant swing of the ancient weapon, she unleashed an arc of light straight at Axel's exposed side. Axel growled as he raised his chakrams and started drawing on the flames from the barrier from the barrier. The flames Axel drew on started turning blue and began forming a protective barrier around him. However Axel's barrier was only half completed by the time the arc of energy came into contact with his shield. Before any of them could process what happened, an explosion of blue and white flames tore through the makeshift arena.
From the outside, Rias and the others were surprised when the barrier started to expand before releasing the energy contained within. The barrier's collapse forced Rias and the other to fly away up into the sky as fire from the explosion washed over their former location.
As soon as the fire dispersed the group of devils made their way towards the smoke cloud where two figures emerged. Xenovia was on her knees supporting herself with her Excalibur, her breathing was heavy and she was sweating profusely while her hands clutched her burned cheek. From the corner of her eye she gave a thankful look to Irina who simply nodded. She was just as bad as Xenovia. She had her hand pressed over her bleeding side. She flinched as she remembered when Axel's chakram had gotten through her defense and not only slashed her hip, but the damned thing had also detonated sending shrapnel flying right into her body.
"This isn't good." Everyone froze at the sound of a certain red haired man's voice. They all looked towards the fading cloud of smoke and Axel slowly made his way towards them. The entire upper half of his cloak was burned off showing the third degree burns spreading across his body. His eye wound had been cauterized shut stopping the bleeding. The sight was pretty shocking considering that any normal individual he would have collapsed from the pain. Although Axel's injuries were not just limited to his burns. They noticed his limp and looked at his right leg which was twisted at an awkward angle that should have made it impossible for him to even walk. The one thing that stood out most was the strange tattoo on Axel's chest.
Rias narrowed her eyes when she saw it, she had never seen a symbol like that, of a white splintered heart. Rias frowned when she noticed black and white veins spreading from the mark slowly encompassing the right pectoral area of his body.
"Not another step asshole."
"BOOST" Issei raised his boosted gear towards Axel the green jewel shining a vibrant green and the gauntlet already gathering energy for a Dragon Shot. Axel stopped walking is hair shadowing his eyes and his hand on his remaining eye.
"I overdid it..."
Akeno blinked as she could feel the hesitation in Axel's voice, she also took note of the pulsing veins originating from his mark.
"I… can't stop…" Axel looked up and parted two fingers and that was when they felt it. Rias took a step back on shock when she saw that the pupil of Axel's eye had completely receded to the point where it was a small dot, giving him a psychopathic look. But what really stood out, was the strange aura emanating from him. Rias did not know how to explain the aura, but it felt powerful and extremely unnatural. Almost like his very presence upset the balance of reality.
Irina and Xenovia tried to raise their swords but they were too weak to even move. Issei and Koneko moved in front of them trying to shield them from the dangerous aura emanating from Axel. Rias blinked when she noticed that everything seemed to have come to a halt.
"Why…why should they… have to exist?" Axel mumbled to himself his voice slightly distorted, but with their enhanced hearing Rias and her peerage picked it up quite clearly.
'Has he gone crazy?' Axel's arms suddenly encased themselves in fire and stared at them with a psychotic and apathetic look on his face. Rias summoned the power of destruction, Akeno's hands sparked with lightning, Koneko tightened her fists, Asia began healing Xenovia and Irina and Issei's boosted Gear was ready to fire.
Axel screamed as he unleashed a wave of fire at them, but before they could react, someone had already intervened. The giant wall of flames vanished as quickly as they came and Axel along with everyone else dropped to their knees as they felt the air disappear from their longs. However it lasted only a minute and they gasped for breath and looked up at the sudden new arrival.
He was wearing a sleeveless hoodie with black and white flame motifs, the hood was up but they could see some strands of blond hair. His arms really took them by surprise, because they appeared to be encased in black and white gauntlet similar in design to Issei's, with a similar motif to that of his hoodie. In an instant the mysterious individual was gone and he reappeared in front of Axel and delivered a devastating lariat. Axel gagged as the blow slammed him into the ground in front of the intruder. He raised the palm one of his gauntlets and black and white light enveloped Axel's body in a sphere. The sphere made low whispering sounds that sent shivers down the spines of everyone present.
After a couple of tense seconds had passed the sphere released Axel and the lights vanished into the gauntlets. Rias and everyone else were shocked to see that Axel was perfectly fine. In fact he looked as if he had never even been in a fight. His cloak had been completely restored and his injuries had been erased, not even a scratch remained. Rias even noticed that the aura he was previously releasing was now gone.
"Who the heck is it now?" Issei slowly got up rubbing his throat and greedily swallowing in as much air as he could.
"Keep your wits about you partner that's him!"Issei glanced at his boosted gear.
'Wait him… you mean that he's the one who you sensed before?'
"Indeed. I can honestly say that I have no idea what the heck he is. His sacred gear appears draconian in appearance, but other than that I can't say much else about it other than that they it's powerful. What's weird though is that I can't sense anything from him. That guy is not natural."
Issei looked back to the blond haired man and saw him looking right back at him. Their gaze met only for a second before he broke contact and looked at Axel. He was sorely rubbing his head and looked up to meet the eyes of his very best friend and leader. Even though he could not sense or care using emotions, the blonde's body language obviously pointed out that he was not happy.
Axel chuckled, "I am in big trouble aren't I?" The figure said nothing, only raising one hand and snapped his fingers. A flash of light later and Axel was gone. Everyone stood there flabbergasted as they witnessed the man who had caused so much trouble for them suddenly vanish as if he had been vaporised.
"I apologize for any trouble that my partner has caused. He is really hard to control sometimes. Almost like a mad dog really."
Rias glared at the figure her pride refusing to have her back down. "You seriously can't expect us to believe that we are going to let this slide after all the damage your friend has done."
The man looked around the devastated landscape and at the two injured exorcists.
"Is that all there is to it? I can fix that in a flash." He raised both arms and before they could protest a dome of black energy rushed out and quickly enveloped them and the destroyed area in its smoky embrace. Inside the dumb time stood still and every living thing inside was now white and grey. The dome kept getting bigger until it completely encompassed the area that had been destroyed by Axel. The cloud stopped expanding and started to go in reverse as if it were being sucked into something. The dome got smaller and smaller freeing those trapped beneath and being absorbed directly into the gauntlets of the blond.
Rias blinked in confusion as she tried to process what had just happened. She blinked once and rubbed her eyes to make sure that she was seeing things correctly. She was shocked to see that the school grounds damaged by Axel's fires had completely repaired themselves. Not a single detail was out of place, it was like the damage had never happened.
"IRINA/XENOVIA!"
Rias wheeled around and was even more surprised to see that both Irina and Xenovia had been completely healed of their injuries and their clothing restored to normal. Rias looked back at the figure who had already begun to walk away.
"Well then I guess that fixes everything. I guess I'll be seeing you guys around."
Rias tried to stop him, but Akeno beat her to it. "Wait!" Naruto stopped moving, but did not turn to look at Akeno.
"Um… what happened to Axel-kun? He isn't dead is he?"
"… As much as he can be a pain in my ass, he is still a friend of mine. So no I did not kill him. I simply sent him somewhere for a time out."
"Where exactly is this place?"
He slowly learned around a sent her a look that made her shiver, "A place that is far being your reach." Before she could question him further, Rias sent her a look that told her to back down.
"Who or what are you really?"
Naruto pulled his hood back exposing his face to her, "My name is Naruto and it's as Axel said when you ran into him a couple of nights ago. We are allies, some who will be of assistance to you in the future. See you around"
He snapped his fingers again and vanished in an instant further stunning the group of devils and two exorcists. Rias sighed and rubbed her temples. She just knew that her life was going to get even more stressful from this point onward.
Chapter End!
Finally done. I was really surprised to see that so much time had passed since my last update. I am really surprised that I let myself go like that. I apologize to my readers and thank them for their patience.
I hope I kept you guys in suspense with the events at the beginning of the chapter. Hopefully things will get a little clearer about what is behind the door in the next chapter. I can assure you that it will play an important part in a later arc.
Anyways hope you guys enjoyed the latest chapter of Null and Void.
Happy Halloween!