A don't own the boobies or the pigtail.

This story won the small story poll for January, but given my priorities in January, and posting two large stories and one medium – Sword, Bow and Horse, my patty on only Vanadis/Ranma crossover - I wasn't able to finish it in time to get it out to my Ranma expert Hiryo, until last night. Astonishingly he was able to get it back to me in time for the Super Bowl LOL. Still, it hasn't been checked by a small mistakes editor, or even me with Grammarly, so I don't doubt there will be many small mistakes. Hopefully, not enough to harm your enjoyment of the chapter though.

---

Chapter 12: Catch a Dragon by the Tail

Inside the house, Irina used her limited magical skills to activate the teleportation portal before stepping back, joining the others as they spread out through the basement of the building. All of the internal walls barring the needed pillars had been knocked down to give them more space to work with, and they faced the array in a two-thirds circle.

For a moment as Gabriel, Ranma and the others watched, nothing happened. Then the teleportation sphere blasted open, a flash of holy energy crossed from wherever it was linked to Kuoh in an eye-searing blast of light. Kiba and the other Devils flinched back in shock and pain from the holy magic, with Tomoe and Tsubasa both falling to their knees as Koneko reeled back on the balls of her feet. Kiba handled it somewhat better but even he was incapacitated for now.

But Gabriel and the exorcists were undeterred and in response, Gabriel launched her own attack through the portal. This came in the form of several dozen Light Spears, which smashed into the Holy Light spell from the other end and cutting right through it. Saeko and Ranma strode forward, fists and blade ready.

If that had been all, perhaps the attackers might have broken off. Might have decided to give up on the attack. Or perhaps they would have come through regardless, looking to overwhelm Gabriel and the others with numbers as the Devils were still reeling.

But the mind behind this attack had planned to face Gabriel from the start. Her presence on Earth, after all, was hardly subtle, even in her sealed state. So that mind had decided to look for like-minded, I.E. insane people, to add to his firepower. This came into play now in a most definitive manner.

There was a cracking noise resounding from nowhere, yet so loud, Ranma and the other close combat fighters reeled, Koneko going so far as to clap her hands to her Nekomata ears as they popped into being. That sound signaled the teleportation tunnel being forcibly enlarged from the other side.

A giant shadow of something appeared, thrusting its head out and cold came with it even as the creature couldn't quite seem to come through physically just yet. This wasn't a normal cold, this was a biting cold so deep and harsh it seemed more like being close to liquid nitrogen. The concrete under the array started to first frost over, then crack, the breath of the defenders visible and their extremities started to become so cold they stung.

"Fall back!" Gabriel shouted instantly realizing the danger, even if she didn't know the cause. She reared one hand back behind her and hurled it forward. Her hand had filled with a massive holy spear, easily as large as she was and twice as wide. The spear slammed into the shadow of the being that was trying to break through, causing another titanic blast of holy magic. But the thing didn't show any sign of stopping its attempt to break through the teleportation spell, despite whatever difficulty it was running into doing so.

Seeing this, Ranma grabbed up Kiba and Koneko, tossing them over his shoulders, while Saeko grabbed Tomoe and Tsubasa, none of the demons having recovered from the earlier blast of holy magic. Worse, Gabriel's attack had splashed holy light back onto them all, reinforcing the impact from earlier.

Ranma then began pushing the two exorcists in front of him while behind him Gabriel launched another charged Light Spear into whatever was coming through the portal. The first had no effect other than to cause a deep rumbling laugh on the other side, followed by the cackle of a far higher, much more insane sounding laugh a second later. The second fared no better.

"What are you doing!" Irene shouted, unable to get away from the grip on the back of her neck that was pushing her along out of the hidden room. "We have to stay and fight! Lady Gabriel…"

"Gabby can look after herself," Ranma said grimly. "Whatever that thing is trying to come through has her spooked and that's enough to make me want to put some distance between me and it. Let's get some room to maneuver."

Ranma's first statement was proven a second later as Gabriel rocketed past them, only not under her own power. Instead, she seemed to have been smashed int the chest by some kind of force that had shattered her breastplate. She was tumbling through the air as she passed them on the race to the stairs. She righted herself quickly enough, and led the way out of the room, while Ranma shouted into his com-bead. "Rika, do your thing!"

OOOOOOO

"Something tells me our close-in ambush has not gone well," Rika muttered outside from heir sniper's hide, even as she flipped the trigger on the first explosive trap: the two bunker-buster bombs set in the basement of the building. As the close-in defenders retreated, with the Devils getting off of Ranma and Saeko's back, the building behind them exploded, collapsing the entire edifice down onto itself.

For a moment after the explosion, there was silence, just the sound of the rubble settling, then Rias and Sona shouted into their intercoms. "What was that all about?" Rias and Sona asked at the same time through the intercom.

Gabriel had barely a moment to answer before the teleportation portal suddenly expanded out from the rubble, lighting up the entire street as someone from the other side overpowered the spell connecting the two runic arrays. But what she said at that moment was almost as ominous, as the sight of the teleportation spell activating and hundreds of individual Fallen Angels phasing into existence in the air above the street. "They have a dragon."

Ranma whipped his head around to stare at her, as did the others, since none of them had been able to see anything but a large moving shadow. But then the Fallen Angels were there, more than a hundred strong appearing all at once, launching their Light Spears down at the defenders. "Kill them all! To restart the Great War!"

At that Ranma shook his head, racing to meet them up the side of a building before launching himself up into the air. "Worry about that later, deal with the enemies in front of us now!"

Despite being merely human, the two SAT team members were actually more much more experienced in wide-scale combat scenarios like this than any of the others, save perhaps Ranma. Both Sona and Rias had trained against similarly-sized peerages or hunted down stray Devils. They weren't really prepared to face the sheer number of enemies that were suddenly appearing in their territory, nor were they prepared for their plans to go pear-shaped as their initial attempt at close-in combat had, despite planning for it.

Of the two SAT Tajima was closest, hiding in a nearby building. Even as the Fallen Angels appeared, he was already lining up his shots on the apparitions. The instant the Fallen in his sights solidified enough, he could no longer see the sky through him, he opened fire and two Fallen died before the others could realize they were under attack.

Seven of them turned in the direction of the building he was in, but then Ranma and the other close combatants closed. Of them, it was Kiba who was the first to land a blow, racing past Ranma with his own demonic wings as he shouted out, "Demonic Blade, Flame Sword!"

Then he was in the air between three Fallen, their own attacks going wide. His blade lashed out, slicing two of them into pieces, his blade, a burning, blazing thing cutting through their bodies, cauterizing the wounds even as it cut them. His blow was then blocked by the third Fallen near him for just a second, the two straining against one another Light-based sword against demonic blade before a kick tore them free. Kiba then twirled in place, bringing his sword up and around at head height with one hand, while the other hand summoned another blade into existence. The Fallen Angels couldn't block both, and was sliced in two by the second sword before Kiba was forced to bounce away, flying this way and that, dozens of Light Spears passed through the air he'd just been occupying.

Ranma was the next to strike, leaping up and using his glowing blue grip on a Light Spear to flip himself up further, slamming his other fist into the face of that Light Spear's user. With the impetus of that blow, he shifted his momentum to the side to put him behind a Fallen Angel with three pairs of wings. A fist slammed into the back of that Fallen's head, then Ranma stomped on him as he faltered, the kick smashing the Fallen's spine into pieces before Ranma once more used the returned momentum of that kick to push away as another Fallen tried to impale him. That Fallen's attack caught Ranma's second victim in the kidney, hastening his demise as Ranma leaped away.

"Boo yeah baby, Anything Goes Aerial Style for the win! I can fight better in the air than any of you dirty crows can even without wings!" That seemed to incense more than half of the remaining Fallen, who closed in. This was, without much exaggeration, the worst thing they could have done, and Ranma's laugh turned evil as he bounced between them, shouting imprecations and just generally causing chaos.

This allowed Gabriel to retreat and she did so with alacrity, ordering Irina and Xenovia to come with her, as she got in touch with Rias and Sona, tapping the odd human communication device she was wearing. "They have a dragon," she reported, the two of them not having been in range to hear her earlier. "I wasn't able to see enough of it through the teleportation array to recognize it, but it was black scaled, and black-eyed, and for some reason, it had an aura of intense cold, very bizarre for a dragon of any type. They are mostly connected to the elements of fire and air."

From within Issei's soul, Ddraig muttered worriedly. He had been awake since the moment Issei had called upon his gauntlet, but since Issei really wasn't all that good at wielding his power just yet, he was being kept with Sona's Bishops under Tsubaki's command far away from the front line, whereas Saji was closer, working with Sona exclusively. But now he spoke, his tone inside Issei's head very worried. "That sounds almost like the evil dragon Níðhöggr. I never learned about why he started to wield ice powers, but he is the only dragon that has ever had an affinity with that magic. If that is him, you need to stay away from him, Issei. You cannot fight that creature yet, he is beyond you as you are now."

Issei gulped and relayed that information to Sona and Rias, who related it to everyone else.

Gabriel scowled, shaking her head. She knew of that one, and its death had been one of the highlights of what Heaven called the Conversion Wars, when the Faithful made war upon other religions. Back then there hadn't been nearly as many Fallen, and the Devils and their greater cousins the Demons hat not been summoned to Earth yet. "If push comes to shove, I will release my limiters to deal with him. Do I have your permission to do so in your territory lady Rias, lady Sona?" she asked formally.

"Let's wait on that," Sona said, knowing what a political shit storm would result in that on the devil side of things let alone on the Church side of things, if Gabriel was forced to use her truly unfettered archangel form here on earth. There was a reason after all why archangels and powerful Devils like her sister came to earth with only a tenth of their power. The world just couldn't handle that kind of magical energy any longer. "We've got a few ways to fight a dragon among us already."

More and more of the Fallen Angels were coming through the teleportation ring, but Ranma and the other close combatants were keeping them relatively contained. For some reason, Ranma's taunts were simply infuriating them and none of the attackers had spread out much just yet. They were also losing members, their concentration on Ranma opening them up to the attacks from the Devils and Exorcists.

However, there were so many of them in the air now, that the long-range attacks of the Devils and bishops were not enough. Rias looked over at Sona, one hand glowing. "Do you think I should get involved now?"

"No, wait for a bit, let them get bunched up before you use your destructive magic or whatever you call it," Rika said from nearby. She was now firing a single shot every few seconds. With every bullet she switched from one target to the next, her face set in a rictus grin, as she pushed her sniper abilities to their limit, while the fighting was still well away from her current position. She and her partner were doing as much damage as any of the Devils.

"Given how you all are speaking about this dragon, I'd bet that conventional, non-magical means won't work on it right?" After a course of affirmatives, she said simply, "In that case, order the close-range fighters down to the ground. It's time for the AWS to go to work. Let technology thin the numbers before the 'tank' appears on the field."

Sona nodded crisply, and she and Rias ordered their peerage members to the ground. Ranma was a little slower, but Saeko was already on the ground, not having his mastery of midair combat. However, she also had a long-range attack that she could use far faster than his and had been slicing at the Fallen above her with her air attacks.

Once they were all on the ground, Tajima signaled the anti-air AWS weapon systems that Ranma had helped set up on four of the rooftops around the building holding the teleportation array. There were only four of them, but all four CROWS were loaded with the equivalent of shotgun shells, and now came to life. Their primitive brains flicked the guns up and they began to fire into the air above them. They didn't even bother to lock on, they simply began to fire, and the sky became filled with metal.

Despite what Ranma thought about most of them being weak, the Fallen Angels were actually tougher than most humans. But they weren't tougher than most planes. And if a helicopter or jet would've been destroyed by the sheer number of flechettes now flinging themselves merrily into the air from the AWS weapons, the Fallen didn't stand much chance. Dozens, then more than a hundred Fallen were ripped apart. Whatever formation they might've attempted as they came out of the teleportation array was broken, and screams and shouts from the wounded abounded before they were silenced by Koneko and Tsubasa who rushed out of hiding.

Kiba and Tomoe now started to work together as well, attacking any of the Fallen Angels, who had evaded the range of the CROW weapons, by flying above the streets to the right of the main mass of enemies. At the same time, Ranma bounced from one side of the street to the other using the sides of the buildings and the streetlights to good effect, to keep close and drag attention down on himself. Saeko joined his efforts with the two exorcists, and between them, they shut down one of the roads leading away from the teleportation point.

From the other side of the battle, Akeno's lightning began to arc overhead along with several attack spells from Tsubaki, adding their strength to the killing ground already created in the air above the copied town. Sona and Rias, in contrast, acted as snipers, conserving their energy and attacking any of the Fallen in the air who had been far enough away from the four CROWs to not be targeted by them with pinpoint magical attacks. Gabriel waited, crouching on a warehouse nearby.

For a moment, it seemed as if they had turned the battle against the attackers, and Kiba and the other demons fully recovered their poise at this one-sided slaughter. But then, whatever had been blocking the Dragon from coming through suddenly broke.

The teleportation tunnel flared again, widening further to cover the entire streets and then the dragon was there, its massive bulk bursting out, destroying several blocks worth of the buildings. The close-range combatants were thrown every which way, righting themselves slowly as the dragon finished emerging from the still-glowing array.

The dragon was four stories tall at the withers. It was as large as two city blocks, tail-tip to nose. Its scales were black, its claws were spattered with green gunk so much, whatever color they might be was obscured, its eyes black beyond a tiny white iris. It had no wings to speak of, but it had six legs to make up for it. Hoarfrost surrounded it and from its mouth came a breath of cold, rancid air, rushing down toward Kiba, who was the closest combatant. But Kiba was able to speed away from the attack, thanks to his Knightly given speed.

Worse in a way, the dragon's very presence sat in the bounded field like a massive bowling ball on a thin rubber sheet, and both Kings quickly twisted away from the battle, rushing back to the edges of the bounded field and pushing their magic into the bounded field, reinforcing it. That was the correct decision since otherwise, the dragon's arrival would have shattered the bounded field and the fight would have spilled over into the real world. But it did leave their peerages to deal with the Fallen attack and it's draconic

Back in the battle, the dragon roared its challenge to the sky, heedless of the magic attacks already splashing over its scales. Like an Archangel's mantra, its voice reverberated with magical power more than through the air, his mouth not made to speak like a human might."I am Níðhöggr! Let the world tremble. Let life itself freeze. For I have returned from the darkness I was banished into by the forces of Heaven to bring revenge to the world and all who wronged me!"

The words created a physical and mental pressure, and at their impact more than one of the defenders faltered. Issei and Saji both faltered from where they had been waiting between the long-range fighters and the close combatants. A shouted order through their com beads got them moving again, backing away from the attackers, awe and fear in their faces.

Irina and Xenovia crumpled to their knees before having to be protected from a swishing tail strike by Saeko, who barely got in front of them in time to block it with her sword. Her sword shattered, and she was flung backward into them with enough force to smash them up into the air. The three of them were sent flying into and through a building on the opposite side of the street then into the next where they lay amidst the rubble, groaning.

"Saeko!" Ranma roared, looking to where she had been sent, then back to the dragon, crouching down and leaping up over another breath attack.

The others were also able to get clear as the dragon began his attack. But on the heels of the dragon came more Fallen Angels, hundreds of them, more than they had already defeated by at least twice their number. Most of these also looked to have four wings, whereas most of the first wave had been only the low-level one wing pair. These were obviously the weight of the assault.

And high above them all was another. He was a tall man, his wings of which he had five sets of wings on his back even blacker than the rest of the Fallen, so black they matched the dragon's scales. He had equally black hair falling to his thin seeming shoulders, a thin, foxlike face, and two large, somewhat Elvish ears. His arms were folded arrogantly over his chest as he stared down at the battlefield below. "Kill them," he ordered simply, pointing at the Devils, his voice rising as he went on. "Light the fire, which will signal the resumption of the Great War!"

The other close-range combatants had pulled back, avoiding the dragons initial attack, but now with the bounded field further empowered, Rias and Sona rejoined the fight. Huge blasts of power of destruction flashed out from Rias, searing through several of the Fallen to slam into the Dragon, while Sona tried to use her water-based powers, only to watch as it froze as it neared the Dragon.

The Dragon roared in amusement, then Ranma was up and in its face, having hopped up onto its side, his fist suddenly filled with the staff of the Kinjakan. Its circular chakra-like end instantly became wreathed in flame, as Ranma slammed it into the dragon's eye. The unholy energy of the demonic staff went to work, sucking in all the water of the creature it hit and also flash frying the eye. Then he was flung away, as the Dragon roared and thrashed wildly. He landed nearby, grinning evilly as he flicked the blood off of the sun staff's edge. "If it bleeds, we can kill it. And if I can leave this thin inside that dragon somehow, it's magic…"

Ranma trailed off as the Dragon turned its head in his direction. Ranma watched the eye regenerated, lines of green and black appearing around and through the eye socket in a spiral and around it's head, seemingly repairing the damage done by sucking some of the water inside the dragon's body out. "No," the dragon drawled "you can't". That brief moment of seeming sanity faded quickly and it charged forward.

Then Níðhöggr was met by Gabriel, who roared a wordless challenge of her own, as she slammed into the head of the dragon like cannon ball. Her Light Spear had shifted into a large pike, and she slammed it into the sensitive snout of the Dragon, causing it to rear backward. As the dragon lifted its head away a punch from Gabriel caught it in the side of the jaw, flinging its head sideways and carrying with it the rest of the body. The dragon didn't seem harmed by the punch, but it had certainly been pushed off balance.

"Damn, remind me not to get Gabby angry at me," Ranma muttered, shaking his head at the sight. I might be able to do the same thing if I loaded my muscles with enough ki, but it certainly wouldn't be as easy as she made that. And this is her in her sealed form… right?

Elsewhere many of the tricks and traps that the humans had planted had been tripped by the huge dragon suddenly appearing, its bulk smashing all of the nearby buildings out of its way. But Tajima was the only one in a building at the time and he had Fallen back in good order, racing out the back of the building he'd been occupying, and out into a relatively quiet street, moving around the fight to come at it from another angle.

Even so, the middle-aged man was now seriously questioning both his senses and his basic sanity. "A dragon, a fucking European style dragon! Why the fuck am I involved in this fucking magical world again?"

"Because at least we can deal with the small fry!" Rika's response came over his intercom.

All of the AWS weapons were gone, smashed by Níðhöggr's arrival. The Fallen Angels, therefore, had aerial superiority and were now punishing the Devils, caught as they had been on the ground or on the rooftops, even closing with the long-range fighters.

But they were still taking fire from them. Rika added to this from where she had also already retreated, rappelling to the ground and racing away before ascending up onto the top of a tower complex. At the same time, with Rias and Sona ordering their peerages to fall back and form up, they lost the ability to isolate them in detail.

With the majority of peerage now retreating in good order, Sona decided to concentrate solely on the Fallen realizing that her powers were next to useless against Níðhöggr. It would simply freeze her water, and her other magical-based powers wouldn't do much to Níðhöggr's scales. No, that fight was going to be between Gabriel, Ranma, and Níðhöggr.

The two of them, in turn, seemed to have bogged it down, which allowed the rest of them to take on the rest of the Fallen, falling back and to the right as Níðhöggr raged. Most of them would be able to keep clear for now.

If only I didn't think it was so futile, she thought, glancing up past the attacking Fallen into the air above them, where their leader still flew, his many wings beating gently against the air, as he watched, a look of intense glee on his face. It was as if it was all a show put on for him to enjoy, as if nothing they did was going to matter at all. And, since Sona recognized him as Kokabiel of the Void, one of the founding members of the Grigori, she was very afraid that if Gabriel couldn't break free from her fight with the dragon, he was quite right.

Rias too was looking up at him, scowling angrily, while her thoughts paralleled Sona's in content if not in tone. While Sona was now looking as frightened as she was angry and determined, Rias was just looking pissed off. "We need to finish Níðhöggr off and then take that one on with Ranma and Gabriel to back us up. Hopefully, he'll keep just watching for a while, but if he doesn't we're screwed. I have a plan though, if you think Saji and Issei can work together well enough?"

"It depends on what you want them to do?" Sona said back, sweatdropping slightly even as she and Rias continued to lay down covering fire for their peerages.

OOOOOOO

"Thank goodness for toughness training," Saeko moaned, pushing herself to her feet. Her back was throbbing, and it felt as if there was something wrong with her neck, making her unable to turn it from one side to another. But she was still alive, whereas she would certainly not have been otherwise without Ranma's training. The two exorcists with her also muttered their thanks to God, and got to their feet, shaking their heads groggily.

"Spread out quickly, let's not all be struck down by a single attack again," she ordered, taking charge even as she looked down at her broken blade with a sigh. "I don't suppose either of you see Kiba around here?"

There was a roar from nearby, and a cackle from Ranma, followed by a loud *Thunk* as if a large blade had hit something fleshy, very, very hard followed by a roar of agony and rage. "If I have to shove this staff up your ass, I'm down with that you six-legged fucker! Tell me, is that some kind of compensation, ya couldn't find your ass with just the normal four, so you grew another pair?"

Níðhöggr roared, "GRAAAHHHH! You will be singing another tune when I stomp your tiny carcass into so much slurry, human!"

"Nevermind," Saeko said with a shrug. "I think I'll go see what Ranma's up to. My, he really has made taunting into an art form, hasn't he?" With that, she pushed herself to her feet, and out the shattered side of the building they had crashed through, pushing the pain in her neck and back away for now. There was a battle to win, after all.

Behind her, the two Exorcists shook their heads in shock. "She's crazy!" Irina groused, "Ugh, even with the holy magic infusing our combat suits after that one strike all I want to do is go home and make myself a sinfully hot bath."

"I'm beginning to believe that craziness goes along with superpowers, at least with these martial artists your nation seems to have birthed," Xenovia replied, nodding her head seriously. With that, they raced in different directions, leaping up onto the rooftops and towards the closest group of Fallen, where they began to take part in the battle once more.

Saeko came upon Ranma, as he was attacking one of the giant feet of Níðhöggr, while the dragon was trying to take a bite out of Gabriel, who was zipping this way and that between buildings, leading Níðhöggr further and further away from the rest of the battle, aided by Ranma's taunts. Saeko raced towards him, dodging much of the debris that Níðhöggr was causing with every move it made, as it barreled through the town. It smashed buildings and apartment complexes and entire towers aside, as easily as a human would've pushed through bushes. And its wounds were already healing bar for its eye, where the healing seemed to have hit some kind of roadblock, but that hadn't slowed the beast down any.

"Ranma, I need a sword!" Saeko shouted.

Turning to her, Ranma twisted around slightly, dodging a blow from one of the six-legged dragon's claws, before reaching into his ki space and tossing the Gekkaja towards her. "It ain't a sword, but it's the best I got!"

Then he was pulling out the Kinjakan again to defend himself form a breath attack form Níðhöggr. It was fire versus ice for a moment before Gabriel was there, slicing deeply into where one of the serpent's claw met the rest of the leg.

Her blade bit into the thing's scales, but then she was slammed to the ground, too slow to dodge the next blow. Even so, she had recovered from her first blow, and thrust her blade, that simple, almost utilitarian blade that nonetheless hummed with Holy energy, up over her head. The creature's paw came down and skewered itself on her raised blade even as she went to her knees under it, grimacing at the weight.

A second later Ranma leaped up, using that hand as a springboard, and sliced again into Níðhöggr's face, with the chakram end of the staff, causing it to flinch back as its scales proved no deterrent, freeing Gabriel from underneath it. Again the weapon's fire and dehydration magic went to work, but couldn't do much before once more Ranma was flung away. He watched as the circles of green and black magic appeared once more, before the damage he had done was made good once more.

Watching all this, Saeko shook her head, scowling lightly as she looked down at the somewhat unwieldy Gekkaja. Despite its magic though, Saeko knew her own limitations, and she wasn't up to dragon slaying just yet. Give me a few months and a proper sword maybe, but not right now.

With that in mind, she retreated from that aspect of the fight, moving to engage several Fallen Angels who had taken to the streets in an effort to get away from flashes of lightning and blasts of Power of Destruction that were attempting to reclaim air control away from them.

Two of them died before they realized she was there but the third, quickly twisted around her strike, flashing a Light Spear that was shaped into a rapier towards her face. She batted it aside and twisted around coming in again, and the two of them exchanged blow after blow, until another Fallen Angels appeared from the side, wielding a Chinese Dao of all things.

The two of them pressed her back, but Saeko continually attacked every time they gave her a bare instant to do so, getting faster and faster, getting used to their attacks in a way that neither of them had ever dealt with before. "This woman! How is she doing this, she has no devil power within her!?"

"It's the staff, that thing is more than powerful enough to give her some ability!" growled the second Fallen as he went sword to staff with her.

"You Fallen and Devils, you look down on humans so much for lacking power, when it is you who lack true skill," Saeko said, a sneer crossing her flushed face. Then, she took a single step back dodging a blow before twisting the crescent blade of her staff around the Chinese swordsman's blade, sliced into his wrist. The Light Spear in his hand immediately cut out, but he was quickly holding it in his other hand, thrusting it forward. Saeko dodged to the side but couldn't dodge the rapier blade of her first opponent. The tip of it punctured her side even as the crescent blade at the top of the Gekkaja cut off the head of the Dao wielder.

"Arisitcales! Damn you! Die, devil lover," the reaper's user shouted, thrusting forward again.

But Saeko blocked it with the haft of her staff, carrying it to the side. Then she brought the cutting edge up in an arc that sliced into his and kept on going, opening the front of his head.

Twisting the blade to the side she flicked off the blood, looking down at her side where blood was beginning to pool through her shirt. But she hardly felt the pain. She was so high on endorphins right now, it felt like she was flying. This is it, this is it, the swordswoman thought, her eyes alight as she stared around her for new enemies to fight, her breath coming in ragged gasps, liquid slowly dripping down her legs. This is what I live for! With that in mind, she moved off, not noticing that the red stain marring the side of her blouse continued to grow.

High above the battle, Kokabiel scowled in annoyance. Gabriel and a pigtailed fighter of some kind were pinning down Níðhöggr, removing him from the battle. Yet I can't be irritated by that, dealing with Gabriel is why I convinced Níðhöggr to join me in the first place, against the orders of Ophis. Níðhöggr will inevitably get in trouble for that, as will I. But a victory here will restart the Great War, and in that kind of chaos, Ophis will be able to push forward with her own plans far more easily than otherwise, so it is most likely we'll get away with it.

That part of the battle was going somewhat according to plan. The local Devils, however, were doing a much better job of thinning his followers than he had expected. He estimated by this point he was down at least half of his starting numbers, and the initial waves had been wiped out to the last man or woman. And this strange alliance between them and humans is bizarre, to say the least. I had never seen modern human weaponry used against us before on this scale. Its implications are interesting. The Great War will be even bloodier than I expected, excellent!

He watched as a Fallen with six wings – three pairs - was struck in the head by a high-speed bullet, which rocked his head back so hard, it broke his neck. The bullet couldn't penetrate his skin but the impact itself still caused his death by breaking bones. Amusing, and a warning in one: our bones tend to not be as powerful as they should be given the durability of the rest of us. It makes impacts far more dangerous to us than cutting attacks. Still with Gabriel pinned down, I can deal with the Devils and her exorcists with ease. I have seen enough, none of them are a threat and it is time to end this fight.

First, let me get rid of the weak humans. I don't know what that one pigtailed one is, but he certainly is not a simple human, if his blows can harm a dragon. Hmm…perhaps a Sacred Gear user of some kind? That leaves the sniper who is beyond my range, from my position here and the other. He and the weaker Devils will do for a start. He held up a hand above him, and thousands upon thousands of Light Spears appeared, as many as every other Fallen on the field could create doubled, a veritable cloud of Light Spears, each spear the size of his outstretched arm. Then he gestured down, sending them down at the defenders like deadly hail.

This caused everyone below bar Níðhöggr, even his own troops, to scatter. Ranma and Gabriel had to break off their attacks on Níðhöggr to dodge and duck under them, and the dragon caught Ranma with a tail swipe that sent him flying through the air as if he'd just taken a trip on Air Akane with a cry of pain.

Several of Sona's peerage was also hit and fell to the ground, the Light Spears, sticking out of them, causing the Devils even more pain than similar wounds normally would a human. Momo screamed as a holy spear took her in the shoulder, nearly cutting off her arm, and sending her to the ground whimpering and moaning in agony. Reya howled as her hand and side was impaled, and Momo was unable to completely dodge a Light Spear that would have impacted her head.

The Rooks also had a hard time of it, although thankfully Koneko was far more mobile and able to dodge than most Rooks could. Tsubasa was eventually able to duck inside a building which absorbed most of the Light Spears that would've otherwise hit her, but one still pinned her foot to the ground right outside the doorway. Ruruko was hit several times, and collapsed, screaming.

The only hit Sona's Knight took, was one that Kiba was able to redirect, so it barely grazed her cheek. This still left a bubbling, hissing wound, but she could deal with the pain. Kiba himself was grazed several times, unable to disengage from the Fallen and thus protect himself.

The two Exorcists also dealt with this quickly enough, as did Sona and Rias, oddly enough using the same type of defense. Xenovia grabbed Irina close and raised her blade high, slamming it into every blade that came their way using Excalibur Explosion's magic to create explosions in the air and all around them. Rias created an umbrella of Power of Destruction that covered both of them, but neither were in a position to help the others, having been back with the queens and bishops to provide long range fire.

When the attack finally ended, seven blocks in every direction of the battle had been turned into a pincushion with Light Spears, that were only slowly dissipating.

Ruruko had moved forward to join up with Saji and Issei against orders, because her specific Devil power, which was to imbue cards with cutting energy, had proven to not be as good at range as she had hoped. Now with the other Fallen charging forward to take advantage of their leader's assault, this would've cost Ruruko her life in her badly wounded state, if not for their fellows, most particularly Saeko. She had taken cover in a building a moment ago and now charged out towards the downed Pawn.

The purple-haired swordswoman quickly engaged the four Fallen who were closing with Ruruko, cutting two of them down before the others even knew she was there. A bullet from Rika took out a four-winged Fallen to one side, causing the six-winged Fallen to her other side to falter. A flurry of blows was exchanged, and then her staff took him across the face, slicing into his eyes across his nose, blinding him and causing the Fallen to stumble back screaming, only to be gutted in the next instant.

A moment later, Tomoe and Kiba were there. Instantly, Tomoe picked up her comrade, pointing towards where the two bishops. "Kiba get them out of here! Take them to Asia for healing!"

"Good thinking. Koneko, you and Saeko should work together, fall back toward Akeno's position, I'll meet you there," Rias said in a gasp as she raced forward, carrying Rika, who had been on the same rooftop with her and Sona. The sniper was still busy firing over one shoulder, using Rias like a horse, almost and she was a Mongol cavalryman. Not that Rias was complaining. Anything to thin the numbers of Fallen attacking them was a good thing in her opinion. Although she was noticing that Rika's weapons were less and less effective as the low tier Fallen were culled.

"I hope you have something more high-powered than that rifle of yours," Rias muttered as they started to circle around where the Fallen were still spreading out. "Or else your part in this fight might be over."

"Are you joking?" Rika asked, shaking her head. "We had the entire SAT armory to play with. Get me to that large tower a few blocks over, I've set up an anti-tank rifle there." Ironically, it was the same radio tower where Ranma and Saeko had been making out before they spotted Rika and Tajima trying to overcome the magic keeping them away from the building.

Above the main battlefield, Kokabiel was preparing to lash out again. This time his Light Spear had shifted forms into a gigantic broadsword the size of a building, with which he cut into the building where one of the humans was hiding.

The thing seared through the building like a giant sword through butter, and on the first floor, Tajima had barely a second to stare up at the ceiling as the thing came down on him. He desperately dodged to one side, but not fast enough, and he screamed as it sliced into his leg, cutting it off at the knee and cauterizing the wound at the same time. He lay there in agony in the rubble of the building, his rifle forgotten to one side.

But thankfully he was hidden from view of most of the Fallen. Those few Fallen who could see him had other things to deal with. Because Ranma had come back to earth right in the middle of a few of them. And he was angry.

"Fucking dragons!" Ranma roared, punches smashing out to either side, putting his weapon away from the moment, since despite all his training with staff and sword of late, he still very much preferred to go weaponless when he could, it just made moving around the battlefield a bit easier. Punching and kicking, he dealt with the seven Fallen around him, all of whom were a little tougher than the first ones he'd already fought.

So there really is a kind of correlation between the number of wing pairs a Fallen has and their strength. He'd heard that from Rias, but up until this point, he hadn't really noticed any difference in whether or not a Fallen had one or two wings pairs. Age sure, the older guy, Grimaldi that he'd run into with Saeko had been very skilled and tough. But now he did notice that those Fallen Angels with four pairs of wings were a little tougher.

Despite that, Ranma's speed was such that he could easily dodge their attacks, and he had none of that natural weaknesses to their holy energies that the Devils did. Moreover, his own punches and kicks were more than strong enough, once he got through the defenses. A few of them, the Fallen with more wings, were skilled, more skilled than he was used to running into in these high numbers. But not only did the Fallen Angels not work together like a trained unit would, his highly mobile, aerobatics style seems to throw them off, and he heard more than one of them shout, "Damn it, how can a human be so agile!"

Another one querulously retorted, "Better question, how the hell is he staying so long in the air! He doesn't have wings and I'm not sensing any magic!"

A third Fallen paused, pulling back and staring hard at Ranma, his four wings flapping as he hovered above where Ranma was engaging two of his fellows near to ground level, bouncing around from a lamp post up into an overhang, then down to strike hard at one of the Fallen, who barely got his Light Lance up in time to block it but was still smashed into the side of the building by the momentum of the strike. "I'm sensing something, there's some magic there, but it's weird, I don't think it's actually…"

That was as far as he got before Ranma turned, grabbing a piece of rubble from nearby sending it with deadly accuracy towards the speaker. He cut it in half, but then Ranma was in his face, bringing around a light post that he had pulled out of the ground a second ago. The light post smashed into the Fallen, hurtling him into a nearby wall, which he crashed through, into the interior. He groaned, pushing himself to all fours, but was unable to dodge as Ranma landed on his back, breaking his spine. "No analyzing me," he muttered. "If I wanted that, I'd gone to a shrink years ago."

Looking out from his new vantage point of the hole his former victim had created, Ranma's eyes widened and he leaped away quickly.

Kiba had been moving towards the distant Akeno, where she had been trying to help the wounded Momo away from the battlefield but Kokabiel reached them first. He negligently smacked aside her lightning blast, then cut through a fireball that she sent at him next with his Light Spear, before alighting in front of his second victim of the fight, his voice an allow of contempt and normality. "You would be Akeno Himejima, the half-blood freak Baraquiel begot on his human bitch. That weakling and those like him have long been a barricade in the way of the future. I always thought he was the worst though, so pathetic as to enjoy being dominated by a human woman and even to lose his heart to her. So weak as to follow Azazel in this mad concept of peace between the factions! Pathetic, the pair of them. No wonder you're attacks are so weak."

"Do not mention that man in front of me!" Akeno screamed, holding her hands above her head her eyes flashing, her hair standing on end from the amount of electricity she was already conjuring. She gathered her magical energies into one blast of lightning, that was almost as wide as she was tall, hurling it at Kokabiel. But Kokabiel simply smashed it aside with his Light Spear, walking through the attack as if it was nothing to grab her by the throat.

"You see, weak!" Kokabiel laughed wildly, lifting her up into the air to the backdrop of thunderous noise elsewhere as Gabriel and Saji and Issei fought the Dragon. "All I see around me is weakness. But then again, I doubt I could expect anything different from half breed like you. You have too much of your mother, and your father alone too weak, fit for nothing but spreading your legs like all too many of my Fallen comrades." He sneered at her, twisting her head this way and that as if examining her. "Perhaps I should keep you around for that very purpose. Perhaps you would even enjoy it if you have enough of your parents in you."

A bare instant after he finished speaking Kokabiel was forced to dodge backward as a foot glanced through where his head had been a second ago, followed by another kick which landed on his wrist holding Akeno, deadening the wrist for a second and forcing him to let the black-haired Devil go.

"I don't know man, the insults are a little too vague and general for my liking. Well that, and far too mean towards Akeno. She ain't her father after all, she's way too cute for that. Were you dropped on your head as a baby that ya can't tell a good looking teenage girl from an old man? Come to think of it, did all of you Angels even have childhoods or teenage years? Or did you just sprout fully formed? Damn, that would explain so much about all of your issues."

While Akeno actually found it in her to blush at his offhand compliment at that moment, to Ranma's annoyance, Kokabiel didn't reply to his taunts. Instead, he simply attacked, a sneer on his face as he did. "Foolish mortal, you will know your place! You and humanity, they were mistakes made by God! Fit for nothing but slaves."

"Ah, so you're that kind of megalomaniac," Ranma drawled, even as he dodged two slices that would've carved him into pieces, then leaped up over another, his foot lashing out only to be blocked, forcing him to flip away, and then twist to the side as Kokabiel came after him. Holy shit! He is fast! And that was not a comment that Ranma was used to using to describe someone else, given that much of his own combat style resided around being faster than the other combatant.

But here, it was very obvious that Kokabiel was just as fast or faster than he was. And, he was also insanely experienced. Ranma didn't see any real moves he could recognize from either a spear, lance or sword style, but every move was economical. Oh, they looked as if they were wild and flamboyant but they weren't. Kokabiel would faint with a wildly flamboyant move one way, then strike with his real attack in his other hand, quick, economical. A flashing blade, or spear thrust his weapons changing size, shape and type as he needed.

But Ranma kept dodging, able to read the man's tells at least. At least that's the same as if I was fighting one of his weaker brethren! Even if I don't have much time to figure out what I'm going to do in turn. Still, Ranma knew, if his own attacks could do anything against the guy, he could win. Now if I could only get a second to pull out my staff!

With that Ranma began to backstep leading Kokabiel away from Akeno. He leaped from one building to another as Kokabiel laughed wildly, flapping his wings a single time to cross the intervening distance like a thunderbolt. Both hands were once more filled with Light Spears, which he thrust forward, only to be blocked and smashed aside by Ranma who was once more wielding the Kinjakan.

Kokabiel's eyes narrowed at the sight of it, and he nodded. "I was wondering how a human of all creatures would be able to fight a dragon, if rather ineffectually. That thing… I see, yes it could hurt Níðhöggr. Against one such as I, it loses much of its impact since my Holy magic negates the spells within. Nor are you nearly as good as that weapon's original owner."

"It's never the weapon that makes the man asshole!" With that, Ranma raised one hand off the staff and shot out a small ki blast, that smashed into Kokabiel's chest, making him back up a few steps. Ranma instantly went on the attack, but the blow actually hadn't hurt Kokabiel, it merely surprised him. He met Ranma's furious charge, the two of them moving this way and that, with Kokabiel always gaining the upper hand. As good as Ranma was, Kokabiel's experience, ability to shift his weapons to anything he wanted, and the fact that he could actually fly without needing to use the momentum of his opponent's blows to stay in the air, were beginning to tell.

Kokabiel even had time to back away, lift himself higher into the group in the air and launch his attack again, a hail of Light Lances spearing down towards Ranma and all around him. Ranma twirled his staff about side his head he as he bounced and dodged, shouting out, "Is that the best you can do? I'm not impressed!"

"Let's see if you can take this then!?" Kokabiel snarled, flinging his arms out to either side, gathering holy energy into them like twin suns before launching his attack again. Elsewhere, there was a scream of pain, but most of the Devils remaining nearby had been able to gather together and Rias' Umbrella of Destruction was able to protect them all. Even Akeno had successfully retreated, with Sona and Rias laying down covering fire, as she ducked through buildings that quickly became riddled like swiss cheese behind her. In this manner, the wounded were able to leave the immediate battlefield and were transported back to the academy to be healed by Asia.

Hearing of this through his headset from Rias, prompted Ranma to grin and shout, "Still not impressed!" with his radio still on.

With a roar, Kokabiel dove down towards him, chanting a mantra that caused the very air around him to shiver as he concentrated on his internal magical energies, drawing them up and out. "My soul is filled with violence, my desire for brutality fit to bury the world! Anointed in the blood of the Father, I will create a new age of War.I am Kokabiel, and I have come to return all to the darkness beyond the stars from which I was named!"

At those words, a truly vile fusion of holy energy and corruption began to pour out of Kokabiel, a miasma of putrid green and the yellow of holy energy. Then he landed in front of Ranma, and the miasma seemed to be reabsorbed into his body. An instant later he was crossing the distance as he screamed out, "Die!"

Ranma barely got his staff up in time to block and found himself smashed off the roof. A hammer blow of energy came down on top of him and smashed him like a volleyball into the ground. But again the fact he was no Devil helped and his own immense durability did the rest. He rolled with it, dodging a follow on the attack as he laughed wildly, hiding his unease with bravado as always. "Hah, is that all you got!"

Once more his taunt hit home. It really looked as if Kokabiel had a major thing about people being dismissive towards him. But that really didn't help Ranma as he continued to be pressed backward, Kokabiel's furious charge pressing him beyond even his own speed and strength. In response his own body began to gleam blue, his ki answering his call to enhance his speed and strength even more than before.

As he called on his ki though, Ranma felt that other energy within him, the Chaos Magic of Jusenkyo responding as well, something on the other end calling him, trying to push through that tenuous link. It distracted him enough that his ki reinforcing cut out for a brief instant and Kokabiel's spear caught him in the side of his stomach. The blow punched through despite Ranma's durability, slicing out to the side as he grunted in agony.

Kokabiel twitched his sword around in a blow that would have taken Ranma's head off, but he dove forward, rolling under the blow, before kicking up into the air and then lashing out with a sideways kick that hammered into Kokabiel's head sending him flying into the wall of a building to one side. At the same time, Kokabiel riposted, a hurled Light Spear catching Ranma point-blank with no time to dodge. The Light Spear caught him in the stomach hurling him up and away into a window and through it into what turned out to be an apartment's bathroom above him.

"Heh, nice kick, for a human," Kokabiel muttered rubbing at his jaw. That blow had actually rung his bell a bit but had not otherwise hurt. Still, the human's ability to keep up with his movements had been somewhat amusing. Regardless, Gabriel is the most dangerous here. I must finish off the rest of these small fries, while Gabriel is still being pinned down by Níðhöggr. If she releases her inhibitors, I have no confidence that he will be able to contain her without my help.

His brief moment of introspection ended, as more Fallen fell back down onto the street he was standing on with Irina and Xenovia pressed them down and into the street from the right. Both Exorcists caught sight of Kokabiel pushing out of the dent his body had made in the side of the building behind him and launched themselves forward towards him. "Traitor to God, prepare for your judgment!"

"Hahahaha! Then come little girls and let us see if you are strong enough to warrant my attention!" Kokabiel shouted back even as he dodged a blow from Xenovia's Excalibur Explosion, leaping up over the explosion. Then something hit him in the side and smashed him sideways, followed by a boom. It hurt, slightly, but not much and he glared in the direction the blow had come from. Seeing nothing, he roared and lashed out with a blast of unrefined holy magic that flashed out like a giant lance into several dozen buildings in a straight line in that direction.

Rika's eyes widened as she saw the magical attack coming her way, quickly rolling away from her Barrett. She pushed herself to her feet then took two steps and with no other choice to escape the attack, dove over the side of the building a second before the attack hit, blasting into her former position and slicing the top of the building off rather neatly.

Thinking quickly, she reached out and grabbed at the railing of a fire escape, wrenching her arm badly but slowing Rika's decent enough for her to twist her body to land into the fire escape. Several very nasty bumps and bangs later she skidded to a halt, groaning. "Fucking magic. I fucking put an anti-truck penetrator into him! That would have punched straight through a damn concrete wall or the armor of an APC! Fucking magic! Still, I wonder what an RPG or tank round would do to him… probably not much, damn it."

Back in the main fight, Kokabiel sneered at the two exorcists, his hands lighting up with Holy Magic. "Now, where were we? Oh yes. I was about to kill you." With that, he charged forward and the two exorcists quickly backed away, the voice of Rias shouting in their ears.

OOOOOOO

From where he was laying, half on and half in a bathtub, Ranma grimaced, looking down at the wound in his side and stomach. The first was a long, deep gash high up on his side that was closing even now. The blow to his stomach had sliced a bit of his skin and broken several ribs, but the majority of its cutting force had been stopped by Ranma reinforcing the spot with his ki at the last second. That too was already healing as his body concentrated more ki into the area. After all the injuries he'd taken in his life, that was automatic, even if these wounds were quite a bit more than he was used to dealing with.

That wasn't his problem, even if Ranma was sort of worried about how much of his ki healing those wounds would take. What the fuck was that!? He scowled, flipping himself up onto the floor of the bathroom he'd been tossed into. Staring into the mirror over the sink, he growled, ignoring the sound of the battle outside for a moment. "What the hell are you playing at you fuckers?" With that in mind, Ranma closed his eyes and concentrated on the connection between him and Jusenkyo. This time the connection came easily, and Ranma instantly found himself in the somewhat familiar environs of the cursed springs.

He was facing the spring that he had Fallen into, the Spring of Drowned Girl, but turned rapidly around, shouting out, "What the hell! What is going on here that nearly got me killed out there!?"

"I apologize for that," said a voice that Ranma had heard before. Ranma turned slightly to see Raguel there, sitting on a rock across from someone else, someone Ranma hadn't seen before.

The sight of that individual almost caused Ranma's anger to leave him to be replaced by wariness, although he would have been hard-pressed to say why at first. He was a young man, seemingly in his early 20s or so, and dressed in a white tunic or toga belted at the waist with a gold rope, which almost made him look like a reenactor playing at being an ancient Greek. He had blonde hair flowing down to his shoulders which were thin but well-muscled. His bare forearms too denoted strength and experience to Ranma's eyes, including some long, thin scars and the callouses which spoke of a swordsman. On his forehead he wore a circlet made of gold, with a large, glowing gem set in the center. His eyes were calm clear, and almost the same kind of blue as Ranma's. His face was aquiline with high cheekbones, a small nose, and thin lips. In other words, he almost looked like a bishounen, but one that could look after himself.

And yet, there was something about him. Something about the set of his lips, the thin sneer, something about the eyes, the narrowness of them, that created distortions to that beautiful face. It was still a very pretty face, and yet also something else, something corrupt. Something foul. Something that almost screamed of darkness.

"W what are you?" Ranma asked, getting into a stance, his hands clenching and unclenching.

"Heh, and you said he was unobservant and uncouth, Raguel. Yet he seems intelligent enough to me. After all, what better praise can be said about a human that they are able to recognize their betters?" The young man said, the sneer on his lips becoming more pronounced.

Ranma, however, just laughed, giving the man the finger. "You want to prove you're my better? A fucking spirit, who's already lost once before? That's why you're here in the first place, stuck to the cursed springs, ain't it? You lost, whoever the hell you are, so get off your high horse."

"You speak of things well beyond the ken of man," the man hissed, coolly getting to his feet to move away from Raguel, almost circling half around Ranma as he did, his eyes now more resembling that of a hunting animal instead of a human. "Keep a civil tongue in your mouth human! I might be but a shade of what I was, that does not mean I am powerless. And this is not just your mind here, your soul is connected to the cursed springs, and therefore can be hurt by those like myself who are also connected to it."

"Enough!" Raguel said standing up abruptly, holding a large, glowing silver sword as he glared at the other spirit. "We did not call Ranma here to torment one another. Besides, were you not the one who said that our wars were over now that we were all stuck here, in this place? Or was that just one more falsehood laid at your feet, Prince of Lies?"

The man grimaced, then nodded, holding up his hands and moving backwards. "You speak truly, brother. We did not call you here so that we could toss barbs at one another. We instead called you here to speak to you about that creature that you are fighting."

Ranma however had frozen at the name 'Prince of lies.' He wasn't Catholic, or really understood a lot about Catholicism, but he had heard that name before. He stepped backward, pointing with a finger at the blonde man, while he tensed the rest of his body, ready for a fight. "You're Lucifer!? The original I mean, the first Fallen Angels and then the one who apparently summoned up the demons? I'm not exactly clear about that part…" he trailed off, realizing he really didn't have any idea about the origins of devils. Something to ask Rias about, I guess.

"At this point there is no reason you should be," Raguel said shaking his head. "We are not here to give you a history lesson either."

"Good because I don't have time for it anyway," Ranma replied, setting his confusion to one side. "Get to the point. Quickly."

Lucifer snorted, shaking his head. "Foolish mortal, time here is immaterial. We are speaking at the speed of thought, the little neurons in your evolved monkey brain can barely keep up with the speed with which we are speaking. You will return to your body with no time past."

"Wow, you really do try to be condescending, don't you?" Ranma asked shaking his head in turn. Although it was somewhat hard for Ranma to decide if he was impressed or annoyed by that. After all, getting under your enemy's skin was a valid tactic.

"Only with some," Lucifer replied, smiling snidely. "Certain people make it practically impossible to avoid."

"… All right, that was a good one," Ranma said with a nod. "I set myself up for it, but I'll still give you point for a good insult."

The two of them actually smiled at one another, and Raguel brought one large gauntleted hand up to his face moaning. "They're getting along now. Father give me strength."

"God can't give you strength brother Raguel," Lucifer said, his tone surprisingly gentle as he turned his face to the other angel. "That is why we are still here, and why we have all called Ranma here."

Say what you would about Ranma's knowledge of general decency, the laws of physics, and foreign religions, there was nothing wrong with his basic intelligence, and in a fight, he had a near superhuman ability to analyze things. He cocked his head, then nodded slowly. "That asshole's chant, the one he used to pull out or unlock more of his power. 'Anointed in the blood of his father,' he said. Are you saying Kokabiel was the one who killed God?"

"Stabbed him in the back!" Lucifer said, his voice a hiss whose bottomless rage would've sent shivers down most men's spine. "While God was down on his knees, exhausted from the labors of chaining the beast that fornicating bitch Inanna accidentally unleashed upon the world. Its power was such Ranma that only God could have sent back into its hole. But it took everything he had!"

"And in that moment, Kokabiel struck. It was not witnessed by many, Ranma," said Raguel shaking his head. "None of his fellows saw the deed, very few Demons either and none of the more powerful Devils. And then the Demons, the original Lords of Hell, were all slain in the battle after thanks to the sacrifice willingly made by myself and others to try and stem the tide."

"But I saw it. Indeed, I had thought to do the same thing." Lucifer shrugged as he said that without any hint of remorse or prevarication. "We were after all at war, but when I sensed how badly drained father had been, how horrible the conflict between him and the Beast of Destruction had been, I let him live. For there again he had shown the power of our Lord Father, Our Star of Righteousness. The sight stayed my hand. It did not Kokabiel's." The Prince of lies shifted his shoulders again, this time with a certain fatalistic air. "And of course, Metatron came upon me near the corpse of Father, along with Uriel. Between them, they were able to overcome me, although I took Uriel with me in the end."

"…Okay, you're throwing too much stuff that me at once, mentioning people and things it feels as if I'd need a lot of background info to understand," Ranma said waving his hands as if to brush away a cloud of flies. After all, Ranma would profess to be an atheist if pressed, and if not, was more of the Shinto faith than anything else. So, all this was entirely foreign to him. "Essentially, you're here to tell me that Kokabiel needs to die, right? Then why don't you shut up, and let me get on with it? Your little interruption nearly had me in my grave instead of him!"

"Because you hold back." Lucifer said bluntly. "Because we have seen your fights from this place ever since you fell into Jusenkyo. We know that even in a life-and-death struggle you don't go all out until you must, and even then very rarely, only if the need to is literally rubbed into your face, mostly with the bodies of those you call friends." He smiled then, gesturing to himself with both hands. "Consider me doing that rubbing right now. And without one of your friends having to die first. Be grateful."

Ranma's snarl at that caused Lucifer's smile to widen, yet become no less dangerous or a sneer. Ranma was later astonished at how many negative emotions Lucifer could convey in even a simple gesture like that, but for now, he simply listened, reluctantly acknowledging the fact the asshole was right. He did hold back. It was so automatic now it was almost like taking to the air, a central part of his martial arts.

Seeing his words sinking in Lucifer's sneer turned into a snarl. "Kokabiel must die. That is all there is to it, and with Gabriel fighting that Dragon, the job falls to you. Stop holding back, break out those so-called sealed techniques of your, and use what power is within you! You can connect to Jusenkyo, the greatest source of Chaos Magic on earth or in any other plane. Use it!"

"Okay how?" Ranma asked one eyebrow rising. "I ain't a mage, I ain't wizard or anything, I use ki, not magic."

That seemed to stump Lucifer, and Raguel chuckled. "My acquaintance here seems to have taken a few steps beyond where he wished in that rant of his. Needless to say that emotions are currently riding high among us spiritual memories, Ranma of clan Saotome. But one way, we think that you can pull on the power of this place, is in phantasmal materialization."

"And you say that I lost the plot," Lucifer muttered shaking his head as Ranma looked blank. "He means that you can possibly materialize many of the items and weapons specifically that we were holding when we died. Those items were themselves spiritual and mystical items, famous as their owners." He seemed to look through Ranma critically, shaking his head. "At this point in time, we don't want to strain your little brain, so perhaps pick out a weapon from a spirit that you have some connection to. You can think about calling on the others or the Chaos Magic of Jusenkyo itself at a later date."

"I don't know what the word connection to would mean in this instance, but what's wrong with the demonic staff I'm already using?"

"Other than the fact that you're no longer holding it, and the fact that it is a demonic weapon, and therefore will not give you any advantage against Fallen magics, and in fact will be weaker than normal when fighting Light-based magic? Other than all that? Nothing." Lucifer sneered again. He seemed to like doing that, Ranma noticed.

"… Okay fine smartass, you've made your point," the pigtailed man muttered, shaking his head before looking over at Raguel with a smirk on his face. "I suppose I've always had a bit of connection to the idea of balance, and after all, bringing a murderer to justice seems rather prophetic to me."

Raguel grinned nodding his head firmly, while Lucifer snarled, obviously wishful that it had been his blade. "We will talk later," Ranma said seriously looking at them both then around, acknowledging the hundreds of other silent apparitions had been watching the conversation for the first time. Many of them were obviously angels, clad in silver armor from head to toe, their heads bare, their faces and bodies showing the wounds that killed them, or which had turned to scars before that. Others were apparitions, things of shadow and flame or mountains of rock and dirt, with eyes that gleamed malevolently and claws of crimson steel fit to rend.

All of them were watching him, and Ranma realized suddenly that all of them, Angel, Fallen, and devil alike were united on this point. Kokabiel had to die. There were just some crimes that had to be paid for, no matter how long it took. "There's obviously a lot more I need to learn and we will talk later." Ranma repeated before he hefted the sword and Ranma let his grin turn into something far more vicious. "But right now, I've got a Fallen ass to kick."

With that, Ranma disappeared from Jusenkyo and back into the bathroom he'd been standing in a moment ago. Nothing had changed, as Lucifer had said. Ranma could even hear the fighting going on, in particular an explosion he'd heard just he was pulled into that vision was only now starting to end.

The only difference was the sword in his hands, and Ranma grinned evilly as he hefted it before leaping out the window.

OOOOOOO

While Ranma had been fighting Kokabiel, the others had not been idle. Despite his area of effect assault, Kiba and Tomoe had gotten the wounded out, and returned shifting to using hit-and-run tactics now, ignoring their own minor wounds in order to return to the fight faster. As Knights, their speed was such that only Fallen with four pairs of wings or above could keep up with them, and even then, it was somewhat difficult when they were simply slashing in and out of the fight as fast as they could move.

Neither targeted any specific Fallen, they just kept moving, kept running in and out, slashing at any target of opportunity almost like ancient light cavalry attacking into a melee, except the two of them were doing so from every direction bar out of the ground. And despite being able to fly themselves, the Fallen were not the one thing you needed to be in order to deal with hit and run attacks that came in faster than your troops could move: they weren't organized. They weren't even trying to organize, they barely even bothered shouting out warnings to one another.

In comparison, while being somewhat overwhelmed by the attacker's numbers and the way the battle had spread, Rias and Sona were still using the headsets and their knowledge of the territory to organize themselves. Several of the wounded had already come back, and Tsubaki and Sona had met up and Fallen back in good order. Neither of them were frontline combatants, nor their magic was such they could do more damage at range.

In this manner, Sona's Water Snake spell, a long-range sniping attack made of water shot out at incredible speeds, became the last thing many Fallen saw. Both of her bishops, Momo and Reya, met up with them soon after Asia healed them, and the four magic users provided covering fire even as the battlefield continued to spread out, staying well away from the right flank, where Níðhöggr and Gabriel were fighting.

In contrast, Rias closed, using her Power of Destruction in near to point-blank range to annihilate Fallen who had foolishly begun to bunch up once more. She attacked down the streets occasionally with wide blasts of Power of Destruction, wiping out groups on the ground, as well as targeting any Fallen in the sky above the battlefield, who seemed to want to try to recreate Kokabiel's earlier hail of death. The few attacks she chanced to launch toward Níðhöggr proved to be no more effective.

But that's alright. Sona and I have a plan for that overgrown lizard. Gabriel just needs to last a bit longer until Koneko and the boys are in position. Kokabiel though, he's going to be a problem, Rias thought. Still, once we deal with the rest of the Fallen, we can gang up on him, I think. That had been a split second decision on her part: to reinforce Gabriel against the dragon, or try to overwhelm Kokabiel with Akeno, the two exorcists, Ranma, Sona and herself. When Ranma engaged Kokabiel though, she felt the decision made itself: hold on the one flank, as it were, attack on the other, while the rest of the fight in the center resolved itself.

Once it became clear Kokabiel was a sadist who wanted to humiliate his opponent's, Rias' instincts had proven correct, and a whispered command had the two exorcists, falling away from the main battle to the left flank. Since he seemed intent on tormenting them, this was a calculated risk, which both Irina and Xenovia embraced gladly.

At that point, Rias felt the battle slowly shifting against the Fallen, without their leader doing anything about it or even being aware of it really. We just need to hold on until their reinforcements stop coming through.

As a blast of her magic turned several more Fallen into nothing, Rias reflected that indeed, if this had been any normal attack, they would've broken off well before this point. But these Fallen didn't seem to care about their losses, all they cared about was attacking. "Kill the Devils, slay them!" and, "The Great War will begin again!" were still being shouted by many, and it was clear to Rias that the Fallen had become berserk at this point. Or were they all that fanatical already?

Turning a corner, Rias launched out a Power of Destruction attack up into the air at a few Fallen, who were trying to dive bomb Saeko as she held off three more.

One of those three tried to flee, only to be stabbed in the back by the swordswoman, who then pulled her bade out swiftly before ducking under a blow, cutting the legs out from under another female Fallen. At that point the swordswoman began to falter, her legs wavering as she pushed herself upright once more. There was blood visibly coming through her side now, and sensing weakness, the Fallen batted her staff wide. Saeko thought she was going to die then, a mad, wicked smile on her flushed face, even as she stared death in the face.

But then a bright red blast of energy enveloped the Fallen, who disappeared from existence without even a chance to scream. Mah, I suppose I'm not going to die now after all, Saeko thought even as her legs buckled out from under her.

"Saeko!" Rias shouted, blasting the Fallen into nothing as she raced forward, wrapping an arm around the other woman and pulling her to her feet, and seeing the blood running down Saeko's side began to panic. "Shit, shit shit!" Grimacing she grabbed up the other woman in a princess carry, her wings appearing from her back as she rose into the air. I need to stay close to the ground, have to get away, have to get her to Asia.

With that in mind Rias flew straight south towards Kokabiel to the south, then out west away from him as he continued to chase the two exorcists. This put her in an area of the city that hadn't seen any combat yet, and as long as she stayed below the rooftops the route to Kuoh was clear.

This proved to be good for Saeko and Rias, but practically deadly for anyone else Rias could have defended with her Power of Destruction umbrella technique. Because Kokabiel was not nearly as unaware as Rias, and, to a lesser extent, Sona had thought. He merely was uncaring about his own losses. He was not a leader as the two of them were, rather he was a voice of a significant portion of the Fallen Angel population, who believed that they could have won the Great War if they had simply kept pushing. All the Fallen here believed in that cause and were so fanatical they were willing to die for it.

A second later, during a lull in the Fallen coming through the transportation portal, Kokabiel struck. He lashed out once more with his massive overdone assault, launching thousands of large Light Spears from on high with devastating consequences.

His two current opponents were able to protect themselves, but the rest of the devils were forced to spread out and retreat. Several of them were wounded and Rika, who had been moving to join up with Sona, was nearly cut in half, her rifle sliced in two as she desperately jumped through a nearby window, shattering the glass to get away from the hail of death. The newly arrived Ruruko had barely a moment to shout, "Oh not again!" before she found herself once more wounded. Tsubasa grunted in agony, also hit several times, but her Rook durability helped her stay on her feet. Kiba, who had proven himself easily the deadliest in hand to hand combat, nearly died, taking a Holy spear to the top of his should that almost cut his arm off before taking another in the back as he lurched forward from the impact of the first.

But a last second evasion saved his life, as did being near Tomoe, who had successfully broken off from her own current opponent. Sona reluctantly ordered a retreat and those defenders in the center retreated. They were covered by Rika, who had hotwired a car and was trying to lure the Fallen Angels away, sticking her arm out the window and shooting upwards with a machine gun. "Come get some fuckers!

Yet, Rias' original thoughts had been correct. After another forty Fallen came through the teleportation spell, the spell died out. There were now fully eighty Fallen Angels, most of them at least with four pairs of wings on the battlefield, spreading out towards the retreating Devils, their progress slowed by running into a few remaining anti-air traps and Rika.

And they were not spreading out towards Kokabiel's position, or Níðhöggr. A mistake brought about by overconfidence that would soon prove fatal…

OOOOOOO

Try though they might, neither of the two young exorcists were up to facing Kokabiel, who even among his brethren was known to be quite skilled if not as powerful as he could wish. Their blows were deflected, and they were nearly disarmed, literally several times, as they retreated. Every explosion Xenovia attempted was redirected before it could hit Kokabiel and every time Irina attempted to use the magic of her own weapon, Excalibur Mimic to try and change her weapon in order to create an advantage, Kokabiel would be able to match. Irina realized with dismay that her weapon was next to useless against an expert Light Spear wielder, since in the hands of an expert the holy magic every Fallen and Angel could use, could shift and morph just as easily her Excalibur fragment.

Though all of this, the two of them retreated as Rias had asked them to. Her plan made sense to them, and while others would have called the two of them sacrifices, both exorcists thought it was more an honor to try and cross blades with such a notorious enemy of Heaven and the Holy Lord. Yet it was quite obvious to both after only a few minutes – and four blocks – that they only succeeded in doing so because Kokabiel wasn't taking them seriously.

Instead he was cackling at them wildly, shaking his head mockingly. "Such dutiful little girls!" He kicked out hard at Xenovia's leg as she attempted to recover from a blow he had smacked sideways. Her leg had been just a little bit out of position, which enabled him to get the kick in easily. She gasped as her thigh bone broke, dumping her to the rooftop of the apartment complex they were currently fighting on. But she rolled away even as her leg screamed in pain at the movement, dodging the Light Spear in the shape of a sword he had just brought down on her former position.

A blow from behind nearly took Kokabiel in the head but he dodged under it, grabbing at Irina's arm, flipping her to land back-first right next to her partner. Both hands then filled with Light Spears in the form of claymores, pointing them down at the two young exorcists from an inch away, a sneer crossing his foxlike features. "Isn't this the part where you humans beg for your life? It always amuses me how much you cling to something so short."

"Never! We are God's Exorcists, and we will never yield!" Irina said thrusting herself up off the ground in an admittedly decent lunge.

If her opponent had been any less experienced, her sudden speed, using one of the copied Excalibur Rapidly she'd had hidden in her exorcist's magical bag, could have been enough to end the fight. As it was, Kokabiel simply dodged to the side, and smashed her sword out of her hand, with an almost lazy sideways blow his suddenly short-sword-sized Light Spear. He then grabbed her still-outstretched arm, dancing around Irina as he pulled her around, pushing the arm up her back painfully as he rested the tip of the Holy Spear, now a dagger in his other hand against her throat. "So precious~~," he cooed, before laughing evilly. "But where is God now!?"

"Our holy father is everywhere. Even if you strike me down, more will come, our faith is strong!" Irina bit back

Even as h said leaped up over a sudden attempt from Xenovia to attack his legs with Excalibur Explosion into his lower leg Kokabiel was still laughing at that. A kick to her head sent Xenovia reeling over the side of the building with a cry of agony, and Kokabiel tossed Irina down after her, the two of them slamming into each other in midair before they crumpled to the earth below. Both of them were gasping agony now, ribs legs, back everything was hurting, although perhaps not everything was broken. At this point it didn't really matter, both of them were in no condition to continue the fight.

Kokabiel continued to laugh as he raised his hands above him, concentrating. A second later the shower of Light Lances flashed down everywhere around the battlefield as he continued to laugh. When he turned his attention to the groaning exorcists, his laughter abruptly cut off, and a snarl of contempt appeared on his face. "Your God is nowhere. Shall I tell you the great secret before you die, the secret that all of Heaven knows, that the Church knows but has kept from you and the rest of the world? God is dead!"

As the two of them stared at up at him in shock, Kokabiel cackled wildly, then disappeared from their sight. He reappeared behind them with his Light Spear in one hand and the Excalibur Rapidly copy Irina had used a moment ago in the other, ready to stab forward. "And so are you."

Before he could thrust forward though, his battle instincts flared at him, and he turned, shifting his Light Spear into a large Claymore, which blocked a silver blade that had been about to slam down between his wings. An eyeblink later, a kick lashed out over their joined blades, slamming into the side of his head with enough force to fling him down the street to crash into a house there, which promptly collapsed around him.

Kokabiel pushed himself out of the rubble his fall had caused, growling angrily, a sound which grew when he saw Ranma there, helping Irina to her feet and handing her Excalibur Mimic, which she had lost on the rooftop moments ago. "You, you still live?! How?"

"Meh, I am very damn hard to kill," Ranma muttered, looking at him with contempt. "Unlike someone who was stabbed in the back, right? That's a specialty of yours, isn't it Kokabiel?" he taunted, marching down the street towards the Fallen leader. And what Ranma held in his hands had Kokabiel's eye's widening.

The sword was large, a claymore with a balanced pommel stone, about as large as Ranma's joined hands. Blade looked to be simple steel, marked with faded, and scorched marks. A blood vein ran down the center of the blade, which glowed almost along the edges, a silver hue that matched the color of the pommel. Beyond that it, looked almost utilitarian. Just like the blade Gabriel wielded, if different in style.

But Kokabiel had more senses than just his physical ones. And he could feel the holy energies radiating off that blade. Moreover, he knew that sword. He had crossed blades with its owner before. "How, how…" he stammered, staring in shock.

Ranma lifted that impossible sword and pointed it at Kokabiel, sneering as he used his conversation with Lucifer to hurl words like daggers at Kokabiel, "You struck down God when his back was turned, when he had given his all to protect the world from something beyond anyone else's power to combat! You're nothing but a jackal, stealing kills from your betters! You are heir to nothing, you are nothing, a nothing man whose greatest claim to fame is that he struck down his father in a moment of weakness. Oh yes, such pride in you! Pride in nothing, oh Archangel of the Stars!"

At the repeated use of the word 'nothing,' Kokabiel lost any semblance of self-control and with his body once more covered with a miasma of putrid green and yellow magic charged forward, his blade slashing forward so fast, it should have cut Ranma in two. It didn't work, Ranma dodging with so little space to spar the tip of the blade sliced off the tip of his pigtail, before he lashed out with his own attack, which Kokabiel barley blocked. Ranma then flipped himself up over Kokabiel, who leaped upward just slightly, slamming his blade into the center of Ranma's, launching him higher. This let Ranma pepper him with Moko Takabisha attacks but Kokabiel powered through it, roaring as his ten wings flapped sending him up like a rocket towards Ranma.

Behind the two fighters as they continued to rise higher into the sky, Irina and Xenovia looked at one another, Irina with a faint blush on her face at how Ranma had saved their lives and helped her to her feet. "W, well, that was interesting."

"You heard them," Xenovia said, grimacing in agony as Irina helped her to her feet, helping her along. "He, that Fallen said that he killed god! And, and then Ranma he…"

"While Ranma's words could be taken to prove Kokabiel's words, I am positive there is another explanation," Irina replied firmly, although her face was troubled. She turned her eyes to the distance, where there had been a sudden blast of smoke, which rose above the rooftops, followed by a thunderous explosion that sent shockwaves the two of them felt even here. "We can simply ask Lady Gabriel about the truth, can't we?"

Nodding Resolutely, Xenovia clung to her friend as the two of them turned in that direction, feeling Holy Magic wash over them a moment later.

OOOOOOO

Elsewhere, Akeno, Koneko, and Issei and Saji waited in hiding as part of what amounted to a giant trap: Rias' idea to weaken their center in order to double down on the one flank. Even so, given the nature of their foe, only Akeno had any faith in their plan, a thought that Saji put forth, saying, "I cannot believe that this is going to work."

"We just have to get in there and give Gabriel some time. That's the minimum we need to do," Akeno snapped waspishly as she listened in on her radio to how the rest of the battle was going. That did not make her any happier to be out here, currently doing nothing, so her voice was a bit waspish and the two boys quailed, not that she cared overmuch, not even taking any joy in the sight at present.

The remaining Fallen had followed Sona and the others as they retreated, and Rias had been forced to retreat from the battle in order to save Saeko's life. It says something of her basic decency that she isn't willing to let Saeko just die Akeno thought, not that I would have either of course but the two of them are competing for Ranma are they? And she is a devil after all it should have occurred to her. Then again, I think I'm much happier that it didn't, or if it did, she rejected it. She wouldn't be Rias-chan if she had. Then again, I wonder how she'll react when, if we survive this, I throw my own hat into that ring?

"Here it comes," Koneko said, looking around the corner. The corner that was going to be destroyed in a few seconds, as the massive dragon charged through the area, exchanging blow after blow with Gabriel, who was flying about the larger form of the Dragon, her one pair of wings beating hard against the air.

Sticking his own head out over the shorter girl, Saji could see the hoarfrost covering the powerful Archangel, could see that her movements were slowly slowing down, even as she continued to hammer blow after blow into the creature's sides, neck and six arms. Her sword couldn't penetrate the scales of the Dragon very far however, and all she was doing was really marking the creature's scales. One of her arms also looked to have taken a hit, and her perfectly silver armor, which covered that magnificent…

Saji shook his head, pushing his appreciation of the female form away for a moment. Now was most decidedly not the time for that kind of thing. He looked across the street to where Issei was staying in the window and could see the same thought about Gabriel's body going through his head. Dammit, I know that Sona-sama is always right, but couldn't she be wrong for just once? I don't want to have anything in common with him! Saji whined internally.

But then, the Rook held up his hand, on which the glove of the Boosted Gear glowed, and a voice echoed in Saji's mind. "He's storing as much magical energy as he possibly can at this point in his training. Anymore, and that young man will probably lose his arm. Say what you may about his… and your, motivations, there is nothing wrong with his urge to defend his fellows." The voice was that of Vritra, the evil dragon sealed within Saji's Sacred Gear.

He was a cool, collected and polite personality, yet Saji often wondered if he was also secretly mischievous, given how much thought you had to put into using his various abilities. Certainly, it wasn't as straightforward as the Boosted Gear.

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I have to like him as a person does it?" Saji sent, before Níðhöggr battered through the copy of Kuoh directly in front of them.

Just as Rias had predicted, Níðhöggr was just crashing through the buildings instead of taking to the air. Now from within the buildings all around them, smoke and flash grenades which had been set on little pressure traps went off, the destruction of the buildings thus causing a massive flash of intense light and smoke, which quickly spread.

This didn't do anything permanent to Níðhöggr course, but it did disorient and blind him for a moment, forcing him to rely on his nose. In that moment, Saji struck shouting out "Absorption line!"

From the little head on his wrist guard that rested on the back of his palm a beam of purple energy flashed out, connecting Saji and his Sacred Gear to Níðhöggr, draining him of magical energy. Another line flashed out from the side of the Sacred Gear, hitting Koneko who gasped as she raced forward.

At the same time, Issei leapt out from hiding. He had been terrified earlier, but he had come to control it, with one thought in his mind: if they lost this fight, all the glorious oppai he had seen, Sona's perfect tiny nibblers, right up to Akeno's magnificent mammaries or Gabriel's as-yet-unseen-but-already-fantasized-over holy boobs, would be gone. For that reason, for his harem and for the oppai, he would do his best even against an unstoppable enemy like this. "FOR the OPPAAAIIIII!"

Akeno too charged forward, her hands gathering lightning magic to them, as she sent her magic up towards Níðhöggr's head. For all of his giant stature and monstrous power, Níðhöggr is still a beast, still a creature of instinct over intelligence. When the lightning flashed towards its eyes through the smoke and towards his face, Níðhöggr twisted away, arcing its neck in such a way as to present its less armored lower neck and upper chest to Issei and Koneko.

'GRRR, fly away!" Koneko yowled, racing forward. Her tiny fist slammed into the chest of the dragon and there was a boom as she released all the magical power Saji had passed on to her from the dragon itself. Even as she did, the cold aura aroundNíðhöggr began to eat at her, and she flinched away. Her blow had done its work though, pushing Níðhöggr off balance and exposing his chest even more.

Issei too took his chance and running up behind Koneko slammed a punch into that area with as much power as he possibly could. Indeed, a bit more than even Vritra inside Saji had been able to tell from a distance. He hadn't had much time to train, but he had been imbued with the power of a Rook which gave him a far stronger starting point then even eight pawns would have in another life. And his connection to Ddraig was stronger too. Twin voices roared out, shouting, "Fiery Dragon's Volcano Blast! Fiery Dragon's Volcano Blast!"

The blast threw the giant Dragon into the air for several moments and exploded on impact, with enough force to actually hurt it. It shattered many of the black dragon's scales, searing them away at that point where his magical attack overcame the durability of the resurrected Dragon.

And this time, it didn't look to be healing. Even as whirls and marks of another kind of blackish magic appeared around the wound, the wound seemingly was too much for the magic to deal with.

Then all of the ambushers were ducking away as Níðhöggr twisted around its neck once more, his mouth open as it sent out a cone of cold that was so intense that it shattered everything it touched. Like everything had been dipped in liquid nitrogen and hit with a hammer at the same time. It also contained some kind of poison, as Koneko and Saji and began to gasp and gag, grabbing at their throats. Issei was lucky, he had just breathed in before the vapor reached him, and he clapped one hand over his nose, grabbing at Koneko and carrying her away. Akeno quickly used a spell to cover her head and mouth to stopped herself, but she was forced to race forward, grabbing Saji up and hoisting them onto her shoulder.

Níðhöggr could well have finished them off then and there if not for the fact that all of this had been to give Gabriel enough time to pull back and release her sealed power.

Landing on a nearby rooftop, Gabriel intoned:

I Am the Herald whose bugle calls the Legions of Light to battle. I Am the Waters that empower the arms of the Soldier.

I Am Gabriel, Archangel of the Message.

And my Sword shall carve a path for the Righteous!

As those word tolled across the battlefield, like the ringing of a bell the size of a city, Níðhöggr twisted around, its eyes going wide as the Holy magic crashed out.

When the blast of Holy magic faded, Gabriel stood there, not with the one wing set that she had before, but with twelve of them, six wings to a side, flapping lazily. Her raiment had also changed from the simple looking armor she had worn before, to full plate armor, covering her from head to toe, only her face left bare, with whorls of waves and spouts of water marking it, which glowed with white light, twinkling like stars. Her sword had shifted too, becoming larger by several inches and wider as well, and yet losing none of its pure purposeful form.

Gabriel opened her eyes, and they blazed with Holy light, so much that even looking at them caused Saji and Issei, both still low-tier devil's pain and Akeno to twist her head away quickly. "Father and our legions sealed you away once before Níðhöggr!" she shouted, her voice filled with odd reverberations even as she regained control of her powers. "Apparently, that was not enough, and I think Heaven and the Holy Father for giving me this opportunity to rectify our past mistake!"

With that, she charged forward, and the entire bounded field shivered as the two powerhouses slammed together. Even the material plane beyond the bounded field felt it, which should have been impossible as far as Sona and Rias knew. Several men and women looking around them in shock as a boom was heard, and the ground beneath them shook. Many even started to run for cover only to pause as nothing more happened.

There was a reason why the more powerful supernatural beings could not truly exist on earth for very long without causing trouble. The supernatural weight of them harmed the Earth, which had become weakened over time against it, as magic slowly drained away from the world.

But Gabriel could not's think of that right now. She had a dragon to slay.

She batted aside his attempt, a blow from one paw, nearly cutting it in half with her sword, before coming back around, trying to hit the same point that the Devils had done earlier. She sent a brief thought of thanks their way, but she couldn't actually look for them at the moment, for even as she was now, Níðhöggr was still dangerous.

The dragon now began to use its breath liberally, trying to weaken her, falling back in the face of her charge and protecting its weekend chest area, but a blast of holy magic seared its breath away, and her sword flashed out, sending a cutting spell straight into its eyes. Níðhöggr ducked away, and then screamed in shock as Gabriel leaped forward, using a momentary speed enhancing spell to get underneath it, slicing into its distorted flesh, chopping off a leg at what on a human would've been mid-thigh.

Níðhöggr twisted around, bringing its jaws down to bite, then twitched backwards, using its tail instead to attack Gabriel from behind. She took the blow on her back, but flipped through it in midair, sending another cutting spell down at Níðhöggr from above, and following it up by diving down on him.

Níðhöggr scrambled out of the way, then awkwardly flew up into the air himself, trying to get more distance. But Gabriel pursued, for all the world like a falcon worrying a larger yet far more ungainly vulture.

The four Devils below watched, a mixture of awe and delight on their faces. "Well," Saji said, from where he was still being held on Akeno's shoulder like a sack of wheat, having turned his head upward to watch the fight above them. "That's a thing."

Koneko poked Issei in the cheek, growling, "You can let me down now."

He looked down at her and blinked, then smiled. "Do I have to?" he mock-whined, feeling quite brave after his recent showing. "This is probably the only time you're going to let me get away with holding you like this isn't it?"

"Probably," she said with a nod, and a little blush before pushing out of his arms and standing on her own, staring up at the duel.

Akeno also was staring upwards, then raised one hand to her headset, clicking it on. Rias, Sona, we are done here, I think. Should we go to assist against Kokabiel?"

"No!" came Rias' gasping voice. "I'm back at the school, and we need some backup here!"

"Rias is right," Sona cut in, gasping. "We're heading back to Kuoh, all of us wounded. But first find Tajima and Rika, make certain they're all right."

Akeno nodded and instantly began to lead the way towards Kuoh, calling into her radio for Rika.

"Um Himejima-sama?" Saji said hesitantly, "Erm, would you mind letting me down?" Not that Saji really minded the view in front of him. Akeno was as good-looking going as she was coming. But it was kind of humiliating to still be hanging off her shoulder like this and he could hear Issei snickering.

"Ara, I'm sorry," Akeno said, before dropping him on his rear, then turning and racing away. Koneko was behind her instantly and Akeno shot back a teasing, "Do try to keep up you two!" over her shoulder.

The two boys looked at one another and sighed before pushing to their feet and following the two girls.

OOOOOOO

As Sona and her forces retreated, numerous Fallen got past the defenders. About fifteen Fallen had moved around them and the fight occurring around their commander, not attacking the Devils but moving towards Kuoh, while their brethren harried Sona and her fellows from all sides.

At the outskirts of the academy this group paused in some confusion. They could see a wounded Devil, a female, laid out on the football field and a young woman with blonde hair dressed like a nun kneeling beside her, a few rings on her hands glowing with magic.

But that was not where the confusion lay. No, their confusion was caused by the several dozen ducks that were moving around on the grass and walking paths of the academy, along with a sign that read, 'Beware of Mousse,' posted on a nearby building.

"What the heck? Where did all the ducks come from, and why does that sign say beware of ducks?" mused one.

"Who cares?" grumbled a few of the others, one of them going so far as to give his companion a slap upside the head. "Remember this is a battlefield, it's got to be some kind of trick!"

The others all nodded, and the first one, who was a Fallen with the equivalent of ADHD, scowled but nodded his head and followed after them. They flew well above the ducks, in fact spreading out away from one another so whatever trap the ducks were a part of wouldn't hit them. But most of their attention despite their earlier words was still on the ducks, and the two women in the distance, until there was a flash of white from a nearby window.

Chains roared up into the air, each of them barbed at the end, followed by swords, shields, daggers, a kitchen sink and a portable toilet shaped in the form of a duck. That last crashed into one Fallen, sending him crashing into the ground.

The next instant, a man wearing a long flowing Chinese outfit was up in the middle of their formation, which had shredded under this attack already.

He whirled his hands around, from his long sleeves came more chains, which he manipulated as if they were whips before sticking the edge of a one of his weapons shaking his head as he fell back down to the ground. "It says beware of Mousse for a reason fools," he muttered, pushing his glasses up his nose. Still, I doubt that the next group will be that overconfident. While he had never been the most powerful of Ranma's rivals, it could be argued that Mousse was actually one of the most intelligent, and he was an expert at ambushes and using his long-range abilities to his best advantage. He had already used two more ambushes of a similar type, as the injured were rotated back out to the battlefield earlier.

Hopping away he Ranma moved himself back to the Academy, over its wall and down to one of its football fields, where Asia knelt down next to Tajima, who, unbeknownst to Sona, had been dropped off by Koneko before she joined the ambush team. "Honored healer Asia, I have dealt with that group, but I believe that the battle is continually growing beyond what Ranma and your other allies might've thought. Might I suggest…"

Just then more wounded came in, with Tomoe carrying Kiba shouting, "Asia, we need healing here!"

She skidded to a halt in front of Asia, gently lowering Kiba to the ground, a furious expression on her face. "I need to get back out there, we're pulling back, most of us are wounded by this point. But please heal him. He, I think he's saved my life at least three times in this fight."

"Heh, well that is normal for a battle, but I take your point. Still, I think that you should remain here. If the others are retreating, then no doubt there will be more Fallen coming here soon." Mousse could feel the battle shifting, entering the final stage, just from Tomoe's words and the exhaustion he saw in her.

His words proved prophetic a few seconds later as Sona led her group over the walls of Kuoh towards them with the fallen on their heels.

As she did, Rias arrived, landing on the ground in front of Asia just as she was finishing with Kiba. Still she had been able to avoid the fighting, flying at road-height had been slow going. "Asia!" she shouted, in panic. "Saeko, Saeko isn't, she was hit in the side but she's not moving and…"

Asia instantly went to work, biting her lip as she called upon Twilight Healing, sending it into the wounded swordswoman. "I have her Rias-san, don't worry, she still has a pulse and hasn't lost any limbs. Anything else, Twilight Healing and I can heal."

Letting out a deep breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, Rias turned, moving to face the incoming group led by Sona and the Fallen all around her. Sona was using her water magic now to create a shield of water, but it wasn't working as well as Rias' similar trick. Worse, covering the group was taking all her attention, making her unable to launch her own attacks in turn.

As Rias began to gather her power, she asked idly, "What about maladies that people are born with, like Mousse's eyesight? You would just be solving one problem if you could help him there."

While Mousse's myopic eyes widened in shock at the very idea, Asia answered just as idly most of her attention on Saeko, healing her from the inside out. This was far easier than it was for the Devils, since Saeko had already begun to build up ki, which Twilight Healing could use to enhance its impact. Indeed, Saeko was already rousing herself, even if her original wound wasn't closed just yet. "I think I can, yes. I have dealt with someone with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome before, and several other pre-natal illnesses."

Mousse gaped like a fish, but then was nearly blown away as Rias' magic aura rose around her. From the woman several bolts of Power of Destruction flashed out. They slammed into the Fallen, slaughtering more than a dozen and scattering the others, giving Sona and the rest time to reach Rias and the others.

This was the sight that Saeko saw as she woke up thanks to Asia's healing: Rias standing over her and Asia, her body glowing red and black with magical energies, her eyes flashing, her face set in a snarl as her read hair blew in the backlash of her power flashing through the air. While I am still not going to share Ranma with her, I have to admit that like this, Rias does look rather magnificent.

At that point, the feeling of Gabriel's unsealing hit them, and Asia blinked in surprise, bowing her head in prayer as Sona and the wounded reached her.

And for the remaining Fallen, a very bad day was about to get even worse…

OOOOOOO

At that moment the dimensional teleportation array in the ORC clubroom flared with dark blue light, as Serafall arrived back on Earth smirking triumphantly at the first aspect of her plan to break the conspiracy that had so chained Rias down going according to plan. Now it was in Sirzechs' capable hands and those of his son. All I will have to do is get Ranma to use those weapons of his to undo whatever spell is keeping the Phenex brat's blood magic from healing him.

Her smirk however was wiped off her face an instant later as she felt a tremendous power in the air, barely held back by a nearby bounded field. Yet the taint of that magic came through to her senses, and she could feel Devil, draconic and holy powers, both the tainted variety and the true unfiltered holy stuff, mixing in the ether. She could also feel the magical energy of her sister far closer than that, ebbing away, "What the bleeping hell?!"

If Sona or Rias had seen her move then, they would have been astonished to see how serious Serafall's face could be, how fast she could move. Although even the Kings would have had trouble keeping up with her movements, as she burst out from the Occult Research Clubroom. The others, bar Kiba and Tomoe, would have found it impossible.

Outside in the fields around Kuoh, she found a battlefield. Fifteen Fallen Angels were attacking her So-tan and Rias along with a young man with black hair and massive twin scimitars in his hands around them were their knights engaged with four more Fallen. Between these two defensive groups were several members of So-tan's peerage and Saeko, who Asia Argento was currently healing. Akeno, Koneko, Saji and the pervert who was her younger sister's newest peerage member were missing.

Several of those Fallen turned, feeling Serafall's arrival with their own magical senses and their eyes widened as they saw the reason for the rising demonic energies. The others didn't even have time for that as she was on them in an instant. Six of them froze, and five others were blasted apart by punches that made them literally come apart at the seams. The other three fell to a wild dervish attack from the young man and Rias.

"What is going on? And where's Gabriel?" Serafall ordered, for once deadly serious as she turned to her sister.

Her question was answered as Níðhöggr was smashed out of the sky above to crashing to the ground, with Gabriel having body checked into its chest, slamming her sword in up to the hilt.

Serafall instantly moved to join her, her earrings and bangles falling away as she unsealed her full power. Water appeared all around the serpent and instantly froze around Níðhöggr, holding him in place, overcoming the dragon's remaining cold aura with ease as Gabriel worked her blade down, deeper into the creature to find his heart. "Seriously Gabby, what the FUCK have I missed!?" she shrieked, her voice barely able to cut into the dragon's dying screams.

"A lot. Kokabiel of the Void and his legion attacked, but your sister and her friends were able to fight them back," Gabby gasped out, pulling her sword free and then marching forward over the spasming Níðhöggr's neck to his head. There she once more slammed it downward like an auger into the dread serpent's forehead. Dragons could possibly recuperate from a sword to the heart. After all, dragons were mostly magical beings, their souls nearly as strong as that of a god's, and magic tended to laugh at such picayune details such as anatomy. A sword to the brain and to the heart at the same time? That would probably be too much.

Behind her Serafall gaped, having never seen this form of Gabriel before. She hadn't fought in the Great War after all. As Gabriel turned holding that blade of hers, most people would have backed away from the blood-soaked Archangel, but instead Serafall let a tiny smile appear, wondering if the other woman had any idea how hot she was just then, with the backdrop of her kill behind her. Then she became serious as Gabby went on. "Now come on Serafall, we need to find Kokabiel. I have a killer to enact justice upon."

"Ooh, that sounds so permanent. And messy. Count me in!" Serafall said, and the two most powerful women of the Three Factions turned and raced towards the center of the battle. Unfortunately for Serafall's sensibilities however, they would arrive too late to take part in the fight.

OOOOOOO

As the two of them fought through the air, Kokabiel realized instantly that the dynamic of the battle between them had changed. Something had changed in Ranma, and Kokabiel was scowling angrily each time their blades met, each time he had to dodge a kick or punch. Because it was more than just the blade-that-shouldn't-exist.

"Where did this sudden upsurge of power come from human?" he snarled, trying to disarm the human with an intricate twirling twist of his Light Spear. It had rarely failed before, he'd even gotten a few of the other Grigori leaders with that technique, although never Azazel. It failed here however, Ranma twisting his wrists just so that the twist didn't rip his sword out of his grip, instead, combating it with his own, driving Kokabiel's Light Spear out of position, to allow Ranma to slam a hard punch down on Kokabiel's forearm, followed a kick that sent Kokabiel reeling through the air.

Ranma used the momentum of that to gain even more altitude, and one hand suddenly glowed blue, thrusting out hard and fast.

Four bolts of blue energy slammed into Kokabiel, one of them nearly hitting him in the eye, searing his face slightly while the other three hammered into his chest driving him down. He was still able to block the follow-on overhand strike with the sword, snarling, "When are you going to learn those don't…"

The next second his battle instincts screamed at him, and he dodged something flashing through where he had just been a moment ago. He squawked in agony as one of his wingtips was pierced sliced away cleanly like someone had taken a scalpel to it. His magical and physical durability had done nothing to absorb whatever had done that. What was…

Ranma was than in his face again, the sword punching out in a thrust. Desperately Kokabiel dove away, then came back upwards roaring in anger and rage as his Light Spears sought Ranma's chest. Ranma however didn't even blink, instead, he twisted around, carrying Kokabiel's attack past him midair as his other hand flashed out underneath Ranma's sword arm, lashing out with that same attack as before, only this time Kokabiel could see him launching it.

Kokabiel desperately disengaged, once more only his instincts saving him as something almost unseen flashed through the air. "What is that!?"

"Yama-Sen-Ken," Ranma said, before dropping through the air, Kokabiel having deliberately pushed himself further away than Ranma could use the momentum of his previous block to cross.

But as he fell Ranma disappeared, and Kokabiel gaped. "How! Where…" He found his attention trying to go in other places, his eyes refusing to focus on where Ranma had to be. "Some kind of magic?"

By that point Ranma was on the rooftop of a business tower. There, he stabbed the sword in front of him, crouching down as his hands fell to his side before he slashed them forward. At that motion several claw-shaped vorpal attacks lashed out hurtling upwards.

Thankfully for Kokabiel, he saw the vague movements in the air of the blades coming towards them. He ducked and dodged, using his Light Spear at one point trying to bat one of the attacks aside, only to see it go straight through his defense almost as if it wasn't even there. The attack had redirected slightly, but not a lot. Not enough to have protected him, if that blow had come at his head. "What is this human! What magic are you using!?" he roared, infuriated at being pushed like this by a human.

"No magic, just training and ki!" Ranma said from behind Kokabiel. Kokabiel had not realized that he had dove down towards the rooftops that far, until just then in order to dodge Ranma's attack, but he turned and twisted around, a kick lashing out, catching Ranma even as the sword sliced across his guts. Whatever his durability, Kokabiel's body was not up to stopping that blade. Nothing could have, except perhaps a few Sacred Gears.

In reply his kick had caved in Ranma's ribs, hurling him away to crash into a distant side of an office building, denting the wall. Ranma nearly slid down to the street below before he kicked off to land on another nearby roof, gasping in pain at the ruin of his ribs even as his ki healing went to work on them.

The Fallen sensed the death of Níðhöggr, realized that his assault had failed utterly. All of his Legion had been defeated, and now with his erstwhile ally dead, Kokabiel knew that Gabriel was coming for him. He pushed himself to his feet, then into the air, holding in his intestines with one hand as his wings beat slowly, far too slowly. He looked over his shoulder, and saw Gabriel racing towards him, saw the blade in her hand crackling with Holy energies, her hair flying behind her with the force of her passage.

"Where do you think you're looking?!" Ranma howled, and Kokabiel turned back to him.

Kokabiel was able to get his body out of the way of Ranma's next attack. His body. Not his wings. Ranma's vorpal blades sliced four of them to ribbons, and simply cut two of them from his body, plucking them off almost. Like a cook's blade taking a wing off a bird.

Kokabiel fell to the ground below with a cry of agony, one far louder than when Ranma had nearly gutted him a moment ago. The reason for this was simple: Angels wings were not just a sign of their power, they were a byproduct of it. Their magic was stored in their wings to a tremendous degree, and when a Fallen lost a wing, they would thus lose power. That power could grow back, perhaps, but with two cut off it would be nearly impossible to recover from.

Gabriel landed in front of him, holding her bloody blade up in an executioner's grip. She had seen Ranma's sword and like Kokabiel recognized it. Yet right now, there was a far more important duty to see to than finding out how Ranma had Raguel's blade. "Do you have any last words, Traitor?"

"You, h, how can you stand Michael using that thing, the Heaven System!?" Kokabiel roared as Gabriel looked at him. It was almost as if most of the battle had faded to insignificancy, as if he was getting something off his chest. "You, who were always his favorite, why couldn't you see! See the evil of that system!?"

Gabriel shook her head. "What evil there is in the Heaven System, came from those like you and Lucifer, not from our Father and his outstretched hand to Man. The message of our Lord Father to his creation was always a simple one at base and I am its messenger. That message has never changed. Interpretation is always in the mind of the beholder." With that the golden-haired Valkyrie raised her blade. "You chose your last words poorly. Now, I might not be Raguel, but I think I will do just as well for your executioner."

Just then the bounded field shattered, dumping everyone within into the normal human realm in a way that even Serafall's entering it hadn't done. Luckily, most of them were in the empty environs of the Academy, while others fell onto rooftops here and there, or against buildings.

Rika barely even felt the movement. Tajima, and Issei on the other hand were surprised as cars around them nearly began to move, put the younger man continued to pull the wounded man out of the road quickly.

Gabriel however didn't care what caused it and raised her blade above her head, preparing to bring it down. Ranma however saw what had shattered the bounded field, a white armored missile coming towards them from the edge of Kuoh.

"Yeah that's not ON, no reinforcements for the bad guys at this late a stage." With that, Ranma hurled the sword he was holding towards the oncoming individual, who smashed it out of the way, before Ranma was in his face ducking under an attack from the armor wearing individual, then lashing out with a punch.

The armored individual was Vali Lucifer, the wielder of Albion, the White Dragon Emperor and Divine Dividing. He had been trying out a new kind of ramen noodle in Ryukyu when his adopted father, Azazel, had told him to arrest Kokabiel and stop the madman's attack on Kuoh. He had been forced to use his Balance Breaker to cover the distance, but that was fine, Vali thought he could at least show off a bit to his future destined rival, the holder of Ddraig, the Boosted Gear.

Now this odd human – Vali could tell he was human due to his enhanced supernatural senses – was attacking him. The sword had been dangerous, but nothing that could get through his armor being tossed like that. But a punch fool of magical energy? That would do nothing against him in Balance Breaker mode, the attack divided down to nothing by the aura Vali was emanating. His own blow was almost an automatic reaction really

But Diving Dividing was magic, and a magical attack like that only worked if the user understood the type of attack he was dealing with. Neither Albion nor Vali had ever met someone who could use ki like Ranma. So, his magical defense shattered under the blow from Ranma, the punch slamming into Vali's armored face sending him off course to crash into a rooftop below even while his own punch connected on Ranma's raised forearm.

He righted himself instantly, grimacing at the pain of his jaw even through the helmet as his eyes lit up with a desire to fight. But then there was a sort of sickly wet 'Thunk' sound, and he twisted around to stare at the headless body of Kokabiel as it fell to the ground, beheaded by Gabriel.

"Let justice be served," Gabriel murmured, kissing the hilt of her sword before flicking the blood off it with a practiced twist of her wrist. She then sheathed it and began to rein in her power once more.

"Shit!" Vali groaned. "Well there goes my mission." He held up his hands above his head, shaking his head as Serafall Leviathan landed nearby, glaring at him while the pigtailed one landed nearby having jumped after him. "Peace, please. I'm not here to fight."

"Ya could've fooled me," Ranma muttered, looking down at where the other man's blow had landed on his arm, grimacing at the pain of it.

"I wasn't here to for you, you just got in my way," Vali replied, still holding his raised hands above his head as he canceled his armored form, his eyes glinting with curiosity as he looked at Ranma. "I was here to capture Kokabiel." He pointed to where Kokabiel's body was disappearing into light particles.

"You would be Vali, the adopted son of Azazel, correct?" Sona asked, pushing up her glasses with a weary gesture as she leaned against her sister, who had practically carried her hear.

"That is correct," Vali said with a nod. "I was sent, when word of what Kokabiel was doing finally reached us. Five of our spies who were supposed to be watching him were actually turned by Kokabiel, although we only learned about this in the last few hours. I'm sorry I couldn't have arrived sooner."

"Is he someone famous or something?" Ranma whispered out of the corner of his mouth to Rias, who was leaning on Akeno slightly, weariness now catching up to both of them as the adrenaline drained out of their battered bodies. "Serafall and the others don't look surprised that he was sent, or even questioning that the pretty boy could take Crazy pants on."

Rias let out a weary giggle at Ranma's irreverent attitude. It was just what the doctor ordered to bolster her spirits at the moment. "Somewhat. He's Azazel's adopted son, and also the owner of divine dividing.

"Dividing?" Ranma muttered and then nodded. "That's what he did to the sword I threw then? But he couldn't do it to my own attack."

"Good," Rias replied in an equally low tone.

Across from Vali, Gabriel sighed looking over at Serafall. As senior member of the Devil government present, it fell to her to decide what to do with Vali, agent of the Governor General of the Fallen or no. "What do you think?"

Serafall glared at the young man, marching forward and grabbing him by the throat, looking deep into his eyes. "Were you here for anything else? Did Azazel sanction any missions into this territory? And what would have happened to Kokabiel if we had let you take him anyway?"

Normally Vali wouldn't let anyone manhandle him like this, but this was Maou Leviathan, and from the look in her eyes she was in a killing mood. Since this attack nearly claimed the life of her sister, I suppose that could be allowed for he thought, even as a voice spoke inside his head.

"I'm not going to be able to divide her power enough for you to have an edge on her. And don't even ask me to do the same thing to that Gabriel woman. Between them they could carve you into kibble, let alone the others and that odd human with his odd power," Albion warned.

Not responding to Albion's words, Vali made certain to keep eye contact with the woman who was currently holding him in the air like a ragdoll. "I promise, I wasn't here for any reason other than to take Kokabiel into custody. We had a cell already prepared for him in the deepest bowels of Cocytus. He would have been thrown away, never to return." He nodded to where Kokabiel's head had laid, where there was nothing left, not even ash. Such was the fate of any member of the Three Factions slain on Earth, the very ground rejecting them. "That's going to cause issues among the Fallen and the Grigori. But make no mistake, his actions here were not sanctioned by my father."

"…I'll believe you for now," Serafall said coldly, tossing him backwards. "But I suggest you leave quickly."

Vali nodded, then turned to look at Ranma, a small smirk crowing his face. "That was a nice punch you laid on me."

"Meh, ya should see me when I'm actually trying," Ranma bluffed. The hit to Vali's face had felt like one he'd laid into Níðhöggr, the same durability in his target, and the sense of causing himself more pain than his target, which was not a good sign for his ability to stand up to the guy. On the other hand, if I put him down before he calls on that armor, I would probably have a better time of it. And that's what training's for, right? To be stronger tomorrow than you are today?

"I might at that," Vali said, before taking one last look around. The wielder of Ddraig was not in sight, and though he could sense him approaching, Vali knew he had overstayed his welcome too much already to go and see him. "Sometime soon, maybe." With that he turned and flew off heading toward the border of Kuoh.

Ranma looked around at the others as they slowly gathered, wounded, battered and bloody all of them. Then he turned to Gabriel and Serafall shaking his head. "Well, that was a thing. And I'm starving. Who wants some food?"

The others looked at him blankly, then began to laugh wildly, as more than one of them raised a hand in reply. Even Serafall and Gabriel giggled, shaking their heads, while looked at one another and then at the others. The battle was over for now. They could deal with the repercussions, and anything else, tomorrow.

End Chapter

---

So here it is guys, the February small story. I'd apologize for putting it out so late, but normally in January I do put out the small story for the Super Bowl instead of for the end of the month anyway, so that shouldn't surprise any of my long-term readers. Even so, this doesn't quite cover as much as I had wanted to, the battle just sort of spiraled out of my control, LOL. In any event, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Prepare for a flashback and Gremory family stuff in the next chapter, followed by the aftermath, Ranma (VERY reluctantly) be political and Rias getting a bit of news that both amazes and stuns.

The Small story poll will be up late tonight. I wanted to wait until I knew what had won the patty on only large story poll for February before deciding which stories to put in it.