Natsu Dragneel In Dxd - Volume 1 Chapter 35 Welcome To My Home Part Ii

Just imagine

Imagine yourself facing your worst fear. Imagine the way your body would react; feeling so stiff and rigid, yet shaking uncontrollably, to the point where you don’t know if you’ve been consumed by preconceived death. Imagine, slowly being dragged into a state of an ultimatum: either die running or die fighting. You have no control over your future; it’s just the ‘here and now.’ What would you do?

Imagine feeling so helpless, but you’re being pushed by sheer willpower, driving toward a pin-point goal of surviving persuaded by an unbreakable sense of duty and mission. This would be your world for the few seconds that you have consciousness- that you have hope. Now, just imagine

Issei stood in the middle of the searing valley with utter disbelief etched into his face. How could his life end, this early, by a similar creature that lived inside him: a Dragon. The darkly scaled predator peered its head around the edge of a sharp cliff, now heavily scorched by the previous fire-breath Issei had the privilege of surviving. His eyes looked upon the impending doom while terror was translated by his body language and transmitted to the sight of his peers. Despite hisSacred Gearbeing equipped to his arm, the usual shining light was nonexistent, and the gleaming metal appeared dimmer than the dull rocks that surrounded them.

He watched as the Dragon walked entirely around the wall that separated them, revealing the entirety of his body. The purple and black armor that covered it seemed sturdy and well-fitted with the muscular appendages of the bipedal reptile. Its long face and narrow snout began to lift as its mouth was being open while the group stared down the dark chambers of its throat until an ominous red glow started to leak from the back of it. The deduction of what would happen next didn’t even take a second as they knew almost immediately that another flesh-melting stream of fire was going to be hurled over to them, but one of the Devils decided what exactly they were going to do: fight back.

Koneko, stomped the ground with as much force as she could muster, launching herself quickly enough toward the towering Dragon to stop his attack, however, it defended itself before Koneko could reach it. With a devasting whip of its thick tail from behind, it completely redirected her momentum and caused her to ram her head against the pointed ends of the rock walls. Almost as if in slow motion, the team watched in horror as their beloved family member dropped from the side crater of the cavern and slowly hit the ground with a harsh gasp of breath. Soon a small puddle of blood was seen pooling around her head, and the Dragon unimpeded continued its march.

The shock of what transpired was enough to get Akeno back to reality- this terrible, unforgiving reality. She adorned her loose kimono and devilish black wings as she flew into the sky with malicious intent. Akeno waved her arms around in front of her while a largeMagic Circleformed in the place where she aimed toward the advancing Dragon. The yellowMagic Circlebegan to crackle with loud sparks as, once again, she waved her arm up and down, commanding a terrifying electric bolt to strike against the oncoming Dragon, making sure to leave Koneko out of its range.

The surprise attack was enough to catch the Dragon off guard as its advance toward Issei and the others were stopped, however, the magic was soon shrugged off by it as the oversized reptile had a new target. It opened its mouth like before and shot a stream of red hot flames while Akeno did the best she could to dodge the deathly blast. The fire missed her by a lick of her hair as she began to speedily descend toward her peers who still stood docile on the ground; however, she saw that Asia had already started healing Koneko by where she fell.

Hovering over the paralyzed Devils, Akeno knew what she needed to accomplish, “I know! I know how scared you all must be right now! But this isn’t the place where we’re going to be done in by a vagrant Dragon! We belong to Rias’ peerage, and it’s our job to represent her remarkable strength with our skills! I know this isn’t what we were prepared for, but this is what’s expected of us! We can not die here, like this! We can do this!”

Akeno took in heavy breathes as her chest heaved up and down while she looked at the wide-eyed expressions of everyone below her. She didn’t know if her speech was able to rouse up her friends, but she knew she’d find out after another round of barking orders, “Listen up, I’ll keep the Dragon distracted while our swordsmen will counter if it starts to do another of those fire breaths. Issei-kun, we’ll buy you time to power up while you keep Koneko and Asia safe. Make sure to announce when you’re fully charged. And Gasper, stick with Issei, he’ll protect you too, and see if you can do something with yourBalance Breaker.”

Just as Akeno expected, she quickly got her answer about her teammates’ mental states. No longer did they hold fear; they began to excrete a toxic amount of hope that began to affect her too. Their faces, filled with smiles, moved Akeno to push herself further than she could have ever imagined. And luckily, this was all done in a time span in which the assaulting Dragon wasn’t keen on using fire-blasts.

Then, just as instructed, the team had begun to execute the plan Akeno proposed. Said woman flew up high into the air, sending another, less destructive, beam of lightning. Right before the Dragon could retaliate with a breath of fire, Xenovia and Kiba were quick enough to get into place and counter the attack with two unsuspected blows to the chin, causing the Dragon to slightly stagger to the side. Akeno used this opportunity to strike once again with a powerful blast of electricity pouring out of herMagic Circle, however, like before, the Dragon seemingly ignored the damage it took and started to raise its tail, whipping it around to its sides to get rid of Kiba and Xenovia who luckily evaded the devastating attack.

Kiba, with Xenovia by his side, rushed the Dragon from the front while she took its blind spot on the side, while Kiba activated hisBalance Breaker, summoning dozens of a variety of swords from beneath the feet of the Dragon. It stepped back, almost in shock until its focus was drawn to a quick flash of light from its peripheral vision. Turning its head, the Dragon saw in a blink of an eye, the Durandal sword growing in size in the hands of Xenovia as she heaved it over her head, intent on slamming it down on the Dragon’s exposed neck. Although Xenovia had the upper hand in this case, the Dragon proved to be quick enough to react to the split-second exchange as he brought down its head to parry the sword with its golden horns.

Sparks flew in the air as the two hard objects collided, but Xenovia was swiftly rejected while the Dragon repelled the attack back to where Kiba stood. Still in shock, Xenovia thought, ‘That thing was able to deflect Durandal!? How!?’ Luckily, Kiba saw how off-balance Xenovia was in the air and promptly caught her before she hit the ground. Unseen by the knights, the Dragon had begun to charge a fiery attack aimed directly for them, but Akeno intercepted in time with a jolt to the back while she flew above him. Just then, the Dragon seemed to have remembered that it was dealing with more than a couple of opponents.

It wasn’t long until it started to charge another one of its deadly blasts, the only sign that gave it away was the sudden heatwave that washed over the group. Knowing they couldn’t afford to be swimming in a sea of flames, Akeno called for Kiba and Xenovia for back up as she covered for them in the air. Rapidly, she pummeled the Dragon with the most substantial bolts of lightning she could muster in quick succession while it briefly paved the way for Kiba and Xenovia to intercept. The Dragon appeared not to care about being hit with the lightning as it merely gave a hard stare at the two oncoming knights. Unflinching against the flurry of attacks from Akeno, the massive beast concentrated on charging its next breath, lifting its head high and opening its mouth even farther.

These movements presented by the Dragon caused both Xenovia and Kiba to rush further toward the Dragon on pure adrenaline, as they could not let it blast the flames from its mouth. Unfortunately, Issei and the rest were directly in the path of being burned to a crisp if that ever happened, so with a last burst of desperation, the two sword-wielding Devils jumped in the air on either side of Dragon, hoping to be able to get at least one good hit on the seemingly impenetrable scales. To their horror, the Dragon reacted in record time, as if he predicted their movements and thoughts while he spun around, facing its back to their attack as it lifted its reptilian tail above its head and swung it down against the approaching knights, regrettably, also being tangent in path with Akeno, hitting all three of them and smacking their pain-filled bodies into the ground.

Issei watched in horror as his friends twitched in pain on the now bloodied ground, just on the other side of the cavern wall. His eyes changed in correlation to the mood, despair gripping tight around his heart. He felt hisBoosted Geardouble in strength again with a flash of green light emanating from the gem, but now, that meant almost nothing. If it only he was able to gain the strength he needed faster; if he had mastered hisBalance Breaker, this Dragon would be the one on the ground. Issei needed to act, but with his Vice-President on the ground, he didn’t know what to do besides what she told him last: protect Asia, Koneko, and Gasper. How was he going to do that? He no idea, but somehow, he needed to try.

‘Hey! Partner! What do you feel like doing right now? Huh? ‘Cause your friends are gonna die if you don’t help them.’ Ddraig commented condescendingly. He knew that Issei had what it took to fight, but he wasn’t sure if he had the determination and self-confidence to do it. Ddraig, despite not always showing it, cared deeply for this perverted teen, as his morals and actions were some that he has never seen. He was an exciting host to dwell in, even though he regretted it the first few months, he began to realize that Issei was a rather deep trench of emotion and thought than what he initially saw him as a shallow puddle. But now, like many times before, Ddraig would need to be the one to test this boy’s psychological limits in the best way he knew how: being a prick.

“I know that! I know already!” Issei screamed out loud to himself, watching anxiously as the purple Dragon stopped walking and started to fire a stream of flames towards the people he was supposed to be protecting. In the quickest way he could think of, Issei picked up Asia and put her on his back while also grabbing both Gasper and an unconscious Koneko and resting them in either arm, jumping with all his might away from the now scorching rocks. He landed roughly on the rigid ground as he could no longer hold onto his friends, accidentally losing his grip when he fell while they rolled along the dirt with him.

Issei stood up faster than he ever did before, only to see the Dragon about to launch another deadly blast at him and his comrades. Issei realized that this time, he wouldn’t be able to move everyone out of the way, so what’s his best option? “I guess I’m gonna have to cancel it with my own!” He screamed with as much courage as he muster. With every heartbeat, hisSacred Gearboosted his power by the second, knowing that now he had lives on the line that he must protect. With every fiber of his being trembling at the thought of facing off against this powerful Dragon, Ddraig only laughed knowing something that Issei obviously didn’t.

‘No need to panic, with that sudden increase in boosts, you’ve generated enough power to counter the blast. That is assuming that it’s at the same level of power as the ones before.’ Ddraig reassured his partner, significantly lifting Issei’s pride. Now he knew definitively that he could do this- he could protect his family.

The blast came not a second later, hurling through the air like a giant flamethrower, abruptly pulling Issei out of his monologue and raising his arm that was equipped with theSacred Gear. Just like how he thought, Issei produced the largestDragon Shothe ever created and fired the red ball of energy straight toward the opposing fire blast. As they collided, there was a minor power struggle between the two, but eventually, they both exploded simultaneously in the air, causing a large gust of wind to bring up a dense cloud of debris.

At this moment, Issei saw his chance; they could make it out of here. He told Gasper to look after Koneko in the spot that he left him, and took Asia to run with him toward the other injured people. He instructed Gasper to look out for any attacks or movement inside the dust cloud that wasn’t him or Asia and to use hisForbidden Valor Viewto stop the enemy the best he could while Asia healed them, “I’m counting on you buddy. I know this is a lot of pressure but just believe in yourself. It took me a while to realize that’s what I was missing myself. Looks like we both got something to work on.”

He left the two seemingly away from danger while he carried Asia on his back, finding it faster to carry her than to drag her around. Luckily he knew exactly where his friends were lying, possibly unconscious, and most definitely in pain. He dashed through the dust cloud and quickly found Akeno, Xenovia, and Kiba in a small crater made by their impact. He gently set Asia down to first heal Akeno, assuming that having her ariel support would be best at first. Asia went to work fast, sweating and breathing deeply as she had already used a lot of magic to stop the hemorrhaging in Koneko’s head, now she had to deal with possibly worse injuries from her other comrades, as they too were profusely bleeding. Taking into priority the main appendages and around the internal organs, Asia felt that she would finish must faster than before with Koneko.

However, their temporary retreat was nothing but that: temporary. The Dragon quickly got tired of looking for the Devils in the dust cloud, not being able to track them by smell either due to the strong presence of other substances. With a mighty whip of its tail, the cloud was swiftly cast away as both Asia and Issei watched as a giant clenched fist was rapidly descending from the sky.

‘Oh, please, Gasper!’ Issei pleaded mentally as he could feel the air rushing past his face. On instinct, both Asia and Issei closed their eyes, unwilling to watch the fist pummel them into the ground alongside their friends, but luckily, Gasper pulled through with his attempt to control his power. Standing in front of Koneko with trembling legs, Gasper had his eyes wide with painful concentration and extreme amounts of fear as he almost saw his friends die by way of a giant fist!

Realizing that Gasper wouldn’t be able to hold the mighty Dragon for much longer, Issei prepared anotherDragon Shotat point-blank range. He watched as the Dragon briefly broke through Gasper’s magic as he collapsed from exhaustion and continued his action of punching the remaining injured. Still, Issei moved in time to jump high in front of the Dragon’s face and aim the energy blast right in between its eyes, causing the oversized reptile to stagger back, however, it didn’t look to be in pain, just mild shock as the soot from the explosion got in its eyes.

Finding this to be a pristine opportunity, Issei once again felt hope, boosting his gear to its utmost limits while a steady burst of green light emitted from the orb in the gauntlet. Then, to his gleeful surprise, Issei watched and heard as Akeno heavily groaned from the ground as Asia was still healing her. She was happy to find that she was right about her diagnosis as Akeno forced herself to stand, wobbling as an after effect. Asia decided not to say anything despite her strong opposition to this action, she knew Akeno would never listen to her. Right now, no expenses could be made in withdrawing manpower.

Issei held out his hand for Akeno to take while he started to use his other ability: transferring power to others. She quickly grabs hold of his forearm as his flashing light gleamed brighter by the second. Not only was he doubling his own power, but he was also transferring at least 60 percent of each boost to Akeno, making Issei work double-time; it was plain to see, and even easier to feel(in his situation) that after this attempt, it would be their last.

Asia was still working with the knights, and their rook was incapacitated with the other bishop down from exhaustion. The only two left were the pawn and Queen.

Akeno took in multiple deep breathes, feeling the transferred energy flow through her body, as if she was the one drowning in an ocean of power. Trying her best to control this, she told Issei to stop seeing as she physically could not handle any more magic injected into herMagic Reserves. He understood what exactly she meant and accelerated his power-ups. Soon, this would be an end to their struggle; whether they win or lose, he was at least content with knowing that he tried his best and, hopefully, wishing that Rias was safe with Azazel somewhere.

He felt Akeno flap her wings to become airborne while she rose high above Issei’s head. They both watched the Dragon continuously rub its eyes until it suddenly stopped, keeping its eyes closed as its snout began to flare open and closed. With his keen sense of smell, the Dragon was able to pinpoint the area where the two Devils were, feeling their magic suddenly rise past their previous limits. It was hardly fl.u.s.tered by the increasingly growing energy coming from Issei while it just did what it had done many times before. Slightly bending its legs, this time, the Dragon was quick in releasing a blast vastly more devastating than the last few beforehand. The fire raged in the air and crept towards them at record speed, igniting the rocks around them in flames.

“Let’s go, Issei-kun!” Akeno yelled with a firm resolve. Issei called out to her as well, acknowledging her feelings. Both of them garnered a largeMagic Circlein front of them in their respective colors as a giant ball of red energy escaped from Issei’sSacred Gearand a lightning bolt from Akeno’s hands.

The magical attacks met at the epicenter of the cavern, the resulting shockwaves crumbling the previously made brittle and weakened walls of the confining cave-like structure. Asia watched in horror as her peerage family was knocked back against the collapsing rumble as they were instantly blended in with the debris. She covered and protected Kiba and Xenovia the best she could by lunging over them with her back faced adjacent to the hurricane level blast. Asia’s senses were stunned briefly by the overwhelming amounts of sensory information being bombarded into her by the after-effects of the previous power clash. Still, she could have sworn to the lord that she witnessed Rias running towards them with Azazel walking far behind.

Unable to keep herself awake, she crashed from the overload of pain and shock, but in her last moments, she prayed very passionately that what she saw was real.