Yo, we reached the power stone goal so here's a bonus chapter. Enjoy!
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Suddenly, Issei's gauntlet appeared on his arm and began to spread across his body, piece by piece, until crimson armor fully covered him.
"Welsh Dragon: Balance Breaker!"
"What? You unlocked your Balance Breaker?!" Rias exclaimed in shock.
Issei let out a tired sigh. "Yeah. I was about to die fighting a lava kraken, and I unlocked it at the very last second."
At that moment, a thin mist-like substance began to spread from Kuroka's body. It drifted quietly through the air, slowly covering the area around them. It didn't stop there. The strange mist kept expanding until it started engulfing the entire forest.
"Ah…"
Thud.
Rias suddenly dropped to her knees.
Issei's eyes narrowed. The instant he realized something was wrong, he shot forward at incredible speed, rushing straight at Bikou and Kuroka.
Bikou reacted immediately. He moved in front of Issei, his staff extending in an instant, and blocked Issei's incoming punch. But Issei didn't stop there. He grabbed the staff and twisted it sharply with his hand, forcing Bikou's defense open, then threw a fast punch straight at him.
Bikou barely managed to dodge.
At the same time, Kuroka appeared behind Issei like a shadow. Sage energy wrapped around her fist, and she slammed it into his side with brutal force, denting his armor inward.
Issei gritted his teeth, then shoved Bikou back with all his strength. At the same time, he twisted his body and swung a backhand strike at Kuroka. She slipped away from it and jumped back lightly, creating distance between them.
Without wasting even a second, Issei extended both arms, each aimed at one of them, and fired two beams of energy at the same time.
"Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!"
Issei's power began multiplying rapidly, the crimson jewels on his armor flashing with each boost. The aura around him grew heavier by the second, pressing down on the forest like a rising storm.
You can't fight for too long in this state, partner, Ddraig warned from inside the Boosted Gear.
Issei heard him, but he didn't slow down. Right now, he couldn't afford to.
Kuroka raised one hand calmly as the beam rushed toward her. The space in front of her twisted, bending like a distorted mirror, and the blast suddenly changed direction. Instead of hitting her, it curved upward and slammed into a barrier that had surrounded the area, exploding against it in a burst of red light.
On the other side, Bikou planted his feet into the ground and swung his staff into the second beam. The impact forced him backward, his boots carving deep lines through the dirt as he slid across the forest floor. Even with his staff blocking it, the power behind the blast was enough to push him back several meters.
The ground beneath Issei's feet cracked in a web-like pattern.
Then he vanished forward.
He shot toward Bikou at blinding speed, his crimson armor cutting through the air before the monkey could fully recover. Bikou's eyes widened, and he tried to shift his staff into position, but Issei was already too close.
Issei's fist slammed into Bikou's face with crushing force.
BOOOOOOOM!
The impact sent Bikou flying through the forest. His body smashed through tree after tree, splintering trunks and scattering broken branches everywhere. He finally managed to stop himself by stabbing his staff into the ground, dragging it through the dirt until his momentum slowed.
His head snapped up.
"Now you've done it, you little shit!" he screamed, his expression twisting with anger.
A blast of crimson Power of Destruction shot toward Kuroka's back at terrifying speed. The air around it warped from the sheer force of Rias's attack and it rushed straight for the black-haired Nekoshou.
But Kuroka only glanced over her shoulder. Just like she had done with Issei's beam, she raised one hand and grabbed at the space around her as if it was cloth. Her fingers twisted, and the air bent unnaturally. The blast curved around her body, missing her by inches, then shot back across the battlefield redirected straight toward Issei.
"Tch—!"
Issei's eyes widened inside his armor. He kicked off the ground and leaped to the side, barely dodging the attack as it ripped past him and exploded against the forest behind him. The impact swallowed several trees in crimson light, leaving behind a smoking path of destruction.
But the moment Issei landed, Bikou was already in front of him.
The monkey appeared with a wild grin, his golden staff already swinging down with brutal force.
"Too slow, dragon boy!"
Issei crossed both arms in front of his chest and blocked the strike head-on. The staff slammed into his guard with a thunderous crack. The force traveled through his armor and down into the ground beneath him.
A web of cracks spread out under his feet. Then the ground exploded outward. Dust, broken rocks, and chunks of earth flew in every direction as a crater formed beneath Issei.
On the other side of the battlefield, Rias dropped to one knee. Her hand pressed against the ground as she coughed harshly, a mouthful of blood spilling from her lips.
Her breathing was heavy. Every breath felt heavier than the last, and her demonic power flickered unevenly around her.
Kuroka walked toward them slowly, her tails swaying behind her.
"My fog is poisonous, you see," she said playfully and her golden eyes shifted toward Koneko, "To devils and youkai alike."
"Surprisingly, it doesn't work on the Red Dragon Emperor. Maybe that dragon inside him is protecting him, or maybe his body is just too stubborn. I diluted it a little, so it wouldn't kill you right away. I want it to spread slowly. A quick death would be too merciful. I'm going to make this slow and painful, Meow."
Across the battlefield, Issei's body stiffened. Even with Bikou pressing down on him, even with the dust and noise around him, he heard every word clearly. His eyes shifted toward Rias and Koneko. He had suspected something was wrong the moment he saw them falter earlier.
Issei forced himself to look away from Rias and Koneko.
'Calm down. Think. I need to get past him first. What would Adrien do in this situation'
Bikou pressed his staff harder against Issei's guard, his grin returning. "What's wrong, dragon boy? Worried about the girls?"
Issei clicked his tongue. Then he made a gamble.
Instead of pushing back, Issei suddenly stopped resisting.
The pressure on Bikou's staff vanished for half a second, and the monkey youkai's own strength carried the weapon downward. Issei dropped low, slipping under the staff just as it crashed into the ground where his body had been a moment before.
BOOM!
The impact shattered the earth, sending broken stones flying into the air.
Before Bikou could pull his weapon back, Issei kicked off the ground and shot forward. His crimson armor blurred through the poisonous mist as he rushed toward Rias, Koneko, and Kuroka.
Kuroka's eyes narrowed. "Oh?"
Issei didn't aim for her. Instead, he skidded to a stop between the three girls and planted his feet firmly into the ground. The Boosted Gear glowed brightly as power surged through his arms.
Then he clapped his hands together with all his strength.
The sound was like thunder. A violent shockwave exploded outward from Issei's palms, tearing through the battlefield in a wide burst of pressure. The poisonous mist around Rias and Koneko was blown away instantly.
Rias gasped as clean air reached her lungs. Koneko's trembling shoulders eased slightly, though she was still weak from the poison already inside her body.
Issei barely had time to turn before the monkey youkai's staff slammed into his back with crushing force. This time, the weapon was coated in Touki, a dense aura wrapped tightly around the staff to increase its destructive power.
The impact sounded like a cannon going off. Issei's body shot forward like a bullet, his crimson armor cutting through the air before he crashed through the forest. Tree trunks snapped apart one after another as Issei was sent flying across the battlefield, leaving a long trail of destruction behind him.
Issei eventually slammed into a larger tree, cracking the trunk deeply before dropping to the ground. Smoke rose from his armor as he pushed one hand into the dirt and tried to force himself back up.
Bikou glanced toward Kuroka, his playful expression becoming a little more serious. "Kuroka, take your sister and let's go. I'm pretty sure everyone's been alerted by now."
Kuroka, however, didn't look worried at all. "Don't worry, I already raised a space barrier around this area. We're completely cut off from the outside. So no matter how much we show off in here, no one outside is going to notice."
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I'm making some characters more powerful and with more techniques, so not everything might be cannon.