Chapter 214 — Unexpected Aid

Chapter 213 — Unexpected Aid

Yuki

The peerage and Irina were gathered around Akeno and me.

Gasper-kun and Irina were the last to arrive.

“I-Is Y-Yuki-senpai a-alright?” Gasper-kun asked as he flew up over to the group.

“I’m fine,” I said, but my voice sounded weaker than I had intended.

“You don’t look fine!” Irina said. “I’m pretty sure you were spitting up blood right before you collapsed. They can’t be fine.”

“Yuki-senpai gets tired physically quickly by using her Misstep ability,” Koneko said as she used her Senjutsu to heal my body and replenish my stamina. “When she moves another person, it exhausts her. Since she moved two people, her stamina is completely depleted.”

I opened my mouth to protest but shut it when Koneko shot me a glare.

“Asia-senpai is healing any damage she caused herself,” Koenko continued. “I am focusing on recovering her stamina so that she won’t collapse.”

“For now, Koneko and Asia continue to heal Yuki,” Rias said to the group. “Xenovia, Yuuto, Irina, and Gasper, get ready to assist Issei. Akeno and I will stay with Koneko and Asia as they heal Yuki, but we will be ready to step in where needed. We need to get ready to face Loki.”

“It’s good to see that I haven’t been forgotten,” Loki said. “It was rather impressive that you were able to match Fenrir’s speed for even a moment, Sekiryuutei. It’s a shame that the Fox Devil girl was able to interfere and prevent Fenrir’s attack from reaching you. I think that I’ll get rid of you now before you truly become a threat.”

Loki pointed at Issei and began to order Fenrir again.

I tried to put strength into my wings, but I still couldn’t move them.

“Fenrir, ki—“

“Loki!”

A shout cut him off from Azazel-sensei.

Following up his shout, both Azazel-sensei and Baraqiel-san created large spears of light and hurled them at Loki. 

Loki reached his hand out towards their attack.

“Ha! Even without Fenrir, just two Fallen Angels won’t be enough to stand against me.”

Loki created a complex-looking magical circle.

It quickly expanded and became a huge shield that blocked Azazel-sensei and Baraqiel-san’s attacks without wavering.

Azazel-sensei clicked his tongue.

“Norse magic! Their magic is more advanced than the magic of our religion! This will be difficult. I should’ve expected this from a god of Yggdrasil! Their world is one of magic and sorcery.”

Rossweisse-san moved forward and raised both hands.

“Then I will use the same magic!”

Multiple complex-looking magic circles appeared in the air around her.

Then each of those magic circles began to release attacks composed of different elements.

Fire bolts, ice lances, lightning bolts, stone bullets, and more were rapidly fired at Loki’s shield. 

I was impressed by the output of her attack.

She had seemed disappointing after she broke down crying multiple times when Odin-sama brought up that she was single, but now I could see why she was trusted as his bodyguard.

Sadly though, her attacks against Loki’s shield were also ineffective. 

Loki smirked after her attack finished.

“Now, it is my turn.”

Loki raised his hand towards us.

Fenrir growled as his murderous intent began to spread once again.

Koneko stopped healing me and moved to stand between Akeno, Asia, and me and our enemies.

Rias joined her. 

Issei, Xenovia, Irina, Yuuto, and Gasper-kun’s stances grew more tense. 

I tried to move my wings and support myself, but Akeno held me closer and stopped me.

I needed to move.

I had to help them in this fight.

Just before Loki could attack or order Fenrir, a streak of white light shot towards Fenrir and a voice cried out.

[Half Dimension!]

The space around Fenrir distorted, and Fenrir seemed to be stuck in place for a moment.

Then it bit through the distorted space around it, tearing at it with its teeth and claws. 

A white armored figure descended between Fenrir and Fenrir.

“Vali…” Issei muttered.

Hey, Opai Dragon!” Bikou shouted as he arrived next to Vali while riding on a golden cloud.

“It seems that you’re doing fine, though one of your comrades seems to be out of the fight already,” Vali said as he glanced over at me.

“Oh, it’s the fox girl that fought Kuroka. She doesn’t look hurt, though. What happened?” Bikou asked.

Issei looked confused as to why the two of them were here.

I’m sure the rest of us were too, but at the moment it didn’t matter.

They seemed to be here to fight Loki rather than us.

“Oh my! So the Hakuryuukou arrived as well!” Loki said with a smile.

Vali turned to face Loki.

“How do you do, evil god Loki-dono? I am the Hakuryuukou Vali. I have come here to eliminate you.”

Loki’s smile widened.

“Now that is certainly something interesting to announce. But I think I am satisfied today after seeing the Two Heavenly Dragons. I will retreat for now!”

Fenrir moved towards Loki.

Loki turned, and his robe flared out behind him.

As it did, a rift in space was created around the two of them.

“But on the day Odin plans to meet with the gods of this country, I will appear once again! Odin! Next time Fenrir and I will rip out your throat!” Loki announced before he and Fenrir disappeared. 

I let myself relax after our enemies fled.

That turned out to be a mistake, as once I did, my vision quickly began to turn black.

_________________________________________

I woke up with my head on someone’s lap.

I felt disoriented but quickly looked around the room without moving my head and alerting whoever I was lying on that I was awake.

I relaxed as I saw Koneko kneeling beside me.

Her hands were glowing with Ki as she held them to my abdomen.

Her eyes were shut as she concentrated on her Senjutsu.

I looked around the rest of the room.

I quickly realized that I was lying on a padded bench in Odin-sama’s carriage.

Looking out the window, I could see that we weren’t moving and it looked like we had landed back on the ground.

I could also hear muffled voices outside the carriage that sounded familiar.

I also realized that my head was currently on Akeno’s lap.

I couldn’t see her face due to the position my head was in and her large breasts being in the way, but I still could tell it was her.

One of her hands gently stroked my head, and one of my ears twitched as her fingers brushed against it.

I glanced back at Koneko and saw that she was watching me now.

She must have noticed I was awake while I was looking around the carriage.

“…Akeno-senpai, Yuki-senpai is awake. You can stop petting her now,” Koneko said as she stopped using her Senjutsu on me.

Akeno leaned back so that she could see my face and grinned when she saw that I was awake.

“Ara. You’re right, she is. Were you enjoying your lap pillow and pretending to sleep so you could enjoy it longer?”

I gave her a dull look and sat up. 

Akeno pouted exaggeratedly as I did. 

“I just woke up and was trying to figure out where I was. How long was I out for?” I asked Koneko.

“…Not very long. We moved you into the carriage immediately so that I could treat your exhaustion. We landed the carriage a little while after you were placed inside,” Koneko replied as she sat down on the bench next to me. “How are you feeling, senpai? You pushed yourself hard when you moved both Buchou and Issei-senpai.”

“I’m just feeling a bit sluggish. I’ll be fine after I rest some more,” I said, then turned to Akeno. “And why was I lying on your lap?”

“I figured you would recover faster if I gave you a lap pillow. So I decided to help Koneko with your recovery,” Akeno replied with a smile. 

“…Akeno-senpai was worried about you and wouldn’t leave even after I told her Asia-senpai healed any injuries you had caused yourself and you were only exhausted,” Koneko said while glaring lightly at Akeno. “I would have been able to treat you more efficiently if we were alone.”

Akeno frowned for a moment at Koneko’s comment.

Then she smiled wider and pulled me closer to her on the bench.

She ignored the look I gave her. 

“Ara, Koneko-chan. You seemed to be able to treat her just fine. Am I not allowed to worry about Yuki-chan? Plus, I’m sure I can think of a way to check and see if her stamina is fine,” Akeno said as she pressed her chest against my arm.

Koneko frowned and pulled me towards her and away from Akeno. 

“…You’re allowed to worry about senpai, but you shouldn’t push yourself onto her like that. She’s still recovering, and your pervertedness might rub off on her.”

Akeno slid over and leaned against me again.

I opened my mouth to stop their fighting, but Akeno spoke before I could. 

“You say that as if you’re any better, Koneko-chan,” Akeno said with a grin. “You’re the one who invites herself into her bedroom every night. And I imagine you’ve thought about ‘rubbing off’ on Yuki-chan before.”

Koneko’s face turned red, and her eyes widened before she scowled at Akeno and leaned towards her. 

I shot Akeno an annoyed look at her comment.

Akeno was ignoring me and grinning at Koneko as she was enjoying messing with her.

Koneko normally would let rise to her provocation, but was now fully caught up in it.

As Koneko was about to reply, the door to the carriage opened. 

“Akeno-san, Koneko-chan, is Yuki-san awake yet…”

Issei stepped inside and then paused as he saw the three of us.

He blinked and then stared at Akeno and Koneko pressing themselves against me on the bench.

“Is this part of Yuki-san’s healing, or is this some girl thing that I wouldn’t understand?” Issei asked after a moment.

“Fufufu, something like that, Ise-kun,” Akeno said with a chuckle.

Koneko leaned away from me, and I gently pushed Akeno away.

“Akeno-san was just teasing Koneko-chan, and I got caught in the middle of it. That’s all,” I said. “Was there something you needed? Does Buchou need us?”

Issei nodded.

“Yeah, Vali and Biko just got back from checking the area and wanted everyone to gather to talk. Since Yuki-san is up, we can all head over to Buchou.”

“Understood,” I replied.

Akeno, Koneko, and I exited the carriage, and Issei followed behind us.

I looked around and saw that we were in the park near Kuoh Academy.

As I stepped out, Issei called out behind me.

“Wait a moment, Yuki-san.”

I turned to face him as he stepped out of the carriage.

“I wanted to thank you for protecting Buchou and saving me. I reached Buchou, but Fenrir would’ve ripped a hole in me if you hadn’t pulled me away,” Issei said with a grim look. “If he had, I don’t know what might have happened to Buchou. So thank you for keeping her safe. I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to Buchou.”

“You don’t need to thank me, but you're welcome, Issei-san. You're my friend. Both you and Buchou are very important to me. I couldn’t let anything happen to either of you,” I replied.

Koneko and Akeno were waiting for us a few steps ahead.

We walked forward and joined them on our way to Buchou.

“I still want to thank you. Hopefully next time I’ll be able to protect everyone,” Issei said as we walked.

“It would be better if we didn’t need protection, but things seem to keep getting more dangerous around us,” I replied.

“There’s nothing wrong with protecting the people that are important to you, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it on your own. Or that you should throw yourself between them and danger without considering what would happen to yourself,” Akeno said as she smiled at Issei and me.

Her smile did not reach her eyes as she continued to stare at the two of us.

I glanced at Issei and saw he was sweating nervously.

“…There might be a time when Asia-senpai or I won’t be able to get to you in time. It’s important to remember that you’re important too,” Koenko said without looking at the two of us.

Issei rubbed the back of his head.

“Sorry. When I see that someone I care about is in danger, my body moves before I can think. I want to be able to protect and save everyone, but I don’t always think everything through. I want to be strong enough to make sure everyone can keep living happily.”

Akeno smiled gently at Issei.

That sounded a lot like how Issei thought.

It was straightforward and simple, but caring.

Akeno looked at me next.

I sighed and began to speak.

“I understand that everyone can protect themselves to a degree, but if I am able to prevent one of you from being harmed I will. My abilities cause backlash and sometimes injure myself, but I know what to expect from those injuries. I don’t know what would have happened to Issei-san and Buchou if Fenrir had managed to hit them. It’s an easy decision to make when I know that whatever injury I sustain would be less than what could happen to one of you.”

Akeno and Issei frowned at me.

Koneko looked at me with an unreadable expression.

“I get what you’re saying, to a point, but I think it’s kind of a sad way to look at it,” Issei said with a bitter smile.

“And you don’t always know how badly you’ll be injured,” Koneko said. “You haven’t tried moving two people before and when you first moved Asia-senpai you had Issei-senpai use his [Transfer] to boost your strength first. You did the right thing by saving Issei-senpai and Buchou, but I don’t know if you do think about what would happen to you before you do things like that.”

Koneko sounded frustrated as she finished speaking.

I didn’t know how to reply in a way that wouldn’t upset her more without lying.

She was right that I didn’t always know how bad it would be for me.

But I would still make those decisions if it meant keeping someone I cared for out of harm's way. 

We arrived where Buchou and everyone else were waiting before I could properly respond to her.

She realized that the conversation was over for now, but I could that Koneko wasn’t going to let this drop easily.

Azazel-sensei, Odin-sama, Rossweissei-san, Baraqiel-san, were standing with Rias and our peerage.

Vali and Bikou were there as well and both Kuroka and Arthur had arrived as well.

Kuroka noticed Koneko and I arriving.

She smiled at Koneko before looking me up and down and grinning.

Koneko frowned and shifted closer to me as we moved to stand with Rias and the others.

Kuroka grinned wider seeing that.

Vali was speaking to the group as we arrived next to Rias.

“So, you will need to take down Loki so that Odin’s meeting with the Shinto gods, correct?”

Vali looked around the group after asking that.

“But your group will not be strong enough to fend off both Loki and Fenrir. And with the ongoing attacks from the Hero faction in the Underworld, Heaven, and Valhalla, you won’t be able to expect support from them at the moment.”

“Is it true that Loki isn’t working with the Kahos Brigade?” I asked. “Since you're a member of the group and you attacked him and Fenrir earlier I would expect that he isn’t aligned with you.”

Vali nodded.

“That’s correct. Loki isn’t working with the Khaos Brigade. He is just taking advantage of the chaos they have caused.”

If we could trust what Vali was saying, that meant that Loki wouldn’t be receiving backup from the Khaos Brigade during our next confrontation.

That was good news since we were on our own at the moment.

“And you’re saying that you can defeat him?” Issei with a frustrated tone.

Vali looked at his rival and gave him a bitter smile. 

“It’s unfortunate, but currently I wouldn’t be able to take on both Loki and Fenrir at the same time. But… it would be possible to defeat him if the Two Heavenly Dragons were to join forces.”

There was a shocked reaction from our side.

Only Vali’s group didn’t seem surprised by his suggestion.

Issei looked stunned as he stared at Vali.

“For this battle. I don’t mind joining forces with Hydouou Issei.”