Ascension to Greatness (High School DxD X Date A Live)

Chapter 26: Showdown

At the entrance of Tenguu City Municipal Park
11:00am

Kotori: "Sigh... why are we assigned with sentry duty...? I'm pretty tired and I don't wanna stand here all day..."

Kotori, along with Origami, Yoshino, and Tohka were all assigned with security duty by ensuring that no unwanted threats entered the festival.

Although Rias and her friends managed to enter the festival venue undetected, they were quickly dealt with by David, as he feared a high risk probability should they try and interfere with the plan to befriend and recruit Miku into the Sephira Warriors.

Kotori was feeling very energetic in the morning but was now feeling extremely tired and sleepy. Her head was rocking forward and backwards as she struggled to keep herself awake.

Then, Yoshino said to her: "[Efreet], we can't afford to sleep here! I'm also pretty tired too but we need to make sure that Ellen Mathers doesn't get close to [Dragon]!"

Origami: "I agree. Ellen's presence could heavily shift the odds against us. We must stay vigilant and... wait! Over there! 2 o'clock!"

Origami suddenly became alert out of nowhere and pointed to the northeast. The other three girls were caught off guard by this reaction and were initially confused. However, their eyes widened in horror as they realised why Origami sounded so serious just now was because an unexpected and unwanted visitor had just arrived at the festival.

It was Ellen Mira Mathers, right hand of Isaac Westcott who was on a mission to track down Shido Itsuka's family, specifically his mother, Reine. She had arrived at the park with eight Wizards including a certain Artemisia Bell Ashcroft, a known enemy of Origami Tobiichi.

Tohka: "W-What do we do?! We're outnumbered and we don't stand a chance against such a formidable force!"

Origami in an instant made up her mind and ordered everyone to follow her: "Quick! Into the festival! We'll try and ambush them!"

She subsequently sped off behind and the rest of them followed her into the festival. As they entered the crowd, Tohka turned on her radio to alert Shido of the new threat: "Mayday! Do you copy?! This is [Princess] and we have new threats entering the festival venue! DEM forces have arrived and there are a total of nine hostile present! That includes Ellen Mathers and Artemisia Bell Ashcroft!"

Shido: "This is [Dragon], if the given information is true, then let's rendezvous at the  auditorium! I have news here on my part as well!"

Tohka: "What about [Duchess]? Will she be alright on her own?"

Shido: "She is more than capable of defending herself! For the time being, let's all head over to the auditorium to meet up! Over and out!"

The radio call ended and the two parties headed towards the auditorium to rendezvous. Meanwhile, Shido attempted to reestablish connection with Shiori, who was busy walking through the festival area with Miku.

Shido: "[Duchess]! Can you hear me? This is [Dragon]! We have external threats which have entered the festival venue! Maintain this connection with me so that we can keep track of each other's status! Be vigilant and make sure nobody hurts you or Miku!"

Shiori: "Understood. I'll keep an eye out. What's going to happen to you?"

Shido: "The others and I will keep the external threats away. Combat might be possible, but don't worry about us. Just focus on your mission and we'll do our part. If you need any help, just go to the auditorium where the rest of us are heading to right now."

Shiori: "Okay then. I'll be careful. Good luck."

The conversation ended there and Shiori began looking around for suspicious persons. It couldn't be hard to find strange people who could be stalking her since anybody who had the intention to do so would obviously stand out even in a huge crowd.