DxD: Ascension - Redux

Chapter 31: Juggernaut

This chapter marks the end of Volume VI: Overdrive.

The Underworld

Rias's peerage raced up the stairs to the main temple. As soon as they crossed the threshold, they were stopped by a group of young women in dark, hooded robes.
"I had a feeling you'd try and follow me," Diodora's voice echoed through the temple. "So I put together this welcoming party. Let's begin our game, shall we?"
"Sorry to disappoint, but today's Rating Game has been canceled. Though you already knew that, didn't you?" Rias countered.
"Then we'll play my game instead. Should you lose or refuse to play, Asia will be mine. Observe." The walls behind the robed women opened to reveal two doorways, each leading to a separate path. "You'll have to fight two separate battles simultaneously. On the right path, two Rooks and eight Pawns, all promoted to Queen, await you. On the left, you'll be facing my Queen and Bishops. Split your forces any way you see fit."
Rias analyzed the threat. "Issei, Koneko, Xenovia, and Gasper, you take out his forces on the right."
"Four of us against ten of them?!" Gasper cried. "That's impossible!"
"Not for you, it isn't. Now, everyone else, you're with me on the left."
Diodora chuckled. "Then let the game begin!"

BGM: Destiny 2 - Forge Ahead

The four fighters that Rias sent to the right path arrived at their battle and found their opponents already waiting silently.
Rias and her group arrived at the same time as their opponents teleported into the temple. "Hm. Only two Bishops and a Queen. Confident. Okay, Xenovia, keep the Rooks busy!"
"Right!" Xenovia blocked a double attack from Diodora's Rooks. "I was made for fights like this!"
"Koneko, work crowd control on those Pawns, and Issei, you need to give Gasper a taste of your blood!"
Koneko silently complied, flinging orbs of sky-blue light at the attackers. Issei bit his finger just enough to draw blood and let Gasper lick his fingertip. "Alright, we're ready to go!"
"Then it's time to even the odds."
"Yeah! Promotion to Queen! Koneko, cover me!" Issei raced into the crowd of attackers, tagging each with a small dragon insignia. "Dress Break!" He snapped his fingers and the enemies' clothes were ripped to shreds.
Issei's "attack" didn't have as much of an effect as he expected. Diodora's servants continued to fight as if nothing had happened.
"You may have noticed that they're not responding to your vulgar technique. I cast a spell on them to remove any feelings of embarrassment or modesty. I obviously knew you'd try this," Diodora's voice informed them.
"Dammit..." Rias's shield struggled against the force of the Queen and Bishops' attacks. "Kiba! Akeno!"
Akeno nodded and struck the enemy Queen with holy lightning. Kiba rushed in and hit her down with the flat of his blade before leaping back behind Rias.
The Queen immediately got back to her feet, having been healed by Diodora's Bishops.
Meanwhile, Issei and his group were barely able to keep up with the Pawns' dancelike movements. "Wait... I've got it! Keep me safe for a minute, guys!" Issei was surrounded by a green aura. He closed his eyes and connected with the attackers' hearts, hearing their plan through some otherworldly means. "It works!" He pointed to three of the girls. "Those ones are all targeting you, Gasper! Freeze them!"
"O-okay!" Gasper concentrated his power on the three attackers, freezing them in time and surprising the rest into hesitation.
Issei pointed to another three-woman attack group. "Those ones are coming for Koneko. Stop them!"
"Keep them still and I'll handle 'em," Koneko added. As soon as the attackers were frozen, she delivered devastating blows and eliminated them from the fight.
"How the hell is this happening?!" one of the remaining fighters wondered. "Is he reading our minds?"
"No." Issei crossed his arms. "But I can see what's in your hearts through my secret technique! Take them down, Koneko!"
While the attackers were stunned, Koneko rushed them from behind and knocked them down, leaving only the Rooks standing.
"All of the Pawns are gone... it's just us now," one of the Rooks noted.
"Then I can finally cut loose." Xenovia brandished her sword. "When I first met Asia, I said some terrible things to her that I regret now." Durandal glowed with golden energy. "I called her a witch and a heretic. But even after that, she still accepted me and made me feel at home. And for that, I will protect her!" She pulled Ascalon out of a magic circle and crossed the two blades, transferring some of Durandal's power to the Dragon-Slayer. "By your powers combined, I will smite my enemies! BEGONE!" The glow of her swords intensified into a devastating laser of holy energy, cutting through the Rooks and the temple in which they fought.
"Why didn't you do that in the first place?" Issei complained. "You could've totally just taken out the Pawns in one shot."
"You guys had them covered, I didn't wanna steal your thunder."