DxD: Ascension - Redux

Chapter 58: The Pinnacle of Power

This chapter marks the end of Volume XII: The Mechanical Seraph. Enjoy!

Kuoh Academy, behind the old schoolhouse (BGM: Persona 3 Reload - Unavoidable Battle)

Issei ran for his life from Rias's Power of Destruction blasts as Aika and the rest of the ORC watched. "Please don't kill me!" he pleaded, backed into a corner.
Rias herself, surrounded by a raging crimson aura, walked toward Issei menacingly. "Do you have any idea how stupid, how immature, it was to tell a mortal about the magical world? DID YOU THINK ABOUT THIS FOR EVEN A SECOND?!" As her aura grew even stronger, her hair started to float around her. When she was just a foot away from Issei, she sighed, her aura dying down and her hair falling back into place. "You're lucky I love you, Issei. But you're still getting a thousand spankings later. As for you, Praktum." Rias's aura flared to life again as she turned to face Zach.
"Guess it's my turn." Zach walked away from the group to face Rias's punishment. "Okay, lemme hear it."
"Issei, I expect to make immature mistakes like this. But you? The boy who revealed magic to the human world once already back in your home universe? The boy who always says he wishes he never did it? A hero with three years of experience under his belt? This is beneath you, Zach."
"Aika is one of Asia's close friends. Like we said earlier, she has every right to know why Asia was crying after thinking she saw Koneko."
"That's not your decision to make!"
"Oh, and what, it's your decision?" Zach got into a battle stance, his temper rising at Rias's lack of understanding. "You're forgetting the difference between me and Issei, Rias: I don't have to obey you. And I've already beaten you once."
Rias readied a Destruction blast. "It was a decision we should've all made as a group! As a family!" She fired her attack with nearly lethal force.
With a growl, Zach fired a Daemonic blast to counter, but after clashing for a brief few seconds, Rias's attack cut through his own. The Power of Destruction pierced straight through Zach's chest, sending him to the ground.
Rias narrowed her eyes. That was too easy. What's going on with him today? she thought. I should keep pushing.
"Rias, are you trying to kill him?! Stop it!" Irina tried to rush to Zach's defense, but found herself unable to move. "What the-"
Issei held her back. "Give her a minute. She's not trying to kill him, she's trying to force somethin' outta him. Can't you feel it?"
Irina focused. She could feel it. Zach's aura had shifted. "Is... is he losing control again?"
"No, I don't think so. Him going outta control was a lot like my Juggernaut Drive, but right now is giving me the same sensation as when I first used Cardinal Crimson Promotion, but on a whole other level. Zach's... I dunno. It's like his power's... evolving, or something. Just watch."

BGM: Persona 5 - Our Beginning

Zach slowly got to his feet as the Occult Research Club looked on, his breathing labored. Daemonic energy swirled around his left arm, and to everyone's shock, royal blue flames swirled around his right. The two powers coalesced at the center of his chest, where Rias's attack had hit him, and a violet vortex formed where they met. Zach's scarlet eyes turned purple as his wound healed itself. His hair turned pure white. A pair of massive wings made entirely of violet energy formed on his back and he began to levitate a few meters off the ground. The opposing forces around his arms became the same violet energy.
Rias gazed at her adversary. Considering that this new power was being directed at her, she should've felt terrified, but whatever it was, it brought a strange peace to her mind.
Zach spread his arms and a flock of what appeared to be tiny phoenixes made of violet light flew out of his palms, and soared around the area, spreading that same sensation of peace to everyone else. The sun overhead briefly turned purple, then started flickering between purple and its normal state. The wind picked up, swirling around the group like they were inside a tornado, violet embers dancing in the air around them.

Fade out BGM

As soon as the phenomenon had started, it came to a sudden end. Zach's wings disappeared and his hair turned back to black as he fell to his knees, coughing up blood. The wind stopped, the sun returned to normal, the phoenixes disappeared, and all was as it had been.
"Zach!" Rias rushed to her friend, helping him stand. "What was that? Are you okay?"
"I... I think so," Zach said with a weak nod, leaning on Rias for support. His eyes had turned back to gray for the first time since awakening the Daemon. "As for what that was? No idea. I've only felt anything similar to that once. True Balance."
"You mean Azrael's full power? You're saying you accessed it again?"
"No. Not even close. I said it was a similar feeling, not the same. True Balance feels like..." Zach grimaced as he tried to find the words to describe it. "It's this bittersweet feeling, if that makes sense. You're overwhelmed by the euphoria of knowing that you literally have infinity at your fingertips, you can end or create universes on a whim. But you're also overwhelmed by the innate knowledge of the responsibility that power brings, and the terror of the idea of failing that responsibility. True Balance makes me omnipotent, but not omniscient, and certainly not perfect. The euphoria and fear, the positive and negative, cancel each other out and you're left kinda... I dunno. Numb, but you also have absolute focus on what needs to be done."
"And what about whatever you just did?" Aika asked. "How'd that feel?"
"I felt... nothing. Just absolute clarity. Kinda like with True Balance, but not exactly. It wasn't clarity based on a cancellation of all distraction, it was clarity based on an absence of distraction. Like the distraction was never there to begin with, rather than having eliminated it. But the level of power? Crazy, but doesn't hold a candle to True Balance. Nothing does."
"My brain hurts just hearing that," Issei said, scratching his head. "I don't really get exactly what just happened, but by aura alone, I think you were a god for a second there."
Rias shook her head. "No. Zach didn't become anything else, he was still just Zach. But his power ascended not just to the godly level- it went beyond that."
"Ascended... ascended... Ascension! I got it!" Issei fist pumped. "That's what we'll call it!"
"...Huh?" Zach tilted his head a little. "What're you talking about?"
"Whatever that power you just used was... that form, or ability, or whatever, we'll call it Ascension! It's gotta have a sick name, right?"
Zach managed a halfhearted smile. "Sure, Issei. We'll call it Ascension."
"And more importantly, your old power's back! I think. I mean, we all saw your fire on your right arm when Ascension activated, right?"
Zach held out his hand. A tiny blue flame flickered in his palm, and his eyes shifted to royal blue. Despite his exhaustion, his delight was clear in his face. "Yeah. I can't explain how, but I have the Phoenix again. It's just... I'm back to square one, pretty much. I'll have to retrain with the Phoenix to get back to where I was. Kinda like... learning how to walk again after an accident? Like, I know how to use it in my head, technique-wise, but I have to get my body used to doing it again."
"Well, we'll be happy to help any way we can," Akeno promised.
"Thanks. Now, I think I'm gonna head home." Zach stopped leaning on Rias. "Ascension left me pretty drained, so I might nap for the next eight years or so. Oh, and as a little favor, keep everything that just happened, namely Aika and Ascension, between us. Don't tell the leaders, don't tell anyone. Peace out." He summoned his magic circle, the rings of which were now alternating red and blue. "Fancy." With that, he disappeared.