They clean her up and tuck her into bed once they’re through with her, of course. They’re not monsters. Or at least, Issei isn’t. He might have turned Gabriel into one… but even if the Fallen Seraph is a monster, she’s HIS monster.

Regardless, as they leave Lavenia to her rest, Issei finds himself contemplating just what he’s going to do about Vali. The leader of Team Vali was still out there after all, like a ripened fruit waiting to be plucked. He’d certainly waited long enough, but how to go about things? Before he can ask Gabriel for her opinion however, the two of them turn the corner, only to stop dead in their tracks.
 
Issei can tell from the way Gabriel tenses in surprise that she’s just as caught off guard as he is. But then to be fair, even with the sight of Valentine Lucifer staring them both right in the face, it’s still a little hard to believe. After all… Issei can’t feel her presence, despite what his eyes are telling him. Is she even real? No, wait…
 
“Oh that’s an interesting trick.”
 
Gabriel has realized it around the same time as he has. Vali has Divided her presence down to such a miniscule amount that she’s gone completely undetected by their senses. She’s still there, but it’s like trying to sense an ant. Possible, but not something you’d ever notice unless you were focusing on it.
 
Shaking like a leaf, the leader of Team Vali lifts a hand and points it in Issei’s direction.
 
“Y-You… I c-challenge you, Issei Hyoudou, R-Red Dragon Emperor! I challenge you f-for it a-all.”
 
Her stuttering and stammering has Issei lifting a brow as he studies her for a moment. Her arousal is obvious. Clearly, she’s been using that ability of hers to spy on them for who knows how long rather than actually train. She’s so shaken by her encounter with Issei’s Focused Intent that she can’t seem to get out of her own head. She’s effectively mind broken herself.
 
… Issei can’t help but be a little disappointed. When all is said and done, this is how it ends for the woman that’s supposed to be his rival?
 
Hmm… it’s certainly a little anti-climactic, isn’t it?
 
See, even Ddraig agreed! All the same… it was what it was, he supposed. They would have their fight, and Vali would likely lose in seconds, if she didn’t surrender outright. Shame, but… well, this was the end of the rivalry, he guessed.
 
Feels weird, winning against Albion like this… tch.
 
It did feel weird, but Issei doesn’t let that show on his face. Instead, adopting a cocky, confident smirk, he opens his mouth to accept, knowing exactly what was coming next. He’d fuck her silly, and that would be the end of that.
 
Except, before he can speak… Vali suddenly jerks hard enough that Issei swears he hears bones snap somewhere in her body. A cry splits from her lips, and one of her eyes becomes slitted like that of a dragon as her head twists around, giving him her side profile.
 
“NO! I… urgh… refuse! I will not allow this indignity and humiliation to continue a moment longer!”
 
Issei blinks, tilting his head to the side. It would seem the original White Dragon Emperor wasn’t going down without a fight.
 
Ah, there he is. Of course, even a creature like him has his pride, heh.
 
Frowning at Ddraig’s words, Issei opens his mouth, but once again finds himself cut off. Vali suddenly collapses to her knees, her head thrown back as a truly gut-wrenching scream explodes from her lips. She claws at her face for a moment before her hands fall away, revealing that both of her eyes have gone dragon-like. She’s flickering, her body twitching as though in the middle of a transformation.
 
In that moment, when she glares daggers at him, Issei knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s the Vanishing Dragon he faces… not Albion’s host.
 
“If you want her, come and get her, Red Dragon Emperor.”
 
A moment later the body collapses backwards like a puppet whose strings have been cut. Issei blinks, before rushing in with Gabriel right beside him.
 
Minutes later, they’ve moved Vali to an empty guest bedroom, laying her out on a bed there. As Issei and his Fallen lover stand over the unconscious young woman, Issei can’t help but frown in thought. What was this? What did Albion mean? Did Ddraig have any idea?
 
Truthfully? No. My rival has always been a pain in the ass, considering himself the suave, smooth operator and labeling me as the brute who can’t plan my way out of a paper bag. Tch. He probably thinks he’s developed some sort of master plan to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat despite his current wielder’s weakness. Either that or he’s hoping you’ll just kill her or even let her die so that he can move onto another.
 
After everything Issei has done, he’s not about to let Vali die. Which means he has to figure this out. Looking up, Issei meets Gabriel’s eyes… only to see something akin to comprehension in his beloved’s gaze.
 
“Gabriel? Do you know what’s going on? What Albion was talking about back there?”
 
Gabriel hesitates for a moment… before sighing and nodding.
 
“Back when God still lived I… assisted him in the creation of the Sacred Gear System. I didn’t do much, it was very much my father’s personal pet project in a lot of ways. However… I know of a backdoor, so to speak. Essentially, I could put you and Ddraig into Vali’s soul space, to confront her and Albion.”
 
Issei’s eyes widen at the offer. Truly? That was… well, it sounded like what Albion was aiming for, or something similar. Certainly the White Dragon had been trying to goad Issei into some sort of move.
 
“However, the danger cannot be understated, Issei. Since I’ll be the one performing the ritual, I will not be able to come with you. You and Ddraig will be on your own. Moreover, it will be Vali’s soul space. She will have the homefield advantage, as the Americans like to call it. Your power within her soul will be curtailed, and it is entirely possible that you will not be able to defeat Albion and her. This is likely a trap.”
 
Issei frowns, thinking back to how Vali was acting. Hmm…
 
“Good to know… but I have to do it anyways. I’m not going to give up. Not this close to the finish line.”
 
Gabriel smiles softly at that, the Fallen Seraph nodding her head in agreement.
 
“I imagined you might feel that way, Issei. Please, lay down beside her. We shall begin.”
 
Issei does as he’s told and at Gabriel’s direction, closes his eyes. What feels like a few moments later, he opens his eyes again to find himself elsewhere… the vision of beauty that is Ddraig in her buxom humanoid form tells him this isn’t anywhere in the real world, of course. More than that… this place is a wasteland.
 
“Wow… this place looks like it’s seen a thousand battles.”
 
When he’d fought Ddraig for supremacy of his own soul and the two had… renegotiated the Red Dragon’s renting arrangements, Issei and his soul-companion had definitely rearranged the landscape a fair bit. They’d blasted the place apart to put it mildly. However, this… all around him, as far as the eye could see, was destruction. The place was more desolate and unforgiving than his own inner soul space had ever been.
 
“Y DDRAIG GOCH! GREAT WELSH! FACE ME, COWARD!”
 
Albion’s roar comes from what appears to be quite the distance away, the roar of a dragon reaching across this wasteland and buffeting the both of them where they stand. In an instant, Ddraig has left her humanoid form behind and taken on her proper dragon body. As she grows to her full glory, she winds her head and looks down at Issei, even as he cranes his neck back to look up at her.
 
“I must go to him and fight him, Issei. This is my calling and destiny. Good luck with your own efforts.”
 
Issei doesn’t try to stop her. Maybe he could have if he wanted to, but that would have been the height of foolishness, picking a fight with his own soul while in a foreign soul space. Instead, he just gives Ddraig a nod and lets her take off and fly into the distance. Meanwhile… he begins picking his way through the desolate wasteland before him, hunting for Valentine.
 
It doesn’t take him long to locate her. But also, it might have taken an eternity. He can’t say how much time has passed before he comes across her, the only living thing for seemingly miles. Kneeling, facing away from him, the silver-haired woman shudders, breathing in great heaving pants.
 
“Vali.”
 
Concerned despite their adversarial relationship, Issei steps forward, intending to reach out a helping hand. However, long before he can touch her, he feels it. Vali whips around, just as the sucking sensation hits him. It’s like the strength and power is being drained from him just by being in proximity to her.
 
Standing tall, hair dangling down in front of her yellow eyes, Vali narrows her gaze. The White Dragon Empress faces off across from the Red Dragon Emperor.
 
“You… you made me doubt myself. You had me convinced I could never win. I almost… no. I DID succumb to the temptation of giving in to you. Luckily, Albion stopped me. Now I see… out there, I was so frightened by your power that I tried to take the coward’s way out.”
 
Issei frowns and shrugs.
 
“There’s nothing wrong with submitting to someone stronger than you, Vali.”
 
That elicits a scoff from the White Dragon Empress.
 
“Oh? And have you ever done so?”
 
Issei frowns even harder at that. Because… not really. Not even when he’d faced down creatures like Serafall, or the leaders of the factions, or Gabriel herself. When faced with those stronger than him, Issei had never bent nor broken.
 
“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”
 
In a heartbeat, Vali has crossed the distance between them. Issei’s eyes barely have time to widen before her fist is in his face. He can’t block, he can only barely move with the blow to minimize the damage. Even then, he’s sent flying back across the wasteland, his cheek smarting something fierce from the punch.
 
He blocks her follow up at least, but even still… his bones vibrate with the strength of her blows. Gritting his teeth, he knows now what Gabriel meant by homefield advantage. His strength might be greater than Vali’s, he might be more powerful in the real world… but none of that mattered here. They were on her turf, and thus a lot more evenly matched than they should have been.
 
“You tried to turn me into… into some sort of lewd creature! You tried to make me something debauched and depraved!”
 
Vali snarls as she attacks him with everything she’s got. She doesn’t use any of her Sacred Gear’s abilities… not consciously anyways. She doesn’t need to. Here inside of her soul, her Dividing Gear is apparently always on. Issei has to constantly Boost under his breath, just to keep up with what she’s stealing from him.
 
“I didn’t do anything to you, Valentine! Your choices, and the choices of your team… they were your own!”
 
“Tch! Liar! You got in my head, d-damn it! You fucker! I’ll fucking kill you!”
 
As their fight continues across the wasteland, as they trade blows that could shatter mountains and eviscerate powerful warriors, Issei’s jaw clenches, his countenance becoming grimmer by the second. The thing is… he doesn’t think Vali is wrong. He’s not sure that either of them can win this cleanly in a way that forces the other to surrender. Even if he was willing to submit to her instead, he doesn’t sense that Vali is willing to accept his submission. And on the flip side… she’s intent on fighting to the death.
 
Here in her soul, where they apparently are so evenly matched, he doesn’t see this ending without them killing each other at the same time. He doesn’t think there can be a true victor here… only losers.
 
Except… there might be another way. Because Vali is wrong. Issei hadn’t done anything to her but show her his true power. How she’d reacted to that in the real world was her business. Here in her soul however, one might think she’d overcome any attraction she felt towards him. Issei… didn’t entirely believe that was the case.
 
He can tell as they exchange blows that Vali is still fairly aroused. She’s just hiding it. She’s suppressing her lust and pushing it down beneath a mountain of rage and anger. She’s convinced herself that he’s the enemy… and in a way, he is. But he doesn’t have to be. They don’t have to be enemies.
 
“This was never about us, Vali! This was about Albion and Ddraig! They’re the ones with the eternal rivalry! We… we’re just pawns in their game! We don’t have to do this!”
 
A flicker of something appears in Vali’s eyes, before she snarls, her pride reasserting itself.
 
“I am no one’s pawn! I fight because I want to fight, not because of Albion. I fight because I have to get stronger… because I WILL get stronger! Stronger than you! Stronger than your Fallen Seraph! Stronger than EVERYONE! I fight because-mmph!”
 
It’s a gamble. One hundred percent. He outright risks his life. Who knows what happens if he dies in her soul? But in the end… it’s a risk Issei decides to take. Lunging into Vali’s personal space while she’s mid-monologue, he doesn’t go for a sneak attack. He doesn’t even block her hasty retaliatory strike. Her fingers dig into his shoulder meat, drawing blood as though they were dragon claws. And as they grip at his inner muscle there, Issei can feel more of his power drain away from the direct contact.
 
However, that doesn’t stop him from doing what he intended. And that… that was kissing Valentine Lucifer right on the lips. It’s a savage, challenging sort of kiss. His mouth smashes into her mouth, his tongue swiping across her lips as if to say ‘will you answer the call?’.
 
For a moment, Vali freezes. For a moment, Issei is kissing her and she’s hurting him and there’s a chance for her to end this fight and kill him outright. He’s given her the opening. But then… that was the gamble.
 
The moment passes, and Vali is kissing him back. Her fingers tear out of his flesh, but only to grab at his clothes and start ripping them off his body. There’s no submission in it… not for either of them. It’s the angriest, most hateful sex Issei thinks he has ever taken part in. Neither of them is the top here. Neither of them is the bottom.
 
As they tear each other’s clothes off, as they begin pawing at one another and groping each other’s bodies… Issei still isn’t sure either of them will survive this encounter. And that… that, he decides, he’s more than okay with.