Broken Blade

by maximorph1

One minute, he's underground facing the most dangerous foe he's faced in years, the next, he's in the middle of a field. Strange, but he can work with it, only to get involved in another fight when he's already half-dead, gets killed but still won't die as some red-head decides he'd make a good servant. Too bad he's a bit more broken then she thinks.

1. Chapter 1

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What if you could change the world

But be altered in turn

Would you risk it all for that chance?

What if you failed

Every time without exception

Would you still continue?

What if you kept succeeding

But not in the way you wanted

Would you ever give up?

Chapter 1

The surrounding area could be best described as 'peaceful'. A small unclaimed region in the middle of the night composed of old trees and tall grass commonly found in the Asian region of the world. A few animals and insects would walk through the clearing, but the area was mostly clear of life. Not a single sentient soul was anywhere near this unremarkable region. Though there was a city several miles off to the north, no one felt the need to travel through the region at two in the morning.

So, of course, no one witnessed the sudden change occur. Every animal, every insect, and even the trees seemingly went still. As one, the animals and bugs turned to gaze upon a certain point in the midst of the land. An unremarkable, completely ordinary point that had never occupied anything of note in all of history, until now.

With a thunderous noise that would have deafened a man within a football stadium and a flash of light that would have blinded any who gazed in the direction before even comprehending what color the light had been a great change came upon the world.

The very air condensed and collapsed within a tiny bubble before violently exploding (though lacking any pyrotechnics) and knocking down every tree, bush, and blade of grass within fifty feet from the epicenter. Any creatures still alive and able to flee did so with all haste.

In distant lands, great lords of power all found themselves turning in the direction of this phenomenon, though none knew the reason why, nor had enough time to identify the location of this strange feeling. For, as suddenly as this assault upon reality began, it ended to reveal the strangest of sights.

On the ground, burning and bleeding lay a man covered completely in gore. Most of it did not belonged to the him, for while his injuries were terrible, they were not the major source of the pools of blood and body parts sprayed about the newly created clearing. The vast majority of the bits of flesh came from dozens of individuals, all torn to shreds in the fight with a foe no mere mortal should have had to face. Yet, they had gone forth anyways for one reason or another. Truly, it had to have been a mighty foe to have slain the great gathering.

So, it should be noted the strangeness that one man got out so cleanly (in a relative sense) when the others had not. Was he special? Was he lucky? Perhaps a combination of both factored into it, perhaps not.

To an observer, the man would have looked remarkably strange. His skin was tanned, but his hair was gray. He wore a black sleeveless vest made of some sort of leather whilst wearing black pants of a lighter material and shoes that were covered in metal at the toes. While these were certainly oddities, especially with the cuts and tears leaking blood, these things did not compare to three anomalies upon this man.

One was his right arm, upon his shoulder and forearm was armor of all things. Nothing more than a simple shoulder guard and vambrace made of steel, but they were covered in strange markings, as well as countless nicks in the metal. His hand was covered in a black leather glove with small bits of metal covering the back of the hand and fingers. Nothing that would interfere with the hand's natural dexterity, but it would make for a mean punch against flesh.

The other arm, however, was wrapped up completely in a strange red sling strapped to his chest with black beads wrapped around said red cloth. The arm was so wrapped up, that it completely covered every inch of flesh while completely hiding the left hand inside, fingers and all, to form a shapeless end to the limb.

It was clear, however that this was not some sort of bandaging around a broken limb. Even though the left arm was wrapped up in the red cloth, it was clear to any who observed that the left arm was thin to the point of having little to no meat on it, unlike the right arm which was thick to the point of almost bulging muscles. In addition, the left limb was definitely shorter than the right. That left arm had been useless for a long time now, decayed and atrophied to the point of unnecessary baggage for the man that had to be bound to his chest in order for him to fight.

The final oddity, however, was the sword grasped in his hand. In a modern age of guns and missiles, it should be considered strange to have such a thing. The best word to describe the sword is 'beautiful'. The blade was elegant, even with the blood and body bits covering it. Solid steel nearly four feet long with gorgeous marks upon the blade near the hilt, written runes from a forgotten time attached to a finely crafted guard of blue and yellow and hilt covered in holy icons. A sword this beautiful should never have been used for battle, yet this man had done just that.

That he survived might indicate that there was more to the blade... or the skill of the man, if not both.

As the man lay there, he contemplated the impossible task he had just performed. He had aided in killing one of 'Them', he had brought about the death one of the deadliest threats on the planet and survived. He and over a hundred others had charged against the great evil, and he had somehow killed the creature and survived.

Honestly, he should feel elated, he should feel 'Alive'. Instead, he just felt tired. Then again, that wasn't all too surprising considering what had just happened. How many of the others survived, he could not say, but the silence surrounding him was too ominous. If there were any others, he expected to hear them make some sort of noise, anything from a ragged breath to cries of pain. Instead, he was only able to hear his own breathing, and nothing more.

Opening his eyes, he found himself gazing into the sky, idly noting the stars before the full implications hit him. The sky? He had been hundred of feet underground moments ago. How the heck was he outside all of a sudden. With a groan of pain, he slowly turned his head from side to side taking in the scenery. A open space of land, one that seemed... familiar to him somehow, but he had other concerns at the moment, such as how in all that was mysterious did he end up above ground?

The questions halted for a moment as he felt his left arm sent a massive surge of pain at him, almost blanking his mind for a moment before subsiding to a more familiar level of pain. "Ah, sorry." The man said as he rubbed the invalid arm with his good one. "And thank you." The pulsing pain seemed to lessen for a mere moment before returning to its former levels. As ever, his greatest shame and his greatest accomplishment would forever remind him of its existence.

And occasionally come to his aide.

Groaning, he found himself losing a battle to remain awake. He had overextended himself badly in the conflict, exhausting himself mentally, physically, and magically. His circuits burned as fiercely as his muscles while the great grandmother of migraines assaulted his head. Yet, even with his exhaustion, he would not allow himself to remain vulnerable. Alone, in a location far different from where he should be, the man knew that he was in trouble and needed to move despite his body's protests. Rest could come later, safety came first. Holding back moans of agony, he pushed him body up onto his feet on legs that threatened to give at any moment.

No matter.

Looking around, he knew he was far from his initial location as he spotted a the lights of a city or town off in the distance He didn't know where he was currently, but it wasn't anywhere near when he was supposed to be. That 'Thing' would not have left any civilizations near it, so he must be lost. Bleeding tired, in a rather literal sense with his current blood loss and dwindling stamina levels, he began walking towards the city. He didn't even notice the gore behind him corroding away rapidly to dust to be blown away in the gentle breeze. All he could do was keep walking forward.

As he traveled, he felt some sort of nostalgia to it, but only in the barest of senses. It wasn't so much a recalling of a familiar place as much as a feeling of recognition to the type of architecture.

Closer and closer he continued his trek towards the city, making it all the way from unclaimed lands to an actual park with trimmed grass, concrete pavement, benches, decorative trees, and bushes tastefully placed for visitors to enjoy. It was there that his stamina tanked out, dropping him onto his belly in pure exhaustion.

Tired beyond measure from walking a mile or two with his wounds, he still refused to stop until he crawled under a thick bush before allowing himself to give into the demands of his body. He closed his eyes and fell instantly into dreamless sleep. As this happened, he finally released his death grip on his sword which then shattered and vanished in golden motes.

For all that it seemed like an eternity to walk to the city, his sleep felt no longer than a blink of an eye. The first thing he noted was that it was either early day or late afternoon from the orange tint in the sky. The second thing he noted was the sickeningly sweet scent that had awoken him. Whatever it was that was the cause of the scent was soaking in magic. Nauseous from the smell, he carefully pushed himself up so that his head burst above the bush and focused on the origin.

Off just a little bit of the park was a young couple walking together. A date? Perhaps, but the female... she was not human, not by a long shot. By the feel of the magic, she had some sort of affinity towards corruption. Cautiously, he lowered himself into the bush and held out his good hand. "Trace On." With that one phrase uttered in a ragged voice, his sword reappeared in his hand.

He noted that the female's head turned slightly in his direction before turning back towards her companion. Silently he waited, his hand gripping his blade tightly whilst his senses were at their maximum. He didn't know what she was, but considering what he had just gone through, his paranoia was well founded

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"Please go out with me." Those words meant the world to Hyoudou Issei. A confession from a girl, a heartfelt plea from the beautiful Amano Yuuma to be with him. Possessing long silky hair, a slender body, and a voice of an angel, Issei swore he would make a thousand offerings to the gods for such a creature to fall in love with him. At first he thought it was a prank, nothing more than a small cruelness for a bored teen, or perhaps a penalty game as a result of losing some competition. After all, Hyoudou Issei was surely one who was meant to be alone forever.

Yet, Amano Yuuma hadn't laughed at his acceptance, she didn't abandon him as soon as the day ended. Instead, the two of them had hung out at school, shared lunches together, studied together, and as of today, went on their first date. It had gone perfectly, as far as Issei could tell, Yuuma had enjoyed the whole experience. She never lost that smile on her face throughout the whole thing.

It was here at this park that Issei was wrapping up the date. The park was a bit out of the way, but it was a well known location for couples. It was here that Issei hoped to get the legendary 'Goodbye Kiss' from Yuuma before the two of them would go their separate ways for the day, holding the precious memories tightly and anticipating the next date. Upon arriving at the park, Issei couldn;t hold back his smile as he watched Yuuma skip ahead of him slightly. Yes, today was the greatest day of his life.

"Hey Issei," Yuuma spoke up, looking shyly away from him, with a small blush on her face. "Can you listen to my request?"

Yes! Here it comes, the grand finale of the day that he would forever etch into his soul, never to be forgotten. His first kiss, and on the eve of his first date. "Wh-what is you're request?" Issei spoke with a touch of nervousness. Oh, he knew what she wanted, and he was more than willing to grant it but still, his heart was pounding loud and fast. He liked to think he was fairly knowledgeable about these sorts of things, but the fact was that this was his first experience. How could he not be nervous?

"Would you mind dying right now?" She asked.

...Eh?

"Um, I'm sorry," Issei replied scratching his chin in confusion, "Could you please repeat that?" Surely he had just misheard her. After all, Amano Yuuma was a pure angel, there was no way that she could say something like 'Would you mind dying right now?'. His mind must have hallucinated that, surely she must have asked for that kiss, or at least a second date. He'd more than willingly settle for a mere walking her home while holding hands. She was a shy girl, maybe she just mumbled or something. Yes, yes, that was what happened. Reality could not be so cruel-

"Could you please die." She told him sweetly, as if she had just asked him for something simple. Turning to face him, she gave him a lovely smile before sprouting large black wings, like an oversized crow had latched onto her back and stretched them out for display. With a single flap of those wings she was in the air, hovering about five feet off the ground.

"It was fun. The short time I spent with you. It was like playing house with a little child." she said, still speaking sweetly even as she trampled upon his reality. Yet her eyes were completely cold when she looked at him; 'disgust' and 'despise' written clearly upon them as though she was looking upon a large cockroach.

Issei's mind was already shutting down as he took this all in. His worst fears that he was being used had been confirmed and then 'dialed up to eleven' above and beyond anything he could have ever thought of. What came out of his mouth however was not a denunciation or denial of her words.

"You know, when I compared you to an angel, I didn't mean literally."

That got her to chuckle, "Fallen Angel" She corrected. "I'm a Fallen Angel." Raising her hand, a shaft of pure light appeared. She then raised it up in a preparatory throwing motion, making Issei realize that the 'rod' was actually a spear. So, she really was going to kill him. While one part of him was screaming, whether from terror or heart break was impossible to tell, another part of him was calmly noticing that her eyes were widening in surprise for some reason.

Said reason turned out to be a black and red blur slamming into her at high speed sending her flying into a tree so hard that stars entered her eyes for a moment. From there, Issei beheld a sight that would be embedded in his soul until his dying day.

Before him something landed, the motion was so natural, and yet so elegant that it made Issei swear he was dreaming. One foot in front of the other, sword swung to the side in an armored fist, the sunlight bouncing off the metal making it look like a portrait of a hero. With hair the color of steel and skin tanned brown giving him an exotic look whist wearing pure black cloth except on his left side where it blared in brilliant blood red it was as if the world had decided that Hyuodou Issei was worth sending a demigod to protect or something.

More importantly, something about him seemed to call to the boy, a call of familiarity, of friendship, of rivalry, and of greatness unbound. For some reason, it made Issei's hand itch just looking at the man.

"Run."

"...What?" Issei asked, unsure if he heard this mysterious man speak.

No time for a repeat of the order, the red clad man charged at Yuuma, the ground exploding as he leaped forward. Unfortunately, for the man Issei, was frozen, still in too much shock to actually understand the full extent of what was happening. So he stood there and watched what would be the last event of his life (as a human).

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

What the hell was this?! Who the hell was he?! How the hell did she end up slamming into a tree?! The fallen angel who had gone by the name of Amano Yuuma, but possessed the name Raynare, had these questions and many more explode through her head even as she forced herself to her feet. "Damn yoooooou." She hissed at the figure charging her. Her eyes narrowed for a moment as she gazed upon his left arm held in a sling before summoning a spear of light. She didn't know what was up with that arm, but she instinctively loathed it.

She launched her projectile at him just as he exploded towards, a part of her mind noted he was incredibly fast for a human, while another parted noted with pure satisfaction that her spear would still hit him clearly right about-

What the hell?! How did a mere human deflect her spear of light like that?! No more time for questions, the man was already upon her swinging that sword of his just nicking her with that blade hurt her, but she did not have time to contemplate whether or not it was a holy blade when the next attack came from overhead.

Slashing down to the ground with a second swing he slammed her to the ground like a lowly animal. Growling in rage, Raynare summoned a new spear and began her own attack. Centuries as a fallen one, a slayer of angels and devils alike, a being on a higher level of existence than a mere human, it should have been an obvious outcome and a one sided fight now that she was no longer surprised.

Slash

"Geck! Agh" jumping back to try to get some room the fallen angel quickly glanced at her stomach. The sonofabitch had just slashed her right. Twitching an eyebrow in anger, she threw a salvo of piercing attacks in a pattern that had killed three devils and an angel before. Each thrust of her spear was calmly deflected while the man advanced closer and closer towards her, completely at ease with her attack.

She tried a different pattern consisting of slashes at his limbs, but her opponent easily matched her attacks and nicked her time and again. Several times the attacks would have been lethal if she had been just the slightest bit slower. Dammit, this human clearly knew how to use that sword of his. That left side of his was too well protected by long experience.

There are stories of battles, certain famed duels said to have lasted for hours, perhaps days even. Where the clashing of blades and dances of spears create cascades of percussion sounds. Such things can only occur, however, either when two masters of the martial and deadly arts clash or when one or more of the participants are near immortal. Neither of those options would occur today. For all that Raynare believed humans to be beneath her, she was not a warrior, but a manipulator. Her opponent, however, was born for battle. Literally.

Desperate to get back in better position, Raynare swung her arms out wide, risking leaving herself open as she summoned two spears at different angles, firing them simultaneously to force him to back up and allow her to spread her wings.

Grinding her teeth together, she immediately flew higher. Damn inferior being, how dare he assault and humiliate her. If the others ever heard about this, she'd be on the biting of of remarks for a thousand years. Stretching out her arms, a dozen spears of light appeared in mid air, preparing to impale the wretched creature in one shot.

"Die." She called out coldly before launching her spears. She was prepared for the sight of that gray haired man to die, impaled by her weapons. Instead, she watched him dodge all but one of the spears, with that last one being knocked away with casual ease.

"I am the bone of my sword." The man spoke, not in declaration, in plain fact. That such a kind of statement spoken would confuse anyone upon hearing it... unless one knew the reference of course.

"Tch," She clicked her teeth in frustration before shaking her head. Calm, calm, she needed to relax. She was being reckless, yes, that was why he was able to face her. It was clear this stranger knew how to use a sword, even when injured. She just needed to be more precise. Carefully, she crafted a special spear of light, one that possessed the properties of 'Hunt' and 'Evade' into it. Yes, much better now. No more of this flailing like an uncouth berserker, it was time to display elegance and grace and- OH MY GOD!

Even as a spike of pain shot through her as she thought of 'that holy name', Raynare was forced to evade as the swordsman had thrown that sword of his far too fast for any mere human to accomplish. If she had been just a bit slower, that blade would have pierced her completely. ...Well, that was unexpected, but now that he's thrown his sword away he's completely vulnerab-GAH! Barely evading in time again, she glared down at the human to see him drawing his arm back to throw a third time at her. Quickly glancing up, she just had time to see a small bit of golden shards dispersing in the air where the second thrown sword had gone.

"...A Sacred Gear?" she asked curiously. She had heard a priest not too long ago talking about an old project of his and the mention of a Sacred Gear with properties like that. Something about making swords or something like that. 'Well, if that's the case...' She mused even as she threw her own spear in response to his previous assault. 'Then that will mean I'd take out two Sacred Gears in the same day.' She thought with the smallest amount of glee. Maybe she'd even get promoted by that damn Azazel. At least Kokabiel would support her ascension through the ranks for it. With satisfaction, she watched as her spear shot forwards.

In the back of her mind, this whole thing made sense. This strange man must have sensed Issei's Sacred Gear as well as the fact that she was a Fallen Angel. In all probability, this one must have faced at least one more of her kind to be able to hold his own so well against her. But then, it wasn't like she was actually going all out. That would be a mark of shame she'd never tolerate

In response to her thrown spear, rather than attempt to dodge the weapon, the man released his sword and snapped his arm across faster than the eye could blink. It took the fallen one a moment to realize what had just happened. Rather than block or evade, the man had caught the spear with his one good arm. To compound the insane move, he then flipped the weapon around and threw it right back at her. Though it was no trouble at all for her to dissolve the weapon long before it would have ever hurt her, she felt her face heating up in anger once more.

"Then," Raynare snarled, "How about this?" Flapping her wings, she rose higher and high, far above this madman's ability to throw with any level of deadliness. Once more, she summoned her array of spears, resisting the urge to wipe the sweat off of her brow. A hundred, no, a thousand of them would be enough to bury him under the barrage.

"Heeeeh, so it was you Raynare sending up all that energy." a new feminine voice broke in halting the assault. Turning to the side, the fallen angel beheld three of her kin; two males, one female, and all three of them were quite familiar with her. After all, four of them had been scheming together of centuries.

"Born from Fire, Filled with Steel" the human chanted upon seeing the reinforcements, whatever the heck those words were supposed to mean. It certainly wasn't like any spell the fallen had heard of, not to mention there was a lack of magic gathering around him as he spoke.

"...Are you actually having problems here?" a tall, and semi-busty fallen angel asked. "Seriously?"

"I'm busy Kalawarner," Raynare hissed. "I've had enough playing with this one."

It would be incorrect to say the man was ignoring the three new arrivals, but it wouldn't wrong to say that he wasn't all there at moment. For a moment, his mind twirled in darkness, his left arm aching anew as he loosened the locks that kept the doom at bay. The left side of his face began losing a bit of color, turning a shade paler the then normally tanned tone, while a small black vessel began crawling up the side of his neck from the base of his shoulder. Not that the fallen angels could tell at this point.

With a single sweep of his arm, he fired his own array of weapons at Raynare, startling her so much that her projections all shattered under the loss of her mental control.

"Dammit Raynare, what's taking so long?" One of the three new arrivals demanded. "It's just a worthless human, hurry up and kill him." This one, the youngest of the lot, clearly had not just seen a man counter her own efforts.

"It's not like I haven't been trying," She replied. "This one's putting up a fight, and it looks like he's used to facing our kind." Mentally, though she was grateful for their arrival, she knew that her comrades would at least distract this one long enough for her to kill him. "Both the humans there have Sacred Gears." She informed them, noting the hungry look in their eyes. Their ambitions were painfully obvious, but Raynare knew something these idiots didn't.

For all their bluster, they were all far weaker than herself, and if she was having problems with this man, then it was all too obvious of what would soon happen. Hey, just because she worked and conspired with them didn't mean she actually cared for their lives or anything. Canon fodder was canon fodder for a reason. Besides, if they all...conveniently died, then her humiliation would be completely covered.

"I am made of a thousand blades, broken and forged ever anew"" Was it just her, or did this new wave of swords appear faster than the last? Perhaps, but she knew for a fact that those black lines crawling up the side of his neck, looking like pulsing black veins as well as the patches of white skin were definitely new. Perhaps that was the price he had to pay for his Sacred Gear. Either way, it was a weakness, one that she would capitalize-just as soon as he stopped firing all those damned swords.

"ahahahaha" Donaseek, the only male Fallen Angel present dodging sword after sword while firing in retaliation. "This guy is great." The damned battle maniac was having far too much entertainment with someone trying to kill him.

"Focus" Kalawarner, a lovely looking brunette with raven black wings, reprimanded, nearly clipped by three different swords. "He's surprisingly difficult for a human." Understatement of the year was far was Raynare was concerned. Humans weren't supposed to be this difficult even with Sacred Gears. Most of them could never use more than a fraction of the Gear's potential. This one, however, decided to buck the trend.

Round and round they flew attacking and being attacked in turn. Despite their bravado, they were tiring, as none of them had been angels created for the purpose of combat. The may have learned several tricks over the course of their lives to fight, but they were ultimately untrained, inexperienced, and out of shape (so to speak)

Today, they suddenly found themselves tested harshly against a mere human who had the most insane ability they had ever seen. Swords upon swords upon swords upon swords

It was only due to her flip that she noticed that her 'boyfriend' was still standing there like the slack jawed fool he was. Seriously, he should have run, he should have taken the opportunity to flee

"Mittelt," Reynare ordered, "Kill the other human, we'll take care of this one."

"On it." the youngest and weakest of the group replied

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He should be afraid, he should be terrified to the core from what he was seeing. Yet, far from afraid, he was in pure awe of the display. Why? Why did he not have that kind of ability? Such a selfish thought was merged with the emotion of pure glee at the epic level fight before him. It was only at the bottom of his emotional depth that fear lingered.

Something was wrong with him. Something was burning, or perhaps changed and he didn't know why. It shouldn't be like this. He should be running for the hills, he should be on the ground in denial. Instead, he felt an urge to...to... he couldn't put a word to what he wanted. To fight? To kill? To maim? To join? It was impossible to understand what he was feeling. Somehow, Issei felt like he was awake, like he had been drowsily sleeping all this time only to finally open his eyes slightly, and he had no idea why he felt that way.

It just had to do with that man, something about his existence was burning. A fire never ending, that's what it felt like. Somehow, it called to Issei, urging him to do...something. Challenge? Destroy? Aide? Words do not describe these alien emotions and urges. All the boy knows is that he wants to do more, to be more. He wants to go upwards and forwards, to take reality and shatter it in his fist. He wishes to fly to the heavens and kick the door in. More, more, it is not enough to crawl like a worm. He is greater, stronger, born to stand above and beyond all others and gaze down upon them and burn them.

Unconsciously, he raised his left arm in preparation to do...whatever it was that called to him when-

"Where are you going human?" a female's voice taunted him directly behind him, breaking the flow, breaking the call. Slowly turning, Issei found himself to be less than three feet away from a young-looking blond female fallen angel. She might have looked rather cute in her black dress with the black bow in her hair, but that smile on her face destroyed any appeal about her. It was a hungry and malicious smile belonging to wolves in front of sheep.

"Ah, I remember you. You're Issei." Her smile grew wider. "The poor boy who fell in love with Raynare. Ahahaha" She laughed maliciously. "Tell me, is she everything you wanted for a girlfriend you useless pig?

"Ah-ah" the young boy stammered, backing away from the lunatic.

"Ara, running away? Give it up already, it's pointless." Saying that, she fired a single spear of light so close to Issei's face that it nicked his chin, causing to bleed a single drop. "After all, you dared to profane nee-sama. So I'm going to kill you no-"

Issei blinked, not sure he had seen what he swore he had just witnessed. But no, he was definitely looking at a headless body standing there with everything above the neck blow off completely.

"W-what?" the boy asked still unable to comprehend the sudden and brutal decapitation before him. In denial of reality, the boy reached forth to touch the body still standing there without the head. The mere touch, however, destroyed whatever inhuman balance that had kept the corpse standing, causing it to fall over.

'Oh God,' The boy thought before suddenly feeling his lunch coming up the wrong way through his throat. Brown and green emerged violently in chunks, burning his throat with acid and assaulting his sense of smell. From that moment on, Issei would never be able to eat salmon again, always associating it with this moment; the moment where he saw someone die for the first time. He almost blacked out, but somehow he kept his senses open as he watched the bravest, and more heroic action ever imagined being performed all around him whilst he emptied his stomach.

xxxxxxx

"Y-y-you bastard!" One of the females roared as the now headless fallen angel collapsed to the ground, her carcass dribbling the remnants of her blood onto the grass. The man paid no heed to her roar as the male Fallen Angel had somehow teleported right behind the vulnerable man and impaled him in the chest before leaping back from a newly created sword.

Smiling at the injury, Donaseek, taunted, "Aw, worried about your fellow humans? Well, try to stop this." He didn't care if one of his own died, all he wanted was to fight, and kill this man. Leaping back from a spinning attack, the fallen one struck back again and again, but noted that his foe was still going just as strong as ever, even with that gut wound. Truly, this was a good prey, but this wasn't enough, there had to be more. Despair, he needed to see despair in his prey's eyes. Oh, this one would never despair for his own life, of that, Donaseek was sure. But there are other ways of spreading hopelessness.

With a deceptively casual-like throw he sent a new spear right at Issei. Despite the pain, and despite the fact he was now missing his right lung, the gray haired man pushed himself to near inhuman speeds to deflect the attack. Yes! Just as Donaseek expected, this one was one of those bloody hero archetypes. He fired off another spear at the boy and sure enough, the gray-haired man deflected the attack as neat as you please while leaving himself vulnerable in the process. Raynare, always the fastest at picking up these sorts of things, fired off her own spears in tandum with Donaseek, except her spear was aimed at the man instead of Issei, nicking him badly on the side.

"Oi Oi, this isn't the time to worry about others." the Fallen Angels laughed. Again and again they fired spears of light and forced him to perform insane manuvering to protect the boy.

"Hey, Raynare," The male broke in, "Keep him occupied, he's mine!" He crowed as though victory was assured diving forward and ignoring the squawks of protests from the two annoyances.

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This could not continue, the man thought. The male of these 'angel' creatures was darting too fast now, taking advantage of his inhuman capabilities, darting left and right out of reach before taking an opening, whilst the other two were trying to kill the poor kid still laying on the ground dry heaving whatever he had left to eat. It was like trying to hit a bird in flight whilst dodging a swarm of hornets.

Luckily, he had met one particular individual who was perfect for slaying birds. It took a moment of concentration in between the attacks, but he saw his Seeing the small window of opportunity that occurred from their uncoordinated attacks, he tossed aside his favored sword for another. Calling it a katana would be incorrect. Normal katanas are about 60-90 centimeters long, this one was one and a half meters long.

This should have immediately tipped off the Fallen Angels of something strange. After all, such absurdly long blades should be gripped with a single hand. Yet, this figure, who somehow pulled this incredibly long blade from nowhere, was doing just that. It should be impossible; it would be impossible in fact, except one man had done it before.

A man met a few years ago, for only a brief spar before he was killed to birth a creature of shadow and death.

Sasaki Kojirou, was the name he was given. It wasn't his real name, his real name was long forgotten into the mists of time. There were no legends of this man, no songs or ballads about his exploits, not a single reliable record that he ever existed. The only account that came close to attributing to him was a single person's notation added in to an autobiography that only had the slightest similarities to the truth.

The truth was that 'Sasaki Kojirou', was a hermit who wanted to spend a lifetime honing his swordsmanship to the pinnacle. To that he focused on a seemingly impossible task, to take an ordinary blade and kill a swallow in midflight.

God alone knows how long it took for such a task, for a swallow instinctively knows when something is trying to kill it and can feel the air pressure preceding the blade long before the metal itself even came close to it and would evade with the swift agility born to the feathered sky dancers. But somehow he did it. This unknown and long forgotten hermit found a technique that was akin to slaying a god with mortal techniques, all for the sake of nailing a tiny, and incredibly agile bird.

The technique was a performance of three swings, to box in the bird and ensure that it cannot run. However, this does not mean that the three swings were performed one after the other, oh no, this skill is far greater than something as simple as that. As an epitome of skill, it involves slashing three times at the same time, as in when one swing occurs, so too the other two swings occur without even the small degrees of time in difference, breaking the laws of physics itself.

"Oi oi, what kind of blade is that?" The male 'angel' mocked upon seeing the blade. Yes, it was big, but it was also clumsy in a single arm. Only in fairy tales and video games is it possible to swing such a blade with ease. For a mere human, this was nothing more than pointless posing before his death.

The problem with that assumption was that this was no ordinary human, and despite the apparent evidence displayed earlier, this one made one fatal assumption. He assumed that he was facing a human. Instead, he was facing a magus, a human who broke the rules of reality to his will while walking with death at his side at all times.

Even as the fallen angel flew to the vulnerable left side with the crippled arm, the fallen angel was already in the one-armed man's range. What happened next was so fast that blinking the eye would have made the move invisible. Pivoting his body on one leg, the man swung at the fallen angel.

"Tsubame Gae-" He began to call out, but ultimately, the difference in ability kicked in before it could even be completed. Though the original creator of this skill was weaker, less than a third the strength in one arm compared to the current user, the fact was that such a blade and such a skill needs two arms for control. Attempting this attack broke his arm in three places.

Worse, what should have been three simultaneous strikes ended as a mere singular strike.

But, though it was only a single strike, less than a third of the true potential of the attack, it still cleaved the male 'angel' clean through from hip to shoulder.

"Eh?" Donaseek gasped out with his dying breath. He collapsed to the ground with a stunned expression frozen on his face. For all that he loved battle, the fact was that he had only ever belonged to the lowest levels of angels and fallen angels. Tainted by watching over humanity wage wars and fall in love with the epic clashes below, he had been a pale imitation of reality.

With the death of the male fallen angel, the balance had tipped in a new direction, but not in the expected manner.

The gray-haired man was dying. Between the battle with that 'Thing' underground before all this and these winged ones, the cumulative damage was too much. He could not heal himself fast enough or efficient enough to survive this fight. Yet, there was a sense of peace in that thought. A peace knowing that he had tried so hard and done his best, even when the world itself seemed to conspire against him from saving even a single life.

That said, he had no intention of going down without taking these ones with him. In the back of his mind, he swore he heard a familiar voice offering a bit of praise at the thought. A last stand, all he needed was a chain and a rock. Such a voice gave him his inspiration. He knew he had enough in him for one shot, the question was whether or not he had the strength to do it twice. Well, in the words of the one who inspired him, 'Life's a gamble, might as well take a chance at the dice.'

So with that, he brought forth one more weapon all too familiar to him.

"W-What is that?" Kalawarner asked her elder. "What is that?" How could she not be afraid. That weapon right there was pure demonic in nature, something right out of the ancient war. How the Fall did a human get something like that?

"A weapon." Raynare spoke cautiously. She'd be contemptuous about such a question but considering everything else that had gone on today, prudence was preferred. She did not that this man was not firing off salvo after salvo of weapons at her. Good it appeared that sacrificing two of her comrades had done enough to tire this human.

But then he had pulled out that red spear of his. Quite frankly, that was the most demonic weapon Raynare had ever seen before. That said, there was only one weapon, and two targets.

"What do we do?" Kalawarner asked her ally

"Wait." was the reply. Whatever trick was placed in this spear, Raynare needed to keep back.

"Gae-" The dying man hissed. Upon uttering that first word, the spear began to distort in his hands, becoming akin to a mirage or some optical illusion barely there yet taunting the eyes all the same. The blood lust that had permeated the air increased tenfold. It was suffocatingly thick for the two surviving fallen angels and Issei. "-BOLG!"

Rather than saying he threw the spear, it would be more accurate to say that the spear leaped out of his hand towards the two fallen angels. They didn't even have time to react before it had already arrived at its destination. The damned spear had moved so fast that Kalawarner had to take a moment to realize that the sharp pain in her chest and the sudden chill was from a sudden lack of her heart.

"W-wha-? H-How?" Was all she said before crumpling, falling to the earth like a stone. Just as the third fallen angel hit the ground, the man's sole remaining 'good' arm fell limp. Raynare had to be blind and dumb not to see that firing that spear had finished off his limb.

Now, with the deaths of her three companions, it was her dance. Cackling with mad glee at surviving where the others had not, her sanity not all that stable from mental shocks and accumulation of blood loss from earlier in the fight, she charged her stricken foe.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

It was not good, the price Gae Bolg demanded of him had been too much. A second shot was not possible. Right now, his right arm was blackening with necrosis, all feeling in the limb was gone and now hung uselessly at his side. His left arm was, of course, still in its sling, but throbbed painfully.

Splat.

Oh dear, the rot has gotten into his chest. His lungs are corroding away and his heart is rapidly running out of the ability to pump.

The boy was still there?! Mentally sighing, the man wondered if he had been this bad back in that fateful war years ago. No, he was distinctly sure that he had taken the chance to run when it first came up, even if it did result in getting his heart run through. Well, what kind of person, what kind of hero could he ever hope to be if he let that boy die? Keeping a wary eye on the lone remaining 'angel' creature, he began moving close enough to the boy to nudge him in the side.

When the boy didn't respond, he got a hard kick to the back

"Get up." The man command, bringing the boy back to reality. "You need to run."

"W-what is going on?" The boy asks "What is happening here?"

"No time, you need to run." The man kicks the boy aside as a spear nearly impales the both of them. "Run, now. Don't look back." He gives one last kick and sees the boy stand up and begin moving. "Run!" With that, he does not look back at the boy, but focused solely on the last enemy. The man has a strange purple dagger in his mouth where there wasn't a moment before. He faces Yuuma/Raynare with a calm expression. He's unable to use his arms, but he'll still fight regardless. The boy will live if he has anything to say about it.

Such were his thoughts as he was impaled by six spears of light.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Hyoudou Issei was many things, a pervert, a bit stupid, a klutz, and many more negative connotations, but there was one thing that Issei had as a virtue, he wasn't a coward. Rather, he had a strong sense of justice that would serve him well in life. Right now, his sense of justice, that inability to let things go was roaring at his base instincts. The one, this man had just fought to protect him. He hadn't met Issei before, but he had still jumped in to prevent him from being killed. It wasn't right to abandon him. It wasn't right to leave that guy to rot while he fled.

It wasn't right. It wasn't right. It wasn't right. Issei's second step was planted, but the distance it covered was less than half of the first.

[Fight] Something whispered in his mind. A cry for battle, a roar of defiance.

As his third step hit the ground, the boy found his body twisting him to face the downed man. Though he should run, its not like he could perform any medical assistance, he found himself turning back. His fourth step halted all momentum and his fifth step was but the first of a desperate charge to stand in the way.

[Fight] Loader and louder it roared in his ears. It felt so foreign, but at the same time it felt all too familiar to the boy. It was a strength, a rod of steel in his spine demanding justice even in the face of destruction.

'I have to help him.' Issei thought desperately as he stood over the dying man, his arms spread wide in an attempt to shield the one who had been trying so hard to save him. 'I have to help him. I have to help him. I have to help him. I have to-'

[Fight] 'Kill'

"Get out of my way worm!" the girl, whom the poor boy had loved dearly, speared him clean through and pushed him to his knees without the slightest of efforts; ignoring what should be considered a brave last stand and defiance. She summoned another spear of light when she stumbled. Looking down, she saw a red glove hang onto her leg in an attempt to stop her. "You just don't get it Issei! You die, then I tear off this one's head and mount it on my wall!"

"No Yuuma." Issei protested weakly. Brutally stabbing him through his back, she then kicked her foot free and returned to the matters at hand. Raising her spear once more she intended to end everything when a new development occurred in the form of bright red light followed by the familiar sensation of two mortal foes to the fallen angel.

"Wow, I knew there was something going on around here, but to think it was something like this." an...energetic female voice spoke up

"Fallen Angels, huh. Though it is surprising to see most of them are dead. Could it be-ah, this one has a Sacred Gear, probably one with a dragon's origin." a much more serious voice added her commentary.

Turning around with a snarl on her face Raynare immediately threw her spear at the devils. "Again." She hissed, "Again and again and again someone gets in my way. What does it take to kill you?!" Roaring her hatred she witnessed her spear be casually backhanded by one of the two female devils "Dammit, what does it take to kill two measly humans?"

In response to that rhetorical question, the two devils simply gathered insane amounts of power in their hands. There was no way Raynare would have survived at full power, much less in her less than stellar state. It was probably only due to having already gone through one gauntlet, pumping up her reflexes to maximum, that allowed her to just barely get out of the way of imminent death in the form of two lances of hellfire.

Without a hope of victory, or even vengeance, the Fallen Angel knew she had to flee. Glaring once more at the two, she spoke up, "Well Issei, I suppose congratulations are in order, you get to live today."

"We'll remember this." Raynare cried out as she fled for her life.

"That's not very convincing when you're the only one left." one of the two mysterious women spoke up gazing at the carnage. "Impressive for a human who just activated his Sacred Gear."

"Well," the other one said, the sounds of her feet indicated that she was moving rather rapidly. "I guess I'll take this one then since he's so talented."

"Eh? W-wait! Sona! He's mine! They're the ones that summoned me, you just tagged along!"

"Sorry, Rias, but the early bird gets the worm, and it'd be great to have a second dragon for my peerage." that said, there was a burst of magic and she was gone with Issei

After a pause, the lone remaining young woman sighed in a familiar tiredness before heading over to the dying man. Impressively, he was still alive and conscious, even if his eyes were coated in blood, obscuring his vision. "My goodness, they didn't hold back on you at all."

"How is the boy?" The man asked, somehow finding the strength to talk despite the wounds inflicted on him. Probably surprising her that he could talk, much less be coherent of the situation the way he was.

"He's dying." she told him. "However, someone's already getting him healed up." She paused a moment before reassuring the man. "Don't worry, despite her thieving personality, I can guarantee she won't let him die." Her attempt however brought a different result than the one she expected.

"I see." the man spoke with regret in his voice even as he choked on his blood. "Once more, it's true."

"Oh, what's true?" The female silhouette asked curiously.

"I cannot save anyone" was the reply as he closed his eyes, a pained expression plastered on his face. Though, whether that was from the physical damage or that strange regret was hard to determine.

"Oi, hang in there." The voice ordered worriedly. Whatever else she said was lost to ears that no longer heard as he began sliding the slippery slope through the land of dreams towards the realm of the dead.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Gahahaha, ah man, what a fight!" A man in blue cheers gleefully, even as his body collapses from his wounds and his spear slips from his mouth. His legs are shattered, his arms are severed, his eyes are nearly blinded by blood, his nose is nearly cleaved off, and his chest is full of holes; and yet the man would not have traded this outcome for anything. All he had wanted was a fight, a true and genuine battle to the death dancing with a partner that could keep up and surpass him giving a glorious duet beneath the moon's gaze and he had gotten just that tonight.

What a fight, what a battle! By the gods of old, this night alone has made all the shit he'd gone through absolutely worth it. He had pulled out all the stops, fighting with all his strength, speed, skill, and at the final moment, the full activation of his Noble Phantasm, and yet he had still lost. Absolutely brilliant. Who cares if he is dying, who cares if he will not survive the next five minutes, who cares if he is in agony beyond description. It is completely and utterly worth it for this one fight.

His opponent is barely any better. He should be dead, the outcome should have never come out like this. It was an unimaginable dream for a mere human to fight him and win, and yet the impossible had happened, if only because of a cheat. But the man in blue would not hold it against the boy. It shouldn't have come to this, he was not the one the spearman had sought to fight, but the boy had stepped up brilliantly to this occasion once the hand was forced. The kid had grown spectacularly from the child who had to be content with running as fast as possible from death that night a month ago and became a real challenge worth giving his all against.

"Hmm? What's this?" The spearman muses, as the remnants of his vision focus upon the young man's face. "Tears? Yer' actually crying for me? Ha, now that's funny kiddo."

"I didn't want to kill you." The boy stares at his hands, once more stained with the blood of a great person. He had liked Lancer, respected him, even if he had been to kill him the first time. Bazett had told him before her end of the various things Setanta had done and how he had died the first time. How could one hate a hero who had gone against the might of a Command Seal to allow others to escape? And as repayment, the boy had to kill him.

"Oi," The man growls, highly offended, "None of that now boya. It's kill or be killed in this world. If ya didn't kill me, then I would have killed you, and then what would happen to them women of yours?"

"I- I don't want to kill. I just want to save others. Why can't I save others?" The boy still looks at his hands, going into shock. Not a surprising outcome to be frank, most people would have broken long before this. Then again, most people couldn't have hoped to last even a single exchange against the dying spearman, never mind the hundreds of clashes this fight had possessed. It's insulting to see such a great fighter breakdown when he should be celebrating his victory before heading off into the night to save them damsels in distress.

Sighing and shaking his head even as his body begins to dissolve. "Let me tell you some advice kiddo. No one saves anyone. Plenty of people help one another, but the only one a person can save is themselves. Quit worrying 'bout the small stuff and just do what ya can. Everyone dies eventually boya; some today, some tomorrow, and some the day after. Just do your best an go out with a smile."

"..."

"...Right," The man heaves a groan of aggravation, "Can't believe I lost to this kind of guy. Ah well, it just goes to show how much my luck sucks. Just make me a promise kiddo."

"What?"

"Just try not to get all caught up in the saving of everyone. You'll only end up dying younger than me. ...Oh yeah, feel free to use my spear on that witch. Seems only fair to let ya keep that fake after beaten the original and all" Sighing one last time, the spearman dissolved into a cloud of dust. His last thoughts are of a boy who could go far, if he's only take the time for a pint and a tumble every now and then. Ah well, hopefully his next summons would give him something else worth fighting against.

Once more the sword cracks, new flaws are revealed, but then it is forged again through blood and sacrifice, just as it has before and will again before this terrible war is over.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

It was darker now. Looking around the world that was his to claim, he noted how much light was missing. Before, even with the smoke and the ashes, there had been a perpetual light that allowed one to truly see the size of this place and great gears endlessly turning in the sky. Now, however, it was darker. The land was black as midnight, only sparks rising from the ground and glowing molten drops provided illumination, the rays of light softly bouncing off of the countless weapons scattered on the ground. Said bits of light gave off great deals of heat, yet never actually harmed the sole individual present.

It was nearly impossible to see anything beyond thirty feet in front of one's face when looking anywhere, except for that hill. He barely dared look upon that place, but he had to. He had to be sure. So with a single glance, confirming the sight, he looked away and sadly looks away. He has promised, and he will not break his word. He will not look back, he will not regret. He will continue to move forward. It was still exactly as it was before at least. That was his small consolation here in the darkness. At least one sacrifice was not in vain.

"I'm sorry." he whispered to the air. "I did my best." In his mind he thought of them all, every single one of the fallen. He could not, would not forgive himself, for he had not been able to save them. It was irrational, it was insane to believe such, but then, when was he ever sane? Certainly not before the great inferno that he was born from, nor the second which had dashed his idealism into peaces. In the end. all he had been able to do was help others smile at their ends.

That was his curse, his defining fault.

He who desired to save, to rescue, to be the hero of justice was nothing more than a pitiful clown unable to hold anything dear to him for long. He should have fallen into despair, he would have fallen in despair, but he couldn't; for he had made promises, and he would keep them. In the darkness, he felt the shadow of a dozen sets of hands touch him. Comforting or damning he could not tell, a curse of his unique and broken mindset. In the end, however, they were but shadows, false sensations in a land of illusions and fakes.

It was getting darker fewer and fewer sparks of fire and drops of molten metal were around. He couldn't see anything more than twenty feet in front of him anymore, and it was getting darker still. With an inhuman level of calmness, he continued to watch as the darkness grew stronger and closer while his limbs grew colder and lost feeling in them.

Ten feet now.

He risked one more glance back at the hill before looking away. Still unchanged. Good. Firmly putting his back to it, he thought of the others, those he had failed before. Each of them had smiled in their own way before him as they had died. A pure smile, just like his father had possessed on the day he saved his soon to be adopted son. Why? Why were they all so happy, yet he could not find that happiness?

Five feet.

He had wanted to be a hero, to save everyone he could see. But...he had seen where that road lay, and had been forced to walk a different path, not just by 'his' existence, but by the others and the promises they demanded. Looking back, had they all known 'that one's' identity? Had they all figured it out before the man figured it out himself? Well, it didn't matter anymore. The only small bit of comfort he felt in the end was that he had not made a contract, that he had not sold his soul or compromised his existence for a single miracle. The comfort is cold, however, as it did very little now.

Nothing but darkness now, darkness and cold, only a few lingering bits of light before him vanishing one by one. He held out his hand to catch the last lingering bits of heat. "I- wish it could have been better." He utters one last time before he welcomes the end

…

…

...But the end does not come.

All of a sudden the whole damn world suddenly ramped up its lighting to an early dawn like glow. Countless sparks rose from the ground while a rain of molten metal flowed down to the ground as if someone had hit the reverse button on time itself, as if this vast world had found the strength to burn once more. Finally it was bright enough to see the great gears hanging in the skying, each of them spinning faster and faster while heat returned with a vengeance and demanded interest for losses. Especially in his ruined left arm, where it felt as though someone had pushed the appendage into a fireplace and held it there.

In a near panic, he twisted completely to gaze head upon the hill, but found with pure relief that it was still as it should be.

It was then he noticed the source of the change of atmosphere. Falling from the sky with a deceptive laziness in its descent, a giant red mountain in a strangely familiar shape dived through the sky, hitting the ground and bouncing thrice before landing on its base. It was only because it was so far off on the horizon that it took nearly a full ten seconds before the resulting shock waves and dust clouds slammed into the man sending him flying whilst a great surge of pain wracked his body originating on his disabled left arm and spreading through his core.

The last thing he thought before his head collided with the hill was that that red superstructure was in the shape of a chess piece.

Said giant chess piece, stood there silently for a minute, immobile and steadfast, but only for a minute. Slowly, it began to descend to the ground, as if the weight was too much for the earth to bear. From where it stood emerged large red cracks on the land, spreading like a spider's web in all directions, including the sole hill in this world. Once it had completely descended, the cracks reached enough distance to touch the hill, where the color began to change from bright red, to light sucking black.

Back upon ground zero of the impact zone, the red cracks vanished, the land sealing and covering up this change in the environment as though it never existed. Faster and faster the red cracks vanished until they were completely gone, only those void blackcracks on the hill remained. At the very top of the hill, a small cry aired through the land, but not from the unconscious figure laying against the hill. It came from something else, something that glowed golden at the very center of that hill.

xxxxxx

…

"-an't we do anything to stop this?"

…?

"-losing him!"

?

"-tand back."

…!

"-ii-san!"

I-

"-hat were you thinking making him your peer?! That cloth should have killed him out-"

I must not-

"-at is with those veins?"

I cannot-

"-cloth is holding something inside. Some sort of power that's corrod-"

I will not-

"-a dozen phoenix tears still aren't enough?!"

I shall not-

"-eeding on pure demonic energy. There's only one way to save him. We need to inject him with-"

Let you die Shir-

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Slowly he awoke to the world, his body so exhausted that it could almost be mistaken for a corpse. Not stirring, too tired to even move, feels he is surrounded, and yet, there was no malice emanating from them. Though, the area, no, the room smelled like a battlefield triage. A far too familiar scent to he who lay on the bed at the moment. He listens, for it is all he can do.

"-danger has passed." a female uttered more than a little wearily.

"Good job Grayfia." a new, male voice responded. "Good job everyone. That was too close, but you all performed above and beyond the call of duty." Sounds of mumbled compliments from individuals dead tired and desperate for sleep echo in the room. "Alright let's leave my wife to oversee the last portion and get some sleep." A dozen voices of tired agreement and shuffling noises with the occasional louder steps of someone staggering away.

Then there was only three individuals in the room.

"There's nothing else I need to do here." that same female voice emerged. "I fear, however, that he will remained scarred for life."

"I see. Well, it couldn't be helped. I've never heard of anything like this before." the leader of the departed group replied.

"Perhaps I shall have to look it up to see if there are any records, but I suspect there will be nothing relevant." she said skeptically.

"Wouldn't surprise me. That said, I'll be making a report to the others Satans about this. They'll be wondering about the sudden surge of activity we've had today."

"...You mean I'll be making the report." A tired, irritation echoing through her voice.

"No, you've done more than enough today my love. I'll take care of it, promise." he reassures her. "Go on. I'll be with you in a minute." with one last sigh, the woman departs. As soon as she closes the door behind her, the man moves to the bed and looks down with a tired expression. "You're not fooling anyone." he says. The man's endurance is exceptional, but foolishness at this point is not something he'll tolerate kindly towards.

But, he is not speaking to the other man laying on the bed. Instead, he looks just a little beyond and below the bed. Rising up from the floor comes another female, this one much younger than the departed. "Rias, you need to get to bed as well. It's been a long day." He pauses, probably to look at a clock or out a window from what his words indicate, "It's been a long night too. Morning is almost here."

"But nii-san" the, probably teenage, girl pleads.

Sighing at an argument he is far too tired to deal with, he gives in and says. "Fine, but don't disturb him, if I never go through something like that again, it'll be all too soon."

"Thank you." she says. "Thank you for everything."

"Anything for my cute little sister." a fondness enters his voice even as he walks towards the door. "That said Rias, I never thought you were into older men."

"Nii-san!" She cries out in defense. "It's not like that."

"Yes yes," he waves off as he prepares to shut the door behind him, before he suddenly gives one last call out. "Oh yes, congratulations on your mutated piece." Shutting the door and speaking softly so that his little sister does not hear him, he adds, "Even if it is the ugliest one I've ever heard of."

Alone with the sleeping (or at least appearing asleep) man, the girl just stared at him for a time,not moving, not making a sound, just staring at him. Tentatively, as though afraid he would shatter at any moment, she placed a hand on his head, stroking her hand though his hair. "You idiot." She finally speaks, her voice choking in relief. "You great idiot. What were you thinking, trying to die like that?" Moisture touches the 'sleeping' man from on high, she's crying. Why? Why cry for him?

She stands beside him for a time, those silent tears running down onto him before she steps back. He then hears a sounds of cloth rustling for a time. Though, in his current state, he is paralyzed, and more than that, he is still far too injured and tired to even open his eyes. His mind is mud, and yet he forces his way through it out of necessity. He listens carefully as the last rustle of cloth ends, before he hears her step forward once more.

It is a surprise to suddenly feel her carefully lay herself next to him. The bed, barely big enough for himself is now crowded on one side with the new arrival. How she keeps from falling out is a mystery, but somehow she does it. What's more, for some reason, she has discarded her clothing. ...Must be some sort of healing magic. Several of the old rituals were supposed to involve things like this. That, or it was just some rather bored spellcasters with too much time and imagination on their hands.

Probably someone like Merlin.

While his inner shyness wanted to leave, to get up and cover the girl, the reality was that even opening his eyes would send him back into oblivion. So he lays there, listening her cry her last tears and wrap an arm carefully across his chest. At last, she falls asleep, her breathing a soft and calm breeze after a storm of tears and shivers.

He's exhausted, paralyzed from what should have been his death, yet he cannot just let someone cry for him like this. So, gathering all his strength, he pushes out into his right arm and down to his hand so that he pats her back twice before falling back to blissful oblivion. As sentimental as the gesture was, however, he should have focused on opening his eyes instead. He might have been able to catch sight of a strange mark appearing on the naked girl if he had.

xxxxxxx

"Why? Why aren't they healing?" Raynare cried out in her hideout. The wounds she had sustained were not closing to any healing magic she performed. They rejected her power, rejected her will as though she was a mere human. "Heal damn you." She sent another surge of healing magic into the large cut on her stomach, but it still wept blood.

This wasn't working, and she had to admit that whatever that man had done to her had been a neat job. If she didn't heal in a few days, she might well bleed out. She couldn;t go to Azaziel, as she had broken his orders and killed Issei rather than study him, and all the other Fallen Angels would rend her limb from limb for her weakness.

Although, there was one option left for her if her powers failed. Yes, her fallen comrades had been able to manipulate the transfer of one particular individual. Though she was not due for another day or two, that option was still there. It'd be tight with the way she was wounded, but there was still a way, one that would allow Raynare to get revenge.

For, what Devil would bypass such a powerful tool as that gray-haired man? None. It was inevitable, and Raynare would be ready to meet him soon, and then all debts would be paid.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next time:

Our Father, who died in Heaven

Hollow is thy name

Thy kingdom gone

Thy will be lost

On Earth as it is in Heaven

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tiger Dojo

Take the Strange Advice (Y/N)

Y- *Click*

"Everyone, how have you been?" a brown haired woman waves her Bouken in her right arm while wearing a traditional white training Dougi. "Ya, its been a long time since we last had a chat like this. Then again, it is a Fate/Stay Night Fanfiction, so it was bound to happen eventually." She looks off to the side, "Even if our author is an unmotivated and lazy bastard who gets too easily distracted with video games."

"Ano, who are you?" Hyuodou Issei asked in confusion.

"Yosh, it appears that once more my glorious task begins. For those of you unaware, this is the assistance corner that solves all your problems for you upon reaching the Dead End, Tiger Dojo at your service. Lead by the beautiful and wise Sensei Fujimura Taiga."

"And her adorable First Assistant Illyasviel Von Einzbern." an albino girl with pure red eyes and white hair pops in wearing a sports shirt and purple bloomer track shorts.

"Ooooooooh, its the Legendary Bloomers!" Issei cries out in pure joy at the long abandoned outfit.

"I see you are a connoisseur of fine fabric there boya" Illya leans back her head and laughs in a prideful ojou-sama manner of 'Ohohoho"

"Of course, I couldn't call myself an aspiring Harem King without loving such legendary objects of dreams." nodding his head furiously before realizing, "Ah, but you said this is for 'Dead Ends'? So, I'm going to die then?"

"Oh no, not at all." Taiga corrects him

"Eh?"

"Well its really surprising, but somehow you also have found a way to live after being killed" Taiga laughs off.

"I thought only Onii-chan could pull that off, but apparently you too have the qualifications for 'protagonist'"

"Protagonist? The coveted spot of otakus and heros everywhere" could it be, had he always had the potential.

"Oh yes, but not for this story" Taiga dashes his hopes with casual disregard.

"Eh?"

"You've basically just run into the classic 'Two Main Protagonists in a plot issue', one of them always ends up second best." Illya explains

"That's right First student, too many 'First Main Protagonists' only detriments a story. Instead, you've been assigned a different route. Feel proud of yourself, for you now possess the right to aim for the impossible heroine route and her associates."

"Associates?"

"Oh yes, all female except for one rival." Taiga clarifies.

"So I can still be a Harem King?" a tiny ray of hope in the darkness.

"Yeah sure, why not. Good Luck with that." Illya waves off dismissively. "It doesn't matter to us after all. We won;t be seeing you here again."

*Whack*

"Ow! What was that for Taiga Sensei?" Illya cries out in agony.

"You're detracting from our purpose First Student."

"Ah!, My mistake Sensei" Illya bows to the readers.

"Now then, all silliness aside." Taiga coughs into her mouth. "Issei-kun, you should never believe in things too good to be true."

"Of course," Illya nods, "Perverted *Twang*, Unattractive *Twang Twang*, No Good *Twang x4*, Pieces of Human Trash *Twang x10*, without a single redeeming feature *Twang x30* can never hope to attract a School Idol, you idiot *Twang x52*."

"Goooooo, do you have to be so cruel First Student?" Issei cried out from the ninety nine proverbial arrow piercing his back.

"I'm only cruel to be kind." Illya replied sweetly.

Patting the boy on the head. "Listen well Issei, Yuuma-chan may look like a sweet and innocent child, but she is clearly in a higher class than one you can aspire for in your current form."

"Yes, worms should only mingle with worms." Illya nodded.

"Geh!" Issei held a hand to his heart. "Is that all I am to you Illya-chan?"

"That's 'san' to you boyo," She dismissed his plea, "And you got my Onii-chan killed with your helplessness. *Twack* OW!"

"Now now Illya, we're supposed to put aside our grudges in these meetings." Taiga waves her wooden sword menacingly. "So then, the final piece of advice Issei-kun is to be more suspicious about beautiful girls randomly asking you out."

Turning to the audience she waves off. "Well then, that's all the time we have for today! I shall wait for you all next time!"

"And we're expecting a special guest next time as well!" Illya declares.

And with that, the curtain closes ending this session of Tiger Dojo.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Author's Note: My god, has it really been over a year since I last uploaded anything of worth? Right, well. I guess this is my attempt at getting back on the horse. God knows, I've started up a dozen times, written between 5000-8000 words on different stories, but found each of them: Lacking, boring, repetitive, waste of time reading, or just plain dumb. Hopefully this one will be better. We'll see I guess. I will admit, however, I hate writing Battle scenes, which has more than once made me want to rip my hair out trying to describe what I see in my mind on paper.

Honestly, Highschool DxD had a lot of potential with its lore and its characters, but then it focuses strangely. Honestly, The characters should come off a lot more powerful then they do. Then again, it comes from the point of view from a teenager with raging hormones and PTSD, so that might skew things a bit.

Shirou, on the otherhand, tends to (in other fanfiction) have the problem of either being too idiotic when he is in fact a deconstruction of the 'hero' troupe, too overpowered (he does have an unlimited arsenal of weapons at his disposal), or just too damn lucky.

There's a reason why there are 30 DEAD ENDS in Fate/Stay night visual novel compared to the 5 'good ends' of which, one still gets him killed while another one doesn't address in the slightest the risk of becoming a tragedy. I figured I'd try going down a different path, one where Shirou doesn't die, but he doesn't exactly get out unscathed and his attempts at help may or may not have made things go a hell of a lot worse and now has a good chance of going insane if he pushes himself too far.

Well lets see how it goes I guess. Feel free to drop a review, but don't get too literal on world physics, Fate/Stay Night and Highschool DxD don't exactly have stable rules and I'm just making some light reading material that you read for free.

Have Fun