It had all gone so wrong.
All this Rias Gremory concluded as her peerage engaged nearly two hundred human soldiers in combat.
She supposed that the appearance of human soldiers upon the grounds of Kuoh Academy was something extremely unprecedented. The human governments were renowned throughout Heaven and the Underworld for being extremely easy to fool. For all their complex technologies, secretive intelligence agencies, and obsessive presidents, they were helpless when it came to outsmarting those with greater powers than themselves. For thousands of years Heaven, the Grigori, and the Underworld had kept their affairs from outside eyes, which Rias found remarkable when studying her history. The Great War itself had been fought without any human suspecting a thing, despite the drastic effects it had had on human history.
A hailstorm of bullets grazed the ground near to her, but Rias escaped. Turning her head to the source of the gunfire, she found a soldier carrying a heavy machine gun, its barrel still smoking from its recent outburst.
With a grunt the soldier set to work loading the ammunition feed into the weapon, cursing as the thing jammed. Still he attempted to load the gun even as his death was upon him.
Humans, she thought, as she called upon her Power of Destruction, are such FOOLS!
The Power she had inherited through her mother filled her body, and her hair floated into the air as energy crackled through the air. Her power was almost a living thing, just waiting to be released from the container that was her body. She raised her arm, and channeled her power into proportions that defied human physics, and leveled it towards the soldier.
The soldier only had time to utter a final curse before being utterly blown to pieces. Bits of blood and flesh flew through the air, landing in a five foot radius around the spot where the man had used to be. Rias stepped back a few inches to avoid the disgusting aftermath, and was pleasantly surprised when none of it landed on her.
She turned to survey what her servants had wrought upon the enemy soldiers, and she smiled when she saw what was being done.
Yuuto Kiba led her peerage in their advance, a sword in each hand, generated from his Sacred Gear, Sword Birth. As she watched he raised his left arm and screamed a war cry before leaping into battle with the human soldiers. She watched as her Knight used his superior reflexes and quicker speed to dance through the soldiers, eviscerating them as he went. The swords swept clean and through, and with each swing human bodies fell, cleaved neatly in two to bleed a great deal of blood upon the grass lawn of Kuoh Academy.
Humans apparently had a tendency to die in a much more disgusting way than angels, fallen angels, or devils. She remembered the stray devil, who she had destroyed with her Power of Destruction. The Power had destroyed the devil with little more than a fallout of dust. It had been the same with those fallen angels. Those three had been killed with little more than an explosion of feathers, and the fourth, the one who had played with her Pawn's emotions, would have probably done the same, even though she had escaped.
Really, Rias regretted the chance to kill the fourth fallen angel, the one who referred to herself as Raynare. She had seemed like a somewhat worthy opponent, but she had fallen prey to Issei's Sacred Gear, and escaped when she had been beaten. A coward and a lunatic, but still an opponent who had possessed some power.
Not like these humans, who died with the flick of one's wrist. There was no satisfaction in killing any of these mortals. Not that the act of murder was a glorious thing. It was just that she wanted a worthy opponent to face when she did have to kill.
The human with the machine gun had apparently been the only soldier with enough daring to face her. There had been the soldier who had started it all, of course, but he had ran away after firing a few rounds... Rias had let him run. An opponent that ran was an opponent no longer.
She surveyed the carnage that her servants were wreaking, and smiled. Humanity, she thought, populous and yet so weak all the same.
Kiba led her peerage in their advance, but it was perhaps her Queen who was doing the most damage.
Akeno Himejima, her Queen- her first and greatest servant. She constituted the entire left flank of the impromptu force, and was doing a very good job of it Perhaps it had to do with the fact that Akeno was firing lightning out of her palms, electrocuting the humans as she went. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that Akeno took sadistic pleasure in battle.
That had always been her greatest qualm with Akeno- her Queen took too much pleasure from fighting. It was always good to build up some bloodlust while fighting, but not to Akeno's level. Rias watched with some disgust as Akeno blasted lightning out in copious amounts, electrocuting even more humans as she went. The afflicted soldiers fell to the ground, twitching, but for some reason she had left them alive.
Rias breathed a small sigh of relief when Akeno didn't pause to torture them.
To Kiba's right was the rest of her peerage, making up her Rook, Pawn, and Bishop, presently fighting their way through the human soldiers. Here the humans held advantage- hand-to-hand combat was more prevalent here, although the presence of a Rook was more than likely to tip the advantage in her favor.
Yes, she concluded, as a human body was tossed over her peerage's ranks, the neck bent at an odd angle, the presence of a Rook does set the scale in my favor.
Koneko Toujou, her Rook, was having a field day, although Rias knew better than to call it that. Rather, it was a field day in terms of body count. Her Rook rolled, slammed, punched, and kicked, and with every attack that made contact with a human- well, it didn't end well for that human. Not very well. A Rook was strong. A Rook was made to withstand attack, which Koneko did very well. She could hold her own against regular yōkai, and even lower-class angels and fallen angels, like that time at the church had shown. But against humans, a Rook was a full-blown powerhouse- a fact that was very advantageous for Rias. Already Koneko had racked up the largest amount of fatalities, more so than even Akeno, which was saying something, seeing that the powers of lighting greatly outclassed mere physical combat.
She watched with smug satisfaction as Koneko utterly destroyed the human ranks. With each punch a human was sent flying, and when their bodies landed limply on the ground, they stayed on the ground. Rias noted that Koneko was painfully slow, which was true- all Rooks were slow- but as humans didn't possess any unique powers, it was all and well for Koneko to defeat the human soldiers.
A fresh chorus of human screams erupted across the grounds of Kuoh Academy. They were not unique- human screams tended to fall into the regular mold of agonizing, pain-soaked, throat-tearing things, but it was a fresh chorus of human screams, which she had not heard in awhile. At least, not at that intensity. The damage inflicted by Akeno and Koneko had not made the humans scream in such a manner.
Nay, it had to mean only one thing, and when Rias identified the source of the screams, she could not help but smile.
A group of human soldiers had had the audacity and foolishness to engage Xenovia Quarta and Irina Shidou, and it looked like they were paying for their foolishness. The two Church exorcists seemed to be having no trouble with cutting through their own brethren. Indeed, they did it with as much gusto as Kiba, who was currently slicing through the last few soldiers at the very front of the grounds of Kuoh Academy. Each swing of their arms signified death for another foolish human, as each of their massive blades cleaved through human flesh and skin, spilling copious amounts of blood as they carved bloody paths through their enemies.
Though Xenovia and Irina were not part of her peerage, they had still taken to the task at hand with the same zeal that her servants possessed. Apparently being ruled by Rome didn't mean that they were bound to the restrictive codes of their churches. It suited them, though. Operating so far from the normal chain of command presumably gave them considerable autonomy- which also guaranteed them power to commit greater atrocities than the rest of the Church's military arms.
Within minutes the soldiers who had fought Xenovia and Irina lay dead or dying, bleeding from their massive wounds. The two exorcists, their swords stained with human blood, looked somewhat horrified as they bounded over to where Rias was standing, as did the rest of her peerage.
"How do you feel?" Rias asked cautiously; the two Church exorcists were bound to have something to say on the matter. While she had no qualms in killing other devils, humans would most likely have a tendency not to kill their own. And yet here they were, slaying the enemy without much afterthought.
"Not very well- thank you, Rias, though, for asking," said Irina, brushing some blood off her combat vest. "Killing people, especially when they're not really that evil to begin with, is a sickening task. Nevertheless…."
"It is required, no more, no less," said Xenovia. The other exorcist, in comparison, looked relatively unruffled. "We had to kill in the service of the Church. May the men we slew be absolved of their sins before God, when they go to meet Him in Heaven- assuming they make it there, of course."
"Such righteous talk-" said Akeno, who smiled, "and yet the Heavens do not turn an eye to their mortal servants. We, on the other hand-"
"Hush, Akeno," said Rias. There was really no need to impose the policies of Hell upon these Church exorcists, not when they were so vehemently opposed to Hell in the first place. That was what an exorcist was supposed to do- hunt and kill devils. The only reason why they were allied in the first place was because of the simple fact that they faced a common enemy- the soldiers. Of what government, Rias couldn't tell, but logic told her that the men who had been slain were agents of the Japanese government. And in this case, the Japanese government was regrettably everyone's enemy.
"Kuoh Academy has been evacuated, President," intoned Kiba, returning with blood-soaked swords hand in hand. His clothes had been stained almost completely in blood, and his hair was in the same condition. His face was half-soaked in the substance as well, and he looked almost like what a human would call a 'devil,' as in the kind of red-skinned horned being that spat fire from its mouth. Or at least, his bloodstained image evoked something of the sort.
"Good, good," Rias said, putting her hands on her hips. "If things go well, this should be the first and only wave of attackers. Asia, it would be a pleasure if you could tend to anyone who has wounds of any sort."
"Yes, Buchou!" the young girl said. Rias watched her Bishop scurry away and tend to the rest of her peerage's wounds, and smiled. The girl was really a pleasure to have around, being so naive and all. It made for a welcome change from the rest of the 'experienced' world, although her Pawn had staked an interest in Asia, which did make for some complicated dealings between the two, something which Rias frowned upon. Issei did save Asia from that fallen angel, after all, but the relationship between the two seemed to have grown a little… close, at times. Rias supposed that she would have to keep a closer eye on the two.
Her Pawn was stumbling towards her at the moment, his Sacred Gear hanging loosely by his side, blood splotching and staining his shirt, hair matted and soaked with what she presumed to be more blood. Issei's eyes were blank, which was a first- she had never seen them so blank, not even when she had found him dying by that fountain. His Sacred Gear, normally bright red, was stained- it was stained with so much blood that even the green gem in the middle was colored red.
"President…." said Issei slowly, "will I have to… kill… people… in this way…. in the future?"
Rias thought long and hard before giving her Pawn the answer. Honestly she wanted to say no, but she knew that there would be times in which her peerage would have fight greater numbers of enemies than this, and slay them all, too, for that matter. But the crucial difference was that there wasn't such a great amount of blood in defeating the individuals that she had in mind. And besides, though her Pawn was now a devil, he still had some connection to the human race, and it was an established fact that killing other humans put trauma on a human's psyche. And that was just killing them with simple gunfire. Fighting them and killing them in this heavy-handed, gore-splattering manner was, well… not good for the human psyche.
So it was with a heavy heart that Rias answered, "Yes, Issei… you will. Although I suspect that the opponents we will face would not be what you would call…. human…."
At this her Pawn's face lit up, and he grinned at Rias, albeit weakly. "Then… I guess it's alright, President. My gosh, I'm so tired-"
There was an almost lightning-quick burst of yellow, and when the dust cleared Asia was there, holding Issei by the arm. "Issei!" the girl said, smiling intensely, "I won't let you fall!"
Her Pawn blushed violently, and wrapped an arm around Asia. "It's okay, Asia," Issei replied, smiling, "I was just exaggerating…."
Rias slapped her hand to her forehead, in a manner evoking the human term of facepalm. "If this goes where I think it's going…" she muttered, but the ensuing rumble of chatter that often filled her peerage began to ensue. Her peerage, while a good fighting force, did fall into distractions at times, and this happened to be such a time. Not surprisingly, the pair of exorcists hung back from the conversation, unsure of what to make of this. Rias could empathize- she had read over the Church's training manuals in the past, and every single one of them had stated that devils were evil, amoral creatures who lived for sin. Now they were encountering devils that, for a probable first time ever, had not delegated to kill them. And they were most likely receiving mixed emotions about the whole event, seeing that Irina Shidou claimed to be Issei's childhood friend.
So Rias walked over to the Church exorcists, hoping to extend a metaphorical hand of friendship.
"So," she said, hoping to dispel any small talk, "you must be feeling rather strange. After all, we probably are the first devils that haven't tried to kill you in your experience. Am I right?"
Xenovia, the blue-haired exorcist, scoffed. "That is true, devil, but that does not mean that you can turn on us at the slightest opportunity. "Especially when you turned Irina's childhood friend into one of…. one of you."
Irina laughed softly. "Oh, Xenovia, it's really nothing. Really." Yet despite that casual quip, Rias could hear hurt in the pigtailed exorcist's voice. She supposed it was natural, after all, to learn one's friend had been converted into the race that was the hated enemy of one's organization.
"But I still don't like this," Irina added, which was a sharp contrast from the somewhat happy tone that the exorcist had just used. She spoke the words sullenly, which made the contrast all the more glaring.
"Is this what devils do, Rias?" said Xenovia suddenly. "Butcher humans, and then socialize as if nothing was going on?"
"Socialize? I wouldn't call it that, but yes. Although this is rather unprecedented. In all of recorded history, few humans aside from the Church have managed to grasp the fact that we exist."
"And yet two hundred human soldiers attacked Kuoh Academy," Xenovia mused. Suddenly she hefted the massive, blood-splattered blue blade- Durandal was its name, supposedly- and looked around.
"You don't suppose, devil, that there could be more of them?"
It seemed as if at the same time, she could hear a far-off roar in the distance; the rage of humans who had seen their comrades slaughtered before them. It seemed as if there would be more humans coming, with even greater weapons than the laughably weak 'guns' that these soldiers had brought with them. It seemed as if they would come with a massive burst, an avalanche of gunfire and whatever weaponry that the human race could bring with them, and unleash it upon them. It seemed as if… as if they were doomed, somehow.
But when she stopped to think about it, the roar seemed to dissipate; it scattered into the wind without afterthought. Initially Rias thought that the sound was receding, and she felt glad, but then she realized that the sound had never been there in the first place- it was probably just a result of her paranoia. Which was good and all- her peerage had just fought through two hundred human soldiers. That in itself was a feat for a peerage, but to think about their hard-earned victory and become paranoid about it was just a manifestation of her worry, doubt, and fear.
Nevertheless, the mental imagery of more humans with more of their weapons coming at her peerage made Rias shudder. Alone humanity was helpless, but the annoying thing about humans was the fact that they tended to band together in face in greater enemies- whether it was a rabid animal or other humans. Two hundred humans charging her peerage had almost overwhelmed them; them and the Church exorcists, too. The fact that more could come- and would come- was a disturbing one.
"If they do," Rias replied slowly, "then we will be ready."
"Ready?" This time the outburst came from Irina. "I do not wish to bemoan the current state of affairs, but everyone- I repeat, everyone, is tired. My arms feel like falling off, for one, and I am certain that everyone feels the same way, even if Asia over there has the ability to heal the most grievous of wounds. We cannot, I repeat, we cannot repel another attack."
She turned to the now-empty school and waved a hand in its direction, before turning back to Rias again, anger etched upon the girl's face.
"What use is Kuoh Academy now? It is completely evacuated. And what did we fight for here? Nothing! We fought for a massive pile of bricks, glass, and mortar! I once thought that devils were cruel, and yet intelligent! This disproves the latter! And why did two hundred humans have to die, for nothing! So that you could maintain your school for devils?! Bah! I say it is devilish pride! Complete and utter foolishness! We may have not broken the rules of the Church today, but we have now the blood of dozens upon our souls! And when we go to absolve ourselves of sin, do you think we will forget the screams of the dying, and the twitching of the dead? No! And we will remember that it was you who stained our blades and souls with their blood!"
Rias was at a loss of words. What Irina said was true, but what the Church exorcist didn't understand was the significance of Kuoh Academy. Without it, the Underworld would lose its most significant source of new devils for peerages who desperately needed them. Not only that, but it was also for those who wanted to live in the mortal world- yes, there were many who had that interest- and wanted to obtain mortal educations and entrances into higher institutions of mortal education. The evacuation of Kuoh Academy was already a big strain on the school's board- and herself, as well, as she, and she alone, had delegated to defend the school. Now it was apparent that the defenders, who had fought for the school, were starting to feel that strain.
"These killings were not necessary!" Irina shouted, attracting the attention of Rias' peerage. "Had we done things a bit differently, two hundred men would not be lying dead upon the grass!"
Xenovia walked up to her friend and put a hand on her shoulder. "Irina… this…was cruel, yes, but it was necessary."
"Necessary!?" Irina said, half-sobbing as she did so. "You are the one who always preaches about necessity, but has it ever occurred to you that necessity sometimes goes over the top?!"
Xenovia's face hardened into a scowl. "Necessity never goes over the top. You of all people should know this- as well as I do, in fact. The deaths were regrettable, but each and every soldier that was slain knew what they were getting into. They cannot interfere with the Church's mission, and by extent, the survival of this Academy."
"Was it worth it?" Irina replied as she brushed off Xenovia's hand, tears welling up in her eyes, "Was it?"
"That," said Akeno, coming up from behind, "is something you must answer yourself. I only know that I took great pleasure in taking down my opponents. Remember, too, that I left my targets… alive, as the President wished."
"Alive and brain-dead, no doubt," Irina muttered.
"Is that so?" Akeno muttered, putting a finger to her mouth in a playful manner. She giggled, and tossed back a strand of her hair that had made its way over her face. "Is that so?"
Akeno walked over to where the majority of the corpses lay. She began to pace through the sea of blood, guts, and severed limbs, before finally settling on a limp form which was remarkably intact among the grotesque miasma.
Akeno kicked the body with her shoe, and the audible crack of a nose breaking resounded across the quiet space.
Over where everyone else was standing, Rias saw Asia wince, and she sympathized with the girl. Akeno took pleasure in such things, which was an interest that not very many shared. The dealing of pain was something not to be regarded very lightly, yet Akeno took it all in stride and dealt out pain anyway. And she enjoyed it.
There were many things that Rias disagreed with her Queen with, and this was perhaps the chief issue.
"Shit…." the soldier moaned, and rolled over slightly. "Damn it, girl… you already screwed us all over. Why are you doing this? Leave me to die already!
"Oh my," giggled Akeno, raising her head to regard Irina, "he's alive!" Then, she turned back to the soldier, a smile stretching across her face. It was the smile of a lunatic, a lunatic who had encountered the very thing that fed his insanity. It was a smile that Akeno possessed, and it was a smile that Akeno used often. It was a smile that Rias hated, and yet had to accept- without it and the many other things that made Akeno what she was, her peerage would not be half as effective as a fighting force.
After all, a Queen was the strongest piece on the chessboard.
"Oh, I will most certainly grant your wish." Akeno said, interrupting Rias' train of thought.
And she stomped- stomped hard- on the man's upturned face, and this time the sound that resounded was not the sound of chicken bones snapping.
It was the sound of strong, supple bone cracking- a rich, yet horrifying sound, rather like rocks breaking. It resounded across the clearing, which was more quiet this time. Quiet to the point of horror. She saw Asia, Issei, and Irina looking on with disbelief, while Xenovia, Kiba, and Koneko appeared generally indifferent. Rias stilled her mouth, despite urges to do otherwise. It's Akeno's personal pleasure, she told herself, and besides, that man would've tried to kill us anyway, had he been given the chance.
But that didn't make it any better, and to make it even more macabre, the man didn't even respond to his torture. He simply lay there, as if he was letting Akeno crush his face with her shoe. Perhaps he had been one of those affected by her lightning bursts. Maybe his pain receptors had been destroyed, so that he could not feel pain in his final moments.
Or maybe… maybe he just didn't care.
After half a minute a sickening squishing noise could be heard for a bit, before fading into blissful silence. Akeno withdrew her foot from the man's face, and what she left behind…
No. She had left nothing that could be called human behind.
The man's face was dented, somehow- it was pushed far past the normal limit of a human face. The front of his face was pushed back into his head, and although there was no blood, Rias could tell the man was dead. No one, especially a mortal, could survive such a beating.
Akeno walked calmly back over to where everyone else was gathered, and smiled. "Well, that man is dead now. There are quite a few others out there like him, still alive and mostly numb to pain. It would have been so much more satisfying if he had felt what I had been giving to him."
"Akeno…" Rias said with a warning tone. "If we are ever caught for this, the mortals will not like it that you crushed one of their own's faces. We will be-"
"Oh, Rias," her Queen responded, sighing, "you are always the one that worries about such… such trivial manners. I am certain that the humans will never catch us, and even if they do, we will not be going down without a fight. They will never bring us into their foolish systems, that much I can assure you."
"What you say means nothing," said Rias. She crossed her arms underneath her breasts, and looked at Akeno with what she hoped was a stern expression. In moments like these, Rias really regretted not being harsh with her Queen. Yes, Akeno was her closest companion, but Akeno was not a friend in that sense; she was simply a servant who had found her way into her master's good graces. Her very good graces indeed.
She could only hope that what Akeno said would come to pass.
A couple miles away from Kuoh Academy, in a hastily erected tent filled with video feeds and quite a few laptops, a man slammed his fist down on the table.
He was the commander of the Japanese Self-Defense Force in the proximity of the area, and he screamed at his own incompetence.
Initially the operation had gone well. He had finally gotten the paperwork necessary to authorize an attack on the school, which had been suspected as a hideout for devils for weeks now, ever since the knowledge of the existence of devils, fallen angels, and angels had been discovered. It was something that the man wanted to do. He wanted to watch the devils be destroyed, watch their blood run on the ground as the JSDF destroyed them and prevented yet another foul nest of the sinful creatures from spreading their heresy.
Two hundred men had sallied forth from troop carriers to attack the school. He had watched from the video feed as they shouted an order into the school. There was nothing. No response at all. They had shouted another warning, that everyone was hereby under arrest by order of the Japanese government. No response at all. So they had laid explosive charges and blown down the school's ornate doors, and ventured into the place.
The soldiers had explored the depth of the school, but they found no signs of life. They had combed the entire academy, finding classrooms that were simply empty. In one of them, a cigarette had been left on a teacher's desk, still smoldering. Textbooks were still scattered on student's desks, some still open to certain pages. Windows were opened, and the pages flapped in the soft breeze. It was as if the entire student body, the faculty and everyone else related to the operations of the academy had just went and disappeared into thin air.
With that uncanny discovery in mind, the various combat teams had retreated from the school, muttering about the unholy ways in which the devils had evacuated their kin. Many muttered prayers to their various gods, which, more often than not, were the various Shinto spirits. He himself was a Christian, descendant of those who had been converted to the way of the Lord many hundred years ago, but he respected their prayers. They were all gods under one sun, after all.
It had seemed like a failed mission, and he had clasped his hands to his chest, ready to face the consequences for authorizing such a wasted effort. This had seemed like a successful endeavor, and had it succeeded, it would be the first publicized destruction of a devil nest in this country. Yet… there was nothing.
Or so he thought.
As the men retreated from the school, ever vigilant to erase as much of their tracks as possible, one of the men had decided to go exploring. He had seen the man go, and he had silently screamed at him not to. He had even ordered the presiding commander to get the man to stop. Yet the field commander had stayed radio silent, despite the numerous times that he had paged the man to get the errant from exploring.
And then the worst had happened.
The errant soldier had uncovered a bush, looked around, fired a few shots, and then ran for his apparent life.
Eight figures emerged from the bush. He had viewed the video feed, and he had felt the rush of anticipation. The JSDF had never fought against the devil race before, so who knew their powers? He had known, though, that they were devils from the moment they had emerged from the bush. No human was as beautiful or as arrogant-looking as the one in the lead, the one with blood-red hair and a massive bust. He had watched in horror as the men began to surge towards the devils, and he had tore at his hair in suspense as the leader of the devils pointed a slim finger at the oncoming mass of men. He could almost feel the power that they radiated as they begin to tear through their ranks, throwing men left and right, slashing through them with impunity, and he had screamed at his own incompetence as he watched his own son try to load a machine gun in the face of the red-haired devil, and he had watched with a sense of finality as his son was blown into nothing by none other than that red-haired devil.
Now, when all those men lay dead and dying, he saw the black-haired devil, the one with two massive pigtails and an orange bow tie, go over into the grotesque mix of corpses and blood and find a soldier who had survived all that carnage. He had watched as she proceeded to break the man's nose and subsequently crush his face with her shoe.
That sight had made him want to pick up his pistol and go into battle himself, and fill that whore with as many rounds as he could before she killed him with her powers. Only his roles as a commander stopped him from that.
He had lost his son to the devils, and those men as well. He knew them. They were good men, and they didn't deserve to be killed with impunity by these devils. The mere existence of the creatures was simply unfair to the greater existence of humanity.
The flaps to the tent rustled, and a lieutenant stepped in with a clipboard underneath his arm.
"Commander Watanabe, sir, the heavy weaponry you've requested has arrived. Six tanks loaded with 'the heaviest rounds you could find'- well, sir, the heaviest rounds that we could find are 50mm high explosive rounds, sir. We've loaded them all into the tanks, ten shells apiece." said the lieutenant, reading from the clipboard. "We had some trouble getting authorization for that, but we got through in the end."
"What do you mean?" he growled. The higher-ups had actually doubted his request? He was a respected JSDF commander, having served for nearly thirty years, and they still doubted him? In this much-needed removal of devils? He should have been given complete autonomy for this assignment!
"Sir, this school is surrounded by several apartment complexes. The higher-ups had concerns that if the tank crews hit the buildings, anyone in them is going to be utterly and completely destroyed. But we got through in the end." the lieutenant finished, flipping more pages through the clipboard as he went.
"The civilians can go to hell," the commander growled, slamming his fist on the table again. "We must take down the damned devils!"
"Sir," the lieutenant said with a warning tone in his voice, "think of the civil-"
"This is a military situation," the commander said, cutting off the lieutenant with a wave of his hand, "and those devils shall be defeated. We will kill them at all costs-"
"Sir," the lieutenant said, the warning tone once more in his voice. It was more pronounced this time, as if the lieutenant had something he wanted to say, and urgently, too.
"Spit it out!" the commander said, impatient. He slammed his fist on the table, and turned to regard the lieutenant. "If you have bad news, then speak it!"
"Sir… Tokyo…." the lieutenant stuttered, obviously unable to go on further. He clutched the clipboard to his chest and looked at Watanabe with a grimace, before falling silent.
"What?!" the commander exclaimed. He threw his chair aside and wrenched the lieutenant's collar, pulling the younger man close to him. "WHAT WERE THE ORDERS FROM TOKYO?!"
"Sir… Tokyo… Tokyo has ordered that the devils be captured… alive," the lieutenant said, saying the last word with a tortured finish.
"So… Tokyo thinks that it can control me?" the commander said. He released the lieutenant from his chokehold, and seized the clipboard from the lieutenant. After some determined searching, he found what he had been fearing- a memo from Tokyo, saying in very clear characters:
Capture the intended targets, if there are any at all, alive at all costs.
It was a simple memo, one of the simplest he had ever received from his superiors, and yet the length of the message made it all the more scathing. It felt as if the Ministry of Defense was simply disregarding his service with that short message. He had served thirty years in uniform. He had known what it was like to fight, kill, and die. He had risen through the ranks from a simple infantryman to the honorable rank of Major General. How those civilian fools in Tokyo thought they could run the military! A force of battle-tested men, all ready to die for the State, who had proven themselves time and time again, and yet commanded by such fools!
He grasped the memo and tore it in two, to his lieutenant's shock.
"Commander Watanabe… that was a memo from the Minister of Defense!" the lieutenant exclaimed, a look of absolute horror on his face. "That was a personal memo from the Minister of Defense!"
Watanabe laughed. The lieutenant had the look of someone new to the military; he was probably one of those who had graduated straight from college to the rank of second lieutenant, and prone to following orders. Following orders was good- you learned discipline, but sometimes orders were meant to be disobeyed. Like this one, for instance. And never mind the fact that the accursed memo came from the Minister itself.
"To hell with the Minister," said Watanabe, sitting down back down on his chair. "The Minister knows nothing about war. He does not know what it is like to fight, to lose those who you were closest to. He is a politician. The worst kind. He will not control what I do on the battlefield."
The lieutenant was silent. The tent was silent, with occasional chatter from outside as soldiers presumably moved equipment around. There was no movement in the tent, except from the video feeds of the damned devils.
"Commander Watanabe…" the lieutenant said at last. He pronounced each word hesitatingly, like all the words he had just uttered.
"What?" Watanabe snapped back at the lieutenant. "My orders are final, and that's that! I can get court-martialed later for all I care!"
"Sir," said the lieutenant slowly, "I'm… I'm… afraid… I'm going to have to… relieve… you… of… your… command."
"What?" Watanabe said again, and he rose from his chair to regard the lieutenant. "Are you seriously considering insubordination? I thought you civilian types were above such madness!"
"Sir," the lieutenant said, again, with more urgency, "it's not insubordination if you're refusing something illegal."
Even as the lieutenant said that, Watanabe saw his hand reach for something. It was probably his pistol, and Watanabe reached for his own. But as the commander drew his pistol, he saw the younger man's arm go back in a wide sweep. Watanabe lunged towards the lieutenant, arms stretched out wide, hoping to physically restrain him, as firing a shot in this close-quarters range would be practically insane.
Just before everything went dark, he could clearly see the lieutenant's arm swing towards his face, and in the lieutenant's outstretched hand was the butt of the lieutenant's Minebea 9mm pistol.
Commander Watanabe fell unconscious to the ground, his body lying in a sprawled heap on the soft grass below him. Disgusted by what he had done, the lieutenant tossed the pistol on the commander's body, and exited the tent swiftly, clipboard in hand.
A sergeant ran up to the lieutenant. He was a heavyset man, perhaps forty, and he looked rather worried as he made his way up to the lieutenant. "Lieutenant Itami, sir. Where is the commander? He was supposed to be out five minutes ago. We can't start this operation without him, you know," the sergeant said in one breath.
The lieutenant looked at the sergeant with the sternest expression he could muster, and sighed. "Commander Watanabe is… indisposed at the moment. He is not fit to command."
"The commander… is indisposed?"
"Yes, Sergeant. Like I said, he can't serve."
The sergeant scratched his head and looked at the lieutenant. "In that case, then, sir, are we still going to proceed with the attack? All the troops are ready for the assault, sir, and we were wondering where Commander Watanabe was, that's all."
The lieutenant sighed, and looked at his clipboard, which bore the shredded remains of the memo.
"Sergeant, as I am now acting commander for this detachment of the Japanese Self Defense Forces, I… I officially authorize you to commence this attack. And also, according to this memo…"
He fished out the destroyed remains of the memo, connected to each other only by the smallest strands of paper. The lieutenant expected the strands of paper to collapse as soon as he withdrew the mutilated thing, but it didn't. It held rather well, actually, as the lieutenant gave the paper to the sergeant.
"What is this?" the sergeant said, holding the remains of the shredded paper. It looked dangerously close to blowing away, but it held.
" Capture the intended targets, if there are any at all, alive at all costs?" said the sergeant with a choked voice. "And the Minister of Defense actually wrote this?"
"Yes," the lieutenant said, exasperated. As an afterthought he added, "it's why the commander is indisposed to command in the first place."
The sergeant looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "He… tore…. the memo… from the Minister… of Defense?"
"Exactly what it says on the tin can," the lieutenant said, and turned to the sergeant with an abrupt about-face. "Sergeant, your orders are clear. We must apprehend these monsters- they are a threat to the Japanese nation. Commander Watanabe understood that. However, Commander Watanabe had one flaw- he refused to capture them alive. The Minister of Defense signed that memo, and it is that memo we must follow."
The sergeant's only response was to sigh. "If it is what it is, then, Lieutenant, then I have no choice but to obey. And sir, what did happen to the commander?"
The lieutenant sighed. He felt like he was doing a lot of sighing these days, and he turned to the sergeant. "Sergeant, that is something that is not important right now. Right now we need to apprehend those demons and capture them alive so that the State can do whatever it wants with them. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir!" the sergeant thundered, stamping his foot and shooting a brisk salute. He then jogged off in the presumed direction of where the requested equipment was.
The lieutenant watched him go, and set down the clipboard with a shudder. He had only just graduated two years ago from the National Defense Academy, and this had been his first actual field assignment. He had told himself it would be just a normal day, if conducting the first military operation against demons was normal. And now he had found himself taking out a commander- a respected one, at that- and taking on the reins of command by himself.
Two soldiers ran up to him. They saluted him briefly before turning in the direction of the command tent. "Sir," said the first soldier, a somewhat skinny-looking man with the badge of a private first class, "we heard that the commander was indisposed. Our assumption was that he had to be in the command tent, where you… ah… relieved the commander of command."
"Correct," said the lieutenant, and immediately he felt relieved- he would have to had to give an order like that in the very near future in order to go into the command tent without being attacked by the commander. He was only relieved that he had not had to give the command himself.
The two men went into the tent, and they dragged out the commander, who seemed half-conscious as he was being removed. Commander Watanabe attempted to struggle with his captors, but the private slammed the butt of his gun into the commander's head, and the commander fell unconscious once more.
The lieutenant sighed. He respected Commander Watanabe, but the man had simply gone too far with his disobedience towards the central government. Now the man would have to be discharged- dishonorably, too. He had served in the self-defense forces for nearly thirty years, or as he so boisterously proclaimed- the lieutenant believed him, however,- and now he would have to lose all that and more.
All because of a simple mistake.
But the military did not allow mistakes.
The lieutenant entered the tent quickly and sat down at the command table. A swift glance at the video feeds showed the devils regrouping in the middle of the corpse-strewn battlefield. Another glance at their grouping showed that they were in no particular defensive formation. Simply put, they were not expecting another attack.
The lieutenant smiled, which was rare for him. He did not take satisfaction in giving out orders- indeed, he had not given out many in his entire time in the military, but for some reason he felt satisfaction that he would be helping the State apprehend its enemies. He had always thought that carrying out orders was a big load of responsibility; he thought it would constantly weigh on his mind as he gave out the order, but surprisingly there was nothing.
Only an elation of sorts.
Perhaps this was why Commander Watanabe had went to the task of destroying the demons with such gusto.
Perhaps… perhaps… the lieutenant told himself.
He grasped the headset and patched himself into the command structure. It took him about three minutes before he was able to transmit to the assembled military forces ready to attack. The airwaves there were a confused jumble of muttering, with the prevalent topic being the recent dismissal of Commander Watanabe.
He cleared his throat, and spoke. "Men, this is Itami Takashi. In the absence of Commander Watanabe, I am now commanding officer over this detachment of the Self-Defence Forces. I will now authorize an attack on Kuoh Academy, as per the government's wishes. The government also wishes that the demons be captured alive at all costs."
He heard some dissent. "Must we use the Suppressant?" said one of the soldiers over the airwaves. "Can't we just kill them all?"
"No, soldier," said the lieutenant, in what he hoped was an affirmative voice, "the government has specifically ordered that the demons be captured alive, so the use of the Suppressant will be most appropriate, if it comes to that."
The soldier grumbled. "If that is what the government wishes, then, Lieutenant, so be it."
"Any more objectors?" said the lieutenant. It was against military protocol to ask such a question- orders were to obeyed with any objections. Yet in a case like this, when they were about to do battle with the greatest enemy that the Self-Defense Force had ever faced? It felt only right to ask such a thing, to weed out any who might have any second thoughts toward the operation.
He was pleasantly surprised when there was no dissent across the airwaves.
"Then let's do this," the lieutenant said, drumming his fingers on the table. "This operation is a go!"
Across the airwaves he heard the chatter of men as they went to war; he heard the rumble of the six tanks that had been requisitioned for the operation, and he heard the numerous clicks of ammunition being loaded.
He didn't care about what powers the demons possessed. They were going toe-to-toe with the might of the Self-Defense Force, and they were going to get it.
The lieutenant smiled again.
There were six of them.
Great, shining and gleaming, the tanks rolled across the lawn of Kuoh Academy, trampling grass underneath their great treads. With each movement the tanks left torn shods of dirt, upturning the previously perfect grass. The things finally stopped at the middle of the lawn, barrels out and about, and they seemed to turn and regard the group of devils clustered in the back of the lawn of Kuoh Academy.
Rias Gremory saw the tanks, and she despaired.
"Well, Akeno," she said, looking at her Queen with barely disguised anger in her voice, "what you said did not come to pass at all."
Akeno laughed. "It is just a human contraption, no more. Six of them there may be, but we can easily destroy them."
Rias growled. "I hope you're right," she said.
She flashed a hand out by her side and let it fill up with the Power of Destruction. The black fire filled her palm, and she was about to lob it at the tanks and destroy them with impunity when she saw something that chilled her devil blood.
Behind the tanks, she saw a great commotion of activity. Initially they were too far away to be registered, but as they got closer, Rias gasped in fear. She could not believe that the government of Japan had really spared this many men and resources to attempt such a massive and costly assault!
Behind the tanks, about five dozen humans were arriving to reinforce their kindred in the tanks. Each carried a strange-looking gun with a wider barrel and a larger stock. On closer inspection, Rias realized that they were grenade launchers.
"Oh, no…" Rias said, putting a hand to her mouth, as she realized the implications of what this meant.
It had all transformed into a great trap. When the initial wave of soldiers had assailed the Academy, it had seemed random and unplanned, and it had probably been. The soldiers had not been poised and ready for an attack, and indeed- it had seemed that they were retreating from the Academy. Rias would have liked for them to keep retreating, but then that man had spotted her, and in mere moments the entire squadron was firing at her peerage and the exorcists. And she could not let such an attack slide without reprisal, leading to the recent bloodbath.
But this- this was not an unplanned assault like the one that had just occurred. This was a planned assault, from the looks of the troops that were currently gathering. The grenadiers were posted at a safe distance behind the tanks, yet Rias suspected that the grenadiers could still assault them with ease from the position that their leader had placed them in. The grenades would probably be able to soar over the tanks and assault her peerage and the exorcists with a more-than-good amount of aim.
Rias snarled to herself, and waved at her peerage, still clustered a somewhat safe distance away from the oncoming invaders.
Xenovia was the first to register what was going on, and sprinted over in wide, sloping steps. When she saw the oncoming forces she stopped, and Rias could clearly see the exorcist clutch Durandal with as much force as she could muster, before letting it go.
"So, devil," said Xenovia, a hard look coming over her face, "the government of Japan has come to assault us again."
"And we will most likely die for this," Irina said, a grim look on her face. She gripped her own sword and twirled it in the face of the opposing soldiers.
Xenovia laughed. "Do or die, that is what you always say, Irina. But have you not considered the weapons at our own disposal?"
Tying Durandal to her back, the exorcist withdrew another sword- a sword which Rias recognized almost instantly.
"Behold, Excalibur Destruction," said Xenovia, waving the sword into the air. Its blade was thick, with what seemed like axe-blades replacing its guard. The blade itself was adorned with a red line running down its length, as well as what seemed to be two additional blades stuck onto the sides of the sword. Xenovia waved it twice before leveling it in Rias' direction.
Rias recoiled from the blade as soon as she saw the sword begin to fall in her direction, and not just because it was a sword pointed her way. Rias had seen the destructive potential of the blade beforehand, when it had been used against Kiba during their initial meeting. The blade had been capable of generating a massive explosion that had almost killed her Knight, and as Rias saw the blade being unfurled, she instantly understood its destructive potential.
"You plan to use that against the humans, don't you?" said Rias, and she cupped her chin in thought. In the corner of her eye the tanks still seemed to be regarding them with curiosity. Behind them the soldiers bearing grenade launchers seemed to be setting up for a battle formation. She saw the men gathering in rows, and loading extra ammunition in their barrels, ready to fire their deadly rounds at her peerage.
Now seemed the perfect time to strike, when they were still attempting to set up an effective battle plan.
With a single motion of her head Rias called her peerage to her. With a swipe of her hand she sent Koneko, and Issei against the western flank of grenade-bearing soldiers, and with a swipe of her right, Akeno and Kiba were dispatched to deal with the eastern flank. Each bounded towards the grenade-bearing soldiers with their own weapons bared in mind, ready to eviscerate the enemy gathered there. Asia hung back, chewing at her fingernails in fear, and Rias did not blame her. Anyone possessing Asia's delicate disposition would be scared of such attempts of battle, after all.
The tanks turned their great turrets, as if they were going to fire on her peerage.
But Rias would never let that happen.
"Hey, you!" Rias yelled in her best intimidating voice, at the tanks. The things turned and regarded her with their turrets. Their great barrels swiveled into place, and something snapped in Rias. That something told her that the tanks were done with their curious swiveling and regarding. Now, they were ready to fire.
"Are you with me?" she called over her shoulder to the two exorcists, who gripped their swords with anticipation.
"If I must ally with a devil to ensure my survival, then yes," Xenovia muttered. "But that does not mean that we are your friends, Rias-san."
Irina sighed, and clutched her own sword closer to her breast. "So be it," said the pigtailed exorcist.
Rias threw her head back and laughed. She laughed because she was about to do battle with more humans who believed that they could defeat her with impunity, and she was about to do battle with two Church exorcists. Exorcists were the kind of individuals that she, being a devil, preferred to stay away from, but in situations like these? Sometimes the enemy of your enemy was your friend.
Rias laughed again, and she charged into battle against the tanks, with the two Church exorcists following closely behind, each screaming their own war cry as they, too, charged into battle against the tanks.
Inside the tanks, the commander in the lead tank smiled.
"Men, that red-headed demon may have immense powers at her disposal, but let's give Hell a taste of its own power today!"
He slapped a hand on a one-hundred-twenty-five millimeter HEAT round that had yet to be loaded in the barrel. Oh, the demons were sure to get a taste of their own hellfire, right in their faces!
Disregarding his gunner's cries, he grasped the HEAT round, being sure to handle it carefully, and loaded it into the gun's feed. He then seized the controls from his gunner and aimed the sight at the oncoming demon, who was brandishing what a handful of what seemed to be black fire and a very determined face.
Against anyone else, that would have been a fearsome sight. But this was a tank the demon was fighting. A tank, equipped with the greatest rounds that a tank could fire.
Let the demon attempt to survive a round to the face.
He smiled, and fired.
In the few seconds before the tank's barrel gave birth to a monstrosity of death and fire, Rias Gremory saw the tank give what looked like a death rattle. The tank convulsed, and she could hear the tank's central support system bend and stretch before finally snapping back into its original shape. She saw the turret jerk back, and she saw it give a great shudder before finally calming.
Rias saw the tank's spasms, and she knew right away, then and there, that she would die on that moment. Even an angel could not survive a tank shell to the face, that much Rias was certain.
But at the last moment she saw Irina jump from where she had been standing; saw Irina wrap Rias in a great embrace, and saw Irina launch herself and Rias as far as she could from the shell's impact.
It felt like a thousand years, but it was probably just a few seconds. When Rias woke, the first thing she saw was Irina, hovering across her. The exorcist's face was filled with worry as she checked Rias over for any injuries.
"Rias!" Irina exclaimed when she saw Rias return to consciousness.
"Irina…" Rias moaned, and felt something give way in her lower left body. It was probably a bone that had broken.
"Rias," said Irina slowly, "you're injured-"
"Injured? What do you-" said Rias, before the pain struck.
The pain was fire- it arced through her legs, tearing into her upper body. It forced a cry of pain from her mouth, and it made her spasm in even more pain. What was worse was that it did not recede. It throbbed through her body, making its merry way as it stimulated every pain receptor in her body. And the pain only seemed to increase with every second. When it had started it had felt like fire. Now it felt like her entire body was burning, with metaphorical fire oozing from every pore and orifice on her body.
"Irina…" Rias moaned again, swinging her left arm at the exorcist, "how… badly… how… am… I-"
"Your legs are shattered," Irina said gravely, clutching her sword close to her, "and to make it worse, some shrapnel entered your legs. Not to mention to the various cuts and scratches-"
"That's… nothing…" Rias said. "My… peerage…"
Irina waved a hand towards the direction of the tanks. "They're fighting the grenadiers. Xenovia is-"
Six thunderous roars filled the air, and they completely destroyed Rias' eardrums; she heard only ringing, and a massive shower of dirt sprayed her. She saw Irina thrown like a ragdoll over her, and in the not-so-far distance she saw Xenovia spiral across the air, her combat vest torn in a half a dozen places. She saw the blue-haired exorcist fall to the ground, where she rolled to a stop, bleeding from the mouth.
"No…" Rias wanted to say, "no…"
She managed to turn her head towards her peerage's direction, and what she saw sickened her.
Two soldiers were grappling with Asia, as the poor girl opened her mouth and screamed a scream that Rias could not hear. She saw the soldier slam the butt of his gun into Asia's ribcage, and she watched her Bishop fall to the ground and be slung over the man's shoulder.
The rest of her peerage did not face any better. Akeno sent five men to their doom; ten men. But it wasn't enough. For every one that fell, ten took their place. Bullets tore bloody paths through Akeno's legs and hips; sending ribbons of muscle and flesh into the sky. She watched as her Queen fell to the ground, bleeding from a dozen places. Yet Akeno was still visibly alive, and she began to crawl away, desperately. Even the bloodlust that usually sustained Akeno had presumably faded in her darkest hour, and when she needed it the most, it was not there to support her. Rias watched in steadfast horror as a soldier brought the butt of his gun on Akeno's face.
Akeno fell limp.
She watched as Kiba scythed through the soldiers, cutting down twenty within a matter of seconds. Yet he too could not match the bullets of the soldiers. She watched Kiba's legs be riddled with holes, watch him fall to the ground. She watched him cut away at the legs of the soldiers who attempted to restrain him. Soon a pile of bodies surrounded Kiba, tall and wide enough to obscure her sight of him. Yet she knew, somehow, that he was at his dying limit. She saw more soldiers climb the mountains of their dead brethren and jump into the space. She saw dying men attempt to crawl out, and be cut down by Kiba as he lay there, unseen yet deadly. Yet eventually the flow of men pouring into the space soon transformed into an uninterrupted, steady flow, and she knew that Kiba had fallen. Whether he was dead or not, she did not know, but he had fallen.
Koneko seemed to carry the combined fury of both Akeno and Kiba. With each swing of her fist, three humans were sent sprawling, and they did not move when after being stricken. Dead, for sure. Behind Koneko, Issei swung his activated Sacred Gear, smashing through the soldiers with the same effect. Her Pawn's face bore a look of a rage, as he tore through the human ranks. Koneko's face was a look of grim determination as she punched and smashed her way through her assailants. Soon her entire body was swathed in a fresh coat in blood, as she smashed her way through. She rent guns asunder, cracked heads open, and twisted arms around as she desperately fought her way through the men. Yet it was obvious that there was no way out- you could only take so many of them with you as you went.
She saw the humans raise their guns; she saw Issei's face turn in fear and realization as he realized what was going on. She watched, and wanted to cry out as his chest was riddled with holes. She watched as Issei fell to the ground on his knees, bleeding his precious lifeblood on the grass. She watched as a soldier swung the butt of his gun against Issei's neck and watched Issei's neck crack back awkwardly. She watched with a sense of finality as her Pawn collapsed to the ground.
A few feet away, Koneko fell to the ground, bleeding from her back and side, as a butt of a gun was brought down on her head. And again and again. Koneko fell limp with the third and final strike.
"No…" Rias moaned, but she could not even hear herself.
She looked around her. Irina and Xenovia lay where they had fallen, limp and unmoving. The tanks lay in a crater fifteen feet deep in the ground, and sure enough, there was an intricate sword embedded in the middle of that.
So you used Excalibur Destruction after all, Rias thought, thinking of the holy sword. It would not help, now, however. The tanks were gone, but what use was the destruction of the tanks when the humans were all over the place?
Behind her, three soldiers surrounded Xenovia. The exorcist struck- brandishing her 'standard' sword, she cut through the first man, decapitated the second, and cleaved the arm off the third.
For a second a seed of hope rooted itself in Rias; that the tough constitution of the Church exorcists might be enough to get her and her peerage out of this deathly battleground.
With some effort Rias managed to form the black fire that was her Power of Destruction, but it was a mere shadow of its former self. The Power that she had managed to summon was a mere candle-flame compared to the fistful of black death that she had managed to summon earlier.
Rias swung her arm, and the movement caused her legs to flare up in pain again; nerve-burning, mind-numbing pain. Her arm flopped uselessly to the ground as she struggled to rein in the pain, and her Power faded into nothingness.
Rias cursed herself for being weak, and she was treated to the sight of Xenovia's defeat.
Xenovia lay on the ground, her legs and side filled with bullet holes. The Church exorcist opened her mouth and screamed a silent scream that Rias could not hear- she cursed the infernal ringing- as three more soldiers advanced on her. Desperately, Xenovia swung her blade, chopping off the foot of one of the men- Rias saw the unfortunate soldier collapse to the ground, clutching at the stump of his foot as it spewed his blood onto the grass.
The lead soldier fired into Xenovia's shoulder, forcing her to drop her weapon. The man then swung the butt of his gun into her ribs, forcing Xenovia onto the ground. He then placed a solid foot on the Church exorcist's chest, forcing her breasts apart underneath his foot. The man twisted his foot around, as if he was enjoying the sensation of the exorcist's breasts giving way underneath his foot, before he swiftly swung the stock of his gun upward towards Xenovia's head.
The gun's stock slammed into Xenovia's chin, and her head lolled to one side, limp.
With pain spurting through every cell in her body, Rias turned to look at Irina. The pigtailed exorcist struggled to stand up, as she used her sword for support. Yet she, too, was doomed. The soldier who had defeated Xenovia fired two soundless rounds into Irina's side. Uttering a grunt that Rias could not hear, Irina collapsed to the ground, clutching at her injury.
Walking over to Irina, the soldier brought the stock of his gun down on Irina's face, and after three seconds, Irina joined her friend in the blissful realm of unconsciousness. Or was it death? Rias did not know.
The soldier's masked head turned around, presumably to survey the carnage that he and his comrades had wrought. Rias saw the black goggles rest on her.
She could almost feel the adrenaline coursing her veins, as thought was stripped away, leaving only the primal thought to survive. Despite the enormous pain she began to crawl away on her arms, dragging her mangled legs with her as she went. Her only thought was to get away from the soldier, before he could deal-
Pain! Pain unlike any other in the world. It was even worse than her shattered legs. Immediately Rias felt her right arm go numb. Deadened was the correct word. She could not even feel her arm anymore. Yet she still attempted to crawl, despite the combined pain of the now recently re-inflamed legs and the arm. With her one working arm she attempted to crawl away from whatever had dealt her that deadly pain.
She felt a foot placed on her back, felt herself being kicked over. It was that selfsame soldier, the one who had sent Irina and Xenovia into unconsciousness, and the black goggles that had gazed upon her seemed almost inhuman in the evening light. The rifle's muzzle was pointed at her face.
In the face of death Rias felt what seemed to be... courage. Or maybe it was pride. Either way it invigorated her pain-wracked body, and she grasped the man's foot with as much strength as she could recall.
"Shoot me, if you will!" Rias screamed. The thoughts that pounded in her head left her mouth as soundless words, and all Rias could see was the soldier, his gun pointed in an almost curious manner at her face.
"Shoot me, you damned mortal, and be over with it!"
For a second the soldier's finger curled at the trigger, and Rias welcomed it. The pain that was rife through her body was reaching a nigh-intolerable level, and a release from the pain, even if it was through death, was something that she welcomed. Her only regret was that she had not managed to lead her peerage in an effective manner; had she done so, they would have surely triumphed over the humans.
Rias Gremory's last sight, before she fell unconscious, was of the soldier turning his gun upside down.
And bringing it hard, it seemed, as hard as he could on her face.
Before the blackness took Rias, her last thought was that the pain had ended.
The lieutenant's reading of The Tale of Genji was interrupted by the same sergeant that he had seen earlier.
"Sir," said the sergeant, panting. He was covered in flecks of blood, and an ugly gash was etched on his face. Sweat stained his brow, and his right arm was wrapped in a sling.
"What… what happened to you, Sergeant?" said Itami, setting down his book. "I trust the mission went well?"
"Well would be an overstatement," said the sergeant. "We lost fifty-seven men to the demons this time. All the tanks were damaged. If you add that up with the two hundred who died intially, that's a total of-"
"I can count, Sergeant. How many injured?"
"A lot, sir."
"And the state of the demons?" The lieutenant was curious with the current health of the devils. Of course, being assailed by government forces did not increase one's health, but he trusted that the soldiers would restrain and not harm the demons by a great amount.
"Sir, with the exception of one, they're all critical, sir."
"Critical?" The government's orders had to been to bring in the demons alive! How was he supposed to explain this to the Ministry, once eight corpses were shipped into Tokyo?
"Sergeant, what about the 'exception?" he said, trying to salvage something out of the scenario.
"Sir, we know what Tokyo's orders were, and we think that the one that isn't critical will help us, sir."
"What powers does this one possess?" Itami said, hoping to hear good news.
His hopes were confirmed. "This one has healing powers."
"Then good," said the lieutenant. "Get that one to heal its comrades, and then get them all under the Suppressant."
The sergeant saluted him and ran off.
Later, when he had finished reading The Tale of Genji and had set to monitoring the various confused broadcasts that were emitting from around the camp, the sergeant stepped inside again. There was now a bandage slapped on the cut on his face, and the man looked noticeably more refreshed than he had earlier.
"Sir, they're all stable now. What would you like-"
"Just… just… go…" the lieutenant said, dismissing the sergeant with a wave of his hand.
He sat back on his chair and thought of the exact reason why the demons had been in critical condition. Had they fought? Probably. Had they resisted with tooth and nail? Probably. It seemed justified that they would have ended up in such a devastating condition, yet he somehow found himself feeling sorry from the demons. No one deserved to end up in critical condition, even if they were demons.
Whatever their current state of health, they were all in the hands of the State now, that much he was certain.
The lieutenant stepped outside the command tent and inhaled in a lungful of fresh air. In the distance three silver transport vehicles stood, in which the comatose bodies of the demons were currently being loaded into. He watched the trucks drive away, to some far-off prison, perhaps, or maybe even Tokyo itself. The former seemed more likely. They would probably be used to make a political point; that demons should be hunted down and killed. Then they would probably be taken behind a chemical shed somewhere and shot.
But what was he, a lowly lieutenant, to attempt to grasp what the State wanted?
Before walking back inside, the lieutenant said a short prayer for them nonetheless. Demons or not, they deserved to be given a trial.
But there was one thing that was for certain: the demons were in the hands of the State now.
Lieutenant Itami shuddered at the thought of what the State might do to the demons, and walked back inside the tent.
Like he had thought earlier, the fate of the demons rests in Tokyo's hands.
Author's Note: Welcome to the story! It's long, and will be longer. Please give your feedback! Also, I won't be using Japanese honorifics, because to me they're just simply a hassle to use. I will still use the 'last name/first name' thing when introducing Japanese characters, however. With that in mind, scrappy out.