私はほんとにかわいいですねｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗ
Ah, lol, just having fun with Windows 10. The sound messes up sometimes, but I think it's mostly worth it since my Japanese keyboard actually works with this update instead of Windows 7, which is what I had previously. All I need now is for them to fix the sound glitches and I'll be as right as rain.
I also need to learn more Japanese.
Anyway, thanks for your faves, follows, and reviews so far! I really look forward to reading what you're thinking about the story so far. あなたたちはほんとにすごいです！！
Please enjoy.
Edit (8/18): Ah, Fanboygirl has revealed that I've been mistaken for a while about は and わ, haha...ehh... *cringes at the cringing*
-JD
Disclaimer: いいえ、私は泥棒でわないです。（Google Translateはほんとにわるいな。。。）
Lavi kept his eyes solidly on the Level 3 before him, taking in its appearance. It was missing an arm and a leg, and it was heavily damaged, gashes all along its body, but it wasn't dead.
That concerned him the most.
"I presume you wonder where your friend is, exorcist?" it chuckled lowly, the giggling from the Level 2s making everything worse.
The redhead didn't respond, holding the Innocence close with one hand while holding his hammer in the other, the seals still surrounding him as he prepared himself to yell out any order that he'd need to.
"I'll be gracious enough and let you know that I've sent your friend back in time. He's rewinding right now is all."
'Rewind…?' his eyes widened a tad, 'No way, is that what those other people are doing? He got caught?'
The demon hissed in pain as it twitched, its body still dripping with blood from the heavy wounds that Allen had inflicted on him, "He was very troublesome as an experiment subject. He even used my own powers against me for a while, such a rude little thing!"
It laughed, the others joining in with it as Lavi braced himself further. In doing so, he didn't notice the West Entrance doors open just a tad, a small child peeking into the Cathedral with a frightened but determined gaze.
"But I'll be fine after a while. You see, those people give me energy when they disappear after rewinding completely."
Just as it said it, the deep gash on its chest twitched before closing slightly, and it grinned, the Level 2s around it beginning to cheer, circling the lone exorcist.
"See? It's an interesting process. I'll be able to obtain the energy from each person I rewind…including your friend. I put him on a faster rewind process than the rest of them," it grinned, its eyes popping out from its helmet, "I cannot wait for the boost I'll get from consuming all of his energy."
'Like hell!' Lavi slammed his hammer down, a seal order on the tip of his tongue.
The Level 3 appeared right beside him, hand poised to stab, "Don't forget who you're up against, Experiment 2."
He just barely managed to dodge the hand coming his way, swinging the hammer toward Horace. It backed away quickly though, a Level 2 being caught by the swing instead. With the nod of its head, the other Level 2s began to attack Lavi. One with sharp talons flew over to his left side, ready to scourge him, but Lavi could see it coming. He made sure his feet were solid on the ground before he twisted his body, the hammer's head smashing into the AKUMAs. He quickly righted himself and spun his hammer, deflecting a load of AKUMA bullets that were sent his way.
The Level 3 watched from further away, taunting him with a triumphant sneer. Lavi gritted his teeth as he pulled the cocoon-like Innocence closer to his body, only able to use one hand on his Innocence.
Allen's eyes had been wide before when first arrived, but now his jaw was dropping.
'W-wha? Why're all these monsters so weird-lookin'? Why's that one different from the other ones?' he turned his gaze to the redhead, 'And who's tha' guy? He's not doin' too bad!'
He cringed as the guy narrowly avoided an attack by a baby-looking monster, his shirt tearing in the process before he was able to back away from them. The monsters were on his tail though, and the heavily injured one was floating around, just watching.
'He…he can't handle'm all…I…I gotta…'
He chewed on his lip for a moment as he searched the room.
'Maybe I ca' help…if he dies, they'll be afta me for sure…'
He noticed that the pillars weren't being watched, so he carefully entered the room, trying to not make a sound. Once he closed the door, he rushed forward, hiding behind a pillar as he inched his way closer to the battle. He had to cover his mouth to not squeak once a deflected bullet soared past him. He gave the redheaded man a frustrated glare, his body shaking with the sudden bout of fright.
'Geez fucker! I'm try'na come help ya!'
He glanced down to his left arm, the limb covered from shoulder to fingers in medical wraps. His lips trembled for a moment, but he felt it heat as he began to activate it.
'He bett'r not freak if he sees me…'
A bulbous Level 2 rolled in the air as it was pushed back by with a smack from the exorcist's hammer. It cried out in pain as its fellow AKUMA pushed it aside, rushing forward to get a hit in and kill the redheaded human. It took it a moment, but after some effort it righted itself in the air. It growled as it looked back over to the battle.
"GUh, idiots! I want another shot at the exorcist! They better give me a chan—eh?"
When the monstrous thing glanced over to its left it noticed something shine from behind a pillar. It gleamed silver for just a moment before it pulled behind the structure.
The AKUMA smiled, "Oooh? Something else is in here? You don't feel like an AKUMA, so what are you?"
The beast floated closer to the pillar, its grin spreading out on its face.
"Come out, come out, little thing! I can see you…" it held onto the pillar as it tried to look.
"I can smell y—"
Suddenly, the beast found its face grasped by the silver thing that it had seen gleam in the light, the claws digging into its face. Its eyes widened once it noticed that it was attached to the body of a small boy dressed in silk, the boy glaring with some fear at him as the silver thing clamped down harder and harder, beginning to crush its face. He covered his nose and mouth with his other hand, scrunching his face up.
"D-don'say stuff like that. It's creepy..."
Moments later, the AKUMA's face was crushed, and the thing collapsed to the ground, body twitching as it began to ooze its deadly miasma.
As Lavi slammed his hammer into another Level 2s face, he began noticing that some weren't reappearing as he thought they would. As much as he would try, every hit he'd make wouldn't be a fatal one, not with the Level 3 occasionally throwing him off of his rhythm and nearly getting him killed—though the bastard thing was confident enough to sit back and watch the fight most of the time.
Horace seemed to start to notice it too, though, as it was taking its eyes off of him more often than before, coming forward to attack him more often as more people lost themselves to the rewind. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he was glad for whatever was happening.
At least he would be if he weren't just barely avoiding getting the shit beat out of him.
He was covered with scratches and scars, his shirt torn and turning a light red from some of his spilt blood. Even the exorcist jacket hadn't been enough to hold back some of the hits. If he could use both hands, he knew it'd be a lot easier to maneuver, but he was still protecting the Innocence.
'If I can just kill the Level 3, it should release Allen, then he can help…but dammit, I can't with all these bastards coming down on me!'
He clenched his teeth as he swung his lightly injured arm, bringing it down onto an AKUMA's head, causing it to explode. He backed up quickly, trying to get a good count of the remaining AKUMA.
'One, two, three…six, seven, eight…wait, where's the—shit!'
As he deflected another AKUMA bullet, Horace appeared behind him once again, preparing to bring its foot down. He jolted forward to avoid the hit, but an AKUMA was right there waiting for him. It slammed into his left side diagonally, causing him to gasp out in pain, his left arm loosening. Before he could clench his hand down, the cocooned Innocence flew out from his hand as it rolled on the ground away from him. He tried to move forward to grab it, but the AKUMA who had knocked into him slammed down again onto his back, pinning him there as it cracked the floor.
"AGh!" he cried out, both from the pain and from his anger at losing his grip.
The Level 3 grinned at him, floating closer to the pinned exorcist, "Like I said, Experiment 2, remember who you are battling."
The other Level 2s laughed, some floating toward the innocence to destroy it. Horace placed its remaining hand on its chin, its wounds sizzling from the healing factor of absorbing the life-force of those being rewinded. Lavi struggled more, needing to destroy it before Allen would be absorbed.
"Now…let me think…what should I test on you? I tested my ability to glimpse the future with him, but with you, I think I should do something even more special…oh, right," the AKUMA waved its hand absentmindedly, "You assistants, go ahead and destroy that Innocence."
They laughed at the order, rushing forward to destroy it.
"No!" he struggled more, but to no avail, the AKUMA on top of him pushing him down further.
"Yes, yes, now…oh…" its eyes popped out on its helmet, the AKUMA leaning in toward Lavi's face as it reached its hand toward him, smirking, "I know just what to do with you…"
It paused when one of the Level 2s headed to the Innocence exploded into miasma, the other two closet to it blown back by some force, smashing into the ground near where Lavi was pinned. All of them looked shocked by the move, and Horace turned around to face the way they'd came from. As the miasma cleared slowly, Lavi gasped and the Level 3's teeth gnashed audibly.
There was a clawed silver hand poised in the air, the back of the hand glowing green with Innocence. Even though it looked smaller than he'd ever seen it, it didn't look any less menacing.
'Isn't…isn't that Allen's Innocence? He escaped?! But…why is it like that?'
His thoughts halted as he felt a wave of Dark Matter grow, surrounding the Level 3. Its eyes were all revealed, its remaining hand clenching tightly as the air around it
"You…little…"
Once more of the miasma faded away, Lavi was finally able to see Allen, and his jaw nearly dropped. The boy was much smaller than before, probably somewhere beginning to push closer to five feet tall, though he was still under that. His hair was a bit longer and messier but still white as ever, they boy partially using his hair to block the explosion.
What really shocked him was his clothes. He was covered with red silk clothes, the neck of it covered by a golden collar-like band, which he also had around his ankles. It had no sleeves and didn't cover his shoulders, the part of the top connected with the collar-like band looping under his arms loosely until it presumably connected on the other side. The top section of his clothes seemed to sag just a bit once it reached just above his hips, where a loose V-shape of golden bangles sat, the rest of the silk reaching down near his ankles, where two other golden bands were fastened.
The right side of the cloth was slit starting from the golden bangles, where his right leg was left partially uncovered, and if Lavi looked closely, he could see a black strip of cloth almost right below the V-shape on the right side as well. His right arm was covered from below the wrist to near his elbow with a long golden band, and if his Innocence wasn't active, he could almost bet that his other arm had the same on it. He wore flat red shoes which bent with his feet easily.
It was easy to tell that his clothes weren't English, and not really meant for a kid…whatever age he was.
After a moment, Allen brought his face away from being curled into his chest, one silvery-blue and one red and black eye glaring over at the Level 3 as he tightened his hold on the Innocence nestled in his arm. The other Level 2s glared down at the child as he slowly stood to his feet, curling his Innocence around his body as he made himself as small as possible, his body lightly shaking with what Lavi could guess was fear.
Rightfully so though, as Horace seethed angrily, its body trembling with fury.
"You little…how did you escape? What did you do to escape the Rewind?!"
The boy stopped glaring, blinking up in cautious confusion, "Uhmm…wha?"
"You heard me you little twat!" it roared, Dark Matter fluctuating in his aura, "What did you do to escape my clutches?! How dare you continue to be such trouble!"
He backed up two steps, eyes wide with fear, "I…I dunno wha' you're talkin' about…I jus' woke up here!"
The AKUMA blinked right in front of Allen.
"Then go back to sleep!"
The boy squeaked in fright, startled by the AKUMA's sudden appearance. Before it could really attack him, he closed his eyes and swung at it, knocking it to the side and into the wall.
Lavi could see an opening when one's made. With the AKUMA on top of him distracted, he stuck his arm out in front of him, angling his wrist back toward the demon.
"Ozuchi Kozuchi, Shin!"
The hammer extended at his order, and its head flew up quickly and smacked the AKUMA above him, making its head explode at the contact. With the weight gone, he scurried to his feet, noticing that the other Level 2s were beginning to snap out of their surprise.
One of the Level 2s rushed forward to Allen, its spindly fingers outstretched. The boy cried out again and knocked it to the ground as he backed away, his claws piercing its back though not killing it. Hearing it cry out, he pulled his hand away, turning around as he fixed to run.
Horace blinked into existence in front of him, hand outstretched as it bled from its most recent wounds. Allen's pupils dilated, panic clutching at his heart.
"I said SLEEP!" it screeched.
The AKUMA was knocked back though, the head of Lavi's hammer hitting it in the stomach. Before Allen could move, he gasped as he felt an arm wrap around his waist and pull him close. Noticing that the arm wasn't trying to hurt him, he looked up, still clutching the Innocence.
Lavi grinned down to the boy, "Mind pulling your arm in for me, short stuff?"
The noise he made in reply was a mix between a squeak and a hum, but he obeyed the redhead nevertheless, wrapping his arm around the two of them.
"Even better," he said with a smile before he glared over to the discombobulated Level 3, "Hey Sandy!"
The AKUMA twitched from where it stood, clutching its stomach, the gash that Allen made earlier having reopened. Horace's eyes, filled with fury, looked up to stare at the exorcist.
Lavi smiled as the seals showed up, floating around the two of them in a circle, "Try blinking away from this, asshole…" he brought his hammer down.
"Konbo Ban: Gouraiten!"
The AKUMA's eyes widened, feeling a surge of power. Suddenly, a ring of fire appeared, surrounding the two as something vicious let out a mighty screech. As the flames receded a bit, Horace watched as an iron snake covered with fire appeared, roaring loudly as it began to rush toward it. It knew it didn't have time to use Time Skip…it used it to try and get rid of the now small exorcist.
It grinned, watching as its demise approached in an inferno.
"Shit…"
Within moments, its body was consumed in flames, the snake not stopping its line of destruction, rushing around to destroy the remaining Level 2s. It left searing burns on some of the building, but it did its job. And just as suddenly as the battle had begun, it ended, the exorcists as its standing victors.
Lavi sighed in relief as his Innocence deactivated, tired from all of the fighting as he released his hold on Allen.
'Right…with the Level 3 dead, everyone who's still alive should go back to normal…'
He looked over to his left, expecting to see some sort of transformation occurring, his friend returning to him. Instead, he had to look down and blink at an absolutely shell-shocked kid beside him, his Innocence still activated and wrapped around the two of them.
"Uhm…shorty?"
Allen's whole body jolted, his arm deactivating from the surprise. Just as Lavi had predicted, his left arm also had the same long golden band covering his forearm, though he also had medical wraps covering the dark, Innocence-afflicted skin. The boy shivered lightly, looking up at the young man, both eyes silvery-blue.
"You okay, Allen?"
"Uh…ah…yah…" he muttered, still shocked.
"…You sure?"
"Uhm…I…think so?" Allen tilted his head to the left, "Ermmm…mister?"
'Mister…Oh no.'
The boy looked down at the cocoon Innocence for a moment before he glanced off to the side.
"…How d'ya know m'name?"