Last Time
"Well…that aside…what is your request if I may ask?" As she finished her sentence, the hunters began to regain consciousness and look around only for their gazes to fall on their goddess grasping the hand of another man.
"To request Hephaestus to craft me a Dragon Slayer made from my blood. Figured a sword made from the blood of a Dragon God will more than replace the one I previously had."
Chapter 8 (The Return of the Fated Ones)
The heavy gong of church bells filled the air, the deep symbolic tune reaching the ears of the mostly devil audience, the exemptions being the Angels and Fallen angels of course. As Rias walked down the aisle in her crimson Ball-Gown styled Off-The-Shoulder Organza Wedding Dress with Ruffle Beading Sequins, she noticed the three of the four Super Devils sitting in their respective thrones overlooking the glorious event, the final Satan in a red tuxedo with a black book in an open hand with a smile on his face. Next to her brother, wearing a black tuxedo of her brother's choosing, white gloves, polished dress shoes, and a rose clipped to his breast pocket was her beloved. The man she loved.
"And the man you betrayed."
The voice was cold, harsh, and carried over the luxurious hall with ease. With those five words, the wonderful scenery was shattered and replaced with a somewhat familiar scene.
What had replaced the mirage on the wedding was what appeared to be a local park back in her territory in the human world. She was gazing at a marble fountain with a relaxing orange, red, and yellow blend overhead, coloring the sky as the sun set beyond the horizon. The lush greenery that surrounded the fountain only made the scene all the more soothing.
This…seems familiar… The devil thought before she noticed that her wedding dress had changed into her school uniform.
"It should."
Startled by the deep and powerful voice, Rias spun around and gazed in shocked awe at the vast figure of red and green behind her.
"You're…Ddraig!" She exclaimed; this was the first time she was seeing him since he became her sacred gear. "You're…okay?"
"Hm…I guess, physically, you could say I am 'all right' child of Germory. However, I still suffer from what happened that day. Both mentally, and spiritually."
Rias was about to ask the gargantuan lizard more questions before noticed two figures enter the small park. The first she easily recognized as the man she loved. However, she was unsure of the second figure. This new person was an attractive young woman with violet eyes and a slender body. Her eyes are the color of scarlet, more than reasonable proportions for a high school aged human female, and long silky black hair down that ran down her back, barely grazing the top of her hips. Her attire consisted of a simple short black dress with a small, light purple jacket on top with a matching purse.
"This is where it all began." The Welsh Dragon told his new partner.
"What?" Asked the confused girl, looking back to the scene unaware of what she was about to witness. "Who is she?"
"Can I ask you a question?" The girl asked after releasing Issei's hand and jogging towards the fountain before slowly walking back to him in a provocative manner, cutting off any reply the dragon might have gave. "In honor of our first date, there is something I would like you to do; to commemorate this special event."
Rias, after hearing those words, was glowering at the woman who spoke to her loved one in such a sweet tone, acting all lovey dovey after what was apparently one measly date.
Wait…didn't Ddraig that this is where it began? What did he mean by…
Oh no.
"Sure." Issei consented with a blush and smile, "You can ask me for anything at all."
"ISSEI! DON'T!" She was about to say more before her vision was clouded by several pillars of green. Ddraig had stuck his talons in front of her, preventing her from advancing and shocking the voice out of her temporarily.
"You can shout and holler all you want, but you cannot change the events that have already occurred. Be silent and watch."
"Would you die for me?"
Rias grabbed two talons and faced the scene again. What did she just say? Did that fallen angel ask Issei to die for her?
"E-eh?" A shocked Issei breathed, pushing his pinky into his ear believing that he had misheard. "What did you say? Something must be wrong from my ears. I don't think I could hear you correctly. Could you say that again please?" He nervously laughed, still questioning if he had truly heard her right or not.
Rias wanted to run to him and stop the fallen angel from saying anymore despite knowing there was nothing she could do to change what she was watching. Ddraig's claws were in the way and she knew that if she were to move, he would continue to block her.
She could do nothing as the fallen angel disguised as a human approached her lover and whispered into his ear. "I want you to die for me. Hahaha!
That was when Issei's date began to change, the clothes that she wore shredded as her figure began to grow taller, her proportions growing larger, and her apparel grew more sensual and erotic. Once her transformation was over, Issei could do nothing but fall backwards in shock and horror.
"Well, I have to admit, I did have some fun today. Considering how naïve and childish you are, things could have been much, much worse. Thanks for the gift too, very sweet. But, even so…" She appraised the pink fabric on her left wrist before extending her arm, the appendage beginning to glow a pinkish crimson. In a matter of moments, a rod of light entered existence, firmly held in her hands. Rias watched in silent dread as the now evident Raynare held the spear over her head and Issei begin to realize the position he was in.
"Yuma, wait…please." He begged for his life.
"It is time to die!" She thrust the spear forward.
"ISSEI!"
PSSSHHKK!
The spear of light protruded out of the boy's abdomen, Issei being effectively shish-ka-bobed. Mouth agape from the sheer pain of being speared in the gut, he tried to grab the glowing rod of light before it vanished, blood beginning to spill out of the front and the back.
"Moments later, you would appear and bring him back to life, introduce him to your peerage and begin to integrate him into a society of devils." Ddraig spoke, the scenery changing once again. "But it didn't take long before the fallen angel learned of Issei's survival and try to kill him again, only to take back the owner of Twilight Healing in exchange for his life. She killed the girl, gained her sacred gear, and engaged in battle with Issei who broke into the church to prevent the death of his friend, causing his first liberation. Then…
"Issei, please."
Now the dragon and the girl were gazing at another copy of Rias, Issei, and her peerage standing above Raynare who had changed into her human form, Yuma.
"I'm sorry. I know I said some mean things to you, but I didn't have a choice! I had to fulfill my role as a fallen angel!
"Yuma…"
Rias' gut was churning with sheer disgust and hatred. Before, when she watched this for the first time, she just watched with a faint amount of shock and interest in what her servant would decide, knowing that this would be a milestone for him. Now, she didn't see that. She saw a vile creature attempting to stay alive by manipulating the emotions of the she holds most dear. If Ddraig's claws were not in her way she would have ran forward and slashed at the despicable angel, even knowing that it wasn't real.
"I mean, if I didn't care, would I still be wearing your gift? Please don't tell me you forgot. You bought it for me, don't you remember!?"
"N-No way…why do you still have that thing?" Obviously confused that the person who killed him would keep a gift from the man she had killed.
"How could I possibly get rid of this? It reminds me of you."
A moment of silence followed as Issei was clearly struggling with his emotions. In a corner of the vision, Kiba and Koneko prepared to finish the fallen angel off before being signaled by Rias to not do anything.
"You wouldn't let them hurt me, would you Issei?"
"Shut up." He told her, his voice shaking. "I don't buy it."
He turned around with his gaze on the ground, his eyes hidden behind his hair.
"Rias, please. I can't do this."
Rias was almost relieved when her other self marched forward with a ball of destruction.
"You have toyed with my servant's emotions for the last time. Begone."
GOSHON!
A high-pitched sound emerged from the explosion of destruction overshadowing the scream of pain and fear, black feathers scattering everywhere.
"Good riddance, you filthy wretch." Rias growled through clenched teeth, her oral structures grinding against one another in sheer hatred. However, before she could celebrate her death, she saw something in the corner of the vision.
A black mass that fell out the window under the cover of the bright light and noise.
"No…no way…"
Ddraig slowly exhaled, knowing the emotion that was traveling through his master's mind.
"Before your attack hit her, she pulled her wings in front of her to act as a shield. Your attack was not strong enough to kill her and acted as a propulsion device that sent the fallen angel through the window. The fallen angel known as Raynare still lives."
"But…but how!? I destroyed her! Literally!"
"You thought you did. Your peerage as well. The flash of light caused by your attack blinded them for an instant and that was all the time that was needed for your attack to send the fallen angel flying."
"We have to get out there and find her!" Rias shouted at the dragon, the vision fading into nonexistence. "If Issei is out there and finds her before we do, he might lose himself in a fit of rage!"
"I understand your fears young one. However, there is not much that we can do. Remember that the only reason you have access to the Balance Breaker without prior experience is because your training with Azazel before the incident with Loki built your body to the point where you could handle a balance breaker. In order to reach the higher levels of your power of destruction, you had to train your body to handle the stress that comes from that increased power. That, alongside your power of destruction training, made it possible to perform the balance breaker.
Performing the Juggernaut Drive was a reckless move on your part. Just because the spirits of the past Boosted Gear users are no longer here ever since Issei and I separated, does not mean there is no risk involved. The very fact that you were able to use your demonic energy as a fuel source for the Drive on your first try is a downright miracle. However, that energy was burnt out in a single minute. You might have lasted for two if you were not using your demonic energy as a form of attack. Juggernaut Drive is not a viable option in future battles as you are now.
Furthermore, while the fallen angel was clearly damaged back then, she may have found some way to heal by now. If she has, she will have started to train. She is a very prideful individual, she will look upon this incident as a disgrace and will begin to seek out ways to strengthen herself to prevent such a thing from happening again. I would not put it past her to have been training ever since she has fully recovered and we do not know when that was IF she even healed in the first place. There is too much we do not know regarding that fallen. While it is true that we should prevent a meeting between her and Issei at all cost, preparations must be made.
Finally, you must remember that after being forced out of Issei's body, I must be in a constant state of rest for at least several weeks. My spirit took a lot of damage and it will take time for me to regain my full power. Until then, I can only speak and converse with you while you are sleeping and the boosted gear can only remain operational for five minutes at a time and the Juggernaut even less. It would be wise to wait for me to heal completely before seeking any further confrontation in case the worst comes to pass."
"…I understand." Rias replied quietly after the dragon's speech. Whether she liked it or not, Ddraig spoke the truth. She would not be able to rely on the Boosted Gear until Ddraig has fully recovered. While she was confident in her power of destruction, if Raynare was able to survive once, she would find a way to do so again. Plus, she did not know how strong the fallen was now. It would be best to make a move when she was in her best condition.
"You should awaken now. The others will be looking for answers."
Rias nodded in compliance, the image of the mighty dragon beginning to fade.
Issei…please be safe…
-o-
"So, let me get this straight." Issei spoke up. "You're telling me that during your annual hunting trips in the human realm, you stumbled on a village who is having trouble with a prostitution ring, decided to help them, and thought we were a part of it. That is why you decided to attack us?"
"…Yes." Was the goddess's response, her voice lowered in…awkwardness?
"That explains a lot." Vali stated. "You thought we were humans since you couldn't sense our energy and thought that because you were a god, you would be able to handle us."
"…Also correct." Artemis responded in the same tone as before. "But what about you three? Why don't I sense your energy? I doubt you three are humans, seeing as you are the mates of the Ouroboros."
Kuroka, Koneko, and Le Fey, who were all walking beside their husband, held up their left hands with palm faced inward. This action confused the Greek Deity until she noticed a foreign object on their ring fingers. Upon further inspection, she realized that what she was looking at was a series of rings.
"Rings?" She asked dubiously. The hunters, who gathered themselves behind their goddess, craned their necks to see for themselves.
"These rings," Kuroka began, "are enchanted. None of us are good enough at Senjutsu to completely erase our presence. Koneko needs more practice and Le Fey is a magician with no Senjutsu experience. I am very good at hiding my presence, but not good enough to hide from individuals that are stronger than me. The enchantments on our rings absorb the life energy that we exude from our bodies unconsciously and prevent anyone from sensing our location."
"Ooo~" The hunters ooed and awed at this new information. Such an enchantment would make it a lot easier to hunt stronger prey and would assist them in any stealth missions that were assigned to them.
"That is an interesting ability." Artmis appraised the rings, seeing nothing but black bands with purple gemstones. "Who came up with the enchantment?"
"That would be me." Issei got her attention. "Since I became one with Ophis, her power is seeping into me constantly. I figured, since physical training won't do anything to speed up the process, I might as well experiment with my own energy until the time comes when I need to call on her power."
"But isn't her power… your power?" Artemis asked, confused.
"Technically, yes." He said. "However, because her power is infinite, and I used to be a human, I cannot handle so much power at once. If I try to, I risk severe, life-threatening injuries. So, everything that I have done so far, aside from fighting my ex *cough cough* has been my own power, which underwent a drastic boost since I became a full dragon."
"I…kind of understand?"
"Hahaha, it is kind of confusing. Here is the simplified version. If I don't use her Juggernaut Drive, or ask her to do something, then I am using my own power."
"The Ouroboros has a Juggernaut!?" The hunters and Artemis exclaimed in surprise.
"Well…hahaha…" Issei scratched the back of his head. "I say Juggernaut…but it is more like her version of the Juggernaut."
"Both the Infinite and I have a stage beyond that of the Balance Breaker similar to that of Albion and Ddraig." Crimson wings sprouted from Vali's back and the red energy grew brighter and dimmed as the Great Red spoke, affirming the sudden exclamation of the girls.
"Is…is that so?"
How could I have made such a grievous error!? The Moon Goddess wondered in astonishment, wiping away a sudden sweat at her brow. They could have easily followed through with their threat to destroy the Greek Pantheon! I need to make sure I do nothing to anger either of them…or else!
"So, you three aren't human?" A random voice among the hunters asked.
Shirone answered. "Kuroka and I are not. Can't you tell by our ears and tails? We are Nekomata."
"I am a human, a member of the Pendragon family." Le Fey added.
Before anyone could say anything further, all of them felt numerous energies approaching them. They have been aware of them for quite some time but ignored them since none of them were worthy of any worry. However, now that they were approaching them, they all stopped and turned their gazes forward save for one. Artemis looked back at her hunters and made a signal, the girls nodded and disappeared in a flash of speed.
"Humans?" Vali questioned, interested at why a group of humans was approaching them.
"Feels like it." Koneko's tails flicked back and forth uncaringly.
"Do they have anything we should worry about?" Issei asked, his emotions hidden.
"Not that I can tell." Kuroka answered, her behavior similar to her sisters.
Issei nodded. That meant that the possibility of the homo sapiens having anything of importance was near zero.
The six individuals watched as the small posy entered their vision, all of them male and wearing various degrees of armor and weaponry.
"Oh my~. So many beautiful girls over there." One of the roughly twenty burly men approached Issei, Vali, Kuroka, Koneko, Le Fey, and Artemis. Unbeknownst to them, they were steadily getting surrounded by the hunters per Artemis' signal, her exquisite face scrunched together in open disgust.
Issei and Vali were at the head of the group with the four girls traveling beside them. The Nekomata sisters stood next to Issei while Artemis and Le Fey walked by Vali. As they surveyed their surroundings, they began to see the signs of being on the edges of the unnamed civilization Artemis had told them about a while earlier. The buildings that were within sight looked like very stereotypical concrete buildings despite the vast amount of wood surrounding the small settlement.
"Why don't you lovely ladies come with us?" One of them asked, reaching forward in an attempt to grab Koneko's shoulder. "We can have fun in ways these two losers couldn't fathom."
Before Kuroka could say anything about these obvious gangsters laying a hand on her sister or even before Koneko could take a defensive stand, Issei reached forward and grabbed the man's arm.
The African American man just glowered down at the boy who dared to touch him. "I suggest you let go of me before you get hurt, boy."
"I suggest you walk away and pretend you never saw anything unless you want to get hurt, boy." Issei replied, using the same mannerisms and speech pattern the man used.
"Why you little-" One of the other hooligans started forward with his fist cocked back, preparing to unleash a punch on the boy who dared go against one of the higher ups of their gang.
His arm raced forward and shortly afterward, the sound of flesh hitting flesh was heard. However, the intended blow never connected. The fist that was aimed at Issei's face was caught by the only other man in the party.
"Trash such as yourself should not waste their time picking fights they cannot win nor should you be trying to take away women for your pleasure. But you obviously don't intend to leave us alone so I guess I can play with you for a while."
Before any of them could say anything, the Lucifer lifted the man into the air, still holding onto only his fist, and slammed him into the dirt, knocking him unconscious. Before any of them could react, Vali grabbed another man by his leg and started using him as a mace, swinging him around and throwing him into his friends, dropping the wannabe kidnappers like flies. Not even ten seconds later, the entire party was on the ground in pained defeat.
"Well, that settles that." Issei told the man who he still had in his grasp. The guy was shaking in evident fear and was trying literally everything he could to escape the grasp of his captor.
"Now then…" Artemis approached the man in Issei's grasp and pulled an arrow out of…somewhere and dragged it lightly across the guilty party's throat, a thin line of red leaking out of the wound. "Why don't you tell us where your boss is?"
-o-
After dragging the information out of that worthless piece of crap, they found themselves in front of a large abandoned building. The hunters had already run surveillance around it and had informed us that there were a number of exits that could be used. However, they could not gather if there were any hostages in the building, only that each entrance or exit was guarded by at least two men.
"Hmm," Issei hummed, his fingers drumming his hips as he stood a fair distance from the building, out of sight from the guards. "We could just drop the building on them… but that would risk the hostage's safety, assuming that there are any in the building."
"According to our sources," one of the hunters spoke up from behind him. "this is where the sales go down. In other words, the main headquarters."
"An abandoned building would be a good place to hold the girls and conduct business." Vali pipped in.
Currently, all of the fighters as well as the Vali group plus Artemis were gathered in a circle around a drawing of the building in the dirt. They are having a strategy meeting on how to meet the mission's goals: free the girls in captivity and kill the leaders of the prostitution ring. Once they finish up here, Artemis informed them that the mayor of this town will permit them room and board for a small period of time. Nothing noteworthy for them but the idea of a prostitution ring made them all fell disgusted and the citizens might be cautious of them if they did not exhibit some form of greed. The people here were not very trusting of the outside world, believing that if something was done, something was expected as a reward.
"Do we know if there are any Amazons are anything supernatural in this building?" Kuroka inquired.
"Currently, no." Artemis replied.
"Hmm…so the only thing that we do know of is the number of exits the building has. We are unaware of the enemy's numbers, number of hostages, how strong the underlings are, if anything supernatural is in the building, and we have no idea when the selling is going to go down…Kuroka!"
"Yes~? What would you like handsome?" Said individual broke the circle and walked behind the boy, draping her arms around his neck.
"Can you set up a barrier around the perimeter of the building with us inside?" He asked her. "It would be nice to know, once we have dealt with the situation here, if any other members of this ring come looking to make some money by selling girls. The objective here is to not block them out, but for us to know when they get close."
"Sure thing nyaa." The Nekomata walked off to perform her task.
"Le Fey," Issei grabbed the attention of the young Pendragon. "While Kuroka is dealing with that, can you perhaps use your magic to give us a little more information? More specifically, can you use your magic to find out the enemy's numbers, how many hostages they have, and their locations?"
"Sure thing Lord Issei!" The small blonde exclaimed excitedly, causing said individual to become unnaturally still.
Nope. No times no divided by no to the power of oh HELL no.
"Le Fey, for the love of God, please do not call me Lord Issei!" He all but screamed, much to the humor of a certain goddess despite her attempts to hide it.
"Oh…okay…" Le Fey murmured, disappointed that the name she came up with was shot down. "Then…can I call you Lord Hyoudou?"
"I-"
"L-Let me explain! You are one of the most powerful beings in existence so I figured that calling you a lord would be appropriate." The girl began poking her pointer fingers together shyly as Issei brought a hand to his face, trying to hide the red color that was covering his skin.
"But…calling me a lord is a little…" As he tried to explain his apprehension for the title Le Fey was trying to bestow him, he made the mistake of looking down into the puppy dog eyes the blonde was making at him. It was as if she was practically begging him to let her call him that.
"Ugg…fine. You can call me Lord Hyoudou if that is what you really want." He signed, caving in.
"Really!? Thanks Lord Hyoudou!" Le Fey ran up to him gave him a big hug, pressing her cheek against his chest with delight. Issei just smiled gently at the girl and returned the hug. She then quickly released the grip she had on him and left to go do what was asked of her.
Once Issei turned around, he saw Koneko and Vali smirking at him.
"Okay, how about we pretend that just didn't happen?"
"Sure thing, Lord Hyoudou." Vali quipped.
"Don't let your new status go to your head." Koneko jabbed lightly.
"You two aren't going to let this go, are you?"
""No."" They both answered simultaneously.
"You shouldn't worry about it too much. You are already a dragon and a god, adding lord to your list of titles isn't going to change much." Ophis remarked for all to hear.
"It is going to bother me!" Issei continued his complaining, much to the others amusement.
"What an energetic fellow." Great Red remarked so only Vali could hear.
"It is one of the things that makes him rather interesting." Vali replied.
"Indeed." The dragon agreed.
The hunters began to murmur amongst themselves as they watched the interaction. Artemis had told them that she would be accompanying the two men for a while and, of course, the hunters did not like this a bit. The moment they recovered from fighting the undead that Vali had summoned, they bore witness to the Virgin Goddess shaking hands with a man. Unsurprisingly, they were nervous. The Hunters would never do something as to go against the word of their goddess, who has saved all of them from fates they rather not think of. It was one thing to keep men around because they had some use to their goddess. It was another thing entirely when those men were the two Dragon Gods! They could easily threaten or bend their goddess will to follow their own.
But the Ouroboros Dragon seemed to actually plan on going against the prostitution ring, fighting for the hostage's freedom. None of the hunters have seen a boy do anything that could be considered good. If they had, they believed that they were fated to grow up into delinquents that needed to be punished.
Maybe he was different. Maybe both of them were different.
The Vali group continued to tease Issei on his new status as lord as Artemis and her hunters watched with heightening amusement until Kuroka and Le Fey rejoined the group.
"The perimeter is set, Lord Hyoudou." Kuroka chuckled. "No one is going to enter without my knowing about it."
"Oh, come on! Kuroka too!?
"I have the information you asked for Lord Hyoudou." Le Fey said.
"I…you…stop…oh fuck it. I give up. All right, what are we looking at Le Fey?"
"By the looks of it we have about fifteen hostages holed up in this corner here. The entrances are not guarded on the outside but as soon as you walk in you will be met with two men on either side of the entryway out of sight. No doubt with some form of weapon. That makes six men guarding the three ways to get in the building. Even better, they are also the only way to get out of the building. Aside from those six, there are four men with the hostages, three over in a separate corner around what I believe is a table, probably playing cards, and two men and one woman on the second floor."
"A woman?" Koneko asked, the swaying of her tails suddenly halting, thinking the worst.
"Yes, and I know what you're thinking Koneko." Le Fey noticed the behavior of her friend. "But I don't think she is a hostage. The men are on either side of her, like this." She pulled out her want and poked three holes in the dirt side by side to each other. "I think those men are possibly guarding her."
"Guarding her?" Artemis asked in interest. "What would they guard her from? The other men?"
"Unlikely." Vali spoke up, earning the attention of the entire party. "This woman is in-between two men on the second floor of an abandoned building with a prostitution ring on the first. I would put money down and say that she is the ringleader."
No one spoke, a dark sensation grasping at all of their hearts.
"A woman selling other women to become sex slaves. Disgusting." Issei growled. The Infinity Gear donned on his arm and the air seemed to hum in agreement. The hunters and Artemis were eerily silent, each one of them glaring at the three dots in the ground.
After several moments of uncomfortable silence, Issei addressed them with a tone of leadership.
"Here is how I think we should approach this. Le Fey, are we sure that everyone in that building is a human?" The girl in question was about to nod in agreement before her eyes narrowed in doubt. "Something wrong?"
"No…it is just…there is one being in there that is a little stronger than the humans. It is one of the hostages."
"Is she supernatural?" Kuroka asked in a bored tone.
"I…cannot tell." She bowed her head in disappointment.
"We will worry about that later. Here is my suggestion. We are looking at about sixteen humans currently in the building. Kuroka, Koneko, and Le Fey can invade the enemy's territory through the three entrances while the hunters stay outside the building in case any try to escape. If Kuroka can keep me informed of anyone entering the perimeter, Vali, Artemis and I can handle them. Everyone okay with that?"
"Doesn't sound like a lot of fun."
"Let's kick some A."
"I can handle it."
"I'm okay with is as well nya."
Smiling at his group of friends, Issei turned to Artemis who was giving him a dirty look. "Do you and your hunters agree with my plan?"
Almost instantly, that dirty look vanished. Was she thinking that he would expect them to go along with him? He actually asked if not only was she okay with it, but if her hunters were okay with it as well.
"I'm good."
"Yeah."
"We are only against humans. Shouldn't be too hard."
"We only get to stand guard? I wanted to fight!"
"Don't be greedy. Remember when you were surrounding by the Liches?"
"…Fine, I get it! I'll stand guard."
Various other forms of agreement rang out from the feminine crowed, surprising the goddess. Her hunters agreed with the man? Was this their way of telling her that it was okay to start trusting him?
…she should speak with all of them later. But for now…
"My hunters seem to be in agreement and I have nothing to say against it." Was her response, earning a nod from the Ouroboros.
"Alright. Just to remind everyone: we may be fighting humans, but anyone of them could have a sacred gear that may have gone under our radar! Carry out the plan with precision and caution. Let's get this settled as quickly as possible. Everyone, get in position!"
After those four words, the massive group instantly vanished, leaving the three strongest beings standing alone. An instant later, a black magic circle appeared by Issei and Vali's ear while a white circle appeared at Artemis's.
"Koneko here; hidden by the west entrance."
"Kuroka here; by the east entrance nya."
"Le Fey here; next to the south entrance."
"The hunters are in position." Artemis voiced, having received confirmation from her small band of followers.
Issei nodded and held up three fingers.
Two.
One.
"Engage the hostile forces."
"Hunters, prepare to intercept possible runners."
""""Roger!""""
Being on the northside of the building, none of them could see the action take place and all they could hear was silence.
"Status report." Issei instructed, feeling like he was the king of one of his own Rating Games.
"Just subdued the two guards at the entrance. No one seems to have noticed."
"The two guards at the entrance are unconscious. It doesn't appear that anyone has realized we are here."
"Both of these fools got what they deserved nya."
Issei decided to relay this information to the goddess. "The six guards at the entrances are down."
She nodded and spoke into her magic circle. "Levy, Zia, Ashely. Retrieve the two bodies at the entrances and restrain them.
"Koneko and Kuroka. Proceed to knock out the men. Ley Fey, I want you to go to the second floor and bring that woman to our location for questioning."
"Roger."
"Roger."
"Hey, honey~we have some guests just behind your location nya."
"Copy that." Issei acknowledged the information. "Hey Vali, seems like some men are bringing in more hostages. Can you take care of them?"
Without even replying, Vali grew some wings and flew close to the ground to avoid sight. Issei did not fail to notice him punch a tree in frustration.
"After this is all over, we can spar!" Issei called out, grinning as he watched Vali fly quite a bit faster than before.
"The men on the first floor are taking care of." Koneko reported.
"The woman on the second floor is secured and the men are taken care of, but I have some interesting information."
"Let's deal with that once we wrap things up here and inform the mayor that the problem has been dealt with." The magic circle by his ear disappeared at the same time as Artemis's did.
"Looks like the job is done. Le Fey said she has something interesting to tell us but we can deal with that once we settle down for the night."
"Agreed." Artemis smiled at the successful mission. "Right now, lets take care of those hostages."
The both of them approached the nearest side of the building, the only one that didn't have any entrance. However, that did not stop them.
They just made their own entrance.
Without hesitation, the both of them raised a fist and pushed it through the concrete, careful not to use too much strength, knowing full well that the hostages might get hurt if debris went flying.
The moment they pushed a hole in the wall, the two of them noticed that the Nekomata sisters were at a table, playing a game using the cards that them men had with them. Issei raised an eyebrow in amusement but decided against interrupting them in favor of the freedom of the hostages.
Le Fey was making her way down a nearby staircase with an unconscious woman being dragged behind her. She was dressed in a fancy red wine-colored dress with clean, straight hair. Seeing this, Issei and Artemis frowned. It was obvious that she was the ringleader, just as Vali had predicted.
Swallowing their anger, they saw a group of women robed in…literally nothing. The only coverage they had was Band-Aids covering their nipples and a larger variation for their girly bits.
As this realization began to dawn on Issei, a vast amount of divine energy exploded from the goddess next to him, her eyes glaring at the state the hostages were in. Just as she was about to turn around and slaughter the female ringleader, Issei placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Careful. I understand you are angry. I am too. But you are scaring the girls and your hunters."
Blinking, Artemis surveyed her surroundings, seeing that the hunters that were filing into the building were in a state of shock, not used to this amount of divinity being released in such close proximity to them. The hostages were in absolute fear, scuttling as best as they could to away from the glowing girl whose eyes promised bloody murder.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Artemis began to regain control of her negative emotions, breathing deeply to slow her heart rate down.
Seeing this, Issei began to approach the hostages with his arms up and an innocent smile on his face. The fear that gripped the girls, seeing a man approaching them, instantly doubled. But they were all chained to the floor, they couldn't get any further away.
"It is okay." He spoke gently. "I am not going to hurt you. We are here to free you. I just want to take off those shackles." He was just in front of the frightened females, his statements falling on deaf ears as they all covered themselves as best as they could, the bandages covered the bare minimum of their privates but did little to cover their shame.
Seeing that they were still scared of him, Issei slowly reached down and grasped one of the shackles, the great many pairs of eyes following his every move. With a sharp tug, the Infinite Dragon God pulled at the chain.
It didn't budge. In fact, it seemed to be draining his strength as he held it.
"Huh?"
"Those chains have wards against anything supernatural." Koneko called over. "Even I couldn't pull them out. If a supernatural entity touches it, it feeds off of your strength and adds it to the wards, growing tougher to break based on the strength of the individual and how long you have been holding it. But since it's you, you should be able to break it by yanking on it."
"Is that so? Then I guess it is safe to assume that the ringleader over there is a servant of someone high up in the Greek pantheon." Following the advice of his third wife, he placed his feet on either side of where the shackles met the ground, got as much of the chain in his hands as possible, and pulled as hard as his base form could.
SNAP!
The chain broke with ease, varying symbols appearing all over the chains before suddenly disappearing.
"Huh. Guess that takes care of the wards." With that bothersome warding out of the way, it was a trivial matter to break the chains. He continued to break each segment that bound a girl to the floor and send her over to some hunters before repeating the process. This happened five times before he stopped.
He had stopped in front of a girl whose skin was blemished and scarred. Her greasy black hair had grown long enough to hide her eyes so he couldn't see her face…but something about her made him stop. She was facing away from him, her left shoulder mere inches away from him. Underneath her hair, he could see some kind of red color on her back.
"Hello." He gently tried to speak with her. "Your back is kinda red. You aren't bleeding, are you?" He reached an arm out to brush aside the hair on her back.
"NO!" She shouted, rapidly facing him and trying to back away further and get him away from her back. This motion had forced him to pause. In that small motion he saw two things: her back and her face. Seeing what he saw, he wished the girl was bleeding. What that girl had on her back was far, far worse than any bleeding.
Her entire back was a red and black scab. He had managed to graze some of it, much to her torture based on the brief flash of facial expression. It didn't even feel like skin, that was all dried blood. Tears poured down her face as the pain visibly shook her to the core. But that wasn't what was on his mind.
It was her face. He recognized it…he recognized it all too well.
"…Yuma?"
Author's Note: Now, I know some others might be interested to see Issei's reaction to Yuma aka Raynare. I have read fanficiton where Issei was surprisingly mature about it and i have read some where his mind was completely destroyed. I am unsure how to make Issei react. They way i constructed him, he isn't alone and has friends to rely on. His utter hatred that caused him to cut off his own arm and damage his soul to the point of shutting down has been reduced to denial of any positive interaction with the Gremory family (fyi Ravel and Rossweisse are exempt from his anger because one was not present and the other had no knowledge. Xenovia and Irina didn't have the knowledge but still sided with Rias without knowing anything and i see that as a reason for them to earn his ire).
As i am thinking of that, let me answer a question some viewers might have: Ddraig is awake but not in a condition where he can interact with the outside world. He can only make himself known in Rias slumber. Albion is in a similar state but will be able to interact with the outside world faster than Ddraig will. With this lack of resistance, Rias and Sona were able to use Juggernaut Drive. The dragons are awake, so their power is present in the both of them, but because neither of them can interact with the outside world, they cannot stop them from making their own decisions.
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