Rias was staring at the large barrier that has been put in place.
How did she not become aware of this?
It was obvious. She knew there were fallen angels that were active in her territory. Yet she ignored it in the hopes that it would go away.
Now she was forced to sit on her hands as...well...something happened inside that barrier.
Something that she was not privy to.
She sighed as she wiped her forehead with her hand, the lack of information of what exactly was going on was beginning to stress her out. She then looked at her Peerage to check if they were doing their assigned jobs.
Akeno was focused on checking if there was an opening for them to get into the barrier and Koneko scouted around to find any structural weakness to the thing. Kiba was just sitting down and waiting for further orders.
The only reason any of them had any idea about what was happening in Kuoh Town, was due to sheer chance.
As Rias was in class earlier today, she noticed something peculiar about the actions of the resident 'hero' of Kuoh. Specifically, she noticed Nonaka Yuki leave the school grounds while class was still in session at high speeds.
This by itself was strange due to Nonaka Yuki's tendency to take her role as class representative very seriously, doubly so if you wonder why she was leaving in such a hurry. So this behavior already raised many questions in her head, but she ignored them for the moment and wrote it off as a coincidence.
What she couldn't write off was the fact that both Hyoudou Issei and Uzumaki Naruto were not in Kuoh Academy anymore.
Naruto not being in Kuoh was quite common by this point, but all of them being absent at the same time when Nonaka happened to leave her duties behind in a rush?
That set off alarm bells in her head, and she sent her familiar to follow the 'hero'.
The familiar managed to follow her to a point.
The 'hero' managed to get inside the barrier before it was created, but her familiar was too slow and could only report that there were large amounts of fallen angels sighted inside the barrier.
Beautiful. Just...beautiful.
With the way this event was shaping up...she could make an educated guess that Naruto and Issei was in there too.
For what reason? She had no idea.
But more importantly...the fallen with four pairs of wings was there too.
So the question was, what should she do?
She could try to break in, in order to better survey the situation...but she could risk the battle spilling over to Kuoh Town. So that option was out.
Besides that...
She could wait and see.
Normally Rias wouldn't choose this option in a million years, not when her territory was concerned. But recently her talks with Naruto made her reconsider it.
She was sure that the troublemaking blond was in there, but could she really leave her responsibilities to a person who she has only recently met?
'Please believe in me for a little bit longer so that I can prove to be worthy of your trust Rias-san! So that I can prove to be worthy of everyone's trust!'
Ah...
Rias grimaced as his words reverberated in her head. Those words...
She looked up to the sky with a small but noticeable grin. It looked like Naruto got her more than she was willing to admit.
Fine. She would place her faith in Naruto...he wanted a chance to prove himself? To prove that they could all trust him? Well this was a perfect chance.
"Go get 'em...Naruto." Rias said quietly.
"Buchou?"
Rias turned to see that her internal dilemma have not gone unnoticed by her Peerage. Everyone was looking at her with concern, even little Koneko-chan who has returned from her scouting.
"Everyone...I've decided that we should pull back for now. Naruto is in there and I'm sure that he won't let things escalate further...he is our friend after all." the red head said with a small smile. A smile which was returned by the rest of her Peerage.
"Well, Naruto-san certainly seems capable. I'm sure that whatever is going on inside the barrier...that he can handle it just fine." Kiba said with a reassuring smile.
Koneko nodded at Kiba's statement and added "...Naruto-senpai is strong. We don't have to worry Buchou."
Rias smiled at their responses, then she turned to Akeno who was hiding a smile behind her hand.
Akeno noticed that her King was waiting for her answer.
"Ara ara Buchou. I think you already know my answer when it comes to Foxy-kun." Akeno giggled.
The red-head just shook her head at her friend's antics and turned to regard the barrier.
She didn't know much about Issei yet...
She didn't trust Nonaka...not by a long shot.
But she did tell Naruto did she would place her faith in him.
That she would trust him, despite all of her misgivings. Despite all the logic against it. Despite the numerous different reasons that she shouldn't trust him.
Yet she did. Deep inside...she did trust him.
She could only hope that her trust wasn't misplaced.
Yuki was staring at the group in front of her as she held her weapon ready.
To be honest, she was dealing with an interesting dilemma. One that she didn't think that she would have to deal with in a long time.
She has sworn to protect humans from supernatural as a hero...
But what does she do when those humans align themselves with the supernatural?
Many consider this question to be very controversial among the heroes.
Her included.
But she didn't have time to muse about her moral dilemma. She had to focus...otherwise she would get hurt unnecessarily.
So for now...her policy was...
"What the hell are you bitches waiting for!? Get the real bitch!"
Break a couple of bones if necessary.
To the eyes of the fallen-aligned priests, the girl was standing in front of the entrance for one moment...
Then she disappeared before any of them noticed that she even moved.
Just like with the blond before her...they were completely overwhelmed and outmatched.
Her speed allowed for her to disappear in front of their eyes in one second and then reappear on the other side of the room. Her strength allowed for her to easily shrug off their light swords with her own blade. Finally, her reflexes allowed for her to dodge their light guns even though sometimes it was practically at point-blank range.
Yuki for her part, was almost casually dealing with the fallen 'men of the cloth'. She quickly knocked one unconscious by sending in a crushing blow to the stomach and knocking others out with a blow to the back of the head with the butt of her blade.
She would consistently, parry blows into other priests and dodge attacks that would cause friendly fire and confusion among the ranks. Large groups such as these with little discipline tend to self-destruct when facing very few but very well-trained individuals.
So she watched as many of the fallen servants were taken down by their own men and knocked out by her own machinations.
Those men got out easy though.
Some men only saw a blur pass them before they received large gashed on their person which caused them to shout out in pain.
Others would hear the sick crack of bones breaking and then feel the joints on their arms or legs crack.
The scene was just as painful for the young hero as well however.
She simply wasn't used to hurting humans since her prerogative was always to fight supernatural beings. So the thought of harming fellow human beings was almost foreign to her.
Especially ones that were as weak as these.
But she also knew that these were not good men by any stretch of the imagination. They would have sacrificed a young girl's life...just to please their masters.
She didn't like it...but it simply had to be done.
The insane priest looked on in seething impotence as his group of fallen priests were thoroughly defeated one-by-one.
If they were going to lose...then he might as well make a break for it!
"Well...this was fun bitch-chan! But unfortunately my mother is calling me home for dinner and I can't be late! I'll see you devil lovers later!" the insane priest spoke with a maniacal grin as he quickly threw a flash bang to the ground.
Yuki just finished wiping out the last of the priests as she watched the last priest get away.
She didn't follow.
The screams and moans from the humans she had already badly hurt was already too much for her stomach. There would be no more human screams by her hand today.
Besides, her mission was accomplished. All that was left to do was to follow Hyoudou Issei and to wait for Naruto.
She tilted her head for a moment in thought, he should've dealt with the fallen by now right?
What was taking so long?
Naruto was currently staring at the floating five-winged fallen in the sky.
He had absolutely no idea what she was capable of now.
He knew that six pairs of wings were the absolute height of power for any of the angelic factions. He has already met Azazel and quickly determined that Sage Mode would be necessary against him. So the question was...how much of the gap between her former power and Azazel's current power was bridged?
He wasn't sure. But he did know one thing...
He wasn't gonna sit around and find out the hard way!
Naruto bent his knees, then with a mighty kick that made the ground around him split from the sheer pressure...
He jumped straight towards the fallen leader with as much strength as he could.
To Vretiel in the sky, the human had jumped straight towards her with speeds that still surpass her own...
But gravity was quickly and efficiently slowing him down for her. As he got closer, he was now simply her equal in speed.
Perfect.
She formed two light spears with three rings encircling them and threw them at the incoming blond.
Naruto in response to this, simply made his familiar cross-shaped handsign.
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
One clone appeared one his right and just as quickly grabbed the original and threw him out of the trajectory of the incoming spears. The spears impaled the clone milliseconds later.
Vretiel's eyes hardened at this development. He was using his corporeal clones in order to fight her in her territory huh...?
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
The female fallen watched as the blond created four more clones, three of them used another as a platform in order to jump at her again.
As this was happening, she made sure to fly even higher so that the annoying human wouldn't reach her so easily. Hoping gravity would aid her again in her fight with the 'downer'.
She needed to make all of her attacks count while in this new stage of power.
So when the blond attempted to reach her again, gravity was still doing her dirty work in slowing him down to make the fight more even in terms of speed.
Two of the copies went behind the original and then flung him towards the her with a familiar orb of power. But before the original reached her, the other clone threw it's final brother towards her with all of it's strength before dispersing itself.
Trying to use the clone as a distraction huh? Like hell she would fall for it!
She quickly dodged out of the way of the projectile clone and then refocused her efforts on the incoming original.
Naruto grit his teeth as he quickly charged the fallen angel with the small orb. He hoped his little trick would work!
Vretiel formed another spear of light with three rings encircling it and charged the incoming blond with her spear raised.
One rasengan met the might of the spear of light in a clash of light which temporarily blinded both opponents.
The female fallen had a dark grin on her face as she saw her spear begin to push back against the little sphere...hard. Just a little more and...
Her eyes widened in horror as the blond brought his other arm that was hidden behind him...it held another of those damnable spheres!
"Rasenrengan!" (Rasengan Barrage!)
The other attack was swiftly pushed onto the shaft of the spear with it's grinding force and she watched as the twin pressure of both spheres was beginning to crack her weapon of light. She didn't want to put more power into her attack since it would very likely become explosive, that kind of damage would very much cripple her!
So she held firm as she put more strength into her lunge, hoping that her spear would destroy the blue ball before it itself succumbed to the twin onslaught.
She was once more let down.
The spear shattered again to the power of the rasengan which left her wide open to their double assault!
Naruto took the chance to push the rasengans to her torso...!
Vretiel expanded her wings and flew outside of his range.
The shinobi gnashed his teeth in frustration. His lack of flying skills was becoming a serious liability in this fight!
The female fallen smirked as she dodged the blond's attacks and flew upward again. As long as he couldn't fly, she should be able to-
She spit out blood as she felt something smash into her back with tremendous force!
She looked behind her as she lost control of her flight and widened her eyes at what she saw.
The clone.
The clone wasn't the distraction...
The blond used himself as a distraction!
Naruto grinned as he saw his clone smash into the back of the fallen. At least that plan worked. He was kinda hoping to smash her into the clone rather than let him do all of the work.
But this worked too!
He simply raised his arms as he saw that the clone smashed Vretiel towards...
"Let's try this again...Rasenrengan!"
Him.
Vretiel let out a soundless scream as she felt the two spheres grind into her stomach again. She felt flesh begin to give way as the attack did it's best to make it's way through her defenses.
Then the explosion happened.
She felt the explosion send her flying towards the ground in a heap as gravity...which was once working so well with her...so suddenly turn against her.
Naruto frowned as he saw the fallen woman sail towards the ground, he didn't take any pleasure in doing this. But the fact was that he couldn't hold back too many punches.
He also knew for a fact that Vretiel wasn't done yet. The rasengans didn't really do any severe damage, so far mostly pretty big wounds but nothing to really put her down.
So time to upgrade. Best do it while she's down too.
So he made another clone and had him form another rasengan.
But this one was...quite a bit bigger. The Ōdama Rasengan.
Naruto was holding the larger sphere in front of him so that it could hit the ground first...or whatever it touches.
Since he was heading straight towards the downed fallen, his target was obvious.
But before the sphere could connect, the fallen spread her wings and used them to push off the ground. The momentum from this action allowed for her to move safely out of the way.
Much to Naruto's annoyance.
When the orb smashed into the ground, it immediately went through the ground, all the way to the blond's shoulders without any effort. Immediately after, the jutsu detonated and completely destroyed the ground around Naruto.
All that was left of the patch of forest was a large crater and a deep hole.
The second he was free from the crater again, he had to dodge a light spear which was aiming to impale him while he was prone.
Vretiel began flying back towards the sky while continually throwing light spears at the human, hoping to buy time as she made her way to her 'territory'.
But Naruto made his familiar handsign again and made two clones as he continued dodging the spears. Those clones immediately spread out and grabbed kunai from their own pouches as the original kept the fallen leader's attention.
Before Vretiel was too far away from the treeline, they threw four kunai with each hand towards the fallen. In response, Vretiel casually dodged all of the metal knives and continued on her ascent.
Before she found it much more difficult to move.
She looked down in surprise to find several small wires wrapped around her person. She growled as she had been tricked once more by the wily human boy on the forest floor.
The clones held firm to the wires they had placed around the woman and since she has been contained, the real Naruto was finally freed from the consistent bombardment. Naruto walked up to the clones and addressed Vretiel.
"Look lady, I ain't looking forward to beating you up to make you stop. So why don't you just quit it while you still aren't knocked unconscious?" Naruto said tiredly, hoping that the woman would stop. The fight was annoying him due to his glaring weakness in air combat, if she continued and managed to get back to the sky...
Then the battle would take quite a bit longer at this rate. He would still win...it would just take longer to dislodge her from the sky again.
Vretiel for her part, just bared her teeth at the request as she internally tried to figure a way out of her predicament.
She didn't understand the young human in front of her at all.
All of the supernatural beings she have met and fought throughout her long life-span were typically categorized among different ways of fighting.
Speed, power, and technique were the standard for all factions among the supernatural.
There were those who fought smart and those who were sneaky during battle. It happened quite a bit during the Great War, where many supernaturals would try to overpower their foes by using their weaknesses against them.
But this boy fit into none of those categories.
The boy used the most unorthodox and strange ways of fighting she has ever seen throughout her entire life! There were no individuals among the supernatural that would throw corporeal copies of themselves as projectiles. There were no supernatural beings that used the same attack to even greater effect multiple times. There were no people among the supernatural that would have small wires in their weapons to capture their enemies without them noticing!
It simply wasn't done!
It was either; use greater power, use greater speed, or have better technique. That was how many would defeat one another.
So what can she do against this...thing?
...
No.
It didn't matter.
The objective here wasn't to win...the objective was to stall for time so that Raynare could complete the ritual inside the abandoned church. Once she was done with it and achieved the girl's sacred gear...
Then her ambitions could be realized.
Not even this...thing could stand a chance against their combined strength.
He would be the first true test of their new might! Of HER new might!
"...gloat all you want downer...for once my daughter completes her ritual and acquires her new power...you won't stand a chance between our new power! I will not fall here! You will be the one who falls in the end!" Vretiel gloated triumphantly.
Naruto didn't look impressed.
"If you're talking about the nun in the abandoned church that was about to be sacrificed for something...then I've already got it covered." Naruto said blandly, not really feeling up to bandying words.
The fallen leader froze.
"...What do you mean?"
The shinobi blinked at the new somber tone that the woman had, but decided to ignore it and answer her question.
"Before our fight even started, there was a friend of the nun that wanted to save her. When I was running away from you guys, I was actually making way for that friend to save his friend without your interference." Naruto shrugged, no point in hiding it much longer. She was all tied up and it could show her that fighting anymore would be pointless.
He hoped that it would deter her from fighting further.
He was wrong.
The fallen leader said nothing for a moment.
Then the light energy within her exploded.
The power of it was enough to catch Naruto flat-footed and push him back along with his clones, which dispersed once they crashed into trees.
Vretiel felt something snap once she heard the blond's words.
Her power...
Her future...
Her ambition...
Gone.
All gone.
Because of him.
She didn't care. She didn't care that her fellow fallen angels were littered across the forest!
She didn't care that her daughter was probably still alive in the church!
She didn't care that she would probably die from her next move!
As long as she killed the boy!
She immediately flew up into the sky the second she was free from the wretched clones that held her down and threw down several light spears to cover her escape to the clouds. Only once she was there did she begin her final attack.
This would probably kill her, her new state was already draining to her reserves of light energy since she wasn't used to it yet. But what she was about to do in order to assuredly kill the blond human would drain everything from her.
Which left nothing except her body to protect herself with from the explosions.
She was planning for a lot of explosions.
She watched as the blond human...glare up at her with annoyance as she managed to get away from his grasp.
Well he wouldn't have to worry much longer.
She spread all of her wings and concentrated on her light energy to form spears...
Lots of spears.
Immediately, several spears with rings encircling them began to form around her. More and more came as she concentrated on every ounce of light still within her to prepare for the finishing attack.
More...
More...
More...
Naruto stared up to the sky in rising apprehension as it was dotted with light spears. It so thoroughly enveloped the sky...that the slowly darkening skies now seemed to have transitioned to day time!
This was insane! If all of those light spears hit the ground at the same time...it wouldn't just destroy everything inside the barrier...it would probably break the barrier and destroy the surrounding area!
That meant part of Kuoh Town would be destroyed!
Those innocent people...
No. That wouldn't happen. No one here is going to die today!
Once more, he made the familiar hand seal for his favorite jutsu.
But this time, he wasn't planning on making a couple of clones.
"Tajū Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
Yuki was staring at sky, where the fallen angel; Vretiel was floating.
The battle between her friend and the fallen leader was obviously reaching a climax.
When she first began to watch the clash of power between the two combatants, she was very much surprised to see the power her friend wielded.
She knew he was strong...
But watching Naruto go toe-to-toe with a fallen angel with five-pairs of wings was way beyond what she thought he was capable of. Four-pairs was what she thought was his absolute max capacity.
Which was why at the time, she was going to go help him in the fight.
Until she saw him using those corporeal clones of his to fight the fallen angel in the air.
She witnessed how Naruto was seemingly thrashing the fallen leader without getting a single wound! But she couldn't help but notice something.
Naruto was struggling.
As powerful as he was on the ground, it was painfully obvious that aerobic battles were outside his field of experience. But he was still effective enough to knock the fallen angel back towards the ground.
But something changed.
The fallen angel had managed to get back to the air again, but it seemed that there was something intrinsically different with the supernatural being now.
Seeing what the rogue fallen was about to do help figured out what.
She lost her mind.
Light spears were being formed at an alarming pace around the fallen. Some powerful, some not. But there was no mistake that if all of those spears fell towards the ground at the same time...
Everything inside the barrier would be wiped out.
Maybe even break the barrier and destroy the area around it.
Before she could think of a way to get out of their predicament, Naruto reacted.
An absolutely huge plume of smoke appeared that seemingly covered a large part of the forest.
After it dissipated, she was shocked to see that practically the entire forest was filled to the brim with copies of her friend!
She was a little ways away from the battle but she could see the amount of clones that were now inhabiting the forest. Then they seemed to congregate together into pairs...
She saw a blue sphere begin to coalesce between the pairs.
Whatever they were up to must have been massive, as she saw blue lights begin to light up the entire forest like a holiday. Those lights began to grow and congregate together to become a more concentrated light in the middle of the forest.
Then...like someone had given a signal, both enormous sources of light began to move towards one another.
The light in the air descended like a small meteor shower.
The light on the ground ascended like a blue eruption from a volcano of power.
She moved immediately to grab something inside the church that was sturdy enough to withstand the shockwave from such a clash. She really hoped that Naruto knew what he was doing.
Naruto glared up at the large amount of spears that were poised to reach the ground with deadly consequences.
He had a large blue sphere of power in his hand.
It wasn't just him though.
Several clones around him were holding Ōdama Rasengans and were closing up ranks to prepare themselves for the onslaught.
It seemed that Vretiel didn't care too much though.
"Die..." Vretiel whispered, so low that Naruto barely heard her.
"DIIIIEEEE!" Vretiel screamed out as she pointed towards the ground, the spears following her order and sped towards the forest floor.
Well...he heard that.
"Ok everyone...as one!" Naruto shouted out to his clones, prepared for their maneuver.
"""RIGHT BOSS!"""
The large group of clones held their Ōdama Rasengans high above their heads.
Then...
They jumped.
The small army moved forward as one towards the rain of light that headed their direction...and as one shouted...
"Ōdama Rasen Tairengan" (Ōdama Rasengan Barrage Line)
The clash of the attacks was blinding for all involved and the shockwave that was produced obliterated any unfortunate trees that were still standing, despite how far the clash was to the ground. The clones were formed up in a veritable wall of rasengans that held the light spears at bay despite how many there were.
The explosions that resulted from some of the light spears detonating nearby to the rasengans began to start a chain reaction...
The explosions quickly triggered some of the blue spheres to detonate prematurely which in turn detonated other rasengans due to their close proximity.
Then...
*BOOOOOOM*
Very soon, the entire sky was letting off a massive explosion which lit up the sky, the gale force winds were strong enough to rip all of the trees which were left standing inside the barrier and rocked the church nearby.
Only after a few seconds afterwards did the explosion cease.
The woman who was partially responsible for the destruction just took large gulps of air as she tried not to fall over from overexertion.
Then she smiled.
It was finally over...the blond was seemingly destroyed in the large-scale destruction.
Then she saw something come flying out of the smoke towards her.
All she saw was hard azure eyes glare at her from under blond locks.
"This time...stay down."
A hard blow smashed Vretiel upside the head and once more sent her flying down to the ground. She made a large crater when she landed and spittle came flying out of her mouth from the blow.
She stared hazily up towards the sky as a blond man came flying at her with a raised fist-
That was the last thing that Vretiel of the fallen angels remembered from that day.
Issei was running down the stairway of the abandoned church to reach the underground cavern. The stairs seemed almost endless for the human teenager!
He was terrified, he had no idea whether the girl from before was right in her analysis of the fallen angels. For all he knew, he could be running headlong into a trap.
But that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was making it in time to save Asia!
Although it didn't change the fact that there were a hell of a lot of steps here! Maybe it was because that everyone who was living here in the first place were superhuman?
But after several more flights where Issei's legs felt like they were going to give out, he finally saw it.
He saw the end of the steps!
They were still a ways away but at least he saw his goal in sight.
But before he reached the underground area, he felt the ground begin to rumble above him violently. He glanced up warily, suddenly aware that if something massive happened above ground then it might cause the area he was in to cave in.
He seriously hoped that Naruto took care of any fallen angels that were capable of such a thing.
When he finally made it to the underground room safe and sound, he noticed that he wasn't alone.
Fallen angels.
At least three of them.
Issei widened his eyes as he realized that one of them was the woman that kidnapped Asia!
His fear gave way to anger as he remembered the hopeless feeling that he got when he watched the woman take Asia away, begging for her to stop hurting him.
But before he could act out on his anger, he noticed that the three fallen angels surrounded a large structure that had something on top of it.
...A cross?
There was someone on that cross too...it looked like...
"Asia!" Issei shouted out in horror, the nun was held up to the cross with only a white cloth to keep her modesty. His shout also alerted the fallen angels to his presence.
"What!? Who the hell is that!? How did you get past Vretiel-sama!" Dohnaseek shouted to the human boy that shouted out the nun's name. Before Issei could respond to the shocked query, someone else answered for him.
"Huh...you have nothing to worry about Dohnaseek. That is the human that I told all of you about. Little Asia's 'friend' that tried to help her back at Kuoh Town. He was too weak to do anything though." Kalawarner spoke up with a hint of disdain in her voice, she didn't care much for the human boy's life. Mittelt grinned at this knowledge.
"So he came here in order save his damsel in distress? Awwww! That's so cute! It's too bad she's going to die anyways!" Mittely practically chirped with a smile on her face, but the perverted boy ignored their words.
"Hey! Let Asia go! I won't let you hurt her!" Issei shouted out in anger, seeing his friend like this was terrible for the young man. Even though he was an idiot, even he knew about the story of what happened to that guy on the cross in the Bible...
He was not gonna let that happen to Asia!
"There is nothing you can do human." a feminine voice spoke up.
Issei looked to see the voice come from right next to the cross which held Asia. The young woman regarded the perverted boy without much care as she determined that he wasn't the threat the she was afraid of.
That threat was still outside.
This one wasn't worth worrying over.
"What the hell do you mean by that!? If you don't let her go right now then I will beat the shit of you!" the brown-haired boy shouted out in anger, refusing to believe that saving Asia was a hopeless cause.
Raynare finally regarded the boy with a hint of irritation before speaking again.
"I mean that unless we stop the ritual willingly then you can't save her. The ceremony takes the Sacred Gear that is inside the girl's soul, if you try to interrupt us in order to stop us...we may make a mistake and kill her. We would fail in taking the Sacred Gear...but you would fail in saving her as well." Raynare spoke with a glare, that was the entire reason for why they were in a secluded area without any distractions.
Issei stared at the fallen woman for a second before losing the strength of his legs. He sat down to compensate but his feeling of hopelessness was growing.
No...
She was right there.
She's right in front of him...!
Yet...
He couldn't do anything.
If he called the fallen's bluff then Asia might get killed.
If he waited then Asia would get killed.
No matter what he did...Asia would most likely die.
"No! This can't be how it ends! I won't let it!"
Issei ran past the fallen angels which were focused on the ritual on the ground to reach Asia on the cross. He ignored Raynare as well as he reached towards Asia.
"Asia...? Come on...please. Wake up." Issei begged quietly, refusing to let the tears that were building up to fall. He carefully touched the nun's cheek to wake her up.
Slowly, the girl's eyes fluttered open as emerald green eyes trained themselves on the boy.
"...Issei-san?" the nun whispered.
Issei nodded with a smile. "Yeah! It's me...I came for you...don't you worry about a thing! I will definitely get you out of here!" Issei spoke in comfort, to himself as much to the girl.
Asia just gave him a sad smile.
"Issei-san...in case I don't make it...I just want to thank you. You gave me...the most fun I have ever had...in my entire life..."
Issei just shook his head.
Stop.
"...Stop talking like you are going to die here...Asia...we are gonna make it out of this! No doubt! We just need to hold out! So...stop..." Issei said quietly, not able to stop the tears that were beginning to overflow.
"Thank you...so much...Issei-san. I'm sure that...God gave me this precious time with you...I was so happy..."
Stop.
"No! You're not going to die here! I promise! I promised that we would have more fun later right!? I still have to keep my promise!...I don't...I don't want you to die Asia!" Issei cried with tears going down his face, he hugged her small frame as she was held by the cross.
Asia's eyes began to close. She was losing consciousness.
"This might...be the last...time I get to talk to you Issei-san...so..." Asia spoke softly, her eyes closing.
"...Thank you...for everything."
The nun's eyes closed as she drifted off to unconsciousness.
To Issei's fear, that may be the last time she opened her eyes.
The human boy turned around with tear-stricken eyes and grovelled in front of Raynare.
"Please...I don't care what happens to me...but don't kill Asia! Please! I beg of you!" Issei shouted out while ignoring the tears that were clouding his eyesight.
Raynare didn't respond.
She turned her face away from the two humans while they were conversing, she didn't want to look at them.
She hated watching all of this. But she said it herself right?
She would do whatever her mother desired.
...
It didn't mean that she had to like it.
"...I'm sorry." Raynare mumbled quietly.
Five more minutes until the ritual was completed.
Issei just stayed in his groveling posture.
Again...
He failed again...
He couldn't do anything to save her...
Just like last time...
He clenched his fists and smashed them repeatedly while ignoring the pain and blood it brought.
Why!?
Why was he so weak!?
Why couldn't he save anyone!?
"Please...someone...anyone...save Asia!" Issei begged pitifully, hoping for a miracle.
"Oi Issei...quit crying."
Everyone in the room widened their eyes as a new voice entered the conversation.
But Raynare's eyes widened further when she realized something.
The feeling she had about the 'threat' didn't seem so far anymore...
Also...that voice...
Where did she...?
'Damn it fallen angel-san! This is what happens when you ruin my ramen time dattebayo!'
Her eyes widened in horror as the memories came flooding in.
It was him.
A blond teenaged male finished walking down the stairs into the underground room while holding a bag over his shoulder, most people in the room couldn't help but notice that the blond's right arm was pretty badly burned up. He looked at Issei with an annoyed glare before speaking again.
"Issei! Remember this! Nothing is over until it's over! We still have a chance to save your friend!" Naruto called out towards the perverted boy. Issei stared at the blond teenager with hope in his eyes.
Maybe he can...!
"I don't know who you are human...but haven't you heard? Unless we stop willingly, there is no hope for your precious Asia to be saved!" Kalawarner shouted out with a glare aimed at Naruto.
The shinobi cupped his chin for a moment before wincing slightly, the burn he got on his arm was a wake-up call for him. He was among his clones when the explosion went off and he didn't have enough time to fully get out of the way. Props to Vretiel for being the first supernatural to hurt him in a battle.
Ignoring that for now though!
"So basically, I can't do anything to save the girl unless you stop by your own choice right?" Naruto said with a grin.
The blue-haired fallen just nodded somewhat warily, he seemed a bit too happy for her tastes.
"Alright then! How about this for a bargain?" Naruto asked while opening the bag over his shoulder and dumping the contents on the church floor.
""'Vretiel-sama!""" the three fallen angels on the floor screamed out in shock and horror.
But none more than the fallen on top of the stone structure.
"OKAA-SAMA!" Raynare screamed out in horror.
Her mother...her overwhelmingly powerful mother that was being considered a position for Grigori...
Was unconscious on the floor, looking battered and worn. To Raynare, this was a practical impossibility...and yet...there she lay.
Defeated.
"...This won't break our will! As long as Raynare-sama gets the Sacred Gear and unlocks her true potential...then we can still...!" Dohnaseek spoke out in order to rally his comrades.
Naruto revealed his trump card.
"Azazel-san knows."
All of the fallen angels in the room froze.
"Azazel-san sent me as his representative in order to stop this little rebellion that Vretiel was cooking up. I know that he won't hurt you guys at the very least but...Vretiel on the other hand..." Naruto said with an uneasy shrug of his shoulder. He really didn't know what Azazel was going to do with her, but he did know one thing.
"What I do know though...is that Azazel-san is more likely to be lenient with Vretiel if her plan fails. He isn't angry with this rebellion because it was against his authority, he was angry because it threatened the peace. If her plan fails, then it's more likely that he will be more forgiving. You can continue this plan, but I think it's better to stop...for her sake if not your own." Naruto said somberly, he didn't like the fact that he was technically holding her up for ransom...even if he kinda wasn't. More like he was just telling it like it was.
Didn't make him feel better though. But it had to be done, everyone would be better off if Vretiel's plan to steal that nun's Sacred Gear didn't succeed.
Raynare was staring at the blond human with trembling fists, she was in a very bad spot right now.
What could she do?
What should she do?
She didn't want to get her mother punished...but her mother ordered her to continue with the ritual.
No...
No...
She said she would do whatever it took to get her mother's love again right?
Well now was the time to prove it!
It was only one more minute until the girl's Sacred Gear was removed from her body and then transferred into her! When it did, she could unlock her latent powers that her mother so desperately wanted!
She could defeat the human! She could save her friends! She could get her mother's love and respect!
She wouldn't fail!
She opened her mouth to give her answer-
'Kalawarner-nee? Did okaa-sama ever love me?'
She slammed her mouth shut as memories from long ago resurfaced.
'Yes...she loved you very very much once upon a time...and I'm sure she will love you again. I'm sure of it Raynare-chan.'
Raynare clenched her fists.
...
Ah...
She forgot.
She was doing this because she wanted her mother's love and affection...
But...
'Ok! Well then I will show okaa-sama how much I love her! She will definitely love me back like that right?'
...But she loved her mother much more than she craved her affection and respect.
"...I surrender."
AN: BAM! The battle with the fallen angels have ended in a complete victory! Yay!
Now, this isn't the end of the Arc quite yet. There are still the repercussions to deal with among other things! The next chapter will end the...huh...I'm dubbing it the "Vretiel Arc" since it is kinda fitting. So yeah, the "Vretiel Arc" ends next chapter with the explanations and a bit more into fallen angel lore that I made.
How was the little flashbacks in the chapter by the way? They work out alright?
Just want to make a side-note that Naruto needed all of the fallen alive...so no he wasn't gonna use the rasenshuriken for this...overkill is overkill after all.
Besides that, I got some important things to say next AN. So the chapter may be a little bloated since I gotta explain a couple of things. I figured out what I really want with this story. So cya next chapter!
-RekkingPride