One-Punch DxD: The Fist Marks

by ahsoei

Originally was titled, 'Dragons and Heroes: The Fist Marks'. The prequel/side story of the Legacy. Featuring Saitama during his journey before and/or in between the Legacy. This story is made simply for the hell of it. Rating might change in the future. May contain OC, possible OOC-ness. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

11. Welcome to the Night Parade (II)

One-Punch DxD: The Fist Marks

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It's been a long time, my dear readers! First of all, I have to say that this chapter ended up a LOT longer than I originally intended. It's just that I couldn't find a proper/right moment and scene to end this one. But on the other hand, perhaps this youkai arc might end sooner than I originally intended. So, without further ado, R&R! WARNING: Lots of references and Easter Eggs inside.

Co-written with i4md347h

Beta-ed by Brotherhoof12

Check out their stories!

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Chapter 11: Welcome to the Night Parade (II)

The sound of rushing water could be heard as a stream of cold liquid was drenching a naked woman confined in a middle of a room.

The room was covered in tiles - in fact, said room was rather like a shower, with a simple stool set in the middle of the room with a woman sitting on it.

The woman's black hair was sticking on her pale skin as cold water drenched her from head to toe; on top of her hair was a pair of shriveled cat ears, twitching ever so slightly for every now and then as she braced herself for the steady coldness washing her frame - she was a Nekoshou.

The nekoshou was freezing - and no matter how hard she tried to move and produce any body heat, the straps and chains that bound her kept preventing her from doing so. Her arms were outstretched, her body was forced to take a fetal position as her torso was bound together to her legs, exposing her back completely to the unforgiving cold shower. Her two tails instinctively pressed themselves against her skin, but those alone were far from capable of giving her warmth.

She let out a shuddered breath - she had lost count of how long she had been subjected to this torture. Her body shivered from the sheer cold exposed to her bare skin, the enchantment placed on her bindings prevented her from using her mysteries to warm herself up.

She took a deep breath, gathering as much energy as possible to keep herself awake - she knew that she would be in danger if she fell asleep in such state. Her body temperature was low enough that she could see her own breath as she exhaled.

She distracted herself from the cold by cursing her tormentor in her mind - her 'master', to be precise. Said 'master' told her that it was another part of her next subject, the notion that she could not help but scoff at; she knew that her current situation was more like a punishment, she knew well that her 'master' was not pleased with her performance in previous 'experimentation' her master had pulled on her.

But then again, she found herself somewhat calming down when her mind drifted off to her little sister, the little sister that she deeply cared about. So long as she went along with her master's whims, as sick as they seem, she and her little sister could still have a future.

Thus, she kept doing whatever it took to keep herself awake during the hard, cold shower. Taking deep breaths, clenching her hands into fists every now and then, even shivering her cold body every now and then despite her binds - anything that could keep her from succumbing to the torture. She had to stay focus.

However, when she thought that her torture was bad enough, the cold water was not everything just yet.

The cold water was just a steady shower on her back. Then, suddenly the shower intensified - the pressure became stronger, hitting painfully on her skin; the stream also increased, making it feel like rain; the temperature had gone even lower, making her feel like being pelted by ice water, her skin starting to burn from the sheer cold.

In addition, the room was previously dead silent was suddenly filled with a random loud, ear-shattering noises - like sounds produced from some terrible, musical orchestra. The Nekoshou was spooked out of her wits, as her heart began to beat against her ribcage. She wanted to jump in surprise, but she could not do so as her binds kept her in place.

The multiple stimuli - the sudden cold and noises, finally overwhelmed her as the nekoshou screamed in agony.

oXo

Kuroka woke up with a loud gasp, her face was pressed on the pillow on top of her bed. She was lying nude on her stomach and forgoing her blanket, leaving her back exposed to the cold air of early morning. The fact that she slept without clothes out of habit was kind of a rude wake-up call for her.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she relaxed to the bed. "It's just a dream..." and she pushed herself up few minutes later. She was covered in sweat, which drenched the bedsheet beneath her. Kuroka frowned at her current state - she just had to remember those hellish days when she thought that she had found something that resembled 'peace'.

Kuroka sat up on her bed, her hand ran through her sweat-drenched black locks as she sighed in annoyance. Why did she have to remember? She had been fine ever since she escaped from that devil's territory. She never had issues in dealing with men, given the time she had spent with Vali team and Gremory group. She was supposed to have put her past behind her.

Perhaps it was because of her budding feelings towards a certain Red Dragon Emperor? As much as she was reluctant to admit, Kuroka found herself attracted to Issei more then she had expected. In fact, what she requested from him from last night was a clear indication that she wanted to be somewhat closer to him.

Was it just how the world, or perhaps the universe screwing with her life? Telling her that Nekoshou, especially like her who had stained her hands with blood, could not have a peaceful life without conflict?

Letting out another breath, Kuroka hopped off her bed to have an early warm shower.

---

It was the morning of the departure, after taking care of morning rituals, as well as other necessary preparations for their mission trip, the Occult Research Club was on the way to the Kuoh train station.

The trip towards the station was rather… pensive. The tense atmosphere was mainly due to Kuroka and Koneko. Despite the effort Kuroka had put into her jovial smile, everyone knew that the black cat's mind was (at least) in turmoil, if the broken sink in the bathroom they found in the morning was any indication.

After all, if Magari's words were anything, Kuroka and Koneko would have to confront something… personal by the time they went to their destination.

Fortunately, perhaps Kuroka's experience in putting up a front was helpful enough for Irina, Asia and the other girls to start a light conversation to brighten the mood during the entire trip towards the station. "...Rather about me, Ise-chin… Aren't you hot in there?" Kuroka glanced mischievously at Issei's choice of attire, which was consisted of a blue jersey.

The weather was nowhere hot, but one could tell that something else had been worn beneath the jersey. Issei's faint blush only supported the point. "...I'm fine." the boy said while refusing any eye contact.

"You know that you have to take that jersey off soon enough, right?" Rias asked, with some mischief and amusement in her eyes. In return, her husband only grumbled, but did not say anything that denied her point.

The rest of the trip was spent with everyone giggling at Issei's misfortune in regards of his thought about his attire.

When they finally arrived at the lobby of the station, they were greeted by two individuals. One was a young woman in her late teens, possessing a long black hair, violet eyes - overall, a beautiful face befitting an ideal Japanese woman, not unlike Akeno. She was clad in a simple, modest light purple kimono with floral patterns.

The other one was a young boy clad in Kuoh Academy uniform. However, apparently one of the two was not completely unfamiliar to the group that just arrived at the station.

Rias and Akeno were the first to react as their eyes widened in recognition. Moreover, the latter's eyes started to tear up as the woman in kimono spoke up with gentle smile across her features. "Hello, Akeno. It has been a while." she greeted.

"Suzaku nee-sama!" Akeno delightfully greeted as she ran up and tackled the older woman into a hug, eliciting several looks from the others.

Seeing the two women bonding, or more like reuniting, Issei was the first to turn to Rias for answers, the notion followed by the others as well. "Um…?"

"I'll explain." Rias simply replied with a wink as she also stepped forward. "It's good to see you again, Suzaku-san." she greeted the woman.

"Ah, Rias-san. It's good to see you again as well." the woman - Suzaku replied in kind after she broke off from Akeno's hug. "I take you take your comrades along with you?" she asked as her eyes peered over the Occult Research Club.

"Indeed." Rias nodded and she proceeded with the introduction. "Everyone, allow me to introduce you the current head of Himejima clan, Suzaku Himejima."

"She is also my cousin." Akeno added.

After receiving several comprehensive looks from the others, the newly introduced woman then spoke for herself. "It is a pleasure to meet you all, everyone. My name is Suzaku Himejima of Himejima clan. I will be in your care."

Then, the woman stepped aside, allowing the young boy - who was with her earlier to step forward and introduce himself as well. "Nice to meet you, everyone. My name is Ouryuu Nakiri, a first year of Kuoh Academy, as well as the heir of Nakiri clan. Feel free to call me Ouryuu." he finished his introduction with a polite bow.

Then, the first years of the Occult Research Club were the ones to respond.

"...Nakiri-san." Ravel greeted with a nod.

"Hello, Nakiri-kun..." Gasper greeted meekly as usual.

"So, you are joining us, Kohchin?" Koneko quipped.

"Hello again, you three." Ouryuu - Ouryuu Kohchin Nakiri, to be precise, smiled at the trio greeting him, before lightly scowled at the white-haired nekomata. "...And Koneko-san, will you please stop calling me that? You know it's the reason why I'm preferred my middle name to be left out." he said exasperatedly.

Koneko only shrugged in return, while everyone looked curious at the interaction. Issei then spoke up. "So… you three know this guy?" he asked towards his three juniors.

"Ise-sama, I think you've ran in to him few times, correct?" Ravel carefully reminded.

Issei stared at the first-year boy for few seconds until his eyes lighted up in realisation. "Yeah… I do remember seeing you few times at school, and… You're from Nakiri clan?" he said as he remembered about one of Five Great Families.

"Yes, I am." Ouryuu replied sheepishly. "...And I guess it's not that strange to easily miss me. After all, I don't really like to stand out. But more importantly…" he then straightened up his posture and stood right in front of Issei. "...Issei Hyoudou-senpai, the Red Dragon Emperor. It is an honor for me to finally be able to meet you."

Everyone stared at the sudden shift in Ouryuu's demeanor, as he kept going with his speech. "I have been keeping on tabs on your feats and achievements, and I was truly touched when I watched your match with Sairaorg Bael. The passion and spirit you put into the fight really moved my soul." Ouryuu then put his hand across his chest in respect. "I am looking forward to work with you, as well as learning more things from and about you from now on. If you do need any of my power, please don't hesitate to ask. I have confidence that I can - and will help you with my utmost."

After Ouryuu had finished with his speech, Issei blinked once, and twice, then trice, before he finally managed to give a response. "Err… Yeah… Sure. Looking forward to work with you too, Ouryuu." he said while extending his hand for a shake.

Ouryuu's face brightened as he stared at Issei's offered hand, then he gave the hand a firm shake. "Yes, I will be in your care, senpai!" he said with a wide smile.

As Ouryuu proceeded to talk more with his fellow first years and other members of Occult Research Club, Issei could not help but stare at his new junior. So far, his only male junior was Gasper, but then again, the dhampir's personality was still… a bit much to be desired. In honesty, Ouryuu's attitude was kind of refreshing.

"Quite an interesting fellow, isn't he?" Rias whispered to Issei's ears, watching Ouryuu's interaction with her peerage.

"Mmhm… He's a good kid."

"I've been hearing rumors that Ouryuu-kun sees you as a role-model, Issei-san." Suzaku put her two-cents, receiving a look from Issei in the process. "That's just how much your performances and feats have impacted him." she said with amused smile.

"Come on, I'll fill you in about Suzaku-san and Ouryuu-san in the train later. Right now, we need to get to the platform." Rias patted on Issei's shoulder, and the group moved on.

oXo

Meanwhile, back in Hyoudou Residence - the house in that late morning was rather quiet, considering most of the occupants had set out for a mission outside of the town.

The only sounds that filled the house came from the living room, where a television was showing some random shows and advertisements. On a couch across the screen, were a married couple enjoying each other's company. While on the other couch next to where the couple was resting, Le Fay was reading a book, with Ophis sitting next to her, absent-mindedly watching the television while eating her morning snacks.

Saitama was lying on his side; his head was rested on his wife's lap. Said wife was holding a small stick, which was being dug softly into the man's ear. As Haruka was cleaning her husband's ear, she took the ear-cleaner out just in time when she felt her husband stir on her lap.

"...Something on your mind?" Haruka asked while sporting a serene smile on her face, her hands were wiping the wax off the ear-cleaner with a piece of tissue paper, before she continued cleaning Saitama's ear.

Enjoying the ministration from his wife, Saitama let out a breath as a small smile crept upon his lips. "Just… a hunch."

"Tell me about it." Haruka said as she just finished cleaning one of her husband's ears.

During Haruka and Saitama's entire conversation, both Le Fay and Ophis pretty much chose to leave them alone; out of courtesy from the former, and indifference from the latter.

"I got a feeling… that something funny will happen to Issei later."

That statement garnered a curious glance from Le Fay and Ophis, before they returned to their own business.

"Is that so?" Haruka's smile widened slightly as she blew lightly on her husband's now-clean ear. "Now, turn around. I'm going to work on the other side." she finished with a peck on Saitama's temple.

"Yes, yes…" Saitama replied as he turned around in his sleep.

oXo

During the train-trip towards the outside of the town, Issei was told about Suzaku Himejima and Ouryuu Nakiri. Regarding the latter, Ouryuu was one of the most talented among those who possessed special power, and if the rumors were anything, the young teen was a force to be reckoned with.

As for Suzaku Himejima, she was one of the few members of the clan, if not the only one, who cared about Akeno since childhood, regardless of heritage. She expressed her regrets that she could not do anything to help Akeno during the night when the girl lost her mother to assassination attempt by the previous clan-head; and ever since that time, Suzaku had been in contact with Rias to keep tabs on Akeno's growth. Now that she had earned the position to lead the clan, she could create bridges and connections to reach towards different races, clans, factions, etc. The prime example was the Himejima clan's recent agreement with Grigori.

Returning to the present time, Suzaku and Ouryuu had volunteered themselves to represent the Five Great Families in helping the Alliance in subjugating the Youkai rebels.

Currently, Suzaku was sitting with Issei and Rias, Ouryuu were sitting and talking with his fellow first years, the church trio were happily talking with each other, while Akeno was talking with Rossweisse - the two were getting along rather well they sometimes would discuss about magic studies from time to time.

"...I am so glad that Akeno has been surrounded by wonderful friends." Suzaku smiled pleasantly before she turned her gaze at Issei. "...And knowing that Akeno is in relationship with the current Red Dragon Emperor… Perhaps I can take it easier…" she smiled knowingly at the boy, who lightly blushed in the process while receiving some playful jabs from Rias.

"Akeno can be quite handful sometimes, but…." Then, Suzaku then took a small bow to Issei. "...Please take good care of her, Issei-san."

"Ah, please, you don't need to do that." Issei waved his hands politely. "Akeno has also been looking out for me, as well as others. I only treat her as she deserves."

Everything looked fine as Suzaku smiled in return. However, despite the light conversation happening inside the train, Issei could not help but feel a little worried at Kuroka, who had been uncharacteristically quiet for a while, staring out of the window with forlorn look on her face. Even Koneko, who would usually sit on Issei's lap whenever she had a chance, opted to sit by her sister's side, offering support through her presence.

Rias, perhaps everyone as well, noticed where Issei was looking and could not help but sigh inwardly in understanding. The trip might be longer than they expected.

---

When they reached at the mountainous area outside of Tokyo, the gang met up with a small encampment of the youkai representatives at the edge of the forest area. They were Nurarihyon, as well as the same entourages who accompanied him during their first meeting - Retsuza, Kumowatari and Magari; who were accompanied by several youkais of their respective races. The lesser youkais possessed similar appearances, albeit their presences were foreshadowed by their leaders.

"Hey there, youngsters." Nurarihyon greeted with his underlings acknowledged everyone's arrival with a firm nod.

"Lord Nurarihyon." Rias greeted in kind, followed by the rest of her group. "It is good to have you with us."

"Let's start with the planning, shall we? After all, we don't have much time to waste." However, when Nurarihyon's eyes landed upon Issei's choice of attire, he quirked an eyebrow. "By the way, Red Dragon Emperor…. What's with the outfit? It looks…. Stuffy."

Issei paused on his trek, his lips were pursed as he was not in mood for answering the particular enquiry. His friends, however, were looking at him expectantly.

"Now that he mentioned it, I've been wondering as well…" Suzaku put in her two cents. "No offence, but the outfit… is a bit out of place, if you don't mind me say so." she tried to lay it out as polite as she could.

"I think the jersey is fine as it is." Ouryuu quipped, drawing looks from everyone, especially a grateful one from Issei. "Honestly, I believe that suit is useful for activity like this. It's easy to move around..."

"There, so he says. Thank you, Ouryuu." Issei said to his junior in rather… hurried fashion, as he just wanted to move the topic forward. "Now, shall we-"

"...However, I am curious about the bulging mass beneath the jersey. What is that, if you don't mind me asking?"

Issei bit his lips as he took a deep breath, reigning in his emotion after Ouryuu just had to drop the bomb on him. He gave him a quick stink-eye (much to Ouryuu's confusion) before he sent a pleading look to Rias. "Rias, can I keep this on?"

"No, off with that." Rias replied with amused smile, which was followed by the others as well.

"Come on… I mean, don't we have something else better to do?" Issei began to argue.

"We've talked about this."

"But-!"

"This is a perfect opportunity for you to come to terms with it. Now take those off, or I'm going to tell your mother."

"Oh, that's just dirty…" Issei's lips tightened as he took a deep breath in resignation. Under everyone's curious gaze, Issei finally decided to just go with it. "...Fuck it."

As soon as the jersey was off his body, everyone was given the sight of Issei in his red new suit - a red jumpsuit with white cape, gloves and boots.

Everything was silent for a good minute, then two, until…

"Pff…!"

Everyone blinked and immediately looked around for the source of that snort. Then, they found Nurarihyon was shaking. However, before anyone could have raised any question, the Youkai Leader suddenly burst out with laughter.

"-AHAHAHAHAHAHA...!"

With Nurarihyon laughing his ass off, Issei found his eyes twitching. He knew the reaction was to be expected, but listening to it was still getting on his nerves. He looked around, and glad that at least the other youkai had some decency to settle with giggles and chuckles.

Issei turned to his friends to see that all of them were visibly trying their hardest to hold down their laughter - based on their trembling body, bitten lips, flushed amused face, and refusal to make any eye contact. Issei fixated his glare at them, giving them the worse stink-eye he could possibly muster. He desired to make them guilty at least for enjoying his hellish suffering, refusing to let them get away with such treacherous humiliation.

However, none of his friends had even budge a bit from his guilt-instilling glare.

"...AHAHAHAHAHAHA! My boy, what are you-pfff-wearing? I mean... I've lived a long time, but in all my years, I've never seen anything as ridiculous as your costume!" Snickering, Nurahiyon asked the moment Issei revealed the hero costume under his clothing.

Suzaku smiled as she placed a hand over her giggling smile.

"Red Dragon Emperor... I, too, must question your choice of attire. Although you have the freedom to choose any clothing, I must ask if you chose this just to humor us." Suzaku followed with a professional comment.

"Kuh... I must agree…" Nurarihyon managed to say between his heavy breaths from all the laughing. "...Wait, another one is coming up… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Nurahiyon, said as he continued laughing and laughing as he clutched his stomach from the pain.

Issei felt like dropping to his knees and crying his heart out. He could even hear the girls ending up letting few giggles escaped them from behind him... that moment, Issei just wanted to die. He wouldn't mind if Hades appeared and claimed his life right now.

It took few minutes until Nurarihyon's laughing episode started to die down. When the mood was cooling down, was when they felt it - well, Nurarihyon took the brunt of the feeling, to be precise.

Issei - standing with his arms folded, was glaring at him, and the youkai leader could tell that the boy was utterly pissed and his patience was running on fumes. Nurarihyon swallowed a small lump at the… inexplicable, intimidating pressure that exuded from Issei's person. He, along with everyone else deemed that the time to get serious had to start again.

"Lord Nurarihyon…" Issei said rather…. 'Calmly'. "...Don't we have something else to do here?"

Without another word, Nurarihyon schooled his appearance, cleared his throat then gestured everyone to the center of the campsite, where there were other youkais (who decided to ignore Issei's costume alone) surrounding a table with a map on it - it was a old-looking paper with drawings about the mountains in the area, as well as several drawings and markings on multiple spots.

"The marks represent the camps belonging to the rebels." Retsuza explained, while the others listened attentively. "The camps around this area belong to the Kumo (spider) clan from Lord Nurarihyon's 100 Demons, considering the thick greeneries and forestries provided a little sunlight on the landscape, providing them a perfect location to build their nests." The Kamaitachi explained, before his fingers moved across the map again. "The area with rivers and waterfalls belong to Inugamigyobu of the Shikoku, their numbers are around 700 demons strong. They were originally serving under Lady Yasaka of Kyoto."

"So, we have roughly an army of over 700 men strong…" Rias muttered as she rubbed her chin in thought. "...Anything regarding their firepower?"

"They are definitely not to be underestimated." This time, it was Magari who replied, her eyes gleaming with wisdom of her own. "The Shikoku is one of the oldest clan ever since Lady Yasaka first ascended into the throne of western youkai, allowing them to amass more than enough power and experience to be a formidable force. The spiders might be lacking in number, but the territory they are currently at allows them efficiency and advantage in guerilla warfare. Not to mention…."

When the elder Nekoshou paused to narrow her eyes, every other youkai seemed to notice the tension on her expression; signifying a bad sign. "...We have an intel that the Spiders are in the middle of a ritual…. We don't know what kind of ritual, since the site is highly covered with trees and webs, but the incantation our spies heard sounds like they are trying to…. Summon something."

"...'Something'?" Rias prodded, her eyes narrowed in curiosity at Magari's vague explanation.

"...Unfortunately, we could not verify any further since the site was highly protected with their webs and their own guards, rendering surveillance unlikely. Considering we are wasting the day here, our only option is to go there and stop whatever ritual they are trying to pull off." the elder Nekoshou finished with a heavy sigh, clearly not liking the alternative herself.

The entire group went silent for a moment to let Magari's word sink into their minds. Few seconds later, the silence was broken by Nurarihyon's voice. "Alright, everyone. Time is the essence here, let's move on to the team division. One team will engage the Shikoku, while the other will go to deal with the Spiders. Any questions?"

The others waited for a bit, subtly glancing around to see if there was anyone who had some questions needed to be answered.

"If you don't mind me asking… what should we be expecting?"

Everyone turned their heads towards the source of the voice; which happened to be the Knight of Rias Gremory - Yuuto Kiba with his hand raised.

"I mean… what should we expect from the spiders?" Yuuto asked. "...From your description, I have a feeling that spiders will be trickier to handle."

"Hmm… I guess your concern is understandable." Nurarihyon nodded while rubbing his chin. "...The last time we encounter the spiders was around decades ago… As far as I recall, they are adept in ambush, creating traps, and strike from the shadows as soon as they spot a smallest opening. Of course, they are also equipped with paralyzing venom… An exposure to even one drop was enough to paralyze several full-grown men for days."

Hearing this, some of the ORC gulped, while some battle-hardened fighters like Rias, Akeno, Issei, Koneko, Rossweisse, Yuuto, Xenovia and Irina could maintain their calm.

"Then again, that was already a long time ago… Who knows what kind of new tricks those cretins have developed over decades." Nurarihyon finished with a shrug. "In the end, keep your senses open. With or without intel, we can never tell what will happen in the battlefield. Exercising caution is still priority."

Once everyone nodded at the explanation, Nurarihyon spoke again. "Anything else?" Few seconds passed, and no more questions arose from the group. Learning that everyone was ready, Nurarihyon nodded one more time. "...Alright, let's begin."

---

"So… As we are now on the same team… We will be in your care!" Irina said as she smiled at one member of the youkai army accompanying them. Currently, they were on their way towards the enemy territory.

Comprising the group, Asia, Irina, Rossweisse, Yuuto, Ouryuu, Kuroka, Koneko, as well as the band of youkai that Nurarihyon had chosen himself formed to subjugate the spiders. The team consisted of individuals that can adapt against surprise attacks and traps, proficient in surviving against unfair battles, using the spell-casters for long range attacks, with close-quarter combatants as the vanguard and the healer at the far back for support.

"...Hn." A youkai with an appearance of a ferret, not unlike Retsuza, nodded with a soft grunt, before he kept walking ahead. He possessed the height of an average man, golden-slitted eyes, and spiky black and white hair. The youkai was armed with several sickles on his person; wearing a rather traditional attire, which was consisted of grey martial-arts like uniform - a jibei top and hakama pants; covered with dark-blue sleeveless haori which was tied to a fitting with black obi sash. On his arms, he wore armguards which protected his forearms. A purple bandana was tied around his head and left arm.

"So…. I guess we haven't properly introduced ourselves, have we?" Irina carried on, attempting to keep the mood bright. "My name is Irina Shidou, and these are my friends from Kuoh."

As if on cue, the rest of the ORC followed suit with their own introductions.

"Name's Kuroka-nya~."

"...Koneko Toujou."

"I'm Yuuto Kiba, we look forward to work with you." the knight nodded with his polite smile.

"My name is Ouryuu Nakiri. We'll be in your care." The young freshman introduced himself as well.

"I'm Rossweisse, a pleasure." the former Valkyrie introduced herself next.

"M-my name is Asia Argento! Nice to meet you!" last but not least, Asia introduced herself with her usual shy stuttering.

"...Hn." Once again, while the ferret youkai did listen to their introductions, he kept walking and merely replied with another grunt and a nod, making the atmosphere became more awkward.

"...U-um, so… What's your name?" Irina asked, trying her best to cease the awkward atmosphere.

"...Itaku." this time, the young Kamaitachi - Itaku, replied without looking back.

Fortunately, before the atmosphere could have gone worse, a new voice was heard. "Yeah, it's nice to meet ya, folks!" a youkai with lizard-like appearance - swamp kappa said, his tone sounded rather jovial. "The name here's Amezo of Oshu Tono! Looking forward to work with y'all!" Amezo's greeting managed to lighten up the mood in the end.

"Oshu Tono…" Ouryuu muttered, his face turned thoughtful. "...If I'm not mistaken, I heard Tono clan has been serving as Lord Nurarihyon's mercenaries as of late, am I correct?"

"Well… actually we are not bound by any clan, technically speaking…" a female youkai replied. She had a long pink hair tied up in Chinese-style buns on either side of her head with a small braid hanging on her right bun. She was wearing a yellow kimono with floral pattern with matching furisode and zori. "...But ever since Lord Nurarihyon united the entire eastern youkai under his rule, perhaps we are as good bound to him, since he's our only frequent client. Oh, and by the way, my name is Reira, Yuki Onna (Snow Woman)."

Then, Reira proceeded to introduce the rest of the youkai near her. "The monkey-like one is Dohiko."

The youkai in question had an appearance of a civilized gorilla of sorts, brown fur all over besides his light pink face, loose-sleeved white judogi with a fur vest worn over it. One his forehead, a bandana marked with rows of circles with a horizontal line drawn in through the circles symmetrically dividing them, along with two sashes worn in a cross with the same pattern as that of the bandana's.

"'Sup…" The one introduced as Dohiko raised his hand in greeting, before he lightly scowled at Reira. "...Hey, Reira… While I do look like a monkey, can you not say it like that? It sounds demeaning." his plea garnered some amusement from the ORC, but they opted to listen as Reira ignored the youkai and went to the next.

"You already knew Amezo and Itaku here…" The aforementioned water youkai waved again at the ORC members, while the Kamaitachi did not even bother to take his eyes off the road. "...And last but not the least, Awashima."

"...Hey there." said an androgynous man with smooth, combed short hair of chestnut brown, wearing a red haori over dark green robes underneath.

"It's nice to meet you all!" Irina chirped as the mood was completely lifted.

"Same here, and I'm sorry about Itaku. He's not a bad person, it's just… He's not used to deal with strangers and other youkai outside of Tono." Reira said sheepishly.

However, before ORC could have replied, Amezo suddenly spoke again. "Oh, oh! I heard that you guys from Kuoh came here with that Red Dragon Emperor! He's the one with the brown hair and lame-ass costume, right? Damn, I forgot to ask him for an autograph earlier!" the water youkai said excitedly.

Those from Kuoh flinched slightly at the mentioning of their friend's outfit. However, since they could not completely disagree with the water youkai (yet), everyone decided to play along for now.

"Yes, Ise-kun is the one with the brown hair…" Yuuto finally decided to join conversation by humouring the water youkai. "...Although, may I know how did you know about him?"

"Why, I watched the live recording of your Rating Game, of course!" Amezo jovially replied. "Oh, and… You!" Amezo then turned towards Koneko, who blinked as if she wondered whether the youkai was looking at her. "I saw your fight with that huge ass dragon there! That was epic!" he flashed the white-haired Nekoshou a thumb.

"Err… Thanks." Koneko meekly replied. That was kind of out of nowhere, as flattering as he sounds.

Then, before Amezo could have continued with his ranting, a hairy arm wrapped around his neck and pulled him away, much to his chagrin. "Alright, Amezo. Give the girls some space, will ya?" Dohiko decided to play the babysitter as Amezo struggled for few seconds in his grip before finally gave in.

"Sorry about him. Us from Tono are rarely in touch with the outside world, so he's really curious about anything outside the village." Dohiko explained before his eyes landed upon a certain black cat. "Although…. I do notice that you are keeping some peculiar company… Aren't you the Black Cat Kuroka?"

The group from Kuoh went apprehensive at the attention given to their resident fugitive. The youkai-turned-devil in question only smiled as she was not fazed. "So, what if I am?"

"Nothing, it's just that you are kind of famous around here." Dohiko shrugged. "After all, you and your lil' sister over there are the daughters of Lady Fujimai."

Apparently, Dohiko's words caught the full attention of the Nekomata sisters. "...You know our mother?" Koneko asked.

"Of course, we do. After all, Lady Fujimai was once a part of Tono." Awashima replied with a light scoff. "...I still remember those days…. If I were a bit older back then, I would've asked her out." he(she?) finished with a chuckle.

Both Kuroka and Koneko quirked their eyebrows at the remark, but the former's look had more tone of amusement within.

"Awashima's inappropriate remark aside…." Reira cut in, ignoring the scowl on Awashima's face. "Lady Fujimai used to be one of the best among the young youkai in Oshu Tono before her departure to outside world. We've heard of what happened, and we are sorry for her passing." she finished solemnly. "Koneko-san… Correct? You are actually the spitting image of her in her younger days." the Yuki Onna smiled at the younger Nekoshou, who looked down in nostalgia.

"...Hmph." Everyone turned to hear Itaku's scoff. "I honestly have no idea what's gotten into Lady Fujimai to leave the village in pursuit of a human affection. Moreover, I don't understand what made two of you willing to put yourselves under mercy of a devil." the Kamaitachi said as his gaze was pointed at the Nekoshou sisters, who glared in return.

"...Says the eternal virgin who can't woo a girl for his life." Reira lightly chided the Kamaitachi, who only let out a breath and looked away from the Nekoshou.

"However, if you two were to turn to Oshu, you would have fitted in without much trouble." Itaku's last comment made everyone blinked. At one second the Kamaitachi was judging and verbally bashing Kuroka, the next second he was showing something close to sympathy(?).

Kuroka only looked away with a solemn look in her hazel eyes. Now that she thought about it, why indeed? It was as if her life had been one mistake after another. Why did she and her little sister not go to Tono, instead they went to the underworld and served an unsavory devil? Was it because the harshness of her life after the death of her mother, followed with the devil's promise of comfortable lifestyle, that clouded her judgement? Was it because she thought that she could become stronger when she became a devil? In the end, Kuroka did not want to think about the past any longer.

The memories of her life in that mansion - especially when she thought of that part, her hand reached for the hems of her kimono and squeezed tightly. Would she not have to go through all that, were she take another choice? Kuroka's body started to tremble slightly as her mind kept wandering to her past.

Surprisingly, a small hand reached for trembling limbs and Kuroka found her little sister's eyes looking at her own orbs worriedly. Kuroka then schooled her calm as she smiled and gently pried Koneko - Shirone's hand off. "...I'm okay, Shirone-nya."

Koneko was not convinced, but the current situation was not suitable for her to press on her sister any further.

While the Nekoshou siblings were minding their own business, the rest of the Kuoh students only stared at Itaku's back, as they kept on their march towards enemy base. "...Kind of confusing guy, isn't he?" the others blinked and turned towards Amezo, who was already walking next to them. "As we said, Itaku is… rather awkward with strangers, but don't mind his words too much, he's just a natural born virgin who only knows how to act edgy." the water youkai waved his arm nonchalantly, ignoring the cold glare from the Kamaitachi. "Anyway, tell me more about you guys! I saw in the recordings that some of you can conjure badass-looking swords, soldiers, lightning and more!" with that, the mood was (prematurely) brightened, causing everyone to sweat-drop.

"You can ask for an autograph to gloat the others later. We're already closing in." Itaku's voice was heard again as he took the point in the group. The usually jovial Amezo suddenly seized his talking and his, along with everyone else turned serious.

---

The lair of the spider clan.

A dark, land riddled with trees that suck most of the sunlight from the air, leaving a shadow so great it could be mistaken as the night itself. Almost no light could enter the forest, which made one wonder how the flora within could live with so little sunlight. Knee high dark green grass could be seen at the entrance of the forest, giving the group a good indication of various ambushes.

As the group walked through the woods, sounds of skittering and rustling grass were coming in whispers; crunching leaves and jittering filled the air. While they had enough confidence in battle powers and numbers, they could not help but naturally nervous, even if only for a little bit, within enemy territory.

"Be aware of your surroundings…" Itaku said as he brandished his sickles. "...They could ambush us at any moment now."

At the mentioning, everyone went to battle station. Asia got her Twilight Healing ready, even had her familiar - Sprite Dragon Rassei perched upon her head, the little dragon was scanning its surroundings for any hostile.

Irina then brandished her sword of light, as well as closing herself protectively against Asia. Even the glowing of her sword of light could only give her so much visual of what was ahead of her.

Rossweisse had also prepared several mysteries over her figure, ready to fire them at any moment's notice.

Yuuto had banished all reservations as he conjured his Balance Breaker - his Sword of Betrayer with fire element to counter against the spiders. Thanks to his past training, the Knight could hold his Holy Demonic Sword for a couple of days, give or take.

Ouryuu also balled his hands into fists as his body was tensed and glowing with touki.

The Nekoshou sisters - Kuroka and Koneko had their feline features revealed to the world, as they honed their senses for any incoming hostiles.

The rest of the youkai that accompanied them also went to battle mode, preparing whatever weapons and mysteries they had in their arsenals to be thrown to the enemies at whenever.

"So….." Irina whispered - loud enough to be heard by her teammates, to alleviate the little mood left within the group. "...Can anyone tell us what to expect? Perhaps some eight-legged freaks? Or humanoid creatures jumping around us?"

"What, you scared?" Dohiko grinned as he gave a quick glance at Irina, who was returning his remark with a pout.

"Irina-senpai is afraid of bugs." Irina then turned her head, wide-eyed with surprise and slight betrayal, at Koneko, who was still busy minding her surroundings. "...Xenovia-senpai told us." the Rook glanced at Irina, who widened her eyes further - her old partner had practically might have practically blabbed all of her 'dark' secrets.

Irina made a note to have a long 'talk' with Xenovia later.

oXo

Meanwhile, a certain blue-haired knight felt some tingling on her spine. She rubbed her nape while looking around with a small frown on her face. Not a sense-of-doom kind of tingle, but the pain-in-the-ass kind of tingle.

"What's wrong, Xenovia?" Rias asked next to her, her question also prompted Issei and Akeno to look over as well.

"...It's nothing." Xenovia ceased rubbing her nape while she still had her narrowed eyes back to her path ahead. "...Yeah, probably just my imagination."

oXo

"Well, just for your information, I'm not exactly scarred. I'm more like grossed out by them." Irina clarified, trying to salvage her remaining dignity.

Yuuto and Kuroka could not help but chuckle in amusement, as well as some youkai safe for Itaku, and Irina could only grumble in embarrassment in the end. "It's alright, Irina-san. I'm also uncomfortable when I have to deal with insects." Asia quipped, trying to cheer the reincarnated angel up.

"...Thanks, Asia." Irina smiled as she actually meant it - since it was just impossible for the Bishop to say anything sarcastic.

At least the mood was brightened up again, even for a bit.

"...Eh, then you might be in for a surprise with them." Amezo commented without a hint of tact, receiving a dry/chidding looks from his peers.

The group proceeded to move deeper into the forest, as their eyes adjusted soon enough with the dark environment.

However, few minutes of walking later, Itaku suddenly stopped and raised his fist up, signaling the others to halt. "...Wait, I sense movement." the Kamaitachi said as he narrowed his eyes and lower his body in anticipation. The others also perked up in preparation and scanned their surroundings as well.

Rustling leaves, whispering winds and noises of broken twigs and branches were heard across the air. However, as soon as those noises were heard, everyone's ears were graced by silence soon after - the silence was so thick that they could almost hear their own heart-beat.

Irina felt her heart skip a beat when she thought there was jittering singing from the darkness surrounding them. Her fear(disgust) of insects was now surfacing, taking hold of her legs as they trembled.

Then…

*Creeaaakk*

The sound of… a string stretching could be heard, followed by a whispering sharp object slicing through the air so quiet, even Itaku could barely hear it.

But, at the last moment.

It was a second later that Yuuto found something land on a tree bark next to him - his head, to be precise. The arrow was made from bone, glazed in sticky mucous like luster, the tip of the arrow made from obsidian stone as it split the tree in half before piercing the tree behind it, completely buried to the notch.

"...Guys?" Yuuto called out, then everyone turned and immediately see what the blonde knight was talking about. Their eyes widened, and as soon as they scanned their surroundings again, they could make out several projectiles being shot at them.

That moment, all hell broke loose.

"Incoming!"

"Watch out!"

"Take cover!"

"Shit!"

"Man down! Man down!"

It was literally a mayhem as everyone tried to fend off their unseen attackers. Arrows were coming from various directions almost without making any sounds, making their defense more difficult. The Youkai Oshu Tono brought along with them were struck by arrows, downing them almost instantly, even though the arrows did not strike their vitals. They were down, but not because of simple injuries.

"What the hell?! I can't move!"

"Ahhhfiiiisoo!" This one's tongue was slurred as his body slowed to a crawl, his capacity for speech rendered incapacitated.

Awashima noted the reaction and condition of his(her?) fallen brethren - as she(he?) dodged and used a katana to respond the incoming arrows every now and then, and swiftly dashed to the nearest arrow at the corner of his/her vision, plucking out a random arrow from nearby tree. She/he scrutinised the tip of the arrow before taking a quick sniff, lick-and-spit, then his/her eyes widened in recognition.

"Poison arrows!" the androgynus youkai shouted those two words and everyone else quickly understood.

Thirteen more arrows flew towards the ORC group, all aiming for Yuuto from the west. While he could only see the incoming projectile, the knight was not having much difficulty of parrying every single one of them as he had quickly conjured another sword for dual-wielding. However, as he deflected one arrow after another, Yuuto could not help but grunt, as he felt the projectile hit a lot harder than he thought. Each time the projectile met the steel of his blade, he could feel the impact sent shivers through his arm.

Koneko was faring better - as she laced her body with touki, combined with the enhancement of her Rook trait, as well as sharp reflexes of Nekoshou, she simply intercepted the incoming onslaught with her bare hands. Her sister - Kuroka, was using her more variation of Senjutsu to manipulate plants and her surroundings to protect herself from the hail of arrows.

Ouryuu was doing something similar like Koneko, however, his body was enveloped in a touki that glowed in yellow aura, and it was a lot thicker than Koneko's. The young man was easily tanking the incoming attacks.

Asia, Rossweisse and Irina was standing together, with the Rook conjuring several defensive spells to protect all three of them, while Irina was more focusing to prevent any enemies to blindsided them, and Asia was ready to use her Twilight Healing to heal the nearby wounded.

Those who were defending themselves through mystic arts might not be able to tell, but those who intercepted the arrows close and personal, could tell that those arrows hit hard. If the blade of the arrow pierced through their skin, they would be put in bad shape.

Amid protecting himself, Itaku assessed the situation of the battlefield, and he had to make a decision. "Push through! We can't stay here any longer! Keep moving!" he shouted his orders as he began to move while parrying and dodging the poison arrows.

Everyone then automatically followed suit. However, as they moved, everyone could not help but know that they were leaving some of their fallen comrades behind. "W-wait, Itaku-san! What about the others? We can't leave them behind!" Asia said to the Kamaitachi.

Apparently, as the group kept moving in pronto, Dohiko was the one providing the answer. "Look, girl. I know it's hard to deal with, but were lucky enough that the poison doesn't kill them in a second. The sooner we finish our job here, the sooner we can go back and save them. Now keep moving!"

Asia sent one last look towards her fallen comrades, then she looked at her friends from ORC, who returned her gesture by encouraging looks and nods. With heavy heart, in the end, Asia could only pray that they could make it in time as she chose to keep up with everyone else.

oXo

Meanwhile… As the group kept running away from the rain of arrows, Irina yelped whenever she saw an arrow flying towards her. But… for some reason, they kept flying over her one by one, hitting the trees or dirt off the mark. Confused, Irina watched as the arrows keep missing her especially after the seventh time.

"...You sure you don't want me to take the shot?" A feminine voice asked from deep within the woods, snarking at the man with the compound bow made of bones.

The appearance of the spiders… were mostly humanoid, fair white skin, lithe figure, their usual attire a white hakama. However, what distinguished them were the four arachnid like limbs hanging over their shoulders and under their arms.

"Shut up, Zen!" The man chirped as he fired another arrow… only for it to miss his target by a huge margin.

"Kyokai, we're giving you a chance to prove yourself here so make it count!" another voice - this time, a male, was heard as another arrow missed its target. "...You suck at this." the voice finally commented again at the spectacle.

"Go eat a dick, Bou!" the Spider - Kyokai, shouted in return of his supposedly friend's commentary.

"This is what happens when you decided to skip all those trainings before." The owner of the female voice - Zen spoke again.

"I trained, okay!" Kyokai defended as he released another arrow at another target, this time the silver-haired woman who seemed taller - bigger target than the reincarnated angel earlier, only for it to miss her by the hair.

"...You're just like Gin."

"Don't compare me to that useless pile of exoskeleton!" at this point, Zen had enough and just snatched the bow from Kyokai's hand.

"...Watch and learn then." Zen smirked, as her long dark hair waved as she turned her head to the angel, her eyes locked onto the pretty girl as she pulled the string while channeling her Ki into the energy conductive string and empowered it, her arrow ready to fire.

"And... one down." she said as she released the arrow, launching it as if it was an Anti-Material Rifle, as it flew at Irina (again) at speed faster than lightning.

CLANK!

However…

The arrow struck something hard, shattering it like glass as the arrowhead, dripping with venom, was close to hitting the pretty angel in the head.

"Oh, you lucky little bitch..." Zen cursed, as she pulled another arrow and fired with even more kick into it.

oXo

Meanwhile…

Irina involuntarily sped up her running, as soon as she found that there was actually an arrow that almost struck her head. In her mind, she prayed all the prayers in the Bible to her god that she would live through this. She did not want to stay here any longer.

When another arrow flew towards her back, the arrow was intercepted by a blonde handsome man at the last second, striking his demonic sword. The blade cracked from the force, even managed to cause Yuuto to stumble on his stance. Still, he was still able to redirect the course of the arrow to pierce through a nearby rock, much to their surprise at the display of strength.

Yuuto also shared her feelings. He does not know how long he can hold, and worse, his arms are already failing him, tired from the constant strain. His swords could no longer handle the arrows, as they now shatter like glass from the force behind the projectiles. He did not expect this at all. And worse, the sniper kept aiming for Irina with killing intent, one that continued growing more menacing by the second.

"Thanks, Rossweisse-sensei, Kiba-kun!"

Then again, she knew well that it was the Rook and Knight's interventions that she was still in one piece.

oXo

Back to the enemy's side, the female archer was thoroughly agitated, as she kept failing to hit her target. "Grrh...!" with a vengeance, Zen then continued aiming for Irina, as well as Asia, as the girls ran away like hell - Zen refusing to let her preys go as she fired arrow after arrow, each more empowered than the last, as Yuuto and Rossweiss had to continue defending their friends from the Spider's fury.

"Heheh..." Kyoukai now laughed mocking at Zen, who was still too focused to properly retort on the male's snickering.

"Not a fucking word, Kyokai!"

"So… how does it feel to not hit anything?" Kyokai mockingly asked. Zen only growled in return, as she leapt from her spot and chased after the devils, angel and youkai through the trees.

oXo

As Irina and Asia caught up with the rest of ORC members, they stopped as they heard trees falling one by one. Followed by the rampaging footsteps of a giant, rumbling the earth with each step. In addition, everyone could tell the enemy's aura was quite large compared to themselves individually - whatever opponent that was coming was probably one of heavy hitters of the enemy troops.

"Fee! Fi! Fo! Fum!" They then heard a loud, booming voice… menacing… but also…

"Who had dared to steal my gums!?"

"...What?"

In the cluster of trees in front of them, the being that emanated the aura burst through the trees, launching the torso of the trees so high into the air they could no longer see it anymore.

"Who dares interrupt my nap time with Mr. Poodles?!" The man - towering almost 3 meters high… garbed in blue, wearing an orange spider mask, roared with the fury of… they could not comprehend.

The ORC, and the leading youkai blinked as they watched the masked man pound his chest like a gorilla, shaking the air with every thump, as they continued listening to the nonsensical rants of the Youkai before them.

In a distance, the spider-archers from earlier was catching up by running and hopping up through the mass of trees, and they saw the spectacle that took place. "What the fuck is that idiot doing!?" Kyokai asked in frustrated tone.

"Argh, I told Gin to keep him in line! I bet he bailed out… Again!" Bou replied.

"If you already knew about that, why the hell did you tell Gin of all people…" Zen, who paused as she came up with an idea, and then let out a sigh. "...You know what? Screw this."

The female spider then shouted at the rampaging Spider. "Barrel them over, Roka! They took your Mr. Poodles!"

The ORC and the Youkai could only blink as they heard the voice, trying to process the insanity of their opposition.

"RAHHHGGGHHH! I WILL BREAK YOUR EXOSKELETONS AND DRINK YOUR SQUISHY JUICE THINGS!" Roka, roared with the fury of a thousand toddlers, as he then rampaged towards the ORC and their fellow Youkai like a raging bull, the earth literally rumbling in his wake.

"What's the deal with this guy!?" Dohiko asked as everyone else braced themselves to intercept the incoming assault.

However, as soon as Dohiko made that comment, he also happened to be at the vanguard, resulting in his taking the brunt of the blue spider's charge.

BAM!

Everyone else was forced to step back, making a way for Dohiko's large frame to barrel backwards, courtesy of a nasty headbutt from the spider - as he was sent tumbling like a ragdoll into the distance until he shrunk out of sight.

"Dohiko!" Amezo cried out before he had to refocus himself at the enemy at hand.

"My mask is made of souls! And love!" The rampaging spider youkai than uttered more words that did not make sense.

"Seriously, what the hell's this guy babbling about!?" Awashima spat as everyone began to encircle their blue adversary.

oXo

Not far from the battlefield, the three spider archers that ambushed them earlier - Kyoukai, Bou and Zen, with their small troops in tow, were watching the stupidity-induced chaos unfolding before them.

"You know… now that I think about it…. Why didn't we think of sending him in the first place?" Bou asked as he watched Roka managed to reach a lizard man, grabbed him by the legs, and spun around as he twirled, and hurled him into the others in his 'fury' and knocked them down like bowling pins. The sight of flying youkai was quite a sight.

"...Whatever. Let's finish this." Kyokai replied with a small sigh, then turned to the rest of his subordinates. "Alert the rest. While Roka is making them busy, take them from the rear while we still have the chance."

"...Bow chicka bow wow." Bou gave his iconic catchphrase as he clicked his tongue at Zen. Which only earned him a death glare from the lead female combatant.

"Bou…" Kyokai growled - seriously, where the fuck did he learn those words from?!. "...Seriously, right now?"

"Alright, alright. Can't blame a guy for wanting to have fun." Bou rolled his eyes as he turned around and jogged away into the trees.

"...Should we support Roka?" Kyokai asked Zen trying to forget about Bou's actions.

"Hmmm…" Zen turned her eyes back to Roka, who was throwing an androgynous youkai around by the ankle, banging the youkai on the ground as his/her body flailed as if trying to beat a fish dead.

"I kind of want to watch for a while… Ah, well. Can't let the idiot hog all the fun anyways. Move it, ye bastards!" Zen gave her opinion as she smirked, enjoying the sight of the idiot pounding the enemy troops for once.

The ORC Club watched as the babbling masked man toss the lead Youkai around like they were toys, before the enemy finally let go and hurling Awashima all the way towards Amezo.

Fortunately, the blue Spider ended up stopping as he looked a bit winded, judging his attempt to catch his breath; thus allowing everyone to regain their bearings. During that time, Dohiko, Awashima, as well as the rest who received the beating from the Spider was healed thanks to Asia's Twilight Healing.

"Huff…" Dohiko breathed out. "Damn, the guy actually packs a punch…. And goddamn if the blondie got a magic touch. Thanks, I'm good as new!" the ape Youkai flashed a thumb towards Asia, the others also nodded their thanks.

"I miss Mr. Poodles..." Then they once again heard the man spouting more non-sensible words as he turned his head to the members, as if he was never tired in the first place. "...Give me back my friend!" He shouted at them as if they had something that belonged to him.

"…Any idea what we're dealing with?" Dohiko asked, now nervous about the spider man banging his chest like a gorilla.

"No clue. But in any case, he's still an enemy and we have to deal with him." Reira concluded a she conjured a naginata made of ice.

Without another word, everyone else also prepared themselves to attack the enemy before them. However, before they could have started anything, they heard another movement. This time, the noises came from all direction - the sounds of rustling leaves, broken woods, footsteps and screeches.

Itaku only took a second to guess what was coming as his eyes narrowed. "...Great." he muttered under his breath before he brandished his sickle. "Incoming hostiles! Get ready for battle!"

"Send them to Naraka!" Zen commanded her troops as she jumped down, firing three simultaneous arrows, aiming at Irina first again, before dropping the bow to draw her Katana from her waist. The blade seemed made in an unknown alloy, quenched in acid and venom, gleaming a corrosive light that withered the vibrant colors of the surroundings.

Kyokai followed suit, dropping from the tree as he held a spear sword, a pole with two pronged blades attached to the end of the metal pole crafted from the same material as Zen's katana; while Bou had one very large katana in his hand.

The three-spider youkai and the rest of their brethren charged at them, their blades ready for combat, each heading towards their respective targets.

"Dibs on the hot chicks!" Bou shouted as he aimed for Kuroka and the others.

"Go support Roka!" Zen suddenly shouted, eliciting a groan from Bou.

"Awww, why?!" Bou shouted, complaining to his female comrade.

"Who's going to watch the idiot then!? Both of us also have to keep the chain of command over everyone else!" Zen shouted back.

"Aghhhh! Fine! At least there are chicks on his side!" Bou begrudgingly complied as he ran to the idiot fighting two boys and two pretty girls.

Soon the all-out fight between the Spider youkai against alliance between angels and devils of Kuoh Academy, and youkai of Oshu Toono began. Every member of each side was focusing on taking down the enemy in front of them while staying alive.

During the carnage, Koneko just sent an enemy spider flying with a drop kick.

"Ow, you little!" The spider complained like a spoiled child as he got back up, holding his sword in hand, and swung the weapon down small Neko, aiming bisect her from the head.

However, the white haired Nekoshou would not have any of it, as she simply remained still as she clapped the blade with both her hands, then with a tug, she easily snapped the blade in half leaving the attacker with just half of his weapon in hand.

"What the-!?" before the poor spider could have taken in the fact that his weapon was easily shatter by such a tiny girl, the last thing he knew before blacking out was a fist ramming right to his face.

BAM!

With a painful sound of breaking bone, Koneko slammed the man head into the dirt, her knuckle planted on his face as his head landed on the dirt, knocking him out. However, before Koneko could have decided her next course of action in the battlefield, she was approached by another enemy.

"Get out of our turf, kitty." Kyokai exclaimed as he twirled his sword-spear in his hand, from side to side, which Koneko wordlessly returned with her own stance.

"Still, a little girl walking all alone in the woods? Aren't you afraid of the dark, kitty witty?" the spider began to speak with mocking tone.

Koneko's eyes narrowed as she found the enemy before her irritating, a small vein bulged under her head.

"Let me show you the power of the spider clan, you little brat! I will show you how a pro will own your ass and send you home crying to your mama." Kyoukai brandished his sword-spear before he dashed at Koneko.

BAM!

...Only to receive an agonizing pain on his chin - coursing through his head, as he was sent flying away from Koneko's powerful uppercut. Kyoukai's figure vanished as a small dot on the sky.

"...Jackass." Koneko simply muttered, approving her own handiwork, before she turned her attention to assess the current state of battlefield.

Not much development at the first glance, but the girl would like to have a positive lookout that said the odds were stacking for her friends' favor. Most of the spiders were not particularly difficult to handle, although… When her hazel eyes caught Yuuto and Irina, Koneko noted that the female-looking spider youkai that fought them were giving them a hard time. Moreover, when her eyes laid upon the sight of the spider - based on the way she carried herself, her movements, etc., Koneko's instinct said that the spider could not be compared with her previous enemy. The difference between the female and the one she had spotted was like an adult to a toddler. Thus, she decided.

Yuuto, despite using his Balance Breakers, was having extreme difficulty against this one. Even with the help of his friends, his dragon-knights were being cut down left and right, as well as being thrown around like toys… and as ammunition. Literally, as she tossed them at Yuuto and the others like they were nothing.

Currently, Zet was standing right before Yuuto and Irina; she was choking the last dragon knight behind her back to back, the shaft of her sword spear held horizontally over her shoulders and dangerously pressed on the neck of the dragon-knight. The dragon knight was futilely trying to break free as its windpipe was strangled.

The duo devil and angel had to admit, the spider-woman before them was strong.

"You…" The woman glared at Irina, her two eyes like daggers that can pierce through souls. "...Your luck won't save you this time, brat." She venomously declared, as she quickly pulled her sword-spear, sliding her weapon right across the dragon knight's throat, until the blade slit its throat, killing it instantly as it dropped to the floor like a puppet without its strings.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, lady…" Irina replied with cautious tone. "...Luck? Saving me…?" the angel then blinked before she realised something. "Wait a second… Were you the one trying to shoot me with those bone-arrows earlier?"

"What do you think?" The woman snarled as she twirled her violent weapon, and stabbed the downed Dragon Knight behind her by the head with a sickening crunch, the sound making Irina and Yuuto wince. "I promise that I will ram something through your head this time, and it won't be pretty." She promised.

Irina and Yuuto glanced at each other, and wordlessly nodded. They began to walk circling their enemy with steady pace, while the spider woman - Zet observed for any movement alternately between Yuuto and Irina.

Then, while the combatants were busy measuring each other, Zet suddenly sensed a movement behind her.

"Hyah!" suddenly, Koneko jumped out, trying to pounce at Zet. However, the latter skillfully turned on her heels, and grabbed her by the head with her free arm before she could even react.

"...And here's your pet." Zen said as she slammed her face down to the dirt, before she kicked Koneko's body, all the way towards Yuuto.

"Koneko-chan!" Yuuto and Irina shouted, as the former easily captured the petite girl.

"I'm fine..." Koneko said as soon as she got back on her feet. "...She's strong." she said as she wiped off a dirt from her chin.

Zet narrowed her eyes at Koneko. She was pretty sure that she was not holding back on her kick, yet the little girl acted as if that kick did not do anything on her. "She's a lot tougher than she looks..."

Zet's eyes then widened ever so slightly as she remembered some tattle-tales about the Underworld of devils; something about the new generation consisted of few devils that somehow specialized in strength, speed and mystic arts. Perhaps the little girl was such an example? Nevertheless, Zet would kill them by the end of the day.

As Yuuto, Koneko and Irina regained their bearings, they finally surrounded Zet whom remained calm; the tension between combatants was high, all of them were tuning out the sounds of battle around them, in order to focus at the respective objective before them.

As soon as Yuuto, Irina and Koneko shared a light nod together, the former two immediately lunged to engage the female spider youkai. Zet responded in kind by closing the gap between her and Irina - who was wide open as the angel was rising her sword high for a vertical slash, to avoid the range of the latter's blade, and slammed her frame into a full-body tackle.

SLAM!

"Ugh!"

The force was enough to knock Irina aside, bringing her down abruptly as Zet quickly turned her head enough so she could spit a hidden poison needle in her mouth. The small projectile was aimed at Koneko, or more specifically, the only soft part of every living being, the eyes. The white cat had barely enough time to tilt her head so the needle would miss her eye, bouncing off harmlessly against her tough skin. However, the impact of the needle that was too close for comfort was enough to disorient her.

While Koneko was disoriented, Yuuto quickly covered for her by running at Zet, Sword of Betrayer pointed at her. The sword master of the ORC observed his foe with critical scrutiny.

"She's strong..." He could tell. Zet could anticipate every move he would make, shifting her body with phantom-like subtlety every time he shifted his stance or plan his next attack.

With practiced caution, the knight stopped at the adequate range, and soon the two crossed steel, however, the knight was skidding back a step from the clash.

Irina, who was back on her feet, quickly joined the fray, adding her sword to the knight's aid. However, their opponent was not fazed as she traded blows alternately between Yuuto and Irina with her sword-spear. Her mastery of the weapon made it very difficult for the knight and angel to come in close range, as the length of her weapon kept them all at bay.

It took only a couple of seconds until Koneko also decided to join as well, the Rook made sure to attack only when she found an opening in Zet's form - any viable openings triggered by Yuuto and Irina, yet…

"Come at me, or are you all part chicken?" The Youkai taunted. She just easily caught the scruff of Koneko's uniform with the blunt end of her sword-spear, threw the Nekoshou to collide against Irina, and she pivoted her body to land a solid kick towards Yuuto's abdomen, who was about to blind-side her.

This woman is strong.

That was the collective thoughts of Yuuto, Irina and Koneko as they regarded the one enemy before them. Her skills and strength were nothing to scoff at. Not only that, the woman possessed no Sacred Gear.

Not wanting to waste any more time; Yuuto, Irina and Koneko shared another nod before all of them chose to rush at the female youkai.

"...Heh." Smirking, Zet spun while hunching her back. The threes' instincts flared danger as the youkai gathered power in her limbs, and swept her weapon widely, knocking all three of them back at the same time, back to where they were.

Yuuto, Irina and Koneko (mostly the former two) groaned in pain as they got back on their feet. "Err… Why are we charging blindly at her again?" the reincarnated angel could not help but address such question.

"...Good point." Yuuto said as he shook the weariness off his head. It was already well-known that half-hearted attempts did not work on the enemy before them, so why the blind charge? He then took a deep breath, and all three friends quickly racked their brains to come up with some sort of game-plan.

"Is it because we outnumber her?" Koneko pointed out.

"Perhaps, but…" Yuuto nodded. "...Let's capitalize the fact that this is three-on-one in our favour."

More collected, the trio nodded at each other again before they charged at Zet, albeit with more composure. The moment the stepped into her range, they stopped and rotated, switching places with their fellow members counterclockwise, before charging again.

Zet's smirk widened ever so slightly, with a hint of apprehension. "They're learning…"

As a matter of fact, Zet could tell that the three before her, while rather inexperienced compared to her, were no pushovers. She could tell, the number of battles they endured, and they would beat her if she kept playing around. Besides, she also got her own orders and duties to fulfil. "...Let's end this."

Zet pointed her finger at Koneko, while smiling at Irina as she fired a string of webbing from her finger.

The web landed right on the face of the unsuspecting Koneko, with the sticky substance covered her entire face. Rob of her vision, Koneko abruptly stopped to pry off the web.

Alas, while Yuuto and Irina were still stunned at the particular display of ability, Zet fired few more web-shots, the force was enough to send Koneko stuck to a nearby tree. The web was restraining her limbs, and the Rook found herself struggling - not only her restraints were quite strong, the webbing stuck on her face was also hindering her proper breathing.

"Koneko-chan!" Yuuto cried in alarm as he saw the cat's laboured breath and muffled groans. "Go help her! I'll cover you!" he then shouted at Irina, whom quickly nodded without a word and flew off towards the immobile Rook.

"As if!" Zet lunged at Yuuto with a heavy reverse downward slash, her pirouetting attack immediately knocked the swords out of his hands and scratched his skin.

Yuuto hissed, weathering the injury on his person. However, much to Zet's surprise, he quickly conjured another Holy-Demonic Sword and almost caught her off-guard with a swing.

The female youkai retreated as she blinked at the display. Nevertheless, an ability to conjure weapons was not completely foreign to her - she would just have to beat him down for good.

One might say that going one-on-one with an opponent stronger than you was suicidal; perhaps it was applicable in case of Yuuto dealing with Zet. However - sometimes knowing your friends in dire state could serve as a strong drive to perform above your own limits.

Despite what he had gone through so far - with team training, fighting and all, Yuuto was one between the three with more experience of fighting solo. Before Issei joining Rias' peerage, Yuuto had done his own fair share of solo task - since he was the only male in the group.

Imagine that he had to handle a veteran warrior by his own; however, he had to let Irina go, otherwise Koneko's life would be put in danger. Besides, if it was about fighting a stronger opponent, Yuuto had sparred Souji Okita during his early days.

Sometimes, in right circumstances, fighting alone could make one to unconsciously perform even better.

"Heh, really? You do know we specialize in poison, right?" Zet said as she pointed at her spear. Yuuto looked at the blade of her pike, and widened his eyes upon seeing the lustrous glaze coating the tip of her spear.

"...Shi-!" Before he could even curse, his tongue slurred as his senses were distorted as the poison circulating through his system finally took effect.

Despite Yuutos' effort, it only took few seconds until he fell face-down to the ground.

"If it's any consolation, the poison's primary use is to paralyze rather than kill, so you'll live for a while." Zet commented before she turned to find the rest of her opponents.

"Now then… where were we, little girls?" Zet said as she locked her predatory gaze at Irina.

Upon locking onto Irina, the angel was halfway close to freeing her cat friend - whom at least already had the webbing off her face, allowing Koneko to gasp for much needed air.

"...Prepare to become meat bags." Zet said as she tightened her fingers around her sword-spear and dashed towards them.

"Irina-senpai!" Koneko - with her limbs and body still stuck on the tree shouted. "Just go! I'll be fine!" After all, the enemy should be prioritizing to focus on the angel rather than an already immobilized person.

Irina gave one last look towards Koneko before she reluctantly got away, effectively drawing Zet's attention on her. While the two were engaging each other, Koneko began to work on her restraints.

It took only a minute for Irina to find herself being overwhelmed by Zet. The reincarnated angel was lying on the ground, with the spider youkai looming over her. Zet was rising her sword-spear high, ready to impale her.

"Say goodbye…." However, before Zet could have plunged her weapon down, she was suddenly tackled by Koneko who had freed herself. The impact was strong enough to force the air out of her as the spider and the cat stumbled and rolled on the ground.

Zet hissed as she flipped back from the ground to return on her feet, irritated at the surprise attack. She then saw Koneko was charging with her fist ready. As soon as the Nekoshou had closed the distance, Zet dodged Koneko's punch at the last second and sent a nasty, two-handed hammer fist at the back of Koneko's head in return, sending the cat skidding head-first on the unforgiving ground.

Koneko raised up as she hit the ground in agitation, barely able to hold down her growl. Soon she stood back up and proceeded to engage Zet in a fist-fight. Koneko threw several punches and swings of her own, but Zet dodged and parried every blow without much difficulty. When Koneko sent another straight, Zet parried the incoming fist and she threw her palm through the opening, all the way towards Koneko's jaw.

WHAM!

The hit on her jaw shocked Koneko to get disoriented for a second, allowing Zet to grab Koneko's head and pulled it towards her knee strike. Dazed even more, Koneko was not able to defend herself from a solid kick to her abdomen, which sent her flying few meters away.

Zet then retrieved her discarded sword-spear before returning her attention back on Koneko. However, before she could pursue the downed Nekoshou further, she had to duck her head to avoid another surprise attack from Irina.

As Irina pushed forward, the swing of her sword of light managed to disarm Zet, as the sword-spear was thrown away from her hand. However, as Irina sent another strike towards Zet's head, the latter simply closed in to evade the blade's range, and she easily spun around and landed a round-house kick at Irina's temple, downing the angel to the side once again.

At the same time, as Zet was still distracted by Irina, Koneko managed to land a surprise tackle on her, sending the two youkai stumbling and wrestling on the ground. As Koneko was on top of Zet, the latter was slightly taken aback at the strength coming from the tiny frame of the former.

The female spider growled as she mustered the strength on her legs to kick Koneko off her, sending the cat back to regroup with Irina. The Rook then proceeded to grab a nearby tree, uprooted the plant over her head and tossed tree at the shocked spider. The attack did not stop there, as Koneko proceeded to toss other natural structures - other trees and boulders to crush the female spider.

While Zet was busy avoiding from being squashed, Irina proceeded to charge with her sword of light ready.

With her sword-spear disarmed earlier, Zet had to rely on her bare-handed combat; as she easily parried Irina's swing and landed a solid knee on the angel's ribs, causing her to fall on her knees in pain. However, Koneko suddenly jumped over Irina and threw a solid straight, which was strong enough to force Zet to stumble back.

As soon as Irina recovered on her feet, she and Koneko began to synchronise their movements and attack Zet alternately.

While the female spider was caught off-guard by the falling large projectiles, she could still keep up as she evaded several of Irina's strikes before she finally managed to knock the angel aside with a solid back-hand.

Zet only realized when Koneko was already on her, the rain of forest debris had stopped raining.

"Get off me!" Zet sneered as she bore her fangs and bit Koneko's hand, her teeth laced with venom. However, the spider did not expect that the little girl's skin to be so tough, as her fangs could not sink as deep as she had wanted.

Unable to inject her venom as she intended, Zet decided to let go and used her superior height to gain leverage over the petite Rook. As she spun her body around, using the centrifugal force to help loosen the cat girl's grip on her, and threw herself forward to throw her down over her shoulder.

However, as soon as Zet had downed Koneko, Irina suddenly caught her again with an impressive drop-kick to the face. As Zet staggered back from the force, Irina used the chance to brandish another sword of light and began to engage Zet with relentless onslaughts.

Zet was put in a defensive for few moments until she spotted an opening and jumped to strike Irina's chin with her right knee. Stunned from the hit, the angel could not do anything when she received a solid double-palm strike on her abdomen, forcing her to cough out few drops of stomach acid and blood.

As Irina fell on her knees, Zet noticed that from a fair distance, Koneko attempted to throw another boulder at her, which the spider merely ducked - allowing the boulder to harmlessly flew past her, and shot a string of web from her arm; the web caught the boulder behind her and Zet gave a mighty tug and threw the offending rock back at the Rook.

However, Koneko had anticipated such outcome as soon as she saw the spider caught her boulder with a string. Thus, when she saw the boulder she threw was flying back at her, Koneko simply prepared her stance, and she struck her palm at the incoming boulder, resulting the boulder to shatter to pieces - that flew back at Zet again like projectiles, much to the latter's surprise.

Zet could barely put her arms and her extra spider appendages up to protect herself, and she had to tank the incoming rock pellets with a speed of bullets hitting her body. Growling in pain, with her body littered with scratches and bruises from the rock pellets, she lowered her arms to see Koneko was lunging at her again.

Soon Zet and Koneko were engaged in another fierce exchange of hand-to-hand. With Koneko put more force behind her blows, and Zet's wounds were still stinging on her skin, the latter decided to make a quick retreat by using her extra limbs to jump off to nearby trees. However, before she could have gone far from Koneko, Zet' sense was too late to realize that there was another person waiting behind.

The spider-woman turned looked back to see Irina was soaring with her white wings unravelled, complete with not just one - but two swords of light on each hand.

"Haaa!" Irina swung her arms simultaneously, and was able to cut off several of the exoskeletal appendages off Zet's back.

"Argh!" Zet cried in agony at the pain shot across her back. As she began falling, Irina also chose to tackle her mid-air, making her descent to the ground even faster.

BOOM!

Dust and debris were flying as soon as Zet and Irina crashed against the unforgiving ground. When the dust settled, Zet was found caressing her throbbing head, but her headache was nothing compared to the multiple stumps across her back.

While Zet was getting back from her disorientation, she suddenly found someone was jumping onto her unguarded back.

"Nyah!" Koneko hissed as she wrapped her legs around Zet's upper-arms against her torso, while the Rook's arms were wrapped around Zet's neck and head - effectively putting the female spider into submissive choke-hold.

"Grrh…!" Zet growled as her windpipe was blocked, making her very hard to breath. She could not break free as her arms were also pretty much trapped between her torso and the Rook's legs' iron-grip. She could not overpower the Nekoshou in her current position - thus she tried to stand up to gain any sort of leverage, but she suddenly found Irina jumped and latched on her legs, effectively restraining her.

Zet began to trash around in panic; Irina was holding her legs down while Koneko was trying to put her down via strangulation. She did not bother to count how long she could not breath, as foam and drool began to form on her mouth, yet she refused to surrender, as she kept lashing out.

It took few minutes until Zet was running out of air, her thrashing became gradually weaker, until Koneko and Irina decided that enough was enough when they could not sense any more resistance coming from their spider foe.

As soon as Koneko and Irina let go of their holds, Zet let out an audible gasp and went into a coughing fit, before finally fainted from lack of oxygen.

Koneko and Irina breathed in relief; they knew well that they were in a war, and war would take casualties, but that did not mean they enjoyed the act of killing. As a matter of fact, despite the danger posed by their enemy, the current outcome was the most ideal for them.

oXo

While Koneko, Irina and Yuuto were busy fighting with one of the heavy-hitters, another battle was taking place on the battlefield.

"My name is Roka M. Gou…"

Kuroka, Ouryuu and Rossweisse were busy dodging and defending themselves from another Spider Youkai captain who just pulverized another good chunk of the earth with a single blow of his fist.

"...And I…!"

The spider in blue gave a mighty swing of his upper-cut, nearly struck Ouryuu - who guarded and leapt back to dodge, right on the chin.

"Hate…!"

Kuroka yelped as Roka's fist almost landed square on her face.

"...KNITTENS!"

BOOM!

Rossweisse grunted as her defensive spell took the brunt of Roka's double hammer-fist. The force was powerful enough to cause the ground beneath the Valkyrie's feet to cave into a sizeable crater. If it were not for the strength enhancement by her Rook piece, Rossweisse would have been out of the fight already.

Rossweisse then fired her magic right at Roka at point blank range, throwing the blue spider away with the sheer force. However, when the dust settled, the spider remained standing strong.

Few seconds of silence later, as everyone was measuring the opponent up, Kuroka was the first to break it. "...Any idea of what this guy is talking about, nya?"

The silence given by Rossweisse and Ouryuu respectively was enough for an answer. "Okay, sir…" the latter decided to speak up, thinking of another approach based off the nonsensical banter that the spider just said before. "...We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. So-..."

"...OR THE SPIDER WAY!"

The trio blinked twice at the interruption. "...What?" that one came from Rossweisse.

"...I call upon the Spider of Dogs! SPIDER CASH!" Roka shouted.

The trio of Kuroka, Ouryuu and Rossweisse only glanced at one another before the middle replied, "That's, err…. What? Sorry, we are not following you at all." he said with confused expression - an expression that was shared with his two comrades.

"I am here to rut you all! With my white thing!" Roka said.

The silence fell upon them for few more seconds until Kuroka broke it. "Something tells me….. That this guy just said something ballsy, nya."

However, when Kuroka looked at her comrades for more input, she found that while Ouryuu was somewhat agreeing with her, Rossweisse was profusely blushing rosy red.

The Valkyrie then decided to push through with the conversation, in order to end the awkward atmosphere. "Okay, whatever you're trying to say, please surrender! This is your final warning!"

"Then, um… Give me back my friend! Or I will not be sad! Wait, no, uh, I mean, I will be very mean!" Roka replied with booming voice.

"...Friend?" Ouryuu could not help but ask with furrowed eyebrows.

"Yeah, you see, um, I was sleeping with him like, um, many seconds ago, and when I woke up…. He's not there. Then, you all came in to us like rude people, so you must have taken him. Why are you all so mean!?" Roka accused. The trio could not deny that they invaded his home.

"...I take your other 'friends' told you this, nya?" Kuroka asked with raised eyebrows - curious to see where this would go.

"Yep! They're so nice… they bring me steak." Roka said as he nodded. Kuroka could smell the drool leaking behind his mask. "Although…. Zet can be very mean sometimes…." his tone somewhat dimmed, before brightened up again. "...But that's fine. Kyokai is around, and he's my best friend!"

The trio glanced at one another again. "Err…. Ouryuu-chin, Rossweisse-chin? Can I sit this one out? I don't think I want to handle him, nya." Kuroka's question was rather out of awkwardness - like she would kind of lose something inside her if she was to fight an opponent like Roka, like something more than just winning and losing.

"We all don't, Kuroka-san..." Ouryuu replied. "...But in the end, war's a war. Besides, I don't think anything we say will go through his head…. No offense." his final piece was directed at the spider in front of him.

"None taken, although I have no idea what you mean." Roka simply replied.

The trio looked at one another to confirm their resolve, and soon everyone charged at the same time.

"You'll get rutted!" Roka then fired some kind of string from his fingertips, thin and lustered as it reflected the little sunlight there was. The strings were nearly invisible, and extremely hard to see.

"Seriously, will you stop saying that?!" Rossweisse shouted while having a blush, as she deployed numerous magic seals, each seal firing various elements of fire, lightning, ice etc. - bombarding the stage.

"RRAAAAGGH!" However, Roka merely tanked through the onslaught as he swung his threads around.

"Kuh…. This guy is seriously tough!" Rossweisse grunted as she blocked one of the threads, while focusing to maintain her magic. However, she noticed something - the fabric of her clothes was torn as soon as the thread made contact. Her armour also sported few cuts, and her Rook-enhanced skin also sported minor scratches.

The Valkyrie's eyes then saw that the threads were slicing trees and rocks around. "Look out for the threads! Those can cut through objects!" she shouted with warning tone.

"You will be rutted like sushi!" Roka roared again as he began to run and swing around wildly.

"Wha-!? Seriously, just stop talking! Your words are making less and less sense!" Rossweisse said with slightly aggravated tone.

"THEN STOP ATTACKING! YOU ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE MEAN!" the spider shouted back as he thrashed his hands even more wildly, his razor-sharp strings flailing without any coordination or purpose.

Kuroka just jumped mid-air to avoid the threads that almost took her head and legs simultaneously, then she dropped, rolled and run on the ground in order to keep dodging. "...Alright, that's enough of you, nya!" she then activated her mysteries, blowing out a mist of poison - a product of her Sage and Demon Arts together. "Everyone, stay clear and don't breathe it in!" she warned her comrades, all the while making sure that she did not produce more gas than necessary.

"Oh? Something smells sweet..." Roka said as he sniffed the air. "...Is someone preparing food?" The blue robed spider with a mask asked as he looked at Kuroka unfazed.

The black cat could smell the idiot drooling behind his mask. He could not be thinking of eating her, would he?

"Oh, come on…" Kuroka whined with dry tone. While possible, not everyone could easily brush off Kuroka's poisonous concoction.

"I guess it's either he's too strong to be affected or too thick-headed to even respond to a poison." Ouryuu lightly joked to light up the situation, which only received an eye-roll from Kuroka.

"Har har..."

"In that case, then…!" Rossweisse then conjured another spell; this one was made in purpose of rendering the sharp threads useless.

"I rut you!" Roka shouted as he flailed his arms at Rossweisse, swinging his strings from chaotic angles as trees and boulders were bisected clean, sliding off its other halves a few seconds after parting.

Despite the lethality, a thread was still in the end, a thread; thus with some simple gravitation spell, the threads that were about to bisect her were forcibly dropped onto the ground.

However, the moment she casted her defensive spell, the spider juggernaut charged towards the devil valkyrie like a rampaging bull before Ouryu and Kuroka could react, and slammed his weight into her. Rossweisse was knocked upwards midair, but before she could recover, the blue spider grabbed both of her ankles and started spinning with her in hand.

"Ring around the rosie! Ring around the rosie!" The blue spider then began singing a child's song as Rossweisse started to feel her lunch worming its way up from her stomach, her face dangerously green with the urge to vomit. "...And the spider learned how to fly!" Roka finished with another absurd punchline, before throwing Rossweisse to the others.

Ouryuu was already running, then he dropped down to his knees and skidded on the ground as Rossweisse's frame practically flew past him - brushing few strands of his hair. Kuroka, however, was less fortunate as she was too late to evade.

"...Ugh!" Both Kuroka and Rossweisse grunted as their bodies collided with each other.

As Ouryuu closed the distance between him and Roka, he began to activate his power. "Let's do this, partner…. Ouryuu!" his body then glowed in yellow light, and an image of small, yellow eastern dragon hovered over his frame.

Ouryuu - the Yellow Dragon, was the Sacred Beast that Nakiri clan that had been handed down for generations to the strongest mystic of the clan who was personally chosen by the Beast itself, along with its name.

As the Sacred Beast that represents earth, the Yellow Dragon allowed Ouryuu to access the ki energy that flowed through out the land. Considering that his current location was a forest, a place rich with nature and earth, the boy could supply his own, already touki-enhanced body, with massive amount of earth-based ki. This was Ouryuu Nakiri's signature technique - Dragon's Pulse.

With his body overflowing with power, Ouryuu finally stood right before the blue-garbed spider and the two was locked in a heated combat. However, the effect of Dragon's Pulse allowed Ouryuu to easily overpower his opponent soon enough.

"I... crush glowing thing!" The spider said as he hammered both his fist down at the boy, but Ouryuu instantly raised his arms and blocked the spider's hammer fist. Ouryuu grunted from the sheer raw power weighing down on him. The spider was unexpectedly adept in ki manipulation, and his sheer reserves was nothing to scoff at. The blue spider was not even well-trained as well, yet he was still able to pressure him this much.

Then, absorbing more ki from the earth, Ouryuu growled as his body glowed brighter, and pushed Roka away from him; when the spider was stumbling back and lost his balance, Ouryuu did not waste any time and tackled Roka - pushing him all the way through several trees and foliages, until they crashed into a large rock.

Disoriented from the impact, Roka could not retaliate as Ouryuu pounded his fists on his head several times, followed with more quick hits on his torso, and finished with a solid upper-cut. Before the blue spider could have fallen off, Ouryuu immediately landed a finishing hay-maker, smashing half of Roka's mask to bits, while pushing the spider's head through the rock behind him.

BAM!

Ouryuu took a deep breath as he believed that the spider was down - with his body hanging on his head stuck on the rock. However, his eyebrows raised up slightly when he caught a weak groan came from the downed spider, signifying that the youkai was still alive.

"...Well, he's really tough, alright." Ouryuu thought as he began to walk back to check on the others.

oXo

"Man, you sure look fine… Are you… Y'know, once we came out of this alive and all... Free for a drink or two? My treat."

On another side, the other spider was… hitting on Awashima, wiggling his eyebrows at the 'lady'. Said 'lady' only shuddered in response, feeling as if worms had invaded her body and crawled under her skin, while her comrades snickered in hushed whispers trying not to double over and break down laughing.

"Ugh… Y'know, that's probably flattering and all, but…" Awashima said with disgusted expression. "...I'm into girls."

"Oh..." Bou simply said while kept staring at the androgynus youkai. "...Fine by me, not my first time scoring with a lesbian. Bow chicka bow wow."

Awashima's eyes only twitched as his(her?) comrades snorted even harder to hold their laughter. She swore she will murder them all later on after this.

"...After all, the ladies love me for a reason. Want me to show you why, Bou style?" the spider ranted on with suggestive gesture.

And that was the last straw, the last remaining string holding Awashima's sanity together. He(she?) brandished his/her katana, and took a step forward.

Itaku, who was (un)surprisingly remained stoic and observant, also prepared his sickles - following Awashima to end this bout. "Awashima…" However, Itaku casted a glance at his friend. "...Don't fall to his taunt. We still don't know what he's capable of. Besides, I thought you've already past that gender issue of yours."

"Shut up, I'd like to see you getting hit on by HIM." Awashima retorted.

As the band of youkai began to encircle Bou, the spider only brandished his sword - which looked rather impressive - the length defied common sense, perhaps too long to be used properly; it had blue hilt without a guard, yet the blade was meticulously forged, smooth and clean and curves at the tip, making the sword retained a certain form of grace and beauty.

"Ho, we're having a groupie? Cool. Although the ratio of men and women isn't really to my liking." Bou commented.

"Can I cut his 'thing' off?" Awashima asked with a dangerous tone.

"...No." Itaku rejected with an even tone.

"Can I break it then?"

Itaku remained silent for a second before he sighed. "...Fine."

"...Just so you know, this sword is one of a kind. It can cut just about anything, even your 'holy gears' or whatever. And only I can wield this bad boy, you non-chosen nobodies. I dare even one of you to-"

BAM!

Before Bou could have uttered another word… something broke, like the sound of a nut cracking in the forest. His face lost all color, his legs trembled for few seconds before his body collapsed onto his knees into fetal position with his hands caressing his crotch.

As Awashima retracted her foot that was responsible, he glared down at the down Spider, while the rest of Tono youkai only watched the anti-climactic battle. "How do you like that now? Let's see if you can still crack up those bullshits of yours."

"…So, you do love my wang… didn't know you're an S… Bow chicka bow wow..." the spider only groaned weakly without getting up from the ground.

The youkai only groaned and rolled their eyes in return. "...Can we just wrap up everything here and move on?" Awashima asked with exasperated tone to Itaku, who nodded and ordered everyone to clean up the rest of the stragglers on the battlefield.

---

It took sometime later until the Alliance managed to round up the enemies and their wounded allies. They tied their enemies via mystic rope, enchanted to be as durable as possible, preventing even them from escaping its grasp.

On the other hand, Asia was busy tending on the wounded - while her Twilight Healing could not cure poisoning, the Tono youkai lent their own medical specialists to help with the matter.

On that note, Yuuto would not be able to keep up with the rest of the raid due to the paralysis poison still running in his system, much to his chagrin. Thus, the group from Kuoh was one person short.

However, the capture of the enemy was not without difficulty. Meaning, they had to deal with the last vestige of resistance from the more… unsavory ones. Mainly, the masked idiot and the pervert.

"YOU CAN BREAK MY BODY, MY DIGNITY, BUT YOU WON'T TAKE AWAY MY…... DOODY!" Roka shouted as he was rounded up with the rest of his friends.

Dohiko, who watched the masked spider brute yelling, sighed in resignation. "...Even in defeat, still incomprehensible."

"Yeah, that's just how Roka is. Everyone needs a while to get used to him." the ape youkai turned to see a spider in a light blue garb talking to him.

"I see, err…?" Dohiko wanted to address the spider, but had no idea of his name.

"Call me Kyokai, dumb ape." Kyokai introduced himself with bland tone.

Soon enough - Zet, Kyoka, Bou and (surprisingly)Roka were rounded up separately from the rest of the army of spider youkai. The youkai of Oshu Tono and the group from Kuoh were questioning them for more information regarding their cells.

"So…" Dohiko decided to take the lead of the interrogation. "...I'll get to the point; how many men do you have? According to our intel, you guys are in the middle of some ritual. What are you plotting?"

"...You need three things. First, go the forest and grab a sword, cut off your dick, and use it to fuck yourself silly." Bou told them, in his own colorful language, to go fuck off.

"Oh, oh, like you almost did with your thing?" Roka interrupted ebulliently.

"Roka, we agreed not to bring that up ever again! Shut up!" Bou retorted angrily.

"Right, sorry. You never did anything with your thing." Roka quickly said in return.

"Don't make it sound as if I don't use it, you idiot." Bou retorted, hissing at the idiot tied to his back.

"Jokes aside…" Rossweisse cleared her throat to gain the prisoner's attention. "...It will be your best interest to cooperate. If you comply, we will see that your punishments will be less severe and all of you will be treated well."

"How about you just untie me, so I can show you a good time instead, miss?" Bou replied as he wiggled his eyebrows at the valkyrie. "...Bow chicka bow wow." of course he also whispered the final words to his comrades next to him, much to their chagrin.

"Ugh… Good god, make him stop." Zet pleaded to her captors.

"Zet, you know that Bou won't stop. That's his trade-marks, as much as I hate it." Kyokai retorted with flat tone.

"Then someone cut him with my weapon or something."

"He is immune to poison you know?"

"Then use it to cut out his tongue, and take his vocal chords out for good measure." Zet clarified.

"Hey! What's with this bashing?!" Bou protested. "If you're talking about shutting up, you should go for Roka! He's noisier than me!"

"Your voice is a thousand times worse." Zet dryly retorted.

"Hey!" the spiders then turned to see Awashima, whose eyebrows were twitching with impatience. "We are in charge now. So you either talk, or we'll get rid of you."

The spiders only turned to watch the youkai, devils and angel surrounding them, before Kyokai snorted. "Well, I think it doesn't really matter if we tell you guys or not. All of us, you people included, are gonna die soon enough anyway, so you might as well just kill us and - per Bou said, go fuck yourselves silly."

The youkai from Oshu Tono, as well as the group from Kuoh glanced at one another until Itaku made the call. "...You brought this upon yourselves." he coldy said as he brandished his sickles.

"Heh! Says the invaders. Is this your home you barged in? No? Then shut your mouth, hypocrite, and get this fucking over with." Kyokai snided at Itaku.

Itaku did not say anything as he simply raised his sickle over the spider's head, before he swung down.

"PLEASE STOP!"

However, Itaku paused in mid-swing at the shout and everyone turned to see Asia standing- shielding the rounded prisoners. "Please, just… stop!" the former nun tearfully pleaded, her frame was trembling.

Itaku looked skeptically at Asia, but he complied nonetheless as the latter walked closer to approach the spiders.

Then, much to everyone's surprises, Asia kneeled down next to Roka - whom she particularly recalled having his head crashed into a rock, and she applied her Twilight Healing at the masked spider.

Itaku only narrowed his eyes at the action. "Hey… What do you think you're doing?" he asked with cold tone. "Did you forget that they're our enemies?"

In Oshu Tono's line of work as mercenary clan, they had no time for granting mercy to their enemies. If you had time to feel sorry for your enemies, you might as well be using it to fight for victory, as well as for the sake of your comrades, fallen and alive alike.

"Yes, but they can't fight anymore." Asia replied as she paused to return Itaku's cold look with her resolute one... "...There is no need for any further violence."

"Okay, you listen here…" Itaku took a step forward towards Asia. However, as soon as he made the first step, Itaku suddenly his path was obstructed by Irina and Koneko, who starred vehemently at him while shielding Asia.

The act caused Itaku's friends from Tono, as well as the rest of Kuoh group, to tense up, even Asia started to look worry for her friends. Each of them was ready to fight again to defend their respective comrades.

However, Itaku quickly held his hand up - signaling his own comrades to stay down, when the kamaitachi realised that the reincarnated angel and devil were not raising their arms whatsoever.

Irina and Koneko only starred at Itaku for another moment before the former glanced and nodded at Asia, who took it as her cue to continue her job.

Itaku only narrowed his eyes at Asia, then at Irina and Koneko who were remained on their position in front of him. Itaku still could not accept the sight before him and wanted to do something, but he knew better than firing the first shot when dealing with allies/colleagues.

As if knowing Itaku's dilemma by looks alone, Irina's expression softened up as she gave a somewhat apologetic smile. "Sorry about this, but that's just Asia for you."

"Yes, so please suck it up for now." Koneko put her own two-cents while maintaining her stony face.

Itaku only glared at his supposedly allies for few more moments before he finally sighed in resignation, opting to see how things would play out for now.

On the other hand, the spiders were… stunned, at Asia's action. The masked spider, whose head injury was healed by the girl's Sacred Gear, was the one who received the biggest impact.

"You…. are unbearably naive." Zet gave her remarks. However, Asia did not bother to reply, as she had heard that kind of remark from quite a few people in her life - enough that she was used to it.

"What she said." Kyokai added. "...Look, you might have your heart in right places, but we don't need your pity."

This time, Asia kind of looked perplexed at Kyoka's remarks. However, ...

"Hell yeah, we do!" Bou quickly retorted. "In fact, I'd love to have her taking good care of me now... Bow chicka bow wow."

The silence following was rather deafening. At this point, everyone gave Bou scathing looks. "...Really, even now?" Kyokai dryly commented.

"Hey, we're probably gonna die anyway, so why not go out with a climax? Bow chicka bow wow." Bou shot back with another catchphrase of his, much to his friends' annoyance.

"Then, um, please wait a little longer…" Asia replied to Bou's words, oblivious to any innuendos behind his words. "Once I'm done with this gentleman, I'll tend to you as soon as I can."

Everyone (perhaps safe for those from Kuoh) was baffled at the display of innocence. "...Is it weird that I suddenly feel bad?" Bou asked as he kept his eyes at Asia's smile.

"...It's even weirder that you have a capacity to feel bad in the first place." Kyokai replied, while also starring incredulously at the maiden.

After she was done with Roka, Asia then proceeded to heal Bou next - whom did not say anything as Asia worked on his wounds. Then, she kept working on her healing until Zet and Kyokai were healed from their injuries.

"There, all done…" Asia said with a sigh, while swiping her hand over her sweating forehead. "You should be fine for now. Are there anymore injuries?" she asked with a bright smile.

"...Will you be my friend?" Roka asked as his masked faced eyed Asia with reverie.

The blonde bishop only blinked and looked back at Roka for a second, before she flashed another genuine, radiant smile. "Sure, I'd love to!"

"Yaaay!" Roka cheered in a childish tone, his tight-bounded frame was shaking with excitement.

Itaku and the other youkai blinked, while the Kuoh party only smiled and shook their heads in amusement.

"I can't wait to take you to meet our friends!" However, Roka was deflated all of sudden. "...Oh, right. Mr. Poodles is still gone… I really miss him."

Kyoka, Zet and Bou only rolled their eyes at Roka's depressed state. All of them knew that 'Mr. Poodles' did not actually exist. It was actually Roka's self-made plushie, acting as his surrogate best friend in order for him to cope up with bloody days on battlefield.

...And as a convenient means of stoking Roka's angry side, Kyoka and Zet agreed to hide 'Mr. Poodles', at least until their job was over.

"I'm… I'm so sorry." The spiders were snapped out of their reverie when they saw Asia's sad expression, the girl's hand was on Roka's lap, moving in comforting manner. "I…. probably can help you find him. Was Mr. Poodles a part of the battle? If so perhaps I can remember his features, I healed quite a number of your other friends as well." she said in reassuring tone.

The Spiders only starred dumbly at Asia's sincerity before Bou turned his head at his captors. "...Is this girl for real?"

Irina and Koneko, who happened to stand closest to Bou, only shrugged with a knowing smile in return.

Eventually, Zet sighed in defeat. "...Well, I don't really care of what happens to whom anymore, so I'll give you guys a heads-up."

The female spider's statement caught everyone's attention. Once the spiders confirmed that everyone was all ears, Kyokai took the initiative and began to talk. "We've been hired by the Shikoku as their additional fighting force to take and rule over the Eastern youkai, and…. Simply put, our elders accepted."

"...You accepted the request to aid rebels…. To prevent your other fellow youkai to achieve peace?" Irina asked carefully.

"Girl… We, the spiders, are warriors, hunters - mercenaries." Zet retorted. "We don't know any other way to live aside from killing and hunting…. At least that's what our leaders believe."

"Honestly, I don't really care if the youkai would be allied with other pantheons and shit like that." This time, it was Bou who put his two-cents. "But the elders…. Have been quite depressed from the lack of fight and all. I gotta say, they're bat-shit crazy."

"Yeah, I have no idea what they are planning at all." Roka joined in.

"Roka, you barely have any idea of anything at all." Bou retorted.

"ANYWAY…" Zet interjected. "Truthfully speaking, our numbers had been declining due to our low birth-rate, as well as the lack of hunt prevents us to prosper…. Thus, the elders decided to perform a ritual to ensure the success of this coup."

"...What kind of ritual?" Itaku asked with intrigued, yet somewhat grim look.

"...Resurrection. Or, perhaps it's more like they're trying to release something that had been sealed centuries ago."

"And that 'something' is…?" This time, it was Amezo who voiced everyone's curiosity.

"Honestly? We don't know either." Kyokai replied, but before anyone could have said anything more in return, he quickly continued. "However, we've been hearing stories, it's just the name of this creature had been obscured and as good as forgotten through the course of history."

"Famous spider youkai whose name is forgotten…?" Awashima said with skeptical tone.

"Yeah, it's weird, but I heard that this guy was some kind of a badass, the baddest of them." Bou replied. "The first thing we were told about him was that he's an evil spirit that one must never encounter."

Everyone blinked at the first information - Evil spirit that one must never encounter?

Zet and Kyokai then proceeded to tell what they knew regarding the tale.

Gods and spirits alike must avoid him at all costs.

Once you see him, you can only stop and await your death.

One of the strongest, if not the strongest, youkai has rampaged through the heart of Kansai since the time of immemorial.

He cannot be controlled, he cannot be defeated.

If it so happens that his stomach is empty… Avoid him at all costs, for he will devour gods and demons alike.

As soon as the tale ended, the area fell into dead silence, as fear and wariness began to seep into everyone's being.

"...And there you have it." Zet finished. "The ritual had begun a while ago. I believe it would be complete by the time you reach the heart of our territory. So, if you truly value your lives, as well as your comrades, I suggest you leave and warn the outside world of what's to come. Your numbers had been depleted from our previous debacle, you guys don't stand a chance as of now."

"You know this far about the danger whatever this might be…" Irina started with grave tone. "...and you lot decided to let it happen?"

"We are soldiers, little girl. We are merely pawns and pieces on the board. Our jobs are to fulfill our orders." Zet calmly replied. "...And I told you, we spiders only know how to live through hunting and killing."

"That's… That's not right!" Asia spoke up, drawing back everyone's attention to her. "You might be youkai… But I believe you are person as well! There must be other way to live than what those elders deemed you to be!"

The spiders only starred speechless at Asia's sincere expression. The youkai shared each other looks for a second before they looked down in thought. Truthfully, it was the first time someone saw them as individuals, instead of some expendable soldiers on battlefield; and the feeling they had when the blonde girl said those words…. Were completely foreign, albeit not in a bad way.

"...Heh, whatever." Kyokai finally said. "In that case, this might be our last time making mistakes. Just leave us here, do whatever you guys gotta do."

Everyone went silent at the spider's words, however….

"...Then we will make sure that all of you won't die." Everyone turned to see Ouryuu speaking. "Like you people, we also have our own job. I don't know much about the specifics, but our superiors would not mind welcoming you into the Alliance. Your lives will be guaranteed." Ouryuu looked around at his comrades from Kuoh, who all nodded in agreement.

Zet, Kyouka, Bou, Roka and the rest of the spiders only starred at Ouryuu for few moments before Zet asked. "...Why all this…. Like going so far for us?"

"...Will you accept if I say that I - we simply want to?" Ouryuu said with small smile, while his mind went to the image of a certain young man with red draconic gauntlet on his left arm.

Few moments of silence later, Kyokai sighed in defeat. "...Suit yourselves."

The expression of Ouryuu, as well as the members of Gremory family brightened up. They turned to look at the youkai from Tono, whom only sighed as a sign of acceptance. "Well, they gave us intel in the end, so there's no need to do anything to them." Awashima said, sheathing her sword.

"...For the record, we don't care if they will live or die, as long as we got our own job done." Itaku gave one last look before he went off toward the intended destination.

It took only few minutes for everyone to join as well, leaving few numbers of youkai behind to take care of the prisoners and the wounded.

---

The alliance group continued their trek towards the heart of enemy territory. As they went further and further into the woods, the tension kept building up.

Everyone could feel the oppressive atmosphere, and ominous aura that only thickened at every step they took forward; noises and sounds of demented chants and prayers could be vaguely heard from the depths of the forest.

Despite all of those, however, they all remained strong as they pushed through the foliage and arrived at the ritual site, with screens and torches set up around a clearing.

In the middle of the clearing, there was a massive magic ritual with a large tombstone with glowing red carvings, standing in the middle. Surrounding it was a group of people covered in robes, the cloth white and embroidered with bones from different creatures.

However, upon closer look, one could notice that there were some…. Inhuman features poking out from the hem of their clothes.

When the cultists noticed the Alliance's arrival, the leader - judging from his more 'ornate' robe, being silken red and his cloth decorated with jewel-embedded gold plate, which made him stood out more compared to others; turned to address his invaders.

"So, the softies have finally come to our headquarters! Did you all really think you all can waltz in here and be done with it, like stumbling onto a corpse drained of its juices before you can even sink your teeth into? I think not, you fleshbags!"

Ignoring the cultist-leader's words, Ouryuu was the first to reply. "Whatever you are trying to pull here, stop it now and surrender, or we will apprehend you with extreme prejudice! This is your one and only warning!"

However, as soon as Ouryuu gave his warning, something happened. The ritual ground suddenly glowed before the earth began to shake. The area beneath the tomb-stone began to move upwards, as if something was about to burst out from underground.

"Heheheh, I guess you are all too late…." The cultist-leader cackled. "...Trying to apprehend these, dirt-bags!"

BOOM!

The earth erupted into an explosion that sent a shockwave that caused dust and debris to fly around, obscuring everyone's visions. However, as the dust slowly settled, the entire group suddenly sensed a massive, oppressive presence enveloping the whole area. They even felt difficult to remain standing, as beads of sweat started to pour. However, they found themselves frozen when they saw what appeared before them.

A towering imposing figure emerged from the smoke, its shadow covered all standing before it. The sun gleaming from atop its head, casting a shadow that darkened its face.

Its aura, on the other hand, was another matter; the sheer intensity of its presence magnified its already large body tenfold. Sinister golden lights flickered, its eyes glowing in golden radiance as it darted to its smaller challengers before it. The golden lights flickered, scanning its prey with predatory hunger... only for it to dim as the eyes narrowed.

The massive creature looked around for a second before it breathed out a steam from its mouth. Now that everyone's vision became clearer the allied group could see what they were facing - it was a monstrous figure with multiple arms, towering over youkai, angels and devils alike. It possessed four muscular arms and stood on two legs, and was clad in an outfit that resembled a ruffian. Its face apparently had an appearance of a gruesome horned mask.

While everyone generally, more or less was exercising caution, but something else was gnawing away at their minds.

The youkai of Oshu Tono had fought their fair shares of powerful foes - they might belong to a newer, younger generations; but despite their confidence in their skills, they could not help but think that the adversary before them might be their greatest challenge as of yet.

Ouryuu balled his fists tightly. It was his first time of going outside of his family territory and yet he had encounter an opponent that he believed to be way out of his league. But nonetheless, he refused to back down from this battle, for many things were at stake. Otherwise he would not be able to face the Red Dragon Emperor.

Rossweisse swallowed a lump as she prepared her strongest spells. When she was faced with the gigantic creature… she could not help but think that the presence the creature was exuding, reminded her of Issei and Saitama. This was going to be one of the hardest fights of her life, if she were able to survive.

Asia clutched her hands tightly in prayer, her eyes were glued at the giant visage and her body was frozen in fear. At times like this, she wished that Issei was right beside her. Even Rassei, who was ever vigilant on top of her head, was hissing like mad.

Irina was barely faring any better, as she grabbed her sword of light for dear life. She wanted to run away, but she could not move. Was it because her friends' lives were on the line, or was it she was too scared to even run? She decided not to answer and stood her ground in the end.

When Kuroka and Koneko had their eyes set upon the monster before them, they could not help but think… that they just wanted to run back home and threw herself into their mother's embrace.

"Hn…." the creature hummed, showing a sign of sentience. "It's been way too long since I fell asleep…..."

When the creature said the last line, his golden eyes fell upon Tono Youkai and Kuoh group. That was when everyone realized the gnawing feeling - fear.

"…. And who the hell are you lot supposed to be?"

The real fight had just begun.

---

I have to say, writing this was quite tedious. However, I still saw this through.

So, as you have seen, I put Suzaku Himejima and Ouryuu Nakiri into the equation. Kudos for those who can tell the Easter Eggs, as well as references. Let me know if I do their characters enough justice.

The Night Parade arc will end in one or two more chapters, as we will see how Kuroka's (and possibly Koneko as well) character will develop in One-Punch DxD.

Until then, no flame reviews please! Unless if they are actually constructive. Ahsoei, over and out.