Late Afternoon
Kuoh, Downtown
Issei was hanging out in the small playground that he had always come to as a kid. It had special meaning to him as this had been where he had been taught the glory that was breasts. It had been when he was ten and a elderly man had stopped by and told him stories of his adventures in his younger days. He was Issei hero, as the amount of tales he had where he would end up hands and face deep in huge fun bags were many and glorious. The idea that this man may have been lying never crossed Issei's mind.
"Don't worry Asia… soon… I'll get so strong that'll save you and every smoking hot chick from the Fallen Angels." Issei mumbled to himself as he tried to work himself out on the monkey bars. Only to soon fall on his back after slipping off the bars. "Agg… when am I going to be badass too?" Issei whined as he stood back up.
"Issei?" The sound of Asia saying his name caused no small amount of joy in the Pawn. He turned around in shock to see Asia standing at the edge of the playground with a mix of happiness and surprise on her face. An hour later the two were at a small diner where she was explaining that she had left the church with her bodyguard to scout out the town. But he had vanished on her a few minutes prior to her finding Issei. "It's nice to see you again so soon after I last saw you. The people I work for aren't the friendliest to be around." She admitted but she knew that she couldn't go into detail. Fallen Angels and the supernatural was supposed to be secret after all.
"Then why don't you just quit?" Issei asked seeing a chance here. He knew that Rias said not to talk to Asia but if he was able to get her to leave the Fallen Angels then he was sure Rias would understand.
"I can't, I'm sorry but it's complicated and it's not as simple as just up and leaving." Asia said nervously with hints of guilt coming through her voice. It just didn't feel right to her at times working for the Fallen Angels. But the Church had declared her a heretic and a witch, they would kill her if they got the chance. And she would still try to do the lord's will even if it meant working for those she didn't like.
Issei meanwhile just held back his desire to say that it wasn't and that he and Rias' peerage could protect her. He had some sense to be cautious around the idea of telling her he was a devil just yet. They had only just met today and while he felt like there was something more between them he knew he should risk that. So instead he opted to try and cheer her up today. Showing Asia around Kuoh, taking her on what was a date in all but official name. He felt good making her happy and not once all through their time together did he have a single perverted thought.
"Do you have any idea where your bodyguard might be?" Issei asked somewhat reluctantly but he could tell that Asia should be with the man hired to protect her. Issei and Asia had a good time but the threat of the Fallen Angels finding them still pestered him in the back of his mind.
"No… he was there and then he wasn't. It's strange given that before today he was always so adamant at staying by my side." Asia explained as she held the small plushy toy that Issei had won for her. It had been one of the best days of her life and she had this boy to thank. They walked through an empty park the sound of a nearby water fountain was the only sound in the area. Issei found it a little strange, this park was normally a hotspot for locals. "I'm sure that he's-"
"Isn't this so cute." The sound of a voice both teens recognized, to varying degrees of fear, shut down any previous thoughts they had. They both looked to the fountain where they saw Raynare smiling at them, a smile that sent shivers of fear and dread through the Devil and former nun. "Naughty naughty Asia… cavorting with Devils again." Raynare admonished mockingly.
"What?!" Asia exclaimed in shock before looking to Issei. "Issei tell me it isn't true." She pleaded with tears in her eyes. That the boy that was so nice to her was in fact a devil broke her heart.
"There's no use denying it Issei." Raynare spoke before Issei could defend himself. "When I found you with Asia here I couldn't believe it… that you had survived. Then I watched as you took her on one of your sickeningly sweet dates and just couldn't help but laugh. You sure know how to pick them." Raynare continued to mock with great disdain for the both of them. It pissed her off to no end how soft they could be, both examples of potential that went wasted on soft hearts. Unable to raise above the corpses of the defeated, stronger than those that came before. She fell for that exact reason, because the purity of the Angels was a weakness that needed to be purged. Only those willing to be strong deserved power. And the two in front of her had been gifted with power from birth, and both were wasted talent that had grown soft in the human world. It didn't, she would soon have Twilight Healing and as for Issei… this time she would make sure he stayed dead. Hopefully someone more worthy would inherit his Sacred Gear. "Now come along Asia… if you be a good little girl then your punishment will be light."
"No." Asia said softly, however both Issei and Raynare heard her. Issei had a look of victory, thankfulness and joy all mixing on his face. Meanwhile Raynare sneered in rage and disgust. "I won't go back with you!" Asia shouted as she took ahold of Issei's arm. "I don't care that Issei's a Devil, he's still a better person than you could ever be." Her declaration made Issei's eyes widen in pure shock, he felt his heart ache with a feeling that he never had before. That someone as nice and pure as Asia said something like that when he didn't even think of himself that highly… he couldn't explain how good it felt.
"You little bitch…" Raynare smiled from ear to ear, that was all she needed. Raynare let her wings unfurl and formed a spear of light in her hand. "Your Nazi freak of a bodyguard can't save you now." Raynare growled to herself before infusing all her power into the spear and then flipping around stabbing Otto through the leg, pinning him to the ground.
"How did you?" Otto gasped before snapping back and attempting to grab Raynare. But he failed and within the blink of the eye Raynare was gone and behind both Asia and Issei. The Fallen Angel grabbed ahold of her prize and flew into the air.
"Nice seeing you again Issei, we really have to do it again." Raynare laughed before taking off toward the ruined church with Asia flailing on her shoulder.
"Damn you! I'm not letting you get away Yu-"
"Quit it kid." Otto said cutting off Issei rage filled deceleration. "If you really want to save her than you need to get your little devil friends." The mercenary said as he pulled out the spear of light, the hole in his leg that it had created filled back up with a mix of nanomachines and flesh. "That bitchy crow thinks that because Asia has verbally defected that means my contract is null and void. She has another thing coming."
"You had a feeling that she would pull this?" Issei demanded, any normal fear he would have for the larger man who clearly knew how to kill very effectively and/or painfully was gone in the face of Asia's safety.
"Kinda was the point of my job… looks like I failed a little bit in that." Otto chuckled which just sounded wrong coming from his voice box. "But if she's planning on doing what I think she is, then you're going to need to bring your King and any others with her." Otto said before starting his way toward the church. "Don't worry… I'll have the party started by the time you get there."
Early Evening
Kuoh, Old School Building
Dante and Koneko returned from the sweets shop, having gone there after school while Rias and Akeno worked, Kiba was out on jobs and Issei was on flyer monkey duty. Or at least that's what they thought was going on. Koneko enjoyed when Dante would spend time with her instead of when he was with Akeno and Rias. The younger girl found them too clingy, not seeing that she was becoming increasingly so with her fellow Rook as well.
"Do you think you could make cakes like the one in the window?" Koneko asked as she through back to the several layer cake that stood in the front window of the shop.
"Oh I could do so much better than that…" Dante said as he opened the door to the Old School Building. "… I could…" Dante didn't finish his boast as an amalgam of floorboards and wall in the shape of a monstrous man came roaring at him. Reflexes kicked in and Dante detonated a blast of Ice and grabbed Koneko and jumped back.
"Thank you…." Koneko said trying to hide the unexpected blush that came over her. She didn't; need to be saved by Dante but it was nice to have someone that would and proved he would do it. "… but what was that?"
"Whatever it is there's more of them." Dante grumbled as he looked on into the front hallway of the Old School Building as the cold mist cleared. In there was countless of the strange constructs. All made from pieces of the building itself or the furniture in it. All held together by strange bands of fluid black ooze. "Ready to clean house?" Dante asked with a smirk having wanted to use that line for something other than mobster related business forever now.
"That was lame… but yeah." She said as she got ready for the fight. The two Rooks jumped forward into the amassing mob of crazy monsters. This proved disastrous the second they actually touched the creatures.
"ERROR! You are nothing but a mistake of nature and soon... you will be corrected!" An undeniably alien voice boomed in their minds the second they made contact with the bodies of the invading constructs. A sense of pure and unbound hate and rage ringed through their minds, bodies, and souls. It made their whole lives feel utterly meaningless when placed under the weight of the sheer power of whatever was speaking to them. They would have been swarmed if not for Dante's panic-induced body reacting violently as it did when in situations such as this. A tirade of ice and snow blasted all around the former Grim Reaper, shredding and freezing anything it touched. Except for Koneko who was thankfully in the eye of the storm, frost clung to her but did little else.
"W-what… what the absolute fuck was that?" His breath was haggard, and it was difficult to hold onto his sanity. He was on his knees and hands trying to keep his breakfast from coming up as he collected the things he knew. Akeno, their time together and how happy she made him. Lakwa and all the times he taught Dante how to be a man. His Father, and his rage and hate for him. Rias and his commitment to his service to her. Dante then glanced to the side and Koneko, she was curled up and he could tell she was taking this worse than himself.
"I'm… it's right… I shouldn't be here… I'm just a mistake of nature…" She sobbed as the words that had been roared into her mind struck so many cords in her that she was nearing a catatonic state of self-loathing. She wanted to reach inside her chest and rip her heart out, just end her existence and become the nothing she felt she had remained as. But then she felt something banish all those feelings, she felt someone hold onto her. It was cool… a relaxing oasis that was her refuge from all those feelings that had been shoved down her throat.
"You are not a mistake. You're here and you deserve to be here." Dante said with steel in his voice, he wouldn't let Koneko give into the idea that just felt so absurd to him. Everyone deserved to exist, they deserved the chance to prove themselves. What they did after they were given that choice either damned them or proved their worth.
"Dante…" She cried as she held onto his shirt as tightly as she could and pressed her face into his chest. Just feeling him so close was a lifeline. The sound of ice cracking however reminded them that this wasn't the place to feel safe. Dante looked up and saw more of those monsters clawing and smashing their way at the frozen chunks of Ice that had been made in Dante freak out.
"Koneko, we need to stand and fight." Dante said but her only response was holding him tighter. "Don't let whatever the hell that was prove itself right. Prove that you exist and kick their asses like the badass I know you are." He encouraged, she looked up to see him smiling down at her. That knowledge that he believed in her and counted on her as a partner in combat gave the girl a bit of her fight back. They both stood up and looked at the inchingly closer horde of monster they couldn't touch. Both were feeling a bit better, enough to fight, but they in no way wanted to go through what they went through again.
"How are we going kill them… we punch things… we can't punch them." She asked and she then felt her hands grow cold. She looked down and saw that Dante had covered them in his Grim Ice.
"I put a little extra to these…" Dante said hiding the pain that he was feeling, the Ice was biting him even as he covered his own hands in it. The backlash of his powers was getting worse. But he would have to bare through it for now, this was the only idea he had. "… they should last long enough but if they break disengage and find me." Koneko nodded thankful that Dante had her covered. Both looked at the barely held back mob and ready themselves for the coming fight.
Kuoh, Ruined Church
Otto walked up the dirt path that led to the ruined church. He finished loading his shotgun with the special ammo he kenw would be needed here. With a loud click he snapped the magazine into the weapon. He knew that he should have paid closer attention, but he let himself get sloppy letting his charge enjoy a small moment of normalcy with the devil boy.
"Come shitty crows! Is that all you got!" He heard a crazed man scream out gleefully. "I've fought hos with more bite to them… hehe…" This was followed by the Church doors being flung wide German bodyguard looked up and saw Raynare flying above with several wounds on her body, then a white-haired man wearing a tattered old exorcist uniform walk out of the church. His face bleach white with splotches of sickened gray, black veins that glowed somehow with the same color, and a smile that spoke madness and nothing else. In his arm was a knocked out Asia. "Damn… was really hoping to get a piece of that ass before you tuck your wings and ran. But I guess… FUCK!" The man screamed as Waldseemüller's flashbang hit him point blank. In the former Exorcist's blindness he felt that the girl he had been ordered to nab was gone from his arm
"Raynare!" Waldseemüller yelled up to the flying Fallen Angel. "Take Miss Argento and get her to the Devils!" Waldseemüller called out and Raynare sneered at the order. He knew that this was the exact opposite of what he came here to do but the rules of the situation changed. He threw the former nun up to the floating Fallen Angel who caught her with a shocked look on her face. "If you even think of taking her anywhere else I'm reporting to Azazel myself of your little scheme to take her Sacred Gear." That made Raynare pause in sheer fear.
"H-how? You're bluffing! There's no way the Governor General would listen to a hired thug like you!"
"Try me." Otto snapped back and from those two words Raynare could sense he wasn't screwing around. She also had to take into account that all her plans were ruined by the appearance of Freed freakin' Sellzen. Without saying a word Raynare began flying off toward Kuoh Academy.
"Owiy… owiy… of my eyes… ow… my eyes…" Freed complained as he blinked trying to regain some form of vision. The first thing he saw when it finally came back was the fist of the guy that blinded him in the first place. Freed spun back, drool flying out of his mouth at the shot to his face.
"I've never killed an artificial human before… but you don't look like what the reports said you'd be." Otto knew instantly just who this man was, anyone killer worth a damn in the Supernatural World knew the legends. But seeing Freed for himself, Otto could tell something was very off about the former priest, and that wasn't even mentioning his mental state. There was just something plain wrong with everything about the man, down to how he moved and everything else.
"THIS GREAT! I've always wanted to face down one of the SS's Lebende Maschinen!" Freed cheered as he quickly recovered and began firing off several shots toward the super soldier. The first shots landed simply because the mercenary was used to just letting things hit him. That was a big mistake, the bullets dug into his ordinarily unbreakable flesh and caused rot he hadn't felt before in all his extended life. It was only thanks to years of battle-hardened reflexes that he dodged the others.
"Then you have your wish monster." Waldseemüller growled as he dug into his wounds and ripped out the bullets, tendrils of black and green growing out from them and attempted to hold back on his body. But his strength proved to be enough to rip the invading objects out of his body.
"Big talk coming from the Nazi." Freed mocked not actually giving a shit about any of that, he just liked to push people buttons. And at the end of the day he wasn't one to talk since he was working for real Evil Incarnate.
"Former Nazi… with the fall of the Reich I no longer have any ties to the party." Waldseemüller stated, a scowl would be on his face if he could still move his jaw. Never again would he kill for ideology, money sure… money was useful and he could see money. But the man was disillusioned to any concept of belief.
"Enough talk… that was excellent foreplay but let's get on the main event, shall we?" Freed said before licking his lips in eagerness for the fight.
Kuoh, Old School Building
"WHY! WON'T YOU! JUST! STAY! DOWN!" Dante yelled out as he punched the massive construct in the face continuously until it did indeed stay down. It had been the final boss of the rabid monsters that had invaded the Occult Research Club's building. The creature groaned as its head began to rise once again but with a loud thud its head shattered after getting punched one last time by a Rook's Grim Ice encased fist. "Just fucking stay down would you…" Dante breathed, he looked around and saw Koneko and Kiba both entirely out of breath from fighting for their lives. All of them in the hollowed-out insides of the Old School Building, it wasn't on their minds how much of a pain it was going to be to fix it all.
"I think they are all finished… but what are they doing here?" Kiba asked as he sheathed his sword. He thankfully never experienced the vision that Dante and Koneko went through, being able to keep the monsters' touch at bay with his swords.
"No idea… but they sure were too many of them." Dante said as he jumped off the massive creature. "Minos!" Dante called out hoping the Jinn would have some answers. But then was surprised when Minos did not answer his call. "Okay now I'm worried."
"Where is Rias and Akeno?" Koneko asked before they could feel the shock of their King and Queen missing they heard the front door open. The three went into battle mode but stopped when they heard who it was.
"You guys! I need… what the hell happened here?!" Issei shouted as he saw the destruction that had been done to the ORC. He had ran here as fast as he could from the park where Asia had been taken. He was hoping to find Rias and everyone so they could mount a rescue mission but he was not expecting to find everyone in their own pile of shit.
"We don't know, and we have no idea where Rias, Akeno, or Minos is." Dante growled as he had just listed off some of the most important people in his life. "For all we know these guys could have taken them… I'd think that if I didn't already know that neither Rias or Akeno would go down quietly. Minos however isn't a fighter… he runs away better than anyone."
"And yet he doesn't come back and tell us what happened, which leaves that whoever did this must have taken them by stealth." Kiba said figuring it out but couldn't understand the enemy's reasons or logic.
"We need to re…" Dante started but then was stopped by the sound something crashing into the upper floor meeting room. "What now…" Dante growled as he hoped that it wasn't reinforcements for the invaders. Everyone rushed up the stairs and Koneko punched down the door to where they had heard the source of the crash. They found someone had flown through the window, that someone was a Fallen Angel. Kiba and Koneko both readied themselves for another fight while both Dante and Issei recognized the Fallen Angel.
"Yuma…" Issei said confused as that was the last person he expected see given what just happened. "…What are you doing here?!" Issei demanded as he was still under the impression that she was eneny. In many was she was but right now she had no intention of following through on their very recent hostilities, not when a bigger threat was on the horizen. Raynare grumbled and unfurled herself as she slumped over on her back. A knocked out Asia fell out of her hands.
"Urgh… that was not a good idea." Raynare grunted as she felt every part of her hurt. She opened her eyes to find the tip of a sword at her face. "Listen… I know that we aren't supposed to be friends here… but…" She tried but didn't put much effort into it. She knew damn well that her chances of living from this was low.
"There are no buts here! What are you doing here after the shit you pulled?" Issei demanded, Raynare looked back and frowned at seeing Issei still alive. Dante glanced to Issei picking up that something had happened and he needed to know what.
"I saved her… not that I wanted to. But when that bastard of a unkillable killing machine told me the alterative to not saving her… had to do it." Raynare groaned, she knew that they hated her. That was okay, she hated them too. "We don't have time to screw with each other… not when I was nearly killed by an artificially created human-made to be a devil killing machine, and one that was declared MIA seventy years ago. Namely Freed Sellzen" Raynare said with a twitch of fear that was clear and shocked everyone. Freed Sellzen was a name known in Heaven and Hell as ruthless maniac that shows up at random points in recent history. Leaving only destruction and suffering in his wake.
"What are you talking about?" Dante asked raising his eyebrow a bit.
"I'm talking about thee number one rogue Exorcist that hunts down Devils and Angels alike. A man that fucked each and every one of my men and nearly killed me if it wasn't for the SS freak." Raynare explained not expecting them to believe her until Asia woke up and confirmed things for her. What had surprised the Fallen Angel was that little Issei knew the nun.
"Okay. First off… Issei…" Dante said turning to the Pawn. "… you know that girl?" Issei nodded in response. "Good, take her and make sure she's okay. When she wakes up get me, and you better not do anything I wouldn't." Dante gave his orders and warning and Issei did as told. His perverted tendencies momentarily curbed from worry over Asia and the anger at seeing Yuma. "Kiba… you get on the phone and call Sona, I know she's in the underworld for some party for his sister, but this is an attack on Kuoh. She's partly responsible for the town so she needs to be informed. Koneko… I want you to look around the grounds to see if you can find any sign of who took Rias." Kiba and Koneko both nodded, not questioning the fact that while Dante was only second to Issei in terms of seniority he was the one giving orders. After Kiba left Koneko just stood in the door for a moment and then looked back to Dante. "Something wr…" Dante stopped as Koneko gave him a quick hug and then darted out the door.
"Aw… that was sweet." Raynare mocked as she sat herself up against the wall. "Might as well been saying goodbye forever."
"Enough…" Dante growled as he began walking toward Raynare. "First off… Yuma… could you tell me who you really are and tell me why the Fallen Angels are here?"
"My name isn't Yuma… that was just some name I got off a forum. My name is Raynare. And Azazel sent me here to watch and determine if little Issei was going to go berserk because of his Sacred Gear. We also had a second mission from Kokabiel to see if we can take that blond girl's Sacred Gear for our own. Problem was… Azazel ordered that the girl be protected by us… had to make a choice."
"And which did you choose?" Dante asked, the air starting to grow cold. Raynare then began to feel the air grow heavy with this young man's power bleeding into it. It was a well known fact that being able to exert your own spiritual power into the world like this was a mark that you were far different than the common rabble of the Supernatural World.
"I went with the orders from the Governor General." Raynare lied, but she could tell the Right choice in this situation. Her plan right now was to bullshit her way out of this conversation and then fly her way out of this town. "Any fool would know not to piss him off." Dante looked at her for a moment, she could tell that he was doing anything but checking her out as most men did. That was the cold logical stare that all she had only seen a Grim give, Raynare shuddered at the memory. Grim Reapers could be damn emotional at most times… but get them angry and they became dead to the world.
"Very well… I could understand that fear of one of the most powerful beings in the Underworld could make the choice for you." Dante said but he wasn't done with this Raynare. "You decided that Issei was worth killing… you thought that he would go berserk?"
"I thought that it would be best to just get it over with and be done with this assignment and get on with my life." Raynare said knowing that the boy in front of her was in the same Devil Household as Issei. Dante just paced in front of Raynare, that same logical glare saving her as much as it terrified her. She had information… she knew he wasn't going to kill her out of anger. That wasn't what Grim did, and if this kid was what she thought he was… then she was safe.
"And what about Freed… why is he here?" Dante asked moving on from Issei. He suspected that maybe Freed was connected to the monsters that had attacked them. The coinciding of the timing of attacks was too close to ignore. Then there was the small idea nagging at his mind that this somehow involved Randel and his threat.
"How the fuck should I know?!" Raynare roared as this had been what ruined everything for her. "Freed is completely random in everything he does. No one has ever figured out what makes him tick… other than destruction and screwing with everything. And after meeting him in person I think he just is that damn crazy to never be understood by sane people."
"And you got away from him by…"
"Apparently Azazel himself hired an Ex-SS Lebende Maschinen. A Nazi super soldier made using a shit ton of supernatural magic, mad science, and whatever else they could get their hands on."
"Seems Azazel didn't trust you to keep to your orders." Dante pointed out.
"Yeah… funny that." Raynare sneered at his jab. It didn't matter to her that he was exactly right. "Anyways… he's unkillable… he told me to take the girl and run away. I did… here we are."
"And where are the three other Fallen Angels that were with you?" Dante asked and Raynare frowned, she had thought that the Devils were unaware of their numbers.
"No clue… all of them were out of the church when Freed showed up." Raynare grunted… she was half sure that with the information out he would kill her. To her duel relief and annoyance she found herself chained to the wall by Ice, Grim Ice that wouldn't break so easily. "Yay… bondage." She said feeling a little better that she was in fact dealing with a Grim. They were at least predictable. But now she knew it would only be so long until he came back with the full truth of events and likely took her head. She was hoping Freed would kill him before that happened.
"Well… you are dressed for it." Dante mocked before leaving the room with a glaring Raynare not looking away from him.
Akeno opened her eyes and found herself bound up onto the wall, and this wasn't one of her fantasies with her and Dante. She looked around and found herself in what seemed to be a typical suburban home, but the second she sniffed the air and the smell of blood hit her she knew something was even worse than she thought. She was in the living room and it looked to be torn apart and rearranged. Akeno panicked at seeing in the middle of the room was Rias, also bound but also gagged as she was spread naked on a table. Her arms and legs tied to the floor.
"Rias!" Akeno called out and Rias' head snapped to her best friend with a look of terror and shame in her eyes. Not at her nakedness but that she let them get into this situation. "Don't worry, I'll…"
"Nothing." Someone answered for her and she turned to the source of the voice. A man stood in the middle of the doorway that lead to another part of the house. His body covered in red blood stains and his face hidden by a golden mask. "You will do nothing and you can do nothing." He said walking into the middle of the room and hovered over Rias. "If you do… well… I do not mind more blood being spilled for this evening." He said, his face gazing down onto Rias' body. His right hand began tracing up from her belly to her chest, then to her neck, and lastly taking several stands f her hair up to his mask.
"I'm going dust this sick freak the first chance I get." Akeno thought to herself. She wouldn't play with him at all, no she would kill him quickly but at the same time painfully. She watched as the man let the crimson hair fall back to the table, he walked back to the head of the table where Rias' head was placed.
"This was how it was supposed to be… all those years ago." He whispered no longer to either of the girls. It was clear to them that this psycho was in his own little world now. "It's not perfect… but it's as close as I could get it. Salee, my everything… it could have been my masterpiece." Rias' eyes widened at the mention of her aunt's name. Her father's sister was scarcely talked about by any of the Gremory. Only that she had lost everything and was banished from the family for failing in her duties.
"What does this man have to do with her?" The question was put on hold for Rias as he continued with his strange ritual.
"One last finishing piece…" He said before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blackened quill. "… a look of pure terror." He said before reaching out with the quill but just before its tip touched Rias' forehead he stopped. "Has it really been so long since people have seen this… that you don't scream in terror at its sight?" he said before looking to Akeno. "I guess it has been over a century since I wielded this… the Bard of Nightmares." Both Devils knew exactly who the man was now. The second user of one of the most evil Sacred Gears in all of their history.
"Y-your Jack the Ripper… but that's impossible." Akeno couldn't begin to understand how one of the biggest killers of supernatural beings in all of recorded history could still survive to this day. Namely due to the fact he was just a mortal man with a Sacred Gear.
"That name is all that is left of the legacy of terror I wrought. And I embrace it, my name is lost for all even myself. I am not but a title I didn't give to myself, I am a hunter of prey and that is all." He said looking back to Rias. "And I have found prey, not the one I truly desire…" He said before returning his hands to running through Rias' hair. "… but one that will sate my needs." He said before suddenly and without warning touching the tip of his quill to Rias' forehead. The room was instantly filled with her screams and the roar of churning energy. Akeno watched as above Rias formed an orb of crystal clear energy, tendrils grew down and began coiling around Rias' body until they began to dig into her skin. There was little change in Rias' reaction to this as she was already screaming at the top of her lungs. "Yes… show me your nightmare… let me feel your fear as only I can." He said, his voice disturbingly calm and composed. He took a step up on invisible air, and another until he was entering into the orb. Akeno watched until his whole body was eaten up by the energy, leaving her alone with the suffering Rias.
Issei paced around the couch that he had laid Asia down on, thankfully the man room of the Occult Research Club had been left untouched by the fight. He was worried, angry, concerned, and furious. He was worried about Asia being hurt, he only met her once but Issei was sure that she had been the nicest person he had ever met. He wasn't thinking about her body or her boobs as he usually did. Just about how he liked it when she smiled at him.
"Is this how Dante feels when Akeno smiles at him?" Issei thought but his train of thought was cut short by the sounds of Asia waking up. "Asia! Are you okay?" Issei asked as he rushed over to her.
"Where… where am I?" Asia mumbled as she awoke from unconsciousness. She woke to see that she was in a strange dark colored room lit by a few candles. And Issei was looking very concerned for her. "Issei?! What… where am I and what's going on?"
"Oh… I'm so happy that you're okay." Issei said relieved that Asia was okay and well. In this relieved state he failed to notice that Asia blush at his concern for her.
"You… you were worried about me?" Asia asked a little flustered over Issei's words. Issei was going to say more to that but both stopped when they heard the door to the room open. Issei watched as Dante entered with a look of anger and worry on his face.
"Good… you're awake." Dante said as he saw that Asia was fine and up. "I need you to confirm that the church was attacked and Raynare brought you here for your safety." Dante said as he came over to the couch that Asia was seated on. She looked up to Issei for confirmation that this was a friend. Issei nodded.
"Yes… la-" She had to correct herself from calling her by a formal title. "Raynare took me when Mr Waldseemüller told her to do so. He stayed behind to fight the man that invaded the church. Such a horrible thing to do… attack a church." Dante grunted nervously given what he and Issei were.
"Yes… horrible… sure… well thank you for confirming that Raynare was telling the truth." Dante said before turning to Issei. "But I wish she was lying… because that means we have some legendary killer on our hands." Dante said making both Issei and Asia worry. "We don't know why but maybe he's just after the Fallen Angels. Maybe he'll leave us alone." Dante said as he walked over to Rias' desk… he touched the edge and knew that was just wishful thinking. "But the more likely possibility is that this is part of an attack on all of us." They were interrupted by the sound of the doors opening, revealing Koneko.
"Dante, I found a trail." She said ignoring the pervert and the girl with him. If she wanted to learn the hard way who he really was then that was her business. "There's a line of dead grass and corroded concrete that leads away from the building. And then there's a scent to it I can follow. Even if it smells like rotten cow shit." Koneko said frowning at the prospect of having to smell such a foul odor, but if it meant finding Rias than it was well worth it.
"Good job." Dante said rewarding her with a head pat, something she enjoyed greatly and pouted a tiny bit when it ended. "Issei, when Kiba returns, tell him to head to the church and recon only. I want to keep any and all engagement to a minimum. Let's do this right people, there is no coming back from the graveyard this time." Dante said slightly confusing those present but Issei and Koneko just assumed it was from his Grim Reaper background while Asia didn't know Dante well enough to make a judgment of what was strange for him. None of them understood that he had fallen back into his raid leader persona and had just made a WoW reference.
Picking up the trail, the two Rooks made through way through Kuoh wondering just how whoever took Rias was able to do so without anyone seeing them. It was broad daylight and someone would have noticed something strange. But as they stood in front of an average home in the middle of the suburbs they knew that they were in the right place, the bloody handprint on one of the upper windows gave that away. They both nodded to each other and took a step forward, feeling themselves enter into a warded area only confirmed their theory more. Then their ears picked up the sound of screaming. Dante ran into the house without thinking with Koneko right behind them. They found Rias the one screaming as she was tied to a table naked as the day she was born.
"Dante!" His head snapped toward the familiar voice and was in the next second by Akeno's side. The two shared a reuniting kiss that promised her that he would everything he could to come out as the victor. Ending the kiss he looked up to the shackles that bound her. "Not exactly the situation I wanted to be in when it came to being tied up in the same room as you." She joked before turning serious. "They won't break and are magically resistant, but you need to save Rias more than me."
"I'm not leaving you here like this." Dante said as he grabbed ahold of the chains and began trying to tear them apart. Only to find that his efforts were pointless.
"Listen, the man that took us has a Sacred Gear, the Bard of Nightmares. He has her trapped in a nightmare world replaying her fears over and over again." Akeno explained as she looked toward the floating orb of energy above Rias. "You need to save her before he completely destroys her mind or causes her heart to give out."
"Got it… uh… how?" Dante asked as he stared at the scene in front of him before he figured it out. He hated dreams. And he hated nightmares. But he hated dream/nightmare tropes the most. But he wouldn't give an inch to those feelings in the face of saving Rias. "Dreams always lie…" Dante muttered to himself before jumping into the swirling ball of energy.
Issei ducked under the shots fired by the former exorcist that was attacking the Occult Research Clubhouse, Asia next to him. Raynare, it was still hurting him that he needed to free her to survive this attack. But she was just as much a target as he was and he needed all the help he could get. Raynare wasn't exactly happy at the prospect of fighting alongside Issei but knew the facts and did so without complaint if they lived through the fight.
Since then they had been fighting for their lives against Freed and his unholy weapons that seemed to hurt Devils and Fallen Angels in equal measure. The rusted sword that he carried held up to Holy Light and steel as if it was perfectly fine. And his guns fired rounds that blasted entire walls apart in one shot. Both Issei and Raynare were desperately avoiding any contact with either.
"You little bird bitches keep flying around and nothing you do seems to matter. I keep getting back up." Freed laughed at the weakness of the Fallen Angels that were trying to evade him killing them. It was going to happen, but they still tried. It was funny to him "You four are some of the weakest crows I have ever fought."
"Dammit, why are we even dealing with this shit?" Kalawarner shouted as she dodged another shot from Freed's gun. The three other Fallen Angels had joined the fight at the call of Raynare who technically was their leader. Not that any of them were happy at the prospect of fighting a man that had at last count killed over three hundred Fallen Angels.
"Do you want to deal with an angry Azazel?" Raynare asked as she threw a spear of light at Freed who just moonwalked out of the way. The look of total fear on Kalawarner's face said everything that needed to be said. "So shut up and keep fighting!"
"I am so done with all of you." Freed yawned as he in one shot clipped the wings of all the Fallen Angels. "Watch the birdies fly… now… where was that shitty devil with the Sacred Gear." Freed smirked as he felt out for the power that was slowly building up nearby. "There you are."
"Issei… I think I heard the fighting stop." Asia said as she moved to look above the bit of rubble they were hiding behind. She ducked before the round Freed sent her way could hit her head. In truth it had been because Freed missed on purpose, just to create a bit of fear in them.
"And now I got you." Freed grabbed the little boy that had the Twice Critical on his arm. He pulled him off the ground and up to his face. "You're a Pawn right shitty devil… that means that you can promote yourself in enemy territory… I want a bit of fun before going back into the soup. So level up and give me a real fight! I now claim this territory in the name of the Sala'dandor!" Freed shouted and Issei felt something shift in his gut. "Now hurry and promote to something fun!" Freed said as he threw the pervert to the ground. "Hurry up I ain't got all day."
"I don't know what you're talking about… I've only been a Devil for a few days."
"BOOST!" The band on Issei's arm called out it had been doing so since the beginning of the fight, Issei had no idea what it was doing since he hadn't yet gotten a real grip on its powers or what it could even do.
"Great… an amateur… just what I need." Freed said before shooting the ground in front of Issei. Sending the boy running with Freed running after him, laughing madly as he fired shot after shot at Issei's feet. "Hurry up and figure it out!" Freed roared as he continued to shoot at Issei. Not noticing the fact he had to keep up with his increasing speed due to his insane glee at the Tony.
"BOOST!"
"Promotion? What the hell is he talking about?!" Issei panicked as he ran away from the incoming bullets.
"BOOST!"
"That's it… I'm bored…" Freed grumbled as he slowed to a stop but kept firing on Issei while also turning to Asia who was huddling nearby, trying to seem as small as possible in hopes of not being noticed. It didn't work. Freed smirked as he recalled what he wanted out of the girl. "Well hello sweet girl…" Freed's beady black eyes scanned over Asia and he licked his lips as he reached down to take his prize.
"You stay away from her!" Issei yelled out and then something instinctive came to him and he could feel a power rising in his body. "Promote to Knight!" Issei called out and he felt his body get lighter and faster. He dashed toward Freed, readying his arm for a punch to his face.
"Yup I'm fucked." Freed said to himself as he stared at the incoming fist with a soft look of surprise.
"EXPLOSION!" Issei's Boosted gear roared as mid-swing, it transformed into its full-powered gantlet. The Red Dragon Gantlet crashed into the unexpecting face of Freed Sellzen. Sending him flying back. Everyone, the Fallen Angels, Asia, Issei all watched with awe as the unbeatable force of destruction was knocked back by a single punch. Freed flew through the air, crashing into ruins and rubble, finishing in a hard impact into the ground many feet away.
"Whoa… did I… did I really do that?" Issei said as he looked down at the Boosted Gear on his hand and arm.
"There's no way… a kid landed a hit on Sellzen like that?" Dohnaseek said in shocked awe of he just saw that brat do.
"Is just me… or was that kind of awesome?" Mittelt comment having decided to rethink her opinion on the Pawn.
"It was an impressive feat…" Kalawarner admitted. "… but that doesn't mean we've won." She said looking at the crater that had formed. A sickly green aura began emanating from it.
"Issei… did that…" Raynare said in disbelief that the dorky pervert kid that had taken her out a few weeks ago landed a massive hit on a being that none of the Fallen Angels had been able to so much touch.
"I'm ain't goo yet you little brat…" Freed growled happily as he gripped the ground both anger and glee. "… the fight has only begun and things are looking to be so much fun!" Freed dash forward sword in hand, swinging down toward Issei. The Pawn jumped back, his speed still heightened from the promotion. In awe of his new powers, the pervert smirked as he began dashing around Freed as the former exorcist played Wacka'Issei with his rusted unholy sword.
"Haha… having a little trouble there asshole!" Issei mocked over the sound of another Boost granting him further speed and strength. Freed roared in annoyance at his lack of bloodshed. Deciding to table the annoying brat in favor of a quickie he looked to Mittelt who was still immobilized by his shot.
"Yummy…" He smirked before shocking everyone by then biting down on his wrist. Freed ripped open his flesh and dumped down the black green ooze that posed as blood in his veins. The ooze seeped into the ground and constricted around the dirt and rock. Animating it and creating fresh construct soldiers exactly like the ones that had been beaten by Dante, Koneko, and Kiba. "Have fun with these… I'll have fun with her." Freed smirked as he started his way toward the Fallen Angel, sword in hand.
"Get the fuck away from her!" Raynare cursed as she and Kalawarner both formed spears of light and threw them toward Freed. She might not like any of her comrades but they were still Fallen Angels same as her and should fight with all her strength to protect them from this monster. He just turned his body between the two incoming projectiles. The next thing Mittelt saw, Freed was gone and then she felt a boot pressing down on her lower neck. The Fallen Angel glanced up to see him standing on her back with a sword ready to lob off her head.
"Freed Sellzen lines up the shot, is he going to make the par? I sure hope he does…" He giggled as he played his little game while lining up his arm to take her head clean off. "FORE!" Freed shouted out swinging his blade down. Mittelt saw her whole life flash before her eyes as the sword approached her flesh… only for it to never come. She heard a loud crash and felt Freed get thrown off her back. She fanatically looked back to see that Freed had been hit with his own blood golem, she then looked back at where she last saw said golem.
"I don't give two shits if you think I'm a mistake… I'm here… and so long as I'm here I'm going to save hot chicks wherever I find them. Even if their total bitches that killed me." Issei breathed out as he recovered from the crazy screaming that slammed into his head when he picked up and threw that monster.
"Raynare… he just saved her… even after you killed him." Kalawarner hissed toward the woman. "You know what you've just dragged her into right?"
"Shut it… if we live through this Azazel will never enforce it." Raynare knew what her fellow Fallen Angel was talking about but Issei was a Devil, and so was an enemy. You don't honor life debts to enemies. But neither Freed or Issei were paying much attention to the Fallen Angels, so their conversation stayed between them.
"You know kid… I'm getting real sick of you getting between me and what I want." Freed snarled as he stood up and glared murder toward Issei.
"Don't care asshole… because I ain't going anywhere." Issei said defiantly as he took another fighting stance. He didn't know how much he had left in him but he would continue to fight so long as Freed threatened people.
Dante walked around the empty halls of what appeared to be a mansion of nobility. Devil nobility if the décor was anything to go by. He took a glance at the large painting of an emblazoned phoenix spreading its wings over Hell soldiers fighting the forces of heaven.
"Phenex then… this is Rias' nightmare so…" He rolled his eyes to the nearby photos on the walls and what he saw horrified him. It looked to be that this particular nightmare was showing Rias a future where she was the wife of Riser Phenex, complete with being the mother of his children. As exemplified by the photos of her with kids that had a passing resemblance to her with blond hair. "Oh that's bad… but the real question is what type of nightmare is this?"
Dante asked himself as he continued to stealthily explore the halls, making sure to avoid any contact with anyone. He needed to know the rules of this Sacred Gear. As his lessons with Lakwa taught him that each and every Sacred Gear is powerful in their own right but they also have their own fuck-ups. Dante needed to know just how much control the bastard had over this world. He knew that there wasn't a total control because then the second Dante entered the world there would be some type of effort to repel him. This told Dante that at least he could act on his own agency, that he had a chance to break this place.
Another component was what was Rias' role in this. Was she a passive uninvolved observer, or was she an active participant? It was these details that Dante needed to know in order to best prepare to wreak this mind fuck of a nightmare. Just seeing the abundance of photos of a happy family with Riser made him sick. But that in of itself was a clue, the fact there was an abnormal amount of these photos suggested they were there to be seen. This implied that Rias was meant to see them and that her mind was indeed in some sort of body that could find these photos. If she was just an observer of the events of the nightmare, out of body, then there wouldn't be a need to have so many triggers all over the place.
"Mommy!" The sound of a child's happy cry drove Dante to the wall, he inched his eyes around the corner of the hall to see Rias, slightly older, with three young children. All blond and all gathered around her tugging at her dress. "I want to be there when daddy comes back, please!"
"Me too! Come on we're going to miss him!"
"We can't miss him! Hurry!" Dante watched as the three kids dragged Rias through the halls, if he didn't know that all of this was just an effort to cause Rias pain he would say it looked adorable.
"Don't run in the halls, there will be plenty of time to greet your father when he returns home." Rias, the perfect image of a loving mother, laughed as she followed the children's pleas. Her reaction was most telling to Dante, in that know he knew exactly how this nightmare worked. Rias would act like everything was normal, her mind fogged to the reality of her hatred for this exact situation. While then this was all fed back into the real Rias.
"That doesn't explain the screaming… sure this is horrible and probably even worse for Rias than me. But this isn't enough to get the reaction I saw outside." Dante mumbled to himself trying to make sense of it. "This is a Fear/Mental type of Sacred Gear, maybe it amplifies the sense of fear actualized when it sends it back to the victim… agh… this doesn't help me at all." Dante mumbled before looking back to Rias and the Phenex children. He knew what he wanted to do, but one last thing needed to be confirmed for him. "Okay… tattered soldier… near death solider… don't give a fuck because everything is done for solider…" He thought hard as he closed his eyes, picturing himself in a barely held together solider uniform, modeled after a 40k Cadian Guard. He opened his eyes and looked down and smirked. "It worked… that's the fuck up… the victim has no control over the world but anyone that comes into the nightmare has some control… not just the Sacred Gear user. Now… all I need to do to break this nightmare is poke enough holes and challenge Rias' worldview. Oh this is going to be both fun and painful. Get ready for some Tzeentch level fuckery." Dante laughed to himself though toward the end it lacked any joy to it as he knew that what he needed to do was going to hurt Rias. But right now what she needed to a conflicting reality to the one set up. Along with a healthy dose of self-doubt to get her thinking about who she really was.
Rias felt… off. Her head was in a fog of unknowns, she on some level knew something was wrong but she couldn't place it. Was there some meeting she was supposed to be at? Did one of the children do something wrong and she forgot to punish them? When was the last time she talked to Yubelluna about her schedule?
"Mommy, why doesn't father come earlier?" The question her son asked brought Rias out of her confused thoughts She smiled as a sense of joy and commitment filled her chest as she looked down at her child.
"Because your father is an important man, he had many people that need his leadership." Again, there was this sense of wrong to her words. Like no matter what she said she could never actually say that Riser Phenex was the man she was speaking about. Even though that he was her husband. Her mind then always questioned that single fact, Riser Phenex was her husband. That statement played over and over again in her mind and no matter what her surroundings told her it sounded plain wrong.
"Daddy is so great… one day I'm going to be just like him!" That very sentence caused something to break in Rias. Her child like Riser Phenex.
"No." She snapped harshly causing the three children around her to step back in fear. As her demonic powers had flared a bit in response to her emotions. Something about the idea of her son being like Riser stirred something inside her that made her stomach a pit of disgust and hate. But when she looked back at the scared faces of her children she felt ashamed of those feelings. "I want you all to be your person, don't try to be a copy of your father but go out and find your own place in the world." She tried to save herself but before the children could show if she had been successful, the sound of a gun firing scared them worse than she ever did.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK! I'M TAKING HER!" Rias recognized that voice. The owner of that voice soon limped his way out from one of the halls, smoking shotgun in one hand while the other held onto his gut like he had been wounded.
"Dante, w-what… what do you think you're doing?" She demanded of her Rook, true they hadn't seen each other much since she got married but she was still his King.
"Saving you, Olympus has fallen and those monsters are battering the door into Hell. They'll be here in days." She had no idea what he was talking about. His clothes were all destroyed and looked to be the remains of some kind of military uniform. Everything about him spoke that he had just come out from a fight for his life. "We have about a month to get to the Outback, it's the only place that had been able to keep the Flood out." He groaned before falling to his knee in pain.
"Dante!" Rias rushed over to help her injured Rook. Nothing he said made sense but his state suggested that whatever was going on was very real. "What happened, what are you talking about."
"Issei… he saved me." Rias watched in horror as Dante began crying in front of her. "The last I saw of him… he gave the stupid smirk of his and charged right into the horde. He… he was like nothing I've ever seen before. He killed thousands of those Flood bastards. And he didn't go down only to be brought back as one of them… no he detonated his Boosted Gear and took out all of Singapore… hopefully he took out the proto-Gravemind that was nested there." Again she had no idea what he was talking about, but hearing that Issei had sacrificed himself to… whatever was apparently going on beyond her home broke her. Here she was sitting in the lap of luxury and her family was out there fighting and dying.
"Mommy… what is the strange man talking about?" She heard her son ask her as he tugged on her dress to get her attention. She had no time to react to the impossible implications of that question. That she never told her kids about her own Rook. But Dante beat her to it.
"Fuck… everyone was right. I didn't want to believe them… I loved you… you need to know that. But the Rias I loved is gone… I see that now. Thanks for making it so apparent even a loser like me could see it." He growled as he pushed Rias away from him. His confession shocking her to her core and creating a gaping hole in her heart. "Rias Gremory really did die that day." He said further crushing her heart with his words. "This was pointless… my apologizes Lady Phenex…" He spat out as he stood back up, his body shaking under both the pain he was in and the emotional death he was suffering. "… but I recommend you get your family out of hell. Unless you want to see your darling kids turn into gibbering infected monsters." He said as he began limping toward the way he came.
"Dante wait!" Rias called after him. He never stopped for a second as he continued on. "Dante please…" Seeing her Rook give up on her, it just wasn't possible. Nothing made sense, moments ago she was just a housewife to Riser Phenex but now she was something she never saw herself as. Someone that had spent the lives of her family for what? A happy life while others died for her sense of entitlement and safety. Just before Dante vanished into the shadows of the hall he stopped at them both hearing a new player enter into the conversation.
"My dear Rias… it seems something has happened while I was gone." That voice, she could never forget it. The added emotional stress of the last five minutes cleared the fog that had been clouding her mind. And hearing that voice brought back so many memories of its owner's disgusting habits and disrespect to her. "What is he doing here?! I thought I told you that I didn't want this Grim trash or that weakling of a Pawn anywhere near you!"
"How dare you!" Hearing Riser call Issei weakling after learning that he had given his life for so many caused Rias to snap. She fired toward the source of the voice all the Power of Destruction she had in her body. Black and red demonic power shot from her hands and blew apart a large chunk of the building. "I won't let you ever talk that way about Dante or Issei! They have been fighting for us, keeping war at bay while what have we been doing?! Nothing!"
"What are you talking about Rias?" The being wearing Riser's face asked in shock as he climbed out of the rubble of Rias' attack. This wasn't going to what happened before, they had played out this little show thirty times already, the exact same dialog and actions taken. He could feel the wonderful sorrow in her despite the happy face that she wore. But now… what could have changed. He looked around and saw a smirking man in a tattered military uniform. "You." He growled as he understood that his time with Rias had come to an end, he was so close too. He could feel the Gremory's body begin to give out to the pain.
"Nice of you to show up Lord Phenex, I wonder how you'll react to find your whole world is about to-" At that everything began shaking. "… fuck… they're here." Dante sighed as he straightened up. Rias and the man that wore Riser's face both looked in confusion but only he figured out what was going on. That this boy had injected something into the nightmare. Something only the Grim had control over and he didn't. He planned on demanding just what had this boy brought into the nightmare but he never got the chance. The former Grim Reaper ran from the spot he stood to Rias, he picked her up in his arms and ran back down the shadowed hall. "Seems you got a little of your fight back." Dante chuckled as he carried Rias through the halls bridal style.
"My children… we need to back for them." Rias panicked as she could hear the sounds of inhuman roars and screeches coming from the foyer they had just left.
"Do we really need to?" Dante mused making Rias look up to him in horrified shock. "Let me ask you this… can you remember any of their names?" he asked banking on the idea that the work done here was only on the surface. He had never heard her call any of them by name and there hadn't been any sign of names on any of the photos.
"Of course I can… I uh…" Rias thought hard, harder than a mother would ever need to for something as simple as her children's names. "I… I can't. Dante?"
"Reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold!" Dante joked as he was really having fun with this despite the serious situation. Rias just gave a serious stop joking around look at him and he sobered up from his fun. "I meant what I said, nothing is real and all of this is fake." Dante said as a large chunk of the building fell down behind them. The cause of it being a massive gray fleshy tentacle sprouting arm claw thing smashing down into the mansion.
"You're… you're telling the truth, aren't you?" She asked as everything she had been feeling made sense now. "You jerk! You made me think Issei and everyone was really dead!" She shouted at him while giving his chest a few slaps to express her rage but ended with her holding him close. "You came here to save me… even your fake reason for coming here was to save me." She said feeling so much joy and happiness at his actions. But she remembered the confession that had given, she buried her face further in his chest to hide the fact her face was as red as her hair. This also provided Dante cover as he too was brought back to that moment. But for him… it was a questioning thing on his confession of love. He didn't plan on that part… it just came out of nowhere. The sound of Flood screeches echoing closer and closer to them brought him back to their current situation.
"We're not out of the woods yet… I may have bit off more than I could chew with my fuckery of the nightmare." He said as he glanced back down the hall to see a horde of Flood combat forms charging after them. "Yup… should have gone with Independence Day invasion rather than Flood. Still better than Terminators though. And way fucking better than Chaos Invasion." He grumbled as he rounded a corner and created a wall of ice to hopefully give them some breathing room. It wasn't long before the mutant forms of the Flood began clawing their way at the Ice only to find their efforts doing little.
"So exactly how are we getting out of here?" Rias asked as Dante let her down to stand on her own. his clothes changing back into the casual outfit he usually wore now that he was done with the wounded soldier play.
"I have no idea… hopefully Koneko can figure out how to wake you up from the outside. But… if this is going to follow the most basic of tropes I'll have to beat the Sacred Gear user that created this world." Dante groaned as he wasn't sure if even that would work. He had been too focused on saving Rias that he hadn't thought about their exit strategy. "Hey! Douche that has us trapped… we both know where this is going… just come out and save us some time!"
"But it was more time that I needed…" At that the mansion shifted and the endless halls of the nightmare changed to relocate so that at the very end was Riser Phenex. Or at least the body of him. "Just a few more minutes of suffering, seeing her life in the way she most fears. With this man, secluded away from any position of real power and place to bring about change. Her sense of any choice of her own making… forever out of her reach. And that would have been it… her mind and body would have given out under the pressure."
"That's not going to happen, now how bad do we have to beat your ass before you let us go." Dante demanded and all the Riser fake did was tsk and hold his hand to his face. Rias' recognized the golden mask that formed over his face, memories of what happened to her began to clear in her mind. But before she could warn Dante, the man flicked his wrist and a nearby chair grew out and snatched her up. Clamps held her in place and covered her mouth, preventing her from warning Dante of just who this man was.
"You may be just as free here as I… but she is the prisoner. There will be no interference from her part." Riser's voice changed back to the man's own deeper English accented one. However Riser's body remained, as proven by the wings of fire that came out from behind his back. "And soon enough dear boy… you also will be a prisoner." At that the walls around then fell back in rapid succession after each other, the floor beneath elevated up into the sky. This gave Dante a look at the chaos that he sowed with his injection of the Flood into the nightmare. All around them was an evil city besieged by the Halo game monsters, massive Flood constructs toppled towers of brimstone and combat forms charged into lines of Devil Soldiers. If he weren't trying to save Rias' life Dante would have geeked out at how awesome everything was. "The Gremory was simply mine as a gracious gift by my masters. You. On the other hand, are the prize that we came for."
"You guys are the ones Randel said were coming." Dante growled as he remembered the Incubus' threat. "Where is he? Where can I finally put him into the ground for the last time!?" Dante roared as charged toward the Masked Man, punch ready to break his hidden face in two. The fake Riser held up his hand and sent forward a torrent of flames which impacted a hastily made cushion of ice and snow.
"I have no time for your petty vendetta against that piece of trash." The Masked Man said with a dispassionate sigh. Continuing to use the powers of the House of Phenex as his own, he sent forth more flames toward the Rook. The line of floor that was their battlefield forced Dante to chose between taking the flames head-on or do the dumb thing and take to the air. "It would seem you lack an understanding of your enemy." The fake Riser said as he watched Dante jump of the straight platform that they were standing on. "Riser Phenex is a master at aerial combat, as his whole family is. They are the Phoenix, wind and fire are their strengths."
"Big talk from the guy about to crushed!" Dante shot back as he sped away back toward the ground to look for Rias. Smirking as he heard the crash of the giant Flood construct slamming into the platform he had just been on.
"Such trivial annoyances." Dante's eyes widened in shock as in the side of his vision he saw his opponent's golden mask appear inches from the side of his head. Dante then felt a kick to his stomach sending him flying back to the ground. The Rook crashed dead into the middle of the ruined mansion. "More annoyances…" From the crash site a storm of small spikes of ice were sent flying toward the Masked Man who dispatched them easily with a wave of fire… or he thought he did until he felt a spike nick his neck. "I see. He's a deeper irritation than I thought he would be." He said as he touched the small wound and stared at the red blood that was now on his fingers. It was a sight that he hadn't seen in over a century.
"I got you didn't I! I knew-" Dante was shut up by a fist to his head, smashing him back d the ground only to be kneed back up. The Rook took the hits and once his mind figured out he had a foe in front of him, he grabbed the fist that had been coming for his face. He twisted the hand and slammed his own into the gut of the fake Riser. The two continue to exchange blow after blow. Neither's body made to feel the punishment they were going through.
"You flail about like a child throwing a tantrum, I have fought Grim before and I must say that you are the sorriest excuse for one." The Masked Man chided Dante as he grabbed the boy's wrist and turned it back, causing the Rook to scream out in pain along with the sound of the bone snapping. "You are barely a Grim Reaper anyway… just a slapped together Devil with pieces of a broken Grim. A broken boy who doesn't even do his kind right by the bare minimum." He said before throwing Dante through the air and crashing him into a giant pile of rubble.
"Agh… bastard… quit talking about nothing you know nothing about." Dante mumbled to himself as he shifted in the middle of the debris. "But he's right… I don't even have my scythe. I'm just out there throwing punches because that's all I can do." He could feel it too, just under his skin he could feel his scythe waiting to be brought to bear. There was a reason they were called the Blades of Bone as they were all made from the spines of their Grim Reaper. He glanced to his back with a sense of longing, it was only natural for him to feel that way. A Reaper's scythe was an integral part of them. Then an idea that already was causing him unholy amounts of pain came to his head, he glanced to the side and saw a loose piece of sharp metal laying nearby. "Really… do I have to?" He groaned as he reached his hand out.
"Are you ready trash… I do have only so long before I must end this." The Masked Man asked as he approached the pile of ruins. He stopped at the sound he was comfortably familiar with, flesh being cut. And the pained groans of someone gritting their teeth on pain of having their bodies carved up. It confused the fake Riser until he figured out what was going on, he rushed forward with all the speed he could muster found was sent flying sideways with a large gash cutting clean through his side stopping at his spine. He maintained his feet on the ground, skidding several feet away from his attacker "It would seem you finally do your kind proud boy." He growled as he looked up from holding onto his torn gut that was slowly healing.
Dante slammed the end of his weapon in the concrete ground casing a small metallic ring to echo. The Masked Man could see the teen's weapon in its full glory, his Grim Reaper's Blade of Bone. A Death Scythe formed from the Grim Reaper's mortal spine and then infused with deathly energies of the universe itself. It was covered in blood and pieces of meat that came from its wielder himself. The former Grim Reaper stood tall and proud with a face of pure determination to finish this fight. Clearly unimpeded by the missing spine, likely the rumors of Grim Reapers actually have two for this very occasion turned out to be true.
The pole looked to be a spine, clean white bone vertebra lined the pole, the connection between the blade and pole was a skull within a jagged metal circle and the blade itself was an enlarged scythe blade with the look of many skeletons reaching out to the tip of the blade grooved onto the blade itself. It looked like a weapon made for the reaping of souls and harvesting of life.
Not saying a word, Dante sued his Rook's strength to launch himself forward at the fake Riser. Scythe pulled back and ready to cut the foe to ribbons. The Masked Man now found himself on the defensive as his opponent was now using a fighting style that was instinctually natural to him as breathing. Not having a bladed weapon of his own, all he could do was dodge and look for a chance to make his own attack. The problem came when he saw so many openings to attack. But each of them promised only a minor victory on his side and a critical loss if the attack that provided the opportunity landed.
Dante was thankful that Rias had made him the strength type of Devil, his training with Chernobog would play perfectly into that. Dante even turned his scythe around a few times to land hits with the blunt side of his weapon, using his enemy's fighting instincts against him. The Masked Man inactively put a less critical concern on blunt attacks than bladed ones. But from the outside it just looked like Dante just wanted to beat the fake Riser into paste… which was entirely possible.
"Where is all that bravado now huh?" Dante mocked, his words changing the flow of the battle as the Masked Man pulled a cane sword out from nowhere and the two began a fight of heavy blow between each other. However, Dante completely dominated the brawl, his fighting style lacked any grace, just brutality and hard hits fueled by rage and power. Sheer unrelenting power and that did nothing to try and think but just move to overwhelm the other fighter with unrelenting force. This had been what Dante had been taught by Chernobog, on Dante. The fight ended, the sound of the squelch of Dante's scythe cutting into the fake Riser's chest echoed throughout the ruins of the fake Phenex mansion. "Uh… isn't it about time that we lea-"
"Did you really think it would be as simple as getting a mid-battle power up like some foolish hero." Dante coughed up a spurt of blood before looking down to see the Masked Man's cane sword sticking out of his chest. Dante struggled but was able to look behind to see one of the kids that had been Rias' fake children standing behind him. Their face covered by the golden mask of his foe and his weapon in their hand. "You lose… it is as simple as that. You never stood a chance because I am the hunter and you are the prey." As he spoke, the childlike voice changed with his body as he grew into his normal form. Dante's vision became blurry and he fell forward unconscious, grabbed ahold by the Masked Man.
Rias couldn't speak, her voice had been completely destroyed by her constant screaming. The Gremory heiress blinked as she found herself back in the real world, the floating orb of energy still hovering above her. But she was out of that dreamscape and the visions of her worst nightmares had stopped forcing themselves into her mind. More pleasant thoughts grew instead when she recalled what Dante had done for her. In specific something he said in his little act to get her out of the illusion of who she was.
"Rias!" She heard Koneko call out and turned her head to the side to see her first Rook running over to her side. "Are you okay?" Rias nodded her answer, she was relatively okay, she was still tied and gagged and her voice was shot but she was far better than what she was. Before either Devil could do anything more, the orb of energy above Rias began sucking in all the air around it before cracking apart. A shockwave of energy blasted around them, ending in the sound of feet hitting the ground. Rias looked up and to her horror she saw Dante slumped over the shoulder of her tormentor knocked out.
"Such a shame, my time with you my dear cut short." He said from behind his mask, only slightly turning to face her. Koneko's response was quick, she lunged forward ready to destroy the man that held her fellow Rook. Only for that same man to grab her mid-air by her face. "I have no time for this." He said calmly before throwing Koneko through several walls ending with her crashing into the front yard a foot into the dirt. "Now that I have my prey… I must clean up after myself." The sound of his cane sword unsheathing accented his words and the terror that they brought. "First… lady Gremory. Before you die, tell me where my Salee is." Rias had no idea where her aunt was or even if she was still alive. And it wasn't like she could answer his demand in the first place.
"JACKY!" The moment between tormentor and tortured was interrupted by the sound of Freed screaming and running into the home. The former Exorcist grabbed ahold of his partner's suit coat with a desperate look of fear in his black eyes. "WE NEED TO GO! WE NEED TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE NOW!" Freed pleaded as tears rolled down his face.
"What are you on about now. Did you get the girl?" The Masked Man asked, hiding his confusion to his partner's behavior.
"Fuck the girl, I needed to get out of there before I was totally boned. Like fucked in the ass with a dragon dildo with no lube boned!" Freed was making no sense to the Masked Man, so what if Freed died? So what if he died. These bodies they were using were decaying by the second anyway. They had about two good hours left if he was right. So what if it mattered what they Devils could do in the face of those facts. Before he could inquire as to what Freed was going on about he noticed the temperature begin to drop. He glanced at his prisoner and saw that he was still out of it and so couldn't be the one responsible. "Oh shit…" The next thing either of the undead hunters knew, the house they were in, along with several others, was blasted into pieces by a massive force of ice. The entire suburb was frozen solid into a harsh tundra of demonic ice and snow.
"Did I get them?" Rias recognized the excited voice and felt a deep sense of gratitude to the Satan for coming so quickly. She then easily broke free of the restraints that held her tied now that they were frozen solid from the Ice Magic of the strongest female Devil in hell. "Rias! Are you okay?!" Serafall called down from the top of her servant Behemoth. A giant combination of rhino, buffalo, and elephant. Surrounding her was a full battalion of Devil Soldiers awaiting orders.
"Rias is okay Lady Leviathan, thank you for saving us!" Akeno called up to the Satan, having freed herself as well. She could tell the damage done to Rias just by a glanced and worried about what it could mean for her best friend. But then her next thought went to Dante as he looked to find him. She quickly picked out his body among the ice and snow of Serafall's magic.
"Aragg… this is a miscalculation that we didn't foresee." The man called Jack the Ripper groaned as he peered over the snowbank that he and Freed landed behind.
"See what I was talking about, doesn't matter if we're just going to die… because guess what… that Devil bitch can just freeze our asses solid. No rotting away and going back to the soup. We're stuck here and no more hunting." Freed growled as the idea that he would be denied his crusade against all shitty Devils and Angels would be stopped. That wasn't what he was promised. He was told that he could hunt his prey for all eternity.
"Our masters would never allow for that. We would be taken the second we were frozen. But you are right in that this has become a fight no longer winnable." He said as he looked up at the Great Satan Serafall Leviathan. "We can not have a hope of beating her, not like this. Not out in the open and with such little time before our bodies are finally destroyed by the Necrotic Plasma in them."
"So that's it… we go back to the soup and await punishment. Fuck this… I didn't even kill a single fucking Devil or crow. Just a bunch of dumbass priests." Freed groaned as pieces of his face began to fall off. The second they touched the ground they melted away into black ooze. "But at least I didn't fuck up nearly as bad as you." He laughed before his entire body decayed into a puddle of foul blackened liquid. The Masked Man ignored Freed's thirty-eighth death and focused on the weak form of his own prey. His own blackened eyes glared through his mask on the crimson hair of Rias Gremory.
"Someday my precious… I will have you back in my hands." He vowed before dying himself in the same fashion as Freed.
"Dante! Please wake up!" Akeno yelled as she held Dante up, he was breathing but his heartbeat was slow. He needed to be healed right away. But they didn't have time to take him to a healer and any healing power she had wouldn't work fast enough. "No… I can't lose you." Akeno cried as she held onto the man she loved. All sense of hopelessness however vanished at feeling something new affect Dante, She opened her eyes to see on the other side of Dante was a blond girl holding her hands to Dante's wound, healing it.
"I'm sorry… it's just he really needs this." Asia apologized fearing that she might be overstepping here but she just couldn't let someone die in front of her.
"No! Thank you… thank you for saving him." Akeno didn't know who this girl was but was eternally grateful for her actions. She could already feel Dante's lifeforce… or at least whatever passed for one when it came to a Grim's soul, get better. It thankfully didn't take long until she felt Dante stir and open his eyes.
"Ugh… last time I agree to train with the old man with real swords…" Dante absentmindedly grumbled as he returned to consciousness. But as his mind became more awake he recognized the soft pressure on him as Akeno's bountiful chest. "Hello there gorgeous… worried about me?"
"Shut up… you were really close to meeting that void you Grim like to go on about." She said not leaving his tight embrace. She wasn't going to let go until she felt him back up to a hundred and twenty percent. However she did smile at feeling him hug her back with his head rest on top of hers.
"I'm sorry I worried you… but I'll keep my promise. I make damn sure that you never lose me and I won't lose you." Dante tried to keep a brave face and even braver words for the girl he loved. But on the inside he was reeling from his loss. He failed to beat the bad guy and save the girl. He failed at hero 101. And while he liked coming off looking like a hero he never actually thought of himself as one. He preferred to go through life ignoring things like that and do his own sometimes morally dubious thing. But when it came to Rias and if ever Akeno, there was no question. If needed to be a motherfucking hero he would be a motherfucking hero! And he failed, it was only by some shitty luck that someone came and saved them. Because otherwise he would be captured and Rias, Akeno, and Koneko would have all been killed by a masked bastard.
"Aw… that's so beautiful!" Dante heard… he knew he heard that voice from somewhere but put it out of his mind as he looked up to see… a Devil wearing a Magical Girl Milky Spiral Seven cosplay. It wasn't a bad one too, in fact it was damn perfect. "You really do have a keeper there girl."
"I'm assuming that you're the one that saved us all." Dante tried to sound grateful instead of the self-loathing he felt at his failure to do that himself. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that he was feeling sorry for himself like some dumbass protag that he would often call a moron for feeling the exact way he was feeling. But seeing something in others was one thing and actually going through it yourself was another.
"Yup! I came as soon as Sona told me that Rias had been kidnapped. I fought off that creep Freed Sellzen and he lead me here. Where we found you after you had bravely jumped to save dear Rias only to fall into the hands of these monsters. It's great to see her having such wonderful and loyal servants. It's a pleasure to meet you Dante Alighieri, I'm Serafall Leviathan, but you can call me Little Levi!" She proclaimed proudly with a pose from the same magical girl anime her outfit came from. Dante however was as still as a statue at hearing that last nickname. All his earlier funk was set aside as his brain processed what this new information could mean.
"Dante?" Akeno asked as she felt a shift in her boyfriend. She reluctantly let go and she and Asia both took a step back as Dante stood up. Serafall tilted her head in slight confusion at his reaction. Everyone there watched as Dante continued to stand perfectly still before he pointed at Serafall.
"There is only one person I know in the whole world that goes by that name." He knew he recognized that voice. But it was so absurd and stupid that it couldn't be true. He needed a test. His voice was only a whisper, if he was wrong… he didn't want to look like a total dumbass in front of one of the Great Satans "The Big Love Rocket in WoW is the most ridiculous mount in the game."
"IT IS NOT! It is pretty and is my chariot into battle. Bringing love and… wait…" Serafall stopped at her mind clicking into place the only guy she had this argument with. "IT'S REALLY YOU!" She cried out in glee as she launched herself at Dante sending him back to the ground with a great thud. Everyone; Akeno, Rias, all of Rias' peerage, the Devil Soldiers, Serafall's servant Behemoth, all watched the current Leviathan tackle and gush over how great it was to finally meet her best friend and eventual lover in person. Those comments on the latter designation striking a cord with a few of the onlooking females. "… and then we can go on a Ferris wheel and make out in it and when we go further we might get caught but that only makes it hotter and won't that be great!?"
"Time out!" Dante shocked everyone. Everyone. When he was successful at something only Serafall's sister had been able to do. Make her stop talking when she was rambling. "First… off." He said using the voice he found actually got her to do what he needed to get done during one of their raids. Turned out it worked just as well in real life as it did online because the most powerful female devil in all of hell did as told. "Second…" Dante continued once Serafall had gotten off him. "None of that is happening." He said deflating Serafall's bouncy mood while at the same time allowing certain people a sigh of relief. "I already told you that I have a girlfriend."
"Yeah but the fact you're a Grim changes everything!" Her announcement that he was a Grim Reaper made him and Rias flinch as it spread through the ranks of the assembled Devil Soldiers. There was no way that that news wouldn't make it to the Devil tabloids and then to the House of Thanatos. "Because it means you can date more than one with the Link of Love."
"Don't call it that." Dante snapped without thought but that just seemed to make Serafall giggle as if she was expecting it.
"Grim Reapers always say that." She laughed to herself before she continued on. "This is so great, I am a little sad that Rias stole you away from me but what can you do? That's on me not finding you sooner." She said as she began walking back to Behemoth. "Bye Dante, I'm sure that we'll be seeing much more of each other." She winked before jumping up and landed on Behemoth's head. A massive teleportation spell circle appeared over her, her servant, and the Devil soldiers before spiriting them all back to the underworld.
"Uh Dante… what was that about?" Akeno asked barely able to understand the chain of events that took place. That somehow Dante knew Serafall Leviathan and that she apparently wanted to become his lover. She also brought up the uncomfortable subject of the Grim Reaper's Eternal Link soul mechanic. The inner working of the Grim Reaper soul that caused them to fall in love with several people and create spiritual links with them.
"Apparently I have been gaming online with one of the rulers of Hell." Dante said utterly dumbstruck at this new revelation. Someone somewhere had it out for him, that was the only possible explanation that made sense to him.
Island of the Fates
Theseus, immortal guardian of the Sisters of Fate sighed as he stood outside their chamber door. Why they were laughing so hard at this moment he didn't know, and he didn't want to know. In all his years of guarding them, both as their jailor and protector, he never understood their sense of humor. Especially when it came to their mucking with the fates of Earth's Greatest Heroes. Their fondness for shipping also exhausted him as well but he wasn't one to comment given his past troubles with women.
"Whoever is the poor fool this time… by the grace of the gods I wish him luck."
