I do not own Highschool DxD.

Issei tore across town at a speed that would have made Elizabeth quite proud, and only a few shreds of restraint kept him from breaking his wings out and flying. He knew that as desperate as he might be, he couldn't risk being seen the way Raynare had.

Streaking towards the church, he looked down at his right arm, at the crimson scales that now extended all the way up to his shoulder. Ddraig had told him what he'd require from Issei, and he'd paid the cost without hesitation.

As he climbed the hill the church was set on, he could only hope what Ddraig promised would be enough.

"Have a little more faith, partner," the dragon suddenly piped up as Issei approached the door. "That Fallen Angel isn't that strong."

Issei wasn't listening to the reassurance as he approached the door, however. His mind was entirely preoccupied with an unexpected problem.

Threaded through the doors was a thick, heavy steel chain, no doubt padlocked on the other side.

The brunette's first instinct, of course, was to simply hurl light spears at the door until he'd made a hole large enough in the wood to break through. But he shot that idea down almost as soon as he'd had it.

I don't know where Asia is in there, and throwing that many spears would just alert them anyway… but I can't spend the strength boost now… Ddraig said I only had until the count of ten once it was activated and it couldn't be switched off…

Assaulting the windows would be no good, either. They presented the same problem, boarded over as they were.

Issei bit his lip. Unfortunately for him, the Boosted Gear's power couldn't be used, not without setting off the state Ddraig had offered to him.

If I'd known this would be here, I'd have waited…

"You're missing something, partner."

"What's that?"

"Look at your arm. The one you gave to me."

Issei looked down at his now-scaled right arm. "What about it?"

"That arm is now built of my flesh and bone, partner, not yours. It's vastly stronger in every respect than the human equivalent. A steel chain should be within your reach, even without replacing your chest muscles. You need only break one link."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. What do you have to lose?"

Issei nodded. "Ddraig, when I summon the Boosted Gear, don't do anything. I'm not trying to use its abilities, just protect my hand while I pull on the chain. Until I give you the word directly, don't use that huge strength burst."

"Understood, partner."

The gauntlet formed over Issei's hand. As he'd asked, nothing happened. With a nod to himself, Issei grabbed the chain, put his foot against the door, and pulled with all his strength.

For a fraction of a moment, Issei was sure that Ddraig had been wrong. The chain was holding its integrity, even with an immensely stronger arm pulling on it and whatever feeble strength Issei's form lent it.

Then, a slight clink was heard, and Issei was sent tumbling backwards as the chain snapped.

Plucking himself off the dirt, Issei let out a relieved sigh at the sight of the broken chain, and in two swift motions, fed the chains back through the holes. He could hear the loud crash of the remainder of the chain fell to the floor behind the massive wooden door.

A half second later, his foot slammed into it. The old bones of the church shook and groaned in protest as the door was forced wide open.

Issei hadn't made it five steps into the church before he stopped, head whipping back and forth.

That was because there was no sign of Raynare or Asia anywhere. Instead, it appeared to just be an old, disused church. But as Issei looked around, he nodded to himself.

This was a Fallen Angel base, all right…

All of the Christian iconography had been destroyed – sculptures smashed, pictures defaced. Anything that glorified the Christian God or his teachings had been destroyed. Another of Ridley's lessons went through Issei's mind.

"Fallen Angels, for whatever reason, often use churches as bases. But, I suppose in a gesture of meaningless spite, tend to systematically destroy everything remotely holy in it in the process."

Issei's teeth ground. "Where'd they go?" he muttered, mostly to himself.

"Oh, you looking for the boss?"

Issei's head leapt up at the crazed voice. He hadn't expected a reply, but he knew from both the words and the tone that its speaker was a threat.

Said speaker was further back in the church, evidently having been hiding behind the pulpit until Issei had spoken. He was white-haired, dressed in a priest's clothes.

"Where is she?" Issei demanded.

"Don't see any reason to tell you that when you're gonna be dead in a few seconds! You won't even get downstairs!" the speaker said, cackling insanely. "Freed Sellzen's the name! Remember that when I'm cutting you apart, ya shitty Angel!"

In his hand, he held a sword, one seemingly constructed from pure light. In the other, a pistol.

Another of Ridley's lessons came back to Issei.

"Your average exorcist tends to carry a mass-produced Holy Sword and a gun."

But it was obvious that this person wasn't affiliated with any current church. No church would've tolerated the language or crazed demeanor of the man now aiming his pistol at him.

Issei dove into the rows of pews just as the excommunicated exorcist fired his gun. Issei could hear bullets, no doubt made of pure light, whizz by over his head.

"Can't run forever, fucker!" the exorcist screamed. Issei could hear his thumping footsteps on the wooden floor as the priest ran towards him.

Making a snap decision, Issei slid his right arm beneath the pew and lifted; sure enough, it was as though it was made of foam. Jumping up, Issei tossed it at the stray priest who was now only a couple of meters away from him.

The entire church echoed with the massive crash as the pew hit the floor and shattered. Issei knew the moment he threw it that it wasn't going to hit, however.

The priest had seen it coming and managed to dive beneath it.

"Gonna give me fucking splinters at this rate!" the priest snapped. Then he was forced to twist to the side as one of Issei's light spears came flying towards him. The spear kept flying and destroyed one of the windows, sending the tinkling sound of broken glass throughout the musty church.

"Oh, how cute!" Freed howled, laughing as he dodged two more spears. "An Angel busting up a church!"

Issei didn't waste his breath shooting back at the barb. It was obvious at this point that light spears weren't going to work, and he cursed himself for not having mastered midair manipulation of light-based weapons. He'd only gotten through forcing weapons up from the ground.

Guess we'll have to do this straight-on…

The Jack of Clubs jumped out from behind the pews then, throwing a few more spears as he ran towards Freed to keep the exorcist off-balance. Yet even as he closed the distance, Freed saw what he was doing and leapt into the air, landing on the top end of one of the pews. Using it as a springboard, he jumped again, leaving him to land daintily back behind the pulpit and far outside of Issei's range.

Even as he closed the distance, Issei could see Freed raise his gun once more, and this time, he wasn't able to dodge.

Searing pain shot through his shoulder as the bullet of light pierced it, but Issei grit his teeth and kept moving forwards. No doubt the adrenaline pumping through his veins helped, but Issei would later suspect it had more to do with the fact that it didn't go more than a centimeter into his flesh.

Angels did have quite a bit of resistance to light and holy elements, after all.

Biting back a curse, Issei jumped onto the stage where the pulpit was, banging into it on the way as he tossed a light spear to either of Freed's sides to keep him from darting away.

The bloodlust-blinded exorcist seemed to gain a moment of clarity then, evidently realizing that he'd backed himself into a corner. His face twisted as Issei closed the last few steps, and he swung his light sword, seemingly in a panic.

The brunette, however, had seen that coming, and his light blade stopped when it hit Issei's draconic arm.

And he belted out another curse when the rod of light was crushed in Issei's fist.

Yet another one came out when the same fist crashed against his right cheek, and he went tumbling to the floor.

Issei heaved a light spear at the exorcist on the ground, but even with his cheek completely smashed in, Freed still squirmed out of the way and leaped to his feet.

The brunette was momentarily distracted as he noticed what Freed was holding between his fingers.

It was a black sphere a few centimeters wide, but Issei didn't get any further into examining it before Freed started ranting again.

"Fuck this, that bitch didn't even put out!"

He threw the sphere at the ground, and instantly, a bright flash of light blinded the brunette. In a panic, Issei began throwing spears every which way, expecting any second to feel a shot slam into his skull.

The pain didn't come, however, and as his vision cleared, he could see why.

Freed was gone, his destroyed sword and gun left on the ground. Issei could see the discarded clip on the floor, and after a few seconds' examination, he blinked at what it revealed.

He was out of ammunition…

Issei was still worried sick, of course, and not just about Asia. A person as crazed as Freed would surely find trouble and might well hurt someone else. The brunette shook his head, however, and took his focus back to the former.

And as his eyesight swung, he would have sworn he'd spotted a miracle.

When he'd banged against the pulpit, he'd shifted it ever so slightly. He hadn't noticed the gap in the floor it had revealed during his duel with Freed.

Now, he put his hands against it and shoved with all his might. As expected, the pulpit was knocked aside fairly easily.

Beneath it, a staircase lead downwards, into a dark space. From it, Issei could hear voices, none of them familiar. He swallowed.

"Ddraig?"

"Yes, partner?"

"Do it."

Raynare had had to fight the girl quite a bit harder than she'd expected. Asia Argento had begun to writhe and scream as Raynare had dragged her back through the church, and Freed had seemingly found this hilarious, to the point he'd refused to help her with the chain or the pulpit. She'd had to run back out and grab Asia twice while doing that, and then had to chase her all around the church after pulling the pulpit back.

To make matters worse, there was no sign of her Fallen Angel cohorts. She supposed Dohnaseek might have taken them out for a day on the town. Incompetents, every one of them.

At least the small pack of rogues who she'd recruited to help her with her goal knew their place. They were no-names, certainly nowhere near Freed's level of combat prowess, but they were decent enough, and more to the point, obedient. They'd helped her chain the girl in place, and Raynare knew she was only fifteen minutes from completing her objective.

Yet she hadn't been more than ten seconds into the ritual before she began to hear, however faintly, the sounds of a scuffle. Banging and crashing coming from up above.

Then, not long after, the sound of the pulpit being pulled back and the sound of something being shouted repeatedly.

"One of you," she called to the pack of exorcists, "get up there and finish the kid. He's probably wounded anyway."

"Yes, miss," the sub-leader of the rogues replied before turning to one of his subordinates. "Carlos, get up there."

Another one of the exorcists nodded, and dutifully began trudging up the stairs.

A moment later, he came flying back down and was pinned to the floor by the massive crimson spear that had been slammed through his chest.

The exorcists gasped and raised their weapons as the sound of footsteps was heard.

A few heartbeats later, Raynare watched in horror as Issei Hyoudou came striding down the stairs, seemingly no worse for wear. A thick veil of crimson energy surrounded him, one Raynare didn't know the purpose of, but it was easy enough to see his enraged face behind it.

In a snap decision, Raynare reached up, unchained Asia from the cross to which she'd been restrained for the ritual and pinned her close with a light spear pointed at her throat.

Just as she turned, flashes of red light blasted across her eyes. Thunderous blasts echoed through her ears half a moment later, and the whole church shook.

Somehow, some way, Issei Hyoudou had summoned numerous titanic spears of light, each and every one of them longer than a car. All of them were now stuck in the walls, each of the rogues impaled individually.

In less than a second, the brunette who she'd once murdered had cleared away her second-to-last line of defense. And Raynare was very aware that the girl in her arms was the only reason she was still alive.

The veil had thinned considerably now, and it was far easier to make out Issei's face. It hadn't changed expression as he stepped forwards.

"Let her go," Issei said, his voice calm yet laced with barely-restrained fury. "Do it and I won't kill you."

"Like hell I believe that," Raynare said, her voice shaky and her hand barely able to hold the spear. "How about you just walk out of here, huh?"

"If I leave, you'll kill her. If I don't, you'll do the same thing. What difference does it make?" Issei's voice was cold.

Asia began openly bawling, but a harsh snarl from Raynare kept her from talking.

"Maybe I don't want to kill her, huh? Did you think of that?" Raynare snapped.

"You think I believe that?"

It was as she said this that she realized that he wasn't looking at her. He seemed to be looking past her. Trauma? Fear? Was he just so blind with anger that he wasn't seeing clearly?

As Issei took another step, Raynare jabbed the spear backwards towards Asia, holding it only a few centimeters from her neck.

"Don't you come any closer," Raynare said, trying and failing to sound dangerous.

Issei smirked and raised his hand up, finger and thumb pressed together. "Don't need to." His finger snapped.

Raynare felt her entire body go numb. The spear vanished, and the girl took full advantage of the Fallen Angel's slackened grip, bolting out of her arms and towards Issei.

Raynare didn't bother trying to stop her. Instead, her gaze went downwards, to the spear of light that had just skewered her from beneath. It was no thicker than a small soda can, but it had rammed straight upwards through her body, stopping just beneath her neck.

Her gaze, trembling as it was, looked up just in time to see another colossal crimson spear skewer her through the chest, sending her flying back and pinning her to the cross she'd used to restrain the nun.

As disbelief went through her mind at the realization she was about to die, her eyes shut against the pain.

They would never open again.

Issei exhaled as Raynare bled out on the cross. The massive strength boost had worked better than he'd ever expected it to, but he no longer had any need of it.

"Hey, Ddraig?" Issei said, looking down at his hand. "You can turn it off now."

"Are you sure you won't need it any longer?"

"Yeah."

"All right then, partner. I trust your judgment. Get ready."

All the power, all the strength, all the energy seemed to leave Issei at once. What was left of the veil disappeared, and Issei fell to his knees.

"Issei!" Asia cried. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," Issei said, trying to catch the breath that had been knocked out him. "Just… give me a second."

As he stood and turned to face Asia, though, the blonde nun looked up at his shoulder. "Issei, you're hurt."

"Oh, this?" the brunette asked with a weak smile. "It's nothing. Really."

"Issei, I can fix it. Just watch."

Her hand reached up, and to Issei's surprise, a green glow began to cover the injury where Freed's bullet had hit him. The real surprise, however, was feeling the pain dissipate and the flesh begin to heal itself.

"What the heck?" Issei asked. "I mean, thanks, Asia, but… what was that? Some sort of… Sacred Gear?"

Asia nodded, but before she could respond, there were sounds of new footsteps on the stairs that lead into the basement.

"Get behind me, Asia," the brunette said. "Looks like I spoke too soon." The largest spear he could make formed in his hand.

When the person finally stepped into the light, Issei was momentarily thrown off by how cowed and terrified they appeared.

She was blue-haired, with a red dress that was well past scandalous in how much skin it showed. But with her hands on her head and the terrified expression of her face, Issei wasn't paying attention to her beauty.

Then, a few seconds later, Abigail Canary stepped off the stairs, The Sweeper in her hands and pointed at the woman's back.

"Looks like I missed the party, Issei," the Nine said. "But I bet the story about it will be just as good."

And cut.

I hope Issei didn't come across as too edgy here. Definitely wasn't my intent. On another topic, have you ever tried to write Freed? He's one of the hardest characters in DxD to even begin to capture effectively.

Finally, I know that I'm directly expanding on things a bit with Issei's resistance to light. It just seemed rather logical that Angels might be somewhat able to resist the element they freely wield. Also, I didn't make up the "forcing light spear up from the ground" technique – it's shown in Volume 23.