The Legacy of the Most Unpredictable Ninja

by RekkingPride

After checking up on a strange rift in space and time, Naruto ended up in a foreign land where new allies and enemies await. However, his wish to bring peace to his home still resonated...so he will do everything he can to return home, no matter what! 3 Crossovers mixed right, with a 4th on the way. A new narrative with believable characters! Strong!Naruto and mostly in-character!

35. Chapter 35

AN: Damn, better than before, but somehow managed to get above 30k. I have no idea how, I was determined not to do that too!

Still, baby steps, right?

---

Naruto stared blankly at the array of dishes in front of him, unsure of how things got to this point.

Okonomiyaki, that was what this dish in front of him was, right?

...Correction, the dish that was in front of him.

The shinobi in question was currently sitting in a stall with a certain church agent, side-by-side while he was eating a large amount of Japanese food beside him.

Rather, he was inhaling them.

Did he have time to breathe while going that fast?

Some part of himself, deep inside his brain wondered if this was how people saw him eat ramen.

He should probably apologize for all those times that he ate in front of Mio and Maria then...

Anyway, the young agent; Dulio, wanted to make sure that he ate as many delicacies as possible while in the country of Japan, as he seemed to have a penchant for gobbling up as much exotic food as possible.

So here they were, sitting in a stall, where the agent essentially invited the blond to eat along with him.

Naruto lost his appetite roughly around the same second that he saw the guy start chowing down.

If anyone asked though, the shinobi would deny that the two events had anything to do with each other, he definitely just had a stomachache dattebayo...

"Hey, Naruto-dono."

Naruto was quickly brought back to reality by the church agent, with his blue eyes quickly registering the young man's slightly excitable features.

"...Are you going eat that?" Dulio asked politely, pointing at something in front of Naruto's body.

The shinobi followed his finger, deadpanning at the tempura dish that managed to escape the man's stomach for so long.

It was a trooper, but even the mighty tempura must fall sometimes. As all exotic food must in front of this glutton.

"...Help yourself." the teen tried to say, but the dish quickly vanished from his eyesight, erased from existence by Dulio's bottomless appetite.

The shinobi couldn't help but notice that he would have to split the difference of the cost of all of these meals, despite the fact that he didn't even eat anything in the first place...

"Ah~ That was good. So this is Japanese food, hm? It really was worth skipping over breakfast and lunch for this~"

Oi, he skipped over breakfast and lunch? No wonder he was hungry!

Poor Gama-chan, his faithful toad-themed wallet...he would be a hell of a lot skinnier after this...

As the blond continued to lament his decision to split the bill, Dulio finally turned his attention back to the teen. All smiles. "Well, I'm sorry for the shoddy introduction earlier, I was quite hungry you see, and was really looking forward to trying out the food in this country. I might have actually overdone it a bit, but it was worth it in the end I think."

The agent paused for a moment, frowning, before he quickly turned back to the table to snatch a napkin, wiping his face of all of the leftover food.

Naruto stared at him, a single eyebrow twitching sporadically as he waited.

He could tell that the guy was a good person...but even good people could annoy the crap out of you sometimes.

For a while, the 'priest' wiped his mouth with the napkin, taking his leisurely time, until he finally returned his gaze back to his newest acquaintance. "Alright, I'm good now. So, you ready to talk now?"

The shinobi wanted to hit the guy now, he's been ready to talk for the entire time!

But he -somehow- managed to quell that overwhelming desire and swallowed the feeling away.

"...Yeah." the blond remarked, huffing. "About your mission, if you even remember?"

While Naruto was admittedly annoyed, and mostly said that due to his petulant attitude, he didn't actually expect to see the glutton next to him blink confusedly.

"...Oh, right." Dulio murmured, eyes widening.

A blank look was all that the shinobi could spare to the church agent.

Nevertheless, Dulio took the silence as a chance to finally begin speaking about the serious topic at hand. "Ok, so you told me before that you wanted me to back off from my assigned mission, yes?"

Seeing that they were finally getting the show on the road, the shinobi straightened himself and nodded.

"...I see." the 'priest' spoke softly, before tilting his head to the side in curiosity. "But how exactly do you even know about that mission? It was very much classified information, and I fail to see how you could have gotten that without...an informant."

Like flipping a coin to see another aspect of the same thing, Dulio's demeanor shifted to a far more serious side to his personality, suspicion in his eyes as he pinned his fellow blond with a stare. "...It wouldn't be something like that, right?"

Naruto already had an answer ready for him, mentally rehearsed for a few hours for just this moment, and he opened his mouth to deliver it.

But then he paused mid-action, reconsidering on the fly.

...

"Yes, actually. That's exactly how I found out." the teenager admitted easily, sliding in closer conspiratorially. "Not only that, but I'm here because the leader of the fallen angels; Azazel, has requested me to be here."

The 'priest' blinked, all pretenses of seriousness gone from his face as he looked at the powerful teen with an owlish expression. "...Really?"

Blue eyes were lit up in amusement at the look he was getting. "...Really."

Yes, instead of trying to justify where the blond got this information from, he'd just be blunt and honest.

It would catch the agent in front of him off-guard, give himself a sense of honesty, and he'd be able to stick it to that old bastard.

...Ok, that last part was a bit petulant, but still, he wanted to get back to Kuoh Town, not be out here trying to stop a possible war from breaking out.

That should've been Azazel's job, or at least one of his underling's.

Yes, yes, he knew that there were other circumstances that prevented this, but the entire thing still irked him regardless.

...He'd at least make sure to properly explain the situation to the church agent next to him, and make sure to get Azazel-san's agent out of whatever post he was in unharmed.

Dulio leaned back, looking apologetic if anything. "That...seems kind of irresponsible of him, don't you think?"

The whiskered teen couldn't have agreed more. "I know, right!? Where the hell does he come off, interrupting my peaceful days by dragging me into this!? The man's definitely super irresponsible!"

The church agent sighed, sympathizing. "Yes, sometimes the higher ups just don't understand the feelings of those below them. Sometimes I wish Michael-sama would give me a break on these missions so that I could try out the local cuisine more..."

Suddenly, instead of talking about the serious topic of subterfuge and Dulio's mission, the two began complaining about their 'bosses' like a pair of tired salary men.

One could be forgiven if they rolled their eyes at the scene, as neither of their complaints were that valid, but still, the two were practically forming a sense of camaraderie due to their respective situations.

Still, Naruto knew that even if he wanted to deny it, he still had a stake in this. So he had to cut this nice complaining session short.

However, it would seem that Dulio had the same idea.

"...That being said, Naruto-dono, why are you so intent on aiding someone like Azazel if he interrupted your 'peaceful days' as you've put it?" Dulio wondered, seeking understanding. "He's not threatening you, is he?"

Getting right back into the thick of things again, Naruto refocused and shook his head. "No, nothing like that. Actually, I was exaggerating a little back there, as I do have a stake in this. But it's pretty complicated dattebayo."

Taking this chance, the teen continued, absentmindedly tapping his index finger against the counter that they were occupying. "You see...if you left to go to Kuoh Town, then there'd be a chance that a...big misunderstanding could occur. A massive one. So I'd like to avoid that if possible, as I have people that I care about that live in the area, and I don't want anything bad to happen to them. So to that end, I'd like for you to cancel this mission."

The church agent leaned in closer, a frown marring his features. "So...there are circumstances in Kuoh Town that could cause a misunderstanding? Well then, maybe you should tell me what's going on so that it doesn't come to that."

Ah, if only it was that simple.

The shinobi honestly thought about that as he made his way to the airport as he considered his options.

Explaining the situation, especially after telling the man that he was sent by Azazel-san, would just make him look guilty.

'Hey, I'm here to stop you from seeing Azazel-san's representative meet with the imouto of a Maou in regards to the legendary blades that were stolen by Kokabiel. So please don't come to Kuoh Town so that we don't get into a misunderstanding~'

Yep, that sounded bad.

Best to just avoid that mess.

"...Yeah, I'm gonna have to be unfair and ignore that reasonable advice."

"...So...you'd like me to cancel my mission on the off chance that you're being straight with me?"

"Yep."

Dulio went silent after that, eyes blankly locking onto the blue pupils of the completely unreasonable blond teen.

Then the 'priest' did something unexpected.

He began to chuckle, looking entirely amused rather than anything else.

"You..." the agent couldn't help but say out loud. "Are an interesting one, you know that?"

"...Oh boy, I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say something along those lines before." the shinobi replied, a tired grin stretching across his lips.

An easy-going shrug was the teenaged blond's only response. "I figured that you would hear a comments like that on a pretty common basis, considering your personality and all. Though, that being said, we now have quite the dilemma, don't we?"

The church-aligned man allowed his form to lean back, away from the counter, before simply laying his arms onto his stomach in relaxation. "How exactly are you going to convince me to back off from my mission? While I think that you're a decent man...I don't necessarily think that you're a trustworthy one, at least in regards to something so important. What you're asking of me is pretty unreasonable after all, you do realize that, right?"

Yeah, Naruto was definitely being unreasonable, at least he probably looked that way in Dulio's point of view.

But it didn't change the fact that his motives were decent, and that someone aligned to the church couldn't afford to see something so...easily misunderstood.

Hell, even if Dulio seemed like a decent guy, his superiors, who he'd have to report his findings to, might use this as a convenient excuse to fight.

So, ever the improviser, Naruto offered a suggestion.

"Trade fists with me." the shinobi offered, his blue eyes dancing.

In what was possibly the most 'normal' reaction to such a strange request ever, the young man tilted his head and gave his fellow human an inquisitive look. "...Why would you want to beat me up?"

Despite being seated, the teenager nearly tripped over himself.

"N-No...that's not what I meant." the young blond denied, eyebrow twitching again. "Haven't you ever heard of the concept of 'understanding one another through our fists' before? That's what I was talking about dattebayo..."

Despite the explanation though, Dulio didn't look any more enlightened to what the point of trading fists was.

"...Can't we just talk it out over some food?"

"No!"

The church agent winced, scratching his cheek nervously as he looked away from his companion to get the attention of the cashier, who had, up until this point, stayed away from them.

Talks about supernatural things naturally tended to spook some people away.

Before he could even try to get his attention-

"Oi! Don't order anymore food! My wallet can't handle more of your lust for food!" the shinobi protested hotly, a red tick on his forehead.

Naruto moved to raise his hand in his anger, trying to intercept the order that was about to be given-

"Do you really want to do this?"

The hand froze in mid-action, it's owner's eyes snapping to his fellow blond in genuine shock at the tone of voice that was used in the question.

It was only when he actually looked at the young man that the Vatican sent, that he knew that something changed.

His eyes were suddenly shadowed over by his dirty blond locks, but his serious demeanor was easily noticeable if one accounted for the complete lack of a smile on his features.

It was such an abrupt change that the whiskered teen had no idea what to say.

"...Naruto-dono." Dulio started seriously, steepling his fingers together as he brought his arms onto the counter again. "Do you really want to fight me? Whether there's some sort of way to understand one another by fighting or not is irrelevant...as I don't think that you're in any condition to fight."

The shinobi felt his hackles rise up in challenge, opening his mouth to express his displeasure.

But the psuedo-priest continued, cutting him off. "...I mentioned it before, didn't I? By the time I was arriving in Japan, I very quickly felt your presence. Or rather, your inner conflict, thanks to my Sacred Gear. This isn't really my business...but I think that you should see a psychiatrist, or at least speak to someone about whatever...'problems' you're going through."

Blue eyes stared at the solemn visage of his new acquaintance, speechless, then quickly moved to scan their surroundings, making sure that their conversation was still private, before turning back to him with a stern look. "Look, I have no idea what you're talking about. If there's any kind of 'problem' that I'm having today, it's trying to convince you as quickly as possible, as I want to get home sooner rather than later. So come on! Let's get this over with before we fall asleep, huh?"

Dulio's green eyes crinkled lightly, silent for a few tense seconds.

Naruto didn't respond either, maintaining eye contact with the -presumably- powerful member of the Vatican, hoping to convey his need to rush.

Apparently he managed it, as the psuedo-priest let out a sigh, relenting, and slid off of his seat, walking off. "Come on, if we're gonna do this, then we should make sure that we involve as little people as possible. And I think I know just the place."

The shinobi watched Dulio's retreating back, slightly disturbed at the change in topic, but was grateful for the fact that they were about to move back into far more familiar territory.

Fighting.

So Naruto slid off of his own seat, prepared to follow him.

"...Aren't you forgetting something there, kid?"

...Until the authoritative voice of the owner of the moderate-sized stall stopped him, much to his chagrin.

Slowly, the blond turned around towards the counter to spare a glimpse at the small landowner, a question at the tip of his tongue.

Once more, he didn't even get the chance to ask. As the slip of paper between the owner's fingers told him all that he needed to know.

It was a receipt.

"You forgot to pay." the man noted gruffly, waving the slip of paper in front of him tauntingly.

Naruto didn't even bother to refute his claim, opting to just grab the receipt so that he could pay and get this over with.

At least until he saw the number of digits on the slip of paper.

He paled immediately.

...Wait, he was splitting it with Dulio, so this shouldn't be too-

The shinobi snapped his head to the side, eyes on fire as he realized that the bastard left him!

He left him to deal with the bill!

"DULIOOOO! Get your ass back here you cheapskate!"

His furious roar echoed across the area, soon followed by his sad whimpers, bemoaning how skinny poor Gama-chan would become.

---

*Owoooo*

The howl that echoed across the grove was the signal that the stray devils were looking for.

Rias narrowed her eyes as the sick squeals of the numerous stray devils around them echoed back, quickly charging forward to overwhelm their enemies.

"Second wave! Everyone be careful!" Sona ordered her fellow devils, eyes sharp.

The small group didn't answer her verbally, but they definitely heeded her words as they prepared for the next group attack.

The battle that everyone there was a part of has only started a few moments ago, and so far the devils had just gone through their first wave of enemies without too much difficulty.

Far too little difficulty.

At first, everyone was confused about why the stray devils came in a small wave instead of coming at them all at once, especially Sona.

To her, such a move made absolutely no sense whatsoever, as while there were an extreme amount of stray devils around them...they weren't especially strong.

'Stray devils' was the description that any being received if a member of a Peerage runs away from their king, breaking away from them illegally.

However, not all strays turn into monsters, like the ones that were mindlessly following this werewolf's orders. Only weak devils that were overwhelmed by their power without their king turn into monsters.

The more powerful, or at least the ones with moderate control over their power, don't lose their sanity.

But when they do lose their sanity? Well...they tend to turn into twisted beasts that only listened to their new-found animalistic instincts.

So while these beasts weren't much a threat if they were by themselves...they were far more deadly as a group.

But the answer to her concern very quickly became apparent to not just Sona, but to Rias as well.

Their 'leader'; the werewolf, was watching them, studying their movements and abilities.

The stray devils were meant to gauge their strength.

A smart, if cruel tactic.

While the first wave of enemies revealed most of the devils' basic abilities, it also did help the beleaguered group in a roundabout way.

For one, Yuuto made sure to quickly create a new 'wall' around them by using his Sword Birth, creating rows upon rows of demonic swords that ringed around the group to slow down their greater amount of enemies.

Not only that, but it gave Yuuto plenty of weapons to choose from should he lose the weapons he had on him.

To add to that, there was currently a large eastern dragon made out of water that was coiled around the group protectively, controlled by student council president herself with almost frightening ease.

The rest of the devils were simply doing their overall best to entrench into their position, making sure to obliterate any stray devils that managed to get close to breaking through the perimeter that was made.

So everyone was mostly ready by the time that they were subjected to another wave of enemies.

Rias easily created a crimson magic circle, which spewed an obscene amount of Power of Destruction onto the incoming foes, obliterating all that tried to tank through it.

The wave of power only affected a part of the swarming horde however, leaving the rest to try and get over the wall of swords to get to their meals.

Though this task became more difficult when the water dragon that was encircling the group suddenly lashed out, engulfing the front row of stray devils as it made it's pass.

Despite this, more just took their place and moved up, finally reaching the wall of swords as many of them opened their sharp jaws to begin their feast on the sane.

Unfortunately for them, a certain knight took the reins from there by quickly moving up to intercept the horde, flashing forward while dual-wielding two demonic swords.

Yuuto glowered as he stabbed his right blade into the closest stray devil near him, which was a hybrid of a chameleon and a human, and brutally impaled it with his sword.

Flames erupted from the demonic sword and enveloped the monster whole, forcing a screech out of it as it tried to put itself out.

Without pausing, the young man ducked and grabbed another blade to replace the one that he abandoned in the stray devil. Idly noting that a stream of powerful lightning soared over his head and ripped apart scores of strays that were getting close.

Akeno was busy.

The knight couldn't help but silently marvel at how efficient the group was being, working together to make sure that the artificial perimeter wasn't broken.

Hell, the simple fact was that he couldn't fight in his fullest capacity thanks to the wound on his leg, as his speed was drastically reduced. As well as his overall reflexes.

Yet he barely had to move, mostly thanks to the fact that the occasional burst of Power of Destruction or lightning would decimate small groups of the beasts that were attacking them.

Not to mention the water dragon that was continuously spinning around the group and crashing against any stray that got too close.

Indeed, the perimeter hasn't been breached once yet, which was quite the surprise considering the numbers that were getting sent against them.

But still, they couldn't afford to become lax in their defense. As it was obvious that the leader of these monsters was still keeping something in reserve.

Yuuto's thoughts were cut off from there when a crab-squid hybrid swung it's large mandibles in an attempt to rip his neck off, forcing him to raise his left blade up to cut the attack short.

He managed to do just that, as his demonic blade sliced through the mandible and left a stump in it's place, splashing him with quite a bit of blood.

Electricity sparked from his sword as the monster roared in pain, arcing from the blade's tip and towards the open wound.

If possible, the beast roared even louder as it's body began to shake violently from the high voltage that penetrated it's body. Before falling over, it's body smoking.

The knight had no time to watch however, as he had no choice but to weave his body around and glance away the deadly blows with his swords that the three stray devils attempted on him.

Bringing himself to grips with the situation, the blond swung his right demonic sword around so that it could cut off all of the offending limbs that tried to give him harm, succeeding in doing so and beginning the freezing process of the monsters.

Ice elemental swords worked like that.

All of the insane strays backed away in primitive pain and fear, registering the danger that they were in, but it was too late.

Yuuto stabbed the ice sword into the ground, making sure to focus on his demonic energy...

Pillars of ice pierced through the ground and through the monsters before they could get away, their blood spurting from the fatal wounds that they received as they flowed down from the clear ice.

Mercy simply wasn't affordable at this point in time.

...At least another wall was erected to stop the flood of strays, or at least slow them down enough to give them some space to breathe.

...Yes...another wall...

"Yuuto! Look out!"

Grey eyes snapped back to reality just fast enough to see a large husk of...something swing towards him with great speeds.

He was only fast enough to bring his last sword up in a defensive posture, blocking most of the damage, but still managing to knock the knight off of his feet and into the core of the perimeter.

Rias grunted when the young man crashed into her, sending her to the ground.

Her warning came too late.

Sona snapped her gaze to her friend as the two devils tried to get back into position before the strays took the golden opportunity that was given to them, but-

*Owoooo*

...Unfortunately, someone managed to catch their moment of weakness, and was about to exploit it.

Before anyone could have said anything, beams of demonic energy was shot by some stray devils out of their line of view and began to rain down on them,

All while the stray devils close to them moved to engage them in close-quarters combat, not caring or knowing about the impending doom that was about to take them all out.

"Tsubaki!" Sona shouted above the chaos, refusing to budge as the water dragon made another pass and obliterated another wave of strays before they could breach their defensive circle.

The queen of the Sitri group, who was taking charge of the front line at the opposite side of the perimeter that Kiba Yuuto was taking, did as ordered, and broke off from her side to address the 'problem'.

The king made sure to work double-time to make up for the shortfall, knowing that her old friend was one of the few that had the abilities to turn all of this around in one swift stroke.

Tsubaki flew up towards the sky, just as the beams of demonic energy was nearing towards the group from the air, and raised her hands.

"Mirror Alice!"

Just as she cried out her Sacred Gear's name, a large mirror formed right in front of her heterochromic eyes, facing the beams that were about to reach them.

Said attacks quickly closed the gap between themselves and the strange mirror, crashing into it with surprising strength.

Yet, it didn't crack.

Nor did it break.

On the contrary, the mirror remained in the air, static, unresponsive.

Then suddenly, without warning, the very same beams that once crashed against the mirror, suddenly were thrown out of the mirror, retracing their trajectory back to their owners.

Not only that, but those beams were glowing far more brightly when compared to their original counterparts.

Squeals and screams echoed across the plains as the demonic-based attacks ripped apart a far-off section of the forest surrounding the grove, probably destroying the stray devils that launched the attacks in the first place.

Sona nodded, more than satisfied with that outcome.

Truly, the ability to stop and redirect an attack while doubling it's power is an invaluable one, especially in terms of strategic counters.

It was too bad that it came with a cool-down.

Still, their position wasn't that much better than before, as the stray devils that stuck to the ground were still pushing against their position. Hard.

Rias and her rebellious knight have recovered after their tumble, now due to the fact that the perimeter had mostly broken down -even with the wall of swords- the duo were literally back-to-back against one another. Supporting each other against the horde.

Despite the rough situation, the Sitri heiress couldn't help but find something humorous in the fact that a king and a knight was back-to-back. The optics of that was all wrong.

But really, this entire situation, from beginning to end, was nearly impossible to speculate about and just flat out out of her depth.

Still, she had no time to be reflecting on their situation, especially when she was focusing on keeping her water dragon stable as it made another pass around them.

And her focus stood strong, at least until she quickly realized something after taking a chance to scan the area around her.

Meanwhile, Yuuto had managed to grab another flaming demonic sword and thrust it towards an oncoming stray, keeping the large monster at bay temporarily, despite his bad footing.

The wound that was made from his attack was quickly cauterized thereafter, as the flames severely burned the body which it was currently stuck into.

Still, the beast that he attacked, an abhorrent monstrosity made of wood with some traces of humanity sprinkled in it's form, was still powerful enough to ignore the pain and continue to attack the young man.

Even with that worrying development, the blond wasn't really worried. He just bent over in order to duck the swing that was inevitably about to come.

As well as the absolute power that was his king's attack, which flew over his head and completely erased the arm that came swinging.

Rias' Power of Destruction was crackling on her fingertips, as she had just let it loose onto the monster that nearly beheaded her knight.

She did not look happy.

Her blue-green eyes were practically boiling over with her anger as a matter of fact, as miasma-like power emerged in her pupils and locked onto the screeching beast.

"Disappear."

An even bigger wave of power emerged from her fingertips as it completely overwhelmed the monster, erasing it from existence without any evidence that it even existed to begin with.

Yuuto just watched, the edge of his lips twisting upwards, completely outside of his will and control.

His king's gaze trialed downwards, her mouth open to ask if he was alright, but she paused after seeing the ever-so-light upturn of his lips, surprised.

She blinked.

Then an enigmatic smile grew across her own lips in response, as if there was some sort of personal joke between them.

It was at that moment that the blond stopped, realizing what he was doing. What they were doing.

Sharing a feeling of camaraderie.

...He had to stop, before he-

"Rias! Kiba-san! Above you!"

Sona's shout immediately made both devils react as ordered, snapping their heads to the sky, both pairs of eyes widening at the blur that was speeding towards them.

Before the red-head could even try to respond to the attack-

"Buchou!"

-she felt herself shoved away, bodily pushed back without warning.

Whatever the blur was, as soon as she was pushed out of the way, it crashed right where she was once standing, smashing the ground apart.

Rias managed to scramble back to her feet, eyes wide as she watched Yuuto throw up an obscene amount of blood, clutching at the massive paw that embedded itself onto his stomach.

"...Yuuto-?"

"GAAAAAH!"

Yuuto's scream rang in the ears of everyone in the grove, voice strangled as he began to choke, coughing harshly.

The werewolf used it's massive claws to hold the young man down, it's harsh eyes glaring at the group around it, as if daring them to do something.

All of the devils present froze up, afraid of the implied threat as the beast put a little more pressure on the blond under it, allowing whatever attacks that they were controlling to fizzle away.

"...Buchou..." Akeno murmured grimly, seeking direction on what to do.

Except the red-head locked up, she had no idea how they could possibly get the blond out in one piece.

And as she hesitated, the rest of the groups hesitated along with her.

Which meant that the horde of strays finally managed to break through the perimeter, crawling or walking over the bodies of the other mindless beasts.

Their de-facto leader just watched all of them with it's animalistic demeanor, no mercy offered or provided.

Sona spared a glance at her childhood friend, lips thinning, knowing full well that she was hesitating precisely because she didn't want to run the risk of getting her comrade mortally injured...or worse.

And she could understand, but it didn't change the fact that such indecision would get them all killed.

If either of them; the Gremory or Sitri heiresses, got severely or mortally injured...well, it would evoke a very very bad response from at least two Maous.

An unfortunate side-effect of having such affectionate older siblings, which just so happened to be extraordinarily powerful.

They had to think beyond their basic circumstances and think about their overall positions, as they both had dual responsibilities; to nurture their Peerage, and to make sure that their stupid older siblings didn't start a war over them.

So even though she was sympathetic to Rias' plight...someone still had to make the call, for everyone's sake.

Even as she was finally solidifying her resolve to continue the fight, whether the red-head approved or not, she refocused her energy on recreating the oriental water dragon so that it could make another pass around them.

She needed to regain control of the perimeter, they stood no chance without some space.

Although she knew that her queen; Tsubaki, was already aware of what she was about to do, it seemed that others also caught on to her machinations as her demonic energy began to build up.

The werewolf snapped it's eyes towards her, narrowing darkly as it put a little more pressure on the boy under it.

Almost immediately afterwards, Rias turned as well, eyes as wide as saucers, not quite believing what Sona was doing.

But she knew, she knew.

"No...!"

The water dragon was already taking shape again in the Gremory heiress' peripheries, beginning to thrust itself forward in order to crash against the unsuspecting waves of enemies.

"Stop! Sona!"

But she didn't stop, and she wouldn't stop.

And her knight was about to pay the price.

Yuuto himself realized this as well, as he watched the beast above him raise it's foot, presumably to crush the young man's torso.

It was hazy though, just like his mind, while his breathing was more shallow than he thought possible.

Even with this troubling development, and the overall threat of death literally hanging over his body, his hazy mind was still focused elsewhere.

...Why did he push Buchou out of the way?

When the young man saw the werewolf barreling down onto the two of them, he didn't even think about what he was doing.

He just moved, like an idiot.

...The entire point was to abandon his former life and comrades, yet he went ahead and saved his former king. What was with that?

It was ludicrous, yet it happened, and strangely enough...the blond wasn't really upset over it.

How irritable.

How unfortunate.

Still, there was a small smile on Kiba Yuuto's face as the werewolf sent it's foot straight down onto him, the weight behind it sure to kill.

"Hei!"

Almost as soon as the beast moved to finish him, a familiar voice entered the young man's eardrums, legitimately knocking him from his mental trip.

Above him, the great beast that was poised to be the last thing he ever saw was gone, sent flying if the loud crash from a way's away could attest to anything.

Instead, all he saw was the short yet strong body of the young rook of the Gremory group, with her short bob of snow-white hair and her firm hazel eyes aimed at their legendary adversary.

"...Koneko..." he murmured, unable to believe his luck.

Like clockwork, the young girl turned to look at him, her classic poker face on.

"...You're coming home." she said simply.

It wasn't a demand.

Nor was it a question.

It was a statement that posits as to what was going to happen.

A simple fact, no more or less.

Yuuto was genuinely unsure about how he should answer.

"Koneko-chan! W-W-What are you doing here!?" Rias cried out, dragging the attention of the two teens as she ran towards them, breathless. "Wait, if you're here, then Mio-chan is-!"

"Safe." Koneko replied, not worried at all. "I'm sorry Buchou...but I knew that you needed help after I heard the werewolf..."

The red-head narrowed her eyes, a reprimand on the tip of her tongue-

However, before she could even do so, Akeno took a step forward while placing a calming hand on her friend's shoulder. "Buchou...we need the back up, and the longer that we stay locked down here, the longer that Mio-chan will remain alone with that...fallen woman."

Rias slammed her mouth shut, eyeing her queen sullenly at the sensible fact that she just espoused.

Still, there was a possible third party involved in this...

...Well, it was too late to worry about that now. What was done was done, all they could do now was finish this as fast as possible.

Even as she was accepting their change in circumstance, the werewolf that Koneko knocked away with her fist got back up, snarling.

At least until something big came crashing against it.

An absolute huge body of water suddenly enveloped the beast, as well the large amount of stray devils that were following it, sending them away or outright crushing them thanks to the water pressure.

The entire perimeter was suddenly cleared up, giving them all the breathing space that they needed.

Blue-green eyes shifted to see the owner of the water-based mythical creature walk towards them, pushing her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose. "...It looks like we've got reinforcements."

Rias turned to her, her eyes wary and voice neutral. "So it seems."

Sona didn't respond, nor did she face her fellow high-class devil face-to-face, focusing all of her attention on the enemies that she wiped away with her attack.

Until she finally tilted her head to the side, just enough so that she could look at the Gremory heiress with the side of her eye.

"...I'm sorry Rias, if I had known that your rook was coming to reinforce us, then I wouldn't have been so quick to call that werewolf's bluff. It seems that I unnecessarily placed a member of your Peerage in danger..." the Sitri heiress apologized quietly, meeting with the other high-class devil's gaze.

The Gremory heiress searched those violet eyes for a few precious seconds, before turning away, a sigh escaping her lips. "...I'm sorry too, for nearly getting all of us killed and all..."

Unbidden, Sona's lips twitched upwards. "It seems that we can't help but try to get other people killed today, doesn't it?"

A snort was her only answer.

Koneko looked at both of them, confused, but didn't question any of it, mostly because the werewolf she just punched has just got back onto it's feet.

With it's sleek pitch-black fur wet, it growled lowly in a threatening manner, another group of stray devils backing it.

But unlike before, where the horde of beasts seemed endless, there were obviously fewer than before, at least if the large group of bodies seemed indicative.

Wherever this group of strays came from, there at least seemed to be a limit to their numbers.

So the devil group prepped for another round once more, with the rook making sure to guard Yuuto as he pushed himself back to his feet.

And they needed to be, as the werewolf was done standing on the side lines and studying them.

This time, along with the remaining strays, it charged.

---

Naruto was squinting, using his eyelashes to try and keep his sight clear as he continued to focus his wind chakra onto the soles of his feet.

Using his recently made ability to jump in the air, the blond soared through the air, trying to keep up with the guy who was leisurely flying towards...wherever it was that they were going.

After Dulio ran off from paying his half of the bill, the shinobi made sure that he caught up with him so that he could express his displeasure...loudly.

But before he could-

'Hey, we should take our fight somewhere else, it's a bit too crowded here I think. Come on, follow me, I know a good place.'

The psuedo-priest made that suggestion all of a sudden, before using his strange powers to levitate into the sky, flying.

Moving so high up into the sky that the clouds eventually covered him up whole, making it practically impossible for normal humans to see him.

Which was exactly the point.

So here Naruto was, trying to keep up with the soaring man, wondering how ridiculous he looked as he was essentially hopping in the air while sticking to the clouds.

They haven't been up here for that long, and they were moving pretty damn quickly, so if this place that he was being led to was close...then it shouldn't take them much longer to get there.

The shinobi focused his gaze on the flying human in front of him, every pore of his body language screaming of how lofty he was.

Strange, considering he was super serious just a few moments ago.

But more important than that...was the sheer ease of the man's flight, or rather, how easily he could use his abilities.

Now...just to be clear, Naruto wasn't jealous of his ability to fly, no, not at all, definitely not.

...

Ok, maybe he was a little jealous. It was all just totally unfair.

Anyway, Dulio claimed that he could control 'weather' with his Sacred Gear before, and the blond supposed that flying would be included in that control.

But what else could he control? Like, what the hell was he dealing with?

'Weather' was super vague, and he supposed that it could encompass a lot of things, so what exactly could this guy do? What couldn't he do?

Blue eyes traveled away from his future opponent's form to check his surroundings, idly seeing the clouds pass him by as they were heading to their battleground.

Then and there, he actually wondered whether he had made a mistake in challenging Dulio, as the young man could very well be the worst match-up for the shinobi.

Azazel-san might have actually had a right to be concerned, amazingly enough.

...Then again, Naruto didn't have to win, he just had to prove his integrity over to his opponent by trading fists.

As long as he did that, he didn't really mind losing.

...

Ok, that was a lie. He wanted to win.

"Alright, this place should be good enough for a small fight, wouldn't you say, Naruto-dono?"

Naruto was knocked from his thoughts when Dulio called out from him, his voice barely recognizable over the air that was pressing against them.

He still managed to get the gist of what he said though, thankfully, which led him to scan the ground to check where they ended up at.

What the shinobi saw surprised him.

A rather plain area filled with misshapen, uneven, and worn out rocks was registered to his brain via eyesight, with a large body of water right next to it.

There was practically no signs of civilization around either, with the only exceptions being a few rundown fishing houses nearby.

"...Naruto-dono, did you know that there's something known as a 'Typhoon Season' in Japan?" Dulio inquired rhetorically, his voice more clearer as he floated closer to the shinobi.

Naruto spared a glance at the obnoxious man, idly hopping up and down, since he had no way to float in the air like his compatriot.

Yeah, he wasn't jealous at all.

Even though the whiskered teen didn't actually respond to his query, Dulio still continued to speak regardless. "Well, due to the fact that this country is essentially just a big island, which happens to be surrounded by an ocean, it should come as no surprise that it is particularly susceptible to extreme weather conditions...such as the naturally spawning typhoons of the Pacific Ocean."

The psuedo-priest then brought a finger up, almost like he was a teacher that was bringing up an important piece of information that was vital to a test. "Now...Typhoon Season hasn't started quite yet, but it's just around the corner, so many who live near the coastline are quite busy making last-minute preparations, just in case. So this area, which is already sparsely populated, should be perfect for our little bout."

Naruto blinked, cocking his head to the side. "Wow, you actually thought this through, huh? Alright, so then I guess that we're gonna be fighting on the coastline?"

Even as he was speaking, the blond had already stopped his incessant hopping in the air, beginning his fall towards the ground.

But before he could even start, he felt the air below him, in no uncertain terms, pull him up, keeping him in his place.

"Wait, no, there's still a chance that people could see our fight if we're not careful. Rather, I don't want to give anyone even the remotest chance of seeing us." Dulio claimed reasonably, quickly offering an alternative by pointing towards somewhere else. "So...how about we just take this out there?"

Blue eyes followed after the digit, wondering what his new acquaintance was talking about, but was unable to.

The man literally just pointed at the ocean, or more specifically, the Pacific Ocean, so how the hell was Naruto supposed to know where he was-?

Oh.

Oh.

"...You mean...you want to take this fight to the ocean?" the shinobi asked, needing to ask just for clarification, such was his disbelief.

Dulio scratched the side of his head nervously, an apologetic smile creeping it's way onto his face. "Ah, I'm sorry, is that disadvantageous to you? I wasn't entirely sure what you were capable of, so if you want, we can take this somewhere else-"

"No." Naruto interjected, straightening his back. "This isn't a problem, it's better than the air at least, and it does keep regular people from getting involved since neither of us know how to make a barrier. This'll do."

Indeed, even though his abilities could prove to be annoying in the middle of the water, he still needed to get this over with as quickly as possible.

He needed to get back home before the rogue Grigori member; Kokabiel, could make his move.

There was no time to waste.

Seeing the determination that was in his future opponent's eyes, the church agent nodded, accepting his words, and made the very air push them towards the massive body of water.

For all intent's and purposes, they were literally riding the wind, allowing the two humans to cover vast distances with very little effort, which Naruto couldn't help but silently stew at.

Ok, yeah, he was jealous, sue him.

Nevertheless, the pair of blondes eventually covered enough distance for their fight, moving so far away that the coastline of the Japanese islands were completely out of sight.

"Are you sure that this kind of battleground is alright with you, Naruto-dono?" Dulio checked again, allowing the air to lower both of their bodies to the water, slow and steady.

Blue eyes peered into the water, seeing his reflection becoming bigger and bigger as he got closer to it, blue reflecting off of blue. "No...this is good, I don't really even have to beat you anyway, I just gotta prove myself to you, right?"

And with that, the shinobi's foot tapped into the ocean surface, not breaking through it despite being heavy in density, relying on his chakra to stand upright on the water.

Dulio's eyes widened fractionally, seeing the blond stand on water was something that the young man didn't really think that he'd see today.

But he smiled nonetheless, happy to see that this wasn't much of a disadvantage for his fellow blond.

The agent of the Vatican then lowered himself, keeping himself suspended just above the water, and stared down the teen that sought him out.

"...Ready?" Dulio asked, not beating around the bush.

Naruto smirked. "Ready when you are."

Emerald-green eyes blinked, as their owner began to smile bashfully at the unspoken offer.

He was given the right to make the first move.

"...You know..." Dulio started, voice light. "You really shouldn't give someone like me the initiative..."

The shinobi quirked an eyebrow, but didn't bother to question his words when the older male slowly raised his arm.

Then, quickly, used his index finger to point at the whiskered teen.

Naruto was already prepared for whatever the 'priest' had in store for him, watching for any sudden movements.

But, to put it bluntly, he wasn't prepared for what happened next.

It came without warning, and the shinobi didn't even realize what had happened until he suddenly lost his balance, tipping over like a falling tree in a clumsy fashion.

And as he lost his balance, the blond tried to use his feet to recover, but they, for some reason, didn't move in accordance to his will.

The end result was Naruto slamming into the hard surface.

Wait.

Hard?

Yes, hard, but not just hard, it was icy.

Almost as far as the eye could see, ice had completely overtaken the ocean surface, leaving both combatants on an icy arena to fight on.

And it just so happened that Naruto not only didn't expect such a tactic, but Dulio also took the liberty to freeze over the blond's feet, sticking them in place.

The shinobi growled and pushed himself back onto his feet, trying to get himself out of the trap, already aware that the fight has started.

But it seemed that the other human wasn't going to give him the opportunity, as he narrowed his eyes and swiftly jerked his hand upwards, eyeing the struggling teen seriously.

"...Sorry, Naruto-dono." the agent murmured, closing his eyes. "But I can't let you win."

In an instant, the ice suddenly swallowed Naruto's body up into his waist, seemingly crawling up from his feet, much the the shinobi's rising alarm.

In the next instant, the ice managed to cover up to his neck, giving the teen one last chance to look at his opponent.

"...This...!" Naruto managed to growl out, teeth clenched. "Isn't over yet-!"

In the last instant, the ice had completely covered him whole.

The whiskered teen's entire body was frozen in time, encased in a large block of ice made Dulio's Sacred Gear, reinforced by it's incredible power.

He was trapped, unable to move, let alone fight.

The 'priest' then spoke up, finalizing what anyone would think in such a situation.

"...It's over, I guess."

---

Kiba Yuuto was bodily dragged backwards when the fighting resumed in earnest, with the mighty werewolf leading the charge, and it's minions descending upon them once more.

At least, unlike last time, they had a genuine power-based fighter to counteract that legendary beast's strength.

Even as he was thinking it, the werewolf was physically stopped from getting inside the perimeter made by the devils by Koneko, facing it head-on.

The beast roared as it brought it's massive form forward, surging to face the tiny frame of the rook of the Gremory group.

At first glance, it looked like it was about to crush the first-year high school student, but appearances could be deceiving.

As Koneko, despite being three times shorter than her adversary, actually managed to bring an end to the beast's charge by catching it with her arms, slowing it down significantly until it stopped.

That being said, just through a cursory glance, he could tell that Koneko was very quickly becoming overwhelmed by the werewolf's power.

She wouldn't hold out for long, and he was sure that everyone there was aware of that.

While the two were busy, struggling with one another in their contest of strength, the various monsters under the powerful beast's control moved to take advantage of the loli's weakness, trying to attack her from behind.

Before that could happen however, Rias and Akeno intervened by using their own perspective demonic powers to obliterate the small group of strays that attempted that strategy.

They succeeded, with an explosive display of yellow light and red-black miasma.

Almost immediately afterwards, Sona took a step forward with her hands out, trying to bring her water-based oriental dragon around to crash against the werewolf while it was distracted.

Unfortunately, by this time, the werewolf managed to overpower Koneko, pushing her back enough that her footing was compromised, before literally lifting her up off of her feet.

With her hazel eyes wide, the beast bodily threw her at Sona, much to the kaichou's shock.

Both teens were slammed into the ground once their bodies made contact, breaking Sona's concentration on her demonic construct, making it fall apart into a mini flash flood.

At that moment, the bespectacled woman remembered that their enemy was watching them fight for a little bit before intervening, meaning that it was well aware of their tricks.

Not good.

And this belief was proven further after Tsubaki, her queen, stopped dragging Kiba Yuuto away from the front line and re-entered the battle, her naginata being swung about so that she could hold off the great beast.

At least, that's what it seemed like she was up to.

But in reality, she was actually prepping herself to utilize her Sacred Gear; Mirror Alice, in order to beat him back long enough to buy her king some time.

So she charged forward, grabbing her adversary's attention as well as the brunt of his next attack.

It sprinted towards her on all four of it's limbs, obviously moving to ram her with it's largess.

Despite it's speed however, Tsubaki still managed to form a mirror in-between the two of them, using it as a shield which would strike back against the werewolf with double the power that it produced.

However, when the beast neared the mirror, it actually stopped in place, it's momentum completely gone.

The teenaged girl with heterochormic eyes was caught off-guard by this sudden move, not all aware that the werewolf had unsheathed it's claws into the ground so that it could slow itself down without warning.

But to make matters worse for her, as soon as it had stopped, it had then jumped into the air, completely avoiding the mirror placed in it's way in order to get to the young reincarnated devil without issue.

And that was exactly what happened.

The great beast smashed onto the former human, sending her deep into the ground, forcing her to cough up an excessive amount of blood from the damage.

The loud crash that resulted from Tsubaki's body getting smashed into the ground quickly attracted the attention of Rias and Akeno, who were both busy obliterating the last of the stray devils that accompanying the werewolf.

Both powerful devils shared glances with one another, before turning around to aim their next attacks at their powerful adversary.

Roughly around the same time, Koneko had managed to recover enough to charge at the large creature again, her small fists raised behind her in order to throw it with all of her might.

With all of it's attention on her, it practically didn't even see the red-head and ravenette preparing to blast it with their magical attacks, focusing on crushing the small powerhouse instead.

So when the two strength-oriented beings crashed into one another again, their fists managed to create a shockwave that blew away the ground underneath them, as well as the many bodies of stray devils that were slain prior.

While they clashed, Rias and Akeno took the golden opportunity given to them, and fired.

Lightning and Power of Destruction danced on their fingertips as a ball of their respective powers rammed the powerful beast from behind, the air charged with the intensity of their attacks.

However, in spite of this, the beast didn't even flinch.

Oh, it was hurt alright, but the damage was minimal at best, and all they really succeeded in doing was pissing it off further.

With a guttural roar, it managed to overpower Koneko a second time, pushing her into the ground, and then using it's clawed hand to grab her face and dig her in deeper.

Blood spurted from her head as she struggled to get out of it's hold, her hazel eyes dilated as she pushed against it's hold.

But it was no use, as the beast raised it's other hand as well, prepared to inflict a mortal wound this time.

"Sword Birth!"

Until those words echoed across the field, making the werewolf hesitate, then flat-out back off by jumping away.

It got out of the way just in time, as numerous swords emerged from the ground immediately afterwards, obviously trying to impale the beast.

Koneko glanced around her, seeing the many blades that surrounded her like a protective cocoon, allowing a sigh of relief to escape her lips as she forced herself onto her feet, ignoring the blood that was leaking from her forehead.

As soon as she did that, she was very quickly scooped up from the small hole, as she was grabbed by her king as she passed by with her wings out, flying her away from the spot to get her to safety.

Apparently Rias wasn't the only one with that idea, as everyone else had also moved to group up around Yuuto and Sona, including the wounded like Tsubaki and Koneko, probably so that they could properly prep for a counterattack.

Yuuto clutched at his stomach, his breathing a little shallow as he glanced at the many faces that moved to his position, seeing the wariness on many of his allies' faces.

He barely managed to stop the legendary creature from squashing Koneko with his Sacred Gear, but it wasn't the game changer like he hoped it would be.

He was pretty much out of the fight now, that was as much as he could do, and he lost the element of surprise.

More than that, it actually seemed like that thing was pretty knowledgeable of how to counter their attacks now...was it studying them before?

As he pondered the issue at hand, the student council president very quickly voiced the thoughts that he was wondering about.

"...That werewolf is aware of how we fight." Sona noted crisply, eyeing her comrades critically, especially the ones that were wounded. "We have to change tactics, otherwise, at the very least, we'll get locked into a stalemate for an extended period of time."

And wasn't that the truth?

When her violet eyes scanned her comrades, she already concluded that a 'stalemate' may be a bit of an optimistic conclusion by this point.

Tsubaki was favoring her left arm, which just so happened to be in the way of their adversary's attack when it smashed her to the ground, not to mention the fact that there was quite the gash on her abdomen as well.

Koneko was in similar shape, as she was putting on a strong front after her king let her down after cradling her, but her body was slightly bowed, trying to cover the bloody hole on her stomach.

And Kiba Yuuto, of course, was in no condition to fight.

Which only made the necessity of a new strategy even more paramount.

"...Yes, I think so too." Rias responded levelly, her eyes narrowed at the enemy. "And I think I might have just the plan for that."

Sona shot a look at her fellow high-class devil, intrigued, and that interest was only further strengthened when Akeno moved closer to her king to place her hand onto her shoulder.

"Buchou, you can't mean-?"

The red-head didn't reply to her query, nor did she divert her attention away from Sona, who was looking more and more curious by the second. "Sona, can you do me a favor?"

The Sitri heiress squinted, uncertain of what her friend wanted, but quickly decided to nod her head anyway.

Seeing this, Rias continued. "...I need you to stick with me for a little bit longer, to buy me time to be specific. Then to lead that werewolf to me when the time is right. We need to time this perfectly if this is going to work."

Sona raised an eyebrow, her unspoken question obvious.

Thankfully for her, someone else was going to indirectly answer her questions for her.

"Buchou! You're not really going to be using that new technique of yours already, right? You said it yourself while you were testing it, it's not ready for use in battle!" the raven-haired queen claimed, still holding onto Rias' shoulder as she tried to convince her out of this foolish idea.

At first, when the pure-blood devil turned her head around to look at her, Akeno thought that she managed it, but her next words quickly belayed her of that belief.

"Akeno, I need you to help Koneko-chan, Tsubaki, and Yuuto get back to safety. More than that, you should go to Mio-chan's place, as if I remember right, Naruto once claimed that he placed energy-muffling seals in his home. If they go there, those seals should prevent this unknown third-party from locking them down, if that was the intention of this monster's master anyway." the Gremory heiress stated sharply, her tone leaving no room for discussion. "This is important, we still don't know who this third-party is, and I want to make sure that everyone is present and accounted for."

Even as she was speaking, she was chancing a glance at the werewolf, which was in a crouched position, looking for a chance to rejoin the battle again.

It wouldn't have to wait long.

"...Rias, what are you planning? It doesn't sound quite safe..." Sona couldn't help but drawl out, pushing her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose absent-mindedly.

A sly smile spread across her fellow high-class devil's features. "Something that should finish this fight, but like I said, I'll need you to buy me a little time. Is that alright?"

The bespectacled girl stared at the red-head, silent for a few tense moments, her mind whirling.

It took a few seconds for her to understand her friend's vagueness.

That werewolf had managed to understand their attack patterns by watching them, it wasn't exactly much of a stretch to assume that it could make countermeasures to any plan that they make then and there.

Such a beast could no doubt hear them with it's incredibly sensitive ears.

More than that, not only was a new strategy necessary, but the wounded devils around them would probably get in the way as well.

This was probably the best course of action.

"Tsubaki!" Sona called out, alerting her Peerage member to her next order. "Take everyone and retreat back to Uzumaki-san's home, we'll follow you shortly."

Tsubaki didn't hesitate when the order came, forcing herself to ignore her wounds in order to accomplish the directive that was given.

Akeno, for her part, bit her lip in frustration, but didn't question the two kings. "...Fine, but please be careful...Rias."

Rias nodded, smiling. "I will. Please take care of everyone until we get back."

Both queens nodded, and spread their wings in order to get out of the field, helping their comrades pull themselves up to leave as well.

Kiba Yuuto in particular was quiet, watching the two pure-blood devils stand close to one another in order to face the powerful beast.

More importantly, so that they could get out of danger.

Almost as if his king heard his thoughts, she turned around to look at him in the eyes, connecting with him for a few sparse seconds.

Then she smiled, expressing her fragile hope.

"Care to stick with us a little longer, Yuuto?" she asked gently, afraid to push too hard, too fast.

The simple fact that she felt it necessary to do that in the first place nearly made him crumple then and there.

Not that it mattered though, as despite his pause, he still slowly nodded after he thought about it a little more.

...It was fine this way, right?

It was alright for him to spend time with his comrades just a little longer.

A last 'hoorah' before he separated for good.

At least, that's what he assured to himself.

Even as he was helped up by Koneko-chan, with her wings out so that they could take to the air, he still didn't stop staring at the Gremory heiress.

And that stayed true as the small group of devils began to ascend above the treeline, moving to recuperate in a safe area, and to give their kings the space that they need for their 'plan'.

The werewolf just watched them go, unresponsive, focusing on the remaining adversaries left to it.

"...I'm surprised that it didn't try to intercept them on their way out." Sona noted bluntly, subtly concentrating on her demonic energy, using the lull in the fighting to prepare herself.

"Yeah, I suppose that it partially heard our planning. Maybe it wants to deal with us now that we're separated?" Rias wondered aloud, idly lowering her hand to slip it into her shoes, slowly leaving herself only in her socks.

The Sitri heiress raised her shoulders in a halfhearted shrug, more lax now that it was just the two of them, not questioning her weird behavior.

But, knowing what effect her next words would contain, she spoke again with barely a whisper. "...I'm ready when you are."

And, just like that, the battle was restarted.

The werewolf suddenly growled threateningly, lowering itself closer to the ground to pounce.

It heard her, despite her caution.

"Sona! Now!" Rias exclaimed, spreading her arms and legs out wide, the Power of Destruction manifesting themselves on the palms of her hands.

Sona was curious about what she was doing, but she didn't have time to ask, as the beast very quickly charged forward as soon as the red-head made her move, obviously trying to take her out before she could accomplish her task.

The devil barely had any time to react, but she somehow managed it, swiping her hand into the air, lips curling in concentration.

As the werewolf charged, it's large form deceptively masking how fast it could move, it was suddenly forced to stop in it's tracks without warning or reason.

Or, to be more precise, it was forced to.

A while ago, the beast actually managed to destroy the Sitri heiress' water dragon, which was wrecking havoc on the battlefield, by breaking her concentration.

However, when it lost it's form, the water that comprised it fell apart onto the ground, making something of a large pond in the area.

And it was this terrain that Sona used to her advantage.

As the beast was charging, the young devil made sure to focus her demonic energy onto the sizable body of water, creating thick tendrils which formed something of a barrier in front of the two devils, and then used it to catch the werewolf before it could reach them.

Immediately after she caught it, she allowed the water to rise up.

The pillars of water that were formed rose high into the treeline, bringing the werewolf up with them, and then surrounded it like a jail. Keeping it in suspension, without any way of pulling itself out.

At least, that was the plan.

However, after pausing slightly to register it's new reality, the creature began to struggle, it's powerful roars echoing across the field, disrupting the water that was holding it.

Even worse, it was also flailing it's extraordinarily muscular frame around as well, making the 'jail' fluctuate unpredictably.

Just as the black-haired pure-blood expected and feared.

"Rias...! I can't hold this thing back for too long! Whatever you're planning, I hope that it's fast!"

The red-head didn't even register the words that was given, focusing all of her strength onto this one overriding objective.

As red-black miasma covered the palms of her hands, she carefully crossed her right foot over her left, while making sure to keep her arms spread out.

Then, she pushed herself up by going onto the tiptoes of her feet, balancing herself perfectly.

Finally, she used that position to push herself with that front right foot, keeping her left foot in place so that she could literally spin on the spot.

With a dancer's grace, she spun, her long crimson hair flowing in tandem with the power the she wielded, her hands splayed out as she released the pent up energy that she was keeping in check.

Or rather, she released the pent up energy the she kept stored in her right hand.

At first glance, someone could be forgiven for being confused by the strange actions that the Gremory heiress was taking, but at the very least, there was a reason for her actions.

This entire trick was the method that she came up with in order to solve two basic dilemmas that faced her; a means of defense and how to use her powers more effectively.

If there was one thing that she has learned about the power that she has inherited, it was that the name; Power of Destruction, was a little misleading.

Indeed, the power that she utilized could obliterate anything in it's path, but only if the power behind it is dense enough to overpower whatever it's facing against. Whether it's an enemy, or another attack.

If she used her inherited powers against, say; an angel with five pairs of wings, then her powers would be knocked away as if they were nothing. As she did not have the control to pack enough demonic energy into her attacks to overpower such an opponent yet.

In short, the more demonic energy in her attacks, the more people she could obliterate with her power.

Yet she couldn't do that, not yet.

But with this method, she could potentially do something like that.

As she spun around, almost like a professional dancer, she could release her pent up power in her right hand, keeping it in place around her, and as she continued her arc, she could then use her left hand to help stabilize that very same power.

Instead of actively forming and controlling her attacks all at once, she'd just alternate in making her attacks more denser, and stabilize the energy that she was forming it with. In essence, allowing her to put more power into her Power of Destruction than ever before.

Not only that, but thanks to the fact that she's put such dense demonic energy around herself, she has pretty much made a veritable wall of defense to protect herself with.

So she continued to spin, her right hand unleashed her Power of Destruction in a thin arc around her body, as her left hand then moved to stabilize that very energy, the red-black miasma growing more and more wild after every pass.

As the power held in Rias' fingertips grew more uncontrollable, Sona's hold over their adversary grew more and more frayed.

The werewolf was almost free, the water getting splashed away from it as it swung it's mighty limbs without thought, ripping apart the de-facto prison that was holding it at bay.

Sona was just about to give her fellow high-class devil a warning, that there was a high likelihood that the beast was about to break free any moment now.

But she needn't have bothered.

"Sona...! Get out of here! Quickly!" Rias called out, her voice distorted by the very power that was spinning around her, surrounding her.

For some reason, despite her reservations, she didn't hesitate to spread her bat-like wings and jump into the air, making her way out from the grove as fast as possible.

For some reason, her instincts were screaming for her to get away.

Her flight took her high into the air, speeding away from the battle at high speeds, biting her lip at the prospect of abandoning her old friend.

Especially when she felt, more than saw, the legendary creature break through her demonic-powered water.

So she kept her gaze downwards as she flew up, straining to see what Rias had up her sleeve.

It took a few tense seconds.

One...

Nothing.

Two...

Nothing.

Three...

...

...

Something changed.

It was small at first, a small ball of dark energy that appeared in the middle of the grove, easily noticeable when compared to the greenery around it.

But it didn't stay like that, no, that dark mass very suddenly expanded outwards, becoming something like a disk which encroached in every direction. Swallowing up the grove and the forest surrounding it.

It felt like she was looking into the eye of a pitch-black hurricane, as the Power of Destruction continued to spread, covering the earth with it's energy.

Strangely enough, like an 'eye' of a hurricane, the middle of the explosion was completely bare, and almost bereft of the erasing prowess of the Gremory heiress' inherited power.

Worse than that, bordering on disturbing, was how...quiet this power's expansion was.

If Sona wasn't seeing it with her own eyes, she wouldn't have known that this phenomenon was even occurring, as there was no noise coming from this disk-like expansion at all.

It was silently obliterating everything in it's way.

...

As the Sitri heiress continued to watch the new technique that her old friend boasted, she couldn't help but silently reflect how...different this very attack was for the red-head.

Truly, between the two of them, Rias rarely, if ever, had inventive uses for her Power of Destruction.

If anything, she was always the type to overpower her opponents, as her inherited powers was always more than enough to deal with her adversaries, until recently of course.

No, it was Sona who always sought for more intricate strategies, for both; her own abilities and for her Peerage.

Indeed, that was the single most important advantage that she held over her friend and rival, especially when considering how much raw power and potential that Rias' Peerage held.

It was practically a brains vs. brawn comparison between the two.

Yet...this wasn't 'brawn' anymore. This was creative, this was strategic, and it was powerful.

She had changed.

And she thinks that she knows who helped facilitate that change in mindset.

A certain -annoying- blond teenager popped in her head, flashing a cheeky smile, as if taunting her with her loss of her main advantage over her fellow high-class devil.

...

Once this entire 'incident' is over and done with, that would have to change.

Her extended thoughts about Rias were cut off abruptly after that, as the large disk-like expansion of the Gremory heiress' Power of Destruction soon began to fade away, disappearing without a trace, like a black mist.

And since that miasma faded away, the young devil finally got a chance to look at what happened to the terrain around the grove.

Or rather, the fact that there wasn't anything left of the area around the grove.

It was gone.

All of it.

Completely barren, as everything around the center of the initial expansion was obliterated outright, erased even.

The grove itself, by this point, looked more like an oasis in the middle of a desert than anything else.

And right in the middle of that grove, stood Rias.

With the werewolf, nowhere to be seen.

Sona carefully lowered herself back down to the 'oasis', eyeing the red-head carefully, noting the subtle way that she was keeping her hands close to her skirt, hiding them from view.

As well as the fatigue that were dulling her blue-green eyes.

Before she could even try and ask whether the other devil was alright-

"...Sona, I know what you're about to ask, but don't worry, I'm not badly hurt, just a little tired. We need to get back to everyone and regroup, now that we have the chance." Rias quickly spoke up, a grimace being the most prevalent expression on her face. "That technique is still in the works, suffice it to say..."

Violet eyes narrowed. "What was that technique, exactly?"

The red-head pushed her wings out, letting her hands become visible as she prepared to take flight.

Sona quickly took note of the fact that the skin of her palms were completely erased, which allowed quite a lot of blood to pool from the wound onto the floor.

"...I'd like to call it; the Malicious Ring." Rias claimed, as that grimace from before began crossing over with a half-smile.

---

Hyoudou Issei raised his fists into a fighting position, a fire lit in his brown eyes, more than ready to take the offer that had been handed to him by sheer luck.

Behind him, were his two allies, both of which were pre-occupied and unable to fight.

Naruse Mio, the imouto of a certain spiky-haired guy that was probably in Kyoto by now, enjoying his time away from Kuoh Town.

Argento Asia, the nun that he swore to protect ever since she even bothered to give someone like him the time of day, forever earning his favor.

...Damn, that sounded sad now that he actually thought about it...

Anyway, those two teenaged girls were out of the fight, so he had to make sure that the bastard in front of him didn't get past him.

He was of course talking about the devil which led a bunch of weird monster-like beings, 'stray devils' if the perverted boy remembered right.

Diodora...uh...whatever his last name was, he didn't know or give a shit.

This guy was targeting Asia, as well as Mio for whatever reason.

No matter how he looked at it, this was the chance that he was waiting for...to get him back for what happened the last time they met.

Back then, at Buchou's summer retreat...

He was weaker then, and he had only just unlocked his Sacred Gear; the Boosted Gear.

Now was different, of course, but it didn't change the fact that this guy was a high-class devil.

...He couldn't fuck up, and he couldn't count on this guy being arrogant enough to hold back a second time, like before.

Not to mention he had these stray devils backing him...and where the hell did they even come from anyway?

"...Are you hesitating, boy?"

Issei snapped his gaze to Diodora, his skin crawling at the smile that the arrogant asshole tried to make, but failed miserably at.

It was probably because he had...well...half a face, with the other half burned beyond recognition.

"...You know that you can still run, right? There's no need for you to waste your life protecting someone that has done nothing for you. I'll even leave Asia alone...for now. So why don't you just abandon Mio-chan already?" the scarred devil wondered mockingly, his words slurred thanks to the fact that only half of his mouth even properly worked.

The perverted boy narrowed his eyes, but didn't respond, knowing on some level that the devil was just trying to psych him out.

But he wasn't going to let him, instead, he was just going to wring his neck.

Issei raised his fist, the green orb in the center of his red gauntlet glowing brightly as the device announced the start of his offensive.

Boost!

Diodora's remaining orange pupil dilated at the familiar sound.

"Quick! Before he has anymore time to power up! Destroy him immediately!" the devil ordered harshly, glaring at the monsters beside him.

As expected, they obeyed, refusing to question the master of their leader.

A humanoid with fur all over it's body, hooves, and curled horns charged alongside some kind of abomination made of scales, heading straight for the young reincarnated devil.

Both monsters raised their arms, prepared to crush their target, using their larger frames and presumably greater strength to their advantage.

Though this belief proved to be false, as Issei raised both of his hands and caught both of their swings, knowing damn well that he should have the strength to do so since it was just doubled.

He just needed to hold out a little-

Any plans were thrown out of the window when he saw a dark blur move around him through the side of his eye.

Following the blur, the brown-haired boy moved his head to the side, just in time to see a black spindly-looking creature with sharp claws charge him from behind while he was stuck in position.

He tried to think of a way out, but he couldn't come up with anything by the time that the monster slashed it's claw across his back.

The young man winced in pain, even though the attack wasn't strong enough to do anything serious, but it did do enough to distract him.

So it came as no surprise when the stray devils from before took the chance to ram their fists into him, sending him backwards and against the ground, rolling.

Issei was trying not to wheeze at the blow as he rolled back onto his feet, but he still clutched at his stomach as his body remained bowed, feeling the pain.

Still...!

Boost!

He had bought himself enough time to actually begin fighting back.

"Alright...this should be good..." he mumbled to himself, straightening his body as he eyed the trio of strays, already feeling the increased power bolster his resolve.

Good, because if he got knocked back one more time, Asia and Mio could seriously be put in danger.

"...Hey...are you doing alright out there? Wanna switch out? You're getting your rear-end handed to you, you know that, right?"

Issei tried not to be offended by the clear lack of belief that Mio just uttered, hearing the clear drawl in her voice from behind him.

Screw her! He could do this, damn it!

As the perverted boy swallowed the retort that he wanted to make, the three stray devils began stalking towards him again, slowly, with the two strong ones taking the lead as the spindly one moved behind them.

Then, in a sudden switch, the two monsters in front charged forward, screeching loudly as they descended on him.

This time at least, Issei was ready.

Instead of just raising his fists to intercept the two blows, which were aimed downwards thanks to their taller statures, he did something else entirely.

The young man watched the strays throw their fists, as if their movements were in slow motion, waiting for just the right moment as their close and parallel attacks moved closer.

That moment quickly approached when their fists were mere inches from his face, lighting up his eyes.

At that split-second, Issei took a step forward, moving into their fists, and raised his own in-between both of their arms, which were very close to one another thanks to their attempt at a coordinated attack.

As soon as both of his arms were in-between both of their extended arms, the pawn swung his arms out.

Instantly, with his boosted strength, both fists were sent awkwardly away from their original objective, as the young man let both strays fall over themselves when their attacks met nothing but the empty air.

As soon as that happened, Issei swung his body around, throwing his fists out, and smashed both monsters in the head before they could recover, hearing the sick *crack* of something breaking under his attack.

Brown eyes blinked, trying to stop his eyesight from spinning after he finished...well...spinning.

Good thing too, as once more, he saw a dark blur move past him through the side of his eye, trying to circle him.

And, as expected, the stray devil that stayed behind charged towards his back and moved to impale him with it's sharp claws.

In it's view, it was about to succeed.

Except, just like last time with the other strays, the perverted boy wasn't about to get caught by the same attack a second time.

But, unlike last time with it's compatriots, Issei wasn't even going to give it a chance.

The reincarnated devil turned his head to look at the stray, seeing where the claw was trying to impale, and then promptly, moved.

He lowered his body just enough to cleanly dodge the attack that would have stabbed through his shoulder, narrowly though, since he could literally feel the air shift slightly at the blow that moved past his hair and body.

Without any hesitation, the pawn swung his fist upwards and smashed the beast in it's chin, feeling bone shatter into pieces from the blow as it's body was sent spiraling into the air.

The area was silent following that last blow, with the sound of that stray's body crashing against the ground a way's away being the only thing that interrupted the quiet that fell upon everyone.

Mio blinked as she watched the battle play out in front of her. "...Looks like he can do this..."

Asia, who was still in the middle of healing a bit more of her ally's more serious wounds, smiled in response. "Issei-san has been working very hard during his training with everyone, and I think that he has improved the most compared to everyone else ever since Rias-san made that training center."

Then she glanced away, looking a little bashful. "...Even I, a little bit..."

The red-head spared her a glance, seeing a semblance of pride in her emerald pupils, understanding where she was coming from.

"...Hey, come on Asia-san, finish healing me up." Mio spoke up, a small smile on her face. "I don't want to let the pervert get the final blow against that jerk; Diodora."

The nun, after realizing that she stopped healing Mio despite still being wounded, quickly stammered an apology and began anew, embarrassed at the indulgent smile on her patient's lips.

Meanwhile, Issei finally turned to face the man who was responsible for causing them all so much trouble, eyes narrowed.

Diodora himself, after resting a little bit to regain his strength, clicked the last half of his tongue in annoyance.

He was hoping that he would've recovered enough of his strength by the time that the damn meddler finished with a few of his strays...but it seems that he's gotten stronger.

A shame too, since his demonic energy reserves were pretty drained after his last fight.

It looked like he didn't have a choice anymore...

The former Astaroth heir shoved his hand into his pocket, carefully searching for the backup item that he brought along with him, just in case his mission became a thorough mess due to unforeseen circumstances.

After a few more moments of digging, he retrieved the legendary item from his pocket, a victorious smirk plastered across his features.

Issei's eyes locked on the glass bottle, staying put as another Boost! emerged from his Sacred Gear, not at all adverse to letting himself get stronger by waiting.

Though the teenaged boy had no idea what was contained in the small vial that his enemy was holding, he still made sure to watch it warily in case it was some kind of deadly poison or something.

However, instead of trying to throw the vial at him, Diodora opened the vial and poured it onto his body, allowing the magical effects that it contained to work it's wonders.

And it did, as he quickly began to recover from all of his recent wounds that he had accumulated since his last battle.

All of them, except the thorough mess that was half of his face.

Then and there, did the teenaged boy realize that he no longer had any time to waste, he had to finish this. Now.

And he had the perfect attack for it.

Usually, Issei held a tiny amount of demonic energy in his body, so small that he couldn't really do much with it, let alone fight with it.

However, his Boosted Gear not only doubled his physical attributes, but it also doubled his reserves in demonic energy.

So he only had one chance to let loose before he had to wait again for another boost in power.

It wasn't as powerful as it could be, but it would be good enough!

After Diodora finished pouring the last drops of phoenix tears on himself, while still being guarded by the four remaining stray devils, he refocused his attention back on his newest enemy, before pausing slightly.

The teenaged boy raised his arm, the red gauntlet on his left hand glowing slightly as he focused his power onto it...

Or more precisely, onto the palm of his hand.

A red light began to shine from that very area, lighting up the night as Issei poured more and more of his now impressive demonic energy for release.

Only when the red orb appeared on the palm of the 'dragon's' red gauntlet, primed to fire, did the former Astaroth heir finally register that he was in danger.

He didn't even warn his new 'subordinates' as he took flight.

"Dragon Shot!" Issei roared loudly, as he thrust his hand forward, releasing the pent up power.

All of a sudden, a light began to tinge the area around them with red, as the pawn's attack was launched from his Sacred Gear and ripped apart the ground to reach Diodora.

A large beam that was slightly bigger than the boy himself, flashed towards the enemy group, enrapturing them before the light overtook them whole.

It didn't stop either, as the beam tore through the small apartment complex behind the group and shred through the first two floors, obliterating it.

Said building quickly began to crash down to earth, collapsing in on itself thanks to gravity, with floor upon floor crashing into one another once they reached the ground as the entire mess released an insane amount of dust into the air.

At least until that dust was sent far higher into the air after the beam finished it's route and exploded behind the building it has just essentially destroyed. Sending debris into the sky.

The red light began to die down, finally, after it's owner expended the last bit of his demonic energy, causing him to breathe harshly at the expenditure.

Brown eyes peered into the dust cloud he had just made, sweat dripping down his brow, cautiously trying to find his main enemy in the destruction.

"...My, that was dangerous. You really should be more careful...boy."

Issei scowled, carefully moving his gaze to the air, where the voice came from.

As feared, Diodora was completely unharmed, managing to get away from the relatively small beam before it could capture him by taking flight.

Still, at the very least, the stray devils that were guarding him were gone.

It was just the two of them now.

Great.

Boost!

...At least he got another boost in power now.

Diodora watched the former human with new-found wariness as he slowly descended back to the ground, not at all expecting that kind of firepower to come from someone he had soundly defeated before.

Though, despite this new caution, it was quickly wiped away once he saw his young enemy's weary state.

And with that knowledge, came the smug and borderline sadistic smile.

"...I admit, you've grown considerably more powerful in comparison to the last time we met. I'm impressed. But it's obvious that you've expended most of your demonic energy from that last attack...and I'm not gonna let you recover." the devil remarked, as he stopped descending and remained in the air, his power flaring up.

He was prepared to make his offensive.

The perverted boy grit his teeth, already aware that the man was right.

He couldn't use that attack again, not until a few more boosts.

...So he would have to change tactics.

Instead of trying to obliterate him with the Dragon Shot, he'd just go for the up-close-and-personal approach.

Issei clenched his fist, feeling the burning humiliation of his defeat in the past.

He could do this...!

---

Dulio scratched the crown of his head, apologetic if anything else.

The young man was supposed to accomplish his latest mission, given to him from one of the highest authorities in Heaven and the Church in general.

To put it bluntly, he was supposed to to be making his way to the small settlement known as 'Kuoh Town'.

A rather quaint area, which in all respects, was rather normal.

If one didn't consider it's strange attraction to supernatural entities and activities anyway.

Nevertheless, the point was that he was not supposed to be here, fighting with another blond male over whether he should even be going to this small town.

Yet here he was.

It was an important mission, incredibly important, super important.

Yet here he was.

Why?

Well, it probably had something to do with the young man that he was currently facing.

As well as Dulio's insane streaks of altruism.

This young man...there was something off about him.

Nothing malicious mind you, but at the very least, the most powerful exorcist of the Church had to believe that the teen may not be thinking his actions through.

Rather, to be more precise, the agent has seen his type before.

He was the type of man that was single-mindedly focused, almost laser-guided really, to the point that he would ignore almost everything else in the name of whatever that focus may be.

It wasn't really bad, but it was something that wasn't sustainable over a long period of time. Especially if there were internal issues that he wasn't focusing on.

And, while he couldn't really explain it, he could at the very least see that the teenaged boy was making his decisions based off of something that happened to him before. A past event that has colored his world view, perhaps?

To put it starkly, the boy was a complicated mess, so much so that the 'priest' could only really use one word to describe him.

Troubled.

...That being said, that was what he sensed under the surface, whatever the problem was with the teenager, he was still holding himself together at the moment.

Whether it was by sheer will, or something else, he wasn't entirely sure.

But he was hoping that the whiskered teen's quick defeat would convince him to not only back off, but also to get him to open up to someone after being forced to let go of his current focus.

Force him to consider his options if you will.

Which was precisely why the powerful exorcist froze Uzumaki Naruto up in a block of ice.

"...Sorry about that, Naruto-dono. But this is for both of our sakes. I hope that you could focus on more important things now that you don't have to think about this incident anymore." Dulio apologized with a sad smile, silently gazing upon the large ice sculpture in front of him.

Or rather, the large block of ice that just so happened to contain an ice sculpture.

However, that sad smile that he was sporting was quickly wiped away from his lips as he continued to look at the block of ice.

...?

Were there cracks on the ice that captured Naruto-dono before?

The ice that surrounded the blond teenaged was completely bereft of any types of blemishes when the 'priest' first made created it, but looking at it now, there were clear cracks all across it.

Not only that, but those cracks were growing larger.

It was only when he noticed this change that he noticed something else as well.

Through the growing cracks of the sculpture, an energy was leaking out, becoming more and more visible and powerful as time passed.

It kind of looked like an azure fire, which was barely visible to his naked human eye. But while Dulio couldn't really pinpoint what it was, he could say that it was rising in strength.

And that realization spurred him into action.

The young man raised his hand, focusing on his Sacred Gear, and willing the ice to encase him even deeper than before, figuring that there had to be some kind of upper limit to whatever he was doing.

At his beck and call, the ice rose up to create a large pillar that grew as high as six stories, and became as thick as an apartment complex, keeping his acquaintance even deeper in the ice than before.

Initially, it looked like that was enough.

But it wasn't.

As, to put it simply, the teenaged boy's strange powers were pushed up a few notches.

Before, that fire-like energy was seeping through the cracks, almost like it was idly looking for a way out rather than anything else.

But that changed, now that energy was flooding out, attempting to smash it's way out, creating massive fissures across the ice surface instead of seeking a more civilized escape route.

And the ice simply couldn't hold back the flood gates.

So, in consequence, the ice block simply shattered.

The energy that the sculpture was desperately trying to keep in check was suddenly released into the ice field, knocking Dulio back harshly enough that his feet were ripping apart the icy ground under him as he tried to slow himself down.

Instead of an energy, it felt like the exorcist was facing a whirlwind, as his long blond hair was being pushed away from his face, his clothes were flowing behind him violently, and he was forced to raise his arms to cover his eyes just so that he could see properly.

Thankfully, Dulio's green pupils managed to peer into the middle of the storm.

Uzumaki Naruto was right there, in the eye of the storm, his energy flaring with such power that the very ice that froze him solid was stuck in suspended animation around him.

At first anyway, as soon enough, that same ice was then flung far away from him without warning, tearing at the icy ground underneath him with violent force.

Not only that, but as the ground was getting shredded apart, the ice itself was beginning to collapse into the water below or was moving to rise into the air like pillars. Everything was simply getting contorted by the energy that the teen was releasing.

"HAAAAAAAAH!"

The shinobi let loose an unearthly roar, his power changing the frozen landscape around him, as if he was trying to transform the area into his liking.

But more than that, this constant release of power was stopping Dulio from even trying to freeze him over again, thanks to the fact that his power was breaking apart anything that tried to form on him.

Dulio couldn't trap him again, pure and simple.

...Despite this setback however, the powerful exorcist couldn't help but smirk slightly, even as the powerful energy buffeted him with it's fierce presence, feeling a bit happy that his acquaintance didn't capitulate so easily.

"...Didn't you hear me before?" Naruto shouted out, raising his fist with a massive grin. "This isn't over yet!"

---

Shiba was keeping his fingers steepled together as he watched the proceedings in front of him, holding back his feelings of disgruntlement by masking it as deep consideration.

He was taking part in the discussion among the higher ups of the Hero Tribe about how to respond to the latest 'incidents' regarding their overall faction, listening to the long-winded fossils speak as if they knew anything.

It was annoying, to be frank.

Nevertheless, he was forced to attend, mostly so that he could keep his cover as a loyal dog for a little while longer.

The talks specifically, mostly centered around the destruction of the Chinese branch of the Hero Tribe, which unknown to them, was obliterated by the now deceased leader of the rogue Hero Faction; Cao Cao.

But, of course, they weren't aware of that. And as far as Shiba was concerned, they wouldn't be aware of that anytime soon.

So, precisely because of their ignorance, the 'leaders' of the Japanese branch was trying to find more efficient ways of communication between the numerous branches of their faction across the planet.

And, obviously, seeking to find out who was responsible for the destruction of one of their branches.

Now, if the higher ups had any idea about the numerous factions that have emerged in recent years to challenge the established factions across the planet, then they might have something of a clue.

They didn't, of course, so they remained ignorant.

Through Cao Cao, Shiba has learned quite a bit about the many new powers that have emerged following the end of the Great War between the Christian factions, as that event was definitely the catalyst for the sheer amount of rogue factions.

After all, the war between the Christian factions roughly lasted for around two thousand years, and it was quite 'normal' for many among their numbers to fight and kill the other.

So when it ended, that change was no doubt jarring for many, and afterwards, more and more changes to the status quo soon followed.

The fall of the Original Maou in the Underworld.

The partial demilitarization of the fallen angels by Azazel.

And the angels...well, they were in complete disarray after the war ended.

This wasn't even including the new dynamics that emerged between the three factions and the other supernatural factions across planet Earth.

In such an uncertain time, there were going to be those who preferred the comfortable familiarity of the past in comparison to the uncertain present.

Or, just as likely, those who wanted to take advantage of the uncertainty to gain power for themselves, or for some objective.

The Old Maou Faction.

The Hero Faction.

That old man's rogue faction, which was still in hiding for now.

And of course, the many factions that were still waiting in the shadows, patiently looking for a chance to strike when it would be most beneficial to them.

A more disturbing fact than any of that, was the simple truth that, at the very least, quite a few of these factions were connected to one another.

Many of them were loosely connected to one of the most powerful beings in known existence.

And that fact alone, would terrify a lot of the established powers.

But no one was aware of this, of course.

Their ignorance would be their downfall, and of course, he had his own goals and aspirations to aim for.

Which was why he didn't want to be here.

He had to keep his senses open to search for the young man that would help him complete his deal with the old man, mostly so that he could pit the two against one another.

And once that was accomplished, he could continue to destabilize the Hero Tribe from within, making sure to keep his ears open for interesting tidbits of information.

He had to play the long game here, and there were plenty of pawns on the chessboard...

"Shiba-kun, the Great Hero has told us that you have seen the remains of the Chinese branch of the Hero Tribe, I hope that you have some useful information for us in regards to what happened." one of the elders spoke up clearly, cutting off the younger man's thoughts abruptly.

All eyes turned to him once he was addressed, desperately seeking more information which they could utilize.

Except for Toujou Jin; the Great Hero, who was calmly regarding him while enjoying his cigarette.

He kept himself in character has pushed himself off from his seat, knowing that he had to deliver the falsified information that he had gathered from the ruins of the-

"Guh!?"

Without warning, Shiba suddenly shook on the spot, feeling as if someone smashed their fist into his face, rocking his sense of balance.

He felt it.

An energy signal, a familiar one.

The one that he was searching for.

Uzumaki Naruto's power was blaring out, nearly knocking him off of his feet despite how far away it was, making him feel like someone had just turned on a megaphone and screamed right next to his ear.

He found him.

But unfortunately for him, he had to wait before he could report it to the old man. He had appearances to keep after all.

"...Apologies, I've been a little sick recently, please forgive me." the traitorous hero said demurely, bowing his head a little in deference.

If anything, the many elders simply waved it off, focusing far more on the information that he held than his health.

Though Shiba had to note that Jin's eyes narrowed ever slightly as he stared at him.

He had to be careful from here on in.

---

"...Nya?"

That's what a certain cat unintentionally said as she felt the sudden burst of energy from somewhere far off.

It was faint to her, even with her senjutsu-powered senses.

But that wasn't what was so surprising.

No, the surprising part was the simple fact that she sensed this energy at all.

She wasn't in the human world right now, no, she was in a completely different dimension actually.

Yet she felt it.

An unwitting smile stretched across her lips, incredibly impressed.

She felt this energy signal before, it was that man's, right?

"...Kuroka...what's wrong?"

The young woman refocused back onto the person in front of her, looking a little sheepish for cutting off her report to her 'leader'. "Sorry about that, Ophis-sama! It's just that...well, I felt him again."

In front of the yokai, was a small girl, the woman's 'leader' for all intents and purposes, and the person that sent her to search for the senjutsu-related energy that she sensed while in the human world.

Accordingly, the little girl's dull black eyes lit up faintly with interest. "...His name...was Naruto, right?"

Kuroka nodded, all smiles. "Yep! Though this is kinda strange...when I sensed him for the first time with his senjutsu, his power wasn't quite as obvious for me to sense as it is now. As I doubt that I would have sensed him the first time in this dimension. Yet I can sense him now, even though senjutsu is supposed to make his power far greater than normal? That's really weird nya~"

The curvaceous woman tilted her head cutely, scrunching her eyes together in thought. "...Maybe it's because he's actually flaring his power now? And he didn't do it before when he had senjutsu? That would make sense...and if that's true, that would mean that he's a lot more powerful than I expected."

Her yellow slits slid to her 'leader', amusement dancing in her orbs. "I guess he's a pretty tough guy nya~"

The little girl stared at her blankly, unresponsive, retaining that silence for a little bit.

And when she actually spoke again, the order that she gave actually caught the yokai female flat-footed.

"...Take me to him." she ordered starkly, gazing upon Kuroka with a blank expression. "You can sense him...right? So take me to him."

Kuroka blinked owlishly, reconciling this proactive approach with the usually passive leader of this coalition of factions.

The Old Maou Faction.

The Hero Faction.

Such factions were technically at her beck and call, but she was so passive as a leader, that most of them just paid lip service to their 'leader'.

They didn't disrespect her to her face however, of course, that'd just get them all killed.

After all, despite her naivete, she was still among the top ten most powerful beings in existence.

More specifically, she was the second most powerful in existence.

As despite the fact that she looked like a little girl, she was actually an extraordinarily powerful entity that had the power to shapeshift, choosing this visage for whatever reason.

More than that, she was an entity that was born from the infinite gap between dimensions, simply known as the 'Dimensional Gap' to most. A space that could be roughly described as the 'space' between worlds.

And that entity was known as the Infinite Dragon God; the Ouroboros Dragon.

...And such a powerful being had just asked Kuroka to help lead her to the mysterious man known as 'Naruto' for her.

Probably so that she could attain his power for her own goal.

To kill the being that occupied number one on the list of the most powerful.

Great Red, or the Dragon of Dragons.

DxD.

The young woman grinned, giddy if anything else. "Sure! Why not nya~? As a nekoshou, I could use a strong man to help me repopulate my species anyway~"

She was always quite carefree, even in the worst of times.

Because, no matter how she looked at this, there was no way that the young man was going to get out of this one.

As soon as Ophis took interest in him, his fate was pretty much as good as written.

Whatever aspirations or wishes that he wanted to gun for would be pushed to the side, as his life would be in her hands soon enough.

He may as well accept it, and if that's the case, why not make the best of it?

Besides, she knew a few people that would more than welcome an influx of new blood in her ragtag little group~

---

Naruto was clenching his teeth, his chakra exploding out of his body in a fashion that he rarely indulged in.

Releasing his chakra in a burst was kinda wasteful, even if it was pretty cool.

But he had to make an exception here, as Dulio's Sacred Gear would definitely just freeze him over if there wasn't anything to break apart the ice before it could form.

By this point, he felt that he ripped apart the terrain well enough, as the ice that used to be under their feet was now ripped apart, leaving it as nothing more than platforms floating on the water.

The field of ice was in pieces.

And Dulio knew that such a trick wouldn't work twice, hopefully.

Suffice it to say, the shinobi was more than ready for any other unexpected plays that the psuedo-priest had in store for him-

"Wait, I have a proposal."

...

"...Huh? What's this about? You want to change how we resolve this now?" Naruto asked with an unhinged jaw, unable to believe how much balls the man in front of him had.

Dulio raised his hand up in surrender, an easy-going smile on his lips. "Sorry, sorry. I know, a bit anti-climactic, but you have actually managed to convince me a little after that little stunt."

The shinobi did a double-take, his disbelief obvious. "...Really?"

"Really. That strange energy of yours...I don't know how, but I felt your sincerity, as well as your good nature through it." the exorcist insisted, but his smile went away in favor of a more serious look as he continued. "However, while I'm more convinced that you have good intentions than ever before, I still have one last hurdle for you. Something more simpler and quicker, but also something more...meaningful."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "...Alright then, what is it?"

Seeing that he at least had the teen's tacit approval, Dulio continued. "You see, as I've mentioned several times, I have an abnormal amount of control over my Sacred Gear, where I'm actually able to connect to others emotionally in a roundabout way. And to that effort, I have actually created a technique that could help others remember things that are most important to them, for better or for worse."

After that initial explanation, Dulio moved to raise his hand, using his index finger and thumb to create a circle, and then blew into it.

Strangely enough, as the young man continued to blow, a bubble quickly emerged from the circle, floating off of his hand and towards the younger male.

Naruto stared at the bubble, a sudden feeling of apprehensiveness gripping him.

"...If you can touch that bubble, my Speranza Bolla di Sapone, take the memory that it forces you to look back on, and continue to stand tall, then I'll back off from this mission. Whereas, if you waver because of it, you will have to give up. Deal?" the pseudo-priest concluded, raising his hand up in a handshake with a winning smile.

The shinobi narrowed his eyes at the bubble, the feeling of wariness not at all diminished after his explanation.

But Naruto still felt that he had little time to waste, and his abilities were still largely unknown anyway.

This was the safer bet.

"I accept."

---

The cloud of dust that was spawned after the apartment complex's destruction slowly trickled to the ground after being sent into the air, coating the area in an artificial fog as it settled down.

It was something subtle, and something that neither of the combatants counted on when they started this fight.

Yet the fact was that it was there, and it was definitely to Diodora's advantage than Issei's.

As when the cloud settled, it not only covered everything in an ashy atmosphere, it also began to hide Diodora from the former human's view, being just thick enough to do such a thing.

As soon as that happened, the pawn finally realized just how poor his position was.

To make it worse...that was something that he did, it wasn't Diodora's doing at all, much to the perverted boy's annoyance.

...Great, he should probably plan his attacks better or something...

Those thoughts were prematurely cut off once something came out of the fake fog.

Now, much to his annoyance, Issei couldn't even tell where the -soon to be apparent- demonic-powered beam came from, as it pierced through the haze, aiming right for him.

The brown-haired boy narrowly swiveled to the side, eyes wide, watching the beam punch through the pavement, making a hole that was no wider than the energy construct itself.

But what alerted him to the inherent danger of his position, was the fact that the ground began to glow, as if there was a light underneath the ground...

"Shit...!" the pawn cursed as he jumped sideways, the ground suddenly erupting under his foot as his enemy's attack blew up inside the earth.

Thankfully, he was merely singed by the attack, but more and more beams were easily replacing the initial attempt on his life afterwards, forcing him to jump around, unless he felt like getting himself skewered.

So Issei did just that, hopping around the battered town streets as beams came raining down from somewhere in the air, trying to focus on where exactly the attacks were coming from and waiting for-

Boost!

Ah. There it was.

With that power boost, the perverted boy was more than ready to take the fight to his opponent, trying to zero in on where exactly he was shooting from.

The heavy dust cloud was still present around the battlefield, making it difficult, but he at least had a rough idea.

But by that time, suddenly, inexplicably, the attacks stopped.

Issei had no idea why they stopped, but he didn't wait to find out, as he immediately moved forward to try and catch the man before he could attack again.

So he moved, his legs carrying him forward as he tried to catch Diodora and smash his face in.

And he eventually made it to -roughly- the last possible area that he was in, eyes scanning around above his position, knowing that his enemy would stick to the high ground.

He wasn't there, nowhere to be found as a matter of fact.

So then where the hell was-!?

He gasped suddenly as a beam crashed into his back, cutting off his thoughts at the sudden pain as it burned through his Kuoh Academy jacket.

Issei wasn't exactly a good sensor, or the best with his instincts, but even should've been able to sense that!

Yet he didn't, he had no idea that it was even coming.

Damn it...! This cloud of dust was making this fight so much harder than it had to be!

More than that, he couldn't even tell when the attack was coming, or where for that matter...

Actually, now that he thought about it, Naruto mentioned that he wasn't able to sense this guy's presence at all last time they fought.

So basically, he had to close the gap between the two, fast.

At least, that was what he was concluding, as another beam obliterated a piece of the street that he was jumping around on.

Even as he was dodging attack after attack, the amount of beams that came down continued to increase, both in scope and frequency, with the eruptions around him becoming more and more powerful as time went on.

The young man jumped backwards as the ground erupted, the explosion heating up the front of his body with an unbearable heat, but forcing himself to ignore that as he sidestepped another beam which knocked him off of his feet.

As soon as he landed on the hard ground, with hard rubble raining all over him, he desperately forced himself to keep moving by pushing away from the ground to force himself into a roll, another beam impaling itself right where he just was a split-second ago.

The expected rumble of power once more knocked him away, sliding, singes all over his body, as he tried to recover as quickly as possible.

And, as though his enemy decided that he deserved a respite, the barrage of attacks stopped all of a sudden, giving him the momentary pause that was needed to get some semblance of awareness of his surroundings again.

At the very least, though he was shaken, he was still able to fight.

Issei carefully regarded the dusty air, trying to find any sign of his enemy, unable to do so after a quick scan.

...That bastard was probably moving to a new location, making sure that he remained hidden so that the pawn couldn't try to counterattack.

Bad.

This was bad.

No matter how he looked at it, Diodora was being very cautious this time, making sure to crush him while keeping a distance.

How was he supposed to beat him like this...?

...

Again.

It was just like before.

Just like-

"Face it. You are far too weak to stop me. It's over."

Those words echoed across the young man's head, taunting him, as the masked man; Diodora, looked down on him with both of his -sick- orange eyes, back then.

Issei smashed his gauntlet into the ground, eyes dilating, grinding his teeth together at the thought of what happened back at the summer retreat.

No...

Not again, he couldn't let that happen again!

But what could he do?

He wasn't strong enough...

He wasn't-!

"Oi, idiot."

Issei's eyes widened, freezing in place.

Those words...

Where'd he hear that from-?

"...If you begin thinking like that, especially if you're in the middle of a battle, then you might as well throw in the towel."

...

No.

He remembered where he heard those words from.

The young man's heart steadied as he physically and mentally calmed down, brown eyes closing softly as the memory trickled in...

---

Less than a week ago...

Issei licked his lips nervously as he stared at the house in front of him, standing in place at the entrance, trying to find it within himself to just go ahead and ring the bell.

This wasn't rocket science, this was Naruto's house, nothing special or intimidating.

Still, the perverted boy just remained standing in place instead of going ahead and ringing the doorbell, stuck in indecision.

...Maybe he should come back later.

...No, wait, he heard from Buchou that Naruto was planning on leaving Kuoh Academy for a little bit...so this may well be the last chance that he's got to speak to the guy.

He even made sure to not bring Asia with him, so that he could talk to the crazy blond alone, this was kind of a big deal here.

"...Come on man, you can do this, it's just a normal and friendly visit." Issei muttered to himself, trying to bring himself the motivation to take another step forward. "Just go."

...

...

He still wasn't moving, much to his rising frustration.

Before he could even begin to rage at this stupid development-

"...Oi, what the hell are you doing just standing outside of our house, you creeper?"

-his attention was brought to the front door of the house he was trying to enter, with a certain red-head standing in the doorway, her arms crossed and a dull look on her face.

Ah...

"H-Hey! I'm not being a creeper or anything! Don't make such stupid assumptions about people!" the pawn complained loudly, annoyed at the charge.

Mio, who was wearing a casual yellow tank top with a pair of beige cargo shorts, rolled her eyes. "...I saw you standing outside the house through the window a while ago, and you just stayed there for the longest time, what else am I supposed to assume?"

Redness quickly flooded the reincarnated devil's cheeks, feeling the sudden sting of embarrassment after finding out that little tidbit.

Despite this, the young man was still going to retort against the charge against him, at least until another voice chimed into the conversation.

"Oh come on Mio-sama, there's no need to be so harsh to the poor guy, he's probably just too embarrassed to try and ring the doorbell, that's all!" a voice claimed from above both teens.

As Issei snapped his head to the sky, Mio was already in the midst of groaning.

On top of the roof, with her long silver hair and her gothic lolita dress fluttering in the wind, stood Maria with a stupid grin on her face.

"So that's where she was..." Mio grumbled out, already feeling a headache come on from the completely unnecessary addition to the conversation.

Ignoring that comment, Maria crouched low while retaining her position on the roof, looking down at their brown-haired visitor. "Well, come on, we all know what you're really here for. Just spit it out already."

Brown eyes widened, surprised that the silver-haired girl had the perception to find out what he was here for.

Seeing his expression, Maria's grin only grew wider. "That's right, you're totally transparent in what you want here. So go ahead, with your heart in hands, and confess your love to Mio-sama!"

...Then his positive impression of the loli was crushed mere seconds after it was established.

And while he wanted to, very much, comment on the impossibility of what she had just claimed, he knew damn well that he should stay quiet.

To figure this out, all he had to do was notice the pulsating tic that appeared on Mio's forehead as she grounded her teeth together.

"Maria..." the red-head warned, a threat inherent in her voice.

Instead of heeding that, she saw fit to dig herself in further. "...So you're not here to confess to Mio-sama...? Wait, does that mean that you're here to confess to me!? No, wait, maybe you're after Naruto-sama...?"

"NO! On all fronts, just no!" Issei roared out.

Mio just facepalmed, walking slowly up to the pawn as she sighed quietly. "...You're here to see Naruto, right? At least that's my guess...if that's the case, come on in. And please, just ignore the troll that lives on the roof."

Still infuriated, Issei took in heavy gulps of air to calm himself down, nodding steadily as he walked inside the house.

Meanwhile, as he was making his way inside, he heard the loli on the roof speak again. "Eh...? But Mio-sama, I don't live on the roof ya know?"

"Wrong. You didn't live on the roof...but after this stunt, you can go ahead and begin doing just that."

"EH!? No, wait! It was just a prank, Mio-sama! And I really did need to talk to you, please!"

"Well I'm not listening!"

Issei somehow managed to ignore the back-and-forth between the two half-devils, moving to take a seat somewhere as he waited for the blond to show up.

So, the young man quickly decided to seat himself by grabbing a chair in the table located in the living room.

And as the pawn took his seat, with Naruto nowhere in sight, he couldn't help but silently marvel at the sight around him.

It was kinda hard to recognize the fact that Naruto, the guy that always managed to get on the wrong side of the student council, owned a house.

Even harder to recognize the fact that he was living with women already.

Damn it, he was a virgin just like him, yet he lived in such an enviable position...!

"...I think he's thinking about something perverted, Mio-sama..."

"Yeah, I pretty much figured as much."

Issei was snapped from his jealous thoughts by the exchange of the two females as they grabbed seats on the opposite side of the table from him, one of which was giving him a sly look, and the other giving him one that most resembled distaste.

Unwilling to admit that they were correct in their assumption, the young man coughed into his hand in order to get onto the topic that he wanted to get into. "W-Well, sorry about what happened before. But yeah, I wanted to talk with Naruto about...a certain problem that I'm having. I'd be grateful if you could get him for me."

Mio frowned, tilting her head to the side as she considered the perverted boy's request. "Well, it's not like I mind getting him for you, but I can't get him right now-"

"Ah!" Maria piped up all of a sudden, cutting her charge off. "That's right, I forgot to tell you! Mio-sama, Naruto-sama asked me to tell you to replace the toilet paper as soon as you were done glaring at the window. He said it was super important."

The half-devil's eyes widened, her cheeks flaring up a little at being called out, but still got up from her seat to rush and do as asked. "R-Right! I'm on it!"

Like a flash, the red-head disappeared from the table and moved to grab toilet paper.

She moved so fast that Issei honestly didn't even see her move.

"Wow, when it comes to Naruto-sama, she really does work fast..." the succubus concluded quietly, before turning to their guest with a chipper smile. "Well, what was it that you wanted to talk with Naruto-sama about?"

Despite getting caught off-guard by Mio's disappearance, Issei still responded in a somewhat calm demeanor. "Sorry, but I wanted to make this a one-on-one talk. It's pretty personal, nothing against ya."

Maria didn't look offended at all, instead, her chipper mood only seemed to brighten. "Oh! It sounds important! Well then, I wouldn't want to intrude on something personal, so it's a good thing that Naruto-sama is about to come out in a bit anyway."

The pawn blinked, feeling that there was more to her words than he was catching.

And of course, he was right.

Out of nowhere, the sounds of crashing and shouts echoed across the house, easily heard by both individuals on the table, eliciting two very different reactions.

A surprised jump from Issei.

And a knowing grin from Maria.

The sounds of crashes ceased suddenly and without warning, creating a tense stillness to the house, at least until the sounds of someone running towards the living room quickly became apparent to the both of them.

"MARIAAAAAAA!"

As well as that blood-curdling scream.

Like some sort of demon from hell, Mio came out of the hallway, glaring at the two that were sitting down casually. Her eyes bloodshot, her face bright-red, her breathing labored, and her entire body twitching sporadically.

Issei could only stare, speechless.

So it was up to Maria to ask the obvious question.

"Mio-sama, you seem to be somewhat...stressed, did something happen?" the succubus asked curiously, the picture of innocence.

The red-head breathed harshly as she glared daggers at the silver-haired girl, veins visibly throbbing on her forehead. "You...you...!"

"Me, Mio-sama?"

"YOU TRICKED ME!" the half-devil screeched.

Maria blinked, using her index finger to point at herself. "Me?"

If possible, Mio's eyes became more bloodshot than before, with her whole frame shaking violently in repressed rage. "You...! Don't you play stupid with me! You never told me that Naruto was still in the bathroom!"

Issei practically choked on his spit by this point.

"...Eh? But I never told you that Naruto-sama was done with the bathroom, Mio-sama."

The red-head's jaw dropped. "It was implied you little-!"

"Now, now...let's all calm down here, even though I have no idea what the hell's going on dattebayo..."

Everyone in the room stopped speaking when a young man intervened, walking in, already looking tired as water droplets dripped from his bare body.

...He also happened to only have a small towel wrapped around his waist to protect his decency.

And that guy was-

"N-N-Naruto!? Why are you walking around half-naked!?" Mio cried out, her eyes as wide as saucers as she quickly rushed to cover her eyes from the sight, cheeks flaring further.

Indeed, Uzumaki Naruto had just walked into the room after finishing his shower, and after Mio had just peeped on him.

Instead of being embarrassed however, he just stood tall, crossing his arms across his pectoral muscles as he gazed at his imouto with a stern look. "Alright...I think I know what's going on here."

Despite staying quiet, everyone around the blond turned to look at him, curious about his 'findings'.

And he very quickly delivered. "Mio...you've been feeling really weird around boys recently, right? You're getting curious about things that you were once never curious about, right? Well, first I have to tell you not to worry, we all go through this phase in our lives. We just have to get through this together, alright?"

As the blond continued speaking, everyone else remained silent, whether it was through rising horror or out of dangerous curiosity, akin to watching a train wreck about to happen, no one had any idea.

It was by that point that the shinobi spread his arms out in a welcoming gesture, a soft smile on his face. "Look, there's no need to peep, but...I do think that it's about time that we have 'the talk'."

...

...

Managing to do the impossible, Mio's face grew brighter and brighter red, matching the sun by this point as she desperately tried to stop him. "No...t-that's not it...it was Maria..."

"It's ok, I got 'the talk' really late too. You're not alone in this, I promise that you'll know all that you need to know about this confusing time in your life." Naruto assured, nodding sagely. "Really...I feel like I've failed as an 'onii-chan'...I should have known that this was happening ever since you began interrogating me and Yuki yesterday about relationships."

For the second time that day, the half-devil's jaw just dropped, speechless.

Meanwhile, Maria was covering her mouth up desperately, wheezing as she lost her breath to her giggling fits.

Issei just watched, his questions to the blond lost in the soap opera that was unfolding before his eyes.

It was like watching a ticking time bomb.

And it was about to go off.

Three.

Two.

One.

"Naruto...I..." Mio whispered, voice listless. "...I think I'll...just be going to bed early today."

It looked like the time bomb flopped.

Naruto didn't really even get a chance to respond, as the teenaged girl already began moving to leave the living room, deathly pale with dull and lifeless eyes.

She pretty much looked like she just gave up on life then and there.

The shinobi watched her go, confusion in his eyes, before turning to the succubus that was still sitting on the table. "...Did I do something wrong?"

Maria, who was clutching at her stomach as her eyes began to water up from holding back laughter, tried to answer. "Ah...no, you got it -hmph!- totally right... -ha!- without a doubt!"

But she couldn't stop the occasional burst of laughter that managed to break through her lips.

Still, unbelievably, Naruto believed her words and nodded to himself with confidence. "Alright then...I gotta talk to her about it tomorrow."

The pawn gaped, unable to believe what he was seeing.

There were no words that could be spoken.

It was -finally- by that point that Naruto finally noticed his presence.

"Ah...woah!" the shinobi exclaimed, doing a double-take as his gaze accidentally passed by the quiet teenager. "Issei...? Is that you? What the hell are you doing in my house?"

The young man locked eyes with the blond, feeling more than a little awkward at his intrusion. "Hey there Naruto...it's been a while. And I'm here because I wanted to talk to you about something personal...but then I got caught into something weird."

Illustrating his feelings on the subject, the young man waved his arm, implicating that the very house itself was spawning the weird events that recently unfolded around him.

Frankly, the whiskered teen didn't look surprised. "You sorta get used to it."

Oh, that explains a lot actually.

Without missing a beat, Naruto walked up to the living room table and slid into the seat opposite of Issei, taking a second to glance at the still coughing Maria. "Oi, do me a favor and comfort Mio, would ya?"

The succubus was still 'coughing' from before, completely unable to recover after the beautiful scene she had just engineered. "I'm -hah!- on it...Naruto-sama!"

Maria slowly pushed herself off from her seat, giggling insanely, and began moving to the hallway so that she could 'comfort' the red-head.

And by that, of course, she meant tease.

It was this very incident that would convince Mio of something later on.

Mostly, that she didn't need to consider how she got the succubus to join Naruto on his planned trip to Kyoto, which was planned for in the beginning of Kuoh Academy's reopening.

She'd just stuff her inside his baggage.

No muss, no fuss, right?

Anyway, Naruto finally turned to face the pawn, quirking an eyebrow in curiosity. "So? What's up?"

Issei dragged his eyes away from the retreating back of the mischievous silverette and onto the man that he actually came to see. "Right. You see...I've been training recently, especially ever since we've gotten a lot of free time after Kuoh Academy's temporarily closed down for repairs..."

For some reason, the shinobi saw fit to cough uncomfortably at the mention of the school's repairs, going shifty.

Ignoring this, the perverted boy continued. "...And while I'm making a lot of progress in terms stamina, as well as making up a new move...well, actually, that's just the problem. If I'm only thinking about my basic abilities, I've only really gotten a little better in terms of stamina and strength when compared to when I was Buchou's summer retreat."

So, after that small explanation, Issei finally got to the crux of his problem. "Basically, I need to make some improvements, and fast. And I'd like some advice on how I could do that, since...well, you're the guy who likes throwing punches the most out of everyone I know."

A snort emerged from Naruto's throat at the blunt admission. "Oh boy, you have no clue dattebayo..."

Then the blond shifted around in his seat, lackadaisically crossing his arms behind his head as he carefully regarded his fellow male. "...Well, I can definitely understand why you'd come to me for something like this, but you gotta understand that I ain't a miracle worker. There isn't a way for you to become a badass overnight."

If the brown-haired boy's roll of the eyes was any indication, he obviously didn't believe the whiskered teen's words too much. "Oh come on, Naruto! You're really strong, right? You've fought in a lot of life-and-death battles, right? So surely you've got some kind of method of training that could help accelerate my growth!"

Naruto just quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah...I've been in a hell of a lot of fights, but that's kind of not the point. I don't have a quick-fire way to make you powerful or anything like that, and even if I did, I wouldn't give it to you."

Seeing the indignant expression that began to creep into the reincarnated devil's face, the blond continued without missing a beat. "Look, there are many ways that someone could grow strong. For the most part, everyone has there own way to fight, or at least a unique spin to their fighting style. We both may like to use our fists, but that doesn't mean that we'll fight the same way, or that we'll have the same strategies."

Issei plopped his head down onto the table, disgruntled. "...I have no idea what you're saying."

Oceanic eyes dulled.

"...Basically, I can give you some pointers, as well as some training in helping you form a basic fighting style...but after that, you're on your own." Naruto explained more clearly, crossing his arms across his chest. "If I do more than that, then I'd be interrupting your growth."

The shinobi's eyes narrowed, firm in this. "Fact is, I want you to build upon your abilities your own way, to find you own way forward without my meddling. I want you to fight as Hyoudou Issei, not as a cheap clone of Uzumaki Naruto. Do you kinda get what I'm saying?"

The pawn leaned back from the table, eyes widening, knocked silent as his brain finally registered what the blond was saying.

His chocolate-colored orbs turned downwards, unable to look at his host. "But...what if I take too long to get stronger? What if I can't protect Asia again..."

That was right.

Once upon a time, there was this devil that was targeting Asia, for what reason, the former human had no idea.

What he did know, was that when the time truly called for it, he wasn't strong enough to stop the bastard himself.

...What if he couldn't beat him the next time he met?

What if-?

"Oi, idiot."

Issei was snapped from his internalized worries, locking eyes with his fellow teen once more without even thinking about it.

"...If you begin thinking like that, especially if you're in the middle of a battle, then you might as well throw in the towel." Naruto criticized, sighing a little. "You need to keep your head held high, and you need to have the confidence to face your next enemy, no matter who they are. Otherwise you'll stand no chance."

The shinobi closed his eyes silently afterwards, as if pondering.

"I remember...that Rias once told me about some interesting things about the supernatural in general after we first met, from the 'Top Ten' most powerful beings...to how Sacred Gears basically worked." he began, focused.

The pawn leaned back into the table, ears perked at what the blond's possible point was, keenly looking for anything that could help him out.

And as expected, the point very quickly became obvious.

"Specifically, I remember what she told me about Sacred Gears." Naruto noted, sliding his gaze onto his guest again. "And how someone is supposed to become more powerful while utilizing them."

Issei's eyes lit up. "Oh...! I think I remember Buchou mention something like that once, something about my 'desire' if I remember right..."

"Yeah, apparently your 'desire' could make your Sacred Gear evolve if it's strong enough." Naruto remembered clearly, though his facial features belayed his dissatisfaction. "But, to be honest, I don't really believe that it's that simple."

The reincarnated devil squinted. "How do you figure that? You're not a Sacred Gear researcher or anything, so wouldn't Buchou have more information on something like this than you?"

A shrug was his only response. "Personal experience."

...That wasn't an answer though.

Ignoring the thorough vagueness of his words, Naruto allowed a calm smile to awash across his features, at ease now. "Issei...answer me this; how badly do you wanna get more powerful? To protect not only Asia-san, but to protect your new comrades?"

The perverted boy didn't even hesitate. "I would sacrifice my arm for it."

This time, the blond's only response was a toothy smirk. "Good answer, but here's another question now; why the hell don't you have the power that you want so badly if you're already 'desiring' it?"

Issei opened his mouth, ready to answer...

Then paused, suddenly uncertain.

Seeing his fellow male's pause, the shinobi raised his nose into the air. "You get it now, right? There has to be more to this Sacred Gear thing! See, this is why you shouldn't question my wisdom, I'm just too smart for my own good sometimes~"

Dry brown eyes watched as the blond's ego began to swell to massive proportions, forcing a sweat-drop out of the still-confused young man.

It took a few more seconds for Naruto to bring his ego back down to the planet Earth.

"Anyway, as I was saying before, there's probably more to this Sacred Gear thing than we think, as your desire is pretty damn obvious right now. Though, I suppose you could say that your 'desire' could reach a peak in dangerous situations, which in turn could trigger your Boosted Gear to evolve, it doesn't change the fact that you probably...no...definitely need one more thing to get stronger."

Blue eyes locked with brown ones, reflecting each other's visages as the shinobi breathed out the two words that went on to echo in the small room, their importance understated, yet not.

"Your will."

---

Present...

Boost!

Issei smashed his gauntlet into the ground, splitting it apart with his incredible strength, using it to force himself onto his feet, a green aura beginning to swirl around him.

"...Oi...you blond bastard..." the reincarnated devil murmured, eyes shadowed by his brown hair.

At least until he tilted his head upwards, a toothy grin plastered across his face. "Don't try and say such cool shit...when you've only got a towel protecting your decency...huh...?"

The brown-haired boy then took a deep breath, before breathing out, easing himself as he glared at the sky, trying to plan out what to do next.

He only had a rough idea of where that bastard was, so he would have to wait for him to make the first move, and go from there.

...And...while he couldn't, and shouldn't, use his Dragon Shot, which probably wouldn't hit the asshole anyway, he could still try and use something in it's stead.

Rather, to be more specific, he could improvise.

And improvise he would, as he just barely saw something flash in his peripheries, breaking through the dust to his right, moving for the kill.

In response, Issei jumped backwards as the beam obliterated the ground where he just occupied, his brown eyes snapping to where he -roughly- knew where the attack originated from.

He already knew that the bastard wasn't gonna let up, as a matter of fact, he was counting on it.

Which was why he was focusing demonic energy onto his Boosted Gear once more, making it glow faintly, as a small orb appeared in the palm of his hand.

That being said, the gauntlet wasn't glowing anywhere near as brightly as last time, with the red orb being significantly less powerful than the last orb that occupied his palm.

And that orb was being aimed just when another beam pierced through the dust cloud, heading for him.

With as much precision as he could muster, he raised his left arm, clutching at it with his right, and called out the new attack that he literally just came up with one the spot.

"Dragon Barrage!" he declared, his Boosted Gear glowing brightly as it released the attack to intercept the enemy's magical attack.

And indeed it did.

*BOOM*

Both attacks impacted one another in the air, not too far off from the ground, and cancelled each other out in an impressive light show of an explosion.

However, even as Issei was firing off his demonic-based orb, another beam was breaking out of the fog, coming out in short order after the last one.

Then again, it was called, a Dragon Barrage for a reason!

"Keep going...!" he urged himself, creating another orb immediately after the last one. Firing it off to meet with the latest attempt on his life.

Like he expected, his attack once more canceled out Diodora's, but he still continued to barrage the air in order to keep up with the increasing number of attacks on his enemy's end.

The air became riddled in small explosions, shaking the earth under the constant air pressure that it was picking up, knocking everything away from the points of detonation.

Which was exactly the point...!

Even as the perverted boy was forced to jump backwards after failing to stop a few stray beams from getting through, the dust cloud that once hanged overhead like some kind of looming threat was being pushed further and further away from the explosions.

And it was thanks to that, that the young man was able to see the silhouette of a certain devil, standing on top of an apartment complex a way's away from him.

Gritting his teeth, metaphorically clutching his heart in his hands...

He jumped.

Boost!

This was it...!

His felt his Sacred Gear give him his last burst of power, his stamina unable to accommodate more than this last power up.

And because of that, his Boosted Gear let loose everything he had in one full burst.

Explosion!

His very muscles felt like they were set on fire, as his Sacred Gear announced that he has reached his zenith in power.

He had no idea how much time he had...

But...!

Issei very quickly closed the gap between himself and his enemy, who was preparing another volley, unaware that he was incoming.

So he raised his left hand, his gauntlet, and heaved it forward, knowing instinctively that it was going to crash beautifully into a certain asshole's face.

Diodora for his part, was cautiously waiting for some of the smoke to clear up so that he could get a clearer shot on his enemy, focusing on creating more magic circles to attack with, and considering whether he should change spots to confuse the former human more.

What he didn't expect, was to see said former human come crashing through the smoke from the explosions earlier, his fist raised, primed to smash his face in.

His single functioning eye widened, caught off-guard by the reckless offensive.

But he managed to pivot on the spot by sheer reflex, muscle memory activating as he remembered their last clash.

By mere inches, Diodora managed to dodge the mighty swing, his face twisting up in a dark smile as his eye lazily watched the fist pass him by, as if in slow motion.

Yet, Issei didn't look at all worried by this fact.

If anything, a shit-eating grin overtook his features.

"Issei, if there's one thing that you need to know above all else...it's that you're the type of guy that likes to use his fists. But to actually get the chance to use them, you've gotta actually make sure that your enemy is wide open."

Naruto's last piece of advice echoed in the perverted boy's mind, as he began to seriously concentrate a bit of his demonic energy onto his Sacred Gear.

"Remember, you're not me. You're you. And knowing you, anything that you come up with to make that opening will sure as hell be blunt and ham-fisted. Which is fine, but just remember one thing..."

Issei pooled that power into his gauntlet alright, specifically, on the back of his hand, which just so happened to be facing Diodora as he made his pass.

"...Whatever you do, however you do it, when you get your chance to attack..."

That power made the jewel that rested on the back of his gauntlet glow.

Until...

That very jewel flashed brightly, as if it was a flash grenade that just went off, blinding anything or anyone that happened to see it for that very sparse millisecond.

"Ugh...!? W-What!? I-I can't see! I'm blind!"

Like Diodora, who clutched at his last eye, stumbling over himself as he began to wail at the intense pain, which was amplified thanks to his sensitive devil eye.

An absolutely vicious grin split Issei's face apart, as he flew past the blinded devil, tucking himself into a roll the same second that he touched the roof of the apartment complex.

It was called the Boosted Flash, meant to blind any opponent that dodged his fist by pouring demonic energy into the jewel on the back of his Sacred Gear.

It was ham-fisted, and completely unsubtle.

And it was one-hundred percent just like him.

Anyway, as soon as he was able, he forced himself onto his feet so that he could turn on the spot, prepared to utilize this golden opportunity.

His feet was cracking the floor as he sprinted towards his weakened opponent, forcing his fist back, his muscles expanding as his fist was sent thrusting forward with overwhelming strength.

"...Make sure that you beat the shit outta the bastard!"

Issei's fist crashed into Diodora's waist by the side, instinctively forcing the devil's muscles to bend awkwardly to try and minimize the damage done, an automatic measure to help spread the damage more evenly to the rest of the body.

It helped very little, as the former Astaroth heir was sent crashing through the guard rails that were erected to prevent people from falling, coughing blood at the sudden attack.

"And more than that...if you ever have such a golden opportunity...make sure that you don't stop pummeling them. You'll be in your element. So until you've done as much damage as possible, or until you're satisfied, keep up the pressure! No matter what!"

"Damn..." the pawn ground out, smashing his foot into the ground and pushing himself off from it. "Even if you didn't say anything back then, I still would have done that anyway!"

Brown eyes fiercely focused on the devil that was sent into the air, his own body lifted off from the ground after he used his feet, refusing to relent on his offensive.

Issei caught up to him quickly, this time using his right fist to barrel into the hapless high-class devil, knocking him further away.

At least, it was supposed to, but before he could be sent away, the former human drove his gauntlet forward and grabbed the man's fancy robes, dragging him back for more.

Using this chance, Issei literally smashed his head into Diodora's forehead, snapping his head -and body- back, as the sheer force of it ripped up the clothes that he was clutching onto.

With as much speed as he could muster, the teenaged male managed to grab the devil's arm before he went too far, however, the momentum his body was exhibiting was strong enough to force the former human to drag the bastard's body back, lest he slip out of his hand.

This pull swung Diodora's body around him in an arc, as Issei literally spun his enemy around him while remaining in the middle of the air.

Instead of trying to stop the momentum that was sending his enemy in circles, Issei quickly opted to swing him around faster.

The perverted boy clutched at Diodora's arm with a vice grip, heaving his body around him in a spin, speeding up his swings to the point that he felt, more than heard, the man's arm pop out of his shoulder.

Ignoring the scream that this elicited, the wielder of the Boosted Gear used every bit of his strength to make one more swing around, feeling more and more of the devil's arm detach from his body as he did so.

Until, with that very same strength, he launched his enemy towards the ground with such tremendous violence, that the already battered concrete roads didn't just break apart to make a crater.

No, the very road itself simply shattered, collapsing in on itself, as if the structural integrity finally gave way to all the punishment that it was forced to endure.

By the end of the collapse, a large crater was all that remained of that piece of the road.

Issei peered at the ground, watching his handiwork, silently acknowledging the announcement that his Boosted Gear made as he began to descend from the air.

Reset!

Ah. That meant that his Sacred Gear was resetting his power back to it's normal state.

As soon as that announcement was made, he felt his strength suddenly leave him, very much feeling the fatigue hit him right then and there.

But despite this, he still managed to, haphazardly, land safely onto the crater that he made.

Yet the perverted boy still had to lean against a piece of concrete that was sticking out of the ground, huffing and puffing from exertion.

It took a split-second before he could push himself away from the crutch he temporarily made so that he could actually see the man that he was fighting, knowing that he had to make sure that he was actually down.

So, cautiously, the teen trudged deeper into the crater, which was at least a couple of meters wide, and focused his gaze onto the bottom of it, knowing that Diodora was somewhere down there.

After a few tense seconds of meticulously climbing down the relatively sizable hole, he reached the edge of where his opponent laid.

The former Astaroth heir's head was turned away, his body motionless, and one of his arms was almost completely detached from his shoulder, with blood pooling under him from his many wounds.

Issei leaned in with squinted eyes, unsure whether he was unconscious or actually dead...

As soon as he did however, that once motionless body suddenly moved.

Swiveling on the spot, with his arm out, a magic circle on the palm of his hand, aimed right at the pawn.

Brown eyes widened to the size of saucers, a curse on the tip of his tongue as he registered the insane look in his opponent's single orange eye, suddenly remembering that the man could hide his energy signal.

The magic circle glowed bright green, shining in the teen's face as he tried to backpedal out of the danger zone.

Yet it seemed that he was too late, as flames suddenly blanketed his eyesight, nearly blinding him with the luminescent light in the dark hole.

...

But it didn't touch him.

"...Ugh...? A...-ARGH!?"

Issei's eyes, if possible, widened even further when he realized that Diodora didn't release those flames, it couldn't be, as the devil suddenly screeched when flames suddenly engulfed his body, setting him on fire.

Brown eyes scanned around, trying to figure out what happened, until the perverted boy looked up and noticed two figures at the edge of the crater.

Mio had her hands out, panting, and shaking with her last bit of demonic energy spent.

Asia, who was holding said red-head up as she struggled to even stand up properly, was letting her use her body as a stand-in clutch.

An unwilling grin spread across his face at the two, breathing out in relief at the save.

"Hey...! You...alright down there...?" Mio spoke out, her question disjointed every time she took a second to take a gulp of air in, before being quietly scolded by Asia for trying to speak.

Issei opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, another scream interrupted him, coming from the very enemy that was set on fire.

All eyes turned to watch as the devil desperately tried to put himself out, rolling around in the earth as the flames began to turn his skin ashen.

His expensive clothes weren't helping either, as it was only giving the flames fuel to burn with.

Everyone just silently watched, somewhat unnerved as they watched someone getting burned alive.

No one there was experienced with the concept of a sentient being getting killed by their hands, as everyone there was still new to the world of the supernatural.

No one, for all intent's and purposes, had the blood of a sentient being on their hands.

Neither did any of them watch as someone was getting tortured either.

So even if the man was scum, it was still a disturbing sight to behold.

Made even worse, when Diodora finally stopped trying to put himself out, instead trying to use his only good arm to climb out of the crater, pulling at the newly-made slope of earth desperately.

As he tried to climb, his last eye glared at the sky, full of unrelenting hate.

And it was aimed at Mio, who was stuck in place, locking eyes with the man who was sent to capture her by 'Lucifer', unbeknownst to her.

"You..." the man growled lowly, his voice distorted as he continued to pull himself up, inching closer towards her location. "You...!"

The red-head stared, unable to speak as he slowly ascended up the recently made cliff, his snarls of pain obvious as the fire continued to steadily incinerate his body.

She could hear his snarls slowly morph into pained chuckles, mocking. "...I bet you're proud of yourself...right? Oh, how well you've...done today! But...don't pat yourself...so quickly...when you were the reason...that all of this started...in the first place...!"

Diodora stopped his climb for a moment, his entire body pretty much covered in fire by this point, the only thing visible being his eye, which was unerringly aimed at the half-devil with unnerving intensity.

Mio couldn't move, her feet was stuck into the ground by nothing more than her astonishment, as well as her dangerous sense of curiosity.

Almost like he knew this, he continued, his voice becoming more and more raspy. "...Your blood...your blood is...special. It speaks of authority...it speaks of power. And feral stray devils...are drawn to such power like a moth is to flies, especially...if the holder of that blood isn't that strong yet."

That orange eye dilated, insanity in it's depths, as blackened lips stretched to smile. "Ferals are like animals...they want power...they want to be alpha...they wanted your blood...!"

A pained cackle emerged from his throat, joyous despite the torture. "Do you have any idea...how hard it was to...keep those strays in line? The only reason they obeyed me...was because they obeyed their alpha...and because...they believed that they would get a chance to devour you..."

There were no responses to this, to any of this, just a tense silence that weighed everyone down.

"Y-You're wrong." Mio said lowly, her voice barely above a whisper, shaking her head, hands shaking, refusing to believe. "This...it's not my..."

"It's all your fault!" Diodora accused gleefully, his slasher smile obvious through the flames. "Your friends have been ambushed by my servant in the forest! They...are all going to die! And it's because of you! I would've never been able to get those stray devils if it wasn't for you! I would have never came to this place if it wasn't for you! IT'S. ALL. YOUR. FAULT!"

Mio recoiled, deathly pale, shaking her head. "No...! They're not...! No! They trained! They got stronger! Naruto helped them train! They won't die-!"

"Naruto...?"

Diodora's whisper, despite being just that, somehow managed to be so impactful that it knocked the red-head into silence.

His single orange eye was wide, as if the man had just made a great discovery.

Then, much to everyone's rising alarm, the burning devil managed to get onto his feet, flames still burning his skin to charcoal, as he limped closer to Mio and Asia.

"You...know him...? You know him...! The man who started all of this..." Diodora rasped quietly, remembering vividly the sphere that was smashed into his face less then two weeks ago.

Then he remembered the sphere that the daughter of the Original Lucifer herself used against him, and how similar it looked to his.

"...You admire that man..don't you...?"

Mio didn't respond, her heart hammering inside her chest, her entire body shivering as she watched a dying man continue to speak.

But she infinitely preferred a faster heartbeat when compared to her heart stopping, which was achieved thanks to the next words that were uttered by this sick, sick man.

"...How would he feel...if he figured out that you were the cause of the deaths of so many...of his comrades...?" Diodora asked rhetorically, melted skin dripping from his body as he took another step forward. "How would he look at you...?"

The red-head locked up, choking up, an instinctual fear preventing her from trying to escape.

To get away, from him, back up and away from the crater.

To shut her eyes and refuse him the pleasure of even listening to him.

To do something.

Yet she stood there, as stock still as everyone else.

And the devil continued to move closer, with his silver tongue continuing on it's quest to expand on things that she didn't want to think or contemplate over, let alone admit to exist.

"...That attack you used against me...it looked just like his...but it was pathetic compared to his...a shoddy copy. Were you trying to emulate him...? Too bad for you that you're weak...as well as a liability that will get everyone around you killed. You're nothing but a burden...!"

Mio tried to back up, her entire body shivering uncontrollably, cupping her mouth with her hand as bile threatened to break out if she didn't.

"He'll realize this one day...you know...? He'll see what I see..."

"...No..."

"That you do nothing except hold him back...!"

"No! Just...stop...!"

"He will see this...and he will ignore it...and one day..."

"Shut up!"

Diodora smiled, despite his body literally falling apart, focused on this one overarching need...

To leave one last parting shot for these brats, to do as much damage before he was gone.

And to that end, he made his grim prediction.

"...One day...because of your weakness...he will die trying to protect you..."

Mio's heart stopped, her irises dilating to such an extent that they were merely pinpricks in comparison to the whites of her eyes.

"...Did you hear me? I said...that he will die because of you..."

"No. No, no, no. You're wrong. That's not true. He can't...he won't-!"

"He will die...because of you...!"

"Didn't you hear me!? I said that he won't...!"

"He will die, because of you!" Diodora bellowed with absolute glee, using his remaining hand to point at the red-head in accusation. "HE WILL DIE! AND YOU WILL HAVE NO ONE ELSE-!"

"Stop. Talking."

Blood splattered all across the rock surface that the former Astaroth heir was laying on, accomplishing the request that was given to him by the teenaged male that smashed his fist into his back.

And it really was inside his back.

Diodora turned his head around, blood trickling down from his mouth thanks to overflow, and simply looked at the wielder of the Boosted Gear, shocked at what he had just done.

Issei, in turn, stared right back, trying to stay firm and resolute, but...

"...So...how is it...?" Diodora wondered quietly, eyeing the 'dragon' with genuine curiosity. "How does...your first kill...feel like?"

The pawn flinched, far harder than he cared to admit.

"...How did you know?" the former human questioned, voice solemn.

A pained smirk slowly made itself known on Diodora's lips. "...Someone like me can tell."

And with that, the insanity quickly returned to color the devil's features, even during his last breath, especially with his last breath.

"...I hope you burn this visage into your memory, this moment, right here. I hope that you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat as you remember the blood flowing past your arms. I hope that you remember my screams." the insane man said vehemently, his orange eye glazing over as he used his last moments to curse his enemies.

To pray for their suffering.

As he did in life.

Though now, that was coming to an end.

Little by little, his rantings began to get lower and lower in volume, and his strength felt like it was leeched from his body.

Until he didn't have the strength to speak, or to keep his head lifted as he glowered at the reincarnated devil.

So his head drooped, and his eye lost it's focus, staring blankly ahead without direction.

The soft crackling of the body's fire was the only thing that Issei heard as he silently watched the decaying body, brown irises blank.

No...there was one other sound that was prominent to the young man.

He could hear Mio's muffled whimpers on the edge of the crater as well, the only other noise that he could hear then and there.

A part of him wanted to go up there and comfort her, as he had no doubt that Asia was trying to do, yet...

He couldn't.

It wasn't like he didn't give a shit, he did, but it was just that...

...

He was tired.

Yeah, that was it.

Despite the fact that such a disgusting piece of shit was dead, and the fact that he just did the world a huge favor by getting rid of him...

...Well, he wasn't smiling.

There was no celebrations, no cheers, there was none of that, even though he felt like he should.

No...he just felt tired.

Issei tilted his head to the sky, idly seeing the night sky return to the normal colors that he was familiar with in the human world.

The barrier was broken after Diodora's demise, which meant that they were free to enter back into the real world again.

All the damages done in their battle disappeared, as if they didn't exist in the first place, as they never took place in the 'real world'.

And just as the barrier fell...

"...Ah! Look! The barrier fell apart!"

Those words echoed across the night sky, originating from somewhere above the perverted boy's location, prompting him to look up.

His eyes widened slightly as he took in the visage of several devils floating high above them, a few of them looking battered and tired, but well nonetheless.

As he was studying them, Akeno descended towards the ground, a relieved smile on her face. "Thank goodness you are all alright. We were worried after we sensed that there was a barrier put into place out here."

That relieved smile soon fell by the wayside however, as she quickly noticed the pale features of Mio, who was shaking violently, and was barely keeping herself up thanks to Asia's assistance.

"Akeno-san..." Issei murmured, his own lethargy obvious. "It was that guy that Buchou warned us about...it was all him."

The queen of the Gremory group shot the pawn a confused look at first, until realization lit up her violet orbs. "Oh no...ok, we need to regroup, now. Buchou and the Kaichou are busy dealing with the last of our enemies, so they'll join us shortly."

Issei definitely did not have a problem with that plan.

"...My house."

Both teens turned to look at the pale red-head, who, despite looking like hell, was forcing herself focus again.

"...My house is closest, and Naruto has placed seals on it that muffles energy signals...we'll be safe there. And...I have to watch over Raynare-san as well." she continued, heaving her words out, as if she was about to vomit.

At the mention of the fallen angel from the abandoned church, Akeno's features darkened somewhat, but she still nodded firmly. "Then that's where we'll go."

---

Naruto nervously watched the bubble drift closer, wondering what he would see when it tapped against his body.

Dulio, for his part, was curious too. As this would, without a doubt, tell him whether the teenager was in any shape to take up his mission.

Would he stand tall? Or would he crumble?

These questions were about to be answered as the bubble touched the shinobi.

...

...

"When a person...has something important they want to protect...that's when they can become truly strong."

"How...? How can you be so strong...?"

"If I can't find the answer, it will be up to you to do it!"

"I believe in you."

"Know Pain."

Naruto fell to his knees, the water splashing underneath him as memories assaulted him.

Of a selfless and kind soul, treasuring the man that saved his life.

Of a confused young boy, that was seeking a different path to the one he was walking on.

Of a perverted and wise old man, gazed upon him like a grandson, and passed on his dreams to his student.

Of a handsome young man with spiky blond hair, rubbing his head and uttering the words that he craved to hear for so long...

"...You know the pain of solitude, just like I have."

The shinobi winced, taking a step back, shaking his head, clutching at his brain as those words echoed, reliving the words that were uttered by the one he considered his 'sibling'.

"It's that very pain that makes you and I stronger...Naruto."

That wasn't true.

That wasn't where his strength came from.

He didn't believe that, he refused to.

Because...

Naruto opened his eyes, his head bowed, looking at the clear water under his feet.

...

...

No.

What he was looking at...it was just an aftereffect of what he just saw.

Nothing more, nothing less.

The thought comforted him as he straightened his back to face the young man that was aligned with the Vatican, making his lips curl upwards into a lopsided grin.

"...How'd I do?" Naruto asked, that stupid grin prevalent.

Dulio blinked, taken aback if anything.

Then, after a moment of silence, he grinned as well.

"...Looks like I've got some free time to kill." the blond man joked lightly, stretching his arms loosely as he turned on the spot. "Welp, I'll leave the rest to you from now on, alright? I'll be seeing ya."

Anti-climatically, the exorcist began floating into the air, waving his hand goodbye as he drifted off and away, content with the state of affairs.

Blue pupils trailed after him, expressing nothing but dry amusement, figuring that this was the guy's lopsided way of telling him that he had faith in him taking on his mission.

He was a pretty chill guy.

Naruto's eyes hardened, clenching his fists as he turned resolutely, prepared to make his way back home.

It's been a while, but he had a feeling that he should get back home, and soon.

Before he made a move however, he looked down one last time, his lips curling disdainfully at what he saw.

It felt like a mirage, but more likely than not, it was just his mind playing tricks on him.

As his bright blue eyes looked down, he saw a pair of dull blue eyes stare back, apathetic and dispassionate.

Those eyes...he remembered those eyes.

Those were eyes of someone who has given up.

And, much to his eternal shame, his own once upon a time.

But that time was long gone, everything about that 'Naruto' was dead and buried, and it was never coming back.

It was nothing but a phantom, he had nothing to worry about.

...At least that's what he assured himself, but a part of him couldn't help but flinch at the eyes that stared back.

And, more than that, maybe he should've never looked down in the first place...

Naruto shook his head violently, cutting off his thoughts there, knowing that no good would come from it. He had to focus.

He'd deal with it later.

The shinobi lowered himself, prepping himself to move...

Then took a mighty step forward, starting his spring to race back to Kuoh Town, internally hoping that everything was alright.

He was coming home.

---

Dulio lazily drifted towards the sky,taking out his cellphone so that he could contact Michael-sama about the change in plans, figuring that he was about to get chewed out.

Man, he really was too nice of a guy sometimes.

His green eyes flickered back to the large blue depths of the Pacific Ocean, where blocks of ice lazily drifted about.

He had a better grasp on that teen now.

He could now definitively say that Uzumaki Naruto could accomplish his mission, both; in a fair manner, and overall in a satisfactory conclusion.

More than that, he could say that the 'issues' that's plaguing him were well and truly buried, whether consciously or unconsciously.

That wasn't to say that it wasn't a problem, but at the very least, it wouldn't be much of one unless someone intervened and drudged it up from deep within his psyche.

And hopefully, before his problems become too big, he could open up to someone.

Until then...well, he'd just have to wait and see. He had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last time that they meet.

By that time, he idly managed to find his boss' contact number, making him sweat a little as he considered how to gently word his next few sentences.

...Oh, this will be pretty difficult.

Still, there was one thing that bothered the young man.

Why would Naruto-dono focus on keeping him out of the picture specifically?

To put it bluntly, there were still church agents in Japan now, even if you dis-included him.

As a matter of fact, he was sent here specifically to reinforce the two exorcists which were initially sent to the small settlement known as Kuoh Town.

...

Wait, Naruto-dono mentioned earlier that there was a spy in the Church, right?

So...what if this spy happened to be a part of the more weaker councils in the Vatican?

If that was the case, then that spy would likely have completely missed the fact that he was supposed to be supplementing existing exorcists. As the initial group was sent anonymously, mostly so that the legendary weapons that they were carrying wouldn't be tracked to a single area.

...Naruto-dono was aware of that, right?

...

Meh, he was sure that the blond was aware of it. There was probably some kind of complicated reason that he focused entirely on Dulio, he was sure of it.

...Speaking of the spy, he supposed that he should flush him out, then let him go after that.

Yeah, he'd do that.

---

"Alright brats, I've fulfilled my end of the deal by transporting you lot back to Kuoh Town. What you do from now on has nothing to do with me, so as long as you don't drag me into any incidents later on by mentioning my involvement...we should be fine."

"...Even if you didn't say anything, we still would have been aware of that."

"I still had to say it, one can never be too careful with you brats."

Yuki rolled her eyes at the fretful leader of the fallen angels, she never thought that she'd be nagged by such a powerful figure, let alone this man in particular.

Though considering the trouble that they were dragged into recently, she supposed that he had ample reason to be concerned.

"...Yeah, yeah, we got it. We won't blame you for any buildings we might destroy later. Happy now?" Maria snarked, a deadpan on her face.

Azazel glared at the succubus, refusing to take the olive branch. "I'd prefer if you you lot just wouldn't...oh I don't know...destroy any buildings!"

Yuki raised an eyebrow, refusing to believe that even they were that bad. Her partner was obviously being facetious.

They only destroyed small patches of wildlife, they didn't destroy residential areas. At least as far as she was aware of.

She was positive that no one among there little group of misfits would so blatantly destroy buildings.

Maria echoed this sentiment by snorting in disbelief. "Oh come on! just because we got into a little bit of trouble, doesn't automatically mean that we're going to break apart buildings now."

The Grigori leader shifted his gaze between the two females, serious. "...Fine, I suppose this is the best I'll get out of the two of you. So I suppose I'll just leave you both here, at the edge of Kuoh Town, just to be safe."

The hero narrowed her eyes warily at that last bit, already aware that Kuoh Town was liable to blow up in conflict soon, but not completely privy to how.

Nevertheless, Azazel already turned his back to the duo, demeanor lackadaisical. "Now be careful you two...wouldn't want to see either of you get killed."

Before anyone could even ask, the far older entity disappeared in a flash of teleportation magic, leaving both allies stranded somewhere in Kuoh Town.

An excellent start to the new day.

And despite the fact that it was night, it was a new day, if Yuki's knowledge of astrology was correct.

Midnight had come, and had passed quite a long while ago.

She hoped that nothing major happened while they were gone...

"...Before we keep going, I have a quick question; Yuki-san."

The hero glanced at her ally, receptive. "Yes?"

Maria turned to her, her deadpan even fiercer than before.

"...Why do I have to carry around your friend?" she asked, annoyance laced in her words.

Yellow eyes trailed to the back of the succubus, seeing the limp form of Toujou Basara on her back, still unconscious after all of this time.

"Isn't it obvious? You're physically stronger than I am." the female teen admitted, her logic as solid as always.

If anything, the loli looked displeased at this line of reasoning. "...It's the principle of the damn thing, Yuki-san. The principle."

Yuki stared at her blankly, not understanding at all.

Purple and yellow locked with one another, both females sending blank looks at one another.

At least until Maria grumbled and turned away. "...Never mind. Let's just go."

Yuki shrugged at the strange behavior that the succubus exhibited, figuring that she was just being strange as usual, and followed her shortly.

As the two trekked their way back home, Yuki carefully picked her phone out of her pocket, regarding it like it was some kind of bomb.

She hasn't managed to dredge up the guts to contact Toujou Jin, her adoptive father, yet.

His blood-related son was alive, yet she couldn't bring herself to contact him.

It was quite frustrating, and she wasn't even entirely sure why she was so nervous.

And this dilemma was still present as the two females moved forward on the completely empty streets.

It was very late, so the emptiness wasn't unexpected.

If anything, it would be unexpected that there would be anyone still roaming the streets.

So when the small group continued moving forward, making some progress, Maria suddenly had to stop moving after she noticed something...unexpected.

Yuki didn't notice this until she nearly crashed into the loli from behind, prompting her to look up from her phone.

What she saw elicited her to raise an eyebrow.

In front of them, were two figures wearing long flowing cloaks with green and yellow accents, walking towards their direction with purposeful strides.

The hero's remaining working hand twitched, prepared to summon her katana at a moment's notice, knowing that with her cast, she wasn't at a hundred percent quite yet.

But she definitely had to be the one to fight if it came down to it, as Maria-san was the one that was taking care of Basara.

So the young teen was very much prepared to fight if necessary.

Thankfully, it didn't seem like it was going to come to that, as the two figures stopped in front of them and addressed them cordially.

"Hello there! Sorry for interrupting your evening, but can you tell us where...um...Kuoh Academy is? We're kind of lost, you see, and it's been a while since I've been here." the cloaked person on the left claimed with a feminine and chipper tone.

Yuki's form slowly lost it's tension after the young woman genially asked her that question. "Ah...well, we were roughly going to be making our way there shortly. If you want, you can tag along I suppose."

Even from under that large cowl, the chipper woman's violet eyes were clearly visible as they shined in appreciation. "Awesome! May God bless you both for your kindness!"

The hero's yellow eyes snapped to her right, seeing Maria wince, feeling a little sympathetic.

However, now that she was actually focusing on the succubus, she noticed that she was looking a little pale as she regarded the two cloaked individuals, tensing her back up again.

"...Yes, thank you for your kindness." the other cloaked figure claimed, her voice -and it was a her- far more serious and monotone in comparison to her partner.

Yuki refocused back onto the two confirmed females, unsure about how she should feel about them. "...So, now that we're travelling together, how about we introduce ourselves to one another?"

Once more, the hero could practically see the chipper one's excitement. "Oh! Ok then! I'll go first!"

With a casual movement, the chipper woman pushed the cloak's hood off from her face, revealing her long chestnut-colored twintails, and her happy violet eyes to the world. "Hello there! My name is Shidou Irina, and I'm a former Kuoh Town resident that is happy to be back! Nice to meet you two!"

Without missing a beat, her partner casually pulled off her cloak's hood to reveal her short chin-length blue hair with a strange fringe of green hair on the right side of her head, and her serious dark yellow eyes, which were focused on exclusively on Yuki. "...My name is Xenovia Quarta, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Hey, Xenovia! What the heck! You're supposed to give your surname before your first name! That's how Japan does things!" Irina suddenly protested, pouting.

Her partner twitched, whether it was because she was irritated at her partner or at herself for forgetting the custom, Yuki had no idea.

But she was sure of one thing at the very least.

...These two, were going to be trouble.

---

"...What's taking this man so long?"

"Now, now. Patience is quite the rewarding character trait, don't you know? You'll have your coordinates soon enough, young one."

Ruby eyes narrowed at the jab at her age, but didn't say anything, keeping her piece for a little while longer.

The 'king' was currently sitting in the couch of the old hero's office, trying not lash out at his impertinence for making her wait for so long.

She knew damn well that he reveled in getting a rise out of people, and she didn't feel like dealing with his shenanigans then and there.

No, she was saving her energy for something that was truly worthwhile.

...Just thinking about the upcoming confrontation was making her already limited patience fray to the breaking point.

And in that tense atmosphere-

*riiiing* *riiiing*

-a phone rang.

The elder man's phone to be precise.

Ruby eyes trailed after the former elder of the Hero Tribe as he got off of his seat in order to reach the landline phone, picking it up to answer.

And that man very much felt his protege's eyes lock onto him, knowing that her patience was reaching the breaking point.

"Hello?"

"Hello, hello? Ah! There you are chairman! I was worried that our enemies may have managed to get to you without our knowledge somehow! Glad to hear that you're safe, after all, we all have to stick together as comrade-in-arms, do we not? Anyway, I have called to inform you that we're all in position, and that we're awaiting your orders!" a hot-headed male voice exclaimed on the other line.

Even as the young man was speaking, the former member of the Hero Tribe was already getting a headache just by listening to his loud voice.

Nevertheless, a dark smile stretched across his wrinkled features as he heard the report. "Excellent, remain on standby until further notice."

"Of course!" that hot-headed voice exclaimed again, before cutting itself off.

The elder placed the phone back down onto the receiver, turning on the spot so that she could gauge the 'king's' reaction.

He was given pause by her completely nonchalant attitude.

"...So that's what you were up to." she murmured softly, crossing her arms under her bust as she coldly regarded her senior. "I was wondering why those six were deployed without my knowledge, so you're playing your old games again, are you?"

Unintentionally, the elder man stood straighter. "You knew about this?"

The tyrant hummed. "I was. Nothing happens inside this institution without my knowledge. But I figured that you had your reasons for deploying those six, so I took the liberty of adding two more members to your little strike force...just in case things went awry."

Alarm colored his blue pupils. "W-Who did you send? This is a delicate operation! If you send someone...unruly along with the strike force, then the objective will-!"

"Then I suppose that you'd better inform me about what your objective is, so that I, in turn, could inform my two additions. We wouldn't want this ploy of yours to crash and burn." the young woman stated in no uncertain terms, daring him to try and call out her bluff.

The tension in the room could be cut with a knife, as the two humans stared at one another, unresponsive on both of their parts.

But it was the older man that broke first.

"Who did you send?" the man repeated.

This time, instead of ignoring the question, the ruler answered. "One person that you could talk out of this, and another person that will only listen to me."

If possible, the former hero's wrinkles deepened as his face scrunched up, knowing that he had to give up this little battle in the name of the greater good.

"...Those six that I've deployed...they were sent to the outskirts of the Japanese branch of the Hero Tribe, awaiting my orders so that they could complete their objective; search and rescue." the seer admitted slowly, his lips thinning. "If my...acquaintance; Shiba, doesn't make contact with me after a specific period of time, I was planning on 'rescuing' him, with that excuse."

The tyrant raised an eyebrow, already understanding what he was planning.

Essentially, the chairman was very much aware that Shiba held quite a bit of influence in the Hero Tribe, not a lot, but enough that he had an overall advantage over the chairman himself.

However, if the chairman 'freed' Shiba from the Hero Tribe, then he would completely sever his ties with that faction, preventing him from using his high position to push the Hero Tribe to destroy him and their little institution. Should their rivalry come to blows.

He was weakening the competition before they truly became competition, something standard in cut-throat politics.

Of course, it would only work if he had an excellent pretext to attack.

In short, he was waiting for the opportunity.

...Which meant that she was wasting her time here.

The 'king' forced herself onto her feet, making her way out of the large room, newly apathetic.

As expected, the elder man raised his hand out, opening his mouth to try and speak to her.

But she was already a few steps ahead of him.

"I'm done here. I'm going to go inform my last-minute additions about your objective while they complete the ones that I have given to them. Make no mistake chairman, your plan will succeed without a hitch."

If possible, the former hero's eyebrows shot up into his hairline, such was his growing surprise. "...Were you aware that they were going to the Hero Tribe? Also, what objective did you give your additions...?"

The tyrant was already at the door, opening it up. "Yes, but I wasn't aware of what your objective was. As for their goal? Well, I figured that they could help me with a little project of mine, that's all."

As the door was sliding open, she paused, tilting her head a little to the side so that her ruby eyes could glare at the elder through corner of her eye. "...Don't try and pull a stunt like this again, or, I promise you, there simply won't be a third time."

And with that, the young woman slammed the door open, leaving the room with one last thing to say. "Seeing as your informant is either incompetent or stupid, I won't bother trying to use him to intercept Uzumaki Naruto, instead...I think I'll be visiting Kuoh Town and, I'll simply wait for him there. A proper greeting is in order after all."

The former seer of the Hero Tribe watched her briskly walk out of the room, her long hair flowing behind her, a reluctant smile on his face.

That girl was growing increasingly dangerous as time passed, there was no doubt about it.

Even if she was underestimating him.

He wasn't aware of her machinations, but he was more than aware of what her objectives were, at the very least.

...It didn't change the fact that he probably needed to do something to keep her in check, just in case he lost complete control over her.

...Oh well, at least her attention would be focused on someone else for a little bit.

---

AN: I is tired. I shall go to bed. Nighty-night.

Lol, but not before I say that I hate the fact that I can't lessen these chapters to something more manageable.

Better than last time, but still over 30k, this has to be one of the weirdest problems that I have ever had.

Anyway, sorry about how long this took, after I got my wisdom teeth removed, I got a hell of a lot of fever blisters all over my mouth, pretty much pissing me off too much to write.

Ah well, hope you enjoyed, criticize and praise at your pleasure. :3

-RekkingPride