13 DAZE: A Bloodstained Cross

by Heath Oslo

Fallen in the clutches of the devils, will the young dragon ever be set free from his chains? Through tragedy and suffering-this is the story of Issei Hyoudou and his War of Change. A more philosophical take on the events of DxD with some existential themes.

30. Act28

Act.28 Jagermeister & Jello Shots: Dawn of the Jabberwocky Part 4

Sometimes you wonder about how many things go wrong more often than in the right direction. Even to the point where you feel paralyzed by what is to come, what to anticipate and most of all what should you do in the face of adversity. But what should i really do, i wonder so often?

Knowing yourself is a strength but it also comes along with coming to terms with your own deficiencies and fears so it can be quite the scary prospect to realize you are just not good enough. To feel like you are only playing second fiddle to someone else, to be seen as inadequate and inferior is a feeling i had grown used to my entire life. Be it for one's beliefs or abilities or perhaps... Some people just aren't good enough despite their best efforts...

Deep down there was this feeling of regret lodged within my heart, that despair and fear of what i am to do but at times it simply felt normal and i knew what i had to do. Now i don't even know what is to expect from the wheel of life or where it might turn for you to find yourself becoming what you despise. Sometimes all it does is lead you to a damn crocodile pit due to the drunken frenzy of an idiot. And trust me, that was one of the most bizzare days of my hectic life.

Alas, despite these questions plaguing us there are people who support us and help us climb that ladder to reach the higher level. The question is simple. Is it worth climbing the ladder of adversity when it would make you leave your comfort zone and throw you in a big mess merely for wishing to have the same things others hold dear? Yet... the lessons we learn from life, the hardships exist to temper us and make us find our true calling on the road of life so we may gain wisdom. In most cases. There are still those who are not so bright, after all.

Perhaps monsters truly are needed in this world because there are no heroes without the circumstances to make them one. I never cared about heroes because there were no heroes to save us from our own suffering but maybe they were there all along. Not in front of our eyes or nearby, rather the heroes we sought out were inside us all this time. But i am no hero, not even close. Neither am i a foolish avenger with a death wish for there are greater ambitions beyond avenging oneself and dying for it.

There is meaning. There is kindness and good people and i think i did find them but not in the damn way i wanted it to be. Case and point, being a damsel in distress is becoming quite the reoccuring prospect again and again and it certainly makes me feel puzzled. Even if we have to fight against our own monsters and heroes at all times i believe in the greater good and in living life with your head raised high, proud and dignified in everything you do. Or at least for most of the things you do.

There is no pride in the crocodile pit or the meat freezer.

They keep saying i can do this, i can do that but when it comes down to it they haven't done this at all. You either do it or you don't bother with it if it's beyond your abilities because no one really likes the bitter truth of being incompetent. It's do or die, chasing the opportunities and chances life gives us like a bulldog and biting as hard as you can as to not let go. Because it is a fleeting moment, it can slip through your fingers in the blink of an eye.

So many roads I've taken when nobody thought I could make it. And even though I had to do this alone i still survived because i'll never lose or bruise or break, i was born to fight. I am a fighter, i am a survivor and i want to live my days with dignity and pride.

Life is beautiful so live with everything you got. Live beyond satissfying your own selfish needs because you have a responsibility towards those who have helped you become who you are meant to be. One part is determined no matter how much you run from it but the rest is up to you to follow. Whether you do or you don't depends on so many things but try to become the ultimate version of yourself.

For all of those you love but most of all for the one person you can never part ways with.

That is yourself.

And then i look up to the skies where someone is watching over me. Even if i am left behind and alone i still fight for what i love and try my best to be strong. Because even one insignificant soul is enough for a hero to be born.

Be that hero for someone else.

Become your own hero and show them what you can do because sometimes it's all up to you. And never forget that you are loved because that's all you have left.

XXX

13th September, Sitri Manor, Kuoh City, 13:59 pm

Sona Sitri was quite in a predicament as the armored Devils of Katerea Leviathan made sure to inspect the perimeter with utmost care to the very last detail. She was forced to sit down on a chair as the medditeranian beauty casually sipped from her tea on a fancy saucer and scrutinized her reactions with a relaxed expression. The servants of the house were tied up and incapacitated, no harm or injury was caused to them as Katerea clearly stated her intentions not to hurt any of them.

Still, Sona was on edge as the Devils on the table watched her with vigilance and didn't slip for a moment. The guns and butterfly knife she had on her person were taken from her and her phone was left on the table while mister Bassett was forced to sit down on a chair further away from her and multiple soldiers guarded him. The atmosphere was tense, the air felt rather cold and there was no telling what might have happened if the wrong move was made.

Several minutes had passed since the hostile takeover took place. Communications were completely cut off, there was no way to contact anyone else for help so all there was left was to wait and wait. If only Serafall was actually fast this could have been averted but alas things never go as planned.

"Don't worry, my dear. As i said i have no intention of hurting you.", Katerea calmly drank her tea and pushed another saucer towards Sona's hands out of some odd sense of courtesy. Her blue eyes peered with curiousity behind her glasses, taking in all the details that seemed amiss with the Sitri heiress.

Like the unnaturally fast change in her physical body and the alternations that were beneath the skin. "All i want is to talk with Serafall and this was the only way to do it since she would try to kill me again. Trust me, your sister is quite the handful at times."

Sona barely reacted to that remark since she knew how true those words were. Serafall was truly a menace to deal with but she loved her as she is more than ever now. But she chose to remain silent and calculate her chances to find a way to get out of her and possibly make sure her servants would live another day as well.

The Medditeranian beauty left her tea cup on the table and leaned a bit forward to stare in her eyes with a sense of melancholy swimming in those beautiful eyes. Leviathan adressed her with a friendly tone to make her feel a bit better even if she knew that would be impossible.

"You never were the talkative type, i presume? But there are things you should know.", she smiled gently and continued, "I have nothing personal against you or your sister. In fact, if Serafall didn't betray me and our teacher things would have been so much different. She was my closest friend and to think she would do this..."

Sona's hands tensed involuntarily when she heard that. Of course she knew of the friendship between them and Sirzechs but she never knew the reason for their fallout. She was scared to death, she was frightened but she wanted to know more because she knew far more than the Devils in the Underworld. The true history of Demonkind, the separation that occured with the help of the Veil and of course she secretly detested the way the Underworld was. She had always been drawn far more to the other side, she didn't bother to pretend she was a human being and she knew what she truly was.

Not a Devil but a true Demon like her family.

"Then... what exactly did happen between you as for things to end up like this?", she questioned with a fake tone of tranquility but no matter how good at pretending she was the hints of fear were there for everyone to see.

"Everyone thought you were dead, Katerea Leviathan. But it seems that's not the case, is it?", Sona lifted her own tea cup and drank from it with no reservation. She had her ways to counter poisons or toxins so she did that to merely humor the older woman.

It felt like forever till Katerea answered her questions but she chose to do something else first. Her troops bore down their eyes on the maid Andrea as she brought out some snacks for the hostage and the infiltrator. The traitorous servant sneered at the raven haired girl and slammed the tray with delights before her eyes and turned around to avoid her gaze. It was no secret she despised them with a passion.

"As for your inquiry", Katerea paused to take a breath, "your sister tried to kill me on several instances during the so-called civil war but she failed each time. Because she was never able to defeat me, i always had to cover for her and drag her with me to victory... Oh, right. I would keep it rather short so it was due to differences in views on what to do regarding our kind."

"...that's my sister, alright.", the violet eyed Demon gulped in recognition of what was said. She did not try to grab a cookie but instead saw the knife hidden between the layers and took a quick note of what that meant. "So why are you doing all of this and...you said teacher? Do you mean Saul Eligos by chance?", she raised a brow.

Katerea paused and reminiscensed about the past for a moment.

Her freely flowing hair she brushed aside and finished her tea and then she turned to her. "I assume you might know but to make sure if you truly know what is happening have you ever heard about the Keys of the Gate?", there was something cold and inhuman in her otherwise pleasant voice when she uttered those words. Her gaze sharpened like that of a predator, her smile was gone and all color faded out of her face.

"I think i have heard of that... Issei... I think i just realized something! Fuck, why am i thinking of him now when it's over... I'm going to die...", Sona only nodded while she was pretending to be distracted for a moment. "Just what stupid shit did my sister stir up this time?"

The black haired Devil then only made a minimal nod in agreement. "...i think i have but...i don't really know much or anything to be precise."

"You asked why i'm doing this. It's because i wish to keep the balance and to set things right. So let me tell you a story.", Katerea lamented on her actions with a hint of regret and duty mixing together. Her tone lessened it's impact to a more friendly one as she placed her hands on the table and gawked at the girl with resolution burning in her eyes, pure conviction and genuine care flashed in them before she stilled herself to get rid of that emotion.

"More than 1500 years ago when the Second Faction War began it changed the world in unprecedented ways. The real reason wasn't because of the eternal conflict between the forces of the light and the dark. It wasn't about destroying our kind. No, the reason was the existence of the Keys. Celestial and Hell each had one Key while the third was hidden somewhere else for safekeeping so the Gate would never be opened."

Every murmur died out. All the attention was focused on what she had to say and even someone wasn't paying attention her companions made sure she was given the proper respect even if firearms were pointed at the elderly butler and the Sitri Heiress.

"And the Key our kind had was stolen, i take it?", Sona scrunched her brows in thinking about a few theories she had been making herself all this time. It could have been connected with the culling of those six families or perhaps she liked to believe one of them actually knew something the others did not... that prospect made her think about it seriously.

At this point she was really nervous and wasn't sure how to act so much because she was afraid. She had to be careful and thread with caution.

Katerea took cue of her reactions and elaborated further.

"The Key we had was stolen as you said it but the one Celestial had was also stolen by one of their own. A Demon lusting after supreme authority and power and an Angel who was deceived in stealing the second fragment fell in love. They tried to recreate the Gate by using only two of the Keys as long as they had the artifact that would enable it. But the Demons did not like this and killed him, stealing both Keys and then they nearly managed to activate the Gate if Celestial did not intervene to save reality."

"...This... means it was an attempt to rewrite reality or to destroy it to make it anew...", Sona quirked a brow with a dose of skepticism but she was merely faking it. "To give us an edge when Armagedon would occur one day. But it also means reality was saved by this conflict... Wait, then you mean to say-

The Leviathan swiftly took the chance and interrupted her with the words she did not want to say or consider. The look on her face grew grim and foreboding, machine-like even by the way her blank expression turned sinister.

"The Key was hidden amongst one of our own. Your dear sister and her ginger companion want to reassemble the three Keys and consolidate their rule because they have a strong opposition lurking in the shadows.", Katerea delivered that line with a perfect pitch and threw a saddened glance at the poor girl.

The Second Faction War was fought over the sake of reality. For the possession of the Keys and those who wielded them could reset the world to it's blank state and redefine it as they saw fit. The opening of the Gate would bring either salvation or a calamity but most of all it would break the constraints of reality and connect it to a place beyond it. Multiple realities would be endangered, perhaps their own multiverse could be at stake. There was a reason why it was fragmented and scattered because the Keys were virtualy indestructible and that was the only way to stop them from binding as one.

The Keyhole as some called it was split into several pieces as well. Likely hidden in various Sacred Gears so the hunt for them was a priority for those who wished to obtain them. Almost every faction had Sacred Gear users at their disposal, seeking out more and more Gears to locate the missing links. At least those who even had a shred of knowledge about it while most were kept out of the loop. Everyone wanted that power to establish their own world and fashion it the way the truly wanted to without having to consider the rest.

"I too as well used to think the same but it all changed during the civil war as they like to call it. It's the surprisingly weird love story of a Demon and a human that changed my outlook to wish to protect these feeble creatures and to postpone the Apocalypse because if we are to initiate it then let it be by our hands, fair and square with some dignity in it."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. So that thing might be hidden in one of us and they're trying to eliminate us to find it. My sister would never hurt me, i know that...", another thought emerged in her mind. It was an epiphany of sorts and likely a possibility that she had entertainted many times. Her whole peerage was slaughtered on that mere assumption. Things seemed to be getting a bit clearer and then as dark as they were before.

All of this was her making guesses and hypothesizing. "But the same does not apply to Gremory. It could be pretty much a diversion to include his own family in the list but it would also be a gamble. No, this ain't right!"

That was a dangerous thought. She was sure Sirzechs Gremory would have sacrificed her with no discomfort if it meant his precious sister would be away from harm's way. Or even use her as a lure to bait out his adversaries and eliminate them on spot. Why did he not act immediately when Valper Galilei conducted his experiments and endangered the city? Or why did Rias not ask for help from him if she wasn't able to keep her turf safe from outside elements?

Those doubts were always there, festering like a can of worms ready to burst.

"So you are saying...that both iterations of the civil war were because every Pillar wanted the Key in their hands? While some wished to destroy it?", she cautiously inquired to confirm her growing suspicions. "And my sister wants to use it as well while you aim to destroy it? That's quite odd if you ask me since she is rather sweet for a monster if i were to spell it out. Still...recreating what the First of the Fallen did is quite admirable."

"Pretty much. You catch on quite fast and trust me, she isn't a sunshine as you like to think.", Leviathan gestured and pushed up her rose framed glasses.

"But make no mistake. Hell was never a prison in the first place. It was a blank slate, a gift to the Morning Star to satiate his creative desires and to learn to appreciate beauty in everything. Yet, he perverted that gift into what we know and love... It was actually shaped around himself, not the other way around. It's all about choices, Sona."

Sona wasn't quite sure on whether to continue talking with her or taking her chances and running. In fact, she was too paranoid to trust her vow so she was anticipating everything possible to happen but mostly terrible things.

"I might be terrible and deceitful but at least i do not destroy the dignity of others with a charade and embarassing apparel, mind you. And of course those dreaded Evil Pieces that you lot use to make your own private hitman squad.", added Katerea.

And then Sona's seemingly calm expression was laced with hatred and anger released so easily in comparison to before. It was harder to control all these emotions nowadays, it was getting dangerous to listen to all of this so she chose to redirect it and go in a different direction. If anything the emotional outbursts were harder to contain especially when it reminded her of the friends she lost after she had done her best to save some of them. That sparked a fire in her cold heart that raged on like an inferno.

"My entire peerage was killed because of your friends! On a mere assumption, nonetheless. Why should i believe any of this drivel when that bastard Freed Sellzen slaughtered and mutilated all of my friends?! They did not provoke or ruin anyone's life so you expect me to listen to you and accept you?! He was with the Khaos Brigade and so are you!", she raised her voice and slammed on the table, leaving several cracks to spiral and crumbled some of the wood till a hole was made and her teacup fell down.

The words came out distorted and monstrous as her eyes instantly turned cyan blue with draconian slits and scales started to appear all over her beautiful visage, twisted in an abominable mask of a face. The temperature in the room lowered considerably and it became frosty as a frozen tundra. There was frostbite over the sink and the wood, it was awfully uncomfortable and cold to the point where the other Devils started to rub their arms to warm themselves. It was spreading rapidly fast and covering the room in icicles till the point where breathing became much harder.

A few of them quickly rose from their seats and pinned her down while one of them made sure to hit her with his riffle across the face to shut her up. Abraham Basset tried to come to her rescue but the old man was brought down on his knees and could only watch the fiasco as it was starting to unfold. He had a few riffles pointed at his skull and he was pinned down to ensure he would not interfere.

They did not want any reckless heroics or him getting hurt, after all.

Katerea waved a hand to release her and the others complied with their leader. Displeasure manifested on her features as she did not wish for this to happen.

She didn't treat her as an enemy, rather as the sister of her best friend so she made them stop right away. She merely looked at her with pity and sympathy and then spoke once more with a dose of regret in her melodious voice. "Despite how others label us as terrorists, monsters and enemies the truth is there are plenty of decent and compassionate beings among us. We have a different view on how things should be. You think you save them by stuffing a Piece in them like some pinãta but have you never considered that you might as well damn them by doing so?"

The bespectacled girl scrunched her brows and let loose a small snarl, barely audible while baring her newly acquired fangs in a menacing twitch of the lips. "I wanted to have the same things as everyone else, well, most of them. I didn't consider the Pieces at first but my sister urged me to use them to set an example. I gave them a choice unlike a large majority of our fellow abominations.", the slither of a forked tongue was not unnoticed and it actually surprised her? It seemed that drinking Issei's blood actually did stabilize her and allow her to mature much faster.

The serpent lady quirked up and snickered knowingly about something Sitri did not know. "Have you ever wondered what the Evil Pieces are made of or why do most use them on Longinus users? Choice? An interesting word, don't you think?", she smiled and looked at her companions.

"Back in my days to make a legion you had to have charisma, skill and talents plus hard work to win them over so they would pledge their loyalty to you. Now every idiot with a title can just force people to become their lackeys and not put any real effort or value to secure that trust."

"Regretable as it is i agree...", the draconian Devil replied dispassionately and rolled her eyes.

That was a small gesture she tended to make whenever she felt annoyed or anxious over something. Her body language showed subtle cues of uncertainty and worry plus she tried to act as polite as possible for a hostage. "To claim Longinus users, of course. The Gears are wired to shut down if the user was altered so that way we can access Longinus Gears while bypassing the shutdown codes and keeping the accomodators under control.", no hesitation she showed when answering that simple question.

Evil Pieces were far more effective in making instant combat squads with Sacred Gears than for repopulation. As a means to steal valuable Gears much easier during a ceasefire period all the while masking it under a fancy facade of recruitment and free volition to build a better image. It was no different than how it had been done in the past but more successful in retaining the goods for longer durations. That was one of the actual reasons why they were designed by Ajuka Astaroth.

"You don't save them at all. You merely sentence them to a prolonged case of suffering as everything slowly loses meaning and value till they become a mere shadow of themselves.", a morose glint shone in those pure blue eyes as if she had seen it so many times to the point of despair.

Confliction arose when she pressed on.

"The human mind can't cope with the alterations and sooner or later most commit suicide. Some become completely unrecognizable to the point where you ask yourself if there is truly anything left of their original persona while their beauty withers away. I have seen it happen so many times... Uncle Severin's studies on the demonic psyche are truly a read i would recommend."

Something snapped in the black haired Devil's mind. Refering to her father as if he were a close family friend and so casually on top of it irked her to no ends. No change was shown but deep inside the female's conciousness she had killed Katerea five times already. If looks could kill Sona would have been likened to a nuclear warhead in the way she stared her down with spite and malice mixing together in a deadly concoction.

Yet... a part of her did wonder if she truly cared for the rest of her peerage with the exception of Tsubaki Shinra. The bond she had with the bespectacled girl was truly genuine, she was certain of that. But the rest? Each one had some reason, no matter how superficial, but it wasn't out of kinship, higher ambitions or anything of the sort. Hell, when one considered Genshirou's craven, superficial desires to bed the Sitri girl it did make one question themselves if they were really chosen for whom they were and not out of some unfulfilled wishes for passion and sex.

Case and point, she still wondered if she should have answered his shallow feelings before it was too late. Then again in her opinion Genshirou was an unrepentant beta fag as she came to the realization after some time.

"Still, you have my condolescenses for what happened with your friends. That is not my fault because i did not start this culling at all. If anything i am investigating it myself and if i really wanted you dead we wouldn't be conversing here right now."

The whole city could have been annihilated if she desired it. All of the servants would be killed if she gave the signal but she did no such thing because she had a sense of nobility and good intentions despite being flawed and hypocritical was a fair and strict woman. She rewarded kindness with kindness, loyalty with adoration and did try her best to uplift their race despite her own deficiencies.

As a matter of fact, Katerea held deep respect and love for Severin Sitri and Semira Gaap to the point where she considered them like her own family as much as she viewed Serafall as a sister. Despite being enemies the sentiment wasn't lost on the newly minted draconian Devil. Every word was ladden with love and appreciation whenever she mentioned them.

But the part of her sister being rather delusional and quite stabby was on point.

The Sitri heiress tried to calm herself as best as she could and rethink her stance on the matter. Her features were returning to normal but the fanged jaws were still there as a lingering sense of helplesness took a hold of her being. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream but something in her didn't let her unleash all that negativity. She was afraid to die again, to be disconnected from the world and back into the darkness of oblivion.

But then she was offered a hand.

"There are many uncertainties and bigger plans in motion than both you and me, Sona.", the bronze skinned lady grasped her palm with both hands and helped her stand on her feet. There was terror written on her face, dread and fear were cycling in her blinking eyes but she still did not move away. The very way she adressed her spoke of her sincerity and openness which was exploitable.

"There are those who wish to destroy us all. Lurking in the shadows, hiding amongst our lines and setting things in motion. I can't stop it for i know nothing of their plans or who they are but i can at least try to save the world and save Serafall."

That was a reminder. The hooded figure that accompanied Freed and Raynare... Sona did not forget about it because she had died during that skirmish in the abandoned church over a month ago. She clearly knew that and it only confirmed her suspicions further. Both the Khaos Brigade and the Underworld were compromised, led on by the whims of someone and pitted against each other.

That didn't seem to be the case for the planes below.

Sona stepped aside and further away from her. The strings of her pink hoodie dangled left and right with each step and she took a defensive stance, not letting her guard down. Even if she couldn't use magic at all she still had enough strength to offer a pitiful last stand against them.

Her eyes flicked up towards Katerea's. Her voice was a mere low growl, "I don't believe you. Did you think i would betray my own kin for some flimsy information and for you, nonetheless?", she spat back with venom in her tone. Her lips curled into a thin smile with the luster of her pearly white fangs as she raised her fists closer to her cheeks, "A little sob story of a strained friendship and a world threat? I know my sister well and i simply don't trust you."

"She's a bona fide bitch as they say.", one of the female Devils quipped and enjoyed the show. That deadpan face brought a few laughs to the table till everything was back to the strenuous atmosphere again.

Katerea Leviathan cracked her fingers a few times and then tried to reason with her once more. Knowing it was likely futile as the victors of the civil war made history suitable to their needs she clearly did not expect the black haired girl to believe a word. "Because the Serafall i know is nothing like what she likes to present herself as before others. In fact, she is quite similar to your mother and we all know how unpredictable she can. Oh, that brings good memories..."

"Get to the point.", the scared girl murmured.

All the earlier politeness was thrown out of the window like it had never existed in the start. Only a chilling, stone cold smile of pure honesty was delivered. There was no warmth or playfulness left in that face, a marble-like visage instead greeted her in a monotone shrill tonality.

"I want to destroy the Keys for good so no one would use them ever again. Knock some sense into Serafall's delusional head", Katerea began to list her objectives like a machine. "Of course, lifting the Veil so the rest would be free and to change our kind into something truly worth redemption. Those privilleged cretins deserve to know the truth and to be knocked down from their thrones."

Her eyes narrowed. She didn't bother to hide her intentions of unleashing the millions of Demons in Hell upon the Underworld and destroying the status quo. It had always been every demon for themselves and even now the same could be said for the Underworld. The divide between those of high status and those with none was far too wide.

If things were really as bad as most were led to believe then there were no possibilities to even have a whole generation or Devils so close in age if one were to take note of their fertility rates. The Evil Pieces weren't as good as a repopulation tool if that were ever the case their creator intended them for. If they truly were designed for that then almost everyone remotely reliable would have them to raise the birth rates, regardless of rank and status. Katerea Leviathan simply wished to even the chances for everyone, to bring balance and unite demonkind even at the cost of destroying the status quo and to bring balance.

"On that i agree." was Sona's honest reply to the last statement. "But make no mistake. I have no intention of joining you at all. I may have no love for the Underworld but i don't want anything to do with this. My priority is to survive and if things are as you say then... maybe...", she paused to recollect her thoughts. Confusion ran it's course, stirring her emotions like never before.

So many times she was underappreciated. So many times she was looked down upon by others for her own ambitions and desires. Always having to play second fiddle to those who were unworthy. Her dreams denied and labeled as foolish and insignificant in comparison to the wishes of others. She had enough of that, of being underestimated always.

"They are watching us as we speak. I have no doubt about you not wishing to join us as it's only natural but maybe you should see for yourself before you could make a choice. I don't want you to join us and jeopardize yourself.", Katerea's lips frowned slightly and she put a finger on them. "If you want to find out more dig deeper. Your mother's book contains some of the answers you seek and trust no one... Or you might end up the same way our dearest teacher did.", her voice lingered a few good seconds as if trying to reaffirm something for herself.

"It wasn't suicide i tell you. Lord Eligos wasn't a man who would kill himself due to his pride and passion for his family. He was killed because of his research on what information was left on the Gate from our ancestors. Someone didn't want that information getting out so they silenced him for good. And now they are trying to silence the rest who might know or were associated with him."

"The same way they are trying to finish us off...", Sona added after a spasm of pain swam through her chest. Her fingers grasped the zipper on her chest as she felt a burning sensation of pain lace her nerves and heart in a gradation of intensity. There was a blueish glow emanating from her very own Brand but it was left unseen because of the sealing mechanism and hoodie hiding it.

She ran a list in her mind instantly. Every communication, every message she had gotten together with Issei was being overanalyzed, discussed and then put to the grinder. Their mysterious helper knew quite a lot which made her consider the chances of them actually manipulating them from the start because there was no direct gain for them. Unless their lives were needed for something far more important so that's why they were kept alive due to their usefulness.

Of course, the idea that X might have been either one of them from the future, an alternative reality version of her or Issei wasn't crossed out of the list. Perhaps, a time traveling version or a doppelganger, an alternative timeline version or someone they knew or would get to know in the future was their supporter from the shadows. Too many variables were present to tackle when the being was extremely elusive and nigh-impossible to track down so far.

"Are you watching us even now, X? Are you truly a friend or an enemy... Give me a sign if you are there."

So she decided to take a seat again under the watch of the vanguard. No flashy moves or attempts to run away did she make, she only sat down and placed her hands on the cracked table where everyone could see them. So far it was rather unnatural how Andrea or anyone else didn't make an attempt on her or begin to resist their captors.

"I need some plan untill my sister arrives. Come on! I know your love is excessive so use it to get here faster!", Sona barely held it together. No matter how much she tried to put up a strong front she was terrified by the way Katerea treated her. They were supposed to be enemies, she would have felt it more natural to fight but this was quite strange for her because she wasn't used to such treatment.

All she was waiting for was a sign. A tiny motherfucking sign to enable her to see a winning pattern and having to sacrifice nothing.

Perhaps it did come in the form of her vibrating phone. On the screen it showed the number and the dialer with a specific song ruining the atmosphere. It became really awkward for a few good seconds. The name spelled was... The Motherfucker...

The closest Demon to the phone picked it off and contemplated on whether to answer or not. The name could have refered to anyone, maybe a helper or Serafall's nickname. It could have been some ordinary friend of her's but it was for the better to crush the phone in one quick squeeze of the fingers. The Samsung was crushed into tiny bits and bolts before it's owner and then set on fire so it won't be reconstructed.

"...my phone...", eyes wide open and stunned the Sitri female's eye twitched in aggravation and the fingers were tapping the table edge nervously. In her heart she decided it on the go; she would murder them and have their corpses lined in her garden between the roses as a decoration.

Just as she was about to rise up and flip the table did the manor shake violently as if a bomb had been dropped. Heavy tremors shook the premises till the dishes and cups started falling and breaking on the floor, the windows were shattered from the shockwave and glass rained all over the seated guests.

Suddenly something caught the attention of the demonic guards. A faint presence lingered after the sturdy barriers that were dismantled as if something had snuck inside through the smallest of cracks. The shockwave was huge, it must have been something really potent as to negate such an elaborate and multi-compound layered defense into nothing more than a paper thin field. Each one looked around the perimeter and was well prepared for almost anything that could happen. There were several sweeps throughout the manor, every inch was inspected and even the interiors of the walls were checks.

"It appears that our company has arrived a bit sooner than anticipated.", the Leviathan shsrpened her gaze and her pupils thinned out to thin, serpentine slits. Something had shifted in her being as to alarm her and have her focus on the intensifying presence.

That presence she felt...she knew it and certainly she wished it wasn't what she was thinking.

In a split second over twenty black humanoids in bodysuits emerged from the walls and the kitchen floor and rampantly attacked the aggressors without any sense of preservation. There was no panic but it became quite chaotic when one of the figures tried to strangle Sona while the remaining ones tried to get closer to the opposing assailants. No exact coordination beyond simple instructions moved them in accordance to the user's whims if one were to notice their moveset.

"Amonia constructs...you goddamn fuck... I should have known you had these left here after our fight."

The door was torn off the hinges! From there did a manly silhouette emerge and point a gun at the owner of the manor, rapidly emptying the whole magazine in her chest and neck as he rushed forward like a maddened bull. Blood sprayed out of Sona's torso and her jugular vein was pretty much severed- letting out the acidic, corrosive blood of her's to shower everything in her immediate perimeter.

The blood ate away at the nearest Devils, burning through their suits and flesh at an alarming speed as well as melting the table and the floor. Huge gaps in the surroundings were left as Sona's body slumped back lifelessly to the floor in a puddle of her own blood. Katerea barely avoided getting hit while the rest weren't so lucky. Andrea got hit right in the chest and she gasped for air as the fluid degraded her flesh in an instant and a burning hole exposing her organs was there to see.

Admist the confusion did the male attacker lunge at whiplash his arm to shove aside the nearest opposition but in turn got several magazines emptied in his body, momentarily halting for a moment before he fell near Sona's motionless cadaver.

Leviathan promptly rushed towards the lifeless cadaver and kicked it aside to reach Sona. She was furious, she didn't want any of this. That was never the plan; she was going to let the young one go unharmed once Serafall would announce her presence and then try to talk with her. This wasn't within her calculations and she regretted letting it all unwind before her eyes.

Mister Basset was wounded in the attack. He suffered mild injuries like a few burns and a concusion while the constructs battled the demonic vanguard despite their commander being on the ground, full of holes.

An explosion shook the southern area of the manor alongside the upper floors. In the momentary lull Sona's fingers twitched rapidly as her wounds were regenerating extremely fast, pierced flesh and damaged skin quickly being replaced with ice comingling with her meat to fix her ruined body. Then the muscle strands and skin followed suit and returned to their natural condition with no trace of the ice being left.

Her hoodie was ruined and barely hanged on her frame like a dirtied rag with holes and filth marking it as if it were swiss cheese. Her eyes were open and she felt a tug on her arm, a few taps she knew were a sign. Waiting for no more than two seconds she twisted her torso and brought up one leg and to prepare to sprint.

"Sona, run! Run, run, run girl!", Abraham Basset shouted as he tackled one of the attackers and shoved him down to the ruined floor to open up a path. The old man wrestled with the aggressors who tried to restrain him and he did try to reach the riffle he had confiscated from one of them.

The amonia constructs burst open to release contained the chemical compound - upon reacting with air the follow-up was an instant explosion that covered the spot where she was and gave Sona a second or two to react, picking up a piece of jagged wood from the table and she threw it at Katerea's direction to act as a distraction. But she grabbed the hand of the male and fastidiously slung him on her shoulder as she made a titanic leap and broke down the reinforced door with her legs. The butler took the riffle and tossed it at her, punching a female Devil in the face before he was knocked off his feet and thrown into the refrigerator.

"Move it... bitch! Let's go!", Issei snaked around her waist and then picked her up for a princess carry, the bullets being expelled from his body and making him rush ahead through the open door.

Every construct exploded in bathing the kitchen in a sea of flames and explosions as he held the girl tightly to his chest, her arms around his neck and her cheek pressed to his neck. The riffle she positioned on his shoulder and pulled the trigger to expell a round into the last construct as it was about to explode!

Of course... Out of the twenty constructs only a few were in the kitchen... The rest were scattered over the whole mansion and when the last one was compromised did the whole complex turn into a raging inferno. The whole house was practically burning down to cinders, rubble and fiery tongues spreading everywhere as the Devilish Dragon ran on his feet with his partner in crime being carried like a princess. One could have considered it romantic if he didn't riddle her with bullets or burn down her entire home...

"Fuck you! You shot me in the boobs! My goddamn house is burning!", she wheezed out through a snarl as she held on tighter and tried to reload a new bullet in the chamber. The look on her face was twisted by fear and disbelief, so many emotions cycled together and she screamed in terror as she looked back at her burning home. She was out of her mind, shocked and stunned in trying to rationalize what was happening.

"Shut it, Sitri.", Issei barely reacted and focused on running towards the forest where he had prepared some traps in advance in case anything like this happened. His determination and drive to get away was quite strong but his condition was horrible, his mind scrambled and crippling fear drove him to run faster and faster.

Vritra's revelation broke him, he was still in the loop and only by instinct did he move. Any higher stratagem and reasoning were left behind and he didn't follow his initial plans.

There he could try to finish them off, knowing the terrain well to give him a minimal advantage over them. He could barely fight due to his mental state and racing thoughts, his body was somewhat fine and gravely tired even with that Phoenix Tear fixing him up fast. The mental fatigue he accumulated plus the whole debacle left him in a terrible state - there was no guarantee he could even put up a fight or beat the shit out of a kid. If anything he would try to kill them both somewhere safer.

In the forest they could kill each other as their promise dictated. To die by each other's hand than to fall prey to their enemies in the shadows. He would not let her get caught, she would not let him be taken.

But they were not alone. Chasing after them was the whole squadron. The explosion didn't even wound them at all. Their leader was catching up fast to them and so were they. Most of them were picked for their extraordinary speed and were sprinting in pursuit of their prey like a pack of wolves chasing after a wounded deer. No restraints were there anymore as bullets flew over Issei's head and Sona nearly peed herself if she didn't hold it in. Outmached, outmaneuvered and outgunned but not outsmarted and defeated.

There were still a few tricks up their sleeves. And that pain that resonated between them due to their extremely close proximity nearly had the violet eyed girl jump out of his arms if he didn't smack her ass hard to stay put and stop struggling. The forest was just up ahead. Only a little remained till they would have entered the woods and the real battle would have begun.

"If we don't make it out alive i want you to know something.", Issei addressed his companion with an emotional outburst that seemed totally unlike his usual demeanor. A glint of appreciation flashed in his tired eyes before he flat out told her what was on his mind. "You're an asshole...and a monster. I despise you but that's why we make the best team."

Instead of making some long-ass speech or a chiding tirade Sona responded in kind with a sentiment of her own. Her eyes turned icy blue and her pupils slitted at the same time his eyes shifted into their monstrous green coloration and unleashed the nature of the being inside him.

"I know. We're even now and that's why i'm the Blue to your Red.",something was strange in her eyes. Unpredictable, savage and animalistic were mixed together to craft an insanely wide smile on her pretty face. The same characteristic batshit craziness and unpredictability that ran deep on her mother's side. It took her long enough to accept it and embrace her nature.

"So if we're gonna die... i want to be kissed or something!"

Their pain bound them together. Their Brand was proof of their anchored existence. On their own they were individuals but together they were one whole in two bodies. Two separate parts that complemented each other.

The Original Being that was within them.

Together they were the Red Dragon Emperor.

XXX

13th September, Sitri Manor, Kuoh City, A few minutes earlier

From the skies a reddish blur crashed down near the road that led towards the Sitri Manor. It was a somewhat rocky landing but at a safe distance of 900 meters away from the front gates where no activity seemed to take place. The weather was pretty good, no winds and clouds present. The sun was up and it was a bit warm and as one would say it was a good day for a healthy dose of carnage.

The reddish blur was distorted and shimmering with glitches and static, a dark shadow was surrounding it before the body began to materialize completely and take shape as an altered red armor bearing white scar lines flexed it's arms and nearly stumbled. The audio-visual distortion ceased to be the second Issei fell to his knees from the strain.

He huffed and puffed, lighting up one of the smokes he took from Blake to calm himself down. He was a total mess, he was so scared but he had no other choice but to do what he had to. His back ached due to the closer proximity to Sona now, he felt the pain burn which meant she was still alive for good or for worse. Time was of the essence so he had to move fast as much as he could.

Phenex was not here for him to create the railgun barrier piercer so he had to improvise. The Scale Mail opened up and released him but it did not fade away as it entered the decoy mode, still connected to it's accomodator as he held himself on his arms on the ground.

"Hah...hah...fuck this...", he released the smoke out of his mouth.

[~Really Slow Motion – Crimson Horizon~]

Maybe it was time to reconcile with his fellow man and call them for help. He was a solo player all his life. Help he would only ask for if he felt he could not do it on his own so he avoided asking for it unless it was dire because he didn't want to engage others in his own business and waste their time. Maybe he could pull this off on his own. That's what he had to do.

It was hard to concentrate as he felt mentally weak. That thing broke him, he could last a few minutes at best even if his body was up to the task. Hilda's face emerged within his mind and it gave him comfort, it gave him courage and fueled his rage further to push himself further. His custom black pentacle sprang forth before his feet and he pulled out sluggisly the AK-47 he took from the german girl. There were still a few rounds left in it so it had to do well. He had a spare gun and a few knives at hand.

He tightly clutched his chest where his mother's cross dangled underneath the fabric of his body glove, a comforting feeling swept his thoughts away to remind him of what mattered... His fingers traced the silver chain and pulled it out to grasp and he removed it from his neck. His arm was scaled to hold it, the gained resistance making sure he could wear it at all times as a testament of his own. For his mother, for himself and his hope.

"...please...give me... strength...", in a barely audible tonality he murmured and had to bite on his thumb in order to stay awake. Everything was rather dark in his eyes so he had to rely on thermal vision to get as much visual feedback as possible.

In a strenuous stretch of his arm he bent his limb with the AK-47 in tow, placing it on his back for his Brand to absorb it instantaneously - his cross he swung on his shoulder as he nearly fell just so he could whip out something to even the game. The cross was taken in and vanished as he tried to lift himself up and make a sprinting pose to kick forward but the armor was still tethered to him.

Thin tendrils of black and red burst from his suit and snaked towards the armor to clasp onto it's open shoulders where it all began. From there two halves sprang and clamped together over the segmented spine tail, rapidly shifting and twisting with various eyes and teeth showing up for a mere second before they gave way to silver streaked metal with red and black accents in an elaborate pattern. Curved blades popped out of the construct, a muzzle was poking out of the end of the huge cross-like construct. It extended and opened it's two halves to release more barrels to become something like a gatling gun and a pulse cannon at the same time.

The VTOL engines minimized and turned into bullet chambers when they clasped onto the underside of the cross to lock on. Stabilizers dug into the ground and the armor itself crouched forward with the hands merging into the crucifix to raise it higher and add two more ports for cooling. It was modifying itself to offer stability and put all of it's framed plates to good use.

The spine tail merged with it and caused draconian sharp plates to manifest and added a trigger mechanism and stands to balance the new weapon for Issei to use and then make a run for it without any extra movement. In his mind there was an idea, this was a weapon made with the love and faith his mother had in him. It was nothing more than an altered version of the Oath of Judah as someone would have put it. Playing Honkai Impact did give him some rather interesting ideas aside from starting at Himeko's chest most of the time.

[Dragon Overbooster: Mother's Last Embrace]

The armor's arms loomed over the beaten man as he grasped the trigger mechanism and boosted his weapon three times to make it count. As a precaution, of course. If it did burn down the Sitri Manor in one go then that was wonderful on it's own.

He stilled himself and took a deep inhale of his cigarette. He did learn to smoke without having to use his hands so he was multitasking and scoping out where to aim exactly. Searching for the central spot of the defensive wards to disrupt them in a chain reaction; his fingers felt the trigger and slowly pressed on it as the crucifix further elongated and turned sideways, sprouting extended barrels and a draconian maw framing both ends of it.

The cigarette fell out of his lips as he uttered in a gravely tone something unspeakeable.

"Have a taste of the World's Number One Cutie. Theresa Apocalypse, ready for duty!", he pressed harder on the trigger and the barrels spun immediately as greenish energy cycled at the muzzle where all lines lit up. In an icy tone did he finish his odd battle cry with a hardened look in his eyes.

He squeezed the trigger.

"...Teri...Teri mas mas kawai!"

Rapid fire covered the exterior of the barrier as each bullet tore through it without any problem at all, opening a path and causing the complex layers to clash and collapse while raising the alarm to cause confusion and panic. It then fired a secondary wide blast to smash the Physical one as to cripple the defense completely, brraking through and pretty much devastating whatever was there in front. Spears were embedded into the framework to act as a disruptive field that canceled the formation of a new barrier so he could swoop in and do what he had to. Another bonus was it could twist the barrier inside out and crush the manor if the need arose.

Sona's garden was surely eradicated from the face of the Earth. Likely even more but that was a day to celebrate. It was done. He had to move now or miss the chance he created for himself.

Issei cut himself off from the Scale Mail completely and sprinted ahead as the plates faded out alongside the makeshift weapon, his cross dangling on his neck. "I'm coming to get you... You're so fucking dead, Sitri."

Within his hand he held the spare firearm and in the other he twirled a knife. Now all he had to do was bypass whatever resistance there was at the front.

XXX

13th September, Vatican City, Rome, Italy, 14:09 pm

A bit further away from the raging storm that the city had turned into stood a man. Leaning on the wall while he slouched down a blonde female was tending to the wound in the shoulder and the ankle he had sustained. Cao Cao, otherwise known by his birthname Jin Wei Yao was holding his arm as blood slipped through the laceration on his shoulder, staining his red dress shirt with blotches of blood and he was aching. Of course his ribs were hurting bad and he had trouble walking after that brief skirmish with the White Dragon Emperor and that crazy guy in the medical scrubs.

Things went rather fast. They were heading towards the center until he and Leticia were cornered by a spiteful Vali Lucifer and a scared Doctor MonBlanc. The surprise attack was rather brief and if it weren't for his lover's assistance he would have been dead meat. Despite holding a Longinus Gear it meant nothing against a Cambion for Vali was at least fifteen times more physically able, durable and kicked hard as a freight train.

And she wasn't even a full fledged Demon, just a mere halfling.

Every battle against these creatures was a risk. No matter how small some of them would be there was always something that had to be compensated. And Cao Cao knew how well his chances were against any of these entities even with a Longinus and knowledge at hand. He always had to compensate, outsmart and damn well rely on multiple factors and plans to dare as much as wound some of the tougher ones who could make him a bloody smear with a mere twitch of their pinkies.

And he was thankful to be alive at this very moment.

"Ugh... I really wonder at times why did i ever agree to any of this... This isn't right or safe...", Cao Cao murmured in pain as Leticia severed the two long locks dangling on her chest with a knife and used her own hair to entwine them with some metal to close the wounds as much as she could. "You really do look like that Rina Fujimoto without those locks of hair. Still, ditch the blue eye contacts cause I don't like them."

Leticia was really careful and looked at every direction out of fear. That ambush was quite professional and she totally didn't expect some doctor to throw such punches at them and nearly hand their asses to them. Case and point, Jin Wei took the hit for her and that's why she was alive now. She looked at her lover with knowing eyes and she did not deny it.

"I keep asking myself the same thing over and over... Because it's my best shot to find the Ten Commandments Killer. I didn't join to murder people...this is disgusting...", she wheezed while she struggled to take a breath. "These are enchanted so I'll stick with them till we get the hell outta here. And did you have to say that? My friends kept saying the same all the time about my voice too. Coincidences happen, I'd say."

She helped him stand up and lean on her shoulder as both of them started moving away from the wall and threaded with trepidation in fear of what might show up. All of this destruction, the ruins and fire in the distance sickened her because she did not want anything of this. Their task was to sneak in and find something but it was still disgusting for her to see such tactics employed to merely cover for them. They did not manage to get close enough and turned tail because being alive was far more important.

Because if they died who would have taken care of Jin Wei's mother and three siblings? Who would have found the killer who took her best friend's life? No one, of course.

There was the glowing red mark of a two headed bird on his chest. It did not fade away. It just blazed to life the moment he clashed with that Italian doctor dude as if something was calling it to resurface.

"What the fuck is that thing?"

"Hell if i know... But he was surprised by it. And all that stuff about being one of us.", Jin spat in pain as the mark began to recede and it lost it's glow after a few seconds. "What's a Malakkar?"

Leticia didn't bother to ponder further about it. It didn't matter as of the moment. "We have to run away somehow. I don't want any of this shit. Fuck it, i should be at university right now and not doing errands for some inhuman fuck.", the blonde girl complained as she felt her stomach churning.

"...Leti, we have no choice... I fear we might be the only ones alive so we have to go back. Forget about the mission, i don't care and I don't want to kill people again.", Cao's black eyes flashed in an epiphany, a memory that stirred his emotions quite deeply. He didn't do any of this for some make-believe heroism or to act like some defender, the only reason he did so was to protect his own family in return for his servitude to the same abominations that he was afraid of. "Tell me... Who will save us now when we have began to look back on what we once believed in? We are no heroes, we never were to begin with."

"Of course not. We are just people, Jin. And i dare say we should cut the chit-chat and run like the wind.", Leticia added her two cents as she stepped heavily in trying to support a man this big. There was no denying she felt horrified and partially responsible for this mess. She never claimed to be some hero or some reincarnation of the Maiden of Orleans, that she did not do nor like as a matter of fact. "And to think i used to be the leader of this so-called Hero Faction and to see it in such a state, supporting these freaks...", she rubbed her eyes and nose while bitterness started to fester in her heart. "Let's run away... Let's get your mother and the rest and run. We don't have to do anything more. This is enough already."

"We have no choice. If we tried to run they'll find us but perhaps this way we could enact justice for those who whose lives were ruined.", Cao Cao was careful in the way he spoke because he was sure there was something to keep them in line in the case of betrayal. He wouldn't risk dying by some penalty that was triggered by treacherous actions so he swallowed what had been left of his pride and stepped forward. "Who will punish those who cannot be set to trial and justly punished? No human court or law would stop them for ruining lives. No prison would hold them for breaking families apart. We are held accountable for our actions and we pay the price but who will judge them for their crimes against humanity? Who will take vengeance for those left broken and left behind?"

The echoes of battle filled his ears with dread and sorrow. He wasn't looking for another fight nor to lead one for the sake of some entity with no clear goals or motivations. He was a warrior and he hated war but he would fight if he had to. There were debts to be paid to the people he loved. To his mother for giving birth to him, to his brothers and sister for everything and to Leticia for saving him from that underground fighting arena.

The French female knew everything about what he spoke of. No matter how much she hoped the police didn't manage to find the killer who took seven lives in her hometown so she had to resort to find them on her own. It had been two years since she started the hunt for the killer which led her to the Khaos Brigade and there was only one name that she found out concerning the bizarre killings.

The name of a man called Beroul.

That name the Chinese man knew quite well as one of the regular patrons of the illegal fighting ring he participated in as a fighter for the Triads. His father had unpaid debts that pilled up within months so he was killed when he could not pay and in order to ensure his family's integrity did Cao Cao become an errand boy for the mainland mafia and act as a fighter for their entertainment.

He never saw Beroul's face but he felt something amiss about the fat bumbling creature whenever it came along to spectate the bloody battles there. It was there that he was found by this beautiful Parisian flower and in no time did he fall in love with her and took the reins to be the poster boy for the hero-centric rag tag bunch of fools called the Hero Faction. Funny thing, it was Leticia Babineaux who was the de facto leader before they decided to share the position.

"We are no heroes, Jin. But we are not executioners either. Yet, i do agree. We do this for everyone who suffered like us, for everyone who lost their family because of them. So stay alive and move it, damn it!", Leti squealed in some frustrating tone that grated on Jin's ears really hard. All of this was pretty much insane but they had to get out of here, however, they needed a good spot to break the container carrying the Dimension Lost mist so they could leave.

"Maybe all I wanted was to be her hero... Such sentimentality doesn't suit me. Xuelan would call me unmanly if i acted out right here... Xue...where are you?", he thought as he ran the best he could. He had to find his missing cousin no matter the cost so he could rebuild what was left of his family. He was sure he would find her if the rumours were true. And he would take back his kin from the hands of the Devil and bash him in the head.

They ran the best they could on their own. It was quite useful to have their bodies and casual clothing lined with some spell crest stickers to enable them to perform some inhuman feats but those were just a temporary cheat. No matter how much they would have wanted to run away there were the circumstances keeping them from leaving the Khaos Brigade. All they had was to live and keep on moving.

This part of the city was quite intact as a matter of fact. There were cars parked around the street and it seemed like everything was normal as if life continued to bloom there. Alas, there was not a single soul wherever they looked at. No sounds, just the echoes from battle at various spots in the distance and the skies were dark and it could have rained, perhaps. But there were no people.

That was what scared the shit out of Cao Cao. That loneliness, that false tranquility confused him because how the hell could over millions of people suddenly vanish in thin air without a trace? If it were some city wide spell to consume their lives there would have been some panic and traces left but no such thing was present.

Bizarre was the right word to describe it.

"Leti, this actually scares the shit out of me. If any Celestial showed up we're dead meat, i tell you.", Jin shook his head twice upon taking in the scenery as it seemed to drag on for quite some time. He did lose some blood so he took that in account, it could have been some hallucination of sorts so he did try to check by asking his girl for a reality check.

"... I've been thinking about kids, lately so what do you t-

Leticia instantly shoved him into the nearest corner and gestured for him to keep quiet. She swore she could have heard uneven footsteps coming their way so she didn't waste time at all. Her Blade Blacksmith materialized at the mere twitch of her eyebrows and various blades of different proportions were knitted into reality, some of them twisting and bending over her legs like some weave. The swords wove upon her knees and soles a pair of makeshift clawed sabatons and grieves that were adorned with tiny razors in the shape of rose petals with some halcyon-like blades at the knee caps.

On her arms up to the shoulders did her weapons merge and lock tight to form two sleek metallic gauntlets with elaborate swirling patterns upon the forearms that ended with a thin wispy flat spike. Gunmetal and silver lined with a few blackened bands they were to finish the look. They were pretty durable and the fingers themselves were adorned with razor sharp claws as well as a pair of retractable wrist blades.

The trick about Blade Blacksmith was that it could make all kinds of weapons as long as they had a blade unlike Sword Birth which was restricted to swords only. That didn't make it superior to the other version of the Sacred Gear. One could have said it all depended on how it was used and Leticia clearly favoured protection than offense.

The blonde girl peered carefully from the edge of the wall and spotted something that she did not quite expect. Sluggishly, moving without any coordination or finesse were a few Sacred Gear drones that had separated from the pack during the skirmishes. A child whose arms were replaced by Sword Birth prosthetics and bladed wings dragged itself on the road while a woman in a dark suit of armor moved like a deranged predator besides it, foaming from her mouth and her eyes were stilled and empty. She was blind as far as it seemed. And there were two elderly thralls slumping and skipping, both men in their late years, shrouded in a veil of blood and shadows.

Leticia did not recognize any of them at all. It was the first time she had ever seen them as they had a strict policy of only recruiting able-bodied and capable individuals while avoiding children and the elderly. Leonardo was a mere exception due to the pressure of recruiting him and his Longinus Gear being invaluable. She and Jin were completely against him joining their crew as it meant sacrificing your freedom and life, besides they did doubt he truly joined them by his own volition and suspected foul play or blackmail.

They only recruited those who were willing to join their cause out of their own volition.

"This ain't right. What's with their steps and everything? Are they some of our own?", she quickly hid and signaled to Jin to be on his guard. It did not seem she had been spotted but the way they moved and the noise they made worried her because no one within their minds would have made such abnormal screeching or hissing like an animal. "We might have to use the other street or this here would be the way out... Fuck it, we don't have time for this shit."

Cao Cao took note of her reaction and used one of the stickers on his shoulder to pull out the Dimension Lost canister and prepared to break it. They were already outside the perimeter of the barriers so it was doable. Maybe a few more blocks would have been optimal but the chances were not that good in his mind. Already he was about to crack the container until a very specific cry stopped him in his tracks.

It was high pitched, loud and desperate. It was as if seeking for attention or maybe out of fear as it wailed and it's tonality was intensifying. No mistake did the spearman make when he swore upon his mother's pride. He wouldn't have considered it to be anything else, he knew what it's source was and it shook him.

"We can't leave yet," he stepped around and the canister was retracted into the sticker tattoo. Instead, he thumped on his chest for the Spear of Destiny to emerge right out of his heart and he grasped the golden colored spear. It extended to it's normal length and every detail solidified into an imitation of a roman legionnaire spear as it was based on such. "Not yet, i have to do this or i would regret it if I don't."

Despite his aching wounds and limping on one leg did Cao Cao rush out of the corner and activated the seals on his shoes to enhance his speed tremendously while the sticker crests on his palms lit up to grant him inhuman strength as he dove at the thralls. His dignity, his conscience would not allow him to leave...

Because what was before him was the sight of a baby in blankets that was about to get skewered by the drones that were aggravated by it's cry for it's dead mother.

The baby carriage was pushed over and it was the first time today that he saw someone else in this sector. But the mother was dead and lying in a pool of blood as her lifeless arms still tried to hold onto her child.

The female thrall knelt down and raised her fist to splatter the defenseless creature and her fingers clenched tightly to deliver the killing blow. Nothing was left in her as she was wounded and whatever person she might have been once was lost. They were hard to describe as human anymore.

"Fuck, fuck! I'm not gonna make it!"

[~Megas XLR OST – Losing My High~]

He didn't think about it at all. He nearly soared if one mistook his charge for hovering but that only gave him the momentum he needed so much right now. Jin broke his rush and twisted around, landing on foot on the ground and bend with the spear humming in his right arm. Adjusting his aim for a second he hurled the Longinus Gear with all he had in him in the moment the poor child would have been killed.

The Spear of Destiny flew and impaled the woman directly into her throat as it pushed her back and nailed her to the cold ground!

But he did not stop as he put everything into running and pounced in the air without any warning. His legs touched two stepping seals in the air and he flew down towards the remaining Balance Breaker drones to save that baby. He would not let this happen on his watch, he had to save that life at all costs.

The thralls reacted immediately to his presence in a preprogrammed way. No matter how damaged or deranged they were all three were with Balance Breakers and Cao Cao was a lone man with some tricks under his sleeve. Sword Birth blades danced in the air as they turned their tips towards the incoming man and fired at him like a machine gun. Each one resonated and was supercharged due to aluminium being present which in turn made them into wonderful bombs that were about to detonate on sight.

The Spear of Destiny glowed for a moment and from it's shaft emerged Blade Blacksmith claymores...

Each copy swerved like a thrown axe and decked the Sword Birth blades as tendrils emerged from the metal and began to devour the opposing armaments as if they were a living creature eating it's prey. There was resistance but the makeshift bombs were devoured completely before Cao Cao could have registered that. Two of them flew into his palms and he brought down both of his hands from an overhead strike to push away the child. Using his landing to spread his arms sideways did Cao Cao ram the swords into the elderly drones but it didn't do much as each one reacted by instinct and blocked it by their own means.

It was all a diversion.

By the time he had done that Leticia was already there and she slid under his legs as she took the baby and pulled out the Spear of Destiny. In no time she stabbed the smallest drone in the abdomen but it did not budge as it's wings bent backwards and expelled the swords that constituted their mass into a hail of metal.

"Metal Eater!", she bellowed in response to the sneak attack in the last moment as a few stickers lit up and layered several barriers before her to end the barrage from reaching her. The barriers were shredded as the blades nullified magic so she had to resort to using the Spear of Destiny to warp two meters to the left and then she slammed the spear into the side of the child to knock it over.

But that was all she needed to do. Her own Gear sprang from the tip of the spear into a series of razors that clanged and tried to slice the arm of the child as it blocked the strike with it's forearm. Metal Eater was her very own version of the common Gear that sank razor teeth into the metallic limb and began to eat at it at an alarming speed. The arm began to fuse with the protrusions and then Cao Cao kicked the kid in the crotch to stun it long enough to throw a haymaker punch in it's face, bashing it's head with an insane punch that heated up and practicality seared the flesh. Both eyes were rendered into viscous goo while it's jaws were nothing but a bloody mush of flesh, sinew and cracked bone.

In no time he reacted as he felt something cut into his thigh, lacerating the limb with a deep gash where actual nails popped out. He slumped on his knee but he did his best to move out before the shadow using thrall would have caught him in it's shadow. Jin had to roll to avoid being cut down by the halcyon the blood shrouded one picked up.

But alas, the Spear of Destiny warped into his hand and he swatted the elderly man away as Leticia grasped his armpit and lifted him up, propelling four curved daggers into it's shroud that actually got entangled. Her eyes narrowed and then the spots where her daggers landed on as a scare tactic expanded and started to eat the hemoglobin in it.

"...Die, you fuck! Stay down!"

Those spots thinned out enough for her daggers to extend and shift into elegant rapiers that embedded themselves into the soft flesh underneath the shroud as each one jammed and locked in place. Then without much fanfares did those spots simply vanish as if they had been carved out of with a spoon. Holes the size of a donut were left in their wake as the thrall's lifeless eyes only blinked ever so slightly when it fell down and blood spurted from the missing chunks of meat.

Gear Synchronization.

The bond between them was so strong as to let them mix together their Sacred Gears and act as one, branching out their respective abilities further and enable various combinations that would naturally be impossible to execute as each Gear was wired to work for only one user. That they bypassed and experimented upon and thus the rapiers warped the marked flesh two meters away from the host, letting him bleed out in a matter of seconds and die from missing some of it's organs.

The possibility of a Gear Synchronization creating a shared Balance Breaker from two compatible Gears was quite possible and there were rumours of such a thing having happened several times. Having a Gear did not even the odds against any of the non-human denizens and entities, it merely increased the chances of survival by a small margin. That's why they fought as a team, relying on each other to keep the other one alive and covering for their many weaknesses.

Gear Synchronization could and would be able to create a shared Longinus Gear as Sacred Gears were able to evolve and adapt. Under the right conditions every single one of them could become a Longinus but that did not mean they could outclass the original 10 and the additional 3 that did not have the failsafe and lockdown codes installed.

Still, this went way too easy.

Leticia cradled the baby in the bloodied blanket as she stared down at the fallen thralls with pity and revulsion. She had never seen people in this state and she was disgusted. She hated this, she didn't want to do it but she had no choice. Saving that baby was a priority but having to help in killing those people was sickening to the point where she was panicking and feeling guilt. It was stressful, it was scary.

The blood shrouded thrall actually rose back up and grabbed her ankle as it's battered frame tried to bring her down. Blood tentacles rose out of it's back and lunged at her with the intent to kill. Subconsciously, the blonde girl reacted by having several swords stack together and form a shield that clashed against the tendrils, pushing them aside for a second but then from within her palm did something start to move and razor blades ripped out of her skin...

More and more of them were forming from the wound and cutting her flesh from the inside as she nearly fell down on her back and kicked the fucker in the face repeatedly with her clawed feet, shredding it's face and neck further but it still held on as more razor blades and nails started to poke out of her leg and rupture her blood vessels as well as cutting her muscle strands like some piece of paper.

Cao Cao stabbed the man in the head and warped him away despite experiencing the horrible sensation of his legs being slashed and pierced by nails and razors. He screamed in pain as he warped it's head away from the body and then the meat from it away, effectively killing it at last. He didn't let his guard down but he did not exactly expect this tenacity.

Leticia was on her back but she did not let go as a blade emerged from the sole of her right leg and chopped off the arm that held her down. Standing up on these legs of her's was a chore, she nearly passed out from the agony and would have bled out if the stickers there did not begin to patch her up right away. Pain was still present but it was lessening.

To ensure it didn't happen again he tapped into their connection and produced several broadswords to hack into the bodies of the deceased to end them with certainty. He had dignity and honor so this act of defiling the dead made him feel revolted but it was the best insurance. He would have given them a proper burial if he didn't have to endure all that pain in this moment as the stickers were stitching the open wounds and preventing any blood from spilling.

He turned to his partner with moist eyes and barely uttered some words of comfort as he crawled to his girl and helped her snuggle into his chest.

"How much more... this is like the hospital two years ago... I won you back then...", he wheezed as he felt his senses returning and his strength being replenished. He was able to stand up and lift the girl, "...most of all we have confirmation. Vali Lucifer was not kidnapped. He betrayed all of us so we need to report this. We need to live another day cause i don't want your mother to cry."

Leticia tapped the sticker on her biceps as she held the crying baby, trying to calm it down and she answered. "I know... We always end up battered and bruised and if it keeps going we're gonna die real soon. My mother is probably going to freak out if she assumed the baby is ours... We can't leave it either.", she spoke through a soft tonality as she caressed the baby's cheeks. "Let's take it with us. It won't survive out here alone and fuck Vali. I hate traitors the most and he beat us up pretty badly..."

The canister appeared and Jin snatched it. He was ready to leave until he quickly pushed her away and ducked to avoid some projectile from hitting them. At least three barriers activated to protect them from harm. Warping away from the spot they hid at the rooftop of an apartment complex where they saw the reality of the conflict. The Jabberwocky and Bandersnatch were fighting against the Celestials and another beast in a titanic clash for the sake of the city.

"This wasn't in the plan! I should have known... Georg and Leo actually did this!", he realized the consequences of this chain of events. They went against his orders, they caused all of this carnage and were responsible for this devastation. Thousands, likely millions had died because of his subordinates and that left a stain upon his conscience. "We're leaving... We're making our backup plans after we get home. I'm not going to participate in this slaughter any longer...", he made a decision with horror written on his face.

This will not do.

Conflict was already brewing in his mind. He had to take some countermeasures because he knew they were expendable. In fact he was already making plans for the future but he had his reservations as well. Getting out of the Khaos Brigade wasn't going to be easy, faking his death was out of the picture as well because he had a family to support. So he had to play it smart knowing his so-called comrades would definitely try to blackmail or have him killed.

They might not have achieved the initial task they were set up to do but they had some valuable information. Vali Lucifer's betrayal. That was one card they could play to survive, not that anyone knew who the Cambion actually was or even if they were actually a man in the first place. Only a select few knew Vali's real identity and that's why the White Dragon Emperor was considered untrustworthy because they always wore the Scale Mail on every meeting plus the fact that Albion had exerted his influence on the system and always chose men as his hosts.

"... Georg Tanner, you bloody fuck.", Leticia murmured with a hint of rage colouring her otherwise pleasant voice. Various thoughts clashed in her head and she wasn't sure what was going to happen next. The chances of doing anything to the Jabberwocky were miniscule so she had to give up and run. "Sieg isn't going to like this for sure. But it's going to be us three again soon as it seems."

The prospect of Dimension Lost or Annihilation Maker having been used upon Paris instead of Rome made her sour and fearful. What if that was the case? Her mother and father lived there, her twelve year old cousin did too. They could have been casualties if one of the other groups decided it. She was afraid like never before when she imagined it.

Leticia had enough and cracked the canister to unleash the Dimension Lost mist - it cycled and spun around the marks on their skin as a beacon. In no time did they teleport out of the rooftop and were transported far away from the city. They weren't strong or fast enough to prevent it, neither informed of their companions participating despite having their suspicions. What deal were they offered as to agree to this madness?

On the ground a man simply looked at the spot the couple used to be a few seconds ago. He was 1,75m in height, well built and strong with the looks of a man in his late forties at best. With greying hair in a buzz cut and a decent face that was marred by the ravages of time he made a casual smirk and waved his hand in a lax manner. He wasn't even mad at all. A combat suit ande some weapons were strapped on his body but the one thing that struck out as odd was the snapped in two legionnaire spear with faded details on the pomel and the wood rather unpolished and old.

The metal was rusted and covered with blood as parts of the spear tip were missing and it was quite jagged and worn down. It was a rather simple weapon in at terrible condition but one thing was certain. It wasn't anything ordinary.

"I won't have to kill them this time. Potential prospects they could be and like hell am i gonna murder someone who saved a fucking baby right away.", he spoke with an Italian accent that belonged to the Eastern parts of the country. He did not engage them or pursue any further as he chose to observe, to estimate their combat prowess and intentions.

"Rome has changed quite a lot since i last visited and it had to be today. Why do i always have to get the nastiest jobs, Arthur? You and your crazy kids give me a headache...", he paused as he mentally swore at the Irish barman but then he let it go. He was used to this, he was their cleaner of sorts and he did the dirty job most often.

He turned around and started walking in the other direction to scout some other areas. Hell, he'd probably find his friends in some dirty alleyway all beat up and looking like crap but he was sure he would have to bail them out and carry their stupid asses back home.

The man pulled out a notebook from one of his pockets and started scribbling on a piece of paper. "Might as well go kill some witches? Let's see what to add for the death count...", he quirked a brow as he jotted down the details and was rather bored.

"Twenty five decapitations so far, thirty seven times in an explosion, crushed skull at least ten times... Fuck! Mauled by a Sacred Gear user two times just for today! What the fuck am i even working for?! Save the world, my ass.I just want to die for real already."

Roman Marconi was his name. There were debts to pay and work to do.

But to others he was known as the first of thirteen. The first Apostle of the Apocalypse. One of the founders of the 7th Daze bar and the second to gather them all together throughout the years.

They called him Roman the Immortal.

XXX

Everything felt blurry to the point where nothing seemed to make sense to her. She couldn't distinguish between the floor or the walls or what this was even supposed to mean, nothing seemed right in her state of mind as she helplessly tried to claw her way out of this odd compartment.

It was bright, so blindingly bright that she couldn't help but shield her eyes with her hideous clawed hands that sported odd pinions growing out of her forearms. The scenery was bland, monotone and white as the tiles and the walls were white as well to the point where it felt as if trapped in a box.

"... Fuck...where...help me! Help me...help me!", she screamed as she banged on the floor with her eyes turning bloodshot red and her back felt the strong push of something heavy pinning her down. There was blood dripping out of her mouth and pain struck her at legs as she couldn't climb out or move further.

Kuroka was alive.

That she knew but the effects of the barrier and the rampant taint emitted by her Evil Piece was morphing her into the hideous state of the so-called Stray Devils. She felt every bit coursing through her body, fiber by fiber as her sanity was being stripped away the longer she had to endure it. If she didn't calm herself down to utilize her Omnyodo Arts to relegate and continuously expell the taint from her body she would have turned into a true abomination any minute now. She had to endure it. She had to cling onto what gave her reason.

"It's okay. Maybe she is feeling sick because of the medicine? Is Fãhei going to be alright, grandma?", a squeaky voice answered her inquiry with the innocence of a child.

When Kuroka took a deep breath and looked around she saw a familiar scenery. The walls were the same, the flooring was exactly as she remembered it with the old carpets lined on them and the door to the backyard was open.

There was the view to the garden with roses she used to walk around in while she was still an ordinary domestic cat. It was just like before when she saw her own hands that were nothing more than paws now.

"What's going on?! Where am i?"

She felt the warm but weary hands pet her back gently as she took notice of the child before her. It was a small girl at the age of eight in casual clothes, black hair and dark mellow eyes with tiny hands trying to reach out to her. The warmth she felt was from the hands of an old woman who placed her upon het lap as she sat on the porch and stared at the rose garden with her granddaughter. It was the middle of summer but which day it was Kuroka could not ascertain at all as she simply felt so tired and stressed that she couldn't even bother to ponder upon.

"This... This is my home... I couldn't forget it."

This was her home. The very same house she was born in, far away from the big city and deep into the countryside. Xizhou Town was the place where she took her very first breath of life in this world, in this very house. The view to the Cangshan Mountains was there for her viewing pleasure as she purred in the embrace of her owner. That felt quite nostalgic so she wanted to enjoy it for as much as possible but she took a look around.

In the corner she saw a small white kitten with black spots on her back and legs. It was a few months old at best and it seemed quite playful. In fact, the small cat rushed into the elderly woman's lap and bumped into her and started to wave it's paws and patted Kuroka on the head. Of course... she realized it was Koneko as she pushed her out of her owner's lap. There were other cats as well, her siblings from the same batch as the white one.

"I'm home! At long last I'm home but...", she purred till it started to feel odd. She paused once more and her pupils thinned to slits when she gazed into the eyes of her owner.

"I can't do that... We have unfinished business, you and i. Isn't that why we are here, Fãhei?"

Something in Kuroka's eyes flashed with primal fear and anxiety as she quickly jumped out of the elderly woman lap and turned around, taking a defensive position. It came down to her like thunder in the very moment she saw her lips move and curl into a thin smile. The very same voice, mannerisms and aged face greeted her as it called her by her real name.

"This isn't true! This is not real, it's not real! I refuse this!", suddenly she screamed and saw herself standing on two legs in her humanoid form as she panicked and her face twisted under the heavy duress she felt at that moment. She instinctively ran on all fours and pounced at the door to the point of frenzy, running as fast as she could despite the door stretching further and further from her.

"If it's not real then why would you even be here? Isn't this the same thing you did when you ran away from me?", the old lady murmured in a calm tone as she merely walked up slowly to the frightened Kuroka. Her posture straightened and she looked at her apologetically. "You ran away again. But you can never hide away from what you did.", she offered a comforting gaze as her eyes never left the bakeneko's presence.

"It's not real! I was there... I was there at your funeral.", the dark haired cat uttered with primal fear lacing each word she produced.

She knew this couldn't have been real for the sole fact of actually having taken care of her owners as an assistant after she gained sentience and form. Perhaps she knew it wasn't real and likely in her head as it had happened before but this...

It was the first time she had seen her owner in so many years. It didn't matter if it was some hallucination or her mind being torn to shreds as she could see her once more.

The old lady quirked a brow in response and slowly reached out to her. Her eyes were full of experience and caring but there was the scary aspect of affection twisting it to the point of eerie craving.

"Yes, you were there. But I'm here for you now because you would run away again whenever you are shown a shred of kindness. Because you latch onto any chance to exploit the goodness of others and then betray them. Just as you did with them."

Kuroka's eyes widened. She didn't stop trying to run away for she could not help but fear for her life. It was the same as the first time, it hadn't changed at all. Her legs entangled and she fell on the ground when she tried to stand up on her own. Only to feel the shackles on her legs rattling and blood dripping down her jaw. Her entire face was smeared with blood like warpaint, her eyes showed only rage and hatred unbridled.

The walls were rotten and dark. The house was empty and devoid of life with the ruined floors marked by trails of blood and dirt. It was abandoned, it was lonely and full of gloom whenever she turned to. That was a reminder she had always despised with all of her being. That loneliness and misery greeted her once again as she found herself in the center of the empty room where no light shone upon.

"That's who you are, my dear. You're ready to use them and throw them away for a better option. Didn't you do that already by leaving those whom you aided?", a deep voice echoed in her head, grim and similar to the screeching of a dying animal.

A cold hand touched her cheeks from behind and it's fingers dug into the soft tissue of her left cheek as she froze in place like a marble statue. The coloration of her face paled as if she had been a corpse all along, her teeth clattered and her lips quivered uncontrollably. When she turned around she saw a familiar face, one she had not forgotten till this day. Everything in her would have screamed if she didn't feel a keyhole open in her face and the sound of a key turning inside followed afterwards.

"You weren't the nicest kitty there was, you know?", he spoke to her when he moved in her field of vision and looked intently in her eyes. They never parted ways with her's. "After you had nothing i gave you everything you could dream of. Power, authority, influence and yet you couldn't feel satisfied with that. And look at you now, pretending to care about your so-called friends as you try to delude yourself you can do better when we both know what you did does not clear the slate so easily."

She could not move an inch from her position. She was nothing more than a statue of flesh and bone, static and dead as she really was inside. Her gaze was locked on the face of her former King and she could not even answer as no voice was left in her throat when the key was turned. No reaction could she offer when he calmly looked down on her with a disappointing grimace that hid nothing about his state. Exposed gums and teeth clicked together with a tongue poking out of the missing cheeks whenever he tried to move what remained of his lower face.

"But it's not fun if you don't offer a futile attempt to resist. Because manipulating and stealing from others is what you can do.", he whispered to her ear. His nails dug into her eyes and forcefully opened her lids to take a better look at his face. But he wasn't pointing at it in reality.

There was something far more important than a mere visage of the ghosts of the past. "How about a little memory refresh if you would be so kind? I'm sure you didn't forget about this one.", his sunken red eyes rolled in all directions till they stopped whenever he looked past her.

She only trembled for as much as she could and desperately tried to look away despite her inability to do so.

Upon the big bed in the vast darkness of the room were heard all kinds of sounds. Panting, the sound of a hitched breath and horny moans echoed in the chamber as their intensity and the creaking bed were mixed up together in a decadent scenery of pleasure and desire. It was just another day or was it night? One couldn't tell because it was always dark there where no light shone inside the bedroom of dark colors. Only the soft purring and occasional scream of joy could be heard as something was happening at that time.

On top of the devilish creature was a naked female straddling him with such vigor and intensity that the bed would give out any moment now as she rocked her hips upon his lower body and moved her hands on the soft fabric of the sheets to steady herself as she grinded hard on him. Indecent growls and the unmistakable sounds of fleshing coming together with flesh were all in her head, she didn't stop at all as she intensified her rhythm and slumped over his bare chest with her claws digging in his back when he lifted her up and plopped her on lie on her back.

Her face was flushed red and her eyes were tantalising, teasing with a hint of promise and passion marring her cheeks when she wrapped her legs around his waist and slammed harder into him as she smirked in unrestrained pleasure. Those yellow eyes of hers shone with lust and overindulgence in the act for she had done it so many times with him to the point where she knew every trick there was.

"We did have a good time, no? If i had to say I didn't expect it to happen between us.", the Devil purred into Kuroka's ear as he sank his teeth in her neck despite the sinew and muscles tearing upon clamping on her sweet, sweet frail neck. She was helpless, she was watching all of it happen before her eyes. After all... she was the one who started her own misery. She couldn't let out a scream for she was paralyzed, only enduring the cutting pain those teeth delivered onto her neck.

She saw herself as who she really was.

The look on her face as she saw her own memory of the shared bed where she fucked her former master senseless creaked with every thrust and rocking of the hips she did not forget. The stained and bloody bed from the scratching and playing with things that should not be played with was something she conveniently tried to forget when she decided to cut ties and run away.

"It's just like before, no? With the taste of your lips I'm on a ride.", he did do only as much as a sigh before he grasped Kuroka's soft rear and sank his fingers into the buttocks. A careless whisper, a touch of sensuality. That was what he felt upon grasping the greedy hands of the cat and rammed into her with such vigor that it made her squeal like a wounded animal.

"Harder... fuck me harder, motherfucker!", Kuroka snarled under the pleasure and shock she experienced but those were not the words she wanted to say at all. But she kept slamming down on his rod without any hesitation as she realized the sole difference that made it all the more sinister. Her eyes widened with an epiphany and she blinked in fright.

"I know," he spoke so simply it was as though he was merely stating some random fact or the weather. "Isn't it wonderful how you remembered? You basic, filthy animal."

It wasn't hard to tell that she wasn't watching it from the sidelines...she was doing it at this very moment with all she had in her body to fuck like her life depended on it. His ghastly face, those torn lips curled up to a faint smirk if it was possible. He knew her better than she could have known or so she assumed.

The bed was bloodied, tatters were everywhere and there were chunks of meat scattered on the sheets. Upon the corpse was Kuroka who held the torn skin and flesh off her owner's face in a primal bid of aggression. Perhaps this was all she wanted in the start? In no time she sank her teeth into the neck and started to feast upon the corse, leaving gaping bites in the cadaver she had defaced.

Her naked body was dyed by the blood of her master, her first love and the very first entity she had killed. Disheveled hairs were jutting here and there, claws with strands of muscle fibers clattered on the pale skin as they ran on it like a razor blade and skinned the sections bit by bit. Kuroka's face twisted in a visage of glee and her features were anything else but angelic. She was a monster, she knew it and she relished in it.

"And yet... you didn't have the guts to admit you loved every second of being treated like a queen. Enough to try to usurp your own lover and wasn't it enough?", a tiny voice echoed in the back of her head when she glanced at the corpse. It was as if smiling at her own abominable nature, her real face behind the cutesy mask of Kuroka. "There is something you are not telling us. Come on, sweetie. Why don't you tell us what you're hiding?"

"...Why should I tell you?", she questioned with a look of annoyance despite the disgusting display she had to witness and participate in. Of course, she was horrified but she didn't notice when she was finally able to speak. The twitch of her fingers actually reminded her she could move so she reached out towards the Devil only to grasp the one person she tried to reconcile with.

"Because someone wants to hear that and it's me."

"So why did you abandon me, again? The experiments did give you what you wanted but was it some moral awakening or your lack of responsibility to endure it till the end? Let me guess.", yellow cat eyes bore into her's with such intense hatred that could pierce her heart. Those eyes did not gaze at them but over to what was behind her. The testament of her struggles and downfalls. Someone she tried to save but she only ended up breaking apart.

"I was too much of a burden for you to take care of. Because I'm the only ghost walking in this hallway so i guess I'd rather be alone than in a house that's not a home."

Koneko.

Kuroka found she was incapable of answering something so simple. The gesture Koneko made told her everything about the deeply saturated regrets she hid from everyone else. It was a mirror, a reflection of what she could have been but rejected in exchange for something like power and influence. To be a queen, to gain everything she could possibly imagine and indulge in every possible manner of pleasure.

"I did my best! I had no choice because i was turning into something despicable. I only wanted to protect you!" she protested with an agitated voice as she tried to crawl towards her sister but slipped in a puddle of blood. Her own bloody hands. "I tried so many times! Every time i tried to get close the fucking Evil Piece triggered the failsafe and i had to run otherwise i could have killed someone. I couldn't control it yet...it took me so much to even retain my own form...", Kuroka bawled with her bloody hands dyeing her features with the mask of death over her face.

The reason was simple. After she killed her King the set he had was redistributed to someone else. The King Connector Piece found it's way into a reincarnated Devil who settled down in Kuoh and surprisingly opened up a barbershop while taking in some of the peerage members of the former King, those that remained except Kuroka and Sylvia. That way it ensured the others would have found a new master and not go berserk. Jerry, Asia's hairstylist was that lucky guy but because of that every time Kuroka tried to get close to the city the Homing Beacon would give out her location, the Tracking function would follow her and she would have likely been killed if she was handed over to the rest.

Even so, deep down she had her suspicions that was deliberately done to keep Koneko away from her because she was a part of Rias's peerage and a valuable asset for them.

She had no choice. Get close and risk execution or stay away and the failsafe would turn her into an abomination. Neither one was an option she would take so she risked everything to improve her Omnyodo Arts to stave off the taint from mutating her so she could live. Watching over Koneko from the background, she had to endure watching her grow with people who weren't likely her friends, being lied to, manipulated against her so much as any letter she tried sending, no matter the medium used was actually blocked so that only reinforced her suspicion about keeping them apart.

"And then what?", Koneko asked with a gloomy look in her eyes. "You are responsible for the mistakes you made and it broke us apart because of your ambitions. Do you think I'm stupid? I know that something made you leave but even i have my doubts about the reason. Was it really that or simply because i was a burden to you?!", her voice gained a deeply saturated anger fueling her words. "Would you have stopped if things didn't go so far as to have me next in line in the experiments? Not only did you gain two Bishop pieces from two sources but it didn't seem enough for you, did it?!"

Kuroka slowly crawled up closer to her sister and regretfully raised her eyes to see her. There was only pain and misery, not an ounce of joy was there in this meeting for she knew it wasn't real. That's what she wanted to believe.

"... You were right... I bailed out when it got heavy. I did kill my first love for your sake... But none of this is real! You're not real!",the bakeneko turned a little more to give her a sideways glance. "Why am i talking when this is nothing but a mere illusion, a distortion of what i want? It's my mistake...i don't want to be like this ever again."

Koneko coldly looked down at her with her expression never changing. "It is real, sister. There is more to this than some mere illusion because your wish was to see me and here i am. Your powers would allow that and this place is where we can talk freely. Everything till now has been real, you just didn't want to accept your own misgivings!"

The black cat's eyes widened with anguish over the realization her wish came true. The promise she was given had become a reality for better or worse but there was something that alarmed her mind from within the back of her head. "You won't forgive me, i know. I can't forgive myself either but all I wanted was to tell you that i love you... just to see you happy. I'm scared but I'm glad i could see you even if you despise me. This is my punishment so i want to try again and do it right this time..."

"There's no repentance for traitors like you, Kuroka. You've dug your own grave so you're gonna lay in it.", Shirone turned around and started walking away from the only real family she had left in this world. Her breathing was heavy and her eyes were reddened but she didn't spare a single glance towards the pleading Kuroka as she kept walking away.

But she would not have that when she was finally within her reach. For nothing in the world would she let go as she found strength to leap after her and rushed to stop her. She wanted her to stay a little longer, she didn't want to feel alone again with only her thoughts to keep her company.

However, she did not account for her altered state becoming more and more hideous when the taint skyrocketed inside her veins. She was looking less and less humanoid with each passing moment Koneko was drifting away from her side and she felt rage filling her heart to the point of overflowing. She had to make her stay a bit longer, she didn't care about the way to do that as she slipped the reins of control she had over herself.

"Kuroka, stop! This isn't your sister!", the yelling of a man pierced her ears with a thunderous roar that made her hesitate for a second. Familial and beloved to her that voice it was. Enough to make her feel like she was worth something despite feeling insignificant.

The words of someone she loved.

Arthur Pendragon.

But if she stopped she might not have been able to see Koneko again for reason was thrown out and emotions took a hold of her fragile mind. Until she felt a bullet graze her right leg and made her fall down because of the pain. The burning sensation irked her due to the bullet being blessed in water as to halt her advance. She quickly turned around and saw the man she loved standing with a pointed gun at her.

"I'm sorry... That was the only way to stop you. You were too deep into the dream so there was no other way.", he spoke with a cold tone that did not suit his odd personality at all. Seriousness was the last thing anyone would have expected from the Britishman for he was an odd bird of the highest order. "Forgive me... Kuroka because there's no saving you...", he shuddered and shook in fear over what he saw when he gazed upon her once more.

Kuroka snarled at him like a wounded animal, ready to fight for it's life till the bitter end. Her physique was twisted and elongated at some points - maws and eyes were circling on various lines across her body, ever shifting and connecting into faces that resembled those of a newborn. Instead of words the sound of the most innocent creature came out as she touched her face and felt up tendrils with teeth trying to make a face for her.

Her hunched back was lined with even more faces that bore tongues with eyes in a haphazard mixture of grotesque and macabre. Her organs were exposed at the front through the translucent ribcage where her beating heart pounded with black taint seeping out of the thorax.

She tried to say something but she produced not a single word for there was only the cry of anguish letting loose. She wanted to kill him. To devour everything in him so he would be only her's. For all eternity. He would not reject her like her own sister, he would not scorn her for he was the one who loved her! She wanted everything and she did not pursue her previous desire anymore. Shakily she turned her twisted and emaciated body to gawk at him with those eyes and pounced at him in awaiting the warm embrace she so desperately desired.

Only to see the horrified Arthur stare back at her with disgust...

She didn't move further. The sound of a gunshot woke her up as she felt her blood trickle and drip upon touching her chest... The wound burned badly as if she was being set ablaze by flames on some pyre. She was bleeding out profusely and hit the ground a moment later with no strength to keep her standing. Somehow it felt relaxing, it felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted off her back and now she wanted to rest.

"D-did i do this... right? Was i ever loved...i wonder about that... I miss you..."

Arthur's eyes fell dead as they stared at the downed monstrosity before his feet. They strayed back over towards the white walls and the shackles that kept the Devil tied down like nothing had ever happened in the first place. Her rattling was unnerving, the echo produced by the chains was like the cries of a tortured soul begging for the release of death to end it's suffering.

"There's so much i regret... I can't do it, old man... After all... I'm a monster..."

Pendragon slowly approached what used to be Kuroka with shaky steps but never losing his focus. The gun was reloaded as the bullet entered the chamber and was pointed at her head without any malice being displayed. He sincerely tried to hold back his tears but he could not help but shed moist tears for this pitiful creature. She was annoying at times, hardened but wise and most of all she was dear to him. Having to see her turned into this shook him down to the core and made him think about the rest.

How would have Fay felt if she saw this? He was going mad just at the sight of this abomination he once called a friend.

"I wonder… would it have been better if we died back then? I'm so tired...i want to sleep and wake up tomorrow morning... I miss you... I hope we would meet again..."

"...Yeah... I hope we would meet again... Maybe in another life you would have been mine... Forgive me, Kuronyan. Forgive me for this..." was all he said as he pressed the muzzle on her forehead and averted his gaze from her eyes. In them there was one last glitter of warmth that would have made him give up but for that reason he did not turn his gaze to her. He would have hesitated and would have died if she tried to hug him. But most of all he didn't want to see the dying expression she would show him in her last moments...

"...I love...i lo-love you...too..."

"Goodbye, Kuroka... I never said it but...i did love you too...", he placed his fingers on the trigger and closed his eyes.

"Forgive me... I'll never forget you..."

The only thing that broke the silence was the sound of a single gunshot echoing within the white walls of the containment chamber...

XXX

[~Audiomachine - Ninurta~]

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Dodge that shit, Ise!", Sona urged the Red Dragon while trying to hold onto his frame with everything she had. The pain from their resonance sure was irking her senses but she didn't focus on it as her mind was already going in overdrive. Tactics, plans and timing she was thinking upon in order to escape from their pursuers from behind but she didn't think whatever she would have thought of would work.

A rock did nearly crack his spine but he somehow managed to twist enough to avoid it at the cost of feeling the jagged edges crash into his shoulder blade and nearly offset his balance while he ran. He took the brunt of the attack and pressed harder with all he had left towards the forest. The nearest trees he could see already but he relied on Sona's directions as he couldn't keep up mentally so he left the steering to the black haired girl.

In no time did he move past the first line of trees and jumped over a fallen log but not Sona nearly flew out of his hands if she did not brutally grasp on his chest and forced them to halt for a few precious seconds. Just enough to experience a bullet tear through his left knee and the pain made him roll down into the woods. They didn't have any power to make barriers and Sona didn't even have access to her abilities so they were nothing more than horrified children running away from a hungry bear.

The pursuers were already upon them as some of them had jumped down from the trees while others simply ran up to them. The exit wound quickly closed and made the Devil recoil in pain but he had to endure long enough as his knee fixed itself and he throttled once more.

Sona had to do something about it even if it would stall them for a second. Stabbing her hands into the dirty ground did she unearth the roots of a tree and instantly swung it as a battering ram to keep the nearest Devils at bay. The force of her drive nearly knocked some of them but alas, she only felt cold metal make it's way through her neck and left eye, shattering her glasses off her face.

More bullets greeted her and riddled her torso further with blessed lead to slow her down. On top of her did a female Devil jump and punch her down with heavy gauntlets to subdue her. However, that only bought them a few seconds for Issei to ram his hands through her chest and throw her into a tree before they were assaulted instantly by more and more of them. It was a battle for their survival if someone else would have glanced at it but it was nothing more than a speedy fistfight with the intent of mutual suicide.

Small scale fifth tier spells bombarded them with the intention of making them croak and fall but the devilish Dragon shielded the Sitri girl long enough for her to brush off her attackers and pull him towards her. They didn't affect him at all due to his eight tier magic resistance but that didn't mean the sense of pain was stripped even as those spells bounced off him like a rubber ball. Despite the pain and fear she held his arms with her's and brought out the riffle to aimlessly shoot at them to no avail. It did however do something as some of the bullets grazed the tree trunks and triggered a trap spell to create large walls of stone to put some distance between them.

Of course she was surprised. But knowing him there were likely more traps ahead so she merely turned her attention towards getting away and moving to the next post.

She picked up her comrade and rushed forward with a dash as she jumped in the air and latched onto a tree like a squirrel. There was another Devil waiting for her so she had to move out of the way, slugged the suit clad creature in the balls and then pounced off the tree trunk towards the next tree. She was moving like a frenzied animal, her pace and climbing were like those of a monkey but she didn't care at all. It wasn't even difficult to climb with one hand occupied but having to constantly move was a temporary solution for they were much faster and organized.

The tree they were on was already falling as one of the Devils ripped it out of the ground and literally shook them off like filth from it - to avoid crashing down Sona steeled herself and made her wings come out of her shoulder blades to hover and lessen the fall.

Unlike before the appendages were scaled and with leathery flaps between each spine, ending with spikes that were similar to Issei's altered devil wings. But in less than a second she was already being assaulted by a small group that grabbed her and tried to detain her.

"Fight it, Ise. Fight back!", she shouted at the top of her lungs as she swatted one of the black suits with her riffle and actually swung the man with her other hand at them.

She was using him like a human bat to stave them off while he regained enough of his senses to make scales and claws on his right leg that tore off the helmet of the nearest Devil as he used his lower body to snake around it's neck and fall on his back, roll and hurl the the petite Devil backwards.

Issei twisted his arm and flipped out one of his throwing knives that he dropped on the rocky terrain, triggering another Wall of Stone to craft a launching pad and propel him and Sona forward. He had to grab her by the collar in the last second and nearly choked her but she would live. That boost in speed offered him the chance to latch onto a tree and throw the Sitri heiress ahead - tapping on the tree he activated a trap he had placed not so long ago after his last visit to the now burning mansion.

Threads spread out of the tree to knit a razor wire trap that suddenly dug into the Devils on the ground. It was happening in mere seconds, their combat gear was tightly pressed and the razor wire was already digging into the fabric and about to shred them into pieces. But nothing happened, the Devils simply walked through it like it was nothing and turned their attention to the flying girl before their eyes.

"...dumb broad...", he wheezed with pain as the razor wire glowed red for a second and then activated the secondary trap that was etched onto the nearby trees. He was paranoid so he linked server traps together in case one failed. He was already straining hard and his movement was getting wobbly.

His face was pale and twisted by agony and the look of insanity had been there all this time. Fright, dread, shock, horror and despair mixed together to produce the current visage of the Red Dragon Emperor.

The only thing being visible through his distorted vision was the mana signature of the girl. He realized something was off when he double checked the opposition. The trap linked up and several spikes impaled Katerea's squad as well as bringing down a bunch of trees over their heads, giving him a few more seconds to catch Sona and make a run for it.

Of course... He realized they were just playing with them a little in this game of cat and mouse. They easily got past the traps, didn't give their all in the pursuit and most of all came out unscathed when something like that should have killed a human with ease. No wonder they easily brushed off anything he threw at them. Be it magic, traps or bullets. Those merely phased through them and they kept moving on.

Once again on the move he took Sona's hand and she glided between the trees at an astounding speed. Breaking several of them to cause chaos and confusing did the Sitri girl try to fly upwards but met the invisible ceiling of a huge barrier that prevented their escape. Issei would have sensed it but his messed up state made him sloppy and disorganized, prone to making simple mistakes due to panic.

Usually such a barrier would have been pierced by mere contact with them but not when they couldn't regain their bearings. The invisible ceiling started to sink down and act as a vice to pin them to the ground at an alarming speed. It had a strong gravitational push downwards so the black haired girl couldn't fly either.

Unable to go further did she take a nosedive and resume running as she did not turn back to gaze upon them. She was as scared as him but she was also excited, she felt alive and pumping with adrenaline as she felt her emotions stirring to the point where she was euphoric.

"You cannot run or hide from me. I will find you wherever you go."

Issei moved, reacting immediately. He knew the source of those words so he fastidiously pulled Sona to the left and both dashed over a rock. There was a planted detonator so at the moment of passing did he tap it and a series of explosives ran across the forest, blowing up dirt and wood in every direction as well as causing a forest fire to make a smokescreen. Forest fires happened all the time and hopefully not a single idiot had accidentally stepped on the hidden detonator.

The fires had spread further and smoke was rising from the burning wood. There was the deafening silence and the white noise ringing in their ears as they tried to move away and hide under a small hole beneath some tree trunks and rocks. Huddled together like rabbits, Sona tightly hugged Issei and placed her palm over his mouth to ensure he wouldn't make a single sound or his breathing would be heard. Carefully Issei followed her example and did the same, trying to control his breathing and calm down. The ringing was extremely unpleasant and disorienting so they had to wait out and adapt to it. The smoke would work fine as a cover for now since there were more traps prepared.

Running away wouldn't solve the problem. The only chances they might have had was to fight with all they got in order to survive long enough. Despite trying to die together they needed a place where nothing could reach them otherwise nobody knew what could have happened. He might die but there was no knowing how fast his regeneration would act up and revive him or more so...if the one who would rise up would be him or someone else. Therefore he didn't want to risk it, he was sure Sona might have felt the same way about going berserk again so he had to make an unsavoury decision for both of them.

If he could kill both of them in their current state, that is. He wasn't sure ever since he tried to commit suicide twice.

Removing his hand from her face did he feel around his waist and find the spot where he kept one of his secondary firearms in place. Upon finding it he took it out and waved to Sitri to get the second one out. Each knew how the other operated, their tactics and strategies were intimately known so the girl easily coordinated with her partner and snaked her left hand towards his waist to get the second gun. On her way to finding it she accidentally grabbed the wrong gun in her hurry... Of course, she stopped and went towards his hip where she beheld the gun and took it out.

"...Wrong gun! Uhh...uhhh... just hold out a bit longer...", his eyes told her everything she needed to know at this point. He would not forget to remind her of this accident for days to come.

Barely having any control of his own mana, stripped of his Scale Mail and his terrible condition he had to improvise and hope for the best. The damage he sustained from Hilda's support still kept him on edge and his Evil Piece was running rampant. He risked turning into a Stray because of the imbalance and the anti-demonic vibrations he had to endure during their combined efforts versus Vritra.

If he tapped into the mana of the Dragon he couldn't be certain it would not enact it's vengeance and strip him of it's power for the third promised time where it would reclaim what is theirs. The Juggernaut Drive was encroaching, the dead were whispering their promises and screams of agony in his ears.

Yet, the one thing that scared him the most was watching them up close. So close to the point where he could feel it's breath running down his neck. With his blurry vision did he spot the one thing he could not escape from no matter how much he tried to run away from. Feeling it's misshapen fingers tapping on his shoulders and getting closer, Issei did not dare to turn back when he froze in fear over the ominous sensation he dreaded with all of his being.

The Shadow gripped both man and woman in it's embrace and it leaned forward to take a look at their frightened faces with it's featureless visage. Slow, unnatural in it's locomotion did it twist it's neck like an old cogwheel toy to gleam at Sona as a mouth violently ripped it's way out from the black surface of it's face. Tiny needle-like teeth stretched in a subtle smirk when it further twisted it's neck and it only brought it's finger to the newly formed lips and it slowly gestured with a command to keep quiet.

He tried to draw a door onto the soil to open a path to the 7th Daze bar but the terrain prevented the door creation due to its uneven form. Not to mention he couldn't finish tracing his finger because the Shadow grasped it and stopped him in his tracks. He couldn't continue, he had to bet everything on fighting the enemies and hoping to live long enough to kill himself and Sona in one clean blow.

There was no escape. There was nowhere to hide.

There was only one choice left.

To fight till the bitter end.

XXX

[~Thunderstep Music – They Are Coming For Us~]

Amidst the smoke the suit clad entities lurked like predators stalking their prey. Their attention was focused on every detail, easily seeing through the smokescreen and they stood together in a closely knit formation, covering their possible weak spots from all angles. They were prepared for everything and sensed their prey was nearby, scared and cornered but they didn't underestimate them at all.

"Wait for it... Wait for it...", the tallest one of them patiently prepared his combat knife and riffle in hand, anticipating the moment when the prey would try to flee or launch a surprise attack.

They had studied Sona extensively and how she acted, they knew how to combat nearly every single Devil in the Underworld with the exception of those who were so secretive that there were only rumours or corpses left behind whenever someone tried to get any information on them.

He tapped his forearm with the knife and gestured to his peers to stay alert as his senses flared up in the presence of another entity. He wouldn't fire as it would give out their location so instead he crouched and placed his hand on the ground to feel up the vibrations from any possible source of motion. Not to mention Katerea had made sure to check any possible escape routes and traps because she was certain Sona would have fled in the forest because they made sure she would while keeping it subtle. That's why most of the traps were a slight inconvenience they had overcome without much effort.

Without a split second to waste did he raise his hand to guard his face as he shot upwards and deflected something that tried to pounce on him. A barrier he made and pushed the assailant above him as he quickly swung his combat knife and felt the resistance of teeth clenching tight on the blade. In no time did it shatter and in a moment's notice he spotted ice blue eyes with slits gaze back at him with predatory hunger as he dropped the handle and flung the beast further away.

"Attack! Hold the line, hold the line!", were his words of authority when he bent backwards and rose his foot to strike down and then flip over and deliver a savage stomp onto the first thing he saw.

"Motherfucker!", the female Devil's eyes shone with surprise as she held the broken blade with her fangs having chipped it off the handle. Sona was already on the offensive, shifting her weight midair to regain her landing a second before she would have been assaulted. The kick landed on her chest and nearly caved in but she endured it and relegated the damage to the edges of her ribs as they cracked and healed instantaneously.

Her mouth held the broken knife shard she spat back at the tall man and she brought out the gun she took to unleash the preloaded Arrow of Damnation while spinning in the air and moving in for a dropkick.

She was already manifesting more and more scales as her features were altering and her eyes changed completely. The recoil of the spell threw her off and she flew backwards into the squadron - Arrow of Damnation swerved across the intended target but missed him since it struck the ground instead and caused the earth to rise up and rocks flew all over the place. Stepping onto the rocky terrain she adjusted her footing and pounced like a beast onto the first victim without any restraint. Upon trying to smash their head did she experience the straight stab of a knife into her chest and then bullets tore into her side at point blank range.

This was the day where she had received the most pain in her life, perhaps. That horrible sensation pushed her further to crouch down and sprint low like a predator - her speed was unbelievable, so were her already impressive reflexes as to counterattack what was coming her way.

Two of the Devils reacted by hitting her in the jaw and knee from the back and the left, blinding her for a second as her vision darkened for a moment. However, she was waiting for this precise moment to initiate her retaliation. The knife she pulled out and jammed into the one who hit her jaw; the blade was already corroding and melting because of her blood so she used that lump of metal to penetrate the helmet and stab it in its head. Then she grabbed the body and shoved the other one, using the dying carcass as a meat shield to withstand the volley of gunfire that came from the front.

Sidestepping to the right, Sona hid behind a tree and started climbing as she flung the corpse at the rest as a distraction to get their gunfire in that direction. Obviously, she was under a lot of distress and the pain was irksome to the point where it made her wince and almost lose her footing on the large tree stem. She had to move to buy a bit more time if possible so she leapt for another tree as she was caught in the direction of the firing squad.

The smoke and flames were spreading. More and more smoke rose up as the groaning of burning wood and the nasty smell permeated her ears and nose. It was suffocating her, she was forced to breathe the filthy air to gain a resistance and adapt to it so she could gain further any advantage she could hope for.

However, the tree she was about to latch on was ripped from the ground and she had the opportunity to experience getting smacked head on with a whole pine crushing her front with an alarming speed. Something burst through the smoke and a shrill scream filled the air at that moment. It wasn't there for even a second and it vanished into thin air.

The result was a deep gash spreading across Sitri's face that cut her eyes and nose to the point where they would have fallen off. Using that chance from the trees emerged another one that shot her in the legs and tried to shatter her knees with a series of kicks.

Each kick was precise and accurate in hitting her bones and she didn't have time to scream or regain her bearings when the tallest Devil brought down his riffle on top of her head and tripped her. Just to ensure she wouldn't move further he stabbed her thighs with two tactical knifes that slid through the meat with ease and lodged together with a cutesy spell that binded metal together into a makeshift lock.

Repeated gunfire was poured onto her frame without any intention of sparing her life.

The Sitri girl felt like a true Demon from Hell, like those who were trapped behind the Veil. They felt nothing but respect so they would do their hardest to offer a worthy duel as to honour the old ways. Any less would have been a disgrace and she was an adversary worth fighting with everything they had.

"Come peacefully and nothing bad would happen to you. We only want your sister so you're the key to getting her.", A female Devil murmured as she smacked Sona at the back of her neck and tried to push her down further to end any possible resistance.

"She's already planning her next move. Her associate is on the move so be ready. In fact", one of the shorter ones looked around and then he raised his voice enough to be heard. "We don't want her dead but we need her to ensure Serafall Sitri would respond. I'll assume she sent you here so tell her she can have this one if only she would show her face. I can smell the fear in you, you're running out of time so make a decision.", he merely touched the girl's cheek with a knife as to show he was serious even when he wouldn't have cut her for he already saw how despicable her blood was.

"One life for another. The young one or the old snake? Who shall it be?"

"Fuck it... I'm in no condition to fight at all... No matter what i got they'd trump it... It's do or die.", Issei thought after hearing that proposal. There was no guarantee that they would keep their word, he didn't trust their kind for he wasn't insane nor any Satanist to do so. Sona was in a grey area but he always chose not to piss her off more than necessary and yet, he somehow felt that she could have been different but he surely didn't hold his hopes high.

Before he stepped up and tried to reveal himself from his location behind the trees he felt another presence that alarmed him. He wasn't sure what it was but it felt somehow familiar so he halted before he would have shown up. Plus he wanted to wait a bit just to mess with the girl because she was ungrateful and nasty despite what he did and sacrificed for her. They had to settle things properly but in peace and then fight to the death.

"Last chance. Sona or Serafall? Choose and we'd let you go. We were warned about you beforehand, Gremory Pawn.", the tall Devil murmured again as he eyed the area and was searching for the exact location the Red Dragon was hiding. He would find him in no time so he merely wanted to ensure exactly where to strike. He did turn a bit and greeted someone with a friendly tone.

"Seriously, don't let them stab you in the face. That gear isn't exactly cheap or anything. Though it makes me laugh every time you pull that shit."

The female Devil that Sona seemingly killed casually walked up to her group and her helmet was still messed up. Inside there was nothing, it was pretty much empty to the point where the materials and padding could be easily seen through the holes left by the acidic blood of the girl.

"She's tough, for sure. Girl's changed and i think she's already removed the alterations the fuckers put on her. She's one of us now, Sitri would be proud of his daughter without a doubt.", she wasn't disturbed, she waved back with a lax greeting and kicked Sona on the back to make sure she didn't try to move up.

"No response? Alright, let's get moving and don't hurt the boy too much. You know the lady's orders, she doesn't like killing Reincarnated Devils when she wants to save them.", added another one of their group.

"Okay. I give up...", Issei yelled out with whatever strength he had in his voice behind the trees. He didn't have much of a choice since most of the traps were likely disabled. Not to mention it was Katerea he had seen and talked with to the point where he felt there could be understanding between them. Still that did not make him trust her even when she had seemingly good intentions so he had to play out one last trick or two and then call it quits for real.

Sona was shocked and saddened, she felt betrayed a little by this act of despair. She never thought he would have given up so easily in all the time she had grown to know him and become closer despite their odd nature. Without a doubt she sighed and her head slumped down in resignation.

"Just one chance... I can do it and I'm gonna live! Don't you dare give up, you motherfucker...oh, i see..."

The female waved her pinkie and uttered, "Come peacefully and we'd ride it out together. We have a common enemy so we don't have to fight. We'll release you from the shackles you were forced upon by Gremory. How does that sound to you?"

Issei said nothing as he prepared his gun. Such a tempting offer it was to cut loose and take out those wretched Evil Pieces out of his heart. In the back of his head he felt that it was way too good to be true, he trusted his companions to be able to find a solution and he didn't want to betray them. Everyone else was fine but these people...he would not sacrifice whatever was left of his dignity and pride just to take off that chain so fast. He had a promise to keep to Barakiel, he was going to be the villain of Akeno's story as to save her and maybe save himself in some way.

It was decided. It was too good to be true.

The earth beneath the Devils shattered spontaneously after a brief pause occurred - jagged spikes of earth erupted from beneath their feet and elongated, forcing them to jump back to avoid the impalement upon the constructs. Sona was slung backwards to safety before any of the sharp tips would have perforated her torso and head, courtesy of a trap spell embedded into the tiny rocks scattered there.

But it wasn't his doing at all...

From above a dark clad figure shot down like an arrow with a tattered robe fluttering from the winds that spread the smoke and flames around them. It was tall and packed with muscles, obsidian colored gauntlets with claws swept at the Devils while a rebar rod was spun around like a staff to ward them off. It was a man without a doubt.

Sona reacted by the minute by flexing her arm and ran her fangs over her elbow to make a deep cut into her flesh. From within that wound she pulled out one of the throwing knives she had hidden within her body as a last resort to activate a trap. Her eyes were regenerated completely at this point. There was no time to waste.

Instinctively she thrust her knife into the chink between the leg armor of her kidnapper in order to unleash a despicable spell that enabled her escape. The wound festered and lit up with a reddish glow as threads began to enter the fabric and formed a net to entangle her tormentor, tightening inside their muscle fibers and splitting them upon contact. As a secondary feature they wove together a miniature pentacle that she slapped to get a second wind. Namely it threw her off into the opposite direction without any concern for her safety as she was hurled away from them.

The first tree she crashed into was shorn off the ground and she latched onto it to break her fall; her increased speed enabled her to flip over and dig into the soil till she was back on her feet and threw the severed tree as a projectile! Flying like a javelin it nearly broke the formation as they began combat with the shrouded man. Just enough to make a clean cleave and separate them before she turned around and leapt in the air to climb over another tree.

Someone came to aid them. She had her suspicions it was their secret benefactor but she ignored such thoughts and screamed loudly as she climbed further towards the top.

"Issei! Now! Hurry!"

Issei came out of the smoke with his firearm loaded and took the shot! Instead of bullets what came out were several unstable Dragon Shots that honed onto the tree. They spiraled and twisted over the trunk as they sizzled with the last embers of mana, boosted five times to expand and grow to the size of a wrecking ball. The hail of Dragon Shots razed the area completely, tearing apart everything in their path of collision to the point where the nearby area was reduced to smouldering cinders and ash.

Due to their clash with each other they imitated the chaotic brown movement of atoms and expelled a lot of heat and kinetic energy that splintered rock and wood alike, producing a wide trail that spanned a hundred meters in width and lit up the area.

It was their bid to slow them down. Issei saw the hooded one jumping into the air to avoid the clash and remembered Asia's words about such an individual driving away Diodora Astaroth during the Rating Game. He felt like this was someone familiar, he was certain it was the one who had messaged them and guided them so far. He wanted to believe it was X so he had to trust in his judgement.

Sona moved onto another tree and lifted him up by the arm as if he was a paper bag, nearly knocking out the wind out of him by her sheer grip and hugged him into her embrace. Together they were unstoppable, they were a team and would always be despite their fallout. She would make this right and apologize. She would atone for her mistakes and repay that kindness with kindness.

[~Audiomachine - Redshift~]

The Red Dragon resorted to using the limited amount of Boost he had per use since the prison that was the Boosted Gear was broken. The gauntlet materialized upon his arm and he held on tight when the raven haired beauty bounced off and started running. Because of the entity being released from it the Boosted Gear offered him up to ten multiplications at best due to Ddraig's imprisonment being an after effect that created the Boost function. Without it being present whatever was left was limited and would run out one day if he managed to stay alive till then.

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

He forcefully transferred and boosted the Devilish Dragon enough to enhance her legs by focusing solely on them to make her faster than ever till one day she would gain every aspect of his and make it her own. It was then that she darted like a bolt of lightning and transversed the distance of over 700 meters in a split second, avoiding trees and shrubs like her life depended on it.

Of course... She broke several pines in the wake of her sprint to terraform the terrain by accident but it didn't matter. She was running as if the end of the world was happening! Nimble and speedy, single-minded and focused to the peak of her adapted form's growing capacity she became blurry to the naked eye and kept up the pace.

"Run! Run! Run! Don't stop, don't look back!", he told her frantically. He fell nearly asleep from the strain. However, she made sure he would be alert for a bit longer.

With her peripheral vision did she notice the opposition right behind her. Catching up rather fast and splitting the pack the Devils took different routes to intercept their path by all means necessary. The leader was running parallel next to the heiress with his riffle locked onto her frame, the female was right behind her back and trying to tear her head while on the right there were the others who broke trees to make her trip.

Skipping over the fallen log did the Sitri daughter make a steep turn to the left and throw a punch at her assailant to knock her off. Alas, that did not work so instead Issei stretched his hand and pressed the gun trigger to deliver a small gift straight into the black helmet with a few bullets that should have killed her four times over now.

The female twisted her neck backwards to escape the bullets, further shattering her broken helmet to expose her face completely.

There was no one inside the suit... Only water spilled out of the cracked visor till it upturned to prevent further spillage from happening. Her reaction was to pull out her combat knife and rewind herself back, slashing at the Pawn to strip him of his firearm. Issei deflected it by clenching his arm a few degrees up to act as a guard, blocking the knife with the gun slider and swatting it away with a single push.

The tall Devil was about to riddle them with bullets until the hooded figure dashed in front of him out of nowhere and used his rebar rod to shirk away the riffle to the side, redirecting it's trajectory by a hair's length. At this speed X whiplashed it's dominant arm to strike down at the leader with the metal bar through a low strike aimed at his legs. The Devil halted his advance to step on the makeshift weapon and kick the defender with both of his knees after he executed a backflip, stunning the robed giant.

X did not give up. It rose back on it's feet to perform a titanic throw of it's own, sending the rod on the path of the female Devil with tremendous speed. Two pentacles lit up on the cold metal as it was about to pierce her back.

Whatever barriers or enchantments there were on her suit were torn asunder when the rod lodged into her spine to the point of poking out of her chest where a tiny rhombus stone shattered and was scattered in the momentum. Water spilled out of the hole like a tidal wave, exiting the combat gear akin to a broken vase. This act proved a possibility.

Issei saw that.

One thing came to mind if it was based on the end result. He had witnessed some of his clients using such a technique to create physical projections as a Channeling tool for their mind to appear in a different place. It was similar to an Astral Projection yet far closer to a remote control unit where the user would safely navigate a vessel from a different location. These things weren't Devils at all, they were simply tap water contained into combat suits to act as a medium for the real accommodators to remotely move these puppets. There were likely Katerea's constructs to act in place of her troops because of the relative safety and ease to coordinate such rudimentary constructs.

The other suits were on the pursuit, ignoring their leader in order to go after the fleeing duo. Bullets were shot at them, rubble and trees were thrown in the wake of their path but they barely managed to outrun those projectiles. Except the bullets, the damned bullets. A few pierced Sona in the thigh and the chest and struck Issei but she had no choice but to rush further with her torn ligaments healing a second before another hail of bullets came after her. The pain drove her further and she was hoping he hadn't passed out yet because she sure as hell didn't know if there were more traps ahead.

One of the Devils extended his arm and an array of chains shot out like a snake slithering towards it's prey. Each link was glued to the nearest tree trunks and sent ripples of energy into each one around to make them shatter and spray wooden chips and branches everywhere. The rest each took a shard and dropped it on the ground as they passed by and continued the assault.

The shards enlarged and came out of the ground in the shape of a wall of pinewood, blocking the path of the robed giant behind them as their leader was catching up to speed. Similar walls erupted at other spots; some of those even showed up before the runaways seconds before they would have fallen off the road because Sona tripped and nearly dropped Issei. It was dumb luck but that act actually saved her as she lunged at the wall and ran her entire arm through it to smash her way out but it sufficiently slowed her down for chains to wrap up her ankles and left arm.

"...not... can't hold out...any longer!", Issei was barely audible despite trying to scream. He had only one throwing knife left that he had tried to save up but that wasn't going to happen. With a swipe on her neck he made her bleed upon the chains to let the drops of blood corrode them and they evaporated before they hit the ground. The wound closed in flash and she yanked on the chain so hard that it literally sent the black suit flying overhead.

Despite that she was already in a predicament because the rest had reached her and were making more walls appear to box them in alive like a rabid animal.

"Fuck this shit.", the Sitri heiress took the gun out of his hands and shot out the last preloaded spell there was at them. She let out a yelp of pain and agitation. But all she did was yank further on the chain and swing it around to produce a centrifugal force above her head, throwing the chain backwards but keeping a few links in her hand just in case for something she needed. She was scared but wrathful, her eyes shone with the flames of war and a disgusting grin of pearly white fangs demanding blood.

Instead of hitting any of them the links activated a trap to make the ground open a pitfall with earth spikes in it, wide enough to get all the black suits in one shot. Hopefully that would hit whatever was channeling their projections and disengage the constructs.

"Come on, Ise. One last shot! Hit me!"

"...i really hate you for this...", he whizzed and patted her chest with his palm to facilitate another transfer.

[BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!]

The influx strengthened her legs and muscles enough to withstand her newfound speed at triple the previous amount. Passing through the hole in the blink of an eye she was already putting good distance between herself and the pursuers, dodging trees and jumping over rocks and fallen wood. The destination was the center of the forest where there were no trees, a wide circular patch of land where a hidden door remained intact. It was an escape exit or rather an underground lair where they used to train in the woods together some months ago. It had a warp gate of sorts there so the escape route was there for the taking.

Alas, she saw the enemies in the corner of her eye rushing straight for her. The tall Devil was already catching up and tried to brush off X with everything he had. He discarded the gun and switched to melee attacks with his fists, causing a seismic shock to ride up the ground and flipped over it, using a kinetic spell to propel himself like a dart and threw out his hands before his head. Black miasma poured out of his wrists and elongated into titanic four fingered claws that came from both sides and nearly decapitated Sona if she hadn't lowered herself and tumbled. Each fist clenched tightly to ensnare her but the rebar rod struck his back and dispelled the shadowy hands.

X retracted the rod and with a fast upward strike cracked the right arm of the Devil, battering it till two blades popped out of the staff and retched open the whole section. Water was leaking out of the open sleeve but then it froze solid into an ice gauntlet and grabbed the staff as he was pushed back a few steps and nearly fell. A knife flew at the Devil just in time when he was about to skewer the giant. The blade clanged and stabbed him in the back of the neck to make a cut into the suit, supercharged with energy to act as a conduit. Funnily enough, the handle was aluminium so it made a pretty great bomb...

"Die, you fuck."

Those were the first words X had ever said till now in person. It broke the staff and impaled the Devil right in the chest but did not hit the rhombus stone, only grazing it. But that was no problem at all - the knife was already boiling the watery contents of the suit and then it produced a white glow as it superheated.

X stabbed the other half of the rod into his helmet and kicked him away as he leapt to safety a few moments before the aluminium handle blew up like a bomb, pelting the suit with shrapnel and tore the projection asunder in every direction. Bright light followed and the sound of an explosion deafened the ears after the light died out.

The tall creature didn't waste this chance as it circled around and barred the path that led to the Red Dragon. Without a weapon it resorted to physical bouts of strength, tearing off the gloves and then slightly adjusted the mask to hide the cut. It was riddled with cracks running down the visage in a patchworu formation. Some parts weren't even connected to each other as they floated freely within the cracked surface of pitch black. It was like a puzzle of cracks, a three dimensional shadow of sorts. The eyes were purely black with a magenta ring surrounding them where the pupils should have been.

One of the remaining black suits chuckled at this display of bravado as it stared at it. The rest came up from various angles and were spotted amongst the crowns of the trees. "It doesn't matter. We have already won and there's no escaping the trap. Just see for yourself."

Just as Sona was about to reach the hatch to the lair she miscalculated . A figure appeared before her and smacked her in the jaw and then felt her joints creak under the duress of heavy kicks swiping her off her feet. Issei fell off and slumped over the ground as the figure casually walked up to them and brought her leg down on Sona's back. It was heavy, it bore the weight of a several tons maybe and it sure hit her in the right spot.

The creature knelt down and beheld her as it removed the helmet and flowing hair fell out of it. Katerea Leviathan pinched her cheek and smiled in a pleasant manner, bearing no hint of malice or indignation. "That was pretty good, i have to say it. But it was a bit predictable if you know what i mean. We had some fun already so let's just wait for your sister and please don't cause me trouble.", she fixed her glasses onto her beautiful face and tilted her neck a bit , her beautiful long hair flowing down to cascade on her face.

"No more tricks. Come quietly and I guarantee your safety. This is game over, Sona. You did well but you're not ready yet so maybe next time? Or... your friend over there won't make it if you keep fighting.", she bore down on her as her pupils turned thin like those of a lizard. She dropped the pleasantries and her tone gained a menacing twinge to it's otherwise melodious pitch.

"It's over, don't make me do something i will regret. So don't make me kill you right here and now."

XXX