The bushes behind him ruffled.
He turned to face the sudden movement and just as he did, he had clearly made the wrong movement. He felt the dullness of the air shift above his head and the hair on his arm pricked up as if some sixth sense had taken over him. And behind him there was nothing.
There was a crunch behind him, and on instinct, he turned around and met the petite white haired girl's fist in his hand, causing a gust of wind to explode around him and sending him back a good foot. Behind him a yell resounded, and just as he turned, he only barely dodged a sword slash diagonal to his body that ripped his black cardigan and the shirt under it. To say he was annoyed that the amazing fabric was ripped was an understatement.
He side stepped out of the way with far more force than he had expected of himself. The air moved around him, and the bushes he was near ruffled again as he was propelled away from the duo that attacked him on the ground. Once his distance was enough for them both to stare at him, he began to take his ripped shirt and cardigan off, leaving his torso bare and exposed.
"Oh my… when did Issei become so hot?" Akeno hummed above them as she rested a hand on her face with a blush.
However, her thoughts didn't need an answer and just as she finished she raised her hand and lightning rained down from the skies above. He leaped and the bolt missed him by only a few inches, and just as he landed on his feet, his magic began to surround him.
Koneko was the brawler of their group, she relied on her strength to deal large amounts of damage, but her range was limited, and she wasn't very fast at all. Kiba, who was beside Koneko, relied on his agility and speed to out move his enemy, and if it wasn't for Issei's fast reflexes, he would have definitely drawn more than just a few drops of blood from his sword slash. And Akeno was the cherry on top, at first glance she seemed extremely modest and polite, but upon his more careful examination, he determined she was a sadist, through and through.
She kept high in the sky to not limit her view, and aid her in attacking him consecutively with her lightning magic. He noticed though, she relied mostly on lightning magic and nothing else. Priestess of Thunder was a fitting title for her. He looked between the three of them and questions began to form in his head.
Where was Rias? And where was Irina?
He was more interested in knowing where Irina was, but he had the feeling she wasn't here in the battle with him. He looked once more between the three of them as they had given him a brief moment of relaxation, he thought about each of their ways of attack. Kiba handled speed and decisiveness, Koneko handled the heavy work, and Akeno provided offense from the skies. If he broke line of sight from Akeno by rushing into the surrounding trees and bushes, Kiba and Koneko would surely follow, but since he would be at a disadvantage facing Issei alone, that meant he would try to herd Issei back into Koneko to even the playing field.
In his head, that was a smart move to make. But he wondered if they would actually fall for it. A smile graced his face. He was going to meet the three of them head on with his own magic power, but this was going to be far better of a test than seeing what they could simply do.
He turned to his right and lunged through the tree line, and almost instantly, he could feel that Kiba was following directly behind him, making no attempt to kite him like a sheep back into Koneko. He knew the small girl was far behind them a considerable distance by this point, which gave Issei plenty of chances to simply turn around and attack Kiba out of the game, but that wasn't something he wanted to do just yet.
Issei planted his left foot into the dirt and did an about face, using the same leg to propel himself forward with a fist ready for attack. Kiba leaped out from the canopy that the trees formed with his blade ready to attack, and his eyes went large for a second as Issei's scale covered fist collided with his blade and snapped it in half as if it was nothing but a twig. The force sent Kiba scooting backwards.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to break your sword." Issei said, looking at the broken piece of steel.
But, before Issei even knew, another sword formed in Kiba's hand, different than the one he broke, and when he looked at the blade, he felt a strange feeling wash over him. It was almost like the blade instilled an impending sense of fear in him. He couldn't understand why though.
"You underestimate me." Kiba yelled and rushed Issei once more. As much as Issei wanted to test his abilities even more, he couldn't fight Kiba with his own sword, he hadn't learned how to use it effectively, and he didn't want to swing it around like an idiot in the middle of combat… practice or not.
Kiba inched closer with each passing second, and just as he was close enough to attack, the blad slashed down, and it was like time slowed momentarily. Issei side stepped and delivered a second blow straight into Kiba's stomach that sent hum flying backwards. Though… perhaps his singular punch was far more damaging then even he realized it had been.
Kiba slammed into a tree and snapped it in half, throwing splinters out around him and forcing the blind haired boy to cough blood. His sword vanished as he hit the ground. And soon, his body began to fade away in a flurry of blue lights.
"One of Rias Gremory's knights has been retired."
So that was all it took for him to defeat a devil? A punch to the stomach he barely put any effort into? He hadn't even learned all of Kiba's abilities, he just knew he was really damn fast and could create swords.
The air around him chilled drastically. And just as he began to wonder why, above him was the familiar chuckle of Akeno. He met her smile with his own. The Queen Piece.
In chess, he remembered the queen had the abilities of all the other pieces combined. That made her extremely valuable to Rias. He was sure copying the moves of the other player is a sure way to lose, but in this game it was different, so far she had used only lightning against him, and in return, he did the same.
"This is getting fun! I've got news for you. You're not the only one here who likes to play rough. So, let's you and I have some fun." Akeno said, her expression changing into something serious. Once he saw the expression shift he wondered if he managed to make her reassess her situation. She threw her right hand up, and an ice blue magic circle formed in the air above him.
It didn't take long for him to put the puzzle pieces together at all, and soon he saw the sharp sickles of ice shoot down from the sky, just as both Rias and Koneko jumped through the tree line and watched the battle.
This whole situation was becoming a joke to Issei. How was he supposed to go all out when he could barely even uses some of his abilities? He didn't even need the book for a few of his spells. He held his left hand up to mirror Akeno, and fire began to form at his hands before shooting upwards towards the ice and magic circle, spiraling like a tornado.
Fire dropped to his feet, and the trees began to burn away from the heat that he couldn't seem to feel at all. The orange flames began to have slight color changing properties, where sometimes streaks of crimson red filled the orange firey gulfs. Trees fell over, steam erupted upwards as the sickles Akeno formed were almost immediately disintegrated, and her magic circle shattered as the torrent of fire exploded further upward and surrounded Issei in his own flames.
When the torrent subsided, he dropped his hand, which stayed covered in flames. He immediately held his right hand up towards Akeno and decided he had learned enough from her, which actually wasn't enough at all.
The flames died as lightning began to zip around him at extreme speed, and soon after wind began to spiral around him and carry with it leaves and small twigs.
"Lightning storm." He breathed out quietly. The wind combined with the electricity and shot towards Akeno like a tornado. Indeed, Akeno was fast. Easily as fast as Kiba, but she wasn't fast enough. She was sent spiraling to the ground from above and landed in front of Rias and Koneko as a burnt mess with ripped clothes. But she wasn't retired.
The thing that made Issei uncomfortable was how much pain the girl seemed to be in. And for a sadist, it didn't look like she was enjoying it at all. Though, that made sense. Regardless, he didn't care to attack the girl more, it pulled his heart strings, yes, but if he needed to throw another attack to finish her, be would. He could simply ask her to forfeit, and if their pride was anything similar to his own, asking them to surrender would be futile anyways.
Thankfully, the girl closed her eyes after a word with Rias and Koneko and she faded away in a flurry of blue.
"Rias Gremory's Queen: retired."
The two remaining individuals looked at him and steeled their resolve.
"We surrender." Rias said, closing her eyes and accepting her first defeat, despite it not being a real battle. "Please work with us to become stronger."
Issei didn't know how to react. That wasn't exactly what he was expecting to happen, and besides, wasn't this supposed to be something along the lines of learning about each other to work better in the real fight? He didn't know anything about training people.
"I can't help you get stronger. You have to do that yourself. I don't know how to train anyone, but I will gladly fight along side you." Issei said. The fight had been very… pathetic. He hadn't expected it to be so easy actually, and he couldn't even say they put up a good fight past the beginning. In fact, he was unsure if it was because he was vastly stronger than them, or they were just weak. He would just let Rias handle the training and he would follow along with them.
It was honestly pathetic. And he internally scoffed at it all. He was annoyed because they didn't put up any worthy fight for him at all, it was almost like this whole game was just a joke.
Soon, his body also began to fade away, and only moments later, they were standing in front of Grayfia back in the old school house. Akeno and Kiba rested on a couch, their clothes were fine and each of them looked completely fine. Issei looked down at his own clothes and discovered that his clothes were completely fine, undamaged in the slightest even.
"You were amazing, Issei!" Irina yelled out and hugged onto him tightly. He returned her embrace, still trying to figure out where she had been, but assumed she was watching the whole battle with Grayfia.
He didn't reply to her, instead he looked forward as he hugged her and his eyes met deep unemotional red ones. His eyes slowly reflected her own blankness, the terror that dwelled within each of them made their way to the surface. However, Grayfia seemed to have developed a very slight change to her heart rate that Issei noticed because of her rapidly rising and falling chest.
She had developed a small shortness of breath and it looked like her chest was pounding hard enough to rock her body. He wondered what she saw in his eyes.
Issei was already done with today. It hadn't even been close to four hours and he was ready to just leave and return to Yasaka. He was utterly bored, and that fight hadn't made him want to continue training. And he wondered for a second if the others would even be able to train at all, regardless of their appearance.
Surely, it had some form of mental toll on them?
"The fight was only fifteen minutes long." Rias began, "You are truly impressive Issei, I suppose I should have expected that from a dragon though."
Issei didn't know how to respond properly. He could play things smooth, and brush it off like they had him on his toes, but even they knew that wasn't the case at all.
"Well thank you, but it wasn't anything too impressive." He began, scratching the back of his head.
"The thing you did with fire was incredible Issei! You destroyed a magic circle with it! And you combined lightning and wind magic, that is extremely impressive!" Irina exclaimed, her excitement reaching extreme levels.
"She is right, your abilities with magic is something incredible Issei. I'm sure we could all learn a lot of things from you." Rias said to him, smiling brightly.
"I promise you, I wouldn't be able to teach you anything. And I'm really not that impressive. So… what's next on the schedule?" he asked, trying to get the topic off him and onto them. He needed more information. Rias had some form of power he wanted to see in action desperately. He remembered the sensation it gave him that night when Rias used it to kill his captor.
"Well, we could do some strength training? And cardio perhaps? Then you could teach us some magic! I think you could if you tried hard enough." Rias explained.
Bless this crimson haired girls heart… she really didn't understand. He couldn't teach her anything. He laughed nervously.
"Sure… sounds alright to me. Let's get started." Issei said, and everyone stood from the places, ready to go. Even after a crushing defeat and after the damages they sustained, they were still ready to go.
He found that admirable.
Chapter 22: The Cursed Hands of God
It had been nearly an hour since they began training, if you could even call it that. For a straight thirty minutes, Issei had straight jogged at the same exact moderate pace, using the schools oval running field as their play ground. For thirty minutes, he had lapped Rias close to five times. And he had ran easily close to eighteen complete laps from where he started, or 7.25 kilometers. Or 4.5 miles.
He amazed even himself with that run. He had also managed to beat everyone else, as Irina once more sat on the side line. The funny thing was that he hadn't felt too terribly exhausted at the physical exercise at all, in fact he didn't even break much of a sweat in the slightly chilly weather either. The track was wet from freshly poured rain, and there was a fair amount of wind to provide him with a chilling breeze. Overall, it was just perfect running conditions for him.
But regardless, he hadn't expected to have done so good at running. He was never the type to be into the physically demanding things, and it made him wonder exactly how much he has changed since he left.
Next was magic training, Rias had decided to break their training into days to work both cardio, strength and magic. They would work magic every day, but would work strength and cardio on three times a week, alternating each day. Today was cardio and magic, and tomorrow would be strength and magic.
He hadn't been informed of any of the exercises they would be performing at all, but he was excited to test his own strength compared to them, regardless.
So, that eventually led to just Irina and him, sitting under a tree that hadn't gotten very wet in the shade and watching the others as they practiced their magic. Well… Koneko didn't practice any magic at all, she just punched things. Really damn hard.
And Irina sat in Issei's lap. That was a new change that he didn't understand, but just accepted it to save himself some trouble.
"Irina… I know I can be honest with you and tell you anything. But, can I take a moment to talk about this fight with that Phoenix?" Issei asked her. It wasn't because he was worried, he just wanted to get her view to steel his own resolve. He would probably talk it out with Yasaka later as well.
"Of course, what do you want to tall about, Issei?" Irina asked him sincerely, adjusting herself in his lap to give him her undivided attention. Her eyes stared into his and he could have gotten lost in them if it wasn't for the conversation he wanted to have.
"I don't regret my decision, I don't. I would do it again in a heartbeat if it was you or Yasaka, but I've been thinking… thinking about how to defeat him." Issei explained to the girl who listened with interest.
"And… what are some ideas you have?" Irina asked, clearly interested in what ideas he had come up with up.
"I know things, Irina. Things I probably shouldn't. Secrets. The book Irina, it has knowledge beyond anything I can explain." He said to her, cryptically, causing her to be even more engaged in the conversation.
"Tell me already, I don't like being teased." Irina said… unfortunately for her, Issei was taking a mental note of that for his own pleasure.
"Well… they say a Phoenix rises from it's own ashes, right? But if a Phoenix is immortal, how does it turn to ashes? It has to have some form of weakness… right? Let's keep this between us for the meantime, it can be our dirty little secret, but what if I told you I think I know their weakness? How to defeat them, stuff like that?" Issei said to her, feeling like he was whispering the answers to a classmate during a test.
"Well… if you were to tell me that, hypothetically, I would be obliged to ask what those weaknesses you discovered are." Irina replied back, slowly adopting his own attitude and leaning in closer to him.
He wrapped his arms around her and the book formed in his hand. The pages flipped and the blank pages began to color themselves with words that looked liked gateways to another galaxy. She read each detail about the Phoenix as she melted into his embrace. She read things she had read before, things she hadn't, and eventually… their weaknesses.
"How?" She asked, lost for words.
"I can't answer that question either… but isn't it amazing? I've been thinking of ways to defeat them, and I think I'm more than capable of doing that now." Issei started to explain, but he stopped before he told her his plan. He contemplated for a moment. "Hpw do I explain this? Let's see… what does a phoenix control and create?"
"Fire?" Irina replied like it was the easiest answer ever.
"Precisely! And I'm impervious to fire thanks to Ddraig. And Grayfia said if someone is rendered useless, they are forfeited from the game. He may be an immortal phoenix… but what if I was able to render him unconscious somehow?" Issei explained his idea, causing the book to fade away, so now he was simply holding onto her. "I mean… you saw what I did to Kiba, right?"
"I… don't know. You're amazing Issei, and I have no doubt you can do it! But… I don't want you to get hurt, regardless." Irina admitted. She didn't want to see him injured, but she wanted to support him in every possible way. She knew he was going to win, especially if what his book said was true. He would win even if it wasn't true… but still, she couldn't help but be worried for her beloved.
With that, he kept the rest of his thoughts about the fight to himself as more ideas flowed into him. That was alright with him, he didn't feel the urge to bother her with the information any longer. And he still had Yasaka to talk to.
"Hey Issei! Show us some of your magic, or at least just one spell?" Rias yelled to him, trying to urge him to show her his magic once more. Thankfully, Irina stood off his lap and helped him up. He moved over to the four of them with Irina sticking close to his side.
"I suppose I could try something new." He said, moving in front of the group. He needed a something that wasn't going to be stupid gigantic, seething that wouldn't attract touch attention. He thought of something that he hadn't done before. He had used water before, but he wanted it to turn to ice, and he knew that in order to turn something to ice, he needed to make it cold, which meant he needed to cause the molecules in the water to slow and draw closer together. That was simple right? Maybe not.
He placed his hands on the ground, and the ground that was still wet from the recently fallen rain began to ice over. It expanded out more and more until eventually the ocean formed a blanket over the grass and dirt that looked like bunches of mirrors. The grass carved designs into the ice that formed and the temperature of the air around him dropped to the point steam started to slightly rise from his warm body.
He stood from his spot, and just as he did, the thin blanket of ice began to melt back down. He was fathered impressed with himself at how easy that had been. There wasn't anything complex to it at all, he just imagined the water at his fingertips freezing and bellowing outward.
And then… another thought formed in his head about his battle with riser. A thought crossed his mind, but two words that had meaning to them. Absolute Zero. It was a spell from the book, he new that from the start. But what did it do? He figured he would look later.
"Wow… that was nice little table trick. Well, I think we are all done today, there isn't anything much we can do. I need to go and read about more ways and methods to train." Rias said to him. "Come with us back to the club room, and I can send you back, alright?"
He nodded and Irina grabbed his arm as they began to walk back to the old school building, however on their journey back, Issei and Irina had left the group and began to walk their own direction. The walked to the front of the school, leaving the other four to enter the building themselves as they moved to the sidewalk.
It was only five in the afternoon, and the day had been relatively boring and drawn out. They moved in silence, until Irina tried breaking the ice.
"Are we going back to the park?" she asked him quickly.
"I don't know, I just want to walk through Kuoh. It is kind of relaxing. And don't worry, I can get us home with my own magic, so we can stay out for longer if you want." He explained himself.
She didn't know how to reply, but she was ecstatic to know she was going to be alone with Issei for longer. She clung to him as they walked in the dying light of the day. She watched the passing cars and houses as the moved, getting lost in her own peaceful thoughts.
That is, until a child fell in front of her and started crying. She was going to move to help the boy, but was beat by someone else. More specifically, a girl with long blond hair that reached down her back. She had split bangs over her forehead and a single strand of hair that stuck up, giving her an "antenna."
She was dressed in a dark teal nun's outfit with light blue accents and a white veil over head. She wore a brown satchel that was slung at her right hip and she had brown shoes with black laces. She kneeled over to the child who scraped his knee and looked at the injury.
"Are you okay? Boys shouldn't cry over a minor injury like this." The sister pat the boys head tenderly. The boy, however, looked at the girl completely perplexed. In other words… the boy didn't understand a word she was saying. However, she smiled at the boys confusion and placed her hands above where the boy had injured himself.
And in the very next second, just as the mother comes through and watches, an orb of green light surrounded the boys injury. It wasn't quite like anything he had felt before, and that amazed him. In a matter of seconds, the boys injury was completely gone and his skin was repaired to normal without a single mark or sign there was any damage there at all.
The only thought that came to his mind was Ddraig. But as he noticed the ring on the girls finger, he assumed the magic came from the ring. It was an amazing power, and now he wondered if he could replicate it himself. But he hadn't read anywhere about healing magic in the book earlier.
But he knew one thing for sure… when he looked at the green light, it made his inside shake slightly, and he felt a tugging in his chest, almost as if he was trying to be pulled towards the magic. Maybe she was the same as himself?
"Here, your wounds are all healed, the pain should be gone now." Sung her angelic and soft voice as she pat the boys head once more. The boys mother quickly grabbed her son's hand and rushed off, definitely horrified and amazed at the display. And only a moment later, the boy turned as he was guided by his mother.
"Thank you, sister!" the boy offered his words of gratitude to the girl who didn't seen to understand.
"He said, thank you sister." Issei translated for the girl, not having any knowledge that his own words would be translated, but he assumed since he understood her without any problems, the same would happen vice versa.
She then smiled brightly and waved at the boy. She turned at looked at Issei and Irina with the same bright smile. He offered a hand to her that she gladly accepted, and as soon as she stood, a gust of wind blew the veil off her head and carried it away.
Issei acted fast though, and with the gesture of a hand, the veil came flying back into hand, which he handed back to the girl gently. She seemed shocked and lost for answers, but she took the veil from him quickly.
"Your power. It's truly amazing, I've not seen anything quite like it." Issei said to the girl, who continued to stare at him.
"Yes, it's the power to heal. A wonderful gift that God has given me." She said that, but even though she smiled through it brightly, Issei saw the sadness behind her beautiful green eyes, it was a familiar sadness, he understood her.
"Are you a tourist here?" Issei asked her, realizing that it was strange to see a nun in town, in fact it was his first time ever seeing one.
"Ah, actually, I was appointed to the church in this town… you must be a resident of this town, both of you. It's a pleasure to meet you both." She said a bowed her head. Issei returned the gesture.
"Actually, we aren't residents here. My friend here is from England. And me… I came from Kyoto." Issei explained. It wasn't entirely a lie, and it wasn't entirely true either. "But if you're looking for the church… I used to live here, so I'm sure I can help you find it."
The happiness of the girl seemed to skyrocket as he said this. But he couldn't get the feeling over him that something seemed wrong about the situation. If he remembered correctly, the church hadn't been used in years, it was abandoned and it watched over the city from the outskirts of the city. So why had she been appointed there? Who appointed her there? He wanted to tell her, but the happiness she held was enough for him not to want to crush it.
"I'm so happy to have met you. I've been getting in trouble since I've landed here. Umm… I can't speak Japanese that well… I was lost and other people couldn't understand what I was saying…" she said clasping her hands together and looking down at the ground.
"Follow us, we will take you to the church." Issei said, beginning to walk. The girl didn't say much of anything else to the two of them. They passed the park where Irina and Issei had slept at and eventually reaches the outskirts of Kuoh.
The silence that had fell over the three of them was broken by Irina who began to stare at the church in the near but distant view.
"Issei… I think that church has been overrun by Fallen Angels." The girl said to him. The nun didn't seem to acknowledge the conversation that had developed between them. Or maybe she didn't understand.
But, Irina's words would explain the feeling he received from the building. It was, in fact abandoned, but there was a faint light that shined from the inside, and the longer he looked at it the more chills he received. There was something horribly awry with the place in question, and it wasn't good by any means. Issei didn't speak though, maybe there was a reason the nun was here that didn't concern him.
He definitely felt three different presences inside the building though. And like the feeling he had felt with Yasaka when he tried to practice his magic, he felt their emotions. Two were innocent, well… maybe not entirely innocent, but the fear they held inside themselves were true. And the third presence was sinister. Dark and filled with malice.
And behind him, trying to hide from them, but keeping an eye on them, was a familiar presence that he recognized immediately to be Koneko.
The nun moved forward ahead of them.
"Well, I suppose we will be on our way." Issei said his farewell and turned away. But the reality was, he knew he wasn't going to be let off that easily. He made eye contact with the white-haired girl from afar and mouthed three words that caused her to dart away.
'Get the others.'
"Please wait! I would like to make you both some tea as a gratitude for taking me here…" she said, looking sad.
Then it occurred to Issei that perhaps this girl had never had friends before. He was going to stay regardless… but he needed a way to stall. There was one figure in that building that needed to die, and if the other two decided to be foolish, they would follow.
"My name is Hyoudou Issei. But, all my close friends call me Ise. So, you can call me Ise as well. What's your name?" Issei asked, the troubled expression on her face fading away. It was like she was happy to not go in the building. Maybe she already knew how bad it was.
"My name is Asia Argento! Please call me Asia!" she responded with a one-thousand kilowatt smile.
"Well, Asia, this is Irina. She is my childhood friend." Issei finished their introduction, speaking on behalf of Irina, who pouted when he called her a friend.
"Nice to meet you." Irina said to the girl, holding out a hand. Asia didn't understand, but the gesture made it obvious as she shook her hand in return.
Meanwhile, Issei was deep in his thoughts about the church. He didn't need the help killing the fallen angels inside, but having Rias and the others were for insurance.
But… this was a church. It was taboo to them, and being on hollowed ground was surely a way to weaken them drastically. In other words… he made the wrong choice. He should have left well enough alone and left the girl.
But seeing the innocence behind her eyes… how could he? She deserved a fate better than his. She didn't deserve to be murdered or used and thrown aside.
"Issei… please have tea with me?" Asia asked. There was more to that question than he could imagine. It had infinitely more meaning than that. And he understood it.
Please don't leave me alone.
He didn't want to leave Irina outside, and he surely didn't want to take her inside. He refused to put her in harm's way because he was being reckless.
"Asia, can you close your eyes and turn around for a second?" Issei asked. The girl nodded in confusion and obeyed him.
He turned to Irina and moved close to her. Be whispered in her ear so the nun couldn't hear him.
"I'm going to send you back to Yasaka, okay? I don't want you to get hurt, I promise I'll be fine." Issei explained to the girl, and he knew she was going to lose cannon his ass over it, which meant he needed a way to calm her down, and he thought he knew of just the way. Classic movie style.
"What? No! I refuse, I won't let you be put in a dangerous situation like that! I'm staying with-" she never quite got to finish what she was saying though, as Issei's lips connected with hers delicately. She fell silently instantly, and she tried to desperately gather herself.
Issei however, knowing she was taking a mental moment to collect herself, used that against her.
"I'll be fine, alright? Just listen to me. I'll make it up to you later, okay?" Issei said, giving her one last hug, summoning his magic around her.
"O-kay…" she said, just as her body began to glow and disappear. She was gone in only a matter of second.
Issei moved beside the nun.
"You can open your eyes now." Issei said.
She did as instructed, but turned to him quickly, and immediately looked quickly.
"Irina had something urgent to do." He lied to her, and she nodded in understanding, not questioning where in the earth she had disappeared to. She literally just vanished. "I'll gladly stay for some tea though."
The girls expression changed once more as happiness took over her. She grabbed his hands and led him into the darkness and malice filled church. The further he went in, he felt his own power spike more and more. And the darkness pressed.
They were being watched, but the two people from above didn't dare attack him. They were being smart.
"Well, well… look what the dear girl dragged in with her. My day is about to be a whole lot fucking better, especially when I'm done slaughtering this boy like a beef cattle!"
His night… was about to make a turn. It was going to be the first night where he would actually test his mettle against an enemy. Was it bad he felt eager?
The nun ran forward and extended her arms in an attempt to protect him.
"Don't hurt him, please! He helped me find my way here!"
The fallen angel male seemed confused for only a second. A human girl had dare oppose him? A spear formed his hands and before Issei could even blink, he was covered in blood. But it wasn't his blood.
And the anger that he had caged away broke free. She didn't deserve it. The girl didn't deserve to be killed like an animal. A horrible red glow surrounded him.
The expression on the fallen angel had went from happiness and disgust to borderline fear.
He prayed to any entity above himself that no one would see the horror he was about to inflict on the fallen angel. The two that watched from above had fell to the ground, but stepped away from him.
He took a step towards the fallen, the ground cracked at his feet and the space around Issei began to distort from the sheer amount of condensed energy that surrounded him.
"You killed someone I liked…"
End if Chapter 22: The Cursed Hands of God
So, here is Asia. You already know how this is going to go, and Issei isn't about to let the fallen Angel's live.
Not very many of you review anymore, and honestly I should have expected that given my situation of leaving for basic. But I can't tell if it's my story, or people have lost interest.
But, I have a question. Should Mittelt and Kalawarner live? I like Mittelt, and she hardly is used in fanfiction, and she was the friend of Raynare. I leave it up to you all if they live or die.
And yes, Ravel is well on her way as a permanent harem member, the busty blond munchkin. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to add her.
Drop me your ideas, and please leave me a review through these troubling and confusing times.
"I can't let you die without you knowing that you are cared for. You have me, you have many, even if you don't know it. It will be okay, soon enough, you'll be given life anew. Just stay with me for now…"