Chapter 4

It goes without saying that one really shouldn't defile a sacred place. Not only was it disrespectful to both the faith and the people that worked hard to keep things clean, it may also earn the aggressor a negative response. True enough, that was exactly what happened. The church that looked so well kept and preserved moments ago had its doors broken down, the windows smashed, and several holes filled its front side. All was the work of the Fallen Angels, the once-servants to God himself.

And as recompense, They needed to be punished.

For whatever reason, Asia was being targeted by the black winged-angels, and they would kill to get their hands on her. All that stood in between them, were Issei and Saber. While Issei kept close to the girl, for both their sakes, Saber raised his sword at the angels.

"What are your names?" Saber asked. The two looked at one another, before shooting confused looks at him. "It's a courtesy thing." he said plainly.

The male fallen angel scoffed, but answered nonetheless. "Dohnaseek."

The blue haired woman glared at him discontentedly, and then looked back at Saber. "Kalawarner."

"Perfect, then let's begin." Holding his sword in both hands, Saber suddenly disappeared from sight, only to reappear behind Dohnaseek. Before the fallen angel could react, Saber cut into the wings on his back. He let out a cry of pain, before spinning around and swinging his spear.

Saber dodged and moved to counter. However, a projectile shot by Kalawarner prompted him to block, allowing Dohnaseek to escape.

"I didn't even see him move." the male fallen angel said as he retracted his wings.

"Don't let your guard down old man." Kalawarner said, looking over at Issei and Asia. "Call for backup. I'll buy you time."

The woman lunged at Saber, using her wings to propel herself, only for her spear thrust to be dodged and countered. Saber brought his blade down, shattering it instantly and sending her flying with a single kick.

"Hm, guess I didn't need these." with a snap of his fingers, the lances vanished into thin air. Saber approached the two, who were now on the ground, before Dohnaseek raised his hand up. Nothing shot out at him; it was a sign to pause, and Saber complied.

"You… what is that sword?" The fallen angel asked.

"Is it not obvious?" Saber tilted his head slightly, practically playing with the sword with one hand. "Asia knew its name at first glance. Didn't you hear?"

"That's impossible! The Durandal has an owner, and you aren't…" The man's look of confusion melted away; his lips curving upwards. "Oh, I see. That explains things. You are a servant, aren't you?"

"How does that guy know about the servant stuff?" Issei asked himself. Suddenly, he realized something, and looked concernedly at Asia. She seemed to have calmed down, albeit only slightly. "Shit… does he also know I'm the master? Wait, what happens if they attack me? What do I do now?"

"I-Issei, calm down." Asia said softly, trying to comfort the boy.

"A Heroic Spirit whose main weapon is a sword. On top of that, if it really is the holy sword, Durandal, I think I've figured out who you are." Dohnaseek smirked, rising to his feet.

Saber stared emotionlessly at the fallen angel, before flashing a smile. "Sorry, but you're a bit off the mark." He tightened his grip on the supposed "Holy Sword" and narrowed his eyes on Dohnaseek. The black blade started to glow with a dim golden light. "If you want to continue fighting, this sword will be your end. Otherwise, I'm offering you one chance to leave quietly. Nobody needs to die here."

"What? You're going to let us go?" Kalawarner asked in disbelief.

"Neither of you are masters or servants right? So you don't have anything to do with this war."

Silence fell over the five. Saber, Issei, and Asia waited tensely as the fallen angels whispered to one another.

"They're planning something." Issei thought as he scanned his surroundings. The church was motionless and he couldn't see anything moving. There was nothing hiding behind or above the building either. However, he just barely noticed that Dohnaseek was looking at him. More specifically, something behind him and Asia.

He didn't hear anything, but acted nonetheless. Issei tackled Asia, moving them a few feet. At the same time, he suddenly felt a searing sensation in his leg. It was a familiar burning feeling, the same as when Yuuma had stabbed him two days ago. Unfortunately, it was just as painful as the first time around. It still felt as if he was on fire, or the fire was inside of him. The silver lining was that his adrenaline kicked in immediately, slightly easing the pain.

When the two separated, Issei could see another spear halfway through his leg. No sooner did the spear dissipate, allowing a large amount of blood to leak out. He looked around frantically, unsure of what to do or how to stop the bleeding. If nothing was done, he was probably going to die.

While panicking, Issei noticed Asia kneeling down next to his leg. She looked oddly calm, her hands hovering just above the injury spot.

"Asia?" Issei asked confused.

She didn't respond, focusing on his leg. Her hands suddenly started to glow, emitting a bright green light. As the light touched him, the pain itself faded completely. Even better, the hole itself rapidly closed. In a few short seconds, the only trace of harm was the blood stain on his pants.

Issei stared speechlessly, standing up without any issue at all. "Woah. That's amazing." he didn't stare long. After quickly remembering what situation he was in, he looked back towards where the spear came from, to see Saber clashing against a newcomer. She was a petite blonde girl dressed in black, with black angel wings and a light spear in hand. True to her stature, she didn't seem to be giving Saber much trouble.

"Master, are you alright?" Saber asked, looking back concernedly.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Issei nodded, still in slight shock.

Saber nodded back, before breaking the clash and swinging his sword. The blade broke her weapon in half and cut across the girl's chest. She screamed in pain, hastily retreating behind her colleagues. The three huddled together, Saber smiled. His sword glowed gold again, growing more intense by the second.

"Well, I tried, but I can't forgive you after hurting my master." Saber said, before raising the sword above his head. "Peerless unbroken hallowed: Durandal!"

Saber brought down his blade, like he was chopping wood with an axe. Considering the large gap between him and the angels, it at first looked like he was just swinging at nothing. However, as he swung, a beam of light jumped from the sword and rocketed towards the angels. Together, the fallen angels created three wide magic circles in an attempt to defend themselves. It worked at first, but the beam's strength was enough to break through their defenses. There was a short scream, but it only lasted a moment. The beam continued to travel, flying into the sky before eventually disappearing. The angels were nowhere to be found, save for a few black feathers falling to the ground.

The air quickly settled, the sword that Saber held evaporated like the light it produced, and Saber turned around to face his master. He did so just in time to see Issei fall to his knees, panting heavily.

"A-are you okay, Issei?" Asia asked, crouching down.

"This is worse than I expected." Saber remarked, scratching his head as he approached.

"What happened?"

"Well, how do I put this? Master… has practically no mana. Manifesting is something I can do well enough on my own, but the more strenuous stuff needs his direct support."

"Oh… so now… you tell me." Issei said in between breaths, earning a chuckle from his servant.

"I'm sure you'll be okay though. Mana or no mana, you're a pretty tough guy… Anyways, they're gone so we should be safe for now." Saber said, extending a hand to Issei. "What should we do now?"

Issei rose to his feet, still a little disoriented, but could stand on his own. "Since you guys both wanted to, let's go inside. Plus, one of those angels said something about killing someone."

The three made their way into the church, passing through where doors used to be. Unfortunately, the interior matched its newly-renovated exterior. There were chips of wood covering the ground, broken pieces of benches mixed in. The window panes in the back were shattered, and an unrecognizable statue laid on its side. It was very clearly the work of the fallen angels.

Issei and Asia hurried across the church, stopping in front of a person's body. It was an old man, and considering he was wearing mostly black robe with a silver cross like Asia's, he was probably a priest. Most of his clothes were drenched in blood. He had dozens of deep lacerations and impale wounds everywhere.

"This… is just too much." Issei said to himself, shivering at the sight of the corpse. "They must've tortured the guy."

"I'm sorry." Asia whispered under her breath. Her eyes were closed and her hands were clasped together, as if she was praying. Whilst she did so, Issei couldn't help but look away from the body. If there was anything that could distract him, he'd take the opportunity. He quickly found that opportunity when he noticed a bag a few meters from the body. It looked identical to Asia's, but a few blood stains suggested it was the priest's.

Issei picked up the bag, noticing that it was rather light. It felt like there was almost nothing in it. "Why would a priest just have an empty bag like this?" As he turned it upside down, the bag suddenly opened, and a small golden cloth fell into his hand. "What's this?" he said, examining the object. It was soft, with a fur-like feel, but its shine was unmistakably gold. He couldn't explain why, but Issei somehow knew that

Whatever it was, he decided to put the cloth back into the bag, closing it to make sure it wouldn't open on accident again. Just in time, as when he finished, Asia was standing up with a depressed look.

"Hey, are you alright?" Issei asked. Asia didn't respond immediately, clearly still taking things in. He tried, tried to think of anything that would make her feel better, and as he did he suddenly heard Saber speak.

"What kind of stupid God sends angels to kill their priests?" The two looked towards Saber, who was staring at the ground in discontent.

"P-please don't say that about God!" Asia pleaded. She didn't look angry or offended, just saddened.

Saber turned his head up to the two, his scornful expression completely gone, and in its place a look of confusion "Hm? Say what about God?"

"About him sending angels, you just said it." Issei reminded his servant, yet his face didn't change.

"Master, I didn't say anything." The two stared at Saber in silence, just as perplexed as he was with them. Saber didn't look like he was lying; he genuinely believed he didn't say anything, much less about God. "But more importantly, look at this." he said, pointing at the ground beside him.

When Asia and Issei came to see what he was pointing to, they saw some kind of magic circle. It wasn't particularly large, maybe the size of a small table, and filled with symbols and markings that Issei didn't recognize.

"Someone was trying to summon a servant?" Issei asked, receiving a nod from Saber.

"My guess is that it was the priest, but those Fallen Angels didn't want that happening. Which also means," Saber looked directly at Asia, causing her to flinch.

"Huh? Are you a master too, Asia?" Issei asked, looking surprised.

"N-no, I'm not. Well, I never planned to be one." The blonde girl stammered as she waved her arms. She quickly calmed down, and she looked solemn again. "Issei, Saber… You probably already know, but I wasn't actually sent by the church."

"Then why did you come here?" Saber asked, sitting down on one of the more-intact benches.

"A few weeks ago, that priest over there invited me here. He knew I was trying to run away from the fallen angels and wanted to help me."

"Why were those guys chasing you?" Issei followed up.

"Because… because of my gift." She muttered quietly.

"The healing thing you did with my leg?" Asia nodded.

"When I was eight years old, I came across a small dog. It was dying, so I prayed for it to get better. Suddenly, my hands glowed green and the dog was a lot better. After that, I was adopted by the Church and ordered to heal illnesses and injuries from people across the world. They called me a 'Holy Saint'. It was nice, being able to help others in need. But one day, I came across a young man with black hair. He was nearly dead, and asked for my help, so I healed him. I didn't know it at the time, but he was actually a Devil."

"And the Church didn't like that, so they branded the 'Holy Saint' as a witch." Saber asked, frowning in disapproval.

Once again, Asia nodded her head. "After they ostracized me, I didn't have anywhere to go. That's when I encountered a fallen angel. They promised me a place, and without any other options I accepted. I wasn't surprised when I found out that they just wanted my gift, but then I heard about them wanting to use me to fight in a war. That's why I ran away, and why I'm here now. And, well, that's no longer an option."

Listening to her story, Issei's fists clenched and shook. There were a number of things he wanted to say, particularly about the church that would exile her for such a stupid reason, but she surely wouldn't approve.

"Then if you have nowhere to stay, how about staying with us?" Saber asked, much to the surprise of both Asia and Issei.

"There's no way I could do that!" Asia stammered, her cheeks turning a slight red. "I don't want to burden you or your family."

"Uh, actually…" Issei scratched his head awkwardly. "My parents probably would probably encourage it." he explained, earning a surprised stare from Asia and Saber.

"We won't force you to do anything, but there's no way we're going to abandon you." Saber continued, Issei grunting in agreement.

Asia looked between the two boys."Well… If the both of you are sure about this. Then I'm fine with it." She said reluctantly, and bowed her head.

Behind his back, Saber smiled and gave a thumbs up to his Master. In turn, Issei breathed a sigh of relief. He was just about certain that his parents would allow her to stay, for multiple reasons.

The floor went thud as Issei's dad fell to his knees. The look on his face was one of complete and utter disbelief. His mother had a similar look, but she had tears in her eyes instead of shock. She was on the edge of crying, but out of pure joy. All the while, Issei stood next to Asia, too embarrassed to look at anyone.

"I-I never thought this day would come." Issei's mom said, her voice uneven and shaky.

"I had already lost hope. I thought our son would never bring home a girl." his father continued, pouring salt into his son's wounds.

"It's, uh, it's nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Hyoudou." Asia said timidly.

"Oh please, just call us mom and dad."

"Dad!" Issei exclaimed.

"Asia dear, you can stay with us as long as you need to. We have a spare bedroom if that's fine with you." Issei's mom said.

"Well, at least they're fine with it." Issei thought, internally groaning to himself. "Something bad is gonna happen. I can feel it."

Asia was showed to her new room, whilst Issei made his way to his own room. After everything that had happened, he needed rest. Once he was able to get into his room, he tossed the bag to the corner and flopped onto his bed.

"Night, Saber." He said, his consciousness fading rapidly.

"Goodnight, Master… oh yes, remember that you have school tomorrow."

"...damnit."

He couldn't afford to dwell on it. He was just going to have to deal with it. Worst case scenario, he could just sleep during class. It wasn't exactly uncommon for him.

He expected his sleep to be quick and simple. He didn't have dreams often, so he expected a few seconds of black and then to be woken up in the morning. Unfortunately, he was anything but a fortunate man. Issei knew he was asleep, and it had to be a dream. However, he couldn't figure out why he was standing in a colorless white void.

"Seriously?" he asked the void sarcastically, throwing his arms up in defeat. "Alright fine, what is it this time?!" He called out. There was no reply. Of course there was no reply considering he was alone...

"Fou!"

END