Chapter 5

"Fou! Fou fou!" Issei heard a voice from the blank white void. He couldn't see anything, not until he looked down at his feet.

Nuzzling against his leg was some kind of animal vaguely resembling a squirrel with white fur and long wolf-like ears.

"Hello… whatever you are..." Issei whispered to himself, staring confused at the animal. The creature suddenly dashed away from Issei, wagging its tail, gesturing for him to follow.

Issei walked behind the creature, watching as it trotted across the vast emptiness as if it was its home. Though he walked for several minutes, the creature hadn't stopped moving, and he hadn't stopped following. Although without any landmarks, Issei could barely tell if they were going anywhere. For all he knew, he could've been running in place.

"What kind of dream is this?" He thought.

Eventually, Issei noticed something. The creature who he followed ran further and further away. Even after increasing his own pace, the distance between the two grew. He even took to sprinting after the creature, but still couldn't catch up.

In the midst of his run, he felt something catch his foot. Unable to stop himself, Issei fell face first onto the ground. Even though there was no difference in color between the ground and the rest of the void, he still felt a solid impact, When he looked up, the creature was gone, and Issei sighed, defeated.

He couldn't turn his head or even move his own body. Issei simply laid on the ground, staring into the white nothingness. While something behind him with a human-like voice laughed quietly.

"Hey, who's there?" he called out, still unable to move his head. The laughing stopped and there was a brief silence.

"Sorry, looks like time's up." The voice answered. It was oddly familiar, and aside from the feminine tone of voice, sounded like Saber. "Hope you had fun with Fou. Let's have a chat next time."

"Bu-wait a minute!" Issei protested, but there was nothing to be done. The white quickly faded to black, and there was the chime of his alarm ringing.

Issei suddenly opened his eyes, discovering that he was still in his bedroom. Sunlight just barely seeped through his window blinds, and his alarm clock played a soft melody.

"Huh?" He stared at the time displayed. "Oh, it's time to wake up… that was really weird." he thought to himself, getting out of bed and dressing himself, "What was that? Who was that?" he asked himself, promptly shaking his head. "Whatever. I'll think about it later or something."

Finished changing Issei opened his door, and with a surprised look on his face, he saw Asia standing in front of him.

"Oh, good morning." He said, smiling at the blonde.

"Good morning, Issei." She replied, reciprocating the same smile.

Issei noticed that her eyes were focused on his hand, his hand that was wrapped in bandages. "Oh yeah, this isn't anything bad. It's just to hide the red tattoo thing." he explained, flexing his hand to show it was fine, to Asia's relief. As he did so, he suddenly remembered the priest's bag that was in his room, and he grabbed it. "I forgot I was gonna give this to you yesterday." he said as he handed the bag over to Asia.

Asia accepted, taking the bag from him. "Thank you, that's what I came here for actually."

"You know what's in there," She nodded. "You're not planning on joining this war thing are you?" Issei asked, concerned.

Asia looked away, clenching the bag with both hands. "I don't know."

"Actually, if you don't join, then we don't have to fight each other. So there's that." Issei said reassuringly. Unfortunately, he could still see the uneasiness in her eyes. "Hey uh, after I come back, how about we get something to eat?"

Asia was taken aback, looking at Issei disbelievingly. "No, it's alright. You're already doing so much for me. I don't want to press my luck."

"Oh it's fine. You're a guest here so it would be rude if I didn't treat you. Besides, I know some good places that don't expensive."

Asia looked down at her feet; she was unmoving. Likewise, Issei waited patiently. What he was supposed to be doing, where he was supposed to be going, it was all put on pause.

"Thank you." She looked uneasy, confused for some reason, but she answered nonetheless.

"Alright, it's a promise then. See you when I get back" Issei said as he walked passed Asia. He walked out the front door with his eyes wide and a smile on his face.

Issei yawned, his eyes half open while he looked out the window beside him. The teacher at the front of the room's voice had turned into white noise about an hour ago. The chatter from his friends, and the periodic snide comments from many of the girls, none of it seemed to reach him. As much as he would've liked to, he couldn't just take a mid-class nap for some reason.

"Huh, why haven't I asked about the tattoo yet? Saber would probably know about it…" He thought, looking at his bandaged hand. Suddenly, his eyes widened; an invisible light bulb above his head flashed on. "Hey Saber. Are you there?" He mentally asked. A few seconds went by as he looked around the room, and there was no reply. "Damn, no telepathy huh."

"Oh, excuser me Master. I was distracted with something." Issei suddenly heard Saber's voice in his head and nearly jumped out of his seat in surprise. "But yes, i'm here. I didn't think you knew how to use telepathy."

"Well… I'm full of surprises." Issei replied, smiling wryly. "Do you hear everything I think?"

"Just what you intend to tell me."

Issei sighed, relieved. "Okay, that's fine then… anyways, what were you so focused on?"

"It's those Demons. I still can't figure them out."

"Do you still think they're up to trouble? They said they came in peace didn't they?" Issei raised an eyebrow.

"Demons always harass and destroy humans. It's sort of a natural part of life." He spoke with an air of certainty in his voice, as if he was stating a fact, before he let out a sigh. "But you're also right, and that confuses me. Rias Gremory called this her 'territory' which would also mean 'hunting ground', but she and her fellow demons aren't doing anything to anyone in this school. Nobody is being drained of their life force, or possessed, or anything. The only trace of magecraft I've found is a huge barrier around the school; a fairly strong one I might add."

"I guess they're protecting us then." Issei concluded, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, hopefully you're right. To be honest, this whole world's strange to me and there's a lot of things that I don't understand… I'm going to continue my investigation. If you're in danger, just call for me."

"Alright… when you can, could you explain what the tattoo on my hand is?"

"Of course. The best time would probably be after school. I wouldn't wanna keep you distracted too long." At Saber's comment, Issei chuckled to himself again. The explanation would have to wait for a while longer it seemed.

At the sound of the class bell ringing, Issei returned to his senses. He couldn't hear Saber's voice anymore, and felt as if Saber hung up on their call. Before he could get up and leave the classroom, he was approached by Matsuda and Motohama.

"Hey Issei. Are you sure you're alright? You looked like you were gonna pass out at any second." one of his friends asked, looking genuinely concerned at his bandaged hand.

"Yeah I'm fine. It's just been a long week." Issei answered, waving his hand dismissively.

"Is that so?" the three boys' heads turned to see, more so glare at, a girl approaching them.

"Kiryuu..." Matsuda and Motohama muttered, glaring at her both angrily and fearfully. However, she simply waved them off, stepping in between them to look at Issei specifically. After a few seconds of staring, she giggled, making sure it was loud enough for the boys to hear.

"Yeah yeah. I know what you're gonna say. 'I know you're lonely but have a little self control' and all that." Issei groaned, looking away from the girl and instead out the window.

Kiryuu laughed. "Oh come on. There's no fun if I don't get a good reaction."

"Did you come here just for that?"

"Actually no." Kiryuu stopped smiling, and pointed to the classroom door. "Prince Charming's looking for you. Said he wanted to talk about something in private."

"Prince… oh, Kiba." Issei said to himself, standing up from his chair and walking away from the three.

"Issei, you're not batting for the other team are you?" Matsuda asked, looking concerned at Issei.

Issei staggered, looking at his friends and Kiryuu appalled. "What?! Of course not! I don't even know he wants." he declared. Kiryuu gave him an unnerving grin, to which Issei quickly turned and left.

He exited the room, turning to see that Kiba who was leaning against the wall. Kiba's head was facing the ground; he looked concerned or uneasy about something. However as soon as he noticed Issei, he smiled at him. Unfortunately, Issei couldn't reciprocate, and had a somewhat distasteful look on his face.

"What's up?" Issei asked as he approached Kiba.

"Ah, Issei, good morning." Kiba came off of the wall, taking one last glance around them. He and Isse were the only ones in the hallway, and the doors were closed. "I wanted to talk to you about yesterday. We sensed a massive amount of magical energy coming from the church, and when we investigated, it was half-destroyed. Do you happen to know anything about that?"

Issei looked away, chuckling awkwardly. "Uh, yeah… Sorry about that. I definitely can't pay for repairs."

"The building doesn't matter, it's been abandoned for years and we certainly don't use it. But if you don't mind, I have some questions. By any chance, Is Saber nearby?" He asked, looking tensely at Issei.

"Umm no, he's not. I don't know where he is. I can call him if you want."

Kiba shook his head in response. "That's fine… Issei, do you know what a Holy Sword is?"

"Holy-Yeah, I think that's what Asia called Saber's sword." Issei answered nonchalauntly. He noticed that upon his response, Kiba had a puzzled look on his face. "Oh right. Asia's a girl I met after we left you guys yesterday."

"I see. Did she say its name? The name of the sword?"

"She said it was 'Durandal' I think."

Kiba's eyes widened with shock, but there was a tinge of relief and confusion on his face. Most of all, he looked worried, fearfully so. "Durandal huh… and it belongs to Saber."

"Is that a bad thing? Oh wait, yeah, with you guys being devils and all." Issei said, laughing dryly.

"Then my last question. What caused him to use so much magical energy? What was he fighting?"

"Well…" Issei scratched the back of his head, hesitant to answer. Fallen angels appearing within a devil's territory. Wouldn't that information be dangerous? However, as he wondered about the possible results, he recalled what happened yesterday; the pain that those angels caused. "Saber and Asia wanted to go to the church, but when we got there, a bunch of Fallen Angels attacked us. Saber kicked their asses, but we found out they already killed some guy."

Kiba stared at Issei silently, muttering something to himself. "Thanks, Issei… One last thing. From now on Koneko and I will be keeping an eye out for you; in case anything happens again, we won't let you get killed."

"Well that's reassuring." Issei thought, nodding his head in acknowledgement. Kiba turned and walked away, leaving Issei alone in the hallway.

Issei put his hand on his classroom door, but just before opening it, he noticed something was off. With Kiba gone, he was the only person present. Yet despite that, he had the feeling of being watched, stalked. As naturally as he could, Issei let go of the handle and backed away. If it was something dangerous, he had to make sure nobody would be caught in the crossfire.

He just barely reached the staircase before his danger alarm started blaring. There was no time left, he needed to know what he was up against. Issei spun around to face whatever was behind him, and at the same time saw a shiny metallic object. He threw his entire body to the side, trying to avoid whatever was flying at his head. A split-second later and It would have hit him square between the eyes, but instead it only took one of them.

Issei gasped, losing his footing and falling down the staircase. He quickly tried to recover, hurriedly pulling out the object that blinded his eye. The metal object was a knife, and as he looked up at the top of the staircase, he saw the thrower.

He was probably a guy. Given his physique, but Issei couldn't make out any features. The man's body was covered in a black cloth, and he wore a skull-mask. He walked down the stairs, unusually slowly, allowing Issei to pick himself off the ground and run. In doing so, he narrowly avoided a second knife, thrown by the assailant.

"Fuck, who the hell is that?!" he thought, running as fast as he could. "Saber! We're being attacked!"

"I'm coming now, could you tell who was attacking you?" Saber quickly responded.

"No, just some dude in black with a skeleton mask!"

"It's Assassin… Master, can you get to the front yard of the school?"

"Trying!" Issei answered, cutting off the call and switching focus back to running.

Thankfully, he was already on the first floor, and the front door was just ahead. He took another look behind him. Assassin was standing at the bottom of the stairs, holding a pair of knives in his hand. He threw them at Issei with the same speed and precision as the first, causing Issei to dive forward.

He crashed through the doors, somehow not shattering the glass, and landed on the concrete floor. Luckily, Issei braced himself before impact, but that also meant his arms took the brunt of the damage.

"Why does this keep happening?!" he asked himself, clenching his teeth as he tried to stand. He looked up, to see that the black-clad assassin stood over him. Although, despite the same attire and mask, this person had a different body shape. Instead of a knife, they had a serrated dagger in hand. They were taller and more bulky, like a wrestler. "Saber, where are you?!"

Assassin raised their weapon up, before suddenly jumping back and avoiding what looked like a laser blast. A moment later, he saw Saber land in front of him and rush Assassin. Instead of the gold and black sword from before, he was using a halberd. Assassin looked larger, more bulky than Saber, but was clearly less skilled. He was only able to flail the short blade around until Saber quickly disarmed him. He aimed the tip of his halberd and thrusted it into Assassin's chest. Assassin coughed out blood as Saber drove him into the ground with enough force to kick up dust.

Saber removed his halberd from Assassin's body, letting go and allowing the weapon to evaporate. After a few seconds, even Assassin's body did the same. Without a word, his body dispersed into countless particles.

"Master, are you alright?" Saber asked, holding his hand out for Issei.

"Y-yeah, sorta… not really." Issei answered, looking down at his arms. They were bruised and bleeding, but mostly intact. He sighed a breath of relief. At the very least, the bandages protected his right arm.

A few seconds passed before there were two pairs of footsteps heading towards them. As they turned, the two saw Koneko and Kiba running towards them. Saber reached out, preparing to summon another weapon, but Issei stopped him with a gesture.

"Issei, what happened? Are you okay?" Kiba asked, he and Koneko looking at Issei shocked.

"Something smells bad." Koneko said, covering her mouth and nose with one hand.

"Some guy attacked me. There's another one in the school too." Issei said, pointing back into the school. Even with one eye, Issei could see Saber's face turn from concern to something akin to fear.

"Multiple-then that means-Master. We need to leave, now!" Saber shouted.

It took only a split second for Issei to reach the same conclusion. Obviously, there was more than one Assassin, which meant they could be targeting multiple people at once; multiple targets meant multiple masters, including potential masters yet to summon their servants. School be damned, there was something much more important.

"Asia!" Issei shouted. "Let's go!"

"What do you-" before Kiba could finish talking, Issei and Saber were already gone. "Koneko, report this to the President. I'll follow them." The petite girl nodded, running off towards the Occult Research Clubroom.

Saber was supernatural; that was plainly obvious to Issei from the moment they met. However apart from making things—himself included—appear and disappear, he hadn't ever seen Saber perform superhuman feats. That changed very quickly, when Issei found himself several stories in the air and moving at near-supersonic speeds.

It was like being in an airplane, except there was no cabin to sit in or roof to be protected by and if an airplane bobbed up and down repeatedly. He could feel the wind pushing hard against his face, trying to keep him from moving as fast as he was. At his altitude, he could see a large portion of the city. The quiet roads devoid of cars, the houses identical to one another, the school growing ever distant, etc. it was breathtaking, a view one didn't get to have very often.

Unfortunately, it was mostly wasted on Issei. It wasn't the wind, nor his injury, that kept Issei from opening his still-working eye, but the fact that Saber was carrying him bridal-style.

"Sorry Master. If you were a girl, I could go a lot faster." Saber said, awkwardly chuckling.

"What's that supposed to mean? Also I don't like this any more than you do!" Issei shouted, struggling to keep his breath.

"The cooler something I do is, the better I do it. Which means I suck at doing lame things like carrying another guy like a wife… on that note, prepare for landing."

After one final descent, Issei could feel that they stopped moving. After being let down, Issei opened his eyes to see his house. The front door was open, but just barely. The two quickly entered, to find that everything looked normal. Nothing seemed to be moved, nothing out of place. Everything was just as Issei left it. However…

"Asia?! Asia?!" Issei's shout reverberated throughout the entire house. Terror in his eyes, he was practically begging for a reply, only to receive none. The house was untouched, but Asia was missing.

END