Chapter 6

"We need to find them!" Issei shouted at Saber. "Find where they took her and rescue her!"

Saber looked down ashamedly; with a melancholic grimace. "That's…. Not possible."

"Why not?!"

"Master, Assassin possesses the 'Presence Concealment' skill. They might as well be completely invisible. Maybe if we had a magus with us, we could follow after them. But just us? We'd might as well be looking for footprints in the desert… which is even harder than it sounds by the way." His voice was clear, without a single uncertainty or hint of doubt, making his admission all the more painful.

"But that's…" Issei muttered, looking down at the floor. His fists clenched, shaking uncontrollably. His left hand glew a dim green light, but neither paid it any attention. In comparison to what was lost, it was meaningless.

Suddenly, the two heard a knocking sound coming from behind them. It was steady; calm. They turned around to see a group of teenagers wearing Kuoh Academy's uniform. At the front was none other than Rias Gremory.

Rias crossed her arms, stepping into the house and standing in front of the boys. "What's this about?" She asked in a serious tone.

Issei slowly turned to Rias. There was a spark behind his eyes, a spark of hope. He lowered his head.

"Asia, my friend, was kidnapped… Please, help us find her." He begged, clapping his hands together in front of him.

Everyone simultaneously stared at Issei, surprise written across their faces. He would have stood there forever if he had to, However, he only had to wait for a few seconds. As he heard Rias' footsteps, her feet came into view.

"You don't have to do that." She said, crossing her arms. "Besides, we've already started looking."

"W-what?" Issei asked as he raised his head, looking hopeful at the red haired girl. Behind her, Akeno smiled and laughed.

"When we got here, we noticed some Holy Energy was floating around, which means Fallen Angels were involved with the kidnapping. Of course, we can't just let them do whatever they want. So it's our responsibility to deal with them." Rias answered.

"So then, you'll help us find her?" Issei asked, smiling hopefully.

"Your friend has nothing to do with us, and someone from the church is as much an enemy to us as Fallen Angels." Rias answered coldly, looking at Issei with a serious face. But before he could reply, she smiled. "At least, that's what I would be saying. But you and Saber are interesting. Helping you means you owe us, right?"

Without hesitation, or more accurately without thought, Issei nodded his head. From behind, Saber looked at his master concernedly but kept silent.

"Then we have an agreement." Rias turned from Issei and looked at Akeno. "Do we have a trail?"

"Yep. It wasn't very well hidden." Akeno answered cheerfully. "We can leave whenever we're ready. But is it really a good idea for Issei to go along in his condition?"

"I-I'm fine." Issei said, convincing nobody.

"Master, I'm actually on their side on this one." Saber said. "You're seriously injured. If you go…"

"I've been through worse than this." Issei replied, looking serious at Saber. "Besides, Asia can heal this off, so we just need to save her and things will be fine. Until then… I can just bandage myself."

"I have a better idea. Issei, sit down." Rias said.

Issei did as told, and sat down on a couch. Akeno kneeled in front of him, holding her hands in front of his face and arms. Her hands glew with a green light, one that enveloped and started to heal his arms. It was like Asia's, but wasn't nearly as fast or as effective.

"We don't have time to heal you completely, but we can at least close those wounds on you."

"I-I see. Thanks." Issei muttered. "So, how do we get to wherever they took Asia?"

"Well, considering you're just human, one of us would have to carry you." Rias said, giggling at the thought.

Before Issei could even respond, he heard a quiet hum come from Saber. When he turned and looked at where the servant should have been, he saw nothing but empty space. His look of confusion changed to a scowl. "Saber!" He screamed telepathically.

"Sorry Master, but there's no way I can carry you a second time. Don't worry though, I'll still catch you if you fall."

"That's not the problem here!" There was no response. Issei could feel that the line had been cut, adding to his irritation.

"Well then, I guess that answers that." Rias smirked.

Akeno stood back up, having finished her work. Although far from perfect condition, Issei's arms were mostly restored. At the very least, he couldn't see any fresh blood. He didn't have a mirror to check his eye, but the fact that he couldn't even open it meant it was going to be useless for the time being. He sighed, both thankful and regretful as he got to his feet.

"Uh, Rias. What did you mean by 'carry'?" Issei asked hesitantly.

A moment later, Issei heard a flapping sound. In front of his very eyes, the four devils sprouted jet black wings from their backs. They were nothing like the angel wings he'd seen before, save for the color. They were significantly smaller as well. Even if they were wings, they couldn't possibly allow for flight.

The five exitted the house. At the front door Rias, Akeno, and Kiba rose into the sky. To his disbelief, they were floating off of the ground, unsupported by anything. However, he wasn't able to savor the experience for long, as he soon felt himself being pulled. Suddenly, he found himself in the arms of a cute girl with snow white hair. More accurately, he was being carried bridal-style by said girl.

"This is a little better, but still wrong." Issei frowned disapprovingly. "Nice view though." he thought as they continued to rise higher. Promptly, they stopped rising, and started moving forward.

"Things are not going as expected." An old priest sighed.

He was a participant of the Holy Grail War, and although he had planned to reserve his strength until the war reached its climax, he didn't expect his current situation. He wasn't in the middle of battle. He wasn't commanding forces against an enemy. He wasn't even in any sort of danger. He was, however, standing outside of a bathhouse.

It was an unexpected request from his servant, and one he regretted accepting. He had been standing there for at least an hour and received no word from the inside. As he looked up, he could just barely see several dots in the sky. They were flying in the same direction of the church he used to summon Archer. However he had already destroyed his summoning circle.

Eventually, his waiting was over. The doors behind him slid open, and out walked a young japanese girl wearing a bright red t-shirt, smiling contently.

"Aah, that was refreshing. I knew it'd be worth it." The girl said.

"Was it really necessary?" the priest asked, frowning.

"Of course! If we're not in battle, we should enjoy ourselves. Plus, I didn't have any of this when I was alive. There's no way I'm letting this chance go."

"Archer, we don't have a large budget to be wasting."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, you're such a stick in the mud. We don't need a lot of money in the first place. All I need to fight is magical energy, so as long as you don't get yourself killed, we'll be fine. More importantly, where's your underling, Freed?"

"With lady Raynare. From what I've heard, they successfully captured a girl with a powerful healing sacred gear. They'll be extracting it from her tonight."

"What's a 'Sacred Gear'? Are those anything like Noble Phantasms?"

"Not exactly. You heroic spirits can destroy your own Noble Phantasms and keep fighting. If a sacred gear is removed from their owner, they die almost instantly. That, and Sacred Gears are gifts from god to humans exclusively,"

Archer frowned disappointedly. "I'm guessing you have one too Master? You're god's faithful servant and all."

He scoffed. "No, not me. I wasn't lucky enough. Although, I guess my brilliance could be called a gift. I accomplished quite a lot during my time with the Church. I even had a team working with me on many experiments."

"Uh huh… While listening to that sounds fun and all, I think this extraction stuff sounds more interesting." She said as she began walking away from the priest.

"Don't interfere with them." He ordered sternly. Archer groaned, but he ignored it completely. "The last thing I need is for you to get us in trouble. I already have somewhere I need to be… and I think it will be even more interesting for you. You've heard of Excalibur yes?"

Archer's eyes lit up as she heard the name, spinning around to face her master. "Wait. as in the Excalibur?" he nodded his head, smirking. "So then has Saber not been summoned yet?"

"I don't know, but that isn't important. We're leaving." He commanded, walking away from the building. Archer followed behind, her arms crossed and looking down as she walked.

"Has that Saber's been summoned? If I'm here, maybe she will be." She muttered to herself.

"By the way, Archer," The priest called. "Between just us, what would you say are our chances against an angel or a devil?"

"Huh?!" Archer looked offended by the question. "Isn't that obvious? It wouldn't even be a competition. It'd be like an ant trying to fight an elephant, if the elephant could use guns!"

"Now now, I just wanted to be sure." He said in a calm tone. "Now then. We have a piece of a holy sword to collect."

"I'm getting tired of churches." Issei thought as he stared at a pair of large wooden doors. Beside him were Kiba, Koneko, and Saber. Akeno and Rias, on the other hand, were nowhere to be seen. Instead of landing alongside them, they continued flying past the front of the church, descending somewhere near the back.

"Is it really a good idea to go in through the front?" Issei asked, checking their sides and backs for any movement.

"They already know we're here." Koneko answered, cracking her knuckles.

"We didn't exactly hide ourselves." Kiba said before two swords appeared in his hands. Saber stared wide-eyed, but remained silent as the blond boy handed one of the blades to Issei. "You also might want to step back."

Issei looked confused at Kiba, but did as told anyways. He then watched as Koneko stepped in front of the door and reeled her arm back. She threw her fist into the middle doors, and as if it was just shrapnel, they were sent flying. After a moment, there was a collective group of pained shouts coming from inside, followed by a loud crash.

"Holy shit…" Issei thought, his entire body gone stiff in fear. "Never piss her off."

The petite girl walked calmly into the room, with Issei and Kiba following. The inside was dimly lit, but they were still able to see their opposition. They were surprised to find that in front of them was but a single one person. There wasn't another figure in sight, just a young man with white hair, He was sitting on one of the benches, looking back at them surprised.

"Huh?! You're all here really early." he said, staring blankly.

"Who are you?" Issei asked, showing the same amount of confusion.

"Right, right." He muttered as he stood up, holding a white handgun in one hand and a sword-hilt in the other. "The name's Freed, no need to say yours. You must be the devils I was warned about. Since I'm an exorcist and all, now that you're here, I gotta kill y'all..." he paused, looking at Saber. "Hey, that's a pretty cool outfit. Mind if I take it from you after you're dead?"

Saber looked unsure of how to answer, glancing down at his clothes before turning his head to Issei and shrugging.

"Hey! Where's Asia?!" Issei shouted, drawing Freed's attention.

"Oh, the fake-nun girl. She's underground, about to get relieved of duty." he said, smiling gleefully and pointing to the fireplace behind him.. "Right down here, but if you want in, you need to get through me first." he flipped a switch on the sword hilt, and a bright white light shot out from it and took the shape of a blade.

"That's a lightsaber…" Issei said, ogling the weapon.

Saber sighed at his Master, "Kiba, Koneko, can one or both of you handle this guy?"

"I can do this alone." Kiba answered.

Saber snapped his fingers, and a pair of lances appeared. With their blades pointed at Freed, their tips started to glow bright. Simultaneously, they fired two beams of energy, causing Freed to dodge out of the way. The beams utterly destroyed the fireplace, revealing a stairway leading down.

"Hey hey! That's unfair!" Freed said angrily, pointing his gun at the four. He fired a bullet, only for it to be blocked by Kiba's sword. He rushed forward at Freed, quickly pushing him back and away from the revealed stairs.

The group, now down to three, went deeper into the building. They could hear the two fighting, the sound of metal hitting metal and gunshot after gunshot. It all soon faded the further they descended. Eventually, they could hear a different sound. There was a low-pitched chanting created by multiple voices. Deeper down, and they could see the end of their downward climb.

True to Freed's words, they found themselves in an underground chamber, one considerably larger than the building above. Issei quickly scanned the room, finding Asia on the opposite side. She was being hoisted up by two cloaked figures, attaching her to a large cross-like device with metal chains. Complex circles and symbols covered the body of the cross.

Standing in front of the machine was none other than Yuuma, with a pair of black wings sticking out of her back. She was most definitely a fallen angel. Hearing their footsteps, she turned her head, looking both surprised and angered by their presence.

His first thought was to free Asia from the machine. However, what stood between them was a small congregation of people.

Without hesitation, Yuuma conjured a spear of light and threw it at Issei. Saber moved to intercept, knowing it wouldn't affect him, but Koneko destroyed it before it could hit.

"Issei, Saber, don't let her escape." Koneko said quietly, jumping into the middle of the crowd.

Saber and Issei used the chance to cross the room mostly unimpeded. The closer they came, the larger the scowl on Yuuma's face grew.

"Y-Yuuma…" Issei hesitated, his left hand clenching tightly. "Let her go."

"Why should I? Did you make her your girlfriend after just one day?" Yuuma asked before bursting into laughter. "No, that's not possible. As if any girl would actually like you."

"You can't win, certainly not against me." Saber said, summoning a curved sword into his hand.

"That might be true, but who's to say?" She asked, smirking maliciously.

Saber tightened his grip, before his face changed from composed to fearful. He pushed Issei to the side, jumping away to avoid a volley of throwing knives. They didn't come from Yuuma, they couldn't have.

"Master, be careful! She's Assassin's master." Saber shouted, blocking another salvo with his blade.

Issei looked up at the ceiling, only to see three Assassins armed to the teeth. He looked back at Yuuma, who hadn't moved an inch. She was relaxed, without a single ounce of fear.

"You thought a pair like you could do anything?" Yuuma asked, turning to the men still holding Asia. "Hurry it up!"

The number of Assassins was increasing. First there were four, then ten, then twenty. All of them acted differently, as if they were entirely different people. At the same time, they were coordinated too well to be just a team. They acted like a single being, closing off any possible openings for counterattacks. The numerous weapons he summoned, from swords to spears to axes, only served to keep his head above water against the onslaught.

"What do I do? What can I do?" Issei thought frantically, his eyes darting between each of the Assassins. "No, that's it. If we can save Asia, then we don't even have to win against those guys yet." before Issei could even act, he saw a bright light in his peripheral. He moved, avoiding a spear of light thrown at him.

"Now, let's finish where we left off shall we? This time, there won't be anyone to save you. Not even your devil friends." Yuuma said, raising another spear. "It was really surprising you know, to think that you stooped so low as to side with devils. But then again, that's what humans do."

"Shut up!" He shouted, holding up his fists. He charged at the fallen angel, trying to land a hit or two in. However, she brushed him off, swinging the pole of the spear into his stomach and knocking the wind out of him. As he tried to stand back up, he glanced towards Saber and Koneko. Both were occupied, albeit the latter in a significantly better position than the former.

"Like I said, they can't help you. Nobody can."

"Saber, use your sword beam thing!" Issei shouted. However, there was no response, verbal or physical. Saber deployed six of his lances, used nearly a dozen different melee weapons, but he didn't use his "special attack". Watching him struggle, Yuuma laughed again.

"Before I kill you, how about I let you in on some info." Yuuma said, crouching down to Issei's level.

Suddenly, Issei felt a sharp pain in one of his legs. He gasped, unable to scream and barely able to breath. He looked back and saw a light spear going through his leg.

"There's two reasons your servant is so weak. One is that he can't use his true Noble Phantasm. I don't know why, but he doesn't have it, so he has to borrow his old friends'. The second reason is you. If you had any magical energy at all, or if someone else summoned him, things might be different, but you're just too weak. You're better off dying."

Yuuma stood back up, pulling the spear out of his leg and pointing it at his head. "Anything you wanna say back?" She asked, grinning gleefully.

"...maybe you're right…" Issei said weakly. "Yeah, I suck at a lot of things. I don't even know half of what this whole Holy Grail War thing is. Maybe I should've died that night."

Yuuma reeled her weapon back, but before launching it into his skull, she noticed a green emanating from him.

"But I'm not gonna die, not yet." Even with his injury, Issei pushed himself off of the ground. Even with the hole in his leg, he stood on his feet. He wobbled, and every ounce of pressure was excruciating. "Not until she's safe, I won't just lay down and die."

He took a single step towards Yuuma, clenching his teeth. More than just his leg, Issei felt his insides twisting and turning. He could feel his heart stopping and starting, his lungs collapsing and reforming. But he pressed on. He took another step, and the fallen angel stepped back. Her spear lowered, and his fist raised.

"So just, shut up!"

And for just a moment, an instant his brain didn't even register, he heard a roar. It wasn't from any animal he knew. It was monstrous and otherworldly; a roar that shook him down to his core. It was also a roar that resonated throughout his very soul.

The moment he threw that punch, he could hear the roar again, and he could see that his fist was covered in a red gauntlet; a gauntlet with a bright green gem on it.

END