Chapter 7

From deep beneath the church, a new power was let loose. A bright green light filled the underground chamber, and even the building above trembled. A roar, inaudible to regular humans, resonated throughout the chamber and escaped to the surface. Hearing the monstrous howl every animal in the surrounding forest fled, fearing for their very lives.

And at the same time, there was a solid impact and a pained yelp. The several dozens of people inside of the chamber, who were fighting just a moment ago, turned to see a Fallen Angel leaning against the wall. Issei stood a few feet in front of her, his fist stretched out. His left forearm was clad in a crimson red gauntlet with two golden horns and a green gem on the back of his hand.

He had just thrown a punch with all of his strength. Yet despite his current state, he hit harder than he should've been able to. It was at least twice as strong as his full strength. He hadn't re-adjusted his posture, frozen with surprise as what he just did.

"What… the hell?" Issei said to himself, staring at the red gauntlet. It didn't look or feel like metal. It was rigid and tough with a feeling much like lizard scales. As he brushed his other hand against the gauntlet, he noticed that the tattoo on his other hand changed. One third of it was faded out, leaving behind only a few blurred marks.

"That's…" Yuuma growled as she picked herself back up. "Your sacred gear?"

He heard the name before, from the very same girl that was in front of him now. She attacked him because of it, tried to kill him because of it. Even now, the name confused him, but he couldn't afford to dwell on it now.

Having bought himself a few seconds, Issei reassessed his situation. His heart was beating wildly, faster and erratically. His breathing was unusually heavy. His body ached and burned, yet he felt stronger than ever before. He looked to his side, to see his comrades in action.

Saber was doing far better than he was a few seconds ago. He was faster, he could fight back, and was slowly turning the tables on Assassin. The six floating lances he used increased to eight, and he was holding Durandal once more. Issei saw Saber's face, he was smiling. A thought popped up in Issei's head, a belief that victory was achievable.

"Idiots! Hurry up with the machine!" Yuuma shouted at the figures holding Asia.

Issei shifted focus back to Yuuma, who quickly recovered. She glared daggers at him, creating a large blade out of light. She lunged at him, but just as she brought it down, he sidestepped and easily avoided. He clenched his fist again and punched. Yuuma dodged, changing her swords to lances and hurling them both from a distance.

"Boost!" Issei heard a voice in his head, and felt another jolt of energy. He stepped aside, avoiding the incoming projectiles.

"I really am moving faster. This Sacred Gear thing is awesome!" Issei thought, grinning to himself.

The fallen angel tried again, throwing knife-like constructs at Issei. He ducked underneath before planting his foot in the ground and dashing forward. He reeled his fist back again, but missed when she dodged. As he came to a halt and turned, he heard an unnatural cracking sound. His leg suddenly hurt even more, like something was seriously damaged. Overwhelmed by the sensation, he immediately lost his footing and slipped.

"It makes me faster and stronger, but not tougher?" Issei groaned, but rolled away from an incoming thrust. He tried to stand up, feeling immense pain in his leg. "I really can't take much more." He looked at his arms to see the closed wounds starting to open back up. He looked at Asia, to see that she almost fully affixed onto the cross-shaped device.

There wasn't a moment to waste, but just as Issei prepared to attack again, he heard the voice again.

"Burst!" Suddenly, the well of energy that built up in his body was gone. As if an explosion went off inside of him, his strength vanished completely. He fell to his knees, barely able to keep himself up.

Yuuma burst into laughter at the sight of Issei grovelling in front of her. Her fear and confusion was gone, to Issei's irritation.

"Well Issei, looks like time ran out." She said, walking casually towards Issei. "You almost had me worried for a sec. But now I can see it was just a Twice Critical. I can't believe I wasted my time with you for just that." She raised her blade up, holding it just above the back of Issei's neck. She lifted it, and stopped before bringing it down. "Y'know, I have an idea." She said before withdrawing the blade.

"I don't even need to kill you. You're gonna collapse anyways. So just before you do." She approached Asia, still unconscious and fully attached to the cross. She raised one of her hands, and a magic circle appeared in front of her.

"D-don't touch her!" Issei demanded, unable to move his body.

In response to her gesture, the cross started to hum and glow. At the same time, the girl attached to the device weakly opened her eyes.

"I...Issei?" Asia whispered weakly, seeing his terrified expression.

Green and black electricity sparked from the machine, and Asia began to glow. She screamed, as if in pain, as the light became more intense.

"Asia!" Issei screamed He tried to force himself to move, but his body wouldn't obey his commands.

"Oh don't worry. You'll both be dead very soon." Yuuma said with a gleeful smile.

Asia looked to be in great pain, gritting her teeth instead of screaming. Her body shook uncontrollably. She wasn't even able to stop her hands from spreading and clenching rapidly. Her chest started to glow green, growing brighter and more opaque. Eventually, the sphere extended out of her chest. Two silver ring-like objects started to appear, causing Yuuma's smile to widen.

Suddenly, the light changed color. The green turned to white, and the rings sunk back into her body, much to everyone's confusion. The sparks of electricity turned into three bands of white light that surrounded her body, spinning rapidly. In a flash they exploded, connecting and transforming into a bright blue pillar. The pillar brightened and condensed before magical energy flooded through the chamber until finally, the pillar disappeared.

Asia was not attached to the cross anymore, but sitting beneath it. Like the rest of the room's occupants, she stared speechlessly. Something appeared in front of her, someone was in front of her: a young girl with light blue hair and half-elven ears. Her clothes resembled that of a princess; a beautiful yet simple blue and purple dress with two long tails, thigh highs and gloves, and a golden tiara on her head. In one of her hands was a three-ringed staff almost as long as her. She was most definitely a heroic spirit.

She looked completely out of place in the decrepit dungeon-like chamber. Her presence alone offset the atmosphere, much like a breath of fresh air, or a rainbow after the storm. The elf-like princess looked around the room, before turning to Asia and offering her hand.

"Servant, Caster… Master are you alright?" She asked with a look of concern.

"Thank god." She whispered to herself, before nodding her head tiredly. "Please, help Issei and Saber." she pleaded.

"Okay." Caster turned back, pointing her wand at the cloaked targets. Most if not all of the Assassins immediately retreated, disappearing into thin air and leaving behind the humans that attacked Koneko to suffer their fates

The young girl's mouth moved too quickly to form words, yet she wasn't just flapping her lips randomly. It would almost unnatural, inhuman. Subsequently, multiple large magical circles appeared around her. Each circle suddenly ejected beams of light, firing like bullets out of a machine gun. Although Koneko was untouched, it only took a few seconds for her to be standing alone. After the beams stopped firing, she was surrounded by nothing but smoke and dust.

"T-that's not possible." Yuuma stuttered, stepping back fearfully. "That many spells… Assassin! Get back here!" She screamed, but received no response.

Ignoring the fallen angel, Caster approached Issei, raising her staff above his head and mouthing something else. Whatever she was saying was again incomprehensible, yet when she finished, his wounds were gone. Not just the injuries on his arms and legs, but even his eye was restored completely. He was as good as new.

"Uh, thanks…" Issei muttered, looking surprised as he stood up without any pain. Caster didn't seem to hear him, or rather, she ignored him and approached Yuuma.

Yuuma looked frozen with fear. Rather, she actually was frozen where she stood. Everything about her posture screamed that she was about to turn tail and run for her life, yet she couldn't.

"What is this?! There's no way she could've summoned a Heroic Spirit!" Yuuma shouted, glaring at Asia. Without saying a word, the blonde girl took out a small gold-colored cloth. Both Yuuma's and Issei's eyes widened.

"So she really did summon one…" Issei thought to himself, shaking his head and shifting his attention. He looked back at Saber and Koneko, who were approaching him. However, he noticed that other people were appearing from the staircase. He sighed with relief, recognizing the intruders as Kiba, Rias, and Akeno.

"What? How did more of you get i-" Yuuma fell silent, noticing a clear bag of black feathers in Akeno's hand.

"We caught some of your friends trying to enter after we did. They weren't fast, strong, or even smart. It was kind of like taking out the trash or swatting bugs." Akeno explained, looking as nonchalaunt as ever.

"They did tell us some interesting stuff before they died." Rias said. She looked at Issei with Saber, and Asia with Caster, before looking back at the fallen angel. "You're not Assassin's true master, are you? Looks like you don't have any command seals."

She was right apparently. Issei didn't have a chance or reason to notice before, but now he did. Just like him, Asia had a red tattoo on her. Albeit, it was a different pattern and stretched across her forearm instead of her hand, but it was clearly there. No matter where he looked on Yuuma, there was nothing. Aside from the mark he left on her face, she was clean. The fact that she didn't even try to dispute seemed to confirm her claim.

"That actually makes this easier." Rias snapped her fingers, and a red magical circle appeared over Yuuma's head. "If you're just a regular fallen angel like your colleagues, killing you won't cause any complications. Any problem with this?" She asked, looking at Issei.

All things considered, there shouldn't have been hesitation. Yuuma had lied to, lured and tried to kill Issei. The only reason he was alive now was thanks to contracting with a servant, and subsequently joining a war he knew nothing about. The same went for Asia, more or less; both of them were in situations they shouldn't have been in. It was all because of this woman. Killing, or letting her be killed, would prevent her from causing trouble later. Yet Issei couldn't green light the action.

Issei wanted to turn away from the scene, and allow things to happen without him. However, before he could do so he heard something, a voice he had all but forgotten.

"Issei. Please help me."

He could hardly believe what he was seeing. The extremely revealing skin-tight black clothes that Yuuma wore were gone. Her wings were also nowhere to be seen. Instead, she looked just as she did when they were on their first date. Her devilish visage was also replaced by a soft and fearful facade.

"I know what I did was wrong, but it wasn't my fault. I was just following orders from my superiors. I… I still love you! I never forgot about our date, the time we spent together. So please, don't let me die here."

It was an obvious ploy; it couldn't have been anything else. She was most definitely trying to save herself, but it wasn't even just that. She chose to take the form of his first girlfriend, knowing that it would affect him. He felt many emotions; the green gem on his glowing in response. He knew exactly what he wanted, but as she was, he was practically powerless.

Issei lowered his head, shutting his eyes closed. "Rias… please do it."

In response the red haired girl's hand, and the red magical circle, glowed brighter. "With pleasure." There was a flash of red light, accompanied by an ear-piercing shriek. Both faded quickly, and the room returned to normal.

The fallen angels were gone, at least for now. Asia was safe, for the most part. However, there was no celebration of their success. On the contrary, another fight seemed about to start, as both Saber and Caster stared at one another intensely. The devils distanced themselves, expecting the two to fight. Fortunately for everyone, Durandal vanished, as did Caster's staff.

"Thank you, Caster." Saber said, smiling disarmingly and holding out his hand. "We could've done that without you."

"If my Master trusts you, then I do too." Caster reciprocated and shook his hand.

Watching the two heroic spirits, who according to the rules of the war should have been at each others' necks, having a friendly conversation was off putting. Everyone else looked at the two confused, but couldn't come up with the right words.

"You're the seventh, right?" Saber asked. Caster nodded back. "How about we work together. Y'know, against the others. Your healing magecraft is really impressive."

Caster looked back at Asia, who still looked stunned. Though Asia didn't respond, her answer was clear enough. "My Master's okay with it."

"Oh, an alliance." Something that they all seemed to forget about. While the war required all servants to fight one another, it didn't have to be immediate. Alliances could be formed just like in any war, at least until those allies were the only ones left. Although, considering their masters' circumstances, the result of that eventuality was anything but certain.

Rias suddenly walked over to Issei, pulling his hand towards her. She hummed quietly, curiously examining the red gauntlet. Her eyes widened with surprise. She mumbled something to herself, looking up at Issei with a jealous face.

"W-what is it?" He asked, glancing between her and their hands. They were touching… he was practically holding hands with the prettiest girl in the school. Although, her unsatisfied face prevented him from enjoying this moment to the fullest.

"This explains a lot. Your sacred gear, it's an extremely rare one. Though at first it looks like a Twice Critical, which isn't much, it is much much more than that. This is the Boosted Gear; the gauntlet of the Red Dragon Emperor. It doesn't just double your strength, but it does so without limit. Although it takes quite a long time to power up, ten seconds per each multiplication. You're extremely lucky to have something like this." She smiled, letting go of his hand.

"Oh, uh, thanks." Issei scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "How do I make the thing disappear? Can I just..." it was a longshot. If his will to fight was what summoned it, perhaps his will could also force it to disappear. He imagined the gauntlet disappearing, and to his surprise, it worked. The Boosted Gear had answered his wish, and was gone. "Oh, that was easy."

"Well, now that we're done here, all that's left is to go home."

"...Right." Issei looked away nervously. "Forgot about that."

"Worried about your parents? I wonder what they'd think about you and Asia being missing this late." She asked, giggling at the boy's misfortune. "Hmm… why not just tell them you were busy with club activities."

"I'm not in any clubs though."

"Well, as it so happens, the Occult Research Club has an open spot or two." Rias offered.

"Really? You'd do that?" He smiled excitedly.

"It'll benefit both of us. News is sure to spread about you being the owner of the Boosted Gear, meaning you might be targeted by other devils or fallen angels. But if everyone believes you belong to me, you'll be better protected from those challengers. You at least won't have to worry about people using underhanded methods to challenge you."

"Belong to you huh? Could have worded that a little better." Issei thought, smiling wryly. He shook his head of the thought. "What does this do for you though?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Rias looked at Issei in disbelief. "A one of a kind Sacred Gear that can kill a god, and a Sacred Gear that can instantly heal any injury. Let's just say, if either of you died here, I would've definitely brought you back. But that's a conversation for another day. Do we have a deal?"

He most certainly wanted to roll back the conversation. His ears were working; he definitely heard her talking about resurrection and he wanted to hear more about it. However, it was clear that she had no intention of letting that happen at the moment. His only option was to answer her question, and he did so without hesitation. "Alright, then I'll join."

"Perfect." Rias snapped her fingers, and her fellow devils gathered around her. "We'll see you tomorrow then… oh yeah, remember to show Asia how to get to school."

"Huh?" Asia looked up at Rias confused. "But I don't-I'm not a student."

"Sure you are. You're a foreign exchange student who's come to japan. Your uniform will come in the morning." without giving her a chance to retort, Rias snapped her fingers again. She, Akeno, Koneko, and Kiba were surrounded by a large red magic circle, and disappeared without a trace.

"Asia, are you ready to go-" Issei said, before suddenly being tackled. He froze with his arms up, looking down to see blonde hair at his chest. Asia's arms wrapped around him, squeezing tightly. If not for Caster's healing, he might've been crushed to death then and there. But more than just the immense amount of pressure around his waist, he felt a soft shaking coming from her. Unsure of how to respond, he slowly lowered his arms and put one hand atop her head. He looked to his side, where Saber held a proud thumbs up. Caster on the other hand, looked uneasy about something.

"It's been a long day… no, a really long few days." Issei sighed heavily, letting himself rest for a few minutes. In just three days, he had discovered the existence of devils, angels, spirits, and magic. The cherry on top, he befriended a stunningly cute girl and was on good terms with some of his school's most popular students.

Part of him certainly missed the old days, where he enjoyed his routines and daily cycles. Yet he had few regrets about where he was now. The pain and confusion, fear and anger, it was all made worthwhile. They were far from being done, and things were most certainly going to become more difficult. It was inevitable, it was fate.

END