For once, Ruby had decided to pick the venue of the strategy meeting. Student council and old school building were getting a bit stale.

A nice booth in a cafe with a couple of privacy fields around.

Ruby really just wanted a milkshake and not another cup of tea. It was of good quality but she could only drink so much of it.

"Who wants to go first?" Ruby asked once everybody received their orders. It was just her, Sona and Rias as the ones who would inevitably be dealing with the incoming mess. Kiba was also there as the one who fought the maniac and could have heard or seen something important.

"I'll start." Rias spoke up. "The exorcists that entered the city were chasing after Freed Sellzen, an ex-exorcist who…" She paused and glanced at Kiba. "Presumably stole one of the Excalibur fragments. They weren't exactly forthcoming with information and after Asia healed them, they left on their own. I've already sent my report to the archduke, we are waiting for a response from the church's officials."

"Well, that's rather straightforward." Ruby commented. "I wonder, the last time I saw that sword, she was held by somebody else, that brat would never stand a chance."

"You've met someone with Excalibur Rapidly?" Kiba asked, his eyes narrowing. Sona and Rias were also looking expectantly at her.

"Rapidly? Isn't that the one which gives a boost to speed? Heh, didn't notice." Ruby reminisced. "Anyway, yeah, it was about…two weeks before I came here. I was in the UK and caught a trail of a vampire kidnapping people. Hunted them down, entered their lair, thirty minutes later, when I was still inside, church showed up. I've met their strike team inside, led by some Griselda Quatra with the same sword we saw yesterday."

"Wait wait wait!" Sona stopped her. "You've met Griselda Quatra? How the hell did you get out?! She is one of the most dangerous exorcists currently alive! Definitely top 10, maybe even top 5." Kiba was nodding along, he may have left the church behind but as a child he had heard stories about her.

"Nothing happened." Ruby waved them off. "I gave rescued people over to some two girls yo-our age, who were with her and then me and Griselda cleared out the rest of the bloodsuckers." She finished, her expression souring in the end, remembering the stupid bet. She would still insist she won.

The three devils stared at her with wide eyes, Sona being the first to process the story. She shook her head, took a sip of iced coffee and decided that they got sidetracked enough. "Okay. With that out of the way let's get back to business. Freed, Excalibur Rapidly, anything else? Kiba, you fought him for some time, did he mention anything? From what Rias told me about his last visit, he wasn't exactly the one to stay quiet."

"I'm sorry. I…wasn't paying much attention." Kiba said, receiving a worried look from Rias, slightly disappointed glance from Sona and a small huf from Ruby, who grumbled under her breath about how much of an understatement his words were.

"Ruby?"

"He was forcibly teleported out of the city before I could ask anything. I shot him through his foot and cut off his arm but there are plenty of things that can heal that. He is human so my scythe was normal steel to him, neither did I put anything extra on the bullet." Should have at least applied a tracking spell through it. Or put a rune on the guy. Oh well, you live, you learn.

"Hmm. That still gives us very little to work with…" Sona stroked her chin in thought while Rias was enjoying something with little strawberries and an overwhelming amount of whipped cream. "Maybe the church will actually give us something in response… Anyway, about the vision I and Rias had. I checked some names and I think I have a prime suspect." She announced. So what if the other two had been running around catching bad guys. She was also being productive.

"Kokabiel, angel of the stars. Ten winged fallen, cadre of Grigori and with a history of aggressive behavior, provocation and overall too much liking for violence" She also presented a very old photo of a tall man with long black silky hair. "This one was made during WWII. He has his wings tucked in but that's him and… I think he quite matches the silhouette we saw. Maybe if he skipped brushing his hair for a day."

Ruby whistled. "Got a big fish after you already, huh?" She smirked at Sona and Rias. "Well? Do we take it seriously and call your siblings?"

The girls frowned at the thought.

"Buchou…" Kiba spoke up. "There were also three broken pieces of holy metal flying at you… We have one Excalibur here… There is no other sword that would fit the description better."

"So we are waiting for the other two to show up." Ruby added.

"We will handle it ourselves." Sona said with finality in her voice. "Right now, we have no threat in the city. If Freed crawls back with the swords he can barely use, he won't leave again. Until we can confirm who is our ten winged angel, or even if there is one to begin with, nobody is dragging Satans to our city!"

-WoR-

The last couple of days were quite stressful but surprisingly calm. None of their clients died, nobody tried to enter the city again.

Didn't mean the two princesses didn't have their hands full. The deals were still coming in, the school still needed to be managed but now they also had to somehow talk to the church.

But to their surprise…

"Archduke has already sent a response." Rias announced when Sona entered the ORC clubroom.

"It wasn't even a day." Sona asked with suspicion.

"Yes. It's not exactly a response for our question, more like an announcement. Something was stolen from them, I think we can guess what exactly they are talking about. They are sending two better exorcists to get the swords back and are warning us to let them through our territory and not to intervene."

"Isn't that just great…" Sona sarcastically commented and started pacing around the room. "Did they at least say who they were sending?"

"Nope." Rias idly replied.

Sona sighed. "Hopefully they won't make this thing too difficult."

"Considering the competency of their previous group… They can't go lower, can they?"

/

You really don't know anything? You've been around for much longer and…well, you've been possessing people as a spirit.

What the witch is trying to teach you is beyond both my knowledge and authority.

Pyrrha sighed and continued to walk ahead.

Honestly, it was Saturday and she felt more drained than she felt during the week.

New training with Ruby. Doing extra at the council because Sona was trying to figure out what was going on with her vision and subsequent invasion.

Two lives and both of them started going to shit when magic got involved.

She would be able to cram even more things to do into her schedule if she started teleporting around like the rest of her friends were doing but she still wasn't that comfortable doing it.

She was also, just maybe, taking a more scenic route around town to get some down time.

Her phone started ringing. With a tired eye roll she fished it out of her pocket. Nobody was calling.

The tune was starting to get annoying. She started to look around.

It's the witch calling you through that spell of hers.

Oh right! Ruby insisted on getting a spell for telepathic communication after her visit to the underworld. …how do I pick it up?

You spend so long setting it up… I'll connect it. The spell was connected to Pyrrha's mind, she was closer to it anyway.

"Do you hear me?"

"Ruby? Yes, I hear you."

"Good, okay, ther- Wait. Did you say it out loud?"

Noo? Pyrrha said in her head. At least she hoped so. She was pretty sure Ruby was giving her a deadpan. Anyway, I'm not going back, we already spent hours with your necromancy idea and I have other things to do.

"It's not necromancy! It's a high end spiritual invocation! I've already told you that it's different! Ah forget it, not why I've called… I've got two entries. By the location of entry I'd say they arrived by plane. The important thing? Those two had almost identical energy reading as Freed, in amount, feel and intensity. As for the actual people that got in… One of them is about the same level as were you before we've met and the other is…not so far from a normal human. Hell, even Freed was more in tune with magic. Issei was worse but considering that he is bordering on being a magical cripple…"

"Ruby…" Pyrrha breathed out. You are getting distracted. What is going on?

"Sorry, sorry. Assume we have two Excaliburs in Kuoh. I'm already messaging everyone to group up. Drei is looking for our guests. Get to school asap and we'll go from there."

She heard a faint click and Ruby disconnected the spell.

Three streets later, she was crossing one of the more tourist oriented districts. And of course two girls her age were in the middle of getting scammed by some street vendor who was trying to sell them some sort of painting. By their looks she assumed that they were in Kuoh for yet another cosplay convention. Seriously, for the last couple of years there was usually at least one every two or three months. At least one in a year was with a heavy magical girl theme.

"...via! This is a real deal! We have to take it!" One of the girls, blonde with long twintails, shouted at the other one.

She wasn't that into buying random street art. "Irina! This. Is. Junk! I get it that you are happy to be home but stop wasting our money!" The taller, blue haired girl vehemently opposed the purchase.

"Excuse me." Pyrrha stepped in. It would look bad for the city if the tourists were getting scammed too much. And she was already there anyway. "But maybe you should go to more…reputable places in town. I know a good karaoke bar a couple streets away." She gave her best smile and gently pulled them away from the seller.

Twenty meters away, when the blonde one finally gave up on trying to come back, they stopped. Instead of a subtle escape it was more like Pyrrha and the taller girl dragging the third one away.

"Thanks for the help, I guess." She spoke decent english. Pyrrha was right about tourists, although the other one was looking distinctly asian.

"It's alright, just wanted to help you out." Pyrrha replied with a smile and bid them farewell.

"Heh, I guess even if they are pagans there are still decent people here." Xenovia shook her head. "Come on, that thing was worthless so stop moping and let's get to work."

"Can I at least visit some of my friends before we have to deal with the devils?" irina meekly asked.

-WoR-

"Care to repeat that?" Ruby asked with quite a bit of edge in her voice.

Sona took a deep breath and looked her right in the eyes. "I'm telling you to sit this one out."

Ruby took a step closer and spoke in a quiet hiss. "You do realize that I'm the best fighter in the city. There are holy swords and a powerful fallen screwing around and you are telling me to sit on my ass and do nothing?"

"Exactly! We have problems with exorcists and fallen angels. The best outcome is that they manage to kill each other and none of it will become our problem. No matter what you say and do, you are still a devil, if you get involved, you'll drag the rest of us with you. So please stay away from it. Rias already has trouble keeping Kiba in line with Excaliburs being so close, at least one of us has to be fully committed to solving this."

"I want to meet whoever the church sends, what if they are incompetent and get themselves killed leaving us with their mess or they attack you."

"No. You are not a part of our peerages, I can't justify you being there. Just go home, we will handle it." Sona stepped away from her and went for the door. "And now if you'll excuse me, I have two exorcists somewhere on their way to meet with me, I need to get some things in order." She briefly turned around and looked and gave Ruby a pointed look. "And remember. Stay. Out."

Rias might have been alright with the idea to involve others. Her peerage came first, she would be willing to sacrifice a small amount of her pride to keep them safe.

But she couldn't allow that. She was here to learn how to manage a territory. How would she do so if she was to call for help every time things get a bit more complicated.

/

"They were exorcists?!"

"Excaliburs were stolen and they sent those two?!"

After Ruby was kicked out of Excalibur crisis solving, she summoned Drei, told him to sit near the school entrance and connected his eyes to a scrying spell. Then she called up Pyrrha so that they would be able to take a look together.

Which led to the discovery of who exactly had church sent.

"You know them?!" They looked at each other with surprise. "Okay, I'll go fi-" they continued to speak in unison until Pyrrha covered her mouth with her hands in embarrassment and Ruby was giving her a perfect deadpan.

After receiving a shy nod, Ruby spoke first. "Met them before coming to Kuoh and… I wouldn't say they are exactly the best church has to offer."

"I ran into them when I was in the city. They were about to get scammed so I helped out. I didn't know they were exorcists, just cosplayers."

"That's quite an assumption…" Ruby said scepticaly.

"With how often some parties and conventions are being held in the city it's more likely to be true." Pyrrha looked back at the girls disappearing inside the school building. "So, what now?"

"Well… I can't interfere personally but it doesn't mean I can't have Drei tail them. And sending a sniper round here and there isn't fighting." Ruby answered with a smirk.

"Think they can handle it?"

"Unless they got significantly better since last time I saw them, I doubt they could handle Freed by themselves, much less whoever was helping him."

"I think I'll just stick with the student council. They'll probably tell me if anything goes wrong."

-WoR-

Searching the city in a larger group was definitely better for efficiency. Too bad most of the members mistrusted each other. Or outright hated.

And then they split up, Xenovia went with Kiba and Irina was with Issei and Saji.

The first two could somewhat tolerate each other, preferring to focus on finding the swords. That meant that the pair stayed mostly quiet.

Irina's group was a bit different. She was either in denial or was simply trying to ignore her childhood friend becoming a devil, so she was trying to be more casual and catch up on what happened in the town while she was away. Not that Issei minded. He was more than happy to oblige, especially now that his friend turned out to be a pretty girl instead of a boy he thought her to be for years.

Saji was just pretty much third wheeling.

Unfortunately their night walk through the city was interrupted by a certain psychotic swordsman. Although this time, he had a different sword.

The trio stood in a loose circle, their backs turned on each other while they were looking for the invisible enemy.

Then things got worse.

Smoke bombs, Irina's screams, gunfire, Freed's laughter followed by panicked cursing and lastly, a deep growl.

When the smoke finally cleared out, the two dragon wielders saw the aftermath.

Wounded Irina, Excalibur Mimic nowhere in sight. Deep gashes on the walls and pavement along with bullet holes. And a lot of blood. With a rather obvious trail going away from the scene.

/

"I'm telling you! It was some fucking giant dog!" Freed continued to yell as Valper injected another dose of questionable regenerative concoction. It did help him regrow his arm so healing a deep cut on his neck would also go well.

Kokabiel was just sitting in an armchair on the porch outside of the cottage outside the town they were using as a base before it was time to go into the city proper. For the most part, he was contemplating what went so wrong that he had to involve those two idiots in his plans. Of course, he needed someone to run around swinging Excalibur and Freed was one of the few people crazy enough to go along with Valper's idiotic ideas about reforging the thing and making him able to wield it.

But something wasn't adding up. None of the available information mentioned a guarding dog. And from what he understood from Freed's retelling it was clear that the thing could have killed him rather easily. And yet he was able to crawl back and even bring Mimic.

He looked towards the city, lost in thoughts, only to see something red fly into the skies.

He got up and briskly walked inside. While entering, he briefly turned around and threw a light spear at the very edge of the city's barrier.

Without giving the two any chance to object, they all teleported away.

A moment later, the house was swallowed by a ball of vermilion flames.

Two minutes after that, a small corgi ran out of the forest and started sniffing around the crater.

/

Ruby let the fifteen lined-up circles above her dissolve and put Crescent Rose back into the small pocket dimension.

Drei had already reported that while she hit the target, he couldn't confirm anything at site. Add to that, that somebody blew a hole in her barrier mere seconds before impact and she was pretty sure they had gotten away, now hiding somewhere inside the city.

In hindsight, she should have simply gotten rid of Freed when he was running away.

What's done is done. She didn't care about the swords in the slightest. They weren't even that powerful to begin with, the problem with them was mostly about how much political shitshow was around them. She felt a bit bad about essentially using exorcists as bait but the girl was already patched up and it's not like she didn't know what she was signing up for, right?

The question was: What to do now?

There might have been a hole in her barrier, so she didn't know who, how many or how strong but she was able to get some leftover energy from the attack. Light element, quite a lot of it.

She had to prepare a couple things. If Kokabiel, and all things considered it was pretty much confirmed that this whole thing was his fault, attacked directly it would be a disaster. She and Pyrrha would probably be able to beat him if they fought him two on one, especially if the devils were far enough so that Pyrrha could use Rhongomyniad, but she somehow doubted they would be that lucky. As for somebody else fighting him…

Devils were at the disadvantage from the get go and none of them were simply strong enough to put up a fight. Even Issei simply hadn't grown in strength enough for his balance breaker to make the difference.

Well…she had a 'little' contingency set up. Initially it was made in case Grayfia or somebody on her power level would try to go after her but using it against Kokabiel wouldn't require any changes. It would only reveal its existence. Too bad Gae Bolg wasn't ready yet… On that note she decided that she would need to finish the infusion process. The thing still had about a week worth of energy to go through, not to mention who knows how much time until the spear would be stable enough to use.

But first, she needed to repair the barrier and message Pyrrha that the enemy was most likely in the city.

-WoR-

He should have expected it to turn out like this.

Valper was predictably hiding in some hole soiling his pants.

Freed was dead, and oh was he happy he wouldn't need to listen to his voice ever again.

He summoned a couple of 'burrowed' Cerberi to bring the Sitri heires closer but the barrier above the school was still active, his dogs had clearly failed.

He really missed his army. Most of them were dead and those few who were left were either too loyal to Azazel or needed to be elsewhere to prepare for the coming war.

No matter. Once he'd succeed he would get his wish granted. To lead his brothers and sisters to the final victory.

But now, he would have to do everything by himself.

It was very, very boring.

Baraqiel's daughter wasn't living up to the expectations at all.

Vasco gave him a much better fight. The current wielder of Durandal was rather disappointing. The other swordsman had some nice tricks up his sleeve but not good enough to achieve anything.

And yet they somehow killed juiced up Freed with Fused Excalibur. Maybe Valper actually was capable of something decent.

But the biggest disappointment was Sirzechs' little sister and current Red Dragon Emperor.

She was supposed to be the second coming of the crimson Satan but he was seeing none of that. And the supposed emperor was nothing compared to that Vali brat Azazel kept around.

And it seemed that more guests were arriving to witness the beginning of the war.

A human girl in bronze armor carrying a spear and a round shield. And a… dog? It was almost six feet tall at its shoulders with a body almost thrice as long without counting the tail. It was all covered in metal armor, or was it made of it entirely? On its head was a single red eye with a rose symbol printed on it. It also had an unrealistically long tail with a large curved blade on its end. And the creature was literally dripping with blood. At least he now knew where his own hounds went.

Oh, and now they were bitching about the newcomer not getting involved in the fight.

He agreed with that. This was their fight, not meant for humans.

The tall redhead briefly looked up and their eyes met.

It is said that eyes are windows to the soul. For angels, it was much more literal. Not that he ever cared for that particular skill. He preferred to learn about a person through the exchange of blows. Not like sister Gabriel who would know every single of your fears and pleasures from a single glance.

He almost chuckled. A human intending to be a protector of devils. He would inevitably win but he wouldn't enjoy this fight.

But that left one question.

Who blew up his first base?

None of the people he had met so far was even remotely capable of it. Gremory was the only one with enough raw power to do it but she lacked the control to cause it over so much distance.

He was starting to get annoyed. Nobody was giving him even a half-way decent fight, instead they were bickering. He gave them enough courtesy.

Sitri's barrier shattered. Almost by instinct he summoned a lightsword and threw it in the way of the incoming projectile that was aimed at his head.

The large bullet was cut in half, the energy bound to it causing a bright red explosion.

Kokabiel smirked. That was more like it!

And now the Sitri group was joining the fight as well. He ignored them for now. He knew where both heiresses were and his own barrier around the city was blocking any communication or teleportation.

He glimpsed a red cloak as somebody closed in. Behind the two groups of devils now stood yet another girl.

/

"So…should I still be sitting this out?" Ruby innocently asked while surveying the battlefield. Thankfully, nobody on their side was dead but it was obvious they were all beaten up or running on fumes. Or both. "Well, I'm joining anyway."

In the air above them, Kokabiel heartily chuckled. "What is it with you people and pulling out aces at the last moments when it won't even matter."

"Because teaming up, coordinating and simply piling up against you was too low and was rubbing their pride too much." Ruby dryly commented and glanced at tired Sona and roughed up Rias. "Anyway, there is already one body, the sword is broken and nobody bothered to tell what this entire thing was about, so if you would kindly leave, it would be appreciated." She looked up at the angel and hoped he would buy it. There was a rather simplistic but powerful spell she needed to disable before she could focus on solving something else, so getting him to talk would be great.

He incredulously looked down at her and then burst into mad laughter.

"So that's how Azazel felt! To stand at the cusp of victory…and that fool threw it all away." He sharply looked down at them. "No, child, this is the moment when the fallen will claim what was denied to us all those years ago."

"You want to restart the war." Sona spoke out, eyes wide in horror.

"You start a war and then what? At best you'll all end up killing each other." Ruby answered him.

"You really think so?" Kokabiel asked with a smirk. "We already won once, the leaders of both devils and Heaven were defeated but that coward refused to finish it." He briefly paused. "Oh right, you don't even know that. I wonder how much Michael needed to beg Azazel and Sirzechs to keep it a secret…" He sneered at the thought. "The truth is, that the old satans weren't the only leaders to perish at the end of the war. Your god, my Father, has also died."

It hit hard, especially the three girls that were much closer to christianity than others. The devils were mostly just surprised, the leader of their greatest enemies was supposedly dead long before any of them were even born.

Ruby on the other hand had different problems. If this was some sort of last moment admission, he was about to attack and she wasn't done yet. She needed more time. "Where is your proof?" She shouted out.

"Proof?! I saw it myself, what other proof do you need?" He sharply replied.

"You are our enemy, everything you just said might have been only to sow confusion."

"You think I would stoop so low as to lie?!" He angrily roared.

"Well, you went low enough to work with these two nutjobs to assassinate two little girls." Ruby pointed at Freed's corpse and jabbed her thumb towards Valper's hiding place.

"Very well, if you want proof then look no further than the turned nun. If Father was still supervising the Sacred Gear system then she wouldn't be able to heal devils."

"Isn't christian god supposed to be kind and merciful? Even humanity managed to agree that all combatants are to be helped equally, regardless of which flag they fought under."

"Then what about this abomination?" He pointed at Kiba. "A sword that is both holy and demonic?"

Ruby also took a look at it. "I don't even know what it is. Kiba?"

"My balance breaker." He quickly replied, not taking his eyes away from the fallen.

"Well duh." Ruby also turned to their adversary. "It's kind of in the name. They break away from the norm. Compared to what longinus tier sacred gears can do this isn't that big of a deal."

"Then why aren't his angels here trying to stop me, instead relying on two little girls?"

"When was the last supposed miracle? Sure, an uninvolved god is not much different from a dead one but as far as I'm concerned, it's better this way. Whenever a deity gets involved in worldly affairs, everything goes downhill." Ruby offhandedly replied. "Besides, are you even sure he is truly dead? It's one thing for any of us to die but for gods it's much more complicated. Losing a physical body won't kill them. Your father has a lot of followers, with all of the faith going to him it would just take some time to reform, not to mention if he had some sort of connection to any of the more powerful concepts."

"He will hardly come back." Kokabiel scoffed. "Michael is taking all of the faith to keep the Heaven system running and even then the thing is falling apart. My Father is de-"

A large yellow mandala appeared above the ground, its form almost fading away. It cracked and broke down into small motes of light which then rushed to Ruby and were absorbed into her body.

"That was the earthbreaker spell…" Rias breathed out.

"You were stalling." Kokabiled said, his voice now much more serious as he focused on Ruby.

"I just wanted to clean up before making an even bigger mess." She shot back with a smug smirk on her face. "Also wanted to know the main villain at fault for all of this."

"Hm, so I am the villain?" He raised an eyebrow. "I suppose it might be true from your point of view. Would that make you the hero who comes at the end to steal the show?"

Ruby chuckled. "Not really." She threw her arms over Sona and Rias' shoulders. "I'm here to steal the prize." Anti-teleportation barrier and an enemy with air superiority? She never needed any of that to keep her opponents eating dust.

Everyone, even Pyrrha, were staring wide eyed as Ruby took off with their leaders, leaving only a small crater from how much power she put into her run.

"I see…" Kokabiel dryly commented, still floating above them. "And what's stopping me from killing all of you and then going after them?"

Pyrrha raised her shield and entered her combat stance. "Because each moment you spend here is more time for them to get out of the barrier and call for backup."

"Hell yeah!" Issei got his…fourth wind(?) and got ready to continue. "There is no way we are letting you go after them!"

The others also started to rise.

Kokabiel looked up, searching for the direction in which they had run away, scoffed, and with a mighty push of his wings launched after them.

/

Was this how newly reincarnated knights felt? Sona thought when Ruby finally stopped and let both her and Rias hit the forest floor.

"Listen up!" Ruby spoke up. "Continue in this direction, it's the fastest route to the edge of the barrier. Call for help."

"What? How… How could you leave everyone?!" Rias raged.

"Because you are the target. Both of you actually. With you gone, he will come after." Ruby looked up, smirked and snapped her fingers.

The two devils felt a large spell activate and the forest grew almost silent. Everything was gone, even ambient mana in the air was being siphoned into the ground.

And then Kokabiel reached them. Two lightspears cut through the air, aimed at the two heiresses only to never reach their targets. The light grew dimmer, cracks started to appear. Meters before reaching their destination the spears collapsed and the light rained on the ground.

Few moments later, their creator appeared.

Kokabiel looked around before focusing on the three girls. "And how much did running help you?" He of course realized that he was in a somewhat similar type of barrier he himself created above the city but that wouldn't help them in the slightest.

"You should know that we have to keep away from the mundane, blowing up the school wouldn't fit into that, would it?" Ruby replied and took out Crescent Rose, pointing it at the fallen, still in the rifle form.

Behind her, Sona noticed that while she held the weapon in left hand, her right was hidden behind her back and she was quickly drawing some strange lines in the air. With the madness around it took her a while to remember that Ruby knew rune magic.

"I propose a wager." Ruby loudly proclaimed. "They are already beaten and exhausted, what about we duke it out just two of us. Winner gets the girl, or two in this case. Quite a classic, wouldn't you say?"

The sequence of five runes was finished.

"And what's stopping me from killing them right now?" Kokabiel asked with no worry in his voice.

"Can you afford to look away from me?" She hit the mechashift switch, revealing the anti-monster blade. And the three otherworldly creatures felt that it wouldn't be nice to them.

For him, it was a dilemma. On one hand he needed to kill the two devil princesses to accomplish his goals. On the other hand, all of today's fighting was so extremely boring and here he had someone who at least looked somewhat competent.

And her eyes… She might have been giving him a lot of cheek but those silver pools had only cold determination. No fanfare or long-winded proclamation. She would go for the head the second he would turn away.

"Very well, then let's fight." He replied and summoned two light-swords.

The runes behind Ruby's back lit up before disappearing.

The contract has been formed.

By invisible force, Sona and Rias have been thrown away from the two fighters.

Kokabiel frowned, noticing that something changed. "I agreed to something I shouldn't have."

Ruby grasped her scythe with both hands and took a proper stance. "You are in devil territory. Sketchy deals are the bare minimum you should expect."

He looked behind the girl. His targets were still disoriented and yet to pick themselves up from the ground. With a quick twist of his wrists, he was a moment away from throwing his swords at them.

It hurt. His muscles, his bones, his power. It all roared in protest. They weren't the enemy, the girl in front of him was.

He barely managed to raise his arms to block a shot. It didn't hurt much but it left a strange itchy red mark on his forearm.

She was gone, probably hiding somewhere in the woods.

Six red dots appeared between the trees around and launched at him. He cut down four. Fifth was a fake. Sixth left the same red mark on the left side of his waist.

Spreading out his wings he shot upward. If he would get high enough, he would be able to wipe out the entire place with one attack.

And again his body ached.

Go back. Fight. Fight her. Kill her.

The more he tried to get away, the more it felt like he was having a full body cramp.

Below him, a large red circle with a rose in the middle appeared. Barely twisting away in time for the attack to only hit his uppermost right wing. It was the same attack that he stopped right before she showed up.

His wing wasn't healing back.

He scowled and glared downward. To wound your opponent in battle was a necessity. To bear a scar was an honor for a warrior.

But to soil angel's wings?

Unforgivable. Now it was personal.

Swords in hands, he charged back into the forest.

/

/

/

Next chapter:

Ruby and Kokabiel play cat'n'mouse but can't agree who is who. Vali gets run over. And Pyrrha makes a Fate reference.

/

Still looking for people who want to help me with the cover image.

Or pay for it. Actually, can somebody at least check if my pat*reon works? During the last update I kinda forgot to add tiers…

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Replies:

To kuriboh1233: I already have a somewhat thought out ship for Pyrrha, Ruby's is WIP and neither will be making an appearance for at least 5-10 chapters. As for what you ship in your head… have fun!

To ArguableReader: She still prefers to fight with her sweetheart but she is no longer completely helpless without it. Not a CQC master but gets by enough to come up with something better. And ofc, compared to Sona, who is a pure caster build, Ruby bodies her handily.

To TYPE-RWBYFanatic64: Oh, you have no idea what I have planned :D (evil laughter SFX)