Darksiders DXD

by MysticVegito

The Horsemen of the Apocalypse have expunged all those who would imperil the Balance over the eons. Now humanity is in peril as outside forces plot a premature Endwar that could potentially wipe out the Third Kingdom before it's time. Will the Council's enforcers succeed in rooting out the perpetrators before it's too late?

4. Chapter 4

~Twilight Healing~

The next day went by with nothing eventful happening, no angel or fallen angel on sight, at least from what Rias' 'queen' reported. But Death knew better, for who knows how many of them found their way to Earth and for how long did the Council wait till they inform them of this. At times to the horsemen, even the ancient entities like themselves can be unreliable, despite granting them unimaginable power.

The night soon came, and this time Death in his human disguise accompanied Issei on his way home, for he is not known to stay in one place for long, even if it is Earth.

"I don't get it. Why would you want to come over to my place?" Issei asked in annoyance.

"I don't." Death said, making Issei turn his attention to the rider, who was walking next to him. "I merely want to take a walk and do a little recon myself, it sickens me to be standing around in that club of yours." He looked forward before he glanced towards Issei. "And since you are a devil now, I need to know where your home is located, since you are the only devil privileged to still live among the humans."

"That's because I was a human!" Issei exclaimed in frustration.

"Precisely." Death said before he stopped, while Issei raised his eyebrow in slight confusion when he did, making him turn around.

"What is it? Why did you stop?" Issei asked.

"I'm curious. Do you actually find your devil life repulsive, or were those words you said before was just to spare them from their executions?" Death asked curiously. Issei knew where he was going with that question because he witnessed everything that happened there, and of his execution that would surely end the lives of the devils if Issei wasn't there. He has no choice but to be honest, for his own sake.

"Look, I know you'd like nothing more than to kill them. And from what Rias explained to me, I kinda understand. And yeah, I don't like the fact that I have to live my life as a damn servant, even to a hot chick like Rias." Issei said seriously before he smiled, which made Death slightly surprised and curious. "But I meant some of the words I said back there. I may have to suck it and be a good little pawn, but this way I get to live my life even better than when I was a human, meeting new friends and all that." He smiled, implying to the time when he met Asia, something that he still cherishes till this day.

"So those devils are not really your friends, are they?" Death said grimly, startling Issei a little.

"No, they're not." Issei said seriously as he looked down.

"I figured that much, since you are an infamous pervert in your school." Death smirked slightly as he started to walk with his hands in his pockets.

"I knew you would end up there, you're such a dick!" Issei whined childishly, while Death let out a muffled chuckle as he ignored his insults. It's gonna take a lot more than that to tick him off, something that War or Fury should really learn of. But since demons are prone to violence even with the simplest of insults, with the Nephilim's origins being half demon, it's no surprise to him.

Suddenly Death stopped again, this time he was on full alert, while Issei stopped behind him in confusion.

"What now?" Issei asked curiously.

"Something's not right." Death said seriously as he looked at the house to his right.

Through the two windows he could see that one was completely dark, while the other was barely illuminated. His senses never failed him and this time it's no different, which is why he decided to inspect the situation without arousing suspicion from whoever intrudes inside the house.

"Hey, wait for me." Issei said as he followed Death.

The two of them stood in front of the door, with Death noticing that the doors are slightly open, to his increased suspicion. He walked silently inside, on full alert on possible ambush that might occur from the shadows. Issei had no idea what was going on, but as soon as he took a step inside the house, his devil senses alerted him of the danger, sending a strong surge across his entire body.

"Uh oh, I just had that weird feeling again! This also happened when I was with Asia." Issei thought in shock and surprise as he looked left and right before he returned his attention to Death, who was slowly walking towards the illuminated room to the right. "He knows that something's off about this place. Talk about sharp senses." He thought as he closed the doors behind him and quickly caught up to Death.

As soon as he did, Death raised his hand silently, prompting Issei to stop in his tracks while the rider looked down on the wet floor. He knelt down and he scraped it a bit to see what it is, sniffing the liquid from his colored fingers.

"Blood. Human blood." Death said grimly as he stood up.

"Did you say blood?!" Issei exclaimed in shock and disgust.

While it did not affect Death in the slightest, Issei gagged in disgust as he saw mutilated corpses not far from them, along with another corpse impaled with a large stake on the chest and several nails pinned through his arms and legs, which almost made Issei vomit.

"Punish the wicked, words to live by." The unknown, gray-haired man said, drawing Death's and Issei's attention. "Yes, wise advice to heed from a holy man." The man said as he twisted his head backward before sticking his tongue out sadistically. When he stood up, the man was dressed in white and gray priest outfit and wearing a cross around his neck.

"Well well, you two have just walked into the wrong house, my friends." The man smirked as he bowed down mockingly. "Freed Selzen here, at your service. And you must be a scared little pussies whose devil asses this holy priest is gonna exorcise!" The man known as Freed said excitedly with sadistic grin.

"Aren't you a comedian. I am something far worse than a devil." Death said as he glared daggers at the man, making Freed whistle mockingly in turn.

"Aren't I in trouble?" Freed said before he laughed sadistically a little. "Then again, upon closer observation, you don't have the aura of a devil. Your little friend over there who basically shit his pants though…"

"Wait! Did you say a priest?!" Issei flinched in fear.

"Yup. I work for a certain devil purging organization you may have heard of." Freed said as he grinned sadistically.

"You're the one who killed those humans?" Death threatened in angry tone.

"Why would you do that?! You're a human too, why would you kill them as well?!" Issei exclaimed in outrage and confusion as to why they would die along with the devils he is supposed to solely purge. But Freed said nothing for a moment or two before he started to laugh loudly.

"That's funny, that's really funny! Even a devil has to give me a lecture!" Freed said as he continued to roar in laughter, but he quickly calmed down before he frowned in annoyance at Issei. "Now listen up, you little shit. You feed on human desire, right? The humans who provide you sustenance can't be called human anymore." He said seriously as he walked towards the corpse pinned on a wall. "Therefore i kill them before they are tainted even further. And amen to the kindness i give them in turn!" He grinned wickedly as he started to stomp on the person's head before he pulverized it in gory bits.

"So it makes these devils no better than the demons of Hell." Death thought grimly as he glanced at Issei, who gritted his teeth in anger at Freed's ruthless killing of these people.

He had his suspicions towards these devils, but it would seem that some of them were justified, like these devils feeding on the desires of the humans like Freed said, a fact proven with Rias' flyer deliveries. Alas, the method of these devils seems far more tame than the atrocious acts the demons did to the humans over many millennia, for those who were foolish enough to disobey the Council that is. But it was too early to carry out his sentence on the devils, they may yet of be of use until future events deem otherwise, but that doesn't mean he's not taking any mental notes.

"You bastard!" Issei said in anger.

"Oh? Did i make you mad, little devil?" Freed taunted before he smirked. "It doesn't matter, for putting down degenerate devils and the lost souls that would cry out to them is my job after all…" Freed then pulled out a gun and a sword hilt of a sort. "And no one is better at it than me." Then a straight, sharp light stuck out of the hilt.

"Good for you." Death asked sarcastically.

"That's a sword of light." Issei thought in fear while standing behind Death.

The pale rider also recognized the weapon. It was certainly not of human's design, this is one of many light blessed weapons in the White City's arsenal. Judging by his sadistic behavior, he can only confirm that he was a follower of the Fallen Angels, since they too got a hold of lightforged weapons before they were banished.

"You're a cocky little prick, aren't you? Well then…" Freed grinned wickedly as he pointed a gun at Death. "How about you eat a bullet blessed by the exorcist, you shitty little imp?"

Now Death had enough. He's maybe a human, but he sealed his fate when he joined the fallen ones.

"So long, devil scumbag! Kablam!" Freed stuck his tongue out before he pulled the trigger and fired a round from his gun.

Much to Freed's shock however, Issei's as well, Death caught the priest's bullet with lightning speed reaction, the back of his hand almost touching his forehead. Then he flicked the bullet at Freed's gun barrel, pinning it inside. Freed was caught completely off guard by that maneuver he stumbled back a bit before gritting his teeth in frustration. Death said nothing as he continued to look at the lunatic with the same, grim glare.

"Just die, you piece of shit!" Freed pointed the gun at Death again, but as soon as pulled the trigger the gun exploded, not realizing that the bullet Death flicked back was stuck inside the barrel. Freed screamed in agony as burning pain coursed in his hand, starting to get really angry as Death stood there like a statue, not changing his expression at all. Admittedly, he was starting to be afraid of him too, but no damn devil underling is going to deter him from his path.

"I'll admit, I'm impressed. That's quite a trick you pulled." Freed grinned wickedly as he clutched onto his sword of light with two hands. "Now let's see if you can catch my sword as I cut you in pieces!" Freed shouted as he jumped in the air.

"Watch out!" Issei called out for Death, but he didn't listen as he just stood there casually, while Freed laughed like a maniac, certain that he was going to get the kill.

But in a blink of an eye, Death finally decided to act as he pulled out his right scythe and effortlessly parried Freed's sword, much to the insane priest's shock and horror.

"Man, this guy is awesome. He just parried his attack like it was no big deal." Issei thought in amazement as Death glared at Freed while he struggled to gain the upper hand, but to no avail.

"Yeah, I'm fucked." Freed said to himself.

"The law is clear." Death said in grim tone before he deflected the sword slightly to the left and sliced Freed's left arm in a swift motion, making him scream out loud in pure agony, falling down on the floor and squirming around to fight the pain, while blood started to flow from his shoulder socket.

"When the Seven Seals are broken, Four Horsemen shall ride forth to punish the wicked. Be they Lords of Heaven, Dregs of Hell…" Death said before he pinned the tip of his scythe on Freed's chin. "Or the sons of Men." Freed said nothing as he growled in mixture of anger, pain and fear. "The Fallen Angels are deemed a threat to the Balance. You sealed your fate when you pledged your soul to their machinations. By the order of the Council, I will expunge such threats…" He then raised his scythe to his shoulder level. "Permanently."

Then Death, along with Issei and Freed, heard a screaming noise coming from the room entrance. Death noticed a small, apparently blonde nun standing there completely frightened, but Issei and Freed knew who it was.

"Asia?!" Issei exclaimed in shock.

"What? Issei?" Asia said in frightened tone.

"You two know each other?" Death asked curiously, his scythe fixed on his shoulder level.

"Yeah. She's a friend of mine that I met a few days ago." Issei said seriously.

"A devil making friends with nuns? That's rich." Freed cracked up slightly, despite the immense pain inflicted on him.

"Issei? Why are you here?" Asia frowned sadly as a few tears formed in her eyes. In that moment, Issei knew he was busted, or so he thought. He knew that Asia realized he was a devil, so he might as well get it over it, even at the cost of losing her forever.

"I'm here because… I'm a devil Asia." Issei confessed in a serious tone while looking down in remorse.

"No. That can't be true." Asia said in sad, trembling voice.

"I didn't wanna lie to you, I swear that I didn't. That's why I decided that it was best not to see you again. Please forgive me." Issei continued to look down regretfully. He felt bad that he didn't tell her the truth before, but then again he wasn't certain whether she would resent him or accept him for who he is now. Either way, she would have found out anyway, so he might as well bring the truth to the light.

"Oh heavens." Asia said to herself as she covered her mouth with her hands in disbelief.

Freed tried to use the distraction to get away, but Death immediately caught up with him and used his scythe to pin him by the leg, making him scream loudly, horrifying Asia even more. Death then pulled out another scythe and sliced Freed upward, cleaving him in half and finally snuffing the life out of him. Asia took a few steps back at the gory sight before her, until she started to scream in fear as someone caught her from behind. Death immediately grabbed his scythes and turned around on full alert, but it turns out it was Issei trying to calm the little girl down.

"Asia, it's okay, it's me. It's okay." Issei said, hugging Asia as she burrowed her face on his chest in fear. Then Issei looked at Death as he stood upright and sheathed his scythes, shrinking them to small scythe talismans in respective pockets before he stomped his way towards the two.

"Oh shit. Is he doing to do to Asia what I think he will do?" Issei thought in shock as he saw a grim expression on his face, scaring Asia even more as she saw him approaching.

"Issei…" Asia said in low and trembling voice as she hugged Issei for dear life. Seeing Asia so horrified like that made Issei angry, especially since the rider himself is the cause of it. He doesn't care anymore, he will not let someone as pure-hearted and gentle as Asia to be gutted like a pig in a slaughterhouse.

"That's close enough!" Issei suddenly said as he spread his arms wide, standing between the Reaper and Asia, surprising the little girl with his show of courage, or foolishness in Death's eyes.

"You really are making a habit of standing in my way." Death said annoyingly.

"I will do it a million times over if it means protecting my friends!" Issei said in mixture of anger and fear. He doesn't stand a chance against the rider, but it doesn't matter if it means protecting Asia.

"Step aside Hyoudou." Death threatened as he pulled out his right scythe, but this time Issei will not back down.

"Screw that! You're not going to lay a finger on Asia while I'm still standing!" Issei shouted defiantly.

"In that case…" Death said no more as he sliced Issei's chest vertically, while Asia gasped in greater horror as Issei slammed down on the floor, completely paralyzed in place and with blood flowing from his long wound.

"Issei!" Asia screamed as tears flowed from her eyes.

But before the poor girl could do anything at all, she was completely frightened to the very marrow of her bones as Death locked his cold and merciless gaze at her now. There was nothing she could do but slowly step back while Death stomped his way to the girl, seemingly for the killing blow. With no more steps to take, Asia bumped on a wall behind her, with the pale rider standing in front of her, his gaze as cold and ruthless as ever, even in disguise. Asia's entire body shook in terror, her eyes stained in tears.

"Please… don't hurt me." Asia said in trembling voice, almost in a whisper as she hopelessly prayed for a way out of this situation.

"Asia!" Issei suddenly exclaimed in worry while extending his hand towards her. Asia's heart pained immensely at seeing Issei so wounded, but judging by the situation, she can't go to his side and help him. Issei struggled with all his might to stand up, but all he could manage is roll on his stomach. His wound hurts like hell, but he didn't care as he needed to save Asia somehow.

"Bastard. Don't you… lay a hand… on her." Issei gritted his teeth in anger as he desperately tried to stop the rider.

Death completely ignored the wounded boy as he continued to glare at the girl, turning his scythe around for the blade to face her. Asia knew this was it as she closed her eyes and cupped her hands, silently praying for a miracle, or at least a quick death. Issei could do nothing but pray as well while still gritting his teeth, clenching his fists and closing his eyes, praying with all his might that Asia will be spared.

However, Death had something else in mind as he merely used his scythe to remove the shroud from her head, revealing her blonde hair and face for Death to have a better eye contact. From what he noticed, this girl was indeed gentle of heart, without a trace of evil contaminating it. But he was no fool, the angels of the White City were always believed to be beings of pure good. While that is true for the most part, despite their militaristic society, little did the beings across Creation knew that angels can sometimes be worse than even the demons of the Dark Kingdom, despite their divine appearances. Eons of experience taught him that extremely few creatures of every race are genuinely good. Humans are known to be very flawed creatures, no thanks to Lucifer after the Animus disaster, but this is the first time he encountered a genuinely kind and gentle soul. Still, that doesn't change the fact that she affiliated herself with the Fallen Angels, judging by the shock on her face when she saw Freed severely wounded.

"Your name. It's Asia, correct?" Death asked as he sheathed his scythe. Asia was surprised to see that the unknown person in front of her wasn't gonna kill her after all.

"Umm… yes… sir?" Asia said timidly in almost a whisper as she looked at the rider innocently.

"What?" Issei said to himself before he looked at the two in front of him.

"From what I see, your mind did not succumb to madness, unlike your… associate." Death said sternly as he continued to look at Asia, who wouldn't dare to turn any other way, fixing her gaze at Death's eyes. "Since you are in league with the fallen ones, you are going to deliver a warning for me. Tell them that the Reaper arrived on Earth, and if they don't leave this planet and go back to whatever the abyss they crawled out of, they will all be executed. Do you understand?" He said in cold, commanding tone. The little girl could only nod silently, too afraid to utter a word, but also confused with the name he gave himself. The Reaper. She didn't know why, but that name was awfully familiar to her, though she was dreadfully scared of this person and too focused to help Issei recover that she didn't even bother to think of it further.

Then Death silently turned around and looked at the incapacitated Issei.

"The next time you try to stand in my way, you will get more than a flesh wound." Death said coldly as he walked away from the house.

"That… fucking… asshole." Issei coughed a little as he plopped on his back.

"Issei!" Asia immediately ran to his side and knelt next to him. "Issei, stand still. I'm going to heal you." She frowned sadly as two rings formed in her middle fingers and her hands started to emanate a soothing glow. His strength was slowly returning to him as a long cut was starting to heal itself until it completely regenerated, as if the wound was never inflicted in the first place.

"There. Do you feel better?" Asia smiled gently, while Issei slowly stood up and checked his chest for the cut that Death inflicted, but it's completely gone.

"Oh wow, this is incredible! I feel amazing, it's like I was never wounded in the first place!" He said excitedly before he turned to Asia. "Thanks a lot Asia, you're awesome!" He smiled brightly. Asia smiled gently at that praise and blushed a little as she looked down, tapping her index fingers shyly.

"It was nothing, really." Asia said timidly. Then Issei growled angrily as he clenched his fists in front of him.

"That fucking asshole! Damn it! If only I was stronger, I would have taught him a lesson or two!" Issei growled in frustration.

"Calm down Issei. He probably knew that I was going to heal you, which is why he only wounded you." Asia smiled.

"Yeah, I seriously doubt that Asia." Issei looked at her skeptically.

"I understand your anger, but from that cold hearted exterior, I can see that he's a good man." Asia smiled cutely.

"How can you call him good when he acted like a complete douchebag?! For a minute, I really thought he was going to kill you!" Issei exclaimed in disbelief.

"Trust me Issei. I've seen people who act tough before, but deep inside they are really good people. I know that man is on our side, the side of good." Asia smiled as she cupped her hands in prayer.

Issei has no idea what to say to that one as he merely chuckled nervously. This girl was either pure saint or pure… lunatic. If she were to find out that he was the pale rider, her opinion on him would be drastically different. But he didn't want to tell her now, so he will explain it to her another time.

Little did the two knew that Death listened the whole thing as he leaned in the shadows with folded arms. That brat deserved to die after those insults, but after hearing Asia's words, he decided to just drop it and not stoop in War's or Fury's level of tolerance.

"Me, a good guy? Huh, what a laugh." Death thought sarcastically as he departed from the house and back to his little recon.

Though there was truth in Asia's words to some extent. Despite his usually cold personality, deep down he really cares for his siblings. Strife can be a real pain in the ass, but he cared about him nonetheless. Fury was a sister that he would kill for if she was ever endangered, but War is the only sibling he has close bond with, despite their extremely differing personalities, especially after the Grand Abomination crisis. But as usual, it didn't take long for him to dismiss those mushy emotions and focus on his little recon before he returns to the club house.

---

The next day in the club house…

"Seriously?! A stray exorcist?! Why didn't you call for us?! This is what happens when we are stuck in the Underworld!" Rias said angrily at Death.

"Why? He was a weakling human who pledged his soul to the Fallen Angels, not much of a challenge." Death shrugged as he leaned on the wall with folded arms in his normal form.

"That's not how it works Death!" Rias said angrily.

"Mind your tone with me Gremory, or else I will rip your throat! Don't mistake me for one of your minions you berate so freely." Death grunted in frustration. That threat silenced Rias, realizing that she was pushing her luck in that moment of anger. Death may have shown mercy to them, but that doesn't mean they can do or say whatever they please to him.

"Wait a minute, I'm not sure what that term means." Issei said to Kiba.

"A ton of the followers of God got the boot from the church and for lack of options, many became the servants of the Fallen Angels." Kiba explained.

"Wait! You can't actually be saying Asia is in the same camp as that Freed dick?!" Issei said angrily.

"So you're saying her soul is also bound to the fallen ones?" Death asked curiously as he looked at Kiba.

"I said it doesn't work that way." Rias said in lower, yet still frustrated tone. "Those who become servants of the Fallen Angels do not give away their souls to them. Their minds may be twisted under their patronage, but their souls remain intact."

"I beg to differ." Death said, drawing the attention of the entire group. "When that insane priest died, his soul was subtly absorbed by someone from the distance, using a small portal for the soul to slither inside."

"What did you say?" Akeno asked in surprise.

"Absorbed their souls? They never did that before." Rias said, as much of a surprise to her as is to the rest of the group.

"So it's something that they recently decided to do." Death said as he stood upright and started to walk towards the window. "We need to discover their lair and put an end to them before more souls are absorbed by their leader, whoever may be." He said grimly as he stood in front the window before turning sideways towards the group. His first guess was Raynare, but her power was too pathetic to absorb a soul from the distance. No, someone more powerful is involved in this and he needs to get to the bottom of it fast.

An hour later that day, due to being Saturday and no school, Issei left home after the club meeting was over, contemplating on his lack of strength that aggravates him to no end.

"I'm nothing but a big loser, a stupid pawn. I can't save my friend, can't even protect myself." Issei frowned angrily before he had a flashback of Death standing in front of horrified Asia. He didn't care if he was a big bad rider of the pale horse, first he wounded him and then he wanted to do the same to Asia before he ultimately decided to spare her.

"No, to hell with all that!" Issei exclaimed as he immediately stood up and put on some clothes. He then headed to the nearby playground, since there was no better place to train nearby.

"I'm weak right now, but I won't be after I pump some iron and get jacked." Issei thought in determination as he started to do pull ups.

Unfortunately, due to not having any physical exertion in his life, he was struggling with all his might on a third pull up, but failed as his hands slipped and he fell down. It pained him more than anything that he was so weak he can't even do regular pull ups, let alone protect his friends from powerful forces like the Fallen Angels.

"Damn it! I'm such a sissy, I can't even do lousy pull ups." He grunted in pain from forcefully exerting himself. But he immediately ignored those thoughts and got a second wind after he remembered Death's cold and merciless gazed fixed on Asia's horrified expression.

"No, I'm not gonna bitch out and throw in the towel. I have to get stronger to protect Asia from that scumbag horseman and those Fallen Angel deuches." Issei thought as he slowly stood up, ready to continue his training.

Before he continued, he was happy to find Asia of all people visiting the playground. Since she visited Issei for no particular reason other than to check on him, Issei invited her to have some fun, with Asia happily obliging. First they went to the fast food restaurant where they both had some hamburgers, something Asia didn't had a chance to eat it before. Then they played the arcade games for a while, with Issei even getting her a mouse-like stuffed animal, which Asia appreciated immensely.

They were hanging out for two hours, with the sun still high in the sky, sending bright sunlight across the city and beyond. Issei and Asia decided to go to the nearby park, where there was a large pond surrounded by pillars in front of them. Asia told Issei of her past, how she was abandoned as a baby and left near one of the churches in Europe, with the nuns residing there taking her in. Then she told him how she later in her life discovered her healing powers, which earned her immense reputation across the Christian hierarchy. But she also told how her life drastically came to worse the day she healed a devil. With it, a tide of scorn and hatred from everyone in the church came down on the little girl, branding her as a witch and a heretic, which left her with little choice but to join the fallen ones.

After hearing the entire story, including her hopes and dreams, Issei had second thoughts of telling her the truth about the pale rider, especially after an incredible time the two had. If she were to learn that the tall man who stood in front of her was the actual Reaper, one of his names in the bible that are spoken in fear and awe… No, he couldn't bear to tell her that, especially after hearing her heartbreaking story. He was in deep thought how the people can be so evil to someone like Asia. Who cares if that guy was a devil, it didn't stop Asia from helping anyone in need. That single event and the whole world turned against her. Sometimes he doesn't simply understand how fate can be so cruel to someone as kind and gentle as her. And he thought his life was a mess, Asia's was ten times worse. And despite all of that, she remained strong, even when she joined the sinister Fallen Angels. Either way, he shunned those thoughts aside as he said to Asia that he is her friend no matter what, something that she took to heart and appreciated immensely with teary eyes.

"Isn't that sweet?" A feminine voice said from behind Issei. When he turned around, he noticed…

"What?! It's Yuma!" Issei exclaimed.

"Lady Raynare." Asia said in slightly frightened voice as she clutched onto her stuffed animal. Issei looked at Asia before he returned his attention to his ex.

"Right, she's a… Fallen Angel?" Issei asked himself as he noticed something was off about Raynare in terms of appearance. Her jet black wings are now replaced with leather like, black bat wings. It's almost the same as the wings devils have, only there is leather skin between her wing limbs. Her skin is almost blue, with a few scales across her body and what looked like small horns popping from her head, but still wearing her usual, tight attire she had on their first encounter.

"Well well well, look who it is. I came to pick up Asia and I find my ex hanging around. Her tits are not even that big, you sure lowered your standards after that impalement." Raynare joked darkly as she started to crack up loudly.

"Shut up, you sadistic bitch!" Issei growled slightly.

"Make me hornball." Raynare grinned wickedly before she glanced at the blonde nun. "Now Asia, be a good little girl and come with me. Your Twilight Healing is far more valuable from whatever Sacred Gear this weakling has in his possession."

"I knew it! You're only interested in me because of my power!" Asia said as she placed her hands behind her.

"Well, look who grew a brain all of a sudden." Raynare grinned wickedly.

"That pretentious whore." Issei growled angrily as he glared daggers at whatever it is in front of him.

"Since I don't have time to be toying with you two, how about we take things easy and make a deal: If you come with me, I will spare your friend's life." Raynare smirked as she raised conjured a black and blue energy ball in her hand.

"Screw you, bitch! No way she's going with you!" Issei shouted as he stood in front of her. Raynare had enough of his big mouth as she fired a dark blast of energy from below, sending Issei flying and crashing into the pond.

"No! Issei!" Asia cried out in shock.

"Man. Didn't see that one coming at all." Issei said as he struggled to get up, but he fell on his knees as that attack drained him severely.

"Fear not, he's merely incapacitated. But if you don't come along, I'll finish the job and end his pathetic little life. What's it going to be?" Raynare said grimly as she looked down at Asia. The blonde nun was now backed into a corner as she closed her eyes, silently embracing her fate.

"Alright. I'll go." Asia said in defeat, making Raynare smirk devilishly as she approached Asia and used her wings to envelop Asia.

"Good girl." Raynare smirked.

"Asia, no!" Issei called out desperately while extending his hand, but he plopped down on his stomach in the attempt.

"Goodbye Issei. I'll miss you." Asia said as a few tears flowed down her cheeks before Issei gasped in shock as both of the disappeared in front of him.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IIIIIT!" Issei cursed himself repeatedly as he slammed his fists on the pond. "I couldn't save her. Why am I such a fucking weakling?!" He gritted his teeth in thought. But there was no use in kicking himself. After he recovered a bit, he returned home to regain his strength.

---

Later that night, Rias did not take kindly of Issei hanging out with Asia again and slapped her pawn loudly, drawing the attention of Death, Koneko and Kiba.

"Let me try one more time, if I say don't, you don't! You have to forget about Asia, you are a member of the Gremory family now." Rias frowned seriously.

"Fine. Then maybe it's time you release me from your household, because I refuse to just let her go." Issei frowned in frustration.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that." Rias said in slightly calmer tone.

"Of course you can't, cause I'm your precious pawn. Can't do without your most important piece, can you?" Issei said rudely in angry and sarcastic tone.

"That's enough Issei!" Rias said angrily.

But to everyone's surprise, even Death's to some extent, Issei furrowed his eyebrows further in anger as he would not back down in the slightest, even to a hot chick like Rias. Death could feel the animosity between the boy and his mistress, so he couldn't help but smirk slightly beneath his mask at the sight.

"I guess they are not as mindless as I thought. That's a certainty in this boy's case." Death thought, surprisingly in slight amusement.

Humans may not be the strongest beings in Creation, but their spirit is seemingly indomitable… in rare cases at least. However, he can't help but be surprised that Rias' behavior is nowhere near that of a demon lord. Usually they would kill their subordinates for even looking at them funny, let alone openly defy them like Issei does against Rias. He doesn't know whether it's because he was here or it's her usual behavior, but in her eyes he could tell that she was concerned for her servants. He doesn't see a wounded ego and the urge to slaughter her servants, like the usual glare he notices wearily often on the demons of Hell. Guess they are greatly different from the demons after all, despite sharing some of their traits. Even so, he remains unconvinced as he is yet to discover a full nature of a devil.

Seeing that their little quarrel will not take them anywhere, Rias calmed down a bit.

"Pawns are important. They are not the weakest piece in the game by any means." Rias said as she sat on the table. "Do you remember when I told you my Evil Pieces have the same attributes as their chess characters?"

"Yeah, but what can a stupid pawn do?" Issei said bluntly, still being down in the dumps of being a pawn at all.

"In this chess game… quite a bit. If a pawn advances deep enough into the enemy's territory, it can be promoted to any other piece besides the king." Rias explained.

"So does that mean that I can have the same powers as everyone else?" Issei said, now his spirits slightly lifted at the news and making himself feel better now that he knows pawns have a use after all.

"Yes, but only if the master declares the place an enemy territory. Say for example, the fallen one's church." Rias explained.

"Speaking of the fallen ones, when I encountered Raynare, her appearance was far different. With how much she changed, you can barely even call her a fallen angel anymore." Issei explained seriously. While Death was leaning on a wall with folded arms, his attention was now piqued by Issei's topic.

"What do you mean?" Rias said curiously.

"Well, when she appeared, her black, feathery wings were placed with some big, black bat wings. It's similar to ours, but it appeared to be more demonic than the devil ones."

"What other physical differences did you notice?" Death asked curiously as he walked closer towards the boy, while Issei turned sideways towards Death before he looked up in thought.

"Well, her skin was almost blue in color and had several hardened scales around her body, including what looked like horns on her head. With how much she changed, she was more akin to a demon than a fallen angel." Issei said. Death frowned seriously as he knew what that meant all too well.

"That's because she is a demon now." Death said grimly.

"What?! A fallen angel turning into a demon? I didn't think that was possible." Issei said in surprise, while Rias gasped slightly as the realization dawned in her mind.

"No. It can't be… them." Rias said in slightly trembling voice.

"Yes. It would appear that we have discovered the wretches of the Dark Kingdom." Death frowned slightly beneath his mask.

"Oh no! That means that Asia is now taken prisoner by the demons!" Issei shouted slightly in shock to Death before he turned towards Rias. "Please, we have to go and save her now! If we don't, then she will die for sure!"

"I agree. If what you say is true, then we cannot allow the demons to spread their influence in this city. Nor will we let that innocent girl to be left to whatever fate those demons have in store for her." Rias said seriously.

"Then let's go." Death ordered. Kiba and Koneko stood up on cue and walked towards Rias. Akeno arrived soon after and also stood near Rias, ready as everyone else to be teleported to their destination.

---

After a few moments, the gang teleported in the woods near the church, so they could assess the situation.

"So, what's the plan?" Rias asked the pale rider seriously.

"You and your queen are going to search the area for any demons that are standing guard." Death looked at Rias before he glanced towards the church. "While the rest of us will go and kill the demons inside the church."

"Man, who would have thought demons would make base in a church? Aren't those places forbidden for creatures of evil and stuff?" Issei asked in slight confusion.

"Not entirely. While it's the usual norm for the demons to defile sacred places like the church, the fallen angels get off on committing such blasphemy against the very God that case them out." Kiba said seriously.

"Wait a minute! I know that Kiba and Koneko can handle themselves inside, but I refuse for Issei to join you." Rias said seriously.

"He's a devil now, he can handle himself well enough to stay alive." Death said bluntly.

"Jeez, you say that like it's an accomplishment. Not helping dude." Issei said, mostly to himself.

"He didn't even unlock his Sacred Gear. Without it he will get himself killed before he even gets the chance to fight!" Rias frowned in mixture of seriousness, concern and slight fear.

"Enough! You have your orders, now move!" Death shouted strictly.

Rias and Akeno flinched and gritted their teeth slightly in frustration, but they held their tongues as they begrudgingly teleported away, leaving Death, Issei, Kiba and Koneko to enter the church. The rider then held his twin scythes in reverse grip before he took a few steps forward.

"Wait a minute dude, Rias has a point! How the hell am I going to fight demons, throw stones at them?!" Issei said in panic.

"Aren't you the one who insisted on saving the girl?" Death asked seriously while looking at the church. Issei gasped slightly in turn before Death glanced at the boy from the corner of his eye. "If you truly intend to rescue her, then I'm certain you'll find the way to unlock your Sacred Gear. And no better place to do that but on a battlefield."

"And what if I can't unlock it in time?" Issei asked in doubt.

"Then the Gremory girl chose poorly." Death said coldly as he started to walk towards the church, leaving the boy standing there in silence. Death's words struck right in the nerve, but Kiba and Koneko understood, even though Issei took his words to heart.

"Talk about motivation." Issei said sarcastically to himself as he now started to sulk. Death's words didn't help at all to lift his spirits, especially when they are about to fight living, breathing demons that he previously thought to be nothing but a myth. But it wasn't until Kiba placed his hand on his shoulder that broke him from his sulking.

"He's right, you know. Asia is counting on you to save her, and for that you need to believe in yourself. The outcome of this fight and Asia's life depends on your determination. Keep that in mind." Kiba smiled before he went to catch up with Death and Koneko. Issei stood in silence for a few moments before he frowned seriously.

"He's got a point, I'm not gonna do shit if I stay here and bitch about all this. Now i don't care what happens! Sacred Gear or no Sacred Gear, I will save Asia!" Issei thought in determination as he clenched his right fist in front of him before running towards the trio and quickly catching up to them.

The pale rider stood in front of the doors as he raised his hand and conjured a pair of ghostly, skeletal arms, slamming the double doors open before vanishing, with Death going inside afterwards.

"Now that was handy." Issei smiled, trying to lighten the mood a bit, but Kiba and Koneko merely looked at him blankly. "Get it? Handy?"

"You suck." Koneko said bluntly as she and Kiba entered the church.

"That's not very nice Koneko." Issei whined slightly, mostly to himself as he followed the trio inside. But Issei, Kiba and Koneko were caught off guard when the double doors slammed shut by themselves.

"Okay, that spells trouble." Issei said to himself before he continued to go forward.

Along the way, they noticed corpses of what appear to be exorcists spread inside the building, mutilated beyond recognition. Death immediately knew this was the work of the demons, something he had no doubt whatsoever, considering he fought them with his siblings for centuries on end. After the four of them stopped in the middle of the church, they noticed that the place was awfully silent. After a few moments, brief, beastly growls emanated from the shadows.

"What was that?" Issei asked.

"Focus Issei." Koneko said seriously.

"Right." Issei nodded as he finally decided to shut up and concentrate on fighting. Or rather unlocking his Sacred Gear before he gets cut in million pieces.

Brief growls could be heard all around them, but suddenly, three minion goreclaws leapt from behind with intent to kill. Death glanced behind him before he sliced the three hounds in a single motion at blinding speed. And in that moment, the lifeless corpses of halved hounds crumpled on the ground.

"Whoah." Koneko said in slight amazement.

"I didn't even see him move. Amazing." Kiba said. But their attention quickly turned to their surroundings as squad of unarmored Phantom Guards, accompanied by Minion Goreclaws attacked.

"Kill them!" One of the Phantom Guards roared as all of them charged at the trio.

Death, Kiba and Koneko immediately battled the demons, while Issei stood in the middle, trying to avoid their attacks. Death sliced the two demons simultaneously before he rolled forward. A minion goreclaw tried to bite him, but he caught it by the throat and threw it on one of the phantom guards. Another phantom guard tried to decapitate him from behind, but Death ducked and delivered a kick that sent the demon flying. A third phantom guard tried to attack him with his axe, but Death drew his scythe and parried his weapon. Another minion goreclaw attacked Death by spinning vertically like a sawblade, but Death nimbly jumped above the demon to dodge the hound attacking him and landed behind the phantom guard, immediately slicing him horizontally. After a moment or two, the sliced body of a demon fell apart on the ground, with the Reaper continuing his fight with three more phantom guards charging at him as he assumed his fighting stance, crouching slightly with scythes held in reverse grip.

Kiba parried the two sword attacks from the phantom guards. As the minion goreclaw tried to bite him from the left, he pushed the swords of the demons and impaled the beast with his own sword through its mouth and cleaved upward, splitting the beast open. Then using his speed, he sliced through a phantom guard horizontally, cutting him in half. After that, he disappeared in a blur and caught the three demons off guard as he sliced them up. When he reappeared, the three demons' bodies fell apart in small pieces on the ground, dying on the spot.

Koneko grabbed the two minion goreclaws by their throats with same, uninterested expression on her face while the beast tried to fruitlessly bite her face off. She then slammed their heads hard with a loud crunch and threw them aside. One phantom guard tried to slice her from behind, but Koneko quickly turned around and punched the demon, sending it slamming onto a wall and breaking his bones in the process. Another phantom guard attacked, but Koneko charged and grabbed the demon by the throat, slamming him on the ground before running forward to beat her next target.

Unfortunately, Issei wasn't doing well as all he could to is run away from one of the minion goreclaws, while the nearby demons were laughing in amusement.

"Issei! It's now or never!" Kiba shouted as he sliced another phantom guard.

"Come on! Do it already!" Koneko said in slight annoyance as she kicked the minion goreclaw away. However, Issei had nowhere else to go as he was cornered by a minion goreclaw, with the beast growling and drooling at the victim standing in front of him.

"Oh shit. This is it! Am I gonna die again?!" Issei thought in fear as his body trembled at the beast before him. "No, I can't let it end like this! I have to unlock the Sacred Gear right now!" He thought in determination, trying to find a drive that will draw this power into the open. Then he closed his eyes as had several flashbacks related to the Sacred Gear.

"Think of the part of your body you feel is the strongest. Then focus hard on that strength." Rias said.

Then Issei had a flashback of arguing with his neighbor about his favorite anime show, Dragon Ball Z.

"And if you don't believe me, I can pull a Goku and go Dragon Fist on your ass!" Issei said angrily.

Issei gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in mixture of fear and determination as he looked at the charging beast. Then he prepared his left fist for an upcoming attack.

"Here we go, it's do or die!" Issei said in determination as the beast was only moments away from ending his life.

"DRAGON FIST!" Issei shouted as he threw a left punch.

As his punch made its way towards the beast in slow motion, a red gauntlet with green orb in the center suddenly formed on his arm, giving him enough strength to actually punch the demon away from him, much to the surprise of the three phantom guards who previously mocked him for his weakness.

From the corner of their eyes, Death, Kiba and Koneko noticed that he finally unlocked his power.

"You did it Issei, nice work." Kiba smiled as he continued the fight against the demons, followed by Koneko.

"So this is my Sacred Gear? I feel a lot stronger now, incredible." Issei said as he checked his gauntlet.

But his thoughts were quickly interrupted as one of the phantom guards roared and charged at Issei, followed by the other two. This time, Issei did not flinch as the unveiling of his weapon gave him drastic boost in confidence to continue this fight.

"Guess it will have to wait." Issei frowned seriously as he had another flashback of Rias' explanation of the chess pieces.

"If a pawn advances deep enough into the enemy's territory, it can be promoted to any other piece besides the king." Rias explained.

"Alright then, time for promotion!" Issei shouted as he charged at the three demons while taking the attributes of a rook. Since Rias warned him beforehand that he was not strong enough to promote to a queen yet, a fitting alternative in this fight would be the rook. If anything it will drastically increase his chances for survival.

Now with the massive strength and endurance of a rook, he was able to punch a phantom guard, with just enough strength to send him flying and slamming into the ground. Unfortunately, even with the promotion, Issei was only able to stun the demon. Then another phantom guard tried to slice him, but Issei ducked and the demon beheaded his comrade instead, giving Issei the opening to punch the demon in the gut, sending him flying a good distance away, with the demon landing on his feet, growling angrily as he rubbed his stomach in pain.

"It's about time." Death said before he impaled his scythe on a minion goreclaw from behind without even glancing behind him. Then he pulled out his scythe and marched forward.

After a few moments of fighting the demons realized they were losing bad, especially with the Reaper on the prowl before they started to run away.

"Look, they're retreating!" Kiba said seriously as the demons flooded into a hole beneath the altar.

"No. They merely withdraw to regroup." Death said as he marched towards the hole, while Kiba regrouped with Koneko and Issei.

"Congratulations man, you did it. You unlocked your Sacred Gear." Kiba smiled.

"Thanks man. I thought I was a goner for a minute there, but it looks like I made it." Issei smiled as he looked at the red gauntlet.

"If you're done celebrating, we have work to do." Death said seriously, his back faced towards the trio as he marched forward, still holding his scythes in reverse grip.

"Right. Let's go." Kiba said as he ran to catch up with the pale rider, followed by Issei and Koneko.

---

Outside the church a few minutes earlier, Rias and Akeno found themselves in the open area of the woods. Even outside, they can hear sounds of demonic growls and grunts, along with a clash of steel.

"Looks like they're already going at it. Do you think they'll be alright?" Akeno asked worryingly.

"Don't worry, with Death at their side, they'll make it in one piece." Rias said seriously before she looked at her queen. "But still, I suggest we finish our business here quickly, so we can join them. The last thing I want is to leave my servants in the hands of the Reaper."

"Agreed." Akeno nodded with a serious look on her face. The one Rias was most concerned about was Issei, as the rider practically threw him into the jaws of the beast with no way to defend himself. She can only hope he will somehow survive the skirmish.

Suddenly, two small fireballs were flying towards them, with Rias and Akeno barely managing to see the attacks coming and dodge them before they could hit them.

"Whoah. That was random." Akeno said as she looked left and right.

"More like an ambush." Rias said seriously as she prepared her devil magic for battle.

Then more fireballs were fired in their direction, but this time Rias and Akeno formed a protective shield in front of them, negating the fireballs on contact. After that, four minion flamecallers jumped in the open, growling loudly at their prey, while Rias and Akeno stood ready for the four hounds showing up in front of them. Two of the flamecallers leapt at the two, while the other two hounds fired more fireballs at their targets. Rias and Akeno unleashed their respective attacks at the two incoming hounds, Power of Destruction from Rias and lightning from Akeno, killing the two hounds on the spot. Then they immediately raised their shields to dampen the blast from the hounds before they launched their own attacks.

As they destroyed the hounds, two minion goreclaws leapt from the trees at the two devils. Both of the girls immediately turned around, but while Akeno barely managed to deliver a lightning attack on the hound, Rias didn't had the time as she grabbed the hound and fell on her back to prevent it from biting her. Rias struggled to get the demon hound off of her, since it caught her by surprise, but then five unarmored phantom guards charged at the two devils. First Akeno sent a powerful shockwave that sent the phantom guards flying back, then she used her lightning to strike at the hound, thus rescuing Rias.

"Thanks Akeno." Rias smiled as Akeno helped her get back on her feet.

"No sweat, we got this." Akeno smirked in delight as her attention was now turned towards the five demons, who growled and roared at the two devils.

In that moment, Akeno raised her right hand above her head, conjuring storm clouds above them. Then she was enveloped in lightning as she transformed from her school clothes into what looked like a shrine maiden outfit, consisting of red dress tied in ribbon around her waist and white upper kimono with long sleeves. After she was finished, she sprung her devil wings as she hovered in the air while the demons decided to attack them.

"Now bring out thunder!" Akeno shouted as she unleashed her attack, a chain lightning that struck all five of the phantom guards, their bodies burned from high voltage and killing them instantly.

"Nice work Akeno." Rias smiled.

"That was fun. Burning my prey like that makes me so hot." Akeno moaned sadistically as she licked her lightning covered fingers in delight while blushing slightly.

"Easy there, the fight is not over yet." Rias smirked slightly, but then both of them looked at the trees seriously when they heard someone chucking from the shadows.

"Not bad. For rejects that call themselves… 'devils'." A deep, sinister voice said. Then the voice was revealed to be a demon Ravager, a dangerous sorcerer of the demonic legions as he raised his staff and pinned it on the ground.

"Looks like this one won't be that easy to kill." Rias said seriously.

"Seems so." Akeno said before the demon cracked up arrogantly from Rias' statement.

"Surrender now and go back to the Dark Kingdom where you and your minions came from." Rias threatened.

"You presume to command me? You scum of the Underworld are only fit to die. Kill them!" The Ravager ordered the phantom guards to attack, along with a few minion goreclaws.

"Alright, then it's time for me to cut loose as well." Rias smirked as she conjured two dark-crimson balls of energy in her hands.

She then shouted as she fired the blasts at the two phantom guards, disintegrating them into crimson sparks. But since the two devils mostly rely on their devil abilities, they sprung their wings and glided in air to dodge the attacks of the ferocious demons. The phantom guards did their best to deal a blow to the two devils, along with the minion goreclaws spinning vertically to try and cleave the two devils, but Rias and Akeno destroyed the demons without mercy while simultaneously dodging their attacks. Even if one devil missed the blow on one demon, one saved the other by disintegrating the missing demon. Soon enough, the demons were wiped out until four of them were left standing.

"End of the line for you." Rias smirked as she and Akeno landed before retracting their wings. But their attention was turned down as they noticed purple, circular runes forming beneath their feet, but Rias quickly caught up in the demon's intentions.

"Move!" Rias shouted as she lunged at Akeno before eldritch spikes of energy struck from the ground, thus saving them both from their demise.

"Thanks Rias. That was a quick payback." Akeno smiled.

"No problem." Rias smiled before both of them looked back at the four demons, and their eyes went wide in surprise as the three phantom guards were impaled by the same spikes from the Ravager. The demon himself shattered the shards as he swung his staff, along with the demons in one swipe before he roared at the devils. Rias and Akeno immediately stood up and readied themselves for battle.

"Enough! I will kill you myself." The Ravager said as he charged his staff and pointed at the two devils, unleashing a powerful burst of energy. Rias and Akeno quickly sprung their wings again and dashed sideways to dodge the blast, while it disintegrated the nearby trees into nothingness.

"Be careful Akeno. One hit from that and we are done for." Rias said seriously.

"Right." Akeno nodded seriously.

The demon roared as he fired another blast, which the two devils again dodged by dashing sideways, while the blast made its way towards the sky, slowly dissipating harmlessly. Rias and Akeno fired their respective attacks at once, but the demon raised his staff and conjured an arcane shield, blocking their attacks in turn. But the demon immediately went on the offensive as he jumped and tried to smack Akeno with his staff, while the queen managed to dash sideways again. The demon immediately turned around and fired a powerful burst of energy. Akeno barely had the time to raise her defenses, but the demon's attack was too powerful in that split second to resist and it struck her hard, sending her flying towards the ground.

"Akeno!" Rias shouted as she immediately went to her aid, but the Ravager used the opportunity to punch Rias in the face while he was descending to the ground, sending the two devils crashing down into the ground while the Ravager landed and chuckled arrogantly.

"Pathetic." The Ravager taunted, but Rias and Akeno were far from over as they slowly stood up. Then they heard some kind of screaming from the church. From what they could hear, the voice was coming from…

"Issei." Rias said to herself in slight disbelief. Did those demons inside killed her precious pawn? He may be a recent member of her peerage, but she cared about him as much as she did Kiba and Koneko.

"The vermin that died will be you two next!" The Ravager grinned wickedly as he charged his staff and fired at Rias. His words struck the nerve as Rias clenched her fists in fury and her beautiful, bright blue eyes narrowed into a piercing glare, while her energy was increasing drastically.

"Watch out!" Akeno shouted in worry as the demon's blast was about to hit her, but to her surprise, a powerful crimson aura finally exploded from within Rias' body in intense fury, negating the blast that the Ravager unleashed.

"What?!" The Ravager growled in surprise.

"No one kills my servants and gets away with it." Rias said in low, but furious voice as she charged her Power of Destruction in both hands.

But the demon growled loudly as he charged all of his power into a single attack. Both the Ravager and Rias shouted as they unleashed powerful blasts at each other until they collided into a momentary stalemate. After a few moments, Rias let out a battle cry as she started to overpower the demon's eldritch blast. The demon roared as he tried to push Rias' attack back, but it was too much for him as the Power of Destruction started to disintegrate him, ending in a big explosion that destroyed the surroundings around the demon.

Inside the church, while Death, Issei, Kiba and Koneko descend to the basement, they felt an earthquake that followed after Rias' attack.

"Whoah. What was that?" Kiba asked.

"Was that an earthquake?" Issei asked in surprise.

"That was no earthquake. It felt like an aftershock of a powerful attack. Those devils Rias and Akeno no doubt." Death thought as he continued to go down the stairs.

Rias panted a little as all the anger within her was slowly dissipating, while the smoke in front of her started to dissipate as well. After that attack, Akeno landed next to Rias.

"Feeling better?" Akeno smirked slightly, mostly out of pleasure of seeing the demon disintegrated like that.

"As good as new." Rias smiled as she took a deep breath and exhaled in relief. "We're done here, now let's go and catch up with the others." She said seriously.

"Way ahead of you." Akeno smiled as she conjured a Gremory circle around her. Rias smiled as she stood near her friend, she is sometimes indeed way ahead of Rias in tactical execution. Then with everything said and done, they teleported inside the church, leaving the mess that they made to be fixed after their fight.

---

Not long after, Death, Issei, Kiba and Koneko descended to the basement, where they were greeted by an army of demons. Surprisingly, or not quite in Death's case, they noticed slaughtered corpses of phantom guards who ran away from battle, along with a few minion goreclaw corpses. Death noticed more phantom guards, but this time fully armored and greater in number, accompanied by minion flamecallers. Further into the chamber and up the stairs, a large, fully armored demon with battle axe was faced towards the altar in a shape of a pentagram, in mockery of the symbol that the humans dreadfully fear, even though that symbol is nowhere near the trademark of the demons of Hell.

"Thruum heim gul straga thur!" A Phantom Champion said in demonic language as he turned sideways towards the four and looked at the Reaper.

"Non straga sindora." Death said also in demonic language, making the demon chuckle a bit.

"The fuck did he say?" Issei thought as he looked at Death.

"You've arrived too late, horseman. The ritual is nearly complete and I will soon possess the power that not you or your worms can stand against. When that happens… this is the fate that will follow you." The champion grinned wickedly before he lifted the head of someone Issei is all too familiar with.

"What the… Raynare?!" Issei shouted in shock.

"The feathered cunt outlived her usefulness." The Phantom Champion said before he threw the head to the pale rider. Raynare's head dropped on the floor and rolled until it stopped in front of Death. Issei gagged in disgust as he noticed that Raynare's facial expression was frozen in that moment she was decapitated, her eyes rolled up and her mouth left wide open, with blood mixed with sperm dripping down her chin.

"Holy shit!" Issei said as he covered his mouth with both of his hands in horror. From the looks of things, she was raped both physically and mentally before she was killed by the demons. Issei really wanted to make the fallen angel bitch pay for what she had done to him and Asia, but after seeing her face such a tragic and brutal end… he can't help but be a little sorry for the girl.

While Kiba and Koneko frowned seriously at the brutal scenery, Death didn't flinch even in the slightest as he casually glanced from the decapitated head back to the Phantom Champion.

"This is your one and only chance: return to the Dark Kingdom or face the wrath of the Council!" Death declared boldly before he stomped on Raynare's head, grinding it into a puddle of blood, brain, hair and shattered bones.

"I don't think so. Attack!" The Phantom Champion barked before the battalion of demons, along with flamecallers charged at the four. But while Death readied himself for battle, suddenly the entire battalion was destroyed in a big explosion of crimson red and lightning yellow blast.

"What?!" The Phantom Champion said in surprise.

Death, Issei, Kiba and Koneko glanced behind them as two more devils joined the fight.

"Rias! Akeno!" Issei smiled brightly.

"Took you long enough." Death shrugged as he sheathed his scythes.

"We had our work cut out for us, so it took longer than we expected." Akeno smiled slightly.

"Issei. Are you okay? We heard you screaming outside the church, I thought they killed you." Rias asked worryingly as she approached her pawn.

"Well, they were about to, but I managed to unlock my Sacred Gear in time and save myself in turn." Issei smiled proudly as he showed Rias his red gauntlet in his left arm.

"So you finally did it?" Rias looked blankly before she smiled proudly too. "I knew you could do it. Congratulations Issei."

"Thank you." Issei smiled.

Now with pleasantries done and over with, Issei, Rias and Akeno looked up the altar above with serious expressions. Suddenly, Asia started to scream as the ritual is complete, with green light exploding and eventually enveloping her.

"Asia!" Issei shouted in worry.

"So that's what the demons were after. The sister's Sacred Gear." Rias said seriously.

"Wait a minute, what's gonna happen to her?" Issei asked as his worries were increasing by the second, along with his anger for Asia to be captured by the demons.

"I'm sorry Issei. But when they take her Sacred Gear, they will take her life as well." Rias explained, making Issei gasp in shock.

But before he could even act to prevent such a fate, it was already too late as Asia's screams suddenly stopped while her Sacred Gear has been extracted from her chest, her eyes fixated widely for a few moments before she lifelessly bowed her head down.

"No. Asia is… dying?" Issei said in distraught, his body trembling as the dawning realization struck him.

"It is done." The Phantom Champion chuckled as he snatched the two rings enveloped in green orb. "So this is Twilight Healing the feathered witch was talking about, said to heal any injury. Just the tool I need against the horseman." He then gripped the rings as he absorbed its power, with bright green light momentarily illuminating the entire room before it quickly died down, revealing the large demon completely covered in green aura.

"Such power. Wasted on a human child. Now mine." The Phantom Champion chuckled as he clenched his fist. Then his attention quickly turned towards the group at the entrance. With little left to say, he jumped high in the air before he stomped all the way to the ground, leaving a small crater where he landed.

"Release the beasts!" The Phantom Champion growled as two unarmored phantom guards released two blue Grappleclaws individually. But hapless demons were quickly cut to pieces by the raging feline-like beasts and slowly prowled their way near the two sides of a powerful leader.

While Rias and her peerage readied themselves for battle, to their surprise, Death casually turned around and headed towards the exit.

"Wait. Where do you think you're going?" Rias frowned angrily, but the rider said nothing as he folded his arms and leaned against the wall near the doors.

"It's time to earn your keep, Gremory. Prove yourself in combat against the demons." Death said casually with his usual, cold demeanor.

"Are you serious? You're not going to help us beat these guys?" Akeno said, surprised that Death would sit this fight out.

"No. You're on your own." Death said coldly.

In the Reaper's mind, this was the test for Rias and her peerage, not the small fries that they eliminated quickly. The demonic leader is powerful and commands a good host of demons. Nothing out of the ordinary for the pale rider, but it will be a good fight to test their mettle and abilities, along with their loyalties. If these devils foolishly ally themselves with the demonic leader and fight as one against him, then they are as good as dead. But if it's the opposite and they fight and defeat the demonic leader and his forces, then maybe he will spare their lives when the conspirators of the Endwar are put to the sword. Maybe.

"Bastard." Rias said, mostly to herself and not to him, so not to aggravate him. "No matter. Kiba, Koneko, see if you can handle those cat-like demons. Akeno and I will deal with their leader." She commanded seriously.

"Wait, what about me?" Issei frowned slightly as he ran next to Rias.

"Take care of Asia." Rias said seriously, her eyes still fixed on the leader of the demons.

"Right." Issei nodded seriously as he looked up at the altar.

The Phantom Champion roared as he raised his battle axe in the air, a clear command for the two Grappleclaws to attack, with the devils doing the same. Kiba disappeared in a blur and attacked a Grappleclaw to the right. However, The Grappleclaw raised his hand and blocked the sword attack from Kiba, making the young swordsman stop to a screeching halt.

"You're a tough one. No surprise there." Kiba frowned seriously.

The Grappleclaw ran fast and charged towards Kiba, prompting the swordsman to jump above him. But when he was in range, he was surprised to find that the cat-like demon used his tail to smack Kiba aside, making him crash into a wall. Then the demon charged at Kiba, but the swordsman recovered and slid beneath the demon and rolled to the other side.

"And surprisingly fast." Kiba said to himself as he raised his sword.

As for Koneko, she was struggling a bit herself as she dodged multiple claw attacks from the demon. In a swift motion, the demon headbutted Koneko, also sending her flying and crashing into a wall. The demon then charged towards Koneko, but the gray-haired rook grabbed the Grappleclaw by the horns, only inches away from the demon biting her head off. Koneko gritted her teeth as the beast was strong and ferocious, not giving her an inch of ground to compose herself. But soon she managed to push him back and then punched him in the face, sending the demon flying. However, the cat-like demon quickly recovered and charged at Koneko again, with the rook now dashing sideways to avoid it's attack.

Meanwhile, Rias and Akeno battled the Phantom Champion, hovering above the demon with their wings. The two devils attacked the demon with their combined might, but the Champion used his demonic power and raised his battle axe to block their combined assault. Then the demon charged his hand with demonic energy and unleashed a blast on Akeno, prompting her to dash sideways and attack with lightning again, to which the demon cleaved lightning with his battle axe, followed by cleaving Rias' destruction blasts as well.

While the three strong threats were distracted, Issei took the opportunity to reach the staircase leading to the altar.

"Asia!" Issei shouted, but was intercepted by four armored phantom guards surrounding him, which forced Issei to stop in place.

"Issei, hit the road!" Kiba shouted as he charged past him.

"What the… what do you mean by that?" Issei said as he looked at Kiba to his left.

But when he looked to his right, he found a rampaging Grappleclaw heading his way, followed by the four phantom guards. Issei flailed his arms in panic before he quickly lied on the ground as the Grappleclaw grabbed the two phantom guards and bit the third one while jumping above Issei. The cat-like demon crushed the two phantom guards when it landed and chewed the third one apart before it continued to pursue Kiba.

"Nice one Kiba!" Issei gave his friend a thumbs up before he continued to run up the stairs. The fourth phantom guard that remained tried to pursue Issei, but it was quickly disintegrated by Rias' blast, which went astray when the Phantom Champion deflected it away.

"Asia!" Issei shouted as he quickly arrived at the top of the staircase. After panting a bit to catch some breath, he slowly walked towards the little girl and, using his gauntlet, he managed to shatter the chains that are holding her in place, making almost unconscious Asia nearly hit the ground.

"Gotcha." Issei caught her before holding her behind her head. "Asia, it's me. Are you okay?"

Asia looked at the person with half open eyes, and her heart warmed immensely as she immediately recognized her knight in shining armor.

"Issei. You came." Asia smiled weakly, barely having the strength to even stay conscious, but she was grateful to God for giving her the time to see him one last time.

"Of course I did, silly. It's…" Issei smiled before he frowned sadly. "It's too bad that I didn't make it in time." He said sadly as a few tears formed in his eyes as he held Asia's hand.

"I know it wasn't a very long time, but… I'm so blessed to make a friend like you." Asia said weakly.

"Don't say that. It isn't over, okay?" Issei said, refusing to believe that she was dying as tears started to flow from his eyes.

While Issei did his best to cheer her up, despite facing the inevitable, Death didn't move from his position as he looked up at Issei holding Asia's hand in utter disbelief and desperation, while the other devils continued to fight the three remaining demons, waiting to see what will happen next, with Dust perching on his right shoulder.

With little strength left, Asia placed her hand on Issei's teary face.

"Oh Issei. You're crying for me. I couldn't ask for more. Thank you. For everything." Asia smiled weakly as she closed her eyes, with a few tears forming in her eyes as she felt her death was drawing near.

"Goodbye."

Issei gasped as Asia let out her final breath while her hand was falling down on the ground. As soon as the last spark of Asia's life force snuffed out, Dust squawked a few times, signifying her death. Usually the Reaper doesn't even bother to deal with emotional upheaval by friend or kin for their deceased, but for some reason in extremely rare cases, this girl is the only human on this planet that her death made him feel slightly bad for making this happen. Either because of the words she said before, or mostly for not being able to stop the demons for killing any more humans than they already have before he arrived, also feeling a little angry at the Council's incompetence and inexplicable hesitation to tell the horsemen of all this sooner.

"No. Asia." Issei said in low voice filled with utter disbelief and sadness, with tears continuing to flow from his eyes. "Why? Why did she had to die? She didn't deserve to die like this."

Suddenly, his eyes shot open as he heard the explosion from behind him. He turned around and looked downstairs at the heap of smoke that formed moments later. After the smoke cleared, it was revealed to be a Phantom Champion with bloody left arm, his protective armor shattered while it absorbed the brunt of Rias' and Akeno's attack.

"That's better." Rias smirked a bit while Akeno nodded confidently.

But the demonic leader grinned wickedly as he finally decided to test his newfound ability, the Twilight Healing. In his possession, the gems on the rings took the shape of what looked like the head of Trauma and placed his right arm on the wounded left arm. Then his right hand glowed in orange, fiery-like aura as his wounds started to heal at a fast rate, a lot faster than Asia's rate of healing while she still had the rings. Soon enough, his arm was fully healed, much to the shock of Rias and Akeno.

"Out of my way, worms. My fight is against the horseman." The Phantom Champion as he pointed at the pale rider with his battle axe, who didn't move from his position, still leaning on the wall with folded arms. Rias and Akeno slightly growled in frustration that the demon shrugged them as mere weaklings. Even though they were risking close combat, something both don't really excel on, they both landed between Death and the Phantom Champion.

"You will have to go through us first." Akeno frowned seriously.

"Underestimating us will be your fatal mistake." Rias frowned angrily, but the demon chuckled arrogantly in turn.

From the altar above, all the sadness and disbelief in Issei's entire being is slowly being converted to pure anger and rage, thirst for vengeance filling his every thought.

"You… you sadistic… heartless…" Issei growled, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth in seething fury as he stood up and turned towards the demon. "MOTHERFUCKEEER!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. But only briefly for Kiba and Koneko as they still had their hands full with ferocious Grappeclaws. "I will never forgive you what you have done. I want her back." Then devil wings unintentionally spawned from his back. "I WANT ASIA BAACK!" Issei shouted as he charged towards the demon, with his Sacred Gear forming in his hand.

[DRAGON BOOST!] A voice shouted from the gauntlet.

"Issei, no!" Rias shouted in worry, but Issei was lost in his blind rage as he charged at the Phantom Champion at full speed, while the demon merely turned right to dodge his punch. Issei tried to attack him again, but the demon casually backhanded him and knocked him back.

"Issei!" Rias shouted again.

But much to her surprise, along with Akeno's and to some extent Death's, Issei landed on his feet and used his Sacred Gear to boost his power again. Kiba and Koneko knew well that he was going to get himself killed and that's why they decided to end the struggle right now.

"Sword Birth!" Kiba shouted as he impaled his Holy Eraser on the ground, the sword that he usually uses. While the Grappleclaw jumped in the air, Kiba summoned seven swords from the ground that impaled the beast. The demon squirmed and roared a bit in agony until it finally died from the grievous injuries inflicted on it.

Koneko grabbed the horns of a demon and used her strength to rip them from his head. Then she used one horn to impale it in his mouth, while she impaled the other horn on his throat. Then she delivered a powerful punch that sent the demon flying and crashing onto a wall. Afterwards, she gave Kiba a silent, serious nod before both of them ran to help Issei, Rias and Akeno.

As Issei charged in, the large demon laughed as he grabbed the boy and slammed him into the ground three times, sending an immense amount of pain before he threw him aside again, making his body tumble a good distance away from them while Rias and Akeno gasped worryingly.

After that, the demon roared at the two devils as he placed his battle axe behind him and started to charge at two devils while dragging his weapon. Then he swung his axe in an uppercut, but while Akeno immediately sprung her wings and dashed in the air, Rias didn't had the time as she was caught off guard by the large demon's speed and only managed to dash sideways as well, losing her balance in the process and falling on the ground. The demonic leader didn't waste a second as he immediately swung his battle axe above his head, ready to cleave Rias in two.

"Rias!" Akeno shouted worryingly.

Before the blow could be dealt, Koneko intervened on time and grabbed the blade of the axe with her hands, but struggling intensely to prevent the killing blow as the demon was strong indeed, which wasn't really a surprise. Rias used the time to spread her wings and get back on her feet, firing a blast of destruction magic and sending the demon sliding backwards a good distance.

"Thanks Koneko." Rias smiled, with Koneko giving her a quick nod before Akeno landed near Rias.

"Issei, are you okay?" Kiba asked as he knelt near the pawn.

"Am I okay?" Issei growled angrily. "No, I'm not okay. Nothing is okay after what Asia went through!" He shouted as he stood up, despite the immense pain he had to endure.

"What are you doing Issei? You will get yourself killed." Kiba frowned slightly.

"I don't care. I'm willing to do that if it means I can take this fucker down!" Issei shouted in fury. But to his surprise, through his extreme emotional turmoil…

[EXPLOSION!]

The voice in the gauntlet shouted as it changed in shape, expanding until it enveloped Issei's arm with crimson plates all the way to his elbow, emitting a green beam of energy for a few moments before it disappeared.

"That energy is at least second level. How is that possible?" Akeno asked in surprise.

"I knew it. It was a theory up until now, but I knew it." Rias smiled.

But before Akeno could ask further, Issei charged at the demon again, this time accompanied by Kiba and Koneko. The demon then started to spin around with his battle axe in a whirlwind, stopping the three devils from their charge. Then the demon ceased his whirlwind attack and tried to slam his axe at Kiba, which he dodged with his speed. Now the Phantom Champion got really angry as he was losing his temper, having enough of toying with weaklings like the devils. He left his battle axe stuck on the ground as he grabbed Issei and Koneko and slammed them onto a wall. Then he ran them through the wall and slammed them together soon after.

"Issei! Koneko!" Kiba shouted as he charged towards the demon.

But as he got closer, the Phantom Champion threw Koneko in Kiba's direction. Kiba was caught off guard as he caught Koneko, but he couldn't stop himself as both of them flew backwards and slammed onto a wall. Still gripping Issei in his left arm, the demon turned towards Rias and Akeno. As he went forward, he threw Issei aside like garbage and grabbed his axe from the ground.

"Damn it, how strong is this guy?" Rias frowned seriously.

"This is bad." Akeno frowned seriously as well.

This time they have no idea how to beat him. Due to his plate armor and natural demonic endurance, now coupled with his stolen Sacred Gear, he will be very difficult to beat. Even if they were to land a blow, he will always heal himself and come back for more, while the two of them continued to expend their energy trying to destroy him.

The demon roared loudly as he leapt in the air, his axe above his head and was descending fast towards Rias and Akeno. Both the devils yet again dashed sideways, but as they prepared for a fast counter attack, the demon grabbed Akeno by the leg and slammed her at Rias, sending both of the devils rolling on the floor a good distance away.

As the Phantom Champion charged and swung his axe above his head, ready to cleave the two devils and finally end this battle, suddenly a massive blade with glowing skulls on the flat of the blade impaled through the demon's chest from behind. It struck further in until the demon was lifted in the air. But as they took a closer look, both Rias and Akeno gasped loudly in immense shock and horror as a hooded, hovering figure with bony wings used his massive scythe to impale the demon. It was Death, finally deciding to end the fight by assuming his Reaper Form. Then he drew the demon in the air, while simultaneously pulling out his scythe. As the demon levitated in the air for a second before he started falling down, Death swung his massive scythe upward and cleaved the demon in two, finally ending the fight and the demon's life.

Rias and Akeno looked in fear and terror as the hooded figure looked at the two devils. Sufficiently amused from all the horrified expressions, Death reverted back to his normal form in purple necromantic energy, acrobatically landing on the ground and sheathing his scythes.

"What? Death?" Akeno said as her eyes went wide in almost a pleasant surprise.

"He… did he really rescue us just now?" Rias asked in surprise, in similar state like Akeno.

Issei was just as surprised as he saw Death cleaving the demon in his badass grim reaper transformation like it was nothing, though unable to move from the spot just yet. Kiba and Koneko were also battered and beaten, but they had enough strength to walk towards Issei and help him get up.

"Man, you were pretty reckless out there." Kiba smiled as he hoisted Issei on his feet while placing his arm around his neck.

"Idiot." Koneko said, having a passive, disinterested expression on her face again.

"I could say the same for you, blondie." Issei retorted, even though he knew his statement wasn't entirely true.

Then they noticed how Rias and Akeno walked towards the pale rider, while Death stood in front of the mutilated corpse of a Phantom Champion.

"I never thought to say this to Death himself, but… thank you." Rias smiled gratefully, along with Akeno.

"Keep your thanks." Death said coldly, with smiles disappearing in turn from Rias' and Akeno's faces. "The fight was dragging out for too long and I decided to end it. It had nothing to do with saving your lives."

Rias and Akeno now had sour, but slightly sad expression on their faces as they bowed their heads down in disappointment. They expected some kind of praise from the pale rider, but apparently it's a pipe dream at this point.

"However…" Death said, drawing the attention of the two beautiful devils. "Your performance in battle was exemplary, I'll give you that."

"So does that mean you finally trust us?" Rias smiled.

"I trust no one, Gremory." Death retorted in a serious tone.

"Except your brothers." Akeno smirked slightly.

"Obviously." Death said dryly.

"Either way, at least it's a good start." Rias smiled in thought. She knew Death will never admit it openly, but she was pretty convinced that she was well on her way to gain his trust.

After that awkward exchange of words, the body of the demonic leader started to wither in crimson fire, until it shaped in a circle in one spot. Death, Rias and Akeno backed away a bit to see what is happening, but as the body of the demon was dissipating into nothingness, the crimson fires changed its color to yellow and soon after green, revealing two rings enveloped in soothing orb of light. The Sacred Gear Twilight Healing restored to its former glory before it was defiled by demon magics. Without a word spoken, the Sacred Gear hovered down on Death's right palm. Despite the healing powers that the Sacred Gear possesses, Death knew this was clearly stealing, so this is the human girl's right by birth to have this back. Besides, with his nigh invincibility, coupled with his own extraordinary healing and potent regeneration, this artifact is completely useless to him.

---

Soon after the battle, Death, Rias and her peerage left the gloomy basement and climbed back to the church altar. When they did, Issei placed Asia's lifeless body on the nearby church pew. Issei still had that sad, gloomy expression on his face as he turned around and walked towards the pale rider with his head bowed down.

"Please… may i?" Issei said in low, utterly sad voice void of any hope whatsoever.

He didn't need to say anything else as Death knew what he meant while still holding onto the two rings. He planned to return the rings to its rightful owner anyway, but he didn't see the problem of letting the boy do it, so he handed over the rings to him without a word spoken. Issei gave him a sad nod as he turned around and slid the rings in Asia's middle fingers where they belong. After that was done, he gripped Asia's arms, still finding it hard to believe that someone like Asia was gone.

"I'm sorry. You all came to help me. I fought as hard as I could, but… I failed." Issei said, his voice cracking again in sorrow as tears formed in his eyes. "Asia, please forgive me." He said as he bowed his head down.

"You have nothing to apologize for. This world is still new to you. Nobody here is placing blame, least of all Asia." Rias said in low and compassionate voice.

"I place blame on myself. My own weakness allowed this to happen to Asia. If only I wasn't such a pathetic weakling, I could have protected her from dying." Issei said, his voice cracking even more as drops of tears fell on Asia's cheek.

"You are not weak Issei. Stop drowning yourself in guilt, you're only hurting yourself. You performed better out there than any pawn I've ever known. You're a lot stronger than what you let yourself believe in." Rias said in low, serious but compassionate voice before she smiled gently. "Besides, there is a way to bring her back."

Issei's eyes shot open in surprise, filling his entire being with renewed hope by her statement as he turned around and looked at his master. Then Rias took from her pocket what looked like a chess piece. As soon as Death noticed this, he immediately frowned seriously in slight anger as he knew fully well what that meant.

"Don't even think about it Gremory." Death growled slightly in threatening manner as he folded his arms, making Rias and Akeno flinch in fear. "You have a lot of nerve or a death wish to propose such a thing in front of me."

"Propose what? What was she planning to do?" Issei said as he wiped the tears from his face before looking at Death blankly.

"She means to enslave this girl." Death said, his voice filled with venom in disgust at the action Rias intended to execute.

"How many times do I have to explain to you? We don't enslave anyone against their will." Rias frowned slightly.

"Apparently you are, considering the dead are unable to voice their opinions on the matter." Death said grimly.

Issei knew that was true. The fact is he never asked to be a devil in the first place, that thing was practically forced on him when he died, so he had to agree with him on that one. But right now, he doesn't care, Asia was a person whose heart and soul were as pure as gold. She didn't deserve to die like scum to those demons, she deserved a far better end than this.

"Trust me, I don't make the habit of reviving the deceased myself. But 'apparently' Issei cares about this girl more than life itself. And you have to admit that her ending was overly premature for someone like her." Rias said seriously.

"Isn't that a fact?" Death said sarcastically, having severe doubts in her words as he only registered her first sentence, already guessing what her true intentions are.

"Wait, there is a way to bring Asia back?" Issei asked Rias.

"Yes. The only way to restore her back to the world of the living is by making her my Bishop. But it would seem that Death had his say." Rias said, begrudgingly and for her own sake standing down and sealing her mouth from saying anything else, knowing that she went too far with her little stunt. Realizing that fact, Issei looked at the pale rider as he cupped his hands in prayer.

"Please, I'm begging you. You know as well as I do that Asia didn't do anything to deserve to die like this. She was a healer, a kind girl who'd cure anyone who was injured, even devils. Her only dream was to make friends, to chat, to have fun and stuff. She made a friend in me, and she would have made many more if none of this happened." Issei pleaded with all of his might, putting every bit of hope he had in the plea, almost on the verge on collapsing on his knees. "So please, let Rias bring Asia back to life."

"Spare me of your sniveling, kid. I don't have any intention of allowing another human to be bent to this devil's will. Or any other out there for that matter." Death said coldly, implying to Rias before he started to walk away.

Issei gasped in shock as he's seeing the last hope for Asia's resurrection casually stomping his way out. It was at that point that Issei realized something. If a heartfelt plea will not convince him, then maybe beating that permission out of him will do, crazy and suicidal as it sounds. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists angrily as his body on instinct ran towards the pale rider. Death was only slightly taken aback as the boy stood in front of him with a defiant look on his face.

"Issei, what are you doing?!" Rias shouted slightly in shock and surprise, but her words fell on deaf ears as Issei locked his gaze in Death's orange, chilling eyes.

"And you're yet again standing in my way. Move." Death threatened.

"I don't care if you're a big bad horseman of doomsday or whatever, you're going to let Rias resurrect Asia!" Issei said seriously in mixture of fear and anger.

"And what if I don't?" Death asked.

"Then I will make you let her." Issei said defiantly as he summoned his Sacred Gear.

[BOOST!]

Death frowned seriously as he had enough of playing games. He lazily threw a right fist, punching Issei in the gut, making him puke out blood before he smacked him aside with a right backhand, slamming Issei through the pews, paralyzing him on the ground for a few moments.

"Keep your 'servants' in line Gremory. Or I will do it for you." Death said grimly as he continued to walk outside, but Issei will not give up so easily as he soon after got back on his feet.

"You bastard!" Issei growled angrily.

[BOOST!]

Issei charged at the horseman, but Death pulled out his scythe and readied to incapacitate the boy, but as he swung his scythe backwards, surprisingly, Issei ducked and delivered a punch on his right side of his ribs, momentarily stunning him. It didn't hurt the horseman at all, but it did caught him off guard a bit. He growled slightly as he swung his scythe from above, but Issei managed to parry his attack with his gauntlet. However, he left himself wide open as Death kicked him hard in the chest, sending Issei flying backwards and slamming into the ground, tumbling like a ragdoll. Death then silently sheathed his scythe before he stomped his way towards Issei.

"Koneko, you ready?" Kiba asked the little rook. Koneko gave him a quick nod before they both marched forward.

However, they were immediately stopped as Rias silently raised her hand for both of them to cease in their rescue attempt, or rather their suicide attempt, with Rias not taking her sight out of the one sided duel, her expression serious, but filled with concern.

"Damn it. It felt like I was hit by a train." Issei grunted in pain as he tried to stand up, while Death marched towards him.

[BOOST!]

"Hmm. His power keeps doubling every time that noise is made. His Sacred Gear is indeed powerful. But not powerful enough." Death thought grimly as he continued to march towards Issei.

Issei slowly managed to stand up, while Death planned to do to him what he did to Freed.

"Wisdom is a great gift." Death said grimly before in a swift motion, he sliced Issei's left arm completely from its shoulder socket, making him scream in immense pain and collapse on his knees, with the Sacred Gear disappearing as soon as his arm was sliced off.

"Issei!" Akeno gasped loudly in shock as she covered her mouth with both of her hands in horror, while Rias and Kiba growled slightly and Koneko frowned angrily at the brutal scenery before them. They wanted to help Issei badly, they really did. But against the rider of death, what chance do they have? Especially considering the fact he can transform into that big grim reaper.

"Remember well." Death said coldly as he sheathed his scythe and turned around, his back turned towards the boy.

But as he started to walk away outside, despite the unimaginable and excruciatingly agonizing pain that Issei experienced, his anger and rage almost rivaling that of War or Fury consumed him as he slowly stood up again. Rias, Akeno, Kiba and Koneko didn't waste time as they ran to his aid, with Akeno sealing the wound to stop the profuse bleeding.

"You… coward." Issei gritted his teeth in seething fury, making Death stop in his tracks.

"Issei, that's enough out of you!" Rias shouted angrily, but Issei apparently didn't listen. Despite all the injuries inflicted on him, including a severed arm, he's still ready for more, which worried Rias more than before.

"Hmm?" Death said as he glanced at the boy behind him, but not turning around. He had to admit, for a reincarnated devil, he was surprised and impressed by his tenacity.

"You think you're better than us? What if that was your brother? Your sister lying dead over there?!" Issei bowed his head down before he fixed his piercing gaze on the rider, with determination that can crumble mountains into pebbles with gaze alone. "You would have done… the same thing I asked of you. You wouldn't… give a flying fuck… of the rules… or other bullshit like that. You would have brought them back anyway. You can just stand there… acting all high and mighty… but you and I both know… it's the truth."

"Do you really take me for a fool, Hyoudou?" Death said as he turned around facing the slightly surprised Issei. "You really think I don't know of Gremory's true intention? She merely wants to add another weapon in her arsenal, like she did with you and your power proves it. She certainly didn't do it to make more 'friends.'" He said sarcastically.

Rias gasped slightly as she knew his words were true. For the most part, Rias wanted to bring Asia back for her own selfish reasons. After all, having Asia as a healing support for the team would be most invaluable. She knew the girl had a kind heart, but she wanted Asia back to life for pretty much the same reasons she did with Issei: To expand her ranks with more wielders of the Sacred Gear.

"Her silence only confirms my claim. It makes your mistress no better than the demons, even though they are not allies." Death said seriously before he turned around and was preparing to walk away again.

"I already know that." Issei said seriously.

"Hmm?" Death raised his eyebrow curiously beneath his mask as he glanced at the boy again.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Rias revived me purely because of the Sacred Gear. I mean, two of the hottest chicks in school hanging out with a pervert and loser like myself? I don't think so." Issei said sarcastically in low, serious voice.

"Issei." Rias said sadly as her heart ached from his harsh words.

But sadly, they were also true. She had no interest in him whatsoever until she discovered he was the bearer of the Sacred Gear, that's why she made him into her devil servant in the first place. But both Akeno and Rias were slightly shocked and surprised when Issei's dead serious face cracked into a faint smile.

"But I don't care if Asia ends up as Rias' devil servant. I told you my reasons before all this. As for Asia's… well…" Issei face went sad again. "I know you won't take my word for Asia's. Unless you can summon her soul or something, I can't say a thing to confirm anything in her name. But all I know is that she wanted a friend by her side. And… and I want her back. Truly I do." He said as a few tears formed in his eyes again.

Death didn't take a word he said to heart, if he had one to begin with. If it was Strife instead of him, then that heartfelt speech might have worked to appeal to his softer side. But Death doesn't have a soul, let alone a heart, by his belief at least, so that kind of speech is altogether a waste of breath on someone known by many names, each one whispered in fear and awe. The Reaper of Souls, an Ender of Worlds, the Slayer of Kin, whichever would suit an individual's fancy, angel, demon or otherwise.

However, Death inwardly agreed with the boy here and there. True, he was no better. During the Grand Abomination Crisis, when War died due to his scheme of delivering the Ravaiim blood away from those who would bring the nation shattering weapons back to life, he didn't regret the success of his plan, but rather the death that followed his brother War. In fact, he was so consumed by guilt back then that when he revived him, he couldn't possibly bring on himself to tell him the truth. However, that was different. They were the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, enforcers of the Charred Council tasked to maintain the balance between the Three Kingdoms. Resurrecting one of the four was absolutely necessary, though he would lie to himself if he didn't do it because of the brotherly bond.

And then, there was another Nephilim that he regretted on ending his life as he looked at Asia's lifeless body. The memory of that day rushed in his mind as if it happened yesterday, though he preferred to never replay those painful flashbacks again. His battle against his kin, more specifically his duel against the man he called his brother as much as he did War and Strife: Absalom.

---

"Death!" Absalom called out in anger. "Why do you slay your own?"

"The Nephilim have no claim to Eden." Death said as he turned towards one of the Firstborn, other than himself.

"There are realms for Angels and Demons. Why not for us?!" Absalom shouted in anger at the last part.

"Eden belongs to Man." Death said as he charged at the same time as Absalom before their blades collided.

"It belongs to those who take it!" Absalom shouted as their blades came to a stalemate, his battle axe called Absolution and Death's scythe Harvester in shape of dual scythes.

As Death and Absalom dueled, due to the immense power granted by the Charred Council, Death was able to overpower the progenitor of the Nephilim and impale him through the chest. But, despite following the orders given by the Council, eons did not answer the question that kept repeating in his mind ever since.

Was it worth it?

"Brother…" Absalom breathed hard as he extended his hand towards Death.

Now consumed by guilt and remorse, Death quickly gripped his brother's arm and tried to pull him out of the black pond that formed beneath him. But unfortunately, the deed was done as Absalom drowned completely until he was no more. Death fell on his knees as he looked at the black pond where Absalom was in guilt and disbelief as the souls of his brethren were absorbed by the amulet around his neck. From that day forward, he was crowned the Reaper and Kinslayer.

"RAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Death roared at the top of his lungs at the heavens in anguish for what he had done.

---

As the painful flashbacks ended, in a way he realized the truth in the boy's words. If it was Absalom or War lying dead over there and if he was given the chance to resurrect them, even as someone's servant, then he would most likely take that chance. Besides, Rias and her devils proved they are not in league with the demons and they also proved that they are not a threat to the humans as he thoroughly believed. For now anyway.

In the end, Death let out a heavy, grunting sigh, about to do something he will probably regret in the future.

The group behind him were surprised to see him marching towards Asia, begrudgingly by the looks of it. Then Death knelt near the girl and using his necromantic powers, he temporarily summoned Asia's soul from her body as her upper, ethereal form emerged. Issei slowly trudged near Death, with Kiba helping him by putting his right arm around him. Although Rias acted calmly, she was fuming from the inside. What they said about her might be true, but she was still furious that Death showed no remorse in wounding her servant like that. However, she has little say in the matter as all she could do is stay silent.

"What? Where am i?" The soul of Asia asked while looking left and right in slight confusion.

"Pay attention Asia, for your time is short." Death said.

"Who are you?" Asia asked, slightly frightened from the scary figure.

"I am Death." He said. Asia was a little confused from his blunt answer, but Death continued, not wanting to waste time on meaningless conversation. "Listen well to what the Gremory girl has to say." Now the soul of Asia turned her attention towards the crimson-haired girl.

"I am Rias Gremory, the next head of the House of Gremory. You remember how you died, did you?" Rias asked seriously.

"Yes, I remember. My Sacred Gear was taken from me by that large demon, thus ending my life as well." Asia said timidly as she frowned sadly and bowed her head down.

"There is a way to bring you back to life, and all I need from you is your consent." Rias smiled as she pulled out a chess piece from her pocket again. "Do you see this chess piece? This is a Bishop. The role as a Bishop is to heal and protect the other members of the household, including certain someone you made friends with."

Asia tilted her head in confusion until Issei took a few steps forward.

"Hey Asia." Issei said, now feeling slightly better due to Akeno stopping the bleeding from his shoulder wound.

"Issei!" Asia smiled brightly, but she immediately gasped in shock at the horrific wound she saw. "Issei, your arm! What happened to you?" Asia frowned sadly.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be just fine. Question is, will you come back to life as a devil? We can hang out together in the club house and you can also meet my other friends that I met in club, along with my school friends as well." Issei smiled weakly, barely having the strength to stay conscious.

Death rolled his eyes while channeling his necromantic power, he could hardly imagine two probably worse perverts than him 'hanging out' with a girl like Asia.

"Of course I will, Issei. I won't have any regrets being a devil. And the best part is we can be together forever and that's all I ever wanted." Asia smiled brightly.

"That's nice." Issei chuckled nervously before he smiled brightly. "I guess I'll see you real soon Asia."

And with that, Death released Asia's soul and stood upright.

"Alright then, let's get this over with, so we can head back home." Rias smiled, happy that she will have her new servant after all.

"Right." Issei, Akeno, Kiba and Koneko said as Kiba picked up Asia's body and placed her down on the ground nearby.

Death was having second thoughts about all this, though he is yet to decide will he stop them or let them carry on with the proceedings. But since Asia said she has no problem being a devil, and probably due to the fact that her reasons is more of emotional connection with Issei and not greed or lust for power, it was a valid reason to let them do their thing. Besides, in a grand scheme of things, this girl may indeed prove useful to him. Since he already employed these devils to his service until he finds the conspirators for the premature Endwar that is to come, with her healing ability, the chances these weakling devils will die in battle will reduce drastically. If it means preserving the Balance, then he might as well roll with all this, and it's not like this is the first time he made temporary alliances over the eons to achieve that goal. Another reason is that he can freely blow some steam on these devils if they aggravate him and Asia heals them in the end, which is a pleasant thought when he thought about it.

"In the name of Rias Gremory, I call to Asia Argento! Hear my command!" Rias chanted as the signature Gremory circle enveloped Asia's lifeless body from the ground. "Return thy soul from the shadows of death to the human realm, rise once more as my devil servant! Rejoice, for you have been given new life! Wake as my healer and clergyman." She chanted as Bishop chess piece merged in Asia's body, starting to envelop her in crimson aura. At first, nothing happened for a few moments, much to Issei's slight confusion as he had no idea what happened.

"So what now? Is she gonna wake up?" Issei asked curiously.

"Just wait." Rias smiled.

Then Asia's rings started to emanate a green aura around them before they disappeared. After that, Asia's body started to twitch and she slowly opened her eyes, invigorated as a new life was breathed into her. She then slowly got up and looked at the group to the right, excluding Death.

"Issei?" Asia said as she looked at the boy innocently. Filled with immense joy, Issei immediately lunged at Asia and hugged her tightly.

"You're alive. You're really alive. I'm so happy I can explode on the spot." Issei said while forming a few tears of joy in his eyes. Then he finally let go of her as he looked at her. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, as good as new." Asia smiled.

Death watched the whole scene unfold, admittedly in pure disgust before he decided to just leave this cursed place and go away from the devils.

"Mr. Death, wait!" Asia got up quickly and ran towards the rider. Death didn't even bother to turn around as he merely stopped his advance, his back still turned towards the young girl. "I want to thank you for helping them bring me back to life. For someone so scary, you truly are a kind person. I'll be forever grateful for what you've done for us." She smiled brightly as she bowed respectfully at the rider.

Death said nothing as he huffed in annoyance before he continued to walk forward, not sure if he should take her words as a compliment or an insult. He's Death, Executioner of the Wicked, enforcer of the Council's will. Since when does Death helps others bring people back to life? It's absurd by all accounts. And this girl doesn't have a clue that the only reason he allowed her to breathe again in the first place is to further his goal to protect the Balance, and nothing more.

As he walked outside the church, he sighed in stress relief, but at the same time out of frustration. With nothing else to do, he jumped in the air as his faithful phantom steed, Despair, materialized in all its soul enveloped glory before Death landed on the saddle, riding towards the unknown.

---

The next day that followed after that battle, Rias and her peerage gathered together to welcome their newest member, Asia Argento. Thanks to her proficiency and years of experience using the Twilight Healing, she was able to completely heal and reattach Issei's severed arm in place. Issei was glad that Death didn't grind his arm into a bloody pulp, otherwise it would have been an impossible feat to restore his arm. It wouldn't be the first time to reattach severed limbs for Asia, she had plenty of those cases while she was in the Church, providing the severed limbs were perfectly intact. After that was done, Akeno rolled on a serving table a strawberry cake with Asia's name on the center, and the celebration can commence.

Everyone except Death as he walked up on a hill, making his way towards Vulgrim to use his Serpent Holes and report to the Council of his recent discovery. Death knew this is going to be one hell of a long mission. With fallen angels, devils and demons, all he needs is angels of the White City and he has full package of enemies to exterminate from the Third Kingdom. Not wanting to dwell on those thoughts for long, he continued his way towards Vulgrim's glyph and entered his Serpent Holes. Besides, leaving the Earth for a while sounded like a good idea for the Reaper.

---

-MEleeSmasher That is something that Death will have a word about with the Council in the next chapter :D

-Gamelover41592 Thank you :)

-Lq840i At the time, Rias and Akeno were his main focus, for they were arguably the most powerful devils he found so far, before he met with Sirzechs and her father. Besides, Dust is more or less a guide and he only focuses on specific orders given by Death, so he's not really a being with his own will or anything. Besides, if he were to discover Sona and her peerage, Death wouldn't be so lenient with them like with Rias and her peerage.

First question: Well, i dont want to make Death too op or the story would be boring, but i dont want to make him too weak either. In this point in story, he can't destroy souls (doesn't mean he is unable to do so) as for something like that he needs permission from the Charred Council.

Second question: Yes, but he is not able to summon exploding ghouls or icy crows yet, his abilities are at their base level, but they progress gradually as the story continues.

Third question: We are yet to reach that point, so cant say anything about that one.

Dont worry, if you have anymore questions, send PM and ill answer your questions there, so you dont have to wait for next chapter for answers :)

-firedragoonknight Thanks a lot :) the Well of Souls is not affected at all by what devils do, they mostly annoy the Lord of Bones and the Chancellor if nothing else. Every soul in all the realms first go to the Kingdom of the Dead and THEN go to the Well of Souls after being recycled and all that, as explained in Darksiders 2. As for the soul itself, the only change is it's energy signature, to put it in DBZ logic. Personality, past life, everything remains intact, like with Issei and Asia.

-Guest Thanks for the suggestion, but crow armor has a "warrior of the Crowfather" vibe to it, so that's why i went with the gear of my choosing, which in my opinion, suits Death perfectly. As for other review, that depends on how the story goes, really.

-The Lone Swordswolf Thanks, i do my best, while at the same time keeping the ORC members alive :D As will the other Horsemen appear, and this goes for everyone else, i am honestly not really sure. We have only reached chapter 4 so far, so right now it's only Death.

Thank you all for the reviews, faves and follows and as always, ill see you in the next chapter :)