Chapter 11 - To The Rescue! - A Fight With The Fallen Angels Part 3
"Are your sure about this, Cassius? You're bandaged and injured." Rias said with concern. "I admire your tenacity but you have limits you know!"
"I'm perfectly aware. Let me handle the consequences. Besides you sent off Lucille I reckon. Gotta get to her fast."
As he said that the fallen angels stood in front of them as Cassius wanted to make a run for it, blocking his path. The smallest of the three laughed at Cassius, mocking him as he stood there irritated. A vein on his forehead popped out as he looked down on the small one.
"If you think we're gonna let you through, you're more delusional than I thought you would be. Lady raynare is going to complete the ritual and the Twilight Healing will be hers!"
"Even though you added a number to your ranks, Miss Gremory, you will not get past us. We refuse to let you ruin this for us!"
The third one kept her guard up. She saw Cassius and grew weary. 'This one I know nothing about. We should be careful.'
"Hey, Mittelt! Dohnaseek! We should be careful of whoever that one is. I don't know what he can do but, his presence is strange."
"That's odd. You're usually not one to worry, Kalawarner." Dohnaseek replied calmly as he sighed. "Then we might have our work cut out for us. Let's heed her words and stay careful. We shouldn't be too reckless when we're this close."
"Oh please if he's anything than that pink haired bimbo bitch then we shouldn't have a problem! He's probably weaker than the pervert man Raynare can't kill. Ohohoho." she leaned back laughing in a mocking tone.
Cassius stood frozen for a moment. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His fists clenched as he gritted his teeth. He was going down to that familiar place that he had a taste of before when he squared off with Raynare. He did not remember much of it but he remember the punches he threw, the feeling of when his teeth bit into one of her wings.
"Where is she? What did you do?" he uttered in a quiet tone as Akeno and Rias looked onward pretty pissed at the trio.
"Oh? You really wanna know? Why should I tell you? We beat her up real bad. She was allll aloneeeee~." she winked at him posing and giggling. Attempts to anger him further.
It was working.
"You bitch. Where is she?" his voice grew louder.
"I'm not tellingggggggg."
"Where is she?" his voice grew louder.
"Can't you get through your thick head dumbass? There is no way that I'm telling you anything about the stupid pink haired bimbo bit-"
"TELL ME NOWWWWWWW!" he roared at the trio. Pressure formed as the bellowing of his voice echoed through the forest as the three fallen felt the pressure as it threw them off their guard. "GRAHHHHHHHH!" he shouted as the mysterious aura enveloped him like it did with Raynare.
"I knew it." Kalawarner said under her breath. "There's something up with him... could it be?"
Mittelt look upon Rias Akeno and Cassius as she stood there frozen and her mouth agape.
"Rias. That aura.." Akeno said with worry.
"Cassius!" Rias shouted at her servant. "You're too injured to fight them off! Get back! We can handle this! Don't push yourself and don't let them get into your head! Lucille is okay I know it!" she said as she bit her lip. She was just saying that for to make Cassius hopefully calm down but, even she was worried. Is Lucille really gone? Kidnapped maybe? She didn't have the answers but right now they had feathers that needed plucking.
Cassius's eyes as they changed from a golden hue. The aura was circling around his body slowly encasing him in. The pressure intensified as the colorless aura completely encased him. He growled and shouted as if a wild beast.
"I told you, naive wielder.." a familiar voice echoed in Cassius' mind. "You need to tap into your emotions to utilize your full potential. Now...channel that rage and release the power of The Hollow Dragon! Gahahahahaha!" Grimwald's cackling laughter echoed in Cassius' mind as the aura grew thicker hiding his body from view.
Akeno and Rias stepped back for the pressure was too great and they couldn't get close to Cassius without being blown away. The two devils and three fallen angels looked on as Cassius begun a transformation. He was ascending to new power. All eyes were locked on.
"Mittelt! Get back now!" Dohnaseek shouted in worry as Mittelt couldn't move. She fell to the ground as she looked on in fear. Tears began to stream down her face as she uttered noises of pain and fear. Riddled with anxiety, she sat there shaking.
'This..this energy.' her thoughts began. 'It's...terrifying...is this was Raynare was mentioning beforehand?'
-flashback-
"What?! That sounds stupid! there's no way there's a third heavenly dragon! There has only been two!" Mittelt shouted in complete denial.
"Will you shut up and listen?!" Raynare replied in irritation. "I don't know if this is true or not, but with those damn humans making a cult about it and not to mention, Kokabiel mentioning it, something has to be up."
"Maybe Kokabiel is trying to start something with the three factions." Dohnaseek intervened the conversation. "This...Hollow dragon? If reports are true then this could either be great...or spell doom for us all."
"I know that. The fact he already has a handle on his Sacred Gear already is annoying. I'm not taking any chances because obviously we can ask him to join us or extract him out of it without losing everything we worked on, we have to kill him."
"Oh please. It's going to be easy pickings. Hehehehehe." Mittelt, who wasn't even worried in the slightest chuckled.
'I can't believe it. This must be it. The Hollow Dragon...it's true.' Mittelt thought in fear as she bit her lip and tears rolled down her cheeks.
Cassius grunted as the aura shot up into the sky past the barrier that was put up earlier by Akeno as shooting into the sky. His human roars turning into that of a dragon like nature.
"Where is Lucille?!" he shouted as the aura started attaching to him physically. Screams of rage and pain echoed through the forest as his pressure emitted wind gusts blowing past them.
Issei, Koneko, and Kiba were waiting outside the church door as they heard the screams.
"Shit! That sounds like Cassius!" Issei said in a panic as the three looked to see the ghastly pillar of the eerie aura. "That's the same aura for when we fought Yuum- I mean Raynare!"
"You saw this before?" Kiba inquired.
"Yeah. Raynare hit Lucille and it threw Cassius into a frenzy and he started whipping her ass. It was pretty awesome, but I didn't like the way Cassius was in."
"It's cold...this wind." Koneko said quietly.
"We need to focus." Kiba commanded trying to regroup the trio. "If anything, Rias and Akeno are there to support him we have to put our faith in them!"
"You're right, Kiba. Let's storm in!" he shouted as the three barged into the church ready for the fight of their lives.
Meanwhile we see a prone body in the thickest part of the forest. It seems they were beaten pretty badly as there were cuts and bruises. They struggled to get up as they heard the cries of Cassius and through a small opening saw the eerie aura. Roars of a dragon echoed through as the body looked up with pink eyes as a hand reached out to the night sky being clouded by the aura. It was Lucille.
"C-Cassius. I-I'm sorry..." she said as she lost her strength and fainted. As that happened a group of cultists entered the scene led by three women. They all looked up in delight as their eyes watched with pleasure and their smiles with glee.
"It seems that he has awakened the power. How most fortuitous of us don't you both agree?" A girl with long raven black hair looked up at the sky becoming clouded. Her porcelain skin revealed in the small opening as the three stood over the prone Lucille.
"Why yes, indeed. I couldn't be more proud of him." Another girl with auburn like hair chimed in with a positive facial expression. "Hopefully now those fallen angels with take their swift exit."
A third stepped forward to the black hair's right. Her hair was a pure golden blonde as her green eyes looked down at Lucille. "We should take her with us and get her treated. I think he'll be happy knowing his friend is alright."
"I agree. I think we can all agree we don't need another one of Ciel's 'sacrifices.' If only we could deal with him ourselves."
"If we do we'll reveal our position. We, who are the arbiters for the dragon's return to this world, cannot risk our position. We may had a deal with the God Of the Bible, but whose to say no current king or general will not like what we do. We must keep this secret until we can't anymore. For the dragon and the boy." the raven haired girl said softly as she looked to the two women beside her. They both nodded in agreement as the blonde one turned to the group tailing them.
"Get the girl safe in our chambers! We'll treat her ourselves there!"
"Yes! Milady!" the group said in unison as they worked to get her up. "Up you go. We'll get you fixed up. Promise."
The three girls followed the group as the raven haired girl turned back seeing no night sky but only clouds and darkness.
'We shall meet soon, my child. I'm proud of your strength..kill them all...'
We return to Cassius as the eerie aura retreated and vanished into thin air. The clouds also disappeared into the sky. Rias, Akeno, and the three fallen angels looked onward and couldn't help but feel this empty feeling inside. They couldn't even see the boy anymore. What took his place was plated colorless armor. Wing took form on his back as the gems on his gauntlets looked lie actual eyes of the dragon. Even eyes grew on the palm of his hands. The eyes
("Hollow Dragon. Balance Breaker")
The wings disappeared as two tails grew behind him as he stepped towards the small Mittelt cowering in fear without saying anything. His form vanished into thin air as he got closer. Mittelt crawled backwards quietly begging and pleading for someone to help her.
Everyone looked around looking to see where he would appear as Dohnaseek tended to Mittelt who was in complete shock. Kalawarner looked around as she sensed the power of Cassius looking to see him appearing behind Dohnaseek. Clouds reminiscent of the eerie aura took form to reveal the physical body of Cassius as he readied to attack.
"Dohnaseek! Behind you!" Kalawarner shouted as he turned to see a right hand from Cassius as he sent launched into a tree. His back denting the trunk from Cassius' strike. He was then pinned by one of Cassius' tails striking through Dohnaseek in his center. Tendrils wrapped around him as they too penetrated Dohnaseek's flesh as he screamed in pain. The other two only looked in horror for what was transpiring.
"What the hell is this?" Rias asked. "Akeno! What is that?"
"It seems it's his balance breaker that has activated. It's power is strong. I can't help but feel empty inside." she said as she clutched his chest.
"I feel it too. What is this? Is this Cassius? No...is this the dragon?"
Rias and Akeno looked on as Kalawarner rushed to attack Cassius.
"You bastard!" she shouted in anger as she got pinned into another tree. She looked down as she was impaled by Cassius' other tail as tendrils grew out and penetrated her flesh as well. Mittelt looked on in horror as her comrades were practically useless against this newfound power Cassius tapped into.
Cassius looked down at the cowering Mittelt. The eyes of the armor piercing through flooding her with fear.
(Drain. Drain. Drain. Drain.)
The tendrils and tails shown glowing waves as they traveled through towards the end of the tails. The armor glowed as Cassius stood firm as the two angels screamed in anguish as their were being "drained." They struggle while the tendrils from the tails continued the process.
"Asia!" Issei shouted as the three dashed forward to the group of exorcists as they began fighting through the horde to get to where Asia was with Raynare.
"Issei behind you!" Kiba shouted as he slashed into an exorcist chasing after Issei.
"Shit! Thanks, Kiba!" Issei expressed with gratitude as he ran through the group. Koneko and Kiba kept fighting alongside him to give him an opening. Issei dashed through as he started up the stairs. "Asia!" he shouted as he ran to Asia who was seemingly unconscious and standing next to her was Raynare looking down on him with a smug grin.
"Raynare! What did you to her?"
"What else would I do? I took her Sacred Gear now the power of instant healing belongs to me. She had to die of course but it's none of my concern now." she chuckled as Issei's heart just dropped. Asia? Dead? It can't be there's no way.
"You...you put her back to normal right now!" he grunted as he gritted his teeth.
"Oh? Well look at you suddenly growing a backbone. Well I'll give you a small reward for coming this far." she said annoyed as she snapped her fingers freeing Asia from her shackles as she fell into Issei's arms. His anger disappeared suddenly as he looked at Asia as she struggled and open her eyes.
"I-Issei...help me.."
"Put her back to normal right now you bitch!"
"Don't you dare talk back to me you disgusting brat!" Raynare retorted in anger as she went to strike him down with a light spear but Issei jumped out of the way as he ran down the stairs exiting the basement. Raynare went to give chase but Kiba and Koneko blocked her path making her frustrated more.
"Fucking devils... out of the way!"
"I'm sorry but that's not happening." Kiba said as he readied his sword. The three had a standoff as the room grew silent and Raynare grew more irritated.
Cassius stood there still looking at the cowering Mittelt. The tails and tendrils finally retracted as Dohnaseek and Kalawarner fell to the ground with gaping hole wounds. They struggled to get up as they fell to their knees. Cassius looked back at the two dying angels as he left out a sigh before he dashed forward with tremendous speed. A fist driving into the temple of Dohnaseek. The sheer force drove him to the floor limp and unmoved. His claws sharpened. He dashed past Kalawarner before she could say anything as the sharp talons sliced through like butter cutting her head clean off. He then released a burst of energy as the two bodies slowly disappeared out of thin air. They disintegrated and the ashes drifted away into nothingness.
Mittelt seeing her comrades left out as screeching wail as she shot a spear at him with reckless abandon. Rias and Akeno watched on in disbelief at what was transpiring. The spear went into his side partially inside as he stood there motionless turning to Mittelt.
"You're next..." he said gently. No emotion was emitted when he spoke. His left hand open showing his palm at Mittelt. An eye opened as well looking deep into Mittelt's eyes. Energy started building and a small ball of energy popped up. He pushed it forward as it slowly drifted to Mittelt before making contact and expanding around her trapping her inside. She desperately tried to claw out but the sphere forced her back in.
"No! No no no! I don't wanna die please! I'm sorry! Please let me go I promise I'll leave you all alone just please let me go I beg you please!"
(Oblivion.)
When the word was spoken the sphere tore her apart as her last screams echoed into the night. Her essence was torn apart. She was nothing.
"He..took them out so easily..." Akeno said afraid. "R-Rias.."
"What the hell.." she muttered quietly.
Cassius turned to them. The eyes of the dragon looking at the two as he held the sphere in his hand.
Issei, with Asia in his hands ran up from the basement as he put her down on one of the benches gently.
"Asia...you're gonna be okay...please stay with me..."
"I-Issei...I'm glad." she said weakly as she held her hand up. Issei grasped them strongly as he squeezed them gently. He was on the verge of tears.
"P-Please. Please no..."
"I'm glad I got to meet you..." she said as her last breath was made and her hand slipped through Issei's fingers. He was in shock. Pure disbelief. She can't be gone.
"Oh how sad. Truly unfortunate." a voice came through as Issei looked to see it was Raynare sitting on the broken cross statue in the church floor. " Don't worry though." she said smugly as she descended in front of him. "You'll join her soon. SHe won't be at least alone...oh wait that's right you're a devil. Hahaha! I guess you won't see her again!" she said laughing and enjoying Issei's pain. She readied a light spear with the largest grin on her face. "I'll finally kill you for real this time."
The doors for the entrance of the church blasted open clean off the hinges. A strong burst of wind blew her back a few away from Issei. She looked on with a puzzled look on her face as she saw the culprit walk into the church. It was Cassius without his armor on.
Raynare's puzzled look grew into annoyance. "Oh great another pawn of Gremory. Wait your turn. First this one gets to die." she said as a quick burst of energy zipped next to her head as she stood there in shock. She froze in her tracks as she looked into Cassius's golden hues. They pierced through her shattering her confidence.
"N-no. You tapped into it didn't you? You woken The Hollow Dragon haven't you?! Answer me!" she was focused on him that she forgot about Issei. He blindsided her as he was pissed off still shedding tears as his Sacred Gear evolved traveling up to his elbow.
"This is for Asia and what you put her through!" he went for a second punch but Raynare stuck two spears into his legs as he was pinned down for a moment.
"You stay there, you brat. Now. you there Hollow Dragon! Why waste your time with these pathetic devil losers. Join me. With this new Sacred Gear, I have more power than this loser here." she pointed to Issei still pinned to the ground as he was bleeding heavily.
"How about it? You'll be better off with me and my comrades. How about it."
"Shut up." he muttered as he stepped forward slowly.
W-Wha?" Raynare was taken aback.
"Where is Lucille?" He said short and sweet.
"What are you talking about?"
He shot another energy bolt as he revealed the gauntlets he possessed. The balance breaker was gone but his Sacred Gear still remained. Purposefully zipping by Raynare's head as she stood there still at a loss for words.
"I'm not going to ask again. Where is Lucille?!" Cassius grew more impatient and angry as Raynare couldn't find what to say.
"I killed your three comrades. You'll be next if you don't tell me where she is NOW!"
"I-I.." she stuttered as Issei blindsided her again. While she was distracted, Issei pulled out the light spears although it was severely painful. She launched out of the window after Issei's thunderous punch. The glass shattered as Cassius looked at the open window in frustration. He walked up to Issei as he fell to his knees panting for air.
"You okay? You took a lot today."
"It's..it's nothing."
Cassius chuckled as his anger slowly went away. "No need to act super tough ya perv. You have my respect. What you did took guts."
"T-Thanks, Cassius." Issei said as he got back up.
"You both did well." Rias said as she entered in with the rest of the group. Nice work distracting her Cassius."
He simply shrugs his shoulder. "If you want to call it that sure." He said as he kept the sphere hidden. He sighed.
-flashback-
Cassius gripped the sphere as it started to glow. The eye in the sphere widened as it emitted a flash of light. The sphere closed up as his balance breaker disappeared and it retracted to his gauntlets.
All this happened as Rias and Akeno came to their senses.
"What happened?" Rias wondered to herself. "Cassius? What are you doing here?"
'I heard a racket so I came to check. But you guys took care of those fallen angels I see." he said pointing with his head to the small pile of feathers.
"Well. Strange how things are just a blur, but at least that takes care of that. Cassius since you're here you go join Issei and the others. They're going to need it."
"Right." he said simply nodding in agreement as he ran off towards the church.
-flashback ends-
"At least this is all said and done. Well..." he said as he turned to see Koneko dragging Raynare by her outfit tossing her in front of the group. Cassius turns looking down on her as she avoids eye contact. He walks to take a look around the damage done and sees Asia lying on the bench. He doesn't know she's dead.
Cassius looks to see Issei's Sacred Gear and noticing the obvious changes. "Issei. Your Sacred Gear looking different there."
("My word. Cassius.") Oblethe said solemnly.
"What's up?"
("That is the essence of one of the other Heavenly Dragons. This is one of the Thirteen Longinus. Boosted Gear.")
"Really?"
"Woah you serious? Sound pretty cool." Issei said surprised. In his mind it sounded like it was a big important Sacred Gear.
("For you yes. But for us that means we are destined for battle, Red Dragon Emperor.")
The moment Oblethe spoke those words the group looked onward at the two as Issei and Cassius stare at each other. Cassius with a tired look but albeit serious. Issei was looking nervous as his eyes kept shifting around. Cassius was unmoved as he yawned softly.
The tension between the group has begun to build.