Satsuki frowned as she stared at the readouts Iori had given her regarding Ryuko's life signs as sent by her uniform. "Am I reading these correctly?" she asked flatly. "It looks like it says she's alive and dead at the same time...and something else entirely."

"That's as best as I understand it," Iori explained worriedly. "We have her vital signs normal, though much reduced. We also have flatline, and then there are these other signs which..." He hesitated.

Satsuki raised an eyebrow, a silent instruction to continue.

Iori frowned. "The last time I detected vitals like this was...just after Nui beheaded herself."

Satsuki's eyebrows came together as she remembered that moment, when a human body unraveled completely to become a clothing-based superweapon for Ragyo. It had nearly broken the world, if not for the last ditch actions of Ryuko and Senketsu. The idea that Ryuko was giving off those vital signs was...worrisome, to say the least.

The ring on her private line - which only Ryuko and Nonon presently had the contact info for - distracted her. She quickly answered it. "Ryuko?" she asked hopefully, as she knew Nonon was present in the house.

"Ryuko...will be...at the church..." an unfamiliar voice said with no emotion behind it, sounding almost as if it was struggling to shape the words. "Send...backup...muscle and...sword..."

"Who is this?" Satsuki demanded angrily. "Identify yourself!"

"A dead...puppet...walking..." the voice replied, an odd gurgle mixed in that Satsuki recognized as someone trying to talk through coughed up blood.

"Is this devil business?" Satsuki pressed, her eyes narrowing as her sword hummed at her side in response to her gathering will without her touching it.

"Tell...Rias...dono...stuff...the rules..." The phone went dead.

Despite the shock at what she understood from that phone call, Satsuki did not hesitate to give orders. She could think about the implications after the crisis was resolved...and then she could chew out Ryuko for being a reckless idiot again. Maybe it would actually get through this time. "Ira! Uzu! Nonon! Ryuko is making an assault on enemy fortifications at the church in town. Be there to back her up immediately! Be aware her form may be unstable!"

"Yes, Satsuki-sama!" they all responded immediately as they leapt out the nearest exit, ready to banter on the way.

Pulling out an occult device, Satsuki spun it to open immediate communication. "Rias, it's Satsuki. I don't know why, but Ryuko just declared war on whoever's using the local Church as their home base, and she's not holding anything back. I suggest you send your Rook and Knight to keep her in check, and if possible make a personal appearance with your Queen to enact damage control."

"Seriously?" Rias complained from the other end.

"It's only a day or two early from my own projections," Satsuki pointed out calmly.

A resigned sigh was her only response.

Mittelt's body walked up to the church in a grotesque parody of normal movement, the tiny Ryuko manipulating her movements through threads leading into her skull. As they came to a halt, Ryuko stared at the Church. "Don't think I can fight like this..." she murmured under her breath as she scouted the area.

Then you need to reconstruct your body, Ddraig told her logically.

"Out of what?" she hissed back. "I sacrificed a large part of my mass to make that fake defeat believable."

We have a nice source right here, Ddraig observed urgently.

"What do you-" Ryuko stopped as she realized what he meant, and felt the revulsion at the idea. "I don't think that would work..."

Ddraig sighed in her mind. You and I both know you're only saying that because it reminds you too much of how your mother did things with that Nui girl and all of that, so let's address the 'logical' complaints quickly, shall we? You're going to kill her anyway, so it's not like it changes anything there.

"I don't think I can eat light-"

Fallen Angels use Light, but the act of Falling causes them to lose their Light nature. Eating her would just give you a power boost, she doesn't even have an elemental nature to add for you to deal with.

Ryuko was silent for a time. "...how does this make me different?"

Do you think they would hesitate?

Ryuko was silent for a time.

Do you think she would have hesitated to kill Mako after finishing you off? Ddraig suggested bluntly, reaching through Ryuko's Fibers to access Mittelt's mind. He was unsurprised to discover - or share with Ryuko - that her plan before Ryuko had nerve-stitched her had been to finish off Ryuko...and then take her time killing Mako because it would be fun-

Mittelt's body jerked violently as her skin split, blood seeming to fountain from every inch of her body before Fibers consumed it all, drawing it all in as it reshaped itself into Ryuko's human form, complete with her uniform. Lowering her right hand from her head, she spat a black feather out of her mouth as she glared at the green jewel in the center of the red plate that was bound to the back of her hand. "That was not pleasant," she growled out angrily.

"No, but it was rather metal," Uzu commented from behind her as he, Nonon, and Ira approached.

"Well, that's Sis's backup," Ryuko replied as she worked her joints, making certain they were all working properly.

"And here's Rias-sama's," Yuuto said as he and Koneko stepped out of the nearby shadows. "Though she's not very happy about your impetuous behavior."

"She'll get used to it," Ryuko answered readily.

"You should still take it easy," Nonon pointed out as she held up one of Houka's scanners. "Looks like you're only at 10% power-"

"Boost!" The green gem flared to life.

Nonon stared at the readout. "...20%-"

"Boost!"

"...40%...and above the power level of everything in the church," Nonon concluded.

Uzu smirked widely as he shifted his wooden sword. "Let's go say hello, shall we?"