(Disclaimer: I own neither Highschool DxD nor Ben 10. Both of these belong to their respective owners who own all rights to them.)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"What were you thinking!" Rias exclaimed in exasperation from her chair while Ben, standing before her on the other side of the large desk, held a sheepish look on his face at her chastisement.
He had been correct in his thinking that Rias would be angry when she found out where he had been. He hadn't planned to tell her if he could help it, but when he turned up at the clubroom an hour late to see everybody gathered and waiting for him, she had not only chastised him for being late, something she didn't approve of, but she became very insistent that he explain himself as to what kept him.
He initially gave a very basic version of events, leaving out his encounter with Asia and escorting her to the church, but Rias instantly saw through his poor attempt to hide the truth and called him out on it.
Disgruntled about being found out, Ben then told her the true story. When he spoke about his encounter with the blonde-haired nun she shook her head slightly with a sigh…but that paled in comparison to when he got to the part about the church where she stood up abruptly and slammed her hands down on her desk.
"I wasn't," Ben admitted with a slight shake of his head.
"Have you forgotten that churches are considered enemy territory? Did you not get a bad feeling when you went near it?"
"Actually, I did feel something when I looked at it."
"That was your Devil instincts warning you to stay away. Even if it's a near crumbling ruin, it is still a church and, thus, a place we Devils aren't allowed to go near without it causing major problems."
Ben looked down at her stern words.
"Simply being in the proximity of someone affiliated with the church is risky. Some exorcists who are affiliated with the church even possess Sacred Gears which make them a big threat. As God ensured that only humans could inherit Sacred Gears when He created them, He made it possible for the Church to compete against Devils and Fallen Angels on a more level playing field."
"I get it. I'm sorry."
Rias looked at his dejected expression and sighed, pushing herself up and leaning closer to Ben, an encouraging look on her face.
"Ben, I don't say these things to be harsh or scare you, ok?" Ben looked up at her. "I say these things because I want you to understand how dangerous it is being near the Church and those affiliated with it. If a Devil is killed by a Light weapon or a Sacred Gear then that's it. There's no coming back from that. You will truly be dead…and for a Devil, that means we simply cease to be."
Even though he didn't make himself known, Ben felt Azmuth agree with Rias' warning about the dangers he now had to watch out for.
"I understand."
"I'm glad you do. I'm sorry if I sounded too harsh on you just then, I've got a lot on my plate right now and I think I took some of that frustration out on you just now."
"No, you were just telling me as it is. I won't go near that place again."
"Thank you. Now, let's move on from this and get back to work, huh?"
"Sure," Ben nodded as he took a seat as the conversation turned back to work.
. . . . .
(Later)
"Boy, I really put my foot in it this time, didn't I?" Ben muttered to himself as he leaned back against the couch, taking a break from the paperwork before him.
He was currently all alone in the clubroom. Kiba and Koneko had responded to summons from some of their regular clients and had headed home straight afterwards. Rias, on the other hand, had stepped out of the clubroom for a moment as she needed to contact somebody about something, and Akeno had gone with her to assist her with whatever she needed.
[The red-haired female makes a good point, kid,] Azmuth's voice spoke out within his mind, startling Ben by his sudden reappearance.
"You're back," Ben responded, leaning forward quickly. "How come?"
[Because you're getting a little stronger every day. Anyway, back to my original point: she is right to point out the dangers you face now you're a Devil. I'd hate for my vessel to be reduced to nothing so soon after meeting him.]
"That's what your worried about?"
[No, not the only thing.]
"Sure, I bet you're thrilled to be stuck in the body of some nobody like me," Ben mused sarcastically.
[Actually, I'm looking forward to our future partnership, kid.]
"It's Ben,"
[Whatever. As I was saying, I think it'll be interesting working with you.]
"How come?"
[Before I was sealed inside my Sacred Gear, I was one of the three Dragon Gods, the Dragon God of Life. You cannot even comprehend the boredom I experienced for eons. Unlike those two who were content with their stagnation, I considered it a torturous existence and did everything in my enormous power to fight against my tedious existence and feel something…to feel alive!]
Ben just nodded as he listened to Azmuth's story. He had to admit the dragon had a point; while he tried to imagine what it must be like being a creature of such enormous power with nothing to do to pass the millions of years he must have lived for.
"Is that why you created dragons?" he found himself asking.
[Indeed. I created dragons to represent power, grace, selfish, and most of all: free! Unlike the other races, I created them to be power unto themselves, to not be subject to any authority unless they wish it, and to do what I never could: live their lives how they wished.]
"How did that turn out?"
[Very successfully from what I saw before being sealed. Dragons were admired, respected, and feared by all, even gods.]
"What about God?"
[God? At first, He admired my work as a fellow creator Himself, but after what happened to his precious first humans, he developed a great hatred for all Dragonkind and it became a forbidden topic for us to talk about.]
"What happened?" Ben asked curiously.
[A story for another time perhaps. You have a long way to go before you're ready to hear about such things. Your priority for now is to learn how to control my Gear. I will assist you where I can.]
"I guess you're right. Fine, what can you tell me about your Gear? What is it called and what does it do exactly?"
[God and I never came to an agreement as to what it should be called when we built it. It had numerous names as we worked on it including 'Omnimatrix' and 'The Ark', I, however, always preferred to call it simply the 'Transformation Gear'.]
[As for what it does, I would've thought you'd figured it out when you experienced its capability last night. The Gear allows its wielder to transform into any of the countless beings and creatures that has a DNA sample stored in its limitless library.]
"Wow. That sounds so cool!" Ben cast a quick glance down at his right arm. "What about my other Sacred Gear?"
[As the red-haired female said….]
"Rias."
[…what?]
"The 'red-haired female'? Her name is Rias Gremory, just so you know."
[Hmm, anyway, as…Rias told you, your other Gear is known as the Boosted Gear, one of the thirteen Longinus created by God, and the Gear in which resides the Red Dragon Emperor, Ddraig, one of the two Heavenly Dragons.]
"Another Dragon? Wait, if you created dragons, does that make Ddraig your son?"
[The two Heavenly Dragons are different from other dragons. While it is true that I used my DNA as a template for every dragon, I made it so the only thing I have with them is that we are of the same race. That is where the similarities end. Ddraig and Albion were the exception, an experiment of mine when I first began work on creating dragons. Unlike the others, those two do share genetics with me personally.]
"So they are related to you?"
Azmuth growled a little at the interruption but continued regardless.
[Yes, I…suppose that does make them my offspring.] He fell silent as he realised what he said. [Hmm, in all the time I've existed, I've never actually looked at it that way before. It would explain a lot of things, though.]
"How so?"
[Well, it would explain why they acted like they did before they had to be sealed away in their Gears. Hmm, yes, how did I not see it before? They acted so much like…myself when I was a younger.]
Azmuth stopped his trail of thought for a moment as he returned his attention back to Ben.
[You've given me something to think about, kid….]
"Ben," Ben gave his name again but Azmuth completely ignored him.
[…I'll have to reflect on it a bit. It's made me see things in a different light. I'll speak with you later.. I believe you are about to be joined by your comrades.]
With that, the ancient dragon fell silent at the exact same time the doors to the clubroom opened as Rias and Akeno entered the room.
"Ah good, you're still here," Rias observed as she spotted him.
"Uh, hey, what's going on?"
"We've just received word from the Archduke…," Akeno explained for him.
Ben wanted to ask what an 'Archduke' was but he felt that now wasn't the time for it so let Akeno continue.
"There is a Stray Devil loose nearby and we've been tasked with taking care of it."
"What's a Stray Devil?"
"I'll explain when we get there. Come on, Kiba and Koneko have already been informed and will meet us there," Rias stated from the clear space in the clubroom as she created a medium-sized magic circle with the Gremory crest etched into it.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Ben announce as he hurried over to join the two buxom beauties. Once he stood with them, Rias activate the circle and the three of them disappeared in a brief flash of red light.
. . . . .
Abandoned warehouse, Kuoh outskirts
"So, what's a Stray Devil then?" Ben asked again as he looked up at the dark, daunting building before him.
The three of them had appeared at their destination to find Kiba and Koneko already there and waiting for them.
Kiba was standing beside him and answered his question.
"They start out as regular reincarnated devil servants and every once in a while, a servant decides to rebel and kills their master to try and gain their freedom or for other selfish desires. This causes its own problems, though, as their power may go beyond their control and it consumes them, causing them to lose their minds in worst case scenarios."
"According to the reports concerning this particular stray, she has been luring people from the surrounding area to this spot before devouring them," Akeno relayed from Ben's right where she stood next to Rias.
"And we have to stop something like that?"
Rias looked up at the dark building, her hands on her hips.
"As it escaped into my territory, it's our duty to deal with it before it kills anymore people."
"It should be an easy job. Find the beast and kill it," Akeno stated simply.
"Let's go," Rias commanded as she led the way into the building, Ben and the others following closely behind her.
As they made their way through the building, it appeared completely deserted. Their footsteps gently echoed around them as they made their way down each corridor as they searched for their target. When they reached what looked like it used to be the admin offices of the warehouse, Rias instructed Kiba, Koneko and Akeno to spread out and inspect the offices around them.
Ben offered to join them in searching but Rias held him back.
"No, I want you to stay back for this mission."
"Why? Because I won't be useful in a fight?" Ben asked in response without resentment or bitterness in his voice. He knew full well that he would more of a hindrance than a help in a fight.
"It's true that you don't have any combat experience, but that's not why I want you to hang back for this."
"Why then?"
Before Rias could answer him, Kiba returned from his search with a grim expression on his face.
"Rias, you'll want to see this," he told her with nauseous look on his face. Not asking any questions, Rias immediately headed over to him as did the others, following after him as he guided them back to his discovery.
When Ben looked into the large conference room Kiba indicated, his eyes widened in shock and horror as he was greeted by the grotesque sight before him.
Bodies. Dozens of mutilated, half-eaten bodies and several more well into the steps of decomposition littered the room. The floor no longer observable under the thick layer of dried blood and half-eaten flesh that completely covered it.
As he looked at the grisly scene before him, Ben was suddenly struck by the overwhelmingly powerful stench of rot and decomposition and it became too much for him. He quickly backed away from the room and ran over to the other side of the corridor where he regurgitated the contents of his stomach.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" Akeno asked kindly as she came over to him and gently rubbed his back in a comforting manner.
"I'm *cough* *cough* I'm fine, thanks…just wasn't expecting to *cough* see that," Ben replied as he breathed deeply to regain his senses. "I've just never seen anything like that before."
"It's not something you get used to," Kiba noted grimly.
"How come I couldn't smell anything until I looked in there? Aren't I supposed to have better senses now I'm a Devil?"
"You are, but a small barrier has been placed around this room that masks the smell from attracting attention," Rias told him gently before looking back into the room with disgust on her face. "This is why we take things like this so seriously. Strays care about nothing else except satisfying their own desires. Let's keep looking for it."
Ben joined the others in agreeing with Rias and, after he wiped off the last bit of saliva from his chin, followed them as they continued their search of the warehouse. It wasn't long after finding the room of bodies that they came to the entrance to the large, spacious storage area which made up half the warehouse's space.
"It's in there," Koneko announced firmly as she led the way into the spacious area.
"Good. Are you familiar with chess by any chance, Ben?" Rias asked as he walked up beside her and stopped on her left-hand side.
"Huh?" Ben replied, thrown off by the sudden question. "Uh, yeah, I'm familiar with it. I've played a few games before."
"That's good to hear. It'll make things easier to explain. Each member of a Devil's peerage takes on the role and characteristics of the chess piece that was used to make them part of their master's, the king's, peerage. I want you to stand back with me and observe the fight so you can learn how we fight as a team and how you fit into it for the future."
"Uh, sure," Ben nodded in understanding and stayed beside Rias as they headed towards the centre of the large space.
"Who daresss disturbsss usssssss?" a slimy, venom-filled voice echoed around them and bringing their group to a sudden stop. Their gaze fell on a large pillar on the other side of the room where movement could be seen.
From what Ben could make out, one thing was clear to him; whatever they were dealing with was very large.
His prediction was answered when the figure emerged from behind its hiding spot and slid out into the open to reveal its true, grotesque form.
Ben didn't exactly know what to call it other than repulsive. What he was looking at was a creature whose head and entire upper half was that of a naked woman with a voluptuous figure which also had large fangs instead of teeth. Her, or rather it's, hair was wild and falling out in places, leaving large bald patches. However, it was the lower half that repulsed him the most as it looked like it was composed of multiple creatures fused together. It had four legs, each equipped with sharp claws, a pair of gigantic muscular arms which also had claws, and a long hissing snake for a tail that glared at them menacingly. At first glance it looked to Ben like some perverted, monstrous recreation of a centaur.
"Viser! You disgusting failure of a Devil! You have been sentenced to death for the heinous crimes of killing your master in cold blood and for fleeing judgment to fulfil your own lustful wants and desires and allowing yourself to be consumed by them! This is the end for you!"
"Come and try it, bitch!" Viser retorted with a hiss as she fondled her large breasts roughly. Unable to look away from her vulgar display, Ben's eyes widened when he saw the magic circles around her nipples which had stretched and morphed into the shape of gun nozzles two inches long which she aimed at them as she laughed manically and had a mad look of glee in her eyes.
"No fucking way!" Ben gaped as he realised what was about to happen. His suspicion was proven right when Viser suddenly fired an ominous looking yellow liquid from them, aimed directly at their group.
Everyone reacted at the sudden attack and dodged out of the way of the projectiles as they struck where they had just been standing. Ben looked back to see that, where the yellow ooze had struck the floor, the floor and pillar was being steadily eaten away from the acidic ooze.
"So, the crazy monster bitch can shoot acid from her tits? That makes sense," he sighed incredulously.
[It might look intimidating, kid, but you could easily take that abomination on by yourself even at your current level,] Azmuth noted though Ben doubted him from what he was looking at.
"Kiba!" Rias ordered as she recovered from the acid attack.
Kiba nodded and unsheathed his sword before disappearing from view.
"Where'd Kiba go?" Ben asked, unable to see the blond-haired Devil.
"Kiba possesses one of my Knight pieces and thus gains the trait of enhanced speed that enables him to strike my enemies down before they know what hit them," Rias explained for him as Kiba reappeared above Viser, his blade fully drawn, and struck at it several times in the space of a single second. Viser howled in pain as her forearms were severed just below the shoulder and watched helplessly as they fell to the floor with a loud clatter.
"YOU FUCKER!" she screeched manically as her large chest cavity suddenly opened outwards to reveal a massive set of sharp, jagged teeth. Its mad gaze looked around for a target and it found it in Koneko who had stepped up to it with an emotionless expression.
Screeching madly, Viser lunged forward, towards Koneko, her chest cavity opening wide before clamping down on her when she was right on top of her.
"Watch out, Koneko!" Ben cried out, dumbfounded as to why Koneko made no move to avoid the attack or defend herself as she disappeared from view in Viser's massive jaw.
"Don't worry, she's fine," Rias told him calmly. "As my Rook, Koneko possesses great strength and durability. That attack would hardly even scratch her, let alone cause any real damage."
Even as Rias finished explaining, Viser screeched defiantly as its jaws were slowly forced open by Koneko. Once she'd opened the jaws wide enough, Koneko reared her fist back before delivering a powerful punch to the huge jaw she had just been engulfed by, smashing the teeth to smithereens while also sending Viser backwards from the blow and crashing into a pillar which broke from the impact and fell on top of her.
"Akeno, if you would," Rias said to the raven-haired beauty who was already moving into action.
"It would be my pleasure," Akeno chuckled happily as she took to the air with her Devil wings.
While everyone's attention was directed towards the fight, Ben felt something wrong behind him. He turned around to see the arms that Kiba had severed were writhing on the floor as they appeared to gain some sort of sentience as they lunged themselves through the air at the person standing closest to them, Rias!
"Look out!" he cried, his body already moving on instinct, diving forward and sweeping Rias off her feet as he picked her up bridal-style and leapt out of the way as the arms struck the spot where she had just been standing.
As the arms picked themselves up to strike again, Kiba reappeared out of nowhere and sliced up the arms with his blade until there was nothing left. Once he had dealt with them he looked over at his leader and newest comrade to see Ben, caught in his own momentum, had managed to angle himself so that he fell backwards against an intact pillar and slid down it. He still held Rias in his arms as she found herself sat in his lap as he took deep breaths to recover from the wind that was knocked out of him.
"Thank you, Ben. That was very sweet," she told him sweetly, patting him gently on the cheek as she detached from his hold and picked herself up off the floor and return her attention back to the stray who was picking herself up off the ground.
"Sure, no problem," Ben replied as he stroked the back of his head which he had bruised when hitting the pillar.
"Akeno, finish her off!" Rias called out across the room.
"Oh goody! It's been a while since I found someone else who likes it rough. Let's have some fun!" Akeno gasped excitedly.
"Is Akeno your Queen then?" Ben deduced as he returned to his feet and re-joined Rias' side.
"You are correct. As my Queen, Akeno possesses a perfect combination of the other two pieces, making her almost unbeatable!"
"You've been a very naughty Devil, and now I get to punish you!" Akeno cried with an ecstatic smile plastered across her face as she licked her lips seductively.
"She also happened to be really into S&M," Rias added as they looked at the look of unbridled delight on her face as she blasted Viser with bolts of electricity.
"This is getting me sooo hot!" Akeno exclaimed lustfully, as if to prove Rias' point.
'She gets off on things like this?!' Ben thought incredulously as he looked at Akeno and compared her to the polite, friendly girl he thought he understood.
[When I resigned myself to being sealed with my Gear, I never imagined in a billion years that I'd find myself ending up with such a…unique group of individuals,] Azmuth mused to himself in Ben's head.
Rias stepped away from Ben and made her way over to Akeno.
"I think she's had enough, Akeno."
"Aww, already?" she grumbled with disappointment in her voice as she stopped the barrage of electricity she was firing at the prone stray.
"In the name of the House of Gremory, I now grant you death!" Rias declared coldly as she held her left hand out, palm out towards the greatly injured Viser. A Gremory magic circle formed before her hand as a dark aura engulfed her before she fired a bolt of crimson energy at Viser which exploded violently when it found its target.
When the smoke finally dispersed enough to see where Viser had been, they could only see a large crater in her stead.
"Wow! Rias is so powerful! Ben couldn't help but mutter in amazement as he stared at the damage she had inflicted in a single attack.
"She sure is," Kiba agreed with a smile. "There's a very good reason she's known as the Princess of Destruction."
"Game over," Rias muttered to herself before turning away from the crater and returning back to her peerage.
"Let's leave this place."
"Hang on a second."
Rias glanced over at Ben.
"What piece am I? you said you had trouble reviving me so what piece did you use for me?"
Rias smiled and turned to face Ben fully.
"To revive you I needed to use every single one of my Pawn pieces, and even then it wasn't enough. If I hadn't been given an extremely rare piece to assist me, you would have been unable to return."
Ben blinked several times as he processed what he just heard.
[I'm unfamiliar with the terminology being used. You'll have to explain this 'chess' to me sometime,] Azmuth mused but Ben completely ignored him and kept his attention focused on Rias.
"You used all your Pawn pieces on me? Wasn't that a big risk? You could've had eight people in total instead of just me."
Rias smiled fondly at him and placed a hand on his cheek.
"You're so sweet to be concerned about that. It's true that it was a big risk using all my Pawn pieces but I believe beyond all doubt that I made the right choice."
They continued to make their way out of the warehouse and stopped when they reached the road.
"By the way, Ben, due to the sudden mission to deal with the stray, I nearly forgot to tell you something," Rias announced, suddenly remembering something.
"Yeah? What was it?"
"We received a low-priority summons from a prospective client. I think this would be a good opportunity to get some more experience and another client. Do you think you can handle it?"
"Sure, I can handle it. where is it?"
"It's not far from here, actually. Do you want to walk there or would you prefer to be transported there?"
Ben thought about it for a moment before he gave his answer.
"I think I'll actually walk there this time. It might be a bit strange for a Devil to turn up somewhere like that but I could do with some fresh air really. I can still smell and taste that room of bodies." He shivered a little as the room appeared in his head. "Hopefully, a walk will help get rid of it completely."
"Very well. We'll see you later when you report back once its done," Rias nodded as she passed him the address of the client and gave him directions to follow.
"Good luck with the client. Hopefully, it won't be as traumatic as your last one!" Akeno chirped with a light laugh while Ben groaned at the memory.
"Urgh, you're never going to let me forget that, are you?"
"Never!"
Ben shook his head and headed off in the direction Rias had indicated was the way to the client before Akeno could tease him again.
"See you later!" he called back to them with a wave of his hand which Kiba and Akeno returned and lost sight of them when he turned down a side street. Once he was out of sight, Akeno created a teleportation circle around herself and the others before they, too, disappeared.
. . . . .
"Ah, here we go, this looks like the place," Ben muttered as he looked down at the address he had been given and the address he was standing outside and saw that they matched.
He looked up at the unassuming building and couldn't help but notice that there was no light coming from the windows.
"Crap! Was I too late? Have they changed their mind and gone to bed?" Ben cursed under his breath.
[There's only one way to find out. I can sense the lifeforce of somebody though, so they're still in the building.]
"You can sense people's lifeforce.
[Yes,] Azmuth replied simply, not saying anything else.
Ben sighed and quickly ascended the front steps of the client's house and, once he cast a quick glance around to see if there was anybody around, rang the doorbell once he found the coast was clear.
"Hello, this is the dial-a-devil service answering your summons! One Devil delivered right to your own home!" he announced himself loud enough for the client inside to hear.
When he got no response, Ben switched to knocking on the door to get their attention, stopping immediately and quickly retracting his hand when the door slowly swung inwards to reveal a long dark hallway, the only source of light coming from behind a closed door at the end of the corridor.
Curiosity getting the better of him, yet again, Ben stepped into the house. As soon as he was fully across the house threshold, he gasped at the sudden weird feeling that washed over him.
'What was that?' he wondered internally as he closed the door behind him, regretting his decision to do so when another, stronger wave of unfamiliar energy washed over him.
Collecting himself together, Ben slowly made his way deeper into the house. Thanks to his Devil vision, he had no difficulty at all in seeing through the darkness as he slowly made his way closer and closer to the thin line of light that highlighted the door blocking his view to the room beyond it.
"Hello? Is anyone there? Your door was open so I came in." He took a few more careful steps towards the highlighted door. He got no response.
"If you're hoping to try and scare a Devil, you're outta luck. I've got perfect night vision so it won't work."
Still no response.
Even though he might be a Devil, Ben had never been a fan of horror films, unlike his mother and sister who had weird ideas of how to enjoy films. He'd always been like his dad and preferred comedies or action films. Despite not watching them when he could help it though, he couldn't ignore the irony of how the situation he was in currently had all the hallmarks of such a film. He could even hear the mouthy group of friends in the cinema for this film and screaming at him, much to everyone else's annoyance, to "get the fuck outta there boy!"
'If I realise it though, why the hell haven't I left already?'
Before he even noticed, he'd made it down the entire length of the corridor and now stood at the door hiding the source of light behind it.
Gently pushing open the door, Ben slowly entered the dimly lit room to find he had found what was clearly the house's living room.
"Hello, is anybody he-woah!" Ben began to say before finding himself almost slipping up on something beneath his feet. Quickly supporting himself on the door frame, he looked down to see a dark liquid covering the floor.
"Oh great," he grumbled as he looked down at the liquid beneath him.
He noticed that, whatever the liquid was, it covered a great deal of the wooden floor.
"Is this what I was summoned for? To clean up a spill?" He sighed heavily. "Ah, I guess it's nowhere near as bad as Milton."
He crouched down to examine the liquid. If he was going to be asked to clean it up he wanted to know what it was. Reaching down with his left hand, he wiped his fingers through a small patch of liquid and brought it back to his face to examine.
As he brought it close to his face though, his nose picked up the scent and he instantly identified the smell as something he smelt not even a few minutes ago.
Blood!
"The fuck?!" Ben cursed, quickly standing back up and taking a step back from the pool of blood he had been standing in. his eyes followed the pool of blood towards its source on the other side of the dimly lit room, quickly finding it in the shape of what used to be a man that had been decapitated and had been nailed upside down against the wall in the shape of an upside down cross. The body had been gutted thoroughly and there was little left that hadn't been cut or slashed in some way.
[I think that used to be your client,] Azmuth noted grimly.
If he hadn't just seen an entire room full of similarly mutilated bodies less than an hour ago, Ben would have been struggling to keep hold of the contents of his stomach. Now, though, all he felt was horror at the kind of person who could such a thing to another human being.
"Punish the wicked and smite the followers of evil."
Ben spun around to the centre of the room to see a robed man with short white-haired reclining on a bloody couch and looking at a decapitated head that had to have been the client which was positioned on the low table just in front of the candles that had been the source of the room's light.
The man arced his head back to look at Ben.
"Wise words to live by. Don't you agree?" he asked with a manic look in his red eyes and his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
Ben didn't answer him. Instead, he stepped away from the man, his eyes locked on the man as he slowly rose up out of his bloody seat. He looked to be in his early twenties. He wore clerical robes that Ben recognised as ones belonging to an affiliate of the Church.
"Shit, I'm in trouble," he whispered uneasily.
"Looks like you finally decided to join the party, Devil boy," the man declared with an extremely manic look in his eyes and a sadistic smile on his face which sent a chill down Ben's spine as he looked at him.
It was here that Ben noted the pistol the man had secured on his right hip and the sword handle secured on his left.
"You did this?" Ben gestured to the mutilated body. "Why did you kill him?"
"Why? Because he's fucking scum. Anybody who willingly summons a Devil has proven that they have made the decision to stop being human and, as such, have no need to remain alive," he let out another psychotic laugh that sounded wrong to Ben's ears.
"Why cut him up though? That's just barbaric," he retorted in a bid to buy time so he could come up with a plan to escape.
"That's rich coming from a Devil! As for why I had some fun with him; that's your fault really. After I killed him for attempting to make deals with a Devil, I still had to wait an hour until you finally turned up. I was insanely bored simply waiting around for you to appear and needed to do something to pass the time."
"My first thought was to have some fun with my temporary assistant. Cutting people while they're alive feels so much better than gutting a corpse, don't you agree?"
Ben only glared at the man in disgust.
"No? just me then? Oh well. Anyway, it was then I remembered I wasn't allowed to cause any permanent harm to her so that plan went soaring out the window and I had to resort to using Mr. scumbag here."
He reached over the couch and picked up the head by the hair and throwing it over to Ben. Instead of catching it, he knocked it away where it hit the floor and rolled away to a dark corner where it was forgotten about.
"You're fucking sick!"
"Coming from you, I'll consider that a great compliment," he cackled before bowing his body slightly. "Allow me to introduce myself. Freed Sellzen, at your service. You have the honour of me being the exorcist that'll be performing your Devil-purge this evening, all thanks to the little Devil-purging organisation that has graciously decided to sponsor me for the time being!"
'Shit
Ben recalled the stark warning he received from Rias concerning the dangers of exorcists and how they possessed weapons of Light that could destroy him completely.
As Freed ended his hollow bow, Ben saw he had unsheathed his sword handle, now activated to reveal that it was a blade composed of Light, and now held his pistol in his hand.
He took a step towards Ben, his eyes turning manic again, like a predator eyeing its prey.
"Ooh, I'm so going to enjoy fucking you up! But how should I do it? Ooh, I know. First I'll cut out your filthy Devil heart while its still beating and then I'll chop off your limbs; leaving your attached, of course. Once I've left you as a lump of bleeding meat with only your head left, I'll find do you the courtesy of ending your miserable existence by putting a blessed bullet between your evil eyes!"
"How does that sound, Devil-boy?!" he cackled as he suddenly lunged forward, his sword raised up and aimed right at Ben's chest.
Ben reacted with milliseconds to spare, leaping backwards and dodging the sword thrust while, at the same time, activating his Sacred Gears as he landed several feet backwards from the exorcist.
"Ooh, lookee here! Looks like our little Devil here has a few toys to play with. Hopefully, you'll put up a decent fight with them."
"You…you want me to fight back?" Ben asked, confused.
"Of course! I haven't had any fun in ages and it'll make me feel sooo good when I cut out your demon heart and see how it tastes!"
Freed lunged forward again, this time firing his pistol at the same time. Ben managed to dodge the blade again but he wasn't able to completely avoid the blessed bullet as it penetrated his left arm just below the shoulder blade.
"Gah!" Ben gasped in pain as he clutched his injured arm, his teeth gritted at the incredibly intense pain shooting through his body.
'Shit! I fucking hate Holy weapons!'
"Fuck this! There's no way I'm going to take this lying down anymore! It's time I finally tried out my powers!" he declared as he pressed the side of the dial on his gauntlet, twisted it through a cycle of holographic images, not knowing what any of them could do to help him, but quickly settled on one that looked like it could help.
[Hold on, kid! That one…,] Azmuth cried out in warning but it was too late. Ben had already slammed his hand down on the dial, gasping at the pain in his arm as he vanished in a flash of light.
"What the fuck!" Freed cursed as he was forced to avert his eyes.
[Transform: Piscciss Volnn!]
As the flash of light died down, it revealed a strange creature standing in Ben's place. He now had the strange appearance of a humanoid fish-like creature that stood upright on a pair of scaled legs. He was light grey in colour and his body was mostly covered in scales with four-fingered hands that were webbed. His face shared a number of physical characteristics with an anglerfish in that he had a glowing lure protruding out of the top of its head and a set of several rows of razor-sharp teeth. The circular dial rested over his muscular left pectoral.
"What's the hell is this form?" Ben wondered, his voice now deep and raspy, as he looked down at his new form.
[I was trying to warn you, kid. There are some forms in my Gear that aren't suited for every situation so you need to be careful when you choose. You've picked probably one of the forms least suited to help you right now.]
"Why, what's wrong with it?"
Before Azmuth could answer him, Freed had recovered from the flash of light and had instantly gone back onto the offensive.
"Ooh, I've never seen a Devil do that before! Doesn't matter though, I'll still run you through, no matter what hell spawn you turn into!" Freed exclaimed as he fired his pistol again as he charged towards Ben.
Ben was surprised at how easily he was able to avoid Freed's bullet and knock the blade aside the sword handle, making sure to avoid the Light part of it, before delivering a powerful backhand blow that caught the manic exorcist squarely in the chest and launched him through the air and hitting the far wall with such speed that he went straight through it and disappearing from view.
"Wow, this form is so powerful! I feel like I can…like I can…," Ben tried to say but found it getting harder and harder to talk each time he tried. His breathing was quickly getting deeper and harder to do without effort.
"What's…happening…to me?" he gasped as he fell to one knee, overcome by the sudden bout of breathlessness.
[You're unable to breath like before. You're a Piscciss Volnn, an aquatic fish demon that lives underwater. They're not meant to be out of water for too long.]
"Fuck!" he gasped as he clutched his throat near where his gills were as he felt them slowly drying out from the lack of moisture.
Freed forced his way out of the wall he had been thrown through, the manic look still in his eye as he laughed even more sadistic than before.
"This is sooo much fun!" he cackled manically as he threw himself back into the fight again.
Ben tried to push himself back onto his feet but wasn't able to do it fast enough, nor was he able to react to the several pistol bullets that Freed had fired at him. As a result, he was shot three times by holy bullets; once in the side, once in his shin, and the last one which grazed over his right collarbone.
"Argh!" Ben cried out in pain as he clutched his side and leg.
"Aww, don't tell me it's over already. We've only just started," Freed whined as he stood over Ben's downed form.
"Oh, well, guess it was too good to last," he sighed as he aimed his pistol at the back of Ben's scaly head.
As he heard the pistol hammer being cocked back, and even though he was in incredible pain, Ben still managed to surprise the insane exorcist, moving his head out of the way as he fired into the floor. Ben then arced around and threw himself at Freed, using one hand to clamp down on the wrist that held the Light sword and squeezed tightly. Freed cried out painfully as he was forced to release his hold on his sword.
'I need to finish him quickly,' Ben realised as he started to feel very light-headed and his vision started to get blurry from lack of hydration.
He grabbed Freed by the collar and slammed him against the nearest wall and, while he still held onto the exorcist by the collar, Ben threw him over his shoulder and crashing down onto the table which broke apart from the impact. Through his rapidly deteriorating vision, Ben could make out the damage he was managing to inflict on Freed by the number of bruises and blood that covered the exorcist's body. Picking him up, Ben slammed him against the wall again with the intention of using the last of his strength to either knock Freed out or kill him, he didn't care which one happened as long as it ended the fight.
"This…ends…now."
Rearing his scaled fist back, Ben was about to deliver his blow when….
"AARRGGHHH!"
Ben's head snapped to the left toward the origin of the high-pitched, feminine scream and, through his blurry vision, saw a short, blonde-haired person standing a few feet away from him.
*BANG!*
Ben grunted in pain as the bullet passed right through his stomach.
*BANG!* *BANG!*
The two subsequent bullets found their marks around the same spot as the first. Ben released his hold on Freed's collar as the last of his strength left him and he fell backwards onto the floor. As he looked up at the ceiling, his vision started to darken in the corner of his eyes as it became virtually impossible for him to breathe at all at this point.
'Is this it? is this how I die…again?'
Just as he thought this was the end, he was engulfed in another flash of light, this time it was red, and when it disappeared it revealed Ben back in his normal form. As his transformation was finally over, Ben took a massive gulp of air, ignoring for the moment how painful it was to actually do that simple action as he concentrated on filling his lungs with air. Each breath he took felt like fire but it did the trick, each breath he took in made his vision a little better.
"What was that?" he asked as his vision slowly returned to normal.
[A safety feature of my Gear. When you are too injured or unable to sustain the form any longer, it forcibly cancels the transformation for you and returns you back to your normal form. Unfortunately, it also carries over whatever injuries you sustained in that form.]
"I feared as much," Ben grunted as his near suffocation was, instead, replaced by a wave of fire that quickly spread through his whole body from the injuries he received from Freed's pistol.
He pushed himself back and propped himself up on the back of the couch as he looked down at his injuries.
"Ben? Is that you?"
Ben looked up at the one who spoke, his eyes widening in shock at the voice's owner.
"Asia? What are you…doing here?"
Asia had her hand covering her mouth as she looked down at him. She had seen his transformation. She saw him as that demon as he fought Freed. She then spotted the mutilated corpse of the house's former owner and she screeched again at the horrific sight before her.
"Asia? What the fuck are you doing?! Have you finished creating the barrier or not?" Freed demanded as he picked up his discarded Light sword. "The last thing we need are anymore fucking Devils getting in my way!"
"What…what have you done?" she asked fearfully as she held onto her cross and muttered a silent prayer of protection.
"Ah, that's right! I forgot that you're a newbie. Listen well, kid, this is what the job is…."
Freed gestured to the corpse hanging on the wall.
"…dealing with human scum who commune with Devils…."
He then walked over to Ben and pressed his boot down hard on the bullet wound in Ben's shin, grinning with insane glee at the pained groan that escaped Ben's mouth.
"…and disposing of the evil Devils who bewitch poor, innocent souls!"
Asia looked back at Ben with wide, fearful eyes.
"No, it can't be."
"Sorry you had to see me like this," Ben coughed, a trickle of blood trickling down his cheek as every part of him felt like it was on fire.
"Hang on, do you two know each other?" Freed asked, looking between the two of them with confusion plastered on his manic face.
Without responding to him, Asia rushed over to Ben with a determined look on her face, knelt down beside him and started healing him with her magic.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Asia?!" Freed demanded, the sadistic smirk disappearing from his face.
"Even if he's really a Devil, he showed me kindness when I first came to this town. It's only right that I return that kindness."
"Asia, don't do it," Ben grunted as he tried to push her hands away, even as he felt his wounds slowly start to heal up. He may die from his wounds but he couldn't let Asia help him, a Devil, with an insane person like Freed in the room. He dreaded to think what he would do to her if she helped him.
As if manifesting Ben's worst fears, Freed strode over to them quickly and delivered a brutal backhand slap to Asia who cried out in pain as she fell backwards from the unexpected blow.
"That's not what we do with disgusting Devils, bitch!"
He activated his blade again, flipped it in his hand and stabbed it down into Ben's left thigh, impaling him into the floor before delivering another kick to Ben's side.
"GAAAAAHHHHH!" Ben howled, both at the excruciating pain he felt in his leg from the Light sword embedded in it, and the pain he felt when Freed kicked his ribs, definitely breaking a few ribs in the process.
"That is what we do with them, and that is only the start!" He looked down at Ben with pure disgust and fury on his face.
"I was planning to simply end you quickly…but now…now I think I'll have some fun with you, asshole!"
He spat at Ben.
"Now, I'm going to take my time with you and make you suffer for your sins you fucking…shitty…Devil," he snarled, punctuating each syllable at the end with a brutal punch to the face.
"No! Please don't hurt him!" Asia cried, putting herself between Freed and Ben and facing the insane man with her arms out to protect Ben. "I beg you! Have mercy! He's my friend!"
"Friend?!"
Freed's hateful glare was suddenly directed towards Asia. His hand shot forward and grabbed Asia's cheeks painfully and pulled her close to his face.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?! We came here tonight to kill a filthy Devil and that's exactly what I plan to do and nobody is getting in my way!"
He reared his free hand back before bringing it forward with as much power as he could behind it and delivered an incredibly sharp *SLAP!* across Asia's right cheek.
Asia screamed at the shocking blow which knocked her away a few steps from the power behind it and clutched her cheek which had turned bright red.
Ben tried to look up at Asia but his face was in such a state that blood and swelling now obscured his vision and restricted what he could see.
"Now stay. Out of. My. Way!" Freed snarled dangerously as he turned back to Ben and pulled his blade out of Ben's leg, making sure to twist it painfully as it left his bleeding leg.
Still clutching her injured cheek, Asia returned to her spot between Freed and Ben where she stood shakily with a look of terrified defiance in her green eyes.
"No! I won't! This is wrong! There is goodness in him, I know it!"
"Enough of this shit!" Freed exclaimed as he brought his blade above his head and slashed it down in front of Asia, slicing clean through her nun's habit and bra, exposing her bare chest to the room.
"Noooo!" Asia cried as she covered her chest in embarrassment at her sudden state of undress.
"To hell with it!" Freed declared as he grabbed Asia's wrists with his free hand and dragged her away from Ben before holding them above her head, revealing her bare breasts again, and before thrusting his blade through the sleeves of her torn habit and into the wall behind her, holding her in place.
"I was told by the Fallen Angels that I couldn't kill you…but that doesn't mean I can't have some fun with a nun slut like you, does it?"
'Fallen Angels? They're involved again?'
Freed grabbed one of Asia's bare breasts roughly and ran his other hand underneath her habit and along her leg up towards her panties.
"No! please don't!" Asia cried tearfully as she tried to wriggle out of Freed's control to no avail.
"I don't know if they want you unspoiled, but right now, I don't give a damn! What they don't know won't hurt them after all. It'll be our little secret, okay?" He licked her injured cheek as he continue to manhandle and molest her. "I'm going to enjoy plucking your delicate flower!"
"No!"
Freed growled at being interrupted again and glance back to see Ben standing on his feet again. He was shaking fiercely and using every last ounce of strength he had left just to remain on his feet and keep his eyes open through the unbearable pain he felt throughout his whole body.
"Leave…her…alone!" he wheezed , blood continuing to trickle down his cheeks, as he leaned heavily against the couch he had been propped up against seconds before as he glared at Free through his battered and bleeding face.
"This isn't cheap internet porn, kid. If you wanna watch, it's gonna cost you!" Freed chuckled, finally letting go of Asia as he drew his pistol from within his robes and aiming it between Ben's eyes.
Ben looked down the barrel of the exorcist's pistol and wondered if this was it, if this was finally the time he was going to die.
'Fuck it! I managed to survive twice, that's more than most people,' he thought as he looked at the pistol's owner and glared at him with all the hate he could muster. He wanted Freed to show that, even at the end, he wasn't afraid of him.
"Ooh, you've got balls, kid, I'll give you that much," the insane exorcist laughed and lowered his pistol a little as he held Ben's glare unwaveringly.
He then raised his pistol again and cocked it.
"I'm still gonna kill you though!"
*BANG!*
…
…
When the end didn't come, Ben opened his eyes in confusion and saw a figure standing in front of him, a blade in their hand and facing Freed.
He wiped the blood from his face with the back of his sleeve and looked back to see….
"Kiba!"
The blond-haired knight glanced over his shoulder and smiled.
"Looks like I got here just in time."
Ben then noted the crimson-red magic circle beside him where Kiba had, evidently, appeared from and saved him from Freed's bullet. As he looked at it, it glowed brighter as more figures started to emerge out of it.
"Oh my, you've got some balls messing with our newest member," Akeno mused as she stepped out of the magic circle, quickly followed by Koneko.
"Yay, an exorcist," she drawled without any emotion in her voice as she looked at Freed.
Freed cackled insanely as he reached behind him for his blade that still held up Asia against the wall and pulled it out, causing Asia to fall to the ground with a faint cry of pain where she lay prone and watched the scene before her play out.
"Oh goody, the gangs all here! Now we can have a good 'ol fuck fest!" he exclaimed as he pointed his Light blade at Kiba, Akeno and Koneko. "I wonder what it would feel like to shove my cock own your throat!"
"My, my, you're quite a character, aren't you?" Akeno chuckled behind her hand though her eyes had a dangerous look in them as she looked at Freed.
Freed smile manically and licked his lips, an ecstatic look on his face.
"Oh yes, that's it! that's what I like to see! Nothing gets me going harder than a sexy Devil slut looking at me with such a murderous look in their eyes! I can't wait to rough up that pretty face of yours and take you on all fours like the beast you are!"
"You're welcome to try…."
A familiar bolt of red energy was launched out of the, still active, magic circle and headed straight for Freed.
"Oh shit!" the exorcist cried as he dove out of the way of the blast which missed him by inches as it carried on its destructive path and struck the far wall which disintegrated instantly, leaving behind a large hole.
"…but you don't have the balls to follow through!"
"Rias…," Ben wheezed as the last of his strength finally left him and he fell to the floor as he lost his weak grip on the couch.
"Ben!"
In his rapidly deteriorating state, Ben could no longer recognise who owned the voice which called out his name but he could faintly make out the feminine hands which entered his view and gently cup his cheeks and tenderly raise his head until he found himself looking into familiar eyes.
"…Rias?"
"It's okay. I'm here," she told him soothingly as she stroked his bloody cheeks reassuringly with her soft thumbs.
"I'm…sorry," he wheezed weakly, not noting the small specks of blood which landed on her face.
Rias didn't seem to notice them either as she continued to soothe Ben, doing everything in her power to remain composed at the sight of her servant so badly hurt.
"I'm so sorry this happened to you."
"Not…your…fault…."
"Yes it is. I unknowingly sent you into the arms of an exorcist completely alone. Please forgive me."
"I wasn't expecting you to show your tits so soon, Gremory! What gives, you gate-crashing our little party?"
Rias didn't turn around to face the exorcist but her face revealed, at least a little, of the fury she felt as she looked at Ben.
"You dare hurt my beloved servant?"
"It's kinda my job, lady," Freed replied nonchalantly as he spun his blade around in his hand. "You didn't answer my question though: how'd you get here so quick?"
"Your barrier wasn't completed. It broke easily and revealed what was happening here."
"What?!" Freed retorted, his gleeful confidence gone from his face and replaced by a look of manic fury. He spun around, away from the Devils glaring at him, and strode over to Asia angrily before kicking her in the face.
Asia cried out in pain as she covered her head with her arms for protection but Freed paid no notice to this as he then began raining down blow after blow on the defenceless girl, so lost in his anger at her failure.
"You. Were. Supposed. To. Put. Up. The. Barrier. You. Fucking. Bitch!" Freed exclaimed, punctuating each word with another heavy kick to the prone nun, completely ignoring Rias as she gently released her hold on Ben's face, stood up and turned to face Freed with a dark crimson aura surrounding her person.
"The fact you hurt my beloved servant is reason enough to annihilate you, exorcist…but the one thing I hate more than that is those who hurt the weak and defenceless. Prepare yourself for oblivion!"
She summoned a dark red ball of energy in her hand, and when Freed noticed it, he stepped away from Asia in frustration at how outnumbered he was.
Just as he was thinking he could do with some back-up of his own….
"Fallen Angels are on their way," Koneko stated as she sniffed the air around her.
"What?! You're involved with Fallen Angels?!" Rias retorted, glaring at Freed angrily.
"You're damn right, bitch! We're all great buds right now, and you've got a shitload of Light weapons on the menu!
"What the plan?" Kiba asked, backing away from Freed to the group even as they saw a dark magic circle start to form between himself and Freed who was cackling gleefully.
Rias clenched her fist tightly, furious at the situation she was in. the Fallen Angels had been in her territory and a thorn in her side far too long and she wanted more than to finally deal with them. However, she knew she still couldn't take the do anything right now that could risk damaging the fragile ceasefire between the Three Factions.
"Rias?"
Rias brought herself out of her rapid thoughts at the sound of Akeno beside her and quickly understood her priorities right now.
"We can't deal with them now. The important thing right now is getting Ben to safety. Akeno, prepare to get us out of here."
"You got it," Akeno replied even as she began casting the teleportation circle.
"Koneko. I need you help me get Ben to the portal!"
"Sure," Koneko nodded as she rushed over to Ben and, taking great care with his injuries, helped Rias get Ben off the floor before she gently picked him up bridal-style, ignoring the blood that stained her uniform, and carefully walked over to the magic circle being formed.
As his head hung limply on Koneko's shoulder, Ben locked his one free eye remaining with Asia who was staring at him, tearfully yet with a look of relief on her face.
Weakly he tried raising his arm hanging limply around Koneko's shoulder and reaching out for the blonde-haired nun.
"Wait…. Can't. Leave. Asia," he gasped, each word taking a lot of effort to express through the pain roaring within him.
Rias cast a quick look at the nearly complete magic circle then over at Asia, a sorrowful expression on her face.
"I'm sorry, Ben. I wish we could but the circle only works for those with the Gremory crest and it would take too long to change it.
At these words, Ben tried to say sorry to Asia but all he saw was a flash of red light before Asia, Freed, and the room vanished as he was teleported away.
. . . . .
"God fucking dammit!" Freed seethed as his prey teleported away, kicking Asia to vent his extreme frustration.
"This. Is. All. Your. Fault!" he grunted, punctuating each word with a brutal kick to the whimpering nun beneath him.
A hand then suddenly appeared on his shoulder and sharply pulled him away from her.
"That's enough," a firm, female voice declared as they pulled him back.
"Hey! What the fuck?!" he growled, snapping his head to see who had pulled him away and stopped him from getting over losing a target. His next string of curses died on his tongue when he saw who it was.
"Oh, it's you."
"Yeah, it's me," Raynare stated as she withdrew her black-feathered wings back into her back. "And I said, that's enough."
Freed looked past her to see three other Fallen Angels standing beside her.
"Well you all took your sweet-ass time! I was nearly finished off by that red-haired Devil bitch!"
"Yeah, wouldn't that have been a tragedy," Mittelt drawled sarcastically.
Freed glared at the short blond-haired Gothic-Lolita outfit wearing Fallen Angel but didn't respond to her snarky comment, no matter how much he wanted to. While he had agreed to join their cause, he wasn't a fan of Raynare's companions.
"Grrrr. Whatever," he shrugged as he backed away from Asia.
"I told you we shouldn't have given her to him," Dohnaseek sighed with a shake of his head. "He only had her a couple of hours and look at her."
He missed Freed glaring at him from the back of the room before returning to collecting the tools he had used to torture the owner of the house they were in, cleaned the blood and gore that had been collected on them before returning them back into the tool bag he had brought them in.
"What does it matter?" Kalawarner shrugged as she looked down at the whimpering nun at her feet. "After the ritual tomorrow she won't be our problem anymore."
"Speaking of which…," she added, turning to look at Raynare. "…how are we doing for the preparations?"
"We are so close now," Raynare replied as she nudged Asia's side with her foot quite roughly, receiving a quiet moan in response. "We will be ready tomorrow evening by the calculations of the cultists."
"Excellent! Then it won't be long before we can finally leave this shit town," Mittelt sighed joyfully from where she sat on the back of one of the couches, swinging her legs slightly as they dangled below her.
"You'll want to do something about that fucker that got all chummy with that Devil-loving bitch then," Freed interjected as he finished packing his tool bag, gesturing towards Asia with a nod of his head."
"What are you talking about?!" Raynare demanded sharply, snapping her head round to look at the exorcist.
"I'm saying that that Gremory slut's newest little bitch and that slut over there appear to know each other…pretty well considering she tried to stop me killing him."
"How the hell were you accepted as an exorcist?" Kalawarner wondered with a shake of her head, amazed at the exorcist's choice of words in virtually every sentence.
Freed chuckled and gave the Fallen Angel a large grin.
"Because of my sic Devil slaying skills of course! Everything else is fucking useless."
"Enough you two!" Raynare interjected as she ran her hand through her hair with frustration. The last thing they needed was something interrupting the ritual tomorrow. They have no idea what their plans were and Rias wouldn't dare to attack their base at the church and risk breaking the ceasefire between the Three Factions.
The boy was a different matter though. If Freed was right – and Raynare had an annoying inkling that he was – and he really was friends with Asia then there was a possibility, one that she couldn't rule out for certain, that he would try and do something stupid like try and save her.
"We need to prevent that kid from getting in our way," she told her comrades sternly.
"You can't be serious, Raynare," Dohnaseek responded with a slight chuckle. "You're not scared of that boy, are you?"
"Of course not!" Raynare snapped back. "If he tries to stop us though, he'll be followed by Gremory and her little pack of followers."
"What should we do then?" Kalawarner wondered, placing her hands on her hips.
"What about a memory manipulation spell? One that removes the nun from his memories," Mittelt suggested.
"Won't work. He's a Devil now," Dohnaseek dismissed immediately.
Raynare raised her hand at Dohnaseek's dismissal.
"Not necessarily. He's only a reincarnated Devil so he's still part human so it should still work if we make it strong enough."
"You can make it as strong as you like but it won't erase her completely from his memory," Dohnaseek stated matter-of-factly.
"We don't need it to," Raynare responded quickly. "All we need to do is keep them off our backs for twenty-four hours. After that, it won't matter; we'll be done with the nun and be far away from here."
"If you think its necessary then fine, let's do it," Kalawarner said with a shrug.
Raynare nodded her head at the long-haired Fallen Angel and looked towards Dohnaseek and Mittelt who shrugged their shoulders nonchalantly and nodded their heads in agreement with the plan.
"Let's get to work then, we can't let anything get in our way now," Raynare stated as they looked back down at the nun who had slipped into unconsciousness.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .