(Disclaimer: I own neither Highschool DxD nor Ben 10. Both of these belong to their respective owners who own all rights to them.)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
*SLAM!*
Ben flinched at Rias' sudden action as she slammed her fist down on the ornate desk she was standing behind.
He had just gotten back to the clubroom a few moments ago, startling everyone gathered within; with the exception of Akeno who was dealing with something for Rias, when he suddenly came barging through the two doors with a dishevelled look on his face and a yellow stuffed animal in his hand. When Rias asked him what had happened and why he had such a weird look on his face, he recounted what happened to him after Rias had left his house and quickly getting to the part where he found Asia again and briefly glossed over the day they spent together. Ben didn't miss the slight sigh and shake of Rias' head as he brought up Asia but ignored it, determined to tell them everything.
When he came to the part where he and Asia encountered Raynare in the park and how he had fought her, keeping her at bay.
That had been the point where Rias had shot up out of her chair and slammed her fist down on her desk.
"Those Fallen Angels are really pissing me off!" she cursed with carefully contained fury. "It wasn't enough for them that they have the audacity to enter my territory for whatever scheme they're plotting, they have continued, time and time again, to attack members of my peerage!"
Ben continued on to the end of his tale.
"When she took Asia, Raynare mentioned something about a ritual they needed her for."
Rias place her hands on her desk and shook her head slowly as she digested this.
"And for them to enter my territory to perform it, you can bet that it isn't something good."
"So what are we waiting for?!" Ben asked hurriedly as his grip on the toy in his hand tightened subconsciously. They had wasted enough time with him just telling them what had happened. "Whatever they're planning to do to Asia is happening tonight! We need to go and save her!"
"We can't!" Rias exclaimed, slamming her hands down on her desk again with frustration, though it wasn't directed at Ben.
"What do you mean?! Why not?!" Ben stared at Rias intently. "Is it because she's a member of the Church?!"
"No!"
Rias shook her head at his question and sat back down in her chair with another frustrated sigh.
"No, it's not because of that. I don't care what she is part of; if I could stop whatever those Fallen Angel bastards are planning I would do so."
"What's the problem then?"
"The problem is that if we move against them in response, it could lead to war between the Three Factions again."
Ben was silenced by Rias' statement, and from Azmuth's reaction inside his Sacred Gear, so was he.
"Are the relations between the Three Factions still so fragile?"
Rias nodded her head in response.
"They are. The Great War only ended with a ceasefire because it was the only way to stop the Three Factions from wiping each other out. Over a billion died in the war, including half of the 72 Pillars of Devil society, and left all three factions with a small fraction of their numbers.
"That being said though, even with the promise of complete destruction of Angels, Fallen Angels and Devils alike, the ceasefire is only paper-thin, a powder keg just waiting to go off so the war can continue where it ended."
Ben could only stare at Rias in shock as she explained how precarious the situation was. He looked across at Kiba and Koneko to see the Gremory Knight with a serious expression on his face. He saw Ben looking over at him and nodded his head slowly.
Rias wasn't finished yet though.
"I cannot…I will not be the one who starts the war again!" she sighed sadly at the look on Ben's face. "I'm sorry, Ben, but I cannot do that to my family or my people."
As if a great weight suddenly fell onto his shoulders, Ben found it incredibly hard to stay standing and had to sit down on the arm of the couch as everything he had heard sank in. if the state of things were truly that precarious, could he really go after Raynare and the other Fallen Angels to save Asia if it meant war? Even though he didn't truly understand what it meant to be a Devil yet, he understood that his actions had consequences that could affect so many.
He slouched forward, resting his knees on his thighs and took a deep breath, glancing down at the stuffed toy in his hand.
"So…so there's nothing we can do?" he asked quietly, his shoulders sagging dejectedly at the thought of leaving Asia to whatever it was the Fallen Angels wanted to subject her to.
Rias shared in Ben's anguish.
"I'm sorry, Ben. If there was a way…." Rias trailed off her sentence, leaving it unfinished but Ben knew what she was trying to tell him.
The door to the clubroom abruptly opened as Akeno entered the room, a scroll of parchment in her hand, and closed the door behind her as she walked around the couch Ben was sitting on and stopped beside Rias where she then handed her the scroll in her hand.
"This just arrived for you, Rias…," Akeno announced as she handed over the scroll. "It's from your brother."
Rias' eyes widened at this and took the scroll out of Akeno's hand, opened it quickly and read through it, her eyes darting back and forth across the parchment. When she reached the end of the letter, she shot up out her chair again and looked at her gathered servants with a different expression on her face than before.
Where, before, it was an expression of doubt and frustration, it was now one of determination.
"There's been a change of plan."
. . . . .
(Later)
Ben looked up at the cloudless night sky to see the crescent moon on its journey as it rose up over the treeline in the distance, its light illuminating the dark, foreboding church before him and the grounds around it, though he could see even more through his enhanced vision.
He looked at the church, determination in his eyes as he thought about Asia.
'Don't worry, Asia. I'll save you.'
"You ready?"
Ben looked to his left to see Kiba standing beside him with his sword drawn and looking back at him with a confident smile on his face.
"As I'll ever be," he replied with a short nod. He looked to his right to see Koneko wearing her fighters gloves and cracking her knuckles in silent anticipation. "You ready?"
Koneko didn't look at him, her gaze fixed on the church before her, but she nodded her head in answer to his question.
"Let's go then," Ben said, leading the charge as the three Devils charged forward towards the church, bursting through the large, wooden double doors which, miraculously, stayed attached to their aged hinges as they swung open.
They entered to see the interior of the old church perfectly matched the crumbling and desolate look of its exterior. Sparsely furnished, the few wooden pews that occupied the church hall that hadn't either rotted away or been reduced to splinters from fallen masonry from the roof and ceiling had been pushed to the side of the hall, leaving only three pews in their original position at the other end of the hall from where they stood and facing the simple stone altar on the raised platform.
The three of them slowly pressed further into the church interior, their eyes and ears alert for signs of any potential ambush waiting for them. The doors behind them swung closed again with an echoey *creak* which was followed by nothing but silence as they continued to make their way into the church…and that was something that unnerved Ben.
'Where are they?' he thought as they continued to edge their way to the centre of the dark church hall. 'And where is Asia?'
"They're here," Koneko declared, stopping in her tracks and taking up a defensive fighting stance and looking towards one of the few remaining columns standing beside the stone altar as a figure emerged from behind it, clapping their hands slowly, the sound reverberating throughout the church even in its crumbling state of disrepair.
Ben recognised the figure immediately.
"Freed!"
"Ooh, well done, little Devil. You found me even though I was doing my best to stay hidden."
"You knew we were coming?" Kiba asked as he and Koneko stepped away from Ben to spread out for the impending fight.
"Not exactly. We suspected it was a faint possibility after Raynare saw that her memory altering spell had broken…but we never believed you'd actually do it and risk starting another war!"
Ben growled and stepped forward, summoning his Sacred Gears and pointing at the exorcist.
"Cut the crap, Freed! Where the hell is Asia?"
"Who? Oh, that traitorous nun bitch who tried to run from us? Yeah, she's downstairs with Raynare and helping her to perform the ritual."
Ben was thrown off guard by how easily Freed gave up the information and he wasn't the only one who was thrown off by Freed's willingness to answer his question.
"You're just going to tell us? Just like that?"
Freed shrugged his shoulder in response.
"Sure, why not? It's not like any of you are going to escape this time."
As if waiting for its cue, as Freed said this the hall was suddenly illuminated by a bright light that originated from above them. They looked up to see a shimmering light through the holes in the roof that descended down past the empty window frames.
Ben looked up at the shimmering light peeking through the holes in the roof before returning his attention back on Freed.
"What's going on?! What have you done?"
"Me? I haven't done anything. My Fallen Angel colleagues, however, are a different story…," the mad exorcist cackled, jumping from foot to foot with glee, a mad look in his eyes. "…they've just finished putting up their magic barrier. Unlike last time, this one wasn't made by a useless bitch and is perfect! You won't escape me a second time, Devil!"
As he said this, a door behind the stone altar and the crazed priest abruptly burst open as dozens of hooded figures emerged from the doorway, armed with blades and clubs. They quickly spread out on either side of Freed until Ben, Kiba and Koneko found their front and their flanks covered by the hooded men and women who brandished their weapons threateningly.
"Well, this is unexpected," Kiba mused as he brought his sword up defensively. "I thought we'd be facing a Fallen Angel or two."
Freed chuckled manically. "Oh, don't worry about that, pretty boy. They're on their way."
Through the empty window arches to Ben's right, a bolt of yellow lightning suddenly arced through the air and struck somewhere outside the church out of their field-of-view, followed immediately after by a loud explosion.
"Don't count on it," Koneko drawled emotionlessly as she cracked her neck in anticipation, though still with a bored expression on her face.
Freed's grin disappeared from his face as the explosion caused the church to vibrate a little from the impact.
"What?! What the fuck's going on out there?!"
Now it was Ben's turn to smile.
"You didn't think it was just the three of us who came here, did you?"
"What?!"
"We brought backup!"
. . . . .
*Flashback*
(Several minutes earlier)
"Wait, what?" Ben wondered in confusion at Rias' sudden change.
One minute she was telling him there was nothing they could do without it sparking all-out war, and then she's ordering them to go to the church and stop the Fallen Angels.
"I said, "We're going to put a stop to whatever those fallen ones are planning,"" Rias replied, repeating her command as they waited for Akeno to finish casting the magic circle.
Ben tried again.
"Yeah, I heard you say that. What I meant was: what changed?" He glanced down at the letter still in Rias' hand "What was in that letter?"
"Exactly what we were waiting for. I contacted someone in the Underworld and informed them about the delicate situation we were in with the Fallen Angels and he did some digging for me and found out something that works in our favour."
"What did they find out?"
"Something that can be discussed later. All that matters right now is that we are free to enter the Fallen Angel base and stop whatever ritual they are planning to perform."
Ben couldn't argue with Rias' answer. Right now, he didn't give a damn why they could suddenly go after the Fallen Angels after receiving a letter; all he cared about was that they could finally go and save Asia.
"So what's the plan?"
"I'll explain on the way," Rias replied just as Akeno finished creating the magic transportation circle. "Let's get going."
""Right,"" they all replied in unison as they assembled on the circle and disappeared in a flash of red light.
*End of flashback*
. . . . .
"We weren't expecting there to be these guys here too," Ben noted as his eyes scanned across the numerous hooded figures that glared menacingly at the three Devils. "What do we do now?"
"We stick to the plan," Kiba told him, stepping forward and taking his blade in two hands.
The plan Kiba was referring to was a simple one, made on their way over to the church and without much time to see if there was a better one, but very effective due to that same simplicity. While Rias and Akeno secured and held the exterior of the church, dealing with the Fallen Angels who stood outside on guard and had been planning to attack whoever entered the church in the rear, Ben, Kiba and Koneko would enter the church and find where the ritual was being performed and put a stop to it.
"You go on ahead and stop the ritual…." Kiba launched himself forward, towards the hooded figures blocking the path to the church basement. "…we'll take care of these guys first then regroup with you."
"Are you sure?" Ben asked just as part of one of the broken wooden pews flew over his head and forced Freed to leap back onto the stone altar and several of the hooded men and women to dive out of the way as it crashed into where they were just standing, splintering to pieces.
"We got these guys," Koneko said as she rolled her shoulders in anticipation.
Ben nodded in understanding.
"Okay. Good luck, you guys!"
Taking advantage of the opening they had given him, he threw himself forward and sprinted across the short distance between himself and the door to the church sublevel and, upon reaching it while the figures guarding it were still recovering from Koneko's attack, descended down the unlit stone stairway.
"I'm coming, Asia," he muttered under his breath as he continued down the staircase, two steps at a time.
When he reached the end of the staircase he was greeted by an old wooden door that was, despite its state of disrepair, somehow still hanging onto its hinges.
Without hesitating, Ben burst through the wooden door, not noticing how it finally fell off its fitting and fell to the floor. Instead, his attention was directed to the sight before him.
He was now standing, not in a cellar or underground room as he'd imagined, but in a large, open excavated cavern, illuminated by numerous torches dotted around the cavern walls. On the other side of the cavern from where he stood was a set of steps which led up to a large stone altar. This one was very different from the church altar that stood a few feet above him in the church. Instead of a simple stone block, this altar was far larger and more ornate.
Arranged around the stone altar were several strange objects that were illuminated by a dark purple aura and resting on top of the ornate altar was a huge upside-down stone cross, and hovering above it was a large, dark purple magic circle, the sigil in the centre taking on the shape of something Ben could only liken to a squid, its tentacles splayed out evenly around the magic circle centre.
[It…can't be,] Azmuth murmured under his breath with shock in his voice.
Ben didn't acknowledge what Azmuth said though as his focus was purely on the blonde-haired young lady hanging from the cross, her head hung low as she was restrained by thick chains which held her suspended in the air with her arms held up by more chains above her head from the base of the cross (which was now its top) and clad in nothing but her bra and panties and a flimsy dirty cloth.
"Asia!" Ben shouted as he saw her.
Asia raised her head at him calling her name, her eyes widening when they found him standing there.
"B-Ben? You came," she whispered weakly through laboured breathing, her eyes tearing up as she looked at him.
"Hold on! I'm coming!" he shouted as he ran across the cavern floor to the stone steps of the altar.
When he reached the steps, he began ascending them towards Asia. He made it to the last two steps when….
*SMACK*
…something collided with his face with great force that sent him flying backwards through the air, back down the steps and crashing onto the hard stone cavern floor.
Dazed from the sudden, unexpected strike, it took Ben a few seconds to come back to his senses. Wincing at the pain on his face, he brought his hand up to feel his nose to find that it had been dislocated from the blow, and when he took his hand away from his face he saw that it was slick with blood.
"Argh, fuck!" he groaned, ignoring the pain he felt in the back of his head where it had hit the cavern floor.
"That'll teach you for not staying out of our business."
Looking back up at the raised platform of the altar, Ben saw Raynare standing in front of Asia and clenching and unclenching her right hand which she had just used to deliver the powerful backhand slap that had sent him flying off the altar steps. She was still clad in her unusual choice of clothing with her black wings protruding from her back.
"What are you doing to her?!" he demanded, pushing himself up and getting back on his feet.
Raynare only chuckled menacingly in response to his demand.
"Ha! Well, I suppose I can tell. After all, you're never leaving this place alive. You've been an incredibly annoying thorn in my side for too long. As for what we're doing with sweet little Asia here; I'm in the process of extracting her Sacred Gear from her frail little human body and taking it for myself."
"What?!" Ben exclaimed in shock, his eyes widening in horror at Raynare's revelation. Before he could say anything in response, though, Azmuth spoke up first.
[That's impossible! Sacred Gears are tied to the soul of their human host! There's no way a Fallen Angel can take one for themselves!]
"That's impossible!" Ben retorted, voicing Azmuth's disbelief.
Raynare crossed her arms under her chest and grinned evilly down at Ben.
"Normally you'd be right. However, our benefactor provided us with a little spell that got around that little problem," she explained, gesturing up at the purple magic circle above Asia that was spinning at a faster speed than before.
"Speaking of which, looks like it's almost ready."
"Like hell I'll let you do that to Asia!" Ben bellowed angrily as Azmuth's voice filled his head. "I'll kill you before I let that happen!"
[Kid! You need to destroy that magic circle! It's an abomination that shouldn't exist in this universe!]
"Got it," Ben responded. He would do whatever it took to save Asia. If that meant he had to destroy the circle too then he would gladly do so.
Clearly unimpressed by his declaration, Raynare merely sneered down at him.
"Ooh, sooo scary! Let's see if you can back up those strong words this time. Hey, Drak!"
A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye caught Ben's attention and directed him to a figure as it emerged from behind the raised platform and stepped into the light.
Ben couldn't help but gulp at the creature as it revealed itself to him. It was a tall, red-skinned, bald-headed humanoid creature which easily towered over him, standing at an intimidating ten feet tall with two pairs of four-fingered arms and covered all over by bulging, well-developed muscles. It glared at Ben with two pairs of orange eyes, a main pair and a smaller pair below them. Its second set of arms were smaller than the main set and were placed just below them.
Its attire reminded Ben to that of a gladiator from ancient Rome in that it was mostly armour covering its body, the only piece of regular clothing coming in the form of a pair of black shorts. The armour that covered the rest of his body included a set of steel-like pauldrons that covered the shoulders of its upper arms, the metallic vambraces that covered all four of its arms and the leather finger-less gloves it wore on all four of its hands.
Ben also couldn't help but note the large metal hammer that rested on the creature's back.
"What the fuck is that thing?" Ben asked Azmuth as he took an unconscious step back from the intimidating figure.
[A Tetramand. A warrior species that take up work as mercenaries to whoever will pay them. He must have been brought up from the Underworld.]
"Say hello to Drak, a useful associate who's here to stop annoying bastards like you Devils from interfering." She turned her attention over to the tall, red-skinned demonic mercenary. "Prove you're worth the price we paid."
Nodding with a short grunt at the simple instruction, the Tetramand known as Drak pulled the intimidating hammer from his back as he positioned himself between Ben and Raynare before planting it on the ground with the head facing down and the long handle pointing up to the cavern ceiling.
"This won't take long. I don't even need this to end you," he growled deeply as he cracked his knuckles and slowly approached Ben.
"I don't suppose I have one of these things in my Gear, do I?" Ben wondered as he brought up his left arm, the dial raised up and ready to transform him.
[As a matter of fact, you do,] Azmuth replied, almost at the same time Ben stumbled across it as he cycled through his different transformation choices.
"Then it's time to fight fire with fire."
Ben slammed his hand down on the dial and disappeared in a flash of green light.
[Transform: Tetramand!]
The light faded away to reveal another red-skinned, four-armed, muscular humanoid figure; this one was slightly different though in that it was taller than the other, standing two feet taller than him. It's attire was different too from the mercenary in that it was bare-chested, wore black fingerless gloves and a pair of torn, black trousers. That wasn't the only difference though as its muscles were larger and more developed.
His sudden transformation brought the mercenary, Drak, to a stop, caught completely off guard by Ben's sudden change and how he now found himself standing before another Tetramand, this one taller and more muscular than himself.
His distraction only lasted a few seconds though before he recovered from the shock. He released a loud roar in challenge and fell into a sprint, closing the gap between them in just a few steps, hunching himself over as he crashed into Ben, gripping him around the waist when he reached him and sending them both crashing into the rock behind Ben.
Ben grunted at the impact though that was just a subconscious reflex as he felt only a very small amount of pain from both Drak crashing into him and when he hit the cavern wall.
Growling in defiance, Ben clasped together the hands on his upper arms, raised them above his head before bringing them down on his opponent with a dull *thud* as his fists met with the thick, muscular back of a Tetramand, resulting in a tiny shockwave to pulse out from the blow.
His attack didn't force Drak to release him though. Instead, it was met with an angry snarl as he gripped Ben tighter and picked him up off the ground and, arcing his back backwards, threw him away from him at an impressive speed for something his size. Ben soared through the air and was only able to reorientate himself at the last second and catch himself before he hit the opposite wall head-first.
Quickly picking himself up, Ben turned back to face his demonic opponent. The two of them glared at each other for several seconds before they both abruptly launched themselves at each other, meeting in the centre where they fell about into a brutal brawl as they launched blow after blow on each other as they used all four of their heavily muscled arms.
As the two large, red-skinned demons traded powerful blows with each other, one thing quickly made itself clear to Ben as Drak blocked the blows from his two left arms and responded with a brutal series of gut punches with his lower arms; he may be the taller and, at first glance, physically stronger than his opponent but his opponent was a seasoned warrior with who knew how many years of combat experience under his belt.
As if reading his mind, Azmuth also came to the same conclusion as Ben brought his upper arms up to protect his face from a headshot which left him wide open for Drak to quickly take a step back from him and clapping all four of his hands together which created a focussed shockwave which took Ben by surprise as he was blasted backwards into the rock behind him, leaving a large imprint of his body when he fell back to the floor.
[Using brute strength isn't going to work here, kid. You're completely outclassed as you are.]
"Any suggestion then?" Ben wondered mentally as he slowly picked himself back up off the floor, looking back at his opponent to see him sneering confidently as he rolled his shoulders.
[Perhaps it's time to use your other Gear's power.]
"What did it do again?"
In his desire to understand and figure out how to wield Azmuth's Gear, Ben had almost completely forgotten the Gear he wielded on his right arm and what abilities it possessed.
[In your current state, you can only use the basic "Boost" ability. It doubles your power every time you use it…but you will only be able to use it three or four times as you are now.]
"As long as it's enough to take care of this bastard, I don't care!"
Back on his feet, Ben cast a quick glance down at his upper right arm where he imagined his other Gear resided and concentrated on unlocking it.
Taking advantage of his opponent being distracted and looking away from him, Drak bent his knees before springing himself forward through the air as he reared both his right arms back and channelled as much power as he could into them so he could end the fight.
Ben didn't notice this action. Instead, he continued to focus on his other Sacred Gear. His decision was rewarded by a loud voice echoing throughout the cavern.
[BOOST!]
Ben felt an immediate boost in power, even noting the crimson red aura which surrounded his body. He clenched his fist and took a breath through his nose as he felt the power now felt coursing through his body.
Rearing his upper right fist back, Ben returned his gaze back on the Tetramand mercenary who was almost on top of him, a murderous look in his four eyes, and just as Drak was about to deliver his blow, Ben pre-empted it by throwing his fist forward and striking Drak squarely in the face. As his fist connected with the demon's face, a loud *BOOM* accompanied by a large shockwave surprised both of them as Drak was sent flying through the air at an incredible speed upwards where he impacted the ceiling above them. As he hit the ceiling, the force was so great that it was met by another, less intense *Boom* and several cracks along the rocky ceiling.
As Drak fell back down to the ground, Ben looked down at his still-clenched fist in amazement.
"Fuck! That was incredible!"
Ben was then struck by a wave of fatigue. It was only a small wave but he still noted the suddenness at which it struck him.
He returned his attention back to the fight as Drak grunted in pain as he picked himself up again. As he did so, Ben noted the bruised state his face was in and how black-coloured blood trickled down from his nose. Drak noted this too as he wiped the blood off his face with his upper left forearm.
He glanced down at the blood on his arm before glaring at Ben intently.
"I was going easy on you before but it seems that was my mistake. I was told you were just a child who had no combat experience…but it seems that isn't true."
He walked over to his discarded weapon and heaved it up off the floor, swinging it around so that he could rest the long shaft against his shoulder.
"I'll reward your tenacity with the greatest gift a Tetramand can receive: a swift death!"
The mercenary then launched himself forward in the blink of an eye, closing the distance between them almost instantly and swung his hammer, blunt end first, at Ben who brought his arms up to protect himself.
Unlike before when they traded blows with only their fists, when Ben was struck by the large hammer in the arm, he felt it.
He really felt it!
"Shit!" he cried out painfully as he was knocked back from the blow and clutched his injured arm, surprised at the power and strength behind the hammer blow.
"What the fuck was that?!"
[Tetramand-tempered Magisteel. The realm of Khoros is rich with the incredibly strong durable metal and the Tetramand weaponsmiths have mastered the art of tempering the steel even further and resulting in the Tetramands producing some of the strongest weapons in the Underworld.]
"I certainly packed a punch," Ben noted, trying to distract himself from the pain in his arm. He didn't have time to properly recover though as Drak was already pushing ahead his advantage and was already rearing his hammer back to deliver another blow on him.
Not willing to be caught out twice by the powerful weapon, Ben leapt backwards, avoiding the hammer as it came crashing down on the floor where he had been standing and being met by a loud *CRACK* as it split apart the rock beneath it with several large cracks spreading out from under the hammer head.
Responding quickly, Ben threw himself forward with his right arm raised back.
[BOOST!]
Drak's eyes widened at the incoming fist and tried to bring his weapon back up to defend himself but he was too slow. Ben's fist connected with the demonic mercenary's chest with another loud shockwave that blasted him backwards into the ground.
Ben took several steps towards his opponent, not wanting to waste his advantage, when the whole cavern was suddenly illuminated by a dark purple light and a dull hum of energy. He looked to his left where the stone altar stood to see the large magic circle above it spinning faster than before, the cross infused by numerous dark purple lines that had spread all around it, and Raynare now standing in front of Asia with her arms raised above her head as she cackled triumphantly.
"It's ready! It's finally ready! Your Gear is now mine!"
As the purple lines infused in the cross began to glow brighter, Asia began to scream in pain.
"Noooo! Asia!" Ben cried as he turned to throw himself at Raynare. Before he could do so, though, something hard collided with his back and forced him down on one knee with whatever struck him remaining on top of him and holding him in place.
He tried to pick himself up and stop Raynare again but a horizontal metallic shaft entered his view and came to a rest on his neck and secured him in place. The shaft was also accompanied by a pair of hands securing his upper arms in place while his lower arms were secured on the floor by Drak standing on his wrists, restricting their movement.
"You're not going anywhere, brat! I've never seen a human have their soul ripped out of their body before and you're not going to deny me this now!" Drak growled in Ben's ear as he forced him to watch as the light grew brighter and the magic circle span faster.
The sound of Asia's pained screaming was torturous for Ben but no matter how hard he tried to struggle against Drak's restraints, he wasn't able to overcome him from the position he was in.
Drak looked up at the scene before him with awe in his four eyes.
"Beautiful, isn't it? you should count yourself honoured, kid! You're watching history being made here!"
Ben's eyes widened at this and he increased his struggle against Drak's restraints but it was no use. Drak's hold on his was too great and he was unable to escape it.
As Asia's screamed louder, Ben looked back up at her through horrified eyes as she was engulfed in a pale green light which then focussed around her chest as a pair of green rings, surrounded by a sphere of intense green energy emerged out of her chest and floated down to rest in Raynare's hands.
At the same time the green sphere left her body, Asia's scream suddenly died in her throat and her body went limp, the light leaving her eyes as her head hung limply against her body.
"NOOOOO!" Ben bellowed in dismay, his eyes wide in horror as he looked up at Asia's lifeless body hanging on the cross.
'I failed her. I told her I'd save her and I failed.'
At the sound of Raynare's laughter, Ben forced himself to look away from Asia and at the Fallen Angel as she looked down at the energy sphere in her hands.
"At last! The Twilight Healing is in our hands! The experiment is a success! My master will be so pleased when he hears this!"
She then pressed the sphere against her own chest, pressing it as it entered her body. As she did this, she was engulfed in a powerful green light and let out a cry of ecstasy as she felt something flow through her entire body.
"Hah! So this is what it feels like to have a soul? Maybe God has a point about humans," she mused to herself as she examined the two rings that were now on her middle fingers fondly, caressing them lovingly.
Something stirred in Ben as he watched Raynare examine Asia's Sacred Gear that now resided in her. it was sudden and something he had never felt before. He had felt anger and rage before in his life but nothing as intense as this.
He growled deeply and glared at Raynare with an expression of pure, uncontrollable rage in his eyes. His breathing deepened as he started breathing through his nose, his vision fixed squarely on Raynare, the woman who had been the cause of everything that had gone wrong in his life and the woman who had killed Asia.
[Kid! You need to calm down! If you lose control of your emotions while transformed you'll….]
Azmuth's warning fell on deaf ears, his voice trailing off as fury consumed Ben completely.
He failed to notice how his eyes suddenly glowed emerald green; the last thing he knew before he was fully consumed was the ear-splitting, animalistic roar that escaped his throat.
. . . . .
Church exterior
(Five minutes earlier)
*BOOM!*
"Fucking shit!" Kalawarner cursed as she found herself diving away from the bolt of electricity that Akeno had sent her way.
Her comrades, Mittelt and Dohnaseek were also dodging and avoiding attacks sent their way and returning fire with spears of Light that were easily knocked away by the two teenage Devils.
When there was a lull in the fight, the two sides stared at each other from the opposite side of the clearing that had been made from the bombardment of magic that both sides had thrown at each other for the past few minutes.
"What the hell are you assholes doing here?" Mittelt demanded from the tree branch she was standing on, her black wings exposed and her arms crossed over her chest. "Are you really willing to risk war over an insignificant nun?"
Akeno only smirked up at the Fallen Angel in response, an expression that irked Mittelt immensely and made her grind her teeth in frustration.
"You can drop the pretence," Akeno said with a playful smirk on her face.
"We know the truth," Rias chimed in. Unlike Akeno, Rias' expression had remained stern and focussed.
"What truth?" Dohnaseek asked from the air where he hovered above the battlefield.
"The truth that you abandoned the Fallen Angel faction and don't follow the Grigori anymore."
The eyes of the three black-winged individuals widened at Rias' response. So shocked they were at Rias discovering the truth, they didn't bother to refute or deny it.
"What?! How the fuck did you find that out?" Mittelt demanded angrily, glaring down at the Gremory heiress.
"I told my brother about your invasion into my territory and he did some digging for me as to what you were doing here. He even contacted Azazel through some secret, diplomatic channels where he found out that you decided to abandon him and find yourself a new master…."
The three fallen ones growled down at Rias and summoned another Light spear in their hands.
Rias ignored their peacock display and continued.
"…and he told my brother that he had no issue with us dealing with you. You've shown your true colours and he has no time to deal with a group of traitors."
"So here we are!" Akeno chuckled joyfully.
Kalawarner shook her headed in disbelief.
"You went to all this trouble just so you could save an unimportant little human?"
Rias shook her own head in response to Kalawarner's question.
"No, not just for that. That was my newest servants reason for coming here. It was part of my reason coming here too but, for the most part, I came here to deal with a group of Fallen Angels who had the audacity to enter my territory and cause nothing but trouble, both for me and my precious servant who you have tormented so many times."
"Why is that kid so special?" Mittelt seethed.
"I would've thought you knew seeing as you were ordered to murder him," Rias replied.
The three comrades didn't respond but, instead, cast quick, silent glances at each other. They had no idea why Zs'Skayr was so determined that a particular human needed to be killed. Raynare had been the one who he had spoken to and given the mission. If she knew the reason, she had decided to leave out that piece of important information.
Rias noted their quick glances and smiled ruefully.
"No? You don't know? Well, that's not very smart, is it? You were told to kill someone and you don't even know why."
They only glowered in response to her taunt, refusing to respond to it.
Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a loud, animalistic roar originating from inside the church.
"ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!"
All five of them looked towards the church at the sound of the loud noise, all of them instantly recognising it as the roar of a Tetramand. If it hadn't been for the barrier that had been placed around the church for the purpose of trapping the Devils inside, the whole of Kuoh would've heard the it.
Dohnaseek chuckled darkly at the sound.
"Sounds like Drak is having some fun!"
Rias and Akeno's head snapped back to look up at the male fallen one.
"Who?"
Dohnaseek looked away from the church and back down at Rias with a sneer on his face.
"That was Drak, some extra muscle we brought up with us to ensure the ritual succeeded."
Rias' eyes widened at the Fallen Angel's confession.
They had brought a demon to the human world?!
Even ignoring everything else they have done since they came to her territory, the fact that they had taken a demon from the Underworld and brought it to the human world was a death penalty in itself! They had broken a law of nature that every magical and supernatural power accepted and adhered to.
There was a Tetramand in the church…and three of her precious peerage members were in there with it!
She needed to finish her fight with the Fallen Angels quickly and re-join them. Compared to a stray Devil, a demon was a completely different creature, being both incredibly powerful and dangerous in comparison, and a Tetramand was even more so.
She looked back at Akeno who stood beside her to see she was looking right back at her, the same expression Rias had on her face as they both came to the same conclusion.
Ignorant of the silent conversation between the two Devils, Mittelt giggled darkly.
"Oh dear. It looks like your servants are in for a painful experience. I hope that Tennyson kid suffers most!"
The other three Fallen Angels joined in with her cackling and, in unison, joined each other in the air, hovering in the air above the clearing. Having a similar desire as Rias to finish the fight…but for them it was just so they could go and watch the demon tear apart the other pathetic Devils, they each summoned their strongest Light spear and launched them down at Rias with great speed.
To their shock, though, Rias was suddenly engulfed in an incredibly intense crimson aura, her eyes glowing red with power, and easily deflected the Light spears as if they were nothing more than a nuisance.
The three of them voiced their shock.
"What?!"
"Impossible!"
"How did she do that?!"
Rias glared at each of them, rooting them to the spot at the petrifying look in her eyes.
"You dare mock my servants?! My family?! You'll pay for that with your lives!"
Before they could react in any way, be it to launch another attack or flee, Rias had created a large ball a dark red energy in between her hands and launched it at them. Unable to escape its destructive path, they could only let out anguished cries and screams which were swiftly silenced as the destructive magic consumed them entirely.
As the sphere of destruction dispersed the only thing that remained behind, the only thing that proved the previous existence of the three Fallen Angels was the shower of feathers which fluttered back down to earth, covering the clearing floor in a layer of black feathers.
Rias turned to face Akeno.
"Let's go!"
Akeno nodded her head and the two of them raced over to the church doors. Now that they had dealt with their Fallen Angel opponents, they now had to regroup with their comrades and deal with the hostile demon.
. . . . .
Church interior
*CRASH!*
Koneko wiped her hands as she turned away from her last opponent which she had just thrown into the collection of broken and twisted wooden pews where they stayed down.
As she turned around she saw Kiba flipping through the air, dodging a swipe from one of his last two opponents and over the head of the other, landing right behind him. As his feet touched the floor again, Kiba turned into a blur as he quickly swiped his leg back and caught his opponent in the side with enough force to knock him back into the stone pillar a few feet away from him and taking him out of the fight. Keeping up with the momentum of his attack and taking advantage of the surprise on his last opponents face, Kiba swung his sword up and sliced clean through the hooded priest's neck, severing his head from his body which instantly collapsed to the floor like a puppet which had its strings cut.
The Gremory Knight looked around the destroyed church hall to see if any other enemies were still around and sheathed his sword when he saw it was just him and Koneko left.
"That's the last of them," he stated as the two devils met up in the centre of the hall.
Koneko nodded before glancing towards one of the stone arches in the wall where a stained-glass window once resided.
"Pity that Freed got away."
Kiba sighed and nodded his head in agreement as he looked in the same direction as Koneko. Not long after Ben had descended into the church depths and the battle started, the exorcist had quickly realised that he wasn't dealing with helpless devils that he usually fought and made a swift exits, throwing his 'comrades' between him and them as he fled through the stone arch and into the night.
Even if they wanted to chase after him, they still had to deal with the numerous other foes that had stayed behind. Not only that but they couldn't leave their comrade by himself.
The doors behind them were abruptly thrown open. Reacting instinctively, the two of them spun around to face whatever new opponent had appeared. They dropped their tense stances though when they saw that it was Rias and Akeno who entered the church hall and hurried towards them.
"Are you alright?" she asked upon reaching them.
"Yeah, we're fine. It wasn't anything we couldn't handle," Kiba shrugged in response as he looked at Rias and Akeno and the clear signs of recent battle they sported on their clothes and face. "Looks like you two were busy too."
"We heard the roar and came here as quick as we could." She looked around the dark, silent church hall. "Where's Ben?!"
Kiba pointed to the doorway next to the stone altar.
"He went on ahead to stop the ritual."
"We have to help him! Those fallen fools brought a Tetramand mercenary with them to make sure the ritual wasn't interrupted!"
The expression on Kiba's face turned to one of shock at this. He had never seen a Tetramand with his own eyes before but he was aware of their reputation and powerful capabilities.
"That's what made that sound?!" he gasped in shock. "I had no idea what it was. It was so intense that I thought the church roof was going to come down on top of us."
"Let's go! We need to help Ben!" Rias declared as she took the lead as the four of them took off towards the staircase.
*Boom!*
The sound instantly brought all four of them to a halt.
*Boom!*
"What's that?" Akeno wondered as they all looked around in search of the origin of the noise.
Rias shook her head slightly. "I don't know…."
*BOOM!*
"…but it's getting louder."
*CRACK!*
The four of them looked towards the plain stone altar and the large crack that ran through the stone dais it rested on. As they looked at it, the floor around the altar suddenly burst upwards with great force, throwing the altar into the air and crashing into one of the stone pillars beside it where it crumbled to pieces from the blunt force it struck it with.
The force of the ground being blasted upwards forced the four devils to back a few steps away from the doorway and the altar and obscure their eyes from the dust cloud that engulfed where the altar had once stood.
When the cloud dispersed, they looked back to see a large hole where the altar had been and a large creature lying prone on the floor in front of it. They recognised it immediately as a Tetramand…and gasped in horror when they saw the state it was in.
Its entire body was covered in cuts and bruises, several large dark splotches covered its body where it was suffering from internal bleeding. Its lower right arm was twisted in an extremely bad way but the thing that drew their eyes most was the bleeding stump where its upper right arm used to be.
"Shit," Kiba gasped as they slowly approached the downed demon.
They took several steps before movement from the demon brought them to an immediate halt.
Its breathing was pained and deep as it struggled to crawl away from the hole it had created when it was thrown through the floor. It glanced up and saw, through its two eyes that weren't obscured by blood, the four devils standing before it.
"He's a…he's a monster," it breathed, fighting through pain it had never experienced before in the centuries it had lived as a mercenary.
Before any of them could say anything, something large and red shot up out of the hole. They followed it to see it was another Tetramand with glowing, bright green eyes and a large hammer held in its right hand which was raised above its head. It let out a powerful roar as it fell back down to the ground, bringing the hammer in its hand down onto the wounded demon beneath it.
*BOOM!*
As the hammer made contact with the demon's back, the demon exploded in an explosion of red light and vanished, leaving nothing behind except the small pools of black blood from the demon's numerous injuries.
As the second Tetramand drew itself up to its full height, Rias finally noticed the person that it was holding carefully in its arms. When she saw the person's face she recognised who it was.
It was the young nun! The one Ben was so determined to rescue.
As she put two and two together, Rias' gaze also fell on the familiar dial that was fixed into the Tetramand's chest.
Ben?
She slowly approached Tetramand which was breathing heavily and didn't appear fully conscious of its surroundings.
"Careful, Rias," Akeno warned as she went to join her friend but stopped when Rias put her hand out to stop her.
"Ben? Is that you?"
Ben's head snapped up to look at Rias with an expression of anger and fury in his eyes, though it wasn't directed at her. Rias also saw that there didn't appear to be any recognition in his eyes.
His head then fell down to look at the young nun in the crooks of his left arms. On any other occasion, the size difference between him and the person he held in his arms would've been comical.
Now wasn't the time though.
Ben released his grip on the hammer, leaving it embedded in the floor, and moved over to one of the last remaining pews that was still intact and, with incredible care that didn't seem possible for a Tetramand, gently laid her out on it.
"What happened to him?" Kiba wondered, keeping a grip on his sheathed blade in case he needed to use it.
"I don't know," Rias replied as she stared at Ben and took another careful step towards him.
[I recommend keeping your distance, young Gremory.]
Rias stopped in her tracks with shock in her eyes, an expression shared by Akeno, Kiba and Koneko at the deep intense voice.
"Who said that?" Rias demanded, looking around to see who else was there.
[It was me, Azmuth,] Azmuth announced, his powerful voice echoing around the silent church.
Any other time, Rias would have been amazed and fascinated that Azmuth was speaking to her. however, that was the last thing that was on her mind.
"What's wrong with him?"
[He lost control of his emotions while he was transformed. When that fallen one ripped out this poor girl's soul and Sacred Gear from her body, he let the demonic side of his transformation take over.]
"What?!" Rias gasped with wide eyes at Azmuth's explanation and looked down at the nun's lifeless body as Ben gently stroked her blonde hair gently while he lowed under his breath.
Her soul had been stolen?!
The three devils behind her also shared expressions of shock and horror.
"Impossible!"
"That's insane!"
"How is that possible?" Rias asked in shock as she tried to fathom the implications of such a thing being possible.
Azmuth growled deeply before replying.
[The ritual was performed with the use of magic that, until tonight, I thought had been completely erased from existence over several million years ago. It wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with myself.]
"But why? Why would they bother tearing out someone's Sacred Gear?"
"Because our master wished it!"
Rias turned her head to look past Ben to see Raynare flying out of the hole in the church floor. She was covered in bruises and cuts from her encounter with Ben. As she looked up at her, Raynare's hands were illuminated by a pale green light which she brushed over her body. As she covered her body with the green light, every bruise disappeared and every cut sealed closed, leaving her skin flawless and with no sign of her ever being hurt.
Rias glared up at her. "Raynare!"
Raynare sneered back down at the crimson-haired Devil.
"Huh, you're here too, huh? I presume you've already killed my companions then."
Rias didn't say anything but her silence answered Raynare's question. Raynare then surprised everyone by sighing offhandedly and smiling a little.
"Oh well, that just serves them right for being weak. My master has no need for such pathetic servants so I must thank you for saving me the trouble of destroying them."
"Who is your master?!" Rias demanded angrily as pale red energy surrounded her.
Raynare just chuckled in response.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" she rose up higher into the air. "I must be going now. I just wanted to see that little nun-slut finally die. I'll remember that beautiful look of despair she had forever!"
Ben suddenly spun around to face Raynare, several large pieces of rubble he had picked up as he turned around flying through the air in a blur as he launched them up at her as he roared loudly.
"ROOOOAAAAARRRR!"
"Shit!" Raynare cursed as she was taken by surprise at the sudden attack, only having time to dodge one of the two projectiles thrown at her while the other one struck her squarely in the chest and knocking her into the stone wall behind her before she fell back down to the ground. Without giving her chance to recover, Ben charged towards her, rearing his left fists back before bringing them down on her.
Raynare saw him charging towards her and rolled out of the way at the last second, leaving Ben to punch the wall behind her instead which resulted in a large hole being create an the church to rumble dangerously with several stone slabs being dislodged from the roof and crashing into the ground.
"This is bad!" Kiba stated as he quickly unsheathed his blade and sliced through a stone block that was about to fall on top of him. "If Ben isn't careful, he could bring this whole place down!"
Rias nodded in agreement with her Knight's observation.
"We need to get out of here."
"What about Ben?" Akeno wondered as she watched Ben continue to chase Raynare around the room, leaping up to swat her out of the air whenever she tried to take flight and avoiding her Light spears.
"You heard Azmuth. He can't hear us as he is now. Besides, Tetramands are insanely durable; a collapsing building would hardly even leave a scratch."
Akeno nodded at Rias' reasoning.
Rias gestured towards the dead nun lying on the wooden pew. "Bring her with us."
Akeno carried out Rias' order without question, gently picking up Asia's limp body and following behind Rias as she led their withdrawal back out of the church as the rumbling steadily grew more and more intense.
Ben didn't notice them leave. All of his attention was focussed purely on the Fallen Angel before him. He chased her around the steadily crumbling church, both swiping at her with his hands and throwing bits of church debris at har with great strength. Thanks to her flexibility, Raynare was able to dodge his blows and most of the debris thrown at her. Every time she did so, however, the projectile struck a part of the rapidly weakening church, bringing it closer to the point where it finally collapsed.
"Enough!" she bellowed angrily, materialising a large Light spear in her hand and launching it at Ben with all her might. He caught it mid-air in his hand, stopping it in its path when it was only a few feet away from striking his chest. As he held onto the spear, he glared at Raynare with a murderous look in his eyes, not even noticing the faint smoke trails rising up from where he held the spear nor the twinge of pain that steadily increased.
Without tearing his glare away from his enemy, Ben took the spear in his other upper hand and launched it back at Raynare with such force that, after Raynare barely managed to dodge the projectile, it impacted the stone wall behind her, blasting a large hole through it as it continued on its path until it connected with the barrier that still surrounded the area where it finally disintegrated.
"You're wasting your time, bastard!" Raynare sneered as she passed her glowing hand over her injuries which instantly began healing. "There's nothing you can do to me that I can't heal!"
In response to her taunt, Ben snarled deeply, his eyes glowing brighter before he turned into a blur as he launched himself upwards into the air towards Raynare. The fallen angel's eyes widened in shock as she suddenly found him barely a few feet away from her. She turned and tried to fly away but it was already too late….
"GAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" she screamed as he grabbed hold of her legs with his lower arms and her black wings with his upper arms in a vice-like grip and pulled her wings with all his might, easily tearing them out from her back and throwing them away while pulling on her legs at the same time, throwing her into the ground below her where she landed with a loud *crack!*
As the truth started to dawn on Raynare just how outclassed she was, even with the power of Twilight Healing in her procession, she heard another loud roar behind her. Grunting in pain, she turned around to see the Tetramand flying through the air towards her again, this time with a large hammer in its hands reared back over its head, just before he brought it crashing down on top of her.
The resulting shockwave resonated throughout the entire church to such an intense degree that it proved too much for the already fragile structure. As the floor cracked and split apart from the hammer blow, the walls finally gave in and started crumbling around him and within just a few seconds, the roof caved in and collapsed on top of both Ben and Raynare under a mountain of stone and debris and stirring up a huge dust cloud which consumed them.
Within the dense dust cloud, Ben was breathing heavily. His eyes had returned back to their normal colour as his emotions were brought back under control and he returned to his senses. He released his grip on the large hammer as he fell onto his knees.
[Glad to have you back with us,] Azmuth's voice entered his head.
Ben continued to take deep breaths as he fought to calm himself down and recollect his thoughts.
"What happened to me? I felt anger and fury completely consume me. The only thought in my head was that I needed to kill Raynare."
[I'm not surprised. Tetramands have been known to lose themselves in a state they refer to as "The Berserker's Rage" when they experience extreme rage. You just experienced another cost to possessing my Gear.]
Ben nodded his head ever so slightly in understanding. He was too drained and exhausted to react as he normally would.
"At least it's finally over…."
"Ben, please."
Ben's breath got caught in the back of his throat at the sound of the familiar voice beneath his large form. He looked down as the dust cloud started settling down to see Julie lying on the ground before him. Her breathing was both deep and ragged…though the fact that she was still able to breathe at all was miraculous considering the state she was in.
When Ben had slammed the hammer down on her, it had crushed her midsection to smithereens, completely severing her waist from the rest of her body.
Ben noted as well that, while Raynare's upper body had taken on the form of Julie, her severed lower body remained in her actual form.
"Y-You w-won't kill me," she gurgled through the blood that was filling her lungs and throat very quickly. "Hehe, you've never taken a life before, have you? You'll find it's a…." she grunted in pain even as she started using her Sacre Gear to begin healing herself. "…it's a very different thing and you don't have the balls to cross that line!"
Ben looked down at her in silence, a response that Raynare chuckled triumphantly at.
"Ha! Just as I thought. All that power and you're still just a pathetic weakling. You made killing that bitch, Asia, so much more satisfying…."
[BOOST!]
The only answer Raynare received from Ben as he raised his upper arms above his head, clasped them together, and slammed them down on top of the Fallen Angel's head. As they connected, Raynare let out one final, desperate scream before she exploded in a flash of light and black feathers as Ben finally put an end to her poisonous words.
As the black feathers filled the crater he had created when he brought the church crashing down around him, Ben remained where he knelt, his clasped upper arms still resting in the rubble where they had struck Raynare's head.
His breathing was deep and slow as it dawned on him what he had just done.
He had done it. He had finally done. He had finally gotten revenge on Raynare for tormenting both himself and Asia and causing them so much hurt.
His eyes widened as he remembered what had happened to Asia and fresh tears began to fall down his face. He was so consumed by grief and sadness that he barely noticed when his transformation ended and he returned back to normal in a flash of red light.
"Ben?"
He turned his head towards the voice to see, through tear-filled eyes, Rias standing beside him, her hand on his shoulder and small smile on her face which she hoped would comfort him somewhat…though it had no effect on him as he continued to fight the tears trickling down his cheeks.
After a short moment of silence, Ben finally broke it.
"She's dead." He brought his arms back and rested them on his knees. "They took her Gear and they killed her."
Rias gently squeezed his shoulder, kneeling down beside him as she did so.
"I know."
She caught sight of something below him and reached down with her free hand and pulled it back to reveal a small, pale green orb which had two small rings floating within.
"I think it's time we returned them to their rightful owner, don't you?"
Ben only gave a small nod in response as he let Rias gently pull him back up onto his feet and lead him out of the ruined remains of the destroyed church and over to an untouched area of the clearing where the others were gathered…and where Asia lay peacefully on the grass, her hands resting across her chest.
When they re-joined the group, Rias presented Ben with the small orb.
"Here, I think it's only right that you're the one who returns these to her."
Ben accepted the orb, taking it carefully in his hands as he knelt down beside Asia and, gently taking each of her hands in turn, delicately slid the ornate rings back onto her fingers before returning them back onto her chest.
When he slid the second ring onto her delicate finger, he held onto her hand for a moment, stroking the back of it gently with his thumb.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, brushing a stray lock from Asia's peaceful face and tucking it behind her ear. "You didn't deserve to die."
Rias took a step towards him.
"Nobody blames you for what happened, Ben."
"I do, though!" Ben retorted tearfully as he gripped Asia's hand tighter. "I know you guys didn't come here to save her…but I did. It was because of me that Asia wasn't able to escape from Raynare! I wanted…no, I needed to save her and I failed!"
More tears started welling up in his eyes as he stoked Asia's head gently.
"She didn't deserve this. All she wanted was to have friends and have fun…but because of me, she never had the chance!"
Rias chose this moment to speak up.
"Not necessarily. Have a look at this, Ben."
Ben tore his tearful gaze away from Asia and glanced back to see Rias holding a chess piece in her hand. A Bishop piece.
He wiped his eyes with the back of his arm to get a better look at the unassuming piece before looking back at Rias as he started piecing things together.
"Perhaps it's fate. I've been looking for another clergyman to join our group. The role of the Bishop is to protect the rest of the group. I have been looking for a caring soul to use it on and I believe I may have found that caring soul in Asia from what you've told me about her."
"Wait. Do you mean…?"
Rias gave him a small, warm smile as she stopped him mid-sentence.
"Yes, Asia is about to be born again as a denizen of the Underworld."
"What do we need to do?" Ben asked intensely, his eyes wide at the prospect at the possibility of bringing Asia back.
Rias walked up to him and knelt down beside him, placing the Bishop piece on Asia's bare chest, just above her exposed breasts.
"This is something only I can do. You need to step back to I can proceed with the ritual.
Ben cast one last glance down at Asia before stepping back. He was reluctant to let go of Asia's hand but he did so when Rias nodded her head at him confidently and returned the hand he held back onto her chest to join her other one before stepping away from her to let Rias do what she needed to do.
As he re-joined Akeno, Kiba and Koneko, Rias stretched her arms out wide at the same time an ornate, crimson-coloured magic circle materialised beneath Asia's lifeless body.
Once the circle was completed, Rias began the resurrection incantation.
"In the name of Rias of the noble House of Gremory, I call upon you, Asia Argento, to heed my command: Return thy noble soul from the shadowy embrace of death and return to your physical form. Return and rise as my demonic servant! Return as a member of my peerage! Awaken as my healer and clergyman!"
As Rias finished the spell, the Bishop piece glowed brightly as it sank into Asia's body. As the piece disappeared under her skin, the crimson circle glowed brighter and began to spin quicker before it slowly vanished, returning the clearing back into darkness.
Almost as soon as the crimson circle completely disappeared, Asia's chest slowly rose up as she took in a deep breath. This action was repeated again before her eyelids flickered open slowly to reveal her bright green eyes which looked up at the barrier above them.
Blinking several times, Asia slowly sat up from where she lay and looked around, blinking repeatedly, disorientated by the change in her eyes. She stopped looking around when her eyes locked with Ben's wide-eyed expression of shock.
"B-Ben? W-What's going on?" she asked slowly, tiredness clearly showing on her face.
Without thinking, Ben suddenly rushed forward and wrapped his arms around a startled Asia as he embraced her fondly, pressing her head into the crook of his neck.
"Eeek!" Asia squeaked, caught off guard by Ben's sudden embrace, her cheeks flushing red in embarrassment at how tightly he was holding her. As she slowly overcame the sudden shock of his intimate embrace, Asia found herself wrapping her own arms around Ben's waist and returning the embrace fondly, glad that he couldn't see how flushed she was.
As the two Devils embraced each other, Rias smiled and stepped towards them, attracting Asia's attention.
"You've been resurrected as a Devil," she explained. "Welcome to the team, Asia. It's a pleasure to meet you properly at last. I've heard a lot of great things about you from Ben."
Asia's blush intensified and she shivered subconsciously from a cold breeze which swept past her.
Ben noticed this and quickly removed his jacket and placed it around her shoulders. Asia was about to thank him when she noticed her current state of undress and how Ben was able to see her exposed breasts. Her face quickly turned the same shade of red as Rias' hair as she abruptly pulled the jacket around her to cover her indecent appearance.
"You're in charge of her protection now, Ben," Rias added with a warm smile as she crossed her arms under her chest. "You are the senior Devil after all."
Ben cast a quick glance back at Rias and gave her a short nod before returning his attention back to Asia, quickly wiping a tear of happiness from the corner of his eye as he smiled happily at her.
"I'm so glad you're alright, Asia," he told her as he pulled her into another embrace, not noticing how her flushed expression returned.
"Everything's going to be ok."
. . . . .
At the far end of the rubble where the old church once stood, hidden in the shadows which it called home, Zs'Skayr masked its physical form as well as its magical presence to ensure it couldn't be detected by anything unless it wanted to be.
It hid from the darkness, watching in silent, barely restrained rage at the small group of devils in the distance. The rage it felt wasn't focused on them though, the rage it felt was mainly directed at both the Fallen Angels and itself; at the fallen ones because they had failed spectacularly in performing a simple ritual to tear out a human soul and acquire the Twilight Healing Sacred Gear for its master, and at itself for trusting second-rate angels to carry out the task instead of it.
It watched as the red-haired one (it didn't know their names) turned away from the two devils embracing on the floor and walked over to the Tetramand-tempered Magisteel hammer and muttered something about it being a waste to leave such a weapon behind before she created a magic circle and stored it away.
It cursed in a language long thought extinct and watched as the devils disappeared through a transportation circle in a flash of red light, leaving it alone in the darkness.
"I never should've trusted those useless creatures! They couldn't even kill those annoying brats when they had the chance! Now I have to be the inform to tell Kokabiel of their failure!"
As it said this, another bout of rage overcame it, this time too strong to contain, and it lashed out with a tendril of black energy which struck the barrier wall and caused it to shatter instantly, disintegrating as the pieces dematerialised into nothing, revealing the church rubble to the outside world.
Zs'Skayr didn't notice this, though. After it lashed out in frustration, it disappeared back into the darkness and vanished, leaving to inform the others of the change to their plans.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .