Chapter 15: Return of an Enemy

"I've been lusting after this power for years!" Raynare raved, the two green rings floating towards her, "And now it's finally in my hands!" She pressed the rings into her chest, reeling her head back from the surge of power, and she turned to the priests and devils in the room, back turned towards the mourning Adrian and the deceased Asia, a twisted smile on her face, practically screaming insanity, "I'll be beloved! I'll be the most powerful fallen angel there is! All those pricks who screwed me over are going to regret it!" Adrian paid no attention to her, as he rose up, Asia still in his arms,

"Asia, I'm sorry," he said to her, tears welling up, the fact that yet another person died because of him was already beginning to tear him apart.

But to his surprise, Asia slowly opened her eyes,

"A-Adrian! You came!" She said weakly, her breathing becoming ragged.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner, but if you stay with me then we should be able to make it!" She smiled at the thought, until Raynare spoke up,

"You can take the girl, I got what I needed," she purred. Adrian had her by the throat with his Sacred Gear arm before she could make any other comments,

"Give. Her. Back. Her Sacred Gear you BITCH!" He spat, causing Raynare to laugh,

"Easy tough guy, I already had to betray my superiors in order to snag that little ge-!" Adrian tightened his grip, cutting off her air,

"If that's the case, then I'm sure they won't mind if I did this."

"DEVOUR!" Adrian took just enough of Raynares strength to get the gemstones on his Sacred Gear to glow, shifted Raynare so she was aimed at the wall, "DISCHARGE!" And Adrian released her, sending out a blast of energy at the same time, sending her to the left wall, making her bounce roughly off, and crash next to the doorway, covered in rubble. Adrian carried Asia bridal style down the alter, and across the sea of priests being fought back by his friends, with Damon tossing his coat towards him, landing perfectly on Asia, no doubt to keep her warm, to which Adrian gave him a silent thanks. He kept walking, through the exit, and back into the sanctuary, kicking a churc pew back right side up, and rested her on the long seat,

"Just stay with me Asia, please," he begged, sitting on his knees next to her, clutching her hand within both of his own, "I've lost so many people over my lifetime, and I don't want you to be one of them." Asia looked at him with a sleepy look,

"I know we haven't seen each other for long," she breathed, "but I'm blessed to have made a friend like you." The tears began to flow from Adrian, but he kept his composure,

"And we will be friends forever, THAT I promise you. When this is over, and you're better, I'll take you to the theater, or we could go roller skating, or bowling, that all sounds like fun? Right?"

"I just wish things had been different. It would have been great to have grown up in this country...gone to school," she murmured.

"And you still can!" Said Adrian, "Just hold on a little longer!" She placed a gentle hand on his cheek, feeling his tears,

"I never meant to make you cry Adrian...I'm sorry," Asia closed her eyes, "Goodbye." Her hand grew cold, and she was gone. Adrian set her hand down, and stood up,

"She...didn't deserve this..." He clenched his fists, his anger and power rising, "All she wanted to do was heal and help others. She never had a hurtful thought in her..." He paused, trying to keep himself under control, "Was this my fault?" Adrian asked the large cross in the sanctuary, "Was it because of my time in New York that she had to suffer? Or simply the fact that I am a devil? If it's either of those things, I'm willing to pay for them," Adrian then tilted his head down, losing his anger, and was instead consumed by sorrow...sorrow for losing Asia, "All she wanted was to have friends...please...bring her back."

"A devil begging for forgiveness in church? What an insidious sense of humor." Adrian slowly brought his head back up, seeing Raynare in her twisted glory, healing herself from the wounds made by Adrian. He said nothing, only glaring at the fallen angel briefly before turning back to Asia. "Beautiful isn't it? No matter the injury, I'll heal instantly. A perfect gift for those who no longer have the benefit of divine protection. And now I'll never have to worry about losing my rank in the underworld." She put her hands together and began to pray, "Oh great Azazel and Shimuzay, I'm prepared and ready to do your works." Now Adrian turned his attention to her,

"What...has that got to do with it? What does that have to do with Asia?" Raynare broke from her prayer to look at him, "She didn't give a flying shag about power, all she wanted was to help people!"

"Unfortunately for those who have a Sacred Gear, THIS is their destiny," she said plainly, as if explaining to a toddler, "And whether or not she wanted to help people is out of the question, humans in their world cannot survive with the Sacred Gear. Even if she decided to play hero and use her power for good, she would have been tortured out of fear of her power." Adrian clenched his fists, his rage resurfacing,

"If I had found her sooner I would have protected her from all that!"

"She's dead! Stone cold dead and you're talking about protecting her? Do you realize how insane you sound?" Asked Raynare, evil mocking grin spread across her face.

"Considering the past few weeks...or is it months? Hard to tell now, all I've seen was magic and people who should be dead rising again. So...not too insane actually," said Adrian, "In fact..." he turned to the deceased Asia, and a thought began to form in his head, "...I wonder." He quickly got back to the matter at hand, and tried to charge at Raynare, only for her to throw a handful of light spears, hitting him in both legs and arms, his stomach and heart, forcing him to shout out in pain, blood spilling out of his mouth.

"They say that light is the worst pain a devil could ever feel, tell me, is that true?" Asked Raynare, clearly toying with Adrian. The Devil Virus barely touched the light spear pinning his Sacred Gear arm with his finger,

"DEVOUR!" The light spear quickly began to dissappear, freeing his arm and adding to his energy. He began to do the same with the other spears in his body, despite the pain of even touching them.

"I must say, I'm impressed. A lower class devil actually, making it this far is impressive. It's a power to be reckoned with, not that it will help you anyway." Adrian was down to the last two spears, the ones pinning his legs, "I just wanted to make sure you got your cudos for doing so much better than expected from a devil of your class." Adrian glared at the fallen angel, readying himself as he absorbed the final two light spears into his Sacred Gear.

"You prayed to the wrong guy Adrian." Both Adrian and Raynare turned to the entrance of the basement, seeing Issei, eyes shadowed by his hair. "We're devils now, God isn't going to help us! We need Satan!" Issei then tilted his head down, "We are devils now to, so what do you say? Just this once we could use a little help!"

"What are you mumbling about over there? What is he mumbling about?" Raynare asked Adrian, who was still staring at Issei,

"To be honest, I have no idea," said Adrian, cocking an eyebrow in confusion.

"I'm begging you," Issei continued, "I won't ask you for anything else after this!" His wings sprung out from his back, "Let us destroy her ass!" He shouted. Adrian suddenly found his wounds healing, and while they still hurt, he was now able to move freely, shocking Raynare,

"How are you able to move? This is impossible, that light should be burning you from the inside out, tell me how you're doing that!! You don't have the power to temper light!! You're two are nothing but a disease and a hopeless virgin!!"

"Not gonna lie," said Adrian, dusting off his shoulders, "The pain is still excruciating. But frankly I don't care. So long as we can end your bullshit!" Shouted Adrian, and his Sacred Gear powered up, Issei's as well, but Adrian noticed something; Issei's Sacred Gear was beginning to change. It now encased his fingers, growing to encase his arm up to the elbow, sprouting more spikes, and to Adrian, it was now looking more like his own Sacred Gear, but more edged, more spiked, and it was colored red with yellow spikes and a single green gemstone on the back.

"EXPLOSION!" Issei's Gear shouted, and it began to grow stronger and stronger,

"That energy wave is at least second level!" She said in alarm, "His Sacred Gear should be nowhere NEAR this strong! It's just a double critical!" Issei began to approach her, and from the look on his face, he meant business.

"You know what? I'm just going to let your date have this one," said Adrian with an evil smirk, and stepped aside, allowing Issei to charge at a fleeing Raynare, catching her by the wrist,

"You won't get away bitch!" Shouted Issei.

"No! I have the supreme power!" Screamed Raynare.

"Let's agree to disagree," said Adrian casually, even when Issei slugged Raynare in the face, sending her straight out the stained glass window. Her torment wasn't over however, as a whipfist snagged her ankle, dragging her through the broken glass, and back to Adrian, who held her high above his head, "Don't think we're done yet!" Said Adrian, and he brought her down onto his knee, snapping her spine in two, before launching her back out the window.

"That felt good," said Issei.

"No, not good...that was amazing!" Said Adrian, soon the two were joined by the rest of the ORC, with Calvin and Katrina keeping Adrian on his feet, acting as human crutches.

"Well that was fucking awesome!" Calvin said with a laugh.

"Could not have done it better myself!" Said Katrina.

"Too bad I couldn't join in," said Damon, "I was really wanting to give her some good gunslinger action!"

"Well unfortunately, President Rias gave us specific orders NOT to assist," said Wesker, polishing his sunglasses. Both Adrian and Issei turned to this,

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," Rias said, appearing in the corner of the room, "I believed in you, and I knew you two would two would defeat her." Adrian smiled gratefully,

"Thanks for believing in us."

"When my business outside was finished I made my way to the basement just in time to see the other members of my House having a free for all with several fallen angels," said Rias, approaching the group,

"We probably could have handled it just fine," said Damon, "but thanks for the help anyway." The doors to the church swung open, revealing Koneko dragging in Raynare.

"Did someone order this?" She asked, throwing the broken angel at the groups feet.

"So you must be Raynare," said Rias, "lovely entrance." The fallen angel was only able to move her body from the waist up thanks to Adrian. "I am Rias Gremory, also known as the next head of the House of Gremory."

"G-Gremory?! You got to be kidding me!" Stammered Raynare.

"It's wonderful to meet you," continued Rias, "what a shame we don't have time to chat, sadly," she then dropped three black feathers in front of Raynare, "It's time for you to join your friends I disposed of earlier," Raynare could only stare in wide eyed shock, "they were rather rude to me."

"So you took them out yourself?" Asked Calvin.

"Rias' fuse is long, but when pushed she lives up to her title as Empress of Annihilation," said Kiba.

"'Empress of Annihilation' you say? I might have to put that title to the test in a sparing match someday," said Katrina.

"Why would he heiress of Gremory DARE such a thing?" Asked Raynare.

"Well, since you asked," began Rias, "after Dohnaseek attacked Adrian and his friends, I discovered that multiple fallen angels had plans to attack this town. I would have stayed out of it but they seemed insistent on attacking my team."

"Awe she really does care!" Said Damon, being a smart aleck. She turned to the group, and noticed Issei's arm.

"Look at you! I didn't see your Sacred Gear!" She said in surprise. Issei looked down at his arm as well.

"Yeah, it just freaked out and turned red, I don't know what happened."

"It's called a Red Dragon. Which explains a lot actually," said Rias, smiling. She turned to the fallen angel before her, "Do you see this Raynare? You weren't defeated by a double critical Sacred Gear after all. No need to feel too embarrassed."

"WHAT?!" Raynare screeched. Rias began to explain

"The one Issei uses automatically doubles its users power every ten seconds. Allowing him to transcend both God and Satan at will. It's one of the thirteen forms of Longitis. The strongest level of the Red Dragon Emperor is called Boosted Gear."

"So this sacred tool with the power to destroy God is in the hands of a child?!" She asked herself in disbelief.

"The one downfall is that it takes a decent amount of time to start due to its immense power," Rias continued, "The only reason he beat you was because you let your guard down. If only you learned that lesson earlier."

"Issei, please!" Everyone was taken aback when Raynare suddenly took on the form of Yuma Amano! "I'm sorry! I know I've said some mean things to you but I didn't have a choice! I had to fulfill my role as a fallen angel!" She pleaded. "I mean, if I really didn't care, would I still be wearing your gift?" She held up her wrist, showing she in fact still had the pink bracelet Issei gave to her. "Please don't tell me you forgot! You bought it for me remember?" Issei slowly made his way to her, stunning everyone except Rias, who held out her hand, stopping the rest of the ORC. "You wouldn't let them hurt me, would you?" She asked with a hopeful smile.

"Shut up," he muttered, wiping the smile off her face, "I'm not buying it," he turned away from her, "I can't do it," he said to his friends.

"Well as much as I'd like to absorb twenty pounds of shit in a five pound sack, I think I'm gonna pass," said Adrian.

"Not worth wasting MY bullet," said Damon, shaking his head.

"Well she's worth mine," said Wesker, cocking his gun, and approaching the wide eyed Yuma, "I trusted you," he said, "and you just sent me further down a path of destruction...no longer." Suddenly, time slowed to a crawl, as a blur swooped in from out of nowhere and lifted Raynare bridal style, and stepped off of Wesker forcing him to the ground as the blur leapt up to the top of the alter. Raynare was now laughing maniacally as she reverted to her normal fallen angel form, as the blur was revealed to be a hooded man, dressed similarly to Adrian.

"Fools!" She called out, "As if I didn't have a backup plan, and now, thanks to you, lover," she briefly turned to her hooded savior, "I will be able to come back stronger, and more powerful than you can ever imagine-!"

KOOSH!

Raynare looked down at her chest, seeing a set of claws exiting her chest, followed by a mass of tendrils, killing her, absorbing her, bringing Adrians worst fears to light.

"No...no, no NO!!" Raynare dissappeared, gone for good, leaving only Asia's Sacred Gear behind to clatter on the floor and land near Adrians feet. He didn't notice as the man lifted his head, just enough for his face to become visible.

"Been a while, hasn't it Adrian," said the man. Adrian spat towards the ground,

"Not long enough...Mercer."