A/N: Hey guys, I'm still alive! Please see the author's note at the end for the updates. For now, I'd just like to say that I've changed my format for conversations and thoughts. They're the standard style you see when reading other fics, so it shouldn't bother anyone. That's about it, see you at the end!


CHAPTER TEN: CONSCIOUS

'Hello again, Caleb.'

Caleb sighed, he knew this voice. He knew it all too well, yet he dared not to open his eyes, fearing that he'd once again be swept away from his body.

'You should know by now; your thoughts are shared with me.'

'Damn it! Worth a try.' Caleb said as he opened his eyes, and sure enough, he was once again in his own mind scape, pulled away from his body. However, he was no longer spectating his surroundings in the mansion, like it was in the church, rather, he found himself sitting at the back wall of an unfamiliar room, the stone floor he was sitting on cold to the touch. The only source of light coming from what looked like a stove at the corner, but despite the warmth emanating from it, the stone floors seemed unaffected by the warmth. At first glance, one would think of the place as someone's bedroom, the only difference being that the room itself was littered with tools and work tables instead of any beds or couches; an anvil stood at the left side of the room. Across the room from Caleb, there stood a large oak door, intricate patterns carved upon its surface. Strangely enough, however, the door looked to be molded as a part of the wall itself, its functional purpose forgotten. As much as he wanted to look around more, Caleb's musings about his current location was suddenly interrupted, when his attention was diverted to the only other occupant of the room.

There, stood in the middle of the of the unfamiliar room, was a hooded figure.

It didn't take a genius to deduce that this was the same being Caleb had encountered before. The being he had encountered previously seemed to have taken the form of a cloaked figure, floating in mid-air, stranger then, no one within it. It simply floated, with a voice emanating from the hood, where its head should have been.

'For your sake, I sincerely hope you hang on to your sense of humor.'

Caleb notices something else that was odd about this being. No longer did the voice sound low and raspy, it was still on the low side, but it sounded more restrained, as if it had difficulty speaking. Its voice was also not as menacing as he remembered, it sounded more as if it was judging him as it spoke, not that it was any better than being menacing, but it was indeed the lesser evil. Caleb's mind floats back to the events at the church, where this being had taken over him, and had told him to obliterate everything in his path.

'What am I doing here? Who are you? What did you do?' He asks, slowly backing away from the being, only to be greeted by the wall. 'Is this going to be a repeat of last time?' The hood turns, as if to look towards Caleb's direction.

'So many questions.'

'You seem like the type who has a lot of time.' The hood remained turned to Caleb's direction, before it makes a sound. What comes out is a low chuckle.

'And you are the type who favors irritable remarks. For your own good, and mine, I will entertain your lingering thoughts.' It positions itself to fully face Caleb, albeit as if it were only a hood being carried by the wind.

'Ask.'

Caleb looks on at the figure, who was nonchalantly floating in the middle of the room, seemingly paying no mind to his apprehension. The last time He had had any form of contact with the being, he had ended up losing control, something that he wanted to avoid a repeat of. Caleb starts to retrace the recent events that had transpired, seeking to formulate questions based off of them. Firstly, what was the hooded figure? What was he doing with his Sacred Gear? Since when had he been living, nee, existing? Had it been just recently, at the church? Had he been there longer? How was he able to pull Caleb in and out of consciousness? From all of the questions swirling around Caleb's head, one stood out amongst the most.

'Why did you- Why are you here?' He starts, a hint of worry in his voice. He had meant to sound demanding, somewhat authoritative, even, not cowardly and worried. Damn his brain.

'A good question, the wrong one to ask first, but good nonetheless. I would have preferred that you start with, 'What happened at the church?'' Caleb gets up to his feet from the stone floor, fatigued from the day's events, placing his hands on his knees for support. He takes a steadying breath, thinking back to the events of the church, trying to piece everything together by retracing his steps. He had had cold sweats that night, and his head was reeling with a headache. They headed off to the church to rescue Asia, they fought off Fried.

'We got into a fight, I started hearing a voice, it was you.' The being in front of Caleb doesn't move an inch, and the latter takes it as a sign for him to continue. They ended up in the basement, then-.

'That's all I can remember. What happened afterwards?' He starts. The being in front of him seemingly nodding at his query.

'What did you feel once you reached the basement of the church?'Caleb gulped. The repressed memories of that past night coming back to him. The being had given him power; power he never would have imagined he possessed. 'Wait, you tricked me! You promised to help me out, but instead I went haywire and destroyed everything!'

'Hmph.'The cloaked figure says, turning around and floating a few paces away from Caleb.

'What's that supposed to mean? Hmph?' Caleb starts walking towards the figure, but the latter suddenly turns to face him, making the former stop in his tracks.

'I gave you power in exchange for a favor, a favor you so willingly obliged to do.' The figure states. If it wasn't for the fact that it had no face, Caleb was sure it would be looking right at him. He grits his teeth, trying to further recall what had transpired that night. Then it hits him.

'Obliterate everything.'

The hooded figure tilts his 'head', seemingly acknowledging what Caleb had said, but in turn, says nothing, signaling the latter to continue. 'You told me to obliterate everything, in exchange of the power I needed to help my friends. I felt like I was on fire the entire night, well, up until the part when I was literally surrounded by fire, but that's not the point.' He makes an exasperated sigh, wondering what exactly happened that caused him to feel that way in the first place. The hooded figure answers for him.

'Bloodthirst and hatred, all concentrated in one small space, feelings that were shared by all those gathered there. That's what caused you to start acting up, what caused me to awaken.'

'What did that have to do with me? Why did it have something to do with me? With you, "waking up?"' The being shakes its head, as if it were a parent about to scold her child.

'It has everything to do with you, boy. Are you so simple minded that you are not remotely curious about that brace on your arm?'

'My Sacred Gear.' As if on cue, Caleb's Sacred Gear materializes on his arm, in its old original brown color, instead of the freakish black and red-streaked gauntlet that had previously showed.

'Yes, your Sacred Gear.' The being leered. Caleb stared at his brace, his mind trying to wrap itself around what the being was saying to him. And what was that leer just then? 'It's linked to you. Why?'

'Sacred Gear is but the fickle name that was given to it by your mother. But it is so much more.' Caleb's eyes narrow. What did it mean by more?

'What you wield on your arm is but a piece of a whole. A power capable of destroying both devils and angels alike.' The being waves its arm, and at once, the linings of Caleb's brace begin to glow. The arm brace begins to change, the brown leather turns black, and begins creeping up towards his shoulder, Caleb could feel it burn as it crawled up his skin, the leathery brown material starts clasping at his skin as it shifts, becoming metallic in structure. Caleb lets out a cry, doubling over in pain, the sensation being too much for him to handle. The being in front of him watches, with no possible hint at its expression as it began to float towards him.

'The brace, merely term used to mask, no, hide, seal away something so powerful. How crude.' It says, as the boy in front of him clutched his arm in a futile attempt to somehow manage the pain.

'An arm that provides the needs of the warrior that wields it.' Caleb could feel his arm grow heavier, his movements becoming restricted. He notices burning on his right arm, and sees that the same material had started growing on it, slowly making its way up to his shoulder.

'I wondered, what could have caused so much hatred and need of blood, that it was able to unlock my seal? Then I saw that it was caused by appalling nature of humans, how ironic.'

The burning sensation stops, and Caleb allows a heavy breath to escape his lips. He slowly gets to his knees, gasping for air, the experience taking out his remaining energy. He looks at his arm. No longer was there a brown arm brace with yellow linings that reached his elbow, there lay a metal armor, covering the entirety of his left and right arm, fingers up to his shoulder. It's black gleam and red detailing emitting a threatening glow.

'An armor crafted to please and glorify God, corrupted by man's greed and pride. Its creator brought to shame instead of praise for its birth.'

Caleb collapses back on the wall, tenderly lifting his left arm up, stretching his fingers, observing them in the armor. 'What you possess, my dear boy,' The being starts, turning away from Caleb, as if to leave, the latter slowly losing consciousness. Caleb is barely able to catch the being's last few words before his eyes shut.

'Is Hespith's demise.'


Caleb slowly opens his eyes, his blurry vision leaving him completely disoriented and unaware of his surroundings. As his surroundings slowly come into focus, the view that greets him is the dangling chandelier of the dilapidated mansion. Slowly, loud noises of explosions and fighting begin ringing in his ears. His friends were still fighting the stray devils somewhere in the mansion.

He slowly sits up, his weary arms supporting most of his weight, and scans his surroundings. His previous opponent nowhere in sight, and he had somehow made a small crater when he landed after blowing up the basement, even more amazing was the fact that the blast launched him out of the basement. He blinks, then puts his face in his hands, trying to make sense of what had happened to him. He was groggy, and too weak to even be able to formulate any form of coherent thought at the moment. He decides that he can't form a coherent thought, and thus instead opts to sit there, face still in his hands.

Caleb could hear the explosions inch closer, the fight was headed his way. Yet he could not care enough to stand up and join his friends.

I'm surprised you're awake, unlocking the Brassart and the gauntlets should have drained your energy completely. Caleb remains motionless at the being's voice, feeling immense exhaustion run through him.

Even the poison injected to you by that devil took away a lot of your energy to be removed, yet here you are, awake. Though obviously too physically and mentally drained to respond.

'How long was I out?' He states, words slurred. He removes his face from his hands, and notices that his sleeves, and part of the torso of his school uniform had been burned off. A few minutes. It would seem that the chunk of your shoulder that that other devil almost bit off took energy to heal, as well as the armor, partially.

Caleb pushes himself off the ground and climbs, with much difficulty, out of the crater he was in. He had ended up back on the first floor, where the once grand staircase of the mansion was located. Still on his knees after getting out of the crater, he looks around, trying to get his bearings. The explosions were becoming louder, he could hear it, he knew he had to get up to his feet, but the complete absence of energy in his body prevented him from doing so.

It would seem that your friends are having difficulty defeating those two.

'Two?'

The one you previously fought seems to have only suffered a few injuries.

'Crap, I need to be there.' Caleb tries to stand up, only to collapse back on the floor. His frustrations get the better of him, as he slams his fist on the ground.

'Damn it!'

Quite the temper.

'You shush!'

You have no energy left, and supposing you are able to make it to your friends without collapsing, you would only prove to be a burden. Caleb hits his head on the ground, this being was right, he would only be dead weight If he went there.

I propose a solution.

'No, I'm not risking losing control again-'

Such worries, boy. The being scolded. You lost control because the seal had been broken. The power stored within the armor overwhelmed you. Hatred, rage, bloodthirst, the same causes for the armor's concealment, thus the same keys to unseal it. Naturally, that's what the power decided to manifest itself to. Caleb tunes out the rest of the being's words, and is able to get himself in a sitting position, that one action causing him to get winded. He reaffirms his decision to the being. 'No.' Caleb states firmly, although his mind had no other alternatives.

Hesitation is dangerous in battle.

'I can't risk it.' He says as he tries to get up again, only to collapse for the second time.

I only ask that you summon your arms, this will provide more than enough energy for you to be useful in battle. Or do you plan on never using it ever again?

Caleb mulls over what the being had said. On one hand, no, he did not want or plan to use the armor again, not after what happened at the church. On the other hand, the being was right, eventually, the only way he'd be useful in this fight is if he were to use the armor, he couldn't rely on magic forever. Not that he could use magic at the moment anyway.

As Caleb was about to give his answer, the wall to his far left explodes, a cloud of smoke following it. Two figures spring from the hole the explosion created, one hunched over, on all fours, the other on two feet. Caleb shields his eyes, trying to make out who the two figures were.

'Senpai!' Caleb could barely turn his head to the direction of the voice before he gets pulled away by another person, the spot he previously occupied taking the brunt of a barrage of ice swords.

'Are you all right, Hide-senpai?' Caleb looks up to an, uncharacteristically, concerned looking Koneko, who was shifting her gaze between him and the perpetrator, still shrouded in smoke. He tries to get up on his own, despite leaning on his younger peer; he fails, and has to be held up by Koneko just so he could stand. Caleb shifts his gaze back at the two figures, one of them easily recognizable as the creature he had previously faced. The figure next to it, however, he wasn't so sure. His head was still foggy, and he was overall still disoriented.

The smoke eventually clears, and Caleb confirms that one of the figures was his previous opponent, and Kiba, the two were currently locked in a fight, matching each other in speed. Akeno and Rias follow through the hole, and Issei and Asia run through a doorway leading to them.

'Oi! Hide!' He hears Issei scream. At the mention of his name, all eyes on the room momentarily move to him. His torn clothing and the hazy look in his eyes a sudden cause for concern for his friends. His eyes move across the room, trying to make sense of what was transpiring. His gaze eventually locks with Rias', who's was about to move towards him-

'I see, so you're all here now.'

All heads-except the disoriented Caleb- turn to the source of the voice. At the top of what remained of the grand staircase, a lone figure emerged from the shadows, but unlike Caleb's previous opponent, this one was standing upright, and carried itself with pride. It wore a black suit, and had long, flowing blonde hair reaching up to his waist. Caleb looks over to Koneko, whose eyes had narrowed. He looked to have been about to speak, but was cut off by a strike of lightning towards him.

'Such terrible manners,' Caleb is surprised to see that the man hadn't moved an inch, and had left no indication that lightning had even struck him. Instead, he simply brushed a few strands of his hair away from his face. 'I'll have to teach you kids a lesson.' The blonde man suddenly disappeared, reappearing near Rias, and attempting to hit her with his own magic.

The fight resumes, Kiba being joined by Akeno in fighting the hunched over creature, while Rias took on the lone blonde man, who attacked with ice magic against Rias.

'Hey, Hide! What the hell happened to you?' Caleb turns his head to Issei, who, along with Asia, had reached him and Koneko.

'Are you alright, Senpai?'

'Hide-kun, are you hurt? I'll heal you.'

Caleb was starting to feel overwhelmed. His exhaustion not letting him keep up with his friends. He ends up leaning back to Koneko, who becomes alarmed by his labored breathing.

'Senpai!'

'Hide! Stay with me!'

His mind drifts away, his attention on the situation lost. Caleb is vaguely aware of being pulled by his collar, then hitting the ground with a thud; another attempt to attack them. Caleb is unable to react, and can only hear faint voices as he was once again losing consciousness. Just then, the four legged creature Caleb had previously faced rushes over to them, poised to strike.

'It's good to see you again, boy!'

'Issei-senpai, take Hide-senpai, I'll handle this.' Caleb feels himself get dragged away, Issei and Asia now carrying him on their shoulders. The trio suddenly stop, and turn to someone approaching them.

'Issei, what's going on?' Caleb recognizes the voice as Rias, who, he was guessing, had rushed over to them because they were the most vulnerable for attack.

'I don't know, he's not talk- President! You're hurt!' Rias ignores Issei's comment, and tries to call out to their confused companion. Caleb closes his eyes. Shutting out everything happening. This proves futile, as he hears another voice.

Losing consciousness, I see.

Shut up. Caleb thinks, abruptly feeling as if he was floating, his entire being completely ejected from the battle. All he could see was darkness, sounds coming from his friends and the battle becoming nearly inaudible.

'You could aid your friends, if you made use of your powers. They're starting to have trouble, dragging you around.' Caleb feels his frustration build up, facing the dilemma between wanting badly to help his friends, and the risk of losing control of the armor like last time. 'You won't, I've already assured you that that would not be the case.' Caleb grits his teeth, he had to decide.

'Okay, fine! I'll use it, I'll use the armor!' Caleb could hear a low chuckle emit from somewhere in his mind. 'A wise decision.' the being says. Caleb doesn't miss the undertone in the being's words, however, he currently did not have the luxury of time on his hands, and would have to save his questions for later.

'Just get me back in there!'

'A question, before you go.' Caleb huffs, becoming agitated with the being's presence. 'What? I don't have time for this!'

'What do you aim to do with your power?' A pause. Caleb stops, suspicious of the being's question. The last time the being gave an eerie statement aimed at Caleb, it had asked the latter to obliterate everything at the church. 'What?' He asks. His question is ignored, as he is suddenly pulled back into the fray with his friends.

For a moment, Caleb is able to see the battle in front of him unfold, albeit still unable to move, this time he suspects was the being's doing. Issei is carrying him, he could see him become tired with every second. Beside them, Asia is trying to heal Caleb, her efforts unfortunately futile.

He sees Issei look behind them, the pushes Asia and Caleb away, taking a blow from the four-legged creature. It turns around for them, and attempts to claw at Caleb, who was lying on the ground, completely open for an attack. Asia moves as fast as she can to get in between him and the creature.

Caleb blinks, Asia is unhurt, another figure, standing in front of her, seemed to have taken the blow instead. His eyes move over to the person in question, his eyes widening upon seeing that it was Rias. He could see that the creature had bitten her arm, and was now bleeding profusely from the wound. Her good arm was clutching it tightly, her face clearly trying to not wince from the pain. Despite this, she looks over to them and says something that Caleb could barely make out.

'Are you two alright?'

What do you aim to do with your power? He hears the voice in his head once again. He shuts his eyes tight, he feels his anger well up in his veins. The being is baiting him, clearly; trying to make him commit to doing something again. Caleb wants to refuse. If his mind wasn't so clouded right then, he would have, but this was not the case. Caleb opens his eyes, letting himself be baited, once again, by the being.

'I'm going to kill them.'


A/N

Hey guys! Long time no see. So, turns out, law school is pretty hard. It ended up literally taking up all of my time. The good news is, I passed all my first-year subjects! The bad news, is that my second year is looming just around the corner.

So long story short, I've cut out the little segment I thought out where you guys could join in on the story telling. It sucks, because I already prepared a bunch of stuff for it, but I have my studies to focus on, so I'll have to stick with the original path of the fic. It's just less hassle for all of us. That's all, hope no one got disappointed! I mean, what are the chances? It's been ages since I last updated this. Anyway, that's about it for me, I'll see you guys next time!