A/N: Hello everyone, wiErD here. And I got another chapter for you.
Hope ya like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own FT and DxD nor their elements. All goes to their respective writers/authors.
- Meeting a Nun -
It was a long lost sensation for him. The memories of his past, forever sealed deep within the depths of his mind. Seemingly never to resurface once again... And yet, images of the ever mysterious creature continue to haunt him in his dreams as if it was calling out to him.
He didn't know why it was reaching out to him. He never even knew of that creature as he walked once more to the red earth in his dream.
Yes... The same giant fearsome creature that continue to walk endlessly into the burning world. Adorning its destructive beauty, gazing through the red sky with its snout held high before letting out a menacing growl around him that can crush his spirit in an instant.
That's just how fearsome it is... To be able to bring down a human like him on his knees just by looking at its provoking appearance and nature. Crimson scales are seen throughout its body, adorned with a white binge in the middle. Large scars and scaly tips are also visible in some parts of its enormous body and a pointed tail whipped furiously behind as it generated large gales even in just a simple swing.
It also got four huge clawed legs, stomping the earth that resulted powerful tremors in each step it takes. Huge bat-like wings are attached to its back, seemingly unused for a long time and a pair of yellow orbs are seen through its head that is so intimidating that it made hard for the pinkette look directly at it in the eye.
A moment of wandering through the flames, the creature stopped for a moment as he gazed towards the sky once more in wonder.
What happened after that simply surprised the pinkette as it began to speak in his language.
"Your powers are yet to show their potential... ... Your body is yet to recognize its potential... ... Our time of vanishing from existence has finally ended... Natsu."
A sudden moment of realization came to him as Natsu tried to reply back to the giant creature despite from afar.
"Who are you?! How do you know my name?"
Though instead of answering him, the creature began to sprout its wings in response before flapping them and slowly ascended to the sky, leaving the pinkette with so many questions to ask for.
..
When everything began from fire,
All shall end in fire.
As the rise of the last dragonslayer
shall be followed with flames on his wake.
..
Hearing its ominous chants, Natsu was surprisingly distraught at the mention of something beyond his understanding.
"D-Dragonslayer? What are you talking about?!"
When he tried to demand for an answer, his mind was simply engulfed yet again in flames as he returned back to the real world. The image of the beast disappeared yet again in his sight.
Back to the real world... (Hyoudou Residence.)
Natsu woke up again once more with a distraught expression on his face as his dream became much more frequent and clearer than it has been over the past few days. Not only that he was able to see the creature up close but was able to converse with it though he believes that it didn't talk back to him like he was expecting him to. What's even more interesting and confusing is that it left another mysterious chant that baffled him even more.
Taking a deep breath as he stared oddly into space his mind returned back to the time when he heard it spoke in his dream.
"Dragonslayer... ... What does that mean?" He trailed off in thought.
Knowing that he can't still find out more about his dream, the pinkette simply rolled away his blanket and started fixing himself before going in for a bath to refresh himself from his 'wonderful' dream. After a few minutes, he went downstairs to get his food and breakfast. At the same time, Issei came rushing down from his room with haste, seeing that he woke up late and barely even managed to prepare himself just by looking at his frantic expression.
..
..
Another couple of minutes went by and the two decided to head towards the school with blank looks on their faces.
Ever since that incident with the fallen angels yesterday, they were refrained from using their powers freely since they might get their attention once more. Staying low and guarding each other's backs is the only thing they can do at the moment and both of them still had some deliveries needed tonight although they wondered if it's going to be cancelled since Rias had told about showing them how devils fight.
That might as well be a sight to see... ... for Natsu at least.
"So what are you going to do for lunch break, Natsu?" Issei turned to his brother in question who in turn, simply pondered for a moment to think.
"I don't know... Maybe sleep on the rooftop again perhaps."
"Aren't you going to the club with the others?"
"Well, I'm not literally part of it... Plus, I'm still human so I don't do devil work like you do." Natsu stated as a matter of fact in which Issei could only groan in disappointment, seeing that the pinkette is more laid-back than he usually does since he's still a human.
"Haaah, I guess being human still have its perks too, huh?"
"You can say that... Lazing around with no one bothering or ordering you is kinda refreshing." Natsu agreed.
A sigh from Issei soon followed as they continued walking over to their usual path until they finally made into a open park. The two simply conversed with each other about other things aside from their club activities. It is a way of refreshing themselves since they had been focusing on the domain of supernatural things and not thinking about their normal lives once in a while.
However, as they were about to make their way to the other side of the park and into the sidewalks again, a frantic squeal resounded through their ears as they both looked over to a stone bench just a few meters away from them and eventually spotted a mysterious female person seemingly in distress as her luggage somehow spilled her clothing. Judging from the clothes she's wearing, Natsu and Issei could assume that she's a nun from a nearby church.
Of course, the two didn't waste any hesitation as Issei turned over to help the girl to stand while Natsu simply collected the clothes without even aware of what kind of clothes he's holding onto especially when he collected several panties and returned in back to the luggage.
If the girl came out as a very sensitive one, he would've gotten a slap just by doing it.
"Are you alright?" Issei reached out his hand to help her in which she accepted as she slowly stood up from the ground.
"T-Thank you very much-" The girl tried to express her thanks to him until a gust of wind blew her veil away, revealing her face to the two as Issei and Natsu were left stunned after seeing her features. She had a pretty long blonde hair with a strand sloped backwards above head while the rest simply cascaded down from her shoulders and just right down to her back. A pair of green emerald eyes is also seen from her which makes her kinda cute in the eyes of the two though with Natsu immediately shoving off the thought, unlike his brother.
Issei and the girl were left unmoving for quite a moment after gazing each other for a quite some time until she began to speak.
"U-Ummm..." Somehow her voice got the brownette to snap out from his trance and quickly retracted his hand away from her in embarrassment until Natsu came in towards them, carrying both the luggage and the veil that was blown away by the wind earlier.
"Here..." Natsu spoke before handing her things as the girl simply bowed in respect before them as a form of gratitude.
"T-Thank you for helping me..." She squealed.
"Ah, it's nothing... You seemed to be having trouble so we had to help out." Natsu explained.
"Y-You don't need to pay us... We're just glad to help a fellow person." Issei began to speak as well. While trying to dissuade her from repaying them from their kindness, the female simply had her fingers twirled in a playful manner as if she was trying to say something towards them but was unable to, probably due to her embarrassment.
"Ummm... ... ... I kinda... lost my way." She sheepishly replied to them with a cute smile.
"So you're lost?" Natsu asked.
"Y-Yes..."
"Are you heading to the church by any chance?" He tried to guess but the female simply smiled in delight of his question.
"Yes... I just got recently transferred here to this town's church so I'm kind of lost my way while trying to find it." She reasoned. But before Natsu could even continue, Issei immediately slung his arm around his neck and turned away from the nun momentarily as Natsu looked at his brother in confusion.
"What are you doing, Issei?" Natsu asked.
"Come on, Natsu... ... This is a one-time opportunity... She really is an ideal blonde version beauty that I've been looking for!" He whispered.
"Are you some sort of woman collector... I've never heard woman being categorized by their hair." Natsu deadpanned, knowing what his brother was trying to convey into this conversation.
"Please, give her a subject just to keep her occupied." He pleaded.
"Are you serious? We're going to be late for school. In fact, we're going to be late once we tried to guiding her to the church." Natsu protested.
"Please... ..." He tried pleading to him with puppy-dog eyes which only made the pinkette sigh in depression before turning back on the nun. With Issei cheering for him from behind, Natsu felt the need to smack his brother a couple of times since his perverted nature is way above the usual line.
.
.
.
"Sure we can take you there." Natsu changed his mind as he tried helping the girl, instead of following his brother's plea which only resulted him to silently cursing him from behind. Not he cares about it though.
Well, at least, the nun would be safe from him.
"Thank you very much..." She bowed yet again.
"Uh, we still haven't got your name by the way." As soon as Natsu said that, the female simply recomposed herself as she gazed at the two before introducing herself to them.
"My name is Asia Argento... It's nice to meet you umm-"
"Natsu Dragneel..." The pinkette spoke.
"Hyoudou Issei... It's nice to meet you too, Asia."
As the brownette tried to reach out for a handshake, he began to feel on edge as his eyes darted over to a cross strapped around Asia's neck, making him to slightly return his hand away for a moment as he tried thinking about it for a moment.
'That's strange... ... My body somehow reacted to it.' He thought inwardly as he glanced away from her on instinct which confused the nun in the process.
"Is something wrong?" She tried asking but Issei simply waved off the worry with a smile.
"I-It's alright... It's nothing."
..
..
The three simply made their way once again as the two redirected their trip away from the school for a moment and helped Asia to reach into their town's church. It wouldn't hurt to help a sister every once in a while now although Natsu had to keep his attendance pretty seriously from now on since he's been pitted with many complaints from the teachers for getting late and skipping in classes.
Wonderful isn't it?
With Natsu guiding the way and Issei and Asia following suit behind him, they eventually came across a child who was crying over something. Without warning, Asia rushed to the kid's side and took a brief look on his injury located on his left knee. It was little scrape but for the kid, it does feel painful. It soon came to a surprise for the two boys as they immediately noticed her applying some sort of a healing spell to the kid as she placed her hands over to his knee in which healed it in just a few seconds.
At the same time, Issei felt the same sensation he had after gazing to her cross earlier. Only this time, it's more powerful and his left hand began to react against it.
After a few minutes of tending to the kid, Asia bid him farewell as he returned to his parents and eventually went back to the two as well.
"I'm sorry... I just instinctively went out to help him..." She apologized.
"It's nothing to feel sorry about... Actually, it's kinda good for me to see people helping those in need." Natsu reassured.
"Really? Most people just ignore little things like this in my place." She stated.
"Is that so...? Well, people here are quite different from that... We always help each other around so don't feel sorry when you help someone out of sincerity." Asia could only exclaim in surprise at his response before smiling inwardly as she turned to look at the two of them with a faint smile.
"Thank you..."
"Even so, that's some amazing powers you got there..." Issei remarked in which caused the blonde-haired nun to gasp in surprise before explaining the reason behind the secrets of her powers.
"They are fantastic powers bestowed unto me by God..." At the first moment, she smiled at her statement before turning into a rather sentimental expression which didn't go unnoticed from the pinkette as she muttered something that only he could hear. "Yes... Fantastic.."
..
..
It didn't take long for them to travel far from the neighborhood as they eventually saw the church right out in the distance away, much to Asia's relief now that she was able to find her way towards it, thanks to the two of them.
"Ah, that's the place." She pointed her hand right over to the church in which only made the two nod in response. But before they could even proceed even further, Issei was able to feel the full effect of the church's presence in his body as his instincts instantly kicked in and prompted him to take a step back after feeling a rather ominous aura surrounding the church itself.
Natsu and Asia stopped for a moment as they noticed Issei not moving any further than a few steps behind them as if something must be hindering him to do so.
"Natsu, do you have a second? I need to talk to you." Issei soon called out, prompting the pinkette to walk back towards him and not before long Issei whispered something to him.
"I can't get any further into it?"
"What are you talking about?" Natsu asked in confusion.
"The church... I mean."
"What's wrong with visiting a chur-" It was then a sudden realization came onto him as he forgot that his brother was a devil. From what he knew so far, a church is quite a sanctuary and a place of territory for the angels and that devils like Issei cannot venture near to it since both sides are not quite friendly with each other. His expression turned dead serious as he gazed over to the church itself and not before long he turned over to Asia in slight worry.
"Is something wrong, Issei-san?" It was then Asia tried to ask in worry for the brownette since he's been quite evasive from her for quite some time.
"O-Oh, it's nothing... It's just that I got some errands to do so... I should get going right away." Issei lied for a moment before turning his attention to Natsu with a serious look. "It's up to you, Natsu... I can't really get closer to it or I'll feel uneasy all of a sudden..."
"I guess, I'll meet you later then."
"Yeah... But damn you really..."
"What?"
"You got a chance to be alone with her, knucklehead! Why is always you to have the good ones?"
"I think I'm starting to regret ever having such a perverted brother." Natsu frowned. A hostile glare soon came afterwards until Issei finally bade his farewell to the two of them as Natsu and Asia simply stood there as they watch him disappear into distance.
..
..
"Is Issei-san going to be alright?" She then turned over to the pinkette in curiosity.
"Nah, he'll be alright... He's just busy with something but that's nothing to worry about."
"What about you, Natsu-san? Do you have school or some other things to do at the moment?"
"Well, I'll have to do school later on... ... I'll drop you by near the church if that's alright." He requested.
"N-No... Not at all... I think... ... it's a good idea to have you accompany me. I'm still trying to get accustomed to this town and I don't have anyone to guide me so.." She sheepishly replied, completely embarrassed on every word she says in front of her. Normally, she would just end their conversation, seeing that she's a very shy person and could not take long conversation for too long but for some reason, she seemed to get along with the pinkette despite having to meet him for the first time.
"Is that so? Well, I'll see what I can do... Maybe invite Issei too since it would be more fun with everyone, right?" He smiled but Asia could only look at him in wonder before slowly smiling in return.
"Thank you very much, Natsu-san. I- never had friends before in my entire life and you and Issei-san were the first ones to talk to me freely without any fear." A dry laugh came from the pinkette afterwards.
"Don't worry... I'm sure you'll have tons of friends because you're kind..." He tried brightening up her spirit just to keep the gloomy atmosphere away from them for quite some time. Another faint smile crept its way unto her lips once more as she looked at the pinkette with a lighthearted expression as they made their way over to the church just a couple of meters away from them.
It didn't take long for them to eventually reach near the church as they stopped near a gate as the two turned to each other before saying their farewells to each other.
"Then, I'll see you around, Natsu-san." Asia spoke.
"Yeah."
"I-If... If you have some free time, would you mind visiting us again...?" She requested with an embarrassed face.
"Mmm... Anytime. I might as well invite Issei and my other friends here. I'm sure they will like you." He replied though unaware that his friends were actually demons and had unknowingly mentioned them out in the blue.
"T-Thank you..."
A few words were exchanged between the two as Asia walked further towards the church while looking back to the pinkette as she waved her hand in which he did the same as they expressed their farewell with each other. Slowly placing down his hand, Natsu stared oddly to the church itself where Asia had entered. He stayed right at the gate for a moment before suddenly sensing something off surrounding the church itself.
Although as a human himself, Natsu could somehow get the feeling of dread circling around the church and the smell was something rather different. It is as if the church itself was rotten and tainted by something evil or malevolent."
Thinking back for a moment about Asia, Natsu wasn't sure if leading her to this place was the right thing to do. Although it was all said and done, he was slightly worried about the people who recruited Asia here in the first place.
Realizing that time on his watch, Natsu simply made haste back to his original journey and went towards the academy and sprinted away. He could only hope that his intuition is wrong for Asia might be in danger because of it.
A few hours later... (Near an abandoned building.)
"So how did you find this stray devil in the first place?" Natsu felt the need to ask the rest of the club members ahead of him as he felt confused of how they easily located such an enemy in a very precise location. After they were done with the class, the two went to the old school building and just came in time to see that the entire group was already preparing for some sort of a extermination that they weren't aware off.
It only came to a realization for the two as Rias told them that this mission is part of them observing how devils fight in reality. Of course, the two weren't knowledgeable of the devil's work so they're completely clueless about the existence of other creatures such as Stray demons that they've been hearing so much about in the last couple of minutes with the President.
"We received a message from Taiko... Apparently, they're the ones pinpointing their location by using magic and other sorts to located them all over the town." Akeno explained.
"What are stray devils by the way? I've been hearing a lot of them for quite some time now." Issei asked in curiosity.
"They were originally slaves of devils..." Kiba spoke in place for Akeno.
"You mean, like us?" Issei clarified.
"Yes, but they're the ones who betrayed their masters and tried to live as they please without their consent which is why they're called Stray Devils."
"We just received intelligence that a certain stray devil was luring human victims here to eat them..." A rather shocking expression went through the two boys as they felt a chill running down to their spine just by mentioning that, especially to Natsu since he was human to begin with and that he might as well be food in the eyes of the stray devil when he shows up soon.
"Bringing me here might be a bad idea now." Natsu groaned in pain.
"Ara, ara... Don't worry too much about it. We'll make sure to keep you both in harm's way. After all, this is another test for you to experience real fights in the future." Akeno reassured.
"S-Sure..."
As soon as they made their way inside, they closed the door behind them before stopping as Rias turned to look at Issei and Natsu with an expectant look.
"Issei, Natsu... Are you two familiar with the game, chess?" She asked. The two looked at each other with anxious looks before turning back on the redhead.
"Chess? You mean, the board game?"
"Yes... As master, I'm the king. Additionally, there is the queen, the knights, the rooks, the bishops and the pawns. A special devil can give special powers to her various pieces. Which means, any servant under the liege of a master will be granted with power in accordance to the pieces bestowed unto them." Rias explained.
"Special powers?" Issei tilted his head in confusion.
"We call this technique, Evil Piece."
"Evil Piece? What's that?" Natsu asked.
"You will understand it better as soon as the stray devil made its appearance to us. Now, pay attention and take a close look on how devils fight."
"Yes, Buchou!" Natsu and Issei spoke in unison.
..
..
A moment of silence befalls into their atmosphere as Koneko immediately detected the devil's presence in the area as she turned to point her finger to reveal her curent location for the group.
"It's here." All eyes soon turned over to the darkened part of the building as they slowly began to hear a strange voice emanating from the broken walls, seemingly to provoke them by its vicious tone.
"I smell something foul... ... ... Yet I smell something delicious... I can smell the flesh of a human nearby. I never expected that food would actually come to my domain willingly." After speaking in a rather spooky tone, the devil began to reveal itself to them in which caused Issei to jawdrop in surprise, seeing that the devil is actually in a form of a naked woman with her rather large breasts exposing right in front of her without the liberty of hiding it to them.
"Oppai!"
Natsu on the other hand, had a different type of reaction as he looked in disgust at the naked woman devil in front of them.
"Holy shit! Who in the right mind would actually take a form of a naked woman so freely? Have you devils know no shame?!" Natsu retorted.
"Oi! You're offending us, alright?" Issei glared back to his brother.
"I'm not referring to you!"
"Issei, Natsu..." Rias spoke in a firm tone which ended their bickering as they focused back onto the naked beast in front of them. "Stray Devil, Vice...You have abandoned your master and let your powers run rampant. You will now face judgement for your sins, in the name of the Gremory household. Prepare to be destroyed...!"
Even after her declaration, Vice never seemed to show signs of fear in her as she gazed arrogantly towards them with mockery in her voice.
"What impudent brat you are. Shall I dye all of you in red just like that hair of yours?!" She threatened and not before long she began groping her own breast in a seemingly weird way as Natsu felt the need to cover his eyes for a moment to save his virgin eyes while Issei could not help but feel aroused through her actions since he could easily depict her into some sort of slut despite being a devil.
As this was going on, Vice slowly begins to reveal her true self in front of the group as Natsu and Issei were left shocked to see her in a form of a monster with a large mouth with large canines accompanied by two large hand claws as she slowly summons two magical circles located in her nipples, protruding them straight like a cannon as it fired light beams towards them in blind speeds.
"Watch out!" The group scattered in the process as they dodged the beams, missing them as they went straight through the wall, only to melt in the process as they looked warily at its power.
"Even though it's disgusting, it's quite formidable alright." Natsu blurted out.
"Don't let your guard down." Rias advised before turning over to Kiba in which he nodded in response as he prepared his stance and disappeared into a silver blur and appeared right in front of the unsuspecting devil before releasing two instant sword strikes on its huge claws, easily cutting them in the process as Vice screamed in agony as a result.
"Amazing!" Issei exclaimed.
"Yuuto's specialty is speed... And his weapon is the sword." After doing his part, Kiba leaped back a few meters away as Koneko soon took over the fight with a blank look on her face.
"Koneko-chan, watch out!" Issei shouted out in worry as Vice started to open her big jaws underneath her body, seemingly wanting to devour the young girl wholly. Still harboring the same expression, Koneko never even moved from her position as Vice swallowed her whole, prompting the two of them to worry despite not knowing of what she's capable of.
"Don't worry. Koneko is the rook. In other words, her specialty is defense which ultimately gives her the ability to defend in almost any attacks thrown on to her." Rias reassured them and after awhile, the jaws encasing the white-haired girl inside simply broke apart as Koneko emerged from it without even trying though costing her of her clothes as they melted from the saliva inside.
"Fly away..." With a monotone voice and a one tiny yet deadly punch, Vice was simply set away through the other side of the building despite her size, shocking the two once again.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS!" For some reason, Natsu might have to rethink who is the monster between her and Vice in terms of power and might. Although he might want to have his lips sealed if he doesn't want to end up like that.
As this was going on, one of the cutted arms of Vice earlier suddenly moved and tried to pounce Rias from behind in which Issei acted out of instinct and tried to protect her.
"Buchou! Watch out...! Sacred Gear!" Calling out his power, Issei summoned his gauntlet on his left hand and punched the arm away, saving her in the process who in turn was slightly surprised at the turn of events.
..
..
As Vice struggled on her feet to stand up, her eyes soon locked towards the pinkette with hunger as she instantly recovered in the process and dashed towards him without warning, shocking the entire group who were completely unaware that she was still able to move faster than her current abilities.
"If I could just eat a human, then I can replenish my own power against you all!" Vice shouted in anger as she tried sinking her fangs towards the pinkette who in turn simply flared up in flames, reaching towards the ceiling and intensifying the temperature around him before coating his right fist in flames and connected it right through her face in which caused a massive shockwave, thus sending the devil flying yet again before taken by surprise as Natsu wasn't done with her.
"Sorry but I'm not just a defenseless human..."
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" In an instant, Natsu let out a burst of flame wave from his mouth that soon roared through the building, engulfing the stray devil wholly as Rias and the others were left stunned to see his power for the first time. The flames continued to head straight towards the wall before generating an fire explosion as Natsu recovered from his position as gazed over to the ravaged area of where his flames were directed, leaving nothing but smokes and embers in the aftermath, in addition to a crippled and burnt Vice who made light convulsive movements due to the burns inflicted to her.
"That spell just now... Did you say dragon?" Rias spoke in confusion as she stared oddly at the pinkette together with the others, except Issei who had known of his powers before.
"I- uhh... well that's...I mean, it's my power. Is something wrong?" The four could only blink their eyes for a second until Rias composed herself and started to ask.
"Nothing of sorts... It's just that, I'm surprised that your magic is somehow based on dragons, seeing that you roar like one." She guessed.
"I never thought about it like that... More importantly, I just somehow knew how I could call out my spells like that." Natsu realized.
"How strange..." The redhead pondered for a moment before turning her attention towards the downed stray devil. "Well, I guess you somehow made a quick short work on this one, now that Akeno can never display her own power since you defeated it in just one attack. Either way, I'm happy now that you two were getting the hang of it."
"Ara, ara... It's such a shame that I don't have to do anything for tonight... I even wanted to play with her for a bit longer since she tried to hurt Natsu." A sudden change of her behavior soon made the two slightly curious until Rias tried to explain the last bit of her piece before turning her attention to the devil once more to pass judgement.
"Akeno is the queen. Her piece by far is the strongest of them all and regarded as invincible with powers unmatched by the rest of the pieces. Using her magic powers is also her specialty... ... and she's also a supreme sadist. Too bad we don't get to see that side of hers now that the job was done before she could perform her task."
"That's too bad... I was expecting to enjoy every bit of her suffering." She spoke seductively.
Natsu felt the need to choose his friends properly. I mean, he didn't actually expect that such a person like Akeno-senpai would love such a hobby. Oh, what a life he's having right now.
..
..
Turning her attention back to the injured devil, Rias began to summon her own magical circle to finalize her judgement.
"It's time to be extinguished, in the name of Gremory household." Without given a time to spare, Rias simply let out a large red wave which soon engulfed the devil completely before turning into nothingness as the mission was a success.
A few moments later, the redhead soon turned over to the others with a smile, seeing that they finally finished their job for the night.
"It's over now... So, let's go home."
"Yes, Buchou." Everyone nodded in response until Issei raised his hand in question.
"Umm.. Buchou... So what am I? I mean, what piece am I as a slave?" He pointed a finger to himself.
"A pawn..."
"P-Pawn... You mean-"
"That's right... You're a soldier, Issei." She smiled though without knowing that Issei had somehow felt downgraded for being since his piece is quite the expendable type and is always positioned on the front lines. Now that's something not worth talking about, especially at the fact that he's the weakest of them all in terms of magic, speed or any of the talents they possessed on their evil pieces.
Although he knew himself as a beginner devil, he didn't really expect that his status would come down to the lowest part of the ranks. He should've at least expected that in the first place. A sigh of depression went through his lips as Natsu simply placed his arm around his back for reassurance.
But just as they were about to leave, Rias remembered something important and turned once again to the brownette with anticipation.
"Issei, I have one last task for you... Koneko's contracts overlapped once again... Can I have you cover up for her... It might be very inappropriate for her to fulfill her contracts in those current clothes of hers."
"Sure... Understood.
"Also, have a signed contract this time... I have high hopes for you, Issei..." For some reason, she sounded serious for a minute there which made Issei to meekly nod in response and not before long Natsu tagged along with him as the two simply departed from the scene, carrying the symbol of the household to fulfill their last errand for the night.
..
..
As the night continued, the streets of the town were continuously lit by streetlights near the sidewalk as the Natsu and Issei trudged slowly along the path with the latter seemingly dispirited for quite some time and it was not long for the pinkette to eventually notice his brother's current expression right now until he decided to ask.
"What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing... It's just that- I'm feeling depressed about my progress as a devil... I know we had a lot of fun and stuff but I feel like I haven't made a right step in becoming stronger."
"It's hard on you, isn't it?"
"Maybe... ... Even as a devil, you can still get pressured."
"Our lives seemed more rocky than it has been before, huh?" Natsu mused.
"It seems so... Aaaah, the path of becoming a harem king sure looks far away!" He groaned in pain.
A face palm soon followed afterwards. Even so, Natsu is somehow glad that Issei is not giving up that easily. Seeing him determined to become of what he is in the future, it makes him to work harder too. Despite being beginners, he believed that they would eventually work hard in order to become stronger and protect what's important to them.
A smile went its way on Natsu as he patted Issei for reassurance.
"Don't worry... No matter what happens, I'll be right here. After all, we're brothers, aren't we?"
"Thanks, Natsu..."
"Right, now stop moping and start delivering! We gotta finish that contract soon if we wanna go home early.
..
..
Another few minutes has passed and they finally made their way towards the contract's house. The two tried knocking the door but was left surprised to find it open in the middle of the night. Normally, people would've locked their door by then to protect their privacy.
"Strange... who leaves their door open at this time of night?" Issei asked.
"Maybe the owner went out..." They tried waiting for a few more minutes, just in case the owner gets back but there seemed to be no one coming into view. Eventually, the two ran out of patience and decided to walk inside to see if the contractor was inside. The room was poorly lit and the darkness seemed to be covering the entire house except at the living room where they saw a candle light.
"Is it really okay to barge in like this?" Issei whispered.
"It's alright... It's not like we're going to steal or anyt-" Natsu had to stop in mid-sentence as his enhanced senses soon picked up something rather unpleasant as he slowly sniffed out the air until widening his eyes in realization and raised his guard up before slowly leaning over to the wall and peeked through the living room, only to be left utterly shocked to find a horrid sight before him. At the same time, Issei also saw the same thing and tried to look away as they found a body, seemingly mutilated into pieces that can make any normal human to vomit just by looking at it.
"Wha... What in the world-" Issei exclaimed though not before long he noticed another person sitting on a nearby couch, staring oddly into a candle in front of him.
"Sinners must be punished... ... I tried borrowing the words of the Bible." Showing off a crazed look on the two, the person soon stood up casually from his seat and faced the two with a laid-back attitude.
"Well, well... If it isn't a little devil... I'm surprised that you have another human along with you... Who is he? A sinner? Them sinners needed to be punished you know, like this poor little fellow right here."
"Who are you?!" Natsu demanded.
"Otto... I forgot to introduce myself... My name is Freed Sellzen. I am a boy-priest, performing devil exorcisms for mankind." He began to jolly around like a crazy man but the two never lowered their guard against him.
"Exorcist? You're a priest?" Issei spoke out in disbelief.
"Yes... Though I'm certainly not a shitty devil like you, boy."
"Are you the one who did that?!" Natsu pointed over to the dead body.
"YES, you're correct. Human contracting devils are just plain sinners so they deserve proper punishment... Killing them in a most gruesome way that is." After saying that, Natsu simply turned his expression into pure hatred as he saw how vile and unforgiving this person was despite him being a priest.
"You bastard!"
"Ooops... Don't get too started yet... But if you're really insisting to fight me then I'll just to bring my new toys...!" He then began to pull out a gun and some sort of a sword grip which then turned into a blade of light as Issei felt his body reacting to it while Natsu stood in front of him in defense.
"Tada! How's you like that? This is my super cool exorcist gun, Futsumata... This is will no doubt be harmful to devils and to human too... So why don't you two just stand there and accept my divine purification of your devilish souls."
"Don't fuck with me!" Before Freed could even slash them, Natsu backhanded him with a flaming fist as his sword collided with it until they both break away a few meters as Natsu began to call out his flames once more.
"Sacred Gear!" Issei summoned his gauntlet as he began to face the psychopathic priest with anger.
"Ooooooh! Sacred Gear? Not that's something... Two sinners with two interesting powers? Double the fun..." Freed laughed hysterically.
"I can't believe someone like him would be affiliated with the Church." Natsu hissed.
"Either way, we can't let him get away with this... There just some things that are not acceptable even to us..."
But before they could even clash yet again, a shriek came from the door as both Natsu and Issei recognized its voice and could only widen their eyes in disbelief after seeing the person came into room and saw the body that was killed by Freed. Her focus on body soon stopped as she began to notice them who soon made a loud gasp after seeing them here.
"N-Natsu-san..? Issei-san?"
"Asia..."
A/N: And stop... Chapter 4 is done and the cliffhanger is here alright... Don't worry, I'll try to post the next chapter as soon as possible. Also, just a reminder about my frequent updates, I'm just able to do this because of the weekends. When weekdays strikes, I can't display the same speed of updates on this story very much often so keep in mind.
Nothing much else to say here again aside from Asia's appearance and probably the middle of the climax. I was hoping to end the arc by three more chapters before we can move to Riser Arc so stay tuned.
As always, leave a comment for your opinions and if you happen to like the story so far despite its early stages, give it a fav or follow. It's common courtesy.
That's all for now and we'll see each other on the next chapter. :)
- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ... ...
