Last of the Line

I do not own Highschool DxD or any of it's character's. I own only Vale.

Author's Note: Alrighty guys, nine reviews last chapter, that was quite the pleasant surprise and I wanna thank all the people who took the time out of their busy days to lemme know what they think of my story. Also, I appreciate all the creative feedback, I'll do my best to take it to heart.

Chapter 4- Battle At The Church

Vale walked through the newly made hole in the church's wall. He turned to look at the gargantuan obsidian column that had come to rest on top of the splintered remains of what he assumed were pews before glancing at back at the hole he and Mil-tan had entered through before saying,

"You know what? All things considered, I think it looks better." he said as he turned to examine his surroundings.

Up against the far wall sat a large organ in front of a stained glass window depicting the crucifixion of Jesus with a sinister green glow wafting up from the basement below behind a typical, plain looking altar. Though Vale noticed that any other religious symbols had been stripped from the walls. He heard the sound of fluttering wings as he saw six Fallen Angels fly up from the basement. He recognized 3 as Dohnaseek, Mittelt, and Kalawarmer from his own research.

"YOU! What are you doing here?" Dohnaseek shrieked angrily as he pointed accusingly at Vale .

"Mil-tan get ready, things are about to get hairy. I've got the dude in the hat, the blonde, and the one with the blue hair." Vale said as he grasped the hilt of his sword in both hands and readied himself as he saw a brilliant blue spear materialize in Dohnassek's remaining hand. Mil-tan nodded and took a fighting stance. Vale was proud to see Dohnaseek's right arm continued to just above where his elbow should be before ending in a white bandage wrapped around the stump. Without warning, Vale leaped towards Dohnaseek, intending to finish what he'd started. But before he could, the other two each hurled a spear at him. He quickly brought his sword up across his body and through the shaft of the first one, the evil power of the Juuchi Yosamu shattering it like sugar glass. He tried to parry the second, but was too slow due to the increased weight this form caused to successfully parry the second one he managed to knock it partly away, causing it to veer slightly off it's original course and carve a nasty cut along his left side just below his ribcage. He grunted in pain as he neared Dohnaseek who dodged out of his way, but not before Vale managed to carve a ragged gash across his left collarbone.

He brought his feet up before colliding solidly with the wall, the force of his impact causing a spiderweb of cracks to spread out from his point of impact before he pushed off just in time to avoid being crushed underneath a pew that Mil-tan had thrown at one of the other Fallen Angels. He landed with a loud CRACK on top of the pillar he had used to pierce the barrier. After which her ducked just in time to dodge a pew that Mil-tan had thrown that continued on before hitting a Fallen Angel and shattering the stained glass window with a thunderous crash. He spared a quick glance at his arm anad was glad to see that his stony skin had turned what would've been a small graze into essentially a large papercut, but he knew the size was irrelevant, the light was already in his bloodstream, poisoning him slowly.

"Nice one, Mil-tan!" he said as he turned to face Dohnaseek, Mittelt, and Kalawarmer. He saw to his satisfaction that Dohnaseek was looking none too fresh. He had turned a pale, sickly color and was shivering uncontrollably.

"What's wrong Dohnaseek? You're looking a little pale there, didn't I mention that this blade is poisonous in this form? Sorry, must have slipped my mind. Well good news for you, I have a cure for the symptoms." Vale said with a fiendish grin as he watched Dohnaseek struggle to stay aloft.

"I'd rather die than accept help from a Devil." Dohnaseek spat at him angrily. Vale gave a small smile as he slowly extended a hand and said.

"What a coincidence, death is the cure. Expunge and Concentrate!" he exclaimed as his body returned to normal and black flames oozed from his flesh and flowed up his back and down his arms in a liquid-like manner before concentrating in front of his outstretched hand into a sphere of black fire.

"Discharge!" he exclaimed loudly as an enormous, rotating column of black fire surrounded by an outer layer of black fire rotating in the opposite direction exploded from the black sphere in his hand as Dohnaseek fell to the ground in a heap of feathers and clothing, causing only Mittelt and Kalawarmer to be caught in the blast before being utterly disintegrated by the spell as it punched an enormous hole in the corner of the church. There was a thunderous crack of masonry breaking as the conflagration burst through the wall. Cracks spider-webbed out from the corner of the ceiling as the loss of the wall caused huge fragments of stone to rain down on to the altar below, utterly pulverizing it into dust. Another hunk of masonry fell next to it, crushing him beneath it.

Vale felt a significant drop in his strength as he discharged the spell. It was no more than was to be expected from a spell of that magnitude. He turned just in time to see Mil-tan leap into the air and grab the Fallen Angel he'd engaged by the shoulders and flip her over and pile-drive her into the ground with so much force that the ground around the area cracked in a three meter radius around the point of impact. Vale examined the area and noticed that the last Fallen Angel had disappeared.

"Alrighty Mil-tan, nice work. Looks like your gonna do just fine. Now, let's get to-" he began to say when Mil-tan leaped forwards tackled him around the middle to the ground as a small, bright line flashed across Vale's

"Vale, watch out-nyo!" Mil-tan said as they hit the ground, knocking the wind from Vale's lungs.

"Well, well, well, look at this, two shitty Devils in my church. Looks like maybe God is real and has smiled on Freed today." said a voice from behind the altar. The source of the voice was a young man with short, white hair and red eyes, holding what appeared to be a light sword and a small pistol.

"Mil-tan go! This guy's too dangerous. Go outside and stop any other Fallen Angels that try to attack Rias and her servants, but remain unseen. I'll handle him." Vale said as he scrambled to take cover behind the pillar. Mil-tan nodded and scurried from the church. He scrambled up the pillar and leaped down toward Freed, managing to knock the pistol from his hands and kick it away. He had to duck soon afterward though, to avoid the slash that Freed had aimed at his head before countering with a stab towards Freed's ribs. Freed danced out of the way of his stab and managed to nick Vale along his ribs, the sword burning a long line across them.

This is bad, Vale thought as he felt the light coursing through his system, poisoning him little by little. He had to get back to his room in under 2 hours or he'd need magical assistance to cure himself.

"Well Mr. Sellzen, as fun as this is, I have no interest in indulging you any longer. One way or another this fight is going to end soon. My only advice is this: try to keep up." he said as he extended a hand as what appeared to be a small but violent spherical thunderstorm appeared in his hand.

"Does this shitty Devil have a trick up his sleeve for me? Don't you know tricks won't save you? I'm going to cut you up until there's nothing left." Freed howled with mad laughter.

"We'll see. Compress, Bind, and Incorporate!" He said as the sphere disappeared into the magic circle on his hand and markings resembling lightning bolts spread across his body.

"Activate!" Vale proclaimed as his hair turned a luminescent white-purple color, what appeared to be an aura composed of electricity surrounded him, and the markings began to glow a brilliant purple color before he launched himself toward Freed at a speed that made Kiba's Knight speed look like the speed of a college student on a lazy Sunday. Freed barely managed to get his sword up to block Vale's first attack. Before Freed could block or parry Vale's next strike Vale had shoved the Juuchi Yosamu through Freed's left kneecap with a nasty grinding nose that made Vale want to vomit. Freed screamed in agony as Vale twisted his sword as he pulled it out, a sound more animal than human. Freed fell to the ground in a trembling heap before saying,

"How could a shitty Devil injure me?! I'm going to make you pay for injuring me!" Freed screamed as he stood up and lunged at Vale, slashing like a savage. Vale managed to parry the first attack before Freed sliced down the side of Vale's calf, slicing through his jeans and causing Vale to lose his balance and tumble to the ground, landing on his back. Freed took advantage of his momentary vulnerability and lunged at Vale as he tried to stab him through the throat, Vale dropped his sword and grabbed the priest's wrist and tried to push him off. To no avail it seemed, as Freed's light sword inched closer and closer to his throat. Freed had too much leverage and he was too weak from the light sword being so close to him, not to mention being the effect being inside a church was having on him, his injuries, his spell, and his use of the Abyss Physique; if he'd been in the first form he'd used he could have thrown Freed the length of the church one-handed, but this form didn't come with super-strength. But it did have one special ability that could help. He focused his magic into his palms which sent an electric current into Freed's arms. This momentarily distracted Freed long enough for Vale to push the light sword away from his neck.

Things became significantly more complicated when Vale heard two voices that sounded like Kiba and Issei entering the church but he couldn't be sure as the enormous column blocked his view of the door. Vale didn't want to be seen by either of them, that would raise too many questions that he didn't want to answer. He glanced around and saw only one way out of this. It was low, it was dirty, it was downright despicable, but it was the only way. Vale looked back up at the mad priest and brought his uninjured leg up between Freed's legs with all his might, impacting Freed squarely in the testicles. The color drained from his face and he dropped the light sword, it hit the ground with a clatter and turned off as he fell to the ground clutching his groin.

"Well then, my work here is done." Vale said as he grabbed his sword and leaped through the second hole in the church wall before grabbing the edge of the opening and pulling himself onto the roof. He released the magic powering his current form and used it to summon Mil-tan back to him inside a magic circle he inscribed on the roof with magic. Mil-tan stepped out of the black magical circle, he turned to see Vale lying on the roof clutching his side.

"Vale, what happened-nyo?" Mil-tan said urgently as he knelt next to his King.

"Freed was better than expected. Long story short, I need your shirt and pants." Vale said as he pulled his hand away to examine the cut on his side.

15 minutes later...

Vale grunted as he felt Mil-tan finish tying the last of the impromptu bandages they'd fashioned out of Mil-tan's shirt an the lower half of Mil-tan's pants.

"Thank you, you can head back. I wanna stay and see how Issei handles Raynare then I'm gonna head back." Vale had been listening in to Issei's fight with Raynare while Mil-tan had bandaged him up., it sounded like he was losing but Vale had a nagging feeling he could win if he played his cards right, he had promoted to Rook at the beginning of the fight and activated his Sacred Gear, all the pieces were there, he just had to use them right. Mil-tan nodded and leaped off the building, landing uninjured thanks to his Rook piece. Vale spread his wings and leaped of the air and used his wings to hover, with no small effort, just outside of the hole created by his second spell. Issei lunged at the Fallen Angel only for her to dance out of the way and laugh cruelly at him. From the look on his face Vale guessed that Issei was PISSED about something. Vale was even more impressed that he was standing, considering the two holes in his thighs. Vale noted that apparently, his Sacred Gear took the form of a gauntlet on his left hand.

"YOU KILLED ASIA! SHE DID NOTHING WRONG! ALL SHE WANTED WAS TO MAKE FRIENDS AND YOU KILLED HER FOR HER SACRED GEAR! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS! I'm going to use the power of this Sacred Gear to wipe you off the face of the Earth!" Issei screamed at Raynare.

"BOOST!" a voice called from the strange red gauntlet on Issei's hand. This caused Vale to raise an eyebrow, he had heard the gauntlet call that once before. If it was a Twice Critical like Raynare said, it would only double his power and it clearly read III on the jewel.

"She's better off now, she was called a witch everywhere and shunned by everyone! I did her a kindness by killing her. Plus, her death served to help me advance. You seem to be the only one complaining." Raynare sneered at him. Issei lunged forward only for Raynare to fly above his head and alight on the ground behind him.

"Stop running and FIGHT ME!" Issei screamed at Raynare as he charged towards her.

"EXPLOSION!" the Sacred Gear said as it extended to cover his fingers in talon-like extensions and extended farther up his forearm. A red light spear appeared in Raynare's hand as she hurled it towards Issei. Issei deflected it with the gauntlet and continued to rush towards Raynare, who tried to take to the sky once more. But before she had left the ground, Issei grabbed her by the wrist and slammed his now-luminescent right fist into her stomach, sending her flying through the wall with a crash.

Without warning, Vale suddenly felt weak and felt his wings fail as he plummeted to the ground. He managed to control his descent and landed a few feet away from Raynare, who was groaning in pain. With what felt like a titanic effort, he pushed himself up off the ground and managed to stand up and stumble over until he stood over Raynare.

"You honestly don't feel bad about what you did do you?" he huffed, he was exhausted. He needed to get home and treat himself. But he knew that, before that, he needed to do this.

"Uhhhh. Who are you?" Raynare groaned through half-closed eyes.

"You know, I only met Asia Argento once. But, I could tell, she was one of the nicest people I ever met in less than ten seconds after meeting her. She definitely didn't deserve to die. Not at her age, not at the hands of trash like you. You say she was a witch, but if anyone was a witch here, it is you. Now, even though this is gonna hurt like a bitch and it's technically a mistranslation, lemme quote you some scripture to you. Exodus 22:18..." Vale said as he left the rest of it unsaid, letting Raynare deduce exactly what he meant as a small sphere of what appeared to be light, appeared above his finger. He knew it was not light, but something far more sinister, it was one of the most powerful spells he knew and if anyone deserved it, it was the Fallen Angel in front of him.

"No, you can't! Please, I'll do anything, just don't use that spell on me." Raynare pleaded fearfully as she recognized the only spell that looked like light that a Devil could use.

"Here's the problem, I don't want anything from you. And fortunately for me, this spell doesn't affect Sacred Gear. Now back to that scripture." he said as he pointed two fingers down at Raynare.

"NO, PLEASE! HAVE MERCY!" Raynare shrieked desperately.

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Vale said cryptically as the beam of light lanced from his fingers towards Raynare...

Back at the church, with Koneko Toujou, 15 minutes later...

"Koneko, go find that Fallen Angel, while I tend to Issei and Asia." Rias said as she knelt next to her exhausted Pawn, who had passed out already. She nodded and headed over to the hole in the wall, following the trail of debris until she found herself in front of a pile of rubble. But the Fallen Angel was nowhere to be found, she turned to continue searching when a glimmer caught her eye. She turned to look at the source of the source of the glimmer. It was a statue of an Angel, but for some reason it had a silver ring with a blue-green gem on each hand. It looked a lot like the Sacred Gear Issei had described that belonged to the nun. Then it hit her, it wasn't a statue. It was Raynare. Someone had petrified her, turned her completely to stone.

"Buchou, come here. You're gonna wanna see this." there was a flurry of activity as Akeno and Kiba caught up with her. Kiba's uniform was torn and bloodied, while Akeno's priestess outfit was covered in dirt and grime.

"Oh my!" Akeno exclaimed as she placed a hand over her mouth as she realized what she was looking at.

"Who could've done such a thing?" Kiba asked, sounding utterly stupefied.

"Doesn't matter, she deserved it." said a voice behind them Koneko turned to see Issei leaning for fupport on Rias's shoulder as the gazed at the petrified Fallen Angel.

Back in Vale's room...

Vale appeared inside the magic circle on the floor of his room and managed to remain standing for only a few seconds before he hit the ground of his room with a thud. He was finding it very hard to move. He was tired beyond all belief, not to mention suffering from light poisoning. He managed to unsteadily push himself onto his hands and knees and dragged himself over to the trunk at the end of his bed. He pushed it open and leaned on the edge of the trunk and began to frantically dig through the contents of the trunk with shaking hands. He tossed out his files in handfuls, he wasn't concerned about organization right now. He kept digging through the many folders until he found what he was looking for. It was a small, black box with a red cross on it, he made a mental note to keep it in a more accessible place for future access.

He reached down into the trunk and pulled out the box and tried to open the catch with his trembling hands. His fingers were shaking so bad that as soon as he got the catch open the box fell from his hand onto the ground with a loud clattering sound, causing the contents to spill onto the ground several of the small, clear vials to roll out of his reach. Thankfully, as luck would have it, one had stopped rolling as it hit his leg. He grabbed the small container from the ground and pulled out the strange looking device that resembled an oversized epipen© with a slot in the middle to insert vials into; it was a gift he'd received from a nice small-town Chinese pharmacist in return for "convincing" the local branch of the triad to stop shaking him down for collection money. He loaded the vial into the slot before saying,

"Oh, this is gonna suck." he groaned as he uncapped the end and shoved the eight centimeter needle into his left thigh and depressed the button on top of the device. He felt a stinging pain in his thigh as it emptied the contents of the vial, his own special mix of Phoenix Tears and adrenaline, into his femoral artery. But he knew the worst was yet to come as he stood and sprinted to the nearest bathroom as he prepared for his body to empty the light and holy energy from his system, by any means necessary...

47 minutes later...

Rias arrived back at the schoolhouse, along with Akeno, who was carrying an unconscious Asia in her arms. Her newest servant had passed out shortly after healing Issei with her Sacred Gear, Rias had offered to heal him later but she had insisted on doing it herself. Akeno went off to find Asia a place to sleep for the night before she moved into Issei's house the next day. That particular news had delighted Issei and Asia both to no end. Koneko and Kiba had gone home for the night after the battle, they had only sustained minor injuries during the fight. She had decided that Issei would stay the night with her, she knew that he'd been healed, but she wanted to be sure that he was okay.

"Issei why don't you go meet me in my room? I'll be right in, I just wanna say goodnight to Vale." she said. Issei nodded and scurried off to her room. She was on her way to Vale's room when she heard what sounded like someone throwing up. It sounded like it was coming from the bathroom across the hall, she turned an walked over to the door that led to aforementioned bathroom. She knocked on it twice before asking,

"Vale-san are you okay? You're not sick at all, are you?" Rias asked with concern.

"Nope, not at all. Just some bad sushi deciding it wants to kick my ass." Vale replied before making a wretching sound as he vomited once more. Rias slowly opened the door to see Vale with his head in the toilet.

"Why hello, Rias-hime? How was your night? I trust everything went alright with your attempt to rescue Asia." Vale said as he turned to look at Rias, who noted that he was particularly pale. He saw with some satisfaction the she blushed slightly at his choice of honorific for her.

"Yes, thank you. This may sound odd but; were you at the church at all tonight? There was a lot of unexplained damage to the church when Akeno and I arrived to help Issei." she asked hesitantly once she regained her composure.

"Do I look like I could leave the room in my condition? Much less do battle?" he asked, sounding slightly winded as he did.

"I suppose not, sorry to bother you. I just wanted to say goodnight before I went to bed." She said as she turned to leave.

"Goodnight Rias-hime and sweet dreams. Ooh! But before I forget, may I speak to Hyoudou-san real quick?" he asked from the floor.

"Of course, I'll send him over. I hope you feel better soon." she said as she turned and left the room.

"Me too." he called back to her.

Issei arrived a few minutes later to see Vale brushing his teeth in an attempt to get the taste of bile out of his mouth.

"Buchou said you wanted to see me Beleth-san, is everything alright?" Issei asked as he entered the bathroom.

"Yes, it is. And please, call me Vale. A little birdie told me you kicked some Fallen Angel ass tonight. Is that true?" Vale asked as he spit out the toothpaste and wiped his mouth.

"Yeah, but it wasn't easy. I got hurt pretty bad. I probably would've died if Buchou hadn't reincarnated Asia-chan, who healed me right after. Though someone petrified Raynare afterward, that was weird." Issei said with a shrug.

"Well, all things considered that's pretty impressive, especially considering how new you are to this. I'm actually impressed that you managed to beat Raynare, considering she was pretty strong from what I've heard. Impessive enough to earn my, albeit grudging, respect." Vale said as he extended a hand towards Issei.

"What's this about? I always got the impression you didn't like me." Issei said as he stared at Vale's outstretched hand.

"I don't like you, present tense. I find you perverted and more than willing to objectify women as sex objects. But if you can summon up the strength to beat a Mid-level Fallen Angel to save a girl like Asia, you can't be that bad. So from now on, consider us allies." Vale said plainly. Issei stared at his hand before slowly reaching out and shaking it with his own.

"Hey, Vale-san?"

"Yes, Issei-san?"

"Why's your vomit glowing?" Issei asked curiously.

"Enough questions, off to bed with you!" Vale exclaimed as he turned Issei around and pushed him out of the room...

Author's Note: Well, there you have it. Peerage list is currently unchanged from last chapter. Though I'd like to hear your thoughts on Vale getting Xenovia as his first Knight, since you all seem so opposed to Irina as his Knight. I'm trying to preserve Rias' canon peerage, but I'm willing to tweak it. I'm also considering Valerie Tepes as his Bishop. Considering that she has the Sephiroth Graal, she'd make a terrific healer. Anyways, I know it's your weekends and you've probably got plans, but as always, reviews are greatly appreciated. This is the 19th Angel, signing off...