AN: Hello! How are all of you? Good? Glad to hear it. (Note: If you are not, in fact, "good," please excuse my arrogance and I hope that you have a good day.)

Alright, this is the chapter I've been worrying about for weeks. I feel like this is the big turning point and could dissuade a lot of people. If it does this for you, no problem, I hope you enjoyed the story before this.

There is a scene of, to be honest, torture at the end of the chapter. But to keep in mind my current T rating and the possibly sensitive stomachs of any readers, I really hung back on the descriptions, so hopefully it's not too bad.

I hope you enjoy, and if you have any questions or problems with the story, feel free to give a review or send me a PM.

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool Dxd. What I do own is my OCs, and nobody can torture them except for me.

As we walked away from the arcade, Asia was giggling, I was dejected, Kioko was smiling at my loss, and Issei was infuriatingly smug. Turns out he wasn't called king of the arcade for no reason.

After solidly trouncing me at Turbo Drivers DX000, he'd gone on to absolutely destroy my self-confidence at every other game in the arcade. culminating in me paying him 500 yen to get a stuffed animal for Kioko after my own attempts all ended in failure.

I was still stinging over that, while Kioko couldn't stop telling me about how nice the stuffed animal Issei had given her was, a blue rabbit with an eyepatch and a vicious grin. I was pretty sure that she was annoyed at how I had lost to Issei on every machine, including any games of random chance, thus proving I was the "lesser boyfriend."

So the first opportunity I got, I pulled her to the side and let her in on a little secret. That I had let Issei win, since if Asia saw how cool he was by winning, she'd get closer to him. That was how it worked, right? Kioko cheered up after that and stopped talking about the rabbit as much, a blessing to my already crushed ego.

Meanwhile, I mentally crossed arcades off the list of places to take her on dates. When I told her I was letting Issei win? I was lying. He absolutely crushed me at each game, even asking me occasionally if I was taking it easy on him. My pride was probably dying in a heap somewhere back in the arcade.

The four of us stopped at the mall's main square, and Issei ran off with the flimsy excuse of needing to check on something, before soon returning with ice cream cones for the four of us, somehow managing to balance them between his fingers.

I paid him back for mine and Kioko's, but it really hit home that Issei was the better boyfriend of us two. Rest in peace, Male Pride. You will be remembered.

Honestly, what did it say about me that an almost city-wide known pervert was more gentlemanly than me? I had kept an eye on Issei as much as I could during the day and I had only seen his gaze wander a few times before immediately snapping back to Asia's face. A girl that could keep him from his lecherous tendencies that not even the kendo club could knock out of him? Yeah, they needed to get together, for the safety of the school's locker rooms at least.

Asia kept thanking Issei between her bites of ice cream, lauding praises of him and the cold treat equally. "This is so incredible, Issei-kun! I didn't know that something this delicious existed!" Her face had an expression of bliss, like she'd never had anything like it before.

As I relayed what she had said to Kioko, I remembered what Issei had said earlier, that she had barely been outside before, so maybe she hadn't. "Argento-san," I began, "Have you never had ice cream before?"

Her beaming face nodded vigorously as she carefully held the cone so that nothing would drip. "Yes, before I came to Japan and met Issei-kun, I was rarely allowed to leave the church, so I never got to try anything like ice cream. I usually ate pasta or oatmeal for meals."

Hmm, that was kinda odd. I thought even nuns would be able to travel outside more often than once in 14-17 years. (Don't ask a woman her age, another note buried somewhere in the pile.) "Really? Were you sick or something like that? It's too much of a waste if you became a nun to serve god and never got to enjoy his world." Kioko said matter-of-factly, casually ignoring mine and Issei's wince. I still nodded agreement to her statement though. I honestly preferred reading than most sports or outside activities, but never going outside in that time just seemed unnecessarily strict.

For some reason after Kioko said that, Asia ducked her head and started fidgeting, casting sideways looks at me, Kioko, and Issei. After a few more steps she stopped and bowed to us, doing her best to keep her ice cream level as she did so. "I'm sorry, but could I please speak to Issei-kun in private? I apologize, but there is something I must tell him."

Kioko and I exchanged looks. Was this what we'd been hoping for? The awaited confession scene? "Yeah, that'll be fine," Kioko said, and I nodded in agreement. "We'll just be over there if you need us." She pointed towards a small area set up with a table. As we walked over, I frequently looked over my shoulder to see Issei guiding Asia to a bench and then sitting down next to her. Apparently they were just talking, but that was exactly what we wanted after all.

After me and Kioko both sat down at the table, we shared a subtle high-five beneath the table. Operation: Get Issei and Asia closer was a success.

We both finished off our ice-cream cones before too long, sitting back and enjoying the feeling of frozen sugar in our bellies. It wasn't too long though before Kioko asked "I wonder what they are talking about?"

It was pretty clear who she was talking about. I turned my head to check on the duo and saw that Asia had started crying at some point and Issei was doing his best to comfort her, although he seemed slightly wary of actually touching her, his hands hovering a few hesitant inches from her shaking shoulders. I had just begun to rise when a firm hand on my knee stopped me.

I looked over to see Kioko's eyes looking seriously at me. "Don't interfere."

I opened my mouth to protest. "But-"

She shook her head, not budging. "Asia specifically asked us to leave before she started talking to Issei. Either she asked him out and he turned her down, in which case it's not our place to interfere, or she's talking about something different that made her cry, but she still chose to send us away."

"There are more than just those two options, you know." I cocked an eyebrow at her, but sat back down. It hurt to just sit here while someone was crying, but Kioko was right. This was something between Issei and Asia, we had no part in it. Of course I was tempted to saw that I didn't care and rush in to try and help anyway, but that would just make things worse. And I had learned from my attempt to guard Vaizor.

I stared down at my hands and tried to relax them from the fists that they had curled themselves into. Once I was calmer, I looked back at Asia. Issei had grabbed her hands and was looking into her eyes. I didn't see a blush on her face this time, but couldn't see if she was still crying or not. That eased my conscious somewhat, knowing that Issei was at least willing to help her.

Suddenly, Kioko stood up and forcefully grabbed my hand. "I thought we weren't going to go back over?" I inquired, wondering why she acted so suddenly.

"We need to get some distance," Kioko said. "We're still too close."

A quick glance verified that nothing had really changed, but it was obviously a very personal moment that we were intruding on. "Yeah, I guess so."

I let her pull me farther across the square towards the exit of the mall area, where there was another bench that I assumed we would stop at. Instead she continued to pull me past it to the exit. "Hey Kioko, isn't this a little too far? What if they want to call us back and they can't find us?" I could still see their forms behind the scattered trees, but just barely and they would definitely lose us if we left the area.

"We're still too close."

Huh? That didn't quite sound like Kioko. I stopped and freed my hand from her grip. "Wait a second, what's up? Is this one of those girl things that I'm not supposed to ask questions about?" If it was, I was already doomed.

Kioko stopped almost immediately after I got my hand free and turned to me, an annoyed look on her face. "Come on, Kado. We need to get more distance."

Something still seemed off, but that annoyed expression was one-hundred-percent Kioko, so I followed behind her as she began walking again, casting another look back behind me to catch a final glimpse of Issei before we left them behind. I hope they'll be able to find us once they're done, since they seemed too wrapped up in their conversation to notice us leaving.

Turning back towards Kioko, I was met face-on by a thin face staring directly at my own with slanted blue eyes. I involuntarily let out a "gak" of surprise, but the older man attached to the face just blinked at me and stepped to the side so I could proceed.

As he did so I got a better view of him. He was wearing a long brown coat that was fully closed in the front and had long black hair done up in a messy ponytail behind his head. I bowed and let out a quick apology before hurrying after Kioko who was still walking away, barely catching sight of the large cross stitched onto the back of his coat as he turned away.

I heard him muttering something as I ran off, probably something about kids not watching where they were going. When I caught up to Kioko she was still walking quickly, facing straight ahead. "Come on, Kioko, this has to be far enough. Where are you going?"

"We're still too close."

"Too close to what! We've lost sight of them by now!" I was about ready to throw up my arms in exasperation when I heard a voice call out from behind me.

"Hey kid!" I turned to see that it was the same brown-coat guy from before. I pointed a questioning finger at myself at he nodded. "Yeah, you. Can you see me?"

Well that certainly set off alarm bells in my head. If he had to ask that, there was something going on with this guy, some reason that I shouldn't be able to see him. I risked a glance back at Kioko and saw her still walking off to who knows where. I didn't have time to deal with an additional supernatural problem.

I didn't say anything and just started walking away from the man, hoping that he'd ignore me. Unfortunately he didn't.

"Too late for that, kid."

I turned to see him drawing an elaborate gun marked with a cross from a deep side pocket on his coat and leveling it at me. "I don't like hurting kids, but you've only got once chance before I shoot you. Stay where you're at and don't make any movements or I'm going to put a hole through your little devil brain."

…Well at least he was a gentleman about it. I froze in place and slowly let my hands raise up from my sides until they were over my head. "Is my girlfriend going to be okay?"

He looked surprised at that, before letting out a bark of laughter. His aim didn't waver while he did so though. "A devil with a human girlfriend? Well that's new. Relax, she'll be fine. She's just getting away from the danger zone. We're not monsters." Clearly, he believed that I was one.

I let out a sigh of relief at that, making sure it was easy enough to see it. He recognized that I was young, so maybe I could let him relax his guard if I was careful enough? I was too far away from him to attack directly, about five meters, and had no ranged attacks. He had a gun on me and if the cross on the back of his coat meant anything, he was one of the exorcists that Rias had warned me about.

Actually calling me a devil was a pretty big clue, all things considered. My mind was whirring, trying to piece together a way to get out of this. The exorcist had mentioned a danger zone, and I could only assume it was back in the mall area that we'd just left. And I already knew that there was an exorcist who had targeted Issei. This guy probably wasn't the same one, since he'd mentioned not wanting to hurt kids, so there must be at least two working together trying to kill Issei.

So I needed to handle this guy and then head back in to save Issei. Which put me right back at square one, how to take out someone at least twenty years my senior who had a gun and experience fighting devils.

As I tried to think of a way out, a few more straggling bystanders exited through the arch and wandered past me and the exorcist, paying him no mind and only enough to me to move out of the way before carrying on. The effect was probably some kind of spell, one to lure people away from the square and make them ignore the exorcist.

Looking back at the man in question, he still had his gaze fixed on me, although occasionally one eye would roam around briefly before snapping back to me. Checking for anyone else acting oddly in case he had to deal with them too, most likely. He seemed perfectly fine to just stand and threaten me with a gun in silence, but my arms were getting tired and holding them up would just weaken them if I ended up having to fight him.

The goal was to get past him and back into the mall area. I could achieve that by either fighting the exorcist or fleeing past him, but I'd have to do it without getting hurt. I was practically defenseless and had no way to hurt the exorcist.

…Well my mother had always said that I was far too good at talking for my own good. He seemed too experienced to be taunted, and that would only end badly for me anyway, but he seemed hesitant to attack so maybe I could use that. "Can I put my hands down? They're starting to get tired."

His roaming eye had snapped back to me as soon as I took in a breath to begin speaking, but he held off on launching a bullet into my brain, something I was extremely grateful for.

He spoke without moving a muscle. Besides the ones in his mouth, for obvious reasons. "Sure, but if I see any kind of weapon or magic I won't hesitate."

Were devils really that scary? Vaizor and the lightning-lady didn't seem to have been tough enough to warrant this level of caution, honestly. Wait, both of those people killed me with absolute ease. Bad example. "Relax man, I was just on a date, why would I bring any weapons, even if I did have any."

He lightly shrugged his shoulders, his aim still unwavering. Just how good was this guy? "I've been almost killed far too many times to believe in taking chances."

Ouch. Couldn't argue with that. He at least moved that time, so maybe I was making progress. "Fair point. It's a little odd talking to somebody like this without exchanging names. I'm Kai Kado, what's yours?"

I heard him mutter something that sounded suspiciously like "kids these days" before actually responding. "It's not weird at all, that's bad grammar, and if you're trying to make me feel guilty about killing you, it won't work. And you don't need to know my name, devil."

Drat, I'd thought that would have at least worked a little bit. "Woah, relax!" I held up my hands in a sign of surrender, before realizing that I'd basically already done that and slowly lowered them. "It's not like I'm gonna use your name to do some kind of demonic ritual or anything." I cocked my head to the side with a confused expression. "Wait, can devils do that?"

He sighed but responded, his trigger finger loosening slightly from the tight grip it had held before. "Devils can't use people's names to control them in any way, that's an old wives tale. But I have no reason to give you my name."

"Oh yeah, what about manners?" I shot back. "I told you mine first, after all." It was really hard not making hand gestures while talking, but I would rather not do something to set him off by accident.

"I'm pointing a gun at your head. I think we're a little past bad manners right now." he said dryly. Hey, he did have a sense of humor! And enough peace of mind to make a joke! Maybe this could work after all.

"Well there's no need to be savages about it," I huffed. I would have folded my arms too, but again, better safe than sorry. "How long have you been doing this kind of thing anyway? You know, killing devils." Pave the way…

I noticed his jaw muscles tensed at the question before relaxing quickly. Was that a bad question to ask? He rolled his eyes right afterwards though, so maybe not. "Probably far longer than you've been alive and a devil."

…And sink the shot. "Well that would be easy then. I've only been a devil for about four days."

The exorcist did what would have been a spit-take if he was drinking water, but instead just ended up sounding like he was choking on something. His arms dipped down as he coughed, the gun aimed somewhere just below the belt. Didn't quite feel safe enough to risk moving right then, just in case he had a twitchy trigger finger and I lost something incredibly precious.

After he recovered, he looked at me with wide eyes. "Only four days! You're a reincarnated devil?" His arms had already started to relax from the gunning posture, though I wasn't sure if he even realized it.

"Yep," I said, with a sense of satisfaction. "Got no sacred gear, haven't learned any magic, no weapons, I'm a pawn and when I'm trying to go on a date with my girlfriend to get some sense of normality back, I get held up by an exorcist!" I was seriously yelling the last part, fists clenched and a few specks of spittle escaping my mouth. The heads of the last bystanders leaving the area all swiveled to look at me, but almost immediately regained the same blurred look in their eyes and resumed their exodus again.

I wasn't lying about how annoying it was to get held up like this. Issei and Asia were probably already getting attacked in there by the other exorcist and I was getting held up just outside of range to help! Literally.

The exorcists eyes went wide, then got a conflicted look in them as he chewed on his lip. His eyes found me again, and I got the feeling that I had just pulled it off. "So if I let you go, just hypothetically, what would you do?"

Yeeeeessssssss-"If you did, hypothetically," I said with a hopeful face, "then I'd run after my girlfriend so she doesn't wonder if I've gotten mugged when she makes it to the safe area. Maybe I can at least end the day on a good note."

The exorcist chewed his lip for another long minute before he asked again "And you're not going to try running back in there?"

The chances of me not heading back in were about as good as the chances of me getting a hundred on a math quiz. "Of course not," I said, with as honest a face as I could. "I probably don't even know the guy in there."

At that, the exorcist put his gun back into the pocket of coat and folded his arms, turning his back on me. "Go on then, Kai-san. I'll just tell them that you slipped by me."

"Thank you, Exorcist-san." And I'm sorry.

I took off down the path as fast as I could, hoping to slip by him and back into the square before he could react. I had taken exactly two steps when I realized that my left foot didn't hit the ground as it should have.

"Huh?" A noise of surprise slipped from my mouth as I began to fall. I hit hard, completely unbalanced. I'd managed to instinctively turn my body so I hit with my side instead of skidding on my face, but it still tore my uniform and left deep scratches all along my left arm from the slightly rough stones of the path.

I stared blankly at the ground for a moment. Why hadn't I ran properly? Had the exorcist done someth-

A fiery feeling sprang up from my left ankle, a thousand tendrils that I could feel as they ran upwards through my veins and nerves, spreading their toxic heat through my leg. "Aaaaaagghh-" I forcefully bit my lip to keep from screaming and curled into a ball, trying to grab my foot and remove whatever was causing it pain.

My groping fingers felt a deep depression beneath the cuff of my uniform pants, something wet and sticky inside it. I already knew what it must be, but I pulled my hand in front of my face and cracked open my eyes. My fingers were dyed red.

"Oi, devil." I looked up, craning my neck to see the exorcist's face, meters above my own. I could tell he was looking down at me but the glare of the sun hid his expression. Then he bent over and I could see it clearly. I felt an instinctive burst of fear ignite in my chest and recoiled back as far as I could, heedless of the hole in my ankle.

His expression was perfectly blank, the conflicted expression and laughing eyes gone without a trace. In their place were eyes that weren't dead, like the rest of his expression. Instead they were cold and filled with utter apathy for me. I couldn't hurt him, and even if I could, he simply wouldn't care. I was less than the cobblestones beneath. Something he would walk over without pausing.

"You need to work on your lies." The demon said, expression unchanging. "You'll never survive like this." Then he pointed his hand, gun still held in it, towards the abandoned gate, any bystanders gone by the time he had acted. I hadn't been stalling him, he had been stalling me. "Go on and save your friend, then." He spoke the words in the same monotone he had the others, but I could almost sense a vague undercurrent of anger as he said the word "friend."

Then he walked off, the gun held in his hand disappearing within one step and the next as he passed my curled-up body, with no sign of when he put it away.

I simply held there as the pain faded, or more accurately, I got used to it. Anything will hurt at first, but we humans are good at adapting. It still hurt, feeling like writhing wires in my leg, but I could move again. And I had a friend to save.

I unrolled from my position and, gritting my teeth, stood again. Good news about the massive amounts of pain caused by holy light, I couldn't even feel the additional pain that was probably caused by trying to walk on a foot with a hole through it. Normally people would avoid doing anything with a wounded limb because the pain would keep them from moving it, but if the pain was the same no matter what I did, what did I have to lose?

As I hobbled forward I pulled out my phone and the small piece of paper I had received earlier. "Come one, come on…" I pressed the buttons as fast as I could, using the other hand to keep my upright on whatever surfaces were nearby.

I put the phone to my ear and listened to the usual dial tone, but when it connected, all I got was a recorded instruction to leave a message. "Tch." I stuffed the phone back into my pocket and continued limping along. I'd just have to do this alone then.

Running was far beyond me, but I was able to limp forward and through the gate. On the other side was an abandoned mall center except for three figures close to the center. One was a boy with brown hair and a school uniform. Just behind him was a nun. And in front, an unknown girl with black hair. The other exorcist.

I moved forward as fast as I could, my steps slowly gaining confidence. I had to try and help. But before I had crossed even half of the distance, the exorcist held out her hand and a spear of pink light manifested. Must be another weapon like the light guns. I realized that my thoughts were wandering and she was about to stab Issei! Focus, Kado!

I had just opened my mouth to shout out something, anything, when she thrust the spear forward, even though she was too far for it to reach Issei. Then it seemed to vanish and there was a spear sticking out of Issei's stomach as he doubled over from the impact.

My tongue was stuck in my throat, but even as I watched and the exorcist laughed, the spear seemed to shrink in size and Issei stood straight once more, unharmed.

…I have no idea what just happened, but it was good, right? I didn't know if he could do it again though, so I swallowed, licked my lips, and yelled out "Hey, Idiot! What are you doing taking all the glory for yourself? I thought we'd agreed to deal with her together!"

Issei's head snapped up and a stricken look crossed his face. I could barely hear his "Kai-san!?" from where I was. Still too far away. It had gotten the black-haired girl's attention, though. "What, another filthy devil come to die?"

Wow. Even though the last guy was still a jerk and scary as Maou, I still liked him over this girl. I did the best I could to even my gait and pretend that I wasn't functionally useless.

Bluff bluff bluff or die. An easy choice. If that failed, then maybe I could cause a distraction and Issei could use his sacred gear to take her out. It doubled his power, and a haymaker doubled could probably knock a human unconscious.

"Nah, I'm actually here to tell you that your taxes are overdue. The interest's practically doubled in the time you missed." Come on Issei, notice it…

"Was that supposed to be a code?" The girl laughed, cruel and sharp enough to scratch my eardrums. "As if a bottom-class sacred gear like a Twice Critical could harm me."

Well that failed then. I finally neared the group and slowed to a stop right next to Issei. I glanced down and could see that there was a hole and blood on his uniform, but clean skin beneath. The wound was healed all right.

Then I looked up and finally saw the exorcist in clear detail. Silky black hair and pure violet eyes. A perfectly proportioned body hidden by a barely too-small school uniform. So naturally I said the first thing that popped into my brain. "Wow, you are ugly!" Let it be said that in-pain Kado is very bad at thinking before speaking.

Her face froze in place as I heard a gasp from behind me at the same time that Issei smacked me over the head. "How can you call a beauty like her ugly, Kai-san! Clearly she has the body of a goddess!"

I shot a glare back at him, but was glad that he didn't seem nearly as terrified as before. Still scared, but that was normal in this situation. "Well maybe, but who cares about how she looks? I'm talking about her character, obviously."

It was true. I could see the hatred in her eyes, a seething anger at us and anything else, blaming the world for something that had happened to her. She was the type that would stamp out every ant on the pavement and take glee in their deaths. She looked down on everything else, but not because she had confidence or even arrogance. It was because if she didn't, she'd admit that she was no better than us, the ones who had hurt her by existing.

"It's true, isn't it." I turned to the exorcist and looked her in the seething eyes. "You're scared of us." If we were better, if she fell to our level, then she would have to admit that she was wrong. That she had hated the world for nothing and lived her life wrongly. That if we were strong, if we were capable, if we were even human, she would lose everything.

Mentally comparing her eyes to the male exorcist's, hers were nothing. Hatred I could deal with no problem.

Those eyes went wide in shock and the exorcist took a step back, and I could clearly see the fear in her eyes. Then she let out a roar of rage and shot barreled forward, an instantly manifested light spear digging deep into my stomach as she yelled into my ear. "You're wrong! You are below me, you are nothing, I am supreme!"

As the tendrils of light poisoning began to snake outwards from the fatal wound, I coughed out a mouthful of blood and smiled through stained teeth. "Denial ain't just a river, lady."

With another cry of rage she kicked me off her spear and let me fall onto the ground, head rattling. My vision came back into focus just in time to see her throw Issei to the side as if he was nothing, her eyes affixed on me. "Heal it," she growled out, and I heard shuffling sounds. Then a green glow began to pool around my stomach as Asia kneeled next to me, her hands outstretched and two elaborate rings upon her middle fingers.

I watched as the hole in my stomach healed and even the burning feeling of light poisoning disappeared, seeming to absorb even the blood back into my body except for that which was already soaked into my clothes. Oh, so that's how Issei healed.

Taking a breath of relief, I opened my mouth to thank Asia, but instead let out a gasp of pain as a pink spear of light buried itself into my right elbow, Asia letting out a scream of fear as it missed her by inches. I gritted my teeth and bore through the pain as I glared up into those violet orbs burning with hatred. The spear rotated, burning further nerves as the now-familiar feeling of light energy began to rise up.

Then the spear was plucked out once more and those ugly lips spat out "Heal it." The green glow began again, the pain fading. Moments afterwards a spear buried itself into my thigh, quickly followed by three more. They were removed, the command was given, and the green glow returned.

I was starting to lose my sense of reasoning as the torture continued, barely holding it together enough to hope that Issei had escaped and to keep glaring at the exorcist. I would not let someone like her break me.

It became a game between us, her trying to inflict pain, to break me, and I trying to resist, to stay defiant. After I don't know how many minutes and an endless number of impalements, I felt something on my face as the green glow (What was her name?) healed my eye. A faint feeling of impact that seemed to linger and trail down my face.

Somehow I remembered what that should mean and parted my bleeding lips that were already being healed. "Why are you-" I paused as another spear impaled my index finger and resisted the feeling of pain. "-crying?"

The green glow didn't respond, but I heard a sob before the green glow moved to my hand and began healing it, a brief reprieve before the next game started.

I forgot about that immediately afterwards, my world consisting of pain, the green glow, and my glare burying themselves into those violent circles. They weren't glaring back, they weren't looking away, they were looking almost desperately into my own restored eyes, looking for any sign of submission. They found none.

She unleashed a scream, a scream of frustration, pain, loss, and pure hatred. The spears rained down, no longer waiting for the previous wound to be touched by the green glow. He was wrong. He was wrongwrongwrongwrong-

Because if he was right, then she was wrong.

Pain and poisonous tendrils invaded all throughout my body. The only place seemingly unaffected was a small point, less than an inch thick, in the center of my chest. Any seeking marks of light that attempted to cross the area vanished immediately before returning on the other side of the point. It was a sensation of peace and I focused on it, riveting my sensation upon that one dot free from the burning-twisting-screaming feeling.

I didn't realize when a red glow lit up the surrounding area or when the rest of the peerage arrived. All I had was a moment of clarity when the purple holes that dominated my world disappeared, replaced by a harsh blue sky mostly blocked by sickly green leaves. I saw a nauseatingly pink ray stabbing down at the body, but my vision was blocked by a gleam of smoky steel and harsh sparks that absorbed the pink light. Then the green glow left, having barely finished sealing the wounds.

With the pain, the green glow, and the purple eyes gone, I had nothing else anchoring me. I withdrew from the blank spot, my full consciousness returning to my body. Everything seemed to come rushing back to me at that moment and my limbs spasmed, before dropping my consciousness down a deep empty well into darkness.

End AN: 500 yen is about $4.45 and is enough for five tries in a crane machine, by my research. Fun fact, Issei only needed two tries.

Deep breath in, deep breath out. Here we go.

Hope that wasn't too bad, but I'm still not quite sure what to think of the whole chapter. I'll go over a few things anyway, though.

It kinda bugs me how close I ended up sticking to canon here, but Asia pulling Issei aside to explain her backstory like in the LN gave an excuse for Kioko and Kado to be off on the side without too much fuss, and also is something that needed to happen, so I just stuck with it. The situation still seems forced to me, like it came out of nowhere, but Asia would be hesitant about using Twilight Healing around an unknown devil, and Issei wouldn't want to discuss it either.

Something that I wanted to mention in the story but couldn't really find a place for it, is that Issei was knocked unconscious by Raynare throwing him, and stayed that way until after the peerage arrived. It doesn't directly mess with the storyline, but it's just something I wanted to mention.

Raynare's reaction is probably over-the-top. She has a severe hatred of humans and low-ranked devils and -well, basically everything, in the LNs, and Kado kinda tore that right open. Then how he made her doubt her own superiority, which is something she's been relying on for most of her life. The short term, she goes into a sadistic rampage basically, but the tricky part is the long-term consequences, and I still feel like I don't have a good enough grasp on those yet. If you guys have any suggestions of what would be realistic, please let me know.

Finally, since I'm trying to keep this somewhat short, is the newest OC I included in this one. I'm trying to keep this from becoming a story entirely overrun by OCs, but the idea I had for the one-shot grunt ended up expanding into a character that I had way too much fun with, so he'll be coming back later. Another reason why I included him is to show that this is what devils fear about exorcists. The exorcist is a normal human, no sacred gear or anything like that, but not only did he survive for decades against devils, he also survived the church after he became a stray. His acting skills might not help him much against the more experienced or vicious devils, but there's a reason that this man has survived so long.

Sorry that run a little long, but I did get really excited about this character. (I even wrote a backstory and everything!)

Hope you guys are still interested in the story, and next chapter will be a series of interludes! (Including one from Kioko's perspective!) Stay tuned! (If you want, I mean. You don't have to or anything. I-It's not like I wrote it for you or anything! B-Baka.)