AN: This is the shortest chapter that I've written in months, but it was still a push to get it all out during finals. (Wish me luck by the way, my last ones are tomorrow.)

Thanks to everyone who's read this story and supported me along the way. I'll see you at the end.

Warning: Character Death

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD in any way, shape, or form.

There was a change in me that I could tell as soon as I woke up. My eyes snapped open instantly as I realized that I knew every organ, every cell of my body. Everything seemed to be running the same as it usually did, but I now had perfect knowledge of every beat of my heart, every pump of my lungs in a way I couldn't recognize previously.

With this new awareness, I could easily tell that two things had changed. One, the pigment in my eyes had shifted slightly, changing from a dark brown into a deep black like the bottom of the sea. Endless.

The second change wasn't something physical. My body was working perfectly, every muscle and organ pulsing in time to a rhythm I could only now see. But underneath the surface, something was crawling, slithering inside me and tugging each piece into place. It squeezed my lungs to make them deflate and gave my heart the energy to beat. Each and every organ inside me from my skin to my marrow was separated, only connected and functioning as a whole by this hidden force.

It felt like I was a hollow shell, a puppet only moving and functioning due to the force pulling the strings behind me. But that was enough so long as I was alive and could keep going. I tried to sit up from the bed I was laid out on and the body worked perfectly, smoothly obeying each command as if I was the one giving them.

I took a few experimental steps and there were again no problems. It seemed like whatever had control was willing to let me handle things for now. I didn't know how long that would last, but there was no sense in worrying about it. "Now," I mused, looking around the room I was in, "where am I?"

It wasn't the old school building, I could tell that much by the fact that I couldn't spot any skulls or pentagrams on the walls. It didn't seem like Kioko's apartment either though, with rough cement as the floor instead of the wood and tatami I had gotten used to in the last few days.

Frowning, I took a longer look at my surroundings. I was standing in a room that was much larger than expected, at three times as tall as I was. The closest wall was still meters away, while the rest of the room seemed to stretch out infinitely into darkness with square pillars of cement supporting the ceiling above me. Apparently the devil night vision could only stretch so far.

Looking back at the bed, there was almost nothing there. Just a single small fold-out bed with a thin mattress spread out on it that looked almost like a prison cot.

Sighing, I scratched the back of my head and took one last look at the cot, the only sign of humans in sight. There was no reason to stay here, so I might as well go somewhere else. "Well, I'd better get walking, shouldn't I," I said out loud, just to fill up the silence. It almost felt like I was in a tomb with how quiet everything was.

As I started walking I thought about what got me here in the first place. "Last I remember I was at the wedding," I mused out loud. "Issei and Riser were fighting when Riser mentioned that Ravel was dead."

Oddly enough I didn't feel a sudden surge of guilt at the mention. Actually, I didn't really feel anything. "I killed someone," I said into the darkness, my voice echoing off into the distance. Nothing.

"I murdered a good person and broke every principle I had." Still not a twinge of anything, whether guilt or pain. Just calm acceptance and a subtle annoyance that I was so hung up on this. I honestly wasn't sure if that was from me or from whatever force was letting me move. And was there even a difference at this point?

"Kioko," I said, thinking of how I'd basically proposed and how she'd accepted. My girlfriend, who loved me and I loved her. At least, I thought I did. Now recalling her face just made me think that she really was attractive. Nothing more.

Well, I suppose that my eye color wasn't the only thing that had changed. "I should probably be panicking about this," I calmly stated, lightly running my fingers along the side of a nearby pillar and feeling the rough texture beneath my fingertips. "But I really don't care that much." It seems like I've lost my emotions. That's new.

As I continued to walk, slowly trailing past pillar after pillar with no visible change in scenery I made a game of it, saying a word or phrase to try and evoke a reaction. I didn't expect anything from it, but it was something to do. At least I could still feel boredom. I wasn't sure if that one was a blessing or a curse.

"Home."

"Mother."

"Riser Phenex."

"Rias Gremory."

"Himejima Akeno."

"Math."

"Magic."

And so on. By the time I had run through everything to do with my home life, school, and the supernatural world, I had been walking for over five minutes. Luckily enough, I had discovered something. When pronouncing "God" as part of the supernatural section, I didn't receive a sharp headache like I had previously. It was a welcome change but not much more than that. I was still a devil, I just didn't have some of the downsides like before. I guess that was nice.

Eventually I reached the other side of the room, another concrete wall. Really, how original. Shouldn't they throw in something else, if just for the variety? At least it was some kind of landmark. Still no doorway, but there had to be a way out somewhere. I set out again, this time walking parallel to the wall, lightly running my fingers across the concrete surface.

"Come to think of it," I muttered out loud, "how did I get down here in the first place?" That really should have been a question I was asking earlier, but it didn't seem that important before. Even now it was more of something to consider than a question that must be answered.

Well I obviously didn't walk here on my own after I passed out from… learning that I killed someone, I guess? Seriously, what was up with that? I was pretty sure that wasn't a normal reaction to that. Maybe more screaming or something.

Anyway, someone had to have brought me here. And set me up on a nice cot as well. Courteous of them. I guess that means that they didn't think I was dead at least. Probably wasn't Rias or anyone else from the peerage either, they would have brought me back to the clubhouse. Same thing for Kioko.

Huh, wonder if I had been kidnapped. If I had, I guess they didn't expect me to wake up or they would have contained me somehow.

So to summarize, I blacked out and was kidnapped by someone who likes me, knew I was alive, but didn't think I would wake up.

Yeah, that wasn't helping any.

Giving up entirely on that train of thought, I blinked as I realized that my fingertips had stopped feeling the rough texture of the wall and instead felt like they were brushing against burnished metal. Stopping and looking to the side, my hand was placed against a large square door made of aged-looking metal at least three meters tall and the exact same width. What would need a door this big to go through?

Regardless, a door of any kind meant an exit, so I needed to figure out how to get through it. Examining the door proved that there wasn't any kind of handle, just two metal plates pushed together hard enough to make a seal, not even enough room between them for my remaining fingers to slip through. A look around the outside didn't reveal anything either, no control panel or "open door" button.

I slipped down into my magic with practiced ease, only for my metaphysical hand to not grasp anything. Where once there had been a core housing my magic, now there was nothing but a blank void. Frowning I retracted the hand and came back to myself. Alright, that made a third thing that had changed. Apparently I didn't have magic now and I really should be more upset about that.

Heaving out a sigh I was prepared to leave and search for another exit but something made me stop in my tracks. Whatever force was keeping me going had just taken control. It was eerie, watching placidly as my body smoothly turned and stood in front of the thick metal door while I was trying to walk away. Again, I should probably be scared, but nothing came.

Instead I was just intrigued. What did the mysterious force want? What made it take control? So I sat back and relaxed, metaphorically, as my body stretched forward it's left arm and attempted to squeeze my fingers into the paper-thin crack between the two pieces of metal. I raised a mental eyebrow at that. Hadn't the force already seen me try that? Apparently it wasn't very smart.

As if it had heard my thought, I felt a faint twinge of annoyance again, this time directed at the doors before me. I just wanted to leave this place, why was this stopping me? As if getting mad at the door would do anything. Honestly, why was annoyance the only emotion the force or I seemed to be able to feel?

Then I felt the muscles in my arm twitch, the puppetmaster flexing them in a way they weren't meant to be. I could feel power flowing through them, like when I used my magic strengthening technique, but instead of a light, it was like shadow seeping into every atom of every molecule of every fiber of my left arm, staining it black.

The shadow seemed to flex, like it was cracking it's knuckles before attempting a difficult task. Then my fingers dug into the crack and begun to bend the material, enhanced muscles tensing as whatever had control pumped in enough power to literally bend metal.

Soon enough a series of divots deep enough to hold my fingers had been made, the force pushing my digits into them before taking a firmer stance and pulling to the side. Slowly the metal door began to move, a sound of shrieking and bending metal ringing out from above me as one half of the large door inched open millimeter by millimeter. As the crack widened, I could see more concrete beyond that was angled upwards at a slope. Did that mean I was underground?

Eventually the gap was wide enough for my body to step through, planting itself on the other side and dusting off my palm on the stump of my right arm with a satisfied air, the increased strength of the shadow slowly seeped out of my body and left me with the usual devil strength.

Then I was in control, the force happily complying as I took a step forward up the slope toward whatever was above. Like I hadn't just lost total control of my body and been a total observer to something else manipulating my every movement. Well, these things happened, I suppose. Either that or I just didn't care. Yep, definitely the latter.

"What do I call you?" I said out loud, advancing up the incline. "I've been calling you a force, but it seems too generic for whatever you are." There was no response. "So you don't care?" I asked rhetorically, nodding. "Yeah, I can work with that. It still seems a little weird though." I shrugged, not entirely sure why I was doing this except to fill up the time. "Think of it as gratitude for helping me out of there then."

Tapping a finger on my chin I considered for a moment. "How about Emsee? That's pretty general." Again, no response. Not a twitch. "Eh whatever then. I'll just call you Kyoko," I said with what was supposed to be a satisfied air. "That way I can tell Kioko I named you after her." I took the resulting silence as agreement. Honestly, could there be a worse conversation partner?

"Here we are," I said brightly as we reached the top of the slope. "Back to civilization." It was dark, with a gibbous moon hanging overhead and a few stars shining through the air above the city. It probably hadn't been too long that I was asleep then. Either that or I'd just managed to sleep for days and just woke up at the wrong time. Eh, not like it really mattered.

"Now where am I?" I mumbled, looking around to see if I recognized my surroundings at all. The buildings close to where I was looked abandoned, with crumbling signs and faded paint. Either that or the owners were just too poor to pay for repairs. Wandering over to a nearby building that might have been an office building at one point, I squinted to try and make out the faded words painted onto the door. "Kashiro's tax and bill," I read out loud. Nope, didn't recognize it. Well that just meant I was farther out than I usually went.

Stepping back I stretched my arms up into the air, letting out a deep groan as I felt something pop. "No sense standing around here," I said out loud. "Now which way to the closest restaurant?" I was in the mood for something to eat. I could always find Kioko and the rest later.

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

Not for the first time since the devils' return, I felt for the connection I used to have to Kado, now just a gaping hole where comforting warmth used to be. This was their fault too. Just like everything else. (He changed.)

Currently I was sitting on Kado's bed, the bed that I bought for him to stay in while he was practically comatose. The same bed that I had carefully taken care of my boyfriend in for days, feeding him and cleaning him. We were happy then, just us two without anyone else. (Even His family knew to stay out of the way.)

But then the Issei boy broke in and ruined all that. My hands clutched themselves into fists, clean sheets squeezed tightly between my fingers. After that Kado was more concerned with Rias and her stupid engagement than he was with me, even after how much I'd cared for him. (Ungrateful, but still whole.) Honestly, I wished that the red-haired witch had gotten married, instead of being rescued by her perverted pawn. Maybe then she would have been forced to let Kado go.

Either that or been strangled to death as a child. Then none of this would have happened, and Kado would be- (Beautiful…)

I forcefully ended that train of thought, tucking my knees into my chest and burying my face into my knees as if to block out the world. "Don't think about it, don't think about it," I muttered repeatedly, trying to avoid thinking of anything. He was alive. He was alive, that was all that mattered. All that mattered, even if he didn't-

Against my will an image of Kado's body, limp in Issei's grasp, rose to the surface of my mind. And most horrid, his soul was visible to the Sight and was painted a deep rotting black. A putrid mass that almost caused me to take a step back when I saw it. Kado's soul was… gone, leaving whatever that was in it's place. (Not dead, so much worse.)

Abandoning my huddled position and throwing myself to the side, I grabbed a pillow, the pillow that Kado had used for almost a week, and screamed into it. It was a scream of rage and fear, that I would never see my Kado again and that Rias would get everything she wanted. How could she be free and so happy when my boyfriend was on the verge of a fate worse than death? (She deserved to due, not Him.)

It was all I could do to prevent myself from killing the selfish girl when I saw her, making doe eyes at Issei and barely leaving his side. How could she be happy when Kado was in so much pain? (When I was in so much pain?)

So I took care of him myself, hiding him away where nobody would hurt or use him again. (Always safe, just me.) I'd take care of him myself and make sure that he recovered, that he would be able to live and smile again as himself, not the living corpse enslaved to an arrogant princess that he was right now. (He had changed. I would fix him.)

The scream tapered off into something that was more like a whine and I finally stopped to breath, pulling the pillow away from my face and rolling over so I was facing up at the ceiling above me. It was white and bland, with not a single decoration.

But Rias hadn't died, and she wasn't married off to a person even worse than she was, more the pity. So she would be coming for Kado. Someone that selfish, that greedy, would never be satisfied with letting him go. She would insist that Kado was hers and wouldn't ever stop. Kado would never be safe from her. (He was only safe with me.)

The only solution was to sever the connection. Cut the cancer out and leave it to rot, saving the remainder. From what I knew, Rias dying would label Kado as a stray devil, which would at least set him free. And it would even prevent Kado from ever returning to the supernatural.

Sitting up on the bed, my mood was significantly brighter as I started to imagine how this course of action would play out. If Rias died, the peerage would split up, getting rid of the last thing holding Kado here in this foolish town that couldn't appreciate him. We could go on the run, just us two. I could protect him, using runes and wards like I had been taught. Nothing was stopping me. (Not even Him.)

"Yeah, that'll work," I said out loud, slipping off the bed and looking around for my shoes. In half an hour, all my problems would be solved. It would just be me and Kado again, with nothing else to hurt him. (He would be mine again.)

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

Rias sighed, still clearly exhausted, and relaxed deeper into my side. Her posture looked incredibly uncomfortable, but the red-haired beauty had a look of pure bliss on her face. I was in bliss too, her large assets pressing against my chest with the softness of a thousand clouds.

I wanted to stay there forever, but some of the looks Koneko were giving me from across the room had me worried for my life. "Buchou?" I began softly, "Shouldn't you go sleep in a bed?" Kiba had created a sword and was miming slitting my throat with it, while Akeno tittered behind her hand, clearly amused at my predicament.

The girl leaning against me on the couch cracked open one eye and glared at me sluggishly. "Don't you dare, Ise-kun." Ise-kun? Since when did she call me something so intimate? "I'm comfortable where I am." She pouted up at me, still looking sleepy but with a definite teasing undertone. "Besides, don't you like me where I am?" As if to emphasize her words she leaned in even closer, intentionally pressing her breasts against me.

Gulping, I glanced at Kiba, now advancing on me with Light Eraser in his hand and a deadly look in his eye. "It's incredible," I answered honestly, "But you shouldn't be so casual around me. I might get the wrong idea."

My gaze was still fixed on the knight steadily moving towards me with murder in his face. Akeno and Koneko weren't doing anything either, happy to stand back and watch me suffer. Asia was the only one who seemed upset, watching the proceedings with a pout on her face, arms folded and her eyes fixed on Rias.

"So you like it then," Rias said, matter-of-factly.

"Well yes, but-"

"Then I don't see any reason why I should stop," Rias said as if that ended the discussion. And I would be happy to let her stay that way, but I was pretty sure that my king's body pillow would be dead in a few moments judging by the look on Kiba's face and the fact that he had two Light Eraser's in his hands now.

"But it's late and you should rest," I protested weakly, fighting to keep my hands raised away from my body instead of descending down upon the girl. "And you just got away from the engagement, so you-" a piercing pain came from my left eye, like one of Koneko's eye jabs but a thousand times worse. I instinctively brought a hand down to cradle the eye socket, hissing at the sudden pain.

A second later a soft hand encircled my own. "Let me see it," Rias said gently, carefully prying away my defensive hand. I obligingly opened the eye, wincing again as the light sent a second shock of pain through the delicate organ.

Rias was in front of me, no longer looking teasing as she seriously investigated the eye, lightly pressing a hand to it before a soothing feeling began to radiate from her hand. I sighed in relief as the pain finally faded. "Thank you, Buchou."

The president nodded but didn't pull back just yet, her smooth hand lightly circling my eye with a distant expression on her face as her gaze was fixed on my eye. I averted my face, looking away and closing the eye again with an ashamed expression on my face. "Sorry, Buchou," I muttered. She probably thought I was ugly now, ruined with that thing in my face.

Soft hands found my cheeks again and my face was forced up to meet Rias' understanding blue eyes. "Don't apologize, Ise-kun. You got that eye protecting me, so don't ever be ashamed of it. Be proud of your sacrifice, since it shows how much of a good person you are." This time when I averted my face it was flushed with embarrassment, not shame.

"Sorry, partner." A voice spoke from my mind, faint pulsing from my left arm proving that it was Ddraig talking to me. "I'm still getting adjusted to having a real eye again. It'll hurt for another day or two, but it should settle down after that."

"Thanks, Ddraig," I said out loud, causing Rias to lean back slightly with a disconcerted look on her face. "Ah, sorry," I apologized, returning to where I was. "What were you… saying…"

Unluckily for me, returning to the present also meant that I had to acknowledge the grumpy knight standing in front of me with two swords drawn. Across the room I could see Asia struggling in Akeno's arms, the queen still fufufu-ing through all this. "Any last words?" Kiba asked brightly, his usual ramrod straight smile fixed on his face.

"Mercy?"

One sword slowly raised above Kiba's head, the boy's smile unchanged. "Denied."

The door opened slowly and Kioko entered the clubroom, pausing on the threshold with one eyebrow raised, perusing the room. "And this is?" She asked out loud, eying Akeno still laughing while restraining Asia, Koneko eating candy like she was watching a movie and Kiba looking like he was about to kill me.

I laughed sheepishly, lowering my arms slowly from shielding my face. "Well… It's a long story?" I really didn't want to have to explain to my friend's girlfriend that Kiba was about to kill me for perving on my club president. When that didn't seem to dissuade the girl any, I attempted to change the subject. "So, why are you here?"

Last time I had seen her, she had grabbed Kado's body from my arms, screamed something about how we'd killed him, and rushed out of the room without looking back. She seemed like she'd calmed down by now though. I did hope that Kado was alright, but Kioko seemed oddly… possessive of the boy.

Kioko laughed with just a hint of stiffness in her tone, making her way to the same couch I was on and planting herself on the opposite side of Rias, slumping down in a way that seemed too casual for the girl. "I just thought that I'd come back and see how you were doing. You did lose an eye beating Riser, right?"

My eye reflexively rose up to touch the eye in question, but I forcefully lowered it back down. "Yeah, I did," I said morosely. I hadn't exactly lost it, the eye was still right where I left it, the eye just… wasn't mine anymore. I'd sacrificed it to Ddraig while fighting Riser to get a huge burst of power for a split instant, one punch overloading Riser's regeneration and forcing the boy to be carried off for medical attention by his parents.

And the cost for victory was my eye. I couldn't see out of it anymore, though I still had good depth perception, another perk of being a devil. It wasn't that different now, just that I couldn't wink without accidentally blinking. In a few days, Ddraig would be able to see out of his new eye, but for now it was useless to both of us. But what stood out most was the eye's new appearance. It was gold, fading to red at the outside of the iris, with a slit pupil that was bright green and vertically traversed the entire eye. It looked wholly alien and would forever be proof of what I had given up.

"Well you seem to be fine now," Kioko said brightly, not noticed the slightly dour attitude in the room. "After all, you're getting all cozy with your rescued princess right in front of me." Realizing that Rias was still pressed into my side I tried to stammer out an excuse while slightly scooting away from Rias, hoping that would end it.

Rias was having no part of that though, scooting right after me and making sure that she was still attached to me like a wet t-shirt. This wasn't a problem for me, but Kiba had started to smile again and one sword was slowly beginning to raise into the air again, a dangerous glint in the knight's eye.

"And what about you, Rias?" Kioko asked, still oblivious to the developing situation happening right under her nose. "Not three hours ago and you were going to be married to someone who didn't care about you at all. Now you're so close to your pawn that you won't even leave his side for an instant?"

That comment caused Rias to blush, but the president rallied admirably, sitting up slightly straighter and nodding back with a straight face. "Yes, it was a stressful situation, but I had faith that the peerage would work together to rescue me."

Kioko clapped her hands in admiration, her hands wide in awe. "Really, that is very impressive. How were you able to keep hope up despite your awful situation?" It almost seemed like there was a hint of bitterness in her voice, despite the honest look in her eyes. Was there something going on here that I wasn't noticing.

"And you believed in your entire peerage? But wasn't Issei-san here the only one that actually fought for you? Isn't that why you're sticking so close to him?" Her comments were casual, but it seemed like the entire room was hanging on her words for some reason.

Rias cleared her throat, seemingly caught off guard by the question but responding with a grace and poise that seemed so characteristic of her. "Well yes, but the rest were there to support me and I know that they were just as willing to fight for my freedom as Ise-kun was." Her grace was slightly ruined by collapsing back into my side once her sentence was finished.

The blonde human seemed to accept that, nodding with a genial smile. "Yes, and it is good that the peerage is all here to celebrate your freedom with you."

The girl nestled into my side looked uncomfortable at that statement, and I was too. Kado was part of the peerage as well, so why was his own girlfriend discounting him like that. Rias never got the chance to speak though, since Kioko wasn't finished yet. "The entire peerage but Kado, that is," the girl finished with a stiff smile.

I relaxed, leaning back in the seat at that. It would have been really awkward if I had to remind Kioko of her own boyfriend's existence. Although, was it just me or did that phrasing seem oddly hostile? Still, this was the perfect opportunity to ask about Kado since his own girlfriend had brought it up in the first place. "By the way, how is Kado doing," I asked as nonchalantly as I could, keeping my eye on Kioko just in case she seemed to get upset at the question.

Kioko shrugged as if the question or her boyfriend's state didn't bother her at all. "Oh, he's doing fine. Same as before, really. Hard to see much improvement when your soul is gone, after all."

My gaze was frozen on Kioko's uncaring smile, still leaning back on the couch. "That's… that's a joke, right? Right, Kioko-san?" Rias had sat up by my side with a look of horror on her face. The rest of the room had gone eerily quiet, every member of the peerage entranced by this one human female.

The girl hummed lightly before responding. "Nope. Not at all. So I'm just going to do whatever I can to protect him while he can't do it himself." Well that sounded like a promising statement, but why did it send shivers up my spine?

"Even… the things he won't do," Kioko said, her head turning slightly. A lock of hair fell in front of her face, cutting through the suddenly blood-red eye staring back at me. "And since Riser lost, this is my only option."

My devil instincts blared with panic and I instantly grabbed Rias by her shoulders and pulled her with me as I fell backwards off the couch. Rias barely dodged Kioko's grasping fingers as they missed the back of her' shirt by bare millimeters before the human had to pull back to avoid losing her arm to Kiba's blade.

There was stillness for a moment, Rias lying on top of me on the floor while Kiba had his second blade pointed at Kioko's throat, his first one buried in a cushion that his swing had punctured. Behind us I could hear thumping and some kind of rustling, presumably the other members of the peerage preparing for combat.

Amid all this, Kioko seemed perfectly calm, still sitting on the couch with a steady expression, alien red eyes staring out at us from her familiar face. The girl heaved out a sigh, clearly disappointed. "And this could have been so easy…" Kioko glanced down and caught my eye, a disappointed look in her burning gaze. "Couldn't you just let me kill her?"

I didn't know why she was trying to kill Rias, and I didn't care. I was going to protect my king no matter what this would-be assassin tried. I couldn't move, Rias still on top of me, but I glared back with as much determination as I could. "That's never going to happen."

Kioko sighed again, a tone of sincere regret in her tone. "A pity." Something tensed in the girl and Kiba reacted instantly, his blade stabbing down towards her throat while he let go of the one embedded into the couch, freeing up a hand.

Kiba's attack was instantly deflected as a knee came up inhumanly fast, redirecting the arm so it skimmed past Kioko's shoulder as an elbow came in for a punishing blow on Kiba's nose, throwing his head back.

I didn't stick around to see more than that, hoisting myself and a shocked Rias to our feet and running for the door. I passed by Akeno with magic already in hand and waiting for an opportunity and Koneko with her pink cat gloves strapped on, the two stepping in behind me to block Kioko's path, a sign of support. Asia seemed conflicted but eventually ran after us as well, knowing that she would be virtually useless in combat.

As I ran down the corridor towards the stairs, I called out to Ddraig. "Ddraig, can I use the boosted gear yet?" The response was instantaneous, with sincere concern in the tone. "It's still down for the count, partner. You overloaded it earlier and it won't be able to do much of anything for another few days." I cursed out loud and pushed myself to run faster, still dragging Rias behind me.

Stampeding down the stairs I pushed through the front doors and ran another ten meters before deciding it was probably safe enough now, slowing to a stop and looking behind me. The old school building looked normal from here, with no external signs that there was a crazed killer on the rampage inside.

"Ise-kun?" Rias said softly from behind me. "You can let go of my hand now." Looking back I saw that Rias still seemed shaken from her near brush with… whatever Kioko was going to do to her, but her eyes were stern and determined. Buchou was back.

I nodded, letting go without a word and turning back to the building in front of us, eyes scanning the windows for any sign of combat. Asia pulled up by my side, her face flushed and eyes wide. "Why did Kioko-senpai attack Rias-senpai like that?" the ex-nun asked, her voice tinged with fear.

All I could do was shake my head. "I don't know, Asia-chan." Why were her eyes red now as well? Could there be something wrong with her? Was she being controlled somehow? I spoke my thoughts out loud, still on half-focused. "Could this be a last-ditch revenge from Riser?"

Rias stepped up by my side, her gaze focused once more and ready to take charge. "Doubtful. The Phenex clan doesn't have a particular skill with any kind of mind-bending or possession techniques. Though there are many other groups that would have reason to send an assassin against a member of the seventy-two pillars."

"What's this about an assassin?" A sharp voice asked from behind us.

I recognized that voice from the few times we'd interacted before and while normally I would run the other way, she was welcome reinforcements right now. "Sona-kaichou!" I turned and gave the sharpest salute I could, straightening my back and fixing my gaze on a point just above the student council president's left shoulder. Behind her menacing form, I could see the other members of the student council as well, a few carrying wrapped packages in their hands.

"Sona!" Rias called out in surprise from next to my shoulder. "Incredible timing! Something happened and Horikawa Kioko is attempting to kill me. We suspect that she is-"

What she said next was drowned out by the sound of shattering glass, the entire group whirling to see that a window on the second floor had broken and a familiar knight had just exited out through it, the sword in his grasp coming free partway down and spinning freely in the air.

I dashed forward as soon as I caught sight of the body, pushing myself to cross the distance in time. "Kiba!" But even with devil strength I couldn't make it in time, the blonde boy hitting the ground moments before I fell on my knees, skidding to a stop next to the boy.

Kiba was always the one who looked composed, with a smile and a casual grace that made him the "Prince of Kuoh Academy" to the girls and the "Blasted Casanova" to the boys. But now that handsome face was ruined, blood leaking from Kiba's forehead and broken nose, the boy's eyes closed in unconsciousness.

A crunching sound rang out from a few steps away and I whirled around, seeing Horikawa Kioko standing up from a crouched position as she brushed dust off her knees. "How could you?" I accused. "Why would you hurt him like this!" Sure Kiba was my official nemesis, but he wasn't that bad of a guy and he really didn't deserve to be hurt this badly. Not that I would argue to his face getting messed up a bit, but this was going too far!

Kioko raised one delicate eyebrow as she tucked some hair that had fallen out of her usual ponytail back into place. "He was in my way." With a sudden shock I realized that the girl honestly didn't care. The kind girl that was always worrying about Kado and never getting too far away from the boy was gone, leaving this cold automaton in her place. This wasn't Kioko anymore.

My knees were shaking but I forced myself to my feet, positioning myself between Kiba and his attacker with my hands raised in front of me. "I won't let you hurt him anymore." My hands were quivering, knowing that this girl could probably take me to pieces in seconds, but my voice was steady. Kiba might not be a friend, but he was a part of the peerage and I wouldn't let this merciless killer finish what she started.

Said merciless killer gave me an odd look before turning around to face the opposite direction from where I was. "You don't have to worry about that. He's not my target, and he's not interfering any further." With a chill I realized that her gaze was pointed towards where Rias had been standing previously.

"I won't let you harm Buchou either." Akeno descended from above on devil wings, an angry look on her face and arcs of lightning buzzing around her arms. Koneko was close behind her, dropping to the ground without wings, landing in a simple crouch and standing up.

"Rias tells me that you are not in your right mind," Sona said, advancing forward and adjusting her glasses so that they shined opaquely in the moonlight. "But that does not mean that we will allow you to harm anyone here." Around the president were her peerage, spread out in a wide formation with weapons held in their hands and steely gazes.

Kioko turned to take in the scene, her head tilting to the side slightly as a smile flickered around the corner of her mouth. "You seem to be under two misconceptions." She raised a finger, placing her other hand on her hip. "First, I am not being controlled in any way, this is justice for what sins Rias has committed against me." Her second finger rose to join the first, a genuine smirk crossing the girl's face. "Second, what makes you think that you can stop me?"

I whirled, my eyes instinctively finding Rias in the crowd of devils, a ball of destruction in her hands and a fierce look in her eyes. "Get back!" I yelled, knowing that I couldn't make it in time.

In what seemed like slow motion, Rias turned to face me with a question in her eyes as in front of her, Horikawa Kioko materialized from the air, drawing together from nothing in less than an instant. The attacker had a smirk on her face and her arm was outstretched towards Rias' chest, red eyes glowing in the night.

Then Koneko was there, the only one who had trusted my warning and moved instantly, leaping in front of Rias and crossing her arms in front of her body to block the blow. The outstretched hand and defending arms touched… and nothing happened.

Koneko landed on the ground, stunned at nothing happening, while Rias stumbled back, eyes wide from yet another close brush with her attacker. Kioko blinked, looking from her hand to the small white-haired girl and back again with a look of indecision on her face.

Was… was that it? For a moment I was expected Kioko to break out in laughter and say that it was all a practical joke, that she wouldn't really try to kill my king or her schoolmate. Both peerages were frozen in place, stunned that nothing had happened after all.

After that moment of pause Kioko shrugged, as if she didn't care, and remarked "You really shouldn't have stolen his candy." Then her hand zipped forward, moving faster than the small girl could react and resting lightly on the rook's head.

Those red alien eyes flashed brighter for an instant and Koneko fell to the ground like a puppet with it's strings cut, eyes rolled back into her head and with no sign of resistance whatsoever.

"Koneko-chan!" I was yelling before I realized it, in shock, horror, or possibly even fear. What had she done to the girl? It was barely even a touch! As if that was the trigger that shocked the remaining fighters into motion, a barrage of lightning, ice spears, water orbs, and Rias' ball of destruction crashed into the ground where Kioko had been standing a moment before. This forced the girl to leap backwards to dodge the attacks and also landed her back in the circle of devils, hopefully where we would be able to keep her pinned.

Rias stepped forward from where she had recoiled, a furious look in her eyes and another orb of destruction already whirling in her palm. "Everyone, attack!" Over half the gathered devils were of a different peerage, but nobody argued, close-ranged fighters dashing in to attack as a group while the magic users stayed on the outside where they could launch their spells without fear.

Asia and a girl from Sona's peerage with brown braids in her hair dropped next to Koneko's body and started using healing spells. Even with all the confusion I could still see Asia's small shoulders shaking as the familiar glow green suffused her hands.

I felt a moment of hope that this could all end before anyone else got hurt before it was ruthlessly crushed beneath the weight of reality. No matter what the fighters did, they couldn't even touch the murderous girl. Even without a weapon, the blonde human either dodged or deflected each strike with casual ease.

"Rragh! Why won't you just die already!" One girl with red hair and a katana yelled in frustration, bringing her blade around in a wide arc meant to bisect Kioko.

Without even a moment's hesitation, Kioko sidestepped the lunge of a naginata, one hand grasping the haft and yanking the large curved blade into the path of the thin sword and nullifying both attacks at the same time that she ducked low to avoid a high kick by a blue-haired member of Sona's peerage.

As the barrage of attacks continued with the occasional bolt of lightning added to the mix or a change in formation as barked out by Sona, all I could do was hang back by Kiba, watching the battle with a slight sense of awe and wishing I could help. I could beat an immortal Phenex, but I couldn't even help when my friends were being attacked?

"Hey Issei, what's going on?" A dispassionate voice rang out from behind me, barely audible over the clashing of metal and grunts of exertion coming from the battle going on before me.

I managed to tear my attention away from the combat and turned to the figure behind me who was just standing there with a bemused look on his face, hands tucked into the pockets of blue jeans. "K-Kado-san?"

At my exclamation, the battle in front of my paused, although not by the choice of most of the participants. Kioko had grabbed either the haft or the blade of most weapons and was blocking one kick with her own leg, a look of desperation on her face. "Kado-kun?"

The black-haired boy blinked before raising his hand in a lazy manner that seemed radically opposed to what would be expected out of him in this situation. "Yo."

S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S~~~S

Hand in my pocket and a beef bowl digesting in my stomach, I took in the situation in front of me. Right now it looked like my girlfriend was being attacked by the student council and Rias' peerage at the same time. And was actually holding them off, too. Huh, didn't think she had it in her, honestly. Good for her, I suppose.

Just a short way in front of me stood Issei with a lost look on his face, standing over Kiba's unconscious body, blood running down the pretty boy's face and staining his blonde hair red. (Red on gold.)

I tilted my head to the side slightly, taking a closer look. No, the shade really was different. Huh, wonder why this would bring back memories like that when the two really didn't look similar at all. For one, Ravel was much cuter than Kiba.

Past the mayhem of combat that Kioko was wrapped up in, I could also see Rias and Sona standing side by side and directing the combat. I guess they probably wouldn't be able to fight up close since they were more used to magic and leading from a distance. Still seemed kind of arrogant though, not doing any work.

As I watched though, Sona raised her hand and a stream of water coalesced into a whip, before darting forward and attempting to wrap around Kioko's legs. The attack's short life ended abruptly as Kioko crushed it with a single hand, the magic falling apart and the water achieving nothing but getting the ground wet. At least she had tried though.

Moving my gaze slightly farther past the duo, I finally found the last members of Rias' peerage. Asia was kneeling over a still form with white hair next to Reya from Sona's peerage. They both seemed like they were trying to heal Koneko, but even from here I could see that Koneko's eyes were dull and her chest wasn't rising or falling anymore.

I was surprisingly okay with that. She hadn't really done much besides hit me and take my food anyway.

And I was absolutely horrified by that. I couldn't feel emotions, but I could still remember that my reaction was wrong in a way that nothing else could be. I was wrong. I shouldn't exist. And yet I didn't feel the usual soul-crushing guilt that I remembered usually accompanied this kind of event. It was… surprisingly freeing. Still, I should probably do something about this.

Right now though, I wanted to know why everyone was trying to kill Kioko, and why she had apparently killed Koneko. Really, a guy blacks out for a few hours and the whole world falls into Tartarus. I called out to Issei, raising my voice just slightly so he could hear me. "Hey Issei, what's going on?"

At the sound of my voice, Issei whirled around, his eyes wide and frightened. "K-Kado-san?" He almost squeaked. It was actually kind of funny.

At the same time that he called out my name, the battle in front of me came to a halt, Kioko grabbing or blocking all the weapons in a second, her red eyes whipping around to face me. "Kado-kun?" I idly noted that the katana was drawing blood and that the blocked leg was probably going to leave a nasty bruise. At least she'd managed to grab the long spear-thing by the handle.

What seemed most interesting though was the sheer desperation on Kioko's face, mixed with joy, surprise, relief, and a healthy dose of pure disgust. Well that was odd. And what was up with the red eyes? They seemed to be glowing so they probably weren't contacts. Maybe something with her Druid powers that she didn't tell me about. That seemed most likely, after all.

Lazily pulling the hand out of my pocket, I gave a casual wave to show that I acknowledged her. "Yo." That wasn't too different from normal, right? Nope, looking back I would have reacted way differently before… whatever happened. Ah well, too late to go back and try to fake it now. Too much effort as well.

The slight moment of pure confusion was broken by Kioko taking a bolt of lightning to the back of the head, causing my girlfriend to growl and release the weapons she was holding to cradle the back of her head. The battle recommenced almost instantly, with a fist arcing towards Kioko's stomach and a thin rope of water attempting to catch her hand.

Well I certainly wasn't going to get any answers like this. "Oi, quit fighting for a second and tell me what's happening." My voice didn't rise over the sound of battle though and Issei was the only one who actually heard me, although he still seemed too stunned to give a proper response.

Sighing, I asked Kyoko out loud "I don't suppose you'd help?" Again, I got a faint sense of annoyance before something stirred in the force and an oppressive feeling spread out from me in every direction like a slow fog, enough power behind the aura that the grass at my feet withered and died.

It worked though, the battle coming to an immediate halt as everyone's attention was brought to me like a child to the promise of cookies. I even had to duck a small orb of red and black magic that exploded behind me as Rias got a little too trigger-happy at the sudden sensation.

"Now that's more like it," I muttered as I felt the power retreat back into me, the force going inert again. "Now that you're all paying attention," I said louder so each of the gathered persons could hear me, "What happened here? Why are you all trying to kill each other?" I resisted the urge to point to Koneko and add "and succeeding in some cases," but it was a close thing.

There was a moment of hesitance before at least three people tried to talk at once. Kioko sounded pleading but worried, Issei was frantic, Rias was slightly afraid and more than a little angry, while Sona was shaken but still the most collected person out of all of them. Still, I could barely make out any words when they were all jumbled together like this.

I clapped my left hand on my right arm a few times, bringing the clamor to a halt either out of understanding or out of fear of the aura. Really, I needed to get a hand on using that thing more if it made this much of an impression. Out loud though, I directed my speech to Issei. "Right, that isn't helping. Issei, just you talk. Why are you all trying to kill Kioko?"

The response was much clearer this time, Issei understandably angry but holding it back. "She tried to kill Rias! She hurt Kiba and Koneko!" Ah, so he didn't know that Koneko was dead yet. Asia might though, judging by how distraught she seemed kneeling above the body.

Motioning for Issei to calm down, I turned to Kioko and asked her, "And what about you? Why are you attacking Rias?"

Kioko seemed almost hesitant to look me in the eye, instead studying the ground or her hand. "She keeps using you and then throwing you away as though you did nothing!" While her posture seemed nervous, her words were anything but. "Each time, you got hurt worse and worse! This time you came back and your soul was entirely gone! All you have now is that black stuff, like rotting tar. This was the only way to free you, so you could be safe again."

Huh. So my soul was gone then? That actually explained a lot. I basically had an idea of what was happening, but I seemed to be in control here and I had one last question I wanted answered. This time I pointed directly to Rias. "Tell me, why did you lie and manipulate me into killing someone when you knew how averse I was to any kind of death?" She had seen how I protected the stray devil, and yet she still wanted me to fight and kill. I had to wonder why, even if I didn't care as much now.

Rias drew herself up until she was standing tall, looking the perfect picture of an aristocrat if you ignored her messy hair or school uniform. "I had no way of knowing that you would actually manage to kill an opponent, much less an important piece like Ravel Phenex. I simply wanted you to fight at your full potential when something so important as my-"

Sighing, I cut her off, talking over the top of the red-haired devil. "So in summary, you decided that your selfish desires were more important than my selfish desires and so abused your power over me and mind controlled me into doing your dirty work for you."

My statement drew more than a few suspicious glances from the surrounding devils, most chiefly Sona and Tsubaki, although they still looked at me with a wary eye. Something that almost saddened me though, or at least felt like I ought to feel sad, was the way that Issei immediately looked down at the ground in shame and Akeno hunched over slightly defensively. So they had known as well then. I'd had my suspicions, but it was… nice to have them confirmed.

"Right then," I said, stepping forward and passing by Issei and Momo on my way to Kioko. "I think I've made my decision." Not a soul moved to stop me, although quite a few readied their weapons. Whether it was from fear of what I might do or confusion at what was happening, I didn't really know. Or care, honestly. It just made my job easier.

As I passed by the unconscious form of Kiba and the still-stunned Issei, I casually leaned down and picked up a sword dug into the ground next to the duo. It looked like one of Kiba's possibly left manifested when he became unconscious. All the better for me, to be honest.

Coming to a stop on Kioko's right side I caught her blood-red eyes and gave her a faint nod before turning to face the rest of the gathered peerages. They all had betrayed looks with the exception of Asia, still too caught up in her grief, and Sona, who simply had a look of pure disappointment. Squaring my stance I hefted the blade up in front of me, giving a smirk. "Really? What did you expect?"

I wasn't Kai Kado anymore. Kai Kado cared about his friends, he loved his girlfriend and family, and he wouldn't take sides like this. Kai Kado hated death of any kind and would protect strangers with his life. Kai Kado would give or sacrifice whatever it took to reach his own twisted ideal of "justice."

I wasn't Kai Kado.

But maybe I could be, one last time. As much as the broken puppet of a broken man could be.

With a flex of my wrist the short sword held in my grasp spun into a reverse grip, the pommel pulled back to my right shoulder. Without turning I swept the blade out and to the side, continuing the movement until I felt resistance. I kept pushing, the shadowy feeling slipping into my muscles to push farther with more force. Eventually the sword stopped, the western-styled handguard preventing the sword from going any farther.

Releasing the grip of the sword, the artificially created leather clammy from my sweat, I took a step back and turned to see my work. Kioko stood there with a shocked look on her face, a sword buried through her left breast and poking through her back, blood dripping from the exposed tip.

As I watched, Kioko's hand slowly reached up to feel the sword that had pierced her heart, her hand pawing at the handle for a time, unable to correctly work the muscles to grasp it. She wobbled, her footing unsteady, and I stepped forward to steady her. Her head turned slowly, and I looked into her eyes, rapidly switching between red and green like a faulty traffic light as blood slowly seeped from the corner of her mouth.

Kioko looked up at me with a blank expression for a time, before a glimmer of recognition came to her eyes and a faint smile pulled at the corner of her lips as her eyes eventually settled on a dull fading green. "You know," she whispered, coughing wetly as she tried to breath, "There's nobody else I would rather have kill me."

Her eyes faded, growing dark as her chest sank once more before stilling. Blood seeped out of the wound on her chest, dying my white t-shirt a deep red. I stared silently down at the dead girl, the one that I had killed. Maybe I had hoped that I would feel something. Regret, guilt, something. But I was just blank, the same as before.

"K-Kado?" Issei's stuttering voice broke the silence. I didn't bother looking up, still enraptured with the still face in front of me. Inside me I could feel the force stirring, almost like it was wriggling with excitement. This was what it wanted. What was it's end goal? Murder? Destruction? What was I now?

"Kado-san?" a somber Rias inquired. I ignored her again, instead slowly lowering Kioko's body to the ground, laying her down as softly as I could. Once that was done, I straightened back up to my feet and looked at the gathered devils.

Rias looked dismayed but I could see a glint in her eye. This was an enemy vanquished to her, and proof that I was on her side. As my gaze ranged from face to face I was met by either shock, fear, or horror. My searching look finally ended on Sona's face. Instead of the various forms of surprise that seemed to be on the remainder of the devils, her deep gray eyes were filled with pity.

As if that helped anything. Stretching lightly, I held the sword out in front of me, switching it back to a standard grip with another flick of my wrist. Just one last thing to do. I didn't know how much control the force had over me, but here was to hoping it wasn't nearly as much as I feared.

Giving a bland smile, I loudly announced "For any of you who are squeamish, this is the perfect time to find something else to do." Without waiting to see if any of them actually listened I swung the blade around once more, bringing it around in a small circle with as much speed as I could.

The blood-stained metal tip arced around at eye level, coming closer and closer until it dipped below my vision and I could feel a burning stinging aching pain from the right side of my neck as the sword bit into flesh.

The force inside of me flailed in something akin to panic, freezing my limb as fast as it could even as I could feel the shadow leaking out through my neck and fighting to seal the deep cut. But by now the sword was halfway through my neck, and though it wouldn't go farther I was sure that was enough.

Never losing the bland smile I made eye contact with Rias and as one last action of defiance, waved my stump in the air like I was saying goodbye before my body collapsed to the cold ground. It wasn't really her fault, but something in me couldn't help but make one last dig at the girl.

Goodbye.

End AN: Part 1 Fin.

I've honestly had this in my head for months now, and I seriously cried when I first realized how this was going to end. I feel like I didn't get all the emotions I wanted to out on the page properly, but I guess I still had it easy. I hope that if you guys didn't cry like I did, you at least felt something. (Unlike Kado, poor guy. I really just can't leave him alone.)

And to lay this out there, this fic is temporarily complete. The story is not ended and I have way more ideas for this messed up universe that I created, but I have other fics to write and I'm moving for college and summer stuff in two days, so I need a bit of a break. I don't know when I'll come back to this, and I honestly can't promise that I will. That's why I pushed so hard to finish this now, so there is at least some kind of closure for you guys.

As for stuff that actually happens in this chapter, I finally feel like I can share some of the stuff I've been selfishly adding to the background to you readers. When thinking about the devil magic and how it relates to desire, I almost instantly connected it to the Great Red. Devil power comes from the Great Red and his jurisdiction over desires and dreams. And where does the Great Red get his power from? In my insane head-canon, from humans.

Devils are humans desires.

Angels are their ideals.

Fallen Angels are their cynicism and jaded beliefs. Broken ideals.

Other pantheons are created by humans beliefs as well, their guesses as to what caused the weather and other phenomenons of the world.

There's a bit more stuff I made up as well, but those are the main bits.

And so if Great Red handles the devil part of things, it probably isn't too hard to figure out what the black not-devil stuff is...

Again, in my head-canon Rias cares for her peerage. She really does and doesn't want to see them hurt or dead. But she's also a pure-blooded, devil, a noble, and has a brother who would be perfectly happy to spoil her. She's used to getting what she wants and while she did leave that lifestyle to live a simpler one on Earth she still has a hard time letting go of some of those old habits.

Ah, and about Koneko. Yeah, that had been planned for a while, part of why I had Koneko mess with Kado so much. For Koneko she was taking from the weakest member and she got free stuff. For Kioko, she was hurting and stealing from her boyfriend.

Speaking of Kioko... at the end, she really wasn't rational. Kado was hurting and she was hurting. She'd seen him get hurt again and again and felt him pulling more and more away from her each time. Her thought process seemed rational on the surface, but honestly going from jealousy and worry to murder in a few minutes is a bit more than a simple leap of logic. And underneath it all, I don't think that she really did ever let go of her attempted suicide.

Keep in mind that from the beginning, I knew that this wasn't going to be a romance, it was going to be a tragedy.

Small note, Kiba's alive, he was just unconscious from the fall.

I don't want to drag this on for too long, but if you have any further questions then drop me a PM or a review and I'll usually try to get back to you within a week.

See you next time.