"God, this is hopeless…"

Maya, lying in bed alone for the first time in nearly a year, must have run through every possible scenario in her head on how she could pull Ritsuko away from Shinji. Not a single scenario seemed at all plausible.

"He's too powerful."

She always knew her Sempai was addicted to power. And now Shinji had so much of it, it was everything Ritsuko could ever desire. What did she have? Her intelligence and her programming skills. While knowledge is power, even Shinji it seemed had more… at least more of what Ritsuko was now craving as far as knowledge goes.

"Why did she have to experiment with the mystical arts?"

Maya sat up. She was wearing only a pair of panties and A large t-shirt to bed, as was her custom. Without Ritsuko, her bed was cold, forcing her to add another comforter to it. Even this seemed of little help. Upstairs she heard creaking and listened carefully. They were at it again, she realized, and instantly regret listening so closely.

"This makes at least four times since this afternoon. We only managed that once…"

What was this power he had over her… what did it entail… but more importantly she wondered…

"What is it going to take to get my Sempai back?"


V: Steel and Soul


Asuka watched as the SUV approached them. Here, outside of Tokyo-4, barely within sight of the construction grounds of the vast fortress Hir'el was crafting, the rest of Shinji's Harem awaited the arrival of their master. Hikari stood next to her on her right with Mari standing at her left. Behind them, Misato sat upon a rock holding her wings over her shoulders in their cape form, and Rei stood next to her, holding one of her arms behind her as was her custom, her own wings at a neutral position.

The SUV came to a dead stop and three of the doors opened. Ritsuko got out of the passenger side as Shinji hopped out of the driver seat. Both of Ritsuko's more combat oriented Innocent Devils left the vehicle from the third door as Ari took her seat on Ritsuko's shoulder.

"You've been busy," Asuka noted, as she examined the Innocent Devils.

"This is Ari," Ritsuko replied, pointing out the fairy like Innocent Devil that was now taking wing on her own. "The blade fiend is Daisho, and the wolf-beast is Fenris."

"Was also referring to your armor and weapons array," Asuka noted. "Never knew you to wear anything more protective than a lab coat."

"Those days are long gone," the doctor replied. "I walk a very different path now."

"And I see you've joined us in other ways," Asuka noted.

Ritsuko gaped a moment before blushing slightly. "You can tell that just by looking at me?"

"Of course, I can," Asuka noted. "I'm the Head Mistress, though I prefer the term, Head Bitch."

Ritsuko chuckled. "I supposed you like the idea of being in command of me for a change."

"Never thought of it like that, but yeah… it's a fun thought."

"What's the situation?" Shinji asked as he summoned Flying Armor to shadow him.

Misato hopped off the stone and walked forward. "We've done our best to slow construction down," she explained. "But despite our best efforts, I believe the fortress to be at least 40 percent completed. The JSSDF has started to bring out their big guns but those are well outside the area of Tokyo-4. They have been surprisingly effective against the smaller Mechangel groups that have been going further afield for materials."

"Good," Shinji noted. "The JSSDF might only be assisting on a technicality, but at least it's something."

"The amount of destroyed ground will make it much easier for me to get around at least," Hikari noted.

"Very good," Shinji replied. "You and Mari are on standby. If the situation starts to turn south during the combat, you know what to do."

"We'll get any injured out," Mari confirmed. "I might not be the best suited to deal with Hir'el but I should be able to hold my own against the Mechangels and ensure a clean escape."

"My thinking exactly," Shinji replied. "Misato, I want you and Rei to try to give us as much air support and early warning as possible. The two of you should be able to make quick work of smaller groups and keep the larger at bay long enough for us to 'pivot' our forces."

"Roger," Misato and Rei replied as one.

"That leaves me, Asuka and Ritsuko for direct assault."

"Ari can keep us aware and quickly heal any minor injuries," Ritsuko offered. "Daisho and Fenris will support us directly. Fenris can react to any groups trying to interfere with us attacking Hir'el."

"Actually, I want both of your combat ID's on any reinforcements that join the fight."

"Got it."

"Alright then… everyone knows what they need to do." The girls nodded. "I'm not going to lie, this is likely to be one of the toughest engagements we've faced so far. But if we fail here, we may not get another shot at taking down this angel before he is able to pull in reinforcements from on high. Let's get this right the first time."


Stacks of various shiny ingots sat on the massive ornate workbench in front of Hir'el, while it also served as his altar, it was now home to the most important project of his life. The fortress was mostly a patchwork of various defensive bulwarks, and much of it was still opened to the elements, but he had a more important task ahead of him. A pure crystal sphere he created, nearly the size of a beach ball sat in an ornate, three-pronged stand, and would serve as the center piece for the artifact to be created. It would take time to finish, but he had what he needed now. Somewhere below him in the dungeons of the fortress were many captives, hundreds of them. Humans who would be sacrificed to jumpstart the artifact, that would cause its own version of Third Impact and steal the souls of every mortal in the world, by stripping them of their AT Fields and drawing the essence into itself. Divine Forgecraft at its finest.

One of his machina, a huge ten-winged model entered the altar room where the work was commencing.

"Intruders have breached the outer defensive perimeter", It stated in a mechanical monotone.

"Damn it," Hir'el growled. "It must be Dracula and his whores. Converge all available soldiers on their position! Destroy them utterly!"

"By your command."

Hir'el started melting down the electrum ingots. "This can't be rushed. I can only hope my machines are up to the task."


Shinji rushed forward, a sweep of his flaming sword destroying two mechangels in a single swipe as his celerity carried him forward. Asuka, able to chain her dash technique attacked with a pair of swords of her own, occasionally switching to throwing axes to push back enemies trying to slow them down. Ritsuko rode on the back of Fenris, now even larger than before thanks to Ritsuko's magic, and struck down target after target with Mourneblade as she rode. Above them, Rei rained flaming arrows on reinforcements while Misato used her weaponized wings to plow through multiple targets in midair. Diasho she noted below made a mockery out of other mechangels as they tried to intervene, with his four blade tipped additional arms lashing faster than the eye could follow. Ari flew at top speed next to Ritsuko but stayed out of the way of her slashing strikes as her mistress continued to fend off attackers.

Soon they came upon the main doors of the fortress. Even these were not completed yet, and the three warriors were able to enter without difficulty. A massive mechangel with five sets of wings, blocked their path, welding a massive flaming sword. Numerous other mechangels flew in from around it.

"This must be Hir'el's version of the Gate Guardian," Ritsuko noted as she ordered her ID's to attack the smaller targets.

"The what?" Shinji asked.

"I'm surprised you don't know what that is." Fenris stopped short but Ritsuko used her momentum to flip off and ahead of her wolf, drawing her dagger in her left hand. Fenris then followed his instructions, attacking the nearest mechangels.

The massive machine ignored the girls, attempting to slam his weapon down upon Shinji directly. He easily sidestepped the attack before running up the arms. He had to stop and block with Final Guard though as the angel was fast enough to remove a hand from his weapon and backhand him off. As he fell, he called Flying Armor again to slow his decent. Ritsuko did a run-by slash at the machine's ankle but caused no damage and nearly got stabbed from above for her troubles. Her speed granted by Ari's presence was the only thing that saved her.

Asuka ran up the wall next to the machine and leapt from that vertical surface towards her target. Doing a half twist, she summoned her Scythe, landed on the machine's shoulder and hit it in the face with all her might. Though damage was done, it didn't even slow it down as he easily grabbed Asuka off his shoulder and started crushing her. Shinji called forth Adramelech to piece the wrist with multiple barbed chains. This seemed to hurt it enough to let go, and Asuka managed to gather her breath before triggering her Leap Stone close to the ground to arrest her fall. Adramelech was unfortunately not strong enough to hold the massive machine at bay and it easily ripped free of the chains.

"Any ideas?" Asuka asked, still breathing hard from the attempted crush.

"Working on it," Shinji replied, then got ready to move as the machine nearly stomped on them.

Having survived the attempt to stab her, Ritsuko circled around to the back.

"Don't see me as a threat huh?" she realized. "Your mistake."

Stowing her blades, she pulled her heavy crossbow and pulled a bolt with a particularly thick shaft. As the weapon was preset, she simply dropped the bolt on, took aim and fired. The bolt hit he machine in the back of the neck causing it seemingly no initial damage, but then it reached back, feeling it's armor starting to break down. Ritsuko loaded another before having to dive forward under the angled down swipe of the massive flaming sword. She fired again, this time hitting it in the back of the left knee. The machine immediately tried to clear the wound but as its fingers were made of the same metal, it only succeeded to melting part of its finger tip off and push the liquid even deeper into the joint.

A sudden explosion of fire in the back of its neck turned its attention, and it swiped at the monster that attacked it. Gaibon, flew out of reach quickly as Asuka rushed at it from another angle. Leaping into the air, she chucked her scythe in a spinning motion into the wounded knee, causing a major actuator to malfunction and throw its gears. It's knee partly collapsed as the full weight of the machine came down on that wounded knee. Asuka resummoned her sickles again, but did not combine them.

Now making a mechanical sounding screech, its wings opened up and glared a bright burst of light in the room. Shinij and Asuka had to look away, and concentrate on their other senses to avoid getting trampled. Ritsuko looked away, drawing a pair of goggles and putting them on quickly. Their super-dark lenses made the glaring light of the machine little more than an annoyance. She could see the opening in the back of the neck and realized one more good shot with an acid bolt should theoretically sever the spine. She whistled at Gaibon, who seemed unaffected by the bright light. The monster looked down at her and dove towards her. Grabbing her by the shoulders, it took flight. Ritsuko tried her best to direct the monster, but it wasn't hers to command. Never-the-less, Gaibon seemed to know what she was doing would be helpful so it listened to her. Once high enough, Ritsuko took aim and fired once more.

Her shot was perfect, the arrow shattered against the spine of the machine as it was still trying to crush the painbringers below. Another mechanized screech escaped it, but this time as it reached up to try to stop the pain, a loud metallic wrenching sound could be heard. No longer occupied with mechangels, Fenris and Daisho rushed to Ritsuko and Shinji respectively and pulled them away as the massive head of the giant mechangel came free and crashed down to the floor, rolling a dozen meters before slamming into a wall and coming to a stop. Moments later the body collapsed backwards to quite the cacophony of falling metal.


Hearing the sound of the giant machine being destroyed caused Hir'el to stop what he was doing.

"To the main doors!", he commanded his mechangels. "They're coming through!"

Sure enough, the doors splintered apart as Shinji stepped forward, the last vestiges of the stone over his arm fading way. Asuka entered on his right, Ritsuko on his left. All of the ID's were close to Ritsuko.

"I'm impressed you made it past the Gate Guardian."

"Yeah, it used to be a pain in the ass like you," Shinji taunted, "but then it took an arrow to the knee."

"You shouldn't have come here," the angel fired back, as it summoned its massive hammer. "You should just accept your fate while you still can."

"No," Ritsuko said with finality. "I'll not stand idly by while your kind turns my home into something unrecognizable. We'll stop you from calling Azrael by killing you."

"And this time you're also facing me, asshole," Asuka added. "I'm very good at killing things like you."

"Rits," Shinji commanded. "Take care of the reinforcements. Asuka and I will deal with the Angel."

Ritsuko nodded.

Wordlessly, Hir'el pointed towards the group, sending a large group of mechangels on the attack. Ritsuko drew her sword and dagger and signaled her ID's to advance. Fenris rushed past her left, while Daisho passed her right. Ritsuko quickly followed.

Shinji and Asuka rushed Hir'el, but wasn't expecting him to be so direct. He rushed forward bringing down his hammer on Asuka's position. She slid backwards to evade but was taken by surprise when the weapon changed to a greatsword and Hir'el took flight forward, swinging the weapon up as he went. Asuka limboed under the blade, missing getting struck by mere millimeters and ended up on her ass as she had to overextend her balance to avoid being bisected. Shinji went on the offensive with the massive blades of Flying Armor backing him up. A flurry of attacks to try to keep him at standoff distance were thrown, but each was easily blocked by Hir'el in the process. A sideways swipe was stopped by Final Guard, but the hit cracked the shield again. Shinji made a sound of annoyance, realizing that this angel's attacks wouldn't be so easily blocked again.

Ritsuko in the meantime made quick work of the mechangels. Fenris was able to take them down, one at a time, while Daisho continued to attack multiple targets. One mechangel tried to attack her from behind but Ritsuko simply stood her ground as Daisho interceded and blocked the mechangel before cleaving it in three. Ritsuko used her twin blades to take out another one as Fenris dragged another away from the melee. A deadly beam was fired from another, but Ritsuko was able to backflip away from the beam, then rush forward, destroying the mechangel with a vicious stab though the lower jaw into the head with the dagger. As she kicked off of that one, she beheaded another mechangel that attempted to attack. Then as she landed Diasho blocked another attacking mechangel from hitting her and she countered with a deadly riposte from her sword.

Asuka managed a few decent hits on Hir'el but he struck back just as hard. The last hit sent her flying as she was slammed in the stomach with the pommel of his greatsword. As she recovered from the stun, Shinji tried to hit him with Sword Armor's Sword before switching places with the summon and forcing Hir'el to fight the heavily armored knight. Shinji circled around, drawing his flaming sword again, but was blocked by one of Hir'el's armored wings then thrown back by the force of his counter. He then knocked away the blade of the Sword Armor before destroying it with a downward cleave from his sword. Reacting quickly, he blocked the spinning sawblade Shinji called forth and went straight at him again. Shinji chanced using Final Guard once again although blocked, the shield was all but shattered. Shinji dodged the follow up attacks, as Asuka finally recovered and tried to take Hir'el by surprise. The full fisted backhand she took attested to the Angel's seemingly insane reaction time. Her world spun and she fell to the floor, unconscious.

With Shinji's defenses battered aside, he was unable to recover before the inevitable. Hir'el's sidelong swipe with his weapon happened just as he transformed it back into its hammer form. Shinji didn't even feel the hit, but he felt himself become weightless after the hit. Hir'el immediately went to go after him when he was suddenly slammed in the back with a series of three fireballs. Spinning around, he saw a new combatant had entered the ring, and this one was a Vampire.

"You're brave to try to fight someone like me, Vampire." Hir'el noted. "Brave… or perhaps foolish."

Mari drew her sword, spinning it twice before settling into an attack stance. "Can't say much for my own life choices," she replied. "That said, I can't let you kill my master."

"Another of the Devil's Concubines, how noble."

Behind Hir'el Shinji was being wrapped up in vines. He heard a shriek of rage, and watched as Ritsuko suddenly launched herself at Hir'el. Mari immediately fell back, as she knew Hir'el could easily kill her, and instead ran to where Shinji and Hikari were. The later was emerging from her rose, but not leaving it.

"We need to get him out of here," Mari noted.

"I'm cocooning him now," Hikari noted. Let's hope Doctor Akagi can hold off Hir'el for a bit longer."

The battle between the two was more of desperation on Ritsuko's part. Fenris was already defeated, disappearing into a mote of soul energy, and Daisho was about to be lost as well. They could regenerate, though, Ritsuko knew she couldn't. Yet her rage wouldn't let her stop. Daisho was smashed down by the massive hammer as Ritsuko managed to strike home with Mourneblade. All she did was damage his armor again, but managed to avoid the follow up swing.

"You again!"

Ritsuko didn't even humor him with a response, instead pulling out one of crossbow bolts, intending to use it as an improvised stabbing weapon, she got close but was clipped by the hammer across the same arm. The bolt flew off, shattering against the ground. Growling, she continued to push her attack, but was blocked at every turn. What injuries she could inflict were minor at best.

Grabbing her, he managed to slam her into the altar workbench hard. Ritsuko cried out as her spine nearly snapped from the hit.

"Now I have you!"

Ritsuko, in desperation, pulled her dagger with her left hand and stabbed blindly. As luck would have it, it managed to hit the same spot she nailed with Mourneblade. It fully penetrated, going so far as to punch into the outer layer of the Angel's core. Hir'el screamed and pulled back. Lines of energy and blue blood seemed to trail from the wound, drawn into the dagger Ritsuko had crafted. This was unexpected and Ritsuko noted runic sigils appearing on the blade for a moment before fading.

Suddenly a vine grabbed her and pulled her over towards where the others were.

"No! We have to kill him now!" Ritsuko protested, her eyes falling upon the altar.

"He'll recover quickly," Mari noted. "And both Shinji and Asuka are wounded. We need to leave, now!"

Sure enough, Hir'el picked up his hammer, transforming it into a spear. He chucked it as hard as he could, but all of his attackers were already underground by the time the blade reached its destination.

Clutching his side, Hir'el screamed in frustration.


Asuka sat in a chair as Hikari added a few sticky plant bandages to the area she was struck. One nearly covered the entire left side of her face, but left openings for her eye and mouth.

"Honestly, I'm surprised you were able to tank that hit. I thought you'd at least have a few broken ribs, or a cracked skull."

"I'm tougher than I look," Asuka noted, though she wouldn't admit that moving her jaw was quite painful. "How's Shinji?"

Hikari sighed. "He'll live. Probably take at least a week or two to fully recover from that hit though."

"We made it out alive," Misato noted, standing nearby next to the doorway into this small room. Rei stood silently near her. "I call this one an acceptable loss. Besides, it isn't like we didn't do a lot of damage."

"True," Asuka noted. "We'd already managed to slow down Hir'el's progress. This attack likely set him back even further."

"Not far enough," Ritsuko's voice came as she entered the room. Maya was right behind her, holding a large book.

"Why do you say that?" Asuka challenged. "We wrecked his forces and managed to damage his mostly incomplete fortress.

"Neither his forces, or the fortress are the issue," Ritsuko explained. "It's what he was building on that altar. I managed to take note of what was there after I got slammed into it hard enough to knock the wind out of me. I believe Hir'el is making a Soul Cage."

"It's like the Ænima Orbs that Sempai crafted to make her equipment and Innocent Devils," Maya explained, still holding the book. "But this one is on a massive scale. If he finishes its construction, he could cause an event similar to Third Impact." Maya let that sink in, hearing the gasps of those present before continuing. "It'll strip the AT Fields off of every sentient creature on the planet and draw their souls into it like the universe's most efficient vacuum. It'll be game over."

"We need to go back then," Asuka noted.

"In his condition, it will take a couple of days for him to compete it. We have a day to recover, then we need to attack again. This time, we must not fail."


Shinji could hear the conversation. Mari was with him, as she felt she needed to be there.

"They're going to have a hard time of it," Shinji noted in a soft voice.

"Let them worry about that," Mari replied. "We need to focus on your recovery. Was the soup okay."

"It tasted like water," Shinji noted. "Hot, salty, water."

Mari sighed. She knew every time he got hurt like this, his body was drawing more on Dominus to heal his injuries… and that was Dracula's power. If that power grew too much within him… his transformation would be complete, without ever having been embraced by a vampire himself.

"I'll try something meatier next time. Try to rest."

Shinji simply nodded and closed his eyes.

Mari stood by the window. The grey skies hid the sun, but she could tell it was almost down now. She took a huge chance staring down Hir'el, but thankfully it worked out. She'd have to sit out the next strike, and Hikari would likely need to take a much more active role. That part worried her. She knew Hikari could handle herself, but she was still fragile, like the flowers she loved so much.

But Mari knew, this was just her motherly instinct still carrying over from her miscarriage. Still, being the one who tries to hold the family together… it's a noble job… if sometimes thankless.


Sail on, boatsman,

Sail on by,

Sweet litany,

Is calling me

Open the tides,

Dark friend,

To let them in,

This is my last chance

They accuse me of a murder,

Invade my mind,

Misplace my memories,

Say that I'm a failure…

And now they're sailing away,

But I still seem them unclearly

They're sailing away again,

I have to follow them tonight…


"If Hir'el is able to get that Soul Cage working before we can strike again, we've lost. Against the wishes of the rest of the team, we attack that next night. This is our last chance to end Hir'el's reign of terror… Let's hope that the third time truly is the charm…"

Next Chapter: "Heart of Iron"