Chapter 8 - Date A Plan

...

The next morning I awoke to find the bed empty. Usually, Kurumi stays in bed with me for a few minutes, and I distinctly remember Natsumi slept in here too. As I slept, Helel and I had a conversation regarding what I'm gonna do today, at least hopefully today.

Gonna break Nia out of DEM's grasp.

I used a fake Rasiel in my dreamscape to find out a few things. For starters, Nia is being held at Neryl Island, an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. If I remember, it was guarded by Adeptus 2, Artemisia Bell Ashcroft, but instead it's being guarded by Adeptus 1, Ellen Mira Mathers. Shame, I was hoping to rescue her too.

Artemisia and Adeptus 3, Mana Takamiya have been dispatched to China for reasons that don't really matter to much, all I looked for was the fact that they won't finish their mission for a few days. I could go over there and un-brainwash Artemisia and heal Mana, but that'll have to happen another day.

Get in, grab Nia, get out. Easy plan, on paper at least.

Interestingly, Isaac Wescott is currently visiting the island, so we'll have to content with him too. Ellen isn't a pushover, either. Kurumi might be able to fight her for a while, and Natsumi will get completely crushed. As for me? I have no clue, I still haven't really tested my limits yet.

That means, we need a trump card, and I know exactly what I can do. I'm just gonna have to 'hack' into Zafkiel again. I got to thinking about the Inverse form. If I can hack into Zafkiel, can I do the same for Lucifugus? Could I make it so she could use it without turning to Queen? Could I do the same for Natsumi and allow her to use... Baal I suppose it would be called?

Oh well, these thoughts can come later. Right now I need to find those two and tell 'em my plans. I get out of bed and put my blue jeans and red t-shirt. Slipping on my belt, I make my way downstairs and the scent of food hits my nose. Are they cooking? As I enter the dining room, I'm treated to a damn good sight.

"Good morning, goshujin-sama~" "Guhk-?!"

With that surprising line from Kurumi and the choking sound I make immediately after, I take a better look at my surroundings. The table is covered in all sorts of food, but that's not the important part. Remember that one part in Season 3 where Natsumi got Kotori and Yoshino to dress in only an apron and a swimsuit? Yeah, this is that, except Natsumi actually dressed like that, oh and Kurumi did too.

"W-We made breakfast, s-s-so help yourself, G-Goshujin-sama..." Natsumi says in a shaky voice while pulling the bottom of her dress down.

"I don't know why you're so shy, Natsumi-chan. You wanted to do this." The taller girl says, placing her hand on the smallers' shoulders.

"I just didn't think it'd be this embarrassing!" She shouts.

Dear god, this is an amazing sight. I never got why people got so wound up about the 'naked apron' thing, but now I understand the appeal completely.

"Alright, then." I say, sitting down in one of the chairs. The two girls proceed to sit on the chairs on either side of me. Kurumi to my left, Natsumi to my right.

"Well then, would you like your cute maids to feed you, goshujin-sama~?" Kurumi asks, a sly smile on her face.

"Ku-Kurumi?! We never agreed to-" "Sure!" I say, cutting off Natsumi's worried talk.

Kurumi uses a fork to hold a piece of a fried egg to my mouth. "Say 'Ahh'."

I smile and say 'Ahh'. She puts the food in my mouth, and it tastes pretty good.

"Natsumi, do you want to feed goshujin-sama too?"

"Well..." The shorter Spirit looks toward the floor, hoping to avoid the conversation.

"How about I feed you instead?" I ask.

"Huh?!" Natsumi straightens, with a fierce blush on her face.

"Here." I use a fork to pick up a piece of the egg. "Say 'Ahh', Natsu-Chan."

As my fork draws nearer and nearer to her mouth, her blush strengthens more and more, she also begins to shake. Soon, it reaches her mouth. The small Spirit's face becomes serious and wraps her lips around the fork, then eats the egg.

"T-That was good." She stutters out, her face still crimson.

"Ara Ara~ I didn't know your face could get that red, Natsu-chan~" Kurumi teases.

"Yeah, it makes you look really cute~" I join in with the teasing.

"Mmmmmm! This is too much!" Natsumi yells as she bolts out of the dining room and into the hall.

"Guess it was too much for her?" I turn to Kurumi and ask, a grin on my face.

"Guess so."

The two of us begin eating in silence. I figure we'll have to save some for Natsumi for after she calms down. I'll have to apologize later for all that.

"Say, do you have any plans for today, Issei-kun?"

"Yeah. I've been kinda passive in meeting Spirits, so I figure this evening, I'm gonna go on the offensive."

"How so?" The black-haired Spirit asks, tilting her head.

"I'm gonna raid a secret DEM base and rescue our friend 'Material A'."

Kurumi's eyes widen in shock, before relaxing. "Oh course you'd know where she is."

"Yeah, I also know her angel, Rasiel can't tell you anything about Mio."

"Wait, really?" Kurumi asks, dead serious.

"Of course. Mio made the Sephira Crystals, why would she leave a chance to reveal herself?" I ask, rhetorically. Kurumi sits, silent in contemplation. "Don't look so down, Kuru-chan. I can't stand seeing you like that." I reassure her, knowing she was looking for Nia for a while. "Besides, though I don't know where she is, I know more about her than most."

"Hmm. You're right." She says with a small smile. "So where is she?"

"A DEM base at Neryl Island, in the Pacific. Usually it'd be guarded by Adeptus 2, but it's guarded by Adeptus 1 for the next few days." I say, taking a sip of juice after.

"Ellen Mathers, huh?"

"Figured you'd know about her. Anyways, Nia, or rather 'Material A' is being subjected to the worst torture imaginable, and has been for the past 5 years or so."

"Why?" Kurumi says, angrily.

"They're trying to Inverse her. People think you're evil? Some of the shit they've done to Nia would make you gag in disgust."

"Unlikely, I've done some rather cruel stuff, Issei." No '-kun' huh? She's really serious.

"Sure you leave piles of gore in your wake, but you don't make people suffer." She raises and eyebrow. "Okay, you don't make people suffer too much." She nods. "But you've never grinded a persons limbs down to nothing on what essentially is a big nail file, centimeters per second, then healing them back to normal. You've never performed open-skull surgery on a person while they're conscious.

You've killed people, yeah, but you aren't cruel, Kurumi. These assholes? They make the shit you and Mio have done look like a child's temper tantrum." I finish my point, staring her in the eyes with dead seriousness.

Kurumi sits still, her mind clearly processing the atrocities I've described.

"Tonight I'm gonna go save Nia. She's been stuck in that place, at those people's mercy for far too long. I'm getting her out." I summarized my plan to her.

"Alright then, I'll help you."

I stare her dead in the eyes and say "Are you sure? I've no idea what we'll hav me to deal with exactly."

"Of course. You may be strong, but you can do this alone, Issei-kun." She says, with a smile. Kurumi really does have a bleeding heart, huh?

"I'll help too!" We both turn to see Natsumi, returned to the room.

"You heard all that, eh?" The shorter Spirit nods. "Alright then." She opens her mouth to speak, though I interrupt her. "But! We need a plan. Now let's finish eating the food you goys worked hard to cook before it gets any colder."

We proceed to enjoy our lukewarm breakfast in peace. Shame it's gonna get crazy tonight.

Later that day, around noon, the three of us stand in the hallway of Kurumi's apartment. In front of us is a door to another room I've created with Helel.

"Another pocket dimension?" Kurumi asks.

"Yup, c'mon you two." I say, leading them in. Past the threshold of the door lies a large, mostly empty, grey room. Devoid of life, sound and color. The room is a dull grey, resembling some sort of metal. In the center of the room are three chairs, for us to sit on, which the three of us proceed to do.

"Right." I begin. "I used a copy of Rasiel to figure out a few things about Neryl Island. First things first, the island has a large facility, complete with helipads and docks. Fortunately, there isn't much coming and going traffic, so it's unlikely there'll be reinforcements. The place is meant to be hidden after all.

The big problem is the underground section of the facility. It's massive. Far larger than it needs to be. Approximately ten basements which end off at a single elevator down to a hidden eleventh much farther underground, which is where Nia is.

The place is crawling with wizards, scientists and guards. The only way in is to go in 'guns blazing' and push through to the bottom. The scientists will run, obviously, though they're still dangerous due to their knowledge of the procedures and shit they've done. No idea if they're worth killing.

The guards are weak, just military, best to knock them out. The problem is the droves of wizards there. They have 3 squadrons of 12 wizards, all equipped with CR-Units. They've all been specifically trained to guard this place, so don't expect them to be as easy as the AST.

The biggest problem we have is Ellen A.K.A. Adeptus 1. She's known as the 'strongest wizard' for a damn good reason. She's our biggest obstacle. Perhaps even worse, or perhaps the best thing, is the fact that Isaac Wescott himself is there."

"Isaac Wescott?" Natsumi tilts her head questioningly.

"The head of DEM." Her eyes widen. "In the public eye, he's a great guy, was even knighted a while back. In reality, he caused the first spacequake thirty years ago, killing a hundred and fifty million people in an instant."

"W-Why?" The shorter Spirit asks, clearly shaken at the prospect of even getting near this man.

"He wants power. Simple as that. He's the most dangerous person on the planet, not for his connections, but for his mentality. He'd throw away anything for power, the goddamn madman. He's a completely unhinged sadomasochist that lusts for power. Even Mio doesn't scare me as much as him."

I pause my tirade, to let my words sink into their minds.

"I'm strong, but the problem is I don't know how you two will match up to them. Kurumi, you're definitely strong, especially with your clones and the fact you can generate Reiryoku now. Natsumi, your offense effectively boils down to being able to turn people into things. Useful, but you don't have much defense.

Now, I've got a crazy idea, but I'll need to hack into your angels again, hence why we're in this Spirit-proof room."

"What is it?" Kurumi asks.

"Do the both of you trust me?"

"Issei?" Natsumi aks suddenly.

"Do the both of you trust me?" I repeat, serious as can be.

"...if I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have let you stay here, Issei-kun."

"You helped me out. Showed me I was beautiful and those that told me I wasn't we're just lying. Of course I trust you, Issei."

They... they really do trust me. Goodness, this is like a punch to the gut to see just how sincere they are.

"You girls are the best..." I let out a small chuckle. "Alright then, let's get to work!"

After they agreed, I made a tv and a console so they could play video games while I worked. After hacking into their angels' code, I started fixing things up. After a few hours, I was done.

"Alright then, I'm done, Natsumi. Now it's time to put it all into action." The girls stand up as un-make the tv, console and chairs.

"What exactly did you do, Issei-kun?" The taller Spirit asks.

"Simply put-" I begin, bringing up the code to Zafkiel in front of her. "I hacked you angel before." I grab the top of the 'circle' that appeared. "But now, I've hacked your Demon." I pull my hand down, making the circle flip, as though it's one of those circular or ovoid vanity mirrors, held up at the middle on each side. When the ring stops spinning, it's no longer red with angelic symbols, it's now an ominous white with demonic symbols.

"This here, is the code to Lucifugus." I say pointing my hand towards it.

"Lucifugus?!" Kurumi all but screams.

"Lucifugus?" Natsumi asks.

"When a Spirit feels true despair, they inverse. The personality changes, their Reiryoku drops to zero, then into the negatives, and their angel becomes a demon. Inverse Spirits are far stronger than normal ones, but they're no longer the same person. Inversions aren't natural, and DEM is trying to force Nia to do so.

Mio's plan revolves around the Sephira Crystals, so the angels' codes have very little errors. The Qlipha Crystals, on the other hand, are a mess. They're nearly unfinished, and burn too much Inverse Reiryoku too fast. All in all, a powerful, but short-lived transformation."

"So I can Inverse too?"

"Yes, I already fixed your Baal, just like Lucifugus, so now the two of you should be able to manually Inverse, without the altered personality. Also, you'll have more control over your power output."

"Can you do that too?" She asks me.

"Theoretically, but that doesn't matter. Now, this is very important, I couldn't get rid of the personality altering from Inversing due to despair. That'll still happen. Since we're in this Spirit-proof pocket dimension, we can test out your new powers. This'll be our secret weapon during the raid."

"Issei-kun, are you sure about this? I know about Demons, but I'm still not sure."

I sigh. "You told me you trusted me, yeah?"

"I did, but..." she still has reservations about it.

"Fine." I say, dispelling Lucifugus' code. "I could describe how strong this power is but... Kurumi, call a certain clone of yours over."

"Which one?" She tilts her head slightly.

"The one that was in the Spirit Tournament."

"Spirit Tournament?" She asks.

Suddenly, another voice appears behind me. "I can explain that." I turn to see another Kurumi.

"So... you're the one that fought Queen, huh?"

"Indeed."

"Queen?" The original Kurumi asks.

"In a OVA of the Date A Live anime, a clone of yours, who interacted a lot with Shido in season 1, fell in love with him. At the end of the OVA, after their date, she was absorbed into the original Kurumi, who gained her memories. Date A Bullet, the side story about the Spirit Tournament was just that, a side story. It wasn't mentioned in the main series, but it was important.

Long story short, when Sawa died, you did Inverse, kind of. Your Inversed self took over her body and orchestrated the tournament, before the was beaten by this Kurumi." I say, pointing to the clone. "Like I said, you got her memories at the end of the OVA, which is what I want to have happen here."

"I... I see." Kurumi says, taking in the revelation.

"Just shoot her with Yud and see all that happened."

"Alright then." Kurumi steels herself, pulls out Zafkiel, "Yud." and fires. The clone is struck, but not hurt, the original, on the other hand, grips her head in pain.

"Kurumi?!" Natsumi shouts, running to the older girl.

Kurumi is lightly gasping for air. "That's- That's what happened then."

"Yeah." I say solemnly. "I knew you forgot what happened when Mio showed up and your clone here was the only one who knew what happened next." I walk over to the girl and hug her lightly. "Sorry for springing this on you."

"No, it's fine. I- I needed to know this. Thank you." She turns to the clone. "And thank you too."

The clone smiles, "You're welcome, me." She then disappears into shadows, but not before saying "See you later, Issei-kun~"

I chuckle. "I guess another Kurumi is still Kurumi at the end of the day." I let the smile fall off my face and turn to the black-haired girl. "Are you willing to do this, Kurumi?"

She nods, resolutely. "Yes. I feel like... I've regained a part of me I didn't know I lost. I'm not afraid of losing myself to this." She looks me in the eyes and smiles. "Because I know you'll help me return to normal, Issei-kun."

I feel my eyes widen at her declaration. "Alright then. Natsumi, step back a good ways." The shorter girl does so. I turn back to Kurumi. "Now, you have prefect control over you angel, due to my 'hacking', so just lower your Reiryoku output until it reaches zero."

She nods. I then feel her energy decrease. Less and less, until nothing. "Can you go any lower?"

"I don't think so. This feels like the end of it."

"Hmm..." I rack my brain, trying to come up with a solution. "Kurumi, imagine that it isn't at the end yet. Imagine there's another level below that floor. Push your Reiryoku through that floor and go lower."

"Okay." Her energy is un-noticeable, due to her not outputting any, but then, I feel something. I doesn't feel like Reiryoku. Whereas Reiryoku is constantly leaving a Spirit, this feels like Reiryoku constantly entering her. It's a strange pressure, that builds and builds.

"Get a little further back, Natsumi." I don't turn around to see if she even moved, I just don my Astral Suit, the armor covering my body. The pressure finally reaches a high point, then it expands.

All at once, a thicker Reiryoku is expelled from Kurumi in droves. Massive volumes of it wash over me like rain. I'm unaffected by it, and stand stationary. The Inverse Reiryoku begins to die down slowly, revealing her, but changed.

She now dons a pure white dress, with military-like tassels on the shoulders. Her headband is replaced with a white military cap. Her boots, too are white now. But the most striking changes are her hair and eyes. Her once pitch-black hair is now a white, brighter than her outfit. Her red eye remains the same, her clock eye, on the other hand, is now a deep blue.

She looks identical to Queen. I just need to know if it's her, or not. I call out to her "Kurumi? Are you still, you?"

She looks at me. "Yes, Issei-kun."

"Oh thank god." I say in a single, sighing breath. "That's a weight off my shoulders. How do you feel?"

"Stronger." She says, flexing her hands. "It's like my power has gone from a lake to an ocean. I feel like I could take on Mio at this point!"

"You can't. That form's strong, but Mio's a damn monster."

"Yes... she is." Kurumi says, still getting a feel for her power. She lifts the hem of her skirt slightly. "I don't know how I feel about this color, though." I chuckle at that.

"Are you sure you're alright, Kurumi-san?" Natsumi asks.

She turns to the smaller Spirit and smiles. "Yes, I'm fine Natsumi-chan." The shorter girl sighs in relief.

"Well you've got the outfit, how about the demon?" I say.

She nods and says "Lucifugus." Behind her, a clock appears. Now, however, it's blue and has wings emerging from the sides.

"Pretty..." The green-haired girl says.

"Yeah. Glad to see you still looks just as beautiful, Kurumin~" I tease. She just chuckles in response. "Alright, are you ready, Natsumi?"

Her eyes widen before sharpening as she nods her head. "Now, lower your energy to zero." She does so, until I can't feel it. "Have you reached the bottom?"

"Yeah. I just have to go even lower, right?"

"Yup, break through that floor!" She closes her eyes and clenches her fists as that familiar pressure builds around her. It's builds and builds, before exploding outwards. Kurumi and I stand resolute, the power unaffecting us.

It dies down, revealing Natsumi in a changed outfit. She now has a short, black blouse, decorated with a gold star over the chest, and two golden, zigzag stripes on either sleeve. She still has shorts, but they now are black and have a gold zigzag stripe across them. Small 'wings' poke out from the top of the shorts, originating from the her back. She still has socks, though they're much shorter and uneven, the taller one coming to her mid-shin, and still are striped, but now are black and gold. Her hat looks the same, but it's now black with gold trim. The 'emeralds' on the hat are unchanged, however. Her hair and eyes are a darker shade of green, yet her eyes appear more vibrant than before.

"Natsumi? That you?" I break the silence.

"Yeah... this feels weird." She says, looking down at herself.

"Don't worry, I've already gotten used to it." The now white-haired Spirit says.

"Well, try summoning your demon."

"Okay." She holds her hand out. "Baal." In her hand appears a witch's broom, similar to her Haniel. The gem on the end of the broom's handle is now red, as is the small star held at the broom's bristles, which are now a dark brown. The handle and the 'wings' that hold the bristles are now a pitch-black.

"Wow." She stares in awe at the broom in her hand.

"Alright then, girls." I say, looking between them. "Let's figure out your new tricks and prepare for this evening." In response, I receive two resolute nods from the now Inversed Spirits.

Haha! Those DEM fools won't know what hit them!!

AN (Sorry for this block of text lol)

This chapter took a while for me to write, due to the damn heat here, or rather the humidity. To top that off, it's been so damn hot my phone (that I'm writing this on) and it's charger get so hot if can only charge it for a short while. Like 10-15% per charge.

Fortunately, I have a small fan I placed in front of the charger and/or phone to keep them cool, so that helped. I really didn't want to do much of anything recently, needless to say.

The Inverse Form isn't touched upon much, even though it's always a looming problem in the story, same with Date A Bullet. Just remember, I'm not staying 100% lore accurate, and Issei has imagination powers. If he can think up an object, he can make it. If he can think about changing Qlipha Crystals to not overwrite a person's personality, he's gonna do it. I did make it so unwanted Inversions are hard-coded to overwrite their personalities, though. I don't want to completely undo the threat of the form.

As for Natsumi's Inversed Astral Dress, I found a fan art of her and used it. If you're reading this on Wattpad, the chapter image is what I used.

As for the name of her demon, I did some research. Haniel is represented by the seventh Sephiroth, Netzach. The seventh Qliphoth is Harab Serapel, which represents Baal. Interestingly, Netzach also is associated with the 'Eternity of God', most likely what Natsumi's desire for eternal beauty stems from. Harab Serapel is associated with the 'Ravens of Burning of God', so we'll see what powers I can think up for her.

If you're wondering about Zafkiel, it's represented by the third Sephiroth, Binah, and is associated with the 'Understanding of God', perhaps due to her knowing more about Mio than the other Spirits in canon. Lucifugus is represented by the third Qliphoth Sathariel, which is associated with the 'Concealment of God', this probably has something to do with Queen's disappearing bullets.

Be sure to look forward to the next chapter. Be forewarned, I've never written long action scenes. The only one I've written before was chapter 1 and you all read that one. I hope I do a good job with it.

I also hope I did a good job with this chapter. Please, review, share your thoughts!

Also, I started a Fate/stay night fanfiction, go and take a look at it, if you like!

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next!