Dance With the Devil
DxD Chapter 5 Part 1
Disclaimer: I own none of the series involved.
Warning: This chapter is very dark compared to previous chapters. There is a payoff however, but you'll have to wait and put up with it. I promise it's worth waiting for.
Also, this is why I shouldn't allow my more sadistic tendencies out when I write.
Four days later Issei found himself packing things up as he got ready to leave. "Finally, I'll get to sleep in a real bed." He couldn't wait to get back home and relax. Looking up, he saw Kiba limping around as he tried to put his stuff away. "Hey, Kiba! Are you okay? I thought Asia healed you?"
"She did." Kiba laughed at Issei's look. "Just phantom pain." Sparring with Lilith the past couple of days had been an... Interesting experience. Sure, they had been using wooden practice swords, Kiba had severely underestimated just how much the girl liked combat. He had first thought she was just an untrained brawler who liked to punch things and fling energy blasts around. He still mentally laughed at how he felt when she disarmed him the first time they practiced. Sure, he hadn't been taking it too seriously, but that was still impressive.
"Oh." Issei nodded and looked over at Koneko. The girl had been sparring with Atsuko the past few days. The first time they had seen Koneko with bruises had shocked most of them, especially since Atsuko didn't seem to be bothered by the bruises she had, saying that she had taken worse in the past. Privately Issei wondered if Atsuko had some way to nullify Koneko's Rook abilities, since he knew how durable the young girl really was.
"You and Asia were training with Ranma and Rias the past few days, right?" Kiba asked and blinked as Issei nodded stiffly. "How did that go?"
"He's evil, I hate him." Surprisingly it was Asia who answered as she slowly walked by.
"Like that." Issei answered and shivered as he recalled some of the training ideas Rias had and when Ranma pointed out some ways to improve it, Rias had been all for it. Between the two of them, well Issei wasn't sure he could find a more brutal taskmaster if he tried.
(-)
Back in Nerima, both Cologne and Genma sneezed at the same time, wondering what brought that on.
(-)
Kiba nodded and saw Akeno laughing at something Mittelt had just told her. 'Speaking of surprises.' He thought to himself, he never would have thought that those two would be able to get along, especially with what he knew about Akeno's history. He suspected that part of the reason they got along was because Mittelt was actually fairly submissive, at least when it came to Ranma.
Kiba might have been shocked to know that the reason the two got along so well was because Mittelt had accidentally let slip on the first day of training together that she and Ranma were lovers. Akeno's romantic tendencies had come out and getting details of Mittelt's sex life during training sessions left the ponytailed girl's panties soaked after every session. Not that Akeno was complaining, the details that Mittelt had given her were better than the porn she consumed.
Not far from the group, Ranma and Rias were finishing putting stuff away. "This was a lot of fun." Rias smiled at Ranma. "I'll have to ask you to help with training again. I think we made a lot of gains here."
Ranma laughed and imagined the scared looks that Rias's peerage would have when they heard that. "It wasn't just me, you had some really good ideas there, I was just expanding on them. So, do you think you'll win?"
"Of course." Rias smirked at him. "I'm certain we'll win." She looked over at the group and her eyes rested on Mittelt. "I have to say, I'm glad that I was wrong about one thing."
"Hmm?"
"I'm glad I was wrong about Mittelt. I didn't trust her and was prepared for her to try and back-stab us this whole time. I'm glad I was proven wrong."
"Eh, I wouldn't worry about that." Ranma shrugged at her. "We all make mistakes and she knows that she's technically your enemy."
"Yeah, but..." Rias shook her head, if they had to fight against the Fallen Angels again, she would hate to have to face against Mittelt, the girl was a bit bratty sometimes, but she wasn't a bad person. Heck, Akeno was laughing with her over something and that wasn't something she would have ever thought was possible before this trip.
"I said don't worry about it, so don't worry about it."
"Fine." Rias wasn't going to argue over it. "Are you sure about giving them four days off though?"
Ranma nodded as he saw the others finishing up. "We worked them pretty hard over the past nine days. If they just do some light workouts, they'll be fine. Besides, they might come up with a new special technique or combination or something."
Rias giggled at that. "I can just see Akeno and Issei coming up with some sort of nipple clamp lightning combo attack."
Ranma burst out laughing at that. He could see it as well.
"So..." Ranma began after a few more moments. "Just asking out of curiosity, but is there any other way out of this engagement of yours?" It was obvious she wanted out and he wasn't in any position to lecture her on honor or anything, considering his own situation.
"I suppose if I slept with someone and they got me pregnant I wouldn't have to get married then. Being damaged goods and all that." She knew her parents would be upset at her, but frankly Rias didn't care about that. They didn't care about her feelings when they made the engagement in the first place. "Hey..." Rias leaned forward as Ranma turned to look at her and she smiled shyly. "How about you? Want to make me pregnant?" She frowned when he shook his head. "But why..." She blinked as he put a finger to her lips to silence her.
"First of all, Rias, you're a good person and not to say you aren't good enough, I'm sure that we would have an amazing time together." He dropped his finger and sighed. "However, a child? No. I couldn't just have a child and leave them." An image of a little girl with sandy blonde hair and yellow eyes sniffling and crying flashed in his mind as she begged him to not leave. "I can't do that again."
"Again?" Rias wondered what he was talking about.
"It's not just that either. The biggest problem with virgins is that most of them equate sex with being in love with someone."
Rias gave him an annoyed look at that. "Really? You'd rather have a slut than a virgin?"
"Not at all, but my love life is fairly complicated." Ranma shook his head. "Besides, if I took your virginity, it wouldn't be fair to you. You wouldn't be able to have any other lovers."
"I fail to see how that's a problem." Rias muttered and Ranma laughed at her. "What?"
"You really think you could share me when I have a succubus, a Fallen Angel, a fiance back in Nerima and at least one other woman waiting on me?" He laughed at her annoyed look. "Besides, Rias... Would you be happy if you did that?"
Her annoyed look melted away into one of quiet contemplation. "I could..." Rias blinked as he shook his head.
"No. Rias, would you really be happy if I got you pregnant to get out of your engagement?" He purposely looked at her peerage and she turned to look with him. "I like you, you're a good person, but I don't think you'd be happy like that. Don't be rash with stuff like that."
Rias was silent while Ranma went to finish packing his stuff up.
"I'm sorry." Ranma said after the two had finished their stuff. Putting a hand under her chin, he turned her face to look at him. "Had things been a little different, I would have loved to take you up on your offer."
"...Why?" She whispered to him.
Leaning in, he put his mouth by her ear and whispered to her softly. Her eyes widened as he pulled away and smiled to her. "How?" She asked him and he shrugged and shouldered his backpack. "What makes you so sure?"
He shrugged and didn't say a word as he started to walk towards the others.
(-)
Meanwhile...
Nabiki groaned as she slumped at her desk. 'This sucks, if only I knew more about Sacred Gears, I might be able to do something with this.' It had been ten days and she was no closer to figuring out how to make hers better than she had been at the start of it. Out of curiosity, she had tried to see if she could find someone who had gone beyond the basics of it but she couldn't find a damn thing. 'Figures, even if I know what to look for, I can't find anything.' It was possible that someone was blocking her, but she had no clue who could do it.
"Now what?" She got up and walked out of her room, down the stairs and into the living room where she saw Genma out in the yard practicing martial arts. "Gotta hand it to him, I wouldn't have thought he'd still be practicing." It wasn't as intense as his sparring sessions with Ranma had been, but that was to be expected. 'Hmm, how is he doing anyway?' She wondered and closed her eyes, nearly gasping in surprise as she saw him super clearly talking to a blonde boy and a brown-haired boy and laughing at something. "Sure is amazing, too bad it's so useless." She sighed and opened her eyes, nearly jumping out of her skin as she saw Genma no more than a foot away from her. "GAH! DON'T DO THAT!" She screamed and put her hand over her heart to try and calm it down while she panted.
"The boy was right, you do need protection." Genma shook his head.
Nabiki snorted as she calmed down. Turning, she crossed her arms and huffed. "I'm fine. There isn't too many people I'm worried about."
"People? Sure, I'm sure you'll be fine. But what about Devil Hunters and the like?" Genma asked and Nabiki looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You think I don't know about you? Both the boy and Lilith keep me up to date on all sorts of going ons."
"So you know about..."
"Everything." Genma said as he motioned towards the couch. "Before we begin, is there anyone else here?"
Nabiki closed her eyes and shook her head. "Akane's with a couple of her school friends, Kasumi's returning a book to Dr. Tofu and daddy's dealing with some city stuff." Opening her eyes, she looked at Genma seriously. "The fact that you asked me that and aren't surprised by what I can do..."
"You have some sort of special ability that lets you see things." Genma shrugged at her. "I don't know all the details, but I am kept up to date on everything." He shook his head and sighed. "I even know what he did for you."
"Believe me, I'm very grateful he did that." Though Nabiki wondered how it was possible. She knew enough about the Evil Piece system that it shouldn't have been possible, but Ranma seemed like he could pull off the impossible constantly.
"There's more things out there than the boy knows." Genma narrowed his eyes at her. "I've tried to shield him from the worst things, but that wasn't possible after he and Lilith bonded when he was twelve."
"What happened?" Nabiki asked, growling as Genma shook his head. "Why won't you tell me?"
"Because I don't like to remember that time." Genma never forgave himself for what happened. "You know about the Neko-ken, correct?" Nabiki nodded at him. "That wasn't the only mistake I've made, nor the only regret I've had when training the boy. But what happened when he was twelve was my biggest regret ever."
"Because he almost died, right?"
"No." Genma shook his head. "He did die." Nabiki's eyes widened. "I don't know what magic Lilith used, but it brought him back to life."
"How do you know he died? I mean, he's obviously alive, right?" She really hoped that she hadn't been banging a zombie. Necrophilia was illegal after all.
"Oh yes, he's very much alive now." Genma nodded and looked away, sighing. "But when you die, your body stops producing Ki completely." He looked back at her and adjusted his glasses. "When she brought him back to life, his body was jump-started using Youki and all the Ki his body used to make? Replaced with Youki."
"Isn't that because he's part Demon?"
Genma shrugged at her. "Truthfully, there isn't a person in Japan who doesn't have a supernatural ancestor somewhere in their past, yet they all produce Ki."
"So..."
Genma shook his head. "The boy isn't any different than any other human out there, other than having Youki. No, girl, you being a Devil and my boy becoming one himself to help you doesn't change anything about him, other than having a longer life-span."
"You think you can protect me against the forces of Heaven, Hell or Hunters?"
Genma snorted at her. "Give me some credit, girl. I'm not a complete fool." Getting up, he walked off. "But if you need to talk about stuff, I can listen."
"What do you do when you're stuck trying to improve in martial arts?"
Genma smirked at her. "Find a rival, if that doesn't work, meditate and figure out what's blocking you from improving. It's all in the mind after all."
As he left the room, Nabiki frowned as she thought about it. 'All in the mind, huh?' Now if only she could find some way to get over her current mental block.
(-)
The next day, around noon...
Bulleta found herself walking down a street in Tokyo, grumbling how things hadn't turned out the way she had expected. 'Seriously, why couldn't he just either die or take me after the mech blew up, stupid Jenkins being worried about me, stupid Ranma, stupid...' She growled and rubbed her head while gnashing her teeth. "GAAAAAH!" Ryoga had proven to be shockingly stubborn about wanting to stay at his home, now that he could actually get around without getting lost, until his family came home. So far that had been a no go, but at least he had a bed to sleep in every night.
Really, Bulleta actually felt bad for the idiot, but she needed his help if she was going to deal with Ranma. "And then after I deal with him, I'll tie him down and..." She had a shark-like grin on her face as she blushed and started panting. "I'll show him who the best loli is, it sure isn't that damn succuslut!"
"Mommy, why is the weird lady talking like that?"
"Shhh! She's obviously one of the crazy people around here, we don't talk about them." The woman quieted her child.
"Okay!"
Of course, that required being able to FIND Ranma! The bastard decided to move on her! "Kuoh City, huh?" She remembered her contacts in the Devil Hunter world saying not to go there unless chasing a dangerous prey and only sticking around long enough to deal with said prey and then leaving. Turning a corner, she cupped her chin and frowned in confusion. "What's so special about Kuoh City anyway?"
"Would you care to find out?" A deep male voice spoke and Bulleta looked up and raised an eyebrow.
"Dimitri? No, you're not him. Who are you?" The guy was tall, very tall, with long black hair and he had a face that looked more like a Vampire's face than actual Vampires.
The man gave her a wide grin. "I heard that there was a Hanyou and a Demon in this city and I came to check them out, but I found you talking about a city I've taken... A vested interest in."
Bulleta pulled out an Uzi and pointed it at him. "You didn't answer my question."
"As if bullets can..."
"WRONG ANSWER!" Bulleta screamed as she pulled the trigger.
The man's eyes widened as bullets shot through his shoulder and side. "FUCK!" Jumping back, he looked at the bleeding in his arm and then snarled at the girl. "You'll pay for that!"
"GET 'EM BOYS!" Bulleta threw her hoodie up into the air, revealing a red tank top underneath and the guy watched as two large spirits appeared out of nowhere, each holding a rifle of some sort. "DIE!" Bulleta pulled out a Gatling gun from somewhere and the three fired as many bullets, missiles and other ammo that they had at the guy.
After the fireworks ended, the spirits disappeared and Bulleta put her red hoodie back on and walked over to the smoldering and burnt pile.
When Bulleta got close, several yellow spears formed around her, creating a perimeter.
"Not bad!" The smoldering pile said as he stood up, only looking slightly worse for wear. "I can see why you have the reputation you do."
Bulleta smirked at him. "Oh please, you're bleeding like a blood bag after a Vampire bites into it, don't act tough around me."
The man laughed at her. "You are a treat."
Bulleta narrowed her eyes and pulled the trigger to her Gatling gun, only to find a yellow double-bladed spear piercing it.
"Ah ah ah..." The man wiggled his finger at her. "None of that."
The next thing Bulleta knew she had spears sticking out of her shoulders and into her legs, causing her to gasp out in pain.
"You're the second one. And to answer your question, my name is Kokabiel." The Fallen Angel commander chuckled as he made Bulleta disappear into a teleportation sigil. Grimacing at the bullet wounds he had, he looked around and smirked as he saw no one around. "Too bad, little miss gun nut, no one saw your defeat." Ten wings formed behind him, each one made up of raven-colored black feathers, he took to the sky and disappeared.
As he flew through the air, Kokabiel gripped at his right arm and cursed, he was going to need this healed up. 'Why the hell am I having trouble teleporting in this god-forsaken town?!' He had no problem teleporting that blonde brat, but he himself couldn't teleport? That made no sense! 'This whole freaking...' He trailed off and stared at a large cat ghost that hovered over a shrine.
"Hello." The cat waved. "Can you help me find my bride?"
The ghost disappeared when Kokabiel snapped a lance of light through its body and he took off again.
"My original plan is shot to hell, I'll have to regroup and heal first."
(-)
Meanwhile, Cologne was frowning as she felt her wards going crazy. 'First that high ranking Devil and now a tainted Angel that's just as powerful? What's going on in this city?' She had been getting the last of the paperwork ready so that she could pack up her business and move it to where Ranma was, but this took priority. "Shampoo! Mousse! Quickly! Keep up with me!" She yelled and took off out the door, followed by the two younger Amazons.
Something was telling her that things were about to get really ugly, really fast. The three were zipping across rooftops as they made their way to where Cologne had felt the powerful magical attacks being flung around. 'Whoever it was is probably dead.' She was surprised that the city was still standing, the amount of power she had felt from the tainted Angel was enough that it could have laid waste to the whole city with no problem.
"Where are we going?" Shampoo asked and Cologne was glad to note that it was in perfect Japanese.
"I felt..." Cologne trailed off as they got close to the spot. "Around here..." She narrowed her eyes at the residual energy. "What happened around here?"
"Elder..." Mousse spoke up and picked up something off the ground. "A duck feather?"
"No." Cologne narrowed her eyes. "That's not a duck."
"Bulleta was here." Shampoo held up a bullet casing. "Shampoo know no one else who uses guns for fights." She sighed in annoyance. "Shampoo still have a long ways to go."
"You're getting there." Cologne didn't have a problem with the occasional slip-up that Shampoo had, she was still much farther ahead than most people who were trying to learn a new language. "Hmm, a tainted Angel and Bulleta..." The fact that there were two pools of blood, a small crater and several holes in the sidewalk showed some of what happened.
"What you think happened?" Shampoo asked and Cologne sighed and pointed at the small crater.
"From what I can tell, Bulleta encountered a very dangerous enemy and managed to wound it before being defeated herself."
"You sure?" Shampoo asked and instantly felt stupid at the look Cologne gave her. "Sorry."
"Don't worry, but I felt that powerful being leave under its own power." Looking at the feather in her hand, she narrowed her eyes. "The question is, why would a tainted Angel of such power be here?"
(-)
Elsewhere...
"Wakey wakey!" A crazed voice laughed a moment before a loud crack was heard in the air.
"Oww!" Bulleta cursed as she opened her eyes. "Okay, either the world turned pear-shaped or I'm upside down."
"You're upside down, and chained to a upside down cross! Aren't you lucky?!"
"Yeah, look, I'd love to keep this conversation going, but considering that you look like you're on your head and the blood is rushing to my head, I'm going to pass out, get loopy or both." Bulleta was very thankful when she was flipped up to a proper upright position. "Well, this is better."
"I don't know why the boss wants you." Bulleta got a good look at her captor and snorted as she saw the outfit. "What?"
"Member of the Church, huh? Always heard you losers hated decent competition for purging the world of Demons and the like." When he started laughing, she wondered what was wrong with him.
"Competition? Oh you flatter yourself." He ran a hand through his short, white hair and continued to laugh. "You're nothing more than a pathetic little..."
"Freed, that's enough." A short, elderly man wearing a priest outfit walked in and adjusted his glasses. "I'm terribly sorry about that, it's hard to control him some days."
Bulleta snorted in disgust as Freed continued to chuckle darkly and looked at the old man. "So why am I here, who are you and why are you working with freak face and laughing man?"
"I assume you're talking about Kokabiel and Freed when you talk about those two?" The old man smiled at her. "I have my reasons, but there not for a worthless little part-human hunter like you to know."
"Feh..." Bulleta sneered at him and snorted as the doors to the room opened up and Kokabiel walked in, nursing his right arm. "What's the matter, freak face? Can't heal properly?"
"Tsk," he sneered at her, "if not for your lucky shot, I would have gone for my other objective."
"Let me guess, there's some sort of randomly powerful artifact in Nerima that you want for your collection? Or perhaps there's someone that you thought was there and you want to hunt them down?" Bulleta struggled against her chains. "Get in line, there's about a hundred people ahead of you."
"Wait!" Freed pointed at Kokabiel. "You hurt him?! HIM?! WITH BULLETS?! HOW?!"
Bulleta gave him a shark-like grin. "I'm the most terrifying mother fucker in any dimension of reality. Vampire Lord, Succubus Queen, Elemental that can turn the planet to ash if it's too close? I'll face them all down and shoot them with bullets. Give me enough money and I'll make sure it's extra painful. A little birdie with some spears of light doesn't scare me."
Kokabiel snarled and snapped a light lance into both of Bulleta's hands, causing her to cry out in pain. "Say that again, you little bitch, I'll carve your heart out next."
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Bulleta ignored the pain and laughed at his threat. "That's it? Boy, don't you have a lot to learn?" Kokabiel looked at her weirdly, as did the other two. "I've had my skin boiled away, been bitten by a vampire and made its thrall, drowned by monsters that live in water, had my limbs and intestines cut open and off by a half-vampire with a Sacred Sword and even had a succubus try to suck my soul out. I'VE SURVIVED ALL OF THAT, BITCH! YOU THINK YOUR THREATS SCARE ME?!"
"Wait..." Freed trailed off, his voice trembling. "You're B.B. Hood? As in Baby Bonnie Hood? As in the crazy girl that no one in the right mind would face without having overwhelming power or an army?!"
"What are you talking about?" Kokabiel asked him, confused.
"FUCK! This skank is at the top of the 'do not fuck with' list that every exorcist has!" Freed pulled out a book and flipped it open. "She's in the top ten things you don't want to see unless she's dead."
"Ex-CUSE YOU!?" Bulleta gave him a glare, her eyes seemingly shining red. "Only top ten?! What do I need to do, find an orphanage of Demons, Devils and Fallen Angels and go full Murder Santa on them or something?!"
The old man frowned at Freed. "It's not like you to sound so scared, Freed."
"He's just jealous that I make the boogeyman piss his pants in fear and he's just an unknown little exorcist who will be long forgotten when he's gone."
"As amusing as this all is," Kokabiel snorted at her. "I'm wondering how she's alive."
"She's half Demon." Freed pointed out, getting a snarl from Bulleta. "Or half-Darkstalker, whatever that is, I'm guessing it's a Demon. Anyway, that's gotta be the reason she's survived all those things that should kill her."
"I'm not half-anything, you fucker! Let me go and I'll pump you so full of lead that x-rays won't be able to see though you!" Bulleta screamed and struggled against her chains.
Kokabiel sneered at her and walked off. "Valper," the old man looked at him, "I require some assistance to deal with the wounds she gave me. Freed, you can do what you want with her, but don't kill her."
"BAH! That's no fun." Freed grumbled as they left the room. "If not for that informant, we wouldn't go through this."
"Informant?" Bulleta asked, tilting her head.
"Some blue guy, never paid attention to him, just said something about an interesting Demon that's in Kuoh City and that you have a connection to that Demon." Freed pulled out a light sword and walked up to her. "Now then, I wouldn't give a damn what he said, I think we should kill you."
"Go ahead and try, better creatures than you have tried." Bulleta sneered at him as he put the blade of his sword against her throat.
"On second thought..." Freed started to chuckle as he pulled his sword down. "Other than your nasty as hell attitude, you look a lot like that Saint bitch that Raynare wouldn't let me punish and, BOY! Let me tell you that cunt wouldn't even have sex with me after I saved her dick-girl ass from Gremory!"
"You sure you're not gay?" Bulleta asked as his sword cut through all of her clothes, including her underwear, leaving her outfit in tatters.
"Hey, I don't discriminate."
Bulleta's eyes seemingly glowed red. "You better hope that you die to whomever you're attacking, because when I get free and get my hands on you, you're going to wish you were dead."
He licked his lips and grinned. "Hey, you're scary as fuck when you're free, but you're not free right now. Hmm, your legs are in the way. You said you survived having them chopped off, right?"
"I thought you were terrified of me." Bulleta glared at him as he put his sword against her legs.
"Oh, believe me, if you weren't tied up, I'd be out of here and in another country so fast that I'd set speed records." Freed grinned at her. "However!" His blade cut into her skin, causing her to scream in pain. "I'm a here and now kind of guy. I'll worry about your wrath later if it comes up."
To Be Continued...
Ending notes: Yes, Rias has canonically offered to let people knock her up as a way to get out of the engagement. At this point, she'd be desperate enough to try anything to hedge her bets. And, no, I told you Ranma wasn't stealing Issei's core harem. When I got to this point, I really was weighing whether I should or not. In the end, I decided against it. Glad I did, actually.
For anyone upset at what's happening to Bulleta, trust me, there's a reason she's known as one of the ten most terrifying things in all the realms, she'll get her vengeance, I promise. Don't ask me who the other nine are, I don't know. Though one of them's probably Happosai.
Making this a two-parter because the mood whip-lash between that part and what happens next was too strong I think.
To make up for it, I'll post the next part tomorrow.
Omake by Innortal
"Um ... Lilith?" asked Issei.
"My name is Lilith Aensland, you fondled my Master's rocking boobies, prepare to die."