Pilgrimage of Heaven

by Mundatorem

The kindness of a man who wished only to be normal. The determination of a man who wants only to better his race. The arrogance of one who dictates life. A boy who desires to live his ideal life. Stories of suffering and parting, stories of love and hope. They shall all converge on their pilgrimage that is life.

24. She who found bonds of friendship: XVI

She who found bonds of friendship

XVI

---

Romani wasn't sure how much time had passed since they left, in fact he hadn't even registered the fact they had left until they were already gone. It was as though he'd only just noticed how silent the room was. He had bits and pieces of what had happened running through his mind but it was still a blur to him.

A part of him knew why he was alone, it was because they'd all rushed off to save Asia from whatever it was that he saw. Not that anyone knew what he had seen and - for once - he was in no mood to share. It was something he had no intention of telling anyone else, let alone those who would actually be worried about him.

Romani probably wasn't in the best state of mind right now.

With a groan, he shifted in his seat until he was upright on the sofa. Leaning forwards with his hands on his lap and his eyes fixed upon the table. Perhaps it was to distract himself from his surroundings but, at the same time, it was the one thing he couldn't help but think of right now. This table was plain, simple, it passed unnoticed when you considered the rest of the house decorations.

It was the one thing he had contributed and he was perfectly alright with that.

He didn't need to have Leona's confidence or her imagination, he was just happy to be offered the chance for something. Let the wind blow where it may, and all that.

Reaching forwards, he ran his hand along the surface of the wood.

Thinking of a wooden table at a time like this was really the best he could do and that…that was just downright sad. Except there was nothing he could but complain about that fact and even then, he couldn't complain about it out loud. It was just something that he knew without even needing to say it aloud.

A plain wooden table in a house of brilliance.

There might have been something poetic there but he didn't really notice, or perhaps he didn't really have the sense to try and dig further into it to try and discover whatever sort of hidden meaning there was in the analogy.

He could sit here and complain about his situation all he liked, but at the end of the day there was nothing he could do. He knew that and everyone else with a lick of common sense knew that as well. He was only human. What little powers he apparently had were suited to just showing him flashes of the future that revealed nothing but endless horrors.

What a horrible thing, even his one little way of contributing was nothing more than a slap in the face to the idea that he might have been able to help. What was worse was that every single vision he had ever had ended the same way. Being the truth.

Issei had died according to his vision, they had both been attacked according to his vision, and now Asia was…

He closed his eyes, reaching up and rubbing his brows furiously as though trying to grind the skin off his face. Such was the ferocity of his movements that it felt as though his palm was going to burst into flames with the friction. Romani was torn between letting out a laugh of trying to scream at the facts that were presented to him.

He was only human…

Something crinkled in his pocket, he paused and looked down. Furrowing his brows and reaching towards the left side of his trousers. His hand sliding into the small hideaway and then pulling out a folded up piece of paper. He froze as he stared at it, slowly revealing it and staring at the contents. His lips trembled as he stared at the contents for what felt like hours.

The entire world could have fallen away around him and all he would see would be the piece of paper in front of him.

The receipt of their day together.

The price of the clothes that Asia had purchased, along with the cost of those that she had selected out for himself and Issei as well. All of those little things she had done for them and he was just sitting here on his backside while she was in danger. Except he couldn't do anything, he couldn't even stand up straight at the mere thought of her getting hurt.

He'd seen the way that Asia had reacted at the thought she might have finally gotten something even remotely close to friends. Such desperation in her that she'd come very close to crying. Time and time again, she'd only ever been used for what she could do for others rather than anyone actually valuing her. Perhaps the one person she had mentioned but that was neither here nor there, she'd been ripped from that place soon after her power was revealed.

A history of being left behind by everyone else and, for whatever reason, at the end of all of that. She wasn't going to be rewarded with the life she should have been granted from the start, instead she was going to die in some dingy basement while someone cackled about it like there was anything about it that could be found funny.

He knew all that, he'd experienced all that in the seconds he had been granted a vision. A braver person would have rushed off to save her, a stronger one would have been able to do all of it.

Instead he was staying behind and just staring at a coffee table. Seemingly content in the knowledge that he had passed along a warning and was now letting other people pick up the slack. It was a sad thing that both Kiba and Koneko, who had never even met Asia, were far more willing to go out of their way to put themselves into danger to save her than he was.

And he'd spent an entire afternoon getting to know her.

The hand holding the receipt turned over, he found himself staring at his wedding ring with greater intensity than ever before. His right hand moved over, index finger glancing along the surface of the metal band. The usual comfort that he got from the act failed to materialise, instead he was left with the cold feeling of touching nothing but metal.

Even in this situation, he couldn't find anything to distract himself.

There was no comfort to be found in the ring, there was no comfort to be found in the belief that Leona might win. All he could see was the cold, lifeless face of Asia and hear the laughter of her killer.

That was all he was greeted by when he closed his eyes and tried to imagine her.

All his visions had come true so far.

There was no reason to believe this one would be any different, especially because of the fact that Issei was there as well. It implied that everything proceeded much the same way. Asia would die, Issei would get into a fight with someone and then he would probably end up severely injured as well.

All the while, Romani would be sitting on this sofa.

"Haaaa…" He let out a long breath, slowly raising his head upwards and staring at the ceiling. There could be no doubt about it now, he really was a coward through and through. In spite of everything he had just thought, he could still not find the strength to get up off this sofa and charge out to try and save Asia.

He couldn't even do the same thing he had done with Issei a week or so prior, that had been nothing more than his body charging off into the night before his brain had caught up with him. Even when he finally realised what he was doing, it was much too late to turn back around and he'd been committed to hit. The phantom pinch that ran across his shoulders informed him of just how well that had worked out.

…

He stared at the ring.

For a brief second, it felt as though the ring stared back. Almost as though it was judging him.

Stand beside his wife indeed…

He couldn't even stand behind her, let alone walk in step with her as she charged right off into danger.

Romani slowly clenched his eyes shut, embracing the blackness that now presented itself before him. If there was even a glimmer of courage that coursed inside his body, anything that would be present enough for him to latch onto, then he would surely find it. He didn't care in what form it took, so long as he could feel as though he was going to do something to help.

Maybe he wouldn't achieve much - chances were, he probably wouldn't - but it would be better than this. The young teenager who he wanted to save had more bravery in her little finger when she ran away from the psycho's than he had in his entire body. That wasn't even his cynicism that was saying that, it was a proven fact that Asia probably had more courage than he did.

His jaw clenched, his eyes opened.

His left hand tightened into a fist, it was as though the wedding ring was now thrumming with life. It probably wasn't but his hand felt warm, the same warmth that was now shooting through his body like an unending wave of fire. His heart roared to life, probably a case of adrenaline as he decided on what he was going to do.

Rising from his seat on the sofa, it felt as though his legs hadn't even registered the movement. One instant he had been sitting down and in the very next he had just bolted right up to his feet, his lips pursed and his joints locked up. The hard part was getting to the door, the rest of it would be easy. Once he took those first steps outside, then there was probably nothing that would stop him until he reached his destination.

He would never make a claim that he would be capable of helping, but all the same, perhaps in spite of that. For the sake of a young girl who never had any real friends before in her life. Romani would be there for her when it mattered most, right alongside everyone else.

Maybe that was all that really mattered in the end, a friendly face for moral support.

After all, he was the school nurse.

And he was charged with protecting the wellbeing of the pupils at the school, though he could extend it. He went into medicine to help people, in big ways and in small ways. If he turned away from this now, then he would forever be…a very bad nurse. A very, very bad one. If the students of Kuoh were brave enough to launch some sort of rescue mission, if his wife was brave enough to do that sort of thing, then it was only right that he should be able to at least get one foot out the door.

Doing action stuff was well beyond his capabilities…

Showing up to watch everyone else do the hard work? Well…moral support was still a thing, after all. He could provide moral support.

What was it that Levi*tan always used to say?

"The power of a good friend is the strongest sparkle there is!"

Perhaps it was a strange thing he was drawing upon the motivational quotes of a fictional magical girl, but at this point he was taking whatever he could get.

And honestly? It was a really nice saying.

"Sorry, Leo…" He whispered to himself, turning to the door and yanking his leg up as though he was wearing concrete shoes. It fell back to the ground with a thud, dragging his body around an inch forwards. He recalled their earlier conversation about who would and wouldn't be capable of helping in these situations. He remembered the analogy she had used and, in that one moment, he couldn't quite keep the excited - yet very terrified - smile off his face as he started his little pilgrimage. "Guess I'm going to be a magical fireman after all."

…That sounded much cooler in his head, saying it out loud felt quite embarrassing.

---

Guard duty.

Even the word tasted foul to him, quite frankly, it was one of the things that he dreaded doing. It was just as much a waste of time now as it was when he was still a member of the Churches Exorcist division. Fair enough, he might not have been the best but he was still useful for something more than guard duty.

The reason was always the same 'you aren't good enough' and that was all well and good but how did they expect him to get any better if he spent ninety-percent of his time standing in a single spot and staring off into the horizon as though he was some sort of statue. He had been trained for doing more than this, he knew he could do more than this, and he had expected to be doing more than this.

The whole reason behind his defection to the Grigori was to give him the chance to actually do something. It was clear the Church never appreciated his talents so why waste them with such weak willed fools? He was capable of much grander things…things that he hoped the Grigori would recognise.

Instead he got saddled with a bunch of nobodies and the couple Fallen who accompanied them did so without even paying him a lick of attention.

Matthew let out a breath, reaching upwards and rubbing his brows. "This is such a stupid thing to be doing."

"Fucking, here we go…" To his right, he heard Flynn grumble in annoyance. That irritated him to no end, the dismissal this asshole had in him whenever he made a genuine complaint. They were always stupid complaints until he made one, then they were the most important things in the world.

Why did he have to get saddled with this waste of space anyway?

"Don't start." Matthew got out through gritted teeth, fighting back what he actually wanted to say as he turned his head to the dark haired man. The grimace on his face plain to see "We're here twiddling our thumbs while everyone else gets in on the big ritual." pointing to the ground, he let out a scoff "This is what we've been waiting for and the moment it comes up now we're…what?"

With a wide sweeping movement, he gestured to the surroundings. "Bird watching? Hearing the calls of the wilderness? It's a joke."

"The joke is your constant bitching." Flynn shot back with an audible roll of his eyes "Oh, boo hoo, you don't get to sit on that nutter stealing some power. I'd rather be up here in case something goes wrong than in there listening to her rant about something or other." There was a pause. "Freed had the right idea in getting some enjoyment while he could."

Enjoyment?

"He went into the town and started killing Devil contractors." Matthew remarked in a deadpan expression "That's half the reason we're stood here now, in case the Devils do come looking for us for revenge."

"Whatever." Flynn shrugged "And my point still stands. I should have asked to go with him, at least I could get some stimulation from this exercise."

"Through breaking and entering followed by murder?"

"Yeah, when else am I going to be able to do something like that and actually get a pat on the back and a thumbs up?" The look the man sent him was the same one an idiot might receive, Matthew rolled his eyes at the blatant display of psychopathy from the man. "Way I see it, if you're gonna mess with Devils then you deserve whatever is coming your way. No questions asked."

"I'm not arguing against killing Devil associates, that's what we're all here for, I'm arguing against doing it in the middle of a fucking town owned by the Devils. That's just some stupid shit right there because half of the guys in there are useless mooks."

"I know. I'm staring at one right now."

…

This fucking-!

Something crackled behind them, Matthew turned around and raised an eyebrow, squinting slightly into the bushes a short distance from them as they rustled. His hand fell onto his light sword, tensing for movement. He heard Flynn make a noise behind him.

The bushes parted, his hand made to pull out the sword-

A fox wandered out, briefly pausing and staring at the pair of them with big eyes before it scurried back into the woods where it had come from.

"Very nice."

"Shut up."

"Real scary." Flynn chuckled behind him "Hey, maybe it's one of those Yokai things? T-try getting a few shots off at it." the laughter continued "Maybe then you'll really-" before Matthew could fire back a response, a sound like rushing wind caught his ears, he was only midway through turning around when a wet thud echoed around him and he felt his entire right arm go numb.

A noise like splashing water came next, rather incomprehensibly, then he looked down towards the floor and found himself furrowing his brows at what looked like an arm. His brows rose up, it was an arm. From the position of the hands, it was a right arm as well, cut off just above the elbow and a growing puddle of crimson beneath it.

A sharp tingling sensation came from his right arm, briefly turning away from the limb on the ground and to himself. Only to freeze at the bewildering of his right arm ending well before it actually should have done, finding himself staring at the stump where his limb should have been. The tingling sensation exploded with agony, a feeling like a red hot iron had been placed against the limb flared through him.

His mouth opened up, a scream building up in his throat.

It was only then that he registered the existence of the blonde boy in front of him, wearing a black blazer with matching trousers, a white shirt underneath. The face of the boy was devoid of emotion as his right arm was drawn backwards, in his grip was a large slab of metal with a handle, a weapon with the appearance of a curved cleaver in a vaguely triangular shape.

He brought it down a second later, a cold feeling flooded across Matthews neck and chest as warmth seemingly spilled over him and away from the area. A splatter of blood flew directly into his face as he fell backwards, the boy already turning and flashing his left hand, a magic circle forming in his palm and shooting out straight towards Flynn.

"Oh shit!" Flynn let out a curse, raising his hands in a show of surrender "Wai-" the stream of pale coloured wind slammed directly into his face and froze his expression. For Matthew, it was as though the world was moving in slow motion as he fell backwards, his eyes already dimming but he was around just long enough to watch the blonde boy swing his sword forwards and slam the guard of the weapon into Flynn's face.

Which proceeded to expose with a sound akin to shattering glass as the body swung to the side, littering the ground with fragments of the frozen expression before the body dropped to the ground and moved no further.

Matthew found only small comfort in Flynn dying before him, his back touched the ground and his head thudded, no longer having the strength to move and letting darkness claim him.

---

"You think that little shout of his alerted anyone?" Leona's voice came from somewhere, what struck Issei was how calm it was. Though he found his entire attention upon the two bodies in front of him.

He suppressed a shiver as the noises replayed in his mind, the wet gurgle of the man as his throat was ripped apart by the meat cleaver that Kiba was currently wielding, and the noise like shattering glass the other guy made when he had his face punched in. A split second after Kiba had frozen his expression solid.

Issei found himself rooted on the spot as the rest of them emerged, unable to turn his eyes away from the two bodies, looking downwards towards the small streams of blood that were now flowing down the steps, as though someone had split some juice rather than…what it actually was. His lips parted ever so slightly, the improved senses of the devils reared their ugly head as the smell hit him. A vaguely metallic smell hit his nose, fighting back the bile that built up in the back of his throat.

"I would prefer to say I was fast enough to stop him with my magic." Kiba's reply came next, a slight hint of shame in his words but Issei doubted it was what he had just done that made him feel this. Rather, it was the fact he hadn't killed the man fast enough. "Though from what they spoke of, I shall assume that most of their order is currently elsewhere at the time. It might also explain the lack of awareness they had."

"They're probably running off limited numbers as it is." There was a brief pause as Leona hummed "They mentioned a ritual, I shall assume that is taking place in the Church and considering we're not currently being swarmed by a team of Exorcists and Fallen, that can only mean it's taking place somewhere they can't hear us."

"Then we are at the wrong location?"

"No. I doubt they have anywhere else in Kuoh to reside. I suspect that Miss Gremory would have been made aware if the Fallen had set up another base of operations in this town, letting them have one is bad enough. Two is a little embarrassing."

Kiba just hummed "At any rate, we are dealing with is now-..." Kiba fell silent for whatever reason, Issei imagined it was something but then he felt a presence next to him. Jerking and letting out a gasp as a hand lay itself on his shoulder, he turned and found himself staring into the eyes of Kiba, a troubled expression upon his face. "I forgot that your experience with this sort of business has been limited to a single Stray Devil and your own…reincarnation." the boy muttered, then offered him an apologetic look. "I apologise for showing you such a sight before you were used to it, but if you are to freeze up at every instance of blood, then this will be more difficult than-"

Issei swallowed, shaking the hand off and marching up the stairs, tearing his eyes to the sky in order to avoid looking at the bodies. Trying his best to tune out the dripping sound as though someone had left the tap on. "Lets just get Asia and get out of here…" He couldn't even force calm into his words, the tremble in his voice was obvious enough, it was more of a surprise that no one else had reacted.

The smiling face of that bastard around the school didn't really mould well with the cold looking expression as he killed two people in rather…messy ways. He clenched his eyes shut, forcing the images down to the furthest recesses of his mind and burying them deep down. He had other things to deal with first.

"Get Asia first, worry second. Get Asia first, worry second." Repeating that mantra to himself as a gentle whisper helped for a few seconds, then he jerked again when a hand patted him on the back, making a half turn and prying his left eye open to see who was touching him. Only to widen both eyes as it was Mrs Archaman, the brunette giving him a look that was almost encouraging, though a bit bemused.

"I'm not sure whether to be impressed or alarmed that you're so new to this you've never seen bodies before." She muttered, raising an eyebrow "And charging straight into people who'd tried to kill you as well…" shaking her head, she looked straight on. "Well, not like we have time to debate this anymore. They mentioned a Ritual and I'm not exactly going to wait around for them to complete it."

That said, she strode onwards towards the front of the church.

Koneko called out in a quiet voice "Plan?"

"As a genius, there is one thing that I live by." Mrs Archaman replied, looking over her shoulder and flashing the group a smile before she turned back to the doors and pulled her leg backwards. For a split second, Issei thought he saw a glowing blue pattern flash across her legs before she bent her body and slammed her foot into the door with a thunderous crash, shattering the wood and sending splinters hurtling into the main hall without any care for subtly. "Improvisation!" She called out.

Issei could only gape as she strode into the Church and then called out as loud as she could, switching to Italian as she did. "Buonasera, stronzi!"

'Good evening, assholes.'

Issei couldn't help the guffaw that came from his throat at her nature, briefly forgetting the events of a minute ago and hurriedly moving into the church after her, only to slide to a halt and widen his eyes ever so slightly as three figures stood in the room, all looking in their direction with no small amount of surprise.

Footsteps scuffed the floor behind him as Koneko and Kiba charged in as well, the four of them forming a small line as they looked into the room and narrowed their eyes. Issei focused on the two he recognised first and foremost, that crazy priest he'd met with Asia was currently gaping like a fish, eyes slightly wide but it didn't look like terror as much as it looked like disbelief.

Then there was the asshole in the grey overcoat, the guy who looked like Inspector Gadget.

Though the small girl who looked vaguely like a goth with her frilly white and black dress, short blonde twin tails and black bow in her hair was a new one. She was caught midway through a turn, furrowing her brows at the group for half a second before she looked past them towards the door, then scrunched her face up in disgust before turning it onto the priest.

"I thought we had guards?"

The priest just shrugged "I guess had is the important word in that sentence." His expression lost the surprise, now replaced with bemusement as his red eyes focused not on Issei or any of the other Devils, but instead onto Leona with a strange intensity to it, as though he was having trouble believing what he was seeing.

Then he let out an annoyed groan and rolled his head back "You've got to be fucking kidding me!? Why are all the pretty ones always Devil whores?" he stomped his foot like a petulant child, briefly throwing Issei into confusion as he stared at the man, the other two Fallen in the room let out their own noises of annoyance at the antics of the man. "I mean, seriously? I mean, I guess it makes sense but…fuckin' nevermind!" he snarled, then dropped his head back down and flashed a sharp smile "I'm always was open to convert sinners."

He paused for a moment, then added on "By that, I mean convert them from being alive sinners into dead sinners." another shrug "Just in case you shitty devils were under the impression I was going to let you live or something ridiculous like that."

"I am pleased you clarified that." Kiba spoke first, his tone polite and cordial as he took a half step forwards. Brandishing his meat cleaver with a flourish that had the blade whistle as it spun. "It means I do not need to concern myself with showing mercy."

The fact he sounded sincere was rather alarming to Issei, though he quickly shook his head and aimed a glare at the group. "Where's Asia!?" The interior of the Church was empty, not a soul in sight and that left Issei with a deep uneasy feeling about him.

A scoff came from the grey coated Fallen "Do you think us stupid enough to tell you, boy? We need only delay you long enough for Raynare to be done with the Ritual. If you remain ignorant, then that is more than enough of a victory for-"

"She's downstairs." Mrs Archaman's voice cut through his boast, the man pausing and snapping his head to the woman. He wasn't the only one as Issei mirrored his movements, widening his eyes slightly as he did so. The brunette was staring down at a magnifying glass, looking away from it and back towards the Fallen and then blinking. "Oh, I'm sorry? Were you in the middle of saying something?"

The gothic Fallen sputtered "What about the bounded field-?"

"That was a bounded field?" Mrs Archaman made a noise as though someone had put burnt food in front of her and called it lunch. The comparison seemed more pressing when her face scrunched up in a mild grimace. "Now that's just insulting, are you putting in effort to be this talentless?"

Issei glanced between Mrs Archaman and the silent Fallen - plus one priest - on the opposite side of the room, not a single one of them looked as though they had anything to say towards her, at least for all of a second. Then the obvious shock wore off on the face of the gothic girl as she smirked, placing her hands on her hips. "Am I supposed to be impressed that some little human worm is good at snooping around?" with a scoff, she waved her hand "That would be like asking me to be surprised that a rat is better at dumpster diving than I."

He curled his lip, she had a really innocent appearance but quite the foul mouth on her. Her eyes flashed towards him, narrowing slightly as she clearly caught his shift in posture, then they widened slightly as she tilted her head. "Wait a second…" She reached up, tapping her cheek with her index finger, then pointing towards him "Aren't you that new Devil or something? The one that managed to escape both Raynare, Dohnaseek and Free?"

The other two men were remarkably stone faced.

Then the girl burst into a fit of giggles "This is hilarious! You got punked by this worthless little Devil?" she managed to speak amidst her laughing, waving a hand in his direction while her eyes gleamed with cruel mirth. "Raynare went through that whole song and dance to kill him and she couldn't even make it stick! Pfffthahahaha!"

Issei rolled his jaw.

"W-what was it like when she appeared before you with that whole 'Oh, look at my poor maidenly self! I'm absolutely smitten with you!' I'll bet you lapped that up!" She snickered out, shaking her head from side to side and then looking to the other two Devils in the room "Is that why you picked him up? Because it was so pathetic that you couldn't help but feel bad for him? I bet it is! What sort of face was he making, anyway? Was he balling his eyes out and begging not to die or something?"

His whole body trembled with a concoction of emotions, the desire to charge across the length of the room and punch her in the face - girl or not - just to wipe that damn smile off her face was starting to become all too appealing. It was the others he was worried about, also the fact that she was Koneko's height. He'd also seen Koneko break through solid bricks with her hands so…

However, the fleeting moment of common sense was quickly being drowned out amidst the chuckles of the young looking girl, who by now was very close to throwing her head back and laughing from the gut. He didn't know what was so funny.

"Is that why you're all here now? Because that little nun girl is so pathetic? She's like some kicked little dog isn't she?" With a shake of her head, she rolled her eyes "Honestly, it's almost as pathetic as that…what did you say saved him last time? Some dumb human throwing himself in front of your lightspear? Honestly, if that idiot wanted to die he should have just hanged himself in his own hom-"

The speed at which she moved was blindingly fast, not too fast that Issei didn't register it, but still fast enough that he was far from prepared to actually think about countering it. The expression of the girl went from mirthful to cold within a heartbeat, she made a half turn and slung her arm upwards. A flash of light formed around her right hand as it moved, solidifying into a long jagged shape of light. With an almost lazy movement, she hurled it directly towards the centre of the four of them.

The spear made it halfway there before it was intercepted by Kiba, the cleaver sword shattering the weapon and littering the air with fragments of broken glass like material, the expression on the swordsman's face was equally chilled to match the girl, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Underhanded tactics work only so long as your opponent does not expect them."

That was all he said before he slammed his left hand into the ground, a brilliant circle made from dozens of symbols formed across the floorboards, Issei abruptly felt a chill in the room as the temperature dropped immediately, shards of ice grew like plants and raced across the ground towards the Fallen. They spurred themselves into action, the grey coated one hurled himself forwards, a light spear forming in his hands as he did so but brandishing it like a sword rather than a spear.

Kiba was already rushing to meet him.

The biggest surprise came from Koneko, who rushed towards the pews closest to them and then kicked the back of the seat. Issei expected it to break or something along those lines, what he wasn't expecting was for the entire section to be ripped from the ground with the force of the kick, accelerating across the length of the Church.

He briefly caught sight of the shocked expression on the gothic girl before the wooden bench slammed into her body, both of them tumbling through the air and into the back of the church, the stone wall breaking her momentum and shattering the wooden bench over her, covering the girl in large shards of debris.

Koneko didn't even hesitate to leap through the air, giving chase and falling on the Fallen just as she burst through the ruins of the debris, raising her forearms and snarling as the Rook landed powerful axe kick on her arms that buckled her knees beneath her, it lasted for all of a second before she spread them wide and threw them forwards, clasping Koneko by the offending shin, pulling her backwards and dragging her into a brief spin before she hurled her away.

The younger girl flipped as she fell, twisting her body and landing on the wall. Her head snapped upwards as she pulled herself back then shot forwards like a white bullet, the stone cracked the from the force of the push, and tackling the Fallen, wrapping her arms around her waist and driving them both into the ground, kicking up a shower of dust and debris from the tackle and consuming the pair of them in the newly formed cloud.

"Surprise Devil-slut!" Issei jolted from his shock and quickly backpedalled as the priest charged across the room towards them, his right hand holding a large pistol while his left held the hilt of a sword, the blade flashed into existence a second later and he found himself blanching at the memory of those lightsaber weapons once again. They really hurt last time, though it wasn't him that the priest was aiming towards.

Oddly enough, Mrs Archaman offered the priest a lazy turn of the head before she kicked off the ground backwards, her hand flew to her satchel and promptly pulled forth a small circular object that looked like the remains of a speaker. With a toss, she hurled it for the ground and a split second later, Issei felt a deep thrumming noise through his body, like a subtle vibration.

The priest pulled the trigger, several clicks went off in rapid succession…

Then nothing.

No gunshots followed.

"What the shit-?" The crazy priest looked at his gun in disbelief, then glanced at the device on the floor with a snarl before his eyes darted to the woman. It didn't take Issei long to figure out that Mrs Archaman had done something, but he wasn't sure what it was. With a grunt, he tossed the gun away and charged forwards with his sword, swinging it through the air towards her.

The blade glided over her body, she dropped as though she was doing a limbo, all the while maintaining a confident smirk before throwing herself into a roll to gain distance, her hand went to the satchel once again and this time pulled out a cylindrical rod, around the same thickness as a broom handle.

With a twirl of her hand, the rod extended on both sides and grew into a long metallic staff. The brunette flashed the priest a cocky smirk, not saying a single word as she rushed forwards, the staff blurred between her hands with a deep hum before it made contact with the weapon of the priest, the lightsaber sparking as it struck the staff and halting the spin. The pair backed away from one another for all of a second before they charged once again.

They weren't moving anything like Kiba, but that didn't make them slow. Issei found himself unable to do anything but watch as the pair of them clashed again and again, the sound of clashing steel soon echoed through the church, even amidst the sounds of battle from the others, it was a chaotic mess that Issei had very little idea of what he was supposed to be able to do.

Mrs Archaman performed a full spin as she twirled the staff as though she was a helicopter, then brought the weapon down onto the priest, the man still grinning from ear to ear as though he was having the time of his life. "Feisty women are the best!" He shoved backwards, then rolled away before flourishing his weapon "Especially after I break them-"

He locked with the brunette again, the woman even went so far as to roll her eyes. "And psycho's are always so cliche that I could make a bingo sheet for the amount of times I've heard something like that." Her eyes snapped back to him, stepping to the side and retracting the staff on the left, the Priest stumbled forwards, then let out a pained grunt as the staff abruptly shot back outwards and rammed into his cheek, a mark now present on his face. He stumbled but caught himself quickly, turning and swiping through the air, the brunette ducked down low and spun around, landing a sweeping kick onto his shoes.

The priest stumbled but would have caught himself had it not been for one small problem.

The fact he'd fallen onto the icy patch made by Kiba, it was almost comical the way his eyes bulged and he danced around on the ice as though he was a cartoon character. Mrs Archaman twisted the pole in her arm and then rested it along her shoulder blades behind her head, smiling all the while she thrust the weapon forwards and used the back of her left arm to guide it, driving it into the chest of the priest.

A split second later, the end of the staff glowed and a crack signalled from the man. Issei jolted at the same time the priest did, though the latters was far more literal. Arcs of electricity flowed from the staff and raced across the body of the man for what felt like an eternity, flashing over his skin and burning a small hole around his chest before he was punted away from the weapon and sent crashing into the pews in a cloud of dust, groaning under his breath as his body smoked.

Mrs Archaman drew the staff back, twirling it before slamming it into the ground. "Heh. I guess he really was shocked by my genius."

"...Wh-"

"No time to waste!" She quickly turned on her heel, marching away from the others in the midst of their own fights and towards the side of the Church. "Come along, you want to help Asia right?"

He did but what about-

"They can handle themselves, I'm sure." As if she was reading his mind, the woman answered before he could even complete the thought in his head, sparing a glance to the others just in time to watch Kiba land a roundhouse kick on the Inspector Gadget looking fallen, then drop low and form an icicle in his grasp and drive it into the man's foot. Issei grimaced at the cry he made. Shaking his head and taking off after the woman.

He didn't like the idea of leaving them, but he suspected that Mrs Archaman was right and they didn't need much in the way of help. "Oh yeah, try not to stand around and look pretty next time…" The woman remarked in an almost casual way that had Issei flinch "...Or in your case just stand, I guess."

"Oi!"

"Aha! So you're still with us! That's good!" The woman remarked as they moved around to the side of the Church, she walked with a much faster pace though not quite on the edge of a run. Issei would have expected her to do something like that, especially because the fight was still ongoing. Taking a half step backwards as Koneko blurred past him, the Gothic girl soaring through the air with a spear in her hands and completely ignoring the pair of them. "Hmm. Best keep your wits about you."

They approached the back of the Church, the large podium where Issei presumed a priest would have spoken from. Mrs Archaman turned her head towards the rest of the Church for a brief moment, then shifted her attention back to the podium and leaned against it, pushing it out of the way and revealing what lay beneath.

A stairwell leading downwards.

"Now that's just being lazy." She remarked with a roll of her eyes, then immediately jumped down onto the stairs and began her descent. "I hope you're more active this time!" She cheered as she sped up, moving down three steps at a time while the best he could manage was around one or two just to avoid tripping and falling.

Issei grit his teeth.

She was right about that, he'd just stood there like an idiot while everyone else was risking their lives. He needed to be better than that, if he was going to rescue Asia then he needed to actually do something rather than just stand around like a fool. Clapping himself twice on the cheeks, he pulled his hands away and clenched them into fists, feeling the familiar burn on his Sacred Gear in his left arm for a few seconds before the red bracer manifested around his limb.

"Yeah." He replied to her initial point, quiet but determined.

"That's good to hear." The woman replied in an even tone of voice "Because I'm fairly certain you left your best fighters upstairs. Though I suppose you can always use promotion, can't you?"

Promotion?

Oh, right. That.

…It hadn't even occurred to him until just now.

---

"Why do I always get brave…" Romani gulped in a hefty load of air as he fell forwards, leaning against a tree to try and support his weight as he drew more oxygen into his body. All the running he had done, combined with the initial ache when he had awoken not that long ago, was nothing less than pure torture for him. "...when I need to go running?"

It was an honest question, turning his head upwards towards the path and furrowing his brows ever so slightly. He knew this would lead the way to the Church but the fact of the matter was that he was still fairly far away from it. He wouldn't be surprised if, by the time he arrived there, his body decided to just turn itself off and leave him panting for breath on the steps or along those lines.

His eyes fell shut and his hands clenched into a fist, his heart was thumping with such speed in his chest that it felt as though it was going to burst from him at any second. Whether borne of exertion or fear, he did not know and it probably wouldn't be good to focus on the specifics of it right now. Leaving it as adrenaline would suffice for now, raising his head up and opening his eyes once again as he took in a final gulp of breath, then pushed himself off his support tree and continued his climb up the hill.

"Why did they build the Church…so far…from…the…town?" He gasped out as he managed a reasonably quick jog, he could still move but it was a little harder than he would like. When this was over, he was going to take a long rest. A long, loooong rest. He'd hibernate, like a bear. His lip twitched upwards at the suggestion. They liked to gorge themselves on food and then go for a long nap.

That sounded like his ideal day.

"Be the bear, Romani…be the bear…" He'd probably be a very pathetic bear but he would be a bear nonetheless. Somehow, anyway-

Something snapped to his left side, sounding briefly like a branch being broken accompanied by a low whistle. Like something heavy moving through the air. Romani paused, making a slow turn towards the sound.

He made it barely halfway before his feet left the ground and a grip like a vice found itself around his shirt and dragged him upwards, he didn't even have the air in his lungs to let out a cry of alarm, instead managing a panicked gasp as he was shoved backwards with such speed that the world turned to little more than a motion blur around him, then coughed out a wheeze as his back slammed into something, finding himself being dragged upwards along a rough surface and the grip on his shirt tightening to such a point that he could hear the fabric tearing.

"You, you're the one she spoke about…You look suitably pathetic."

With the wind driven from his lungs, Romani couldn't even hope to make a reply, unable to even breath as he found himself staring down into the hateful yellow eyes of the blue haired woman in front of him, her face an absolute ritacous of barely contained hatred as she tightened her hold on him, the look shifted from hatred to disgust as she looked him up and down, burgundy nylon suit strained against her as she stepped forwards and shoved him further up, legs dangling helplessly beneath him.

His hands flew to the limbs holding onto him, though that was all the movement he was capable of as he found himself virtually petrified. Unable to breath and strung up in such a way, he could find not even the strength to make an attempt to resume breathing as he stared at the woman.

"What makes you so special?" The blue haired woman snarled at him, venom dripping from each word that she spoke. "What gives you the right to even so much as utter a syllable of the language of Father?"

Romani just stared at her, face stiff and eyes wide.

The lip of the woman curled down further "Is this really what he saw when he looked at you? Is this the final insult he has for us? First you take his love and then you take his language? Is there anything else of his you will take?" she shook him slightly, he could barely manage a whimpering gasp as he opened and closed his mouth, unable to form a reply.

"Look at you! Some pathetic hairless ape!" A sneer made its way onto her face so swiftly and suddenly it might as well have been there from the start. "What is it that you have that we don't? You're so worthless that you cannot even speak when I demand an answer from you! Raynare told me what you did and you don't even have the courage to try and flaunt it to me! You just stagger through the woods like some drunken idiot!"

The slight creasing of her brows was all the warning he got before he was dragged forwards and once again found the world blurring around him, briefly catching a glimpse of the stars above his head before he struck the ground, he let out a deep groan as he felt something shift that wasn't supposed to, the fact his right arm went numb didn't help matters much either.

"Is that it!?" The words were lost on him, but he had just enough effort to crawl away from the voice, never before had he sought safety in a dark woods but today would mark a pretty big exception to-

Something clamped around his leg like a vice, he was dragged back, his left hand clawing through the dirt of the path as it happened, gathering debris between his fingers as he did so. All he could manage was a desperate moan as he found himself flipped over, this time the grip was around his neck, a constricting feeling that had him instantly widen his eyes, his left hand moving to feebly grab around it as he was hoisted upwards, nearly getting whiplash from the speed of it.

The woman held him up with a single hand around his throat, the glare seemingly intensifying.

For all he achieved in trying to pry her loose with his single working arm, it might as well have been made out of solid steel.

"Is that really it?" There was a desperation in the words now, though Romani was barely focused on that and more on the black spots now forming in the corners of his eyes as the grip tightened around him. "Look at how easily I can kill you right now! It wouldn't even take an ounce of effort on my part and yet you-you! What is so special about you?! All of you!? You're just dumb apes! All you're good for is multiplying and killing! Everything special about you comes from him! There's no divine wisdom, there's no greater clarity of the world, you can't even fucking fly!"

Was the world always this cold?

His left hand felt numb, the movements became slower as he started to lose energy.

Ah.

Right.

He was about to die, wasn't he?

…

That was…just typical…

He'd wanted to try and save someone and couldn't even save himself, how pathetic was that?

"We were made first! We were his first children! We stood by him before you even crawled out of the fucking mud! I was there when you were nothing more than dirty little toads mucking about on a beach! None of you were there in the beginning! None of you have ever seen his majesty or his brilliance! You never felt his warmth like we did! We showed him more reverence and love in a single day than you manage in generations! So why does he keep choosing you over us!? Why aren't we good enough for him!?"

…Was she talking about God?

…Geez, she sounded like an abandoned child to him. Was it wrong that he just felt bad for her now?

How would Leo react when she came home and found him gone?

He felt breath flood his body as the grip on his neck loosened ever so slightly, his eyes flew open as he allowed the precious air into his lungs. He didn't know what was going on but he didn't care, just so long as he could breath, though his vision was still caught in a state of unfocus.

"Can't you even beg me for your life?" The voice of the woman cracked, fighting back some sort of emotion "Go on! Beg me in my language! Plead with me like the little worm you are! You're his favourite, aren't you? I'm sure if you're loud enough he'll just smite me!"

His eyes flickered towards the woman, her expression caught between an enraged snarl and a heartbroken scream. "Well!? You should be able to speak now! Say something you pathetic little ape! Shout out to Father! He lets you use our language so just scream out! Clearly he loves you all so much that he'll come running at the first sign that you're in danger, won't he?"

The grip around his throat tightened ever so slightly, Romani still found himself staring into the expression of the woman. Torn between terror and confusion at what she was even speaking about in the first place. Most of what she had been ranting about flew over his head but the bits and pieces that he'd actually registered…It didn't sound very good.

He wasn't sure if it was something wrong with him personally, but the way this woman looked close to bursting into tears was more than enough for him to feel only a little bit bad for her. Though he'd clearly never learned to master hiding his expressions as the face of the woman froze for a split second, then her yellow eyes narrowed into pinpricks.

"Are you…what is that look you're giving me?" Her voice came first as a confused whisper, her brows tightening as she stared into his eyes for all of a second, then her expression exploded with fury as she clearly realised what he was feeling. "Are you-are you pitying me!? Don't look at me like that, you stupid little monkey!"

The air was blasted from his body once again, curling himself up into a ball and gasping loudly, spittle and blood leaking from his mouth as he was slammed into the ground, the woman loomed over him before thrusting her foot under his side and flipping him onto his back, raising the heel up and standing down on his chest, slowly pushing into his ribs.

"How dare you!" Her voice was a broken snarl, it might have been more impactful to him if she wasn't currently crying. "You think I need to be pitied by the likes of you!? I was one of his children! I stood in the home of Father for centuries! I am as far from you as the sun is from this planet and you think you can just pity me! Your kind has never been anything more than a nuisance! How dare you think you can just pity me!"

His mouth moved, no words escaped on account of having little breath to speak with. The woman paused, eyes narrowing and lip curling upwards slightly in a trembling smile, fighting back some of her rage and bringing amusement back into her expression, or she was trying to at any rate.

"Finally begging for your life?" An exhale left the woman, a sound of relief in her voice as she leaned down. Pressing more weight onto his chest and angling herself forwards, leaning her forearm on her knee and forming a sharp grin. "That's all your kind are good for…That's all you've ever been good for. Scraping at the knees of your betters. Go on, beg me to live. If you're convincing enough, maybe I'll let you leave with your ears after I take your eyes and tongue."

With as much air as he could draw into himself, Romani could only say one thing.

"What…are you…talking…about?"

---

Issei burst into the room, having moved past Mrs Archaman at some point and slamming into the door with his shoulder. The lock gave way as he drummed his body into it and sent the door swinging open, very nearly knocking it from its hinges.

Staggering into the room, he briefly gaped at the size of it.

Much larger than he had been expecting, at the very least the same size as the interior of the Church above them. It was dimly lit and not well decorated, a spartan brick chamber with torches hanging along the walls which gave it a greater impression of a dungeon than anything else.

His eyes were then drawn towards the ground of around twenty or so men dressed in the attire of a priest. The clergy turned as one to the noise he had made with his not so subtle entrance, their eyes falling onto him with varying states of shock and alarm Of course, they were quickly dismissed from his mind as his gaze shot past them and towards the set of stairs at the opposite end.

Leading upwards towards what looked like an altar, except upon it was a stone shape of a cross and a familiar blonde girl tied to it as though she had been crucified. Issei felt the blood drain from his sight, his eyes widened and his jaw fell open ever so slightly for half a second. Then a burning sensation rolled through his body, his jaw snapped shut as rage started to overtake him, his eyes remaining locked on Asia for a moment longer - the girl wasn't moving at all but she didn't have any signs of injury to her - then they darted to the dark mop of hair stood next to the strung up girl.

The face of Yuuma or Raynare or whatever the hell her name was stared back at him with a thoroughly dumbfounded expression for a good few seconds. Then it curled into one of absolute fury as she whirled towards him, turning to face him fully and spreading her wings out as though to threaten him with the display. If that was her intention, it wasn't working because Issei was way too pissed off to even care about that.

"Again!?" The woman snarled, stomping forwards and clenching her hands into fists, her irate voice bounced off the chamber walls, filling the entire room with the fury of her words. "You're nothing but a nuisance to me! Could you not have contained your dimwitted heroism for at least another minute!" she paused for a moment, then frowned as she looked past him towards the only way in or out. "Wait…where is the other one?"

Other one?

She let out a breath "Doesn't matter. You by yourself are nothing to me and-" the raven haired Angel paused for a moment, turning her sights onto Mrs Archaman presumably, raising an eyebrow towards her and tilting her head. "...Who the fuck are you?"

"Me? I'm the woman whose husband you and your lackeys have picked on recently." The brunette stalked past Issei, punctuating each step by tapping her staff against the stone floor with a metallic thud, the enclosed space made the sound more pronounced than it otherwise would have been. Her next words were delivered with an eerie calm about them, despite that Issei felt a slight chill crawl up his spine. "As you can imagine, I'm here to pay you back for that."

The metal staff let out a thudding sound, the ends retracted ever so slightly and uncovered smaller cylinders at both ends. After a few seconds, they illuminated themselves with brilliant blue light, humming lightly in much the same way a bug zapper would. Issei was briefly reminded of what happened to the crazy priest when he was struck by the pole dead on and it didn't take much for him to imagine what would happen if the staff struck someone on either end with one of those.

"Issei." The woman spoke up after a second, her left hand slowly moving towards her bag "Close your eyes."

…Well, he wasn't going to question that. He snapped them shut and a second later a flash of light ran through his eyelids, it was bright enough that he turned his head slightly, raising his armoured hand to cover his face even in spite of his shut eyes. He imagined that anyone on the receiving end who wasn't covering their face didn't end up all that well. Cries of alarm soon filled the hall.

The second the brightness diminished, Issei snapped his eyes open just in time to see Mrs Archaman slam the glowing staff into the chest of the man in front of her, his hands nowhere near any of his weapons and instead clenching his eyes and letting out a cry. It quickly turned into a high pitched squeal the second the staff met the body, the glowing rod at the end intensified in brightness until it was like a torch, made all the more painful when a loud cracking sound went off and arcs of blue lightning flew from the staff to the man in question.

The fact Issei could see the electricity jump from the staff to the man was concerning enough, then the brunette pulled it back like a spear and was already moving onto the next target, the twin lights on either end of the staff danced in a circle as the woman spun the weapon at high speeds, the lights paused for barely a fraction of a moment when they struck skin and then the sound like an electric fly zapper went off again, accompanied by the cry of pain.

Shaking his head, Issei turned to the nearest priest and narrowed his eyes. The man was still staggering around and rubbing at his eyes furiously. He doubted he would get a better chance than this. He rushed forwards, pulling his left arm backwards. It made sense to him, the limb had a metal bracer on it so it obviously packed more weight so it was going to hurt a lot worse when it hit someone.

Swinging the arm up, he caught the priest in the nose with an uppercut, the head snapped backwards and a wet crunch met his ears as the front of the man's face very nearly exploded with blood, Issei fought back a gag as he saw the nose of the man as he fell backwards. They certainly weren't supposed to bend like that.

Quickly dismissing it, he moved towards his next target and swung his arm forwards once again. His form was clumsy and it was really nothing more than swinging his weight around. If it weren't for the fact he was a Devil and, on average, stronger than a normal person he doubted the punches would have been nearly as effective. All the same, they worked and he wouldn't complain about that. His knuckles crashed into the cheek of the next man, they stumbled to the side but didn't go down immediately. Issei brought his leg up and kicked them in the knee. That time they did go down, their body jolted and they dropped, he coiled his fist back again and jabbed it forwards into their ear and drove them downwards. The man clutching the side of his head while he whimpered in agony.

Chancing a look upwards, he caught the precise moment in which Mrs Archaman drove the staff down in between the legs of the latest victim.

…He'd never known someone's voice could go that high and he never wanted to see something like that again.

Thankfully it didn't last long as she gripped the staff with both hands then pulled it upwards, the weapon cracked against the chin of the man and jerked his head back, the brunette stepped in close and then drove the polearm into the jaw of the man with a thudding noise and send them down, their jaw hanging open and going thankfully silent as their eyes rolled into the back of their head.

Issei chanced a look towards the Fallen, she was glaring down at him with a hateful fury, her hands clenched in fists and coiling her body. Yet she had not made an effort to move, in the few seconds that he was staring at her, he caught her looking to Asia several times and then back at them, some small level of nervousness on her features.

Was she waiting?

He frowned.

Hell with that.

"Promotion!" He shouted out at the top of his lungs, feeling something inside his body change as he bounded forwards. Raynare snapped her eyes to him in an instant, by that point he was halfway towards the stairs. "Rook!" Koneko was a rook and she punched really hard, right now that was the sort of thing he needed.

It was difficult to describe the wave of power that surged through his body a second later, but his limbs felt as though they were heavier. Not as though he had trouble moving, but now as though he was a larger person than he actually was. His left hand shot forwards, grabbing the robes of the priest who just so happened to be in his way and pulled to the side, briefly marvelling at the ease by which he lifted a full grown man off his feet and sent him tumbling into the side of the room with all the ease of throwing an empty tracksuit.

The awe was short lived as he reached the base of the stairs, glaring up at Raynare for half a second before he was bounding up the flight. Rushing towards both her and Asia with what he hoped was a furious expression but he didn't care what he looked like right now. All that mattered to him was getting Asia back and punching that woman in the face. Doing the first was his main objective, doing the second was a pleasant bonus.

Raynare's face warped into one of fury as she rushed down to meet his charge, leaping off the altar and twisting her body so that her legs were angled downwards. Issei stopped midway through a step, widening his eyes and bringing his arms up in front of him in an amateur block, gritting his teeth as the woman struck him with her heel. His legs buckled as he felt his balance fall backwards for a short second, trying to force his body forwards rather than fall down the steps.

Raynare twisted in the air, dragging her heel across his forearms and pulling them to the side, Issei widened his eyes at the sudden pull. The Fallen continued her spin and brought up her other leg, swinging that one towards him. He dimly realised he wasn't going to be past enough to stop that and braced himself.

Saying he was prepared and actually being prepared were two very different things, his vision whited as the woman drove her foot into the side of his head and his body lurched, a sense of nausea swept through him as his brain rattled around inside his skull, the sensation lasted less than a second but to him it might as well have been hours, his sight returned just in time to watch Raynare land on the ground in front of him and then perform a full roundhouse and drive her foot into his gut.

The world blurred past him as sensations of pain assaulted his body, quickly realising he was falling down the steps. His face smacked against the stone with a dull thud, he grimaced and quickly put his hands against the floor, pushing upwards and scrambling as quickly as he could to his feet, making about a half turn before he saw movement in the corner of his eye.

He brought his arms up once again to protect his face.

Pain flared just under his ribs, his eyes bulged as he saw the Fallen retract her fist from where his kidneys were, having slammed her knuckles into him with the force of a sledgehammer, his body protested the strike, he stepped backwards and jerked his hands to nurse his side. A split second later he realised his error as Raynare's furious face filled his vision and the next thing he saw was her fist speeding towards his head.

He threw himself back on instinct, turning his body to give himself a better chance. It worked to an extent, rather than the punch smashing his face in, it instead struck the side of his cheek around his jaw and rocked his head. She pushed forwards with the punch, driving it further into his head and then moving past him, knuckles scraping along the front of his nose and then followed by her forearm. Issei found himself pulled along with the movement, though still behind Raynare's speed.

When her punch extended as far as it could, she pulled her arm back suddenly and without warning. Her elbow smashed into the bridge of his nose and lancing pain ran through his face, he fell backwards, hobbling his steps with his hands flying to his nose, cradling his face. His vision blurred as tears started to pool in his eyes and warmth spread across his fingers and down the front of his face, touching his lips and then sliding over them.

Raynare turned as he was in the midst of stepping backwards, hunching her body low and clenching her right arm into a fist. Her eyes burned with fury as she twisted her body to face him, her shoulder moving forwards as she put her full weight behind the punch currently rushing towards his gut. Perhaps it was the adrenaline rushing through his body or perhaps it was something else, but she looked as though she was moving a bit slower than before. When he started to move his arms, he found that he was experiencing the same sensation of slowed movement, which merely meant his perception of time had changed.

All the same, he knew what he needed to do.

His arms started to drop as the raven haired angel came closer by the moment, crossing his forearms over the front of his chest - briefly catching a sight of his now bloodied hands, the red liquid stretching between his fingers like glue - and hunched himself forwards, bracing his body in the few moments of time he had left.

Her fist smashed into his forearms, his eyes bulged as they shoved the limbs back into his chest, pressing them against his ribs and grinding against his jacket, the fabric was ripped apart by the blow, his feet coming off the ground an instant later as she pushed upwards, her knuckles driving him into the air with her arm still in the midst of swinging forwards. Issei let out a gasp of air, the oxygen being driven from his lungs.

She pulled her right arm back, her left speared forwards with a claw like grip and snatched itself around his throat, instantly coiling around his neck and cutting off the blood flow to his head, the sudden intensity of the attack left him reeling in more ways than one, the precise moments in which she had struck were little more than blur to him and he was hoisted into the air a second before he realised what had happened, his hands flew to the limb and made to grab at it to try and loosen her hold on him.

In the next second, he was soaring through the air, managing a single blink of confusion before his back struck something solid. A noise like crumbling earth reached his ears and a deep pain that ran through his entire body like a shudder flooded his senses, locking up and finding his posture held upright despite the fact he had no feeling in his legs. His dazed vision registered a blur rushing towards him.

It cleared up a second later to see Raynare sprinting with her arm pulled back, quickly realising that he was embedded in the stone wall of the room. The Fallen swung her right arm forwards in a powerful haymaker.

Issei sprung forwards and dropped down, her fist sailed just above his head and slammed into the wall behind him if the crunch of stone was any indication. His left arm darted out, seeking anything he could get leverage and soon finding purchase on the Fallen in front of him, his hand clenching around something flexible and leathery, his grip tightened like a vice. He swung his head upwards and rammed it as hard as he could into whatever was above him.

Pain flared through the back of his head like he'd headbutted a brick wall, but he was rewarded with a similar cry of pain from above him. His head continued on its path, the brief resistance he met darted backwards and he snapped upright, standing on his legs once again and his left hand tightly clenched around the strap that ran across Raynare's collarbone, the thing that held her weird bra shirt on.

A red mark forming on the bottom of her chin and her eyes full of rage as she glared right back at him.

Issei did the one thing he could think of.

He swung his body forwards, his head falling like a sledgehammer and smashing directly into the nose of the Fallen. It hurt like hell, it probably was the stupidest thing he had ever done, his vision whited out and he fell backwards, a dull ache forming across his entire forehead as his hold on the woman vanished, he fell backwards and thudded against the wall behind him. His right hand moved out and found a grip on the wall, most likely in the spot where he had been buried, and used it to prop himself upright.

As his eyesight returned, after a few pained blinks, Issei found himself panting heavily as he stared at the Fallen in front of him, her gloved hand covering the front of her face. Her own breathing was erratic and slightly wet, eventually her hand pulled away with a thin strand of crimson connecting her hand to her, now crooked, nose. The origin of the strand coming from her right nostril, where a small dribble of blood was now forming.

Her lips slightly parted, her breathing coming out in growls and a small red bubble popped under her nose.

If her eyes had been full of fury before, now they were volcanic.

Despite himself, Issei could only let out a single chuckle. It wasn't funny and he would never have imagined doing something like this when they first met, but he didn't care about that right now.

At least she wasn't smiling anymore.

"Heh…Take that…bitch…"

Raynare didn't reply with words.

Her swift jab to his face which bounced the back of his skull off the wall was response enough.

The dozen or so punches that landed on his ribs in the next second, her just wailing on him as though he was punching bag, were little more than a more elaborate reply.

In his dazed state, he could do nothing but take the blows one after another. Ramping up in speed and power as she continued to strike him with nothing more than a blind fury, he needed to do something if he was going to try and break free, but he didn't know what he could do in this situation. He raised his left arm to try and block the next punch, only to have Raynare parry the fist to the side and then strike him in the jaw, this time driving the left side of his face into the wall with enough force to crack stone.

He would have dropped to the ground there and then, were it not for the fact her hand clasped around his collar and dragged him back up to his feet and then slammed her open palm into his chest, inch by inch she was driving him further into the wall. Creating another indentation of his body in the stonework.

A flash of movement caught his eye, in the next instant he watched Mrs Archaman jump past Raynare, placing her foot out and striking the wall with her leg, kicking off and spinning her body. A second later she slammed her shin into the face of the Fallen with a sound more reminiscent of a gunshot, in the next instant Raynare was blasted away from her, the brunette already in the process of pulling out what looked like a pair of steel balls from her pocket and then hurling them forwards.

In the midst of their spin, they separated with a thin wire still joining them together, twirling through the air as they homed in on the Fallen. Wrapping around her body and snapping together, coiling around with enough force that the skin gave way for the wire, a red stripe forming around her body. After a split second, the steel orbs glowed and then a pulse of purple light flashed across the body of the Fallen, an agonised scream coming from her.

The brunette landed in the next second, staring at the Fallen for but a moment before she turned on him. The fact her initial response was a wince didn't leave him with a very good impression of how he was looking, but he figured that had been a given. He'd been hit enough times to know that a beating never ended with you coming out more handsome than before you went into it.

"Can you still move?" Were the first words out of her mouth, at least she didn't ask him if he was alright. His vision on his left side was filtered through a crimson lens, a strange mixture between the rose tainted vision and his normal eyesight, pulling himself forwards and driving what remained of his strength into his arms and legs. A croaking sound came from his throat as he pushed himself upwards, staggering onto his feet and staring the woman dead in the eyes.

Did it hurt?

Sure.

Was he going to let that stop him?

No.

If he could take a beating from the Kendo club for the better part of a year and push through all of that again and again, then he could take a couple swings from a piece of shit like that woman.

"Course…I can…" The words spilled from his mouth with more confidence than he thought he could possess, his lip curling upwards into an attempt at a smile. Though it was difficult to tell what sort of expression he was making on account of his face being numb. His body felt like it was about to fall apart, his lungs were screaming, his abdomen felt like it was having a miniature earthquake and he could feel like the next steps he took would decide whether or not he fell flat on his face and remained there.

But he could still move at the moment.

"I've been hit…harder…"

A raised eyebrow at the response he received then the woman let out a breath and shook her head from side to side, turning her attention away from him and twirling the staff in her hands before planting it in the ground. Issei turned his head as best as he was able - he could practically feel the movements of bone with how much they shuddered - then blinked as he saw the rest of the Priests in the room on the ground, their bodies strewn across the floor like litter.

Raynare's strangled snarls reached his ears, turning his attention to her as she managed to struggle to her feet, her arms still bound by her sides as the glowing violet light of her bindings flickered for a few moments before it was ripped apart, the Fallen flexing her wings as far as they would go and sending fragments of the trap in all directions, she hunched her body forwards ever so slightly.

Except something was wrong, she swayed on her feet as though she'd just come out of a high speed spin and was seconds away from falling over, her eyes blinking profusely before her brows knit themselves together as though she was confused herself as to what was going on. Very nearly falling backwards but catching herself at the last second.

"Wha-?" Her words were slurred, a slight lisp to them as she struggled around on her feet, raising her arms up and staring at her trembling limbs, then slowly turning them over before her eyes widened. Issei saw it as well, the thin line that stretched across her upper arms and her torso where the wire had been, now burnt black into her flesh. "Wad did you dju to meh?"

"Greek curses." Was all Mrs Archaman responded with initially, her posture loose and a shrug being her initial act. "The amount of divine monsters you get there, people tend to find methods of dealing with them. Since you're a Fallen Angel, you're about as Divine as they can get. You'll be feeling a little topsy for…an hour? Maybe more?" There was a pause, then the staff crackled "Though that is me being generous and assuming you're gonna be around for quite that long."

Raynare snapped her head upwards, staring at them with an expression a mixture of fury and creeping horror, she then snarled and brought out a light spear, pulling her arm backwards and making to hurl it. Only to stumble over her own feet and fall to her knees, the weapon dropping from her hands and skidding along the floor. She was panting heavily now, each breath sounded as though it was being pulled into her with very little gain.

Gradually, she raised her head up and stared at the brunette with a newfound sense of dread. "Y-you-?" She wheezed out, pushing herself upwards on her trembling arms. Issei would call it quite a reversal of her fortune, in one moment being on the verge of pummeling his ass into paste and in the next struggling to stand up.

"I did say you were going to answer." Was all Mrs Archaman offered as a way of an explanation, the casual indifference in her voice made it sound as though this was nothing but a chore. She turned her head towards him slightly. "Be a dear and go check on Asia."

Issei paused for a moment, then nodded his head and started to push his way towards the steps of the altar. He made sure to keep an eye on Raynare, but from how her arms shook even as she tried to push herself up, it was clear that she wasn't going to be going anywhere anytime soon. He dismissed her quickly, focusing his attention solely on Asia.

He caught a breath in his throat as the girl let out a soft moan, her eyes fluttering open and scanning the room in a daze. Falling onto the sight in front of her and promptly widening, a gasp caught in her throat before they then fell onto him. Issei didn't even try to keep the smile off his face as she stared at him. Raising his right hand upwards, offering her a wave. "Yo, Asia…"

"Issei?" The girl breathed out in response, staring at him as though he was an illusion. It was the first time anyone had ever looked at him as though he wasn't real, then he watched as tears started to pool in the corner of her eyes, her mouth opening and closing as she failed to formulate a sentence for a few moments. Then eventually let out a small noise "You…came for me?"

"Heck…yeah…I…did." He punctuated the sentence by jerking his thumb into his chest, ignoring the brief flash of pain from the movement. "Because you're my friend."

Asia let out only a sniffle at that.

"A nun…being friends…with a Devil?" The voice sneered out, Issei turned back towards Raynare as she was hunched over on all fours, her eyes no longer on Mrs Archaman and instead on him, narrowed into slits.

"Is that some sort of fucking joke?!" She seethed, taking in a deep breath and surging to her feet, even as she staggered to keep her balance Issei coiled himself backwards, the bruises of her fists still ached and he readied himself for another salvo. Her teeth were bared, almost like fangs as she glared at him with the rage of a sun, her eyes darting between him and Asia for a split second before they glanced at Mrs Archaman. Her chest heaved, drawing air into her body with greedy amounts, her skin slick with sweat and pale, all the same she looked as though she didn't care in the least.

"All this for that fucking nobody!?" Raynare snarled, her right hand flexed open and closed several times as light flashed in her grasp. "She's only special because of that thing she carries! She's worthless and you'll go that far for that pathetic little girl!" she drew her right arm back, it looked as though it took all the effort she had left in pulling her arm back, her muscles bulged as violet eyes constricted into slits.

Issei widened his own eyes, spreading his posture wide as much as he could, he caught sight of Mrs Archaman rushing towards the Fallen from the front.

"Fine! I don't care anymore!" With a furious snarl, Raynare pushed her body forwards, then turned it at the last second.

The world seemed to move in slow motion for him, watching as the spear flew from her hands, watching as Mrs Archaman struck the Fallen in the gut with the staff and slowly turned her head in the direction of the spear, widening her eyes as she did, watching as the spear flew above his head, barely fast enough to track it's trajectory.

And watching as it pierced through Asia's chest, if the blonde girl was screaming from the pain, Issei couldn't tell.

All he could hear was a ringing in his ears and the sound of his own furious scream as he saw the blood spurt from the front of the girl, her body twisted on the cross as she was nailed to it through her ribs.

Issei was already turning on Raynare before he could even register the fact he was still screaming, even as she fell he could still see the victorious smirk on her face. He charged, his legs cried out in protest, his thoughts became little more than static. The pain had long since become something he could not even tolerate without stopping, but the moment he stopped he would fall over.

He charged, his left arm burned, the only conscious thought was wiping that smug look off her face.

"Boost!"

His gauntlet cried out, the deep voice thundered through his very bones and bounced in his head, the strain of his limbs intensified. A feeling as though they were on fire, he powered through it. The exhilaration that came from the new sensation was more than enough to drive him forwards, clearing the distance between himself and Raynare in a matter of steps and slamming into her chest with his shoulder, he ignored the cry of pain from the woman as he continued his charge, picking up speed as he moved.

The run lasted less than a second but he cleared a distance of ten or so metres in that time, crashing Raynare's back into the wall and taking a half step away from her, though it only serve to give him distance, his hands flew forwards, wrapping tightly around the strap across her collar and slamming her back into the wall, his left hand pulled backwards in preparation for a punch, he didn't even register the fact the gauntlet was now glowing bright red.

"Why!?" He cried out, a mixture of fury and grief soaked his words as he stared directly into the eyes of the woman. "Why the fuck-!? What was the point-!?"

Raynare hissed back "That should be my line! I was going to become a supreme Fallen! I went through all this trouble to get that miserable little bumpkin here and you just couldn't help yourself, could you!?" She matched his fury with her own, Issei felt as though his heart was going to explode, it was beating so fast in his chest.

"She didn't deserve that!" He punched her in the face, driving her head into the wall and then pulling back his fist, something cold travelled down his cheek. "She just wanted some friends!"

"Who gives a shit! She's nothing! I was going to use her Sacred Gear and become the right hand to Azazel-sama! You ruined that! You and that fucking maggot human you worked with!" She sneered back at him, her voice trembling, then a cruel smirk came upon her face "If I can't win, then I can at least see to it that you don't either!"

"..."

"Boost!"

A Sacred Gear responded to will power. That was what Buchou had said.

Right now, he wanted his to respond to his desire to punch this bitch's lights out.

He drove his fist forwards again with the force of a sledgehammer, the armoured bracer cracked against the face of the Fallen, worse was the fact she was on the verge of laughing, amidst the pain she continued to cackle.

"She died for that!?" He punched again "Why!? Why can't you just leave people alone! Why couldn't you just let her be happy!?" a choked sob was coming from somewhere, it sounded fairly close but he didn't care. "Why couldn't you just let me be happy!? Why did you have to do this!" he punched again "Why!?"

He dragged her forwards, turning his own body as he did so and throwing her into a stumble, he stepped close.

"Explosion!"

His left arm felt like he'd stuck it in fire, but he didn't care about that, nor did he care about the pressure that now covered the entire limb or the extra weight it seemed to have. All he cared about was making this creature pay for hurting Asia. He drew his arm back, tightening his fingers so heavily that he would have punctured the skin of his palm if it was possible at the time. He turned his entire body with the blow, forcing every ounce of power into the attack and driving it up.

His fist slammed into Raynare's chin.

---

Kiba parried the lightspear, stepping backwards to avoid the quick jab aimed at his head and then ducking low. Reversing his grip on his sword and spinning on his heel, slashing across towards the midsection of the Fallen. The grey overcoat parted and a splatter of red followed, the Fallen having taken a step backwards at the last moment to avoid the slash but not quite fast enough to avoid it entirely.

The man snarled, Kiba returned his sword to the original grip and brought himself back around, slashing upwards at the same time he fired a burst of ice from the palm of his offhand. The magical circle formed quickly and activated, the frozen attack struck the left boot of the Fallen and solidified around his shin and foot. The leg being stuck to the ground by an inch of solid ice.

It shattered a second later, the Fallen putting more effort into his escape but it came slightly too late to save his leftmost eye. The tip of the cleaver cutting through the cheek to the forehead of the Fallen in a single swift motion, before the man could let out a cry of pain at the sudden loss of an eye, Kiba took a half step forwards and rammed his shoulder into the gut of the Angel, the grey coated man was punted across the room, bouncing twice before he hit the wall.

Kiba leaned backwards, narrowly avoiding being slashed by the brilliant light of the sword. The crazed Exorcist - Freed Sellzen if he recalled correctly - snarled at him like some manner of rabid animal, at the same time there was a smouldering patch of fabric burnt to the centre of his chest from his shirt. It was rather amusing for Kiba to see, his eyes twitched upwards as he forced the priest back half a step then went on the attack.

Freed let the blow push him backwards, alternating his stance and going for a posture more akin to fencing. It made sense to Kiba, getting into a direct striking match with his sword would only end poorly for the priest, he had the weight and power behind his slashes so it was expected the priest would use something more like speed. He dropped down, thrusting his leg out and spinning around.

The priest jumped up to avoid the kick, reversing his sword and thrusting downwards as he came back to the earth. Kiba threw himself into a roll, sweeping his blade upwards and splitting through the floor as though it had not even been there to block his path, chips of debris flew towards the white haired man, a slight twitch of his expression as grains of dust flew into his eye was more than enough.

Kiba locked his body down in a position more like that of a wolf, glaring up at the distracted priest before he accelerated forwards. His speed coming into practice as instead of striking the front of the man, he shot past him, thrusting out his leg and pressing it against the armrest of the closest pew, he twisted his body around and used the wooden seating as leverage, kicking off it with enough force to reduce the mass to sawdust and crossing the distance between himself and the priest in the blink of an eye, his sword brought across his body with the serrated section of the blade already turned in preparation to strike the back of Freed's neck.

At the last second, the priest turned about to face Kiba, raising his sword upwards and catching the flat of the blade with his own weapon. A cocky sneer on his face as his left leg shot upwards and caught the knight in the gut with a kick. Kiba's expression strained as he flew from the priest, his legs bent as he struck the ground and slid to a halt, scuffing the bottom of his shoes.

"Throwing dirt in someone's eyes and attacking them from behind? That's the oldest trick in the book!" Freed taunted with that same look of amusement in his eyes, hunching his body forwards and then falling into a dash, leaping over the remains of the pew and bringing his sword down in a powerful swing. Kiba blocked the attack with his own sword, bending his knees slightly before he directed the weapon downwards and jerked the pommel of his weapon back, catching the priest in the cheek and staggering him. Unfortunately for him, Freed followed the stagger throw and leaned back at an angle that should have been impossible to do, bending his knees a full ninety degrees while still maintaining his balance, Kiba's attempt at a follow through glided directly above the head of the man as his body rose back up, slashing upwards and forcing Kiba on the retreat to avoid being caught with the light sword.

"Great…A Devil who knows how to swing a sword…you guys are always fun." The voice of the priest was drier than a desert, the red eyes dimmed ever so slightly and the lips were pulled into a thin line to thoroughly showcase his lack of enthusiasm.

Kiba just scoffed, then glanced to the side just in time to see the male Fallen return to the fray, brandishing a lightspear in each hand.

The blonde withheld a sigh, then dropped the cleaver to the ground. The weapon vanished seconds later with a flash of light. Prompting the priest to jolt in surprise, the brief distraction very nearly cost him his life, angling his body at the last moment and raising the flat of his sword to angle the thrust of the weapon nearly twice Kiba's height which had spawned into his right hand and thrust forwards in the very next breath.

"What the fuck!?"

An adequate response. The 'sword' in his hands now had more in common with a jousting lance than that of a regular straight sword. It still qualified as a sword, however, just a little bit larger than the average type that would normally have been made. If Kiba was not educated, he would have called the weapon type absurd. However, he had seen what something like this could do in the hands of someone capable and there was a very good reason he actually used this weapon in the first place.

Freed learnt that a second later as the blade of the lance-sword glowed a brilliant orange, hot enough that any other weapon would have melted under the temperature. The Priest realised a second later what was going on, kicking off the ground and throwing himself backwards, not that Kiba was actually aiming for him in the first place. Instead, the second the glowing sword was free he thrust it towards the ground in front of him.

Directly into the patch of ice.

The sudden differentiation between temperatures exploded outwards, a cloud of hot steam rushed up at the floor went from below zero to well over a thousand in the span of a single second. Freed let out a painful scream as he was the closest to the sudden release, the blur of the priest reached his eyes as the man bolted away and lept for the side of the room, shattering the glass as he made his escape.

"You coward!"

Much to the conniptions of the Fallen, the angel gave a single beat of his black wings and accelerated towards the room to avoid the sudden sauna. Kiba himself jumped back and allowed the sword to return to a regular temperature, the process was gradual but it was happening, the weapon lost its glow. His eyes turned to the Grigori and narrowed ever so slightly. "A much more even bout, is it not?"

The Fallen didn't respond for a moment, then angled both lightspears at his side before he twisted his body and accelerated towards Kiba. The cleaver sword was brought up again, this time with a dark tinge to the weapon, the second the weapons forged from light touched the blackened cleaver, they started to dim.

A widening of the eyes from the Grigori was the response, then a swift narrowing and a snarl of annoyance as he jumped backwards, bending his legs as he landed and raising himself back up. "Blade Blacksmith." He announced.

Kiba withheld his applause, it wasn't as though he was trying to hide it and there was really only one explanation for what he had been doing. Narrowing his eyes, he turned side on to the Fallen and dismissed the lance, bringing forth another of the black cleaver weapons and grasping it in his hand. The weight of a second sword was unfamiliar in his grasp, he had trained with dual wielding but it was still a recent development.

However there was a marked difference between engaging a disgraced exorcist in a sword fight and engaging a Fallen in a sword fight. One of them had centuries to improve their skill, the other was some chump who killed stray Devils and defenceless people. Hardly the type that encouraged a growth in skill.

It was more for a bluff, his teacher had always told him to keep his opponents unsuspecting, making sure to leave false openings and lure them into a sense of security. In this case, he was going to have the Fallen believe that his left hand was just as capable as the right. A simple enough plan, make a feint and then take advantage of it.

He accelerated forwards, pushing his knight speed to its limits and crossing the distance between himself and the Fallen swiftly, the brows of the Fallen furrowed slightly, only just in the midst of turning his body, to block his attack. He reversed the grip on his left sword and dragged it upwards, aiming at a slash of the right side. As expected the Fallen raised his spear to block the attack.

At the last second, he cut out the blade, the weapon vanishing into nothing, and formed a circle around his hand. Ice jumped from his fingers and onto the gloved hand of his enemy, the face of the Grigori twisted in shock as a thin layer of ice now covered his gloved hand. Kiba thrust the palm forwards, clenching it around the gripped hand of the Fallen and apply his full strength to it, at the same time he brought the right sword down and struck against the second light spear, the Holy Eraser quickly consuming the light of the spear, the structure of the weapon getting dimmer by the second.

The pair wrestled with one another, scowling at the expression on the face of their opponent as their struggle continued. Kiba felt his arms strain as the Fallen started to push him backwards, using his superior height to try and drive the Devil downwards. All the while, Kiba focused his attention on the faint crackling sound that was reaching his ears, having never cut out his ice spell and continuing to blast the Fallen's right hand with sub-zero temperatures. A faint mist of ethereal blue leaking out where their hands joined together.

A grimace of pain formed on the face of the Fallen as his efforts intensified, he brought his head backwards-

Kiba reacted first, driving his body forwards into an almost tackle and slamming his forehead into the collar of the Fallen, pushing the pair of them backwards and nearly bowling them over as a result, the headbutt of the grey coated angel failed miserably, the only thing he succeeded in was striking Kiba on the top of his skull with his chin, taking another step forwards and snapping his head upwards, striking the very same chin and jerking the head of the Fallen upwards.

He twisted his grip on his sword, angling the serrated edge of the weapon and jerking it downwards as he pulled the arm forwards. The nearly frozen limb shattered instantly, the crimson fragments of cloth and bloodied flesh littered the ground as the Angel let out a gasping noise of pain, staggering backwards. Kiba brought the sword back around, uppercutting the remaining lightspear and sending the weapon flying from the reach of the Grigori.

Stepping forwards, he twisted the blade and held it aloft his head, his other hand falling onto the handle and gripping it tightly. The Fallen widened his eyes throwing his forearm up to act as a shield as Kiba brought the jagged sword down, sharp toothed edge biting down to the bone of the angel and drawing a pained snarl from the man, blood now drenched the sleeve as he pulled his sword down like a hacksaw, tearing the forearm from the body.

Another step forwards, this time bringing the sword to his side and slashing horizontally as he moved past the angel, meeting resistance as he slammed the weapon directly into the gut of the Fallen, finding himself unable to move for a split second, then tore forwards with his enhanced speed, dragging the body behind him for barely a second before the resistance fell away and the sword pushed through, splattering remains across the ground.

Kiba glanced over his shoulder, giving a single satisfied nod of his head before he looked up to see how good Koneko was doing.

The white haired girl slammed an axe kick into the small blonde Fallen, driving her head into the floor and bouncing her straight upwards with a gasp of air. Koneko grabbed the front of her face and shoved forwards, hammering the back of her head into the floor with a crunching sound, the dazed Fallen let out a sputtering cough as Koneko unceremoniously tossed her onto her front and then mounted her back.

Her small arms wrapped around the girl's neck in a headlock, tightening her grasp as the Fallen struggled rather weakly in her grip. He could see her claw at the arm around her neck for a few moments, the white haired girl placed her right arm on the back of the blonde Fallens head, then her left arm swiftly moved from the Fallens neck to their chin.

Kiba made a face at the rather nasty snapping sound that echoed through the church a second later.

With a shake of his head, he turned his attention to the set of stairs that had been unveiled by Issei and Leona at the start of the fight. "Let's hurry, I'm sure that Hyoudou-kun needs our help-"

He made it all of a single step before he paused, his senses tingled as though alerting him to danger from somewhere. Then he felt a faint rumbling from beneath him, turning his head downwards and staring at the floor for a good few seconds before he widened his eyes as the noise intensified. He kicked off the ground, jumping backwards just in time for the stone floor to be ripped apart, fragments of rock kicked into the air as the shape of a scantily clad woman with black wings was flung through solid stone and into the air, still flying as she stretched towards the ceiling, then clearly reached the apex of her climb before she fell back down, making not a single noise as she struck the ground with a wet thud.

Kiba found himself blinking several times at the noise, drawing his expression into one of surprise as he stared at the spot where the latest Fallen had landed and then towards the newly formed hole in the floor. Taking a few steps forwards, he leaned forwards and cast a quick glance down the hole, frowning as he caught sight of the floor of a chamber through the gap. Though he couldn't see anything beneath it.

He shot a quick glance to the Fallen, the raven haired woman was unmoving, save for the subtle twitches of her wings and the rising and falling of her chest, though her breathing was irregular and very stunted. Turning around, he looked towards Koneko with a raised eyebrow, the white haired girl stared at him for a moment, then towards the Fallen before finally settling on a shrug.

"...Maybe not that bad."

He fought back a smile at the compliment, which was likely the best Issei was going to get. Provided it was actually Issei responsible for this, he turned his attention back towards the hole and called down into it. "Hyoudou-kun? Archaman-san? Are you down there!?"

Straining his ears, he listened for any sort of response. Frowning as he was met with silence for a good few seconds before Issei's voice came back, sounding rather nasally "K-Kiba? Get down here! It's-shit!" There was a panicked curse from the teenager, the scuffing sound of footsteps against stone and then a choked sob.

Kiba frowned.

"Smell blood." He heard Koneko reply from behind him "Human."

The frown deepened. He looked to the Fallen once more "...Head down and see if there is anything you can do. I'll stay here and watch this one in case she tries to waken while we are distracted." it seemed unlikely, but anything could go when it came to dealing with Fallen.

Koneko made a small noise of agreement, then moved forwards to the hole and stared down at it. Then took a single step forwards and dropped down.

---

The scene before them played out much as it would have been in any other situation, nothing had happened to shake the belief that there was a very real danger. Despite that, Rias held firm on Akeno's arm as the woman took a single step forwards, the girl paused and looked down at the limb for a split second with clear shock on her face, then turned her attention to Rias.

It wasn't as though the Gremory was surprised by the expression that Akeno sent her, if it had been any other situation then she would have allowed it. This was mere chance that they had stumbled upon it, she had actually been hoping to find all of the Fallen but it would appear they were all elsewhere. She supposed they were at the Church, certainly a problem but she had confidence in the strength of her peerage to overcome the likes of a few stray Grigori. However, this was the greatest interest thus far.

"Buchou…" Akeno spoke with a slight hint of warning, Rias knew she was taking a risk here but something didn't add up. She shook her head silently, her eyes never once leaving the sight that was taking place perhaps a dozen or so metres from them, hidden in the brush as they were, they were granted clear seats to the sudden appearance of Romani and the subsequent beating he was taking at the hands of the Fallen. "If this goes on any longer-"

If it went on any longer, he would probably end up dead.

Rias would have been more inclined to believe her if she had made the same comment earlier in the day. Now? Now she was not so sure and this seemed like an ample opportunity to test that theory. Romani had done something earlier, one did not just restrict the movements of a Fallen Angel if they were human, even if they caught them by surprise. Romani had not just overpowered a Fallen, he had locked her down and had it not been for herself and Koneko appearing, she was fairly confident he might have kept her trapped there.

So when the Fallen attacked Romani as he staggered up the hill, looking worse for wear, she had held back on intervening. It was a chance she would likely not get again and if it looked as though things were going to turn bad, then she was confident she could step in at the last moment and save the man's life. The fact the Fallen had not yet brought out the light spears and had instead been spending her time throwing him around while ranting at him about something was proof that he wasn't in the most immediate danger.

But that could change at any opportunity.

In truth, Rias felt her own heart thumping in her chest. This was perhaps the riskiest thing she had ever done before and she could already feel the doubts start to swell in her mind. Especially when the Fallen hoisted him into the air and started choking him. She had very nearly gone out then and there, but she held her ground. Sona would likely call her an idiot for doing something so stupid and Rias was inclined to agree with her.

Yet something deep inside her gut told her that there was an anomaly about the nurse. The way he moved and acted worked in complete contradiction with how he had behaved in recent weeks. There was a tension around him that couldn't quite be described, perhaps it was because of finding they were devils but Rias felt it was more than that. Then there had been the conversation he had with Akeno that had been reported back to her.

It seemed fairly innocuous until one looked at the deeper wording behind that, it might have been nothing more than a turn of phrase but Rias wasn't convinced. Then there was the bond that he had with Issei. Rias was a touch jealous at that, she wouldn't lie. But there was something more, like there was another little secret linking the two together. She would have asked Issei herself but she got the feeling that he wouldn't have told her even if she did.

Akeno was fidgeting by her side, clearly debating whether or not she was going to pull her arm free of Rias grip and run forwards. It was something that she was seriously debating doing herself, watching the nurse receive a hefty pummeling was now giving her a deeply ugly feeling. It wasn't like she was raising up a piece like she was with Issei, this was an ordinary civilian that she felt might be hiding something.

It looked much worse when she considered the agreement that she had with Leona Archaman.

She was taking a gamble and it wasn't paying off. Not in the least.

She opened her mouth to tell Akeno to step in, then silence descended. The fallen had stopped screaming or boasting or crying or whatever she had been doing and was now staring at the nurse dangling in her arms. He seemingly said something that took all the wind out of her sails, not that Rias could hear at this distance even with her superior senses. Which likely meant that the nurse's voice was very weak at this point.

Rias bit her lower lip with quite a bit of force, pinching it any harder would likely have drawn blood. Akeno sent her another look, this time tugging on the trapped arm quite a bit harder than before and staring into her eyes, Rias looked at her briefly. Still considering whether or not she was going to do anything to step in by now. There was also the fact that the rest of her peerage would be fighting three Fallen Angels and multiple exorcists.

She clenched her eyes.

This was no longer something she could gamble upon, she opened them up and nodded once to Akeno. The girl let out an imperceptible sigh of relief as she turned towards the direction of the Fallen and started stalking forwards. She made it all of two steps before the Fallen dropped Romani to the ground and took a half step away from him.

---

Kalawarna just stared at the human in her hands for what felt like a hundred years, his weak and feeble response had just barely reached her hearing and that was really straining her senses. But it was what he said that got her to pause in choking him. Rather than hearing a plea for his life, she was instead met with confusion from the human. The dimmed emerald green eyes stared at her as though she had said something stupid and his dopey face was awash with bewilderment.

Her hand around his throat loosened fully, he dropped like a sack of potatoes and hit the ground with a thud, groaning quietly as he lay there. Her head did not move for a few moments, still staring off into space where he had been, then her arm dropped back to her side and she lowered her head to stare at him, taking a half step backwards.

She was certain her expression blanked, losing any sense of emotion that had been in it. A frown came upon her lips now, leaning back slightly and scrunching her expression for a moment before she let out a scoff. "Are you…do you think you can play stupid now? Is that your game? You're just trying to mock me at this point? Do you want me to flaunt your achievements for you, is that it? You want to see me degrade myself by admitting what you've done?"

If that was his game, then she would kill him here and now. In the most painful way she could possibly imagine but there was something about his words. The stupid sort of ignorance that only came from someone who genuinely had no idea what was going on. You could fake a lot of things, but you couldn't fake idiocy as genuinely as this person could. Especially not for some ratty little human.

Her eyes narrowed at him. "Well?" She demanded yet akin, the whirlwind of emotions within her demanded something to temper them, if he wasn't going to answer her in the next few seconds then she was just going to lose it. The time she had invested in this was already far beyond what she had intended but it couldn't be helped. Or she didn't want it to be helped. The idea that a human was speaking the language of the Angels…it was just the final insult.

It was the last thing they had which hadn't been shared with humanity.

"What…" The croak of the human reached her ears, the man made an effort to push himself up. Making it all of an inch before he hit the ground again, lying on his front with his head turned to the side. His eyes staring up at her with that same idiotic lack of awareness for why he was even being hurt in the first place. He should have been more than aware of his crimes, you did not just 'accidentally' speak in the language of God and Raynare wouldn't lie about something like that.

Perhaps it was his face or the fact she'd beaten him so easily, but he just pissed her off at this point. She clenched her right hand into a fist "You get one minute before I just stomp on your skull and-"

"What…is…your…problem…?" The human asked, she briefly paused and furrowed her brows at him. "What the heck is…the matter with…all…of…you?" Each word was puffed out of the man's body, as though they were forced out with pliers, a pained wheeze coming next. "Why are you all so…focused on…killing…each…other?"

Was he looking for a genuine answer? Because it was lending further credence to the fact this man was just a fool. Whatever rage she had felt initially was starting to simmer down, perhaps if he had been arrogant and boastful about his ability to speak the Enochian, perhaps if he had flaunted strength far and above her she would have reacted differently.

Instead she was greeted by the sight of an ignorant man who was as weak as any human.

"Why did you have to…get everyone…involved…" He turned his head slightly, staring up at her and dragging his one working arm closer to his body, sliding it under his chest and propping himself up on it ever so slightly. Breathing heavily as he stared at her through dull eyes, she wasn't even confident he could see her anymore. "Why can't I do anything right…?"

His strength failed a moment later, he hit the ground and coughed. "Came here to rescue someone…and I'm about to die…" there was a sniffle. "And I don't even know what you're…talking about…I just…don't…get…it…" his body went still, though the faint wheezing of his breath remained. He passed out.

…This was pointless.

She raised her right leg upwards, aiming her heel towards the back of his head. It would take all of a second.

"Why display such rage, Fallen Watcher?"

Her eyes widened, she jumped back on instinct as the voice reverberated through her very bones. From behind her she could swear she heard a gasp of pain but it might have been her imagination, instead all she could focus on was the human who was now pushing himself back up onto his knees. Even with only his single arm, there wasn't any indication that he was feeling pain.

Gradually, his head turned towards her and stared.

His eyes were no longer green.

They were rusted gold.

His face devoid of emotion.

"You-!?"

"You speak of abandonment by the Heavenly Father, yet you remained in his Kingdom long after the coming of man."

The human rose to their feet, turning their body towards her and regarding her with a cold expression of indifference, the lack of emotion in his face and the sudden shift in his posture threw her off kilter. There was something about him now that set her on edge, not least of all because of the fact he was speaking Enochian, there was something about his voice. The power of his words, they were demanding obedience from her.

The likes of which could only be heard from higher class Angels.

Yet there was not a scrap of divinity in this man.

"Do you truly believe that the presence of a second child means the first is loved any less? You speak of deserving his love, yet you grew indulgent with it. To take issue with the boundless love of the Heavenly Father when not directed at you is the height of hubris."

"D-don't you dare lecture me!" She found her words a second later, snarling at him and tightening the stance of her body. Already preparing to form light spears to deal with them. Yet the moment she tried to summon the light energy to do so, she found that she could not, instead she was stuck as she was. "What's so great about humanity? You're nothing compared to us-!"

"And thus you might demand the monopoly of the love of the Heavenly Father? Does this hatred of yours extend to the animals or is it limited solely to humans?"

The man paused for a brief moment, lip twitching as though they considered something before they spoke once more.

"You believe that as his first children, you are deserving of his attention. That humanity is not your sibling, but your replacement. Did you value yourself so little that you believed the Heavenly Father would cast you aside at the moment he created another?"

Kalawarna stared in silence, then released a feral noise that was utterly alien to her. Pulling back her arm and preparing to loosen a lightspear.

"If you flee now. You have a single chance to return to your exiled allies. In disgrace."

His words gave her pause, she stopped mid throw and let the spear hover in her hands, the certainty with which he spoke was unusual. Then there was the sensation from him, it was like he had something within him, deep inside, it burned like that of a Sacred Gear. Which meant this was a wielder they hadn't known about.

"The fate of your allies has already been decided. Two are dead, the final will not see the break of day. If you depart from this place in peace, then I shall ensure you are not pursued and return safely."

"You think I need your pity!?" She sneered, even if she believed him that her allies were dead, that was no reason for her to just accept some deal from them. She would rather die than beg a human for help. "You dare-"

"It is not a matter of what you or I believe. It is a matter of what the human who stands before you believes. He was saddened by your grief, even as you plotted his end. I make this offer on his behalf, without it, you would receive no mercy."

A scoff left her "You? What can you do, covered in all those wounds? I beat you like the filthy little animal you-"

"You misunderstand. My appearance is your mercy. Had I chosen otherwise, I would have remained silent and allowed your enemies to slay you as your back was turned."

The smile on her face soured, a prickling sensation now on the back of her neck.

…There was something behind her.

"Do not think of this as an exchange. The man before you is doing this for the sake of his own kindness. What happens next, is of your own choosing."

The gold of his eyes dimmed, the green flooded back into the orbs as they rolled back into his skull, the body dropped down so suddenly that Kalawarna let out a jolt as it hit the stone. She stared at it, breathing in and out. Waiting for them to do something and more aware than ever before of the sensation tickling the back of her neck, as though someone was watching her.

She turned her eyes to the path leading to the Church, then glanced back at the human. She had spoken with whatever entity resided in their Sacred Gear but she could not think of a single one that ever had the knowledge of speaking the language of the God. Perhaps if they had been an affiliate of Heaven centuries ago, but she could count on one hand the number of gears that had a sentient consciousness inside of them.

Even if Raynare and the others weren't dead, then this was still important enough news to be delivered to Azazel.

…The request to send her to safety came from the human she tried to kill?

What an idiot.

It would be a simple matter to kill them here and now, she owed them nothing.

'Did you value yourself so little that you believed the Heavenly Father would cast you aside at the moment he created another?'

"...Fucking humans." Was all she could say, growling under her breath and turning on her heel. She walked away from the unconscious body and down the steps, snarling to herself as she did so and spreading her wings wide. Raynare could rant about being all powerful until she ran her throat raw, she personally didn't care much for it.

"You're…leaving…?"

She paused at the words, turning her head ever so slightly and staring at the face of the human as he stared at her. His eyes slightly dimmed and confusion written over his face.

"You're not worth the effort anymore." She shot back at him with a snarl, then paused for a moment before she narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. Waiting for him to do anything, he just stared at her in near silence, only the sound of his breathing to be heard. After a few moments of quiet, she eventually shook her head and coiled her legs to jump-

"Ara?" A chill crept up her spine, she spun around a second later and found herself staring into the smiling face of a Devil, except that wasn't a very polite smile. It was the same type of smile that Raynare would give before she tortured someone. Kalawarna fought back a growl at the appearance of the Devil. "Leaving so soon? I didn't realise that crows were the type to run away from mere humans."

"There just wasn't any sport in killing them." Kalawarna sneered back, whatever patience she had evaporated as she spoke with this vile little creature. "You, on the other hand? You're repulsive enough that I would kill you on principle alone."

In spite of her saying that, she still kept herself at more than an arm's length from the Devil. The words of the human playing in her mind, they might well have been said just as a bluff to put doubt into her head but the Devils were here earlier than expected and it was very likely they might have caught Raynare by surprise. Which meant she could well be dead, but she had no way of knowing.

This mission of Raynare's was already dubious from the start and now it was borderline deadly, she wasn't going to die over something like this. Not now, especially.

The eyes of the dark haired girl opened up, violet orbs burned with barely concealed disgust. Matching Kalawarna's own feelings towards the Devil easily enough, it would appear there was only one thing they could agree upon. The fact the other was an offence to the eyes. The two of them leaned forwards, the dark haired Devil moved her hands, golden lightning crackled between her fingers.

A light spear flashed into Kalawarna's hands, she took a half step backwards, shooting a glance over her shoulder to the sky and then back to the Devil. The movement did not go unnoticed, the eyes narrowed ever so slightly and the smile turned sharper.

"Ara, ara? Is the little crow really going to run away? I didn't realise I was such a big bad Devil." The smile vanished instantly, replaced with a cold scowl, her voice lost whatever levity had been in it and turned to ice. "How far do you think you can get before I shoot you out of the sky, crow? A dozen metres? Maybe more? How long do you think you'll fry before you beg for death?"

The lightning crackled menacingly, illuminating the form of the Devil and casting a shadow over the steps behind her at irregular intervals.

She curled her lip in defiance, however concerned she was she wasn't going to drop to her knees and beg the Devil for mercy. Besides, they were alone here and Kalawarna was fairly certain she could take this infant in a fight. Her eyes moved behind the Devil for a moment, falling onto the human and then sensing a small advantage.

The Devil had someone to protect, she had no such weaknesses. If he was truly affiliated with them, then there was a good chance that the Devil was acting to defend him or was seeking vengeance. Especially given the fact she had moved herself in between the two of them. Covering the wounded man behind her with her body, the fury behind the eyes of the girl was easily noticeable. Then again, it wasn't like she had any love for Devils either so it could just as easily have been either one of them.

"Don't you have something else to do?" She eventually ground out back to the Devil, in truth she was looking for any opportunity to run. News of the Sacred Gear the human possessed, she still wasn't convinced it was a Sacred Gear but she had nothing else to compare it to, had to be returned to Azazel. "Aren't you Devils always sticking together?"

"Yes, and the Fallen are always rushing from danger and abandoning their own." The girl rolled her eyes, not at all impressed by the attempt "We could sit here and debate how much of an uncouth crow you are by running away and how 'evil' I am for actually sticking with my own. It would get us nowhere and you are right. I would like to return to my friends." her hands crackled "Which gives me all the more reason to end this swiftly."

Kalawarna frowned to herself, biting her lower lip and preparing herself. The only hope she might have would be to take the Devil by surprise before she could get off an attack. That lightning dancing between her fingers was nothing normal, there was an element about it that was eerily familiar to her but at the same time was something so impossible that she dared not consider it. That could be rightfully troublesome, she would first launch a lightspear at the human and then take a step close to the Devil while she protected the man.

"Wait…" The single voice that cut through the building tension between them, with all the clumsy nature that could be expected from one of their race. The human groaned out, rolling onto his side with his eyes facing the back of the Devil. Slightly widened and with a bit more light in them, although the confusion remained. "What are you…doing…Akeno-san?"

"...Nothing you need to worry about." The Devil responded with a curt response, her hands twitched and her brows furrowed ever so slightly. An expression of discomfort formed on her face, something that Kalawarna picked up on rather quickly. Fighting back a scoff at the sudden shift in atmosphere. "You should close your eyes for the time being, Roman-sensei-"

"Akeno-san…what are you going to do?"

This time, Kalawarna jumped in "Isn't it obvious, idiot? She's going to try and kill me because that's what Devils do." she fought back a bitter laugh, turning her attention from the human to the Devil quickly, seeing the chance that presented itself. Especially by the way the Devil scowled at her words but didn't make an effort to rebuke them, her eyes quickly flickered to the side in the direction of the human for a brief second before they returned to her. "What do you think happened to all my allies up at the Church?"

"...E-eh?" The human made a small gasp, staring up at the back of the Devil for a few seconds in silence. Then let out a long breath "Akeno-san…what does she…mean?"

What surprised Kalawarna was the fact the Devil had not yet replied, instead staring at her in silence while the human continued to call out to her for a response. The lack of any movement from her and the expression that did not so much as twitch were a rather amusing state of affairs but it gave her further stalling time. By now, any of the others should have arrived so that meant they were either busy with the other Devils or they were dead.

…Not like she was close to them or anything, she'd only known them around eighty years so it wasn't like it was a tragic loss to her.

"Roman-sensei." The Devil interrupted him after his latest call out, her voice containing a notable edge to it and an unspoken demand for him to be silent as she finished speaking. "This is not something that you should have seen but it remains a necessity. This is the way things are-"

"...No…"

It was difficult to tell whether the Devil was more surprised, or she was. The pair of them jolted, the girl briefly widened her eyes for a moment before they narrowed in a flash of irritation. "This thing isn't deserving of your mercy, Roman-sensei. It exists only to kill and torture. They brought that young girl back here likely so they could kill her, they have tried to kill you on two separate occasions and-" she cut herself off, biting her lip and clearly fighting back the urge to scoff. "Regardless, she is a danger, Roman-sensei and the best thing to do with them is remove them permanently. Besides, it is no less than she deserves."

It was an utterly biassed account and Kalawarna could have thrown the exact same reasoning back into her face. Besides, what right did a mere Devil have in calling her a creature? She wasn't the one who went around scavenging on the corpses of naked apes.

"Akeno-san…don't…kill her…just let her…go…"

The tension was palpable. The quiet plea from the human might as well have been a shout for the silence it brought. Neither of the two said a single word.

Eventually, the Devil scrunched up her expression and let out a very appropriate noise befitting of a beast like her. With a click of her tongue, she lowered her hands although the gesture looked very forced. Eventually she curled her lip upwards, a smug look of triumph on her face. "I hope you remember this, Fallen Angel-san. Whenever you look in a mirror, I hope you remember that the only reason you're still alive is because a 'naked ape' asked for your life to be spared."

Kalawarna opened her mouth to retort, the fury bubbling inside her was difficult to contain and it was all she could do to not lash out at the insult then and there.

"You should probably leave before I change my mind."

"...Fucking Devil Bitch."

"Crow."

Kalawarna took off a second later, turning in the air and soaring through the sky with but a few beats of her wings. Putting as much distance between herself and the Church as she possibly could have. She'd hated that place from the moment she arrived and the last few weeks had only served to make her hate it even more.

Her hands clenched into fists, her nails digging into her palms.

Saved by a human of all things?

One of those animals?!

She would remember this, and that Devil bitches smug face. She'd remember it and then wipe it off when she was done.

---

Akeno watched the Fallen depart into the sky in silence, her form gradually getting smaller and smaller as she retreated. For a split second, she briefly debated whether or not she could make the shot with a burst of Holy Lightning and bring the Angel down while she was in the air. It wasn't as though she didn't have ample opportunity to do so, she probably could have managed it in the first couple seconds.

In any other instance, she probably would have.

Except for the fact she could still feel the eyes of the nurse burning in the back of her skull and the exhale of relief he gave for what he probably thought was a good deed would have made killing the Fallen leave a rather sour note in her mouth. She'd already lost more than enough to them and if leaving one alive - insulted if nothing else - was all it took to prevent herself from losing more, then that was fine by her. If only just, that being said…

"...That was a very stupid thing to do, Roman-sensei." The comment left her without a strong emotion behind it, she felt more exasperated than anything else. Of course the nurse would not have completely understood the full extent to what a Fallen was, even still she was surprised by how far he was willing to go even after the punishment he had received at her hands. She did not turn to face him, however, still looking out to the sky with her eyes fixed on the horizon. "...A very stupid thing."

"...I don't…think…so…" The sentence was followed by a wheezing cough that earned a flinch from her, it sounded very wet and not healthy for a normal human. Quite frankly, she hadn't been sure what Rias was thinking in letting it go on for so long. At least until he spoke, or she assumed he spoke. It was difficult to tell because the second he opened his mouth, it was like someone had turned on a high pitch buzz next to their ears. The painful sensation had drowned out whatever words he had spoken.

Regardless, she could ask about that later.

With a swift movement, she turned around and stared down at the nurse with a clear frown of disapproval. There was no reason for him to have been here at all, she advanced forwards and then crouched down to his side, sneaking an arm around the back of his neck and slowly raising him upwards. His face was bruised and bloodied, his right arm hung limply at his side, his shoulder slightly stretched outwards. She grimaced at the sight of the clear dislocation and then glanced at his neck.

The familiar anger built up inside her as she saw the finger marks around his throat and the bruises already forming around his neck. His every breath sounding forced and very pained didn't help much, neither did his raspy manner of speaking. "What convinced you to come up here, Roman-sensei?" were the next words from her mouth "You should have known how dangerous it was-"

"Didn't…want…to…leave…" He took in another breath, this one more forced and ending with a slight cut off. "Asia…alone…"

Akeno closed her eyes and turned her head down, shaking it from side to side. "You care too much for others and too little for yourself." her head came back up, even in his state she felt the need to chide him. "And after all I said about leaving well enough alone."

"..."

"Come on then." She crouched down, going around to his left side and looping his arm over her shoulders. He didn't weigh all that much but she was a Devil, after all. "'Ordinarily I would rush you straight to a place where you could be treated, but I doubt it would please Leona to learn of you in this state after the fact."

The nurse made a noise that sounded like a laugh but it devolved into a cracked hacking sound.

"Stop trying to talk." Akeno cut him off sharply, already taking steps downwards and pulling the nurse along with her. "You should be aware that speaking in these situations would have made things worse."

"Need to…before I…pass…out…"

"You can ask when you wake-"

"Would you…really…have…killed…her?"

…Of all the questions he could have asked, why would he ask that one? To someone not affiliated with the three factions as deeply as them, there might have been a certain taboo about it. However, to Akeno it was little more than a fact of life. Perhaps there was a little something more to it than that but it was what it was. She could lie to him, she doubted he would be able to tell in his current situation.

All the same, she probably shouldn't.

"I would have."

"...Oh…You've done…it…before…?"

"...Yes."

"...Ah…" Romani made a small noise but said nothing more, though she could feel his body slump in her grasp even if he continued to move along with her. Then he stiffened ever so slightly, locking up and causing her to stop on instinct. Her eyes widened for a brief moment as she heard his breathing stop. The first syllables of his name were barely out before he turned his body rather suddenly in the opposite direction, facing towards the path to the Church.

"Roman-"

"We…have…to…" He begged, a desperate plea on his lips "I…have…to…see…it…"

Akeno should really have said no.

"...You're very unreasonable, Roman-sensei."

It was just as much guilt on her part for inaction as he suffered these wounds, but Akeno figured the least she could do was oblige them. It didn't make the feelings any better, but it didn't make them worse either. There was probably a lot more she could ask but at the moment, she was content with simply turning around and pulling him back up the path towards the Church.

---

Issei breathed heavily as he stared at the body in front of him, his eyes fixated on nothing but the blood that pooled around the young girl. It wasn't right, it couldn't be right.

They had come here to save her.

He had come here to save her.

She had been saved, Raynare had been beaten, all they had to do was untie her.

So then, why was she currently lying there with a cold look on her face, why was there a hole in her chest. Why did she look so empty inside, where was the light that was supposed to be in her eyes?

…Is that what he looked like to the world?

He breathed in and out, slightly erratically as he dragged himself towards the girl. The pain that had haunted his every steps now felt so distant, instead the greatest burning came from within his own chest, his heart feeling seconds from tearing itself asunder with how deeply it screamed. His heart had to scream, but his throat could make no noise. All he could do was shed tears, the liquid streaming down his face without end.

What good were tears going to do?

Mrs Archaman loomed over Asia's body, continually going in and out of her satchel as she retrieved a few dozen materials. She might have been saying something, but he could hear nothing but ringing. His eyes never once leaving the face of the blonde nun. His feet dragged him forwards, never even hearing his own footsteps as he approached her from the other side.

He stepped closer and closer until he was right next to her, staring down at the girl with wide eyes before he dropped down onto his knees, his body trembling with the impact for a few seconds, then he leaned forwards, his shadow being cast over the head of the girl. Her eyes still half lidded and her once vibrant green eyes staring up without seeing anything.

"H-hey…Asia…?" He called out as gently as he could, raising a bloodied right hand and pressing it against her shoulder, even in his current state he made sure not to move her as roughly as he could. Shaking her ever so slightly. "Hey…why are…" his eyes travelled away from her face towards her chest, the large hole punched clean through her body as the brunette opposite him stuffed what looked like entire rolls of tissue into it. He swallowed thickly "Hey…I don't…you're gonna…"

He looked at the woman "She's gonna be fine…right…w-we saved her…didn't we?"

Leona stopped moving for half a second, her head raised itself ever so slightly and stared at him for a few moments. Her expression was strained for a few moments before she closed her eyes. Shaking her head from side to side.

…What did that mean?

"Wh-what does…" He looked down at her hands that were no longer moving, his eyes widened her so slightly and his jaw dropped. Why was she not doing anything anymore? Didn't she understand that if she stopped then Asia would die? "Why aren't you…?" He very nearly fell forwards, pulling his hand away from the girl's shoulder and moving it to the wound, pressing them against the coverings to stem the bleeding.

He didn't think about how warm his hands felt and how cold the skin of the girl was.

"What are you doing?" He asked after a moment, his eyes still fixed on Asia "If we leave her like this then she's going to-"

"I hadn't come here with the expectation of having to perform this sort of healing. Devils have their own branches anyway." The voice of Leona was as cold as it was quick, almost like she was in a hurry to explain herself. "If I had something else from my workshop then I could give you something more but…it would take too long for me to return there and there isn't much I can do."

She shouldn't say something like that. She can't say something like that.

If she says something like that then he might get the wrong idea about what is going to-

"...I'm sorry."

…No.

"No…no…no…" Issei whimpered back to her, his fingers shaking and his face twitching as he struggled to contain himself. His next words coming out as a choked back sob, desperately trying and failing to stop himself from crying. "No! We came here to save her! She should have been saved! She should have-!" he gasped out, shaking his head from side to side "No! I won't leave her! I won't abandon her like everyone else! She's-!"

She's someone special.

She was always someone special.

No one ordinary had that sort of kindness, no one had that sort of life after such hardship.

It wasn't her gear, it was just her.

She was a girl who was just…really kind.

"She's my friend!" He wailed, blood pooling between his fingers "I can't-!"

"Issei…" That voice touched his heart, his words fell silent as he dared not tear his eyes away from the sight in front of him. Nor did he pay attention to how weak the voice sounded now. Instead he just focused on keeping his hands where they were, perhaps if he tried a bit harder then something would change. "Did…I…are you…there? I…thought…I..heard..you?"

He grit his teeth hard enough that they would have cracked, fighting back a horrified snarl as he gradually turned his face to the right. Staring at the expression of the nun as she continued to gaze to the sky, her left arm twitched as it tried to bring itself up but failed miserably. Issei watched it fall back to the earth.

It was snatched between his stick crimson palms a second later, holding on as tightly as he dared without running the risk of hurting the girl. "Asia? Y-yeah, it's Issei…"

"Ah…Issei…" The happiness in her voice nearly broke him. "I'm glad…you're…here…"

"Y-yeah." He sniffled, pulling her hand closer to him and running his thumb along her knuckles, he tried to ignore how cold her hands were feeling compared to how warm his were. "I'm here, Asia. I'm…I'm not going anywhere, alright? You're…you're gonna be fine."

"...Issei-"

"We're gonna get you out of here. You're gonna come back to Kuoh with us. There's still a lot you need to see, you know? Th-the towns a big place and the-there's hotdogs! You'll love those, you know? T-they're like burgers but different and-"

"Issei-"

"S-so just hang on, we'll get you out of-"

"Issei…I'm…not…stupid…" Asia's weak words cut him off, the next sentence perished in his throat, blocking it up and stopping anything else from getting past. "But I'm…glad…you're here…"

He couldn't speak, so he just held her hand a bit tighter.

"...Issei…are you still-"

"I'm sorry!" He didn't want to cut her off, but he had to, dropping his head low and raising her hand up, pressing it into his forehead as he let his emotions overflow. He couldn't do anything else except that. "I'm so sorry! I tried to save you! I tried to-tried to-but I couldn't! I'm sorry I couldn't save you! I'm sorry!"

"You…already…did…" Asia whispered back to him "I was so…happy. With you and with Roman…you were both…so…kind to me…" a deep wheeze left her, so weak and so pathetic it barely even reached his ears. "...I'd never had that…I'm glad I got the chance to…be with you…it was like we were…friends-"

"We are friends!" He hurriedly spoke, nodding his head frantically, his vision was blurred with tears staining his eyes. "We're friends! I'm your friend! Roman-sensei is your friend! You're our friend! You're an…you're the best friend I could ever wish for!"

"...I'm so glad…" Asia whimpered, her eyes fluttering ever so slightly "Issei…can you keep holding my hand…until the…"

Issei just sobbed as a response, never once loosening his grip. He hunched himself forwards, the feeling of a small hand being placed on his shoulder to the right had him turn his head a little more, seeing the usually expressionless Koneko giving him a troubled look as she stared down at him for a few moments, her hand placed on his shoulder before pulling away.

Asia's further words stopped whatever he was going to say further in his tracks.

"...Ah…so this is…temptation…I want to…be friends with you…for a bit…longer…"

"Ara?" Another voice cut through the basement, Issei whirled his head around fast enough to give himself whiplash. The expression on the face of the woman now stood at the end of the hall, the confident smile and the bright blue eyes that seemed to radiate power, the posture that brought such certainty with it that it bordered on arrogance.

Rias Gremory strode into the room, her eyes locked onto Asia with an intensity about them.

"How far would you be willing to follow that temptation of yours?"

---

Romani was sure they passed by a couple of bodies by the front of the Church. He tried not to think about it, but it was difficult to do. Especially since he feet went squelch as they stepped in something liquid. It became impossible as they stepped into the Church itself, the hall was a ruin, wooden benches shattered and tossed across the stone floor like confetti.

Deep gouches running through the ground, huge chunks of stone carved up and indentations in the shapes of fists. To say nothing of the fact some of the slashes carved up the wall and there were clear footprints on the brick, the wind howled as it blew in through the smashed up remains of a window.

Then there were the bodies.

The first was one that Romani knew well enough, he'd seen that man before and he'd been injured by them. It was the Fallen Angel who had tried to kill Issei in the second vision he ever received, the one he had saved Issei from. The man was lying on the ground, in two pieces.

He felt sick.

Then there was the smaller figure he didn't recognise, no taller than Koneko and at first, Romani thought she was lying on her back. Then he saw the way her feet were pointing and he realised she had actually been lying on her front, it was just that her head wasn't facing the right direction.

He turned his head away, bile in the back of his throat as he stopped himself from vomiting. It was difficult enough and he could feel Akeno at his side let out a sigh. She wasn't surprised by this, he could tell that much. That left him feeling…something.

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel but it wasn't good, in fact everything that had been going on left him rather numb. As though the full weight of his situation hadn't quite dawned on him just yet. He was sure it would, it was just a matter of making sure that he was able to power through this next part before that happened. That was the most important aspect of it.

Because Romani had seen it, that which he hadn't seen before.

It had been so quick and so sudden that he thought he'd passed into the land of dreams for a moment, but even the vivid detail did not disguise the lucidity about it. He'd had a vision for a brief second and he'd never found himself happier. It was why he had asked to climb up in the first place, because he had to see it with his own eyes.

"What in the-?" A startled voice reached his ears, Romani raised his head and turned towards it as he saw the familiar blonde hair of Kiba rise up, the boy sharply standing from having been in a crouched position, a large meat cleaver in his right hand. The face of the blonde teen was nothing short of stupefied as he stared at the pair of them "Akeno-san? Archaman-sensei? What are the pair of you doing here?"

Romani made to open his mouth, but Akeno beat him to it a split second before he could get a word out.

"Roman-sensei seemingly followed you to the Church out of concern for the young nun that Issei-kun was rather obsessed with." There was a slight hint of chiding in her words which he probably deserved. "And had a small run in with one of the Fallen that evidently decided to patrol the forest after you had already arrived here…she's gone now."

Kiba nodded his head once "...I see. I'm sorry you were put into such a position, Archaman-sensei. I am also sorry you had to see something like that-"

"She's not dead. She was just sent packing."

Kiba blinked once "Oh. I see." he then grimaced as he turned to the nurse and looked him up and down. "I can understand that much, prioritising Archaman-sensei over dealing with the Fallen would excuse that." he glanced down to the side, staring at something that Romani couldn't see for a few seconds, then returned his gaze to the nurse. "I would offer what little aid I could, but I have not the affinity for healing I am afraid."

All Romani could do was stare, letting himself be dragged along by Akeno until they came to one of the few pews that was still reasonably intact. The girl slowly lowered him onto the seat, Romani let out a wheeze as his back hit the rest and his eyes shut themselves. Breathing in and out as the pain slowly started to creep into every single part of his body, his arms, his legs, his head, everything.

"Buchou already headed on towards Hyoudou-kun and the others." Kiba explained further, then looked down once again. Staring at the thing once more, Romani furrowed his brows as his eyes opened and stared at the shape himself, then blinked as he recognised it. Leaning forwards ever so slightly, gripping onto the seat with his one good arm to keep himself upright.

It was only then he noticed the large hole in the floor.

"Isn't…that…?"

"Ah, yes." Kiba nodded his head up and down, seemingly understanding what Romani was trying to say and gesturing to the Fallen currently lying on the ground, she was face down and looking rather unconscious. The fact she was even still alive - grim as that might sound - was a miracle if the state of the others was any indication. "She was presumably the leader of this sect…it would seem she ran afoul of Hyoudou-kun somehow and…" he nodded to the hole in the floor.

Romani stared at the hole, then at the unconscious girl. Finally, he let out a sigh and slipped backwards onto the chair. "...This…is…"

He stopped when he heard it, the gentle patter of footsteps on stone. He closed his eyes and felt his lips curling upwards. Even through the pain, he felt as though whatever had been keeping him driving forwards was finally running out of steam, as though it had been keeping him active for this one moment. The steps got louder and louder until they came to a stop.

Romani said the first thing he could, it played out exactly as he had seen and for once…he was really glad about that.

"Hey…Asia…"

His eyes cracked open at the gasp that reached his ears, seeing Asia stood frozen at the small little entrance to the basement. Her hands flew to her mouth, covering it up as she stared at him with wide eyes. He imagined he didn't look very nice at the moment, but he didn't care about how he looked. He cared more about the girl in front of him.

"You're…alright…that's…good…"

"Roman!" She blurred towards him, rushing past the others and sliding to a half in front of him. As expected, her shocked cry drew a couple shouts of alarm from further down the basement steps and the rushing of feet. He didn't need to be able to see the future to tell who was going to be the next one up those stairs, as expected, Leona burst into the clearing and locked eyes with him.

She was silent, staring at him with wide eyes for a few moments. Then she rushed forwards as well. He could feel the warmth spreading through him, the green light radiating from the rings on Asia's fingers removing the pain that had caused him so much grief, but that didn't make him feel any less tired.

He was finally able to swallow through his bruised throat, now not so bruised. "Sorry…Leo." he apologised as best he could, shrugging his shoulders ever so slightly and leaning back into the railings. "I'm not that good a-"

"You idiot." Leona cut him off, dragging him forwards as soon as she was certain he wasn't going to fall apart at the slightest touch. Asia never once stopped healing him. "You stupid, stupid, big idiot!"

"...Yeah."

No sense in arguing against all of that.

"Wha-Romani-sensei!?" Issei's voice was the next one "What the heck are you doing here!? I thought you stayed behind but-" Romani couldn't quite see him on account of the fact his face was stuffed into Leona's shoulder, but he could hear the relief in the next words of the boy. "But that doesn't matter! We did it, Roman-sensei! We saved Asia!"

Romani could see that…and he would have shared in Issei's relief if he wasn't so tired.

"Oh? Seems as though I was not the only surprise visitor this evening." Rias' voice came next, the girl virtually appearing with a confident walk as she strutted into the room from the steps. Her hands on her hips and briefly sending a look in Akeno's direction before her eyes fell onto Asia "Ah, and already hard at work? Normally I would chide you for trying to use so much energy so soon after a resurrection…but I shall make an exception." The smile on the redhead's face was genuine, but there was something odd about it.

…It was probably nothing.

"However…the fact remains, we are now left with her." And like that, the cold of her words sent a flinch through his body. His eyes turned to her and watched as her head was pointed in the direction of the downed Fallen. Amano Yuuma or whatever her name actually was. There was a brief silence, then her eyes flickered towards him. "...Mrs Archaman, perhaps it would be best if you took your husband home for the night. I believe Sensei has gone through a rather stressful ordeal-"

He could see this for what it was.

"You're going to kill her."

His words were flat, his feelings were anything but.

Rias was silent for a moment, then nodded her head "More than likely I am, yes." she paused for a moment, then reached up and rubbed her chin. "...No, I am going to kill her. Especially for what she has done to my precious peerage and what she intended to do with Asia."

…She wasn't even going to try and deny it?

"...I-is that really what you do?" He hadn't meant to say it aloud, he hadn't even wanted to comment on it. But he was just so tired right now and just the blase reaction to murder was something he couldn't accept. He couldn't accept it was something they did on the regular. "You just…kill people?"

Rias closed her eyes, then exhaled and rubbed the bridge of her nose as though he'd said something that was stupid. "I will not expect you to understand this at the moment, Archaman-sensei. However, this is something entirely different for us." she lowered the hand, turning to face him with a slight frown on her features, though it wasn't an unkind one. "A ceasefire we might well be in, but the Fallen are still a hostile faction. Any hint of weakness on our part might well incite them to take further action." she waved her hand in the direction of the Fallen Angel "She is not the first and she will most likely not be the last, but it is not a matter of whether I want her dead or not. It is a matter of pride."

…Yeah.

He didn't understand it at all.

"And you're going to make Issei-kun kill her…" He pulled away from Leona, nodding his head to Asia as she seemingly finished healing him to the best of her abilities. "What about Asia? Are you going to make her kill as well?"

"I am not going to force my Servants into something they are not comfortable with. However, I am prepared to make the choices they will not-"

"Miss Rias…I…" Asia swallowed, looking to the ground as she spoke "I'm grateful for you saving me but I…" the blonde girl snuck a glance to the Fallen Angel for a moment, then pursed her lips "I…think there has been enough death, for one night…I'm sorry for being so selfish after you saved me but…It just seems like…a lot…"

The red head didn't say anything for a moment, then turned towards Akeno and let out a breath. "Wake her."

There wasn't even a moment of hesitation in the actions of the dark haired girl, golden light crackled on the tips of her fingers before accelerating from her hands and striking the Fallen in the back. Her body convulsed on the spot and started with a sudden gasp of pain, the woman rolled onto her back and twisted her body around as the lightning continued to wash over her. Except it didn't stop, even after the Fallen had awoken, her pained screams continued onwards and were enough to knit Romani's brows together, perhaps if he was braver he would have looked to the expression of Akeno.

…He'd been brave enough for one night, though.

Thankfully, the lightning cut out a second later, the raven haired fallen slumped on the ground, breathing in and out rather heavily as she did so. Her body twitching as a flash pattern now stained her skin. Her body smoked, a low groan left her lips as she seemingly stared into space. "Wha-"

"You're in luck, Fallen Angel-san." Rias remarked in a voice full of false cheer, stepping forwards and placing her hands on her hips. Leaning her body over the downed Angel and looking directly into her eyes. "I've decided to be more merciful to you, or rather, my newest Servant has demonstrated a kindness I doubt I would be capable of. She's decided that there has been enough death. So in honour of her first day, I'm going to let you run."

She paused for a moment, then turned around, not even registering the continued existence of the Fallen as she turned to Issei. Tilting her head ever so slightly "...Is that acceptable to you as well, Issei-kun?"

Issei was silent for a moment, looking as though he wanted to say something, then bit back his sentence and nodded his head once. He closed his eyes and looked to Asia, smiling lightly to himself as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Romani himself was of the same mind.

For the most part.

He just wanted to go home.

"I trust our agreement stands?" Leona spoke up, taking a half step in the direction of Asia and raising an eyebrow.

"...I suppose it does. She will need somewhere to stay for the time being." Rias offhandedly remarked, though her lip did twitch upwards as she spoke. "And it would do her some good to be with someone that demonstrated a vested interest in her." she paused for a moment "...Just don't try and steal her from me."

"...Try implies there is a chance of failure."

"..."

"Heh. Nevermind." The brunette turned to Asia, then smiled down at her "...I don't suppose you're adverse to staying with myself and Romani for a short while, are you?"

Asia looked positively over the moon, as though she could hardly believe what was happening to her in rapid succession. If Romani were in her shoes, he would have probably felt the same way. As expected, she shook her head from side to side so quickly that it very nearly blurred.

Leona beamed "Alright then…let's get out of this place." she shuddered, walking towards the door "I can't stand it."

…Neither could Romani.

He sent one final look towards the woman, the Fallen Angel they decided to leave alive.

It was strange.

Even though they weren't going to kill her…he got the feeling he would never see her again. No, more than a feeling. Absolute certainty.

It was weird…and he just wanted to sleep.

He waved his hand slightly, rather than Leona, it was Issei who stepped forwards and picked him up. Slinking his arm around himself and dragging the pair of them forwards. Neither one of them said anything for a moment, then Issei finally spoke up in a quiet voice. "...I loved her, you know."

"...Yeah."

"...I really did."

"...I could tell. I'm sorry."

"...Will it ever stop hurting?"

"...I don't know."

"...I see." Issei let out a long breath "...I'm tired, Roman."

Romani ignored the dropping of the 'sensei' part of his name. At this point, it felt better than having it there. "...Me too, Issei."

This was, without a doubt, the most exhausting day of his life from start to finish.

---

AN:

…

…Have 28k words.

Arc over.

Bye.

Slips into bed.