Chapter 10 - King Takes Pawn Pt.3
Quick Author's Note: for those who are not aware, the Original Ending of the Previous chapter has been retconned due to character inconsistencies, which was changed to having Rias Gremory spend a pawn each on Izayoi's parents to revive them.
Occult Club Building - Highschool DxD World - The morning after the end of the previous chapter
(Rias Gremory's P.O.V)
Morning for the Hyoudou family seems to have been quite a perplexing and troubling affair for all three of them, as it seems to have finally sunk in that what happened before was real, especially after waking up in the Occult Club Building this morning rather than in their comfy household which I believe Sona is currently handling for me while I am busy properly introducing my three new pawns to the supernatural world.
This is why I am currently sitting in the main club room of the building across from Izayoi and her parents as the trio are busy eating breakfast so that the discussion that's coming up shortly isn't done with the distraction of hunger getting in the way, the family's meal provided by both myself and Akeno before they woke up this morning.
Not how I planned on bringing new members into my peerage, but the whole situation is anything but typical so I figured the gesture would be appreciated, not to mention this is not the sort of talk I want to have with my new peerage members hungry.
Perhaps this whole situation would be a good excuse to bring in a supernaturally aware therapist that in hindsight, I really should have brought in way sooner to help with the rest of my peerage as well, but that's neither here nor there right now as my focus is the Hyoudou family.
Speaking of which…
"If I may ask, did you three rest well?" I ask gently, concerned over their mental state as I see all three members of the Hyoudou family freeze as they look distinctly uncomfortable by the question, it seems that none of them slept well and to be honest, I don't blame them considering what they went through before their revival.
"Gremory-san, I believe that I speak for not only myself but also my wife and daughter when I say that we would like answers for what happened yesterday," Gorou Hyoudou says as both Izayoi and Miki Hyoudou nod in affirmation to the sole male of the trio's words, prompting me to nod and decide to get down to business since none of us wish to put off this conversation for much longer…
"Very well, first of all, let me explain that what happened yesterday was all real, the priest killing all three of you, your reincarnation into supernatural beings, all of it," I say, pausing to gauge the reaction of the Hyoudou family, seeing that they're paying apt attention to what I'm saying and considering they haven't yet spoken up about how it's impossible, they probably have figured that much for themselves at least, so I can continue without issue then.
"While you three died as humans, you have been reborn as what's known as a devil under the House of Gremory, namely directly under myself Rias Gremory through the use of what is known as the Evil Piece System," I say to elaborate further on the way they were brought back, which does finally prompt a response from Izayoi who is the first to get a word in.
"Devils, as in the soul-taking, Go–OW!" Izayoi says before she winces with a massive headache from trying to speak about god, prompting her parents to fuss over her as I grimace as now I should probably explain this tidbit fast before they come to the wrong conclusions.
"First I should say that under normal circumstances, devils are not allowed to read the bible or speak about the man upstairs, as trying to do either result in a headache as a Devil and no we're no longer that sort of devil, haven't been for centuries if I recall my lessons correctly," I say which does seem to reassure the Hyoudou Family, with Izayoi having recovered from her headache before long, allowing me to continue my explanation.
"Getting onto the topic of the wider Supernatural Mythos, a great manner of myths and legends are real with many gods and goddesses of various pantheons being real as well, all of them hiding their existence from those who are unaware of our world," I say, the three members of the Hyoudou family looking at each other as Gorou turns to face me once more as he seems to be wrestling with a question that he needs answers to.
"What of the priest that…Killed us Gremory-san, is he an agent of the man upstairs?" Gorou Hyoudou asks with trepidation, a good question to ask and one that sadly would be twisted by at least a few high-class devils to firmly cement a newly reincarnated onto the side of the devils but that's not something I wish to do ever if I can help it.
"The priest as you call him and I previously referred to as a moment ago, is an agent of god known as an Exorcist, a rogue exorcist at that who has been long since ousted from the church for reasons that I regret to point out are painfully apparent to the three of you" I say while trying my best to soften the blow of my words, although judging by the looks of Izayoi and her parents, I didn't do as good as I had hoped.
"Gremory-san, if I may ask what happens to us now?" Miki Hyoudou says the woman who is Izayoi's mother and Gorou's wife looks deeply concerned, meaning I should start moving along with the explanation to try and put their concerns at ease.
"Another Devil, Sona who belongs to the House of Sitri, is currently at your home ensuring that evidence of your situation is erased and the body of the Rogue Exorcist is removed so you'll be able to go back home there once we're certain it's safe," I say, which makes Izayoi frown as she seems to be recalling something that must have happened before I arrived at her home.
"You mean how the bastard wasn't working alone?" Izayoi asks with an almost angry snarl before being reflexively scolded by both of her parents for using such crass language, which does snap the busty brunette out of her anger as she apologizes to her displeased parents.
"That is correct Izayoi-san, from what I am led to believe, he is likely working with another supernatural race of beings known as Fallen Angels, who along with actual Angels, are in the middle of a tense truce right now," I say in response, which I use as an opportunity to segway towards an explanation regarding the Great War between Heaven and Hell so long ago, albeit abridged in a way that I don't go over points I already have brought up.
The Hyoudou family is silent as they take in all this information, their worldview having been entirely shattered, and are surprisingly taking this well. However, I suspect that might be because they had a first-hand view of all of this with exceedingly negative consequences had I not shown up.
"I must stress though that this group of Fallen Angels are likely rogue elements themselves, as the group never announced their presence to the town supernatural owners, namely myself and Sona Sitri, which is a normal protocol established through various treaties between the three biblical factions," I say as I'm not exactly willing to paint all Fallen Angels with the same brush whatsoever, especially since one of my best friends and queen piece is technically one herself, even if Akeno herself refuses to be known as such.
"Then what will be done with them, surely they can't be allowed to roam freely in our town without consequence," Gorou Hyoudou says with a frown on his face, if things were different I would have to be the bearer of bad news, but there is one thing that entirely flips the script in my favor here.
It's the fact that it is almost certain that Freed Salzan was the serial killer who came to Kuoh, meaning that I have a political leg to stand on in doing something about all this, especially since this all happened in the town that Sona and I are in control of…
"That is correct Hyoudou-san, not only has Freed Salzan's actions run the risk of exposing the supernatural world for his sick desires, but he likely did so with the blessing of this rogue group of Fallen Angels which means I am within my rights as owner of the supernatural territory of Kuoh Town to deal with this rogue element as I see fit," I say with a smirk on my face, although I know that I'll need at least one if not more of them alive to use as a means to have the means to talk to a certain perverted Fallen Angel.
"Hey Rias-san, can I ask you something?" Izayoi asks as my focus turns to the busty brunette, with her face bearing a complicated and unsure expression, as if hesitant to ask the question that had been burning within her heart for a short while before eventually…
"Yuuma-chan, she is the traitor that the bastard priest was referring to, isn't she?" Izayoi asks which catches both Gorou and Miki's attention while I frown as I now wonder how much Freed told her before I finally arrived.
"What gives you that impression Izayoi-san?" I ask, wanting to know more about the time before I arrived and this might give me an idea of how exactly the conundrum of Raynare has become far more complicated than I had anticipated.
"That bastard kept ranting and raving about traitors and how we never knew her true nature, that me and my family were sinners for consorting with traitors," Izayoi says as it seems that Freed must given her enough hints for the busty brunette to figure out the reason why specifically her and her parents were targeted in the first place.
Before all of this, I had expected Raynare to be as she would have been in my past life's memories but it seems that there are more changes to this world than I had previously assumed to be apparent, meaning that I can no longer afford to consider those same memories as the perfect timeline of events for things to come.
This means that while I believe the broader strokes of what should happen are still happening, the circumstances behind them are becoming wildly different from what I believed would happen which I really should have considered much sooner as there are already several differences from the canon timeline of events.
Events such as Issei Hyoudou being instead Izayoi Hyoudou as well as her newly discovered history with Raynare…
"That is the most likely assumption then Izayoi-san, although judging by the pictures of her you have in your room, I assume she's a good friend?" I gently ask Izayoi, grimaces and nods her head as she reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone, showing it to me with photos of her and Raynare in her human form enjoying time at a cafe together.
Admittedly a powerful surge of jealousy wells up within me at the sight of the photos, but I am very quick to quash it before it can show up on my face as this isn't about my own feelings regarding Izayoi right now, but to get to the bottom of this strange change.
"Last time we spoke, she said she was going to Italy for a vacation and she wouldn't be available for several months, she does take time to text me every so often though," Izayoi says as it seems that Raynare in this timeline actually gives a damn about Izayoi and her family, which is odd considering how she's supposed to act.
But then something occurs to me that I hadn't considered up until now, and there is only one way to verify this hunch I've just gotten, which leads me to ask Izayoi to show me the earliest photos of Yuuma-chan and flick through them chronologically.
As Izayoi does just that, the hunch turns into a genuine suspicion and even gets confirmed quickly as she continues to flick through the photos while I examine them very carefully, leading me to believe that Raynare and Izayoi ended up meeting when they were young with Raynare clearly being the older of the two, leading to a sibling relationship that I doubt either of the two had prior.
This has to be a consequence of Universal Calibration, there is no other real explanation as to why Raynare would be young enough to encounter a young Izayoi otherwise which might have had enough of an effect on Raynare that she wouldn't end up acting in a similar manner to her canon self.
Of course, there is the more sickening Idea of Raynare potentially kidnapping and replacing an actual Yuuma Amano and doing something like that, but that would completely go against the evidence on hand.
Unfortunately, I am unable to inquire further as Sona arrives with her queen Tsubaki Shinra, my fellow heiress glancing at the Hyoudou family seated momentarily before turning her attention entirely toward me with a complicated expression on her face.
"Rias, I have finished cleaning up the Hyoudou household and have made sure that the mundane authorities will find the body of their serial killer suspect, ending the police investigation," Sona says, making me look toward her with a grateful smile as I know this is not a request I would normally make of her in any other circumstance.
"Thank you Sona, normally this matter would have fallen to me to perform but with me now having to integrate three new peerage members at once, an entire family even, I am grateful that you could help with the other responsibilities," I say as part of me is extremely grateful that I'm not alone in managing the supernatural side of Kuoh Town and that I have Sona here to help with that.
Now though it is time that I dealt with our little fallen problem, hopefully before their presence makes things any worse and potentially causes further disruption of the peace we have here in Kuoh Town or even before they realize that Freed is gone.
"Izayoi-chan, I ask that you and your mother stay here at the Occult club for the day as me and the rest of my peerage shall handle the rogue exorcist's superiors," I say as I go to collect Akeno and the others, standing up from where I am sitting and heading towards the door.
"Do you even know where they could be Rias?" Sona asks immediately, one of her eyebrows rising in curiosity as far as she is aware, neither of us knows where the fallen could even have their base located.
Fortunately for me though, even without using my metaknowledge from my past self, I know exactly where they would go to as it is the only place us devils would be averse to getting close to which makes it the most logical place for a hidden nest of Fallen Angels to go to…
"There is only one place they could hide from us easily, one location in Kuoh that would make it extremely hard for us to get close enough to verify that it is their base, the abandoned church at the edge of town," I say without missing a beat, causing Sona's eyes to widen as what she says next is purely out of reflex rather than her thinking about it carefully.
"Rias if you go there with hostile intent, you could be kicking off the next great war with your actions!" Sona says which results in me immediately turning to face her with Izayoi and her parents watching the interaction with rapt attention.
"So you mean to tell me that you had been made aware of their presence and not me?" I ask rhetorically which makes Sona wince as she realizes the error in her words and goes to apologize but I calmly put up a hand to stop her.
"It's alright Sona, I know that you only said that out of concern and reflex, after all, you're incredibly smart and have already beaten….42 potential suitors so far in chess matches if I recall correctly," I say with a smile on my face, my compliment does make Sona blush very faintly but nod her head.
"43 actually Rias, and thank you for the compliment," Sona says as I nod and go to leave but it's at that moment that Izayoi quickly gets up and rushes over to me, much to her parent's shock, and grabs my arm to stop me from leaving just yet.
"Wait, I want to come along, I don't want those bastards to get away with doing whatever in my hometown!" Izayoi says firmly, however, I shake my head as I don't want Izayoi getting involved just yet when I have yet to begin training her or her parents on various combat aspects of being a devil, let alone a sacred gear user for Izayoi in particular.
"I can't allow that Izayoi-san, not when you've only just very recently become a devil and lack the training to fight as one, I can't afford to potentially have you die on me," I say firmly which seems to have Izayoi narrow her eyes at that as I gently remove her hand from my arm.
"If I do, can't you just reincarnate me with another one of those Evil Pieces then and bring me back that way?!" Izayoi asks with a frustrated tone of voice with my eyes widening at what she says before I find my hands tightening into a fist as concern over her strange lack of self-preservation.
"Izayoi, Evil Pieces cannot be used to revive a devil that's already been reincarnated once, if you die a second time there is no coming back from that under almost all circumstances," I say as the fire in Izayoi's eye dies out almost immediately after that, as the misunderstanding she was laboring under dissipates like water in the Sahara desert during the day.
Before she can say anything though, I gently place a hand on her shoulder and squeeze it comfortingly, a smile forming on my face despite my harsh words prior to her as I decide to make a promise to her.
"Izayoi you and your parents are part of my peerage now, that means you're family to me and such, I will make you this promise personally, I will defeat all of the Fallen Angels that were the masters of the man who killed you and your parents, I swear it on the name of Gremory," I say with a firm tone, with Izayoi silent at the declaration before giving a shaky not grateful nod, although I do notice the blush on Izayoi's face as she returns to her parents, who glance at her then at me before back at Izayoi, soon looking at each other with a strange smile on their face.
I don't pay any more attention to that though as I finally leave to gather the members of my peerage in order to prepare for the fight ahead, we have until nightfall to make some final preparations as fighting during the day is inadvisable due to the secrecy of the supernatural world.
I just hope I'm not thrown any more curveballs, but something tells me that such hopes are foolish to have, knowing the new information that I have now…
Near the Abandoned Church, Kuoh Town Outskirts - Several hours later
(General P.O.V)
As night falls on Kuoh Town, Rias Gremory looks out from the top of a nearby building with her long red hair flowing with the faint breeze, her gaze affixed to the seemingly dilapidated structure just on the outskirts of the town she along with Sona were met to watch over.
"The more things change, the more things stay the same…" Rias muses to herself under her breath, there was a faint hope that she could make it so that Izayoi's reincarnation had nothing to do with the Fallen Angels and that it could be a typical reincarnation offer.
Unfortunately, it seems that the Gremory heiress's plans were dashed the moment those Fallen Angels showed up in town and allowed Freed to try and masquerade as a mere serial killer as a distraction for what Rias believes is Freed's main goal.
Although Rias could never have imagined how brutal things could be compared to how things would have gone had events played out in the way they did in the canon timeline, something that the redheaded devil plans on keeping a close eye on from this point onwards.
Rias soon spots her bat familiar making its way over to her after discreetly scouting out the abandoned church, said familiar soon relays their findings which allows Rias to discover that the three Fallen Angels of the group, Kalwarner, Dohnaseek and Mittelt are all in different locations that are relatively close to the Abandoned Church.
The church itself however is not so abandoned right now it seems as it seems the three Fallen Angels have secretly brought in more rogue exorcists in order to set up a proper secret cell here in Kuoh Town.
This creates a dilemma for the Gremory heiress as she has to deal with all of the rogue exorcists and the three Fallen Angels at the exact same time to prevent any of them from escaping, which means that she has to split her peerage into four groups with Gasper staying behind in order to keep an eye out for any outside parties getting involved in the fighting.
Plus while Gasper has been training with Rias's peerage so far, she's reluctant to have the dhampir get involved in heavy fighting like this yet as she wants to get them involved in stray devil hunting alongside Izayoi and her parents potentially.
This means that Yumi, Konkeo, Akeno, and Rias will be the ones fighting tonight which in turn means that it is time to decide who will be fighting which opponent, leading to Rias bringing everyone together in order to discuss the plan for the upcoming fight.
"Before we can discuss who is taking on which of the Fallen Angels, who here believes that they can take on a group of exorcists alone without assistance?" Rias asks the members of her peerage, gasper not being part of the discussion group due to her current role as a lookout.
Koneko is the first to immediately shake her head as while she has been growing more proficient with her Senjutsu as of late, she is still not ready to use it against a group of opponents just yet, leaving her out of the running for the role.
While Akeno might be good for the role due to her magic, Rias knows that she would be better paired against one of the Fallen Angels, which means that she can't perform the task either, leaving it a choice between Rias herself or Yumi…
"I'll do it…" Yumi says confidently, making Rias turn to face her Blonde Knight as she can see a look of determination on her face, a single eyebrow of the Gremory Heiress is raised as her curiosity is aroused at her confidence shown before a look of realization comes over her.
"So you figured it out then?" Rias asks Yumi as her knight piece merely nods her head in response, leaving Rias suitably impressed at the work that Yumi has put into improving the use of her sacred gear, the blonde allowing her basic shroud to manifest momentarily.
"Not exactly, but I discovered that I could use the shroud to extend my reach among other things during training," Yumi says before hiding her shroud as part of her clothes once more, allowing Rias to confidently put Yumi on crowd control regarding the rogue exorcists.
"Now with that handled, my familiar confirmed the three fallen angels are busy in three different areas close to the church," Rias says as she pulls out a map of the area that Sona helpfully provided a copy of to her before she came here, something that Rias will have to thank her for later.
"The short blonde one known as Mittelt is in a clearing west of the church, judging from the report by my familiar, she seems to be rather restless tonight," Rias says as she takes out a red marker to indicate where on the map the shortest of the three Fallen angels are which does catch both Koneko and Akeno's attention.
"I'll take her down," Koneko says promptly before Akeno can get a word in edgewise, making the ravenette pout as Rias nods, knowing the white-haired Nekoshou-Devil's current height will negate any height discrepancy that could be taken advantage of by the small Fallen Angel and thus making Koneko the better fighter against Mittelt.
"Alright then Koneko, I'll trust you to handle her," Rias says before marking Mittelt's location on the map with a K to indicate that Koneko will be handling it, allowing the redheaded devil to move onto the other two Fallen Angels that remain.
"The next one is the sole male of the three named Dohnaseek, who is busy guarding one of the dirt paths that exist in the forest area that leads out of Kuoh Town's borders," Rias says as she marks the western dirt path on the map, Akeno soon narrowing her eyes as her expression becomes rather stormy all of a sudden.
"Rias do you mind if I take this one?" Akeno asks which makes the redhead devil look at her best friend and queen piece in open curiosity, mulling over the request in her head for a moment before agreeing to the request with a simple nod of her head and placing an A mark on Dohnaseek's location
"Alright then, that leaves me to deal with the last one, Kalwarner, who seems to have her left arm bandaged up for some reason," Rias says with a frown as she is slightly suspicious as to why Kalwarner has her left arm bandaged up to her elbow but for the moment Rias decides to treat her as any other hostile Fallen Angel for the moment.
Only for the moment at least, Rias is not going to risk being caught off-guard for the second time in a row this week…
"One last thing everyone, try to avoid killing your respective Fallen Angel as we need them alive so that we can use their presence to arrange a meeting with the leader of the Grigori" Rias says as she wants to start to make connections outside of her family's political social circles, using the fallen as a way to have a legitimate reason to talk to Azazel.
While Koneko and Yumi are in full agreement with the request, Akeno is at first reluctant to give her own agreement to the request, only giving her agreement to the request once it's made clear that she needs them alive and able to give testimony without issue, which means that Akeno can indulge in her S&M routine on them to her heart's content.
With the plan set up, the four girls make their way to the ledge of the rooftop as they eye up their individual target destinations before manifesting their devil wings and flying off toward their respective opponents, ready to purge this rogue cell before it becomes a problem for everyone.
Abandoned Church, Kuoh Town Outskirts - Moments later
(General P.O.V)
Within the walls of the seemingly abandoned church, rogue exorcists have worked tirelessly to turn their hidden base into a somewhat liveable space while maintaining the facade of abandonment thanks to the underground lair that has been expanded slightly to accommodate the dozens of rogue exorcists that now await further reinforcements and orders from their Fallen Angel superiors.
Most of them tend to stay topside during the night though, as it's much easier to keep their actions hidden from the general public and any prying eyes, although there is a certain sense of camaraderie that exists between these exorcists who have been cast out from the church for one reason or another, especially with Freed Sellzen missing and no longer bothering them with crazed rants.
Unfortunately for many of these exorcists, they will not see tomorrow's sunrise…
One of the exorcists watching the main path towards the church spots a blonde young woman slowly walking forward with a blade in each hand, a look of determination on her face as several exorcists began to draw their light swords, sky blue blades of light igniting as hostile intent radiates from the blonde young woman.
As she gets closer, one of the exorcists notes that she wears the female uniform of Kuoh Academy which means one of the devil heiresses has taken notice of their actions, but are finding themselves baffled that they sent a single lone devil.
The exorcists grinned and began to slowly walk toward the blonde devil, believing their numbers and light swords would allow them to easily deal with this lone devil interloper, soon their slow walk turned into a sprint as they charged toward their opponent.
"Time to see if the training paid off…" The blonde devil, Yumi Kiba says as she activates her sacred gear, Sword Birth, and manifests a total of 6 copies of the Holy Eraser blade she has created before in the ground in front of her, with her already holding two Holy Eraser blades which makes it a grand total of 8 copies currently manifested.
At first, the rogue exorcists are confused as to why Yumi would create blades she has no way of picking up herself, at least until they see a long flowing red shroud suddenly manifest itself from her clothes, six split ends of the shroud wrapped around the handles and slowly pulls them free of the ground.
The rogue exorcists immediately halt in their tracks as they look at the blonde devil in fear as she holds the first two copies of Holy Eraser in her hands with the shroud holding the other six copies in the air menacingly…
"Shroud Technique: Asura's grip," Yumi says ominously while internally apologizing to Siegfried for basically stealing their twice-critical's unique technique with her shroud, she had learned about said technique during her training while browsing the internet at Rias's pocket dimension and trained in secret in order to figure out if there was a way to replicate it.
In the end, the shroud she was given by Rias herself allowed her to recreate a version of that same technique without needing a twice critical of her own, thus making her able to take greater advantage of her sacred gear's ability to manifest multiple blades at a time.
Yumi breaks herself out of her reminisce and stares down the rogue exorcists frozen in fear before her, soon rushing toward them with her speed as a knight piece, moving at a pace that the exorcists will have little time to react to.
The top-most pair of blades held up by the shroud swings down and bifurcates two of the closest exorcists in range, with the second pair coming in from the flank to slice through an entire line of exorcists who are momentarily paralyzed with fear at the display.
However, it doesn't take long for the rogue exorcists to rally and begin to attack Yumi, trying to find a way to slip past her guard in order to at least get a glancing wound, however her shroud technique allows her a degree of circular range of protection against attacks as any time an attack would try to strike her while she's distracted, one of the shroud-held blades would immediately block the attack which would be followed up by another coming down to strike at the exorcist in question.
As the fighting continues, Yumi can see a black and red beam shoot out of the clearing where Yumi recalls Kalwarner was supposed to be located, knowing that Rias has likely already engaged her opponent by this point and the plan is going smoothly for the moment.
The exorcists themselves quickly began to realize that the base was being attacked on all fronts by this point and began to increase their efforts to cut down the blonde devil so that they could provide some form of assistance to their superiors.
Whether or not that loyalty was born out of fear or genuine goodwill, Yumi couldn't tell amidst the fighting but what she does know is that Rias gave her a role to fulfill in this plan, and that did not include her dying to any of these exorcists, nor allowing them to live so that they can try to help their Fallen Angel masters…
As Yumi continues to carve through the dozens of rogue exorcists, blood begins to coat the copies of Holy Eraser as well as part of her face and hair from all the fighting as none of the exorcists can get close enough to attack her yet.
It is then that she has to move her head from a thrown Light Sword, the edge of it slicing into her left cheek and making the blonde devil hiss in pain at the unexpected attack, the exorcists grinning as they know about the devil's inherent weakness to light.
As they make a reckless charge to strike at her, believing the light poisoning would make her far too weak to combat them any further, they are proven horrendously wrong as the shroud and its blades quickly pull inwards for a brief moment before lashing out and performing a 360-degree horizontal strike with its blades, cutting many of the exorcists down at the waist as the two halves of their bodies fall to the ground in a bloody mess.
The exorcists that remain look at Yumi in shock and horror as she slowly looks at them with a downright cold look of anger as the blood-dripping off the black blades in the shroud's grasp as she twirls the two in her hands as she begins to walk toward the survivors.
Momentarily as the surviving rogue exorcists hear the sound of a thunderclap behind them, Yumi's blue eyes are illuminated by a bright yellow glow that is emitted from behind them briefly, giving the swordswoman an extra level of intimation for those that still remain among the living.
It is at that moment that they begin to run, there is no cohesion in their retreat as they outright run away from the blonde devil in any direction their instincts tell them to run, hoping to get away before they're cut down like the others.
Unfortunately for them, Yumi is in no mood to leave any survivors…
Almost immediately two of the Holy Eraser copies are thrown at the fleeing exorcists, flying towards groups of them as they nail two of the fleeing exorcists to a tree each, with Yumi soon having her sacred gear manifest more Holy Eraser copies for the shroud to throw at the fleeing exorcists with surprising force, often destroying both the exorcist and the tree both from the velocity of the thrown swords.
It doesn't take much longer than that for Yumi to have taken down all of the rogue exorcists as her uniform and hair are covered in patches of blood with not a single drop of it her own, the young woman breathing heavily as the constant manifestation of blades has started to take a toll on her reserves.
As she takes a moment to catch her breath, she begins to wonder how the others are doing right now, knowing that their opponents will likely test how far they've come with the training Rias helped them start as well as the various bits of downloaded skills that they got from the company due to the shroud binding.
She can only hope that they're alright…
Forest close to the Abandoned Church, near Mittelt's location - approximately several seconds after Yumi had engaged the exorcists
(General P.O.V)
"The thing I hate about stealth assignments is always that they're often so boring, you'd think that being in the territory of two Maou siblings would make things a bit more interesting," Mittelt says, the short blonde Fallen Angel grumbling as she can't help but wonder if Freed is having a better time than her right now despite having not reported in last night.
"Eh the longer that crazy guy is away, the less my ears are assaulted by the human's mad ramblings so doesn't matter to me I suppose," Mittelt says as she shakes her head, but soon she can't help but hear the sound of intense fighting near the front of the Abandoned Church, the Fallen Angel's eyes widening as a smile forms on the blonde's face.
"Finally, some excitement around here, I wonder if one of the two devil heiresses figured out where we are and sent their peerage after us~!" Mittelt says, and while she is no battle maniac like Dohnaseek is, she's been so bored for several days that she's willing to get into a scrap just to have something to sate her boredom.
But as Mittelt is unveiling her wings so that she can fly over to the exorcists at the front of the abandoned church, she sees something coming at her at a high speed and forcing her to side-step the speeding projectile right as it impacts the ground behind her, a small crater the size of Mittelt's head has formed from a small rock of all things.
"Heh, looks like the excitement has found me instead," Mittelt says with a dark grin on her face as she creates a pink-colored light spear in her right hand, seeing a short white-haired devil not far from her position wearing the standard Kuoh Academy girls uniform along with a long flowing red cloak that has already begun to wrap around the branches of two nearby trees.
Koneko frowns as she had intended to knock Mittelt out using the shroud to lob a small rock at her with such speed that the short blonde Fallen Angel would either get a concussion or rattle her brain enough to force a knock-out that way.
As Mittelt began to fly toward Koneko within seconds of spotting the short white-haired Devil-Nekoshou, Koneko immediately jumped back as hard as she could, feeling the shroud strain momentarily before her small body was slingshotted towards Mittelt, catching the blonde Fallen Angel off-guard as she momentarily halts her flight toward Koneko and unintentionally opening herself up to an immediate punch to her gut, winding Mittelt before being sent flying into several trees.
Koneko meanwhile has her shroud latch onto one of the nearby trees and pulls her up to them, the mobility uses of the shroud has been something she's been training on her own whenever she has a chance to enter Rias's Pocket Dimension for a short time now, said training now paying dividends although not as much as the training she and Akeno had been doing to improve her speed.
Her reaction speed and her base speed have increased thanks to all the training, but she needed something to compensate for her current lackluster speed, which is why she experimented with using the shroud to augment her movement to make up for still unsatisfactory levels of speed in Koneko's eyes.
Mittelt slowly gets back on her feet, shaking as she can feel how much force went into that punch while clutching her stomach, knowing that she was either extremely lucky that the punch didn't cause any organ damage or that the devil she's facing has orders to take her alive…
"Either way, I will not be taken down by a mere reincarnated devil," Mittelt says with a scowl as her wings extend outwards and crouch low right before soaring towards Koneko with a decent amount of speed as her light spear is aimed towards the Devil-Nekoshou's heart.
Moments before the spear would be in striking distance, Koneko's shroud lunges forward and wraps around Mittelt's arms before forcing the blonde Fallen Angel to move the spear's trajectory to pass over her left shroud, allowing Koneko to toss her opponent over her shoulder, spinning around on the spot as she lets go of Mittelt, the shroud gliding from Koneko's left arm to over her right shoulder as quickly turns into tendrils with sharp pointed tips.
The sharp, pointy tendrils of Koneko's shroud lash out to try and stab at Mittelt in order to render her unable to continue fighting, but the blonde Fallen Angel deftly twirls her light spear to block both strikes in rapid fashion, recovering in mid-air as she lands with her feet sliding against the ground before she throws the light spear at Koneko with such speed that while she won't be getting a kill shot, she knows that she only needs to get a glancing blow for light poisoning to begin.
However, it is here that Koneko finally begins to tap into her Senjutsu skills for the first time since her binding and the training she did to try and make use of the company-downloaded skills, augmenting her speed for just long enough to dodge the almost point-blank distance toss of the Light Spear.
But due to using Senjutsu, she had to also reveal her Nekoshou ears and tail to her opponent which made Mittelt's eyes widen as she didn't expect to be facing a Devil who used to be a Yokai at all, especially a Nekoshou hybrid.
Both fighters' focus on each other is momentarily broken as a beam of black and red blasts out from the clearing where Kalwarner was supposed to be, prompting Mittelt to realize that it's not just the front of the church that's being attacked, nor just her but everyone in the entire Cell is being directly confronted.
Mittelt pales as she realizes that such a response from the devils can only mean that Freed was discovered and possibly even captured, this means that must try to retreat with all haste in order to regroup back at Grigori territory in order to minimize losses.
With that in mind, Mittelt extends her wings and begins to fly away from the Abandoned church in an attempt to wash her hands of this whole mess, regretting not listening to Dohnaseek before about Freed as she flies above the trees in the direction of the Kuoh Town border.
Moments later though, one of her wings is hit by a speeding object from behind, eliciting a scream of pain as one of her Fallen Angel wings is badly wounded before she plummets back down to the ground once more.
As the blonde Fallen Angel lands on the ground hard, she looks at the state of the Injured wing and realizes that only a Phenex Tear would be able to fix up her wing quickly enough due to how even trying to move the wing is incredibly painful.
Before Mittelt can try to get back up, she sees Koneko on a nearby tree branch looking down at her as she had only just managed to get over to the blonde Fallen Angel just now, with Mittelt seeing the sky above the two flashes brightly with the sound of a loud thunderclap echoing out for several seconds before the bright yellow light fades, but that one moment is enough to cast a shadow over Koneko's face, save for her golden eyes that the Fallen Angel briefly believes have a slit pupil just like a cat's own…
With such a display and knowing that one of her precious wings is completely out of action for the time being, the only thing that Mittelt can do from this point forward is simply to raise her hands in surrender, hoping that the very least the Devils won't treat her harshly because of the truce between the three biblical factions.
Koneko accepts her surrender and almost immediately jumps forward, Mittelt's look of surprise is the only thing the white-haired Devil-Nekoshou sees from the blonde Fallen Angel right before she knocks Mittelt out.
As Koneko sighed and began to use a small amount of Senjutsu to create some suitable bindings for Mittelt, she looked in the direction of the other fights and wondered how her friends were doing right now with their opponents before she began to get ready to take her Fallen Angel captive away from the battlefield.
However before she is able to leave, she stops as her senses detect the extremely faint scent of a dragon coming from where Kalwarner is supposed to be, while that alone isn't exactly enough to get her worried, it's the fact that the dragon scent is mixed with some sort of synthetic material that catches her attention.
"Buchou, I hope you're ok.." Koneko says as her gaze looks toward where the fight is supposed to be with a worried look in her eyes, hoping that despite her concern for Rias, the redhead that reincarnated her will win against her opponent no matter what.
She can't defeat Riser if she's dead after all…
Small Clearing close to the Abandoned Church, near Dohnaseek's location - approximately several seconds after Yumi had engaged the exorcists
(General P.O.V)
Dohnaseek sighed as he had just finished speaking with his true superior Kokabiel via a communication spell, having reported that Freed had gone missing since yesterday afternoon as he had failed to report in after another night of his rather bloody antics.
It's bad enough that Raynare had decided that the lives of humans and a mere excommunicated nun were worth more than her fellow Fallen Angels, forcing Dohnaseek to modify the plan for their stay in Kuoh Town and wasting all that time he had spent trying to mold her into the perfect Fallen Angel for Lord Kokabiel's cause.
The Fedora-wearing Fallen Angel still remembers what happened back in Italy as while the original plan was to have the wielder of Twilight Healing come to them, Raynare got it into her head that it would be a better show for their cause if they went personally.
That was all well and good on its own, but the original plan was completely ruined the moment Raynare learned what Dohnaseek had planned for Asia and herself, which led to a fight between both Fallen Angels that resulted in Dohnaseek receiving a light spear to a non-fatal area right before both sides had to leave lest they be caught by the forces of Heaven investigating the area.
"At least Kalwarner turned out to be a suitable backup candidate for that," Dohnaseek says to himself, referring to the thing that Lord Kokabiel ordered to be stolen from Azazel's lab once Dohnaseek had reported to him that Raynare had turned traitor and had gone off the grid alongside the wielder of Twilight Healing.
It is then that Dohnaseek's guard comes up as he notices two things almost immediately due to his honed battle senses, the first is the sounds of fighting in front of the Abandoned church, but it's not that which has him on guard though, it's rather the second thing that catches his attention more…
"Come out Devil, I know you're here!" Dohnaseek says as he immediately forms a blue light spear in his hands as he readies himself for a fight, his lust for battle spiking as he struggles not to have his lips curl into a smirk at the prospect of a good fight.
Almost immediately after calling out to his opponent, it is only pure instinct that allows him to move his body out of the way in time to avoid a blast of magical lightning, the feel of it oddly familiar to the battle maniac of the three Fallen Angels as he looks toward where the attack came from.
He soon sees a particularly busty young devil woman walk over to him with a rather amused expression on her face, her black hair tied into a ponytail in a way that feels familiar again before he realizes who he's looking at and begins to chuckle.
"So, the brat of Shuri Himejima and Vice-Governor Baraqiel became a devil, what a complete farce," Dohnaseek says as he briefly recalls the times he heard Vice-Governer Baraqiel talk about his wife and daughter ages ago, especially since the incident that resulted in Shuri's death.
Akeno who was moments before all too eager to begin dishing pain out to Dohnaseek freezes mid-step as she processes what she just heard, A hateful scowl crosses her beautiful face as she looks at Dohnaseek with unmasked disdain for what just said.
"You don't get to talk about my mother as if you knew her!" Akeno says with anger making her magic flare impressively before she began to send blasts of lightning magic toward Dohnaseek, the Fedora-wearing Fallen Angel grinning as he began to duck, dodge, and weave past the attacks as if he knew how to face a Lightning Magic user.
"Well of course I don't know her personally, I most certainly know about her though due to the fact that I know your father misses her greatly even now," Dohnaseek says with a cocksure smirk, having overheard Baraqiel at one point when he thought he was alone about how the Vice-Governor of the Grigori still privately mourns the loss of his wife among other things.
Not to mention Dohnaseek did have a mission years ago at the behest of Lord Kokabiel that involved the still whole family that informed him even further of those tied to Baraqiel, something he has never spoken of to anyone to this day…
Akeno's almost immediate scream of rage is quickly followed by even more blasts of lightning from the ravenette, which is the exact reaction that Dohnaseek was hoping to induce in the Devil/Fallen Angel Hybrid in front of him, the man having faced Baraqiel in brief spars that always ended in his loss back every time and with every loss came experience in learning how to dodge such similar attacks.
The fact that Akeno was so staunchly refusing to use her Fallen Angel abilities to enhance her magical powers ensured that Dohnaseek would be able to stay ahead of the Ravenette's magic as the Fallen Angel began to get closer and closer.
With the sheer anger and rage broiling within Akeno's mind as she fought Dohnaseek, she never noticed that he was getting too close until he was in striking range, her eyes widening as she jumped back only to scream in pain as the Blue Light spear was thrust into her left shoulder blood spurting out as she grasped her shoulder to stem the blood flow.
"This was fun brat, so fun that before you succumb to Holy Poisoning I might as well let you in on a little secret.." Dohnaseek says with a dark grin as he believes that Akeno will die soon enough from that one wound, ready to reveal a secret that will go with the young devil to her assumed grave.
"Your father was never meant to be called away that day, but under my Lord's orders I made sure that your father would never be there in time to save you and your mother from those humans, so now your father will be mourning for Both of you!" Dohnaseek says as Akeno's eyes widen with her face going pale, hyperventilating as memories of that day flood her mind and soon the Ravenette reacts to this information in one way…
A Red and Black beam blasts out from Kalwarner's location, the sound of it reverberating through the clearing where Akeno and Dohnaseek are currently, but another sound fills the Fallen Angel's ears in this very moment as he slowly looks down at his abdomen with shock.
With a bright, crackling yellow Light Spear having pierced his stomach….
Dohnaseek screams in pain as he backs away, clutching his abdomen as he looks to the downright seething Akeno, as her wings manifest but it's no longer just her devil wings that show up, but an elegant black Fallen Angel wing alongside a single Devil wing.
"You…" Akeno says as she looks at Dohnaseek, her expression starting to slowly change as her mind processes what Dohnaseek just told her, her shroud ever so slightly manifests in order to staunch the bleeding on her left shoulder, allowing her to focus on the Fallen Angel in front of her that has just gone from dangerous opponent to the target of a brand new vendetta that has formed within her mind.
"It was you who kept my father away, you who allowed my mother to die!" Akeno says with barely contained fury, the busty ravenette began to stalk towards him with an expression of sheer hatred shown on her face, Dohnaseek can sense the bewildering second wind that Akeno has achieved and scowls before using what little healing magic to tend to the wound on his abdomen before pointing his own blue light spear at the Ravenette.
"What better way to mentally wound a man, a father no less, than ensure that he is unable to save his wife and make it so that his own daughter hates him!" Dohnaseek says as he readies himself for round two of this conflict with a hungry grin on his face, Akeno does not react at first to his words for several seconds while stalking over to Dohnaseek, the lack of response unnerving Dohnaseek a fair bit as he is about to say something…
It is then that Akeno unleashes another round of lightning magic, this time not only more powerful than her other uses of lightning magic but also bearing the holy element like her father's own lightning magic.
This time the lightning magic hits home as Dohnaseek is struck in the same spot as Akeno's Light Spear, reopening the wound and increasing the amount of damage at the same time, forcing the man to his knees as Akeno stops not far from Dohnaseek's location.
It is here that Dohnaseek notices something about Akeno's light spear, as it is not truly a light spear as a Fallen Angel would manifest, but her lightning magic having been molded into a shape that takes the appearance of a light spear, something that is confirmed as Akeno pours more and more of her lightning magic into the spear.
"Originally Rias told me to not kill you, but I think she won't mind when I explain to her why you had to die in the end…" Akeno says as she pours all of her remaining magic into the Lightning Spear, the sound of the condensed form of lightning magic akin to thousands of birds chirping all at once.
But the moment Akeno threw the Lightning spear, the entire clearing was blinded by a bright yellow light which was immediately followed by an incredibly loud thunderclap, the combination of the two briefly disorientating Akeno for a few seconds before she opened her eyes to see what the result was of her attack.
Dohnaseek's entire upper torso was completely blasted off of his waist, not even viscera remained as there was a large clean trench that went on for a short distance before she saw a crater just barely visible to her eyes with the only thing that was in it, is a charred black Fedora and a bunch of Fallen Angel feathers scattered in the crater.
Akeno stumbles slightly before falling to her knees in sheer exhaustion, breathing heavily as her body shakes constantly from having pushed herself so hard in that one moment, the ravenette is barely able to keep herself conscious from spending so much of her magical energy in one go.
As she can feel her body about to give in and drag her into a state of unconsciousness, she feels a dangerous amount of holy energy coming from where Rias and Kalwarner were supposed to be fighting.
"R-rias…" Akeno says as she tries desperately to get back up and go help her King, only managing to stand back up for no more than four seconds before falling over completely, falling unconscious with her last thoughts before she blacks out is of her best friend…
Small clearing just a short distance north of the Abandoned Church, Kalwarner's clearing location - approximately several seconds after Yumi had engaged the exorcists
(Rias Gremory's P.O.V)
I slowly approach Kalwarner from above, keeping to the shadows in order to not give myself away while I observe the Blunette Fallen Angel, looking at the bandaged forearm in particular with an admittedly heightened degree of wariness because, upon closer inspection, I can see that the bandages aren't a means of dressing a wound but rather to seal something up.
Considering how fresh the bandages looked though, it must be something that had been done to her either last night or early this morning, and whatever it was that the bandages were now covering, it necessitated the use of those bandages to cover up the entire forearm and hand with a single glowing paper seal keeping it suppressed.
I decided it would be better to try and take her down now without giving her any chance to notice me and as such, I began carefully harnessing the Power of Destruction at the tip of my index finger and aiming it in a finger-gun motion before shooting the destructive magic out at Kalwarner's head.
Unfortunately for me, Kalwarner's reflexes seem to be good enough that she can move her head out of the way just before the PoD bullet hits her in the back of the head, the Blunette turning to look at me as I am forced to walk out of the shadows now that my cover is blown.
"Seems Freed got himself killed after all, especially if you managed to find us here so quickly," Kalwarner remarks as she creates a yellow light spear, looking at me with an unsurprised expression on her face which means she probably had a hunch on the fate of Freed Selzen for awhile now.
"Freed hurt and killed someone I care deeply about, so it's only fair that this little rogue operation of yours is dismantled as retribution if nothing else," I say in response to Kalwarner's words, the bluenette smirking before unveiling her Fallen Angel wings and charging straight at me, intending to get close as I began fire blast after blast of my Power of Destruction at her.
Surprisingly Kalwarner manages to dodge every blast before attempting to swipe down at my head with her Light Spear, only managing to just barely get out of the way in time of her attack before being kicked in the gut and sent flying into a nearby tree, briefly winding me.
As I take a moment or two to recover, I see Kalwarner throw her Light spear in my direction with all her strength behind the throw, something that forces me to move my entire body fast in order to prevent being impaled, my right hand soon extending outwards from my body as I began to call on the Power of Destruction once again into a familiar spiraling sphere of destruction.
Just seconds after completing the technique, Kalwarner flies over with a sadistic grin on her face as she has formed yet another Light Spear which is poised to stab my right shoulder if I don't do something to dodge it fast.
Shifting my upper body to the left, I allow the Light Spear to slide past my right shoulder and give me the perfect opening to slam my Null Star into Kalwarner's abdomen, hearing her scream in pain as she's blasted away through several trees before finally halting her momentum as she looks at me with sheer rage on her face.
The Null Star was admittedly not charged at full power, hence why instead of basically ripping her body in two, Kalwarner's abdomen looks like it's been mauled by a forest bear with many lacerations all over her stomach and just below her breasts.
Kalwarner grits her teeth as she retrieves something from her pocket, a vial of glimmering liquid I have a nasty suspicion about what is in the vial, something that I honestly hope I am wrong about, but attempt to stop her from drinking the vial by firing a Cero at her.
Unfortunately due to my haste in firing the beam of Power of Destruction, I ended up firing the attack just above her head instead of at her arm and into the sky, which allowed her to easily down the contents of the vial, and her wounds almost instantly regenerated, prompting the both of us to stand up once more.
"Black market Phenex Tears?!" I cry out in alarm as while I do despise Riser for who he is right now, I do know that the Phenex Clan he belongs to keeps an extremely tight grip on the market of Phenex Tears with the process of buying even a single vial being quite the bureaucratic process.
So for Kalwarner to have gotten her hands on one, either the Phenex Clan are secretly traitors which I highly doubt even with my meta-knowledge becoming less useful as time goes on, or there is a black market trade that I have absolutely no knowledge of…
Kalwarner grinned as she began to manifest two yellow light spears, one in each hand as she flew towards me again, the action finally prompting me to manifest my fire shroud and begin blasting her with fire as much as possible, trying to keep the fire from accidentally hitting the nearby foliage and trees where possible.
Once again Kalwarner's speed proves to be top-notch as she flies above the fireblasts and throws the left-hand light spear at me, the fire shroud soon lurches forward to catch the Yellow Light Spear and throws it back at Kalwarner which completely catches her by surprise and just narrowly ducks under the returned light spear.
Soon enough she is upon me again, ready to stab me in the heart with the light spear as the fire shroud shifts around to create arms of molten rock from my shoulders to try and grasp at Kalwarner's light spear, prompting Kalwarner to back away and sneer while having narrowly avoided being burnt by the molten rock arms that fade back into the shroud.
Moments later we're both blinded by a bright yellow flash that emits from where Akeno and Kalwarner are fighting, Kalwarner freezes for a moment as she begins to realize the situation she's in, believing that Dohnaseek is dead and Mittelt is probably captured which prompts Kalwarner to growl and stare at her left arm covered in the bandages and the sealing tag.
"Fuck this, I don't care if my body isn't ready for it anymore, it's do-or-die time!" Kalwarner says as she grabs the sealing tag and rips it off, consequently removing all the bandages and finally revealing what is underneath them.
To my horror, Kalwarner's entire left forearm is covered in a familiar red draconic gauntlet, with it looking as if it was grafted into her actual left forearm rather than being a natural part of her body due to how I can sense the unstable emission of energy focused in the emerald green gem affixed to the backhand section of the gauntlet.
"You should be honored Devil, that you'll be able to experience one of Lord Azazel's earliest prototype Sacred Gears, Artificial Sacred Gear: Twice-Critical Double-down!" Kalwarner exclaims with a sinister grin on my face, marveling at the red gauntlet surgically crafted onto her very being.
I just stare at her with my prior expression of horror quickly shifting into more of a blank deadpan as not only was I worried over an artificial replica of a common sacred gear, but the name of the Maou-damned thing practically fits Azazel's naming convention to a T.
"Judging by your expression your expression devil, you think that this is just a 1:1 replica of the original Twice-Critical…" Kalwarner says, her words trailing off with a dangerous smile on her face as she begins to activate the artificial sacred gear, pouring her magical power into it as the gem glows brightly.
[B-B-BOOST!]
Almost immediately after the artificial sacred gear, my eyes widen as Kalwarner's body is flooded with a torrent of power her power doubles with Kalwarner laughing with glee before a horrifying sight of a second pair of Fallen Angel wings manifesting on Kalwarner's back.
"Well, this is a prototype isn't a temporary boost unlike the original, it's a permanent boost!" Kalwarner says as she extends both pairs of Fallen Angel Wings and soars toward me at a much faster speed than before, having only enough time to halt her advance through a hastily formed wall of flame.
With Kalwarner in possession of such a dangerous prototype and possessing two sets of Fallen Angel wings, her threat level has skyrocketed in the span of several seconds as had her power, which means I can't afford to fight her with anything less than my full power now or I'll die.
My own devil wings are unveiled as I begin to emit a thick red aura of devil energy, The fire shroud surging outwards as the flames are no longer being restrained for the sake of preserving the forest around me, especially with the threat to my life that Kalwarner has become…
Eventually, Kalwarner uses her light spear to snuff out the wall of fire separating us and charges, forcing me to reveal something I had been training for no more than a day or two now as flames surge forth into the shape of a double-ended spear, which I use to bat away Kalwarner's own light spear with a twirling motion.
"First flames, now a spear, quite the copycat now aren't you Miss Gremory~!" Kalwarner says with a dark grin as she carefully looks at my flame spear with trepidation, giving her no response as I maintain a calm facade in order to not give away just how inexperienced I am with a spear right now.
Before long Kalwarner rushes me once more, with my flame spear only barely managing to block the light spear in time as Yellow clashed with bright orange, the handling of my flame spear rapidly improving thanks to the Martial Talent perk accelerating my learning speed, allowing me to quickly correct basic flaws with every clash.
During every attack from Kalwarner however, I began to notice that her body was struggling to keep up with its new level of power despite how much Kalwarner is trying to hide that fact, making me realize that the permanent boost did not come without a major catch.
"That boost you got, you gained double your current maximum power alright, but your body isn't at all equipped to handle it!" I cry out as Kalwarner's eyes widen before she snarls, with my focus shifting from trying to defeat her to trying to outlast her, which is already taking a toll on Kalwarner as after a short while she begins to show signs of her body struggling to keep up with her own enhanced power.
Eventually, her body gives out before her own will does with the blunette Fallen Angel now struggling to even stay upright as her body's stamina reserves are now almost entirely empty, although my own has taken quite the hit due to having to try and keep one step ahead of her in a defensive stance, with one false move potentially leading to serious injury or death.
"Surrender now and I swear I will not mistreat you or your fellow Fallen Angels, continue to resist and I will kill you here and now," I say as I begin to charge up a Cero right in front of Kalwarner who looks at me, utterly exhausted with a furious expression and tried to walk toward me.
But before she can even make it three steps, her eyes roll into the back of her head and she ends up falling unconscious, landing on her right side as she falls to the ground, the Blunette Fallen Angel is completely unable to continue fighting anymore due to sheer exhaustion.
Seconds pass as I watched for Kalwarner to try and make a move before finally dispersing the incomplete Cero and falling down on my butt in exhaustion myself, the fire shroud absorbing the flames around us to conceal the battle that took place here as best as I can.
I can no longer hear the battles taking place in the other areas, which must mean that my peerage has won their respective fights, allowing me to stand back up and walk over to Kalwarner and restrain the blunette the best I can.
But there is one lingering question on my mind now that the battle is over, especially since it involves one of the canon members of my peerage, someone who would have been here had things occurred as they would have been in the canon timeline.
Where is Asia Argento, and is she alright?
Airport not far from Kuoh Town - Two hours after the battle at the Abandoned Church
(?'s P.O.V)
I sigh audibly as I wait for the luggage to come off the airplane the entire trip here has been nothing but a hassle, mostly due to the fact I always disliked taking a plane as it just feels so claustrophobic to be in one, despite how necessary it is this time around.
Honestly, it was a pain securing tickets to get here in the first place, especially since many of the ways I normally would get them are either watched carefully or my new charge would object to quite fervently.
Speaking of which she's taking a long time to come out of the bathroom, I hope she's not trying to clean out the hair dye that I had her put on and ruin all the work I put into setting up her new identity.
Thankfully my new charge came out of the Bathroom right as I was able to retrieve our luggage, although she seemed particularly flustered as she rushed over to me, probably about to tell me about another sinful thing she'd seen in there.
"Sister, t-there was some really sinful scribblings written on the wall of one of the stalls, a-and the one closest to the wall had a hole that l-led to the men's bathroom!" my hopelessly naive and pure charge says with a massive blush on her face, I sigh and gently pat on her head to calm her down.
"Relax brat, it's not like you saw a guy's cock when you looked at the hole did ya?" I ask, my voice becoming slightly teasing as I watch the poor girl's blush get even redder as she struggles to try and respond to my crass words.
Shaking my head I soon look through one of my bags that contains a particularly special photo and an address listed on a piece of paper, the address of someone I hold quite close to my heart and is probably the reason I didn't end up becoming little more than a pawn in another's game.
Hopefully, she'll recognize me despite how much I've changed, especially with my new charge in tow as it has been some time since we've seen each other in person, someone I can call a sister in all but blood really as I stare at the picture of me and a familiar brunette.
The picture of Yuma Amano and Izayoi Hyoudou…
Author's Notes
And at long, long last, the 3-parter has its finale!
This is probably by far the largest chapter I've ever written, potentially winning out over a certain chapter in A Golden Goddess but that's neither here nor there. However, this was also the source of so many writer's blocks that I can barely count them now.
Keep in mind this is not the new norm, I just wanted to go as hard as I could with this chapter due to it being the finale of a three-part arc.
Now then, let us begin with the Plot point discussions.
Why did Rias not bring Izayoi to the Abandoned Church attack?
It's best we start here, mostly so I can address any potential question Rias's choice may foster, as she had only just reincarnated Izayoi and has not yet gotten a chance to teach her more than the basic orientation stuff of being a devil.
There is no way that Rias would ever allow Izayoi to enter the fray with how little training she has in fighting as a member of the supernatural, even if she does have Kendo training that could be of some use.
Plus Rias doesn't want to run the risk of having Izayoi die on her due to the busty brunette's inexperience, so that's another reason why she'd never consider that an option anyway, to begin with.
The fights at the Abandoned Church
For the first three fights, I wanted to display the results of what the training with Rias in her pocket dimension has resulted in various personal touches as well as showing how her peerage is adapting to the use of the Shroud of Power they each have in basic form.
Akeno in particular doesn't have all that much in terms of Shroud training due to her focus on her magic which can only go far, at least until another rippling effect of Universal Calibration reveals itself once again, with Dohnaseek revealing his involvement
I should clarify this isn't her entirely dropping her hatred of Fallen Angels, but instead, this is her basically getting to kill someone who had a hand in her mother's murder by removing the one person who could protect her from the board.
Akeno still has to resolve things with her father, but the burning hatred she had prior will finally have a chance to begin cooling down and allow her to properly come to terms with what happened with Rias's help.
Speaking of Rias though…
Rias VS Kalwarner
Several of you might think that the Artificial Sacred Gear: Twice-Critical Double-down was a means to extend the fight between the two, and while that is one reason, it is more to set up stuff that will be happening down the line as Rias continues to induce more and more changes due to the use of her Meta-knowledge and contractor abilities.
Mostly because this will be just a sampling of things to come as later villains hit the stage and further changes occur over time, with or without Universal Calibration's ripple effects upon the timeline.
This will be the first of several Artificial Sacred Gear Variants we'll see in the future, but this is the only one that has been fully developed so far, so keep an eye out!
Now then, next time on Devilflare Princess: Aftermath Discussion with Sona, Arranging meetings, and Old friends reunite!
See you all next Month Hopefully!