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Chapter 7: Fallen Angels

Kyoto, Japan, Yasaka's Palace

The next day came fast and Keith was currently sitting in the meeting room together with Kunou, Kuroka and Yasaka. After another session of training with Kunou and Kuroka, to which Hokori was present, they were all called by Yasaka.

"Youkais from the South of Kyoto reached to me and told me that they might have spotted a Stray that hides in an abandoned and desolate temple." Yasaka informed them.

"Is this Stray dangerous, nya?" Kuroka asked, glancing at Keith quickly, then looking back at Yasaka. While she and Keith were not that close, she considered him a friend, so of course she would hold worry for him.

"They don't know, however one Youkai said that she could feel Holy energy from the palace."

"So it is part Fallen Angel." Kunou concluded. "A pure Angel would never accept to become a Devil."

"Or it works with Fallen Angels." Keith chimed in.

"I don't think that can be possible, nya." Kuroka shook her head. "It is unheard of Strays working with any other race, including other Devils, nya."

Yasaka nodded in agreement. "Kuroka is right, however, be careful and don't do anything rash." She told them, her eyes focusing on Keith for a few moments before looking at each of them. "If the situation becomes more than you can handle, teleport out of there."

The three nodded and left the room.

The two Youkais and human appeared out of a magical circle in front of the ominous temple.

"It is inside, nya." Kuroka said, scrunching her nose in disgust as soon as the smell of putrid flesh entered her nostrils.

"Let's deal with it." Kunou said, her serious persona coming out.

Keith remained silent as he followed the two inside, however his gut feeling told him that something wasn't adding up.

As they entered inside, he quickly covered his nose with his hand as the smell of rotten flesh and guts spilled on ground welcomed them. He resisted the urge to vomit right away.

"What the fuck…" He whispered as he looked at the pile of bones scattered around the empty temple.

"Stay behind us Kei-kun." Kunou said, without looking at him. Her eyes were focused on the shadow in front of them. Kuroka quickly stepped forward near Kunou and in her open palm a ball of Senjutsu appeared, ready to be thrown.

"Kakakaka!" A mad cackle resounded around the temple. "It seems I have visitors!"

As soon as he heard the voice, Keith summoned the True Longinus and held it tightly in his hands.

He heard another cackle. He didn't have the acute senses Kuroka and Kunou possess, but he got better at sensing auras so he could tell that the Stray was currently hiding in the shadows.

"Oh, how delightful!" The Stray exclaimed. "A human with a Sacred Gear." She said. "And you are a cute one too, oh how much fun will we have!"

"Enough with the chit-chat Devil!" Kunou declared as she threw a ball of fire in the shadows. The ball hit the wall as the Stray jumped over it and came into light.

Her form was as Keith expected it to be: monstrous. She had the upper body of a young woman with red hair and claws instead of hands, while her lower body looked like something akin to a plant.

"So impatient to die, jeez!" The Stray said. She laughed as she willed roots to come out of the ground like tendrils and attacked the three. Seeing this, Kunou snapped her fingers and balls made out of flames appeared at her sides. Stretching her hand forward, the balls immediately took action and hit the incoming roots, burning them to ash.

The Stray let out a low growl as she jumped out of the way of a Senjutsu aura bullet, courtesy of Kuroka.

"She is fast." Keith noted.

"That she is, but it doesn't mean much, nya." Kuroka said as she jumped over another root-like tendril.

"Grr, stop dodging!" The Stray yelled in frustration, then she looked at Keith and grinned.

She stretched out her palm and out of it shot out aura bullets of Demonic Power. Keith dodged them using his already impressive speed, vanishing from the Stray's view, only for her to yell out in pain as she felt a cut on her plant lower body. Reappearing, Keith stood at a safe distance from the howling Devil.

'So this is what a Holy Artifact does to a Devil.' He thought as he saw the smoke coming out of the cut. The only time he used the True Longinus was against an already cut hand of a Stray so he didn't get the chance to see how effective it is.

"It's time to end this." Kunou stated, while on the inside she was quite proud of Keith for his first official mission. He didn't freak out, he kept a clear head and even managed to damage a Stray. She and Kuroka purposely held back to see how he would perform in a more real battle. Of course, at the even tiniest sense of danger, she would have obliterated the Devil.

The kitsune prepared a ball of fire to throw at the hurt Stray. However, before she could end her, she had to jump backwards in order to dodge a light spear.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." They heard. "So rude to come in our home unannounced." A masculine voice said. In an instant, two men appeared out of the shadows. "Wouldn't you agree, Zion?"

The appearance of the two made Keith and the two beautiful women widen their eyes.

What are Fallen Angels doing here?! So Keith was right. Fallen Angels were working with this Stray.

"Very rude indeed, Aki." Zion said. He is a tall man in his late twenties, with short white hair and two black wings on his back, while the other one, Akiel, is slightly smaller, with shoulder-length black hair and four black wings.

Akiel looked around and saw the piles of bones, then sighed.

"Didn't I tell you to stop eating this much or else someone will notice it, Lidia?"

The Stray snarled at him.

"You don't get to tell me what to do, crow."

"Always so hostile." Zion said with a chuckle. Then he looked at Keith who was holding the Holy Spear. "Damn, that dude has an awesome spear, huh Aki?"

A malicious grin made its way on Akiel's face as he nodded.

"Yeah, let's take it."

"Why are you Fallen working with the Stray?" Kunou asked, glaring at them.

"Ooooh, so scary." Zion jeered. He then created a spear of light and threw it at the fox girl, only for it to be caught and then broken in her hand.

Before any words could be spoken, Akiel opened up his wings and flew towards Kunou to maim her with his spear of light. Kunou simply vanished and reappeared behind him and in a quick motion, she lengthened her claws and cut off one of his pair of wings.

"Argh!" Akiel shouted out in pain as he was sent in a brick wall.

Zion narrowed his eyes and dashed forward, using his wings for speed, and attacked Keith who dodged to the right. The Fallen made a spear of light and swung it to cut Keith wide open, but the human was faster and managed to parry it and then, pushing Zion back, he hit him with the butt of his spear in the stomach, making him spit out saliva and fall on his back.

"Ugh." He groaned as he got up, holding his stomach. His face quickly contorted into anger as he let out a battle cry and lunged at Keith.

Narrowing his eyes, the young man disappeared before the Fallen could touch him, leaving his enemy baffled at the sheer speed he used, reappearing at a safe distance before him.

"What the fuck!" Saying that Zion was mad would be an understatement. A puny human was faster than him?! A Fallen Angel?! "Don't think that you are hot shit, filthy human!" He made out a bow out of light and shot a dozen arrows towards Keith who either used the Holy Lance to counter them or simply dodged them.

The Longinus wielder quickly dashed forward and used the butt of his spear to hit Zion in the stomach once again, harder this time, sending him against the wall.

"I would advise you to stay down." Keith said, his voice not betraying any emotion. The Fallen groaned, but stood up on wobbly feet.

"Shut up fucker!" Before Zion could do anything, the Holy Spear wielder appeared before him and knocked him out using a more traditional approach: a punch to the head.

"I told you." Keith said dryly.

"Good job, Kei-kun, nya." He felt Kuroka hugging him from behind, making sure to press her bountiful chest against his back. "You were very manly and dominating, nya." She purred in his ear sensually. Keith could feel his face getting warmer. There was no trace of the Stray whatsoever, meaning Kuroka got rid of her with no problems. As it was expected.

"Ahem!" A cough got their attention as they both looked at Kunou dragging Akiel by one of his feet. He was out cold. "Kei-kun would you be so kind to grab the other Fallen, pretty please?" She gave him a sweet smile, way too sweet in his opinion.

"S-Sure." He nodded fast as Kuroka let go of him. He picked up Zion over his shoulder and went near Kuroka and Kunou. The familiar golden circle with the face of a fox appeared and the trio teleported back to the palace.

However, a handsome young man with white long hair who looked to be in his mid-twenties appeared out of the shadows, a malevolent grin gracing his face. He had two white fox ears and nine tails.

"My, oh my, it seems they lost." He said. "No matter, soon enough I will deal with you myself." His grin turned into a disgusting frown. "And I will leave you last, Yasaka."

He then disappeared in a magic circle.

When they appeared back at the palace, in Yasaka's meeting room, they found her accompanied by two people: a middle-aged, gruff-looking man with black hair with a matching beard that had his eyes closed and a beautiful young woman with dark blue eyes and long purple hair dressed in a secretary outfit that did no justice in hiding her curves. They were currently sitting at the table drinking tea.

"Ah, you are here." Yasaka said to the trio. "I am pleased to see that you are not harmed." She looked at them and gave them a warm smile.

Kunou and Keith put the two unconscious Fallen on the ground.

"The Stray has been taken care of." Kunou informed her, then look at the two guests, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Who are our guests." She could sense they are Fallen as well. The two got up and thanked Yasaka for the tea.

"I am Baraqiel, a Cadre of the Fallen Angels." The muscular man introduced himself with a bow, his face stoic.

"And I am Penemue and a Cadre, as well as the secretary of the Fallen." The drop-dead gorgeous woman said, bowing as well, making her big breasts jiggle slightly, then offering the three a smile. Her eyes narrowed, however, when she looked at the two unconscious Fallen.

"A pleasure to meet you." Kunou said in a tone befitting of the next head to rule the Youkais, bowing. "I am Kunou."

The two Cadre then darted their eyes towards Keith and Kuroka.

"Name's Kuroka, nya." The Black Cat introduced herself. Of course they knew who she was. The Nekoshou had been an SS-Class Stray after all.

When their attention was on Keith, the young man stiffened slightly. From what he has learned, a Cadre is a rank given to the most powerful Fallen Angels, second to none other than Azazel himself. Well, when it comes to Fallen at least.

"My name is Keith Nakamura." He bowed respectfully. He decided to keep out the information about him having a hold of the strongest-

"Ah, it is truly a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Holy Emperor." Penemue said with a smile.

For his part, the young man widened his eyes. How the fuck did she know!?

"Oh, I can sense the Holy energy coming from you." Penemue answered his unasked question, giggling at the incredulous face he was making. "It is purer than a Holy Sword and stronger than any other Sacred Gears with Holy attributes."

"Nice to mee you." Baraqiel gave Keith a curt nod, not at all bothered by this. He heard rumours from Azazel's sources that the True Longinus wielder allied himself with the Youkais. Good to know that the rumours proved to be true…well not that good since it means that he can't be recruited anymore, and he was almost 100% sure that Azazel was going to tear his hair out because of this. That is going to be funny to watch.

"Uh…right." Keith sighed. "How did you even manage to sense that I had the True Longinus and not some other powerful Sacred Gear though?" He asked the busty purple haired woman.

"Because we know the whereabouts of the other Holy Relics." It was Baraqiel that answered him. "Now, may we get to business?" He looked at Yasaka, who nodded.

"Let's wake the two up." She simply said, then summoned cold water and dumped it on the two unconscious Fallen Angels. As soon as the cold water made contact with them, they jolted up.

"Who the fuck dares-!" Zion began, only for his words to die in his throat as he saw two of his former leaders. He started to tremble.

Akiel was not better either. He could still feel the pain of his two cut wings and now he was before two of the most powerful Fallen. What a shit day!

"Thank you for allowing us to be here, Yasaka-dono." Baraqiel said respectfully. While the Kyuubi was not the violent type, she could completely obliterate him if she so desired.

"Of course, Baraqiel-san." She said as she went back and sat on her chair.

Penemue lost her smile as a stern and more serious look appeared on her face when her eyes met the two defectors.

"Who are you?" Her tone was terse, expecting an answer.

"I-I a-am Z-Zion and h-he is A-Akiel." The white haired Fallen squeaked. Saying that he was scared shitless would be an understatement.

"Why did you come in Kyoto?" This time Baraqiel asked the question. His tone was brusque.

The two foot soldiers remained silent.

"Answer me!" Baraqiel's voice boomed.

"W-We were o-ordered to c-come here and c-cause c-chaos." Akiel answered in a shaky voice.

"By the orders of whom?" Baraqiel continued, opening his purple eyes and narrowing them.

"W-We c-can't tell, o-or else h-he's g-going to k-kill us!" Zion said desperately.

"I think you do not understand your situation, dear." Penemue said, willing a spear of light to manifest in her hand. "Whoever this 'he' is, is the last of your concerns right now." She slowly made her way towards him, her heels making soft tapping noises. She grabbed him by the neck, squeezing it, and raising him off the ground. She approached the spear near his cheek, grazing it slightly, then she let go of him, making him stumble and fall on his back.

"You either tell us what you know, or we kill you." She said simply, her voice cold as ice.

"His name is Hitoshi!" Akiel screamed in panic.

As soon as the name was uttered, Yasaka widened her eyes in surprise. She then narrowed them as she rose up from her chair and made her way to him.

"He told us to wreak havoc here and to grab the attention of as many Youkais as we could." The shoulder-length black haired man continued.

"Why?" Yasaka asked, but it was more like a demand, her voice was solemn. "And where is he?"

"I-I d-don't k-know." Akiel stuttered in fear.

"You are lying." Yasaka stated, summoning a ball of fire in her hand, however the flames were black in colour, which Keith found to be weird.

'I expected her flames to be gold as Kunou's.' He thought as he examined the fire curiously.

"And I do not fancy liars." Her eyes turned into slits as she stared at Akiel.

The young Fallen started to tremble even more when he could feel her power, the fox making sure that the tainted Angel was the only one who could sense it.

Keith was, more or less, surprised to see the usual warm and gentle Yasaka to be this hostile.

'Well…she is a leader after all.' He reasoned.

"Alright, alright!" Akiel yielded. "He said that he has unfinished business with someone and that he couldn't let anyone get in his way." He then bowed deep and covered his head with his hands. "I truly don't know where he is, please don't kill me!"

Yasaka kept staring at the cowering Fallen for a few moments until she sighed and made her way towards her chair and sat down.

"Are there more of you?" Penemue asked.

"Y-Yes." Zion answered, not daring to make eye contact with anybody, he looked on the ground.

"How many?"

"I-I don't k-know." He said to the busty Fallen. "We are sone of the weakest, so we are not told much."

The two Cadre exchanged looks with one another, Penemue's expression becoming worried.

"Yasaka-dono, may we take them back with us?" Baraqiel asked politely. "Azazel told us that he would like to interrogate them himself."

"You can, however I wish to be kept up with the information." She said.

"Of course Yasaka-sama." Penemue nodded at her. "From what I understand, this Hitoshi is someone that you know."

"Let's say he and I have a past together." She said cryptically, however everyone could notice the bitter tone she had.

"It is time for us to return." Baraqiel announced. "Until next time, Yasaka-dono." He then looked at Keith. "Holy Emperor."

Penemue waved her hand at the three Youkai women and human male, then together with Baraqiel, left in a magic circle.

After they left, Yasaka let out a deep sigh.

"Are you ok mom?" Kunou asked as she worriedly looked at her.

"I have been better." She got up and walked towards the three.

"Who is this Hitoshi guy, nya?" Kuroka queried curiously.

Keith decided to be silent and listen.

Yasaka smiled sadly.

"When you become a leader, you have to be prepared of both adoration and scorn." She said. "This is what Amaterasu-sama told me when I was chosen to lead the Youkai from the West."

"He was against you." Keith said simply.

The fox woman nodded.

"He believed that he would have been a better leader, however seeing as he was in minority, he begrudgingly accepted me as his superior." She told them. "He was of the opinion that we were above any other race and didn't like it when I declared that we shall remain neutral when it came to other Factions."

"So what did he do, nya?" Kuroka asked.

"He formed a small army of others that shared his views and tried to kill me." She answered. "The short story is that after he failed, I knew that he wouldn't stop, so I banished him and those who joined."

"Why did he wait so long to come back?" Kunou rubbed her chin in thought.

"Probably so he could get stronger, nya."

"How strong was he anyway?" Keith asked Yasaka.

"He was weaker than me back then, but I have no idea now." And this was what worried her. She believed that he didn't get stronger than she was right now, however something didn't add up. He was the one who told these Fallen Angels to attack here, so that means he is not working alone, but in the past he hated the other races.

One thing was certain: they needed to find him as fast as possible.

Keith let out a contented sigh as he sat on the grass in a park. He began going outside the palace since last week. Walks around the city or just simply sitting down somewhere in nature always relaxed him. It certainly helped that there were not many people in the park he chose to go in.

"Tot think that a month ago I was baking cakes." He chuckled. "Life truly is a daring adventure or nothing at all."

He closed his eyes and let the sounds of the birds together with the gentle rustle of leaves lull him to sleep.

"Ah, fancy to see you here Keith." His moment of relaxation was halted by a familiar voice.

"Good evening, Tanaka-san." He opened his eyes and greeted his former employer. He didn't hear or see him ever since he called him the night he first slept at Yasaka's palace to tell him that he wanted to quit the job. When he was asked why, he simply said that he found something…more interesting. Tanaka didn't make a fuss about it and accepted his leave.

"How have you been kid?" The middle-aged man asked.

"I've been good Tanaka-san, what about you?" Keith wanted to laugh. Only if he knew.

"Everything good with me." Daiki said. "I finally managed to find a replacement for you."

"Oh?"

"A young woman." He continued. "She took my advice and now customers return whenever she smiles at them." He spoke with a feigned disappointing tone. "If only you did the same."

The young man snorted.

"You wish."

Daiki laughed at his former employee seeing that he didn't change, well too much at least. He noticed that Keith seemed to put some muscles on his thin looking body.

"You are working out?"

Keith got up and walked to Daiki.

"Nah, just doing a little exercise here and there." He couldn't as well just tell him that he was being trained by Youkais now could he?

"I see."

Before any of them could say something else, Keith widened his eyes as he felt Holy energy. He then quickly pushed Daiki to the ground when a spear of light almost impaled the older man's head.

"Oh, you were able to see that?" A voice of a male asked, the tiniest speck of surprise in his tone. The owner of the voice, a tall young man with red short hair, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt was floating in the air thanks to his six black wings.

"Ugh, Keith what-" Daiki began.

"Sleep." Keith whispered as the man fell limply, the Longinus wielder supporting him by the shoulders to not fall down. He grabbed a flyer from his pocket and used it to teleport Daiki back to the palace quickly, before the Fallen could try something else. He mentally thanked Hokoti for teaching him basic spells like making people fall asleep. Of course this being a simple spell, it worked only on humans, since they were the weakest out of all the Supernatural races.

The red haired Fallen Angel landed on the ground and willed his wings to disappear.

"Good." He said. "It is only you and me now, Holy Emperor." He grinned as he snapped his fingers. In an instant, a barrier made of light trapped the two inside.

"Who are you?" Keith asked calmly, summoning his Sacred Gear.

"Ah of course, I apologize for my rude manners." He gave Keith a bow. "My name is Tariel."

Keith examined him carefully. He didn't know if he could take him on. Maybe if he were to have four wings, he could have handled himself, but six? He'd need to be very lucky to leave this fight with minor injuries or even alive.

"What is your business here?" He couldn't let his emotions get the better of him. This was one of the first exercises he trained in: to keep a cool head when facing someone either weaker or stronger. Do not underestimate the weak, nor overestimate the strong.

"Very simple." He created two spears of light and held them in an X in front of him. "To get rid of you."

A/N: Hello people, Exiled here! Don't you hate it when cliff-hangers happen? Yeah me too…Anyway, tell me what do you think about this one. It took me a bit to think about Hitoshi's role lol. First I wanted him to be the ex-human lover of Yasaka but I found it a bit weird if I am being honest…like there literally was no reason for him to go for such lengths because Yasaka "deceived" him by not being human. Then I wanted him to be a nine tailed kitsune who asked her out and was rejected…but I found that reason a bit…umm…pathetic? Yeah and weak…well kind of, dunno. I finally settled for him to be someone who was against the way she was acting as a Leader. I find this role to be better, what do you think?

Anyway as you can already see, I decided for the Fallen Angels to be the first Faction Keith meets, because they were the only logical outcome I believe. Devils didn't really have any reason to come to Kyoto only for Strays and Angels are…well Angels, they don't really do much lol. So I remained with the Fallen.

Now, let's check the comments.

Trueopulence: Yasaka is not exactly Super-Devil class, sure she is more powerful than an Ultimate-class, but if she were to fight against Sirzechs, she would 100% lose. It doesn't mean she wouldn't put up a good fight, so she isn't in the top ten, nor is she stronger than Japanese gods(or any gods), maybe she would manage to survive against some lesser gods, but against the likes of Zeus, Odin etc nah. Also she is stronger than the Youkais in the East. Thanks for reading!

Astorias Schnee: Rossweisse is definitely in, but I am afraid I am not going to add Xenovia. I don't really like her all that much, but in other fanfics I will write maybe I will add her, maybe. Thanks for reading!

Godofwar01: Hmm definitely some interesting idea you've got there, but I have already chosen the type of BB: it will be some sort of knight/paladin armour. Obviously I will think of something more than just an armour lol. Like how both Booster Gear and Divine Dividing let their wielders use "Boost" and "Divide" without the 10 seconds mark. But you definitely gave me some ideas from what you've said, ideas I may use in other fanfics. Also, thanks for reading!

Sakra95: Yeah I understand what you're saying. To be honest when I started this story I forgot that Sirzechs and Ajuka had a place on the top 10 most powerful, but honestly…I find it weird for them to be able to kill gods ya know…like yeah I get it…they are anomalies and Sirzechs has power of destruction blah blah but still…I cannot see him winning against like Zeus, Odin, Thor, Hades (even if he did defeat him) etc. If we talk about like TRUE mythology, not the way DxD portrays it, then yeah…I really can't see Zechs be that powerful against gods, but that doesn't mean that I have a problem with it, I just find it weird.

Tenma Kirin: Will do mate! Thanks for reading.

runelt99: Sorry! In all honesty…I forgot about that, really sorry, my bad. Nonetheless, thank you for reminding me! You have me an idea how to end this chapter lol and for that I am thankful. You will learn more about his former life in the future chapters, meaning soon enough. Also about the order, it was mere coincidence. That is why I didn't insist on it. The Stray "called" for an order of donuts, Daiki answered and sent Keith. That is that. Thanks for reading!

All these being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please let me know if some things don't really make sense. I will try to explain or if it messes the story up, I will think of how to change them.

I apologize if there are any grammatical or speeling errors.

Thank you all for favouring, following and reviewing! It baffles me that this story is at 204 Favourite and 285 Followers. I honestly didn't expect that. And as always, if I forgot something I will probably remember it in the next A/N.

Oh one more thing…I may create a top 10 most powerful beings of my own…since I couldn't find an official one(like from DxD's creator: Ishibumi). If you do find one, please let me know because all I found were fan made ones. Also, I do not understand how come that the Devils have Zechs and Ajuka but the Angels and Fallen do not have anyone special…like Michael and Azazel, from what I've read on the internet are weaker than both so…from what I remember, there was something about a need of "balance" between the Three Factions….but where is the balance in that lol. Do tell me if what I said is wrong or something.

Stay safe & sound!