What the hell is she doing here? She can't be the type to be involved with this sort of... barbarity!
"You finished with that barrier yet, Asia?" he said.
She let out a scream as she noticed the crucified corpse on the wall. I guess she isn't used to this sort of barbarity.
"Oh right, you're new here. We exorcists normally deal with those who are tempted by devils such as those two in this fashion."
I seriously doubt the "normal" practice is anywhere close to that.
"Makoto? A devil?" she muttered.
I made a subtle head shake and mouthed out "No I'm not,"
She seemed to have gotten the message as she appeared to get some relief from that. The Bishounen Jackass, however, seemed to not get the memo.
He sprang off the wall to get behind us yelping, "Now block this, assclown!" as he pulled out his gun and fired at Aika while her back was turned.
I had to think fast to stop the attack so I rushed to get between her and Freed's bullets.
Definitely not the brightest decision I have ever made…
"Bold of you to take the bullet for your lady friend, boy, but you should know that these light bullets tear through devils such as yourself like they're cotton candy!" he informed me as I was lying down bleeding.
"And what makes you think I'm a devil, asshole?" I replied in pain as I was attempting to heal where the wannabe exorcist had shot me.
"That glow? Wait, don't tell me!" he exclaimed. "You're that angel I've been hearing about! Well, it doesn't matter. The fact that you came with that devil makes you no less guilty of death!"
"Stop! Don't hurt him!" Asia yelled as she rushed to protect me.
"Look. I'm just as confused as you are," he said. "By all accounts he shouldn't still be a pure angel. But that doesn't change the fact that he's our enemy,"
"No. Our master told us that she wanted him alive!"
"Is that what that bitch told you? Well then you can tell her Freed Sellzen made a little oopsie and he can't exactly be delivered to her alive."
"Hey, you forgot about me…" Aika said.
"Then get in line. I'm disposing of Angelface first," Wannabe Exorcist replied as he was about to attempt a final blow on me with his bootleg lightsaber, with little regard that Asia was trying to get in between us.
Then Aika cut in line by running in front and blocking the blow with the Downfall Dragon Spear's magic shield.
He then fired several shots at Aika, who blocked every single one of them.
"You know. You can block all the shots you want," Wannabe Exorcist said, "But that won't do a thing against me."
"No," Aika replied. "But this will,"
She then released a bunch of energy from the dagger, knocking the exorcist through a wardrobe and knocking him out.
"Well, so much that contract," Aika said. She looked at the girl. "So, what's your name?"
"Asia Argento."
"Yeah. The two of us met before. I bought her groceries. Small world, isn't it?"
"Well, I'm Aika Kiryuu. I'm friends with the meat shield."
"Ha ha," I fake laughed as I suddenly grimaced in pain.
"Oh, you're still hurt!" she said as I noticed a stray bullet hole on my leg.
She ran over and put her hands over the injury and it was instantly healed.
Impossible. Could she be another angel? Was that why she was trying to save me from that Wannabe Exorcist?
No... I noticed something resembling a ring with a green orb attached appearing on one of her hands as she was healing me. Is this one of those "Sacred Gears" I heard Rias and my mother talking about?
Later, we were eating breakfast at a nearby café.
"If you don't mind me asking, but how did you end up working with that seedy exorcist?" I asked Asia as I was cutting my pancakes.
"That sounds like the type of question she would mind you asking," Aika replied.
"I didn't ask you, Aika."
"No, that's fine. I was left at a convent at a young age where I found out about my Twilight Healing ability after healing an injured puppy. The church saw it as a gift from God and assigned me to heal.
However, after I unknowingly healed a devil, I was excommunicated from the church for witchcraft and I ended up being taken under the care of a group of fallen angels and rogue exorcists."
Fallen Angels? Does that mean she's connected to the group of fallen angels that are working for Halja?
"My mother never did trust those Catholics…" I muttered.
"I need to report back to the President," said Aika. "Have fun, you two," and verbally added, "wink wink"
Real subtle, Aika.
We decided to go on a walk in the park. As we were approaching a pond, I started feeling some discomfort.
"Is there something wrong?"
I looked down at the far-right side of my stomach and found another wound we missed.
"Damn," I said in increasing pain, "I got more beat up by that attack than I thought…"
She led me to a nearby bench.
"No. Don't worry. I can take care of it. If I used my brain more, I wouldn't get myself hurt so often."
"No. It was very brave of you to protect your friend like that," Asia replied as she used her Twilight Healing to heal the wound.
"I'm no hero. Or at least, that's what I keep telling myself. I don't exactly know who I am. A couple days ago I didn't even know I was an angel,"
"The people I work for are selfish and cruel. Especially the goddess in charge of my organization. It takes all the strength I can muster from God not to become like them. But you're different. You go out of your way to help those in need."
Now that I think about it, I see a lot of myself in her, being a sort of religious outcast myself.
But did she mention a goddess?
"How sweet…"
I know that voice.
"Lady Raynare!" Asia exclaimed as we noticed my ex-girlfriend, still wearing that dress from our date, landing in the middle of the pond.
"So, you're Asia's master. I'm flattered you told your goons to lay off of me,"
"Oh, but you're way too interesting for you to be killed off by that seedy exorcist."
"Glad to see we agree on something."
"We have a lot more in common than you think."
"Ooh. Classic supervillain line #573. Never heard that one before..."
"There's a deeper reason for me for me ordering my servants to back off. But I don't have time for that. I need for you to return dear little Asia to me," she demanded as she summoned a light spear.
"Over my dead body," I said as I summoned two light swords. "She deserves better than you."
"If you're referring to strength, then you would be mistaken. As surprising as you were you were last time, you still come short."
We'll see. I revealed my wings and charged at her, aiming for the top of her head. However, she managed to block the blow.
"I told you that I'm short on time. I, unfortunately, can't afford to fool around with you right now," she said as she then struck me with the side of her spear to knock me to the ground.
As Raynare had me at spearpoint, Asia exclaimed, "Don't hurt him! I'll go with you."
I wanted to tell her to not give in, but my energy was nearly sapped from the past few hours.
The fallen angel approached Asia as I lay there unable to stop her.
"If you were wanting to finish what we started, I'll be at the church. If I were you, I would get there before the end of tonight's ritual."
And she flew off.
I let her get away with Asia and I was powerless to stop her.
If only there was a way for me to save Asia before that ritual...
"I need those pieces."
I said, storming into the club room.
"Where's the girl, Makoto?" Aika asked.
"My fallen angel ex-girlfriend took her away. She mentioned something about a ritual at the church."
"Do you remember the girl having a Sacred Gear?" Rias inquired.
"She has a healing ability that's even stronger than my divine healing. I think she called it 'Twilight Healing' or something."
"This is bad," Rias said. "The fallen angels have a ritual that will forcibly remove a Sacred Gear from a person, killing them in the process."
It was as I feared. Asia's life was on the line.
My mother was in the room, "So your desire to save the girl's life prompted your change of heart?"
"I can't let any more innocent lives be taken by Halja. Especially one as pure of heart as her's."
"So, you think she's the one?"
"No, Mother, this isn't about love. It's about saving lives,"
"Sure, it isn't," Koneko remarked.
"Well, anyway," said Mother. "The case has all the pieces except the King. That power I'll have to give to you directly."
She raised both her hands in my direction. "Are you sure you want to do this? You did say you wanted to live a normal life. After this, there is no turning back…"
"There's no sense in that now. So yes. I do."
She then began to glow golden and subsequently I did too.
I felt a surge of power rising through me as the glowing intensified. I saw several visions in my head at once. I could swear one of them was some sort of dragon.
The glowing stopped and she handed me the case.
"Congratulations, son. You are now officially a King."
"So why did you choose me instead of yourself?"
"It is still too risky for me to be active. You were a safer option. While it was mostly out of necessity, I can sense a lot of untapped power in you, potentially stronger than mine."
"I hope you're right about that."
"Congratulations, Makoto," Rias remarked.
"Thanks, Rias. Though I'm probably still not quite on your level."
"Maybe. However, me and Akeno have something urgent to take care of, so I won't be able to help you rescue Asia."
"I understand. You said it yourself, exorcists and fallen angels are dangerous to devils. I will have to go alone"
As I headed out the door, I added, "If this is last time I see you. I just want to say…"
I was hesitant to decide on what potentially may be the last thing I get to say to Rias is. Eventually I just decided on a simple
"thank you."
I then immediately went out the door as Rias and Akeno teleported out with a magic circle.
However, I was quickly followed by Koneko, Aika, and Kiba.
"Didn't you get the memo? You guys will get killed."
"So will you if you go in alone," Kiba added. "Just because you resist light weaponry doesn't mean those exorcists and fallen angels don't pose a threat.
Besides, I have a score to settle with them myself."
"Basically, we're coming with you whether you like it or not, delinquent," Koneko summed up.
"You're not getting away with that lone gunslinger act that easily," Aika added. "Besides, I should be able to pull off a promotion inside that church."
"Good grief. I guess there's no stopping you three…"
The three of them teleported to a forest near the location of the church with one of the House of Gremory circles and I teleported to the same location with one of my own.
"Sheesh, this place is giving me the creeps and I'm not even a devil," I commented as we approached the church. "Something tells me this church isn't all 'Kumbaya'."
"I can definitely sense the presence of a fallen angel inside," said Kiba. He pulled out a map. "This ritual you were talking about is likely happening under the sanctuary here,"
"If you hurry, you can save your new girlfriend," Aika added.
"I told you, she's not my girlfriend,"
"Then we mustn't waste any time," Koneko commented as she casually walked up to the front door of the sanctuary.
"Hang on, Koneko," I said. "We can't just go all Leeroy Jenkins into there. We have to have the element of surprise,"
"There's no point. They already know we're here."
She then kicked open the door. A bit unnecessary, but okay.
I noticed several of the religious symbols in the church had been defaced or destroyed since I last saw them. Not to mention they could have turned on the lights or lit a candle or something.
I found out that she was right as I heard clapping within the sanctuary as we entered.
"Nice to see you again, Angelface! Long time no see."
It was the same Wannabe Exorcist from before, Freed Sellzen.
"I've never had to deal with the same devil twice, but I sure as hell will never make that same mistake again!"