"Just tell me where the stairs to the ritual chamber are so you won't have to embarrass yourself further," I announced to the exorcist as I summoned my light swords.

"Says the guy who just walked into my bullets earlier," he replied. "But if you must know. They are hidden under that altar over there. But good luck getting through me!" he said as he pulled out his gun and bootleg lightsaber.

As he said that I noticed Koneko was lifting up an entire pew with her bare hands.

"Shit, she wasn't kidding about the Rook's strength."

She hurled the pew at the Wannabe Exorcist, but he sliced right through it, but not before Kiba managed within sword range of him.

"You may be fast, but my bullets are faster!"

He then began to fire light bullets at Kiba. The Wannabe Exorcist must have been wrong about that because he was still able to dodge his shots.

I charged in to give support to Kiba. I must have gotten a speed boost myself from getting promoted to King because I managed to avoid all of his shots.

That or he aims like a stormtrooper.

He kept trying to fire at me while blocking Kiba's sword blows. As I got in range of him, I sliced right through his gun with my light sword.

He then pulled another bootleg lightsaber from his coat and blocked my light sword. "You're in my way Angelface!" he said as he managed to kick me in the stomach, launching me away from the action.

I was trying to get back into the fight, but Kiba and the Wannabe Exorcist are too damn fast for me to get an opening.

However, after I sliced through the Wannabe Exorcist's gun, Kiba was more able to go on the offensive.

"Time to get serious," Kiba said as his sword became engulfed in darkness.

When the Wannabe Exorcist swung his swords at Kiba, he blocked it with his sword and the bootleg lightsabers began to fizzle out.

"What the…"

"It a Holy Eraser sword. A sword of darkness that absorbs light."

"Tch. Another Sacred Gear user…"

I guess his Sacred Gear power isn't making the school's female population hot for him.

While the Wannabe Exorcist was stunned, Koneko and Aika finally had an opportunity to strike.

"Promotion: Rook!"

The two of them then ganged up on the exorcist and both hit him with a massive punch that slammed him into the wall, visibly cracking it. That's gotta hurt.

The Wannabe Exorcist eventually got up from that, spitting blood out. "Okay… I guess taking on four-on-one wasn't too smart."

He then pulled out something round. "I guess it's time for my secret technique!"

I went for cover as he dropped it, causing a massive flash of light.

When I was able to see again the Wannabe Exorcist was gone.

A flashbang. His "secret technique" was running away. Where have I heard that before?

Now that he buggered off, I attempted to move the altar. I pushed on it with all my strength to no effect.

"Wow, that promotion is doing you really well, Makoto," Aika commented. "You're well on your way to going toe-to-toe with the President,"

"Out of the way, delinquent."

Koneko then gently tapped the altar with her foot and it moved out of the way, revealing a stairwell.

"Well, that works."

The piece isn't doing as much to amplify my strength as I hoped. Is this going to be enough to beat Raynare?

"I can sense something at the far end of the hall," said Kiba. "They must be holding her in there."

Koneko kicked open the door to reveal a room full of exorcists.

"Oh, great. More Freeds," I commented.

At the end of the room I could see Asia bound up in shackles.

"It's them! Take them out before Lady Raynare returns!" one of the exorcists yelled.

"Me and Koneko will take either side. Aika, make sure Makoto can get through to rescue the girl!"

"On it," Aika said, summoning her Downfall Dragon Spear.

"Between the Rook promotion and my ability to absorb and release attacks, I should be able to make a big enough opening," Aika told me, acting as my shield as we made a beeline towards where Asia was being held.

After blocking several bootleg lightsaber blows and gunshots with ease, she unleased a massive amount of energy, sending several exorcists flying.

That gave me a generous opening to fly over to Asia's location as I sliced through her shackles and helped her up.

"You actually made it!" Asia exclaimed.

"No time to celebrate. We need to get the hell out of here before your master gets back."

Kiba and Koneko were still dealing with several exorcists. "We got your back, Makoto! You and Aika get Asia out of here!"

I nodded I picked Asia up as I followed Aika, who took out another group of exorcists.

We ran through the hallway and up the stairs as fast as we could. If we are lucky, we'll not have to deal with Raynare.

I thought too soon. As soon as we made it back to the defaced sanctuary, we felt a massive flash of light that blew the three of us across a fair distance from the stairwell.

Aika looked pretty badly hurt from the explosion of light. "Asia, take care of Aika! I'll handle Raynare."

Akeno and I saw a large flash from the direction of the Church

"Do you think they're going to be alright?" Akeno asked.

"If Makoto can unlock his true power, I'm sure of it. He should rival even me." I said. "But we should check on them after we're done here."

As we got closer to the Church, two fallen angels appeared from the trees.

"We were wondering where you two were," Dohnaseek said.

"May I ask where your master is?" I asked.

"She's inside. Lady Raynare insisted on dealing with the boy personally," he replied. "She told us to make sure you two don't obstruct the ritual."

"Is she gonna go through with it though?" Mittelt asked. "It looked like she totally fell for him at the end of that date."

"That's probably what she wanted him to think." Dohnaseek said.

"Hmm. You may be right..."

"You lot have a lot of nerve making enemies of us once again," I said to them. "What do you seek to gain from this?"

"Control of Kuoh Town," Dohnaseek replied. "Lady Halja is ready to make the next move and take Earth as well, starting with the elimination of the final threat to her control of Heaven - Makoto Fujiwara."

"Looks like somebody isn't content with their current living conditions..." Akeno commented.

"Don't be so cocky," Mittelt replied. "If Lady Raynare hasn't dealt with that pathetic angel, she will soon."

"I would say the same to you," I said. "It's a shame she sent such low-level grunts to take out such high-level targets..."

Dohnaseek scoffed. "You'll regret that!"

The two of them summoned spears to throw at us, but then Akeno got in front of me and shot out a surge of lightning that dissolved the spears in mid-air.

"Impossible!" he exclaimed.

"You've underestimated Makoto, and you've underestimated me. You will pay with your lives!"

I fired a surge of Destruction magic at them that immediately vaporized Dohnaseek. However, Mittelt narrowly avoided it and darted away.

"Screw this! I need to get to Lady Halja!"

"Should I go after her?" Akeno asked.

"No. We need to make sure those pesky exorcists aren't giving our servants any trouble..."

The fallen angel was at the very front of the sanctuary on the windowsill, holding a light spear. She went down and picked up the Downfall Dragon Spear that Aika had dropped.

"I'm gonna be honest with you," Raynare stated. "I'm not really interested in either of their Sacred Gears anymore," and she threw the DDS back to me.

"What I was really interested in is you."

"If that's the case, why did you try to kill me?"

"I could care less about that bitch of a goddess. When she ordered me to take your life for killing Kalawarner, I wanted to see if you were the threat she was talking about, so I played the role of that little girl to get to know you.

However, when you proved to be cleverer than you put on and I learned you were the son of Gabriel, I knew that if we worked together, we could get back at Halja."

"Stop trying to toy with me, Raynare!" I exclaimed as I summoned my light swords. "It didn't work then, and it won't now!"

"Don't waste your time. We both have a common enemy. I haven't told anyone, not even the other fallen angels, of my true intentions except for Asia."

"BULLSHIT!"

I wouldn't listen to any more of what she had to say. All she is, is in my way of getting Asia to safety.

I charged straight at Raynare, who was standing next to the stairwell.

She lobbed several spears at me, but I managed to deflect each of them this time. We began to clash blades as I reached her location.

We seem to be much more evenly matched than last time. Maybe it's the King piece. Maybe it's just sheer determination and grit. All I knew was that my mind was merely focused on my goal of taking her down.

"You know, I'm disappointed," she said. "I thought you could be a powerful ally, more powerful than me in fact."

The more she kept going on about her plot, the more I was beginning to question her honesty.

Is she being serious, or is this another trick like that phony date when we first met to make me drop my guard?

As I was having that inner conflict, I narrowly blocked a strike that ended up knocking me back several meters.

"However, it doesn't seem that the blood of Gabriel truly runs through your veins. I suppose I'll have to actually finish the job I was supposed to do."

She started lobbing spears at me again as I was trying to get back to the stairwell. This time she managed to get a couple hits on me.

As I was healing off my wounds, I was recalling the first encounter with fallen angels, when this exact situation was happening with that trio of fallen angels. Except now, Rias Gremory isn't here to save me.

However, Raynare's earlier remark made me recall what my mother said to me earlier.

"I can sense a lot of untapped power in you, potentially stronger than mine."

Is this what Raynare's referring to about the "blood of Gabriel?"

If that's the case, I'm going to have to dig deep if I want to not get killed.

I dissipated my light swords.

If there's some ability that I somehow have that can help me in this situation, now would be a great time to use it.

As she lobbed two spears at once at me, in a rush of adrenaline I recalled what Rias did to stop one of the fallen angel attack from before and attempted to mimic that.

To my surprise, that caused me start glowing white and I managed to unleash a white-colored surge of energy at Raynare, knocking her into the wall.

I don't exactly know what happened. But it definitely worked.

I went to check on what exactly happened. She was still alive. In fact, she was lightly chuckling.

"Is Aika alright?" I asked Asia, who was still in the back with her.

"She's alive. Just unconscious from the blast."

"I see you've taken care of the fallen angel," Kiba said as he emerged from the stairs.

"I see you're late. I was nearly killed."

"The President actually ordered me to stay back."

"Did she, now?" I snarked

"I did," Rias replied as she and Akeno entered the building. "I knew you had more than enough strength to handle it yourself. I see you figured out how to use your Power of Retribution?"

"Power of what now?"

"The Power of Retribution that was passed down from your mother. It's the holy equivalent of my demonic Power of Destruction that you've seen me use before. Let's just say my mother's family and your mother were rivals back in the day."

"There's a reason your mom was called the 'Strongest Woman in Heaven'," Akeno added.

"Neat."

Koneko went over to where Aika was unconscious and carried her as they teleported out.

"So, our paths cross yet again, Raynare," Rias said to the fallen angel.

"So, it seems…" she replied, with an air of malice in her voice.

"Unfortunately, your fallen angel friends won't be coming to save you any time soon," she said as she scattered some black feathers next to her.

"Mittelt managed to get away, but Dohnaseek wasn't so lucky."

Raynare chuckled. "Typical of those traitors."

"Bold of you to speak of treachery considering what you did to Makoto,"

"To be fair, I wasn't quite ingenuous with that date either,"

"No need to throw yourself under the bus, Makoto. But you, fallen angel, have meddled in our affairs for the last time," she said as she started to glow red.

"Wait just a minute, Gremory. If this is how it's going to end, then I want Makoto to be the one to finish me off."

"You are in no position to negotiate," she said. "You have toyed with him for far enough."

"Hold on, Rias. I'll do it." I said.

"Very well," she said as she stopped glowing and turned to the side. "She's all yours."

It took a second for me to remember how my new power works, but I managed to get glowing again and summoned a ball of energy in my hand.

"I guess it never really worked out between us, Makoto. I'm already dead for failing to dispose of you but I'd rather it be you to finish me off than my master. But I want you to promise me you will be the one who brings that goddess down..."

Again, is she being serious about her true intentions or is she trying to make me drop my guard?

My conflicting emotions against Raynare were being reflected in the flickering of my Retribution aura.

"Is everything alright, Makoto?" Rias asked me.

Then, the mood in the room suddenly shifted.

Everyone except me, Raynare, and Asia were suddenly frozen in place and the room suddenly shifted to grayscale save for the three of us.

Then I noticed someone else in the room who was still able to move behind Asia.

"Asia! Behind you!"

But it was too late. A blade of light impaled her through the chest.

Her eyes went blank and she fell to the floor lifelessly.

It was that Wannabe Exorcist, Freed Sellzen.

But he wasn't alone. Mittelt also appeared in the room along with a woman cloaked in darkness.

The darkness-clad woman emanated a vicious aura I have never felt before.

"Well, Raynare. I'm disappointed in you," the woman in darkness said. "It was foolish to think I wouldn't catch wind of you and the girl's plan to betray me…"

"As if I would actually swear loyalty the one who murdered Lord Azazel, Halja!" Raynare exclaimed as she got up.

She was then shot in the leg by Freed, causing her to be brought to her knees.

"Good girls should kneel before their master, you know?" Freed said.

"You two dare betray me? I am your master!" Raynare exclaimed.

"Lady Halja is our master. Not you, dumbass." Mittelt commented.

"We don't need a master who can't even dispose of Angelface properly," Freed explained as he walked over with his light sword. "What was your plan exactly? Kill him or make love to him? I honestly can't tell! You are a terrible strategist and your only value is spank-bank material!"

My blood was boiling.

I have never felt such pure rage before in my life. Especially not focused exclusively on one individual.

Halja just had Asia murdered in cold blood right before my eyes… after all that trouble I went through to save her life.

And now she was going to end another life. She doesn't even have the balls to do it herself. She's getting some shitty exorcist to do the dirty work for her.

And she's watching with what I assume is a smug look on her face. I couldn't tell, since she was completely engulfed in shadow, except for two glowing red eyes.

As Freed was climbing the steps to the altar that Raynare was resting against, I rushed at him and grabbed a hold of him, somehow flinging him backwards.

"DIVIDE!"

I heard that unrecognizable voice from the direction of my right arm as Freed went crashing through the window. I was so caught up in stopping him that I didn't realize the white gauntlet that materialized on that arm.

And now my sights were set on Halja. I don't care if she's a hundred times stronger than me. She's going down.

"The White Dragon Emperor!? " Halja exclaimed. "Impossible! I wiped out the Longinus! They've been destroyed!"

I didn't have a clue about what she was saying, and I didn't care.

"You will pay for what you've done!" I yelled as I was surrounded by an intense white aura. "Your legacy of bloodshed ends now!"

I then unleashed the force of Power of Retribution at Halja. I managed to create a massive hole in front of the church, but she managed to vanish before the attack connected.

How did I get that much power?

As I cooled down, I then moved towards Raynare. She looked petrified with fear as I was approaching

However, all I was about to do was heal her injured leg.

"So, you did have a change of heart…" she said, deviously, as she stood up.

"There's no point anymore," I said, avoiding eye contact with her. "Just get out of my face and don't let me see you again, Raynare."

"Please. Just call me Yuma," she replied before flying away through the newly-opened window.

Shortly after, the room went back to normal.

"What happened?" Kiba asked.

"The Goddess of Death is what happened. She appeared out of nowhere along with Mittelt and Freed and killed Asia."

"Where's Raynare?" Rias asked.

"She won't be causing us any more problems," I replied as I walked over to where Asia's body was.

I managed to heal the wound that Freed incurred on her, but it was too late. She was gone.

As tears were starting to fall from my face, Rias wrapped her arms around me in an attempt to comfort me. "It's okay. You did the best you could."

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine," I said, nudging her off.

I picked up Asia's body. "You said you were lacking a Bishop in your ranks. I think we have the perfect candidate right here."

"I'm thankful for your offer," Rias replied. "But I think she would be in much better hands with you,"

"What are you talking about? You're a hundred times the master that I could even hope to be."

"What makes you say that? You have yet to take your first step. Plus, with the kinship you two have built over such a short time, if anybody were to be your first servant, it would be her."

"In fact," she added, pulling out one of my bishop pieces from her skirt pocket. "I took the liberty of bringing you this."

It all clicked. "You're right!"

I placed Asia's body at the front of the church. I then placed the golden bishop piece on her chest.

I raised my right hand up. I turned to Rias to confirm I was doing this right. She nodded in approval.

Here goes nothing. My white-colored aura flares up.

"By the power invested in me, Makoto Fujiwara, I shall have you, Asia Argento, reborn as an angel. You shall live your new life under my stead as my Bishop. Now come forth!"

After that overly badass speech, the piece merged with Asia.

I rushed to see what I just did. I checked her pulse.

For a second, nothing. But all of a sudden, I could feel her heartbeat gradually coming back.

It was a miracle. She opened her eyes to see me.

"Makoto, is that you?" were her first words.

My eyes were tearing up quicker than ever before, out of sheer joy. "Yes…" I said, grabbing her hand. "It's me. You're safe now!"

And just like that, my journey, not just as an angel, but as a hero, was beginning…