Chapter Eight: Pawn Takes Governor
I couldn't help but smile. Half in relief, and half in self-deprecation.
I fucked around too much and found out. Plain and simple. It wasn't actually according to keikaku, but a W is a W. We take those.
Honestly, I didn't expect to survive as long as I did. The plan was to go in and do as much damage as I could so that when Issei showed up, he'd go ballistic over my corpse and be able to take care of Raynare and Freed due to anime rage boost and a jump start Boosted Gear. And while I did account for Juggernaut Drive, it was either death by Issei, or death by Trihexa around a year's time, and that's a gamble I'm insane enough to make.
Heheh…
Ow, it hurts to laugh.
My vision began to darken, and a cold familiar feeling spread throughout my body.
Ah, I'm dying. This would be my third death at this point, wouldn't it? It's not a bad feeling this time, at least I got to swing at the bastard and make him bleed before kicking the bucket. I mean sure, I could've killed them all days ago with a sniper rifle… but a bullet through the head wouldn't satisfy me. Hell, I doubt nothing short of beating that bastard to death with my bare hands would satisfy me.
I felt the world around me shake despite the numbness of my body.
Through my blurry vision I could see Issei surrounded by a violent aura of power, his face the picture of wrath. Damn, I don't think I've seen him this mad since the time he thought Shallba killed Asia.
Honestly, I'm kind of flattered.
Ah, yeah, Juggernaut Drive… I'm still alive so I should probably stop that.
The Boosted Gear's gem glowed fiercely. "I, who am about to awaken-"
"Oi… Ise… chill, man." I called out to my friend weakly.
Shockingly enough, the trembling stopped, and I heard hurried footsteps approach me.
"Sora!" He yelled as he knelt down next to me. "Oh hell… we need to get you to the hospital!"
I eyed the red gauntlet on his left arm.
The Boosted Gear.
Highschool DxD was a big part of my middle school years, and not only for me being horny teenager at the time, but for all of the fanfictions, verses debates, and world building discussions and so much more…
Looking at that gauntlet was like looking at the Master Sword from The Legend of Zelda. There was a certain reverence I felt when looking at it.
"I got a better… idea…" I focused on the green gem in the gauntlet. "Ddraig… you awake?"
[Yes, I am.] A deep voice came from the Boosted Gear, Issei turned to it shocked. [I must say, this is one of the more interesting situations I've woken up to.]
"Why is there a voice coming from my arm?!" Issei yelled.
"Questions for later…" I coughed up blood. "Ddraig, can Ise use Transfer right now?"
[The emotional turmoil of Juggernaut Drive's incomplete activation jump started the Boosted Gear into its third stage. The use of Transfer has been unlocked.] He explained rather amicably. [You have my thanks for preventing my host from succumbing to the Juggernaut Drive.]
"Cool… please do a… Transfer on me." I was close to begging at this point.
Issei looked at the gauntlet with a desperate expression. "I… H-How do I…?"
[Put your hand on his shoulder, I'll do the rest.] Ddraig instructed.
"O-Okay…" As darkness began to consume my vision, I felt Issei's hand on my shoulder.
[Transfer!] Ddraig's voice boomed in my ear, and my eyes snapped open.
Power.
So much power.
The Crimson Grimoire was back online and fucking supercharged! Layers upon layers of reinforcement and rudimentary healing spells (which were nowhere near as good as Twilight Healing), but it was all boosted by dragon infused mana. My spells were working on fixing up my damaged lung, making sure I, at the very least, could breath and wouldn't drown in my own blood.
I shot up to my feet, a wild grin on my face. "Oh, that's that good shit!"
"Sora, you're alright!" Issei exclaimed, relieved.
"Thanks for the pick-me-up, Ise. Now…" I cracked my neck and knuckles as I walked towards the hole Issei made when he punched Freed and Raynare. "Time to finish what I started!"
Issei paled a bit at my words. "You're going to… kill them?"
"Ise… we live in a world of magic, wonder, and infinite possibilities. Hell, one of the most badass dragons in history is in your arm." My voice was calm, too calm, as I pointed at Freed. "That fucker tortured me to death, he brutalized the ORC using me against them, and has murdered several innocent families at least. And that third-rate whore you call an ex-girlfriend emotionally manipulated you so she'd get a better kick out of it when she killed you, and was planning on subjecting one of the kindest people I've met to one of the most horrible and agonizing deaths in the world…"
I called upon the new draconic mana surging within me, raised my hand, a red magic circle appearing, and the weaponized coffin I called Diablos Ex Machina was back in my hand.
It was so much lighter now…
"I'm a Devil, and Hell is real. So, I find you being so taken aback at the thought of me killing them rather amusing, because…" I turned to face Issei, and he flinched at the manic look on my face. "I plan to do so much worse than merely kill them."
Then I turned around and continued on my way.
"Sora, you…" I heard Issei's worried tone.
[Don't get in his way, whelp.] Ddraig stopped Issei. [There's some good vengeance that needs extracting, I'd say.]
My cheeks began to ache from how wide I was smiling as I walked. I may have fumbled pretty badly back then, but Issei's protagonist status bailed me out in the end, and to top it all off, he was only a step or two away from Balance Breaker. I knew those workouts I dragged him on would pay off somehow!
You gotta love back-up plans.
Small pieces of debris crunched under my feet as I approached the hole in the wall and saw Freed and Raynare groaning on the floor.
"Ugh, the fuck… hit me?" Freed sat up.
"Hell, if I know!" Raynare held the side of her face in pain. "But I'm killing them as well!"
"Oh, Ray-Ray~! Oh, Choirboy~!" I called out in an all too sweet voice.
Both of them froze, and I could practically hear the sound of rusted metal scraping against itself as they both, very slowly, turned to face me.
"Oooooh, fuck." They both said in sync with expressions of utter disbelief.
My face twisted into something truly monstrous. "Who said I was done running your fade?!"
[I like this guy, we're keeping him.] I heard Ddraig say.
Rias sped up her flight as the factory came into view. "There!"
It looked like there was an explosion that went off in the entrance from where all of the smaller trucks drove into the facility, which made a rather large hole into the building. From what she remembered, this factory used to be part of a now bankrupt package delivery company.
The ORC followed as she flew down and was about to run into the building when the sound of wings flapping caught her ears.
"My, my, I didn't expect to run into you so soon, Miss Gremory." A voice came from above.
Rias looked up as a tall man in his late twenties descended from the night sky. The first thing that caught her attention was the man's twelve jet black wings that were darker than even the night sky. He wore a formal suit with a maroon long coat and black dress shoes. His hair was mostly black with the bangs obviously dyed a golden blonde, and he had a well-groomed goatee.
Azazel, the Governor General of the Fallen Angels and Grigori.
"I was hoping to discuss the situation with you under more amiable circumstances, but first of all, I'd like to apologize on behalf of-"
Without hesitation, Rias raised her arm and shot a ball of destruction aimed right at his face.
"Woah!" Azazel yelled as he dodged the blast.
Rias had no time for this clown.
The fact that he was vastly more powerful than her and her entire Peerage barely even registered in her mind. God himself could be standing before her and she would be more than happy to swing on the Almighty if it meant getting Sora back!
"That was a little rude don't you think - SHIT!" The fallen angel shouted as he barely moved out of the way of a lighting blast courtesy of Akeno. "Goodness, Baraqiel's daughter has turned into quite the delinquent…"
Akeno's eye twitched at the mention of her father, her arms arced with electricity, and her smile was laced with sinister intent. "Ufufufu, it seems you don't know how to keep your mouth shut. Don't worry, I'm more than happy to teach you…"
He paled and raised his arms in surrender. "Hold up! Hold up! I'm not here to fight. I'm just here to pick up my idiots!"
"What a coincidence…" Power of Destruction flowed wildly around Rias's body as she stepped forward. "I'm here to pick up mine as well. Now, if you'd kindly get the hell out of our way."
Azazel was about to say something when another sound echoed throughout the factory's lot, coming from within the factory itself.
"Ow! Fuck! My nose!" The damnable voice of Freed Sellzen screamed as a series of metallic bangs met Rias's ears. "I think he broke my nose!"
"You impudent little-" There was a sharp smack, and the voice of Raynare let out a pained shriek. "Did you just fucking slap me?!"
"Put the brick away! Put the brick away!" There was a particularly heavy smack, followed by a dull thud. "...Owchie."
"It transforms into a giant steel chair?!" Raynare shouted incredulously. "Why the fuck does it do that?!"
"What?!" Freed yelled. "Oh fuck not this shit again. Waitwaitwait! NOOOOOO-!"
Freed's pleas for mercy turned into screams as the sound of some metallic being smacked into him repeated over and over.
"Wait! Nonononono! That doesn't bend that way-!" A loud, spine-chilling crack filled her ears. "MY LEG!"
"H-Hold on! Can't we talk about this?" Raynare practically begged. "Oh no… not the coffin. NOT THE COFFIN!" There was a loud clanging sound. "Aarggh!"
And then there was another one. "Gaahh!"
And another. "Uggh!"
And another… "Aarck!"
The sound of meaty thwacks and near comical screaming continued from both Freed and Raynare until…
"Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Both of them were thrown out of the dark factory right before their feet.
Bloodied, bruised, and broken, but Raynare was in obviously much better condition than Freed was. Freed looked like he had just been in a fist fight with three particularly pissed off grizzly bears and just narrowly managed to crawl his way out alive, though his left leg was bent at a rather painful angle.
"Holy shit…" To the shock of all, Koneko was the first to speak up.
"Did… Sora do this?" Kiba asked in disbelief.
"And we weren't there to see it?" Akeno looked rather disappointed.
Rias had to admit, after everything Freed had put them through, she was also disappointed she wasn't there to see the beatdown that led to this.
Azazel blinked at the rather pathetic sight owlishly. "I suppose that saves me time…"
Raynare looked up to meet Azazel's eyes and paled. "L-Lord Azazel?! I-I…"
In the next moment, the temperature seemed to plummet drastically.
There was a certain dread in the air.
The sound of chains rattling could be heard, and Rias felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
Two red dots peered through the darkness as the sound of footsteps grew louder.
She could sense the unholy aura approaching them, the bloodlust. Never in her life had she sensed such potent demonic energy. She wasn't sure if 'pure' would be accurate to describe what she felt, but almost distilled in nature, concentrated in its desire for violence.
"Heheheheheheh…" The sound of deranged laughter met their ears as something walked out of the darkness.
A Demon.
Something with burning eyes and a malicious grin filled with fangs and-
She blinked.
It was Sora.
She let out a strangled gasp at the sight of him.
He was practically soaked in blood. From his hair, to the torn up remains of his two-piece suit. Numerous cuts and bruises could be seen all around his body, but where the bleeding was at its worst was the two holes in his torso, one through his abdomen, and the other through the left side of his chest.
Rias barely took notice of the metal contraption that hung from his back.
Then there was his face, oh Maou his face…
Sora looked almost unrecognizable, his expression twisted in utter hysteric madness, his eyes bloodshot.
Rias took a quick glance at Azazel.
Azazel, the Governor General of the Fallen Angels, a Cadre, a being on par with the Satans… looked genuinely disturbed at the sight before him.
So stunned were they that by the time they had regained their senses, Sora had placed the barrels of his pistols on the backs of Raynare and Freed's heads.
"Woah! Woah! Woah!" Azazel practically jumped in front of Sora. "Let's not do anything hasty now!"
Sora froze, he was completely still, he wasn't even breathing for a few seconds. Then he took a deep, audible breath, laced the rage of a thousand honey badgers.
"Looks like you got my DM, Lord Governor." Sora noted in a particularly mocking tone.
Rias blinked. "DM…?"
Azazel rubbed the back of his head. "I got a message on DeviBook."
He took out his phone from his pocket and faced it towards Rias. On it was the Direct Message page of DeviBook with a picture of the fallen angels and exorcists out in the street looking rather cross with the person holding the camera. Under the picture were two text messages, one was the address of the factory, and the other said: "Move your ass or I will light up this factory with them!" followed by a few gun emojis.
The user that sent these messages was called: Pawn of Gremory.
"Huh…" Never in her life did she believe that contacting the head of the Grigori would be that simple.
"Now, with that settled…" Azazel pocketed his phone and turned to her now bloodied Pawn. "Sora, right? Now, I know that my subordinate must've caused you some trouble, but-"
A loud bang went off without warning.
Raynare let horrified shriek.
There was a hole in the ground, and the pistol in Sora's hand was now letting out smoke from the barrel.
Sora had not broken eye contact with Azazel the entire time.
A very dark part of Rias's mind took some satisfaction in seeing Raynare tremble like a leaf.
"'Some trouble'?" Sora had an all too sweet smile on his face. "'Some trouble?'" He let out a rather bone-chilling cackle, before the humor left his face. "You don't know what they did, do you?"
Rias brows furrowed.
He didn't know? How? From what Sona had told her, they had even brought a Sacred Gear extractor into the city. They were obviously scouting Kuoh for Sacred Gear hosts and planning to steal those Gears for themselves. Unless, he genuinely had no idea what was going on, and what led to these events was the work of a third party.
She decided to stay silent for now, she wanted to see where this went.
Azazel looked much more serious now. "I understand that we're here illegally, but they were given strict orders to observe a suspected Longinus host. They were to report back to us if the host became a threat to himself and those around him, in that case we would've sent in an elite team to take care of the situation. I promise, I only had the best intentions-"
Two more bangs went off without warning, and Freed Sellzen began to scream in agony, both his knees had been shot out by Sora.
Azazel flinched at the suddenness of it all.
"Y-You… fucking piece of shit!" Freed screamed as he squirmed on the cold ground.
Rias couldn't help the dark smirk that made its way onto her face as she watched Freed writhe on the ground in agony. After everything that bastard had done to them these past couple weeks, seeing this was beyond cathartic.
She noticed that Sora's gun was trained on his head at all times despite the fact that his gaze had not left Azazel's eye even once throughout the entire exchange.
"Oh I'm sorry, did I break your concentration? Please, continue. You were saying something about… 'best intentions?'" There was no more madness in Sora's expression, just cold rage and fury.
There was a heavy pause, the silence filled with Freed's agonized grunts as he tried to hold back further screams of pain.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but your 'best intentions' have led to the deaths of several innocent families. Your 'best intentions' have led to the near assassination of this generation's Sekiryuutei. It led to Miss Argento nearly being subjected to a Sacred Gear Extractor. It led to my King's Peerage being brutally maimed. And the cherry on the top of this shit Sundae? It led to me being fucking crucified and tortured for hours before being left to bleed out and die!"
Azazel took a few seconds to process what he had just been told, his face went through a dozen expressions before settling on an odd mix between extreme anger and abject horror. "Shit…"
Raynare looked up to Azazel with a desperate look on her face. "L-Lord Azazel, you can't possibly believe what these Devils are saying-"
"Silence!" The barely restrained fury in his voice was obvious, as was the power his words carried. "One more word out of your mouth and I'm going to throw you into Cocytus personally."
"Eep!" The pathetic rat whimpered in fear at Azazel's tone.
"From this little talk of ours, I understand that you're at least a half-decent excuse of a person and had no idea just how fucked things got," Sora glared at the leader of the Fallen Angels. "But in this particular moment? Fuck. You."
He sighed. "Yeah, that's fair."
"News gets out about this, and I very much doubt a peace treaty between the Three Factions would be possible. Unless you're willing to pay a little hush money, if you will." Sora smirked with a rather thuggish yet sly look on his face. "Now, let's get to the part where I extort you."
Azazel hung his head, resigned. "Of course…what do you want?"
"I'm not asking for much," Sora spun his pistols in a showy display of skill before he holstered them in the metal coffin that hung from his back. "A copy of your research into Sacred Gears and development into the creation of Artificial Gears."
Rias, personally, would've demanded the heads of Raynare and Freed on a pike.
Azazel raised an eyebrow; maybe he was expecting a request for money or that he'd be asked to give those two parasites an unusual punishment. "May I ask why?"
The chains wrapped around Sora's arms came undone, and he swung the coffin around. Rias watched in amazement as it began to shift into different forms, a minigun, a rocket launcher, and a high powered sniper rifle. Then it transformed back into a coffin as he placed it upright on the ground.
It was incredible. If someone hadn't told her that it wasn't a real Gear beforehand, she wouldn't have known the difference.
"This is Diablos Ex Machina, my first attempt at creating an Artificial Sacred Gear." Sora explained. "Not really a true Gear in any way, just a bunch of metal parts and machinery with transmutation and layers upon layers of enchantments."
Azazel stared at the contraption, clearly impressed. "How long did it take you to make this?"
"Around three days, give or take."
"How long have you been a Devil?"
"Two and a half weeks."
Azazel gave him a look of utter disbelief. "How the actual hell did you make this thing so fast?!"
Sora crossed his arms. "Fuck you, that's how. Now, do we have a deal, or not?"
Azazel shook his head. "Deal. I'll have a copy of my research prepared for you in the morning."
Sora visibly relaxed a little. "Good. Now, if you'd kindly pick up your trash before I lose what little restraint I have left. Sitri-san probably has some choice words for you as well."
Azazel walked forward, unimpeded by Sora, and scooped up Freed and Raynare. "I know it doesn't mean much, but I apologize for the misconduct of my subordinates."
He sighed. "Just go, dammit."
"Let's try to meet under better circumstances next time." A light green magic circle appeared under Azazel's feet.
"Oh, one more thing…" Sora's eyes locked with Freed, hatred oozing from his face. "Next I see you… It's on sight."
Freed met Sora's glare somewhat nervously. "Fuck you too."
And with that, Azazel, Freed, and Raynare disappeared in blue motes of light.
Rias needed a little bit to process what she had witnessed. Sora, the same Sora she'd known for years… had just blackmailed and strong-armed the leader of the Grigori into giving him his prized research on Sacred Gears…
"Alright, Ise, mad scientist Fallen is gone!" Sora exclaimed.
Hyoudou Issei walked out of the factory through the large hole made through the entrance. "Geez, that was intense. I thought you were going to actually kill them!"
Most shocking of all, on his left hand was the legendary Boosted Gear!
His shoulders slumped. "If he didn't show up, I woulda."
Then, for the first time since they had gotten there, Sora turned to face her. His eyes softened considerably, and he gave her a tired smile. She could clearly see the sheer relief on his face, as if the very sight of her was a balm on his soul.
"Heeeey guys…" Bloodied, beaten, and soaked in his own blood, she couldn't believe that he still had the strength to smile like that. "I'm sorry I made you all worry."
Rias bit her lip. "Sora, you…"
She didn't know if she should slap the ever loving shit out of the fool before her, or if she should hug him with all of her might and never ever let him out of her sight ever again.
"Oh yeah, I should probably get to Asia ASAP, there's a-" Sora suddenly coughed up a worrying amount of blood.
He stumbled forward, unsteady on his feet.
Rias dashed towards him and caught him in her arms before he could fall to the ground.
"There's a hole in my lung." He said deliriously.
His slapping could wait.
Chapter End
