The Time of Isolation Hath Come

XVIII

Any other day, Koneko would have done what Romani told her to do and gone back inside to claim her prize.

Any other day, she would have just turned around and let the matter pass.

…She didn't today.

Instead she heard his murmur of confusion and traced her eyes to where he had looked towards, she saw nothing but she had heard the name clear as day.

Lev.

Already that was a startling thing to hear because there was supposed to be no one here in the school, it had been checked a dozen times over and all the students had gone home. All the staff had gone home with the notable exception of one. So for Romani to somehow claim he was seeing Lev was a rather strange thing, but could be excused as a trick of the eye.

Barely excused, she could not smell anything which was why she would have leaned towards it.

But Romani clearly believed otherwise and was already halfway down the corridor by the time her thoughts caught up with her, he spoke back to her without turning around and told her she could head in first, that she could just get the cookie she had won - to be honest, she wasn't all that invested in the prize in the first place - and that he would be back in a moment.

The idea of letting Romani wander off by himself when the future of the three factions was at stake struck her as being a rather poor idea at the best of times. Right now as very much the worst, she frowned and then took a step forwards.

She froze on the spot when Romani suddenly gasped and fell to the wall, stretching out a hand and catching himself on it.

"Romani-sensei?"

Her words echoed down the hallway, but he gave little indication that he even heard her in the first place. Pushing away from the wall and all but charging through the doors in the next moment, his steps receding into the distance.

The sight, combined with the very obvious shout of pain, put her mind in overdrive then and there.

And Koneko refused to ignore it, giving a brisk walk to chase after him, she could still smell him, hear him too. He wasn't making an effort to keep himself quiet with the way he was running and with the sweat she could smell leaking through the air, he was starting to panic as well. It was a thought that was making her frown.

Something spooked Romani.

Was he worried on behalf of Lev being here? No, that could not just be it.

She exhaled and continued in her chase, speeding up a little bit as she came upon the stairs, having heard Romani descend down them a little bit before her. She was surprised he hadn't tripped down the steps with the way he was acting, but she stopped just at the edge of them and settled herself, glancing down just in time to see him round the corner and walk to the hallway on the left.

He'd stopped, she went to take a step further forwards.

Something told her not to move, something she couldn't quite explain.

There was an odd feeling, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, she turned around like a whip and glared at the hallway she had just come down, muscles tensing and ready for anything. She froze at the sight of absolutely nothing.

The hallway was empty.

But she had felt something, most definitely felt something there.

She rolled her jaw and frowned deeper than before.

Taking another sniff of the air, she was rewarded only with the scent of Romani and no one else. No sign that Lev was here or that Romani was doing anything other than chasing his own shadow.

But that didn't explain the visible reaction she'd seen in the hallway.

Koneko closed her eyes and gave a faint sigh, uncoiling herself and standing straight. The best thing she could do now was just take Romani back to the nurses office and have his wife look him over for what was clearly a headache or something along those lines. Perhaps worse if he was seeing things which weren't there.

Turning about, she raised her leg to move down the steps.

Then another voice echoed from the hallway where Romani had vanished off to, voice cutting clear and leaving no mistake who was speaking.

"Goodness me, Roman. You look rather out of sorts don't you?"

Koneko stared with wide eyes at the corridor, then slowly started to creep down the stairs, the conversation went on as she moved but even that was something she barely paid heed to. Another sniff of the air revealed nothing more than the smell of Romani, and it was as if a cold hand had just laid itself on the back of her neck in that moment.

Every single nerve was firing and her hackles stood on end immediately, shooting right up as one like blades of grass.

There was something terribly wrong here.

Without a doubt, that was Lev's voice.

But she couldn't smell him, she had not even heard him until he started speaking and from the way he was talking, the general location, he was closer to the edge of the corridor than Romani was. Which meant he would have needed to walk past her if he were to get there, or at least walk in full view of the stairs.

How…how did he get there without her noticing?

Koneko chilled at the sudden thought, the dawning comprehension.

That feeling of being watched which had her turn her neck away?

Surely not, it lasted not even five seconds.

That wasn't enough time for him to move unless…

…Unless he was a mage.

But that thought was laughable, surely.

…No more laughable than the idea of Romani being directly connected to a mage or that he could fire beams of light to shoot dragons out of the sky.

And suddenly the thought was no longer laughable.

And was rather terrifying.

Her eyes flashed down as she crept further down the steps, keeping her movements as quiet as possible to not cause alarm to where the man currently was. If he could do something like that, even impossible as it might have seemed, then rushing out and meeting him head on was a terrible idea.

He'd been here longer than Romani and could have gone undetected all that time.

Yet even as she thought such things, her mind reeled from the possibility itself.

Like being given a numerical answer on an english exam.

It just didn't make sense in the least to her.

Her eyes flickered up as the speaking continued, she mentally cursed at her lack of awareness and clenched her hand into a fist. The slight jolt forced her nerves to focus her mind once more.

She furrowed her brows and pressed her back against the wall, sliding across as she caught the next words.

"T-that's a bit weird for a joke, right?"

That was Romani's voice, and it sounded decidedly nervous.

She leaned further against the wall, the edge that led around the corner and to the hallway itself. Taking in a deep breath and preparing herself. There was no telling what she was about to walk into and if she was to act, then she would need to do so quick and clean.

Her jaw rolled from side to side.

What was she even to do in this situation?

Lev had done nothing thus far, so how could she-

There was a wet sound, Koneko stilled immediately at the noise. It held a sharp tone to it, a muffled one. Like metal piercing something tough and wet. The odd sound registered for barely a moment before the smell hit her. The coppery scent which she could almost taste on the tip of her tongue.

Her eyes narrowed into slits.

There had to be a mistake.

Ignoring all sense of caution or danger, she pressed her feet against the wall behind her and kicked forwards, vaguely she heard the sound of the wall cracking behind her but paid little attention to it, rounding the corner and very nearly striking the wall head on, she turned at the last moment and swung her leg out.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl for a fraction of a second as she halted her momentum, her foot pressed flat against the brick as cracks spread out from where she had struck it, her head whipped away from the sight and towards the direction, she could see them a little further down the corridor from her.

Lev's back was to her, shielding away Romani from her sight for the most part, barely able to see some of him jutting out by the side.

Koneko pressed off the wall into another jump, caving in the brickwork under her foot as she did so, not that she cared, and launching herself towards the floor. That Lev paid no reaction to her was telling enough, she charged forwards as the smell got stronger and stronger, it was assaulting her now.

The scent of blood.

When she was within a metre, she saw the first hint of movement.

Lev twitched and turned his head, already making to look in her direction.

But Koneko was already too close for him to make a move, mage or not, she was just going too fast.

Maybe not as fast as Kiba, but fast enough for him.

Her arm cocked back, there could be no mistaking it now, the scent of blood was thick in the air, almost choking now. She stamped down and stopped all her momentum as one, if she barreled into the pair of them she would have knocked Romani down as well, she had sense enough left in her to avoid that.

Her hand formed a claw, swinging the arm forwards with the intention of wrapping it around the green coat and yanking it away from Romani, her eyes fixed on the back of the clothing and rose but an inch at the odd sense of warning which surged through her mind, her eyes climbed up and then stopped.

Lev had turned his head to look over his shoulder, casting a side eye her way.

No, not just her way.

At her.

In an expression of utter apathy, he watched her without alarm.

The logical part of her mind told her it was simply because he hadn't quite realised what was happening yet, he just wasn't reacting fast enough.

…The other part of her mind was screaming at her as if she was about to throw her hand into an open flame.

But the smell of blood, the danger to Romani, it trumped any fear she might have held.

Her fingers were within an inch of-

Koneko blinked as her vision shifted, where once she had been staring at the back of Lev, she now found herself staring at the polished floors of the school. Yet they were far from her, as if she was staring at the ceiling, or thereabouts, but only in reverse. It was a thing most puzzling to her.

It almost overshadowed what she had been trying to do moments prior.

And then the pain struck her, she opened her mouth to gasp and yet nothing emerged, not even a single sound.

Instead there was just pain, her ears screamed as whatever resistance she felt behind her broke, feeling it for barely half an instant before her back pushed right through it and then stopped, she felt herself hang in the air for what felt like a mind numbing eternity, her ribs and chest burning up and pressing down all at once.

As though she had just been punched in the chest by something.

Or struck by a charging rhino.

Her mouth, still wide open, produced only flakes of blood which danced across her vision.

Then the floor closed in on her so incredibly quickly, she hit the ground with a muffled thud and lay there, pressed against the floor. Soon feeling a weight or something pushing down atop her, just enough to keep her immobile and uncomfortable. Yet that all meant nothing to the desperate urge to get some air into her lungs.

Yet with each attempt to draw in breath, she felt only the slick choke of something clogging up her airways and the sharp pain spreading over her chest.

Was she even breathing right now?

It was impossible to tell.

The blockage gathered up and spewed out in front of her, she watched the once polished clean floors turn a reflective red right before her eyes.

It was that sight which made her feel cold instantly.

Koneko stared at the floor at an angle, cheek pressed flash against it as the warm liquid pooled around her.

She could not move, the pressure on her back did not abate.

Distantly, above the ringing in her own ears, she heard the rasping breaths of another, that was probably Romani.

Then a scuffling of clothes and a hefty thud, this time she saw the movement in the corner of her eyes, twisting them up to the sight as best she could.

Romani collapsed against the wall opposite her, slumped there with his shirt - it had been mint green once, hadn't it? - slowly dyed itself red. The hideous colour staining his white jacket as well. It showed up so well on his clothes that it was as if he'd slipped into paint. Yet it clashed so violently with the image of his rapidly pailing face as he awkwardly fumbled a hand against his chest.

Each breath he took sounded like a struggle, the wet gurgle as crimson slipped past his lips.

His other hand, his right, lay still at his side.

It was only his left which was clumsily pawing at his chest, even then his eyes twisted away from himself and towards her.

There was horror in his face.

…Koneko at first thought it was for himself as he realised he was dying.

Then it was another cold dread seeping through her as she realised it was directed at her.

Oh.

She probably looked awful as well, didn't she?

"You Devils."

A foot entered the corner of her eye, an irritated sigh.

Koneko could not even turn her neck to face the speaker, instead Lev's shadow fell over her, as did the weight of his stare.

"It is awful enough that such a fate has befallen Romani, but that you have now forced him to bear witness to one of you dying as well?"

There was accusation and anger in his voice.

…As if it was her fault this was happening.

Maybe it was, if she had been just a bit faster, if she hadn't been so distracted.

"His final moments are going to be poisoned with the knowledge that you are going to die beside him. It was a curse on what could have otherwise been a peaceful passing. As always…"

He growled, the foot movement and struck against her cheek, it was a sharp kick that had her wince but nothing more. She could not move or even muster the strength to react physically to the blow that was otherwise like a hammer. It rattled her skull hard, however.

"...You just insist on ruining everything."

Every word he delivered was dripping with venom.

…Had he always hated her this much?

…How…he was smiling all the time?

"No matter."

A grumble answered her musings, but she was sure he was not even speaking to her at this moment.

The sound of steps drew closer and then past her, just barely she could see his shoes but only just.

Her mind was torn between everything going on that she could not decide on a single thing to focus on.

Were they really going to die here?

Was she really going to die here?

What about everyone else? Were they in danger?

A sharp gasp and a broken set of words, if they could even be called that, hissed out of Romani, still fumbling over his now slick red shirt. Yet his skin was so pale now, it was such a sight from where he would normally be like. His hand was barely twitching as it pressed against his chest, but there was no pressure left.

He was just left there because he could no longer move it.

"I am truly sorry for this, Roman."

Lev even sounded apologetic.

"Months of observing the magical signature of that watch mean that I am aware how to falsify the readings but I cannot use magical energy without disrupting the spell. Leo truly is an exceptional mage and I say that with the utmost respect for her…and for you as well. I wish it had not turned out like this but…"

Lev sighed, dropping down onto one knee and obscuring Roman from view.

Koneko growled and tried to muster up anything she could, anything to remove the weight from her.

But nothing.

Nothing answered her.

No, even if it had, it felt as though the weight would never have lifted. All she could do was claw and scream within her mind, for all the sound that emerged from past her lips was a feeble gasp and a pitiful whimper.

"...Life is often disappointing."

Koneko could see it glint under the light, the flickers of clean metal in between the stains of blood as the knife was raised once more.

Was he going to-

The knife clattered to the floor, Lev slowly stood up.

"The explosion will be quick."

Koneko felt her heart stop at the words.

Explosion?

What was he…?

Lev turned her way and started walking, he moved over her and she winced as the weight pressed hard against her shoulder blades before it lifted off as he literally walked over her. She could hear the steps recede, but her eyes remained focused on the sight of Romani as he gasped and gurgled.

He tried to move.

But it wasn't so much a push as it was a clumsy fall, he slid down the wall and landed flat on his side, with his eyes almost parallel with her own.

There was something in them, a deep sense of welling despair but it was rapidly fading away, she could see the light slowly starting to fade.

She didn't want to see that.

She closed her eyes tight, scrunching them shut.

It was cowardly.

But she didn't want to watch him die, not like that.

The next second swarmed past her in moments, there was a tremendous shuddering from behind her, a sudden rush of heat spreading over her entire body and the roar of something before everything turned into darkness.

Issei flicked his eyes towards the God in the corner when he noticed something off about them, the words of everyone else faded away as he stared.

The guy was looking down at his feet, but doing so as if he wasn't quite sure what he was looking at.

It had been a sudden movement which had also drawn the eyes of Vali as well, but it was a short side-eye before it was dismissed in favour of a return to that regular old bored expression. Unless the guy was still paying attention, Issei could not quite tell, but he was looking at the God all the same with rapidly furrowing brows.

The guy was showing more interest at the ground in the last minute than he had done so during the meeting, save for one or two moments.

A moment later, he stepped away from the wall and started to pace forwards.

That was something that quickly earned the attention of everyone else in the room, the words faded away entirely - and Issei knew it was not just his attention span this time - as the heads slowly turned and looked the way of the God as he paced forwards, moving rather slowly but with clear measured steps.

All that Issei could compare it to was someone following a bug on the sidewalk.

When the man stopped, his brows slowly climbed above his sunglasses.

He was stood a few metres from the table but around the midpoint between the walls near one of the corners, then he raised his head up and grunted in something bordering bemusement. Shaking his head and turning to face the table first, then towards himself and the others in the peerage.

Then he smiled.

Issei felt like his blood turned to ice the second he caught the smile.

Tezcatlipoca flung the pringles tube over his shoulder and towards the corner of the room, then started to roll his shoulders until loud pops could be heard. Weighted cracks with each movement and a grunt of his own, dropping his arms down and shaking them before doing much the same with his neck.

"You skip yoga class this morning or something?"

Azazel's comment went without an answer for a couple moments, and Issei wasn't sure if the guy was trying to be funny or if he was worried.

"Nah."

The response came as the God slipped his hands back into his pockets, then nodded his head down.

"But there is someone dying downstairs. Just getting ready to meet them."

Issei felt as though that should have been the punchline of a joke.

But no one laughed.

Instead they were all staring with no small amount of concern.

"...Excuse me?" Michael leaned forwards, his hands resting flat against the table, as though ready to launch himself to his feet at a moment's notice. "What exactly are you implying here?"

Tezcatlipoca instead jerked his head towards the silent figure in the corner of the room, the shadow which still lurked. "Tell 'em, Azrael."

The eyes of the room, barring his own, fell on the Angel.

"The tolling of a Bell is nigh."

Michael launched himself to his feet in the same sentence and whirled on Azrael in alarm. "What do you-?"

Issei didn't hear the end of the sentence, rather he didn't hear much of anything.

Or see much of anything either.

All he knew was that he felt the floorboards under him suddenly rise upwards, as if something was trying to burst out from underneath him. Yet as he turned to look down and find out the cause of the weird sensation, he heard the sound come next, surging right past him which felt like being stood next to a jet engine.

The only comparison he had was the dragon.

His eyes were barely halfway down to the ground when he saw the floor all around them rising upwards as if in slow motion, cracks split through the wood with streaks of orange light bursting through them, tearing right between the gaps and rushing high.

The heat was incredible, he felt it climb him so swiftly that it was covering his body instantly.

It was an awful pain to be sure.

All of which was the conclusion he reached in the first second.

Then his body was pushed rather violently to the air, he opened his mouth to cry out in alarm.

That was when the flames surged right over the top of him.

Leona felt the building shudder, her words caught in her throat and she whipped her head to the door.

In the same movement, she threw herself forwards and caught Gasper in her arms, dragging them both to the ground - despite the gasp of terror from the young boy - and covered him with her body, there were several moments that passed before the shockwave of what could only be an explosion passed right by her.

A brief mutter in the second before threw up a shield around them, a glass dome keeping them and the floor under them intact.

But it provided the perfect window with which to watch the world be consumed with fire all around them, the detonation smashed right through the walls in the blink of an eye, the office they had once been inside ceased to exist. Instead there was nothing but flame and debris surging past her, thudding against the shield.

All Leona could do was stare incomprehensibly at the sight.

She had acted purely on reflex.

Her mind slowed to a crawl as she stared at the flames and the dust, the cloud of ash which was rising above the fires.

Her tongue felt like lead and the world started ringing.

Romani had been right outside the room.

He'd still been in the hallway…

The hallway which just wasn't there.

There was an open expanse where the hallway had been, there were falling pieces of scorched black wood and roof tile.

But no Romani.

Her eyes started to burn as her unblinking stare continued, and continued.

Romani had been right there.

She rose to her feet and stepped forwards, caring for little else save for the burnt remnant of a corridor where Romani had been. Stumbling over some charred remains of building support but carrying on. The dome collapsed into nothing the second she walked past it, the ground creaked ominously, she felt it fall under her with each step.

A single moment could spell the difference between it being upright and her dropping to the ground floor.

The air hit her, the cold winds, thick with dust and smoke.

It hurt to breathe.

She stared down at the area right outside the office, and saw as there was virtually nothing left save for a crater.

Great ghastly chunks ripped straight from the school and leaving only nothing behind.

Romani was right outside.

He was right there.

He'd gone out to throw some paper planes.

"...Roman?"

Her voice carried out, scarcely able to hear her own words over the crackling of flames and the distant rumbling of falling rubble.

Turning her neck felt like pushing every bone out of place, left and right she stared from one end of the ruined building to the other and saw no sign of him. Not even a single trace of where he might have been.

"...Roman?"

Once more, she called out, raising her voice a little higher.

He can't have…

He was right outside!

He was right outside the office door!

"Romani!"

Her words cracked in her throat, her eyes were burning all the more now, warmth running down her cheeks. Something wet that went ignored as she stumbled forwards, carrying herself closer to the edge and sweeping her eyes across the ruins, searching over every single flame and every single out of place cracked wooden strut.

"Romani! Y-You better answer me! Romani!"

He-He could see the future!

He had to know this was going to happen so why wasn't he back with her?!

Why wasn't he here!?

Why?!

Why!?

Why!?

She stilled at sounds all around her, slowly raising her eyes up to right above.

Nothing could be seen through the clouds of smoke lingering above her head, at least not at first, but she could certainly hear it. The telltale sounds of fighting, the snarls and clashes, the roars and the ripples in the air right above her.

And she could feel it too.

The magical energy was positively bursting right above their heads through all the smoke.

And then it cleared, as though waved away.

It was utter chaos, hundreds of figures flying about and throwing all manner of spells at the Angels, Grigori and Devils alike.

She recognised some of them, the spells at least.

Her hands slowly curled into fists, her nails dug deep into her palm as she stared at what could only be called a surprise attack.

"There. The vampire."

A voice further away from here barely reached her ears, a slight tilt of the head brought her eyes down to be level with the direction of the voice. Her body shifted until she was facing it, keeping her unblinking gaze on the spot where the smoke was starting to part. She could see them down, well over a dozen rising out of the smoke and flames without a single care in the world.

The one at the forefront, adorned in a body covered dark robe with a symbol stamped into the front of the hood.

Three opened eyes running up from the temple to the crown.

Nilrem.

"The Vampire was moved, they could have been caught in the explosion."

Another voice called out, the first answered back.

"It matters not. So long as they are still alive enough to use their Sacred Gear, we may yet salvage the initial plan. The chaos is enough to distract the Angels and with the protection we've received-"

Oh.

So they were the ones responsible for this.

Ah.

That made things easy then.

Gasper pulled himself tight, slamming his hands over his ears.

Everything was happening too fast.

It was all going wrong, nothing made sense.

He wanted to be back in his box, the outside world was horrifying.

Well and truly horrifying.

Hitting the ground, he clawed for the nearest shelter he could find, his eyes failed to discover the whereabouts of his box, he assumed it must have been destroyed in the explosion, and could only spot a single bed in pristine condition sitting atop some floor which had managed to not be turned to dust.

Gasper waited not a second long as he scrambled underneath it, swinging his hands over the edge and ripping the blankets free and pulling them tight over himself. He closed his eyes as tight as they could, scrunching them shut and whimpering to himself as he begged for all the chaos to just stop.

He could vaguely hear Leona shouting for Romani in the distance, there was a horror in her voice that made him screw up even further.

What about his other friends?

What about Issei and Koneko?

Were they alright?

And here he was, hiding away…

…He really was despicable, wasn't he?

"There." A cold voice had him stop moving, his eyes slowly opened as he heard it grow louder still with each word. "The vampire."

He sucked in a breath.

The urge to remain utterly still was so intoxicating to him, a desire that he drank so deeply from but always left him thirsting for more. Yet in this moment, he could feel nothing more than a cold dread settling inside of him. There was something about the voice which cold shudders trickle through his spine.

With speed to rival a snail, he pulled the bedsheets apart just wide enough that he could spy out to the world.

Smoke poured through the gap instantly, he recoiled a touch from the invasion of his senses, the heat of the flames and the crackle of burning. All of it was just far too much, the clearing of his vision showed little else but devastation. He felt his jaw tremble as he forced it not to drop at the sight.

Movement through the shadows captured his attention immediately.

He could see them, as clear as day.

The figures in cloaks moving rapidly towards him, floating above the ruins.

And all of them looking right down towards him as if they could see him.

Their words continued, but he long since tuned them out as they gradually started to lower to the remains of the floor, but half the number still remained in the air. Gasper felt the lump form in his throat as all too quickly, everything became clear to him.

They were here for him.

And his every sense betrayed him, his arms twitched and went numb.

They were here for him.

Was this his fault?

Was this why they attacked…just for him?

Where was Leona? Was she in danger too? Why did everything have to-

"Grab the Vampire."

His eyes snapped to the speaker, the man in the forefront made a half turn towards him and slowly raised his hand. Gasper remained locked onto the sight of the spell forming on the fingers, willing his body to find the strength to move, but ultimately unable to achieve a single thing.

"Let us-"

Gasper wasn't sure why, but he looked just past the man at the closest person to him, another figure - obviously a woman - in the same type of robe suddenly jerked and swung her head to the right, pulling back and sweeping her arms up, a cry escaping her lips which caught his attention and jerked everyone else into action.

"Watch ou-!"

Her sentence died on her lips.

Gasper blinked as the blur charged right into the thick of the mages, it was only his senses which really let him keep up and it wasn't as though the blur was faster than Kiba, but that did not make it slow.

The shape slowed for a half second and gave him a frozen image.

Gasper stared as Leona slammed her fist right into the face of the crier, it was an image which hung in his head.

There was a faint crackle of light around the punch, like twinkling lights.

Then there was an explosion, he jerked at the sound and the sudden burst of mist which spilled out right over everything. Gasper clenched his jaw and stared at the thick fog which consumed every inch of those inside, but he could still hear the shouts and yells, the intermittent flashes of light from spells.

Silhouettes showed up every few seconds.

"Where did they go-!?"

"I can't see-!"

"Get this fog out of-!"

It was a jumble of commands.

Gasper himself was frantically darting his eyes around in search of where Leona was.

The fog suddenly stopped.

It froze.

For a moment, Gasper dreaded he had lost control once more.

But only for a moment.

The fog sucked inwards rapidly, condensing into a ball no bigger than an apple and resting right in the palm of Leona, the mages as a whole staggered from the sudden rush of wind, but caught sight of the brunette standing right in the middle of all of them.

Her face was blank.

Gasper could not see a single emotion on her.

"Get-!"

Someone shouted.

Leona turned and swung the ball of mist at them, it splashed over their body like a water balloon before it changed, swirling inwards and sliding into every opening it could find, the mage scrambled back and gasped loudly, clawing at themselves and scratching at their throat.

Gasper flinched and made a gesture of his own.

Leona launched away and tackled someone else to the ground, light flared over her palms and then she clapped them together before pressing them down. He heard the telltale crackle of lightning and the screech, then came the smell of burnt flesh and scorched clothes.

She did the strangest thing.

Her hands pulled back and she jumped away, snapping her fingers as she did so.

The man who had inhaled the fog burst.

There was no other word for it, he simply exploded in a ball of fire, Gasper winced and ducked his head low, pressing it down and clenching his hands over his ears, but not for long. Not when the smell started to hit him. He swung his hands about instead and covered his nose from the scent.

Blood.

But that left him to hear the sounds.

Each one had him wince.

And he dared a look.

Leona raised her hand, fingers pointed and then streams of black light shot from her like bullets, the first destroyed the head of the woman slow on the uptake, the others cracked against the shields.

She was moving again, he was struggling to keep up with her because his eyes lingered more and more on the bodies she was leaving behind.

He pressed his nose shut tighter.

Snapping like dry food, he twitched and looked.

Leona pulled the head right around and kicked the body away without even blinking, flipping through the air and throwing her hands out, light traced about her before she clapped her palms together once more.

The light went loose as she pulled her hands apart, dangling like string before she launched them out and wrapped the threads about the neck of another mage. Twisting them and ducking down at the same time.

Gasper hadn't even seen where the fire spell which launched over her head came from, but Leona did.

Throwing her body about and launching the lassoed man at her attacker.

Her free hand came up, she shot out a thick cloud of twinkling mist at her prisoner who went stock still.

Gasper remained confused until the man was smashed into his ally.

Literally smashed.

He struck like a hammer and was reduced to fragments like dropped glass, Leona shot forwards and pulled her hand back, palm held flat.

The distance was closed and she thrust her palm into the chest of the final mage.

A muffled crack reached his ears.

Then nothing.

Compared to the others, it was anti-climatic.

The mage just dropped to her knees and then just hit the ground like a puppet without strings, Gasper stared for several long seconds at the body, then started to look up towards the back of Leona's head.

She just stood there like a statue, unmoving.

He swallowed thickly, forcing down whatever nerves he had and trying to call out to her.

All he managed was a weak crackle.

It earned a sharp twitch of the head, he jerked as her head whipped around to face him.

Still with that utterly blank face.

Her head slowly tilted to one side, her eyes flickered left and right before returning to him.

Gasper made no further moves, he dared not even blink, as she started to walk towards him, not even sparing the bodies a glance as she walked over them. Rather she just moved her hands across and started to brush off some of the dusk and grit on her coat, pausing only when she hit something and then pulling her hand aside to stare at it.

Her finger and thumb rubbed together as she examined what she had touched.

Quickly reaching into her pocket and pulling out a tissue, wiping down her fingers and then across her face to remove the specks of blood there.

Slipping the tissue back into her pocket, she closed the distance with faster steps than before and crouched down.

Gasper said nothing and neither did she.

Perhaps she tried for a smile, but it stopped and defaulted to the thin line.

Raising a hand, she pressed it against the frame of the bed and pushed it aside, revealing him fully. With her other hand she moved it around and scooped him up from the midsection, blanket and all, and started to rise to her feet with him tucked under arm. Gasper felt himself unable to speak as she started to walk once again.

"...I'm going to drop you with the others and then…"

She trailed off, her voice turned weak as she spoke.

Gasper, however, nodded his head up and down.

"R-Romani is fine!" He tried, but the words felt forced to him, the landscape around him and the thick clouds of ash made it nearly impossible for him to believe his own words. "Ko-Koneko was with him! S-she's smart and…and…"

The words turned wet in his throat, he cracked and sniffled.

"...Yeah."

Leona answered softly, he felt a hand rest on the top of his head, only briefly.

She sprinted off and carried him with her, only then did Gasper really hear everything that was happening and dared to look up.

A moment of clearness from the dust cloud revealed something far worse.

The battle right above their heads.

Issei coughed, everything felt sore to him.

And cold.

A dull ache lanced through his head as he moved a hand up and cradled his temples, like he'd slipped out of bed and thudded on the floor.

His eyes peeled open slowly and revealed nothing more than a jumble of colours, if it could be called that. It was more a barrage against his senses, breathing felt heavy, like there was something in the air trying to settle in his lungs. He coughed out immediately, jerking forwards and clumsily onto his side when his legs failed him.

The coughing fit continued so long that his eyes started to tear up.

Pressure clamped down on the back of his neck and yanked him upwards, his eyes flew wide and he swung his arms in the direction of whatever had roughly plucked him up.

His wrists were caught as if he were a child.

Vision cleared up rather swiftly.

Vali stood in front of him with a smirk, giving a muffled scoff and then roughly shoving him away, very nearly sending him back onto his ass if someone hadn't caught him.

Issei made a half turn and double taked.

"Irina?"

The girl looked away for a brief instant and nodded her head, then brought her eyes back to him with a greater intensity. "How are you feeling? Is your head sore?"

"Wha-? Yeah-but? What is…?"

He trailed off as he noticed the chill in the air, then immediately saw what was over the shoulder of the girl. Stepping away from her, his brows pinched tight and his neck jerked back and forth as he fully understood what was happening. Wherever he looked there was ice, nothing but ice.

They were trapped in it.

"What the-?"

"Issei!"

He jolted and turned. "Buchou!?"

A hand landed on his shoulder and yanked him away from Irina and very nearly into the chest of the red head. It was purely reflex that made him steady his feet and avoid landing.

Issei cursed his sense of balance.

But it was a short lived one as he took stock of the concern on her face and their surroundings, soon straightening out and turning his head all over, barely registering the glow of Asia's healing as he looked to their icy prison once more, raising his brows and turning to Rias.

"Buchou? What-?"

"There was…" Rias face turned strangled, almost, a great amount of disdain and worry on her. "There was some manner of explosion and Lady Leviathan created a bunker for us. Though it was not before you were…"

Issei turned to try and find the magical girl in question, spotting her as she fretted over Sona a moment later.

He turned back to Rias. "An explosion? What-How!?"

It didn't make sense in the least to him.

"That is most certainly what we intend to figure out."

Before Issei realised it, he had stood straight.

His eyes fell upon Michael within the same movement as the golden winged man strode right towards the wall of the prison. He did not see the face of the Angel, but he shuddered all the same at the tone of voice that was used. There was nothing angry or malicious about it, it could barely even be said to be frustrated.

But it was cold.

Colder than the ice that surrounded them.

"I apologise, Lady Leviathan." Michael spoke, but it was tough to say if he was apologetic. "But I dare not tarry."

There was no wait for a response, nor was there a chance to give one.

He reached out and laid his hand flat against the wall of the ice.

There wasn't even a delay.

It just evaporated like it had never been there, a puff of mist which itself lingered for only a moment before some unseen and unfelt force cast it as far from them as possible. But what it did reveal was exactly what was outside. Issei went silent, he was sure everyone else had done so as well.

Pandemonium.

Fires were raging all across the school - what remained of it - and above their heads he could see hundreds of figures flying around and throwing light at one another, spears and spells alike in a clash which looked as though it had been going on for hours and not mere minutes, if it was that long at all.

"Wow."

Issei turned on the speaker, it should not have been more captivating than the literal war, but somehow it was.

Azazel rubbed his chin and frowned.

"I never thought they would have been so stupid as to actually go and try this, but I guess there is no accounting for brains in a group named as they are."

It was a comment that he wasn't sure he was supposed to have heard.

But he did.

Issei fixed Azazel with a stare so potent that the man turned his head and met his eyes, the unspoken question burning the space between them.

He quickly held up his hands and chuckled. "Hey, let's worry about these jokers first before we start throwing around some wild accusations about-"

He stopped, then looked away from Issei and to the floor.

It was a sharp movement, but Issei followed it.

A symbol flashed into the ground.

Then a woman stood there, not even ten feet from him, and wearing a grin that was all too smug.

Tanned skin, rounded glasses and wearing a low cut purple dress with wide slits around the chest area, opening a window for impressive cleavage, Issei barely lingered on that and found himself stepping back with wide eyes as in mere moments of being there, she suddenly looked downright murderous.

Her eyes burned with sheer hatred which seemed to permeate heat.

With a thrust of her arm, she raised a staff upwards and instantly, her smirk turned into a razor sharp grin.

Crimson light pooled around the staff and burned until it shone like the sun, then it was thrust down.

"Chaos take you, pretenders!"

Her staff struck with a clack.

Once more, his world was engulfed in light.

But this time, he saw it across a barrier which formed in moments.

He kept his arms raised all the same, staggering backwards and tensing himself.

The barrier cracked and split in sections, beams of light burst through and shot high into the air, piercing through smoke and cloud alike, opening gaps where they had penetrated.

Issei dropped down with a gasp and launched himself backwards.

The barrier collapsed as the brightness faded away.

The woman still remained there with a smirk on her face, as though she won something, and twirled the staff in her right hand, then dropped it down to the head in her left and chuckled in a low and menacing tone.

"If that is the extent of your power, then you are truly unworthy of licking the feet of the true Satans."

"Katarea."

Sirzechs voice was clipped.

"You understand the penalty for this, do you not?"

"Empty threats." Katarea all but dismissed with a scoff, all the gesture was missing was a wave of the hand. Her eyes narrowed in disdain. "A true Devil would have no need for them and would act. Though given you and your degenerate family surround yourselves with nothing but pretenders and halfbreeds, is it any wonder you have lost any credibility?"

Her eyes flashed, she turned targets to Michael.

"...If you had any in the first place. To associate with this-"

"If you were wise, you would have remained in your self-imposed exile."

Issei gulped, shuddering and slowly turning his neck to face Michael.

At the start, Michael had his back to them, still staring up to the battle raging above their heads, at least at the start.

Then he started to turn around, there was no delay or movement. He quite literally started to pivot in an eerie manner, as though stood on some sort of turntable until he came about and faced them. It also revealed his eyes and the expression on his face that held no sense of warmth or welcoming it had before.

It was just nothing.

Eyes fixed on the named Katarea and the halo above his head burning brighter and brighter with each passing second. Not merely for a visual stunt, but he could feel the heat radiating off it, the prickle against his skin that was trying to urge into hiding away so that light could no longer bathe him.

"But this attack proves wisdom is not a strength of yours."

Michael stepped forwards, each one echoed in his head like an earthquake, he pushed back against the ground and sent himself away from the pair of them.

As seemingly everyone else watched in mute silence.

Even Issei could feel the strange sense of certainty within the air, as though the conclusion was already done.

That woman was definitely going to die.

"And if this destruction is your grand desire, then I shall do this world a service in ridding it of yours."

The Archangel lifted a foot off the ground, all while peering down at the Devil woman, his eyes slowly turned brighter and brighter, his golden wings engulfed in light as he raised his palm towards her.

Katarea took a half step back before catching herself, her jaw flexed and gave yet another scoff.

"As though I need fear anything from-"

Issei did not even blink, yet he found he missed everything that transpired.

He heard the clash, felt the wind wash over his body, but his mind just could not make sense of what had happened.

One moment, Katarea was there, in the next she was in the sky with her wings spread and on the ground where she had been, Vlov and Grafiya stood, the former armed with his malicious looking cleaver and the latter with spears of ice forming around her.

Vlov turned his head slightly, speaking quietly.

"It is not for the hosts to deal with impolite guests. Stay your hand, Lord Michael. We shall deal with this nuisance."

Grafiya brushed down her outfit, as if she had spotted nothing more than dust, and raised her head.

"As he says, Lord Sirzechs. Allow this maid to dispatch with this unruly guest."

Though it was not Sirzechs who answered her first.

"Katarea!" Serafall shouted out towards the floating Devil. "You have to see this is madness! You cannot still hold that grudge after all those-?"

"A grudge!?"

Issei nearly covered his ears at the shriek.

"You stole the legacy of my proud ancestors! I have to watch you strut around looking like a circus clown and every day bringing shame upon the name Leviathan!"

She was heaving in the air, if her glare could produce heat she would have melted steel beams.

But it was short lived, she composed herself only just yet still spoke with gritted teeth and an anger which was barely concealed, if at all.

"But after today, I'll finally be able to return my house to the glory it once held before your tainted fingers dirtied it."

Vlov and Grafiya shot upwards into the air with nary a word shared between them, they just accelerated and then everything else just vanished into flashes of light and blurs. Issei found himself transfixed by the sight which could be called nothing more than a fireworks show at best, the worlds greatest fireworks show put into fast forwards.

Tracing back and forth as he made futile efforts to keep up.

In one moment there was a block of ice the size of a building flying through the air and in the next a streak of light shattered it into snow.

Hale rained down and then vanished, the air cracked and warped and heat billowed down from above them.

Issei gulped.

That was crazy.

That was just-

"Rias."

"Onii-sama?"

The interaction stole his eyes from how close it was, he jolted again as he realised that Sirzechs was standing right over himself, though he was not looking down at Issei.

"I will request the aid of your peerage in clearing away the ruffians who have elected to attack us. Though I understand you still have some of your own members unaccounted for. Find them and ensure their safety."

Issei found an image drifting through his mind.

He was on his feet in the next moment, whipping around to face his King. "Gasper and Koneko-chan!"

The flinch on Rias face and the deep grimace she wore told him that she had not forgotten, nor would there be any way to forget about Romani and Leona as well. They had all been protected by the Satans but there hadn't been anything to protect the others from the explosion and even then, there were all these guys in cloaks fighting everyone.

"Come on."

Rias turned on them with a hardened face.

"We're going to save our precious allies. All of them."

He caught Sirzechs half-nod.

"Irina. Please accompany them on my behalf."

"Yes, Lord Michael."

Now that was something that nobody missed, he turned to face the duo and tilted his head, not before catching the somewhat pleading look from Michael himself, and the faint incline of the head he made towards Irina.

Issei didn't truly have a problem with her coming along, it was a surprise, but that was about it.

He wasn't going to complain now of all times.

It was more about what Buchou wanted.

He spared the girl in question a side-eye.

Rias rolled her jaw, then nodded once, already looking tense before she spread a pair of dark wings out from her back and took off into the air. Soon followed by Akeno.

"Come."

Kiba jerked him into movement. "We shall rally at the nurses office and see what became of it."

Issei looked down and nodded his head.

Right.

All they had to do was get there-

He made it all of half a step.

Then he stopped and straightened.

There was no explaining it, no reason given.

But every single hair on his body stood on end in an instant.

"On the First day, did the creatures of sin rise from the shadows."

Heat spread over his back, a force slammed into him and he was lifted off the ground before he even had the chance to blink. A gasp rippled in the back of his throat, escaping as nothing more than a hiss of surprise as he twisted through the air with neither control nor direction.

"On the Second day, the Fallen thought to rise once more."

Issei felt himself strike something solid, perhaps a wall, but whatever it was slowed his momentum to nothing, grunting from the sudden pain and the heat which was unbearable, as though stood next to an open furnace, throwing up his hands to cover his face as he pressed against whatever lay behind him.

"On the Third day, did the reviled hordes sound the drums of war."

The words continued, each one radiated heat, pure and unyielding.

No other words could describe it, the thunderclap of words had his very bones tremble, each syllable drummed into his skull like a punch to the head and through it all, he felt the burning heat, saw the twisted rays of light piercing through his feeble guard and burning along his skin.

As though stood beneath a magnifying glass.

"On the Fourth day, the legions of the damned marched for the heavens."

And in that voice he felt something.

He felt something terrible.

"On the Fifth day, The armies of sin saw the banners of the Heavenly Father."

Whether it was heat or hatred, each word was packed full of it.

Each one pierced him with true pain, he gasped and rolled over, clenching his eyes shut and pressing back further, perhaps he was alone in this feeling or maybe the others experienced it, but he was too frozen to really notice.

"On the Sixth day, the realm of depravity and darkness was set alight with righteous fury."

Issei forced his body to turn against its will, dragging his eyes upwards and to the sky. Willing them to open felt like inviting a punch and it was not a sensation that disappointed, in moments he felt his eyes tear up and scream at him to snap them shut, but it was far too late.

Some force pried them open and kept them transfixed on what lay above.

Light.

There was nothing but light.

The light of a sun which floated above their heads.

A great ball of flame that twisted and churned, writhed and pulsed. In and out, in and out, like the heartbeat of some great and terrible monster. And it felt as such to him, like he was staring down the open maw of some beast that defied everything he had come to know.

His ears started to ring, a white noise save for that deep pulsing drumbeat.

But within that sun, within that orb of heat.

He felt the eyes staring back at him.

Imagined at first, but they soon turned very real.

The star shuddered and growled like an animal, then its skin started to peel open, tearing great gouges all across the surface of the flames and revealed darkness within, a darkness that looked like nothing.

He could not breathe.

The darkness opened and dozens of eyes stared back at him, perhaps hundreds.

They twisted around erratically, staring at everyone who was there and some focused solely on him, stared right at him.

And neither blinked, and they made him suffer for what was perceived as defiance.

Hatred, pure and cold, bore down on him.

The being in that sun, the one who stared at him.

They did not even need to know him, he understood.

They hated him all the same.

Another ripple spread over the star, the hundred eyes rolled inwards and then shrank back into the darkness, it spread across the surface of the orb and drowned the fires under the cloak of shadow. Then it hung there in an oppressive silence.

Mere seconds passed.

Then it lost any sense of structure and collapsed into itself, or rather it collapsed around a shape within it.

And in its place was a single figure.

Loose fitting dark robes fluttering in the wind, and a face that could not even be called as such.

He saw it even from below.

Under the blackened hood, was a mask of bleached bone.

"...Impossible…"

He heard the breath of Michael, and then genuine horror in his voice.

That alone was enough to send panic through his body, if he was not already feeling it.

"On the Seventh Day."

Their back exploded with flames, yet it was not wild or uncontrolled, they were refined and sharp. Each point of fire was like that of a spear.

Twelve jutting points of fire burst from behind and spread open like wings, stretching wider and wider until they reached their apex, they looped and bent low until they appeared to be almost stowed away, hanging loose in the air.

The mask of bone lowered and bore them with a look which left no doubt the intentions or their feelings.

Fury radiated in the words as cold as stone.

And malice, clear as day in the tone of apathy.

"There was but silence."