Disclaimer: Neither High School DXD nor Elder Scrolls belongs to me, all rights to their respective owners.

Chapter 62

— Many of the easiest enemies to find are those who are only the dancing puppets on the stage of whoever is the real enemy —

Zakir to Roland four years before the great War.

The eyes of the women who lived with Issei were wide open in shock as they watched Kunou move the pieces of rubble in desperation.

The little kitsune's hands moved as fast as she could, grabbing every piece of debris she could to move it. The amount of adrenaline coursing through her veins made her able to move very large pieces of debris very easily.

The little girl's mind was in a mess, as she repeated that her friend was okay and that she wasn't dead. Kunou was so focused on her own thing that she didn't see when Issei started to help her, since he was also worried about his friend's daughter.

Seeing Issei helping Kunou, the rest of the girls came out of their shock, and without wasting time, they began to help them and while they did, they were praying that the little girl was alive, because otherwise, nothing could stop the son of Akatosh when he goes into unbridled fury.

"Come on, please. You must be alive, Marie-chan." Irina said while she moved a large piece of rubble.

The piece of debris was the size of a very large table, so it took her some strength to move it, but fortunately, Xenovia saw her and did not hesitate to help her. Both girls took the fragment of debris and with their combined strength, they managed to push it away. The piece of wall flew a few meters, ending up surprising everyone, as it made a loud noise when it fell. However, that was nothing compared to what they saw under that debris.

Tears began to form on the two girls' faces, causing everyone to stop whatever they were doing and run towards them.

"Xenovia! "Irina!" Issei shouted as he approached the girls. Although he was planning to ask them something else, the moment he saw what they were seeing, he went completely silent.

If the above had already surprised the rest of those present, Issei's action made the rest hurry up, to know what he had seen to end up in that state.

"Ise?" Rias asked as she reached her pawn's side, and when she did, she also saw what they saw. "N-it can't be…"

While Rias looked ahead with wide eyes in surprise, Kunou arrived at the place and when she saw what the rest were seeing, her eyes began to water. Tears began to fall down her cheeks, but they were not tears of sadness, but rather tears of happiness. The reason for this was that there, in front of her, was the body of her friend, who, to the surprise of not only her, but everyone, was completely unharmed... well, she was unharmed, she was not unharmed, because she had a wound on her head from which she was dripping a not very large trickle of blood. Despite her surprise, the little girl did not waste time and rushed to where her friend was, to hug her and as she did so, she put her ear close to Marie's chest, thus listening to her heartbeat, which indicated that she was alive.

"I-incredible…" Ravel said in surprise when she arrived with the rest of the other ORC members.

The reason for those reactions was the surprise of seeing Marie relatively unharmed after having received what was supposed to be many debris, but not only that, but it was also to see the possible reason why she had resisted being crushed. That was because, in front of them, was the little dragon, who had small snow-white scales running over part of her body visible through the torn parts of her dress. Although, not only that, but there was also a kind of ring on one of her hands, which shone slightly.

Marie's appearance puzzled everyone, but there were some who began to have an idea of what had happened.

"That look…" Akeno whispered as she saw the white scales on Marie's body.

"Yes… I understand you… they look a bit like the scales that covered Edzard-san's body when he fought against Loki." Rias commented, who began to approach the two girls. "But…"

"They don't quite match." Issei said, interrupting his king.

Issei's words mentioned that, if what they were seeing was Marie's «Dragon Aspect», unlike her father, she did not have wings or horns, much less armor.

"Yes, but-" Akeno's words were cut off the moment the scales covering Marie's body began to disappear as the ring dissolved into specks of light.

"It seems that, unlike her father, she still can't maintain her power for long." Rias commented as she watched Marie's power dissipate.

"Yes, but… to awaken such power at such a young age…" said Ravel, who had not seen Edzard's fight with Loki, but when she joined Rias's nobility, she learned about that battle and what she heard terrified her quite a bit.

"That alone is proof of its terrifying and monstrous potential."

Rias's words were accompanied by a gesture with her gaze, which was intended for Xenovia, who understood what her king was asking of her, so without asking anything, the young woman approached Kunou and extended both arms to her.

The little Kitsune saw Xenovia's outstretched hands and understood what she was asking. While she felt reluctant to hand Marie over, she knew that it was best to have someone physically stronger than her carry her, so she carefully allowed the devil to carry her.

"Well, it looks like we're lucky. We have managed to find Marie-chan, but we still need to find Ise's parents." Rias said as she looked at her servants. "We must hurry, since we don't know if they will be safe or not, and when we find them, we will try to meet the group sent to rescue Marie-chan."

Rias's words were answered with nods, after which everyone quickly left what was once Marie's cell with the objective of finding Issei's parents.

"Mittelt!" was the collective scream of all the members of the group led by Asia when they saw the explosions stop.

Concern was present on all their faces, as they looked around the place, trying to locate their friend, who would possibly need help to recover. However, to the total astonishment of those present, they saw Mittelt emerge from the resulting smoke and quickly fly towards where they were all gathered.

"Arghh." Mittelt grunted as she landed. The moment she set foot on the ground, she dropped down and placed a hand on the right side of her body, where you could see that some blood was seeping from between her clothes.

Seeing her friend's injury, Asia wasted no time and used her sacred gear to heal her.

"How did you end up hurt?" Asia asked, as she saw that her friend's wound was not from the spells that had been cast on them.

"I-it was because of the stone chips that exploded from the spells." Mittelt answered with difficulty because his wound hurt when he breathed.

"Did you see who attacked us?" asked Lint, who was next to them, since she along with the rest of the girls kept the barrier up, since they did not know if they could be attacked again.

"Yes, there are several magicians, I would say there are more than fifty easily."

"So many?" Ingvild asked with concern.

"Yes, but there is something that doesn't add up here…" commented Mittelt, leaving her comment hanging, because she knew that her friends would understand what was happening.

"Why have a group that appears to be fanatical exorcists joined forces with magicians?" Aika asked rhetorically.

"Exact. Has no sense."

"Unless…" Asia said, trying to see the panorama of what was happening from another point of view.

"Let those exorcists be just pawns for another group." Rossweisse completed seriously.

"That's right, but what group will control them?" Valerie asked as she looked at the sky, but before any of her friends could give an answer, the smoke that covered the entire place was dissipated by a strong gale, which had obviously been summoned by a spell.

The force of the winds impacted the barrier, proving that it was an attack spell, but even though it was a mid-level spell, it could not break the barrier.

"It seems they are already here." Rossweisse commented as she looked at the sky.

"Yes… girls, don't lower the barrier until Mittelt is healed and we know what we're up against." Asia ordered, as she made her sacred gear heal her friend faster.

The girls heard Asia's orders and nodded, because in Edzard's absence, she was the leader. So, maintaining their current formation, they waited for their enemy to show itself.

Fortunately, they did not have to wait long, as their enemies quickly showed up. Flying with the help of magic circles, the silhouettes of more than fifty magicians hovered above them. Among all those present, there was one who stood out more than others. That person was a woman dressed in a purple gothic lolita dress, which was decorated with black bows.

"Wow, it seems that the one leading them is a person with a taste in clothes similar to yours, Mittelt." Aika commented jokingly as she looked at the woman who was possibly the leader of those magicians.

Aika's words bothered Mittelt, who looked at the magician ugly, because she did not like being compared to a magician who belonged to a possible criminal organization. However, despite her annoyance, she did not say anything since they were not in the time or place for this type of fight.

"Aika, stay focused. We don't know how strong these guys are." Valerie said with a serious voice as she kept her eyes on the magicians, analyzing them for any opportunity to defeat them quickly.

"Okay… and here I am trying to lighten the atmosphere so that we can enter into combat with a clearer mind."

After Aika's words, a silence fell as the magicians landed in front of the girls. When everyone was on the ground, the leader began to look around the entire place, and she put a smile on her face when she saw them.

"Wow, I didn't expect this. When my partners called me to tell me that they needed my help to stop a group that was attacking them, I didn't expect it to be you... The group that has thwarted several plans of the Khaos Brigade and that is the spearhead in the defense against those beings that come from another world…" The woman said as she began to strut around the place. When she stopped, she looked at the girls. "I guess I should introduce myself. Nice to meet you girls. My name is Walburga, and I am the leader of Hexennacht. I hope we can get along."

Walburga's introduction made Aika open her eyes in surprise because she knew that name.

"You are «Walburga of the Purple Flames»."

Aika's words caught the attention of her friends, who immediately looked at her.

"Do you know who she is?" Lint asked.

"Yes, my master told me about her." Aika responded, and then began to tell who she was. "She is a very strong mage who previously belonged to a group called Oz. While her skill in magic is more than admirable, she has something that makes her even more dangerous."

"Don't tell me that..." said Rossweisse, her gaze fixed on the Hexennacht magician.

"Yes, she has a sacred gear, specifically the 'Incinerate Anthem.'"

The moment Lint heard that name, she quickly looked at the magician while her eyes widened in surprise, as she did not expect that sacred gear to be in the hands of a magician who, according to her words, surely belonged to the Khaos Brigade.

The expression on Lint's face did not go unnoticed by her friends, who looked at her.

"What's wrong, Lint? Why are you looking at her with surprise?" asked Asia, who was still healing Mittelt, whose wounds were already about to heal.

"The name of that sacred gear has a second denomination in the church, Asia." The reincarnated angel responded. "It is called the holy cross and is considered one of the holy relics."

The revelation of this shocked Lint's friends, especially Asia. However, that atmosphere of surprise was broken by Walburga, who laughed amused at the expressions they were making.

"Ha, ha, ha…" Walburga laughed with amusement. "Wow, I feel flattered that you know who I am and that you also know about my sacred gear. However, I don't have time to have much fun with you now. So, I'll tell you straight. Surrender, otherwise, we will have no mercy on you."

The moment Walburga finished saying her ultimatum, Asia finished healing Mittelt, who stood up and standing next to her friends, they deactivated the barrier.

"You know, I was just about to tell you guys the same thing." It was Asia's response to Walburga's ultimatum. "Surrender and you will not die."

The way Asia said those words caused some of the magicians accompanying Walburga to feel intimidated, as the irises of Asia's eyes turned red.

"Wow, what big words for a brat your age. While it is true that you are a fearsome bunch, the magicians who accompany me are the best in all Hexennacht. So, it won't be easy for you to defeat us." Walburga said as she stopped looking at the girls, to look at her companions before shouting. "Attack!"

Following the shout of their leader, the magicians of Hexennacht did not waste time and conjured hundreds of magic circles, which began to fire all kinds of spells against Asia and company.

"Disperse and counterattack!" Asia shouted as she jumped back.

The rest of the girls did the same, jumping in different directions, thus avoiding the attacks of the enemy magicians.

The spells collided with the floor and walls, generating several explosions, which raised a screen of smoke. The smoke was so thick that the girls decided to use it as cover and after that they quickly began their counterattack.

Taking advantage of the smoke, Lint moved her wings and, quickly covering the place, flew towards the magicians. Her speed was such that when she came out of the smoke screen, she was in front of about three magicians. Seeing them, she quickly used her sword and tried to cut them down. However, she saw that her attack failed, as the magicians jumped back and gained several meters of distance against her.

"Tch." Lint clicked her tongue in annoyance as she saw how her attack had been dodged; However, despite this, she did not waste time and moving her free hand, she quickly created three spears of light, which she launched against her enemies.

The spears of light traveled at high speed, but did not harm the mages, as they protected themselves with a barrier each. When the exorcist saw that, she tightened her grip on her weapon to launch a counterattack, but she had to move to the side when she saw how a magician launched an attack against her.

'I can't focus on just one of them, no, I have to focus on all of them, from those I attack to those around me, otherwise I will be an easy target for an attack.' Lint thought as she launched herself against her enemies again, but this time keeping her senses focused on all her enemies.

It was thanks to that that she could see that one of the magicians was preparing a magic circle, from which a powerful gust of wind came out, which headed towards her at high speed. However, upon being able to see the attack, she was already prepared to counter it, so, without wasting time, she swung her sword and released one of the enchantments that were on the blade. Lint's sword glowed for a second with golden light, which spread across the entire blade and when she swung the weapon horizontally, a burst of holy magic erupted from the blade.

The explosion of light that emerged from Lint's sword traveled at high speed towards the wizard's spell, causing the two to collide, creating a new explosion, the smoke of which was used by Lint to cover her next attack. So, moving her wings, the young woman flew at high speed against her enemy.

The magician's eyes widened in surprise when he saw Lint emerge from the smoke generated from the impact of the two attacks. He had not expected that to happen at all... or rather if he had thought about it, and his surprise was that Lint used such a basic tactic, so putting on a smile, he created several magic circles around him.

"Disappear!" the magician shouted as he cast several darkness spells, which manifested in bullet shapes.

The magician's face showed expectation, as he expected that this attack would kill Lint, but to his surprise, he saw how the reincarnated angel made a magical circle appear behind her and used it as a platform to propel herself against him. That movement made Lint fly away at great speed and displaying her acrobatic ability, she dodged all the bullets of darkness, managing to get in front of her enemy and when she was close, she moved her sword to cut him. Unfortunately, the attack failed, as the magician dodged the attack by jumping back, but that would not save him, as Lint moved her free hand, but this time she did not use a spear of light, no, this time she used her pistol, with the which fired seven shots, which hit various parts of the magician's body, causing him to fall inert to the ground.

When the exorcist saw the dejected magician, she did not stay to look, because there were several enemies to defeat.

At the same time as Lint, Mittelt was also fighting against a small group of magicians. She moved quickly, dodging several elemental spells, which were cast by several magic circles. Fortunately, none of them could hit her, as she was one of the fastest fliers of the entire Edzard group, so she was able to dodge everything quickly.

'I must be able to find a way to avoid all the magical bombardment, otherwise I won't be able to counterattack, and this will go on for a long time.' Mittelt thought as she turned on her own axis to avoid three wind scythes, which created deep cuts in the walls after impacting them.

Seeing the damage caused by the spells she had dodged, the fallen angel let out a sigh, before beginning to send holy power to her sword, whose yellow blade began to be covered in a thin aura. As the weapon was enveloped in holy power, she took up an attacking stance and without waiting for a second, she charged towards the wizards. When they saw her charge, they cast several spells against Mittelt, who conjured a spear of light and spun it rapidly to create a kind of improvised shield with which she deflected several of the attacks.

That reckless tactic, which should have caused her to obtain some almost minor injuries, allowed her to create an opening, which allowed her to attack. So, by swinging her sword, she unleashed the power she had accumulated in the blade, causing it to grow several meters.

The new length of the blade allowed the sword to have a greater attack range, which was used by Edzard's lover to cut the magicians in half.

When she saw that her attack had worked, she wasted no time and quickly continued looking for more enemies to take down.

Crack!

The sound of stone breaking was present, as a small crater formed in the ground. The crater had been created by the fist of Valerie, who was covered in darkness. The power of darkness, added to the aura of Asia's sacred gear allowed the Dhampir to fight comfortably without the need to defend much.

'I don't understand why everyone fights as if Asia's protective aura is not present.' Thought the Dhampir, who had seen her friends fight while dodging enemy attacks, something they could do without as long as the aura of Asia's sacred gear was active.

Some fireballs hit Valerie's body, causing her to be enveloped by flames, but to the surprise of the magicians who had launched said attack, the Dhampir emerged unharmed from the explosion that was generated after the impact.

"What's the meaning of this?!" one of the magicians shouted in fear as he saw how the half-vampire emerged unharmed from his attack.

"Don't know!" another magician shouted in response, who upon seeing Valerie emerge from the flames, quickly conjured a magic circle with which he launched a powerful gale against the Dhampir.

When she saw the incoming attack, she knew that if it hit her, she would be sent flying several meters, so wanting to finish off the enemies in front of her, she decided to use the spell she had used before to get out of the rubble. Thanks to her already being covered in darkness, Valerie's spell was almost instantaneous, causing her to turn into a darkness meteor in less than a second.

The eyes of the magicians the Dhampir was fighting widened as they saw a meteor of darkness magic coming towards them at dizzying speeds. Fear began to be present in their bodies, so, prey to it, they began to desperately cast spells against Valerie. Unfortunately, all those spells failed miserably, as they could not stop the woman.

Valerie's attack traveled at high speed, covering the distance between her and the magicians in less than three seconds, allowing her to land a direct hit on one of the magicians.

Crack!

The grotesque sound of bones breaking was heard when Valerie's fist broke the magician's sternum, crushing his internal organs, killing him immediately.

The eyes of the magicians who were on both sides of the magician who had just died widened in horror when they saw their companion die, but to their bad luck, they could not move even a step, as Valerie extended her hands and created two swords of darkness. The Dhampir made a one hundred and eighty degree turn and with it decapitated both magicians.

When the heads of those two magicians fell to the ground, she looked ahead and saw that Aika, Rossweisse and Ingvild were keeping several magicians distracted, leaving them as easy targets for a counterattack from behind, so without wasting any time she left for there.

"Your groupmates are very strong." Walburga said to Asia, while watching how the girl's groupmates in front of her killed her companions almost effortlessly.

Asia did not respond, but she did not move either, as she was in the perfect place for the aura of her sacred gear to cover her friends completely, making the battle easier for them.

"But… you know… the death of those guys was within what was expected for this battle." Walburga commented while moving her hand, making a gesture of disdain, because for her those subjects were nothing more than easily replaceable pawns.

"What?" Asia asked as she looked at the magician, who just put on a smile, which grew when a magic circle appeared in her ear. "So, the subjects are ready, good. Then I will begin my part of the plan."

Walburga's words confused Asia, who tightened her grip on her sword, preparing to finish her off with a single blow using «Akachim» for it.

"Well, it looks like everything is ready. But first…" the magician said as she raised her right hand and snapped her fingers.

BOOOMMMM!

A huge explosion shook the entire place, causing the fortress to shake.

"What did you just do?!" Asia shouted with her eyes wide open, as she saw that a part of the fortress was destroyed by the explosion.

"Don't worry, I didn't kill your daughter if that worries you."

The mention of her firstborn made Asia frown and her eyes, which were still bright red, remained focused on the magician, making an angry face.

Asia's face full of anger did not scare the magician, who just continued smiling and said smile grew bigger when Asia's friends screamed.

"Asia!"

The moment the Dovahkiin's wife heard those words she knew that her friends had finished killing all the magicians, so without waiting a single second, she took the position to use «Akachim». However, before she could start her spell, Walburga jumped back and without wasting any time, moved her hand and made an object appear that left Asia stunned, as it was one that she recognized, since she also had one.

'Why does she have a shadowkey?!'

The moment Asia hesitated was all Walburga needed to be able to use that object. Seeing that, Asia immediately jumped back, because she did not know what she would do with that object.

"ASIA!"

The screams of her friends caused Edzard's wife to look in their directions and what she saw terrified her, as her friends began to be swallowed by dark portals, from which chains came out.

"Girls!" Asia shouted as she quickly thought of what to do to help her friends. Due to the desperation, she felt upon seeing her friends being kidnapped, she delayed invoking her own Shadowkey, which she used to try to conjure portals that would take her friends out of there, but it was too late, since when her portals appeared, her friends ended up being absorbed by the portals that contained the chains.

A dead silence appeared in the place, as the only people present were Asia and Walburga.

"It was a nice attempt, but you were very slow." Walburga commented mockingly.

The magician's mockery made Asia's anger only increase, so, turning around, she quickly spoke with palpable anger.

"Where are they?"

"What?" Walburga responded with another question in a mocking tone.

"Don't play with me you damn bitch! Where did you send my friends?!" Asia yelled for a second after she lunged at the mage to kill her with her sword.

Asia's speed was such that she covered the distance that separated her from Walburga in almost an instant. When she was less than three steps away from the magician, Asia swung her sword diagonally downward, to cut her in half. However, when she was one step away from the magician, Asia was forced to jump back, as her instincts told her that she was in danger.

The moment Asia stepped on the ground, in front of her, in the place where she had previously been, a huge column of purple flames emerged towards the sky, taking the shape of an enormous cross.

"Wow, lucky you, you managed to avoid my flames." Walburga said, keeping her smile on her face.

'My survival instincts activated against those flames…. Why? When I'm in my balance breaker, I'm literally immune to damage, but for some reason I feel like if those flames touch me, they might do some damage.' Asia thought as she looked at the purple flames, which did not have the same presence as the flames that emerged from a normal sacred gear.

"Wow, it seems that the information we have about you is true." Walburga said as she looked at Asia. "We know that, although you are an ex-nun, you are skilled in hand-to-hand combat and that your balance breaker can nullify damage from attacks received and that you can apply that power to your companions for a period of time, but now the question is …How long can you withstand your balance breaker against my balance breaker and the immense power of my flames?!"

After that shout, Walburga moved her hands and to Asia's surprise, small spheres of light emerged from the corpses of all those who had died previously. Those orbs of lightheaded towards the palm of Walburga's right hand, which had a small purple flame summoned.

'Those are... Their souls!' Asia thought with concern as she saw how the magician stole the souls of the dead so that they could be consumed in her sacred gear.

"Ha, ha, ha!" Walburga began to laugh madly the moment she saw how the souls of her subordinates and the failed experiments that had been done implanting Nirmnian blood in humans became fuel for her balance breaker. "Get ready, girl! Feel the power of my flames! Balance Breaker: Incinerate Antiphona Calvary!"

Following Walburga's shout, the flame in her hand grew and began to expand. Seeing that, Asia did not hesitate for a single second and extended her left hand, creating a ward to protect herself from her in case the attack was very strong.

Boom!

An explosion emerged from the magician's hand, thus creating an explosion of purple flames, which expanded in all directions like a tidal wave. The flames advanced without any containment, burning everything in their path.

"Argg…" Asia growled as the flames hit her ward, as the magical power of the flames was very high, almost as if it were a master level destruction spell. In fact, the force of the spell was such that she ended up being dragged several meters while she shielded herself from the attack, skidding and causing a groove to appear as she was dragged.

"Ha, ha, ha…! Beautiful, I love seeing your little face of effort when stopping the release of my balance breaker, but if you think that's it, I just must tell you that this is just the beginning!" Walburga shouted while she put on a happy face when she saw how Asia suffered to keep the flames under control.

Asia's forehead had beads of sweat, both from the heat and from the effort she was making to contain the sea of flames that Walburga's balance breaker generated when it was unleashed. Fortunately, the flames of the sacred gear were extinguished, allowing Asia to breathe for a moment. However, this respite was the prelude for the ex-nun to see Walburga's balance breaker.

"I-impossible…" Asia whispered in fear as she looked at the manifestation of Walburga's balance breaker.

In front of Asia's eyes stood more than fifty humanoid silhouettes, which did not have normal physical bodies, but were made with purple flames, which emitted a large amount of heat.

"Ha, ha, ha. Your face is... it's perfect, that expression of knowing that you're lost is perfect, Ahhh... just seeing you made me emotional. I can't wait to see his face when he knows that we have you and the rest of his lovers with his daughter... Ah, the helpless face he will make knowing that if he does anything we will kill them all, Ahhh… I can't wait to see it." Walburga said excitedly, whose cheeks were turning red from the excitement she felt when imagining the face of her true target.

"W-what do you mean?" Asia asked with some difficulty as she looked at the magician.

"Oh, that's right, you came believing that it was those idiots exorcists who had planned to kidnap your daughter, but the truth is that they were just fulfilling something for me."

"What?" Asia asked in complete shock at Walburga's revelation.

"That's easy, you see, everyone and when I say everyone, I mean all these exorcists, are under my influence, and have been for several months. So, they are puppets at my service, only they have believed that they have their free will, but that is not true."

Upon hearing that, anger was once again present on Asia's face, and she understood that this woman had been the cause of her daughter being kidnapped.

"Wow, it seems like you're angry, but I guess it's understandable, since you're seeing the person who was behind your daughter's kidnapping, for what? Well, I guess I could tell you. You see... the reason we kidnapped your daughter is... Ha! Did you really think I would tell you?! Don't be stupid, girl! I'll just tell you that we need them for something! Now my servants, attack!"

After that shout, the humanoid beings launched themselves against Asia, who upon seeing them immediately took an attack position and, carrying magic in her free hand, quickly charged at them.

The Dovahkiin's wife efficiently took advantage of the power provided by her balance breaker to quickly reach her enemies. When she had the first one in front of her, she quickly moved her sword, trying to cut him, but he dodged the attack by jumping back, but Asia did not end her attack there, no, but instead she moved her free hand and threw an ice spear towards another of her enemies.

The ice spear traveled quickly, but to Asia's surprise, the being protected itself using a magic circle.

'It seems like they can still use the abilities they had when they were in their previous bodies.' Asia thought as she used her sword to deflect several fireballs launched by her enemies.

Asia moved her sword at high speed, cutting every fireball she could, but not possessing the skill that her husband had, she could not against them all, although, fortunately, her balance breaker managed to repel the damage of the spells that hit her. However, as she finished protecting herself from the fireballs, her danger senses turned on, so, moving her left hand, she created a ward, which was hit by a sword made of purple fire.

The power of the impact generated a current of air that caused Asia to fly towards one of the walls, but thanks to the fact that any damage that hit her was nullified, she was able to maneuver enough to land on her feet.

"It seems that the information about that absolute defense was real." Walburga said as she frowned, as she did not expect Asia to come out with just a few dust marks from that attack.

'Walburga's sacred gear attacks are strong, plus I am surrounded by more than fifty enemies, all of whom are surrounded by those flames generated by her sacred gear. I'm really in a complicated situation. Although I can't eliminate them easily, they won't be able to eliminate me either, in the end everything will be determined by my stamina and Magicka, fortunately I have brought some potions just in case. Now what I must do is defeat her quickly to get Marie out of here and then proceed with the search for the girls.'

After those thoughts, Asia looked at her enemies and releasing a breath of air, she once again took an attacking stance.

A thin layer of sweat showed on Ingvild's face, who was standing with difficulty, as her body was full of wounds. Although she was injured, none of the wounds she had received were serious, but, on the contrary, they were superficial, but that does not mean that they were not painful.

'I have to get out of here, whatever is happening, this place is very strange.' the half-devil thought as she remembered what had happened to her a few moments ago.

When she was absorbed by the portal that had been generated by Walburga she suffered from temporary blindness, which when it faded made her realize that she was in another place, one that she did not recognize. Although, not only was the place unknown, but it was also strange in many ways, to begin with, the air was heavy and each step she took cost her a lot of effort, her body felt heavy and her magic reacted differently, Because although she put a lot of magical power into her spells, they did not have the same destructive power as before and to make matters worse, she was not alone.

When she realized that she had been transported to another place, she tried to contact her friends, but she couldn't and when she took a few steps, she heard footsteps approaching her. When she looked towards that place, she saw with total astonishment how in front of her there was a man, who was dressed in exorcist clothes, but with the peculiarity that his face was covered by a mask. The moment she saw him, she tried to ask him where they were, but he did not respond verbally, instead he lunged at her and using a sword of artificial light, he began to attack her.

The moment he began his attack, she began to counterattack using magic, but her attacks were in vain, as her spells were greatly weakened, but not only that, but that man was moving normally around the place, almost as if the environment did not affect him. It was thanks to her strange environment that she was hit by several attacks from her enemy, but it was thanks to those attacks that she realized that he was not trying to kill her, but rather to hurt her.

'This is beyond strange. Why attack me and not kill me? He has had more than five occasions to kill me, but he has not done it. The wounds he has given me will only prevent me from moving... damn, he's not trying to kill me because he's trying to capture me!' Ingvild thought with concern. Although it seemed like she had discovered the enemy's intention, she still didn't know the reason, but whatever it was, she didn't want to know. So, knowing that, if she didn't fight hard, she would be captured, she decided to put more force into her attacks, since she didn't want to know why he wanted to capture her.

"Take this!" Ingvild shouted as she gathered a large amount of demonic power, and then conjured a magic circle, from which a huge water dragon was created.

The water dragon roared loudly and with the mental order of its creator, it launched itself against the exorcist. The dragon moved at high speed, but before it reached where its enemy was, the exorcist began to move and running, acrobatically dodged the attack of the water dragon, which passed over the exorcist.

When the exorcist finished dodging the dragon, he looked ahead and saw how Ingvild was running towards him, to engage in hand-to-hand combat in an improvised surprise attack.

'My magic is weakened in this place, so the best thing is to fight melee and while I do it, use my magic as support to defeat him.' Ingvild thought as she tightened her grip on her staff.

When both enemies were about to meet, Ingvild moved her hand and conjuring six magical circles, caused several torrents of flames to be directed towards the exorcist, who, upon seeing them, began to dodge them. Although he was fast, he couldn't dodge all of them, causing one of his limbs to suffer a couple of second-degree burns, but even so, he didn't stop, but continued running.

Ingvild's eyes remained fixed on the exorcist, and she was not very surprised when she saw that he had a large amount of resistance to pain, but not only that, because although her spells were weakened, but the torrents of flames were also powerful enough to cause more severe burns, which indicated that he had some resistance to magic.

When the two were face to face, the exorcist swung his sword, launching a vertical slash, which was dodged by Ingvild, who moved slightly to the side. After dodging, quickly counterattack by swinging her staff and launching a horizontal blow. The exorcist ducked to avoid the attack, and as he did so he moved his right leg, hitting Ingvild's supporting leg, trying to make her fall. Fortunately, she didn't fall to the ground, because as she fell, she put out her hand and did a backflip and while she was doing that, she ended up hitting the exorcist on the chin.

The exorcist took a few steps back after receiving the blow, but a second later he returned to the charge. Unlike the previous time, Ingvild was surprised by the speed of the attack, because this time the exorcist was faster, so, not having time to defend herself with her staff, she conjured a magic circle, from which she planned to use a spell of wind to send the exorcist flying, but unfortunately for her, she was not fast enough, which caused the exorcist to hit her directly in the pit of her stomach.

"Buagg…" Ingvild expelled some saliva the moment the blow connected with her body, causing her to stagger a few steps. However, even though that blow caused her to lose her breath, she did not have time to catch her breath, as the exorcist began to attack her again.

The exorcist launched a horizontal slash, which was blocked by Ingvild's staff, who upon stopping the attack, quickly moved the lower part of her staff, hitting the exorcist on the chin again, disorienting him for an instant. She used that instant to conjure a magic circle and launch a fireball at point-blank range at the exorcist.

Boom!

The explosion generated by Ingvild's attack caused the exorcist to emerge with a few wounds, but that did not stop him, because after moving his head a little, he quickly launched himself at her again. Ingvild, who had jumped back after using her spell, to gain distance, saw the exorcist arrive and without thinking twice she conjured several magic circles to cast several spells, which began to generate several explosions around the place. However, despite the large number of spells, the exorcist would dodge or cut them, thus showing a great amount of combat skill.

'Damn, he's stronger than I expected.' Ingvild thought as she was forced to defend herself from several attacks from the exorcist's sword, which was attacking her with great speed, almost completely overwhelming her. Her staff moved from side to side, up and down, trying to keep up with the flurries of enemy attacks, but she couldn't take it anymore and her body was proof of that. This was because, with each new injury to her, her body began to feel heavier, and her senses dulled.

"Hah…hah…" Ingvild breathed heavily as she felt her body go numb from the number of wounds made with an artificial light weapon. She knew that her defeat was within reach of her enemy, but not wanting to fall alone, she tried to take a step forward to face him again; However, the moment she took the step, her body fell to the ground, victim of exhaustion.

The last member of the Leviathan clan looked up and watched helplessly as the exorcist approached her. When the exorcist reached her side, she saw how he lifted his leg and when he lowered it, she felt a little pain before her vision went dark.

The group formed by the ORC along with Marie and Kunou ran through the corridors of the dungeons of the enemy fortress. They had already left behind the floor where they had found Marie, being on a completely new one. Everyone had worried faces, because they had felt the explosion from before, which was so strong that it had caused them to stagger a little. Fortunately, no one had been injured.

"We are already searching another floor and we still haven't been able to find them." Rias said as she ran down the hallway.

"It seems they are not in this base." commented Akeno, whose expression was riddled with worry, as she knew Issei wouldn't take this very well.

"That leaves the other bases. Buchou, have you been able to communicate with Asia-san?" asked Ravel, who was a few meters away from Rias.

"No, it seems that not only is it impossible to teleport from this place to the outside, or from the outside to this place, but there is also a spell that prevents communications by magic. Also, we cannot communicate by normal phones because there is no coverage in this place."

"I see, then we have to hurry up and find Asia and the rest of her group to report everything." Irina commented as she glanced at Xenovia, who was surrounded by a very strange aura, because it was almost as if she was enjoying carrying Marie. "Hey, Xenovia. Don't you think you're really enjoying holding Edzard-san's daughter?"

The reincarnated angel's question caused the former exorcist to look at her. The devil's face showed a slight sign of annoyance at being taken away from her happy world.

"That's none of your concern, Irina." Xenovia snapped, causing her friend to raise an eyebrow, and then let out a sigh, as she understood why her old friend was reacting that way.

"It is, you shouldn't imagine that Marie-chan is your daughter." Irina commented, causing everyone who was with them to look in their direction.

Noticing everyone looking at them, Xenovia asked. "What?"

"Nothing, just… How do we tell you…?" commented Kiba, who was visibly upset by what he had heard.

"We don't want you to get us into trouble with Asia-san, I don't want to receive an uncontained version of that attack she used on Rias-sama in that rating game." Ravel commented, who felt a chill run through her body as she remembered the attack that Rias and the rest of the kings suffered in their battle against Asia. The young devil knew how the battle went thanks to the fact that the battles had been uploaded to Deviltube in several Ratings games analysis programs, both by professional and amateur analysts.

The mere mention of that attack made everyone feel uncomfortable, because they knew that the damage that attack generated was no small feat.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on stealing her." Xenovia replied calmly as she watched Marie rest. "It's just that I can't help but imagine what I would be like as a mother when I manage to make Edzard give me a child."

Xenovia's response caused everyone to stumble, but fortunately no one fell to the ground, they only staggered a little before regaining their balance and continuing to run.

"How can you think Ed would agree to something like that?!" shouted Issei, who looked at Xenovia in amazement while inside he cried tears of blood when he saw that his friend had another girl who wanted to do dirty things with him. Receiving confirmation that his friend attracted women like honey to bees made the Sekiryuutei forget for a moment that his parents were kidnapped. 'Damn Ed, not only are you married, but you also attract several women who only want to do it with you. What's Next? Make Leviathan-sama want to have a child with you?'

Issei's question caused everyone, except Xenovia, to nod, knowing that Edzard was not the kind of man to sleep with women other than those who his romantic partners were.

"Issei-san is right, Xenovia-san." Kunou commented, drawing everyone's attention, especially Xenovia. Kunou's words were since, despite her mother being engaged to Edzard, he had made no attempt to even flirt with her.

"Oh really? "That's strange… I told him and he didn't completely reject me." Xenovia responded, not knowing the repercussions of what she had just said.

"What?!"

The surprise caused by Xenovia's words was so great that everyone, except the one who spoke, ended up falling face-first to the ground, stopping the group's progress.

When everyone got up, they surrounded Xenovia and began to ask her how she could ask that of Edzard. The most vocal about the questions was Kunou, who by technicality was Edzard's "daughter." Therefore, she felt that it was her duty to question this woman to find out what her "father" had answered.

The former exorcist's answers made everyone realize that Edzard had rejected giving Xenovia children, but Xenovia didn't seem to understand.

'What incredible willpower and ability to not give up.' Kiba thought as he looked at Xenovia with an awkward smile on his face.

"Xenovia, I don't know how to tell you this, but-"

"Shhhh..." Koneko interrupted Irina, causing everyone to look at her.

"Ko-"

"Speak slowly. I hear footsteps approaching." whispered Koneko, who had silenced her king, who looked at her in complete shock, since she did not usually behave that way.

"H-how many people are there, Koneko-chan?" Gasper asked as he approached Koneko.

"By the sound of it there are eight-"

"No, there are ten." Kunou responded, interrupting Koneko, causing everyone to look at her.

"What do you mean, Kunou-chan?" Issei asked as he approached the little Kitsune.

"You can hear eight footsteps, but there are ten smells…" Kunou's voice became softer as she mentioned the smells of the people approaching.

"Kunou-chan?" Ravel asked as they approached the kitsune.

"Two of the smells belong to Issei-san's parents."

Kunou's response caused everyone to look at her, as they were not expecting that.

"Koneko?" Rias asked as she looked at her tower, while she waited for confirmation from her. The first response she got to her question was silence, but then the nekoshou spoke.

"The Kitsunes' sense of smell is more powerful than the nekomata's, but I just smelled them too. It seems that they are being transported, since the number of footsteps I hear are not congruent with the size of the group."

Koneko's confirmation made everyone a little anxious, especially Issei, who almost ran towards the place where the smells were coming from, but the Sekiryuutei couldn't move, because everyone told him that it was best to wait, since that they would pass through this place. Furthermore, they didn't know how they would react if they went and attacked them, just like that, so to prevent Issei's parents from suffering any kind of harm it was best to ambush them in this place. For that reason, everyone had gotten into position, Rias, Issei, Xenovia and Kiba on one side. Meanwhile, Akeno, Koneko, Irina, and Ravel on the other side. Kunou was carrying Marie while next to them was Gasper, who was prepared to use his sacred gear to stop those who arrived through the corridor.

"Hurry up, we have to make sure the little monster is okay, otherwise we will lose our best card to control them!" shouted the voice of one of those who was approaching.

"We know, stop yelling like an idiot, Marcus!"

"Shut the fuck up, you don't know what it cost me to get into that damn church to let everything planned go to shit now!"

"Aghh! Why the hell do we have to go for her? I don't think she ran away."

"It doesn't matter if she hasn't escaped, we have to make sure she's alive, if she's dead, we're screwed."

"But why are you worried now? Aren't we supposed to kill her at the end of it?"

The conversation that came was not very easy to hear for many of the devils, but that was not the case for Kunou and Koneko, who heard everything clearly. Although the nekomata was upset by what she had heard, she maintained a calm face, something that the kitsune did not show, as she had a frown on her face and her canines exposed as she growled in a threatening manner.

"K-K-Kunou-chan… Calm down, please." Gasper asked with some fear, because the face the kitsune was making was one of very few friends.

"Grrrr…." The young kitsune growled in response, not being in the mood to respond to the Dhampir, but knowing that he was right, she decided not to growl anymore.

After that growl, the place was left in a tense silence, which was broken by the sound of approaching footsteps. The footsteps belonged to the group of eight exorcists who had smelled and heard the two youkais of the group. The exorcists wore the typical exorcist clothing with masks, except for one, who did not wear a mask, and that was Marcus. The group of exorcists walked in an arrow formation, with Marcus at the head and at the end, being carried by two exorcists, were Issei's parents.

When everyone saw the exorcists begin to enter the hallway where they were gathered, they began to prepare to execute their plan.

"They already entered." Rias whispered as she stayed hidden in the rubble they had subtly placed to hide.

"Okay, I'll give the signal to Gasper." Xenovia whispered as she moved her right hand and subtly threw a piece of debris in such a way that it collided with the walls three times, causing a sharp sound which seemed like the sound of small debris falling, but with the peculiarity that this fragment hit close to the walls where Gasper was.

"They are already here." Kunou said upon hearing the sound they had agreed upon as the signal.

"W-w-well…" Gasper said as he began to separate himself from Kunou as quietly as he could. When he was ready, he took a breath to calm himself, while he mentally told himself that this was what men did. The first step that the young Dhampir took was clumsy, the second the same, the third not so much and so on until he finally began to walk with more confidence. When he stopped, he was in front of the exorcists, who upon seeing him stopped abruptly.

"Who's that Girl? Is she a prisoner?"

"I don't know, remember that we had quite a few people locked up, but many died with the experiments of that project that our magician allies are so obsessed with."

"Well, that doesn't matter, let's take them to the others. Besides, she's pretty, maybe she can serve as entertainment later along with the girls Walburga-sama is about to capture."

After the words of that "exorcist", he and five others, except Marcus and those carrying Issei's parents, began to walk towards Gasper, trying to capture him. And while they did that, Marcus looked at the Dhampir with curiosity, because his face became familiar to him. Finally, his eyes widened in shock when he recognized him.

"Assholes, it's a trap!" Marcus shouted as he jumped and hid behind a piece of debris.

"What?" said one of the "exorcists", only for him to realize a second later that he couldn't move. "W-w-w-what's going on?!"

"Now!" Rias shouted as she and the rest of her peerage and friends came out of their hideout.

The "exorcists" eyes widened as they saw the devils emerge from the rubble. The first to move were Kiba and Xenovia, who, using their speed, pierced the "exorcists" who were holding Issei's parents with their swords. When they fell dead, both devils took the two humans and left there.

The rest of the enemies were defeated by attacks from Irina, Koneko, Ravel, Rias, and Akeno, who left Marcus alone, who was supposed to be behind a piece of debris protecting himself from Gasper's sacred gear.

When the enemies were downed, everyone quickly formed a protective circle around Issei's parents and Kunou with Marie.

"How are they?" Issei asked with concern when he saw his parents, who were lying on the ground.

"They seem to be fine. They're just unconscious." Answered Ravel, who had approached Issei's parents to check them, taking their pulse and checking if they had any injuries. Fortunately, there were no visible injuries, and their pulse was stable and constant.

"Okay… Now, why don't you come out of hiding?"

Rias's voice, which resonated with confidence and authority, was directed at Marcus. The reason for the high-class devil's trust was simple, she had all of her friends with her, while the exorcist was alone.

To everyone's surprise, the exorcist responded in a mocking manner. "And who says I'm hiding."

The man's words were followed by a shadow, which suddenly impacted the middle of those present, more precisely where Issei's parents were along with Marie.

BOOOOM!

A large explosion occurred, causing those who were in the formation to have to get out of there. Although, not only that happened, but also the bodies of Issei's parents were sent flying.

"Tou-san! "Kaa-san!" Issei shouted as he saw his parents fly away.

Despite the cloud of dust that was raised by the impact, Kiba and Irina could see the direction where both bodies were going, so, leaning on the ground, they made great jumps and ended up catching their friend's parents. While that was something to celebrate, what they saw when the dust cloud settled chilled everyone's blood.

"Uggg…" was the growl that came out of Kunou's mouth, being the only sound she could make as she felt her breathing becoming shorter little by little, as she was being suffocated by Marcus.

The "exorcist" had his hand on Kunou's thin neck, applying the necessary force so that the little Kitsune had trouble breathing, but leaving her with the necessary air so that she did not faint. Furthermore, in the other hand, he also had Marie, who was being held by the neck of her dress, hanging as if she were from a market sack.

"I recommend that you do not move, unless you want the daughter of the Kitsune of Kyoto to die." Marcus said in an icy voice as he tightened his grip on his hand a little, causing the little kitsune to move her legs and arms desperately, as she couldn't breathe.

"Fucking! Why are you doing this?!" Issei shouted as he summoned his sacred gear and prepared to attack him, but he stood still when Marcus tightened his grip on Kunou's throat again.

"It seems like you guys don't understand, I'm not going to mince words, if you move a single centimeter, the brat dies." Marcus said as he began to take steps back. However, as he tried to escape, he heard something that surprised him.

"You smell strange." Koneko said, causing Marcus to stop in his tracks. Seeing her enemy stop, she subtly moved her hand, motioning for Kiba, Xenovia, and Issei, who were the fastest of her group, to move.

"Your smell is like Edzard-sama…. but at the same time, it's different, you smell like something dead…" commented Koneko, who saw how Marcus frowned.

Without any of them knowing what was happening, the man named Marcus was not a normal human, no, he was not a servant of Walburga either, but he was a servant of Mannimarco, who was under the identity of Euclid, but not only that, since it was also considered the first success and at the same time a failure in the H.M.B.A project, whose name was the "Human Modified with Blood of Aurbis" project and just as it sounds, this project was designed to create artificial hybrids, placing in them the blood of beings mortals of Aurbis. This project had been started by Mannimarco a few months ago, after capturing one of the many hybrid vampires that Molag Bal and one of Mehrunes Dagon's special warriors had created, whom he used as research subjects to see how these Daedric princes infused their power into them. He was considered a success for being the first to survive and maintain sanity after the process, but he was also a failure because even though he had more strength and endurance than a normal human, he did not have the reserves of Magicka that were expected in hybrids of humans and the race that was the donor of the DNA used in him.

Those words made the modified human shocked for a second, which was taken advantage of by Kiba and Xenovia, who moved quickly towards Marcus, but not only they moved, but Issei did too, but the moment he charged, his sacred gear increased his power.

Issei's sudden increase in power made Marcus come to his senses, as he could feel it, and thanks to the abilities he had gained from having Nirmnian blood running through his veins, he managed to see the three devils running towards him. Thanks to being faster, Kiba and Xenovia reached Marcus quickly and when they had him in front of them, they quickly moved their weapons, which they had summoned while running, so that they could cut off both of his arms. However, when the blades of both swords began to approach the "exorcist's" arms, he quickly crossed them over his chest, thus placing Marie and Kunou as meat shields.

When both devils saw the two hostages being used as meat shields, they were forced to deflect their attacks, causing them to be left in a bad position. That opening was used by Marcus, who, quickly moving his legs, kicked Kiba in the chest, then turned one hundred and eighty degrees and kicked Xenovia in the entire back.

The force of the blows caused the devils to fly several meters and each one ended up hitting a wall.

"Kiba! Xenovia!" Issei shouted as he ran at Marcus. Gritting his teeth in anger, the Sekiryuutei prepared to throw a punch at Marcus in the face, but he again used the same tactic as before, so Issei was forced to stop abruptly to avoid harming the two girls.

"Ha, ha, ha." Marcus laughed amusedly when he saw that Issei had stopped abruptly so as not to harm his hostages, so, taking advantage of the opportunity, he moved both girls and gave Issei a powerful headbutt across the face, causing him to fall on his back while his nose bled.

"Ise!" Rias shouted as she saw her love interest get hit like that. Showing a face of absolute rage, as she not only saw her beloved pawn being beaten, but also saw her two knights being beaten, she conjured the power of destruction and was about to shoot Marcus a ball of demonic power the size of a beach ball, but he did the same as before and when Rias saw the two little girls, she stopped short.

"Ha, ha… it seems like you guys can't do anything. But not only that, but you dared to disobey me, so I think I'll kill the kitsune, after all, we don't need her for our plans." Marcus said with a macabre smile on his face as he began to suffocate the little Kitsune, who began to move her legs and hands desperately. The little girl managed to put her hands on Marcus's arm, but she couldn't do anything else, because she felt that her lungs were short of air, which prevented her from having the necessary strength to free herself from him.

"Kunou-chan!" everyone shouted together, including Kiba, Xenovia and Issei, who stood up and saw what was happening.

"You, fucking bastard!" Issei shouted as he got up and tried to charge at him, but when he did, he saw how Marcus put Marie as a human shield. Seeing that, the devil felt his hands were tied again, because if he attacked, they could lose both Marie and Kunou, but if he did nothing, Yasaka's daughter would die.

'I-I can't b-breathe... Hahaue... help me...' Kunou thought in panic as she felt her mind fading. Feeling great despair over her more than certain death, the little girl began to shed tears of helplessness and fear, and while she did so, her mind, in a desperate effort, made a last plea to a person whom she never met. 'Chichiue... Save me...'

"Ha, ha, ha! I wonder what will happen first! Will she died of suffocation, or will I end up breaking her neck?!" Marcus shouted with joy as he watched his enemies writhe in anger and helplessness at not being able to attack him. "Ha, ha! Now you will see that you should never-"

The devils and Irina watched in amazement as Marcus began to be slowly lifted from the ground. The "exorcist's" face began to turn blue, causing him to release his hostages.

"Kunou-chan! / Marie-chan!" was the collective cry of everyone as they saw how both girls fell to the ground, but at that moment they saw something that completely surprised them, because a golden sphere appeared above Marcus, which made Marie and Kunou float, thus avoiding hitting the ground.

Those present looked at this in surprise, without understanding what was happening, but a second later, they saw a kind of dome of shadow disintegrate behind Marcus, from which they heard a voice that left them completely frozen. This was because said voice contained a palpable amount of malice and anger, which sent chills through their bodies.

"It seems like you've been treating my daughters kindly… So, I'm going to return the favor…"

Author's note:

To those who have made it this far, Thanks for reading. Because being honest, I don't know how to write much in English and I'm relying on Google translators and the dictionaries that come with office 2019.

And here is chapter 62…. And the first thing to say is that this chapter was difficult for me to write, since I have been super short of time, that is why it took me 3 weeks to write it and leave it decent (By my standards). XD

Well, leaving that aside, we see that things have heated up... we have artificial hybrids, in future chapters I will explain how these types are created, we also see that all this was planned by Walburga... or at least that's what she believes, but Marcus seems to indicate that it is not like that XD.

We also have the arrival of the Dovahkiin, so in the next chapter we will see a massacre in all words...

Well, I apologize for any misspelling. Do not forget to leave a review if you liked the chapter or if there is something that needs to be improved or if you have any questions about the story. Also, any constructive advice is welcome. With nothing more to say, until the next chapter.