¡Here I come with a new chapter!

As there is no review, let's go straight to the chapter.

¡Enjoy!

The peaceful night was accentuated in every street, every neighborhood and home in Grigori. There was not a single sound, everyone was resting to do their respective tasks the next day. The few who were awake patrolled the place making as little noise as possible so as not to disturb that sleep.

And in the end, they were not the ones to blame for the night's peace to disappear.

"¡GET BA-!"

Issei woke up with a loud scream that was silenced on its last stretch when his head hit the metal support that held the upper bed.

Just as he got up, Issei fell back onto the bed, his scream had turned into a whimper of pain and discomfort before he even realized it.

But, Raynare's voice was heard before he could do anything else.

"Fuck, that sure was a big hit." The Fallen Angel's tone made her need to annoy quite clear, something that made Issei squint.

"I was going to apologize for waking you up, but I think I'd rather keep it to myself." The brown man stated as he rubbed his forehead painfully.

"You don't need to apologize. I can't sleep anyway." She replied with a bored expression on her face.

"¿Are you nervous about tomorrow?" Issei sat up in bed and looked up, as if he was actually able to see her.

"Not really. I'm anxious, but that's not why." Raynare couldn't help but lower her head a little after saying those words. "And it really sucks..." She concluded, a slight sigh escaping her lips.

Raynare leaned back on her bed once more, but soon she heard some movements that made her turn her head. There was Issei, resting his arms and head on the edge of her bed.

"¿Is it about today?" Issei clearly alluded to her mother, to which Raynare shook her head.

"It's not. It's something more personal, and I prefer to keep it to myself. But thank you for worrying about it." She culminated with a cute, genuine smile.

"Hmmm..." Issei murmured without taking his eyes off her. "If you say so, I guess it's okay." He concluded with a slight smile, to which Raynare responded with a nod.

Issei made to go back to his bed, but before he could leave Raynare grabbed his hand, something that surprised him a little.

"We're going to make it." The Fallen Angel commented with conviction as she used both of her hands to take Issei's with utmost affection, as if to protect him.

"Yeah, take it for granted." Issei's surprise was replaced by a smile, to which she replied in kind.

It was still a bit odd for her to see how such a cute and genuine smile could come out of Raynare, being that before she almost always smiled with hidden intentions, how she did it when she wanted to tease him a bit, or when she felt the need to make him believe that everything was fine.

That's why it was partly a relief to notice that she now looked so...

Real.

There was no other way to describe that feeling.

So all he could do was enjoy that smile without her knowing.

Though Raynare seemed to realize he was admiring her too much, as she tapped his forehead lightly to wake him up.

"Now go to sleep, I don't want you complaining again about not being able to shower." She commented with a mocking tone, to which Issei could only snort in annoyance.

"¡It's not my fault women take 40 minutes to take a damn shower!" The brown man exclaimed as he walked down the stairs, to which Raynare scoffed.

"I only listen excuses."

"Yeah, whatever you say..." Issei dropped his head back onto his pillow with some force.

Suddenly, that tired look changed to a serious one.

"I'm still dreaming of that moment..." Issei's frown deepened as the image of his most recent dream flashed through his head.

In that image, Raynare was pressing her lips to his.

Issei began to rub his temple in an attempt to relax.

He didn't need to know what those dreams meant.

He knew all too well.

But he refused to accept it.

If he accepted it, then he would be forgiving her.

He would be pretending nothing happened.

It would be as if she had never killed him.

It would be as if she had never betrayed him.

That's probably what hurt him the most.

It hurt that he still loved her in spite of everything.

Unbeknownst to him, Raynare was staring at the ceiling as she rubbed her hands together slowly, the feeling of Issei's skin still lingering on her.

Apparently, Issei wasn't the only one who had woken up with a nightmare, and most likely those disturbed dreams had been much more similar than the two of them could ever believe.

But they both knew that their minds shouldn't be focused on love drama at that moment.

This was the time to support each other, no matter what tortuous and deviant past they had in common.

CHAPTER 14 (PART 1): SHOCK OF REALITY _

Raindrops pounded on the glass mercilessly as Vali watched from inside, his hands were in his pockets while a somewhat distant look gave him away.

"¿What are you thinking about?" Bikou came to his side, to which Vali only managed to glance sideways at him.

"It's about Hyoudou. Well, I'd rather say it's that spear." The albino's comment caught Bikou's interest.

"¿What's up with the spear?" Bikou asked rather interested in the conversation.

"As the training progressed, I could tell that he made great progress with the Boosted Gear. But it's different with the spear, as he's only been able to master the most basic attacks but didn't show much improvement beyond that." Vali clarified, his eyes averted to look at him, and his companion looked quite astonished after his words.

"¿Is that so? I thought he did pretty well." A rather confused Bikou asked.

"It wasn't if we take into account what that spear means." Vali replied simply, to which Bikou only managed to grab his chin.

"Hum, now that's strange..." Bikou remarked, only to then sneer. "That's the first time I've seen you so focused on evaluating a person's possible potential, ¿are you afraid?" Vali scoffed with a snort after his comment.

"Of course I'm not. I'm just saying that I found it rather strange." Vali replied, his gaze settling on his companion more avidly.

"I wouldn't put too much stock in that. It's as strange a weapon as it is mystical. Most likely only Issei and that Dulio guy must know how it works. Well, Issei's still at it." Bikou instantly corrected himself after noticing that for sure Issei knew the same thing they did, which is to say, nothing.

"I must admit that's a good point." Vali nodded, only to sketch a faint smile. "I'm surprised that something logical would come from you."

"That's right- wait, ¿¡what!?" Bikou's indignation soon followed after realizing the insult. "¡You're not the one to talk about logical things!" The man pointed at him incriminatingly, to which Vali could only close his eyes and smile.

"I guess you're right..." Vali turned his gaze back to the rain, to which Bikou was quick to join him.

"It's been two days since our farewell. They must have started the mission, ¿right?"

"They sure have."

"It was kind of complicated to begin with..." Bikou clicked his tongue in concern. "¿Do you think they'll be okay?" Vali couldn't help but chuckle a little at the question.

"Knowing them, they sure are scared to death."

"¡AAAAACCCCHHHHHUUUUU!" Alan sneezed in an exaggerated manner as he rolled around on a couch. "Dude, ¡IT CAN'T BE THAT HOOOOOOOT!" The Argentine complained as he had four fans pointed at his body.

"Shut up, I'm in lanked for plomotion to challengel." Yung Len ordered him without taking his eyes off the screen.

"¿You're already about to reach challenger in just two days? Now that's worthy of a Korean." Alan commented, to which Yung Len gave him a sidelong glance.

"I'm not... ah, yes." The Korean blinked in utter confusion as he noticed that for the first time Alan had not mistaken him for Chinese.

"¡Don't put that much water in it, you'll ruin everything!" Raynare using her Yuuma aspect slammed a frying pan on Issei's head, who started rolling on the floor while holding his head.

"Guys..." Rick looked from side to side, his strained smile more than evident. "¿Am I the only one who's worried?" Thought the man, who was standing in the middle of the small apartment.

That's where they were staying in this short stay in Colombia. The place was so small that it only had three rooms, and one of them was the bathroom, so they were inevitably taking turns sleeping on the couches.

But, by the looks of it, the accommodations were going to be shorter even than they thought.

Rick suddenly became serious, and the others followed soon after.

It only took a second for a smoke bomb to shatter the only window in the room, to which everyone was startled. Violet smoke began to emerge from the object, causing everyone to cover their faces.

"This isn't smoke." They all thought at the same time.

"Still, Kuroka's poison was much stronger." Issei concluded in his mind, to which he soon faked his loss of consciousness.

The others soon followed suit. The only one who added to the drama was Alan, who tried to flee towards the door, but ended up falling unconscious.

Only a few seconds passed before a hooded woman forced the doorknob open. It was noticeable that she was of the female gender due to the fact that no tunic would be able to cover such a voluptuous body.

"I managed to catch all four of them." The woman communicated through a magic circle, then crouched down in front of Alan.

"Perfect, make sure they don't die from the poison." A male voice echoed from the other side.

"Don't worry. Apparently they have a good resistance, since their bodies haven't changed color." Clarified the woman, to which she narrowed her eyes. "It's the first time something like this has happened..."

"We didn't use it many times before either. Bring them at once." Clarified the man's voice, to which the woman nodded.

"Okay, but I'll make sure they sleep for a while longer." Issei opened one of his eyes after hearing that.

The woman had thrown another four gas grenades, to which they all slowly began to get dizzy, until they finally fell unconscious.

_ LINE JUMP _

Unknown location...

He didn't know how much time had passed, it was impossible for him to know. So even knowing where he was was even more complicated.

That's what his disoriented eyes expressed as Issei looked from side to side, his blurry vision slowly becoming sharper and sharper.

The first thing he distinguished was the color white.

Everything was bloody white.

Even those blurry figures moving.

¿Figures?

Issei quickly got up from the ground and activated his gauntlet. The ring on his left hand glowed and from it emerged his spear, which he was quick to catch in his hand.

His hostile posture quickly changed as he noticed these people wandering back and forth with no apparent objective. Some of them were eating at some tables, but without a doubt each of these white-clad subjects had a dead look on their faces, as if they only lived by pure instinct, something that earned a great chill in Issei.

The brown-haired man tried to move forward to observe the panorama better, but it was a bit complicated to do so in such a crowd.

There were everything from the elderly to children, something that was disturbing.

"¿What the hell is wrong with these people?" The brown-haired man thought as he bumped shoulders with one of them.

Some of those subjects were looking at him with some intrigue due to his colorful clothing, but it only lasted for a second.

In the end, Issei managed to reach a place that was not too crowded with people, and suddenly he felt a huge sense of discomfort surround his body as he looked from one side to the other.

The ceiling was so high it was dizzying, everything was white, even the bland food was white. And as if that wasn't enough, there were more than a hundred people walking around in that place, aimlessly.

"¿What is this? ¿A prison?" Issei asked himself as he felt his body suffer a great shock from the desolate landscape he found himself in.

He had not yet become accustomed to the place, but distinguishing a black, red and blue color among a colorless world caught his attention.

There stood Raynare, Yung Len and Rick, who seemed to be looking for him.

Once their gazes met, the three ran to meet in the center of that unfamiliar place.

"¡I'm glad you guys are okay!" Issei exclaimed with a happy smile, to which Raynare and Yung Len replied with the same enthusiasm.

"Same here, ¿do you know what this place is?" Raynare asked, the serious look soon returning to her.

"I have no idea, but I already tried to create a magic circle several times and no case." Issei answered with the same seriousness.

"We ale in the enemy's lail. For sule it has a stlong baliel pleventing escape." Explained Yung Len. "By the way, ¿has anyone heald from Alan?" The question caused Rick to frown.

"Actually, when I woke up I could see him. You won't like the answer." This caused the three of them to look at each other with clear unease.

_ END OF CHAPTER! _

Actually the idea was to make it longer, but I had to cut it here due to lack of time. Most probably tomorrow or the day after you will have the next chapter, although more than another chapter it would be the continuation of this one.

I'm really sorry about this, but I have no other choice. Lately I'm having very little free time and my mind is a bit blocked by a lot of shit I've been dragging for a month now, so it's a bit hard for me to keep up with this rhythm of updates. But I trust it's momentary and better times will come in the near future, so I ask for your patience.

Don't worry, I am not forcing myself to write. In fact, on many occasions this helps me to clear my head. The problem lies in the fact that feelings sometimes play against me and that blocks me because they don't let me concentrate.

As I said, it's complicated, but don't worry. I am sure I will get through this, mainly because there are many people who support me, and my family is always there.

In part, I think these experiences will also help me deepen my stories once I get over them.

Anyway, I think I'm getting a little melancholic hahaha.

Hope to see you in a day or two at the latest.

¡See you soon!