Ride 15: Re:Veal

19th of April, 2019 AD

The Stray Exorcists deployed to guard the perimeter around their hidden base bordering between Chichibu and Minano had already fanned out throughout the plateau where it was stationed at.

Even though all of them were hardened through years of unauthorized Devil-killing, none of them were exactly happy of being dragged out of their beds late into the night.

"Fuck..." one Stray Exorcist armed with an MP5K slung over his right shoulder groaned before he yawned. "... Just what in God's name confounds our leaders to bring all of us out this late?"

"Vigilance, Brother," a nun armed with a SPAS-12 chastised, also admittedly a bit drowsy herself, but nevertheless, setting a good example for her inferiors. "Just because our enclave is out of plain sight doesn't mean we have the privilege to dawdle."

"I know, I know, but sheesh..." The Priest with the submachine gun then let out a yawn before looking up to the night sky. "... In hindsight, Sister, I'm starting to wonder if what we're doing is the right thing. I mean, sure, given what kind of shit I pulled in the halls of the Vatican of all places, there wasn't anywhere else I could run to but with you guys, but there are those times where I can't help but wonder... where in my life have I gone wrong if the number of sleepless nights start surpassing those nights were I could sleep without worry?"

The nun sighs before slugging her shotgun over her shoulder. "... We all do," she answered. "But at the least, I will be there to share your burden. Know that you have your fellow Brothers and Sisters to lean on if you exhaust or doubt yourself."

"Even Brother Superior Freed?" the younger priest replied, causing the nun to look aside in hesitation.

"... Let's not get too hasty, Brother."

But just as he was about to press her for clarification, he then spots something from the corner of his eye.

"Ooh! A shooting star!" he enthusiastically remarked as he pointed up. "I'm gonna go make a wish! Haven't done that while I was still training at the abbey at Liguria!"

The older nun rolled her eyes as her junior then indulged in his childish fantasies.

"Starlight, star bright, shine upon this night...!" he prayed with a hint of renewed childish innocence. "I wish that one of these nights, that I may sleep without worry-!"

*KABOOM!*

The "shooting star" lands directly on the priest, scattering his limbs and viscera in all directions as the nun watching him was sent flying across the earth.

"Wish granted."

The nun then wastes no time running towards the crash site and pointing her shotgun forward, only for an armored hand to grab her mouth before lifting the nun off of the ground, causing her to drop her weapon from the sudden activation of her gag reflex.

"Shh..."

Then the smoke begins to clear, revealing Takeshi in his [Dead Shore Advent] form, his red eyes glowing like a pair of hellish embers of pure evil towards the silenced nun.

"Let them come."

*CRACK*

Out of sheer spite, Takeshi then crushes her jaw and the rest of her mouth in his hand before dropping her, causing her to gargle in her own blood as she flailed on the ground in agony, unable to even scream in pain as the Evil Dragon User walks towards the stairs leading up towards their base.

... I... I have to warn them-!

*BANG*

From one of Nidhogg's ashen tendrils held her own SPAS-12, the tip of its barrel smoking as it discharges a 12 gauge buckshot directly into her head before emptying it by firing it into the air.

Now Playing: "DIVE INTO THE MIRROR" by defspiral (from Kamen Rider Dragon Knight Japanese dub)

The shotgun blasts had now alerted everyone guarding the base's perimeters, causing them to all rush towards where the gunfire had rung from. Upon reaching the lower half of the stairwell, all of the Stray Exorcists freeze upon sensing the pure fury radiating from the Devil himself.

"... E-ENEMY ATTACK!" one of them cried out. "IT'S THE EVIL DRAGON USER-!"

*SCHWUCK*

[Mayhem Striker] was thrown into his head before it was returned to Takeshi's hand by Nidhogg's tephrakinesis.

"Move or die," ordered Takeshi, his advance not ceasing even as the Stray Exorcist dropped dead with his skull split in twain. "I don't care which."

"DEVIL FILTH!" All of the errant children of God then aimed their weapons towards the Devil. "SHOOT THAT FUCKER!"

The guns lit to life as their barrels ushered a whole hail of bullets imbued with holy energy.

"How droll."

The bullets were all then blocked by a thin bubble of ash surrounding Takeshi as he casually walked upstairs, killing every shot's momentum as soon as it made contact with the barrier. Some tried to rush towards him with their holy weapons, but the bubble instead produced several tendrils with serrated blades on its tips to intercept their attacks.

*RIIIP*

By "intercept," Takeshi had instead cut off their arms that wielded their weapons, leaving them bleeding and screaming in agony as he walked past him. Some of the more zealous ones tried to tackle him with their bodies, but instead, their legs were severed from their knees and thighs before they could even take a step towards him in his unstoppable advance.

Those who kept shooting their guns in vain met the same fate as soon as Takeshi and his barrier of coarse ash got too close, lashing out his bladed tendrils at them, cutting all of their limbs off, leaving all of them behind as limbless sacks of meat that can do nothing but scream in agony towards the God that they've long had since abandoned.

"... I'm sensing a lack of enthusiasm here, whelp," commented the Evil Dragon of Envy as his host continued walking at a casual pace upstairs, gradually extending the reach of his ashen barrier to disperse more feelers to disarm any traps laid up ahead while counting how many enemies were waiting for him. "Where was that fire from earlier on?"

"I have no reason to exert myself to mere fodder."

A .50 caliber bullet was shot towards his head, causing one of his feelers to grab it before flicking it back to its sender, knocking a priest out of the tree where he was nesting at before more of the same fusillade of gunfire welcomed him to the second stretch, to which he then orders his remote ashes to begin sabotaging their firearms.

"The weak have no right to choose how they die."

An RPG was seen from afar blowing up in their wielders' faces, devouring them with their own payload as the rest of the heretics rushed at him with their holy weapons.

"RUSH HIM DOWN!" a nun with a holy energy-imbued spear ordered as she and her compatriots leapt towards Takeshi from all directions. "HE CAN'T BLOCK ALL OF US-!"

*SCHUCK*

*SCHUCK*

*SCHUCK*

All of them dropped to the stairs as bloody pincushions behind Takeshi.

"OH COME ON! A ONE-SIDED BATTLE IS NO FUN!" complained Grendel.

"I'm feeding you with their pain, Grendel," countered Takeshi as he threw his [Mayhem Striker] towards a group of Stray Exorcists wearing one of those combat armors that he'd seen last week, causing the axe to explode into a cloud of ashes before the smokescreen turned into an array of giant shurikens that then diced and chopped them up like a blender's blades, walking past their mutilated and twitching bodies without delay. "... Is it not to your liking?"

"EVEN WOLVES HOLD NOTHING BACK WHEN THEY HUNT RABBITS!" the Evil Dragon of Wrath rebuffed. "ESPECIALLY US EVIL DRAGONS!"

"No, wait, the whelp has a point," Nidhogg defended his host as he discerned his unique kind of sadism that he'd never seen in him before. "... After all, why ruin our appetite with mere appetizers when the succulent main course is waiting for us?"

"FUCK YOU! I'D RATHER BE OUT THERE AND WASTE THOSE FUCKERS WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS!" Grendel complained even louder as Takeshi was disposing of even more of the armored Stray Exorcists with his ashes and dane axe, with not one of their bullet or blade even reaching his armor's paint job.

"I'm trying to focus for the big fight, Grendel, so shut your fucking trap and wait for your turn," Takeshi growled as he made his way towards the last stretch of the stairs, spotting the abandoned building upon the apex, the scent of soba and tempura becoming stronger as he approaches closer, picking up his [Mayhem Striker] on his way further up.

"By all means, carry on with the slaughter," Nidhogg encouraged as the last wave of Stray Exorcists appeared, but this time, there was something different about them.

Numbering in about four, all of them looked as if parts of their bodies were replaced with mechanical facsimiles. Takeshi's sniffed the air, and could pick up their scents coming from their robotic facades.

"Heh... guess the enemy is getting desperate to bring you weaklings back to life," taunted Takeshi as he kept walking upstairs towards the cyborg Stray Exorcists. "... Step aside if you don't wish to spend the rest of your scant years inside of an iron lung."

"AS IF, YOU SHITTY DEVIL!" hissed the nun as she and her fellow cyborgs aimed their blasters. "FIRE AT WILL!"

All four of them unleash their beams of holy energy towards the Evil Dragon User at maximum output, taking absolutely no chances of letting their hated foe live after one attack.

*BOOM!*

The cyborgs kept firing as the explosion of light had completely engulfed the Devil, filling the stairwell before them with so much heavy ordinance that it sounded like God doing a drum solo on the very earth itself, rocking the plateau's very foundation as their shots bombarded until their synthetic optics went blind and all of their on-board weapon systems overheated to the point where their chassises glowed red-hot.

Eventually, the barrage ceases, with two or three of them falling to their knees after they've bottomed out their energy reserves. "... Di-Did we get him?"

*FWOOSH*

With a single backstroke of his dane axe and unfurling of his wings, Takeshi reveals himself to the desperate four, nary a single scratch on his armor's paint job, much to the cyborgs' collective horror.

"You should've brought more."

"[Charge]!" the Sacred Gear announced. "[Malice Overflow]!"

[Mayhem Striker]'s blade then unleashes a surge of energy consisting of a fusion between Takeshi's own demonic energy and the absorbed holy energy from the Stray Exorcists' attacks, both opposing elements held together by Nidhogg's ashes.

"The stelpa's training has bore fruit," chuckled Nidhogg as his host wound back his axe as the ashes dispersed around the mountain gathered to the auxiliary Sacred Gear. "... It still tastes repulsive, but I appreciate the upcoming irony."

Takeshi then slaps both sides of his [Cataclysm Zone]. "Victory was never an option for the likes of you."

"[Abyss Blast Impact]!"

Takeshi then swung his [Mayhem Striker] as it then unleashed a serrated crescent wave of ashes fused with his demonic and holy energy towards the four cyborg Stray Exorcists and the building erected behind them.

Neither of them were to remain standing any longer, the ashen slash ripping through everything that it touched and burrowed through, cutting open the inactive pipes underneath the building, unleashing geysers of water that shot towards the air along with the halves that the Evil Dragon User's axe had clove through.

"... I'm still fresh," Takeshi remarked as he tried to send a text to the rest of ORC, only for him to get no signal. "What about you guys? Up for more?"

"The wait better be worth it, brat," growled Grendel. "... Blue-ball me again, see what happens."

"Fingers crossed." Takeshi then looked to see if he could recall Nidhogg's ashes back to his Sacred Gear, only for the powder to be washed down into the unleashed water. "... Fuck. Really?"

"I believe that's what you humans call... 'shooting yourself in the foot'," commented the Evil Dragon of Envy. "... Great, now my ashes are useless because of this downpour."

"In my defense, I didn't know that the pipes were still operational!" Takeshi bit back as he tried to use magic to communicate with ORC, only for him to get no signal. "Seriously?!"

"Oh my," a haughty voice remarked from above. "Trouble in paradise?"

Takeshi then looks up to see four Fallen Angels levitating overhead, looking down at Takeshi with arrogance at their height.

"... Saves me the trouble of having to look for you bastards," the Devil growled.

Lailah then looked down at the trail of bodies that the Evil Dragon User had left behind in his wake. "... Your reputation truly precedes you, Takeshi Ryuugamine."

"Finally! Someone is saying my name!" Takeshi remarked as he threw his hands up. "Granted, Western order, but still! Thank you!"

"You Devils are known headaches to our holy work, but what you did here tonight was beyond egregious," Turel pointed out. "... Regardless, we'll make sure you'll pay for it in full. You, that Gremory brat, and her pets will suffer for this transgression."

"Save it for someone who actually gives a shit," Takeshi snarled as he flipped the Fallen Angel off. "Hand over Pandora right now, and I'll settle for just ripping all of your wings off and making fried chicken out of them."

Mittelt gnashes her teeth at his bold proclamation. "... He's underestimating us."

"Oh, you wish for her presence?" Zephon remarked with faux-jubilance. "Well, let's not keep your princess waiting, shall we?"

*CRACK*

The ground beneath Takeshi cracks before erupting, causing Takeshi to flee into the air before the blast could catch up with him. But just as he could ascend, a clamp-like hand grabs his ankle before pulling him back down, slamming him back to the broken earth before throwing him across the plateau's apex.

A sound reminiscent of an engine could be heard coming from the dust cloud, rumbling to life as its metal feet then stamped out of the crater where it had excavated from before revealing itself.

"Son of a bitch...!" Takeshi then coughs up blood from underneath his helmet as he uses his [Mayhem Striker] as a crutch. "... Damn square-cube law!"

"And not a moment too soon..." Turel then ran over the schematics of their new weapon on his tablet. "... Calibrations are complete, Lord Zephon. We're ready to proceed with the operation."

"Excellent!" the lead Fallen Angel present replied with cheer. "... Then let's have our little Evil Dragon User be its maiden voyage."

The dust cloud then begins to settle, revealing itself to be a vaguely-humanoid-looking mech colored yellow and black as if it were construction equipment. Its arms were bulky and thick like excavator arms, with one side having a pair of shovels repurposed into a clamp that had grabbed Takeshi out of the air earlier, and the other being a cement mixer whose position resembled a blaster gun. Its legs were stumpy, but nimble and flexible, both limbs resembling shock absorber suspension springs for heavy-duty vehicles with the cut tires acting as additional padding and footing for the weapon. Its broad shoulders lacked a visible head, but in its place was a simple straight visor that ran across its length, the blue light shining before it then let out a rumbling roar, signaling its activation to kick Takeshi's ass to next week.

"Evil Dragon User, meet our prototype mobile weapon, the [GAM-00 Goliath]," Zephon introduced their product. "... Initially, we had a stronger, deadlier weapon waiting in our wings, but for some reason that not even God knows, it was robbed from us beneath our notice. Regardless, I'm sure that this weapon of ours will more than be enough to ruin your day."

Takeshi lets out a growl as he stood back up on his feet. "... I have no time for your Aliens-bullshit! WHERE IS PANDORA?!"

Lailah then looked back at her (technically) superior. "... Should we tell him?"

"Eh, let him squirm," Turel rebuffed as he then entered a command on his tablet before putting it away. "... Alright everyone. Be sure to not hit our weapon while we provide supporting fire."

The four Fallen Angels begins shooting lances of light towards Takeshi as [Goliath] sprints towards him, swinging its shovel-claw fist towards Takeshi as the latter dodged the fusillade of holy energy as he tried to dry himself off so that he could use Nidhogg's ashes again.

Once reaching dry land, Takeshi then swings his [Mayhem Striker] towards one of the light spears shot at him, intending to absorb it like he did with the Stray Exorcists weapons, but rather than seamlessly siphon the projectile out of the air, it instead knocks him back onto the ground, forcing him to scramble away from the barrage as [Goliath] then shoots giant icicles out of its mixer-hand blaster.

"HEY! WHAT GIVES?!" Takeshi remarked as he dodged another fusillade of holy energy spears along with the mech's ice blasts. "I THOUGHT YOU CAN ABSORB HOLY ENERGY NOW!"

"NOT THAT MUCH ALL AT ONCE!" Nidhogg pointed out as he tried to use his ashes, regaining some control as his host's armor dried itself off through his rush. "... I blame you for this predicament, whelp."

"Fair enough!" Takeshi then leaps out the way from a combined concentrated fire of icicles and holy energy lances, the combined blast propelling him out of the ground and flying into the air. "Okay! Got some air distance! Let's see if I can do something about this mess!"

The fight then continues from the air, with the Fallen Angels moving conservatively to not hit their own weapon by accident while [Goliath] then begins shooting actual wet cement from its mixer arm as the water shooting out of the cut pipes began flowing into its feed behind its left arm.

Takeshi, upon regaining his tephrakinesis after successfully drying out, intercepts the cement shots with his ashes, causing them to clump up and harden into boulders before dropping onto the ground.

*KABOOM*

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Takeshi exclaimed as he saw the concrete balls explode upon hitting the ground. "THOSE THINGS EXPLODE?!"

"INCOMING!" Nidhogg warned as more light lances were shot at him, forcing Takeshi to dodge in uncomfortable positions before regaining his aerial footing. "THAT THING IS STARTING TO ANNOY ME GREATLY! DISPOSE OF IT IN ONE FELL SWOOP!"

"THAT'S THE PLAN!" Takeshi then presses both sides of his Sacred Gear.

"[Charge]!" announced the Sacred Gear "[Malice Overflow]!"

Sparing no expense, Takeshi then invokes Nidhogg's [Helfrost] as the Evil Dragon manifested itself in his own ashes, the serpentine form winding around Takeshi as he then opened up all four of his wings to generate momentum while either dodging deflecting all of the oncoming barrage of holy energy lances shot at him, the latter serving to gauge each Fallen Angels' individual powers.

Okay, the one with the three pairs of wings is clearly the biggest threat, but why do I get the feeling that she's holding back on purpose? he thought as Takeshi continued with his thought as his barrier of ashes mixed with [Helfrost] to better defend himself for the incoming attack. For Turel and Zephon, definitely upper-Middle-Class, but that Harajuku cosplayer is around my current power level, if a bit green.

Upon completing his analysis, Takeshi then aims his sights towards [Goliath] below him, citing that weapon as his primary landing zone.

"99,650 years left, whelp," Nidhogg warned. "Make it count."

The ashen Dragon then blasts his host with a blizzard breath, propelling Takeshi towards [Goliath] as he performs his Rider Kick.

"[Abyss Blast Fever]!"

Takeshi then lets out an echoing howl as he quickly descended towards the mecha, his foot blazing with ash and hoarfrost before it stamped against the machine's central chassis, unleashing an explosion of flash-freeze that froze over the pipes and the unleashed water, cutting off [Goliath] current supply.

Upon collision, Takeshi tried to push back, but something was happening to his finisher as it wasn't getting through the metal plate now generating a barrier of holy energy around itself.

"COME ON! BREAK THROUGH!" He then pressed both sides of his [Cataclysm Gear] as his kick kept pushing against the mobile weapon.

"[Error]."

Takeshi's eyes widened as his Sacred Gear began to fail him. "... WHAT DO YOU MEAN, [ERROR]?!"

"[Error]," the Sacred Gear announced as Takeshi kept pressing the sides of his belt in growing desperation. "[Error]. [Error]. [Error]."

"... Should we tell him?" Lailah suggested as she and the others ceased fire.

"He missed a spot," Turel deadpanned at the shrinking frost over the battlefield. "... Lord Zephon?"

"Ah, how his passions run hot..." chuckled Zephon as he gestured to his subordinate to do what he requested. "... How hot must it be to make him blind to even the most obvious of facts?"

As Takeshi continued panicking, [Goliath] then winds back its clamp-hand into an electrified fist before slugging it across Takeshi's side.

*CLANG!*

Takeshi was swatted aside like a fly into a broken mess, knocking him out of his Balance Breaker state and reverting him back to his default undersuit.

"... Fuck," he cursed as his body cracked itself back together as his recovering vision then sees the applied [Helfrost] receding back from their contact areas. "... How the Hell did I miss that?!"

The frontal chassis of [Goliath] then opens up, revealing Pandora dressed in a monochromatic Neon Genesis Evangelion-style plugsuit, with her arms contained inside the tubes behind herself and several thick, hose-like cables connected to her back like some sort of human battery inside the "cockpit."

"... Pandora!" Takeshi then scrambled towards her, only for him to trip over his injuries.

"It's not just her..." growled Nidhogg as he smelled someone else inside of that mech. "... There's another ashen musk behind her."

A familiar cackle was then heard coming from [Goliath]'s cockpit. "DAMN STRAIGHT, YOU DEVIL SCUM!"

The mecha's chest chassis then completely opens up, revealing Freed situated right above where Pandora was located, his bare torso connected with more hose-like tubes and mask over his face, his demented glare accentuated by a cybernetic red eye that replaced his left side, and his broken limbs connected in positions that made it seem like he connected his whole body throughout the entire mobile weapon as an extension of himself.

"A lovely reunion under the moonlight!" he prosed before breaking down into a cackle. "Never thought I'd get the chance to kill your ass again! Guess the number 3 is my lucky number! Oh how must I've been such a good boy all year long! Did you miss me~?"

"Like turd underneath my shoe," growled Takeshi as he tried to activate his Balance Breaker again.

"[Error]." [Dead Shore Advent] was now permitted from being used.

"FUCK!" cursed Takeshi as Freed then let out a wicked cackle in response.

"Aww, what's the matter? Can't get it up?" the mutilated psycho taunted before leaning down next to Pandora's bandaged face before licking her cheek. "That's fine. I'll just simply have her all to myself."

"YOU GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER YOU SON OF A BITCH-!"

*BOOM*

Freed then responds by shooting a massive orb of fire towards him that blasts across the plateau, rolling across the dirt before stopping.

"Nah, I think she likes it in here more than out there," Freed replied as he approached the downed Evil Dragon User. "After all, it's not like the outside world is kind to her or anything. If anything, you're just another schmuck doomed to die because of her curse! Or is it because of your damned status as an Evil Dragon User? Ah, who cares. Point is that you're gonna die here regardless, and I'll be the one to send your happy little ass on your return trip back to Hell in front of your new girlfriend. I can certainly think of worse ways to die. Don't you agree?"

"Enough wasting time," Turel remarked coldly. "Kill him already."

"AW COME ON! AT LEAST LET ME ENJOY THIS!" Freed shot back at his superior. "I LOST THE ABILITY TO USE MY DICK BECAUSE OF HIM!"

"... Remind me, why did I agree to bring him along in the first place?" groaned Lailah.

"Given our now-vagrant status, I doubt we can afford to be picky with our future applicants," sighed Zephon. "... That'll be tomorrow's problem. For now, the coup de grâce."

[Goliath] then raises both of its arms over its cockpit as Freed cackles in anticipation of bringing down the finishing blow.

"ADIOS, DEVIL SCUM!"

The mecha then brings down both of its fists in a hammer blow.

*CLANG!*

It was stopped before it could even touch Takeshi, the attack being stopped by none other than Koneko.

"... Just in time."

Takeshi chuckles as he sees his savior. "... Well damn," he bitterly remarked. "... Guess I should've brought you along in the first place."

"It wasn't easy breaking through the remaining defenses."

Right on cue, Koneko then pushes off [Goliath]'s arms and allows the rest of ORC, the Sitri Peerage's Pawns, and Re:Live to show up and unleash Hell.

Rias and Akeno blast demonic energy blasts towards the Fallen Angels, forcing them to scatter, allowing Yuuto and Ruruko to cut off Mittelt's escape and isolate her from the rest of her group. Lailah tries to rescue her, but Re:Live intercepts her by tackling her out of the sky before wrestling her down to the other side of the plateau, leaving only Zephon and Turel to deal with everyone else present as Koneko shoulder-tackles the mech back before bouncing back to where she'd leapt from.

"Switching to independent action..." Turel then hastily puts [Goliath]'s controls over to Freed so that he may engage the two remaining Devils that were actually a threat to their lives. "Lord Zephon, your orders?"

"I'll deal with the Gremory bitch," he said as he cracked his knuckles. "You deal with her Queen."

Rias and Akeno then separate themselves from the Low-Class Devils to allow themselves to deal with two Middle-Class Fallen Angels elsewhere. Both sides began exchanging shots of opposing elements before disappearing into the thick of the surrounding forest.

"Saji-san, you ready?" Koneko remarked as she pounded her fist against her open palm.

"Gotta be honest, Toujou-san..." Genshirou then summons his [Absorption Line] around his left wrist. "... I never thought we'd be fighting a giant robot."

"Welcome to that of a Devil's life... for real this time," Takeshi chuckled as he got back up to his feet. "... Trust me, things are gonna get weirder from hereon."

Freed then cackles as [Goliath] then orients itself up back onto its feet, closing its exposed cockpit and lighting up its visor once more.

"One ass-beating wasn't enough, so you're up for more?!" the mutilated lunatic behind [Goliath]'s controls taunted. "YOUR BALANCE BREAKER CAN'T DO SHIT AS LONG AS I GOT THE CALAMITY WITCH AS MY PERSONAL BATTERY! FACE IT! YOU'RE PRACTICALLY TOOTHLESS!"

"Seriously?!" Genshirou remarked as he looked back at Takeshi. "He beat you while you were in your strongest form?!"

However, Takeshi begins laughing at both the mecha's pilot's and the new Pawn's words.

"... Guess all those knocks to the head this past week made you both forgetful, didn't it?"

"[Transfer]!" announced the Sacred Gear as Takeshi pressed a button on his Sacred Gear. "[Berserk Devastator]!"

The set of scaly gauntlets, greaves, and mask encased Takeshi's arms, legs, and lower mouth before jets of flame flared out from their vents, causing both Koneko and Genshirou to instinctively take a step back from him lest they get cooked.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Genshirou exclaimed.

"[Berserk Devastator]..." Koneko gasped in shock and awe at the radiating fury emitting from her lover. "... No. Senpai! Don't! You'll lose yourself if you do!"

"NOT IF I CAN HELP IT!" [Goliath] then aims its blaster-arm towards the three. "DIE YOU SHITTY DEVILS!"

Takeshi lets out a deep sigh as a massive blast of holy energy was shot towards his direction. Koneko and Genshirou leap out of the way of the blast, but as soon as the attack could devour him whole, Takeshi parries the blast with a focused palm strike that disperses the concentrated holy energy like sparks from a burnt-out firework.

"... Senpai?" Koneko gasped as she and Genshirou saw Takeshi standing tall, taking deep breaths to regulate his anger and honing it down to a fine point.

"... Don't worry about me going ballistic," he reassured as [Goliath] readied for its next attack. "After all..."

"SON OF A BITCH! JUST DIE ALREADY!" The mecha then leaps into the air to deliver a hammer-blow towards Takeshi.

*CLANG!*

But this time, Takeshi parries the descending strike with a swift uppercut that sends the much-larger [Goliath] flying back, landing on its back roughly on the dirt before the three Devils.

"... I'm now the angriest I've ever been."

Elsewhere...

A space within the construction site near the ruined Chichibu City began to ripple like water before two individuals came tumbling out and rolling over each other on the dirt, revealing themselves as none other than Lailah and Re:Live.

Amidst the struggle, the Fallen Angel grabs the superhero by his stout antennae before throwing them off of herself, sliding back as the two of them confront each other.

"Bold of you to confront me yourself," Lailah taunted. "... If you think I'm an easy quarry like last time, then prepare to be disappointed."

"I don't expect you to," Re:Live answered as they then shifted into a fighting stance.

The two combatants then ran towards each other as their fists collided against each others', pushing each other back before rejoining each other in combat once more.

Re:Live's metallic fists parried Lailah's holy magic-infused fists, sparks flying across the deserted site as the two continued exchanging blows. Amid the melee, Lailah tries to shoot her holy energy lance point-blank at Re:Live's head, but the latter simply counters it by headbutting her open palm, causing the spell to misfire and burn her arm momentarily.

This window was long enough for Re:Live to deliver a flying kick that punted her into a bulldozer's scoop, caving in the spade with the impact of her body. The superhero then moved in for the kill as they leapt towards the Fallen Angel with their fist wound back to deliver a crushing Rider Punch.

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!" Lailah exclaimed as her left eye shone with a sigil resembling a yellow crescent moon.

*CRUNCH!*

Re:Live's fist caved into the bulldozer, but completely misses.

"She disappeared," they remarked before looking around. "... Teleportation? Spatial displacement? Invisibility-?"

*CLANG*

A streak of sparks run across Re:Live's chest as if they were struck by something sharp.

"... She's still around," they remarked before looking around for any disturbances that might give her presence away, ranging from small collisions to visible footprints. "... I saw a moon shine in her eye. Could it have to do something with her powers?"

*SCRAPE*

This time, Re:Live was struck from behind, evidenced by a trail of sparks shooting from their back before they were staggering forwards.

"... She's utterly imperceptible," Re:Live hypothesized the Fallen Angel's possible signature powers. "... Guess I have to give her a reason to keep lingering around."

They then punched the ground as hard as they could, unleashing a massive dust explosion that engulfed the entire construction site.

Either the dust will give her away, or the projectile will, they surmised as the superhero shifts into a defensive posture. ... Which one?

Suddenly, a rain of holy energy lances fall onto Re:Live, scattering the dust cloud that had obscured them before they jump up towards where the projectile has been shot from.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Re:Live then grabs onto one of the spears of light from its trajectory before swinging it towards their side... only for instead to throw the spell in the opposite direction, revealing Lailah as she suddenly reappears back to reality as she was forced to reveal herself after she'd parried her own rebound attack with her battle axe made of green light.

Upon exposing her, Re:Live swipes a keycard down through their belt's slot.

"[Re:Create]," announced the device. "[WizarSwordGun]."

A silver handgun the size of a handheld shortsword with a single-edged blade folded over its upper receiver and a folded-up black hand on its inner side materialized before Re:Live from their belt. Upon retrieving it, they then wasted no time shooting at the Fallen Angel with its own silver bullets that homed in on her.

The Fallen Angel shoots down the bullets with her holy magic before throwing her own axe at Re:Live, to which the latter counters by unfolding their weapon into its sword form and breaking the light construct with a single slash.

As soon as the exchange was over, both Lailah and Re:Live landed back onto the ground, the former folding in her wings to rest herself.

"How did you find me?" asked the Fallen Angel as she grew wary of Re:Live.

"Invisible or completely imperceptible, no one can truly be hidden unless that is to be their last action," answered the superhero. "... You could've easily run away like last time, but you didn't. Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Lailah hissed as she then summoned a pair of swords made of her own holy energy before brandishing them. "You're a threat to our objective. Nothing else needs to be said!"

She then swings her blades towards Re:Live, sending a pair of sharp energy crescents across the ground before the superhero parries them with their [WizarSwordGun]'s blade, shattering the pair before Lailah disappears entirely.

"Your powers are indeed an annoyance, but it has one critical flaw."

Flipping their sword behind themselves, Re:Live seamlessly parries an imperceptible strike coming from behind them, sparks flying from the generated strike to make them slide their feet across the dirt.

"Your options are limited on how strong you actually are."

Near Minano...

"BRACE YOURSELF!"

Yuuto, Ruruko, and Mittelt all crash land into an empty stage before several rows of bleachers.

"Ow..." grunted the Sitri Peerage's Pawn. "... That was kinda brutal. Where are we?"

"Hopefully, away from everyone else and her allies," the Knight remarked as he then brandished his swords. "... I'd ask for your surrender, but recently, we've been getting more of those who refuse our offer."

"Good, you're smarter than most." Mittelt then summoned her periwinkle-colored lance made of holy energy. "... Don't assume I've been slacking this past week, Devil."

Both Yuuto and Mittelt then moved in a blur, disappearing from plain sight as the two combatants clashed arms at blinding speeds.

She's gotten faster compared to last week's encounter! Yuuto thought as his blade broke against the Fallen Angel's weapon as he hastily replaced them with new ones. I'm already at a disadvantage due to her wielding holy powers. Have to limit her options first! But I only got a scant opportunity to strike!

Ruruko then jumps into the fray, attacking the Fallen Angel from behind with her demonic energy-infused kick.

"Pathetic." Mittelt then dodges her surprise attack, causing her to collide into Yuuto as the two Devils then fall on top of each other. "Disappear from my sight!"

She then throws her periwinkle lance towards the pair to impale them through the same shaft, but Yuuto, with his quick thinking, conjures [Fae Marker] in his hand before throwing Ruruko off of himself and into the bleachers.

But just as the lance could impale Yuuto, he instead uses his recently-summoned sword to parry the hurled lance, switching places with the weapon before summoning [Needle Edge] to shoot its blade from its hilt like a giant ballistic knife.

"Is that all you got?!" Mittelt remarked as she backhanded the shot blade before summoning more of her periwinkle javelins around herself.

"Nope, but this sure is!"

*WHAM!*

Ruruko, in her [Promotion: Knight], uses her boosted speed to deliver a blinding flying knee into the Fallen Angel's ribs before sending her crashing into the backstage, allowing Yuuto to summon a bone-like sword, [Grudge Dent], to then deliver a demonic energy slash to where she had landed, triggering an explosion where the attack had landed.

"Nice save there, Nimura-san," Yuuto said as he let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Yeah, but I gotta admit..." she heaved as she placed her hands on her knees. "... I was cutting it real close back there."

The two's attentions were then pulled towards a scream coming from the collapsed backstage, revealing Mittelt from the clearing dust cloud, her dress all tattered, her skin marred with patches of ashen-black, but still strong enough to stand on her own two feet and furls out her blackened wings.

"Is that all you got?!" she boasted as she ran her hand down her face.

"Honestly, no," Yuuto replied as he manifested another pair of blades in his hands. "... If anything, you being the survivor of the original trio of Fallen Angels from last week made me take caution of your current prowess. I was just measuring you up until now."

Ruruko's eyes blinked incredulously. "... Seriously?"

Mittelt then lets out a breathy roar as her right eye then shone with a sun-like sigil. "I won't lose! Not again! Never again! Especially to you filthy Devils!"

Then the Fallen Angel began radiating with blinding light as the light of her solar glyph intensified.

"It's time...!" her voice echoed from the pillar of light. "... FOR ME TO REACH FOR THE STARS!"

Within the light, Mittelt transformed.

Gone were her black goth-loli attire and was exchanged with a more pastel and brightly-colored ensemble resembling a J-Pop idol uniform. Her dirty blond hair was then dyed a bright periwinkle, and behind her blackened wings was a bright disc of light resembling that of the sun, its flared edges rotating around the main circle.

As her metamorphous reached its climax, the whole stage around Yuuto and Ruruko roared to life, with colored spotlights flickering to life in stencils of pink hearts, yellow stars, and blue crescent moons danced around and on the stage, and all of the empty bleachers occupied with pillars of pink light, each of them vaguely humanoid-shaped akin to paper shikigami used by the Onmyōji.

"[Shining Superstar: Mittelt Bright]~!" announced the Fallen Angel as she then posed with her newly-manifested microphone made of her own holy powers. "Tonight's number is brought to you by Lady Lailah's unrelenting support and her signature ability, [Urnal Binary]! I now have the sun itself as my light, no matter what time of the day it is!"

Ruruko blinked at her sudden about-face in personality and mannerisms. "... Senpai, what the fuck is happening right now?"

Yuuto simply shook his head in disbelief. "... I'm also confused."

"Aww, that's why I don't like you Devils~!" the Fallen Angel spoke in an overly cutesy manner, her sunny disposition failing to mask her bloodlust. "You're always so gloomy and dreary, that it brings everyone's moods down just by you guys being here! So I, the great Mittelt Bright, will bring joy and smiles onto your miserable existences...! AFTER I CARVE THEM ONTO YOUR SKULLS!"

Then the areas where the spotlights were shining began sizzling upon contact.

"LOOK OUT!" Yuuto then tackles Ruruko out of the way of the spotlights before they all transform into deadly beams of holy energy that bombarded the majority of the stage where they were standing.

"Come on, everyone~!" Mittelt cried out into her microphone, the light construct somehow working like the real thing as the two Devils scrambled back up to their feet after nearly getting cooked alive on live stage. "Let's make them all shine like superstars~!"

The light dolls surrounding them from all possible escape routes then all let out an invigorated roar that shook the whole amphitheater as if they were a crowd of diehards in an actual idol concert.

"... This is what you guys deal with on a regular basis?" asked Ruruko.

"This is one of the weirder ones, yes," Yuuto replied as both he and Sitri's Pawn readied to fight for their very lives in this live death concert.

Atop the Plateau...

"Always took you for a bleeding heart, Gremory," taunted Zephon as he and Turel shot their holy energy javelins towards Rias and Akeno as the four flew around the forest. "But I for one didn't anticipate that you'd risk triggering a full-scale war just for the sake of one person."

"If that 'one person' is going to serve as your crux for your plans, then I'll have to ask that you look at yourself in the mirror!" Rias then retaliated by unleashing a barrage of warhead-grade demonic energy blasts after her Queen blocked the initial flurry with her magic shield.

So far, the four of them were at a stalemate, with the Fallen Angels' holy powers being a hard counter against the two Devils, but the latter had proven themselves both resilient and familiar in how to deal with this disadvantage.

Initially, Zephon and Turel had plans to counter that in case were that to be the case, but somehow, the initial rampage from the Evil Dragon User had gutted about 99% of their staff, including the ones inside the base before it was demolished alongside with the cyborgs, who were vital in their backup plan going into motion.

So far, there wasn't a way to contact any of their possible remaining forces, so the Fallen Angels were forced to fight head-on.

"How troublesome..." Turel commented as he continued providing covering fire for his superior. "Lord Zephon, we mustn't draw this out any longer!"

"I concur," Akeno replied as her hands then gathered a ball of electricity. "... So how about you two go first?!"

With a yell, the Gremory Peerage's Queen then shoots out a massive bolt of lightning shaped like an Eastern Dragon towards the two Fallen Angels while Rias then unleashes her [Power of Destruction] as an add-on.

*BOOM!*

Both attacks collided at where the Fallen Angels were flying towards, but no signs of their bodies careening back to earth was seen.

"Shit," cursed Akeno. "... Typical Fallen Angels. They don't know when to just fucking die."

"The same could be said for you, young lady!"

Both Devils then looked up to see several javelins of light raining towards their heads, forcing Rias to cover herself and her subordinate underneath a canopy-like magic barrier, but at the same time, Akeno spots a pair of red-colored lances made of holy energy shooting towards them.

Akeno tries to block the incoming projectiles with a barrier of her own, but the spears then suddenly shifted their trajectories on their own, turning themselves to go around Akeno's barrier as both were intersecting towards Rias.

Right at the last minute, Akeno then cancels her barrier to fuel its magic into blasting a pair of thunderbolts that shot the red javelins out of the sky as the rain of holy energy ceased.

"Not bad," Turel complimented as he and his superior reappeared before Rias and Akeno. "... The way you use your lightning magic is quite practiced."

"If you're flirting, then you're doing a horrible job at it," the Queen snarled.

"Oh please, like you'd see us bed with an actual Hellspawn like yourselves," Zephon snarked back. "That said, I could sense both of your discontent at this ridiculous monotony we locked ourselves into."

Then the superior Fallen Angel then summons a spinning wheel made of his own holy energy in his hands.

"Let's crank it up." The spinning wheel was then spun by Zephon's swipe, generating threads of holy energy as it spun from its axis, unleashing a barrage of the heavenly threads that were all shot towards the Devils.

"Incoming!" Rias warned as she and Akeno began shooting down the bright strings with their demonic energy blasts as they flew away from the assault.

Turel then moves in closer towards the distracted Devils, thrusting his red lances towards Rias, but Akeno intercepts the hidden strike by shifting her line of fire, but it came with a cost.

*hiss*

Akeno winces as one of the threads graze her arm, the mere touch of the string feeling like being stamped with a white-hot branding iron. Nevertheless, she pushes through the pain before clearing the gap between her enemies and her President, allowing them to land back on the ground as the remainder of the attacks blasted the trees out of the ground, leaving them out in the open in a clearing.

"I'm shocked that a mere Middle-Class Devil like you has survived contact with my [Adorning Loom] technique," Zephon commented as he and Turel descended to where the Devils were at. "Back during the Great War, scores of Hell's combatants were set ablaze by the mere graze of my prized technique. Pray tell, how is that not the case?"

Akeno spits to the side before smirking. "... How about coming closer so that I can whisper it into your ear?"

"No thank you," the Fallen Angel rebuffed in a genteel tone. "... In fact, none of you are going anywhere."

Turel then plants his lances into the ground, triggering a massive magic circle right below where the four of them were standing underneath at, forming a holy barrier around their surroundings, trapping them inside.

"And just for additional measure..." Zephon then spins his [Adorning Loom] to have the holy threads be woven into the barrier's screen itself, giving the dome a semi-translucent, fishnet-like finish to the surface. "... I know what your [Power of Destruction] is capable of, Gremory. But I assure you, that this one barrier will be one you won't be able to break."

"And what is exactly stopping us from beating the living tar out of you two and getting out?" Rias deadpanned as the two Fallen Angels then readied themselves for another prolonged bout.

*RUMBLE*

Akeno and Rias' eyes widened as they saw the barrier close in around them, its circumference steadily shrinking.

"In exactly one hour, this barrier laced with both of our holy magic will crush all of us in here like insects," Turel explains with hushed, but fiery zeal, as he then summons several copies of his red-colored lances made of his own holy powers that orbited around himself. "... This is the extent of our resolve. We're ready to die taking a Gremory down with us if it means that our own fallen kin are to be avenged!"

Zephon's threads from his [Adorning Loom] then weaves several floating hands that each held a weapon, ranging from scythes, guillotine blades, morningstar maces, and a pair of shears large and sharp enough to cut down an entire garden's worth of heads in one clap.

"Perish now, Devil filths," Zephon declared with quiet venom to his voice. "And to your next of kin, I wish them the utmost luck for having to pick out your remains from the meat pile that we're all about to share."

Near the Ruined Hideout...

"FUCKING PIECES OF SHIT! DIE ALREADY!"

Freed's voice boomed as [Goliath] smashed its fist into the earth, leashing geysers of scalding water and ice shrapnels as Koneko, Genshirou, and Takeshi ran towards the mecha to better disassemble it.

"If I recall...!" Genshirou exclaimed as he leapt over a wave-shot of fire magic before continuing to run towards the mechanical enemy that kept shifting and snaking around the battlefield as it kept pelting them with magical projectiles from its blaster arm. "... He said that Pandora-san is inside of that thing, right?!"

"The moment I get my hands on that sunnuvabitch, I will make him beg..." snarled Takeshi as he kept his anger to a focused angle as he kept up his pursuit. "... LIKE A LITTLE BITCH!"

"I AIN'T NOBODY'S BITCH, YOU BITCH-ASS MOTHERFUCKER!"

Deploying from the [Goliath]'s shoulders were two pairs of M134 Miniguns that rotated its barrels before firing miscellaneous elemental rounds at the three Devils with no coordination or comparability for opposing elements.

Half of the shots either canceled each other out, while the remaining shots made the Devils dodge the spray, or in Takeshi's case, parry every bullet with his fists.

"NEITHER BULLETS OR BLADES SHALL BREAK ME!" roared Takeshi as he then sprinted towards [Goliath]. "YOU WERE BETTER OFF DEAD SOONER, FREED!"

"AND FUCK YOU TOO!" The mutilated Stray Exorcist roared back as his mech's fist wound back with an orb of holy energy before the two fists clashed.

Upon the collision, both the mecha and Devils were sent flying back from each other, the former balancing itself back into proper orientation as its feet slid across the arid dirt, while the latter were caught by Koneko and Genshirou, the latter using his [Absorption Line] to fish the Evil Dragon User out of the air.

"And safe..." sighed Koneko. "... Senpai, you alive?"

"Alive enough to kick that bastard's metal ass!" Takeshi then lets out a loud snarl before throwing himself back into the fray before Freed could fully recover his balance.

*BANG!*

"WHAT THE-?!"

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

"PANDORA!" Takeshi roared out as his fists pummeled into the cockpit's main hatch, only rocking the mecha's internals as its external barriers of holy energy prevented further damage to its main chassis. "HANG ON! I'M GONNA GET YOU OUT-!"

"GET OFF!"

Freed then maneuvers [Goliath] to then jump into the air to body-slam Takeshi's whole body into the earth while exploring the square-cube law to his advantage.

However, just as he could squish Takeshi flat like a pancake, Koneko catches the mech mid-fall into a deadlift position, her knees slightly buckling underneath the sheer weight of [Goliath] even with her tapping into the Rook's powers at maximum output.

"Fuck... almost threw out my back..." the Nekomata winced as she then manifested her Yōkai traits to tap into her Senjutsu to give her an extra power boost. "... SENPAI! SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Takeshi gasped as he then found himself underneath an unpleasant shadow. "SHIT! I ALMOST LOST MY MIND BACK THERE! SORRY!"

"DAMMIT! SO CLOSE!" Grendel growled in frustration at the difficulty of him taking over when his host's anger was at its peak, unable to understand why it was so laborious in the first place when the latter instances were piss-easy.

After apologizing, Genshirou then helps Takeshi get down before both of them tapped into their [Promotion: Rook] along with Koneko unleashing her Touki for a burst of her own power, allowing the three of them to chuck the mecha back into the sky.

"Let's see how durable that thing really is!" Genshirou then fires a thread from his [Absorption Line] Sacred Gear at [Goliath] before stringing it around like Spider-Man before yanking the metal giant back to the earth as hard as he could.

"KONEKO! GIVE ME A BOOST!" Takeshi then ran towards the Nekomata as she crouches down and cups her hands together, allowing his foot to spring off of her as he leapt into the air, aiming his strike towards where the mecha was falling towards as his vents from his auxiliary Sacred Gear shot out their jets of flame to rocket Takeshi down like a meteorite.

*CLANG!*

As [Berserk Devastator] struck [Goliath], a sound not too dissimilar to a hammer striking an anvil resonated throughout the whole plateau and beyond, as if Takeshi had momentarily turned himself into the God of the Smithy and Forging at that very moment when his fist of pure rage struck down the heretic.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Freed cursed as Takeshi then continued pummeling the chassis, but this time, it was starting to look a little lumpy from looking from the inside. "MY HOLY ENERGY! WHY THE FUCK IS IT BEING EXPENDED FASTER THAN I CAN USE IT?!"

Koneko's cat ears picked up the Stray Exorcist's dismay through her lover's enraged roars and banging steel. She then looked towards Genshirou, whose [Absorption Line] was still draining something from the mecha.

... Is he draining holy energy without being affected by it? she thought as the Sitri's Pawn kept a tight hold around the mecha's waist. Either his natural holy energy resistance is abnormally high even after reincarnating into a Devil, or his Sacred Gear is acting as a filter. Guess I gotta add that to the after-action reports...

Now out of options, [Goliath] then grabs Takeshi with its clamp-hand before ripping him off of his main chassis.

"GET OFF!"

The mecha then piledrives the Evil Dragon User headfirst into the arid dirt before swiftly stomping onto his feet that were still sticking out of the ground. Koneko then tries to run in to rescue her lover, but [Goliath] then grabs onto the [Absorption Line] by its connecting thread before giving it a hard tug.

Normally, no one outside of Genshirou himself could physically touch the string of his Sacred Gear. That rule makes an exception while it was siphoning energy from a foreign body, explaining why Takeshi couldn't separate the line from him and the Yomi-affiliated Jorogumo a few days ago, and even if someone else were able to touch it, said line was notoriously hard to sever.

Genshirou had deliberately neglected to take that little factoid into account since the incident that led him to discovering that discrepancy was too traumatic to recall on a casual basis. This was the rationale as his body was flung into Koneko before he was lassoed overhead by [Goliath] before being slammed up and down from the earth like a ragdoll.

The only thing that saved him from death was his [Absorption Line]'s draining ability healing his injuries and his [Promotion: Rook] keeping most of his body intact from each oncoming, pendulum-like impact.

"AS IF I HAVEN'T HAD ENOUGH OF YOU FUCKERS SHITTING ON MY DINNER!" Freed's voice cracked with increasing magnitudes of his own fury overwhelming his rational mind (for what little of it is left, if any). "GET OFF OF MY RIDE, YOU LEECH!"

He then aims his blaster arm towards Genshirou, but just before he could incinerate him with a holy energy-infused fireball blast, Koneko kicks the blaster out of its initial aim before kicking one of its legs off-balance, causing it to stumble and fall onto its chest.

As Genshirou was finally released from his crazy ride, his whole body was flung straight into the dirt headfirst, crashing into the ground until only his legs were sticking out like weeds.

"Senpai!" Koneko exclaimed as she then pulled Takeshi out of his earthen prison by his foot before dragging him off towards where Genshirou had landed. "Hang on, you two."

After pulling both Pawns out, she then quickly administers first-aid with her Senjutsu as [Goliath] was trying to stand back up to its feet, with Freed cursing all the way to the Heavens as he struggled to reorient Goliath.

"FUCK! THE GUNS RAN DRY?!" The mutilated lunatic then banged his head against the control displays before snarling at Pandora situated below him. "YOU'RE FUCKING USELESS, YOU WHORE!"

Takeshi was the first to get up while Koneko was healing both him and Genshirou. "Senpai! You're not fully healed-!"

*crack*

*snap*

*pop*

"Don't need it." The Evil Dragon User then snapped his remaining injuries back into place. "... That son of a bitch is not invincible. Guess I gotta thank the newbie for giving me an opening."

As Takeshi marched towards his most hated foe behind Hisaya, Grendel was still baffled on how his host was resisting his control despite his wrath burning just as bright as the Evil Dragon's own.

... Why? he snarled, completely confounded at this Devil's sheer focus. Why isn't he submitting to me?! Why is it that the brat's fury is ignoring my own?! Why does that brat think that he can wield my own powers better than I can?! WHY AREN'T YOU SUBMITTING TO ME, YOU FUCKING BRAT?! YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME?! FUCK YOU! I'M GRENDEL! AND YOU'RE JUST SOME NOBODY LOW-CLASS DEVIL GETTING TOO BIG FOR HIS BRITCHES!

Nidhogg watched in cold and grim bemusement as he noticed that his host's anger was rooted in focus, not in blind rage towards everything that is not himself. ... The whelp's anger is so focused and honed on that mutilated Church krakkar to the point that even he himself is not aware of how he's resisting Grendel's influence... albeit vaguely... like a flickering candlelight.

The Evil Dragon of Envy chuckles maliciously as he both continues watching while feeding off of Freed's growing frustration and resentment towards his own host.

... Grow into your new scales through the crucible of battle, whelp, he remarked with an evil smile. ... You'll make a fine Evil Dragon as of yet.

Back at the Construction Site at Chichibu City...

If one were to look from the outside, they would see an overly-armored cosplayer fighting imaginary opponents from all sides, the sparks from the "strikes" being generated from built-in sparklers within the suit.

However, reality itself tends to be stranger than fiction, for Re:Live was indeed actually fighting someone in the empty construction site like a one-man-Tokusatsu production.

"Still can't land a hit on her..." the superhero grumbled as their armor only began showing signs of wear and tear from the repeated hidden strikes that the currently-imperceptible Lailah was landing on them. "... Weren't for my armor, I would've now died a thousand times over."

Completely out of Re:Live's sights, the Fallen Angel hidden in plain sight wasn't also doing too hot either, nearly exhausted from breaking her holy energy weapons against that superhero's armor that brought forth diminishing returns to her own reservoirs.

Fuck... that guy's armor is not of this world! she thought as she went over her available options. All I can do is slow him down to an extent, but they must also be thinking that I'm keeping them around here for the same reasons as why they're assuming. I'm running out of time. Sooner or later, I'll be forced to disengage.

It was unfamiliar for Lailah to deal with foes that didn't go down in less than five minutes. After all, her powers are suited for quick and covert kills, not for long, drawn-out fights.

Her powers, [Urnal Binary], were rather odd in terms of applications. Not only it gave her two modes to work with, but neither can be used unless she gives one side of her powers to a designated "partner."

I really never liked using [Shining Superstar] anyway, she thought to herself, admittedly a little embarrassed of how her powers also affect personalities to those unfamiliar with it. ... Then again, [Moody Phantom] was a pretty bad matchup against this guy... shit.

Lailah had now hit a roadblock. There was no logical way for either of them to resume past this stalemate.

"... Guess it's time for a Hail Mary." Gathering all of her remaining holy powers, the Fallen Angel then throws the numerous spheres towards where Re:Live was standing at.

"There you are."

The superhero then switches back their [WizarSwordGun] back to its gun mode before shooting all of the light spheres out of the air, prompting all of them to explode into blinding lanterns of holy light that causes Re:Live to cover their eyes from the light.

Taking advantage of this, Lailah then comes out of hiding and leaps towards Re:Live with her bare fists, saving her bare minimum energy to sustain her body as she attacks the superhero out in the open.

*WHAM!*

Re:Live was struck from the back of their head before rolling across the dirt before quickly getting up, seeing that the Fallen Angel was done playing games as she rushed in to continue with her melee, switching out her closed fists to an open-palm style combat.

The superhero counters with their own assault as the lanterns still burned brightly, hampering their line of sight was Lailah switches over to a more technical and reactive fighting style, using their own superior base power against them, redirecting their blows with her soft counters akin to Chinese Wing Chun or Tai Chi.

"Once a snake, always will be..." Re:Live growled before they then found a gap in her flurry of counters while their armor automatically braced their neck to prevent an elbow to their chin from concussing them. "... Good thing I'm accustomed to hunting snakes."

After both of their punches were guided away from Lailah, Re:Live then torques their whole body up into the air to perform a point-blank dropkick. However, Lailah then lets the force of the kick push her away while pulling herself away at the same time, reducing the amount of physical impact from the blow while retaining all of its inertia, causing her to flip and fly away like a wirework stunt actor, landing one-footed on top of a crane as a cherry on top.

"... You have ample opportunity to run away," Re:Live pointed out. "My armor and strength don't gel with your cunning and subterfuge. In spite of neither being able to strike each other down, why do you keep persisting in this stalemate?"

Lailah bitterly smirks. "... You're not the first to call me a fool, stranger," she answered. "... Hell, our agenda requires all of us to be ready to die at any moment, all to avenge those who have fallen before us."

"And yet you seem saner than the most, but at the same time, not," the superhero countered. "... What's compelling you to say with this lost cause? Lord Azazel would've taken you in but instead, you choose to walk down the path of further bloodshed in spite of your heart not fully committed to it."

The Fallen Angel sighs as she closes her eyes to suppress her rage. "... Tell me, do you love children?"

"Can't say," Re:Live answered. "... I know that I'm only one person in a world of seven billion and counting. Powerful as I am, I can't save everyone."

"... You just answered your question then," Lailah replied as her left eye glowed with a crescent moon-like sigil. "... I fight for all the children who have died from the hands of the Three Biblical Factions. Their lives were taken too soon, so in their stead, I shall damn myself to certain death if it means that their cries are answered!"

She then disappears out of existence as Re:Live then anticipates her next move. "... So that explains why she hasn't targeted the Gremory Peerage herself even when she could."

The yellow streak across their red visor then blinks momentarily.

"Begin [CLOCK]."

The whole world then pauses around Re:Live, showing various silhouettes of where Lailah would attack next as calibrations of differing probabilities of each possibility were shown to Re:Live themselves.

"To make me be forced to resort to using this..." they said to themselves as their collected fight and behavioral data was all compiled into various hypotheses. "... Very well, I will give you your due, Lailah."

From the least probable to the most probable, Re:Live's homebrewed A.I. narrowed down the possibilities of where the next attack would be coming from down to the very last factor.

"Now then..." Re:Live then pulled out another keycard from their side slot. "... Can you predict this?"

The world goes back to normal after [CLOCK]'s calculations were completed in less than 0.0004 seconds in real-life.

"[Re:Create]."

From above the moonlight and behind the still-burning flares of her holy energy acting as persistent flashbangs, Lailah comes diving down with a small shiv with a concentrated point of pure holy energy at the peak of its tip.

Letting out nothing save for a furious roar, the Fallen Angel then makes her desperate last attempt to take Re:Live out of the field. With a furious and tempestuous thrust, she then drives the sharpest shiv that she'd ever created in her life into the superhero's neck.

"[Copy], please!"

"WHAT THE-?!"

As soon as her knife could stake its prey, Re:Live had split themselves up in two before they cartwheeled out of her way before flanking her from both sides.

"Checkmate, bitch."

*SLASH!*

*BANG!*

The clone on the right then slashes her right rib with its [WizarSwordGun]'s blade mode while the real Re:Live on the left shoots her left eye out point-blank after their weapon's gun mode pressed its barrel against her temple.

With that devastating finishing blow, Lailah has fallen.

"... Better put in a few more just to be safe." Re:Live then pointed their gun at Lailah's before dismissing their mirror copy.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

At the Concert Hall Near Minano...

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" screamed Ruruko as her [Promotion: Knight] was the only thing keeping her from being cooked alive by the world's deadliest spotlights. "I THOUGHT CONCERTS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FUN!"

"It is fun for me~!" giggled Mittelt as her [Shining Superstar] remained in effect. "The crowd's eating it up...! AND YOU DEVILS ARE TONIGHT'S MAIN DISH!"

Upon her signal, the light familiars begin mobbing both Devils on stage like a horde of overzealous fans.

"If only real-life idols were this accommodating..." Yuuto rolled his eyes as he then slashed through the periwinkle Shikigami with his blades, cutting them down with one stroke of his blades each.

Ruruko tries to kick one with her demonic energy-enhanced legs, but all she succeeds in doing is burning her shins and the striped stockings that she wore around said limbs.

"NIMURA-SAN!" Yuuto then throws himself before her as he then cuts down the rest of the swarming light familiars. "... Are you okay-?!"

"INCOMING DEATH RAY!" Both Ruruko and Yuuto then throw themselves out of the way of the second volley right as Mittelt follows up with her extending her microphone to include a weaponized mic stand before hammering it down like a bludgeon.

*KABOOM!*

"Sheesh, kawaii-core or death metal?! PICK A GENRE AND STICK TO IT!" Ruruko exclaimed as she got back up, her right leg feeling numb from the burn.

"Death metal it is~!" Mittelt then focuses her ire onto the Pawn before the latter tries to run away with her [Promotion: Knight]'s speed.

Unfortunately, the injury sustained to her leg proved to be a major issue, causing her to undershoot from her initial trajectory, getting her caught in the blast of the Fallen Angel's overhead slam.

"DAMMIT!" Yuuto then sprints towards Ruruko before tackling her out of the way, making him the one to have his back singed by the wall of periwinkle familiars surrounding them.

"SENPAI!" the Pawn exclaimed as the Knight screamed in agony as his back was grilled before her before he collapsed onto the stage face-first.

Mittelt laughs at their anguish. "Wow, I know Devils in general are a bunch of emo-bastards, but you, lady, you really suck at being one, don't you?" she taunted. "Face it, you're one of the few that shouldn't be here! You're just a dead weight to your senpai, and because of you specifically, you're both gonna die... AT HANDS OF THE WORLD'S CUTEST FALLEN ANGEL, MITTELT BRIGHT~!"

The familiars surrounding them all roar out in their cheers as Yuuto struggles to get up.

"... Senpai," Ruruko wept as she helped him up. "... I'm so sorry-"

*SLAP*

Suddenly, the Knight slaps the Pawn right across her face, swelling her left cheek red in the process.

"... First of all, please, calm down," Yuuto pleaded as he then summoned [Pain Killer] blades around themselves for first aid. "We're not dead yet."

"... S-Sorry," she apologized. "... But this is all still new to me."

"I won't judge..." the Knight reassured, "but with that said, I have a plan-LOOK OUT!"

Yuuto then shoves Ruruko out of the way of Mittelt's mic slam as the former parries her attack with his [Pain Killer] blade right before it shatters after use.

"Try anything you want," smirked the Fallen Angel. "But nobody ain't gonna steal the show from me~!"

"We'll see," Yuuto smirked back before ripping the rest of his burned shirt off, revealing his heavily-scarred body from underneath. "... Run as fast as you can, Nimura-san. Let's play hot potato!"

Taking the slightly-vague hint, Ruruko then begins running around the stage as fast as her legs could right now while Yuuto does the same.

"Give it up! The whole stage is mine!" Mittelt declared before the spotlights began to hiss.

"NOW!"

Taking Ruruko's hand, Yuuto then throws the Pawn towards the Fallen Angel. But just as Mittelt could bat the Devil out of the air with her mic stand, Yuuto then throws a [Fae Marker] to Ruruko before stabbing another one into himself, swapping places with her before switching out his sword into an earthen claymore-like sword that instead knocked the Fallen Angel back with its heavier swing.

"FUCK!" cursed Mittelt as she then tried to signal her familiars to attack the Devils, but Ruruko then knees her in the face, interrupting her casting before running away. "THAT'S IT, YOU BITCH! WASTE THAT WHORE!"

All of the deployed familiars from the bleachers then congregated towards the Pawn as the latter ran for her life. Seeing an opportunity for a pincer maneuver, Mittelt then flies toward where the Devil was running toward as she then turned her microphone into a megaphone.

"THIS SHALL BE YOUR REQUIEM~!" the Fallen Angel announced as she then took a deep breath to unleash her killing blow. "DIE-!"

*CHOKE*

Suddenly, a painful sensation shot from her throat, causing Mittelt to gag before going completely hoarse as she dropped her megaphone before it dissipated into loose holy energy. Following shortly after, sensations of pain then stung into her chest, hips, and thighs, causing her whole body to twist and writhe in pain before she fell face-first onto the stage.

"What happened?!" Ruruko remarked as she then saw Yuuto stab himself with a curved short sword resembling a nobleman's dagger. "SENPAI?!"

Yuuto smirked in pain as he kept stabbing himself. "... [Phantom Pain]... allows me to transfer my own injuries that I inflict with this sword... to my enemy..." he heaved out. "... But compared to what you're suffering... it's nothing compared to what I've suffered through because of people like you...!"

*SCHUCK*

Mittelt screams in a choked voice as Ruruko winces upon seeing Yuuto stab himself in the pelvis, keeping the knife lodged in there to prevent her from going anywhere as he pushes through the great pain he'd inflicted onto himself to then enact his next part of his gambit.

"... [Full Release]... [HOLY EATER]!"

Several obsidian-bladed swords with golden hilts appeared around the Fallen Angel right before they all began siphoning all of her holy energy.

"No, no, no! What are you doing?!" exclaimed Mittelt as her solar disk behind her blackened wings began to flicker out along with the rest of the stage's lights. "HOW IS A DEVIL LIKE YOU COMPROMISING MY VERY BEING?!"

"... Whatever it takes," Yuuto answered. "... To defeat you."

As soon as her solar sigil on her right eye completely flickers out, Ruruko, now seeing that she was now longer under the threat of being cooked by holy energy, runs around the whole stage's circumference before delivering a flying knee to the Fallen Angel's head, sending her flying towards Yuuto's direction.

"[BLAST OGRE]!" The Knight then summons a brutish-looking falchion-scimitar-like sword that was swung towards the Fallen Angel like a batter striking a pitched baseball.

*KABOOM!*

A massive, ear-piercing explosion was emitted as soon as the barbaric blade collided against the Fallen Angel, sending her crashing into the bleachers, ripping the seats out of their bolts before she was knocked out after her head struck against the rearmost fence.

"... We did it," Ruruko chuckled in catharsis. "... SENPAI! WE DID IT!"

Yuuto nodded before he then pulled [Phantom Pain] from his own crotch, growling in pain as while there were no actual wounds inflicted onto his body, it still felt as if he received a chainsaw to his balls. "... We should get going."

"I'll help you out..." Ruruko then carried the Gremory Knight over her own shoulder before carrying him on her back, not daring to question what happened to make his body look like a well-used cutting board.

As soon as the Devils made themselves scarce, Mittelt groaned as she got back up, her head and face bleeding like sanguine waterfalls while the rest of her body had barely enough energy to walk.

Realizing that she'd lost, and unable to report her defeat, she chooses to escape on her own, taking her chances elsewhere.

"... Fuck," she cursed as her broken hands served as her barely-functional support for her tread through the woods. "... I'm not gonna die here...! Not when... NOT WHEN LADY LAILAH TRUSTS ME WITH HER LIFE-!"

*rustle*

The defeated Fallen Angel then goes into an instinctive defensive stance at whoever was coming. The greenery parts, revealing Raynare coming through it.

"... Oh thank God," she began to weep in relief. "... We've been looking all over for you-!"

*click*

Mittelt's words were then answered with a 24-karat gold barrel of a Desert Eagle.

"... Why?"

*BANG*

The last breath that the Fallen Angel takes in the world of the living was through her forehead.

Raynare's breathing quickens as her dead-looking eyes tremble upon having to realize that she was forced to kill her friend with her own two hands as a tengai-wearing bikuni nun appeared behind her.

"Congrats!" the nun said as she placed her hand on Raynare's shoulder. "You're now a legit good guy!"

Raynare then dropped the golden Desert Eagle before falling onto her knees and weeping at her friend's death. "... Why are you making me do this?!"

Chiha then causally tosses a head freshly ripped off from someone's shoulders next to the subverted Fallen Angel. "... Because that's what's going to happen to you," she answered as the grip on the Fallen Angel's shoulder firmed, "if you fuck with us."

The nun then casually picks up the Desert Eagle before pointing it to her side, shooting off the rest of its ammunition.

One of the fleeing cultists in charge of maintaining the wards around the plateau was shot in the head while the other was shot in their shoulder before successfully escaping.

"Are you..." Raynare murmured as she looked at the dead cultist left behind by their companion, "... are you going to make go after that straggler?"

"Eh, what's one cultist gonna do in the grand scheme of things? Join another cult? " Chiha dismissively remarked with a shrug. "Girl, Aum Shinrikyo is 99% dead, Happy Science is too busy making shitty anime-propaganda, and I'm pretty sure that guy wasn't even from Japan, let alone learn how to blend in with the rest of the 21st Century. I consider myself antithetical to Buddha-sama's teachings, but I'm not that cruel."

"Compared to someone who adjusted too well..." Raynare then looked towards Chiha with a slightly concerned look.

"It'll be fine," she reassured as she stashed her golden Desert Eagle into her cleavage before closing it up underneath her habits. "This is real life. 'Chekhov's Gun' ain't gonna apply here! Let the sleeping dogs lie."

"... I really hope you're right," the Fallen Angel groaned as she followed the secular nun from behind.

Back at the Plateau...

About a half an hour had passed, and already the enclosure had halved its overall size.

There was less room to fight, and less room to dodge, forcing the four combatants to resort to bare-handed melee to better accommodate for the increasingly-lessening space, with Zephon now wrapping his own fists with his [Adorning Loom]'s threads while Turel shrunk his lances for a pair of shortswords, and Rias and Akeno still were mostly themselves throughout the whole fight, adjusting their tactics accordingly and better coordinating their attacks together to work in the shrinking space.

That said, both sides were now running ragged from this prolonged stalemate, with neither side exempt from sporting cuts, scratches, and a few bleeding wounds all over themselves.

"President... do you perhaps have a plan to turn this around?" asked the Queen. "As much as I'm not against confinement play, I'm starting to think that our hosts don't exactly have our best interests in heart."

"... Got one," Rias remarked. "... Forgive me if I'm asking for too much, but can you like... handle those two for like a minute?"

Akeno stretches her arms and shoulders. "... A minute is too short," she boasted as lightning crackled throughout her body. "... Consider it done."

Tapping into her Queen Piece, Akeno then boosts all of her stats by a moderate amount before dashing towards the two Fallen Angels.

"That King's planning something!" Zephon pointed out. "Break through her!"

Both Fallen Angels then rush towards Akeno as she unleashes her lightning bolts laced with her own demonic energies. Turel manages to parry the thunderbolts with his blades before summoning smaller versions of them around himself to shoot themselves towards the Devil.

Akeno then runs her powers through the earth to erect a stone barrier, but Zephon shoots his strings out from underneath to harry the Queen from an unexpected spot, tangling her feet in place. She then retaliates by running her own electricity through the threads connecting to Zephon, to which the latter disperses more threads out and around himself into the dirt, dispersing the lightning with the improvised insulator.

"... Upon closer inspection, it appears that your lightning isn't merely demonic in nature," the Fallen Angel commented as he deployed more strings to disperse the shock into the earth. "... This lightning... almost feels nostalgic."

"Never took you for being into electric-play," Akeno deadpanned as she then shot more lightning towards Turel, preventing him from slipping by before shooting ice shards at the Fallen Angel to further harry him away from her King.

Zephon chuckles as he then further spun his [Adorning Loom], creating more holy energy threads to strike Akeno down with crafted scythe blades. The Devil in question uses her remaining free hand to parry the weapons with a wave of fire.

"... It's a shame, really," the Fallen Angel taunted. "... To have that kind of gift and yet you use it for a mere Devil. Tell me, what would your father think of this?"

Turel's eyes widened upon hearing that proclamation before connecting the dots between Akeno and her lightning. "... L-Lord Zephon, you cannot be serious!"

"As a heart attack!" chuckled Zephon as he then crafts a rotary gun from his threads before it begins spinning. "... Where is your loyalty to your real family, you ingrate?"

"... Loyalty," Akeno echoed as she bared her teeth before a furious glint shone from her eyes. "... That means nothing to the likes of you!"

Intensifying her output of her own electricity, Akeno then successfully rips through her bindings before blasting an elemental menagerie towards the Fallen Angels, destroying the minigun and knocking Zephon's back into the barrier's wall.

"LORD ZEPHON!" the subordinate Fallen Angel exclaimed before turning his attention towards Akeno. "YOU BITCH!"

As Akeno was readying herself to confront the enraged Turel, Rias' eyes then opened.

"Thanks for the wait," the King remarked as her irises then began to glow bright red. "... Now, Himejima Akeno, I shall undo your locks!"

Akeno then began to emit a bright-crimson aura around herself as her presence of power jumped from Middle-Class to High-Class in an instant. The Queen then grabs both of the Fallen Angel's arms before pulling them into herself before driving his gut in with her knee, making him cough out blood and phlegm before he was then grabbed by the neck and lifted up.

"That cannot be...!" Turel gasped as he was held up in a chokehold. "... House Gremory's... long-lost trait... that hasn't surfaced... since the Great War... [Lock Control]?!"

Rias smirks as she begins to bleed from her nose and eyes. "... What can I say?" she taunted. "... I live to break expectations."

Turel began to panic as he instinctively looked towards his executioner. He tries to will his weapons into his hands, but something about looking into the girl's eyes made him freeze in place.

Fear. Nothing short of pure fear was felt as the Fallen Angel looked into Akeno's eyes.

"... No... please...!" he begged. "... SPARE ME! LORD BARAQIEL-!"

*SNAP*

"... Don't you dare say his name before me, filth." Akeno then drops the slain Fallen Angel before making her way towards the recovering Zephon, who was more amused than anything upon seeing who she really was.

"... Chip off the old block, huh?" he commented with a smirk. "... Your father was also a vindictive piece of shit like you!"

Both Akeno and Zephon's fists collided against one another, knocking the two of them away from each other before the latter rushed in with a barrage of simple needle-constructs from his [Adorning Loom] while giving the wheel itself a blade behind its axel.

Akeno, in response, forges a lightning sword and an array of elemental blades that orbited around her, countering the opposing barrage as her and the Fallen Angel's blades clashed against one another.

"YOUR FATHER WAS A GUTLESS PIECE OF SHIT THAT COULDN'T COMMIT TO OUR CAUSE!" barked Zephon as he pushed back his sword. "I ADMIRED HIM DURING THE GREAT WAR! HE MADE THE ANGELS AND DEVILS COWER WITH HIS HOLY LIGHTNING! AND YET... AND YET! HE FUCKS OFF AND STARTS A FAMILY BEHIND ALL OF OUR BACKS! WITHOUT EVEN SO MUCH AS LEAVING FLOWERS FOR OUR DEAD!"

Akeno growls. "... Please, for the love of God, don't make me agree with you."

*CLANG*

Thanks to Rias' [Lock Control] boosting her powers to suppress Zephon's, Akeno successfully breaks the blade lock by being the one to knock him away...

*DING-DONG*

... Before kicking him in the balls with an electrocuted toe tip and following it up with a heel-grind to his nether regions.

"Now then," Akeno said commandingly, "release the barrier, and I'll let you live with one testicle."

Zephon simply points a finger-gun made of his own holy energy from his [Adorning Loom]. "Up yours, bitch."

*click*

"... Huh?" Zephon then tries to fire his gun again, only for it to come out empty. "... The fuck?!"

He then tries to spin the wheel of his loom again, only for it to be stuck.

"... No way!" the Fallen Angel panicked as he looked behind Akeno. "... The Gremory bitch!"

Rias flips him off with a smirk even as she begins drooling blood from her lips. "... Akeno."

The King then gives her a thumbs-down.

"Fuck him up."

*CRACK*

Zephon then lets out a pig-like squeal as both of his balls were mulched underneath the currently-High-Class Devil's heel, and she kept grinding to the point where his penis was slowly reduced to a bloody pile of ground meat mixed in with the dirt he was laying on.

"... Normally, I'd continue having fun with you," Akeno remarked as Rias then undoes her [Lock Control] entirely, causing her to catch herself onto her knees before the Queen supports her back up straight. "... But for the grave sin of making me agree with you, a Fallen Angel... Please, just... get out of my sight."

Akeno then heals her King as the latter then switches her trait usage to House Bael.

"... In the name of Duke Gremory and King Bael," Rias recited as a massive well of chthonic power concentrated before herself. "... I SENTENCE YOU TO OBLIVION!"

[Power of Destruction] was then unleashed in full, blasting out an all-engulfing stream of pure destructive energy that erased Zephon from existence along with the barrier keeping them inside, coring through the screen and out towards the nocturne horizon.

Once the coast was clear, Akeno then helped Rias outside before the two then took a break in the thicket.

"That was one Hell of a gamble you took there, President," Akeno commented as she resumed healing Rias. "... Although admittedly, I myself am partially to blame for putting us into this mess in the first place."

Rias shook her head. "... Hey, all's well that ends well."

The two then sit next to each other in quiet contemplation, with Akeno looking extremely hurt despite having less physical wounds than her King.

"... I have to ask," said Rias. "... But when are you going to tell Takeshi?"

Akeno shakes her head. "... Honestly, I-I don't know," she answered hesitatingly. "... I don't want him to hate me because... I hid this from him... especially after he was so honest with me."

Rias sighs. "He won't hate you," she reassured. "... After all, it's not like being half-Fallen Angel is any worse than having seven of the world's evilest Evil Dragons grafted into one's soul."

Akeno chuckles bitterly. "... Maybe," she partially agreed. "... But I'm just afraid that he'll hate me because I'm such a hypocrite for keeping secrets from him despite what I preached earlier."

"Hey, look at me," Rias ordered before grabbing Akeno by both of her cheeks and shaking her. "... You'll be fine. But if you're not ready yet, then I won't force you. I was just asking if you'll keep that part of you a secret forever."

Akeno looks down in shame. "... You're right," she confirmed. "... I'll tell him. During summer-"

*CRASH*

The two girls' conversation was then cut off by a scrapped M134 Minigun's barrel landing before them.

"... Takeshi?"

Akeno nods.

"Help a girl up, would you?"

Back at the Wrecked Base...

Takeshi lets out an animalistic growl as his hands clutched around the minigun's rotary barrel, preventing it from spinning around its axis as he tries to rip the weapon out of its boltings.

"FUCK! GET OFF OF ME!" screamed Freed as he then grabbed Takeshi with his clamp before ripping him off of his chassis and throwing him away like a piece of trash.

"HOLD ON! I GOT YOU!" Genshirou then shoots out his line from his Sacred Gear before tethering it to Takeshi. Upon catching him, he then activates [Promotion: Rook] to solidify his footing before swinging him around to gain momentum before releasing him.

Takeshi was then sent flying back to [Goliath], activating his thrusters to further increase his own trajectory speed to turn himself into a deadlier payload.

*WHAM!*

The resounding impact of [Berserk Devastator] scraping against the mecha's dented chassis causes the latter to begin tipping over backwards. Koneko then grabs one of its legs, taps into both her Rook Evil Piece and her own Senjutsu, temporarily transforming into a Nekoshō, and then proceeds to lift the giant mech up from the ground before slamming its shoulders down as she performs a smooth reverse suplex.

"HOLY SHIT! I'M ACTUALLY SEEING PRO WRESTLING WITH GIANT ROBOTS!" Takeshi cackled out as Genshirou looked away with a blush.

"TOUJOU-SAN! YOUR PANTIES!" the other Pawn exclaimed.

"Eh, whatever," Koneko grumbled before leaping back to the other two as she reverted back to her Nekomata form. "... By the way, Saji-san. I'm gonna have to poke your eyes out later."

"Oh come on! I wasn't even looking!" he protested. "AND WHY DOES RYUUGAMINE-SAN GET A FREE PASS?!"

"He's my boyfriend," she bluntly answered before the three then spot [Goliath] recover its footing, its damages clearly evident with its dented chassis, gutted weapons, and sparks spewing from its creaking joints and internals.

"WHY WON'T YOU ASSHOLES JUST DIE ALREADY?!" Freed shrieked out as its remaining weapons began glowing to life before firing its salvos all at once.

Takeshi then stands before the Devils before letting out a roar that blasted all of the projectiles out of the air.

"... Did he just use [Death Phoneme] without killing us?" Koneko pointed out.

"I for one, will not look this gift horse in the mouth," Genshirou remarked.

"Coming from an asshole who refuses to die? That's rich," growled Takeshi as he slowly approached [Goliath]. "... I followed ORC too far to die now, Freed. I have accepted that I now bear the gift of death. No enemies will outrun me, nor there shall be any place in this fucking universe that you or bastards like you can hide. I'm tired, but I'm not so tired that I cannot kill you. Maybe then after, this feeling of disgust in my heart can finally fade away. But for now, as long as I know for sure that you have Pandora... I will stop at nothing to FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Clenching his fist as tight as he could, Takeshi then let out another roar as he and Freed ran towards each other before punching each other once more.

*CLANG!*

The Evil Dragon User was sent sliding back to where he'd started, but this time, the wear and tear inflicted onto the mech became more exasperated, even going as far as to go temporarily limp.

"HOW?!" Grendel barked out loud from [Cataclysm Zone]. "HOW ARE YOU NOT SUBMITTING TO ME ANYMORE?!"

"This is my anger, and no one else's," answered Takeshi. "As long as I own up to my own feelings, you have no means to strip me bare, Grendel. Sit back and let me do my work. You want to walk away, but you can't help but stick around because you want to be the one to kill him, don't you?"

The Evil Dragon of Wrath tried to protest, but all he could utter were inane ramblings of a being who cannot fathom the paradox that he'd trapped himself in, unable to compromise between bloodlust and spite.

"... Whelp, I think you broke him," Nidhogg commented.

"Well I for one, hope that he enjoys psychological pain as much as physical pain."

Finishing his recovery, Freed then aims his gun-arm towards the Devils...

*FWOOM*

... But from the forest nearby, it was erased from existence by a vector of dark energy.

"President!" Koneko exclaimed as Akeno came out carrying Rias on her back.

"... Sorry for the wait, everyone," the red-haired King apologized.

Freed then lets out a snarl of frustration as he then shoots a volley of holy energy shots from his remaining weapon platforms, but Akeno easily intercepts them by erecting several magical barriers around everyone.

"I think he's on his last legs, so I'll leave the rest to you guys," the Queen confidently reassured.

"DAMN YOU!" [Goliath] then sprinted towards the Devils as it raised its strained clamp-arm up and concentrated with a ball of holy energy before swinging it down, but something was shot past it, jerking it back and pinning it back down.

Everyone looks from where the projectile had come from, revealing Yuuto being carried by Ruruko as the latter was flying back to the battlefield.

"... Alright, I think I have a plan on how to save Pandora," Takeshi remarked as he huddled Koneko and Genshirou in. "... Genshirou, think you can tap that mecha dry of its powers a bit more? It's running on fumes, so it shouldn't take long."

The Sitri Peerage's Pawn nods. "... Yeah," he answered. "I think I'm getting the hang of this. So where does that leave you two?"

Koneko then eyes Takeshi before nodding.

"I think I can skip out an arm-day tomorrow."

[Goliath] then succeeds in ripping [Gravity Nail] out from its arm after tearing off its clamp, leaving the mech completely without weapons as the remaining Devils got to work with their plan.

Genshirou then shoots a line from his Sacred Gear to connect itself with an open circuitry to drain it of its remaining power. Freed then tries to throw his mech's own weight around to swing the Devil around like a ragdoll, but Ruruko and Yuuto come in and join in on Genshirou's grip, conducting a game of tug of war between the three Devils and [Goliath].

"WILL YOU FUCKERS JUST STOP IT ALREADY?!" Freed cried out as he pushed his mech to its breaking point, even as his holy energy was being siphoned.

"WHATEVER YOU'RE PLANNING, SENPAI, DO IT ALREADY!" Ruruko cried out as her [Promotion: Rook] was starting to strain itself.

Koneko then takes Takeshi by his hand before swinging him around like a meteor hammer before throwing the Evil Dragon User towards the disarmed [Goliath].

*CLANG!*

But this time, Takeshi then digs [Berserk Devastator]'s claws into the chassis itself. "PANDORA!"

"DAMMIT! WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP?!" Freed yelled back. "SHE CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"PANDORA!" Takeshi then drives his fist into the damaged chassis. "PANDORA! HOLD ON! I'M COMING!"

And thus, Takeshi kept banging against the metal hatch with all of his might.

"STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT ALREADY!" Freed cried out in an increasingly-panicked tone.

As the cockpit of the [Goliath] kept rocking like a boat out in a storm, the vibrations and the desperate screams ringing throughout the internals, Pandora, who saw nothing but darkness, stirred.

"... Who's there?"

She found herself in the same gaol cell once again.

"... Who's there?"

The drumming heard before her rocked her eardrums.

She looked down, and found something also familiar.

"... The gaol keys," she muttered to herself.

"... dora...!"

She gasps.

"Pandora...!"

"TAKESHI!"

She then grabs the keys from the floor before inserting it into the lock.

"TAKESHI!"

She then swings the doors open towards her liberation!

*CREAK*

The horrible metallic creaking sound ushers moonlight and the night sky as the bandages around Pandora's eyes slip off as Takeshi rips the hatch clean off of [Goliath], exposing Freed and Pandora to the rest of the world.

"You came...!" Pandora couldn't help but cry as Takeshi reached out his hand towards her.

"I WILL BECOME YOUR HOPE, PANDORA!" the Evil Dragon User declared. "TAKE MY HAND!"

"NO! YOU CAN'T TAKE HER FROM ME!" Freed protested as he tried desperately to rip out one of his arms from the connecting points in his cockpit, but by the time he'd pulled his left arm out, all he could seize were a few strands of hair from her head as the "Calamity Witch" was rescued by her knight in shining armor.

Grendel hated to admit it out loud, but he found Freed's emotional anguish appealing to partake in.

"... You're okay!" Takeshi gasped out as he held the girl in her arms.

"... I am," she replied before falling unconscious.

Takeshi sighs in relief as he takes her to Akeno. "... Hold onto her." The Devil then turns back towards the dying Freed. "... I have to give him his well-deserved due."

[Goliath], now losing its main power source, struggled to even move forward. "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU, YOU FILTHY DEVIL!" he cursed to his last breath. "DAMN YOU MOTHERFUCKERS ALL TO HELL!"

Takeshi sighs before flaring up the jets of his Sacred Gear once more. "... Keep my seat down there warm for me then."

The Evil Dragon User sprints towards the now-kneeling Freed as the former then jumps off the ground, clasps his hands together, and begins spinning around, turning his whole body into a blazing drill.

"MACH PULVERIZER!"

Takeshi's fiery fingers then gut into Freed's bare chest as he bored through what little-remaining flesh and bone as the mutilated lunatic screams his last death throes. The Pawn kept spinning and spinning until he emerged from [Goliath]'s back, covered in blood and bits of meat all over his armor and Sacred Gear.

Freed lets out a last breathy groan as the rest of him and the mech he was piloting falls to its knees before completely collapsing.

*KABOOM!*

"... Why did he just spontaneously explode like it were some Tokusatsu monster?" asked Genshirou as he withdrew his [Absorption Line]'s thread.

"You just answered your own question," Koneko deadpanned before poking him in the eyes.

Takeshi's armor then dematerialized around his body, revealing that his whole body was wrecked throughout the whole ordeal, collapsing as his broken limbs failed to hold him upright and vomiting enough blood to fill a water bottle.

"SENPAI!" Koneko and Akeno rushed in to check on him. "... Oh fuck, his whole body is destroyed!"

"Heal him! Hurry!" Both Devils then began applying healing magic and Senjutsu to pull him back from the brink.

"Not bad for an overly-sentimental whelp," Nidhogg commented as [Cataclysm Zone]'s gem turned ash-gray. "... Were you to die now, then it's not a bad place to call it quits."

The gem then turns green, signaling Grendel's turn on the podium.

"... Fucking brat deserved it."

Both Koneko and Akeno sigh as the worst has passed, the latter falling onto her hands in exhaustion. "... It's over," she said. "... But how are we supposed to wake him up?"

"Leave it to me," Rias remarked as she dragged herself towards the girls and Takeshi, with Koneko picking up on what she was implying.

"... Let me join too," she added. "... I... I have to make sure that he's okay."

"What are they talking about, Kiba-senpai?" Ruruko asked, to which Yuuto replied by simply ignoring him, dodging the question.

"Congratulations. You've all completed my commission."

Everyone yelps as Re:Live appeared out of nowhere (again).

"Will you stop doing that?!" Akeno pointed out.

"No," answered the superhero. "... In any event, leave the disposal of the evidence to me. All of you, go home, and rest, especially the boy."

"Forget resting, he needs to go to a hospital!" Genshirou pointed out Takeshi's condition.

"I assure you, he'll be fine." Re:Live then taps their finger into nothing before the poked empty space begins rippling like water. "... This way will lead you all back to Kuoh. I trust that you can take the rest from here?"

"I'll take care of Pandora and Yuuto at my place," Akeno offered. "... As for Saji-kun and Nimura-chan, please get started on the after-action reports... provided if you're able enough to."

Ruruko and Genshirou looked at each other before answering. "... Can you give us like until tomorrow afternoon?"

With all that said and done, the Devils from Kuoh return home while Re:Live stays behind and conducts their clean-up.

"Now where's the bucket?" they muttered before they grabbed a pipe wrench from the ground.

Wandering around the flooded basement, the superhero then finds a tin pail floating in water.

"... And lo and behold, the water's clean enough." After getting out of the water, Re:Live then proceeds to bang the wrench against the bucket, signaling something to come out of hiding.

From the waters' reflection then emerged several monsters, ranging from bipedal impalas, crab-men, and even a purple-scaled cobra the size of a limousine.

"Dig in."

With that order, the familiars summoned from the reflection began eating the bodies left behind by the Devils while the superhero themself proceeded to demolish the rest of the building.

"Sup," Chiha greeted as she dragged the reluctant Raynare out to the open.

"Is it finished?" they asked.

"If 'breathing through a hole in your forehead' counts as 'dead,' then yeah." The secular nun then jabbed Raynare's arm with her elbow.

Re:Live then glared at the subverted Fallen Angel, the latter shrinking in fear at their beyond-superior strength and scope of their influence. "... Please, don't hurt me," she wept in fear as she saw the herd of familiars devour the corpses of fallen Stray Exorcists and Fallen Angels around the plateau. "I don't want to die... I know that you're clearly stronger than me, so please, spare me...!"

Re:Live sighs before pulling out their phone. "... I'll contact Governor Azazel to see if I can make a few legal transfers," they remarked. "For now, get her a new set of clothes. And I don't mean that just because she pissed herself in them again."

"Give me a sec!" Chiha then pulls out a small mallet decorated with gold leaf and suzu bells at its pommel from her sleeves. "... And bonk!"

*BONK*

The scraps of the wrecked [Goliath] the shrunk to 1/72-scale version of itself before it was collected by the bikuni.

20th of April, 2019 AD

YOU CAN COUNT THE MEDALS: ONE, TWO, AND THREE!

LIFE GOES ON ANYTHING GOES COMING UP OOO!

Takeshi immediately springs back to life as if what had happened last night was all just a bad dream. But as soon as he regained all of his physical faculties, a sense of numbness shocked his whole body, forcing him to lie back down onto his bed.

"... Nope, it really happened," he winced before breathing deeply and exhaling. "... Wonder why I didn't fall off the bed this time-"

As he straightened out his body, he felt something squishy underneath his left hand before another thought struck him.

"... Why am I naked?!"

Flipping his sheets off of his bed, he then finds himself between Rias and Koneko, both of them sleeping completely naked on his bed, with the latter sneezing from the sudden draft.

"Y-Y-YOU TWO?!" Takeshi cried out. "PRESIDENT?! KONEKO?!"

Rias then lets out a cute yawn before turning her bedroom eyes towards Takeshi. "Good morning, Takeshi."

Koneko was the next one to yawn, arching her whole body back as she let out a mewling yawn like an actual cat. "... Morning, senpai."

Takeshi tried to look away from the two nude girls, but his instincts and libido took control as his eyes remained locked as Rias and Koneko got themselves dressed starting with their lacy underwear.

"I didn't ask that you can look." Takeshi then turned his head away at Rias' order. "... I didn't say that you can stop."

"For the love of-I'm sorry, my brain is about to short-circuit," groaned Takeshi as he tried to cover himself.

"Senpai, can I wear one of your shirts?" Koneko asked as she leaned into his closet. "Normally, I can easily manifest my clothes with magic, but I kinda wanna do that kind of thing where girlfriends wear their boyfriend's shirts."

Takeshi incoherently grumbles before letting out a deep sigh. "... Take whatever fits you."

"Thank you very much~!" Rias then also dives into Takeshi's closet before fitting on one of his shirts. "... Hm. Odd. Thought you'd have bigger clothes, but even your biggest shirt barely covers my panties."

"They fit me just fine," Koneko remarked as she twirled around in Takeshi's shirt like a miniskirt. "... But now looking at him closer... Takeshi-senpai's kinda tiny for a guy."

"I'm 165 cm! I'm not that short!" Takeshi protested vehemently before pouting. "... That said, can someone hand me a pair just so that my parents don't get the wrong idea-"

The door creaks open to have Hiroto walk into his son's room.

"... So, a threesome?" the father remarked with a wry smirk.

"Don't worry, Ryuugamine-san," Rias spoke out. "No actual sex was involved. I just like sleeping in nude."

"And I'm past the 'third date threshold' with senpai, so we're in the clear." Koneko then gave the older man a thumbs-up.

All Takeshi can do was internally cry as he was forced to witness his own father see him bring two girls into his room while he was still seen naked with a boner.

"... Anyway, mom's out today for her morning-afternoon shift, and I for one, have to head to my office for a conference call," Hiroto pointed out. "... I'll text her, not about this, but just the fact that you brought two girls and see if they'd like to stay here for lunch."

"Can you get KFC?" Koneko requested. "I am famished."

"Anything for my future daughter-in-law!" Hiroto chuckled as he closed the door. "See you three later!"

After that awkward encounter passes as evidenced by the sound of the car driving away from this house, Takeshi, now wearing a pair of pants, finds himself sitting atop of his bed while Rias and Koneko were kneeling before him, both of whom were wearing his shirts over their undergarments.

"... Okay, first of all, why were we all naked?" he asked before interrupting Rias raising her hand. "And I don't mean for any personal reasons!"

"It's an... emergency treatment," Rias explained.

"Senpai, you broke all of your ribs, there were several hairline fractures in both your arms, your right leg was snapped in two, your entire spine was fractured down vertically, and for about a few minutes, you might as well been declared legally dead," the Nekomata revealed. "... Senjutsu is more effective when there's more... intimate contact."

"I also wasn't exactly doing too hot in the aftermath either, so a compromise had to be made," the President added. "... It worked like a charm."

"Huh, so Fate/Stay Night-logic then..." An errant thought then pervades Takeshi's mind. "... You know, maybe getting beaten half to death isn't so bad if I get to sleep naked between two beautiful girls-ow ow ow ow ow ow...!"

"... No perverted thoughts with other girls besides me, senpai," Koneko warned as she pinched Takeshi's leg with her clawed fingers.

"That would be a problem, Ryuugamine," Rias remarked with a smile. "If you end up in a state where you are to be in a full-body cast, then I'll have to tag in Yuuto to take my place."

"... If he's okay with it, sure," he remarked with a slight blush, causing Rias' eyes to widen and Koneko's to blink.

"Senpai's an omnivore..." shuddered the Nekomata. "... Don't tell me you tried to hit on the Pervert Trio."

"No, it's more like the fact that being socially isolated for three years in Junior High may or may not have fucked up my orientation to the point where I'm more... open to options," Takeshi pointed out. "And also no, I will not ask Issei or the rest of the trio out, mainly because they're all straight as an arrow, and I require mutual consent if I were to get intimate with someone else."

"... I see," Rias nervously chuckled. "... Wow, I must've sounded like a total bitch."

"Is bisexuality legal in the Underworld, let alone accepted?" asked Takeshi.

Rias goes silent for a minute before answering. "... Honestly, the fact that the Underworld's nobility tend to stick to political marriages and expect children from a union... I'll just say that it's legally accepted but no one actually does anything to enforce it, nor is there any prejudice against it."

Takeshi smirks. "... I got you stumped right there, didn't I?" He then turns towards Koneko. "And Koneko-chan, I'll only do a bisexual threesome in the future only when ALL members of the party are consenting. Okay?"

The Nekomata sighs as her ears lop down the side of her head. "... Got it," she replied. "... And sorry if I was being an ass. It's... new to me, too."

And my respect for you has now tanked, whelp, Nidhogg spat out in disgust. ... Hope that you work hard rebuilding it. It's going to take a while.

I never asked for your approval. Takeshi grumbles before checking his phone. "AW FUCK! SUPERHERO TIME IS ABOUT TO START!"

And with that, the three find themselves crammed on the same couch while watching Star Twinkle Pretty Cure's Episode 12, "Goodbye Lala!? The Movie Director is an Alien," which was honestly just a filler episode.

"At least we don't have to think too hard about it..." Takeshi then munched on his bowl of cereal with Rias and Koneko doing the same thing (the latter eating hers out of a stainless steel mixing bowl and a soup ladle, with quantity to match). "... I appreciate the time we spend together doing nothing, because nothing is actively trying to kill us."

Should've died back there, you fucking brat... grumbled Grendel.

Never took you for the sulking type, teased Nidhogg.

FUCK YOU!

Even the Evil Dragons' petty squabbling felt like fart in the wind as Kamen Rider Zi-O's Episode 32, where it picks up after the previous episode's cliffhanger.

"... You know, maybe in hindsight, having my body act like a total spaz while housing differing souls inside doesn't seem too bad compared to what happened last night," Takeshi commented as Tsukuyomi (the girl, not the Shinto God) could nothing nothing but snark at [Zi-O Trinity] form's... compromised default state.

"That'd be the day," Rias snickered.

"I'll have the camera ready by then," Koneko added. "... And uh, sorry senpai. I couldn't record last night's fight on my phone."

"It's okay. The situation took precedence over presentability." Takeshi then rubs his hand against Koneko's head, the latter purring at his gentle handling as Ryusoulger's Episode 6 begins. "... Everyone done with their cereal?"

Takeshi then takes their empty bowls as Tankjoh reprimands his subordinate Kleon for doing the obligatory evil laugh with him, causing both Rias and Koneko to snort at that scene.

"Okay, that's actually good humor," Rias commented. "... Balancing out the edge of the whole 'poison the city's water supply'-plan with that simple bit is not what you see nowadays."

"A bunch of try-hards forget that humor is meant to be simple," Koneko commented.

"Tell me about it..." Takeshi then sat himself down between the two girls as Kou and Melto found one of their retired Tribe Elders... managing a kebab cart, and helping them develop an antidote with magic and a coffee pot. "... Come to think of it, what is the ratio between those supernatural and those outside of the former in Kuoh Town?"

"Well obviously, the former is only around 1 out of 400 people living here," Rias answered. "... But take that with a grain of salt, since those were the only ones who we could find, with some being really good at hiding their otherness, while some weren't even aware of their true nature until... Well, I think that's how the Sitri Peerage got a majority of their members."

"Huh," Takeshi remarked as the Ryusoulgers finally did their full roster-roll call before facing Tankjoh and the Cerberus Minosaur. "... Wonder who Saji-kun and Nimura-san's ancestors were. I mean, I sort of recall Abe-senpai tracing her ancestors all back to Germany."

"We'll pry into their pasts after we get to know them better," Rias remarked as the fight between the Ryusoulgers and the Minosaur and its commander ends with the former's hard-earned victory. "For now, we can rest on our laurels-"

*DING-DONG*

The doorbell rings. "... Give me a minute to put on my shirt." Takeshi then runs back upstairs before coming back down fully dressed. "Coming!"

He then opens the door, and finds a taped box left behind on the porch.

"... Why is it unmarked?" he pointed out, causing Rias and Koneko to look at this package with him before using their magic to scan for anything dangerous.

"There's no bombs or anything suspicious inside," Rias confirmed.

"... Open it?" Koneko suggested.

"I swear to Satans below, if there's anything illegal inside, I'm gonna find whoever sent me this and shove it right up their asshole..." grumbled Takeshi as he then opened the box before digging through the packing peanuts and finding another box inside...

... Revealing it to be an S.H. Figuarts Mashin Chaser with Katano Taiko's autograph signed on the special display base.

"What the fuck...?!" Takeshi's voice was that of both elation and confusion.

"... There's something else inside." Koneko then dug her hands into the styrofoam before pulling out an envelope.

Rias then takes the envelope before ripping it open the letter inside and reading it out loud.

"... 'The 6 six million yen has already been transferred to your Venmo account'," she read before continuing. "... 'This figure is the additional reward I mentioned during our first meeting. You're welcome'."

Rias then puts down the letter before groaning into her hands upon realizing who was at the other side of eBay.

"... Son of a bitch spent over 100 million yen for a gag," she grimaced.

After Takeshi's excitement dies down, he then spots another object within the well of packing peanuts.

"What the heck is that?" he remarked as he then pulled out a giant plastic Ziploc bag containing a black glasses case, a collapsible cane, and a forged doctor's note.

"... 'For Pandora'," Koneko read the label out loud. "... The fuck?"

21st of April, 2019 AD

After school, the members of the Gremory Peerage have gathered at the ORC clubroom, with Pandora being guided inside while Yuuto's eyes were blindfolded. Once everyone took their seats, the President then made her announcement.

"Good news, we managed to avoid triggering a war," Rias announced. "Even better news, Re:Live has confirmed that the Grigori has now legally transferred the protectorate order to us! Meaning that no one can sue us!"

Everyone in the main office applauds as Pandora sits on her own chair labeled "guest of honor."

"... I don't know what I should hate more," Grendel commented from Takeshi's [Cataclysm Zone]. "... The fact they choose to target your coffers rather than your lives, or the fact that there's no impetus to kill their asses in the first place!"

"Like you need a reason," deadpanned Nidhogg. "... Still though, I have to admit. The development is quite intriguing. A former enemy turned friend... now I wonder how that will fare..."

"Keep reading, the story ain't gonna be over for a while," Takeshi grinned, now able to somewhat tolerate the Evil Dragons' barbs.

"... I guess that means I get to stick around with you guys from hereon," the former "Calamity Witch" remarked with a small smile. "... Regardless, thank you for taking me in."

"Speaking of..." Takeshi said. "... How are your eyes? Are they better now?"

"... Sometimes it feels like it's going to catch fire every time I go outside," she confessed. "... Maybe I should've kept the bandages on until my eyes have fully healed."

"Well, we got something for that." Koneko then takes out the Ziploc bag meant for Pandora. "... Re:Live's care package along with a forged doctor's note. Think you can play yourself off as blind while in public view?"

"As long as I'm able to paint in private, I'll oblige," she answered as she took the bag before opening it up.

The first thing Pandora tries on were the shades, which upon placing them over her eyes, felt as if her powers are now tamed to a certain extent.

"... You can let go of him now, Akeno," Rias ordered, to which the Queen then took off the Knight's blindfold. "... So, Pandora. How do they feel?"

The girl sighs. "... For the first time in my life, I feel like a normal person."

"Good," Takeshi remarked with a smirk. "At least that way, the other guys can stop creeping on you against their will."

"And with that, I'd like to make a proposal." Rias then sets down her chess set before opening it up. "... Pandora, what do you think about joining my Peerage and becoming a Reincarnated Devil?"

The girl flinches at the offer. "... Are you serious?" she pointed out. "... You do know about my curse, right?"

"And we have an Evil Dragon User who managed to synchronize with one of them and has successfully stopped making the other go on a murder-fueled rampage, to an extent. So really, you're in good company," Rias reassured. "... Look, it's your choice. I won't kick you out if you don't join. But at the very least, me and the rest of ORC would like to give you an opportunity to help you grow. Help you move on from your past as an unwanted child. I want to give more than just a home, Pandora. I want you to give the power to take fate by its horns, and... Can I be honest?"

"I'm listening."

Rias then sits down next to Takeshi before picking up a rubicund Rook, Bishop, and Knight Evil Pieces before setting them down on the board.

"... I can't look away from those who have given up on themselves when they have so much more life ahead of them," she began. "Throughout my life, I've seen many people like you who were found rotting away in some unspecific gutter because no one gave them a chance. 999 times out of a 1000, I was too late to save them. This Peerage I've gathered here? They were the only ones who I could save from their fates, and I do not regret giving them all a second chance that the others refused to give."

"... How softhearted for a Devil," Pandora pointed out. "And to think that your kind were once spoken within the same breath as sin and vice."

"That's for those who choose to remain in the past whether by obligation or entitlement," Rias pointed out. "My own definition of the word 'Devil' means 'ones who take pride in their freedom and being whoever they wish to be'."

Pandora ruminates in this offer placed before her.

She could easily reject their offer and go on about living her life as a normal girl as she wished, but something about that night where she was saved stirred something within her.

Something akin to fire. It desired to burn free and open, to dance about the world beyond the gaol cells and shine brighter than the sun itself.

The feeling of intoxication when she, for the first time in her life, chose to defy her captors willingly, was like a drug. She wanted more of it.

Pandora realizes that she wanted more out of her life, like everyone else she saw in her life did.

"... You make a tempting offer, Miss Gremory," she said confidently. "... Normally, I'd say no before listing off the reasons why you shouldn't take me in, and topping that off with that should I be unable to control my own powers, then you must slay me for the sake of everyone else."

Normally, one would be concerned of what was coming out of her mouth, but something about Pandora's new mannerisms delivered otherwise.

"... But, then I realized something, after spending time with all of you," Pandora revealed. "... I'm sick of running away from myself. I'm sick of living my life as an unwanted child save for those who wish to exploit me. And I'm sick of denying the fact that I want to live... despite everything!"

She then bursts from her seat.

"I accept your offer, Rias Gremory!" declared Pandora. "I choose to die with my head held up high rather than continue living with my head tucked down!"

Rias, in an equally dramatic manner, stands up and takes her hand. "Very well! The contract has now been established!"

Then the tension drops upon Rias realizing that she skipped a few steps in the protocol.

"... So um, which piece would you like?" the President asked, to which Pandora chuckled. "... If you must know, Rook is about physical bulk, Knight is about speed and agility, and Bishop is about long-range fighting and support."

"Then the choice is obvious." Pandora then picks out the Knight piece. "Rook is useless to me, and the Bishop is redundant. The Knight's speed will supplement my natural magic very well."

"Ah, run-and-gunner, got it," Takeshi commented as Pandora was guided by Rias to the magic circle. "An excellent pick!"

"Now lay down on the circle, Pandora." The girl obliges as Rias then picks up the Knight Evil Piece. "... Are you ready?"

Pandora nods. "... I'm ready for my new life, Miss Gremory."

"Very well!" Rias then channels her authority to the Knight piece through her King Evil Piece. "I order you, Pandora, in the name of Rias Gremory! Thou art shall be reborn as a Devil serving as House Gremory's arms and legs! Thou art shall be my Knight, and rejoice in thy rebirth!"

Upon her declaration, the Knight Evil Piece enters the girl's body before it glows a bright crimson aura. As she then floated up from the floor, a pair of chiropteran wings sprouted from her back before the intensity of the ritual ceded, with Pandora gently let down from the air and back on the ground.

"And with that, welcome to ORC!" Rias declared as Takeshi helped her up. "... So, how do you feel?"

Pandora lets out a groan before flexing her new wings. "... Like Icarus, but without the risk of catching fire."

"Let's get along from now on, Pandora-san," Koneko said as she shook her hand.

"If you need to ask for anything or in need of help, let any of us know," Akeno pointed out with a welcoming smile.

"Always grateful to have another Knight to watch our backs," Yuuto reassured. "I welcome the day where we fight alongside each other in House Gremory and the President's name."

"Glad to have you in a world of gods and monsters," Takeshi remarked. "As fellow new bloods, let's learn more about this world together, okay?"

"Funny that you should mention that," Rias pointed out. "... I have plans for her to attend this school starting tomorrow, with you as her peer assistant. And combined with the doctor's note that Re:Live had forged, that just provides us an additional excuse for us to keep a close eye on her. By the way, I forgot to ask, but how old are you, Pandora?"

"... I'm 16," she answered. "... As for my actual birthdate, I have no clue, given that I was separated from my original parents when I was a mere babe."

Takeshi mulls over before coming up with a solution. "... We did get paid six million yen by Re:Live, correct?"

"What are you suggesting?" Rias replied as Takeshi smiled.

"Well, since Chichibu City is almost finished being repaired... how about taking Pandora out for a celebration?" Takeshi suggested. "After all, after spending all that time crammed indoors, I think some fresh air would do her wonders. And well... I want to show her something before today ends."

"Well, this may be celebration-high talking, but I kinda wanna come along just to have something to brag to Sona," Rias agreed. "Sure! Where to?"

At Minami Ward in Saitama City, Saitama...

"CHEERS!"

All of ORC then clinked their glasses together in Pandora's honor as they dined in the private dining room of the high-end Japanese restaurant.

"This place is... a bit... loud," Pandora nervously chuckled. "... I'm okay with something smaller. Really."

"Don't sweat the small stuff, Pandora-chan!" Takeshi then offered her a piece of fatty tuna sashimi on her plate. "OKUDOSAN is basically all of Japanese cuisine in one place! And you gotta admit, this stuff tastes way better than all the convenience store and takeout-crap that we kinda had to make you eat this past week, right?"

Pandora blushes before she smashes her piece of raw tuna. "... Oh gods," her voice trembled as she chewed on the fatty meat, trying not to cry. "... I love it."

"Damn straight," Koneko remarked as she devoured her piece of amberjack. "Even better, senpai's paying for all of it."

"It's not like I spend all of my commission fees that much!" Takeshi remarked as he then took a piece of sea bass. "... Speaking of, what do you guys spend your money on anyway?"

All of ORC falls into awkward silence.

"... Just basic necessities, really," Yuuto pointed out. "... I mean, we kind of have to pay for our own education given that we don't have access to House Gremory's coffers save for, well... when other Pantheons take legal action against us."

"Those gods can be a spiteful lot," Akeno commented as she took her piece of horse mackerel from the central plate. "... Remember Zenkō Temple?"

Everyone present groans at how the Shinto Pantheon nearly bankrupted them for "damages" that resulted in them going on a mad dash to recover their finances.

"Zenkō Temple?" parroted Pandora before she was given the abridged version by Takeshi. "... Oh my. You fought a High-Class Oni when first using Nidhogg's Balance Breaker form to save Miss Toujou. It almost sounds..."

"Familiar?" Koneko pointed out, to which Pandora nodded. "... Takeshi-senpai's an overcompensating chūni Evil Dragon try-hard, but if it weren't for that, then Japan wouldn't be a thing right now."

Pandora nervously chuckled at what kind of jobs that ORC took once every blue moon. "... Aside from... possibly-cataclysmic jobs, when will I start my work... President?"

"I'd say... give or take, somewhere around the end of this week," answered Rias as she pinched a piece of red snapper for herself. "After all, you still need to readjust to your new life. I may be a Devil, Pandora, but I'm not that cruel. We're not just posing as High School students. We are actual students, after all."

"Explains the lack of alcohol," she remarked with a small smirk as she drank from her cup of water. "... So I'll be in... what, 11th Grade?"

"Second Year, yes," Yuuto clarified. "And don't worry about your Charm going off. Just keep those shades on in public, and away from public view, we'll train you on how to keep your Charm under control."

Pandora smiles. "... I appreciate that."

"You guys want more?" Takeshi asked everyone, to which they all nodded, with Koneko especially eager. "Waiter! I'd like to order a pot of shabu-shabu!"

After Dinner...

Now Playing: "Promise" by Da-iCE (from Kamen Rider: Beyond Generations)

"Umm... why are you closing my eyes?" asked Pandora as she was guided in the dark.

"Just a bit more," Takeshi's voice reassured her. "... And now!"

He then removes his hands from over her eyes, revealing the now fully-restored Hitsujiyama Park and its fields of pink moss flowers dancing under the moonlight.

"A little hard work pays off," Takeshi boasted to the rest of ORC as everyone took in the marvelous sight. "What do you guys think? Pretty cool, huh?"

"To think that this place was once devastated..." Yuuto commented with awe.

"It's majestic," Akeno remarked. "... And no one is around to interrupt us... Are you coming onto me, Takeshi-chan?"

"Flirting aside, I agree with Himejima-senpai," Koneko nodded. "... No Fallen Angels to ruin the atmosphere."

Rias chuckled. "... I take it that you wanted to show this place to Pandora as a message, don't you, Takeshi?"

Takeshi shushes her as Pandora absorbs the whole scenery.

She was no stranger to nature with scenes like this. Hell, she could name a hundred other places in Greece alone that could put this place to shame.

But something about this place at this time of night felt... different.

"... Why?"

Tears fell from her eyes as a certain voice began to echo from within her heart that she'd once declared dead.

"To continue living in spite of everything wrong with this world..."

She once remembered seeing this place drowned out like the bottom of a septic tank.

"... I think that is my definition of true beauty."

For the first time in her life, Pandora says something that she'd never she'd ever say in her entire life.

Not as an embittered person resigned to fate.

Nor as an artist practiced and dedicated to her craft.

But as a genuine person of her own free will, now expressing it fully.

"... It looks even more beautiful than my painting."

Arc 3: Blasphemy in the Name of the Lord - COMPLETE

To Be Continued...

And that's the reboot's "Chapter 15."

Oh boy, a lot happened in IRL that threw me for a loop during this chapter's development.

First of all, dvdryms made a huge comeback by finishing the arc where he left off earlier this year. As for my thoughts, I enjoyed the unexpected twist of the cast heading to Mexico (I assumed the fight would stick to New York for one giant Spider-Man Japan-reference), and Ah Puch showing up (being one of the most canonically IRL evilest gods to have ever existed) was a welcome addition. So overall, all I can say to the OG author is: "Welcome back. We missed you. And thank you for wrapping up a story that was left hanging. We hope that you have a good life ahead of you."

Secondly, I normally don't do these kinds of things, given that death as an IRL subject is a bit of a touchy subject for me, but I have to say it.

The Japanese singer and musician Sayuri died on 20th of September, 2024. At the young age of 28, functional dysphonia that she'd battled since this past July took her too soon, and I, along with the rest of her fans, will never forget her. In honor of her career, I must ask, what are your favorite songs from her? Mine is "Reimei" from Golden Kamuy, where she and MY FIRST STORY performed a beautiful duet.

And finally, I'm planning to get SMT IV by the end of this week. Good thing too, since I'm taking a break after finishing this rollercoaster of an arc. Wish me luck on getting my ass kicked by the BEST 3DS game of all time.

Now, onto this chapter's development:

The [GAM-00] for [Goliath] stands for "Grigori Armament Model Type 0." I do these kinds of designations to make them more "tech-like," and the fact that I once wrote a Gundam IBO fic that was so bad that I deleted it out of shame (and for the sake of my poor mental health back then), but I choose to accept that it happened. As for how it compares it to the original fic's mech (where it got stolen by Chiha and posted on her Instagram), the fact that Rias didn't have to get involved is enough of a tell, but Takeshi accidentally shooting himself in the foot by releasing the water from the cut pipes that prevented him from using Nidhogg's ashes didn't help matters.

As for how [Cataclysm Zone]'s Balance Breakers work, thanks to the Sacred Gear's base armor, they can last indefinitely, but in exchange, they have a "knockout" threshold, meaning that a strong enough blow is more than enough to "cancel" the Balance Breaker form. Think of how Tokusatsu fights work, where the heroes "demorph" when struck down by a particularly strong foe. It is also meant to highlight [Cataclysm Zone]'s feature of incentivizing the user's hard work, meaning that the Balance Breaker forms will grow with the user himself.

Also, I know that in the original fic, holy power and demonic power are classified as "telesma" and "aeshma" respectively, but for simplicity's sake, I'm nulling it, given that the former is from Greek and the latter being named after a Zoroastrian demon meaning "wrath" or "fury." I prefer to keep things simple so that I can focus on the story rather than worry about those small details.

I have too much of that already.

On a smaller note, yes, Re:Live can use [Re:Create] to make Tokusatsu weapons as pseudo-Sacred Gears, for less lethal engagements (or when not showing off). The possibilities are endless with that guy, so look forward to what else they can pull out of their ass.

Now regarding Lailah and Zephon. There's a lot to unpack:

- The former is an angel of the night, conception, and pregnancy. Not much I can work with from her domains, so the fact that I was able to giver a utility-based/stance-based power is nothing short of a miracle. Also, the way how her [Urnal Binary]'s powers are manifested are lifted from Egyptian mythology's Horus, whose right eye is that of the sun and the left eye being that of the moon. I literally had nowhere else to look towards, so I took what I could get.

- As for Zephon, I just learned that he's one of the Canaanites that were captured by Joseph's army before escaping to later find Rome along Tiber River. As for why he's an angel, that had to do with his name being mentioned in Paradise Lost, where he directly served Gabriel (making his The Devil is a Part-Timer!-character inspiration a happy accident, but a welcome one) as a cherub, and in Kabbalah, is associated with the 6th Sephira, Tiphereth under the name, Tzephon.

I can't help myself. I love learning about parts of mythologies that I never heard about until now.

I also took a few influences from Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX, with Zephon's [Adorning Loom] being based off Rebellio's Septima, [Energy Wool], and Mittelt's [Shining Superstar] byproducts/light Shikigami constructs being based off Isola's [Companion] Septima.

I'd like to also mention that the war hawk-Fallen Angels have a united goal in mind beyond mere sadism. Mainly, they want payback for those that fell in the Great War, and are willing to lay down their own lives for it. I try avoiding flat characters, or at the very least, course-correct.

And Freed being Pandora's co-pilot? I found the original fic's anticlimax a bit... wasted. So I made him this arc's final boss (for Takeshi, Koneko, and Genshirou), and his insanity being the only thing keeping the superglued stopgap of a rust-bucket together.

Speaking of Genshirou, I gave him an abnormally-high holy energy resistance even after reincarnating into a Devil, at the cost of having piss-poor chthonian elemental/demonic energy resistance, making him the ideal Angel/Fallen Angel-killer... provided if he trains enough. This is meant to show that he is the polar opposite of Takeshi, where he has an abnormally high base chthonian resistance and his holy energy resistance is his "dump stat" for Devil standards (and the only reason why he's even walking is because the Evil Dragons won't let him die, whether Nidhogg healing him or Grendel forcing his body to work through the pain) that he's trying to train off. "Adaptational Badass"? Maybe. "Achievement in Ignorance"? Oh definitely.

Regardless, this is to show that he's got his own strengths and weaknesses.

And Ruruko, despite doing the bare minimum, still pulled her own weight. Overall, the Sitri Peerage's Pawns, despite being hanger-ons, still show a lot of potential.

Also, before you ask, Takeshi is on the "Ambiguously Bi"-trope, since one, he's still a teenager trying to figure out his life, two, the three years of Junior High fucked him up something fierce, and three, I myself am single and not interested in a committed relationship, but coming from someone who's writing a ecchi-genre/borderline smut fic straight (my previous works veer more into "Black Comedy"), this is uncharted territory for me, so pray that I don't fuck it up.

On that note, I'll be taking a week and a half-off to rest, work on my other smaller fanfic, and sink my teeth into SMT IV.

Also, consider "DIVE INTO THE MIRROR" by defspiral this fic's "Opening" and "Promise" by Da-iCE as this fic's "Ending" OSTs.

Toku References:

- Takeshi's invasion of the Fallen Angel's base is based off Power Rangers Jungle Fury's "Path of the Righteous," where Casey literally walks through the Rinshi to reach Jarrod/Dai Shi.

- The [GAM-00 Goliath] that carries Pandora and Freed inside is based off Kamen Rider Fourze's Powerdizer and the EVA-01 ripoff used by the main villain in the Hentai Kamen 2013 film.

- Re:Live's [Re:Create] feature is based on Ark-Zero's 3D-Printing its weapons from its belt from Kamen Rider Zero-One.

- Mittelt's fight arena is based on another real-life Tokusatsu filming location, the Tokorozawa Aviation Memorial Park. Also, her [Mittelt Bright] transformation is based on Poppy Pipopapo from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid.

- Zephon quotes Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger's catchphrase and Kamen Rider Brave/Kagami Hiiro's catchphrase from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid.

- Lailah's personal technique, [Urnal Binary], is functionally based off the [Hikari Kyutama] from Uchu Sentai Kyuranger, with Mittelt using the [Sun Mode]/[Shining Superstar] and Lailah using [Moon Mode]/[Moody Phantom]. The latter's form and fighting techniques are based of the Kyubi Malgam's from Kamen Rider Gotchard, being more technical and floaty like wire-fu used throughout the a few Tokusatsu works, with GARO being the main example.

- Re:Live's Predictive A.I. [CLOCK] ("Computing Logic Observation and Calculation Keyword") is based on Kamen Rider Muez's Predictive A.I. that allows the user to analyze and calculate the enemy's combat behavior during battle. Its designation, [CLOCK], along with its calculation speed of 0.0004 seconds, is a Kamen Rider Kabuto reference.

- Yuuto ripping his shirt off is partially inspired by Cole from Power Rangers Wild Force.

- Zephon's later addition of adding a blade and a gun barrel to his [Adorning Loom] is inspired by Twokaizer's [Geardalinger] from Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger.

- Takeshi quotes Kamen Rider Wizard's catchphrase when saving Pandora from her captivity from Freed's grasp.

- Re:Live's "body disposal" familiars are based on Kamen Rider Ryuki's Contract Monsters, specially the [-Zelle] Family of Mirror Monsters, [Volcancer], and [Venosnaker].

...

And given that I'll be gone for a bit, here are a few Epilogues!

Enjoy!

"What a mess..."

Sitting at the end of a large conference room was a slightly-tanned, tall man with black hair partially-bleached in dirty blond around the fringes, violet eyes, and a black goatee. He was also dressed in a simple dark-blue blazer suit with a lighter-blue dress shirt, black waistcoat, a red tie clipped with a small length of platinum, faded purple slacks, and black leather dress shoes.

"Be grateful that it didn't escalate any further, Governor Azazel."

Sitting across from the long table was none other than Re:Live, kicking up their feet against the surface as they sat cross-armed.

"Please, for the love of God, don't make a further mess while you're here," begged a younger looking Fallen Angel with silvery-white hair, purple eyes, and pale skin dressed a wine-red beret, purple trench coat over a steel-black vest that looked akin to a brigandine, white pants, and black boots reaching to his knees. "Other people use that spot, Re:Live."

"Like that traitor who stole your Artificial Sacred Gear Prototypes, the blueprints for the [Spiritron Engine], and not to mention, those bootleg-ZECTrooper battle suits and schematics?" The armored superhero then places a small red dragon mecha-figure on the table before themselves. "... And before you give me shit, you specifically told me to bring [Tarshish] back intact. You never told me that I can bring it back shrunken."

Azazel groans before turning to his secretary. "... Shemhazai, my good man, will you fetch me some bourbon and ice?" he requested. "And get a glass for yourself too."

The subordinate Fallen Angel rolled his eyes before complying as he left the meeting room.

"Now then..." Azazel sighs before looking at the wanted poster with Kokabiel's face printed on it. "... Thanks to you hiring both the Gremory and Sitri Peerage for your commission, we managed to build a solid enough case to indict Kokabiel as the mastermind behind this ploy and root out all the remaining war hawks within the ranks of our Grigori. Now my once-former trusted war buddy is now on the run with what little of his direct subordinates who escaped with him, with him legally declared as a SSS-Rank Stray. Pity, really. Him, Zephon, and I go way back... wonder what happened that made us part like this."

"I'm not doing this for you, Governor," Re:Live clarified. "I'm doing this to save the world."

"Speaking of..." Azazel then eyes towards the picture of Takeshi in his [Dead Shore Advent] Balance Breaker form. "... Why are you interested in this boy in particular? Sure, he's an Evil Dragon User, but aside from that, he's just a normal boy in the grand scheme of things."

Re:Live then get up from their seat. "Then perhaps I'll show you the reason why I'm so invested."

They press their thumb on top of the belt buckle's thumb scanner.

"[Re:Turn]."

The armor around the superhero dissipates. "... Now do you understand?"

Azazel couldn't help but chuckle as Shemhazai brought the drinks on a cart. "Oh definitely!"

The subordinate Fallen Angel simply rolled his eyes at the revelation that has his superior in stitches. "Christ almighty, I should've brought a flask from home..."

The three then shared a drink before calming down.

"... So, what next?" Azazel asked. "I mean, with all the reports about ORC you've been bringing here, one may assume that you have an ulterior motive."

The mysterious figure drank their bourbon before answering.

"... They've made great strides ever since they brought the Evil Dragon User," they pointed out. "Stopped a regional apocalypse just last month and unearthed a conspiracy that resulted in its mastermind being forced to flee."

Shemhazai raises an eyebrow in suspicion. "... And pray tell, just who are you suggesting that will humor these upstarts?"

The figure then chugs the alcohol before slamming the glass down next to the 1/72-scale [Tarshish].

"I know a guy."

"... Anything?"

In a pitch-black room with no window or door to show for it, Alkaid walked towards the only source of light within the room.

Sitting cross legged on a desk chair and before an endless array of computer screens connected to several keyboards, mouses, and a wall of CPUs working overtime (both the unit and the coolants installed in all of them) was a single figure dressed in all black, their features concealed completely in a balaclava, a full-body tactical spy jumpsuit and ballistic vest, joint pads, gloves, and boots, and connected to their back were eight, spider-like robotic limbs that typed away at the numerous keyboards before them, almost like a pianist playing a mad solo as the screens danced to this maestro's tune. The only semblance of color shown were their multi-lensed tactical goggles that glowed green, staring into the screens with undivided attention.

The ringmaster's pocket then buzzes before they pull out their phone.

"I'm busy," the text read. "Networking doesn't do itself when dealing with a population of 7 billion."

The computer screens at the top right corner showed Japanese citizenship census profiles with the names "Akeboshi Maria" and another profile being decrypted.

"Well, I'd like to inform you that one of our agents have finished their work in the Philippines and are heading to Myanmar as we speak," Alkaid informed.

The enigmatic hacker then texted the following:

"Then text me rather than talking to me in person, dumbass."

Alkaid grumbles as they walk away from the computer lights. "... I swear, Alioth, you need to get out more."

... How the fuck did I survive?

By some miracle, Lailah had survived her encounter with Re:Live. Even after getting shot in the head, all she'd lost was her left eye and her wings had shielded most of her organs from being burrowed with bullets at the cost of being unable to fly with them.

She'd lost count on how many days she'd been left wandering in the wilderness of Japan. At this point, she knew that if she were to even close her remaining eye once, then it was a one-way trip to oblivion for her.

... I have to find her, she thought desperately. I have to find Mittelt-

Her heart stops at chancing upon her rotting corpse with a bullet hole between her eyes and a swarm of maggots coming out of the orifice.

"... No!" Lailah then falls to her knees in despair. "... No!"

This was a sign.

This was her punishment. To have children under her protection die.

As it was. As it will.

For over a thousand years.

"... It's over."

She then lays herself next to the young Fallen Angel's corpse.

"... Wait for me." Lailah then began to close her eyes.

... Until she saw a black feather flutter down before her chest.

"... Rise." An authoritative voice declared. "I won't let you rest now that you understand our pain."

Flickering her remaining eye open she then saw a silhouette with three pairs of blackened wings like her.

"... Lord Kokabiel!"

"Stupid brother of mine... where in the Nine Hells is he?!"

A young girl with long blond hair tied into twintails with large, drill-like curls and dark blue eyes dressed in a periwinkle and black-gothic dress stomped through the halls of a large, European-style castle.

"You there!" the girl addressed one of the butlers. "Have you seen my elder brother, Riser? At this point, I might as well demolish this whole bloody place to bedrock just to expose him."

The butler sighs before answering. "... Lady Ravel, Lord Riser specifically asked me to tell you that he'd not be disturbed before dinner," he said before wiping his sweat with a handkerchief. "He's... accompanying his Queen, Lady Yubelluna... to his private quarters."

Ravel groans before dragging her face down with her hand. "... See to it that you bring me to him, decency be damned."

*BANG!*

The castle's halls echoed with the echo of the doors slamming open.

"Elder brother, it's me, Ravel."

Something then wiggles from underneath the sheets upon hearing that voice.

"What is it?" a throaty male's voice replied before revealing himself as a handsome-looking man in his early-to-mid twenties with the same hair and eye colors as his younger sister. "... Surely, it couldn't be father. I'm sure that I've made no transgressions to him as of late."

"It's not about him." Ravel then produces a letter with her magic. "It's for you."

Riser then snatches the letter before lighting a small torch around himself for illumination.

"... Tempting." He then hands the letter back to his younger sister. "A chance to prove myself... and increase my Peerage's standing."

"You'd be a fool to reject this opportunity," Ravel pointed out.

Riser chuckles as he slips out of bed, the moved blankets revealing his Queen and other women whose states of modesty varied.

"Dear sister, I've been called many, many things, especially from dearest Lord Father," he said as he walked towards one of the curtains. "A show-off, a good-for-nothing, a manwhore, a disappointment, and a failure."

He then moves his floating torch into the curtain, setting it alight until it burns away completely, catching nothing but the sheet on fire, leaving everything untouched, save for his bare body glistening in the ambient light shining through the window.

"But nobody dares to call me, Riser Phenex, a fool." He then let out a low chuckle. "... So, when will this arrangement be organized?"

Ravel groans as she averted her gaze with the assistance from her hands.

"... First of all, put on some damn pants."