AN: Friendly reminder that the reading experience in SpaceBattles is better, thanks to not being limited in formatting. If there are some formatting errors, I'm sorry, but FFNet requires me to actually apply the intended formatting one by one and inevitably I might forget a specific line of text.
"...Well, let's get those 12 meters, yeah?"
Something was wrong.
"Kaede, darling, please put up a barrier. We don't want the Fallen fucks and their minions hearing this now, do we?"
Something was deeply, uncomfortably wrong.
She had expected Daniel to be bluffing in some way or another throughout the entire conversation. Maybe about the Balance Breaker of Never Too Much, maybe about his own power, or maybe about everything regarding this little bet he proposed to her. Rias expected Daniel to be lying through his teeth and hoping against all odds that he could fool her into thinking he was more dangerous than he really was… but she never expected the surge of raw power that went through Daniel's body as she shook his hand.
And she definitely didn't expect the expression of sheer ECSTASY that got plastered on his face. As the tears kept running down his eyes, a blissful expression still on his face, she couldn't help but feel apprehensive… but no matter. He had made a bet, and if she won this little 'duel', she'd finally get her hands on Daniel as a servant of her peerage.
Unbeknownst to Daniel, the moment they had shaken hands, a proper devil 'deal' settled between them. If any one of the offending parties went back on their word, then the consequences would be dire. Rias wouldn't let this chance go. Not again.
So instead of asking any questions regarding his unsettling appearance, Rias fixed a steely gaze on Daniel.
"Fine. 12 meters."
Rias turned to Fujiwara-san, who was starting to set up the barrier… and was looking at Daniel just as unsettled as her.
"Fujiwara-san, please ensure the fairness of this duel."
Daniel's partner gave her a look (of what, she couldn't discern) but she nodded. "Of course, Ms. Gremory."
Rias gave Daniel one last glance before she turned around to walk the 12 meters. He was moving to an invisible rhythm now, dancing in place. Cigarette still in his mouth, smoke softly drifting from it, Daniel shaked his body. The tears still ran through his eyes, as was the expression of a man in cloud nine, but he didn't care. He kept dancing to music only he could hear, looking up at the sky as if he had reached true Nirvana.
…She'd ask about this after he was in her peerage.
So she gave him her back, and began walking.
1 meter. 2 meters. 3 meters. 4 meters.
As she walked, Rias began to wonder briefly. Why did Daniel want such a one-sided bet?
5 meters. 6 meters. 7 meters.
What was there to gain for him? The 12 meters wouldn't be enough of a distance to stop Rias from pummeling Daniel into submission… so why the insistence on the duel? Well, it probably had to do with his so-called Balance Breaker, right? Maybe there was a condition to it?
8 meters.
But aside from that, since when was Daniel the type to offer duels with conditions? To make bets that benefitted his opponent? She hadn't known him for long at all, but that seemed to go against his whole shtick, right?
9 meters…
…
…if he made a bet like that, would he even uphold it, especially if he wasn't aware this was a Devil Deal?
No.
With a start, Rias turned around, and 12 meters away from her (having taken a few steps back), standing with a blissed out expression, was Daniel, tears streaming… and an exorcist gun, aimed straight at her.
Everything went to shit.
BA- BA- BANG!
The exorcist gun shot at impossible speeds, too impossibly fast for a bullet of that kind. Going straight towards her, three bullets tore through the air furiously. In a reflexive motion, Rias raised her hand, gathering her Devil Magic to stop the bullets before they reached her.
One of the reasons Rias was so confident against Daniel, apart from his obvious failings due to being a human relying on a gun… was that guns, even the light ones made specifically to hunt her kind, were one of the most ineffective weapons to kill them. Devils, just by virtue of having Devil Magic relying on imagination and that adjusted to the user's needs, usually repelled bullets with complete ease, and even if Daniel could boost his bullets' power thanks to Never Too Much, it was still nihil. Rias would easily counter the bullets with but a thought.
That's why Rias even agreed to this. Because it was laughable. Pitiable, even. Daniel had a strong set of qualities and an interesting Sacred Gear, but it needed much more work before he could even think of touching a single strand of her hair. Rias intended to develop him into the monster he had the potential to become in her peerage.
…which is why it came as a surprise when, effortlessly, with the same ease she presumed she'd stop them, the bullets tore through the defenses, directly at her.
Rias, too surprised by this, barely managed to move out of the way of the bullets before they made impact, exploding against the ground behind her, blowing dirt and dust everywhere with a loud BOOM that shook her to her core. Trying to cover her own shock and bafflement at the power of his bullets and what was happening, she glared at Daniel, still lost in his haze of pleasure.
"Seriously!? You can't even go through the duel you yourself proposed!?"
Daniel simply laughed, cigarette hanging limply from his mouth, chortling as if all this earthly trouble was beneath him.
"You have learned nothing if you think I'd ever willingly subject myself to the whims of a teenage slave-driver."
Rias let out a disbelieving laugh.
"It's over, you know that!? You shot more than once! Officially, you must join my peerage as per the rules YOU agreed to when making this 'deal'!"
To that, Daniel laughed even harder.
"Oh no… I only said it'd take me ONE-FUCKING-SHOT to take care of you! You were the one that interpreted it as me just shooting once!"
Rias clenched her fist. Fucking Devil magic. Thanks to the fact it relied so much on the user's intent, what he was saying would actually still be upholding his end of the deal, even if it went against her own expectations.
Daniel turned to Fujiwara.
"Kaede dear, give me my second exorcist gun please?"
Fujiwara gave him a concerned glance, but reached for his backpack and tossed him his spare Light Gun. As Daniel catched it smoothly, Fujiwara glared.
"You cannot kill her."
Normally, Rias would find such a notion laughable… but that wasn't the case anymore. No, she just witnessed how his bullets somehow made her barriers useless. If she had been hit by any of those bullets she feared what could've possibly happened.
She would've been torn apart.
"I know, darling," replied Daniel smoothly and perhaps due to his euphoric state, overtly affectionately. "I'll just take one of her legs. Devils can recover from that, right?"
At hearing such bold statements, Rias fixed a fierce glare to Daniel. To lose a leg would mean using a Phenex Tear to recover… and she'd rather-
"Oh! Look at her go!"
As Rias charged at him with great speed, fist raised to finish this as fast as possible, Daniel instantly and with a reaction time too fast for a human of his kind, threw six of his special coins in front of him and, with two of his guns…
BA- BA- BA- BA- BA- BA- BA- BANG!
PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PING!
He began shooting and, reflexively, Rias stopped in her tracks, 5 meters away from Daniel.
Bullets everywhere.
It was like a net of carnage, covering every spot in front of him with holy bullets thanks to his perfect ricochets using his Sacred Gear. A series of loud BOOMs rang out as dirt kept blowing everywhere, the dust now completely covering the area. If Rias had kept charging, she would've been torn apart from every direction.
She groaned.
"What happened to not killing me, huh!?"
"Hm?" let out Daniel, tears still streaming down his face. "Fearing for your life now, are you?"
The taunt struck her squarely, and as the bullets landed in the ground, blowing dirt apart with great explosive force, Rias gathered her Power of Destruction in her hands. If he wanted to take her leg, she could do the same. She'd take Daniel to her peerage limping and crying if it was necessary.
Slowly, Power of Destruction gathering, she began rounding up on Daniel, awaiting any sign of him shooting to dodge out of the way. As Rias took a single step forward, Daniel raised his right hand, gun in hand held loosely.
"Hey, Rias, wanna see a magic trick?"
From the tip of his finger came out six coins, shot at high ridiculous speeds towards her. Rias' eyes widened. Did those coins also receive the boosts from his Sacred Gear!?
Before Rias could wonder even further, six coins were flying right towards her face.
"Guess where the bullets are coming from!"
BA- BA- BA- BA- BA- BA- BA- BA- BA- BA- BANG!
PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PI- PING!
From his two guns, bullets went directly at her head. There wasn't time to use her Power of Destruction to erase the oncoming coins, only to dodge. Rias attempted evading to the side to avoid the attack entirely, but bouncing off of the coins in front of her, two bullets went through the sides, stopping her from getting away and forcing her to stay in place. With nowhere else to go, Rias backstepped, creating distance between her and Daniel, and as she stepped back, bullets constantly followed her, all of them aimed at her knees thanks to the Coin-Ricochets.
It was maddening. Every time she wanted to sidestep to stop creating distance, a bullet went right to her side, promising absolute obliteration if she dared to move anywhere but back. Slowly, she was being pushed back, and in her trail, was a barrage of small explosions. Rias absolutely needed to avoid any of those bullets.
But as she took a final step back, Daniel cackled, holding his face as he laughed painfully loudly, still crying tears of euphoria.
"Ah~ AAAHHH~ YES! THIS IS IT! This is EXACTLY what I've been NEEDING! I can read you LIKE A FUCKING BOOK!"
Above her, falling almost innocently, was a coin…
The coin was too close to her face. Too damn close. If she stepped back, the bullet ricochet from that angle would follow her easily, no matter the direction.
SHE NEEDED TO BLOCK.
Rias dispelled all the Power of Destruction she was gathering, focusing all of her magic, all of her ample reserves of magic to protect herself.
"Next time, don't interfere between a HUSTLER and his HUSTLE, RIAS!"
BANG!
PING!
And as the holy bullet went towards the coin, a trail of light left in its path… Rias made one crucial mistake.
Unlike the first time her defenses failed against the bullet, she wasn't protecting her entire body at once. She knew that if she did that, the bullet would tear the defenses apart like it was nothing. Rias didn't know why she was so certain of this, especially when she was focusing every last reserve of her magic on defense, but she was confident in this. The bullet would tear apart a defense that was too spread out.
So, Rias heightened her defense using Devil Magic in one specific area of her body. By focusing all of it in one place, she was sure she'd be able to, at the very least, withstand the impact. Live after it.
The problem was that, like anyone else in a fight with mortal peril, she protected her head and heart. It wasn't hard to guess why she focused her defenses there. The coin from Never Too Much was right above her head and, throughout the entire encounter, even if Daniel himself said his intention wasn't to kill her…
…Rias didn't trust him on that. He was too gone in this encounter. As tears came out of his eyes supernaturally and the smile of elation never, ever left his face, Rias had begun to question Daniel's grip on his priorities and sanity. Especially with how aggressive he had been during this brief fight.
It was so that as she focused all her defenses on her critical spots, the bullet ricocheted off the coin and went down towards her… going past her face, past her chest, and landing directly on her left knee, left completely unprotected…
A scream.
Rias had been taught by her family of her natural weakness to Light. Had been given a taste of it in a controlled environment, so when the time came for her to face enemies versed in Light she'd be prepared to face the pain that came with it. Throughout all her life, excluding the training given to her… Rias had never experienced a true taste of Light damage.
Until now.
And it HURT. SO. MUCH.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
The bullet tore everything apart. Flesh, bone, skin, all of it obliterated at the slightest contact with the holy lead. It consumed so much more than it should have, considering how small the bullets were, yet it still did. From the middle of the knee, the bullet having landed perfectly square in the center, the bullet destroyed all around it, stopped by NOTHING.
The damage was COLOSSAL, and the only reason why the damage didn't worsen, didn't escalate into either her untimely death or the loss of any more limbs was thanks to Rias' natural talent as a Devil. Even through the mind-melting pain, she managed to, in that one small micro-instant of the impact, focus all her defenses onto her knee, exactly where the bullet landed.
In a microsecond, the bullet only consumed Rias Gremory's knee and separated everything from the knee-down from her thigh. Her leg was split in two.
It also provoked a small explosion.
With a last BOOM, Rias was sent flying backwards at lightning speed, blood pouring out of where her left leg was supposed to be. Feeling completely weightless, it hurt twice as hard when her back painfully hit the edge of Fujiwara-san's barrier, knocking whatever winds were left in her out, spit forcibly being expelled out her mouth.
Falling to the ground gracelessly and holding her bleeding stump tightly, Rias closed her eyes painfully, tears threatening to spill over. The pain from Light was so HORRIBLE.
Daniel, nonplussed and completely uncaring of the state he left Rias in, as if tearing apart a High-Class Devil was no big deal, still crying tears of elation, turned around and gave her his back.
"Kaede, you can treat wounds, right? Please make sure she doesn't bleed out or something."
Fujiwara looked at the scene with widened eyes, not expecting this brutal conclusion in the slightest. To see the Gremory heiress holding a stump where her left leg should be, the POWER those bullets Daniel shot…
She shook her head. No, this was not time to stand around and do nothing. Giving Daniel a last concerned glance as he walked away towards the church, still dancing to a beat no one but him could listen to, his endless tears falling from his eyes to the ground, she moved smoothly towards Rias' crumpled form in a hurry.
Crouching right besides her, Kaede quickly fell into the routine she developed when treating people on the field. She took out a roll of bandages from her jacket and began the proceedings.
"Please release your stump so I can treat it. Unless you'd prefer dying from blood loss."
Of course, Kaede didn't have it in her to be tactful, but that was another matter entirely. Rias opened her eyes as she spoke, and, in complete contrast with anything that happened today, Rias had an expression of complete anger in her eyes. True anger.
"You knew this would happen," she spat out, as an accusation. Kaede recalled that Rias had told her to 'keep things fair'. How foolish of her.
Kaede simply sighed in response.
"You were a moron for believing Daniel's words for even a second," she replied uncaringly. Unsaid was the fact she shouldn't have believed Kaede either. "Now please, relax so I can stop the bleeding. After that you'll have to procure some Phenex Tears, but considering you're engaged to the Phenex heir, I assume that'd be rather easy for you."
She meant for that last comment to be somewhat reassuring, her own weird way of trying to bring comfort to her patient, but it seemed to be the completely wrong thing to say since Rias' glare became even more hateful.
Kaede sighed yet again as she made a mental note to scold Daniel later for leaving her alone with the teenage heiress after he mutilated her leg. That was rather rude of him, she noted.
ECSTASY. SKY-HIGH. CLOUD NINE. EUPHORIA.
THE MUSIC. IT IS LOUD. IT IS DEAFENING. IT IS GLORIOUS.
I AM THE MUSIC. I AM THE HIGH. I AM ICARUS, AND MY WINGS ARE MADE OF STEEL.
THIS IS ELYSIUM.
The tears just didn't stop. I didn't know why, but they kept coming, and I welcomed them eagerly. My face was twisted in a grin so wide and lovely that it looked foreign on my normally unsightly self.
17.
16.
15.
Time was running out. I needed to take as much advantage of [Gambler's High] as I could… so I ran towards the church. I ran…
And I ran SO FAST.
With a speed that I had never in my life experienced on foot, I rushed to the church, speeding towards it as tears were left behind my wake. The euphoric grin became wider as the doors to the church came closer and closer. THE MUSIC was urging me on. Faster. Faster.
13.
12.
And what was behind the church's doors entered my 12-meter range. Behind it were unsuspecting Stray Exorcists, milling around and doing nothing of usefulness. Some were chatting, others were drinking, others were polishing their guns…
As soon as they were in range, I took out my revolver, my beautiful S&W 460. I didn't bother using my coins. Doing a spin (completely unnecessary) and busting a move to the tune of THE MUSIC, I posed like Michael Jackson and pointed my gun towards the doors to the church.
B A N G!
The one bullet tore through every wall and door in its wake, taking out three exorcists that were lined up for me, obliterating their heads in a shower of blood and gore, an explosion blowing up as the bullet made contact with the wall behind them. Souls began filling my body, and I began skipping closer as I loaded up another shot.
10.
Doing another spin, I stylishly fixed my (imaginary) hat like MJ and aimed.
B A N G!
Two Exorcists got taken out, heads exploding, more Souls being reaped by me. I continued shimmying my way there, tears running down freely as I ran to the church. E.E could see how the exorcists took cover behind those large church chairs (I didn't know their name) and began taking out their own guns.
How useless, I thought.
8.
Taking out my Colt, deciding that the S 460 was overkill considering I was HIGH and had 777 STACKS, I did another spin and, as I twirled freely, crying tears of joy, trusting Sharpest Shooter completely, I shot without stopping.
BA- BA- BA- BA- BA- BA- BANG!
Every single bullet was like a laser gun, destroying everything in its path despite being a simple Colt. It didn't care. Exorcists screamed in despair as their companions, their friends, and their colleague's heads exploded one by one, until they themselves turned into a piñata of bloody bits.
In that one move, I obliterated the 14 Exorcists that were in the upper part of the abandoned church. Skipping along like the Red Riding Hood, I pushed my way through the broken church doors, the dust inside the place still up in the air.
4.
I was still missing one. Where the fuck could he-
"Fucking- Why the fuck is there so much noi-!"
There we go, he was JUST outside the range, coming from the staircase leading to the hidden basement of this church. My grip on the gun loose, I aimed my revolver (since the Colt's magazine was spent) and easily-
B A N G!
Going through the floor at an angle, melting the stone in its path, it exited out of the wall near the staircase the Exorcist was climbing, directly into his head. It exploded in a shower of blood, of course.
2.
Despite what I wanted, THE MUSIC began winding down. The end of ELYSIUM was near.
Haah… what a shame that this was how [Gambler's High] ende-
A woman with black wings appeared behind me, fluttering down from the sky as she arrived at the doors to the church, looking like… a child, actually. Blonde hair in twintails and dressed in an odd type of black dress. It looked almost old-timey. She stared at me and the scene of carnage I created with rage, landing on the ground and pointing a finger at me.
"And who THE FUCK are YO-"
B A N G!
In the middle of her torso was now a nifty giant hole, the grass behind her splattered in her blood. She didn't even get to utter a single sound of confusion at her fate before she fell to her knees and her face met the stone of the church's entrance, making a sickening splat.
Before [Gambler's High] ended, in a move entirely done out of instinct, perhaps protectively by my unconsciousness aided by my HIGH, I began [Stylish Twirl]ing my revolver, now only one bullet left in it…
Using my free hand, I did one last spin in place, pointed a finger at the sky, and posed.
0.
and the music was gone.
silence. horrible silence.
The tears that I thought would never end, that I didn't want to end, finally stopped, my eyes suddenly dry. It was like my wax wings that could take me as high as I'd ever want finally melted, dropping me unceremoniously to the ground and slamming me back to reality.
ELYSIUM was gone. Nowhere to be seen.
…I now get why it was called [Gambler's High]. Just one dose and I was already addicted. I needed more of it.
Now that I was suddenly sober, the euphoric smile also vanished, leaving behind my usual expressions, and at that moment, my thoughts not clouded with the EUPHORIA and BLISSFULNESS of [Gambler's High]... a wince came to my face.
"Jesus fuck, I blew Rias' leg off."
The plan was simply shooting her knees and, you know, make her unable to move and leave her on the ground flailing around like a dumb fish, not fucking amputating her. Kaede didn't seem too concerned, though, so it SHOULD be fine… maybe. Fuck, I hoped this was okay.
…oh, right, I just did a massacre, didn't I?
I looked around the place, at the mess I created in less than twenty seconds. Headless corpses all around, blood seeping from every single one of the bodies. Behind me was the Fallen that was unlucky enough to confront me before [Gambler's High] ran out.
I frowned as I looked at her. Mi… Milton? Milkshake? Something like that was her name. Well, not like it mattered anymore.
Anyway, this was one Fallen out of three, and without [Gambler's High]...
I looked down at my right hand performing the [Stylish Twirl] on my revolver, spinning it on my finger like a cowboy.
Once my HIGH ended, it took away my 777 [Perfect Stacks], but it didn't take away ALL my Stacks. Throughout my encounters with Rias and these Exorcists in the last minute, I accumulated a shit ton of [Stacks].
…In fact, even though [Gambler's High] ended, for some reason I still felt… ungodly fucking powerful? Like a single flicker of my hand could obliterate an entire stadium. Normally I would've been happy with this feeling, but now it felt weirdly frightening.
Confused at the oddly high strength I should've lost, I felt within myself for my [Stacks].
…
JESUS FFFFUUUUUUUCK!
426 [Perfect Stacks]. I could feel that amount of Stacks within me. A whooping 4260% boost to my projectile's DMG. The number was absolutely RIDICULOUS.
In the fight against Rias I did a lot of Ricochets, especially when dual-wielding the Light Guns. Almost every bullet did a 6-Ricochet rotation with the Coins, so that meant, per second, the Stacks began stacking up and up at ridiculous levels. And… let's see, doing some quick math and assuming that of the Stacks I had now, 20 (and this was doing some very generous assumptions) of those were gotten AFTER shooting Rias, it would mean that, at the very least, Rias received a bullet with 1183 FUCKING STACKS.
…Holy shit, how did Rias not die? Like, statistically, she should've just fucking died, right?
Regardless of her now miraculous survival, I shuddered in pleasure at the number, and silently thanked my doped-out self for beginning the [Stylish Twirl].
Technically, since I killed this one Fallen, the "Hostile Encounter" I was in ended, which meant that as soon as I stopped the [Stylish Twirl] all of my Stacks would go to the dumpster, as per the rules stated within [Perfect Stack]'s skill description. If I didn't start the [Twirl, all 426 of those beautiful Stacks…
…Wait, there were two more Fallen left. And I was standing in the middle of the church. With only one bullet. For two targets.
Uh oh.
In a hurry, I ran for cover, going towards the staircase leading to the basement, still [Twirl]ing my gun. The entrance was covered by one of those tables for the priests (I didn't know their name), so quickly shoving it aside with my free hand, I entered the staircase and began descending through the narrow path.
As I descended, I stumbled with the corpse of an exorcist, most fleshy bits from his shoulders-up completely torn apart, coating the walls. A few meters down was the entrance to a hall where the true 'MAIN TARGET' of this entire operation resided… but this was not the time yet. It still wasn't within the 12-metre range of Eyes Everywhere, so I didn't know if there was a Fallen waiting right beside it or not.
This was dangerous. I stopped right by the corpse and began running some mental gymnastics. I then glanced at my hand, still doing stupid spins with my revolver. My revolver with ONE BULLET.
Shit. Shit. Shit. I needed to reload. How the fuck did someone reload one-handed!? I needed to keep a hand busy with [Stylish Twirl] at all times to keep the Stack going! Sure, I could've just stopped the [Twirl] and built the Stacks up again, especially since I could create up to 90 [Perfect Stacks] in a second, but there were a few problems with that ideal situation:
1.- The 90 [Stacks] were built in a second, yes. They were also only built that fast because I landed three shots in a second, with all of those shots going through six coin ricochets. The moment I missed, then whatever Stack I was trying to build would die instantly. For example, if I started from zero and I tried building my Stacks, I'd have to make my first shot go through the six ricochets… but that's just a bullet with 30 Stacks. Considering I was going against Fallen, Fallen that were going to most definitely see their colleague's corpse with a HOLE IN THEIR CHEST, I'm sure they'd be at least a bit wary of my shots, and although my aim was perfect, that didn't mean the bullets couldn't be dodged.
2.- Even IF I managed to build 90 [Stacks] or more, that didn't guarantee an instant death for the Fallen. That Milton Fallen I just killed died instantly, yes, but she was hit with a bullet with fucking 12030 [Stacks] on it. Of course she'd fucking die. It wasn't like 90 [Stacks] was weak, but the tremendous damage it did against that Stray might have been not because of just the [Stacks], but also thanks to their weakness to Light. I didn't have any weapons designed to fight Fallen specifically, so I was relying entirely on the raw damage of my bullets… and if I hit a Fallen once, and they didn't die, that means that I needed to risk my [Stacks] even further to try to build more and hit them again. And again if necessary, and the problem with that was that I wasn't sure I might survive the encounter that long.
Shit, during my fight against Rias, she was frighteningly fast. Seeing her charge at me was fucking terrifying. The only reason I didn't lose instantly at that second was thanks to [Gambler's High] and the higher state of being it gave me, including sharp reflexes. In any normal case, that sudden charge she made at me would've been it for me… And if the Fallen were as fast as her, then I was fucked.
Which is why I couldn't lose the 426 [Stacks]. This number of [Stacks] was fucking impossible to build up in any normal way. The only reason I even had them was due to [Gambler's High] stupid ability to prevent the loss of any [Stacks], which meant that even if I failed a shot, I could keep making ricochets and building up the [Stacks] without a single care.
I couldn't afford to have a single miss now, unlike my encounters with that Elite Exorcist piece of shit where I missed frequently and barely managed to build a [Stack]... now those fucking things were the only reason I could deal with these supernatural fucks. I could deliver a stupid amount of damage to them, but I needed to be PERFECT if I wanted to keep this shit going. One missed shot and it meant all the [Stacks] went down the drain, which meant I'd die.
Leaning against the wall of the narrow staircase, I began taking out one of my speed-loaders out of my jacket. Okay, I needed to get rid of this one bullet left in the chamber, let's see-
Two Fallen Angels. One male, broad build, dressed in a brown trenchcoat and a fedora of the same color. The other female, long blue hair, dressed in a maroon red half-open blazer (revealing quite a significant amount of cleavage) and a short pencil skirt, same color.
Judging by Kaede's info, they were called… uh, Kalasomething and Don Asic
They stared at the slaughter with widened eyes, especially at their peer Milton (?), a giant hole in her chest, face down on the floor. Blood poured out incessantly, pooling around her corpse.
Shit. Shit, they were here. Fuck. Okay, I saw them first, I had the advantage, I-
As they scanned, their eyes zeroed in on one specific spot. The entrance to the secret basement of this abandoned church. The thingamajig covering it was tossed aside.
The assailant was there.
There was no time to reload, they were going to step inside this place NOW. This stairway was a spiraling one, meaning that there was no good angle to shoot at someone coming down here unless they were right in front of me… so I did just that. Forcing myself into a calm state (and to ignore the potential of them rushing and killing me instantly), I pointed the gun right in front of me. Waiting for someone to come down the stairs.
As I waited, I peeked above with E.E.
Both of the Fallen stared at the entrance to the basement with wariness. They clearly seemed to have apprehension, considering the state of their fellow Fallen… then Kalasomething faced Don Asic and said something. Her face was firm.
Don Asic turned to her, concerned… then growled something out (I couldn't hear shit from down here).
Kalasomething repeated the same words. This time she glared at him. Hard.
Don Asic protested with a-
"I'm NOT your subordinate! You think you can order me around just because Raynare decided to run off and chase that human!?"
Oh, nice. They were yelling.
"If it wasn't for me, then this whole thing would've been a bust already!" yelled Kalasomething back, conveniently loud for me to hear down in the stairway. "Both you and Mittelt cannot lead an operation!"
"OH YES, WE'RE INCOMPETENT! THANKS FOR THE INSIGHT, O' GREAT LEADER! LOOK WHERE IT GOT YOU!"
Don Asic motioned to the corpse of Milton.
"Someone just came here and KILLED EVERYONE! LOOK! LOOK AT HER!"
He once again motioned to the corpse. Milton refused to make a move, kissing the stone floor.
"And now you want me to go down there by MYSELF!? Do you think I'm STUPID!?"
…These were the guys I was getting worried about? I was almost disappointed.
I had half-a-mind to try and reload again, but they might just try to go down the stairs at any moment, and considering I was still spinning the gun (which was making my hands really tired by now) the reload would be a bit messy and take a bit. So… spinning that one gun it was.
For a moment, I also considered taking the Light Gun dropped by the (headless) Exorcist right beside me, but considering these Fallen had some sort of 'Light Affinity', it'd be quite troublesome if the damage got somehow nullified… so I'd have to rely on just my human guns, and the Colt was empty.
One bullet.
Kalasomething seemed to deliberate for a moment at Don Asic's words… then spoke. Thankfully for me, loud enough to hear. How convenient. God bless church acoustics.
"Dohnaseek… down in that basement is the artifact that this whole plan hinges on. We can still accomplish the task and get a Sacred Gear, the nun is still set to arrive. But if we just let the one who killed Mittelt get to the artifact and take it, it's over. We cannot let that happen."
Don Asic still looked angered… but it simmered down. There was truth to her words, it seemed. If the "artifact" down there was taken by me, their whole shtick would go fuck itself in an instant.
And I could tell… Kalasomething also knew that Don Asic realized that. So she pushed.
"We'll both go down there, but I need you to go first. You are stronger than me, if not in strength, at least in resilience. Whoever it was, they took Mittelt by surprise. With the both of us, it should be enough to kill them."
Don Asic clicked his tongue, but nodded all the same.
"Let's just get this over with. I just want to beat whoever did this to a pulp."
And so, both of them started moving towards the stairway, Don Asic leading, and Kalasomething… had a face of relief once his back was turned to her.
Oh my.
Don Asic took to the stairway, on the first step… and began RUNNING DOWN-
The steps were loud, heavy, angry, heading directly down towards me at a lightning fast pace. It was a matter of seconds before-
Right as Don Asic ran down the stairs, he passed by the headless corpse of an exorcist, blood splattered all over the walls and steps around him. There was a hole on the wall the size of a large bullet.
The moment he passed that corpse, Don Asic turned and saw…
Me. And the barrel of a gun. Aimed at his head.
B A N G!
Like pigs to the slaughter, the bullet exploded in his head, splattering blood and brain bits all over the place.
1 [Perfect Stack]. Souls were promptly reaped from him.
One problem, though. This guy was dashing at supernatural speeds down the stairs, meaning that inertia did its thing and…
"Oomph!"
His corpse clashed against me in the most gruesome form of a hug, almost crushing me against the wall. The blood coming out his neck began messily falling on my front plus his brainy bits.
It was pretty disgusting, almost making me retch for the first time in a while. It helped to my disgust normally that I didn't have to see the corpses up close, even with E.E.
Turning my head away from it, I shoved the corpse off into the stairs below. Since there was still another Fallen above me, the 'Hostile Encounter' was still afoot, meaning I didn't have to spin my gun to keep my [Stacks]. Checking with E.E…
Kalasomething had flinched when hearing the loud gunshot, just about to go down the stairs herself… and a look of resignation crossed her face, mixed with relief. Probably for not being the loser that went down first.
She spoke up, her face hesitant.
"...Dohnaseek?"
She looked like she had no intention of moving until getting an answer. That was a problem. I wasn't too confident in my bullets' capability to go through this much stone, even with the 430 [Stacks].
…That was a problem.
Sure, I could one-shot her, but right now she's waiting for a gunshot, and it didn't help that she also knew exactly where I was. There'd be no point in trying to wait her out, either, because my objective was to kill her. Hers was to simply live, and the moment she decided fleeing was the best option then, although she'd have to still deal with Kaede's barrier, there was the very real risk of her breaking through, and if she escaped that means my pay got cut.
AND I COULDN'T HAVE THAT HAPPENING.
So I needed to get rid of her. Problem was, if she dodged just one of my bullets, my [Stacks] instantly went to shit, meaning my untimely death, and considering that she's expecting it and that her agility was probably a hundred times faster than that Ultra-Exorcist I killed, then her odds of dodging were too large for comfort.
It didn't matter that she didn't know the specific conditions of my power. Even if I managed to convince her I was a big fucking deal after I lost my [Stacks] and that attacking me was useless (which could be possible considering I killed quite literally everyone in her operation) I would still fail the mission because without the [Stacks] I just couldn't damage her enough to get her dead.
I needed a plan.
The hustle was at STAKE.
Kalawarner was having a horrible day. If there was a ranking of worst possible fucking days imaginables, first place would be the time she got banished from Heaven, second would be the time their impromptu leader decided to ditch the operation that would get them in the Grigori's good graces to instead chase a dirty stupid hobo.
However, this one was threatening to take first place for itself.
Each and every one of her operatives: Dead. Her fellow Fallen: Dead or Disappeared.
And the culprit of all the deaths (minus the disappearance, which was more the fault of Raynare's absolute idiocy) was right inside that staircase. Right below her…
Kalawarner wasn't stupid. She might have been able to chalk Mittelt's death as a 'freak accident'. An exception. Maybe the assailant took her by surprise—Who knew?
But now that Dohnaseek became suddenly silent after that loud gunshot… it was time to face the facts. Whoever came here and decided to almost literally piss on their whole operation was completely above her in strength. There was no point in securing the artifact when every single one of her collaborators got slaughtered and her life was next on the chopping block. It was only due to Dohnaseek's lack of mental capacity that she delayed her own death.
Thus, her black wings emerged from her back, and before she could take to the skies-
"STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE OR YOU DIE!"
The rough, accented voice of a man yelled the command from the staircase and Kalawarner… obeyed.
Kalawarner froze on the spot like a statue, a primal fear taking over her. It had been ages since she had felt it… but it was one of the most ancient and, in some ways, the most usual sort of instincts in the supernatural world.
The instinct to obey those above you in power.
The instinct that told you that not complying would bring your death.
DO. NOT. MOVE.
And so… she stood right where she was, rooted to the spot, fear seeping into her more and more. Steps could be heard from the staircase. Slow, relaxed. There was no hurry in his gait, and eventually, the assailant that killed everyone here finally emerged.
Rough was the first descriptor that came to her. His face sported dark circles under his eyes, which held a tired, yet sharp gaze directed right at her. The black neck-length hair looked messy, brushed back so his sight was unobstructed, and judging by his features and olive skin-color, he was clearly a foreigner. In his lips hung a cigarette that looked freshly-lit.
Wearing a black suit—jacket unbuttoned, black tie loosened, first two buttons of his shirt undone—he looked like what a human would think a contract killer looked. It didn't help that assumption that the front of his suit was splattered in blood that was most definitely not his.
One of his hands was in his pockets, and the other held a seemingly regular human revolver. It wasn't yet pointed at her.
As he looked at her, his gaze said something very clear to her: You are PREY. You LIVE because I deem it as such.
…He's kind of hot, right?
Kalawarner promptly dismissed the thought. Unsuccessfully.
"You," he began saying, his heavily accented voice (hot) relaxed despite the roughness in his throat. "Are the last Fallen Angel here, correct?"
She swallowed thickly, forcing herself to answer the one who ruined everything.
"...Y- Yes," she replied, stuttering despite herself. "I… I am the last Fallen here."
The man simply kept staring at her, as if waiting, cigarette smoke softly drifting. Kalawarner forced herself to keep the words going, to try and appease whatever he wanted.
"T-There's also one last Fallen that's n-not here, but I have no-" Kalawarner interrupted herself, stumbling over her words. "I don't know where she is."
"Hm," was the man's only reply. "That so."
As he took a drag from his cigarette, a light chuckle came out of him (okay, he was kind of hot).
"Well, I'll tell you what's going to happen, pretty Fallen lady," he began, exhaling the smoke. "I will shoot your kneecaps, I'm going to tie you up and capture you, and then I'm going to have my boss torture you until you tell her aaaaall she wants to hear… then you'll probably die horribly. Está claro?"
Kalawarner shamefully wouldn't have minded the offer if it didn't include that last bit. Still, she wasn't desperate enough to endure torture and death any time soon.
It was so that the man raised his revolver directly at her, languidly and slowly. As if this was no big deal.
"Ta-ta."
B A N G!
Those same instincts that told her to stay frozen, all for her to live to see another day, told her to move right this instant. Even if normally a regular bullet would do jack-shit to her, she knew by seeing the many, many corpses around her that this was no normal gun.
Knowing he was aiming for her kneecaps, Kalawarner stepped back and managed to barely dodge the bullet as it landed on the stone floor, rocks flying out from where it hit.
As she dodged, she looked back at her assailant, fearful for another one of his attacks… but instead, what she saw was widened eyes. Surprise. Utter surprise.
"Oh shit," he said, with none of the sharpness that had surrounded him up until now. Instantly his hotness levels descended a good 90%
Kalawarner had a chance. This guy wasn't as powerful as she thought.
Looking at her and noticing the confidence coming back, he glared and, not looking as composed as before, cocked the hammer of his revolver.
"Alright, lucky dodge," he said, petulantly. "We all have those. This one's for realsies."
A mocking smirk crossed his face, making his hotness levels finally descend to 0.
"Adiós."
As Kalawarner prepared to dodge, body tensed up and ready, the man pulled the trigger… and nothing happened. His eyes widened in panic-
"Jammed!? OH MIERDA-!"
Kalawarner didn't care why the revolver suddenly jammed. She just rushed to him at full velocity, hands reared and ready to cut his head off. In an instant, she was on him and-
He had cocked the hammer of the revolver again, far too quickly for a man surprised his revolver didn't shoot. Wasn't it jammed? What she thought was absolute panic wasn't present in his face. Instead, as she got closer and closer, all she could see in his face was a light confident smirk, smiling at her like a devilish rogue that just pulled the wool over her eyes.
Hot.
The barrel of the gun was right in front of-
B A N G!
As the pretty Fallen's face got blown to pieces, blood and brains liberally splattered behind her, I hastily dodged to the side so her headless body didn't collide with mine, not wanting a repeat corpse-hug, even if this one's bustier than last.
…Horrible thought. Never having it again.
The body, almost at hyper-speed, went past me and crashed against the church's walls at such velocity that she got flattened against it, like a mosquito on a windshield. Although the sight was, again, fucking disgusting, a sigh of relief left my lips as my heart began to finally, finally slow down.
This had been a pretty dangerous maneuver I pulled off.
I looked down at my precious .460 revolver.
This plan had been almost counter-intuitive to what I wanted to do, yet, it worked perfectly. TOO perfectly, almost. Any other scenario would have resulted in failure, so it was a relief this ended up working out.
If I had relied on just landing my shots… I would've died here. Indubitably so. She was way faster than I expected, and it had been simply because I was expecting her to get up in my face that I managed to land the shot. If she had simply kept her distance and thrown her stupid magic, none of my bullets would've landed and, even if they did, my [Stacks] would've been long gone by then.
So, knowing that if I missed a single shot I would lose my [Stacks]... I decided on something different. A cool gambit, perhaps.
I would miss on purpose.
The description of [Perfect Stacks] was still fresh in my mind, and one particular aspect of it had caught my attention when deciding on a course of action. Although I didn't remember it verbatim, it was something like this:
Gain a [Perfect Stack] when landing a [Perfect Shot].
And it had always intrigued me slightly why it wasn't just a shot, but a [Perfect Shot]. It held a special meaning to it, thus, I delved deeper into my mind… and remembered.
[Perfect Shot: performed when one of your shots lands achieving a purpose.
The purpose could've been, of course, just shooting a guy and killing him… but it could've also been to weaken a structure, or perhaps distract someone…
Or perhaps to make someone believe you were weaker than expected. That you were no-big-deal.
There was a risk in trying this bullshit. There had been many times (i.e. the fight against the Ultra-Exorcist) where I missed shots yet didn't get a [Perfect Stack, but I made an educated guess on what counted and what didn't.
A shot counted as achieving purpose when given as such by the shooter.
If I wanted my shot to miss to achieve a certain reaction, then if it happened just like that… didn't my shot NOT miss? It landed right where I wanted it, and just like I planned, it made my target lose respect for my potential danger.
Therefore, she approached more than she should've when my gun 'jammed' and made it impossible for her to dodge the 430 [Stack] bullet.
It had gone all according to plan.
Still…
"...Mierda, this shit was too close for comfort."
It wasn't good enough. Not in the slightest.
The exorcists? Sure, who gave a fuck, just shoot em'. The Fallen?
Milton died thanks to not expecting the man with the gun to actually kill her. Don Asic died because he got too close to even think of dodging me. Kalawarner died because I fooled her into thinking I was harmless after all.
All of them died by 'surprise'. If I ever got into a real fight with them, perhaps even all three at the same time, I would've had ZERO chance of winning.
Even with Rias, I won just because of [Gambler's High], an unreliable hyper-state where failing was almost impossible, and it risked getting [Gambler's Shame] instead of it, which would absolutely guarantee my failure. If I wanted to deal with more supernatural dipshits on the tier of Fallen Angels… then I needed to get stronger, somehow.
I sighed wearily, taking a drag from my cigarette. Hopefully this new 'awakening' to the potential of [Perfect Shots] would help somehow. Realistically, it'd probably just aid in keeping my [Stacks] going and not much else.
Still, baby-steps.
It was with such musing thoughts that I exited the church, and after a bit of walking, approached the edge of the barrier, where Kaede was kneeling next to Rias… who was missing an entire leg, the stump covered in bandages.
Oops.
Sensing my approach, Rias looked up at me and glared intensely. Kaede, for her part, just gave me a look of annoyance. Probably since I dumped the work of dealing with 'stumpy' for a while.
"Is it done?" asked Kaede, very prettily (god, she was cute) and with a hint of tiredness, one of her fox-ears twitching. "Or did you suddenly decide to turn tail and get both of our jobs at risk?"
"I'm pretty sure you could see from there how I was spinning and shooting and dancing like Michael Jackson. You know the answer."
Kaede raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't see that, actually. I was busy treating the Gremory heiress and her missing leg. I did hear the gunshots, but with how trigger-happy you were it was terribly unhelpful in gauging how effective it was."
She was being deliberately obtuse, judging by the upward-tilt of her lips. Mission accomplished. I glanced at Rias, who had settled for glaring at me.
"Everything alright, princess?"
A mirthless laugh came out of her.
"Why yes, Daniel, I'm quite great. I'm just missing my leg, that's all. I'm sure you'd be a bit ticked off if something similar happened to you."
…I did lose my arm, at one point.
I turned to Kaede and jabbed a thumb in Rias' direction.
"She'll get better from that, right?"
The question was kind of stupid, but Kaede nodded nonetheless.
"Yes, this shouldn't be too much of a problem for her," she said, briefly glancing at Rias. "There might be some complications on the… emotional side of things, but other than that she'll get that leg back."
I considered asking how exactly she'd grow a new leg, but I refrained. Honest to God, I didn't care.
"Cool," I replied. "Then let's get what we wanted from this."
Taking a drag from my cigarette, I looked at Rias sitting on the ground, missing a leg. As Kaede stood up in one smooth motion (pretty), an opportunity flashed before me and, before I could think, the words were already out of my mouth.
"You stay here, yeah?" I told Rias. "Don't go anywhere."
…The glare from her somehow became fiercer. She actually wanted me to die via laser-glare.
"...Why, of course, Daniel. How fucking funny of you."
"Ooh, potty mouth," I said uncaringly, exhaling smoke. "I'm almost impressed."
"Do me a favor and stop provoking the legless Gremory heiress."
She clearly wasn't that bothered since she added that unnecessary suffix. A small smirk was on her face, pleased, as she began walking to the church. Naturally, I fell in step next to her.
"Well, I just needed to make sure. You know Stumpy can crawl away, right?"
"Daniel."
"Don't 'Daniel' me. You called her legless, too."
"I'm just stating a fact."
"Well I just think it's hypocritical to-"
As the two Agents walked away, the burning sting of humiliation washed over Rias Gremory. Over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and ov-
I was foolish. Let my guard down in front of him, almost fooled myself into thinking I had things handled. "Just become more ruthless, and you'll have a chance…" How FUCKING foolish.
The 'Princess of Destruction' was missing a leg, sitting on the grass, waiting until the one who humiliated her returned and allowed her to leave.
Rias was pathetic.
All this day, Rias had felt herself return to her usual mannerisms. Her usual attitudes, completely betraying the fire she had gained after failing her first proper recruitment just because she was right next to someone interesting, and even when she challenged Daniel to avoid him from entering the church, when that fire began to return…
She folded. Accepted terms for a duel that was completely useless and unnecessary.
Rias Gremory rigged herself into losing.
Rias lost because she listened to the voice in her that said to entertain his funny ideas, even if just briefly. She was humiliated because she hesitated. Doubted. Didn't take what she wanted RIGHT THEN AND THERE.
"...not again," was the low mumble from the heiress, fists gathering on the ground, Power of Destruction unconsciously rising. "...never again…"
And now Rias needed to use a 'Phenex Tear' to regain her leg. The signature product of the fucking Phenex Clan…
"...never, EVER again…"
Although no one was besides her, no one was there to witness it… Rias Gremory's stare was an intense, yet dull expression, her blue eyes usually so pretty seemed somehow emptier. It bore down on the ground, yet something felt intrinsically wrong with it coming from the usually kind heiress. The pitch-black aura of her Power of Destruction kept gathering and gathering.
"...never again… never again… never again never again never again never again never again nev-"
Something irreversibly changed.
"Is this the fucking thing that got us traveling to this shithole?"
Kaede gave me a roll of eyes at my choice of words, but nodded.
"Yes, this is the famed 'Sacred Gear Extractor'."
"...Well, last time I checked I wasn't Jesus Christ," I said, rather eloquently as I took a deep drag from my cig. "I'm not carrying this shit."
Kaede gave me a look and slightly squinted her eyes (cute).
"If I look at you like this, you look like a more bankrupt and homeless version of him."
"Is that supposed to convince me?"
Her voice suddenly gained a fake-sounding sweetness.
"Can you please carry this cross? For me…?"
"Very adorable. Still not carrying this shit."
She sighed, then looked back at the artifact, voice back to its soft neutral tone. "Worth a try."
In front of us both, hidden in the basement of this church was a frankly ridiculously grand and spacious area that looked like it hosted human sacrifices. Torches were lit and, at the end of this grand hall, was a similarly giant black cross, with futuristic-looking green lines running across its surface.
This goddamn thing was the entire reason we came to Kuoh and slaughtered anyone even remotely related to it.
And it looked impossible to transport. Maybe that's why the Fallen were allied with so many Stray Exorcists; they just needed cheap labor to carry this bitch around.
"So, none of us want to deal with this bullshit. What now?"
Kaede sighed and tapped the air near her ear. From it, a small golden magic circle appeared, held at her fingertips.
She waited for a little, until the circle expanded slightly.
"Report, Agent Fujiwara," said a voice, distinctly Yasaka's.
"Everyone related to the 'Sacred Gear Extractor' has been eliminated. Although the Gremory heiress interfered slightly, she has no knowledge of this artifact's existence."
"Anything else?"
Kaede thought for a second, then added hesitantly.
"...Agent Husk injured the Gremory heiress severely, mutilating one of her legs. It appears that she'll recover, and the circumstances behind the injury are considered, in my judgement, to be 'fair enough', since she threatened the completion of the mission."
A silence followed. Glancing at Kaede, I gave her a raised eyebrow. She avoided my gaze.
"That's… unideal, but the mission was completed within the parameters given. Is the artifact safe for extraction?"
"Yes, a Level-3 perimeter was established closely around the church. No one without proper identification should be able to enter."
A relieved sigh could be heard from the other end of the line, followed by a single clap of hands.
"Then that means your job is over. I take it Agent Husk is listening in to this conversation, yes?"
"Yup," I confirmed, shamelessly.
"Then, to both of you, good work. The extraction team will be dispatched to the church briefly. They already know all the pertinent details, so there's no need for you to stay any longer. Return to Kyoto by tomorrow and meet me in my office so we can have a proper debriefing… but until then, you're free. Excellent work, Fujiwara, Husk."
And with that, the circle on her fingertips disappeared, signaling the end of the call. Kaede sighed in relief.
"Our job here is done."
Although I shared the same thoughts, I still turned to her and, very inquisitively, raised an eyebrow.
"So, why did you tell our boss I left Stumpy without a leg?"
Kaede glanced at me, and instead of making her look remorseful, she just frowned like I was stupid.
"Sorry, would you have preferred for Lady Yasaka to find out about this little altercation by herself? It's better for the both of us if she knows directly from the ones responsibles instead of by someone else and having to force the story out of us after."
Yeah, that seemed obvious enough. Still, I gave her a mock-look of offense.
"Snitch. You should've kept the leg mutilation to yourself. Our pretty little secret."
She sighed, but nodded nonetheless. "Next time you cut a Devil heiress' leg off, I'll cover for you."
Turning away from the cross, she began walking. "Let's just get out of here. I'm tired."
I followed, cigarette almost burned to the stub in my mouth. There was a bit of pep in my step.
"Hey, wanna go grab some drinks?"
Kaede sighed exasperatedly, as expected.
"...Daniel-"
My riposte came lightning fast, not even letting her complain, my mouth running with precision as if all my statements had been carefully planned.
"We have not eaten or drank a single fucking thing ever since we got Rias stuck on our backs watching. Your throat must be pretty parched, huh? You know what could help with that? And could also work to celebrate a work well done, too?"
Kaede stopped walking, turning to give me an unconvinced stare (cute). I stopped, too, and began adding a few more words.
"And come on, do you really just want to let our figurative 'pissing' on the Devils' front door be over with just this? Do you not think your magnificent work needs a bit of celebrating, too? Should perfection be ignored so easily, Kaede?"
At that, a dull 'Hah' came out of her, looking rather unamused.
"Quite the flatterer. Has it not come to mind that it is Tuesday and I simply don't drink?"
There was an answer, right at the tip of my tongue, ready to be unleashed. Call her lightweight, trick her into drinking just like I did with smoking. It'd be feasible, and it'd keep the teasing banter I created with her going swimmingly, also keeping a comfy distance between us two.
It looked like she was expecting it, too, her eyes daring me to say it so she could turn it on me and keep this easy distance going.
Instead, feeling rather merciless, I attacked with my most unexpected movement of all…
I replied truthfully.
"Has it come to mind that I just want to hang out with you because I think you're cool?"
The sudden sincerity coupled with my honest opinion of her caught Kaede perfectly off-guard, eyes widening just a touch and, to my satisfaction, a pretty blush dusted her cheeks as her fox-ears twitched in response. Her fox-tail stilled too, in surprise at what I said.
Seeing her in silence, I shrugged again, feeling a slight embarrassment at what I just said. I quickly covered it up by taking another drag from my cig.
"It's fine if you don't want to hang out outside work hours, but me personally? I'd enjoy it."
Even though sincerity was the name of the game, I was still not all that comfortable saying all that crap, and considering that if I was uncomfortable with it, Kaede must probably be even worse with it, since she looked a bit at a loss for words.
Feeling charitable (and a bit desperate for a proper drink with someone instead of my lonesome) I smirked at her tauntingly.
"...Or perhaps are you too much of a lightweight to come drink with little old me? If that's it, then I get it. Not everyone's born equally capable of holding their drink. Some are simply fated to pass-out at just one beer."
Kaede was pretty sharp, so she must've known I was giving her an easy line to hold on to if she simply didn't want to reply with the same level of honesty. Her surprised expression fell a bit, replaced by one of mild hesitation… before she lightly cleared her throat, closing her eyes.
"...I am not a lightweight," she replied, her voice in her usual even tone.
"Yes, you are."
Her lips tilted up briefly. Just briefly, before they went back down to her usual neutral expression, fixing me with her muted stare before answering.
"I am not."
"Why so sure? You go out drinking often?"
The taunt made her brows furrow slightly. Clearly, she didn't.
"First off," she began, tone very matter-of-factly. "Whether I go out drinking often or not, it matters not, because I can hold my alcohol quite well. This has been proven before and I am confident in this assesment."
"Ooh," I let out, in mock interest.
"Besides," she continued. "I have drank before—unlike with your cigarettes—meaning that this is not a baseless claim."
"Like your claim that you wouldn't cough when smoking?"
"-and also," she proceeded, ignoring me. "I'm a Yokai, and you're a human. Your resistance to alcohol would obviously be very low compared to mine. It is only natural. So no, I am not a lightweight."
I hummed, very mockingly. After giving her a narrow, analytical look, I lazily pointed a finger at her.
"Let me guess: the only times you drink it consists of about two or three glasses of wine, and you only do so when it comes to something like a work party where it'd be more troublesome to not attend."
Kaede's face remained perfectly neutral for a couple seconds at my hypothesis.
"...Shut up."
I laughed at her answer.
"Well, you seemed very confident with how much better you could hold your alcohol than a lowly human like me. So, wanna bet on it? Or do you fear having to smoke a second cigarette?"
Kaede sighed at my offer, exasperated, but she didn't bother trying to hide the soft smile on her face.
Victory. All it took to convince Kaede to go out for drinks was to make a whole show about it beforehand so she wasn't embarrassed.
"...If I must do this to set the record straight on your foolish assumption, then I at least ask that we do this once we're back in Kyoto. I refuse to stay and drink in the territory where one of our Agents casually decided to cut the leg of one of their leaders."
At her reminder that I blew Rias' leg off and that inevitably some form of consequence would follow, I winced slightly, which brought a very pleased smile to Kaede, who finally got some sort of advantage over me.
"Yes, be ashamed. I don't think either of us wants to deal with the aftermath of that, so I say we get out of this Devil-infested town immediately. I take it you don't have any objections?"
I truly didn't. Still, I did feel slightly guilty about the whole leg thing. Yes, even if I called Rias 'Stumpy' right on her face.
"What about Rias? She's still laying there uselessly, isn't she?"
Kaede didn't seem to care as much as me, doing a slight shrug.
"This is her territory, is it not?" she explained smoothly. "Not to mention with an entire peerage at her beck and call. She'll be fine, our mission didn't include having to babysit the Gremory heiress after suffering repercussions for her own actions."
She was almost uncharacteristically blasé against the one-legged Devil. My guess was that she really didn't enjoy her nagging presence in an operation that absolutely didn't need it. It probably didn't help that she later tried breaking my legs.
Also, she was royalty (AKA: a fucking bourgeois) and a teenage slave-driver, and she most DEFINITELY had a shining silver spoon up her shapely ass. There weren't many things going for her aside from her looks (and money), now that I thought about it. Maybe I was right to cut her damn leg off, make her experience some fucking strife for a change, goddamit.
"...Yeah, she'll be fine," I said roughly, having convinced myself to get mad at nothing. "So, how do we get back to Kyoto?"
Kaede took something from her pocket—a sort of medal?—and tossed it lightly at me. I caught it, giving her a questioning look. The medal was golden, but I had no clue if it was actual gold or just some fake, or if it had any kind of use at all.
"Just hold onto it," she said, a bit smugly since she had one over me in terms of basic supernatural knowledge. "And don't move a muscle."
From below us, a big golden magic circle formed, surrounding us both. Light began emanating from it, making me squint my eyes painfully at the sudden light. A teleportation thingy? It began getting loud with magic stuff (?) as the light got brighter and brighter.
"I am not going back to Kyoto on another 8 hour bus-ride, Daniel," Kaede stated, hands crossed behind her back, smugness in her tone at my squinted eyes and general unfamiliarity. "This time, we're going back the supernatural way. The proper way."
"Huh!? Repeat that!? I can't hear shit!"
It was loud, to be fair.
Once the light got unbearably bright, the sound peaked in volume and, with one magic-sounding SWOOSH…
The basement to the church became empty.
OPERATION REPORT.
Objectives:
- Secure artifact labeled as 'Sacred Gear Extractor'. (CHECK. ALREADY WITHIN KYOTO'S MAIN HEADQUARTERS.)
- Eliminate any parties involved in its possession inside Kuoh Town. (CHECK).
- Eliminate any known Fallen Angels residing in Kuoh Town. (CHECK).
- Avoid interference of Devils or any other third-parties. (PARTIALLY MET.)
- Prevent subjects 'Rias Gremory', 'Sona Sitri', any member belonging to their peerages, and any of their possible allies to gain knowledge of the 'Sacred Gear Extractor'. (CHECK.)
- Avoid at all costs the deaths of any of the aforementioned subjects during the operation. (CHECK.)
- Secure the nun that was to be sacrificed by the Fallen. (PENDING - TEAM ON STANDBY WAITING FOR HER ARRIVAL.)
Secondary Objectives:
- Test the [REDACTED] capabilities of Agent "Husk". (AGENT DID NOT HAVE THE CHANCE TO DEMONSTRATE HIS [REDACTED].)
- Test assassination capabilities of Agent "Husk". (CHECK - OVERWHELMINGLY CAPABLE.)
- Test head-to-head combat capabilities of Agent "Husk" (UNCLEAR. FURTHER TESTING REQUIRED. IF CONSISTENT: OVERWHELMINGLY CAPABLE.)
- Test stealth capabilities of Agent "Husk" (CHECK - ABOVE AVERAGE.).
- Test sanity of Agent "Husk" (UNCLEAR. PERFECTLY CAPABLE WITHIN MOST SCENARIOS.)
- Test teamwork capabilities of Agent Husk (CHECK - ABOVE AVERAGE.)
AGENT(S) DEPLOYED:
Fujiwara Kaede - 1st Rank Yokai Agent: Mission Leader / Barrier Setter / Primary Diplomat / Medic / Clean-up / Secondary Executioner.
"Husk" - Special Rank Yokai Agent: Main Executioner / Assistant / Emergency Diplomat.
OPERATION STATUS: COMPLETE.
AGENT STATUS: EXTRACTED. ZERO INJURIES.
NOTES:
- Consider Agent "Husk" for further extermination missions. Pairing with Agent Fujiwara held unexpectedly good results, both in meeting objectives within a timely manner and morale of the agents.
- Give Agent "Husk" access to supernatural weaponry and further training for the upcoming operation involving the captive Raynare.
- Make further attempts to discover how Husk's [REDACTED] works in case of betrayal or breach of contract.
END OF REPORT.
Somewhere in Kyoto, at 11 PM with the moon shining brightly upon the city, outside of a frequented bar, where the sounds of chatting people and drunken delight could be heard, right by the street, standing on a sidewalk, under the dim, artificial glow of a street-light…
"...I do not understand in… in the slightest how you can- you can willingly smoke this… this foulness."
"I do it to look cool." A shrug. "Obvio."
…Fujiwara Kaede was smoking her second ever cigarette, cheeks flushed in obvious drunken stupor. Besides her was her partner, accompanying her with a cancer-stick of his own perched lazily in his lips.
Daniel García successfully managed to make his co-worker get drunk on a Tuesday.
AN: Come here, children, and let us reminisce. Let us all reminisce of a time I (very foolishly) claimed to do the unthinkable: Post Shorter Chapters; Post More Frequently.
I'm sorry for neglecting this story for so long. I'd explain further, but it should be clear by now that my excuses suck. Just know that this story always stays on my mind 24/7, even if my upload schedule doesn't show it. At least I uploaded before the year ended (?).
Yes, I know some wanted to see Rias explode into smithereens and perhaps also level the entire area into nothing more than a cool parking-lot, but I needed to apply some restraint. So, a leg it is. How cool, surely this development will not affect anyone negatively at all.
Next chapter should start taking a proper big shit over canon, at least in terms of what parts of the DxD universe Daniel gets to explore. Finally, o' finally, there are no more loose threads that require him to be present for. Who would've thunk that just moving one character from Kuoh to Kyoto could've had such horrid after-effects (horrid for me.)
I thank everyone who bothers replying on the thread and giving me their thoughts. I am quite literally writing this story only for your amusement, so if you got amused by my story or have any sort of feedback, let me know. Please. Please. PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEAESPLEASE I DO THIS SHIT FOR FREE. FOR YOU! EVEN IF IT'S TO CRITICIZE JUST FUCKING TELL ME GODDAMIT.
And that's all I got.
Thanks for reading. And waiting.
Happy New Years.
(PS: If there are formatting errors and you want a version of this chapter without them, go to the SpaceBattles thread. The text there has everything properly formatted and looks quite cool.)