Chapter XXXIV

Irina

"One, two, three! One, two, three! Man, it's been a while since I've done something like this. Takes me back, you know?"

Xenovia looked at her like she was insane, pausing in the middle of her sweeping.

"But Sister Griselda made us clean every day…."

"Yeah, but this is an after school activity! And not scrubbing dirty plates. So it's infinitely better."

Irina gave a sage nod while her partner simply looked at her.

It was a very familiar look. A look that sometimes preceded a long sigh. But right now it just earned her a slow nod.

"If you say so."

"I do!"

"Well, I'm glad someone is showing enthusiasm." The black haired devil watching over them seemed genuinely pleased. "Now that you are students here, it's proper that you show school spirit. And it says a great deal that a pair of Exorcists are putting in more effort than the Hime Miko that slashed up the school in the first place."

Finding herself agreeing with the Vice President of Kuoh Academy's student council, even if she was a poor Reincarnated Devil denied the Light of God Almighty by Sona Sitri, Irina held up her fist in determination.

"Ms. Tsubaki, one day Ms. Ena will apologize for the trouble she caused! This is merely an obstacle the Lord wishes us to overcome."

"Uh huh."

Turning to look at Xenovia, the Devil simply received a shrug of the shoulders.

"Yes. I see."

However, the blonde Devil didn't so much as look up from where he was working on trying to figure out where electrical wires had been cut. He hadn't spoken to them at all, only glared at their swords, before getting to work. His white haired friend occasionally handed him tools when he quietly asked for them.

'I suppose even Devils need to know how to wire a light fixture….'

Part of her was sad, since he had been a human, and that now he was denied Eternity. Even Hell had to be better than the Void, right? But now he, a human being, born with a Sacred Gear crafted by the Lord, would serve forever in Darkness. It seemed cruel. Pointless, even.

"Please don't try to pray for them."

Agent Smith, one of the local mages, looked up from where she was "supervising the expenditure of Committee funds".

"Um, I don't know what you mean?"

She flicked her sunglasses down.

"If you pray for them, you'll actually cause them discomfort. Maybe pain if you're especially pure. Please don't hurt the hired help."

"And what about Ena."

Xenovia responded before she could, clearly not pleased that the girl in question wasn't here.

"Do you want an honest answer or do you want to feel better?"

"Hmm." Crossing her arms, Irina's friend thought about it for a moment. Pausing in moving the divine marble as she did so, she cracked her back. "Make me feel better. My back's already killing me."

Agent Smith actually laughed at that.

"Trust me, it doesn't get any better. At least those super suits of yours have more support than a sports bra. Still. Ena is, well, frankly useless at building anything. I suspect she might have just slashed the debris to pieces and made an even bigger mess that would have taken hours longer to sweep up. So I grounded her instead."

Watching them work from her perch, the Committee agent nursed a steaming, fragrant mug of coffee. The smell was so strong that it actually made Irina's stomach grumble.

What caught her attention, however, was something else entirely.

"Should you be reading manga at work?"

Snapping the booklet shut, Smith turned to the exorcist.

"It is research."

"Research? Really? Unless the government is planning to announce the existence of Yokai to the world, I dunno what that is gonna help you with."

"It is precisely the kind of media that our young godslayer seems to enjoy, so to properly understand his expectations and mindset, one should also immerse themselves in the kind of media that he enjoys. Besides, the art is quite good and the comedy on point. They even have a government agent working with the main character."

Xenovia scoffed.

"Going to make a play if your daughter fails?"

"Now let's not get crazy here, you and I both know she wouldn't be here if I had actually been successful."

"It's not really appropriate for a grown woman to hunt a young man, after all." Irina couldn't help but frown when she looked at Smith. "Plus, Issei needs someone who will see him for him!"

A few words couldn't help but worm their way through Irina's thoughts. After all, her friend had always been… honest about his preferences. And the Agent of the HCC was even bustier than Xenovia was.

'At least she isn't interested in Issei. I know he was always weak to lady knights. Any anime that even had one would instantly become his favorite.'

She may not have been over the moon about certain aspects of her mission, but she didn't regret being able to help someone who had been dear to her. That made a lot of the things she'd been warned about a little more palatable. Especially since she knew he'd be nothing like some of what the Bishops had said could be true.

"You're telling me. But those bastards just want a quick fix to any problems that come up. As for me? I took a gamble. It played out. So no problems anymore." The woman even smirked. "In fact, he's already got representatives from all of the 'Three Great Factions' working together in peace. I'd say that's a miracle."

Wait a second…

"All three? I knew about the devils in Kuoh but I haven't seen any of the Fallen yet." She was sure they'd have known by now if one of them were here. Fallen Angels had an even greater dislike for devils, perhaps because they were willing to act upon their negative emotions.

The agent smiled, thinly.

"Oh, they are around. But hey, don't take my word for it. Wait long enough and one of them is bound to crop up. Though I don't want to jinx-" The agent's phone began to ring and Irina watched as the woman's face turned a series of colors, white, then pink, then a resigned sort of mixed embarrassment and exhaustion. "Sorry about that, Ms. Shidou, but I'm afraid I'll need to let you finish your work in peace."

"Hmm? Did something happen? Is your daughter ok?"

Smith's lips pursed and she restrained herself before answering.

"Yes."

Unable to stop herself from asking, never mind the horror creeping up on her, the exorcist took the plunge!

"What happened?"

"A toad sage, I don't know how to explain this, I just. I need a moment." Rubbing her face, the grown woman muttered something about damnably horny gods before continuing. "He stole the undergarments of my daughter and her partner, ran around the hotsprings they were in, and almost lost his head to Ena's grandfather."

"I…."

Irina was saved from having to elaborate when Xenovia muttered a little too loudly.

"Are we sure this is Japan and not ancient Greece?"

Tsubaki simply bowed, deeply, and apologized.

"It is a deep misfortune. But I promise the vast majority of Japanese people, and supernaturals, are quite normal."

"Yeah, well my daughter just about tried to become a Campione herself so I'm going to go sort that out and chew out Old Man Susa - uh. The old man. It's his job to make sure the idiots on his side of the border stay on their side. Please let your King know the HCC will handle this, Ms. Shrina. And good day Ms. Toujou, Mr. Kiba, Ms. Quarta, Ms. Shidou."

And that was the end of the discussion. Even Kiba stood up from where he was working and bowed in parting. Irina noticed, though, that Smith actually relaxed a little at that and shook her head.

"You're good kids. Stay that way. For a little while, kay?"

Irina thought on that for a little while. Pondering what the Lord's will was.

'Obviously this is all part of His plan. But what am I to do? Minister to the heathens? Of course. But if I push too hard I might just drive them away. And unlike Xenovia I'm not so sure a martyr's death serves His plans best. Hmm. If nothing else, they are good people. Just astray! And it's even better if Issei can be surrounded by people who possess Virtue.'

Returning back to her task of sweeping, she stopped to see if anyone was looking.

Finding the Devils were either in another room or shoulders deep in the wall, and Xenovia nowhere to be seen, she drew Excalibur Mimic. Flicking her wrist, she turned the bolo into a long, feather shaped sword. Then, with a single swing, sent small gusts of wind across the gym's floor.

Instantly gathering up the remaining debris, and without anyone noticing, she quickly returned the weapon to its previous state.

'I wouldn't say that's desecrating a relic, but I'm pretty sure Sister Griselda would have me peeling potatoes for a month over that.'

It was somewhat freeing, however, to use her abilities in ways that facilitated her daily life.

Being entrusted with one of the Excaliburs was a great honor and the mission that accompanied it was something Irina had trained for her entire life. A great work of dedication towards the Lord. He was surely watching over her even as she made sure not a speck of dust remained.

Even so, her mission had reached an impasse.

Issei had accepted her presence and chosen to rekindle their friendship, but he was still surrounded by dubious individuals. Devils of ill repute and followers of the pagan sort. She wished there was a way to voice her concerns without threatening the bridge she miraculously restored.

Worse yet was the other girl, Aika.

The one who was supposedly out and about with the godslayer on a date of all things.

"Lord forgive me, but I'm afraid there are limits to what this humble servant can achieve."

To call the girl libidinous and sinful would be an understatement!

That, of course, was when the ceiling, such as it was, came violently crashing down.

"What the-"

The massive tarp and frame stretching across the roof of the building gave way as an immense and visibly tainted light spear launched itself straight down at her. Irina, lost in thought, only realized what was happening at the last moment. However, drawing her blade once again, she was surprised that it was joined by two others.

"Tch. Damn Fallen!"

Kiba Yuuto, having appeared in a burst of speed, held a pair of cursed swords in an X block, reinforcing her own hurriedly manifested katana!

"Ah, th-thank you!"

He just snarled at her.

"Don't just stand there!" His swords cracked, black aura leaking out of it, trying to consume the tainted light. "Get the others!"

Several other spear blasts rained down on the gym as the Knight managed to parry the first attack and began dodging the rest. His black blades only touching the light spears, draining them of some of their energy, enough to prevent them from truly exploding, before dashing away.

Irina simply did what came naturally.

"XENOVIA, FALLEN ATTACKING THE GYM!"

Turning the holy relic Excalibur Mimic into an ornate megaphone and amplifier, she alerted everyone even vaguely nearby to exactly what was happening.

Immediately, one of the walls of the gymnasium imploded, showering them in dust and debris as a familiar blue haired girl charged through the impromptu entrance. Massive sword in her hands, she lead with an equally massively powerful swing - blasting the winged figures overhead with a pure pressure before they recovered.

There was something… wrong about them.

Even though they only had a single pair of wings. Their bodies emanated a power that was far beyond what would be considered fitting. It wasn't the only thing off, their skin was deathly pale, their eyes bloodshot and, even though Irina lacked an affinity for the occult, she thought, no knew that something was different to their auras!

"Suffer not the heretic."

Twirling her sword in a defensive pattern, Xenovia let off another two blasts of energy, but the four fliers above simply dodged the slashes. One of them, the only male, darted down and drew a light sword with his off hand while manifesting a spear with his main hand.

Irina found herself dueling a short blonde girl and a tall, busty woman alongside the blonde devil boy, while Tsubaki, black hair singed by a near miss, now reinforced by her King, were in a ranged battle with the somehow merely two winged Fallen still raining bullets of light down on them.

Either girl on her own should have been able to contend with a foot soldier of the Fallen, heck, Irina could have probably cut their attacks in half herself! But instead… each light spear seemed to thrum with something even more unholy than usual.

Instead of coming apart under the pressure of a more powerful source of holy energy, the waves of attacks just refused to break! And, with her katana pressed against a claymore made of solid light, Irina noticed that all of their enemies looked really, really bad.

Not only were their eyes all bloodshot and pupils completely blown out, but it looked like they were bleeding under their clothes.

"Eww!"

She kicked at her enemy's ankle, expecting the lift of the shorter girl's leg, only to deepen the strike into a slide, bringing her blade up and around the girl's guard. But when she struck at the Fallen's side, the blood that spurted out seemed rotten and foul. As if something had caused the blood in their veins to coagulate and begin decaying.

"Wait! No! It's impossible. Zombie angels!?"

"Who are you calling a walking corpse, bitch! I'll cut your head off and present it to our Master!" Snarling, grinding her teeth so hard they cracked, the blonde Fallen slashed at Irina in an absolute berserk rage. "Die, sow!"

Manifesting a pink spear, she slashed down with the weapon, aiming to take Irina's foot off at the ankle. Only for a strange, red-black sword to suddenly pop into being just long enough to deflect the blow.

"Watch your footwork, Papist."

Irina opted to ignore that as they, quite literally, had better things to worry about.

Namely the fact that she couldn't reach the enemies that were too far away from them. Extending the Excalibur Mimic into a whip or bola was all well and good, but the Fallen Angels were keeping their distance and raining down too many attacks for her to properly focus on dragging one of them down.

Instead she made Mimic into a longer quarterstaff, using the heavier ends to knock away the light spears and keep her own enemy back.

That was, however, when a barrage of swords suddenly dropped from the ceiling above, a flash of devil power the only warning she had as mass produced demonic swords dropped from above right onto the trio of Fallen. Unfortunately, with them being so close that meant some of the artillery ended up dropping near them.

A fire sword exploded into a plume of embers.

An ice sword erupted into a cloud of freezing mist.

A great sword twice Irina's size almost crushed her as the blonde Fallen narrowly avoided it.

"Hey! Watch where you're dropping those!"

Her partner was much more proactive, swinging the volatile Excalibur Destruction, the blasts of force shattered the demonic swords as they descended and launched the fragments back in barrages of metal and assorted elemental leftovers, which the Fallen had to fly around to avoid.

For the time being, they managed to reach a stalemate yet there was no way the building wouldn't collapse on top of them soon.

"Enough screwing around! Kill them all!"

Abandoning their weapons, all four flew back, with Sona and her Queen immediately raising barriers to attempt to prepare for the incoming attack. But they grossly underestimated the amount of power the four could generate. And working together, they definitely scaled beyond what the two devils could muster.

"Damnit, we need to scatter! You two, get out of here, Koneko we need to-"

"Kiba!"

Tackling her comrade, the white haired devil saved the blonde swordsman from a violent lashing by a hard light whip. It still struck her across the back and Irina flinched at the spray of blood.

"Shit. Shit, shit, shit."

Xenovia began flailing wildly, attempting to bulldoze her way through the enemy's defenses as the four began to glow and glow and burn under the sheer weight of magic being gathered.

And that was when Irina made her decision.

"Xenovia, I'm ordering you to take the others and withdraw!" Holding Excalibur Mimic in both hands, she willed it to become a mirror. "Do it now!"

"No!"

"What's going on? What is that?"

"President, forgive me!"

Tsubaki sucker punched Sona and, as her King began vomiting, picked the shorter girl up and began sprinting away from the target zone - devil wings bursting into existence for any amount of extra speed.

Irina hoped it would be enough.

"Excalibur Mimic: Reflector!"

Pouring her magical power into the shining mirror, she held it up, hoping against hope she had the strength to do what needed to be done.

And a single black-pink-purple-golden spear of light began to scream towards the ground.

Only for a scream of another sort to echo on Irina's ears as a thunderous voice carried through the gym as a wave of force and divine power washed over the blonde exorcist before crashing against the massive spear of light. The impact was immediate, as was the reaction of the Fallen Angels as they were sent tumbling towards the ground and their attack fizzled away into a cloud of sparks.

Irina looked over her shoulder and felt her heart skip a bit.

Issei was here.

And he didn't look happy.

There was a hole in the wall.

Someone must have crashed through it.

The stands he built.

The ground he patched up.

The painstaking effort he went through to make sure everything was precisely the way it was before at least so people wouldn't have to worry about the gym collapsing on them or be forced to leave it abandoned for longer than they had to… everything looked wrecked.

The walls.

The stand.

The floor.

That annoyed him more than a little bit. He put in the effort to help and make sure nobody got affected by the hijinks that usually happened around him. And not even a few days later, all that hard work and dedication went out the window because someone was picking a fight.

Again!

"Guys, are you okay?"

First he had to check on them, quickly make sure he understood what was going on this time.

They looked batter and bruised, maybe more than a little bloodied, but nobody looked like they needed immediate help which was good. The gym unfortunately looked even worse than it was a few days ago after Ena sliced it in half and Issei had the slight impression that this time it had to do with snarling and raging dark winged angels he'd dropped.

Maybe a little bit more than slightly.

"Y-Yes, just a bit shaken. Sorry, Issei. They just showed up attacking like that and I-"

He tossed a small bag to her.

"Take those and give what's inside to the others. If they're hurt. Just use the green labeled ones."

Instructions given, Issei watched the blonde run off towards the rest of the group, helping her friend limp out of the building as the weird angels across from him started to regain their bearings and the short paralysis from the half baked Screech Wail wore off.

"So… you guys are Fallen Angels right? Either that or weird bondage Tengu."

As if finally realizing he was there, the trio lifted off the ground and a fourth person, a guy, came down from up above.

They didn't look that good. Weird marks on their body, steam gushing out of their wounds, pinprick eyes that seemed to grow menacingly as their bodies grew and pulsed with a strange miasma, veins blackened as they snarled and foamed angrily at the mouth.

Yeah, there was definitely something off here.

And yet his gut feeling wasn't acting up.

'Not another Campione or a God?' He'd always had those feelings whenever either showed up, as if his body knew that he needed to be ready to fight. Yet here and now there was no paradoxical mixture of danger and excitement, only annoyance and discontent.

"If you guys leave, I'm not coming after you."

He tried the simple, painless approach first. It didn't hurt to get them away from the school and his friends.

"If I can't have you, THEN DIE!"

The answer was, predictably, about what he expected, though it was strange seeing someone scream like an actual yandere. A rain of light spears descending upon him like a barrage of arrows. Each one felt like a pinch against his skin, no more than temporary discomfort as he walked through the attacks with a look of annoyance.

He really didn't want to make a mess today.

Mineral Garden would plain collapse the building, and he didn't want to risk a full Screech Wail while his friends might still be around. The package he gave to Irina also had the stuff from Doctor Venom he prepared ahead of time, so he wasn't about to go cutting himself again just for an easy win.

'So I guess I'll just handle them with something else.'

The Fallen didn't seem to mind him standing there in thought. They just kept blasting.

Coming to a decision, Issei finally acted, manifesting a simple haft of pure white stone, he took hold of it as usual. In his hands, the weight, balance, and shape of the staff still felt a bit awkward. He'd gotten very used to this feeling in the past few weeks, but that wasn't comparable to the lifetime of practice people needed to make weapons like these feel like a part of them.

Only that didn't matter now.

'Not anymore.' From his hands, Issei felt the new, yet familiar, power spread from his palm and seep through the marble, the pure white darkening and shifting until it became the deepest most vibrant shade of red with a glossy finish that made it seem like it had been polished to perfection.

Issei moved with practiced ease, the now red staff lashing out in a flurry of blows as it shattered, dispersed, or knocked back the attacks.

To an outside looker, those weren't the actions of an amateur.

Rather, the footwork, the speed, the finesse and ease of movement all seemed to hint at someone who moved as if their weapon was a part of their body. The storm of holy light stood no chance as it was swept away. Before Issei stopped, holding the staff like one would a cue stick.

He breathed in.

Took aim.

"Grow!"

And fired.

One moment, Issei was holding a simple staff, perhaps half as tall as he was. And then the other moment, the blonde haired Fallen Angel was sent flying as the extended tip of the staff slammed against her stomach, slamming her against the ceiling with enough force to punch through it.

The second Fallen, who looked kinda familiar for some reason, barely had time to move back as a pillar launched Issei into the air and the red staff retracted to its original size.

Before shattering into dust.

'Oops, I forgot about that part.' Not that it was a deal breaker, he just made another weapon, this time a baseball bat, and swung it at the remaining two who now understood the threat and tried to put more distance between them.

Unfortunately, that was meaningless.

"Expand!"

The bat, now the same glossy red as the staff had been, glowed and changed, becoming larger and larger as it moved, until one of the Fallen Angels was caught by the van-sized weapon and crashed into the ground with a massive crash.

It too returned to its original size as Issei lost altitude only to be caught mid freefall by another pillar growing out of the floor. Putting him slightly above the enraged Fallen Angel, before the red marble bat also shattered in his hands and turned to dust in the wind.

Not that it bothered him.

He could always make more.

"Man, why would you make this much trouble for me if you were just gonna be annoying?"

This wasn't even a scary fight, or a funny one, or a cool one. The idiots just decided they'd pick a fight with his friends, at his school, right after he was done fixing up the worst of the damage, and now instead of being scary, powerful, or smart, they were acting like rabid mobs in a game.

The last girl wasn't even trying to talk him down, or give some kind of villainous speech.

She just kept blasting him.

'There's definitely something wrong here.'

The moment he got there, they should have known it was over. When the divine light show failed, they should have tried something else or run away. But whatever was happening here, they just kept trying to fight him when they knew it wouldn't work.

At this point he might as well be bullying them.

When the familiar looking Fallen lashed out, charging at him with a spear of light, Issei manifested a simple marble ball and took his best pitcher's stance before lobbing the crimson sphere at the rabid her.

"Multiply!"

One ball became two.

Then ten.

Then fifty.

Before she could so much as touch him, the salvo of balls shot her out of the sky, crumpling the girl against a wall all as she fell onto the ground face first and was left bent on a very compromising position.

Issei whistled appreciatively.

Unfortunately his enjoyment was short lived as the group somehow started trying to drag themselves back to their feet. Bruised, battered, and more than a little dusty. Issei sighed, wondering if he was gonna have to continue kicking them around until they called it quits.

Only for a familiar blonde to come running in, accompanied by an unfamiliar purple haired woman, Issei's eyes immediately zeroing onto her for pure and wholesome purposes.

"Issei!" Irina called out. "They're being mind controlled."

"Wait, really!?" Then these guys aren't even the ones that are actually causing the trouble? They're victims?!
Dammit.

Swallowing his annoyance, Issei raised defenses around his friends and tried to focus on ending this fight quickly. And with as little damage as possible!

'I busted my butt helping fix this place. No way am I gonna let it get blown up.'

Pursing his lips and focusing on the four fallen angels before him, he called up his first and most reliable of gifts. Mostly because if he tried to lead in with Screech Wail, well, there might not be a gym left to bother protecting.

Manifesting platforms under his feet, Issei ordered them to extend upwards, letting him rapidly close the difference with all four of his enemies. And, just like how their attacks didn't do much more than rip up his clothes, he had to force himself not to flinch when the grown man out of the four started blushing and panting like a dog as he got closer.

"Please, take us!"

"We love you!"

"We want to be with you!"

All four of them charged another attack, their clothes and skin now visibly burning from the amount of energy they'd been pumping out. So he just ended the fight by manifesting a massive cube of marble above the group, the weight and mass crushing them beneath it.

Had they been human, it would have been instantly fatal.

Instead… it just crumpled on top of them, shattering like a small landslide and covering the unconscious Fallen in rubble.

"Man. What a drag."

Issei really hoped Aika still wanted to hang out after this.