Sonic DxD

by Bakuganman

After an accident with the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic is transported to another dimension, in a world where Demons and Gods are common. Befriending the Occult Research Club, it's up to them to help Sonic recover the Emeralds and send him home... before power-hungry demons or a certain egg-man finds them first... (Cover Art by Penguin SuperSaiyanGod)

21. Chapter 20

Da dum… da dum… dun dun, dun dun, dun dun, dun dun…

*Party horn!*

Welcome back, my fellow degenerates! Its finally time, ladies and gentle-weebs. Its been a long time coming (and you guys have been screaming at me ever since. lol), but we are finally back with Sonic DxD, and the heart-pounding conclusion of the Raynare Arc. The reason this took so long was because of real life, but ALSO because this is the biggest chapter of this story. I did promise a massive chapter for the end of the arc, didn't I?… You'll see why in a minute, once you read the chapter title.

By the way, I recently discovered the only links this website allows is YouTube and some choice others. So I've linked my Channel in my profile. I posted some old Sonic mods a while back, and I'm planning on doing play-throughs of newer ones. I'm also going to do a video read-a-long of the DxD light novels so you don't have to buy them, as well as also restart my Twitter account soon, despite my feelings about that platform. Be on the lookout for those links as well.

Shame Sonic Colors Ultimate had that glitch, along with ALL the editing tools in the game files. Thankfully, they fixed it quite quickly, though it does have me concerned if they pull the same stunt with Sonic Rangers (I will remain optimistic, however. I have hope).

The Mario movie cast… we're doomed. I gotta ask: Senpai Japan... are you good over there? (Admittedly, Taylor as Peach seems like the best fit in terms of appearance.) I also made a few memes about it, which are decent.

But enough about that, there's only one reason you clicked here, right? Let's not waste anymore time, and finish this arc off once and for all! And because I'm in such a good mood, I'll spoil something that's about to happen in this chapter: a certain character, and a highly anticipated/requested one at that, is about to become directly involved. Who you ask?… I really think you'd oughta start reading and find out for yourself. After a year, over 20 chapters of build-up and a grand total of 183 follows… its lead up to THIS moment.

And at a little over 25 THOUSAND (the longest chapter of ANY fic I've ever written, which should show you have much I love this story and by extension, you guys. Breaking it up would have ruined the pacing otherwise)… it's all been worth it, I can PROMISE you that.

From Guest:

Have you watch a video called "Sonic is TOO Powerful" by the Game Theorists.

Bakuganman: Yes. That's an old one though.

From Guest:

Maybe put up another crossover with Sonic the Hedgehog & In Another World with my Smartphone.

Bakuganman: Not sure how that's gonna work, or if its even practical. Granted, I only started Smartphone very recently; but from what I've seen from it, I'm not sure if its worth the time. I do have a second Sonic xover called Sonic the Hedgehog: at Worldend.

From Guest:

This story has been very entertaining so far. Great job on the writing. I'm impressed that you took two different series of different maturity levels and made them work cohesively together. I can't wait for more.

Bakuganman: I will admit, it wasn't easy when I first came up with the idea; but after 3 (now 4) years of planning, it became clear. Sonic does have his serious moments, while DxD can be serious but with the addition of sexy high school girls that wanna get some dragon dick. THAT was probably the hardest part of the project, trying to figure out to make it work either 1 of 3 ways:

1) Go around it, which would mean scrapping the more fanservicey/hentai parts of the DxD half that fans love so much. The opposite is also true, but making the Sonic cast out-of-character and just like the DxD ones… both were NOT an option for me.

2) Do what a large majority of people already did in this archive, but at the cost of originality. I COULD have done that, but it seemed stale to me as I brought up many times before. Or,

3) Keep EVERYTHING intact, and try to create a narrative that not only works, but is also believable on both sides. I think I did a damn good job if I say so myself. Thus, Sonic DxD was born.

---

Chapter 20: The End of Mass - Magic meets Science

Sonic and Issei headed into the main hall, where the church conducted its ceremonies or masses during the day. The darkness from outside gave the building a different vibe from last time which was bright, warm and peaceful; but was now cold, dark and eerie. Waiting for them was 2 more Devils Sonic was familiar with, and it was nice to see Issei had some backup. Kiba and Koneko were in the main hall as well, and judging by some overturned benches, there must have had a few guards to fight on the way inside.

Where they human or Fallen? Maybe both? Sonic had no idea.

"Nice going, you found him," said Kiba. As he spoke to Sonic and Issei, Koneko began to walk to another corner of the room for some reason. "3 Fallen managed to slip away after you, but we had so many to deal with here and just finished them off. Did the Rook form help?" Asked the Knight, which only got Sonic even more confused. Rook? He thought Koneko was the Rook. Wasn't Issei the Pawn?

"Yeah. It did. Helped me bust Sonic outta some magic circle," Issei responded, still leaving the Hedgehog stumped. Issei noticed this out of the corner of his eye. "Like I said: later." He told Sonic as he glanced down at him, assuring he'll explain what exactly what was going on after this was over.

"Hey, guys" came Koneko's voice. They looked in her direction and they all saw her near the altar itself.

POW!

She punched it away, also destroying the structure with her own strength, but what she found was a secret underground passage of stairs. Was that where the Fallen Angels were now? "You feel that?" Kiba turned to ask Issei. Sonic looked at the two Devils as they just spoke.

"Yup." Issei agreed with a nod. Sonic didn't know what they felt. Holy power perhaps? Maybe being a Devil now improved his senses? The Hedgehog had no idea. He fought demons, not normally befriended them. As they prepared to go downstairs, Sonic's ears twitched once, then twice in a row. Something was wrong... they weren't alone...

"HEY! LOOK OUT!" Sonic dashed quickly, acting on instinct, rushing toward the trio. He grabbed Koneko quickly and without her consent...

BLAM!

A bullet from out of nowhere pierced the ground Koneko was standing on a literal second ago! Now knowing the danger, both Kiba and Issei jumped back (though the latter landed a little clumsily due to not having much experience with his new body), away from the altar. Sonic joined them a second later, as well as a new figure who leaped from the shadows with a familiar laugh. "HE-HEHEHEHEHE!" It was Freed. He must have fired a shot at Koneko... if Sonic wasn't there...

"You ok, kid?" The Hedgehog asked the kid in his arms. She was a little out of it due to the shock.

"... put me down." She recovered thankfully enough, but dryly requested to be released, which Sonic did (not wanting to piss her off for obvious reasons). Even though she came across as a bit rude, she was grateful for the save.

"Oooooooh, you all again? Nice of you to drop by; but this is a strictly private party, and I don't remember sending you invitations" Freed joked. He then looked towards Sonic, seeing he had gotten freed, but it didn't appear to bother him (or he just didn't show it). "And you! You were the Guest of Honor. What? Were our accommodations not fancy enough for you?" He continued to troll, pretending to be offended.

"Listen, Father," Sonic said. "As much as we'd love to stay for the closing song, these guys got school tomorrow, so we'd appreciate it if you let us see Asia before Mass is over." He continued, gesturing to the Devils around him with his thumbs.

"Oh, Asia? She's in the Powder Room downstairs with Raynare. Their having girl talk. You understand, right?" Freed joked back. This made Sonic and Issei scowl, knowing full well what that implied. But there was still a chance they could save her, they just had to get past Freed first. "Unfortunately for you, she assigned me to be the Bouncer, and I make it a point to not encounter the same demons twice. Yet here you are, just rubbing in my face. And in the house of God no less! How rude! So let's say we finish this, once and for all!" Freed declared, pulling out his sword and gun. He then put his gun near his mouth. "Just the thought of skinning maggots alive makes my mouth water..." He finished before licking his gun upwards, slowly and sickly, and in a clearly sexual way.

If this wasn't a serious situation, Sonic would roll his eyes for the God-knows-how-many-times-already.

Koneko was the first to retaliate, having picked up a bench and threw it at Freed with little effort. He however, nullified her attack with a single swipe of his heavenly blade of light. As he recovered, Kiba rushed at him, but be it luck or skill, they ended up sword-locked with a clanging sound. "Sonic! Issei! Get down there!" Kiba ordered them as he held Freed.

"But, Kiba..." Issei tried to say, but the Knight cut him off.

"There's no time! If the Fallen Angels complete that ritual, Asia's done for!" He said, then looked back at the pervert for his next command: "We'll hold him off! JUST GO!" With that, he broke away from the crazy Father as he was about to fire a gun blast in his face.

Sonic and Issei weren't sure what to do at that moment, at least at first. But upon looking at each other, the Hedgehog nodded first, then Issei soon after. With the two Devils buying them some time, Sonic and Issei headed down the passageway into the basement, on the way to rescue Asia from Raynare's clutches. As they went downstairs, Koneko and Kiba continued to fight Freed. Koneko using long range attacks by throwing objects, and Kiba rushing in up-close. This repeated several times and despite being a normal human, Freed was quite fleet-footed.

CLANG!

"Your not bad… for a maggot Devil." Freed complimented Kiba as their swords locked.

"Can say the same to you" Kiba complimented back, then they backed off each other before Kiba tried confusing the Priest with his speed again. Making it harder for him still, Koneko then threw a confession booth. Freed evaded that object as opposed to slicing it in two.

XXX

Meanwhile…

"Your friend already answered this. We have our own reasons." Rias said to Mittelt, not giving her enemies the satisfaction of a straight answer. Currently, they were all still in the forest that surrounded the church.

"Well, rescue or not, we can't let you go either." Said Mittelt.

"Regardless of your reasons, your intent is to stall our ritual. And that's something we simply cannot allow." Said Dohnaseek. However, before he or his fellow Fallen could make another move…

"Akeno?" Was all Rias had to say for her Queen to take action. With a wave of her arms, combined with a large amount of Demonic Power, the immediate area was then surrounded by multiple small glyphs of the Gremory magic circle.

"A trap field… that was your plan all along!" Said Kalawarner, although it was too late to do anything about it. With those glyphs active, anything that wasn't a Gremory Devil would get blasted by magic if they got too close. And with so many floating around at one time, while their blasts CAN be blocked mind you, it would be hard to deal with ALL of them, making it just as effective as the Fallen Angels purple void.

"Yup." Akeno confirmed in a sweet voice.

"Unfortunately, there will be no Fallen Angels coming to your rescue either," Rias slyly said with an equally sly grin, having turned the tables. "As long as this barrier is active, there will be no Fallen getting in… or out." She finished. While Rias might not be rescuing her family members; that didn't mean she was leaving them defenseless. Thanks to Issei's quick thinking and recent transformation into one of them, it provided her a loophole she could use to assist in Asia's rescue. While he was involved as a Devil, she could provide aid, and all she had to do on her end was punish him (or white-lie about it) should the higher-ups happen to find out.

While at first the Fallen did look concerned, Mittelt then gained an evil grin. "What if they're not Fallen?"

Both Rias and Akeno raised an eyebrow at that. If their reinforcements weren't Fallen Angels?… Well, technically yes, that was a good point. This magic was cast to prevent the Fallen from leaving or entering the area. This magic could effect other Devils as well, and also Angels; but there was no way in the seven circles of Hell that either of those factions would assist the Fallen. The Fallen did have humans on their side in the form of Priests but even if they did show up... what would a bunch of humans do against 2 Gremory Devils?

Around the same time as the King/Queen duo were asked that weird question, Freed was still fighting the Knight/Rook duo when he locked swords with Kiba again. The Knight's sword became black, and then this somehow caused Freed's holy one to start flickering like a lightbulb almost out of juice. With barely a blade left, the Stray Father was forced to back off. Kiba and Koneko took battle stances side-by-side, intent on finishing the not-so-Holy man off.

Despite being in the face of defeat, he smiled and giggled. "Well, shit. How's about we take this up a notch?… Come on out, boys!" The moment he said that, Kiba and Koneko put their guards up, ready for anything… except what just began to happen. Several orbs of white light began to pop up, and they increased in size before a flash revealed something odd… a LOT of somethings…

Drones… or what appeared to be drones… spawned out-of-nowhere from those lights. This also happened Rias and Akeno too, and both sets of Devils could only stare in surprise. These drones looked like a mans head that had a creepy smile, and all came in a few colors: green, blue, ultra-violet and yellow. They also had varying appearances as well:

The green ones had a underbelly barrel gun, almost like a cannon.

The blue ones had a gun too in the same location, but had a different shape, appearing more like a machine gun.

The ultra-violet drones didn't appear to have ANY weapons at all, which was strange.

Finally the yellow ones, which were bulkier than the rest, had feet unlike the others, and had large jet-packs as opposed to the others' smaller ones. These also did not have a "face" like the others either, only having single-lensed goggles instead, yet still had the creepy smile. Shifting to the robots' POV, they're screens showed their proper surroundings (church with Kiba and Koneko, and forest for Rias and Akeno). With beeping sounds from inside, a cursor "searched" around before landing on a Devil. Upon identifying them, a pop-up window showed up with a better close-up of the Devils detected, follow by in large letters towards the bottom of the screen saying: TARGET IDENTIFIED.

(AN: For an example of the above scene; think of in Alvin Earthworms Super Mario Bros Z Remaster, how Metallix/Metal Sonic identified Yoshi, Sonic and Shadow during The New Threat; or a mix of Omega's and Gamma's "vision" from Sonic Heroes and Sonic Adventure respectively. They can "see" in color, if a bit of a darker contrast.)

The drones weapons, which weren't in a battle ready position before, rearranged that as they were now focused on a target(s). The Devils still couldn't help staring in shock, having no idea how to react to this. Where did those robots come from anyway? And what was up with their strange designs?

POV - Kiba and Koneko:

"Hehehehe… FIRRRRRRRRRRRRRE!" Freed said, pointing at his enemies upon commanding the robots to attack, but AFTER his maniacal laugh. Upon the order given, the green drones cannons' appeared to charge up with light before firing a bullet of energy at the Devils.

TSEW! (multiple at a single time)

Koneko and Kiba avoided the shots easy enough with jumps in opposite directions, though gaping holes were left in the floor… Shifting to the drones POV again, the blue ones' cursor locked onto Kiba and began firing their machine guns.

RATTA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA!

Kiba, having no choice again, evaded the bullets with ease… but something unexpected happened. Back to the drones POV, Kiba was shown running incredibly fast on their screens, but the cursor moved to the left (the direction he was going) and locked on him again just as quickly!

RATTA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA!

The guns under the drones simply moved to follow Kiba's path, the trail of bullets just shy behind him, shocking him even more. They were literally at his feet. Any closer, he'd have several holes in his legs! How were these robots STILL on him?! He was going so fast by human and even supernatural tech standards. He could outrun a jet plane on foot if he wanted too, yet these drones didn't appear to lose sight of him at all… almost as if their sensors and targeting systems were MADE for someone of his speed. How was that even possible?

Koneko wasn't doing too well either, as she didn't have the same speed Kiba possessed. Thankfully no bullets grazed her, but she was forced to get behind some cover or make cover with random objects such as more benches. As all this was going on, Freed was laughing and dancing around crazily, getting sick pleasure from just watching the Devils struggle.

Kiba leaped off the ground, disappearing from the robots' sight, and kicked off the wall he landed on. By the time the robots caught sight of him again, he was up in their face…

SLICE!

And it was too late. After slashing clean through 3 blue ones which were in a line together, they blew up in a burst of metal and shrapnel a second after he landed. He didn't have a moment to breathe however, as the yellow ones then began to attack, but in a VERY different manner. Instead of bullets or an energy blast, 2 of them appeared side-by-side and fired lasers from their arms in a straight trajectory downward, then lifted their arms slowly upward, the lasers traveling with it!

Kiba jumped to avoid the attack, and went to slice these robots in half as well; but the moment he got too close, they darted to the sides in opposing directions to evade his attack. Kiba landed and turned back around to face them again. It looked liked these robots had faster reaction time than the others' did, and appeared to learn as they engaged in combat. They repeated the same type of attack again, forcing Kiba to jump away a second time.

At one point, Koneko was surrounded by blue and green drones. Thinking quickly, she punched the ground so hard it made dust rise up. The robots fired their weapons at her, and when the dust cleared… she was gone! The same POV switch happened, with the robots scanning the area… then ones screen fizzled into static. Atop one of them was Koneko, using the dust as a smokescreen so she could circle around. She leaped from one bot to another, either using her feet or fists (whichever came first) to damage them from the top. When she got to an ultra-violet one…

SNIKT!

Large spikes came out of its body! Thankfully, Koneko wasn't on top of it just yet, only in the middle of a jump. Also thanks to her small feet, she was able to kick off it to avoid getting stabbed, but made sure to put extra power in her kick once she used it to leap off. This sent the robot towards the ground, making it crash and explode in a similar manner to the ones Kiba destroyed. If it wasn't for her quick thinking, Koneko might have gotten seriously hurt.

POV - Rias and Akeno:

Just like with Freed, Mittelt chuckled a few times before giving the official order: "Let's party!" Unlike at the church, the blue drones were the first to attack this time, followed by the green ones soon after.

RATTA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA-TATA!

TSEW! (multiple at a single time)

Akeno immediately put up a defensive barrier with both hands, deflecting the shots of the drones easily enough. However, some of the ultra-violet ones readied their spikes and rammed into the shield. They blew up of course, but it weakened Akeno's concentration of balancing out the power of her magic, making her struggle a tad. Some of the yellow drones circled around to each side flank of the demon Waifus before preparing to fire their lasers. Rias merely glanced at them before glyphs of her Destruction magic appeared in front of them. Before they could react, those same circles released a burst of power aimed at them, causing all of them to be destroyed. There wasn't even metal left behind due to Rias' raw power.

Eventually, either the remaining drones ran out of ammo or overheated their guns, allowing Akeno a chance to strike. Sparks danced along her fingers, and with a flick of her wrist, electricity zapped and jumped to each drone; causing them to vibrate with too much electricity and short-circuit… and of course, explode. The duo smiled (Akeno) and smirked confidently (Rias) at the trio of Fallen, as if asking/taunting them: "that all you got?"

ZOOM! HISSSSS…

Another robot, bigger and bulkier than the drones and just a bit taller than the Devils themselves, suddenly flew overhead before preforming a controlled decent, and hovered above the ground. Unlike the drones, THIS robot was more humanoid in shape; having arms, legs, a head, knees, shoulders, etc (it had no feet to stand on per say, just boosters below where they would be). It had a VERY uncanny appearance to the American superhero: Iron Man, only its body was mainly yellow, but it did have some red parts. It also had a shield on its left arm.

In its POV, just like the drones, it locked into the duo Devils with "TARGET IDENTIFIED". It then lifted up its right arm, which was actually barrel-like… wait… why was it glowing pink like that?

Hmmmmmmm… TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!

With a sound and laser fire also uncanny to the aforementioned Marvel hero's "repulsors", the android launched a large and thick beam of pink energy at the girls. Akeno quickly put up another defensive barrier in the same matter as earlier, but much to her surprise, she had underestimated the strength of the robots blast and her shield immediately began cracking under the immense pressure. It also pushed her back an inch before regaining her footing and pumping more Demonic Power into the shield to prevent it from completely shattering… or else they'd be vaporized Waifus.

ZOOM! HISSSSS…

A second sound was heard behind them, but Akeno was too busy to deal with it as she was already preoccupied with one of her own. Rias turned to the sounds point of origin and to her shock, a completely identical robot had showed up. However, this one looked more of an Iron Man clone, as it had more red than yellow, basically inverted colors from the first one.

Hmmmmmmm… TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!

Copying the actions of the previous model, this Iron Man-like robot attacked the Devils with its own pink laser, forcing Rias to cover their rear flank and put up a barrier of her own, only now she was experiencing the power of these things herself and her shield had almost cracked in the same way if she didn't stand her ground.

"AHHHH-HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Mittelt laughed, holding her tummy and kicking her feet as she did so. The Fallen had taken a seat in some tree branches to get a better view. "Look at the mighty Devils, cowering behind their flashy shields from a bunch of tin men. And your supposed to be creatures of the night?" The tiniest Fallen continued to taunt, adding more laughter and kicking to the end of her sentence.

The yellow android finally ceased its fire, and Akeno took the opportunity to drop her shield so she could attack it with lightning.

Akeno: HAH!

ZAP!

All the robot had to was hold up its left arm, and SOMEHOW Akeno's attack fizzled out. The Thunder Priestess was as shocked as her favorite elemental magic. The robot wasn't even damaged at all! That didn't make any sense though! Electricity plus machines usually equals explosion, or at the very least some degree of discharge would cause the bot to malfunction in some capacity. The red one also stopped attacking, and Rias retaliated with a crimson fireball, but it had the same end result. Rias was baffled beyond belief. This robot also blocked Destruction… LITERAL Destruction magic… her families pride and joy, with a mere shield! Of course, she didn't pump much power into that last fireball, but to still have it blocked like it was a tiny flame on a lighter was astounding! What kind of freak robot was this?!

Hmmmmmmm… TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW! (2x)

In-sync this time, both robots attacked again, putting the King and Queen once again on the defensive. This… might be harder than they thought…

POV - Kiba and Koneko:

SLASH!

BUZZZZT-BOOM!

Kiba just finished the last drone on his end, but the moment he did, more lights that summoned these bots before appeared above him. All of a sudden out-of-nowhere; he was surrounded by 6 orange, oval/egg-shaped robots that landed around him; armed with large swords and shields as if they were knights. They too also had the same creepy "face" some of the drones had, but were humanoid in appearance; having arms, legs, fingers, etc. They charged forward the moment they landed at the same time, but all Kiba had to do was jump over them with a backflip.

While Kiba was taking on his newest challenge, Koneko kicked the last drone she had to deal with into a wall, in which it exploded. She was about to take a well-deserved breather and then probably help out Kiba...

THUD!

From behind her, a shadow loomed over her as a form landed (probably from another one of those lights), and she slowly turned to see what it was. The first thing she saw were large feet, then slowly looked up... it was a MASSIVE robot, similar in model to those orange ones Kiba was going to town with, but THREE times LARGER! This new robot possessed thick purple armor with black "pants" on its bottom, had red bolts on its belly and larger cup-shaped shoulders with red spikes. While its thighs were quite thin, its upper arms and hands were thick and large enough to grab Koneko an encase her in one. It also had these light-green, piercing eyes staring down at her from within a helmet, honestly sending a chill up her spine.

If all that wasn't bad enough, it was also carrying a freakishly large hammer, which looked too heavy for even her Rook strength to carry. Upon POV switching to the new robot, it showed the same screen that allowed the others to "see"; and upon "TARGET IDENTIFIED" popping up, the robot raised up that hammer…

BOOOOOM!

Koneko had to jump back to avoid getting crushed, the impact of the hammer causing strong vibrations (which in turn stunned both Kiba and the knight-like robots for a second before they regained balance and went back to fighting). For a large adversary, the purple robot also pounded that hammer down pretty fast.

BOOOOOM!

It repeated the same action a second time, trying to hit Koneko, but she was too quick. She decided to attack herself, so she rushed towards the new robot and jumped to punch its belly.

POW!

…

…

…

The youngest Devil's body vibrated a few seconds after hitting her new target, and fell back to the floor on her feet, also shaking her hand to try and shake off the pain it now felt. This was kinda embarrassing. More importantly though, why didn't her punch work? She could easily crumble steel like tissue paper, so why not this hunk of junk? Whether or not the robot felt that blow wasn't clear, but it raised its hammer again. Koneko had barely anytime to react as she looked up as the hammer's shadow loomed over her…

BOOOOOM!

…

…

…

Slowly but surely, the hammer began to lift up, but not by the robots will. Koneko was underneath, holding up the hammer for dear life away from herself. Because she was fighting against the robots own power, the hammer itself was shaking along with her own tiny body, the kid only barely able to keep it at bay. This was strange to her. She had no problem pushing off the spears from that Stray, yet had trouble lifting up a hammer from a walking bucket of bolts, and also couldn't punch through it either. How thick was this things armor anyhow? And how could it almost press her down like a nail?

Back to Kiba, he managed to attack one of the orange bots from behind, cutting it in half and the one across from it before they both exploded. He a circled back to get another one when...

CLACK!

Kiba's assault was blocked by a shield. Getting a better look at it, it was no ordinary shield either. It had spikes on the front of it, which Kiba had never seen before, and it was made of a tough metal that for some reason he couldn't cut through. This orange droid moved its other arm that had its sword, so Kiba had no choice but to back off as the robot jousted it forward. The remaining 3 charged at Kiba again, only this time Kiba was forced to use more of his powers. He stabbed his sword into the ground, because if he couldn't cut through those shields...

SNIKT! (4x) BUZZZZT-BOOM! (4x)

He'll cut under them. Using the technique: Sword Birth, he summoned multiple bundles of swords under each bot, which lead to its destruction. He removed his sword from the floor, taking a well-deserved breather.

Just as Kiba was performing Sword Birth, the struggling Koneko was forced to use a quick burst of strength to push the hammer up and away, but only for enough time to jump back again as it smashed into the ground a third time. Koneko desperately tried thinking of a way to destroy this thing. Direct attacks were useless, and this thing packed quite a punch itself. Plus if SHE couldn't even make a dent in its armor with brute force, then there's no way Kiba could no matter what sword he forged.

As she was thinking upon this, the robot pulled it hammer back… sideways? What the…?

WHIRL! WHIRL! WHIRL! WHIRL! WHIRL! WHIRL! WHIRL!

It started spinning its top half like a deadly toy top, spinning around and around while its hammer whooshed around with it! Koneko barely avoided that strike, as it had an increased range and radius than its first attack pattern. With the robot spinning for Satan knows how long, Koneko looked up to… huh?

It appeared after those few seconds of twirling around, the robots own weight and momentum combined with its thin legs caused it to now stand on one, its arms also flailing around in circles… almost like it was losing its balance. Taking this chance, Koneko ran up to the massive robot, jumped up to his head, and kicked off it as she landed safely behind it. With a loud metallic thud, the hammer-wielding robot fell backward and landed on its back. As Koneko stood back up from a kneeling position...

Plop.

Her vision was suddenly darkened, and her head felt heavier. The hell…?

Feeling around, she felt her head was encased by something. Lifting it and bringing it in front her field of vision, it was shown to be a helmet… the same one the robot was wearing. Holding it in her hands, she eyed it with confusion before turning her head to look back at the downed robot. That's when she saw it… a glowing green light on the very top of the robots head. In fact, THAT'S where this helmet was. She walked closer it. So it was covering that? But why? She looked back and forth with her eyes between the glowing orb and the helmet in her hands twice…

…

…

She tossed the helmet aside, making a clanging sound wherever it landed, then kicked the orb with one if her feet. It cracked under the force of her kick, and she wasn't even trying that time mind you. The next moment after that, the giant robot flailed a few times, like its nerves were still reacting like when a lizards tail is cut off, and stopped moving altogether… Then, its head started slowly cracking, the streaks traveling all the way down and all over its body. Not knowing what to expect, Koneko jumped back. Good thing she did when she did, because the robot exploded in a flash of light, forcing Koneko to use her arms to cover her eyes from that, AND the bits of scrap that erupted from it.

When she looked back, the robot was gone, hammer and all. Like Kiba, she took a few breaths to try and calm her heightened senses.

Freed, who was dancing around before, was now angry. "Stupid hunks of cheesy hardware, can't you do anything right?!" He yelled while stomping with one foot, throwing a tantrum, then ruffled his hair in annoyance. "ARRRRRRGH! ENOUGH OF THIS BULLSHIT!" He drew his gun, aiming at the tired Devils and was ready to pull the trigger…

*Beep, beep, beep, beep! Beep, beep, beep beep!*

A sound came from Freed's ear. Going up close via the camera, we see he has some kind of earpiece in his ear. He froze, stopping what he was doing, and put his free hand over it while growling. "What do you want?" He asked, aggravatedly.

"Don't give me that attitude, you religious freak," said a voice on the other side of it. "What's taking you so long? Raynare said you'll only need an hour!"

"We've had a few uninvited guests to take care off, she should be…" Freed tried explaining, but was cut of by the earpiece.

"That's no excuse! You DO remember what's going to happen in less than 5 minutes, don't you? Or do I have to explain it to you?" Asked the voice in a condescending matter, as if insulting Freed's intelligence. Freed got more annoyed at this.

"Yeah, yeah; I hear ya, doctor." He said, using the word: 'doctor' as an insult.

"Then tell them the party's over, and get out of that area right now before…" The voice warned, but Freed then took out the earpiece, threw it on the floor, and stomped on it, effectively cutting it off.

"You talk too much, old man… just like my mother," Freed said. He then put his gun away, but appeared to pull something out of his coat. "Enjoy the rest of the party, maggots," Freed said, lifting his arm up above himself. "Hope its a real blast! HA!"

FLASH!

Both Kiba and Koneko had to look away from the sudden blinding light. When they finally looked back… Freed was gone. The only thing left behind were the damaged objects and varying sizes of metal scraps. Finally, Kiba and Koneko could recover their strength with a short break, at least until Sonic and Issei return to the surface. Still… what were those robots they fought? They were highly advanced; especially the latter ones. Even by human and supernatural standards, they were NOT normal, nor run-of-the-mill weapons either. Why did the Fallen have them? Where did they come from?

More importantly… WHO created them?

POV - Rias and Akeno:

TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW! TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!

Back with the King and Queen, they were still forced to stay on the defensive. Especially since another duo of robots of the same origin showed up, so now they both had a red and yellow bot each to deal with, and were being attacked by laser fire from all sides! If they kept this up, the demon girls were gonna run out of power not only for combat, but also for the barrier keeping them and the Fallen boxed in.

"AHHHH-HAHAHAHAHAHA! This is the best party ever!" Mittelt had another laugh attack, the same kind as before and also repeating the same actions she did previously before sitting up and wiping an eye. "All I need now is some popcorn and a cherry soda!"

"Guess that round scientist wasn't as useless as he looked," Dohnaseek agreed with her.

"I had my doubts when Raynare found him, but his machines are quite effective" said Kalawarner, also agreeing with her comrades. Thanks to these robots and with how much they made the Devils struggle, the trio didn't even feel the need to get involved. At the rate they were going, those Devils would either tire out, or get vaporized by those laser cannons. Whichever came first.

Seeing as the current attack plan wasn't working, once the duo of androids targeting Rias stopped firing their lasers, she got her wings out and took flight. Again, POV switched to one of those androids, its vision following Rias. As the cursor remained locked on the redhead, when she began flying, 2 more cursors spawned targeting her wings. Upon that, the robots then shifted physically, their bodies folding in on themselves and transformed into a different shape. Their laser cannons were now in the center of their bodies; and its feet, shoulders, legs and arms compressed themselves as a pair of blades that slid out from their shoulders like a pair of wings; giving it an airplane-like appearance. With speed faster than when they first flew overhead, they flew upward and were in front of Rias again in mere seconds.

This made Rias' eyes widen in shock. They could transform?! What WERE these things?! Real-life sentient robots from a distant planet?!

Hmmmmmmm… TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!

Rias flapped her wings hard to get up and out of the way of the yellow ones laser, barely evading the shot. Before she could even TRY to counterattack, the red one positioned itself so its line of fire would hit Rias, then launched its own laser attack. Again, Rias had to evade by flapping to the side. This was getting nowhere! It's like no matter what she or Akeno did, they couldn't make a dent in these robots. Mittelt was still laughing at this, calling Rias a "scaredy-bat" multiple times in a child-like mocking fashion when the Crimson Devil flew away, then continued laughing afterward.

Down below, Akeno gritted her teeth as she continued to hold her ground, despite her strength sapping away the more she fought keeping both her shield and the trap field up. If she and Rias don't come up with something quick, they were gonna lose in more ways than one.

TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!

Another shot was blasted at Rias. She blocked it thankfully, but the shield shattered after the attack was done which did cause her to recoil slightly, not having poured allot of power into that protective circle anyway as a way of conserving her energy.

She then threw a Crimson fireball, adding more power to it this time, but the robots mobility seemed to also have an increase while in its current form, and merely flew to the side out of the way as the deadly Destruction spell whizzed past it. Rias was getting exhausted. She couldn't keep this up for much longer. Flying around like a lunatic while also defending from each assault wasn't helping, it was draining her. She created a glyph to stand on to give her wings a rest and as she put them away…

And the two robots, seeing this on their screens, screeched to a hault as they flew at her. Rias couldn't help but cock an eyebrow at this, wondering why that happened… only for them to change back to their more humanoid forms?… What the…?

TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!

Having no choice, Rias HAD to take flight again… and the robots swapped forms again before chasing her down. Now Rias was VERY confused. Why did these things keep changing form randomly like that? Every time she flew away, they…

Wait a second… 'Hold on… While I was on the ground with Akeno, they didn't bother entering that state at all. Not even once. Do these things only transform when I…?' Rias thought, pondering about these robots and their strange programming… She was thinking of something very stupid, something that could cost her her life, but if she was right…

She flew up as high as she could go with the barrier still in place, not looking back at the deadly duo chasing and still firing lasers at her.

TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW! TSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!

Rias instinctively evaded those lasers, with determination on her face as she continued to climb higher and higher til she reached the edge of the barrier…

…

…

…

She recalled her wings, entering a free-fall state, falling backward then upside down due to having no flight control. As this happened, the robots saw this on their screens and transformed back to humanoid-form. Rias couldn't believe it, she was right! It seemed the ONLY time those robots took on that airplane-mode for some reason, it required HER wings to be out before some kind of internal command ordered them to enter that state. As she was still falling, they lifted up their cannon-arms to fire, only for Rias to quickly release her wings once more before using them to quickly dive past them. They paused in the middle of their attack, releasing beeps of confusion, but turned their heads to see Rias again and upon their trackers locking into her and seeing her wings, they once again took airplane-mode to fly after her.

Rias then pulled back her wings to slow herself down, then quickly summoned some Demonic Power in one of her hands and turned around just as quickly with that same hand outstretched. The robots sensors picked this up…

FLOOSH!

But it was too late. Rias fired her Power of Destruction at the robots… they didn't even explode… they were just gone. It was just as she thought. While these robots can somehow block magic (that knowledge still shocked her), they COULDN'T do so in flight-form. While they had better mobility in that form, the shield they possessed was ONLY accessible in their humanoid-form, taking away their ONLY form of defense. Either their creator was a total moron, or he/she hadn't considered that fatal design flaw.

The three Fallen looked up in shock, wondering how Rias pulled that off, but she then talked to Akeno below her. "Akeno! Your wings! Get out your wings!" Rias called down to the poor Queen, who was STILL defending herself from laser fire from her own pair of androids.

Akeno looked confused… did she hear that right? Why would she waste time taking out her wings right now? "What? Why?" She called back up her King, but kept her eyes focused on the two attacking robots. Rias' statement made no sense to her. What would her wings accomplish anyway?

"Just do it! That's an order!" Rias said as she landed behind her Queen, her tone of voice begging Akeno to listen to her despite being the one in charge. Akeno still didn't understand what the point of it was, but had Rias ever steered her wrong? While she had her own doubts, but like a good subordinate, she followed Rias' command and released her wings as she was still shielding herself… now it was her turn to cock an eyebrow, because the literal second her own wings were fully released, those robots immediately stopped attacking and began to transform, the same way Rias' own pair did before she destroyed them. If Akeno wasn't confused before, she was now very lost. What the heck…?

"Now! Hit them now!" Rias ordered again. Of course, she would have just done it herself, but was trying to save whatever power she had left, which wasn't much. Akeno would have questioned Rias again, but noticed once the robots transformed, their arms disappeared back into their bodies, ALONG with the shield. Just as the robots were charging up their cannons again, Akeno attacked with her lightning magic in the same fashion as earlier one more time.

ZAP!

Sparks of electricity danced around and chained between both androids before…

BUZZZZT-BOOM! (2x)

They exploded, Akeno's attack successfully affecting them this time. Akeno was in shock again. So THAT was their weakness, eh? She didn't know how Rias managed to figure that out, but was grateful that she did.

"Oh, come on! That was just bullshit!" Mittelt complained while pointing at the Devils upon the robots destruction, as she enjoyed what they were able to do to the Gremorys. The other two Fallen also had similar looks, but were more annoyed at the fact the robots failed than anything else.

"If you want something done right…" said Dohnaseek as he took out a light spear. The other two followed his lead and with a triple-synchronized throw, their light spears combined and headed straight for the two Devils. In response, Akeno summoned a shield and while she did block the deadly combo, the shield shattered and she fell on her rump due to blowback, moaning as that occurred. She could normally block such an attack with ease due to he Queen traits, but the unexpected arrival of those combat androids drained her significantly. Pretty soon, she was also gonna be forced to drop the trap field next. Rias also called out her name and rushed to Akeno's side in worry…

ZOOM!

Both Devils froze… you've GOT to be kidding…

HISSSSS…

The King and Queen slowly looked up. Dealing with four was bad enough… now there were EIGHT! They were completely surrounded by even more combat androids, 4 of each color pallet!

"You thought that was all? We've got plenty. We can go ALL night thanks to his technology. It makes anything any faction came up with before look like 3rd grade science fair projects." Said Mittelt, bragging about the combat androids. This was bad for the Devil girls. Figuring out how to beat them the first time was hard enough, they were running low on juice to continue fighting… NOW they had twice the amount to deal with!

"You were a fool letting your precious game Pieces go in alone. They've probably already been subdued by the rest of his combat androids back inside." Kalawarner said. Hearing that got both Devils concerned. There were even more? More inside the church?

"Your loser squad must feel like you abandoned them," said Mittelt, then seemed to remember something. "Oh. Especially that one kid… what was name again? Me-ssei? Tree-ssei?" She added with a finger to her chin in a mocking fashion. Rias looked up at the Fallen with content. "Oh-ho, right! Issei! He's a member of your dream team too, right? Isn't that a conflict of interest? Being Raynare's Ex-Boyfriend?" The tiniest Fallen then giggled.

Now… Rias stared at them with a frown.

"Oh yeah! We heard ALL the incredible details of their little love quest, how he actually thought he had a chance!" Mittelt taunted some more. Rias continued to stare at them with the same expression.

"Heh. Stop it, Mittelt. That's just cruel" Dohnaseek sneered, joining in on Mittelt's joke.

"Well, its not like she's lying. Then after he tried playing hero, her and that Hedgehog had a little fling right in front of him! How embarrassing! Getting cucked by a stuffed animal!" Kalawarner added in, further insulting both Sonic and Issei.

Rias' frown still did not change, even with the addition of Sonic to the conversation. In fact, it appeared to deepen after the fact.

"Oh, yeah! She wouldn't stop talking about how that rat kept pounding her the whole time! That she actually had more fun with an alien than a person of her own planet!" Mittelt went on, continuing to mock Sonic and Issei. Once again, Rias' mood did not shift. It just got darker. The 8 robots that surrounded her and Akeno also raised their arm-cannons as this point, charging them up like before.

"The fact that both of them thought they had a chance is nothing short of a joke!" Dohnaseek finished as he, Kalawarner and Mittelt all threw their spears in sync; and they fused together in the same manner as before. At the same time, all 8 androids fired their cannons. They're target was Rias… as the attacks drew closer.

She just stood still… her eyes obscured by her hair.

…

…

…

FLASH!

A magic circle spawned below her feet as her body glowed with an intense aura of red, this sudden surge of power also making her clothes and hair react and blow upwards as if a sudden wind was being generated. Not only that, but when the lasers and light spears hit her, they fizzled out... rendered completely useless. The Fallen were shocked at this.

"No way..." said Mittelt.

"She deflected it?... ALL of it?!" Kalawarner asked aloud, just as stunned as her Fallen allies. In addition to that; the robots' POVs' also showed Rias in her current state, cursors and scanners trying to figure out what was going on. Their internal beeping increased, bar graphs scanning Rias showed a MASSIVE spike, and a new word appeared flashing on their screens in big bright-red letters along with alarm sounds: DANGER!

Because of that, the androids couldn't help but back off a bit as well. They didn't flee however, just seemed as surprised as the Fallen were, though in a computer-like way.

"... I've heard enough..." Rias said in a low tone, yet furious one. "No one talks about my servants that way..." Her flaring energy continued to rise, along with her apparent anger.

"~Uh-oooooh… Now you pissed her oooooff~" Akeno said in a singsong voice. "Though you gotta admit, she's pretty hot when she's angry, don't you agree?"

The Fallen nor the robots (even if they could) didn't even GET to answer that rhetorical question as the surge of power grew bigger and bigger, as well as brighter and brighter. The last thing robot and Fallen saw, was a bright blinding flash of crimson-red light.

POV - Sonic and Issei:

While the others bought them some time, Sonic and Issei ran down the stairs to the dark basement, hopefully to where Raynare and Asia were. Once they got down to the bottom...

"So nice of you to join us..." Came Raynare's voice, stopping the boys in their tracks. From where they were, she was on a large pedestal in the back of the room that required stairs to get to the top of. She was on the top of it, a large black cross behind her... the imagery was just horrifying. From atop, her back was facing them, but then turned around after sensing they were here. As she DID turn around to face them...

Asia... on that cross... chained to it. Her entire body was wrapped up by those chains: arms, legs and even her neck. She wasn't in her nun gown either, just a plain white one. She looked awful. Neither boy knew how to respond, the words caught in their throats from the scene.

"ASIA!" Called Issei, something finally managed to come out of his mouth.

"WE'RE HERE FOR YA, ASI!" Sonic joined in.

Asia shifted a little, reacting to the call of her name. "... s... sonic?... issei?" Was her only response, her tone extremely low and sounding incredibly weak.

"This is very touching and all, but sorry to say... the parties over." Raynare said, and the moment she did, the black cross Asia was on began glowing green. And the poor girl began screaming in pain. That's not all... SHE was also glowing in the same color! What was that crazy bitch doing to her?! Neither boy knew, but they didn't intend to find out.

"NO!" Sonic called out, he and Issei running again, but the moment they started...

"Stay back!" Some masked men, probably more Stray Priests, appeared out of nowhere and drew light swords. The same kind Freed had. One of them warned both boys not to get too close.

Sonic: (angrily) OUTTA MY WAY!

WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!

Issei had to look away and shield himself with his arms from the sudden gust of wind that spawned out of nowhere. After it subsided, the men standing in their way were on both sides of the basement walls, either groaning and/or unconscious from whatever Sonic just did. It was too fast to tell if it was another one of his tornadoes, or if he just blew through them or Home-Attacked them all at once. With how quickly he went, Issei couldn't tell.

As Sonic rushed up the stairs and atop the platform...

BONK!

He ran into something, sending him down the stairs partially, but he was still pretty close to the top. Looking up, he saw there was a red net-like forcefield of some kind standing in the way of him and rescuing Asia. "That's all? You had no problem breaking my walls before" Raynare joked as Asia continued to scream, the Fallen showing no concern for the nun at all. Of all times to make an adult joke... Sonic ignored it, and just continued to strike the barrier dead center.

ZWHEE-BUZZZZZZZ!

He tired again, rushing back to it after bouncing off and into a different spot.

ZWHEE-BUZZZZZZZ!

Again.

ZWHEE-BUZZZZZZZ!

Again.

ZWHEE-BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

He kept trying, Spin Dashing into the protective field over and over again, even as Asia continued crying and the glow from her intensified. He was NOT gonna stop until he rammed through Raynare's barrier... THEN Raynare herself!

Issei watched as Sonic struck the shield constantly, but it looked like no matter how fast he hit it, it wouldn't budge. Was Raynare blocking him again? No, this barrier was red and it wasn't a glyph, so it wasn't magic. Least he thought so. He knew as much as Sonic did when it came to this stuff. He had to get up there and help him! Maybe if he Boosted his power and they attacked at the same time…

He noticed something as he got to the base of the stairs out of the corner of his eye. Nearby was a small opening showing some light. He went over to take a look, and saw some kind of dark red device hidden over there. It looked like a pump, that also had a screen with a blinking face on it. There wasn't much detail to this face worth noting, other than having a REALLY long mustache.

Thanks to Issei's new Devil Vision, he was able to see some cords that couldn't be seen so well in this darkness. They lead up to the same platform Raynare was on, which had 2 arcs of some kind on each side, that were glowing the same color as the shield Sonic was trying to crack (he was now ramming the shield even quicker than before, making multiple balls of himself appear as he kept hitting the same spot and bounced off on an incline before zooming back to the shield, this repeating several times). They were so preoccupied by the sight of Asia, they must have missed this.

Looking between the attacking Hedgehog and the device, putting two-and-two together, Issei smashed the object's top off with his own strength, not needing to Boost at all. As he did, a few sparks left the device from the top before they dissipated, signaling there was no more power being generated. At the same time, Sonic bounced off the shield one final time as it vanished from the power supply being shut down. He got back to the top…

The screaming abruptly stopped.

…

…

Sonic just stared in absolute shock at what he was seeing. "Sonic! Did you get Asia-…?" Issei too, as he made his way up, could only stare in horror.

The innocent, bright-green look in Asia's eyes… were now dull and lifeless. Her body now slumped over and unmoving. Something was floating in front of her body… rings surrounded by a green orb of light… the exact same color of light as her healing power…

Raynare held her hands out towards this light. "Yes… its mine! The Sacred Gear is finally mine!" She said, then she appeared to fuse with this light as the floating rings entered her body. As this process began, a green aura surrounded the Fallen one as the power from Asia was transferred to her, then a bright flash of green erupted from Raynare herself. The light was so bright, the boys had to shield their eyes. When the light finally died down, they looked to see Raynare still enveloped by the green aura, only it appeared to be part of her now.

"With this Twilight Healing, absolute power is entirely mine! And anyone who screws me over is gonna pay the ultimate price!" Raynare boasted as the aura was still around her, maybe adjusting to its new owner perhaps? Because it finally began disappearing soon after… or maybe she willed it to happen? It was hard to tell.

The Hedgehog and newly-reincarnated Devil also took note of what she said… Sacred Gear… Twilight Healing… so that's what she was after! Asia's gift of healing was a Scared Gear… she had one the whole time! Just like Issei! That's also when something Kiba said earlier replayed and echoed in their brains:

"If the Fallen Angels complete that ritual, Asia's done for!"

… Was this what he meant?… With the way the poor nun looked now, slumped over like that; did that mean because she no longer had her Gear… she was dead?

"Sorry you two missed all the fun, but you can still grab a goody bag…" Raynare said to them, and with a snap of her fingers, the chains that bound Asia to that cross snapped and loosened. As she fell due to those chains not supporting her weight and gravity took over, Issei was the one to catch Asia as Sonic joined him. Issei held the poor girl close to him… her body felt cold… but she was breathing! Her shoulders were moving up and down (albeit slightly)… She was alive!

"Asia…?" Issei called to her in a gentle tone.

"Come on, Healing Maiden, hang in there." Sonic said, having to kneel down himself. Just like before, the nun stirred to the sounds of their voices and looked up, though she did so agonizingly slowly as if it was a huge effort on her part.

"… issei… sonic… y… you came…" Was all she could get out, but the boys where happy Asia was still with them.

"Course we came. Where else would we be?" Said Issei.

"We made a promise, remember?" Sonic added.

Asia slowly nodded. "… p… promise…" She tried moving her arms. She was able make a fist, however shaky it was; but was barely able to hold out a pinky, signifying she DID in fact remember. Sonic of course, finished the rest of it for her, grabbing her pinky with his own.

"We're gonna get you outta here, alright?" Sonic said.

"Just stay with us, ok?" Issei added. Asia looked happy despite how frail and weak she appeared, and nodded; also giving a soft 'ok' to confirm she understood.

Raynare walked around the reunited trio and spoke as she made her way behind them. "Go ahead. You can both have her… all of her…" She said, making another inappropriately-timed adult joke. "I already got everything I needed." The Fallen continued, showing no regret or remorse for what she had just done. Neither Pervert nor Hedgehog knew what it was like having a Sacred Gear pulled from your chest but based on Asia's prior screaming, it must've REALLY hurt. Hurt on a level they couldn't possibly comprehend.

"Crazy bitch…" Issei growled at Raynare.

"Put that Gear back where you found it!" Sonic ordered the Fallen as he stood back up, holding back his peaking temper.

"Yeaaaaaah, that's not gonna happen," Raynare said with hands on her hips and while looking up at the ceiling. She then turned her body to look at them again. "You know how long it took of planning just to snag that little thing? I even had to fool my own commanding officers just to get this shit prepared." She then formed a spear of light, but didn't use it yet. "THEN… a talking, blue hyena shows up out of nowhere, and put everything behind even further. The fact I got this done and NOT get caught after a week of delays is nothing short of a miracle."

Sonic was gonna retort, but Issei spoke before he had a chance. "Too think I actually had feelings for you…"

"Oh please, as if I didn't realize you were a virgin even before spying on you." Raynare said. "Seriously. Wet wipes like you would jump off a bridge if you'd think you'll get your pole greased."

"… I honestly thought you were serious about us…" Issei continued.

Raynare then giggled, using voice mimicry to swap to 'Yumas' voice. "Heheh! Exactly! Thats the point, ya silly goose! I needed to make you believe your were some kind of superhero! It made my job so much easier!" With Raynare mocking Issei again, Sonic also reacted accordingly, with anger on his already angered face. Of course, this made HIM Raynare's new target. "Then I had such a wonderful time with your lapdog, pounding me so hard right in front of you! Seeing that torture written all over your face made the pain of spending time with you at all worth it!"

"Then what was the damn point?!" Sonic roared at her, also swearing at someone which he didn't do often. "If it was all some trick from the start of your date, why even bother letting it go that far?!" Sonic demanded her. With the way Raynare was acting, it reminded him so much of a certain female fox he once knew, and even dated.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Raynare laughing, finding Sonic's outburst hilarious. "Don't you get it? That was the point! He planned out everything for our date like a big boy so it would all go perfect," she said, adding heavy sarcasm to the word: perfect. "Honestly, that date wasn't half bad either… in fact, I was so bored; I was just dying to kill him." Raynare continued. "Of course; then YOOOOOOU decided to go skinny dipping, in a public park I might add, and sweeped my boyfriend off his feet just before we ended off the night with a passionate goodbye kiss! How. Rude!" Raynare said, taunting the boys some more.

She then struck her light spear into the ground, going on to talk some more, mainly cause she enjoyed fucking with these boys. "Let's put it into prospective for a second. I was generous enough to date both of you, but you ended up cheating on me with a thirsty nun slut," Raynare then swapped voices again, making a pouty-face to mock them further. "Ugh! That's so mean, Sonic-kun! Why would you and Issei-kun do that to little ol' me?" She then forced a blush. "I thought we had something special! Your both making me so jealous, I bet you guys took her on an amazing date, didn't you?" Again, she mocked them by feigning offense, though now she couldn't contain the smile forming on her lips with how much fun she was having.

Her voice changed again…

"Honestly. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun!" Sonic and Issei froze, both getting angrier. Of all things she could make fun of them with… she chose Asia's voice. "I can't. No. You've both been so nice to me, and I don't want to cause you anymore trouble." She kept egging them on, using words Asia had used before, along with copying any facial expressions she had at the time. "Thank you, guys... I'm so happy..." Finally, Raynare went back to her normal voice, which didn't help at all. "Heheh. Then again, how do either of you expect to get laid if you put your victims to sleep? HAA-HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Both boys were upset, angry, annoyed; all sorts of different emotions were swirling around in their bodies. They could deal with Raynare making lite of them, but when it came to the helpless girl in Issei's arms… Sonic's fist began clenching. This Fallen An… Fallen Ang… he couldn't even CALL her an Angel! That would be too kind! 'I've fought plenty of baddies in my life… and even a few demons once or twice…' Sonic thought as Raynare continued her laughter. 'But this girl… she's a monster…'

"KNOCK IT OFF, RAYNARE!" Issei yelled at her, despite him now starting to tear up over Asia's body.

Raynare seemed to take pleasure in Sonic's and Issei's current state. She was smiling and had crazy-glowing eyes to match the fangs that appeared in her smile. "Ooooh, nothing gets me hotter than a man taking control, right Sonic? Where was THIS hunk when were dating, huh Issei?!" Raynare once again found another way to jab at the men's pride. She then grabbed her light spear from earlier and held up above her. "I WOULD'VE GIVEN YOU SOME BEFORE I KILLED YOU!"

With a maniacal laugh/battlecry, Raynare attacked…

CLACK!

Only for a certain swordsman to block her out of nowhere. Both Sonic and Issei were surprised at this sudden appearance. "Kiba?" Asked Issei.

"GO! Now's your chance! Get out of here!" Was all Kiba said as he held back Raynare's deadly spear with his sword.

"Well, shit. Freed wasn't kidding, you got a boyfriend too? Gotta say, Issei; your a man with diverse taste!" Raynare taunted. She broke free of the locked weapons before jumping back and taking. Then she appeared to see something and few away with a powerful flap.

CRASH!

The bottom of the red device Issei saw before was thrown at Raynare, but hit the wall and broke into pieces due to missing its target. He and Sonic noticed Koneko also showed up, most likely the thrower in question. "Go on. Go." She said, joining Kiba. Sonic and Issei didn't know what to say or think. So many emotions and feelings were now like a tornado inside them, both boys no sure how to respond. Silently thanking the Knight and Rook, they left them to deal with Raynare as they headed down the stairs and then up the other set that lead to the surface.

Maybe it was for the best. Seeing as Asia was alive still, maybe she can be healed; just like how Issei was, right? They didn't know how much time they had left, so they climbed those stairs as quickly as their feet would allow. As they made their way up, Issei couldn't help but feel bad. Even upon giving up his humanity, he STILL had to rely on outside help and inconvenience those around him. 'This will never happen again, I promise… I'm gonna get stronger… so I can fight for myself!' He thought as Sonic and him finally reached the top.

XXX

POV - Normal:

"Wow. The forest is molting." Said the cheerful Queen, having gotten a broom (probably via magic) and was sweeping the forest floor of leftover feathers. Rias took a breath, having used so much of her power… THIS wasn't part of the plan… and MAYBE she overdid it, but hearing those Fallen talk poorly about those boys' just set her off. To her credit, at least she didn't extinguish all life from the surrounding area.

Back to the main issue though… those robots… It was starting to bug Rias. Where could the Fallen have gotten ahold of such technology? Devils and Angels were the most advanced of any faction, but even THEY couldn't create anything CLOSE to what those things were capable of. Before she obliterated those three from existence, they kept mentioning "him" as the person responsible. There was one person that Rias knew of that could be the culprit, but he wasn't "round" as the Fallen Angels claimed. Furthermore, they claimed to have "found him"… what was that supposed to mean?

This was all making Rias' head spin. She'll have to worry about that later. Right now, they needed to focus on the primary objective, which was getting Asia out of there safe and sound. She summoned a small circle on one of her hands, then put it to her ear.

XXX

SLASH!

"Argh!" Kiba got one strike in on Raynare's arm, said Fallen Angel grunting in pain as some blood was drawn, but it took allot of effort on Kiba's part before that happened. He and Koneko still hadn't fully recovered from earlier, having rushed down here in case things went south. Those robots really took a toll on their strength. In fact, that was the first successful hit either of them got on the Fallen.

"Your not looking so hot, are you? Were our toys upstairs too much for you?" Asked Raynare, catching Koneko and Kiba off guard. She knew about that? "Impressive, weren't they? He really knows how to tinker with machines, doesn't he?" She continued, now confusing the 2 ORC members. He?… Who was she talking about? "Poor thing… lost after that crash, but he's quite a useful tool. Gotta admit, the doc's not exactly my type…" Raynare went on, then forced a blush while glancing away and tapping her chin with a forced shy expression. "But despite his weight, if he was a few years younger, he could tinker with me anytime…" It wasn't clear if she being serious or not, or a mixture of both.

That's when a small glyph appeared on each Devils' ear. "Kiba. Koneko." It was Rias' voice!

"President?" Kiba questioned.

"Is everything alright in there? We had a bit if a…" Rias looked over Akeno, still sweeping the feathers. "… issue on our end."

"They were too late." Koneko simply stated, ducking from a light spear. "The ritual was completed."

Rias' eyes narrowed at that. They were too slow, eh? Still, the fight wasn't over just yet. They still had some time. "Pull back. Meet us back up here."

Both Devils in the basement glanced at each other. A retreat? But why? Regardless, they disappeared in their own magic circles just as Raynare was readying another attack, leaving her confused. However, it made no difference. She already got what she wanted, though she did glance towards the exit…

XXX

Sonic and Issei made it up to the main hall in one piece with Asia in tow. With no enemies around, the former human gently placed her on a bench that was untouched. There were tiny bits of metal on the floor unlike the last time they were up here, but that wasn't important to the boys right now. It must've been from something during Kiba and Koneko's fight with Freed, nothing worth noting.

"Asia?" Issei asked, fearing the worst.

"Come on, Asi. Wake up!" Sonic said, feeling the same as Issei. The girl was now looking deadly pale. Thankfully though, Asia stirred once again to her name being called. Issei grabbed her hand once she opened her eyes.

"That's it! Just stay strong! We'll get Rias to heal you or something, but you gotta stay with us!" Issei practically begged the weak nun lying on the bench.

Asia went to open her mouth, but no sound came out at first. After finding her strength, she began to speak, but at an even weaker volume than before. "… i know… it wasn't very long, but… to make friends like you…" she trailed off, either losing her train of thought or just needed to gather more strength to speak again, but it caused both boys to panic and speak up.

"Don't talk like that, Twilight! We'll get through this, you hear me?" Sonic assured the nun, although he was getting as emotional as Issei was.

"Yeah! As soon as this is all over, we'll go out again. Wherever the heck ya what!" Issei said, tearing starting to come down his face. "Shopping, karaoke, bowling... there's so much we can do together!"

"Hey. 'Member when we went for a ride around the city?" Sonic asked, mentioning the time he and Asia ran around for reasons. As the memory came back, he was also getting watery eyes, which were very noticeable with how large they were. "We can do that again... to a park, the beach... even a temple in the middle of nowhere! It'll be allot fun, you'll see!"

Asia's eyes, which were still not exactly as bright as they normally were, took on a sparkle. These boys did everything in their power and beyond to not only come to her rescue, but were now crying for her, showing just how much they really cared about her, as well as how honest they were. Even though she barely felt anything anymore, she did feel a swell in her heart at Sonic and Issei's reactions. "... i really wish I met you both sooner... grown up in this country... gone to school with you..."

"We can... you can... we got plenty of time," Issei said, while he and Sonic were still shedding tears. "I even got these two friends that'll love to met you... sure they'll come across as total pervs, but you'll love'em too!" Issei then thought of something else to add to that. "HELL! Sonic can too! We'll dress him up as a student, he can race us back and forth to class! We'll say he has a rare hair disorder, no-one'll even know the difference!"

"Yeah! I'm up for that," Sonic said, despite his own feelings of being cooped up for long periods. But if this would give Asia the push she needed to ignore the light and say with them, he'll deal with it. "Ya know what? We've even go back to more arcades'... and win ya more Pikachus'! As many as you want! It'll be a sonic blast!"

Asia's hand that was currently being held by Issei's, moved out of his grasp, surprising the boys. The tears on Issei's face dripped on her skin as she touched his cheek, her hands cold to the touch. "... your crying... for me..." Asia began to say, she too was tearing up and smiling. "I couldn't have asked... for anyone better..."

...

...

...

Her hand then fell. Her eyes had shut. While there were tears in her eyes, she had a smile on her face... but she was no longer breathing. Her spirit had left her.

...

...

...

The brains of Sonic and Issei stopped working for a second... no... she couldn't have died... they were just seeing things! She'll respond after regaining her strength again, she was tough girl beneath all that outer innocence. She dealt with discrimination from her own religion, just because she wanted to help people, REGARDLESS of their status!... She still did not move. Issei and Sonic remained motionless. Now this wasn't the first time Sonic had seen a dead body, nor the first time he'd seen someone or something die, the image of Asia lifeless reminding him of a certain genie... but to have her go like that... after everything she's been through...

"Why... why did she have to die... she didn't deserve any of this…" Issei asked no one in particular. "She just wanted to help people... doesn't that mean you had a use for her?" He appeared to be directing his question to God now, though he probably wasn't going to answer. "Is it because I'm a Devil now? Is that it?!" Issei just got even more emotional the more he spoke. Sonic just remained silent, as upset as Issei was. All he could do was look away with closed eyes. What was he supposed to say? That it was gonna be ok?... HE didn't even know anymore!

"IF DEVILS AND ANGELS EXIST, THEN I KNOW YOUR FUCKING LISTENING! GIVE HER BACK!... GIVE HER BACK, GOD-DAMMNIT!" Issei continued to cry. "YOU WANT ME TO SAY I'M SORRY?! FINE! I'M SORRY, OKAY! JUST GIVE HER BAAAAACK!"

"What an insidious sense of humor." Both Sonic and Issei's eyes snapped open to the sound of that voice. No way... "A demon repenting in church?... Never a dull moment with you guys around, huh?"

Raynare... sitting on a bench across from them while resting her elbow on it with an amused expression… as if this was entertainment for her. Admittedly, she could have just left, but couldn't resist screwing with these two some more. Can you blame her? An entire week past since her plan began, wanting to finish it so much sooner, but these two got in her way too many times. She might as well enjoy their reactions and save the image in her brain.

"What the hell do you want!" Issei snapped at the Fallen Angel who dared show her face. They were NOT in the mood to deal with her right now!

Raynare showed them one of her arms, the same one Kiba managed to strike, still fresh with blood. "Look at this. Your boyfriend cut me open on the way up here." Upon saying that, 2 rings appears appeared on her fingers… Asia's Gear. She then completely healed the wound and it was gone in mere seconds. "Now I can heal any injury instantly. A perfect ability for us that no longer have divine protection," she then clasped her hands together in a swoon-like fashion once the Gear did its job and disappeared. "Great Azazel and Shemhazai, I'm ready to do your great work…"

Sonic and Issei became angry at Raynare's statement. So THAT'S what this was about? She didn't have a certain attribute anymore, so she stole it from someone who did?! "Then why Asia?" Asked Sonic in a low tone, getting Raynare's attention. Around this time, Issei had also set Asia's lifeless body down.

"She was no threat to you… she could've healed you on her own free will…" Issei added, also in a low tone. Both boys were trying to remain calm, despite the mixed emotions they were feeling.

"Look, its nothing personal, this is just the fate of any Sacred Gear holder. The power would have corrupted her anyway" Raynare said, nonchalantly.

"That's bullshit! She never cared about power!" Issei said.

"All she wanted to do was make friends and have a happy life, but you just lied and manipulated her!" Sonic added.

"On the contrary, I did exactly as I promised." Raynare said.

Both boys stopped for a second. "W-What?" Issei asked.

Raynare's response was to hold up her hand, and summoned the Twilight Healing again. "When I said I'd take away the source of her pain, I meant it," She began, which got the boys to think about Asia's backstory, and realized it… Her Gear… "Think about it. The moment this Gear awakened after saving that puppy, she was treated as something not even human, merely just a tool. Even if she herself wasn't corrupted, those around her were, and just used her for that power. And the moment she went off on her own; she was mocked, ridiculed and discriminated against as if she wasn't worth they're time so as far as I'm concerned; I did her a favor."

The boys rage intensified upon her explanation. Did her a favor?… What kind of sick, twisted reasoning was THAT?! Even if it did hold SOME truth with her technically taking away the thing that caused Asia's pain, that was still no excuse! She still caused Asia even more pain, stole her power and as a result ended up, and was fully aware of, killing her!

"That never would have happened again!" Issei said.

"We would have protected her!" Sonic said.

"Protect her?! She's already dead!" Raynare said with amusement in her voice. "This is hilarious! A girls stone-cold dead 3 feet from you, and your whining about protecting her? You do realize how psychotic you both sound, right?" Raynare then pointed at them. "The simple truth is, NEITHER of you could've protected her, because THIS was her destiny!"

The tears the boys had before evaporated, and only pure rage was left behind. Issei might be a Devil now, but this bitch was pure evil! Both he and Sonic's left fists tightened so hard, it threatened to stop circulation and in Sonic's case, pierce through his gloves. "Screw destiny…" Issei growled lowly. Slowly, the light of his own Sacred Gear began to come out, the green orb first and followed by the entire bracer itself, then a strong red aura. This actually gave Raynare some pause… there was something different about Issei's energy signature… "I JUST WANT HER BAAAAAACK!"

[BOOST!]

With power surging through him and rushing forward, Issei went to punch Raynare, but she evaded with a flap of her wings. Before saving Sonic, he had the ability to change his traits as a Pawn into one of the other Pieces except a King. He chose Rook, which is how he was able to bust Sonic out and while this form had unparalleled strength, it lacked speed. Sonic glared up at the Fallen Angel, just as emotional as Issei was.

ZWHEEEE!

He spun in place before homing in on Raynare in a flash of blue speed, the Angel unable to block or evade. Sonic rammed her into the ceiling and while normally he would have bounced off after the fact… he kept spinning, pushing her back into the ceiling even more, his quills digging into her skin and what little fabric covered her… he didn't even care of the obvious joke Raynare would probably make! He just wanted something to take out all this anger he felt on!

Raynare was a bit surprised at the sudden brashness of Sonic's attack, but flared her power to fling him off, which was an aura of green light mixed with her natural purple one. Sonic got his balance in midair and landed safely on his feet, sliding back a bit from the force of Raynare's power. She was a bit stronger than last time, which was most likely due to Asia's power combined with her own.

While she was scratched up from Sonic's last attack, all she had to do was use the stolen Twilight Healing to restore the damage. All of the wounds inflicted on her faded away, and she repaired the fabric with her own magic as well. Sonic and Issei scowled. That's right… she can use Asia's power to repair any injuries from any punch they throw.

"Don't you idiots get it? It doesn't matter what you throw at me, I can heal myself from anything!" Raynare said as she finished healing and formed a light spear in each hand, giving them a quick toss at both Devil and Hedgehog. Sonic managed to dodge…

STAB!

"FUUUUUUCK!" Issei wasn't so lucky. He did try, but it went straight through his knee! A second followed soon after, giving Issei twice as much pain, though even the first one felt worse than when he was human and he knew why from the deal he made with Rias. Now that he was a Devil, he received pain from Holy items, which included light spears. That being said, he didn't think it would hurt THIS badly. He landed on his butt, the pain too much and his legs unable to support his weight, the spears vanishing soon after.

"ISSEI!" Sonic cried out to him as the boy fell back. Great. Now Issei was injured again with two holes in his legs, only this time their residential healer nearby was out of commission and couldn't help him.

"Light is like toxic to your kind. Like a deadly poison," Raynare said as she slowly landed on a destroyed crucifix that was missing its top point near the altar. "Just mere contact burns them alive. Some even claim its the most intense pain one will ever feel. You might have gotten a bit stronger, but as a low-class Devil, I'd say your gonna join Asia pretty soon."

Sonic gaped, but just got the most angry he's ever felt in a LONG time. First she takes Asia away, now Issei was dying too?... It was becoming too much for Sonic to contain anymore, the Hedgehog's fists couldn't clench any tighter unless he wanted to break his own fingers and hands. His growling also got steadily louder as well. In fact, Raynare also saw that same weird aura around him like back at the park, but it wasn't nearly as strong this time. It was still noticeable though. The Hedgehog slowly looked up at the Fallen Demon, hatred was the only thing in his eyes. "Raynarrrrrrrrrrre..." He said. "You have a supersonic second to give Asia back her Gear or..."

"Or what?" She cut him off, not taking his threat seriously.

...

...

...

Sonic took a battle stance, and felxed his quills, and while still growling said: "Or I will!"

Sonic didn't care anymore. If she wasn't gonna give that Gear back willingly, then he'll buzzsaw it out of her! The Hedgehog surprised himself sometimes. He normally never threatened to kill anyone, nor went as far with his Spin Attacks unless it was a robot or something... but Raynare had gone WAY past crossing the line… for her, he'll make an exception. Can you blame him, though? She manipulated both his friends, harmed them without a second thought, and laughed off the consequences of what her actions caused several times; even AFTER the fact. Not even Eggman would sink that low. Boasting about a victory was one thing, but this girl went as far as to taunt them with the end of a life SHE caused.

In some ways, she was WORSE than Egg-Breath.

Sonic might not also fully understand the rules of this dimension yet, but did understand that there WAS still a chance. If Raynare could take the Gear, then maybe it could work in reverse and Sonic can take it back. Issei was also revived by Rias once before even after a fatal blow, though claimed there was a time limit so by that logic; if he could get Asia's Gear back, then maybe he could somehow restore her. The camera then flips to both Issei and Asia...

...

...

...

And he didn't have much time.

Raynare could care less about all this. What could one little alien Hedgehog do, and why would he keep fighting? He already lost everything! The nun was on her way to Death's mailbox, and his master would join her soon after thanks to her light spears. She really didn't have to be here anymore anyway, she could just go. She already got what she wanted too; she could return home with her new power, raise up the ranks, and leave this rodent to rot in the streets while she lived out the rest of her life. He and this group would be nothing more than a bad memory she'd try to erase. Soon, this entire ordeal will be nothing but a memory, and they'll be no evidence that this had EVER happened.

...

...

...

Then again... he HAD gotten in her way so many times, it'd be a great way to relieve some stress. Not to mention it would also be a good chance to take her new powers for a test drive... and she wasn't the type of girl to leave behind loose ends...

Just like at the park, Raynare summoned a light spear. "Come get it, Big Blue." With that, she whipped her spear to the side, accepting Sonic's challenge.

- Boss Battle: Fallen Angel Raynare, Phase 3 -

(AN: Optional music - Egg Cerberus/Egg Genesis Theme.)

Raynare: Its been fun!

After saying that, Raynare jumped down off the crucifix using her wings for extra height before landing on the ground gracefully, her wings controlling her descent, her light spear still drawn. In response, Sonic revved up a Spin Dash before rocketing toward her. However, she blocked his attack with a barrier just like at the park, then fling him away. Unlike last time; Sonic just continued to spin, then blasted off diagonally to the right, stopped, and then quickly dashed in a straight line to the left, ramming Raynare into a wall as they blew past Issei. She was unable to block THAT.

While that occurred, neither of them noticed a green glow from Issei's Gear…

Just like with the ceiling, she was continuously spun into, so she had to flare her power once again to push Sonic off. As Sonic slid on his feet after exiting ball form, Raynare used her wings to flap out of the dent they made in the wall, then used Asia's Twilight Healing again to heal any damage she just received. Sonic gritted his teeth in aggravation. Raynare was decently tough, but Asia's power just made this harder than it needed to be, not to mention it made him feel weird. In a small way, he felt like he was attacking Asia, which made him even more furious.

But one way or another… he wasn't letting Raynare leave this church alive.

Sonic then unleashed a Sonic Wave, but Raynare was able to avoid it by closing her wings on herself and teleporting away. The wall was damaged even more by Sonic's attack, but was somehow not destroyed thankfully. He didn't get the feeling she went too far, so he looked around his immediate area…

A little to his left… Issei.

To the right… the altar.

Further right… Asia.

Above him…

STAB!

Armed with a new light spear, Raynare attempted to jab one into Sonic's brain from above, but he got out of the way a second before she hit the ground with it. She wasn't willing to give up, and tossed the spear instead, but Sonic evaded it by running up the wall, where it exploded on contact. Raynare then blasted magic at him, even making the blast itself follow the Hedgehog which did take more energy on her part, yet this wasn't even close to catching up to him as he now ran along the ceiling. Even as the ceiling was vaporized behind him, Sonic was not playing around anymore.

Upon getting directly above Raynare, Sonic kicked off the ceiling and performing a Homing Attack on her, but made sure to kick off her EXTRA hard so she was flung into the opposing side of the building, also making another Fallen Angel indentation. Once again, she flapped her wings to force herself out, and of course then glowed with green light, the stolen healing power going off again. Sonic gritted his teeth a second time.

Raynare formed 2 spears, tossing them both at the same time. Sonic jumped from the attack, the spears embedding themselves into the floor instead of exploding, and tried another Homing Attack. Raynare countered not by using a shield, but rather spun her body so one of her wings knocked the Hedgehog away. As he was falling backward, she threw another set of spears one-by-one to try and hit him, but he twisted his body to avoid the deadly spears.

Sadly, the second one managed to graze him on the side of his round body, giving him a hot burning sensation. He grabbed the side of his body as he landed, but since he's experienced this once before, it wasn't too bad… though it was still quite painful. He had to just suck it up and ignore it because Raynare readied two more and tossed them one-by-one. Sonic evaded them easily enough. He then got underneath Raynare, jumped; and coated himself in blue aura, performing an Air Dash straight upwards. The force behind this attack sent the Fallen Angel up further into the air, but in an out-of-control fashion.

He wasn't done with her just yet because out of nowhere, he came from above and slammed into her back with a Spin Attack, using the old move Sonic Meteor. He took her with him back to the ground level, impacting them both on the floor. The after-effect of this attack also bounced him off her, which he then tried kicking her with a hard downward kick like his down air action from Smash Bros. She avoided it by rolling along the floor, barely able to escape that harsh attack. She was back on her feet then hovered in the air, but before she could begin or even ATTEMPT to activate Twilight Healing again; Sonic used another, more powerful move he hadn't used in a VERY long time.

Zipping towards her, he then ran around the Fallen before a blue current of air formed around her…

WHOOOOOOOSH!

In the blink of an eye, a small cyclone of sharp wind ensnared Raynare, blocking sight of her for a moment due to the intensity of the attack. She also groaned from it but from the volume of the wind generated, you could barely hear her scream. This was Sonic's trump card, his most powerful attack: the Sonic Wind.

Of course, with the way he used to perform it, many people thought it was a long-range attack since he'd always throw a fist forward before executing it… that wasn't 100% true. The fist bump was mainly just for dramatic effect. What ACTUALLY happened was Sonic would dash forward or back (depending on where his target was), then faster than even high-speed cameras or a video game spilt-screen could capture, he'd run around his foe a few 10's of times in less than a second. This in turn caused the razor-sharp cyclone to form and damage anything caught in or around it, and he'd rush back to his point of origin before anyone knew he left… not that anyone could see him leave…

As just mentioned, this attack damages ANYTHING around it, so Sonic avoided using this technique unless there's no other choice… Raynare however, had pissed him off, so he bent his own rule.

As the Sonic Wind subsided, a glowing green light was shown coming from it. Raynare reappeared, once again having switched on Twilight Healings power. "You don't pay attention much, do you?" Raynare spoke to him. "As long as I have Twilight Healing, there's not a single thing that'll stop me! Even your speed is completely useless!"

Sonic once again growled and gritted his teeth. This was getting repetitive. Every time he attacked her, she'd just heal herself just as quickly as he could strike! Even his most powerful attack wasn't gonna do much if she just heals immediately after the fact! 'No matter how fast or hard I hit her, she just heals right back up! Is she really invincible?…' Sonic began to think, as nothing he tried seemed to work. While its not the first time he's fought someone who can heal themselves, there was no Tetris blocks to counteract it this time, and she can do it whenever she wanted!… Was it really hopeless? Was Raynare truly unstoppable now…?

That's when Sonic saw the still Asia behind Raynare…

'… NO! She can't be! There's gotta be a better way…' He thought, refusing to give up. If he did, it would not only an insult to him, but also Asia who was nothing but kind, as well as Issei who gave up his humanity just to rescue them both. He couldn't give up yet! There just HAD to be something else he could try… some kind of weakness he could exploit… but what? Not knowing what else to do, he just had to keep attacking for now and hope she made a mistake somewhere. It was the only option available to him right now.

Sonic dashed at the Fallen again too quickly for her to react, and buzzed across her with multiple Spin Dashes from multiple directions, making it look like multiple Sonics' were attacking her at once. He had to dash away and push off the ground to rocket back and forth to perform this. As she was getting pummeled, she randomly tried blocking the incoming assaults with her arms, barriers, or wings. She managed to get lucky and one of her wings got impacted by Sonic, but the speed he went also hurt her wing. She still managed to fling him off. She began healing her injured wing with one hand and her body with the other.

As Sonic was flung off, he recovered and planted his feet on the ground…

TRIP!

Sonic: WAAAH-AAAAAH!

SPLAT!

What the hell… Sonic just tripped on something, feeling his foot getting caught in some kind of opening. As he was flat on his back now, he sat back up and looked forward with a groan…

…

A helmet?… Where did THAT come from?!

Raynare finished healing and summoned a magic circle, blasting its magic energy towards Sonic. He got up quickly and jumped backward diagonally to avoid it… the helmet somehow survived, but that wasn't important right now. Also… why didn't Raynare just attack him as he tripped? She had a perfect opening.

Sonic rushed forward after the magic stopped and performed a punch and kick combo; then Humming Top afterward, which was the multi-spinning kick version (from Sonic Advance), and kicked the Fallen away with a second one, this time the single kick version (from Sonic Rush). As Raynare regained stability with her wings, she gritted her own teeth in annoyance. "Why keep fighting? Your masters little plaything is gone, and soon will he! You've already lost!" She threw another spear, which impacted a wall when Sonic dodged and it blew up in a flash of light. He didn't feel the need nor had the desire to give her a snappy comeback. His only goal was finding a way to take her down.

As he did dodge, he felt pain in his side from the light spear graze, and held it for a moment as he slowed down to a stop, looking down at it. He couldn't help it. These spears were no joke. As he forced himself to shake it off and look up, he noticed Raynare was healing again. Perrrrrfect. After she was done, she threw another light spear, which Sonic evaded once again. Sonic then noted something: that's now the second time Raynare had the perfect opportunity to attack Sonic while he was standing still, or at least heal and attack at the same time, but chose not too. It was very strange why Raynare of all people wouldn't take the rare moment Sonic was as still as a statue to…

…

Hold on… 'When she takes out her Sacred Gear, she stops dead and heals with it…' Sonic was thinking, getting an idea. Could it be that when she uses the Twilight Healing, can she… not attack? It seemed kinda silly, but it seemed like this was either true, or Raynare simply chose not to attack.. but that was unlike her. She seemed like the type of person to want something over with as quickly as possible if she could get away with it.

There was only one way to find out…

As Raynare threw more spears, Sonic quick-stepped past each one as he went up to her. Thinking he was gonna attack, she put up a barrier, only for Sonic to pull the bait-and-switch and dash off out-of-sight. With her side unprotected, he used a simple Homing Attack on her, bouncing away immediately after performing it. In aggravation, Raynare tossed a spear and began healing after, but Sonic used Stomp to zoom towards the ground and revved up a Spin Dash once again.

ZWHEEEE!

Raynare: GACK!

The moment Sonic attacked her, the glow of the Twilight Healing stopped, and green sparks seemed to surround her causing her pain.

"THAT'S IT! The Sacred Gear is her weak point!" Sonic said as he bounced away from her again. Now it all made sense! Raynare might have a new strength, healing anything that merely touches her, but that was ALSO her weakness! She couldn't attack at the same time she was using her new power, which in turn leaves herself vulnerable to attack. Not only does this stop healing on the spot, but it also appeared to cause some kind of blowback effect, which damages her even further! So all he had to do now was cause enough damage, force her to heal, then strike at the same time! It was so simple!

She might have had the upper hand before, and got a few hits on him; but Sonic now knew what to do! He can still win this!

Growling, Raynare threw another light spear, this one darker, at Sonic. He easily evaded that one back jumping onto the wall and running across it, then jumping off once he got close to Raynare and performed another Homing Attack.

POW!

Raynare: GACK!

"What's the matter, birdbrain? Gonna lick your wounds again?" Sonic taunted, unable to contain himself.

Raynare blasted magic at him in anger, and it ALMOST got his top-most quill, but did another Stomp to quickly evade. Raynare took flight at this point, wanting to get out of range, then threw another spear, this one slightly larger, before she flew over and landed in the broken crucifix, healing once she stood on it. Sonic avoided it, but did get caught by surprise by its slightly larger blast radius, the G-force throwing him off. He got up quickly though, and Boosted to where Raynare was healing, spun up it, and locked onto her for another Homing Attack.

POW!

Raynare: GACK!

A direct hit! "Purples getting kinda old.. ya got any different colors?" Sonic joked.

Raynare growled again, starting to get ticked off. That blowback damage was really starting to take a toll on her. She could leave, but after everything this rotten raccoon put her through, she couldn't let him off the hook either. She summoned a large portion of her power to use her abnormally large spear again. After throwing it in the center of the room where Sonic was, it blew up and erupted with light. Because of its location, it didn't manage to get Issei or Asia caught in its blast radius thankfully. They'd have gotten vaporized otherwise.

Sonic had seen it coming, and was already doing parkour to get up to where Raynare was. He was also running on the windows, which Raynare happened to see and threw normal spears to break them, but the Hedgehog already gotten high enough and jumped off as those windows broke via those spears, using another Homing Attack to strike Raynare.

KLING!

In desperation, Raynare threw up a barrier, struggling to hold the still spinning Hedgehog in place. All the constant healing and taking damage was starting to affect her performance, not to mention the recoil she felt every time Sonic attacked while she was healing. Before she could throw him off, Sonic Boosted into the shield, keeping up the pressure (AN: Quick-Time Event). After a few seconds, Sonic shattered the shield by kicking and bouncing off of it, then rammed into Raynare herself.

POW!

Raynare: GACK!

She once again headed downward, but regained control as she landed. While she knew it was a risk, she also had to heal if she was gonna keep going. Before officially doing so, she put up 3 sets of barriers around her, which took a large amount of her power, but if she could heal up enough, she'll regain the strength back anyway. Once again, Sonic Boosted into the defensive barrier set upon landing, intent on taking it and the woman inside of it down.

ZWHEEEE-KLING!

(AN: Quick-Time Events.) In the same amount of time, Sonic destroyed one shield. The next one took a few more seconds, but he broke through too. Upon the final one, it did take longest of all, but he still shattered it and attacked the healing Raynare. He kept up the spin even upon contact, wanting to cause as much damage as humanly possible, which forced Raynare to flare her power again to push him back, and it was notably a bit weaker. He was doing it! Just a little more, and this damned bitch was finished!

Raynare was losing her patience again, so this time after recovering from Sonic's last attack, she summoned not one, but two glyphs. One in each hand. Using them, she combined them both to fire one massive bream. Sonic would have avoided it, but after seeing a certain object next to him, he got an even better idea. Picking it up, right as the beam was released, he tossed the object up and with a powerful Spin Attack forward, he sent it at Raynare while having to evade the blast himself.

It was the helmet… which was completely unaffected by her attack at it continued to spin and travel in the air…

PLOP!

Its opening landed perfectly on Raynare's face, allowing it to latch on and blinding Raynare for a second, forcing her to stop her attack and get the blasted thing off her face while grunting in the process. By the time she did…

ZWHEEEE-POW!

(AN: End music.)

Sonic was right in her face, having Home Attacked her one final time, and pushing her back as he bounced off her and did a few flips before he landed. Sonic then grabbed his side, the light spear burn acting up again, and he was losing allot of steam because of it. Raynare wasn't fairing too much better herself, for using so much energy left her exhausted. Both combatants took deep breaths, having both expended allot of stamina each. At this point, it was either players game.

Raynare slowly lifted her arms to use her Healing Gear again and while it did activate (which Sonic gritted his teeth at), it was a strain to do so. As the light faded, the Gear went back into her body. That was ALL the power she had left to use with it, meaning that was the last bit of healing she was gonna be able to do. While Gears themselves had unlimited usage… their wielders did not. But while she had no healing power left, she did have some reserves of her own energy available to her. Just one… just one light spear into Sonic's head… actually, never mind. That was too easy, and too nice. One spear into his OTHER head… THEN Raynare will be satisfied.

It took a few extra seconds than normal, but Raynare slowly began conjuring a spear of light once more, showing how exhausted she was herself. "I'll admit… I'm impressed you gotten this far, and managed to surpass my expectations," Raynare said, having just finished making her new spear. "It makes me wonder what other powers your fellow Mobians have wherever you come from."

Sonic reacted to that with eyes widening a bit. She knew about his species?! Fine, her going down memory lane with him was one thing, but how did she know the correct term for what he was? He only told the ORC, and that was AFTER his first official duel with her! "Oh, don't look so surprised. I know ALL about it. Just makes sense, doesn't it? Your clearly not from this world, but you had to come from somewhere didn't you?" Raynare continued. "Actually… I just had a great idea! You wanna hear it?" She then asked.

Did he want to hear it?… no. But she said it anyway even though Sonic didn't have a chance to respond. "What if I just happened to head to your world? Would your friends be up for another party as well?" She asked with her fangs out and a demonic smile, having some last minute fun screwing with Sonic's emotions. Sonic flinched upon her words, knowing exactly what Raynare meant by party. From her declaration, Sonic immediately thought of any of his friends on the same black cross, having their life stolen from Raynare the same way she stole Asia's. "In fact, why stop there? With all that power, I might as well destroy your world for all the trouble you caused! Doesn't that sound fun?!" Raynare said, but whether or not she was being serious or just fucking with Sonic's head again wasn't entirely clear.

As she and Sonic were having there conversation, Issei's Gear glowed again. He was still fully conscious and had heard the entire battle take place, but was too weak to get up. His legs were in so much pain, very unbearable pain. If his legs had mouths, they'd be howling. '… ugggggh… god dammit, why?… Why did this have to happen? Sonic's on his last legs, and have barely 2 to stand on…' Issei said to himself, then realized a certain term he just used. 'That's right… during times like these, people turn to God or whatever deity they worship… but he's not gonna help me, and never lifted a finger for Asia…' Issei thought. What was he thinking? He was a demon now, just like Rias and the others so praying to God, even though he wasn't exactly religious himself, wasn't going to work. There was only one person that would…

"Hey, Satan… your at least listening right?" Issei mumbled in a low tone. Again, none of them noticed Issei's Gear glowed… now a fourth time. "I know your probably a bit busy right now… maybe organizing some fresh new souls your fellow demons contracted up for your eventual rebirth of 'the life of the world to come' or whatever…" He said this as he leaned back, mentally preparing himself for what he was gonna do. "But just this once, I need a little bit of help…"

He then began to raise to his feet, howling legs be damned. Raynare was right, this pain was unlike anything he ever felt before, fresh blood began pouring down his legs as a result… but he kept rising slowly, even as his body trembled and he grunted with every moment he made. Honestly, he lost all sensation in his legs, and forcing them to move sent waves of agony all throughout his body… but he held on… kept going until he was going back to his full height. "I'm a demon too… so just give me the strength to pulverize this bitch!"

FLAP!

Issei's wings then came out of his back, showing he was in fact a Devil, and finally stood tall, fully back on his feet despite the agony just standing caused him. The Gear then glowed a fifth time, but this time it stayed glowing, the light catching the attention of Sonic and Raynare. Sonic felt a sense of relief. Issei was still alive, but it shocked him that his perverted friend was able to get back up on legs with two spear-sized holes in them… HELL! Sonic could see the BONE! He was thankful in any case.

The Hedgehog then noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Glancing back, saw Raynare. She was as stunned as he was about Issei but for the first time: it was genuine shock, mixed with uncertainty. It was nowhere near the same shock she had when first encountering Issei's Gear.

"Impossible… how are you still alive?" Raynare asked, her volume climbing slightly. "As a newly reborn Devil, that light should have already burned you from the inside out! You shouldn't be able to move, let alone stand!"

Upon claiming that, Issei DID in fact begin moving; but took very slow steps while his body shook from the strain, showing he was still in great amounts of pain. "Believe me … this doesn't exactly tickle…" Issei said in a low tone, still in pain but he still sounded angry. "Even now… with all this pain… I feel like I'm gonna pass out…" Issei continued, blood gushed out of his leg-holes as he took another step, but he refused to quit. He then saw an image of a happy Asia in his mind. "But its nothing compared… to what Asia went through!" Issei yelled, then something amazing happened…

His Gear glowed one more time, but it ALSO began to change shape. The bracer extended down his arm, becoming more gauntlet-like in appearance; and spikes grew out from the sides, with two larger yellow ones towards the back. Most notably, large claws formed over his fingers, and the second that happened…

[EXPLOSION!]

The Gear called out a new word, and then blinding green light erupted from around Issei. Just like with Rias' power, Sonic's quills began to tingle as the energy from Issei continued to manifest itself. While he wasn't sure how magic items worked around here yet, something about this seemed waaaay more than "double"… As for Raynare, Sonic noticed another first from her… she was shaking. Her eyes widening at what was going on with Issei. Why though? This WAS what the Gear was supposed to do, right?

"That energy is at least second level… no. THIRD level! He's close to a High-Class signature!… But there's no way, its… its just a Twice Critical…!" She not only sounded confused… she sounded scared, her voice almost cracking. Issei continued to pace forward, anger and tears still in his eyes, seemingly more fierce than before. Raynare looked extremely nervous now, not understanding what the hell was going on. So while she was originally gonna dis-head one of Sonic's heads, she instead turned on Issei in a fear-motivated attack, tossing the very spear she had active...

Fizzz...

The spear made contact with Issei only to evaporate at his power, having no effect on the Devil in question whatsoever. Issei just continued to take slow, menacing (at least to Raynare) steps, his emotions flaring from everything Raynare did to him. Sonic was as shocked as Raynare, only she flinched and gritted her teeth in distress. She then launched more spears, one after another in a frenzy, desperately trying to take down this inferior Devil before her. But no matter how fast or strong she threw them, they just kept fizzling out on mere contact with Issei. In one final act of desperation, she summoned her largest spear that required two hands, and tossed it as hard as she could.

In response, Issei just pulled his left arm up the the side...

SHATTER!

With a whack from his arm, Raynare's most powerful attack shattered like glass, dissipating into thin air. Even Sonic was a little nervous himself at the level of power Issei was showing off. Now completely terrified, Raynare screamed and turned around to try and escape, leaping into the air to fly off with her wings. Sonic found this ironic. All that tough talk, now she turning tail and running... then again, not like he blamed her. Issei looked royally pissed.

"Where are you going?!" Issei's legs seemed to react the moment Raynare's left the ground, and leaped forward to grab Raynare's arm, stopping her dead in her tracks. "Our dates not over yet!"

Raynare could only look back in terror, it being written all over her face. She tried moving her arm, but he refused to let go. With Issei's Boosted level of power, combined with the Rook traits he still had, and coupled Raynare having exhausted all of her magic against Sonic... she had no way of escape. "NO! YOU CAN'T BE DOING THIS! YOUR A LOWLY SERVANT!"

Issei: Lets end with a kiss good-NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!

POW!

Raynare: GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!

SHATTER!

Issei's fist went right into the side of her face, most likely damaging her skull. In addition to that, the force of the punch also sent Raynare flying up and out one of the not broken windows, making a very loud shattering sound as she screamed in pain from both the punch, the impact, and now crash landing outside. She was gonna feel that in the morning.

"Fly, fly away, birdbrain…" Was Issei's closing comment as the camera stayed on the now-shattered windows and the Results Screen came up.

- Results Screen -

Sonic Rank = N/A

Issei Rank = S

XXX

Issei stared up at the damage he just caused. He didn't know if Raynare was gonna recover or not, but that punch felt great all the same. Sonic did too, both remaining silent. It was finally over. "… as long as you don't kiss me like that." Sonic said.

Issei turned to his friend, and small smiles formed on their lips. "Yours'll be more gentle. I promise."

[RESET!]

The Twice Critical said another new word and all of a sudden, the energy that filled Issei left him. Guess that was it. He was spent. As he slumped to the floor, his wings also retracting, he felt someone grab him; but it wasn't Sonic… "Kiba?"

"Look at you, beating Fallen Angel like a One Punch Man." The Knight joked, supporting Issei's weight.

Sonic then heard footsteps behind him… "Aww. Class pet has another boo-boo?" It was Akeno, slowly walking towards him. When she finally approached, she kneeled down and used her healing magic to quickly heal Sonic's light spear burn.

"Ugh, thanks Lightning," Sonic groaned in relief as the pain of the light spear vanished. "Where were you guys, anyway?" He asked the ORC members, assuming if they were here the whole time, why didn't they help out? Or maybe they did behind the scenes? He'll ask later.

"We were instructed to fall back. Let you handle it." Kiba said honestly.

"Rias?" Asked Issei.

"You mean Fire Princess?" Asked Sonic.

"Yes, I did," came a new voice from from a wall, which snappily answered Sonic's question. Along this wall, was Rias leaning against it with her arms folded. "There was no doubt in my mind. I knew you'd both beat her." The redhead admitted… wait a second? Was she there the entire time?! She seemed to read this thought from the looks on Issei's and Sonic's faces. "Just got here myself. Never teleported into a church before, so I was a little nervous. But you both seemed to have things under control, turning her Gear against her like that." She continued as she then walked over to join the little group.

*Creak!*

The door then opened, showing Koneko joining them dragging a load behind her with one hand. "Hey, Simp. You dropped this." Was all she said before tossing the load forward with that same hand, her luggage groaned upon impact with the floor.

It was Raynare.

"You must be Raynare. Lovely entrance by the way." Rias 'greeted' Raynare. So this was the Fallen Angel that caused Issei so much trouble? At the sound of her name, the Fallen in question did look up, seeing shoes first, then looked up the rest of the way to see Rias looking down at her. "It really is a pleasure to meet you. I'm Rias Gremory." Rias officially introduced herself with a smirk, using a hint of sarcasm.

"Gremory? You've got to be kidding…" Raynare said, knowing exactly who this was.

"Your also Issei's Ex, right? And also had a short fling with Sonic?… Shame we don't have time to chat. I would really enjoy such a conversation." Rias continued, using the same energy from her previous statement.

Raynare liked mocking people, but didn't like it when the shoe was on the other foot. Typical bully. "You think you've won? Well, your wrong! Once the other Fallen Angels get here and bring more reinforceme-…" she sneered at the Devil.

Rias' smirk never left her face. In fact, it got a little bigger. "They won't be becoming…"

*Flutter*

She dropped 3 feathers from one of her hands, the feathers falling slowly to the ground. "I had no choice but to dispose of them. They were quite rude to me. You can tell them apart, right?" Rias continued, the darkened look on Raynare's face confirmed this.

"Rias' fuse is long, but when push comes to shove, she lives up to her name as the Princess of Annihilation." Kiba said.

"No shit, really?" Issei asked. He didn't think he'd be a member of such a hardcore group.

"Could've fooled me…" Sonic commented dryly, considering his and the Princess' current relationship status.

"Normally, I never would have gotten involved in this little bout. A political headache, if you will. Demons that end up destroying church property would be in violation of the treaty, and we would have been targets of assassination for starting a potential war," Rias begin, making Sonic and Issei gulp. Assassination? Seriously?

"But there were rumors of a nasty group of Fallen Angels who were targeting humans for unknown reasons, then they almost killed one of them until certain things got in their way. I normally couldn't do anything unless a member of my team was targeted first, so once those 3 lowlifes spilled the beans about their own plans, it gave me legal right to defend my own territory to the fullest extend of the law." Rias then happened to noticed Issei's Gear, and what it now looked like. "Oh, Issei. Your Gear."

Sonic and Issei then looked at the item in question, gathering why she mentioned it. "Oh, yeah. We don't get what happened." Issei admitted.

"It just went all freaky and lit up like a Christmas tree" Sonic added, using some silly gestures with his arms to try and gave a picture what had happened.

"Its natural. Gears are known to evolve with their wielders," Rias said. "Which… actually explains allot," she then looked back down at Raynare. "Did you see this, Raynare?… No need to feel embarrassed. You weren't defeated by a little Twice Critical after all." Rias said, which got the Fallen, and even Issei and Sonic confused, the two boys in question having question marks popping up over their heads and looked at each other. It WASN'T a Twice Critical?

"What?" Raynare had to ask, needing to know the truth.

Rias: I had my suspicions before, but this outright confirms it. Twice Criticals' are also nicknamed after the weakest part of a dragon, giving it the name: The Dragon's Hand. But the one Issei has, is something grander. Its known as the Boosted Gear, one of the 13 Longinus, the most powerful tier of Sacred Gear, and the only ones of their kind powerful enough to kill any Satan, God, Gaia or even The God Himself. You actually weren't too far off with your earlier analysis, for it DOES double Issei's power once… once; every ten seconds…

Upon that truth-bomb Rias just dropped caused Sonic and Issei to stare at the newly evolved Gear in awe. Sonic was fighting Raynare for some time, so if what Annihilation Princess said was true, Issei wasn't just doubling up once, but several times? And it happens continuously each set of ten seconds?… That made Issei's power virtually LIMITLESS! He could rival the Master Emerald and even the Chaos Emeralds combined with that kind of power, and to think it was all stored in that green gemstone that WASN'T a +4000 year old mystic item(s) from an ancient civilization. The fact that it was also one of a kind was incredible, meaning Issei was the ONLY one that can use it. Would've thought someone like Issei could command THAT much power?

As for Raynare; she was annoyed, scared, shocked, angry and upset all at the same time as she stared down at the floor. She couldn't believe it. It wasn't her superiors that made a mistake… she did! She felt cheated… it wasn't fair! It was ISSEI she needed the entire time, not Asia! 'So that's it… the power to slay any deity… in the palm of some horny, perverted child?!' She angrily thought to herself, though its not like she could do much about… that's when her eyes widened. There was one last card she can play…

"Of course, the only drawback is Issei needs to charge up for some time at his current level before he could think of reaching such a point," Rias said, while taking her eyes off Raynare for a second to look at Issei with pride. "But since you were too busy fornicating with our class pet again, it gave Issei plenty of time. If you would have killed him first, you might have gotten the win."

"Issei!"

Hearing a different voice, Rias looked back at Raynare for it was a voice she didn't recognize. Sonic and Issei however, flinched at the voice…

Raynare had completely changed into her Yuma alias. Clothes and all. She also had watery eyes. "I'm sorry! I did and said allot of nasty things, but I had no choice! I had to do it as a Fallen Angel! Please understand, not all of it was a lie!" This was the card Raynare chose to play. With the last bit of her power, she morphed into this form while they were distracted.

"Yu… Yuma…?" Asked Issei, unsure if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"I mean it, Issei! If I had a choice, I never would have done any of this!… Here! Look!" Yuma said, then lifted up one of her hands. "If I didn't care at all, would I still be wearing this?… You remember it, right? Please tell me you didn't forget!" Yuma's tears were now going down her face as she showed that on her arm.. was the armband Issei got her on their date.

"No way… you still have that stupid thing?…" Issei asked.

"Stupid...? What do you mean? How can this be stupid?..." Yuma asked as Issei walked up to her and looked down at the girl on her knees. "Your the one the who got it for me... it reminds me of you..." Her eyes took on happy tears now, also having a flush on her cheeks, and Issei continued to look down at her.

Sonic just stared blankly. If he had an Emerald… even the tiniest shard of one… he would go SO Dark, that this ENTIRE church would blow up from his rage! The NERVE of this demon! She tried to kill Issei, used him, manipulated him, abused him… pretty much made his life a living hell the moment she showed up… NOW! She had the AUDACITY, to beg him for forgiveness while taking on the form of his Ex; JUST to save her own feathered behind! Screw what he thought earlier, she was just like Fiona Fox, who toyed with Tails the same way!

The difference… Fiona was HONEST about it!

Sonic, along with Kiba and Koneko who were concerned, went to break it up; but Rias held an arm out to stop them. Sonic looked up at her in anger, about to protest, but then saw her expression: she was staring intently at the scene herself, looking stoic yet pissed in her own way, but didn't allow the others to get involved. For Rias, this was part of the deal. She told Issei if he wanted to become a Devil, he had to let go of his former life… that included Raynare and Yuma. As far as she was concerned, despite feeling sorry for Issei herself, she couldn't interfere either. Doing that would be pointless… THIS was Issei's final test.

Has he wised up? Has he really moved on… or will he be caught by the illusion once again?

"You wouldn't let them hurt me, would you?... I love you, Issei!... You love me too, right?" Even as Yuma said that with a VERY convincing tone of voice, Issei remained silent. As he continued to look down while she continued to talk, he didn't see the same innocent girl he once knew... he saw a transparent image over her… of a monster (her true, fang-mouthed form).

"There's still time! I can reverse the ritual and-..."

"Shut up." Issei cut her off quickly in a controlled tone of voice, even though tears welled in his eyes again. This of course got Yuma to stop and silently gasp. "Just shut up..." His voice then sobbed, his Gear deactivated, and he turned around, not bothering to call her by EITHER name. As he walked away, he glanced at Sonic and Rias, silently telling them he couldn't deal with it. They couldn't blame him. Both Sonic and Rias then walked in front of Yuma, her face shifting back to its normal one while her Yuma body remained as she looked up at the duo of Hedgehog and Devil in fear, feeling small under their gaze. They stared down at her with folded arms and leering eyes, not exactly giving her an applause with the last minute act she tried to pull.

She was completely empty now, she had nothing left… and her last lifeline turned her away, having completely backfired.

"Your a special kinda sore loser, aren't ya?" Sonic asked her, though he wasn't looking for a response.

"Not even an Ahswhrat would pull that stunt." Rias said. "Seeing as your the one she was so keen on destroying, what do you think we should do?" She then asked Sonic out of the blue. Admittedly, he didn't expect it, but soon caught on to what she was selling.

"Hmm..." Sonic cupped his chin. "I could tie her to a rope and give her a ride," he suggested. Which of course everyone got the context of, considering how fast he could go and if Raynare was only tied to him if he went for a joyride.

"No. Don't do that" Rias said, joining in with Sonic with a smirk.

"I could also drag her by her limbs and see how long they last."

"Sonic..."

Raynare kept looking back and forth between the debating Hedgehog and Devil, freaking out as to what her fate was going to be. This was part of the plan the two came up with on the fly, giving the Fallen One a taste of her own medicine.

"Or even shave her wings. This one guy I met in space, he loved it!"

"Oh no! Your just Evil!"

Sonic shrugged, humorously. "I've been known to play the villain on occasion." He said with a smile. "But in all fairness, its your territory" Sonic added, gesturing with open hands to Rias.

"Finally… something we agree on…" Rias said, her joking smirk then returned to its priorly pissed off demeanor. She then raised a palm, then coated it with destructive crimson flames. "Fallen Angel Raynare... in your lust and pursuit of power; you have trespassed in my territory, violated several counts of the Kuoh Treaty, targeted my client now servant, toyed with his emotions, and got an innocent life caught in the crossfire. There are no amount of Hells worthy of such sins..." Rias said. Then her expression, which was already narrowed in contempt with Raynare, got a little darker along with the energy in her hand with: "And what was that about destroying another world?…"

Before or even IF Raynare would have answered, Rias then quickly whipped her hand directly in front of Raynare's face; the flames sparking up begging to be released to consume the flesh of the victim before them, as if they were a rabid beast licking their lips. Raynare could say nothing, only tremble and stare into the crimson abyss inches from her face. "You have far overstayed your welcome. Out of my sight!"

Raynare: GAAAAAA-!

FLOOSH!

She didn't even get to finish her scream. With the sound of Rias' power going off, her Demonic Power burst from her hand, obliterating the Fallen Angel with a single blast. All that remained of her presence were stray feathers gliding in the air. In Issei's POV, he felt the wind from the eruption of Rias' power, along with the feathers fluttering around and coming into his field of vision, but forced himself to ignore it. He also felt Sonic's gloved hand reach up and console his shoulder a moment later, which Issei appreciated. While the Yuma persona was fake… the lingering emotions he had for her were not. He couldn't help but recall the time he spent with her, wondering why and how such a evil person could exist. Should he had done something different?… Was there another way?…

The answer seemed to escape him. All Issei knew was that this was his life now, and he may meet another Fallen Angel like that before he finds that answer…

A pale-green light shined thorough the church, causing the duo to look back. It was the rings of the Twilight Healing, surrounded by that same green glow, slowly descending onto Rias' hands. It looked like defeating; or in this case, totally annihilating Raynare; released the Gear, as it no longer had a vessel. As they finally settled in her hands, "Shall we return them?" She said, kindly. They all did just that, with Issei being the one to slip each ring back on Asia's fingers.

There was no response however, which made the anguish return. So much for 'reversing the ritual'…

"We did it, Asia… we got it back…" Issei said as he was kneeling by her still-lifeless body with Sonic next to him. They might have stopped Raynare, but she already took someone away. "You all put aside everything to help me… and I'm really grateful, but…" He began crying again. "I'm sorry… please forgive me…" He seemed to direct that last part to the dead girl more than anyone else in the room.

"You have nothing to apologize for. You did everything in and beyond your power to save her. I'm sure she knows that." Rias consoled Issei.

As Issei continued to cry over Asia, Sonic looked down at her as well. For the second time, he agreed with Rias. Just before she passed, Asia indirectly thanked them with a smile on her face, plus with her personality, she could never blame either one of them. He couldn't help but continue to stare down at the dead girl, this new world incredibly harsh despite its strange people and style of humor.

This will never happen again… he'll make sure of it…

As Rias watched this, she pulled something out of her pocket. A small white something… "There's still one way." Rias said, getting the boys attention and causing them to look back. They noticed what she was holding… another chess Piece. This one a Bishop. "Bishops are known as protectors and healers in our game. I don't think we'd found a more perfect match," she added, giving them a soft smile.

Both boys over Asia straightened themselves. Was she…?

"Wouldn't that be a…?" Sonic was about to ask if wasn't this technically a conflict of interest, as she was demon and Asia was a Sister… not that he was complaining of course, but Rias cut him off.

"I'll deal with it." Was her answer. While there were certain rules about interacting with the other side, they never specifically specified anything about what she was suggesting. Besides, it was up to a Devils discretion when it came to they're Familia so as far as that went, she technically wasn't breaking any rules.

"You mean…?" Issei asked with a blink.

All Rias did was give a small nod. "It means our good Sister is about to reborn again…"

XXX

Asia was now on the floor, the Bishop Piece on her chest, and on top of the same red glyph just Issei was on that fateful day…

"In the name of the Gremory Family, I call upon the recently departed soul of Asia Argento," Rias said, her hands out and her power active, her speech and mannerisms playing out the same way as what seemed like so long ago. "Return thy soul to the human realm once more, rise again from the shadows of Death!… Rejoice, my demonic servant... AWAKEN AS MY BISHOP!" Rias finished off her spell, the Evil Piece glowing atop Asia just like with Issei… only this time, it sunk into her body.

They all waited with baited breath… did it work…?

…

…

…

SHINE!

The rings of the Twilight Healing also glowed, before they too vanished. A few seconds after that, Asia's upper body twitched… and she slowly opened her eyes… those soft, innocent green eyes… "… W… What happened?" She asked as she sat up with her own strength, taking in her surroundings. The last thing she recalled was seeing Sonic and Issei cry, feeling herself get weaker by the second, then darkness… THEN a powerful voice calling her name. She then looked to her side. "Issei?" She said to the boy next to her.

Issei couldn't contain himself, and hugged Asia a mere second after making eye contact with her. She was a little shocked, as she was sure she felt herself die, but slowly returned the hug herself. "Let's not make this a habit, Issei. So from now on, as her senior, your her protector" said Rias. Before Issei or the still-shocked Asia could thank her…

"You can cut the act now, Crimson Annihilator," came Sonic's voice, who was now directly next to Rias with folded arms and his own eyes closed. The Devil in question looked down at him, along with him catching the attention of everyone else. "You didn't have to bring Asia back… heck! You didn't even have to stay here, or help Issei rescue us at all," Sonic said, confidently. "Be honest. You wanted to help out the whole time! Right from the start," Sonic then opened his eyes, looking directly into Rias'. "You just needed someone to poke a hole in your rulebook… didn't ya?"

Rias at first stared back down at him with slightly widened eyes, but recovered quickly and closed her eyes with one hand on her hip and the other just hanging down. "Don't get a bigger head. This had nothing to do with you," Rias claimed. "The only reason I went as far as I did was because Issei is a Devil now. A member of my family was in trouble, and what kind of leader would I be if I let that slide?" She continued. "Plus, those Fallens' actions threatened my territory, and Asia's power should prove useful to me." Rias then looked away despite her eyes still closed. "You just happened to be nearby."

Sonic rubbed below his nose with a finger while looking at Rias with an amused smile. "If you say so." He said with a chuckle in his voice. He didn't believe her excuse not even for a second. Even if that all was true, she still could have completely ignored his presence or just left him behind. She came here on her own free will, and assisted because of that same will, not because of some family ties BS. They might not agree on some things, but Sonic couldn't help but achieve a new level of respect for the Crimson Devil… Maybe underneath all that entitlement… maybe she wasn't so bad…

*Buzzt*

Rias and Sonic reacted to the sudden sound. What was that?

*Buzzt*

There it was again. Looking down, as that's where it came from, they both noticed a strange small item on the floor. Rias bent over to pick it up, not sure what it was. It was actually the earpiece Freed had stepped on before turning tail and running off. It must have gotten disturbed by all the impacts, explosions, and currents from Sonic's, Issei's and Raynare's final showdown; and ended up here. It buzzed a few more times, making Rias cock an eyebrow.

"*static* Freed? *static* Hello? *static* Raynare?...*static* Mittelt?... *static* ANYONE?!" The earpiece said. No one could recognize the voice due to all the static. "What is going on? *static* Where IS everyone! *static* You should have been out of there by now!" The voice continued, sounding urgent. As it did, Koneko thought she heard something else and looked off toward the wall. It was one of the walls Sonic and Raynare impacted on, and she saw a blinking light poking out from the side. Curious, the freshman Devil walked over to it. As she got next to it, the voice then continued, its urgency mixed with annoyance. "LISTEN! I don't care if your all getting frisky down there, or what your doing with that nun, but if you don't get out of there in the next ten seconds; that church is gonna blow up sky high, rocket to the Lord himself, WITH YOU IN IT!"

The very second the earpiece said that is when Koneko pulled back the brick in the way of the blinking, revealing a rectangular clock that had green numbers. It had a small black symbol of a smiling face on top, having another symbol of the same kind to the left of the numbers, but only red in color. It also had the words "EGGMAN BOMBOM" on the bottom in small text, but that could only be seen by Koneko as she was the closest one to it. This seemed to cause a chain reaction, as more bricks began falling a second later to reveal even more of the same clocks placed alongside the inside of the wall. The same thing happened to the ceiling, the same blinking lights and clocks up there revealed from the hole Sonic and Raynare made as well. The entire group looked in the directions of all this as it happened.

There was something strange about the clocks though... what kind of time was 00:10... and why was it going do...?

...

...

...

Hold on... those weren't clocks. They were...!

"BLOWS UP?!" Sonic yelled, having heard what the voice said. Those were bombs! Did those Fallen Angels set them up as a back-up plan in case things went sour? Everyone remained still in shock, but Rias then dropped the earpiece and just reacted on instinct. Flaring her power, she began opening up multiple teleportation circles underneath each of her family members, transporting them all to safety. She then kneeled down to her knees after doing that. "Rias?" Sonic asked, wondering what was wrong.

Rias didn't answer, just moaned. She felt very weak, and she knew why. First it was the battle with the robots in the trap field (and figuring out how to beat them); followed by the massive explosion she caused in said field; then taking out Raynare with one blast, using way more power than necessary to do so because of her own feelings on the matter; and finally reviving Asia from beyond the grave. That multi-teleportation she just did was the last bit of juice she had in her system... the poor Princess of Destruction was now completely exhausted, drained of all her power. Wonder if this is how Raynare felt in her last few moments...

Sonic gathered perhaps Rias was tried. Why, he didn't know. He then glanced back to the first revealed bomb...

00:06... 00:05... 00:04...

Sonic also reacted on instinct, knowing what he had to do. He picked up Rias with both hands quickly. "Wha...?" Was all she got ask before...

Sonic: Party's over!

ZOOM!

Sonic dashed off in a burst of blue speed, heading for the door that was still open thanks to Koneko.

00:03... 00:02...

Sonic made it out the door and was over 100 yards away when...

00:01...

...

...

...

00:00.

Bomb: (Trap/Egg Spring laugh) EHEHEHEHEH!

BOOM!

Despite being over a football field away by now, the force behind the blast caused Sonic to lose his balance and be pushed forward BY the blast, letting go of Rias like when he saved another princess from the explosion of an Egg Carrier. Fire erupted from where the church used to be.

BOOM! SHATTER! CRACK! CRUMBLE! KA-BOOOOM!

Walls destroyed, windows shattered, the foundation crumbled... everything at the church's location was covered in flames... and it just kept going. The explosions also seemed to be playing a game of 'who can be the brightest and tallest', for several more bursts of fire and smoke erupted and climbed on top of each other, getting higher and higher into the sky each time. This continued for a full minute, until the last explosion whooshed upward in a small mushroom shape cloud of dust and flames... until there was only silence.

The church... and everything in it... was no more...

---

And that's that. Raynare and her group have been stopped, and Asia has been saved. But with this half of the first season over, you know its time to take control... Chaos Control that is! With this half complete, the REAL story can begin! Before that though, I'm going to take a short break from this fic (I really need one. lol), but not before giving you guys an epilogue to close off on. That'll be coming very soon, and asking when is not gonna speed things up.

I'm looking forward to any comments you leave about this chapter. See ya next time!