It was almost midnight when the group arrived on the outskirts of the abandoned church. Issei's servants that had gone ahead had gathered and were waiting for their Master. As they walked up to the group the devils looked at those that were gathered there. There were some knights in armor, others in holy robes, and more in some sort of traditional foreign clothing. When they got to the group one of the servants addressed Issei.
"Master, while we were waiting the assassins that you had watching the church reported some activity." Said the shirtless dark-skinned boy with a bandana and tattoos all over his body.
Issei raised an eyebrow. "What kind of activity?"
"Seems they gathered all their forces that were in town here. It happened not long after that fallen you encountered returned apparently."
"I see… Then this is the best time to take 'em out all at once. Good going Angry Mango."
"Why do you keep calling me that? That's not my name." Said the boy exasperated.
"I know, but it's funnier that way." Issei said with a smirk.
As the two were talking back and forth, Rias interjected. "Umm, Issei-kun. Who is this?"
Issei turned to her and gestured to the boy. "This is another of my servants, Angra Mainyu, or as I like to call him, Angry Mango."
The now identified Angra Mainyu lifted a hand up to wave at them. "Yo! I'm Angra Mainyu. Nice to meet you." He greeted them casually.
The ORC was shocked. Standing before them was the manifestation of all evil in Dualistic Cosmology, and he was serving Issei! Issei was also casually teasing such a being as if it were nothing. This made Rias once again reevaluate the danger of angering the man in front of her. Who knows who else he has under his command. "Ahh… right. Anyways we should formulate a plan on how to handle this, since all their forces are here."
"Well, I already had a plan to do this without you so now it simply needs to be adjusted to account for you four now." Issei stated. The devils looked expectantly at him waiting for him to explain the plan. "My servants will deal with the stray exorcists while we go and deal with the fallen that are in there. According to my spies, there are four fallen inside, three of which I already encountered one way or another, so dealing with the ringleaders ourselves shouldn't be a problem. And on the off chance they are stronger than we expected my assassins are already all over their base in hiding, so worst case scenario they will jump in and assist us in the fight. I also don't really have strong expectations for the humans inside so the other servants will be ready and waiting to help us once they clear them out."
The ORC nodded in agreement but one of them couldn't help but make a remark on the plan. "So, basically the plan is to go in and beat the crap out of anything that isn't on our side." Koneko said in her usual monotone.
Issei smirked and put his hands up and gave a shrug. "Yeah, pretty much. While I know the importance of planning beforehand, I'm more of a in the moment kind of tactician. I work best adapting to things as they transpire rather than trying to outthink the opposition. Thankfully, I have reliable allies to help me with pre-preparation of missions."
The servants around them showed wry smiles, showing that they agreed with their Master's self assessment. After the group organized itself they began to move in on the enemy base. Issei ordered the archers and assassins that were with them to take out the security around the church before they could alert the people inside. Once that was done some of the servants took positions around the church to make sure no one escapes. The main group consisting of Issei, Mash, Asia, Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Kiba, Martha, Jeanne, Angra Mainyu, Raikou, Sieg, Medusa Lily, and Yan Qing walked up to the front door of the church. They looked between each other and nodded before Issei kicked the door in. As they entered they looked around the room. The peus were strewn about randomly and the crosses on the walls were cracked and damaged. As they walked in further a mad laughter filled the room.
"Hahahaha! Well well! What do we have here? The shitty devil lover came right to our base, and with friends too!"
"Freed." Issei said with disgust in his voice.
"I didn't think you would be stupid enough to come walking to your death but this works out fine for me. I need to pay you back for your trick the last time we met. Not only that, but I can also have fun cutting up the shitty devils too." He aimed his gun and lifted his sword handle which lit up with a light blade. "Now then, why don't we get this party started!?"
The members of the ORC readied themselves, Issei put his hand out to stop them. "Wait a minute. You shouldn't waste your energy on this small fry." He turned to Angra Mainyu. "Take care of this guy. This is your specialty after all."
Angra gave Issei a wry smirk. "You got it Boss. This is all I'm good for anyway." He said self-deprecatingly. He moved forward while wielding his bladed weapons Tawrich and Zarich.
Freed looked at him confused but sneered at him. "And who are you supposed to be? I can give you points for style, since body art is something I can appreciate but that won't stop me from cutting you to pieces."
"Who I am doesn't matter really. All I am is the villain. And tonight, my goal is to ruin everything you guys worked so hard on." He said uncaringly.
After a moment Angra crouched slightly and dashed towards Freed. Freed started firing at him but Angra dodged every shot. Once he got close he swung Tawrich at Freed who deflected it with his light sword. The two engaged in close quarters combat trading swipes and shots at each other. Freed kept getting grazed by Angra's weapons but was unable to hit him at all.
"You piece of shit! Just stay still!" He screamed.
"Now why would I do that?" Angra said sarcastically.
Angra threw Zarich at Freed causing him to drop his gun. Then moved in and slashed at him causing Freed to block with his blade. Angra slashed through the light blade, shattering it and cutting through Freed. Immediately after he kicked Freed, sending him hurtling through the altar and crashing through the window in the back of the church.
"Well, that was fun. We should do this more often Master." He said while wiping his hands in front of him.
"Yeah well, after tonight you might just get your wish." Issei said while walking past him. He moved to the knocked over altar and moved it out of the way of the trap door it was covering. He opened the trap door as the others came up behind him. Before he could enter though Mash grabbed him.
"Let me go first, Master. After all that noise we made, there is no way they aren't preparing for us. My shield should be in the front to block any surprise attacks when we reach them."
She made a sound argument so Issei let her go first. Although he should be used to her going ahead of him, all this time being independent and relying on himself had made him a bit reluctant to do so now. But he shook those thoughts from his mind as he knew this was something she felt she needed to do too.
As the group traveled down the passageway they came upon a door leading to the underground area. Mash readied her shield and opened the door. She was immediately met with various attacks from light spears to magic bullets. That only lasted a few moments though and once the dust cleared the enemy knew that their surprise attack was ineffective as well as expected.
The group moved into the room where they saw over a hundred exorcists as well as the four fallen in the back of the room. As everyone made it in, Raynare finally spoke. "I didn't think you would be foolish enough to walk right into our base, and with the nun no less. It's like you're giving me my promotion on a silver platter." She said mockingly.
Issei stood alongside Mash in the front and addressed the fallen. "That's quite the talk considering you've failed at everything you've done since coming here. I wonder where you get the confidence to fuel that overinflated ego of yours." Issei mocked back.
Raynare's face began to become uglier as she scowled. "That's it! I will make sure you regret ever existing!" She extended her arm out towards the group and gave orders to her subordinates. "Kill them all except for the nun! We need her for the ritual!"
A ritual, huh? I don't think I want to know what kind of ritual they're talking about. Issei thought to himself as he gave orders to his own servants. "All right everyone. Just like we planned!"
"Yes Master! Mash Kyrielight, deploying!"
Both sides began to move in on each other. Issei's servants went to meet the exorcists while Issei, Mash, Asia, Martha, Jeanne, and the ORC went to confront the four fallen in the back. Raynare ordered the other fallen. "Kalawarna, Dohnaseek, Mittlet, take care of those devils. Once they're out of the way, leave the boy and his lackeys to me." Three of the fallen went to meet the group while Raynare stayed back.
"Leave this to us. It's time we show you just what we're capable of." Said Rias. Issei nodded and the ORC moved in front to deal with the incoming fallen.
"It's laughable that you think you oversized bats can do anything to us." Mocked Mittlet.
"You devils will be crushed beneath our power, proving that the fallen were always better!" Bragged Dohnaseek.
"Let's just kill these skanks and be done with this already!" Said Kalawarna annoyed.
Rias stood imposingly. "You will try. Akeno, Kiba, Koneko, let's show them what happens when they trespass where they don't belong."
Rias' peerage fanned out to meet the fallen. Koneko faced Mittlet, Kiba faced Dohnaseek, and Akeno stood off against Kalawarna. Rias stood in the back, ready to help any of them if the fallen were beginning to get the upper hand. Issei started to watch them closely as this was the first time he would get to see the devils in action.
Mittlet started launching spears of light at Koneko. Koneko charged forward, her small body making her a hard target to hit, and any attack that would hit her she batted away with her fists. Mittlet tried to lift off the ground to create space but Koneko used her strength to burst forward and close the distance. Koneko threw a punch at Mittlet which she tried to block with a light spear. The spear shattered from the impact and Koneko's fist and buried itself inside Mittlet's gut, causing her to cough up blood. The attack slammed the fallen into the ground so hard it created a crater in the ground.
Despite having a body barely bigger than a grade school kid she packs a lot of power. Issei thought to himself, making a mental note not to piss Koneko off in the future. Koneko jumped back a bit to get proper footing while watching the fallen. Mittlet managed to stay conscious after the attack and was struggling to pick herself up out of the crater.
"Cough! Cough! Y-you scum! How dare you do this to me!" Mittlet snarled, blood escaping her mouth.
She tried to strike back at Koneko but was too slow as Koneko launched herself again at her and delivered a powerful kick to the side of her head, knocking her out. Koneko, seeing her handy work dusted off her hands. "So much for the trashy crow." She said in her regular monotone.
Issei saw Koneko's work and was impressed by it, although he noted some flaws in her style that he was sure his teacher would have pointed out too. He shook the thoughts from his head and started focusing on Kiba's fight against the only male fallen of the group.
Kiba was using a sword to fight the fallen who was meeting his strikes with his own spear of light. Kiba clearly wasn't as strong as Koneko was, but he was faster and his strikes were sharper. Dohnaseek was having a hard time keeping up with Kiba's strikes but finally got fed up with being pushed back and swung his spear with great force pushing Kiba back.
"You're pretty good for trash, but you won't beat me with weak attacks like that!" Yelled Dohnaseek, a wild grin on his face.
A battle maniac huh… Issei thought seeing how much the fallen was enjoying himself. He knew more than his fair share of people like that and was able to tell someone like that a mile away.
Dohnaseek charged at Kiba, swinging his spear at him. Kiba tried to block but his sword was shattered by the fallen. Dohnaseek smiled smugly thinking he was about to win when Kiba swung his other arm at the now exposed fallen. In Kiba's other hand was another sword that he seemingly pulled from nowhere, he swung it at Dohnaseek who couldn't react in time and cut through him. After he was hit Dohnaseek jumped back while clutching his chest where he was cut. He was bleeding badly and blood was escaping both his chest and mouth.
"Kuh! Where did that sword come from?!" He shouted angrily.
Kiba just gave the fallen his usual refreshing smile as he created another sword in his free hand, now dual wielding swords. "So Kiba's ability is just like Emiya's." Issei thought back to his servant Emiya who taught him how to create swords with magecraft just like him. He showed a small smile thinking of how a match between him and Kiba would go.
Kiba, now wielding twin swords, charged at the fallen. Dohnaseek tried to block but in his now weakened state he couldn't keep his grip on his spear. Kiba swung his first sword, knocking the spear out of Dohnaseek's hand, then swung the other sword, cutting down the fallen.
"Well, that was a nice workout. We should do this more often." Kiba said casually, showing his usual refreshing smile.
Stupid pretty-boy. Issei thought to himself. While he didn't bear a grudge towards Kiba, he and the other two of the perverted trio always cursed him for his ability to just attract girls just by walking in a room. It was a petty thing but that didn't stop him from thinking "All pretty boys must die!" whenever he saw Kiba.
Finally Issei looked over to Akeno, who at some point changed her outfit from her school uniform to a miko outfit when he wasn't looking and was trading magic attacks with Kalawarna in the air. Kalawarna was on the defensive as Akeno was launching bolts of lightning at her. The fallen was dodging all over the place while launching a spear of light at Akeno whenever she could. Akeno just moved gracefully out of the way like a miko dancer and continued to attack.
Akeno put a finger to her lower lip and let out an "Ufufufu" of mirth. "You're doing well dodging my attacks but if you can't fight back sooner or later you're going to tire out."
"Shut up! Don't think some devil whore like you can beat us fallen!" Kalawarna screamed.
Akeno showed a slightly sadistic smile. "I'm going to enjoy watching you squirm."
Note to self, don't piss off Akeno either. Issei slightly shivered seeing Akeno's face and showed a strained expression. Rias noticed Issei's expression and elaborated.
"As I'm sure you noticed, Akeno has a bit of a sadistic streak in her, but she is also a masochist too, though she doesn't show it all too much." Rias said.
"I-I see…" Issei said awkwardly. S&M huh… That's quite the hobby Akeno-san has. I never would have guessed from how refined she acts at school. Issei thought about what the rest of the school would think if they knew this.
While Issei was coming to grips with this new information Akeno was overwhelming Kalawarna. Eventually the fallen made a mistake and Akeno was able to take her out with a large lightning strike. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kalawarna screamed as she was fried by the lightning. She dropped to the ground barely alive next to her two fallen comrades. Akeno had a hand over her mouth while gently laughing with a blush and a satisfied look on her face.
Raynare was making a dissatisfied face at what was happening in front of her. She was preparing to deal with her target and his unidentified allies before they came here and her compatriots couldn't even handle the devils who had been here the whole time. "This is absurd! How could you filthy devils beat them!?" She yelled.
Rias just walked up to the three defeated fallen while looking at Raynare. "It wasn't that hard. Of course, that's to be expected from my peerage." She said smugly. "You should have gotten out of my territory when you had the chance, because now none of you are leaving here alive."
"Grrrrrr… Even if you defeat us there will be others who will-"
"No there won't be. After all, we made sure to check if you were acting against orders or not. So even if you manage to escape, your own faction will make sure you're punished for nearly reigniting the war." Rias said matter of factly.
Raynare had a look of horror on her face at Rias' words. While Raynare was contemplating what to do next Rias created a ball of destruction energy in her hand and looked down at the three defeated fallen. "Now then, disappear!" She launched it at the three, killing them and leaving no remains except for a few loose feathers.
Issei moved forward followed closely by Mash with Jeanne, Martha, and Asia staying back. Rias walked alongside Issei while her peerage fell back to Asia to guard her and have any wounds patched up by her. "Now then, I think it's time we ended this." Issei stated matter of factly.
Raynare grimaced. "This wasn't supposed to be this way! I was supposed to destroy the threat to the fallen and gain a Sacred Gear for Azazel-sama! I was supposed to gain his praise and love for this!" She yelled angrily.
Azazel huh? One of the leaders of the Fallen Angels. Seems like I'm going to have to be wary of him too. Issei thought to himself. "You say you did this all for love, huh? Well, I can't fault you for something like that but unfortunately, you picked a fight with someone stronger than you. You have noone to blame but yourself for your own incompetence." Issei mocked.
Raynare grit her teeth and readied her spear. "You filth! I will kill you here and now!"
Issei showed a confident smile and repeated the words a certain red head said earlier. "You will try."
"I will join you in this fight, Issei-kun. Let's take her down." Rias said.
"Engaging the enemy. Let's go Master." Said Mash.
Issei nodded and the three of them charged at Raynare. Raynare launched spears of light while gaining some altitude so that she could create distance. Mash sprinted at the fallen to close the distance while Rias took flight herself and launched balls of destruction at Raynare. Issei followed behind Mash but stayed back to take shots when there was an opening.
Raynare deflected the devil's attacks to the best of her ability while moving around to make her a harder target for both her and the girl with the shield. She created another spear in her other hand and launched both at the devil causing her to create a magic barrier to block it. As the devil's attack paused, Raynare turned her attention to the shield girl who had just launched herself at her. "Don't think the same trick will work twice!" Raynare yelled while creating two spears again. She used one to deflect the shield that was swung at her and as the girl was vulnerable tried to launch the second spear at her, but before she could a fireball intercepted it and destroyed the spear. The explosion of the two attacks colliding caused Raynare to be pushed back somewhat. She looked where the attack came from and saw Issei with a magic rune in his hand and a small flame above it, smirking provokingly.
"Having fun?" Issei said mockingly.
Raynare's face was becoming uglier as she grew angrier. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" She screamed and threw a spear at Issei with incredible speed and force. Issei was slightly caught off guard not expecting that kind of power from her. He didn't have time to move out the way or create a magic barrier so he did the only thing he could do. He swung his left arm and summoned his Boosted Gear to bat away the spear.
His arm glowed bright red and with a loud shattering sound destroyed the spear. Everyone there stared at him. The devils and Raynare had their eyes wide open and mouths agape at what they were seeing. The servants, who had finished defeating the exorcists, smiled proudly at their Master, being able to tell how much stronger he had become since he left. Asia was looking at Issei with surprise as well but had known beforehand that he had one since she was told by Issei. Issei had a smirk on his face like one of a kid who had successfully pulled off a prank.
Raynare was the first to speak. "T-that's! That's a Longinus class Sacred Gear! You had access to it the whole time!?"
Issei lifted his gauntleted arm in front of him. "That's right. Like I said, you picked a fight with someone more powerful than you. So now you will face this generation's Sekiryuutei!" He stated proudly.
Rias stared at Issei in shock. "Issei-kun, you were the Red Dragon Emperor!"
Issei gave Rias a sly smile. "Can you understand now why I was so reluctant to say what my Gear was? It was also clear that the fallen didn't know what Gear I had, which was why I didn't feel any urgency in telling you what my Gear was. But at this point there really isn't a reason to hide it anymore." He focused on Raynare and stood beside Mash. "Now then, it's time to finish this!"
Issei and Mash rushed the fallen who was now panickly trying to create distance. Raynare threw spears of light at the pair but was inaccurate because she was now afraid of the person she was fighting. While they were closing the distance Issei used his magecraft to project his own swords, which caught Kiba's attention, and launched them at the fallen. The blades went outward then curved like boomerangs aiming to hit Raynare from all sides. Raynare had to stop and spin her spears to block all the incoming blades and while she did that, Issei and Mash had jumped above her. Issei created a red spear in his hand and thrust it down alongside Mash who thrust her shield at Raynare as well.
Both weapons impaled Raynare through the stomach causing her to cough up blood. Then the three of them crashed down onto the ground, creating another crater. Issei and Mash jumped back out of the crater and looked down on Raynare. Despite having a giant hole through her stomach she was still alive, if barely. She coughed up a lot of blood but managed to get her words out. "T-this wasn't supposed t-to end this way." She stuttered out.
Issei narrowed his eyes at her. "Well, we don't always get what we want now do we?" He lifted his gauntleted hand and a small red ball of energy appeared ready to finish her, when he was stopped by Rias.
"Hold on Issei-kun. She trespassed in my territory so I should finish her." Rias stated.
After Mash and I did all the work against her, she wants to help now? Well, whatever. As long as she dies then it doesn't matter who kills her. Issei thought to himself and put his hand down. Rias walked up beside them as Raynare struggled to pick herself up. Raynare had fear written all over her face as Rias prepared a ball of destruction. "Before you do that, let me add a bit of my own to it." Issei said.
[BOOST!]
Issei's Gear sounded off, increasing his power. He then placed his hand on her shoulder.
[TRANSFER!]
The power Issei created was now being sent into Rias. Her body glowed a bright red and she felt a slight sense of euphoria as well as a power boost. The ball of destruction in her hand grew twice the size causing Raynare to try and scramble back in fear. "No! Please! Have mercy!" She screamed.
Rias managed to pull herself together and refocused on Raynare. "Now, trouble us no more. Blow away." With a loud squawk of fear Raynare was gone leaving only black feathers behind.
With that, everything was taken care of. Issei turned around and gave a thumbs up to the others. "And with that, we can call this a successful mission. Good work everyone." He said with a wide smile. His servants cheered while the ORC gave satisfied smiles. He then walked up to Asia who had a small smile on her face as well. "Now that the fallen are gone you won't have to worry about people attacking you out of the blue anymore."
Asia gave a grateful nod to Issei's words but then looked down. "I guess this means I won't be living with Issei-san anymore." She said sadly.
Issei had a confused look on his face. "Why? Are you going somewhere?"
"Eh?" Asia looked up at him surprised. "But- Well- You don't have to protect me anymore so there is no reason for me to stay at your house anymore, right?" She said nervously.
Issei gave her a kind smile. "You don't have anywhere to go so it's fine to stay with me if you want." Issei looked away, slightly embarrassed. "My parents have kinda already come to the conclusion that you were staying anyway so it won't be a problem with them if you stay." He looked back at Asia. "Of course, I'm not forcing you to stay if you want to leave." He said to her while giving a gentle look.
Asia hesitated. She wanted to stay with the people who had been so kind to her when she was in trouble, but she didn't want to be a burden. She stood there in silence for a bit, thinking it over. After a while she seemed to have come to a decision and looked directly at Issei. "I want to stay with Issei-san. I also want to stay with Mash-san, Martha-san, Jeanne-san, and Issei-san's parents. I want to be able to spend more time with everyone who has now become my first friends." She said somewhat shyly.
Everyone smiled at the nun's honest feelings and Issei went and patted her on the head. He then turned to Rias. "Now then about that favor we talked about before." She was surprised at the change in topic and raised an eyebrow.
Surprise! Asia didn't die so now how will things shake out for the group? Well, let's not get too ahead of ourselves here. I did say I was gonna keep it close to the original story so you all will just have to wait and see. As for what will become of the church. Let's just say that the meeting of the factions is going to be more interesting than the original but that's way down the line. Although I will give you a hint. Jealter will be involved so that's sure to go well. ; )