DxD - The Last Amagiri

by HolyKnightX

Kensei Amagiri, the surviving heir to the Amagiri Clan, after losing his mother now lives on an island, where he fights for survival with his new friends. Left for dead by the Old Devils and Taro, is found by two legends who'll assist him in taking his fate back into his own hands.

33. The Confrontation I

Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:

Altair95: Thanks for that. Yes, it appears as if Kensei was correct about his suspicion of Evangeline if it's really the real one. Kunou and Iris have stepped up in an attempt to rescue Claire being she is taken away from them. Thanks, and I will.

Slimreader11: If she was added onto the harem too, then it wouldn't make sense for her to still be in Rias' peerage after all that. It'd make more sense for her to go over to Kibou Town since she already knows all of them and the group they formed.

Guest: This isn't really the best place to discuss the harem of another FanFiction. But, I feel that there's a lot more synergy between Kazuki and Lint rather than her and Issei.

---

The Confrontation I

"Hmm."

Kensei found himself walking alongside Minako down the sidewalk wearing a thoughtful look, while a hum escaped from his mouth. At the moment, it has been a couple of minutes since he and Minako shared a kiss as a weird feeling was going through his head. Minako seemed to have realized he was acting a little different compared to before.

"What's wrong?"

"I got the oddest feeling that we were being followed by someone."

"Oh, what gave you that impression?"

Minako asked confused and surprised after hearing that from him.

"Well, I didn't sense anyone before that. But, after we kissed, I felt the oddest spike at around the same time…I think from two different people."

"So, who do you think that it would have been?"

"Without a doubt, it had to be Claire and Kunou. Since they were supposed to be going out with Iris, it meant that she could've seen that too," Kensei replied without hesitation as he started scratching the side of his cheek from all the embarrassment. "Alice wouldn't have been able to hide for that long and she would have come out before we kissed. Claire likely told them the time where I'm not able to feel someone's presence since that would be the only reason they could do this. Ah, I might need to explain and apologize to them again after seeing them again. Claire likely told them the one time that I wouldn't have been able to sense them near us."

"Well, that's the price of being a womanizer."

Minako replied teasingly while smirking toward Kensei.

"Knock it off with…."

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"What's that?"

Minako was confused as she heard a sudden sound coming from Kensei's pocket, which sounded almost like an alarm. In response to this, he quickly retrieved it from his pockets realizing that it must be some serious situation, then pressed the notification.

"It's a beta alert system that Zane thought of to inform us all whenever someone tried entering or leaving Kibou Town without using the special teleportation magic circle he made," Kensei replied as he opened the map on his Oracle Phone and a surprised look appeared on his face. "Huh, that's weird."

"What?"

"Claire, Iris, and Kunou are all in the same location as someone attempting to leave. But, who could be that person be," Kensei asked before hearing his ringtone from his phone and realized that it was Maria calling him. "Huh, Maria? Hello. Did you receive that…?"

[Kensei!] Maria sounded more worried instead of calm over the other end of the Oracle Phone surprising him. [After I received that notification, I received a distress signal from Iris seconds later. I didn't get a single response from Iris after I called her back. So, she must be in the middle of a battle.]

"What? Well, Claire and Kunou should be there with her," Kensei stated as he noticed that Maria appeared to be getting worried by the moment. "All three of them should be fighting against whoever is here. But, the question I want to know if why is someone here attempting to use a foreign magic circle in an attempt to leave."

[But, everyone here should already know about the magic circle that Zane created for us to use. And none of us were alerted about anyone attempting to enter.]

Maria was correct about that, but someone could bypass that alter and enter Kibou Town without them knowing if their magic knowledge was as good or greater than Zane's. If that was added to the equation, then it would be possible to bypass that alert. However, the fact that they were altered that someone was attempting to leave with another magic circle, then that wasn't the case.

"No one here would attempt to use another magic circle unless they were attempting to sneak out. But, everyone should know that it would be altered unless it was someone who…didn't know about it."

A sudden realization came to his mind since there was one person who wouldn't know about that. Minako, who's one of the people who understand Kibou Town's current defenses, realized the same thing. No one other than one person who was still new in Kibou Town wouldn't understand that one fact about the town.

"No way."

"Shit! Maria, inform as many people as you can about…."

Boom!

Kensei was interrupted as a large explosion sounded and reached their ears, causing them and all the people on the streets to jump from surprise. He slowly turned his attention toward the forest, which was the same direction where Claire, Kunou, and Minako were.

"Kyaa! What happened?!"

"Did someone start a forest fire there?!"

"Quick! Someone inform the fire department!"

Those were the initial beliefs of the people who weren't aware of the supernatural since anyone would think the same things. However, for those who knew about it, Kensei and Minako stared on surprised since both could sense it clear as day as a shock expression became painted on their faces.

"Maria, contact as many people as possible. And I'll inform Zane myself on the way there too!"

[Right!]

Maria agreed and hung up the phone as he and Minako were already headed in the direction of the explosion.

"Dammit, I let my guard down because…."

Kensei shouted to himself as he started running in the direction of the explosion as the image of Evangeline had entered his head. He was suspicious of her from the beginning, but there was a part of him that started believing that she had Claire's best intentions at heart. Kensei still had some suspicions about her, but in the past two days, she's been nothing but helpful in planning Claire's birthday. So, he let his guard down around her.

"Don't beat yourself up. I thought that Evangeline-san was trustworthy too, and I wanted to believe her too. But, it should be our priority to get there and help them."

"Yea."

Kensei replied silently, but he was quietly raging like a flame.

---

Moments after Kunou and Iris stumbled across Evangeline attempting to take Claire from Kibou Town, both girls stood in front of the Queen. There was great tension in the air as Evangeline was leaking out killing intent, which was directed toward them. It didn't take them long to realize that she wasn't messing around and would kill them if it meant leaving here with Claire. But, Kunou and Iris weren't deterred about that realization, as a matter of fact, the two of them were prepared for that.

"We're not looking to defeat her, but get Claire from here. Right, Iris-san?"

"Yes."

Kunou said to Iris who agreed with the suggestion from Kunou, then listened in as she suggested a plan that may give them chance to do just that.

"So, girls did you come up with a plan of some…?"

Before Evangeline could finish, Kunou was the first person to move as she held her hand forward unleashing Kitsunebi at her like a wave. As the blue flames sailed towards her, the older woman didn't look impressed in the slightest.

"Oh, come on. This is child's play."

Evangeline sighed impressed by Kunou's attempt.

In a single wave of her hand, Evangeline used demonic powers to produce a powerful burst of wind, which scattered the blue flames. As she was looking a little smug about blowing away her fire, the Kitsunebi around her didn't appear to vanish and instead scattered into blue flame wisps that surrounded her.

"This is a little…."

"Burst!"

Because of that signal and hand gesture, the flame wisps around Evangeline all exploded around her creating a big explosion of blue flames. Kunou didn't get hyped about that attack and remained calm about the situation just as she was constantly instructed by her mother. She was ensured that Claire, who was both still under some kind of hypnosis and remained beside the caster herself.

"Hahaha, well that was surprising."

Evangeline laughed in the flames as she seemed to have defended herself using a barrier that she created from her demonic power. Kunou wasn't shocked about her attack being stopped like that and instead focused on what she could do next. She held out her hands, creating a Kitsunebi shaped as large fireballs in her hands since their previous bout against the Demon Eater, Kunou has practiced her flames with her mother.

"Take this!"

Kunou shouted as she started releasing several blue fireballs toward Evangeline who didn't bother fighting back as the flames exploded against the barrier. Following each explosion, blue flames began gathering all around the barrier that Evangeline formed.

"Oh, this is so boring," Evangeline said as she started yawning unimpressed about Kunou's attempts. "Come on, I don't even need to fight seriously against two little girls used to being protected by someone else. At this point, I won't even need to use my Queen traits in this fight. All the foes, I fought in the past…."

Before Evangeline could finish talking, she noticed that Iris wasn't anywhere near Kunou, then started darting her eyes around in an attempt to locate her. Before she could react, Iris appeared behind the barrier that she formed, her right hand that was fully turned into that of a dragon was pulled back and covered in a silver aura.

Iris aimed her clawed hand at the barrier that Evangeline created from her demonic powers, her nails coming into contact with the border. Evangeline turned around to see various features on Iris seemed to become more and more like a dragon as time passed.

"Uh, I think that this is called…."

"Raaaah!"

Letting out a bestial roar, Iris focused dragon power on her nails, causing several cracks to appear on the barrier, breaking through it aiming the nails towards her. Evangeline managed to avoid her nails, but a small wound was opened on her cheek, causing blood to leak out from the wound. As she thought, Iris entered Outrage, which is a unique state among dragons where their power increases when enraged.

"…y-you little…bitch! How dare you scratch my face?!"

Evangeline's face seemed to contort into a more enraged and irritated one after realizing that she suffered a light wound on her cheek. She summoned demonic power in her hands, even strengthened it using the special trait of her Queen piece, and fired it at Iris. It created a large explosion that sent Iris backward, sending her into a tree, causing it to break and splinter.

"I can that her demonic power is actually at the level of a High-Class Devil, no, it's definitely far higher than that," a breath escaped from Iris' mouth as she felt the pain caused by the wounds on her body. "More than that, as a Queen, she can increase her physical offense and defense, magic power, and speed. She was holding back before since she didn't see us as a threat but became agitated about that last attack. She probably wants to use more of her strength to torment me, but that won't work. "

Despite the blood that leaked from her wounds, Iris didn't back down, moments later, a light silver aura started to cover her body. Soon enough, all the wounds started closing until she didn't even feel the residual pain anymore, then started standing to her feet.

"Oh, I see that you're a good healer," Evangeline said looking a little more demented as a sadistic smirk started to grace her face. "Well, that's going to make what I'm going to do more enjoyable for me."

"Don't get cocky."

Iris started taking a deep breath as she inflated her lungs with air causing Evangeline to wonder about what she was planning. At the same time, flames seemed to flicker from her mouth resulting in a sudden realization, which sparked inside of her mind.

"…tch, damn brat."

Evangeline released a massive ice wave created from her demonic powers, which was sent in the direction of Iris who was still making preparations for her next attack. Before the flames could reach her, Iris breathed out a wave of flames in the direction of the ice wave. Once both ice and fire collided against one another, it produced a cloud of steam that started covering the area around them.

Iris wasn't that adept at using her fire breath and felt the ice starting to overcome the flames she breathed out of her mouth. Despite that, she continued holding on as their plan was still commencing, but she was surprised as it ceased without hesitation. As Iris wondered about what Evangeline was planning, she felt an incredible impact on her abdomen caused by the demonic blast fired at her.

It wasn't the end of that as several demonic blasts were fired at Iris causing blood to leak from the serious wound formed on her stomach.

"Gaaah!"

Iris groaned as she lifted herself from the ground as she healed the wound so that it wouldn't be that severe.

"I didn't think that you'd be this much trouble dealing with."

Kick!

Iris felt a hard impact on her face as she was launched a distance from her position, which was made after since Evangeline focused on strengthening her offensive power.

"I thought that you were simply a healer. A simple support-type with a weak defense."

"…ah!"

Iris groaned from pain as Evangeline pressed her foot on her stomach, then proceeded to put more pressure on her stomach. Despite this, Iris proceeded to endure the feeling of the older woman continuously stomping on her using her feet without caring about the pain she was causing.

"But, you also have the features of a dragon. If it wasn't for that, then you would've been taken out by my blasts by now," Evangeline said as she kneeled forward in front of Iris who was still glaring at her with a defiant look. "It wasn't a part of my goal, but I wouldn't mind paying you back for scarring my face. I doubt that you could heal a point-blank blast to the face."

Shine!

Evangeline gathered a darkish green demonic power, this time more concentrated at a single point and aiming it at the middle of her forehead. Iris still didn't look afraid about the demonic blast being aimed directly at her face, but it sparked some suspicion in Evangeline.

"Wait, where's that fox girl," Evangeline asked herself turning around to see where Kunou and Claire were to see that neither of them was standing there. "Fuck! That damn fox!"

Not being focused on Iris anymore, as she instead started moving to search for the escaped Kunou and Claire. It also didn't stop Iris from attempting to heal the injuries inflicted on her but found that it was slower than before. It was a new thing for her to fight on the front lines instead of focusing on only healing and still wasn't used to doing both at the same time.

"Kunou, please get Claire far from here."

Iris managed to utter those words as she continued to heal her injuries at a slow pace hoping that her friends would be able to get away from her.

---

Meanwhile, Kunou was pulling Claire along with her since the girl was still under a trance and unable to act using her own free will. But, it did make it a little more difficult to move as fast as she could on her own. After checking to see whether or not she was followed and even trying to catch Evangeline's scene, Kunou allowed a breath to escape from her mouth.

"Huff huff huff, this should be far enough. Kunou doesn't even smell her scent," Kunou said as she started turning around to face the still comatose Claire. "Come on, Claire-san, you have to snap out of it. Kunou doesn't think it's possible to defeat whoever that person is with just her and Iris-san."

"…."

Kunou spoke in a hushed, but loud voice as she shook Claire without getting the slightest reaction from the gray-haired girl. She could see that there wasn't the slightest bit of light in Claire's eyes causing Kunou to become far worried as time passed.

"Ugh, what can Kunou do?"

[…can you hear me, Kunou.]

"Wah?! Who's talking to Kunou?"

Kunou jumped from surprise as she heard Radueriel speaking to her through Claire.

[I'll keep it short. I'm an angel housed inside of Claire because of her sacred gear. I believe that you already heard of me three years ago.]

"Oh, Kunou does recall that. Do you know what she did to Claire?"

[I don't know whether or not that person is the genuine Evangeline. But, that doesn't matter at the moment, from what I can tell she used her demonic power to completely seal and control Claire's consciousness. I can barely get a reaction from her due to the complexity of it. It appears as if this demonic power is a part of her specialty. At this stage, it appears as if Claire will do whatever anyone tells her without resistance.]

"Ugh," Kunou groaned after hearing that short explanation from Radueriel, but then an idea came to her mind. "I don't know whether or not this will work. But, Kunou knows that it'll take some time for Ken-nii or his friends to get here to help us. I don't know whether or not this will work, but…."

Chill!

Kunou was stopped as she felt a strong killing intent being directed toward their direction, then turned to see that Evangeline moving at high speed.

"Kuh, Kunou doesn't have time to make the proper preparations for this," Kunou said as she covered her hand in her youki before turning to face Claire wearing an apologetic look. "Claire-san, Kunou is sorry about this. But, this is all Kunou can think of."

Slap!

Kunou slapped Claire using her hand that was covered in youki, causing the young girl to move backward in response to the sudden slap. Despite all the times that the two of them argued over Kensei, there wasn't a single moment where either of them wanted to get physical with one another. So, doing something like this was one of the things that Kunou didn't want to do.

"What a naughty girl," Kunou turned around to see Evangeline gathering demonic power in her hands causing a worried expression to form on the young Kyuubi's face. "Slapping my dear niece like that deserves punishment!"

Evangeline fired off a large demonic blast at Kunou, which showed how much her power currently outclassed her and Iris. Reacting to this attack, Kunou released her youki and created a defensive barrier using youjutsu instead of escaping. After the demonic blast smashed against the barrier, she still felt the impact behind the blast, which caused her to move back a little.

"This is getting more and more difficult for Kunou. I know that I can't defeat her alone…she's too powerful for me to even have a chance against," Kunou was struggling trying to figure out what she could do realizing that she'll be unable to save Claire from whatever Evangeline was planning. It started turning more and more graver as she noticed the cracks that appeared on the barrier. "What can Kunou do?! We might fight and argue all the time, but Kunou doesn't want Claire-san to be taken away."

Kunou started feeling tears forming at the corners of her eyes as she realized that the thing that she didn't want to happen was moments from occurring. But, as she looked down toward the ground, something around her neck caught her attention. After noticing that Kunou resolved herself after realizing there was just one more thing that she could do in this situation.

Doooooooon!

Seconds later, the barrier was finally broken and generated an explosion that harmed and sent Kunou a distance from Claire. After seeing that Evangeline stood beside Claire wearing a smug look on her face as she glanced at the downed Kunou.

"Hahahaha! How does that feel, fox girl?! I can't believe that you thought that you stood a chance against one of the best Queens in the Underworld," Evangeline started laughing smugly as she turned over to see Claire reacting to what happened as she tried turning to face Kunou. "What's this, you're fighting the control? Well, I can't have that after all the trouble I went through to get this far. So, come along now, Claire. You're going to be reunited with your family soon enough."

Evangeline said ominously as she grabbed onto Claire's hand, then started pulling her over towards the direction of a teleportation magic circle that she started creating. As Claire was being dragged off in that direction, some of her consciousness started returning to her at that moment.

"…K…Kun…ou….san."

There the dimmest light that seemed to start returning in Claire's eyes as she turned around to face Kunou, who suffered a serious wound. There wasn't anything that she could do as her body at the moment was still under the control of the woman beside her. Evangeline finished the magic circle as she pulled Claire into the center of it, as a light covered them and vanished from Kibou Town.

---

"Alright, here is where is was originated from."

Nearly a minute later, after witnessing the explosion generated from Evangeline's previous demonic blast, Kensei and Minako arrived on the scene. Around the area, there were several broken trees and burned ground, which clearly depicted that a battle commenced. Minako noticed his change in demeanor after realizing that Evangeline was the true culprit, but it was shifting more.

"Kensei…?"

Minako could see that he was, in fact, infuriated, but was still maintaining his composure as much as possible.

"Three people fought here," Kensei replied his tone being almost difficult to discern. "Iris and Kunou were fighting against Evangeline here, but Claire seemed to be here too. Although, I can tell that Claire didn't join in the battle against Evangeline for some reason."

"Are the three of them alright?"

"I can sense two of them still here," Kensei sensed the Kunou's and Iris' ki in their general area, but he started to tighten his fist as an aura started covering him."Both of them are injured to some extent, but nothing critical. And it looks as if Maria and the others have arrived too. So, let's good meet up with them."

"…right."

Minako agreed as she started walking behind Kensei to meet up with the others.

"Iris! Come on, please respond!"

Layla called out worried as she cradled the young girl in her arms.

"…!"

Maria was standing beside them wearing a similar angered expression on her face as she witnessed one of the girls she adored as a sister injured like that. Iris appeared to have been resting after healing the serious wounds dealt with her by Evangeline. Abigail leaned down beside her placing her hand over the young girl's chest as a gold light covered her hand healing the rest of her wounds.

"Please don't be worried, Layla. Iris must've exhausted herself in fighting and healing herself," Abigail reassured her in the older sisterly manner that all of them has been accustomed to. "She'll wake up after some time and the wounds aren't that serious. I'm also telling this to you, Maria."

"…."

Maria didn't respond to Abigail, but the tone alone was enough to reassure her.

"Ah, Kensei and Minako-san."

Rui called out as she witnessed Kensei and Minako walking towards them.

Rui's expression was grim as the others could see that there was one person mission despite them knowing that she was there. Kensei looked around and could see that Zane assisted by Lena was examining the area to see where she could have gone. He turned his attention to see that Hisui was healing Kunou's injuries since Abigail's own light-based healing would be hazardous due to youkai being weak to light.

"…Kunou."

Minako found herself uttering those words aloud as she and Kensei approached the young girl.

"How's she?"

"Ah, Ken Ken, Minako-san," Hisui since she was too focused on healing Kunou almost didn't even register either of their presence. She could see that this situation has had an effect on him the most and even for her this wasn't the time for her light-hearted responses. "Kunou-chan is doing alright. Her wounds about the same as Iris, if not a little worse since Kunou-chan can't heal her injuries like Iris. It appears as if Evangeline wasn't serious against either of them. But, when we all came here, Claire was…gone."

"…is that so?"

Kensei kneeled beside Kunou who seemed to be unconscious, then placed a comforting hand on the girl's head wearing a relieved expression. Hisui found herself glancing back and forth toward Kensei as he was placing the top of Kunou's hand. She started feeling a great deal of guilt starting to well up inside of her chest almost like an actual weight was placed on it.

"Ken Ken, I'm sorry," Hisui apologized catching his attention as she started looking more responsible about all of the things that happened right now. "I thought that Evangeline was alright being around all of us, but then all this happened. If it wasn't for me, then…."

Hisui stopped after feeling Kensei's hand being placed comfortably on the top of her head as she appeared to be on the brink of tears. Kensei could see that this incident was weighing heavily on her seeing that she vouched for the one who had stolen their own hometown, which became their haven.

"None of this is your fault, Hisui," Kensei said as he started rubbing her head. "All of us let our guard around her since we couldn't get actual proof that she was planning on something. If anything, I should've been the one who put more attention on tracking her movements. I brought everyone here and this town is supposed to be under my protection at the end of the day. You're never been wrong about a person before and you've been nothing less than an important part of our lives here. But…."

Kensei knew the reason that he didn't do that since Evangeline was something of great importance to Claire and it would've broken her heart knowing he did something like that. Besides, she hadn't been suspicious at all, even a girl such as Hisui who can tell someone's true nature couldn't sense any malicious intent from Evangeline.

"Well, figure out what's going on. And we'll figure out how to get Claire back in time for her birthday, right."

"Right."

Hisui found herself wiping away the tears that had been forming after hearing the reassuring tone from Kensei as she got back to healing Kunou. He turned his attention over to the one person around who wasn't doing anything at all but was giving off the kind of presence that made it impossible to approach her. It was Alice standing near them with her back facing all of them as a darkish aura was being released from her body.

"I'll remain here beside Kunou. So, you can go over to check up on Alice."

"…right."

Kensei agreed to let Minako remain closer to the downed Kunou so that he could walk over towards Alice.

"…why would she do that?"

"Huh?"

Before Kensei could utter a single word, Alice spoke after hearing his footsteps approaching her but didn't make the slightest attempt to turning around and face him.

"You should've seen Claire after she told me that there was a chance that her entire family was all still alive and that she'd be able to introduce them to us. Even when she thought that they were all gone, Claire enthusiastically talked about everything that she learned from them all. And Evangeline was someone she truly treated as if she was her aunt," Kensei could clearly hear the anger and sadness in Alice's voice. "So, why would she all of this to Claire? Coming back into her life? Giving her false hope?"

"…Alice."

Kensei uttered sadly as she turned around to face him tears streaming down her cheeks, then she rushed toward him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He knew that Alice adored Claire was her little sister more than he'd done so until this point. In the past, he did treat Claire as nothing more of a younger sister, but at this point, he couldn't say that it was simply just that anymore.

"We're going to get Claire back that's something that I can promise. And afterward, we're going to ensure she's able to live the best life possible with us without anything to deter her from that."

"Yea, no matter who's responsible for this. We're not letting them get away with messing with Claire."

Kensei and Alice made that strong promise with one another without showing the slightest hesitance in either of their emotions and promise. After the two of them separated from one another, Kensei began wiping away all the tears that formed at the corners of her eyes using his thumb. Alice smiled at the gentle touch that could be felt on her cheeks and even found herself giving the most genuine smile that he's seen since.

"Kensei, Kunou is waking up! And she's asking for you."

Minako called out urgently, causing him and Alice to rush over there towards her.

"Ken…nii?"

Kunou opened her eyes as she realized that Kensei was standing beside her, then later grabbed onto one of her hands and gently grasped it.

"I'm here, Kunou."

"Kunou is sorry for not being able to protect Claire-san. Iris-san and I tried our hardest to save her, but that devil woman was too strong for either of us to handle. Kunou thought that she got strong enough to be more than just a burden for Ken-nii."

"There's nothing for you to apologize for. I'm happy that you and Iris tried to save Claire from her."

Kensei assured her, which caused Kunou to somewhat smile before looking up.

"Kunou gave Claire-san the charm that Ken-nii gave me."

"Huh?"

"A charm?"

Kensei was surprised after hearing those words, but not as much as Minako who didn't know what Kunou was talking about. After hearing that, Kensei looked and couldn't see the magatama necklace that he had given to her three years ago and it wasn't something that Kunou could give away. It was something that he gave her for protection, but Kunou handing that item off to Claire might assist them in this situation. Since it had a source of his spiritual power inside of it, it'll be easier for him to track.

"Good thinking, Kunou. Doing that might help us find Claire faster."

"…wait, there's something else."

"What is it?"

Kensei was surprised as Kensei grabbed onto his wrist in an attempt to keep him from leaving.

"…Kunou thinks there's something wrong with that woman we fought," Kunou said as she glanced over towards him. "Claire-san had spoken about her a lot to me and Iris, but near the end at least she didn't match any of what Claire-san explained."

"Huh?"

Kensei was becoming more confused about that.

"Claire-san mentioned that she someone who used ice-based demonic powers, but she didn't use any of it in our fight the way she explained. She also pointed out that Evangeline-san used her Queen attributes alongside her ice demonic powers, but she didn't do any of that either. Radueriel, that angel inside of Claire mentioned that she used demonic powers that manipulate someone's mind."

"…ah."

After hearing that from Kunou, Hisui let out a surprised voice catching the attention of Kensei, Minako, and Alice.

"What's wrong Hisui?"

Alice asked as she wondered what was wrong with her.

"Kensei what could affect the flow of someone's spirit like when someone lies?"

"Huh? Ah, well a lot of things can affect the spirit like the conditions of the mind and body. Even if you're a skilled liar able to control your heartbeat you won't be able to do the same with your spirit. You've said before that you could tell whether or not someone was lying based on the slightest change in their spirit."

"Exactly, but Evangeline or whoever that person was able to lie to me, who can sense all that more than anyone else. So, what could make it so that she could do that without me noticing."

After hearing that from Hisui, Kensei's eyes widened at that realization, which caused him to grit his teeth.

"If she was actually who she said or at least thought she was," Kensei said before continuing. "If her demonic power allows her to influence minds, then she could have even used it to trick herself into believing she was Evangeline Bellerose and everything else she said. After that, all she needed to is alter her appearance using demonic powers to match the real one. And that night we found her, she was being chased around by devils of the Underworld."

"We've been played from the start," Alice added feeling as irritated as Kensei. "She made herself appear like a victim and someone who Claire knew from her childhood to somehow get Claire alone when we wouldn't be around her."

"If I didn't come from the kind of group who would do the same thing. I'd question their reasoning," Minako found herself speaking sadly. Kensei realized that she was talking about the Five Principal Clans who would do anything to maintain their old traditions even if it meant killing those born with sacred gears. "But, none of them would do as far as to interfere with another faction without them interfering first. Even if Claire is a half-breed, she was living inside of a territory belonging to the Shinto Faction. And even attacking the Kyoto Princess could end in disaster."

"Yasaka-san is smart and cautious, so you wouldn't potentially start a war with the Underworld since it might end up disastrous for all the youkai on her side. But, that doesn't change the fact that she'll be pissed off when she finds out someone from their side injured her daughter. No matter how this ends, something is going to happen or change," Kensei said before turning back to Kunou. "You did great Kunou, I know that Yasaka-san will be proud that you stood up for a friend. Now, I think that it's time for you to get some rest."

"…alright, but let Kunou know when you'll be going after Claire. Iris and I would like to help too."

"Okay, it's a promise. Just get some sleep first."

Kensei suggested as he leaned forward to kiss Kunou on the cheek, causing the young girl to blush before falling to sleep. After giving her one more pat on the head, Kensei stood back to his feet leaving Hisui to finish ensuring that Kunou would be fully recovered.

"Hey, Zane. Did you hear all that?"

"Yea, I caught most of what was said. But, that's insane considering that someone went through all of this just to get Claire away from here."

"Do you think that you could locate Claire based on the magatama necklace that Kunou placed on her person?"

"Well, if it does have your spiritual power imbued into it and if I can trace the magic left behind by that woman. It'd be a cinch for me to find out where they went, more so if Claire still has her Oracle Phone on her."

"You're always a big help to us all," Kensei said smirking before getting serious. "Alright, whoever took Claire has nothing but malicious intent in regards to what they'll be doing with her. So, here's what we're all going to do. No matter their reasons or no matter how many are involved in this. We're going to show them what happens when you mess with someone from Kibou Town, right?!"

[Right?!]

Everyone there declared even Lena was surprised that she joined in on that declaration.

"I didn't think that I'd find myself saying such things. I've barely been here for a couple of days, but I find myself wanting to help them all with this. This guy has all the makings of a leader of Brynhildr's caliber. And not just him, I think there are others here who are as effecting as him."

Lena thought as those people started gathering toward Kensei and Zane.

"I don't care if it's the Underworld or even the Church," Maria found herself walking forward. "I'm not forgiving any devil or exorcist who hurts Iris or my friends."

"We're going to need to come up with a game plan to ensure this all ends the way we want. So, let's get started."

Maria and Zane gathered around Kensei.

"Right," Kensei nodded his head in agreement as he tightened his fist. "Just hold on Claire, we're coming."

---

Meanwhile, in a wide location filled with a forest and mountains somewhere in the Human World, Evangeline appeared there still holding Claire's hand. It didn't appear to be a location that was anywhere inside Japan, as a matter of fact, it looked to be inside another country altogether. Claire's cheek was still red and sore from the time Kunou used her youki and slapped her.

"Well, this is where you'll end up being reunited with…."

"…go…."

"Hmmm?"

"…let…go…of…me…."

Evangeline turned around to see that Claire was struggling to regain control over herself, then felt her pulling her arm away from her. It surprised the woman to see that Claire was attempting to fight back against the control she put on her. But, that didn't deter her as she was attempting to pull her forward.

"Come on, stop being a brat and listen to you're dear…."

"…y…you…aren't…Eva…obachan…."

Claire found herself opening up her hand and summoned demonic power in the middle of her palm.

"Come on, don't think that you can use demonic power in that…state."

Evangeline stopped after realizing the young girl's intentions since her mental state wouldn't allow her to control her demonic powers, which relied on one's imagination. However, it was because of that fact that it'd be too dangerous for Evangeline to remain closer to her. In her hand, the demonic power that she gathered started to growing large, but since she wouldn't be able to control it, it did as she feared.

Dooooon!

"Argh, bitch!"

The demonic power gathered in Claire's hand, which was being held by Evangeline exploded forcing the woman to let go of her hand. It caused smoke to cover her slightly injured hand, which was lessened due to the attribute of her Queen piece.

"…urgh!"

Claire was struggling to regain control over herself as she started raising her hands towards her head, placing both hands on the side of her head. Evangeline was wondering what Claire was attempting to do but noticed the girl was gathering her demonic power as much as possible. Soon enough, there was a slight pause in Claire as a relieved breath escape from her mouth and she started breathing heavily.

"Oh, I see. You did inherit that power from your mother," Evangeline said smugly but impressed. "Such a power that assisted in the current Champion to reach the top aside from his considerable talent and power, which could nullify any ability as long as he understands it. I wouldn't expect anything less from my…."

"Kunou-san is a Kyuubi and no other kind of kitsune is better at bewitching people. And once more thing, stop talking in that voice already," Claire had demanded glaring at the woman in front of her with nothing, but hostility in her eyes. "You're not Eva-obachan."

"Huh, what do you mean. Who else would I…."

'Evangeline' stopped as a light blast passed her cheek causing a light discomforting feeling that could be felt on that part of her face. She looked forward to seeing that Claire created a light gun in her hands and was pointing it toward her without showing the slightest hesitation in her eyes.

"Eva-obachan would never do anything to hurt or manipulate me. She wouldn't hurt my friends," Claire stated as her hands started shaking not from the fact that she was still pointing a gun at the woman wearing her beloved aunt's face, but what that meant. "And more than anything, no matter how much they argued and fought, both my mother and Eva-obachan treated one another like real sisters. So, I know she'd rather die than betray her trust!"

After hearing that, 'Evangeline' stopped wearing the expression that she showed so far and started staring at her wearing nothing less than a cold malicious look. It was so cold that Claire nearly felt her heart sinking at that moment.

"Hah, I wanted to ensure that this woman's name and face was driven in the dirt, but it looks like you've ruined all of my fun," she turned her head to the side as her hair color and face started changing as she started gathering her demonic power again. "I really hate people who always maintain their faith in someone because of something. I find it so cheesy that they won't fall into my illusion."

"…wait, I know who you are."

Claire recognized the current appearance of the woman from her childhood looking at the Rating Game while living in Kuoh Town with Cleria and her peerage. Standing in front of her still dressed in Evangeline's clothing was a beautiful woman of similar age with reddish-brown hair and eyes giving off a more cocky air.

"Hilda Blum."

"Oh, I didn't think you'd know my name. I know that I was famous, but I didn't think you'd know me too."

"You're the Queen of one of the Top Ranking Game Players, a pure-blood devil from one of the 72 Pillars. You're also a former rival of Eva-obachan when she was still a magician from Rosenkreuzer."

"That Ice Bitch even mentioned that before, huh," the woman now named Hilda spoke with nothing more than her hostility, which was directed towards Evangeline. "I was surprised when I heard that she was reincarnated as a devil too. Though, it seems that I beat her in that regard since I was chosen by one of the top-ranked players and she was reincarnated under some no-name King who hadn't started her Rating Game career. Instead, she decided to protect a worthless human-filled town in the Human World."

Claire looked irritated after hearing how Hilda was talking about her mother and auntie, which was evident about how she tightened her grip on her light gun.

"Is that how you knew about Eva-obachan's mannerisms and personality? It wouldn't be odd considering she said the two of you would get in constant battles with each other."

"Oh, no no, that was just a part of it," Hilda stated as she smiled cockily. "I can control and peer into the minds of the people that I grab onto. So, I can do things like scanning their memories and personalities, then hypnotize myself into taking on their entire likeness. But, I have to keep my mind separated from the current persona I'm acting as since I might continue believing I'm that person if I'm not snapped out of it. It was supposed to be so potent that nekoshou wouldn't have been able to tell I was impersonating her."

"So, even Hisui and Nii-san couldn't tell the difference. You're a Queen too and neither of them has ever actually met Eva-obachan before so they couldn't tell the difference."

"Even though my demonic power is supposed to be perfect, and even though my King adored all my talents," Claire started noticing that Hilda was becoming more aggravated as she started stomping on the ground. "You have no idea how much effort it took for me just to get what information was requested of me by the higher-ups from that bitch! Ever since the moment she was arrested by the Great King Faction and interrogated for years she didn't let up in the slightest! Argh, even whenever I have the upper hand against that bitch she always has to think she's far better than me! She made me look bad in front of everyone!"

Claire was watching as the grown woman was stomping her foot on the ground like a child throwing a tantrum after something didn't go their way. She always recalled that Evangeline mentioned that was one of Hilda's traits despite being a skilled magician.

"But, finally last week she broke and stop fighting back against my mind control," Hilda said as she appeared to be happy about the fact that she finally broke Evangeline. "It was supposed to be my last victory against the Ice Bitch once and for all! But! But! She let me enter her head on purpose so that she could enter mine. She did that so she could see everything that I knew about you after hearing some guards mentioning where you were. And somehow even included that persona that I made into doing all that bonding and party planning crap. And even gave me that victorious smirk near the end!"

After ranting for that long about actually being defeated by Evangeline near the end of it all, Hilda found herself breathing heavily. But, the thing that Claire was most focused on was her comment of 'near the end'.

"What did you do to Eva-obachan near the end?"

Claire asked frightened.

"There was no point in keeping her alive since the higher-ups wanted to know whatever information her King had told her. Since whatever the King knows, the Queen is sure to know the same information," Hilda found herself speaking in a more nonchalant tone as if it had nothing to do with her. "So, they killed her."

"…."

Hearing those distressing and cold-hearted words from Hilda caused Claire's heart to sink, resulting in her loosening her grip on her light gun. It was a serious shock to her mental status, which was already influenced by Hilda's demonic powers causing the gun to weaken.

[Claire, I know this is a great shock. But, if you can't keep your concentration stable, then anything weapons created by using White Nemesis will end up breaking. And she'll take advantage of any break in concentration.]

"Y-Yea, I know."

Claire tried to reassure him, but she was having a difficult time doing so after hearing the grave news that one of her beloved family members was gone. However, it didn't help that her mind realized the fate of the others if Evangeline was left alive then killed last week. But, Claire tried putting up a strong face in front of Hilda who appeared to have not taken her seriously.

"Oh, please," Hilda waved her handoff. "I might be pissed off at all the trouble that I had to go through because of three brats. But, I was informed to just bring it to you here."

"…what?"

Claire was surprised about that comment and found herself looking around to notice that various magic circles all started appearing around the location. After noticing that, she became more on guard as she felt a more familiar presence from both sides. The first person that she witnessed appearing at a closer distance to where she stood is important in the Underworld.

"You should be honored that one of the oldest devils with the highest authority showed himself for you."

Hilda commented.

Appearing near Claire was Zekram Bael, the first Bael Clan who holds the ranking of Great King, and he was one person who she had seen before. Her mother once showed her different images of important people inside of the Underworld during a lesson. Standing beside him were two devils, but based on the presence around them they on the same level as average High-Class Devils.

"You're the first Bael Head, Zekram Bael, correct."

"So, you're already well aware of me, is that so. Well, this will make things a lot easier," Zekram asked staring down at Claire wearing a serious aura around him, but Claire didn't give him an answer. "And you would be Claire Belial?"

"My name is Claire Yaegaki Belial. So respect that."

"Don't you dare talk to Zekram-sama in such as manner! You filthy Impure Blood!"

"Doing such a thing is deserving of death."

Both the devils standing beside Zekram were stopped as he raised his hand.

"It doesn't matter what she says at this point," Zekram stated before turning back over towards Claire causing her to wonder what he meant about that. "Well, then Claire Yaegaki Belial, this might sound unfair in your ears. But, I ask that you stand there quietly and accept that you'll have to die here."

"….!"

Claire was surprised about the sudden bluntness from his tone as she felt her heart beating faster.

It didn't take her long to realize that some devils and exorcists teleported around the isolated location, which gave her no hope of being able to escape from here. She knew that something like this would've happened since her parents were from opposing sides, but she never thought that she'd be alone without an ally on her side.

"Please come soon and help me, Nii-san, Alice-nee. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold them all off."

Claire found herself acting more scared, but tried maintaining her composure by biting her bottom lip.

---

Inside the forest near the location where Claire was taken to, Kensei appeared in the same location by using a magic circle constructed by Zane. It surprised them about how long it took to find Claire, but it took him a shorter amount of time because of Lena. He didn't want to waste time waiting for a plan and decided to buy them enough time to get everything prepared.

Kensei could feel the atmosphere and temperature were entirely different from Japan, meaning that he must be in another country entirely. Ignoring that, he looked around and started sensing things out, then managed to locate Clare a greater distance from his current location. However, Claire wasn't alone as there was a great number of devils and humans inside the same location.

"Alright, it looks like there are already some people there," Kensei said as he already had Kurogane sheathed in front of him and prepared to move. "Then I shouldn't waste any time."

Kensei moved forward at high-speed from the start to arrive at the location where Claire was surrounded without wasting time. He managed to move at least five meters forwards before sensing another presence near him, then placed his hand on Kurogane's hilt. Kensei stopped himself moving using his front foot, then stood in a prepared Iai stance and unsheathed his sword behind him.

Shing!

At the same time that Kurogane was unsheathed, he collided against another sword that gave off a familiar aura, which he sensed before.

"You're truly are quite skilled for someone your age. I can sense that you're a considerably talented individual."

Kensei heard a man speaking to him as both their swords collided against one another, producing sparks as well as a screeching sound as their edges scraped against each other. Both soon moved from one another as the two maintained their stances. Kensei looked forward to seeing a foreign black-haired middle-aged man wearing modern priest vestments and could already tell that he was a powerful foe.

"I can already tell that this is guy is both well-trained and experienced from his stance and presence. I can't even see the slightest opening in his stance at all…he's prepared for whatever I attempt to do. This guy is stronger than I am at the moment, so I don't have time to figure out how to beat him right now. Normally, I'd be jumping to fight against a person like this, but I don't have time to mess around," Kensei surmised as he sheathed Kurogane. "I don't have to fight against a strong opponent at the moment since I'm on a time crunch. So, can we keep this short?"

"Well, you're almost exactly as our Warrior David described. You're truly planning to rescue that half-breed girl," Kensei was surprised after hearing that name since it belonged to an exorcist he fought three years ago. "I am Ewald Cristaldi, a Cardinal Deacon from the Church."

Kensei realized that the person was the one Maria and Abigail mentioned as one of the top fighters belonging to the Church. Both of them noted that he could use three Excaliburs at the same time and that his swordsmanship in using them was famous around their enemy factions. He could see that there was another sword sheathed at his side and the string around his wrist gave off a similar presence.

"Great, I'm faced off against one of the Church's two greatest titans, who's acting as a guard and wielding three legendary weapons. Shame, if anyone I kinda wanted to meet the one named Vasco Strada," Kensei sighed in his head deciding to introduce himself before decided to make a move and stalling. "Kensei Amagiri, but as I said I don't have the time for a fight."

Kensei stated as he turned around, then used Shinsoku to move forward at high-speed in a single leap, but the priest behind them didn't appear shocked. Not thinking that he could get away that easily, Kensei kept his senses trained on the man. And his suspensions came true as Ewald appeared in front of him matching the same high-speed movement that he used. Kensei looked shocked as Ewald casually appeared in front of him with his sword prepared, causing him to reach for his sword as well.

Shing! Shing! Shing! Shing! Shing!

Several times, Kensei's and Ewald's swords started colliding against one another as one another moved at high speed due to their particular methods. Even during this clash at high speed, Kensei could see that several wounds already formed on him after being unable to avoid the slashes. Both of them clashed several times, aside from Ewald being able to match his high-speed movements, his sword swings were faster than his.

"Of course, he wouldn't let me leave. For him to be able to perceive my movements using Shinsoku and he can even match or surpass my speed using it. He likely fought against servants with the Knight piece in the past or gotten used to high-speed movements himself. It might be that sword, which is increasing his speed and reflexes, thus his sword slashes are faster too. I can barely follow either of them using my eyes or senses," Kensei noted recalling the unique design of the Excalibur in his hand. "I take it that sword in your hand is Excalibur Rapidly."

"Oh, you appear to be well-versed in this sword to know its name."

Excalibur appeared to be surprised that he knew the Excalibur's name.

"Well, I have a friend of mine who is well-versed in holy swords from your faction and told me about it," Kensei in a matter-of-fact tone. "Since he can match my speed using Shinsoku and easily close the distance between us, it won't be easy for me to perform either Hiken or Hiden techniques without the right timing. Both take some time to perform and this kind of fight will make it difficult to perform them."

"Well, I was surprised to find someone from another country able to perform high-speed movements without this Excalibur. Could it be because of some Samurai or ancient technique from your country?"

Kensei could hear that Ewald was speaking to him jokingly since some foreign countries all have some weird notions about Japan.

"If it wasn't for the fact that I am, in fact, a descendant of a Samurai Clan and from a clan that practices all those kinds of powers, then I'd be more offended than I am now," Kensei said feeling irritated about his words as a tick mark formed on his forehead. "I said that I didn't have time. But, I can guess from the devils and exorcists in that direction I'm heading to that you're not planning on letting me intervene."

"I and the other higher-ups from the Church believed there would be someone from her side attempting to rescue her based on what Warrior David explained about some of your people," Ewald replied as he took at the second sword sheathed beside him. Kensei heard that all the abilities of Excalibur were troublesome and it appears as if Ewald prepared himself. "I was curious about the two younger swordsmen, a girl who used Blade Blacksmith. As well as the so-called samurai that traitor Freed fought against protecting that half-breed girl. Of course, I needed to borrow one of these Excalibur from a student of mine."

"Well, since you're interested in techniques from Japan. How about this one?"

Kensei held up his hand as he strong gathered spiritual power surprising Ewald, more so as he created numerous wind bullets that held considerable power inside of them. All the wind bullets were released at him all at once like missiles being fired at various angles. In response to this, Ewald started using Excalibur Rapidly to avoid all of them.

Although, each time the wind bullets missed their target, their course was altered, and continued pursuing him all without Kensei moving a muscle.

"I'm not that well informed about the powers of their faction, but it appears as if he's able to use the wind. But, to control all these wind bullets without moving a muscle is remarkable."

Ewald thought as he continued avoiding the various wind bullets.

"I need to find an opening to leave here before something happens to Claire. I can't waste too much power just in fighting this one person when there's an army there."

Kensei started to converge several of the wind bullets together around Ewald after finding his next position from all possible angles. But, something happened to cause him some surprise as several avatars of Ewald were created, causing the wind bullets to hit them. However, it seemed as if the avatars caused the wind bullets to pierce them and vanished.

"The hell? If it was an afterimage caused by Rapidly, then the wind bullets wouldn't vanish unless it hit an actual target," Kensei said confused as several of the wind bullets started doing the same after hitting the avatars. "Of all the Excaliburs that Maria and Abigail mentioned one of them could take a different shape. And there was also a Nightmare that can conjure illusions and manipulate dreams. But, afterimages and illusions don't have an actual physical form."

As Kensei was speaking under his breath, the avatars started chasing after him, but he could sense the real one. After turning around to charge towards the one standing behind him, releasing a strong forward-slash causing Ewald to block it using both swords in his hands.

"There's such force behind that attack," Ewald thought as he recalled that he had some trouble in blocking the hit at first before managing to maintain his footing. "I thought that he was more of a Technique-Type, but he has a strong build as well."

"I already know that you're the real one since I can still sense your ki. I take is that sword in your hands is the one named Excalibur Nightmare."

"That's surprising. Yes, this is, in fact, Excalibur Nightmare," Ewald said without hiding anything as his avatars all started rushing toward Kensei. "I'm surprised about your katana, a normal sword wouldn't be unable to handle all these strikes from Excalibur despite me channeling more of its holy aura. It must be a special-made sword."

"Don't think that my Kurogane will lose to a holy sword."

Kensei stated as the first group of avatars came at him, he didn't both with them since he believed that neither of them. He instead charged forward towards Ewald in an attempt to defeat the original, but as soon as he did some of the avatars stood in front of him. And the second that he sliced through them, a shocked expression appeared on his face.

"Are you kidding me, some of these things are actually tangible?!"

Ewald after noticing that expression on his face stepped back and allowed the avatars to surround Kensei, who was surprised that all of them were tangible. Kensei started fighting against the group of dual-wielding avatars who were all rushing towards him. He was able to handle fighting against some of the avatars, but there were moments where some of the avatars he slashed through weren't tangible and actual illusions.

There were several times where Kensei was slashed by the tangible avatars, which made it difficult since neither of them gave off ki. As such, it makes it difficult to predict their movements, more so since all of them had started to gather around him to attack.

"It appears as if this is the limit of your…."

Ewald was stopped as he noticed that Kensei was releasing a strong touki from his body, causing him to become surprised by the presence. He looked on curiously as Kensei started breathing a lot of air into his lungs with Kurogane beside him. And before long—

"Haaaaaa!"

Letting out an almost bestial roar filled with touki, his voice echoed across the quiet forest and caused Ewald to cover his ears from the loudness. It was surprising since the sound itself might have been almost mistaken for that of hearing a dragon howl.

"What is yelling going to…huh?"

Ewald watched as all the avatars that he created using his Excalibur Rapidly and Nightmare all started vanishing one by one. Soon enough, all of the avatars vanished from sight without leaving a single trace of their existence.

"All my avatars vanished because of that shout?"

"I learned that from my second teacher."

After letting out a breath of relief from that loud shout, which he learned from Sun Wukong as Kensei started cracking his neck.

"Looks like I underestimated you a little bit due to your age."

"If you want to keep here you're going to need to try harder than that," Kensei said seriously without the slightest bit of hesitance in his voice and his eyes gave a dangerous glint. "If it means getting to Claire in time, I'll kill you if I have no other choice."

Ewald could hear that he wasn't kidding around about killing him if he had to.

"All exorcists are prepared to give their lives to fulfill their mission."

"Then, I hope that you'll have no regrets."

Kensei said as his hand started shining with a blue aura before directing it towards Ewald who seemed confused about the purpose, but prepared for an attack. It was then that he started feeling that his body was being pulled in as a similar aura covered him.

"What is…?"

"I might not have mastered this, but if I put a little more power in it, then I might be able to pull him in."

Kensei stated as he channeled more power into the telekinesis he learned, before snatching his arm back, which caused Ewald to be pulled towards him. Due to the situation, Ewald was stumped for a moment before noticing a reasonable amount of touki starting to surround Kensei's arm before reeling it back.

"I wasn't expecting this, but…."

Ewald said as the string around his wrist started moving around as if it was alive before it wrapped around one of the trees that were further from him. It was enough for Ewald to stop himself just as Kensei would have punched him in his abdomen, but he could still somewhat feel the pressure generating from the punch.

"I'm glad that I had borrowed Excalibur Mimic from Warrior Irina," Ewald said as he stared at the string wrapped around himself, in addition to the faraway tree before coughing up some blood. "Urgh. I thought that I managed to avoid it, but…it'd be worse if it took that direct hit. It truly appears as if he's prepared to kill me with an attack like that. I don't know the kind of power he uses, but the slightest touch from it could affect my body like this."

---

As Kensei and Ewald were clashing against one another, Claire found herself in a predicament where there was no solution or escape. Around here we're a group of exorcists and devils, all of them gave the very same amount of hostility, which was directed solely on her. Standing at the head of it was Zekram Bael who gave her the worst possible ultimatum in history.

"Do you seriously think that I'm just going to agree to that?"

Claire said impressed about the First Great King's demands, instead stared at him wearing an impassive look on her face. Her hand was still placed on her light gun as she was wondering about how to handle this situation as a group of two devils stronger than she was acting as Zekram's guards.

"Come on, don't you see where you're standing," Hilda pointed out further nothing the vast number of opponents for Claire to face. "There are devils and exorcists who all want to kill you, but you still think that you'd be able to escape from this situation alive? There's a limit to how idiotic and idealistic that one girl can be, you know."

"Hah, you sure have a lot to say for someone who couldn't beat Eva-obachan in the end," hearing that comment from Claire caused Hilda to glare towards Claire almost wanting to kill her herself. "It wouldn't be the first that I've been in a situation like this before and that was when I was still a kid. And I've already experienced fights that are a lot more difficult than those. So, if you want to kill me, then you'll have to put a little effort into it!"

Claire started bearing her fangs, which was something that caused Zekram to allow a sigh to escape his mouth as if the situation was a nuisance. All the devils around them standing as his guards looked irritated as a girl more so, a half-breed was badmouthing one of the oldest and respected devils.

"Of course, I almost forgot the reason this happened in the first place. You're their daughter, so, of course, you'll be resisting until the end just like them," Zekram turned himself around, then started walking from the location as he raised his hand and gave the signal to the devils. "You all have my permission to act, but ensure that this is all finally taken care of and settled."

"So, those exorcists aren't attacking too?"

"Those exorcists were simply given the orders to ensure and witness your death without interfering," Zekram said in a matter-of-fact tone again without showing emotions on the matter despite being at the head of it. "Even if this is a matter we all agree on, there's no way that exorcists and devils would fight alongside one another. So, this is something that you might find at least somewhat favorable."

"I hate this cocky and arrogant asshole," Claire found herself scrunching up her face into an irritated expression before looking around to see the number of devils that started moving in an attempt to kill her. But, he was right if she was facing devils alone, then she might have a chance. "But, this would be easier for me to handle them. If I can hit them using the light produced by my White Nemesis."

After realizing the situation in front of her, Claire prepared herself for the battle against them. She silently started to alter the position of her feet, doing the same thing that she learned from both her father and Kensei whenever in a situation like this. Claire allowed one final breath to escape from her mouth before taking a quick, but also strong step back in an attempt to gain some distance from the devils standing in front of her.

"I've been living with Nii-san and Alice-nee for several years now," Claire said as she thought through all of their situations living together. "So, something like this won't make me back down!"

Claire started firing off several light blasts at the devils in front of her, who created a defensive barrier using their demonic powers. It was then that the other devils started firing off their demonic blasts from two sides, but Claire already knew of a method for dealing with this. She shifted the light gun in her left hand into a shield, then formed a barrier using demonic power imbued with her Worthless. Due to this, she was able to nullify all the blasts from her right side. But, from the left side, she was being forced back from the multiple attacks.

"I thought that it wouldn't be that easy since almost all the devils here are at or above high-class devils," Claire in a more worried tone thought. "But, at the very least, I can hit some of them to weaken them using light blasts and survive until the others arrive here. If the exorcists decide to become involved, then it'll become even more of a difficult fight for me. I can already feel some hostility from their side."

Claire noted as she started receiving hostile stares from almost all the exorcists watching from the sidelines likely after seeing her using White Nemesis.

"For there to be a lowly half-breed who has the powers of one of the glorious angels."

"No matter what happens, she must be killed here today."

"I heard from Teacher David that even light powers are ineffective against her."

"We cannot allow this impure blood to become any stronger."

"Her entire existence is mocking all our holy laws and teachings."

Those were simply some of the things that the exorcists standing on the sidelines were speaking about them. All of their words could be somewhat heard in her ears, because of her heightened hearing. Neither of their negative comments directed towards her made the slightest bit of effect on her no matter the hostility was behind them.

"I could care less about what these exorcists have to say about me. I don't care about devils or exorcists, all of the people I really care about are my family and friends."

Claire was unaffected as she continued using her demonic and light powers to fight back against the devils who were targeting her for execution. She wasn't able to get through the defenses of the devils creating barriers in an attempt to block them. But, she maintained her defenses by nullifying the demonic blasts using Worthless, then it was infused into her demonic blasts to break their barriers and fired off light blasts.

"Urgh, such a troublesome ability…!"

"What an unruly half-breed…!"

"All that's good about you is that ability of yours!"

Several of the devils whose defenses were broken by Claire had light bullets piercing or scratching their bodies in some manner. She knew that for normal devils, some of the highest-class devils with greater demonic powers, it might be possible to handle the light poisoning. But, it might be able to slow them all down after taking a lot more light attacks than they can counteract. Almost all the devils started using different powers realizing from seeing a Belial devil such as Diehauser, she can't nullify powers she doesn't know about.

"It might be difficult going at this rate, but I'll keep on struggling like this, then I might make it."

Claire thought as she continued fighting back against the various devils continuing to attack her from all sides. It could be seen that Claire was maintaining a strong defense against them all, but attacked back whenever she'd been presented with the chance to do so.

"She's struggling a lot more than I thought that she'd be able to," Zekram stated as he watched Claire surviving all the assaults aimed at her before allowing a sigh to escape from his mouth. "I can tell that Sirzechs has been keeping a closer eye on my actions since the incident involving her mother. So, I can't really allow this incident to reach his attention and the Satan Faction. Claire Yaegaki Belial, there's something that you might want to know about before dying."

"Just ignore him," Claire instead of being focused on what Zekram was going to tell her, focused on the battle at hand. She was starting to create a light rifle instead of a gun for a greater deal of damage than it. "Whatever it is, it is likely going to be nothing, but crap."

Claire was prepared to fire off a light blast toward one of the devils whose defenses were broken through and it was almost ready to fire it.

"You should know that your parents died after the Queen returned from escaping with you."

"…huh."

Claire's focus ceased entirely as her mind seemed to have completely shut down for a second after hearing those words. It was such harsh news to receive so nonchalantly without the slightest shred of regret in Zekram's voice, but her heart seemed to have sunk. Claire wasn't able to even focus on the battlefield around her, which seemed to have become entirely silent from her perspective.

Doooooooon!

Because of that, Claire was unable to tell that one of the high-class devils around gathered a considerable level of demonic power into a bullet. It was all for the sole purpose of ending her life, but Claire was still caught in such a state of shock that she couldn't focus on anything else.

"Die, you impure blood!"

It was released in the direction of Claire, but the knowledge of it being on her person, a bright light spewed out of her pockets. Soon enough, a barrier was constructed around Claire, which blocked the demonic blast released at her. After seeing that occur right in front of their eyes, the devils and exorcists looked surprised as the barrier did not have the presence of demonic or light powers.

"This gives off a peculiar presence."

Zekram stated as he felt the presence of the barrier around Claire, which came from the magatama necklace that Kunou slipped on her.

"W-What d-did you mean…my…parents…are…dead?"

There wasn't the same hint of strength behind Claire's words, instead, it was that of a shocked and normal girl who'd just heard that she lost her parents.

"It would have been impossible for you to know what happened considering that you weren't there. So, I'll inform you about it," Zekram once again in a matter of fact. "It was a situation that shouldn't have occurred, a high-class devil and an exorcist falling in love with one another since both the Underworld and Heaven have been enemies before your parents were even born. During the same era that the original devils from the 72 Pillars were around. So, the idea of people from opposing sides genuinely falling in love with one another was something that neither side could allow."

Claire listened without being able to give a single response all his words were nothing, but indifference without a single shred of remorse or compassion. To him, giving the orders to take the lives of both her beloved parents was nothing more than a simple task.

"Both of them fought back to the end and rejected ending their relationship, which ironically ended up bringing us all together temporarily to protect the status quo," he added as he continued. "Of course, the casualties included all the members of her peerage who remained loyal to their King with the Queen's death being the last a could days prior."

"…protect…the…status…quo…," Claire uttered those words unable to believe that it was all due to something so simple and unfair. She could tell that there were stray tears that formed at the corners of her eyes as all the very same words repeated in her heads in an attempt to make sense of it. "My mother and father died for nothing, but falling in love with one another. Eva-obachan and the others who were a part of my family too were killed too. All to protect the status quo."

Even as Claire spoke, more of more strength could be felt leaving all her words almost as if she were a phantom speaking hollowly.

"That's correct. But, the thing that we didn't know was that there was one last proof of their relationship that lived under our noses years after that incident. Even after examining their home, there wasn't the slightest hint of proof that you existed," Zekram revealed as he allowed a sigh to escape from his mouth as he stared at Claire who's at the point of a mental breakdown. "It wasn't until three years ago when news of a girl bearing the name of Belial reached the church, then me. I believed that this incident was taken care of then and wanted to ensure that it's all over and done with. Even if it means that I'll need to handle it personally."

After those words left her mouth, Claire found herself watching as Zekram raised his hand summoning a demonic power that had a black color and gave off a threatening presence.

[Claire, you have to avoid that attack! It's the Bael's Power of Destruction straight from the source! I don't believe that this barrier can defend against it!]

"…Kaa-san…. …Tou-san…."

Claire didn't appear to register it as her mind seemed to be still processing everything else she heard.

[Claire…I understand what you're feeling losing those close to you. But, if you don't defend yourself, then all that your family sacrificed would be pointless.]

Claire seemed to have been listening to the words from Radueriel, but she was unable to gather the will to dodge the attack aimed at her. It was too late as the black demonic power was released towards her at high speed, as it reached the spiritual barrier around it, it bored a hole through it. It was inches from reaching Claire as time looked to have slowed down a bit.

At the same time—

[Haaaaaa!]

[…!]

All around them everyone was surprised as a loud bestial roar reached their ears causing all of them to become surprised by the sound alone.

"What the hell is that?"

"A dragon or monster?"

None of the people there recognized the voice, but there was a slight flicker of light that returned to Claire's eyes as she alone recognized it. At that moment, she didn't know whether it was because she regained her senses or acting on the reflexes triggered from hearing him. Going on with that feeling Claire created a white shield by using White Nemesis. But, because of her current mental state, it doesn't have the best kind of defenses when in comparison to her usual mental state.

Break!

The second that the Power of Destruction came in contact with the white shield that she created to defend, it, of course, ate through the shield, which had strong light released from it. It was enough to lessen the black demonic blast, but it still pushed her backward, however, it didn't stop there.

"Ahhh!"

Despite managing to avoid a direct attack from the black demonic blast, it scratched her chest and causing her to fall on her back.

"I thought that she was done for."

Zekram thought not thinking that Claire lost her will to fight back.

"Hah. Hah. Hah," Claire opened her eyes as she looked up at the blue sky as the sun seemed to be going down. There was a bleeding wound caused by the power of destruction released by Zekram, causing great signals of pain to start originating from that spot. Her mind wasn't all concerned about the pain, but as tears started coming from the corners of her eyes. "Nii-san…please…help."

---

"You're really starting to piss me off!"

Kensei declared as he already slashed through several of the avatars that Ewald created, which he realized was due to the combination of Excalibur Rapidly and Nightmare. Since their battle started, he has done nothing but distracting him using various tactics ranging from avatars, barriers, various usages of the three Excaliburs. All those tactics, as well as keeping him from leaving using high-speed movements and superior sword skills. There were too many advantages against him with Kensei barely able to gain the advantage without getting in a decisive strike.

"Oh, though talented with some real-like experience, you still appear young to be losing your temper like this. I'd say that your talents remind me a little of myself when I was still an exorcist-in-training. But, you'll be wasting all of it protecting a girl whom both the Underworld and Church will be after. It appears as if you've also fallen for the charms of that devil girl. No, it should be more accurate to describe her as an abomination."

"Fuck off," Kensei replied as he started channeling a great deal of lightning into Kurogane, which absorbed all of it causing the hamon to shine blue. He was ticked off about the fact that Claire was referred to as an abomination by Ewald. "Amagiri-ryuu Hiken – Raimeiken!"

At that moment, Kensei suddenly released a large blast of lightning towards Ewald who was almost surprised by the sudden attack aimed at him. He moved aside allowing the lightning to bore through all the trees beside him and continued going on until generating a large explosion that he could feel from there. Ewald turned towards Kensei as he rushed forward at him using Shinsoku, then started launching various slashes that have a great deal of force behind them.

But, Ewald was able to handle all the strikes that Kensei had been releasing at him, then again started matching his speed using Excalibur Rapidly. In addition to the Excalibur Nightmare, which he used as an additional sword to block the strikes that Kensei aimed at him.

"Do assholes like you consider yourselves gods in deciding whether or not someone has the right to live?!"

"You wouldn't understand our teachings!"

Ewald declared as he charged forward at high-speed using Excalibur Rapidly.

"No, I understand since it's the same crap no matter where I go! There are always people who think that their own status or self-righteous teaching affords them the right to decide someone else's life without a second thought!"

"I thought that I'd be able to convince you that this was the right course of action. But, it appears as if there's no more to say on the matter."

"Thanks, because I was getting tired of…."

Kensei stopped as he felt something out in the distance where Claire was causing him to move back from Ewald and stopped their battle.

"Huh, could it be that something occurred over there? Or did she die?"

Ewald asked, but Kensei didn't give the slightest hint that he was going to respond to his question.

"I can sense the spiritual barrier that I placed on that magatama necklace activated in response to an attack if it'd be impossible for the wearer to protect themselves. But, why did…," he wondered sensing the spiritual powers in the magatama necklace being activated, but there was something else that he could sense. After realizing that at that moment, it caused a flame called hatred to ignite to the fullest extent possible for a single person. "…!"

"Don't turn your attention from an opponent in the middle of a battle. That's severe…!"

Ewald was prepared to slash Kensei by using Excalibur Rapidly, but he stopped after sensing the greatest killing intent that he's ever sensed from a single person. The experienced exorcist who has been through several fights against devils stopped before Excalibur Rapidly even reached him. Kensei turned his head so that he could face Ewald, but his eyes were shining bright blue as a matching fierce blue aura started leaking from his entire body.

"You bastards," Kensei spoke in such a low tone that Ewald didn't know how to even respond as the young teen has already figured out what was going on over there. "What did you all do to Claire's family?"

"What?"

Ewald was confused about his sudden words wondering what he could have sensed from that location to make him assume something like that.

"I could sense her spirit from here and it was disturbed and fluctuating erratically without calming down, meaning her heart is close to being broken," Kensei said as he started taking steps forward with Ewald taking steps back out of instinct, but maintained his stance. "So, I'll ask once more. What the fuck did you people do?!"

As if in response to his anger, the blue aura around him continued raging on like a flame causing the exorcist to just answer his question.

"I was simply informed about the situation by the officials and exorcists involved in the situation itself before this incident," Ewald replied maintaining his senses and resolve. "But, the previous person, Cleria Belial, who was the overseer of the town named Kuoh where a church was stationed. Warrior Masaomi, who had become romantically involved despite receiving warnings from both sides. As well as her peerage who remained on her side until the end were all killed."

"…!"

Kensei clenched his teeth and fist after hearing those words from Ewald.

"Where's this sudden strong aura and presence coming from, it appears to be correlating with his emotional state," Ewald thought as he noticed that the aura from his body seemed to be reacting to his anger. "Just how what kind of untapped potential still resides inside of him? I was wrong, I wasn't anything like this at his age. He's more like…."

"…I don't have time for this," Kensei took a calming breath in an attempt to quell the rage that had been building up inside of him, then prepared Kurogane in his hands. "I'm ending this."

"Even if he has greater potential than me from my teens, he still hasn't reached the point where he's able to beat me, who has gained experienced and mastered the different Excaliburs. More so, his emotional state may cloud his judgment," Ewald reassured as Kensei stood in a stance holding Kurogane in preparation to launch a powerful strike using both hands, which were consecutively opening and closing before tightening his grip. "So, I will endure this strike, then counterattack using the fastest possible strike using Excalibur Rapidly. I would just be pointless using Excalibur Nightmare to create an illusion if he can sense the real me."

Both the young samurai and matured swordsman were reassured that this would be the final strike, which would decide their battle. The two raised their focus and took a step forward with the intention as their eyes were aimed at one or nothing aside from each other. After taking one last step, both of them rushed at one another using their high-speed movement.

Kensei who brought his sword downward in a strong swing; and Ewald, who brought Excalibur Rapidly upward to clash against it. After that strike against, Kensei repositioned his sword for his next swing, but Ewald prepared a counter for that one too. And in the final clash, their swords clashed against in an upward horizontal swing causing a final sound from their swords clashing.

After that clash, there was dead silence around the forest without either of them making a single sound.

"…urgh."

Ewald made a sound dropping Excalibur Rapidly on the ground before kneeling himself as his arms shook, while his hands remained opened.

"W-What is this?"

Ewald asked as he was unable to feel the muscles of his arms let alone move to received either of his swords.

"Amagiri-ryuu – Kyoushinki," Kensei said as he sheathed Kurogane, then retrieved Excalibur Rapidly, Nightmare, and Mimic from Ewald. "Of course, I'm not going to tell you what it does, but I created that one myself. But, I'll be taking these with me in case."

(Heavenly Mist Style: Resonance Slash)

"I-I'm unable to move my arms or feel my muscles," Ewald said as he already realized what the technique could do. "Whenever swords clashed against one another vibrations would naturally be generated from them. Did you somehow strengthen the vibrations so it'd impair me?"

"Of course, he'd figure it out due to his experience. I amplified those vibrations using ki, but it's not like I have that much of a handle on it myself," Kensei said as he decided to sheathed the three swords, but couldn't find a sheath for Mimic and thought how it worked. "Maria said something about it changing based off the wielder's will so."

As he wondered about that Excalibur Mimic turned into a Japanese beaded bracelet, which wrapped around his wrist surprising the exorcist.

"It was as Warrior David said when Galatine reacted to him, but how," Ewald couldn't do anything aside from asking questions as Kensei didn't even react to him. "And how could you come up with such as technique?"

"*Sigh* I have no obligation to answer your questions, but since you won't stop howling at me," Kensei said as he turned to face Ewald. "My clan handles swords like this all the time. And as for that technique, there's no other country other than Japan with a richer history whenever it comes to creating sword techniques. If it was a regular sword battle, then I would've probably lost. You beat me in experience and swordsmanship, but yours is more reliant on using Excalibur. But, if I remove your ability to use a sword, then it's going to be my win."

"Hah, I didn't think that I'd receive such criticism from someone younger than me," Ewald laughed as he was still determined in their decision dealing with Claire. "But, there might be more times when those from the Underworld and Church will come for her. As long as she's alive there won't be any place for her."

"Claire's place is with us and we'll continue fighting for her. My mother told me there's a way to deal with people like that," Kensei said as he turned around, his eyes as fierce and determined as before. "For the devils who pride themselves in their powers and status. And for all those exorcists who'd kill a child for not being human. I'll show them all what it means to cross me."

Through using Shinsoku and Excalibur Rapidly, Kensei moved without making leaving behind a single sound and rushed forward toward the location where Claire was.

"I never thought that I'd be able to lose in such a manner and even have three Excalibur taken from me," Ewald allowed a defeated sigh to escape from his mouth and still couldn't feel his arms. "But, to be able to perform such a move. He's correct, I couldn't have thought of something like that as a move. It looks as if there's going to be yet another monster in this world when he matures."

Ewald couldn't do anything aside from standing there and wait for the feelings in his arms to return. And Kensei was heading to the battlefield without wasting any more time at the fastest speed possible.

---

A/N: And there goes the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, this was the start of one of the biggest conflicts thus far. Kunou and Iris fought hard to keep Claire from being taken, but their efforts weren't for nothing since it allowed them to find her. And those people made the mistake of attacking their people as it angered two people, in particular. The one impersonating Evangeline was revealed to be her rival Hilda Blum, who revealed that she killed her, but still lost to her.

It was also the arrival of the exorcists and devils, in addition to Zekram Bael who nonchalantly brought up the deaths of her family to break her focus. And Kensei after managing to disable one of the Church's monsters is now headed in the direction of the battle. Now, after the next two chapters, then it'll reach the canon timeline.

Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Yasaka, Lu Lingqi, Sarah, Minako, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel, Amaterasu, Brynhildr.