Prologue 7: A Study in Mystery, Part 2
My first indication that my day was about to take an unexpected turn was when the ground began to shake, jarring both my hands and my focus to the point that the spellform I had been weaving between my hands destabilised and collapsed into nothingness.
The book whose levitation had been the point of the spell fell from the air with a
thump that was barely audible over the noise of groaning earth, shaking decorations and falling objects. My incredibly calm response to the surprise was to damn near fall out of my chair and ask, "What the
fuck was that?!"
Rias shot to her feet, producing a phone even as she left the room at a quick gait. Tsubaki shared a look with Reya for a moment, then turned back to me and rose from her seat with a bow. "I think we'll have to take this up at another time, Lewis-san," she told me as she turned to stride to the door.
Reya followed her, leaving me with a friendly smile and a request to, "Be sure to practice your telekinesis before our next meeting; we'll be testing you!"
Ordinarily I'd have snapped off an overly dramatic salute, but since I was understandably distracted I settled for just an absent nod as the brunette vanished through the doorway.
I spent the following half-hour wearing a divot in the floor as I paced, turning possibilities over and over in my mind and shooting looks at the door as I debated heading out. Part of what kept me from doing so was Koneko, still lying on a couch and keeping a lazy eye on my back-and-forth motions.
In the end, however, it was the buzzing of her phone that broke me from the cycle of steps. As she checked the device, looking up at me afterward with eyes that were more expressive than was usual for her, my eyes came to rest on a nearby TV remote. A bit of fiddling activated a monitor on one of the walls, and a bit of guess-work found a news station.
An androgynous reporter was standing in front of what looked like a ruined airport.
"...here at Kuoh International Airport, where police say what appears to be an act of terrorism has claimed more than two hundred innocent lives. We now go to the lead investigator, Detective Kenta Shirogane, with more."
Koneko eyed the screen with a slight curl of distaste to her lip, muttering a single derisive word. "...Crows."
If I hadn't been so keyed up, the softness of her voice might have had it go unnoticed. As it was though, my brain took the single word and ran with it.
'Fallen did this?' I wondered incredulously, staring at the massive building that had collapsed completely in on itself.
'None of those four should be capable of that level of destruction...unless!'
A voice from the television snapped me from my thoughts, and I saw a slender, stern-faced man with bluish-black hair was regarding the camera with palpable intensity.
"...in the process of gathering all the facts, but this was definitely no accident. Someone did this deliberately." Even across the airwaves, the look in his eyes was somewhat discomfiting in how it seemed to pierce through me.
"Whoever was responsible for this slaughter, know this: I will not rest until you face justice for this heinous act of mass murder."
With that, the man—Kenta—turned away from the camera to collect himself, and I muted the the television.
Usually, I would dismiss a statement like that as useless platitudes from an overworked member of the force, but that Detective's rage was palpable. I certainly didn't envy whoever the hammer would fall on – Fallen Angel or not.
...Not that I was particularly calm myself.
I could hear the plastic of the remote creaking under my grip as I glared holes in the screen, keeping myself sitting still since I didn't trust myself to stand up yet. In the back of my mind Dantes' wrath had risen to match and exceed my own – somewhat tempered by his joy in my own anger, I felt, but no less real for it.
I should have known that Vengeance would never take root in someone incapable of this rage. I understand now, boy; this white heart of yours is not a natural state. I can feel it – the true black heart within, caged and buried by civility and sloth.
I tell you now, boy – the heart of white you wear out of fear and the wish for companionship; it shall not avail you here! You must reach down and grasp that burning ice of rage with both hands! Let not the cage be buried, but lift it up high and turn its entrance to the world; when the time comes, release it – that we might show all those who oppose us what it means to bear the wrath of the King of the Cavern and his protégée!
My muscles were starting to hurt. The tension all over my body, and especially in my face as the rictus of anger pulled my features into something I was unsure I wanted to see...it strained me to the point of pain.
If anything, it only made me angrier.
'I know. I don't care if I'm not ready; we're going. Whoever did this is going to pay
.'
Good...good! This rage, this hate, this resentment; all of these will grant you the strength to stand against the World itself should you need to! Such is the power of an Avenger!
Despite the control I tried to exert when I stood, the chair I had fallen into still skidded back several inches. My footsteps came down on the wooden floor like falling bricks as I stalked to the door.
Koneko grabbed for my arm as I passed her, but only her fingertips brushed against my sleeve as I turned and fixed her with a steady gaze. "Toujou-chan. I cannot...I
will not stand by and do nothing at a time like this. Surely, you can understand that?"
Traces of frustration flashed across her face, even as the tiniest of nods moved her head. "...Prez told me to keep you safe.
I want you safe. You're not leaving."
...That was probably more than I'd ever heard her say in a
day, much less the span of a few seconds. Under other circumstances, I might have paid more attention to that – maybe even rejoiced in it. But right now?
She was trying to keep me confined.
She was impugning on our freedom.
Even if it was for Our sake, We couldn't allow that.
Dantes slid forward.
I slid backward.
And somewhere in the middle, everything became the black flames which devour light.
My/His/Our minds were one.
Fingers and will flexed as one as We stood, resplendent in Our power once more, before the child who presumed to confine Us for Our own protection. Mayhaps it would have proven endearing, were it not so infuriating.
Yet We would act on neither perception, for We were the master of Our emotions, and would be ruled by Our will alone.
We regarded the artificial Demon with a cold gaze to match her snowy hair. She shook under the weight of Our malice, unfocused as it was, but still stood firm.
A strong will. Worthy of Our respect.
We spread Our arms to Our sides as We spoke, "Your worry for Our safety is noted, child, without basis though it is. We are more capable than you know." Our eyes narrowed. "But do you truly believe you can confine Us?
"What chains could you forge that We could not break?! Within what cell could you place Us that we could not escape?! We are the King of the Cavern, and We will not. Be. Confined."
The feline child frowned at Us and spoke with a quavering voice, "...If you give Lewis-s…" She paused, seeming to firm herself. "...If you give Johan-niisama
back, I'll take him to Buchou…"
We could feel the ripples of emotion that He felt within Us at the address. No matter - He would call on Our power again soon enough; the Other known as Dantes would make sure of it.
"Very well, child of the mountains. We will reduce Ourselves to Our lesser forms...for now." We fixed the child with Our sternest expression. "Should you renege on our agreement, however, know that We shall return, and if our leaving must be by force then We shall not hesitate a second time."
Our minds fragmented, the resonance of the black flames dissolving as Our connection to It faded from Us/Him/me…
And I was standing in the ORC room once again, Dantes lurking in the shadows outside my thoughts.
...There was really only one thing I could say. "What the
fuck was that?!"
…
That…
I did not like that.
I did not like that one bit.
Well, that made two of us.
...I really just wanted to get my mind off what had just happened, now.
Koneko was staring at me, her expression inscrutable once more, as I looked at her. "So...I believe you made a promise?" I managed to ask, my voice hoarse and shaking more than I would like.
Koneko didn't say a word. She just sighed, opening the door and beckoning me forward.
As we left the room, she gave me a sideways look. "...You have issues."
I couldn't argue with that, now could I?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Raynare smirked, a cold, not entirely
sane expression twisting her features as her eyes fixed on her prey.
She had spent two weeks meticulously,
obsessively, learning Issei Hyoudou's schedule and habits. Now her target was heading home, just having left an adult video store, and she was ready to strike.
'He'll never see me coming.'
Raynare's savage grin went unseen under the illusion she wore as she walked past the teenager. Issei didn't even notice – and he still didn't notice as a palmed knife of pink Light flashed from beneath Raynare's concealment, its point seeking the pervert's brain stem as the Fallen Angel who wielded it spun.
Unfortunately for Raynare, she had failed to consider a single important factor: Rias Gremory actually
cared about the humans under her purview – and as such, she'd made sure that Issei was never left unprotected.
Something Raynare learned rather abruptly when with a burst of displaced air and a flash of steel, Yuuto Kiba intercepted her strike millimetres from his underclassman's neck.
Issei spun around at the noise, gaping at the sight before him and freezing once he saw the malicious rictus of Raynare's now-unconcealed face.
"Run, Hyoudou-kun!" Kiba shouted, breaking the frozen moment, "Get to your home, bar your door and don't let your parents out of your sight!"
Issei barely hesitated before tearing off down the street, shouting gratitude over his shoulder as he went flat-out for home.
Raynare's scream of rage was completely wordless as she hurled a spike of Light at Issei's rapidly-retreating back, but it barely made it a few inches before Kiba struck it from the air with another sword. The same arc of the blade made its way for Raynare's neck, only a rapid beat of her wings to retreat saving the Fallen from injury.
"Damn you…DAMN YOU!" Raynare howled, spinning a massive hammer from the threads of Light within. "I'm going to crush you into paste!"
Kiba flashed her a grim smile as he brandished his swords. "You're welcome to try."
With another angered roar, Raynare charged the Knight, bringing her hammer down where Kiba was standing with a meteoric crash that launched shards of concrete and Light in equal measure.
In such a situation, one could be forgiven for thinking that Raynare had let her Wrath overcome her – given that she had attempted to use a weapon suited for destroying tanks on someone capable of moving faster than sight. Kiba certainly made that assumption—
—And got a nasty cut to the cheek from one of the Fallen's heels, the spike forged from rose-colored Light, for his troubles as Raynare turned her overhead swing into a sinuous forward flip to bring the weaponised footwear up through the Knight's approach vector.
Her wings spread wide as she hovered before Kiba, a spear of Light appearing in one hand even as more of the same celestial substance dripped from between the clenched fingers of her other hand and coagulated into a net.
Raynare looked down on Kiba with a disdainful expression, the rage in her eyes kept on a careful leash. "Quick little Devil, aren't you? That should have taken your head clean off."
Kiba stared at her, his face twisted in a pained grimace due to the long, smoking cut marring his once-flawless face. The twin blades he had been holding vanished even as a new pair took their place, thrumming with energies most Dark. "I suppose I should thank you. This scar will serve as a reminder to never underestimate my opponents."
Raynare scoffed, pointing her spear at Kiba as she ascended. "Stupid child. No matter how prodigal you may, I'm still two thousand years your senior! Where others have honed their power, I have been forced to hone my wits! I won't be brought low by the likes of—"
And that was as far as she got before she was forced to evade twin arcs of Darkness launched from the swung edges of her opponent's blades, finding herself in the path of a third that devoured her spear when she was forced to intercept it.
"All that experience," Kiba remarked, "and you still stop to monologue."
The Knight darted forward with a barrage of lightning-fast thrusts. Raynare's net morphed and split into two daggers, lashing out to meet each strike in turn almost before they were launched.
Two thousand years of life had left her plenty of time to hone her ability to read people, on
and off the battlefield, and it showed in the almost preternatural way her blades moved to intercept Kiba's strikes in spite of their blistering speed.
Unfortunately for her, while she could go a ways to balancing the speed difference with her experience, she couldn't keep up completely.
A nick on her left cheek, a gash to her right thigh, a thin cut to her abdomen; as the exchange continued, Raynare was pushed back with nary an opportunity to counter-attack, even as she collected numerous minor cuts.
Finally, a miniscule lull in Kiba's furious flurry gave Raynare the opportunity to fling herself back and ascend, slamming her daggers together and stretching them into a long, stafflike spear. With a flourish, the spear began burning with a Light such a deep pink it was almost crimson, and Raynare prepared to dive towards her foe—
—Emptiness—
—Only to flinch and hurl herself to one side, barely avoiding the orb of hungry crimson that would have reduced her wing to absolute nothingness if she'd continued. Her eyes widened again a moment later, and she launched her spear skyward to intercept the bolt of lightning that had flashed down at her despite the completely clear sky above.
"You hurt my cute little servant, vile thing," a female voice commented.
"I'll make sure you regret that."
Raynare swallowed.
She was starting to feel like she might be in just the tiniest bit over her head.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
As we approached the vicinity of the ruin that Kuoh International Airport had become, Koneko abruptly halted and pushed me behind her before taking up a defensive stance.
During our trip, I'd noticed that my usual feeling of being under the observation of something or someone had intensified, so I figured that Koneko had sensed them too, and that they were about to confront me.
...
I was wrong, of course.
The
actual reason Koneko had put her guard up became apparent almost immediately: a dust-covered, wounded Dohnaseek stumbling around a corner ahead of us. He looked both ways up the street, his eyes half-lidded, then noticed us from beneath the brim of his bedraggled hat.
He blanched, then slowly raised his arms. "...Parley?"
Koneko narrowed her eyes. "...What happened?"
The Fallen coughed, then spat to one side. There was pink in the phlegm. "It's a long story, and I need to get back to the Father, but the short of it is that one of my former compatriots made off with a nun. The girl has a Sacred Gear and I suspect they intend to tear it from her soul."
"And why do
you care about that?" I questioned, more than a little heat in my voice.
The damaged dandy look at me with a complicated expression on his face, weariness warring with discomfort. "Well, it's your choice to believe me or not, but I
don't hate humans. The only reason I fought you to get Raynare away was because I was ordered to. After we returned to the Father, when he forced Raynare to leave for what she did I chose to stay. Not just because I dislike needless killing, but also to save my own skin."
I snorted. "Self preservation, huh? I don't know
what to think of you, but I'll have my eye on you."
At least the naïvety of your white heart has its limits. If you had placed trust in this one, despite facing him in combat but a fortnight past, I…
I know not what I would do, in truth. But it would be drastic.
I projected my urge to roll my eyes back towards the Count.
'I might hate myself sometimes but I'm neither suicidal nor stupid, o'Count.'
The only response my psychic squatter gave was a disbelieving snort.
'Well fuck you too, then.'
Feeling amusement and irritation radiate towards me with equal measure, I returned my attention to the situation at hand.
Dohnaseek was apparently trying to convince Koneko to let him pass, but the Rook was as implacable as the castle that represented her role. The situation was set to escalate further – at least, until an indistinct black blur shot past us, displacing the air with a
thoom.
From further down the street, a familiar voice loosed an enraged shout,
"Get back here! I haven't finished destroying the fabric of your very being yet!"
I shuddered. Whatever Rias was chasing had managed to get her angrier than I'd ever heard her before.
"...Prez, chill. She got away," Koneko commented dully as the Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess flew up beside us, glaring in the direction of her target. The Rook's voice seemed to penetrate Rias' rage, prompting her to spin and take in the sight of Koneko, Dohnaseek and I in a single glance.
She almost immediately lifted a palm to point at the downtrodden Fallen, only an instinctive snap of "Wait!" from me saving Dohnaseek from instant obliteration.
I promptly found myself on what was very definitely the
wrong end of Rias Gremory in a flat-out rage, and the only reason I didn't completely lose my ability to speak was because my reptilian hindbrain was too petrified for fight-or-flight to kick in. "This guy asked for parley, it'd be bad form to kill him when he's actually cooperating!"
Rias' glare lasted another couple of seconds before she turned away, her arm lowering and a faint sigh accompanying the slouch of her shoulders.
While Rias was gathering herself, Akeno and Kiba approached, the former shooting Dohnaseek a look so caustic it would have melted glass. The Knight, on the other hand, looked more unwell than anything – which probably had something to do with the festering, singed cut on the side of his face. His veins were picked out around the wound in gold over a spreading area, reminding me a lot of the images I'd seen of blood poisoning.
Except, you know. Gold.
When Rias turned around again she seemed to have regained her composure, though the look she fixed me with was still distinctly unsatisfied. "I suppose I can assume you're not going to just stay out of the way where it's safe, Lewis-san?"
I met her eyes with a level expression and clenched teeth. "I can't just sit by and do nothing."
At my side, my first clenched
just so, and the light vanished around it. A corona of inverted flames, outlined vaguely by an azure tinge where they met the rest of the world, engulfed my hand as cold rage fed the Flames of Grudge, the flames that had made Raynare turn and run during out first encounter.
They only burned for a moment before I flicked my wrist off to the side, dispelling the Flames. My point was made.
"You don't need to worry about me," I asserted, turning towards the airport. "The anger that I'm feeling right now…" Backward and forward, two minds digging in their heels at the very edge of abyssal black.
"...will be more than enough to reap Vengeance for this massacre."
Dantes and I each retreated from the borderline merger, each feeling the strain from keeping ourselves apart, and I ignored the slight alarm that flashed in Rias' eyes as I turned to Dohnaseek. "Fallen-san. Do you know where the person who did this might be?"
Dohnaseek shook his head wearily.
"I don't, but the Father should be able to find them. He's good with the Scriptures, especially for a human." The injured man promptly fumbled a phone from his pocket, turning away as he made a call, and I was left to chafe at the waiting once more.
Until Rias interrupted, at least. "Now hold on, Kiba's got Light poisoning; I need to get him back to the Academy for healing!"
Kiba's protests to the contrary fell on deaf ears.
Nobody was surprised.
"...Prez," Koneko interjected, "I'll go with Johan-nii. Go heal Kiba-sempai."
Akeno chuckled ominously. "Don't forget about me; Johan-kun isn't the only one that could do with a little...
stress relief."
Rias aired her frustration with a sound somewhere between growl and sigh, but gave a sharp nod.
"Fine. I'll see if Sona can send anyone to reinforce you all, but I can't guarantee anything." She stared each of us in the eye – first Rook, then Queen, then myself. "All three of you had better survive this, you hear?!"
If her voice was slightly desperate, none of us commented on it. We just did the only thing we could, and promised to return alive.
...Which was, as it turned out, easier said than done at the end of the day.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Wow, Rayray. You look like shit."
Considering how bedraggled Mittelt herself looked, her greeting was the height of hypocrisy – not that this seemed to bother the blonde at all, much like the irritated glare Raynare shot her from where she was stitching her cuts with Light.
"Cease your prattle, wench," a disdainful male voice called from a far corner of their hideout, "you have no place to speak. It was
I who had to pull you out of that fight,
I who had to
rescue you from your former paramour's spellcraft. At least Raynare was forced to retreat in the face of
three foes, and her injuries were sustained during a mission undertaken on her own initiative. You, however?" He scoffed. "Absolutely
pitiful."
The sound of rattling chains followed the words as the man in the corner went about his work, securing the nun who was presently a bearer of the Sacred Gear called Twilight Healing.
Those who knew Mittelt would anticipate a scathing retort in a long-dead language at the very least. Maybe even an attack on the offender's mind. The fact that she instead frowned and looked away from the speaker was a far more poignant demonstration of the man's power than any physical demonstration.
As it happened though, such a physical demonstration had already been given. Something Raynare was keen to comment on. "Speaking of you cleaning up after Mittelt's failures," she began, "is there any particular reason you decided to level that airport?"
A gaze turned from its task to pin Raynare with the intensity of a falcon, and she hurriedly continued, "N-now, I'm not complaining about you getting rid of a bunch of those useless apes; that couldn't be further from the truth! I was just wondering if drawing so much attention was really a good idea…"
Raynare's frantic babbling came to an abrupt end as the target of her questioning emerged from the corner where he had been securing their prisoner, pulling on a pair of black gloves as he strode further into the light.
Mastema's mad grin, a white crescent splitting his face in a fashion most macabre, sent chills down Raynare's spine. "My dear girl, that was the
point!" he declared. "How am I to engage in glorious, bloodsoaked combat if this mission remains a game of shadows?" With a snatching motion of his hand, the silver-haired man in black tore the wards and defenses of their hideouts to shreds. "Now, I do believe it is time that I carry out the duty that our Lord Kokabiel charged me with!"
Mittelt and Raynare shared a look of dread as he turned away.
Mastema formed a clawed grip with one hand, then thrust that hand into a fold in space. From the rift he withdrew a battered Kalawarner, who was promptly dumped unceremoniously on the ground. Her wings splayed to either side of her body, the only sign that she was still alive a low, agonised groan.
Raynare leapt to her feet, wincing at the pulls on her injuries. "What are you
doing?!" she demanded, only to immediately blanch as her brain caught up with her mouth.
Mastema didn't seem to mind however, the look he gave her mixing pity and approval in equal measure. "Your loyalty to your comrades does you credit girl, but with this one it is misplaced. This traitorous
dog," Mastema spat, planting a boot in Kalawarner's ribs with sufficient force to create a small shockwave, "almost cost Lord Kokabiel
everything! If our wise Lord had not been monitoring communications at the time he was, we would've been cast out! Our race's chance of ascension would have been
annihilated, by some stupid
sow who couldn't stomach the death of a single human!"
By the time he finished speaking Mastema's whole face had been twisted into a nightmarish mockery of human features, rage and madness in equal measure distorting him to the point of monstrousness. Yet, in only a moment, that expression vanished to be replaced with his usual passivity. "For the crime of Treason against the Ascension and against Fallenkind, I sentence Kalawarner, daughter of the ex-Principality Zachiel, to the highest punishment that can be inflicted upon an Angel."
As Raynare and Mittelt looked on in horror, Mastema planted his boot in the small of Kalawarner's back, then almost gently took ahold of her wings, one in each hand.
If they listened—and they had no choice, in the otherwise silent building—the other two Fallen could hear Kalawarner's near-silent crying and the terror that resonated in it. "Goodbye, child. May the Stygian Quietus cleanse your sins."
Then with one, violent motion, Mastema tore Kalawarner's wings from her body and hurled them aside. Almost instantly, the feathered masses caught fire, and in moments they burned down to ashes as a sickly light shone from the flames.
An aborted scream lodged in the fledgling Fallen's throat as the Light within her turned upon her body and soul. Cracks formed on her flesh as it was transformed into an indestructible cage for her tortured mind and shredded soul. Within seconds, the transformation was complete. Kalawarner had been spiritually lobotomized and would now be forced to endure to the end of Creation, unable to do anything but watch.
Raynare and Mittelt were absolutely silent in the wake of the horror they'd just borne witness to – which was probably why the sound of the front door of their hideout impacting the back wall was so loud.
Five distinct figures entered the room. Two female. Three male.
All
very pissed off.
The females were a study in contrasts. One was petite and short, the other tall and curvy. One had short, white hair, the other sported raven locks that hung to just above the floor. One's face was nearly emotionless, while the other wore the smile of a woman about to inflict horrific violence and
thoroughly enjoy herself doing it.
The only thing the duo had in common? The aura of Devil magic emitting from their persons.
As for the males…
An Exorcist with silver hair, a Light sword in one hand and a Light pistol in the other, scowled at Mastema without blinking even once.
Dohnaseek, battered and wounded, nonetheless stood tall and looked to Mittelt with sorrowful resignation.
The third of them was the least remarkable of the group. A brunet with curly hair, bearing no particularly interesting features at all...except, perhaps, for the piercing blue eyes that darted between Raynare and Mastema at a pace so frantic it edged over into manic.
It was perhaps surprising that the brunet spoke first. "You piece of shit…" he breathed, and the normal-looking features became anything but as anger and disgust rose to prominence like a volcano erupting.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS!"
None of the Fallen would have been particularly affected by hearing
that particular line again. The pillar of night-black flames that engulfed the man's body, blowing a sizable hole in the roof and sending everyone but the Devils flinching back,
did make it a bit more attention-grabbing though.
The side of the pillar erupted a moment later, diffuse black flames like a comet's tail streaming behind the blurring figure of the man alongside a substantial green scarf. Raynare had just enough time to see the burning black talons that engulfed the man's fingers and the eldritch lights like starry eyes that dotted the scarf before she got a much closer look at the talons than she would ever have wanted.
Only for a moment, though. After that, they had vanished through her torso and out her back, which was a bit out of her field-of-view.
Her choking gurgle hadn't made the full transition to a scream before the black fire leapt eagerly from the man's hand and devoured her from the inside out, roaring their satisfaction as the Flames of Grudge burnt even the Fallen's ashes out of existence.
Mastema just blinked, a grin slowly creeping across his face. "Well well well!" he declared. "Quite the nasty power you're in possession of, boy." His grin widened sharply. "I can't wait to tear it to pieces and
rip your head off."
Before the battle-hungry Fallen could do more than take a step in the burning, snarling brunet's direction though, a bullet of Light scraped his cheek. Blood hadn't quite had time to well up at the cut before a small fist slammed home with a bit more accuracy, snapping his head back with a grunt.
He kept grinning. "This is fine as well; please, dance with me to your hearts' content! It shall make it all the more satisfying when I
rip them from your chests!"
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dohnaseek absently spun a sword of Light in one hand as he approached Mittelt, the fingers of his other hand twitching as a swarm of needles swirled around it. They were both tired, both injured and they both recalled their previous fight very well indeed. How could they not? It had only been a few hours since they had matched spell to illusion.
There was one key difference between then and the present moment, however: Here, there was
much less space for Mittelt to reposition when her opponent was distracted with illusions.
They both knew it. But Mittelt didn't have anywhere to run.
Dohnaseek sighed as they closed to a few paces. "I'd tell you to surrender, but I know you well enough to know you'll fight to the death so you aren't subjected to...
that."
Dohnaseek looked at the husk that had been Kalawarner only minutes before and swallowed the gorge that threatened to rise. No matter how many times he'd seen it, the Stygian Quietus made him feel ill on a fundamental level.
Mittelt's response came, not in words, but in a bardiche of Light that arced for his throat and was handily parried aside by his wing, edged in scales of glacial Light.
Mittelt danced back out of range of his riposte, but a hurled spike of Light that followed landed a glancing blow on her arm. The next several moments were a blur of bright Light and black feathers, Mittelt acknowledging the futility of judicious illusions in such a cramped space. She'd have to save her illusory diversions for a key moment where they could turn the fight in her favour.
Unfortunately, for all her scheming, fate had other plans.
An eruption of black flames, brilliant lightning and incandescent light came in quick succession, and despite herself Mittelt whirled around to stare.
It was her last mistake.
A vortex of Enochian sigils, traced in dark blue, swirled around her by the time her attention returned. Dohnaseek had been given a moment of opportunity, and that was all he needed to weave a simple but powerful sleep compulsion on her. With her concentration as compromised as it was, she never had a chance to resist.
The petite blonde slumped to the ground unconscious.
Dohnaseek took a step forward to retrieve her and promptly did likewise as his legs finally gave up the ghost and let exhaustion get to them.
"Fuuuuuck…."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mastema was not a man who believed in doing things by halves.
If his opponents hadn't known that before, they figured it out quickly when he unleashed all eight of his coal-black wings at once and rained knives of Light from his fingers while howling in unrestrained glee.
All in the first seconds of the fight.
The Devils took a special care in avoiding the knives that was usually warranted by near-critical nuclear materials, while the Exorcist and the burning man batted them aside without care.
That didn't put Mastema off at all, and it showed as he sheathed his hands in clawed gauntlets of Light and dove at Baraqiel's spawn, slamming a fist into her midsection and hurling her backwards.
He clicked his tongue at her in mock reproach. "If you want to have a chance at beating me, child, you'll need to do better than some piddling lightning bolts!" He spread his arms wide, parrying the strikes of the Exorcist and the Anomaly with his wings almost absently. "Show me the proof of your bloodline, Nephilim! Show me Baraqiel's rage! Use your Holy Lightning! Or are you too much of a coward, hmmm?!"
The girl's only response was to cough wetly and spit out a wad of bloody phlegm, then fall to the ground.
Mastema blinked, then sighed in frustration. "Truly, I apologize. I should regulate my strength more; finishing this as quickly as that is no fun at all!"
That said, the eight-winged Fallen spun and rammed his fist into the Anomaly's face, launching him through a wall and out of sight. Next, he turned to the Exorcist, who was halfway through his Scripture when the Fallen punted him into a support pillar.
He was advancing after that other silveret when a white-topped ballistic missile exploded into his abdomen.
The small Devil hadn't really registered as a threat before that – thanks in part to her small stature and emotionless demeanour, undoubtedly. As he stumbled back and registered the feral rictus of rage her features had become though, Mastema found himself reconsidering his position.
"Fiery little Devil, aren't you?!" He crowed even as she pummeled him with blow after blow. The strikes would've been more than sufficient to reduce concrete to rubble, but to him? They might as well have been a deep-tissue massage, and from the frustration on the tiny Devil's face, she knew it. "As amusing as this is, I'm going to ha—
gurk!"
Apparently the Devil didn't like the sound of his voice. Or at least, she had put a
lot of force behind that uppercut to his chin.
ba-bump
Lightning quick, his hand wrapped around her throat and began to squeeze. "You know, this was funny, at first. But now? I'm
mad."
ba-bump
The Anomaly was coming back through the hole in the wall, faster than any human athlete, but he wasn't close enough to make it. The Exorcist and the Nephilim were still down. The traitor Fallen had collapsed in the corner like the trash he was.
ba-bump
The enraged eight-wing further tightened his grip on his prey, intent on snapping her neck, and a scream of helpless rage tore the air asunder…
ba—
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I cried out helplessly.
Space twisted.
A severed hand fell to the floor with a wet thump.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
—bump
There was a woman. A woman with black hair, cradling Koneko to her ample chest as the bells on her low-cut black kimono rang clearly in a room as silent as the gap between 'tick' and 'tock'. A large pair of black cat's ears were folded flat against her head, and two tails of the same abyssal shade swung menacingly in the air behind her.
I watched without a word to speak as the SS-Class Stray Devil Kuroka turned golden eyes bisected vertically by feline pupils on the eight-winged Fallen. "Crows who'd pick on defenseless kittens…" she began, and the space behind her suddenly exploded into the unsettling purple light of an octagonal magical seal that sent every instinct from my body to my soul into utter overdrive,
"should be ready to suffer the consequences."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AN: Well, here it is. I apologize for the lateness of the chapter, but my beta, Teninshigen, had some IRL stuff to sort out, and I wouldn't feel right posting it without his expertise unleashed upon it. That said, he's back, I'm back, and if everything goes right, the last prologue chapter will be uploaded next Sunday. Enjoy!
